Pierce Mattie Public Relations New York & Los Angeles

As a Blogger, I see Microsoft’s gifting of their Acer Ferrari laptop complete with Windows Vista to select Bloggers just another day in the world of “Review me” and word of mouth advertising in the blogosphere. Many don’t feel the same way, stating that it is outright bribery. The laptops received came during the height of the Holiday season and many Bloggers feel that these “gifts” are unethical. As I’m sure you know from my previous posts on this topic, I completely disagree.

As, LongZheng, one of the Blogger’s on the receiving end noted, “Windows Vista is launching in 30 days.” My question is, why wouldn’t Microsoft want to create a buzz about a brand new product and operating system soon to launch among tech Bloggers? I understand why Microsoft did it, as I received Max Factor’s Volume Couture Mascara a few weeks ago. It is a product that is only available come January. My job was to test it out and write a review. Obviously the company that sent it was hoping for a good review and to help generate the buzz about it prior to launch. The difference in the price tag of a bottle of mascara and a laptop is quite large, but it still doesn’t take away from the fact that companies want to find new ways of creating product buzz prior to and after a product is out on the market. By sending the laptop to only a select few Bloggers, generates even more buzz and you get the various views on how the system works from real people, not advertisers, using the product. Is it because this product to review had a high-end price tag? If Microsoft sent a $20 product, would those tech Bloggers still feel it was a case of bribery?

We already use bacteria to inject under the skin to get rid of laff-lines. Why do we love these wrinkel creating viral videos so much? "Ugly" men get "hot chicks" when they have a good sense of humor. The message, subliminal or viral, does seem to go down easyer with humor as a chaser. Viral videos are everywhere. It’s hard to escape the swarm of links I get from friends, family and colleges. These free, interesting and sometimes amusing videos spread over the Internet in almost pandemic speed. I have to admit, I've been guilty of forwarding them on to others when the clip makes me giggle (like a school girl) or those I find clever enough. Not all videos are truly viral marketing. In fact, most clips are just creative expressions, which entertain. Obviosly where ever you have an audience and peer-to-peer networks your going to find marketers trying to relate and persuade and advertise.

Here are a few videos, can you spot which one is viral and which are just entertaining?

Treadmill Fitness Equiptment Viral Or Music Video?

BL Ochman's WhatsNextBlog is a daily read for me. Unfortunatly she has been dealing with a detached retna (ouch) and not posting as frequently as usual. I've been seeing the same Bazooka viral post since the 25th of September.

In agreement with her post headline Doing a Viral Campaign Right Ain't Cheap, or Easy but confused about the details of her post I decided to comment. Here is her post. I'm curios if anyone on the Bazooka campaign cares to respond.

Something about these projects (I've seen a few over the years) that always grabs me. I know, many people think it's lame. Perhaps it's the voyeur in me. Here is your unique advertising opportunity Baxter Of California! How about a travel site? I want to see him on a beach, or visiting famous places around the world, it’s a little melancholy that all his recorded images are inside- he needs a tan, (product placement opportunity) how about some new threads? He obviously gets around as a photographer. I can see the big budget version of this. A big name beauty product. Ten year time laps and the female talent actually looks better at the end, because of the product of course! Would work best for a mid-sized privately owned cosmetic line like Jane Iredale. That way the owner could do the real time laps "herself". Definitely a back burner concept.

If there is one thing that America loves as a culture it is scandal. Celebrity culture is such a pervasive force that it substitutes for small talk just as well as the weather nowadays. High minded individuals may take offense to these subjects, but in truth we are all attracted to the destructive flames of perversion and excess. Many disdain the hoi polloi for their distractions, but I would contend that we all benefit from whiffs of scandal now and again.

Cathartic acts can heal , and now we can all engage in these sorts of behaviors without any of the consequences. The popularity of shows like Desperate Housewives takes all of us inside these dens of inequity that bubble away hidden in suburban utopia, confirming and arousing suspicions that we all secretly harbor. Of course no one really wants crazy murderous neighbors or philandering husbands in their actual lives, but some of us wouldn't mind a little "fake" drama now and again. Actually, we would all be better off because of it.

