Avoiding the Astroturf and Getting Tagged

AstroTurfing (verb)

Trying to boost one's image online with fake comments, paid-for reviews, made-up claims and testimonials.
Attempting to disguise false engagement by having employees pretend to be customers.

See BusinessWeek article #4

Out-of-the Box Social Media

"One huge Festival photo. A whole load of tags." Using Facebook connect, the Glastonbury Festival has been able to reach new levels of connection within social media by allowing people who attended this event in the UK a second chance to reconnect with the organizers. Marketers, be prepared to see more and more large-scale tagging as this photo has gone viral amongst attendees and the internet. Over 4,300 people have already been tagged and some rumor this is the "most tagged" photo in existance.

YouTube Video of the Month

Applying a decal to a laptop is as simple as peel and stick, right? Wrong! I quickly realized there was a science to it when I received my MacStyle decal in the mail along with long and wordy directions. I am a visualizer and learn best by watching so when I saw that there was a short 3 minute "how to" video, I was all on it. If you have a product that requires a little bit of skill to use, consider using YouTube to post a simplified "How To" for your customers. And work it like MacStyle - include catchy background music and a promo code for repeat purchases.

Most Impressive Marketer

Dan Zarrella is noted "social media scientist" at HubSpot who recently hosted a webinar on the Science of Facebook Marketing. I wanted to connect with him on Twitter post-webinar so I searched for Dan Zarella (an accidental misspelling) and was pleasantly surprised to see a profile directing me to the correctly spelled Dan ZarRella - with two R's.
Have a difficult to spell name or brand name? Stay two steps ahead of your audience with ownership of misspelled website URLs and social media profiles pointing in the right direction.

Knock Your Socks Off InfoGraphic

Every marketer wants to find the best place to connect with their target audience, especially social media marketers who have hundreds of social sites available to converse with their peeps. I have selected the Social Media Demographics: Who’s Using Which Sites? for this month's infographic because it gives some insightful stats as to which demographics (gender, age, education level, and income) are using which social medias.

Courtesy of Flowtown