Since 2005 and the rise of the “Web 2.0″ term from O’Reilly, technology has been leading the Internet with new opportunities with companies charging into content streaming and download (Youtube, Joost, FFWD, iTunes, Vuze for example) and social networks (Bebo, FaceBook, MySpace, LinkedIn, Second Life, Habbo Hotel, …). But for about 1 year another groundswell has started. Thanks to or due to, the fact is social media has kicked off a new way of thinking for the Internet, and more globally has set up a new way of working for companies. Stepping back a moment to get the big picture, here are some takeaways from the web 2.0 thing for marketing and communication. Read More

Gasoline price rising and loss of $15,5 billion in the second quarter have pushed GM to move forward and try new things. And the new thing is the relaunch of the social media strategy with the release of the new GMnext.com platform. Featuring executive blogs, consumer generated content, and social media tools (like Twitter and Youtube), the so-called social platform aims at targeting young car buyers. This is the context. But GM is missing the important part of the way it works with social media … Read More

During the automobile conference in Paris, Le Mondial de l’automobile, the French car maker Citroën has unveiled their new car prototype. In order to target more accurately their car design fan consumer, the French company has decided to work with the developers team of Gran Turismo 5, a PS3 game, to showreel their new design ability using the 3D engine that would be used for the game. A really interesting move from the car maker. Read More

Facebook hit the 100 million users bar, the Internet Advertising Bureau not providing any new way to monetize the web, guidelines for Bloggers to manage their relationship with PR (and opposite), Digg being innovative, a case study that prove small & medium business have to leverage social media to make more profits. Now the links. Read More

Marketing has found a new way to go faster using the Internet. Digital Marketing as some say, or M@rketing as I prefer to define it. Because what’s changed isn’t that much than a change from a “a” to a “@”. Why? Direct marketing is still the same, only using faster way to hit consumers. Consumer relationship management has not changed. We still get in our mails and emails the same informations. And other parts of the marketing haven’t been deeply transformed by the Internet. Basically that’s not a trouble. If we’re interested in it, we just have the message faster. And if not willing to receive marketing content, we can also switch as fast as it comes into our inboxes (or unsubscribe most part of the time in one click). But you marketers, just don’t think Social media marketing is just another buzzword for micro website campaigns. That would only put you in front of some trouble in front of your boss and consumers. Read More

Silicon Valley Watcher is providing us with an “Intel insider” video of Sean Maloney speaking about status of marketing and new challenges marketing guys have to deal with. The Intel major issue is how to manage and adapt marketing strategies to so many countries with so different cultures, and the move to online marketing. It would have been interesting to hear from him a bit more about how he engage Intel with consumers and what kind of key performance indicators he uses to measure the impact of his global strategies. That are important topics any corporation is already facing since the Internet makes the world become a one-click village. Read More

Twitter is like the hype itself since its launch. Everybody’s using it and this webservice smells like there’s some great opportunity integrating it into communications planning and marketing strategies. But how can 140-words text improve brand reputation? What is the return on investment of such an application for brands and above all how can it become a competitive advantage using it? Not so easy to answer but after some use you’ll discover Twitter is more useful and engaging that you may think, but only if associated with a blog and social media activity (see this post regarding social media activity). Read More