Thus, even if you are a New Yorker reading, Economist quoting, graduate degreed snob you could still use a little Wisteria Lane in your life. Isn't that why we all love Bree so much? Deep down below the perfect surface we are all a complete mess. That is why even when I find myself experiencing some revulsion at the mere notion of Desperate Housewives I still see a little value in immersing myself once in awhile. That is why I predict that the Desperate Housewives game will be a huge success - all of the scandal and perversion with none of the consequences. So when can I log on?

I'm a geek who daily works on a PC and a Mac. While I'm very comfortable on a PC I'm a Mac lover and ashamed I didn't immediately recognize the model in the new Apple ad. Perhaps had I viewed the ad on TV I would have noticed, unless your watching HD quicktime clips you always miss a little detail in the compression. Thanks to Meg Wilson for the link to the model's career "mash-up" video.

View all the Apple ads here

For a long while celebrities have been pretty vocal about their political beliefs. They are not strangers to being used by both political parties to taunt their positions or to help in raising money for their party through their celebrity clout.

Some say that celebrities and politics don’t mix. After reading a recent article by Jeff Davidson on TMZ.com, 90% of me agrees. Many celebrities put their faces in commercials or join a campaign to tell people to vote. Yet, one celebrity in the 2004 Vote or Die campaign turned out to be all lip service. Or there are those who threaten leaving the country if a political figure is re-elected; remember Alec Baldwin? That is what bothers me the most. Celebrities who talk and talk and won’t shut up (and then make money off of their chattering) or those who take a punch during a concert, but quite honestly don’t do a darn thing to help foster change. Am I alone in this annoyance?

Still warming up to Second Life? I am asked about it almost daily and wanted to get some basic info posted for those friends who read our blog consistently. Backstory is here. Follow the links.

New World Notes

From April 2003 to February 2006, I was a contract writer for Linden Lab, creators of Second Life, primarily hired by the company to cover SL as an embedded journalist in an emerging society-- its controversies, its personalities, its innovations and ambitions, along with larger themes of identity, social norms and organization, and cultural expression important to online worlds in general.

That contractual relationship has ended, but the story continues here. -Wagner James Au

Second Thoughts Do's and Dont's for Big Business.

"Every human being is interested in two kinds of worlds: the Primary, everyday world which he knows through his senses, and a Secondary world or worlds which he not only can create in his imagination, but which he cannot stop himself creating." W.H. Auden

Second Life Herald The Second Life Herald was founded on October 23, 2003, by philosophy professor Peter Ludlow. Its mission, as described the next day, was to observe, record and study "the legal, social, and economic implications" of life in the virtual world. Originally established as the Alphaville Herald and reporting for the most part on life on the Alphaville server of The Sims Online, the Herald soon branched out into coverage of other massively multiplayer online games and virtual worlds -- helped along by the murder of Herald publisher Urizenus (Ludlow's avatar) after Electronic Arts got wind of the stories the newspaper was printing about the scams and cyber-prostitution that were taking place within its game, and the company's indifference to reports of real-world violence.

• Communication Arts: This year’s interactive design winners were selected by our distinguished jury from a group of entries including Web sites, Kiosks, CD-ROM projects and PDA's.

• Strategic Public Relations: PR Industry: Improve Your Writing -Kevin Dugan

• Salon.com: Fake News, Fake Reporter: Why was a partisan hack, using an alias and with no journalism background, given repeated access to daily White House press briefings? -By Eric Boehlert

• Online Media Daily: Word of Mouth Marketing Association (WOMMA) Puts Edelman Public Relations on probation for creating fake Blogs (flogs) for client Walmart

• Customer Listening Blog: WOMMA Ethical Blogger Contact Guidelines: 10 Principles

MenEssentials President, James Whittall has some helpful advice for hairy men who want to be smooth all over and shave like a man: This may surprise you, but at least one-sixth of the search engine referrals we receive each month are for men — ordinary guys, like you and me — who want information on how to shave their privates.

