Allowing colleagues and co-workers to view your Facebook and MySpace page has been a conflict my friends and I have struggled with since graduating from college. Is it appropriate to allow your workplace access to your college pictures? And more importantly, will we be judged based upon these pictures? This argument has plagued my generation. When the following question came across our ASAE listserv, I couldn’t wait to see what other people thought. The original post was from a communications company looking to hire an assistant. While the employer was browsing applicants’ Facebook pages, they found “stuff that was disturbing and raises questions about the suitability for a couple of the candidates.” The employer wanted to know if it was appropriate to mention/question an applicant about his or her Facebook profile, and was “looking for tips on how to navigate this situation.” The listserv took off like rapid fire as my inbox proceeded to be inundated with opinions and tips from all over the map!

Some people felt the candidates should have cleaned up their Facebook page and that my generation is too open with social networking. One woman stated, “Bottom line: I think job seekers should be savvy enough to know their stuff is out there and self-censor, or not, as they feel is appropriate. A friend of mine de-activated her totally tame profile for a while during a federal hiring process, and I think that’s wise in this climate.” This really made me think: De-activate my profile over a frat party in college? Get real?!?!

The beauty of Facebook is being able to keep in touch with numerous people, as you can send messages, write on their wall, and even tag pictures of events you have participated in. In a day and age where time is valuable, it makes keeping in touch easy. I immediately knew there would be one person who could relate to me on this issue. “Pat you have to come in here. I can’t believe this,” I yelled to Pat Cauley, whose office is across the hall from mine. He was in shock too, “Do they even know how Facebook started?” he asked. “Obviously not, we have to set the record straight.” Pat and I collaborated and came up with this Listserv response, “I joined Facebook in the fall of 2004 as a college junior. At the time you needed an .edu e-mail address to even join the site, as it was an online social diary/interactive yearbook. As the place where we like to connect with and keep in touch with college and high school friends, this should not represent a young professional’s work ethic or ability. Imagine if your employment qualifications were based upon your pictures from Woodstock that suddenly surfaced online.” Again, my inbox was like rapid fire—e-mail, e-mail, e-mail, I couldn’t believe how many responses. Some responses agreed with my view while others didn’t. However, I found the most surprising post came from a CAE (certified association executive). He has hired two people in the past six to eight months and actually passed on dozens of applicants who had no findable Internet content. Why? He felt just because questionable behavior wasn’t on Facebook, doesn’t mean the applicant didn’t partake. He decided he knew more about those applicants who were engaged on the social web than those who weren’t.

So, I guess you are damned if you do and damned if you don’t? I welcome you to check out my page and let me know what you think. Or better yet, why doesn’t everyone relax and enjoy this humorous infomercial parody video of Facebook.

Katie White is ERA’s retailer relations manager.

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If you’re reading this blog, chances are that you already know how important it is for consumers to be able to view videos online. Online videos help sell products because they let consumers have a “virtual test drive” of a product before they buy it. These videos get consumers excited about new products and make them want to learn more about emerging trends. Today, the same is increasingly true of political candidates and issues. Long before votes are cast in November, millions of Americans will participate in the political process by watching videos on the Internet. According to a recent Pew poll, as many as a quarter of adults have already watched political videos online. That number is expected to grow. Perhaps the more exciting news is that the Internet appears to be getting more people involved and informed. The United States has historically had some of lowest voter turnout among developed democracies, and much of this apathy occurs when voters do not feel informed about the issues. It is difficult to “accidentally” read a newspaper or tune into the evening news, but it is quite easy to come across political information online by mistake. More than half of those who reported viewing political videos online said they did not go on the Internet for the purpose of learning about politics. That means the availability of videos online is helping to strengthen participation in the political process.

Aside from political videos, the Internet is also ripe with funny videos we share with our family and friends.

Then you see this charming cartoon you half remember from elementary school, and you learn about a threat to the freedom of the Internet.

Click here to learn more about the threat to the Internet’s viability and freedom.

Tomi Turner works in ERA’s government affairs department

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A while back, I wrote an article that discussed the viability of viral marketing for Electronic Retailer’s September 2007 issue. In the article, I mention different campaigns that have used viral marketing and succeeded, as well as a few that didn’t pan out (think “Snakes on a Plane” bombing at the box office).

According to Wikipedia, viral marketing refers to marketing techniques that use pre-existing social networks to produce increases in brand awareness or to achieve other marketing objectives (such as product sales) through self-replicating viral processes, akin to the spread of pathological and computer viruses. It can be word-of-mouth delivered or enhanced by the network effects of the Internet. Viral marketing is a marketing phenomenon that facilitates and encourages people to pass along a marketing message voluntarily.

Below are two current, successful viral campaigns:

The first video shows how a well-established brand like Bud Light uses viral marketing to keep itself hip, fresh and funny. This video was brought to my attention via word-of-mouth while out this weekend.

The second shows how a less established brand uses YouTube to drive to its website and keep potential customers engaged and entertained.