Squirm all you like. There's an immense subculture of eroticists who claim a bald bag makes for better sex. Indeed, when I went online to research this subject, I counted no less than a dozen serious human sexuality web sites with entire sections devoted to the art of sensual shaving.

Unfortunately, few of these resources offers tips on how to safely and hygienically perform this most delicate of procedures. Never one to shrink (pun intended) from the outrageous, I hereby offer my thoughts on the subject.

A Disclaimer
Personally, I think genital shaving is ill advised. A botched job can lead to intense irritation or, worse, permanent falsetto. Don't say I didn't warn you.

And a Warning
If you have sensitive skin that ordinarily reacts to shave creams or gels, then do not ever shave your pubic area or testicles. This region is much more sensitive than your face. Your allergic reaction could be spectacular.

According to The Blog Herald and the timeline on W3.org, the web turns sweet 16 today!The first web server was nxoc01.cern.ch, later called info.cern.ch, and the first world wide web page http://nxoc01.cern.ch/ hypertext/WWW/TheProject.html Unfortunately CERN no longer supports the historical site. Note from this era too, the least recently modified web page Blog Herald knew of, last changed Tue, 13 Nov 1990 15:17:00 GMT (though the URI changed.)

• Edelman Public Relations Disclosure Follies (Raving Lunacy) Edelman to Fund a Second Life Business screams the headline over at Micro Persuasion.

• $6 Billion For MySpace? (The Blog Herald) Rupert Murdock, CEO of News Corp., told Australian investors that MySpace would sell for $6 billion.

• Users Respond To The Dove Evolution Viral I find the user created responses to Dove fascinating, it is as if through retouching themselves, and manipulating their own digital representation, users can reaffirm their feeling in their true body, and experience an apparent sense of liberation through mutating themselves, looking at it and being able to recognise how ridiculous and distorted standards have become.(Marketing Babylon)

• Pepsi goes organic with new product lines at Whole Foods Market (SpinThicket)

• B.L. Ochman Yawns At Big PR Firms Getting Into "Social Media" (B.L. Ochman)

It seems that nowadays these two things can be easily emeshed and confused. On the one hand they are the same; affiliate marketing (word of mouth advertising) is when you recommend a product and are paid a commission if those you are marketing it to purchase the product and Flogs (fake blogs) are when the company, or someone they hire, post about the product (making a recommendation) and posing it in a positive light to increase sales. In both cases, neither the affiliate marketer nor the Flogger reveals that they are in some way being paid for what they are saying.

I see both sides of the issue on this one, as I use affiliate links on my beauty blogs. I may be in the minority, but I give honest reviews on every product I post about regardless of whether or not a good review could possibly earn me some cash. I certainly haven’t become rich using affiliate links, however there are plenty of Bloggers who have. While most of us never out and out say, “If you buy this product, I will earn a paycheck,” I do feel that it is obvious when I write about a product and upon clicking on the link it brings the reader to Amazon or a makeup store, that it is an affiliate related product. I also feel that most readers are aware of it. It isn’t said out loud, but the awareness is there.

As a Blogger, I see Microsoft’s gifting (via Edelman PR) of their Acer Ferrari laptop complete with Windows Vista to select Bloggers just another day in the world of “Review me” and word of mouth advertising in the blogosphere. Many don’t feel the same way, stating that it is outright bribery. The laptops received came during the height of the Holiday season and many Bloggers feel that these “gifts” are unethical. As I’m sure you know from my previous posts on this topic, I completely disagree. I'm so tired of self serving "reactive for ratings" Bloggers who don’t understand how product reviews work or think they have a right to scold companies or publicists for reaching out to hard working & respected Bloggers for reviews.

As, LongZheng, one of the Blogger’s on the receiving end noted, “Windows Vista is launching in 30 days.” My question is, why wouldn’t Microsoft want to create a buzz about a brand new product and operating system soon to launch among tech Bloggers? I understand why Microsoft did it, as I received Max Factor’s Volume Couture Mascara in the beginning of December. It is a product that would only become available this month. My job was to test it out and write a review. Obviously the company that sent it was hoping for a good review and to help generate the buzz about it prior to launch. The difference in the price tag of a bottle of mascara and a laptop is quite large, but it still doesn’t take away from the fact that companies want to find new ways of creating product buzz prior to and after a product is out on the market. By sending the laptop to only a select few Bloggers, generates even more buzz and you get the various views on how the system works from real people, not advertisers, using the product. Is it because this product to review had a high-end price tag? If Microsoft sent a $20 product, would those tech Bloggers still feel it was a case of bribery?

The Blogger’s were also told they could disclose that they were given the laptop, but they were not required to. They were told they didn’t have to blog about their experience using the laptop, but that the firm hoped they would. If I received the laptop, I would still feel the pressure to review it regardless if the firm sending it said it wasn’t necessary. Common sense says that they are sending it because they want it reviewed, not simply because they are being kind. However, it still wouldn’t impede on my honest review of the product. I understand the "pressure" or the feeling that you owe them something good (review). Drop the pressure and remember what journalists are supposed to do... report the truth as they experience it. You really just owe your readers the truth.

Bloggers: Be professional and human, don’t crucify a company for deeming you worthy of free products to review and own! You might want to mention professional reviews of technology are "loaned" products like MP3 players, TV's and electronics. They don’t get to keep them... they essentially are "on a tour" following the tech press circuit, like a rock-star. Honestly, if you’re a Blogger and you get to keep a product like that, the human thing to do is say thank you.

Companies: See my post on pimping products to Bloggers, as sometimes a company needs to learn how to approach a Blogger for the best results.

What do you think? If you receive free products from a company, do you feel the pressure to write a good review? Does it matter the price tag associated with the free product? Lend your thoughts in the comments.

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UPDATE: Journalist writer and blogger Ed Bott thinks the whole moral debate is unnecessary. “Everyone in the community wins when that person gets the chance to play with new technology.” He got a Ferrari 5000, and might auction it off for charity.

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UPDATE: Slashdot has labelled this a “bribe.” However unlike what they have claimed, these were not gifts. As it may happen to coincide with Christmas, it is important to note Windows Vista is launching in 30 days. It is nothing more than just good timing and coincidence.

I, however, wrote these as “Christmas presents,” only because it happens to coincide with Christmas. Officially, these were review PCs with the the options at upon completion of review to either send back to Microsoft, give away or keep indefinitely. This choice is solely at the discretion of bloggers.

While Disney succeeded in getting Spocko’s ISP to take his blog off the internet, having the issue go public brought attention to Spocko with Computer Tyme Web Hosting coming forward to host his blog. Spocko’s Brain is now live again.

In defense of Spocko and showing how the blogosphere can come together, other blogs began putting the audio clips in question on their blogs, as well as clips being uploaded to You Tube according to MediaPost. Will Disney go after each and every Blogger who posts the audio clips or will it create a firestorm of even more Bloggers posting the clips to show their support of Spocko?

Spocko has been successful in contacting advertisers of the KSFO radio show and getting a response. Some have promptly removed their commercials, while others are investigating Spocko’s complaints before removing their ads.

While the allegation over copyright of those audio clips still remains in dispute, the one thing that this event is proving is that Big Media has still yet to comprehend the power (and fortitude) of Bloggers.

Last year we saw many brands launching anti-wrinkle campaigns and going after the baby boomer market. Why not? After all, they were considered the largest demographic out there. However, we are only a month into 2007 and the tides are starting to change. Brands are beginning to turn their interests to the children of baby boomers and finding that they have money to spend with the potential for long-term brand loyalty.

This younger generation learned well from their mothers, I should know, my mother is 55 and I carefully paid attention to all of the brands she purchased throughout the years. I watched at how well my mother took care of her skin and in turn, I followed suit becoming a loyal customer to many brands. This is just what the beauty industry is betting on resonating throughout the 17-35 year old demographic.