The fact that you viewed these videos means I just helped move the viral campaigns forward. Whether you share it with your family and friends, a true test of success is up to you.

Pat Cauley is Electronic Retailer magazine’s eMedia Editor

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New media evangelism in the direct response industry begins to remind me of biblical tales of woe, the Old Testament tales where prophets are slaughtered or exiled or something along those lines. Or at least roundly mocked. It’s part of my personal story and also part of the state of the industry, and it’s truly unfortunate.

For those of us who embrace risk and are joyful and passionate in our approach to new media, evangelism can be the most grueling, frustrating part of the game. Trying to make a twitter proselyte out of someone who can’t figure out e-mail attachments? Yeah, it gets old.

Time after time when talking to DR agency folks, I’ve run into an impenetrable wall of mythology about new media. It’s fear-based, it’s preventing progress for all the worst reasons, it’s causing forward-thinkers to be punished, and it’s simply untrue. The mythology includes the ideas that mobile commerce isn’t functional, that social media isn’t measurable, that R&D can’t lead to ROI, etc.

Recently, an agency CEO quipped about media/tech adoption, “You can lead a horse to water…”

Alright, so publications such as Electronic Retailer are leading the DR horse to water through education. Firebrands such as Marty Fahncke, Dana Todd, and a slew of others are leading the horse through sometimes-rabid evangelism. Research firms publish data saying that consumers are ready for new media. Clients are beginning to ask for more creative digital solutions.

I do begin to wonder: What’s it going to take to get that horse to drink…Damn it.

Jolie O’Dell is a mobile, social and evolving search enthusiast.

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“Marketing takes a day to learn. Unfortunately it takes a lifetime to master.” ~ Philip Kotler, U.S. marketing guru

I think the quote above succinctly sums up one of the truisms known to marketers. The business school practice of breaking down the definition of marketing into the 4 Ps is really oversimplifying a complicated art and science process that is fundamental to business success and growth. If you are developing a smart marketing mix, you must also toss in gut instinct, research, sales history, customer patterns, trends, competitive analysis and so many more factors. Even with all of this, success can explode from unexpected opportunities while sometimes the most thoroughly researched, planned and executed campaigns can fail miserably. Still, that is the beauty of marketing: it is never dull or routine. And today, marketers have far more resources to help drive sales and engagement than ever before.

As I begin a new chapter in my career by joining ERA in March, I think about the resources available to us today. In doing so, I can’t help but to reflect back on my first entree into the workforce, then too, in the marketing arena. It’s easy to dismiss as simpler times. It was the mid 1980s: typewriters outnumbered PCs, printed mailing labels predated Excel files and voice mail and fax were office novelties. By evaluating the bottom line and ROI, we believed our marketing efforts were successful back then. But who could predict that the introduction of the Internet and email to the masses was just around the corner? This would forever change the way we, as a society, communicate and access information and entertainment. It would also open the door to new strategies and tools to add to the marketing mix.

Today, it is much more than access to the Internet that allows marketers to brand product, advertise value and engage customers. Video streaming, HDTV, HD Radio, podcasting, TV on demand, mobile devices, blogging, wikis and online social networks have all played a role in expanding the marketing function and enhancing the customer experience. Some might suggest we are on the brink of the golden era of marketing. Perhaps. But what is certain is that today’s consumers have become more integrated into the marketing process. For marketers, this is a time of unleashed creativity. There are more opportunities than ever before to connect with customers, track patterns and utilize multiple formats to convey messages. Direct mail, TV/print advertising and other more traditional forms of marketing are still certainly relevant, but marketers no longer have to rely on a finite number of tactics to promote product. And few industries are leveraging these platforms as aggressively as the direct response community.

It makes for smart practice then that the association that represents this community would also leverage multi-platforms as necessary. At ERA, we too are on the brink of entering our golden era of marketing. Not because of my new role, but because it is what our community will expect and demand. I hope that you will check out the new ERA website, which debuts next month, and I encourage you to pay frequent visits to this blog. These enhancements are just the start of many advancements ERA will introduce to allow us to better brand ourselves, fine tune messaging, build member integration and promote the industry and its value and services through new and emerging technologies. These extensions and improvements in communications help us to better enforce our mission to drive, grow and shape the future of electronic retailing. Let’s master the marketing mix together.

Tom Quash is ERA’s vice president of marketing

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There’s no denying that the main objective for any e-commerce sales or retail marketing executive is to maximize the total value of visitor traffic on their site, simply put— turning web browsers into buyers and clicks into cash. Search is certainly leveling the playing field as well, so how do companies stand out from the crowd? And why are some sites still failing to deliver compelling and relevant content to their customer base?

In today’s saturated marketplace, retailers can no longer rely on the traditional marketing techniques and media vehicles to manage customer interaction and drive home sales. In order to achieve greater web interaction optimization, e-commerce and retail sites must recognize the inherent value of social behavioral merchandising and effectively increase the relevance of communications by automatically promoting the most relevant products to each visitor, thereby maximizing conversion rates and average order values.