Last year we really began to see big name brands participate with creditable, professional blogs. These blogs generate valuable supportive word of mouth advertising for brands. Still in its infancy, many did it wrong, such as the Wal-Mart and Sony PS3 flogs. While many did it right through advertising their products on blogs and social networks through BlogAds and Text Link Ads, as well as, viral marketing with You Tube and Revver and speaking directly to blog owners to review their products.

Moving forward and seeing the success that dual exposure in print publications as well as digital media can bring, Ogilvy & Mather has forged a partnership with Technorati to aggregate blog content relevant to Ogilvy clients, then will work with Ogilvy's senior creative directors to integrate existing word-of-mouth into campaigns, according to MediaPost. I have to agree with this statement in their article: “The benefit of social media is that it allows brands to build a more authentic, participatory relationship with its audience than was possible in the mass media era," said Peter Hirshberg, chairman and chief marketing officer at Technorati. Where print media can still be successful, I think the future success of brands lies within the relationship it can form with its consumers through online media such as blogs and social networks. It is, after all, the connection your consumer feels with your brand, that gives you brand loyalty, continued referrals and strong sales.

Make sure to subscribe to PROBE for our February issue and read tips direct from Pierce Mattie himself on how to get your beauty brand the exposure it deserves.

Super Bowl XLI takes place this Sunday when the Indianapolis Colts take on the Chicago Bears, but the spending and the hype have already begun. With 90 million people predicted to be watching the big game, half of which are women, electronic stores, grocery stores and yes, even florists and jewelry stores can expect an increase in sales this weekend.

According to Visa, sponsor of the NFL since 1995, florists and jewelry stores alone saw a 30% increase in spending on Super Bowl weekend in both 2005 and 2006. Visa suspects it is either consumers getting a jump-start on Valentine’s Day gifts or out of guilt from all of the spending on electronics and food for the big game. If this is the case, honey I would like those diamond earrings I have been eyeing up and I like Tulips not Roses.

Commercials this year continue to increase in popularity, especially with You Tube offering continued viral marketing and buzz by hosting SUPERVOTE. Not only will those watching the game be able to talk around the water cooler about which commercials they loved or hated, but they will be able to vote at You Tube giving advertisers some tangible data as to who was successful with their advertising campaign. Sports blogs and advertising blogs are also sure to keep the buzz going about which brand was most successful with their commercial. It will be interesting to see if anyone is collecting data on how much a brand’s sales increase due to all of the above.

A few months back I wrote about the mystery man trying to raise $2 million dollars for a 30-second ad spot during the Super Bowl so that he could propose to his girlfriend of five years. There were many skeptics out there, especially because he had to remain anonymous and no one knew if it was a hoax or the real deal, but then interviews on different television networks began showing up bringing legitimacy to the idea.

Once it seemed confirmed that it was a legitimate attempt at something extraordinary, there were many of us glued to the Super Bowl commercials just waiting to see the ad. MSNBC had even confirmed that the ad was going to take place and I refused to let my husband change the channel during the big game. When the ad never emerged, I felt duped, as did much of the blogosphere and the people who pledged up to $75,000 and another donating $10,000 in cash to try to help the mystery man known then as “JP,” achieve his super proposal dream. For days, MySuperProposal.com was offline and I scoured the internet looking for any word as to what the truth was.

With so many social networking sites beginning to dominate the internet, it’s about time there was one that had one main focus to bring people with the same interest together to connect and network. IQONS is to fashion what MySpace is to music. Created by Rafael Jimenez and Suran Goonatilake with co-mentor Diane Pernet, they bring experience to the table that will see this new social networking site blossom.

IQONS is the global social network where designers, fashion labels, magazine editors, models, stylists, fashion PR professionals, fashion enthusiasts and the like can connect and network with each other. IQONS only launched last month, but it is already building a presence online with 820 designers with an online profile. Through their profile you can get a more in depth look into who they are and browse through their “showcase.” A showcase is where you can upload your work for the rest of the network to see.

IQONS has a few ways that members can connect and promote their work through the site. Influential and highly respected fashion industry professionals, referred to as Iqons, review and comment on work showcased by members on the site; IQONS features one Iqon each month; they also give members 15 minutes of fame by spotlighting a member profile every hour on the hour. IQONS also creates projects with influential fashion industry professionals for members to take part in. The first one is with online fashion retailer Yoox.com for a design competition.

I think this a great way to network with others in the industry and I’ve already started to create a profile, or “Portrait” as they call it, there myself. If you are already on IQONS, tell us what you think of the site.

Every report that comes to my inbox each day continues to debate over the value of social media and Blogging and its effects on a brand’s value and reputation. Many question if big media, brands and PR firms yet understand the value and impact blogging has as an overall tool to facilitate communication with their target market (obviously we do). I have to wonder why it is taking so long for others to recognize this form of citizen journalism and taking advantage of its positive aspects to enhance a brand’s image.

There is no doubt that entering into the blogosphere is tricky from a PR and brand perspective and should be done with thought and caution, but nonetheless should be done. As we all know, many times we are met with skepticism and many times we approach blogging in the wrong way. There is one thing that links us with a common bond; respect. The Blogger wants respect, the PR firm expects respect and big media and brands demand respect.

Most industry professionals know that ad placement for publication in September beauty magazines, is the most crucial time for your brand to be seen. As online media continues to strengthen, now is a good time to come to understand how you can maximize your brand’s exposure through Blogging, viral marketing and digital magazines dually with ad campaigns in the leading print magazines. Print magazines and online media sell a relationship with its readers, as well as, an opportunity to reach them in a time of intense focus and receptivity.

Here are some Beauty PR tips that may help your brand stand out:

Understand your competition:
How you can understand your competition begins in their ad campaigns. What you can learn:

+ What magazines/blogs they are pitching their products to.
+ Which demographic they are going after and if it changes depending on the magazine/blog they advertise in.
+ Are they focusing on color, scent, packaging or trendiness?
+ What is their approach? Which key words are they using to get the readers attention?

Learning these key points helps you to decide how to better your current/future campaign with a product that may be along the same lines as your competitor or how to present the same type of product effectively in a different way.

Know The Trends:
Follow the editorial calendars of the books that you want your product or service to appear. The editorial calendars are often featured on magazine Web sites. These give advertisers, readers and writers a heads up regarding planned issue themes.

Even if your product wasn’t originally intended for a particular season or holiday, figure out how you can spin it to make it fit. Study your chosen publications, and determine the types of stories each of them seems to favor—then use them as starting points for your own ideas. Look for patterns, trends, and points of discussion. Pinpoint the best editor for your idea. If need be, call the magazine and ask which editor is best to contact, and how he or she prefers submissions (via e-mail or conventional mail).

Creating a relationship with beauty editors is also key and helps in knowing what beauty editors are looking for months ahead of time. It helps you to prepare your story line and potentially get your product before the eyes of your target audience.

Green Is Good:
One way a non-green brand can become part of the green trend is to donate to a green charity. Brands can do this by becoming a sponsor for a green event, such as Earth Day, or hold a promotion with a percentage of the proceeds going to a particular green charity. Don’t count yourself out simply because you are not organic.

Some campaigns to learn from:
+ Lancome & Carbonfund.org
+ Diesel & StopGlobalWarming.org
+ Bank of America & it's green initiative

Pro-age vs. Antiwrinkle:
If you have anti-wrinkle products, give them a makeover with new wording or new packaging. Breathe new life into them so that they lose the negative connotation that “anti” brings about. Use creativity in the words used on the products and in ad campaigns to promote a more positive feeling about aging when using your product.

Embrace The Concept of Blogging:
Stand out and begin a blog surrounding your brand. When Blogging remember to:

+ Come across as a source of information.
+ Be a problem solver.
+ Remember that Blogging is more about your customers needs than your own.
+ Build relationships with your readers.
+ Allow for interaction between your readers and your brand—keep your comments section open, but moderated to weed through the spam.
+ Be patient. Building readership and trust takes time. The average time for a blog to build a consistent loyal readership is 6 months.
+ Show your brand’s personality. No one wants to read a cold lifeless blog. They want warmth and a personal connection to the brand.