By making websites more customer-centric via these “recommendation engines,” retailers can essentially optimize customer interaction through improved content and messaging based on a customer’s specific needs and behavioral patterns.

We all know who Amazon.com is. Besides the millions of SKUs at Amazon.com, the site is easy to use and “steers” browsers in the right direction when they need help (recommendations, user reviews, etc.). The addition of recommendations from other customers can build a sense of trust and community between new and returning customers—and probably better than any 17-year old working the floor at Border’s Books.

Given the wide variety of tools available in the market, online retailers must familiarize themselves with the different points of customer contact and approaches towards reaching interaction optimization. The Customer Interaction Cycle, shown below, depicts the many different points—from initial landing page through transaction—where collective intelligence can be applied to maximize value.

Rolf Elmer is CEO of Avail Intelligence

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Pick up the newspaper: Our country and the world are in a state of anxiety about the economy, especially in light of a potential recession. What does that mean to us as marketers? Just how does the recession affect direct response advertising? Recessions are different from other economic downturns and need to be approached differently, but there are ways to weather the storm.

History teaches us that recessions reward the aggressive advertiser and penalize the timid one. Indeed, firms that maintained or increased their advertising expenditures during the 1981-1982 recession averaged significantly higher sales growth, both during the recession and for the following three years, than those that eliminated or decreased advertising.

By 1985, sales of companies that were aggressive recession advertisers had risen 256 percent over those that didn’t keep up their advertising. Why? One reason is that a recessionary market can provide an opportunity for businesses to build a greater share of market through aggressive advertising. Sometimes, we need to remind ourselves about the short-term benefits of advertising: It creates sales immediately; it generates added business from current customers; and it brings in new leads and prospects. In short, as one marketer pointed out, “When times are good, you should advertise. When times are bad, you must advertise.”

One trait of a true recession lies with shifts in consumer patterns. We can no longer expect even our core base of customers to behave in ways familiar to us and comfortable to them. Preparing for changes in consumer behavior will allow us to jumpstart new messaging, platforms and technologies—when this makes strategic sense—to capture the attention of both loyal and new customers. One false assumption is that it’s safe to reduce the advertising budget if the competition is reducing theirs. Research shows that companies maintaining or increasing advertising during periods of economic slow-down will boost market share. (more…)

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If you’re an events manager with a death wish, invite Jason Calacanis to deliver the keynote address at your next conference. Sure, Calacanis—a serial Internet entrepreneur who made the bulk of his fortune with the sale of his company Weblogs, Inc. to AOL—will deliver an engaging, thought-provoking and sometimes flat-out inspirational talk. But then again, he might just start a riot.

After all, this is the guy who, at SES Chicago in 2006, announced—to a group of search professionals—that “SEO is bullshit!” and compared those engaging in SEO to “snake oil salesmen.”

It didn’t go over well.

Having escaped Chicago, living to speak another day, Calacanis recently addressed a room full of affiliate marketers at the Affiliate Summit West. Apparently unruffled by the flap and furor over his SEO comments, Calacanis explained to the affiliate folks that the rest of the industry saw them as the bottom rung of the food chain, wired to make the quick buck.

There was no standing ovation.

But to be fair to Calacanis, he’s not some sort of egomaniacal misanthrope who gets a perverse pleasure out of standing on a stage and belittling the audience. (Actually, he might just take a little pleasure in it.) In fact, the point he’s trying to make is a valid and intriguing one.

First of all, Calacanis was over-generalizing for effect: he sees value in ethical SEO and understands that there are legitimate best practices to follow in designing, maintaining and promoting a site that will allow it to rank higher in search results. And he certainly doesn’t see anything wrong with the fundamental concept of affiliate marketing: engaging a group of websites to help sell product or generate leads as a sort-of extended sales force.

Calacanis has a problem with those interested in gaming the system to make a quick buck—whether it’s the black-hat SEO firm that exploits a weakness in a search engine algorithm to garner a temporary high rank for an undeserving website (until the search engine closes the loophole and the site plummets off the search results page) or the affiliate who steals content to game the search engines to generate more traffic and commissions, or the marketer who floods blogs, message boards and social networks with paid posts.

According to Calacanis, it’s all borne out of a misguided ethic that has pervaded the Internet since the mid-’90s: if one is technically capable of doing something, then it’s OK.

But he—and others—see reason for optimism. As more and more black-hat marketers exploit the various systems, these systems eventually break down, to be replaced by ones that are more resistant to gaming. Consumers are helping to drive change, too. We leave MySpace to go to Facebook and then to LinkedIn as policing technologies are developed that help eliminate spam or fraud. Sites like Angie’s List—a ratings and reviews site for home-improvement contractors—take off because they are curated to ensure the reviews’ (and reviewers’) legitimacy. In other words, because they earn our trust. Calacanis himself has developed Mahalo.com, a search engine that uses human beings to find and organize the best links for given search terms—and to filter out irrelevant or spam results.

A new ethic is evolving: trustworthiness is good for business.

Tom Dellner is executive editor of Electronic Retailer Magazine and editor of its supplement, Online Strategies

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