Mother’s Day is only a few short weeks away and happens to be, in my opinion, a day that all mothers look forward to for the pampering, the gifts and demonstrations of love by her family. With consumer spending for Mother’s Day gifts expected to be $15.73 billion, these last few weeks before the big day are a fantastic opportunity to get your brand noticed, especially online.

According to the National Retail Federation’s 2007 Mother’s Day Consumer Actions and Intentions survey, 20% of consumers are expected to do their Mother’s Day gift shopping online, which is a 3.1% increase from last year. Although the other 80% do their gift buying offline, many still use the internet to research and look for gift ideas. While Mother’s Day shopping and gift research typically begins at the beginning of April, far more consumers make their purchase much closer to the holiday, which occurs on May 13th this year.

By utilizing the internet to spread the word about your product(s) as great gift ideas for mom, your advertising costs will be much less versus commercial and print ads and more likely to spread the word faster due to viral marketing. A few ways to utilize the web to get your products before Mother’s Day gift searchers are:

Press Releases
Advertisements on targeted websites
Advertisements on targeted blogs
Promoting them to blog owners

Online press releases are great for search engine optimization and will quickly get you picked up by the likes of Google and Yahoo when consumers do an online search. Using keywords in the title of your press release is a key factor. Key phrases to use are “Mother’s Day gifts” and “Mother’s Day gift ideas.” Some online press release services are PR NewsWire, Send2Press and PRWeb Direct. You can also use these same press releases to email to blog owners, but make sure to include links to your products (if you have an online site) and pictures as well.

Many times when a news story breaks, Bloggers and online news sites scramble to bring targeted traffic to their site through their posts and purchasing keyword advertisements that will pop up when someone searches phrases on Google, Yahoo, MSN and other search engines. There are five things you can do to get a hold of targeted traffic, whether it be when a big news story breaks or anytime in between:

1. Use key phrases in your headline. Think like a person, but also think like a robot that searches the web for sites using those words. I like to use Overture’s Keyword Selector Tool, which allows me to type in specific words and then tells me how many times that word was used for a search the previous month.

2. Use keywords in the body of your article. Be specific and try to avoid general terms. For example, if you are writing about what the incident at Virginia Tech, don’t say “the gunman,” instead say, “Cho Seung-Hui, the Virginia Tech gunman.”

3. Use multimedia. On your website or in the body of your article, it is always beneficial to include video and audio media, as both have great viral potential. You can also publish the video you used to You Tube with it linking back to your story to generate traffic, but it also give others the ability to post your video to their own sites and help generate traffic for you.

4. Divide your content up into many specific topics with relevant links to other stories you have written. I use Word Press for one of my sites and utilize a plugin that automatically does this for me. If I am writing on a specific topic, it will automatically generate related posts at the end of my article. If the reader has landed on your site for that specific topic, they are more likely to click to other related stories you have written, therefore increasing page views and loyalty to your site as a trusted source of information. If you don’t have a plugin that can do this for you, it is easy to do manually simply by hot linking keywords in your article that link to those stories.

5. Provide the ability for the readers to subscribe to your site or bookmark it. For subscription, Bloggers should utilize a RSS feed service and websites can create an opt-in mailing list; this will generate built in traffic and loyal readership. Creating the ability to bookmark your site means those readers are more likely to return to your site when looking for information than to use the search engines and invest time into a search.

You've already created a Facebook sponsored group for your brand and your MySpace friend list reads like the white pages, so here's one new thing to add to your social media PR must-do list: Create a brand-specific social network on Ning.

Ning is a site where instead of just creating a page, you create a community with features like discussions, forums, and messaging. Instead of joining a myspace, you’re a creating a YOU-space, your own personal social network where brand-fans can upload their own content, blogs, videos, and pictures.

“We wanted to enable people to create their own worlds, not just join someone else's,” explains Ning founder and internet pioneer Marc Andreessen (he invented the first web browser) on his blog, blog.pmarca.com. “The more people learn what social networking makes possible, the more interested they will be in creating their own worlds, their own social networks, around every conceivable need and niche: their families, friends, cities, companies, start-ups, classes, hobbies, interests, political candidates, nonprofit activities, and so on.”

Another plus in Ning's favor is the ability for you to add RSS feeds so that you can update members of your network on any new content. Signing up is free and takes little time depending on whether you choose to use Ning’s templates or create your own fancier html code. You can also choose whether to make your network public or private.

According to Andreessen, 71,531 social networks have already been created with networks created by professionals and educators to MTV celebrity Kristin Cavallari, and the numbers keep on growing.

When it comes to creating truly customized social marketing, Ning's the thing.

Photo Credit: learnscience.net

Lemonade.com made its debut on the web last week, an e-commerce concept based on the old-fashioned values and money-making strategy of our youth. Sure there are several other e-commerce applications out there available at your fingertips, but Lemonade.com has a slight edge over them (by about 35 million people) with a notch in their belt as being the first and only e-commerce application that can be used on Facebook.

What it is:

A way to recommend and make money from showcasing products you love to those who read your blog, website, and social networking profile.

How Lemonade.com is different from the others:

* While most e-commerce applications only offer one revenue stream, Lemonade.com offers three: Commission sales, cost per acquisition and CPM. All three of these forms of revenue go into your revenue “pot” and you are paid 80% and Lemonade keeps 20%.

* Lemonade has over 200 retailers whose products you can choose from. Unlike other affiliate applications, you do not need to try to qualify for each retailer; if you are a Lemonade Stand owner, you are a guaranteed partner living up to their tagline “e-commerce for all.”

* Lemonade is family friendly with a language filter and no adult content; they hand pick products through a datafeed. So if you are targeting parents with your recommendations using their partner Drugstore.com and want to recommend various toys, you won’t bring up those “other” toys instead.

* A Lemonade Stand can raise funds for charity, which is reminiscent of Alex, the wonderful little girl from Pennsylvania who set up a Lemonade Stand of the non-virtual kind to raise money for cancer (including her own).

* Lemonade gives your stand exposure through its Marketplace. This helps boost your stand views and ultimately clicks on the products you recommend.

In Lemonade.com’s 1st week alone without any marketing, over 1100 stands were set up. I personally decided to give this a try and you can see it live on my blog, A Girl’s Gotta Spa.

What’s next for Lemonade.com:

* In the 4th quarter of this year, there will be new Stand sizes to choose from.
* In the 1st quarter of 2008, you’ll be able to customize your stand.
* By the end of the 2nd quarter in 2008, Lemonade.com will available on mobile phones as a “Stand in your hand.”

The concept around Lemonade.com is simple: creating a sense of familiarity from the Lemonade Stands of the past, but bringing it into the 21st century with a twist and a modern way of doing business.

Have you set up a Lemonade Stand? We’d love to hear your thoughts on it.

Whether you are a makeup artist, photographer, painter or designer, an online portfolio community has just launched to give you a space on the web to not only set up a clean, professional and rich online portfolio of your images, but to also give your work more exposure and a great way to network with like-minded industry talent. Dripbook.com came out of private beta yesterday to showcase all it has to offer to the world of visual arts.

Dripbook is equally appropriate to the fashion scene as the fine art scene to the underground youth art scene. Painters, photographers, stylists and illustrators are equally represented. Dripbook also serves as a survey of the visual arts world, allowing users and viewers to find great artwork around the world.

Alex Wright, a New York based music photographer, is the creative mind behind Dripbook. In designing Dripbook, he took on the challenge of creating a place where artists can upload and organize their art into books, no matter the genre (even if they cover various genres) without the hassle of understanding code and plugins that go along with designing a website for yourself. The interface is easy for both the user and viewer, in that the entire site is HTML and doesn’t require anything extra for the portfolio to be seen. All users have a splash page, a profile, their book page and a place where other artists can comment on their work. The site is very clean, well laid out and easy to navigate.

I believe we’ll start seeing more niche social networks such as Dripbook,