Every Marketer Should Spend the Week of Oct 3 in Boston
September 18, 2010
Every Marketer Should Spend the Week of Oct 3 in Boston
Boston has long been known for its world-class universities, and the talent that has come through those institutions has helped to drive the creation and innovation of some of the worlds best companies.
At HubSpot, we feel fortunate to be working in an area that houses the top marketing minds and leaders in the world. October 4-8 will bring marketers from all over the United States and beyond to Boston for FutureM, a week-long series of events that will discuss and educate attendees about the future of marketing. As part of FutureM, HubSpot will be hosting its first ever global user conference and is excited to be a part of the Inbound Marketing Summit and many other great events.
Here are just a few of the great FutureM events:
Oct. 4 at 12 p.m. GeoM – What’s New and What’s Next in GeoMarketing
Oct. 4 at 6p.m. Flying Cars are Here: The Futuristic Present of Marketing
Oct. 5 at 8 a.m. Shift Your Thinking, or Get Left Behind by your Consumers
Oct. 5 at 9 a.m. Social Media Marketing: The Future is Social
Oct. 5 at 8:30 a.m. HubSpot User Group
Oct. 6 and 7 at 8 a.m. Inbound Marketing Summit
Oct. 6 at 6 p.m. Analytics Schmanalytics: How Neuromarketing Will Change the Future of Marketing Analytics
Oct 6 at 6 p.m. How Will Gen Y Affect the Future of Marketing? Or You’re Screwed If You Dont Get With the Program
Oct. 6 at 6 p.m. The Future of Web User Experience
Oct. 7 at 7 p.m. Social Media Battles
Oct. 7 at 4 p.m. Marketing Lessons from the Grateful Dead an Ad Club Book Club Event
Oct. 8 at 9 a.m. Beyond Cause Marketing
These are only some of the amazing FutureM events, so we encourage you to check out the entire event calendar.
Come to Boston! Attend some of these amazing marketing events, and be sure to say hi to some HubSpotters while you are here.
Posted by Kipp Bodnar on Sat, Sep 18, 2010 @ 11:00 AM
Article source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/HubSpot/~3/ZzyR7_s08UM/Every-Marketer-Should-Spend-the-Week-of-Oct-3-in-Boston.aspx
Ustream and Zac Brown Band Team Up For First Multiview Concert Stream
September 18, 2010
Country music group the Zac Brown Band will be joining the ranks of Diddy and Lil Wayne this Sunday, September 19 when they become the next celebrities to team up with Ustream.
The band will stream a live show from Colorados Red Rocks Amphitheatre, and it will be the first time a concert streams using Ustreamustream
s new Multiview technology, allowing fans to choose which angles of the show theyd like to watch online.
Ustream says there will be five different cameras at the famed concert venue, as well as a mixed feed of the shots from those cameras, which means that there will be six different options for viewers to choose from during the show. The company developed the experience for the Zac Brown Band as its first partner, and representatives say others in the music industry have expressed interest in using the new technology.
Fans who choose to tune into the livestream will also be able to use Social Stream, a Ustream feature that will allow them to chat via TwitterTwitter
, FacebookFacebook, MySpaceMySpace and AIMaim
. Heres what it will look like:
The livestreamed concert, titled Best. Concert. Ever., is one way for the Zac Brown Band to promote its new album, You Get What You Give, coming out September 21. Users will be able to tune in starting 10 p.m. ET at the bands site or on their Ustream channel.
According to a statement on the bands website, frontman Zac Brown says this is the first time the group is reaching out to those fans who cant make it to the show. But other than that, its business as usual. When people come to our show, we want to blow them away every time. So for us, this is no different, Brown says on the site.
While this is a first for Ustream, multi-camera concert livestreams have been done before. YouTubeYouTube and Vevo kicked off a five-concert series with a New York City Arcade Fire show in August. It will be interesting to see how Ustreams service compares to the YouTube/Vevo pairing, and it will also be interesting to see if these multi-camera livestream events become standard parts of the music industry.
Have you ever tuned in to similar livestreamed concerts? How does it compare to the actual live experience?
Article source: http://feeds.mashable.com/~r/Mashable/~3/O6_nL6zeK7c/
Find and Redeem Location-Based Coupons on Your iPhone or Android
September 18, 2010
This post is part of Mashables Spark of Genius series, which highlights a unique feature of startups. The series is made possible by Microsoft BizSpark.. If you would like to have your startup considered for inclusion, please see the details here.
Name: Shooger
Quick Pitch: Shooger provides consumers with coupons and deals via SMS or mobile app.
Genius Idea: Even in todays checkin-centric world, research shows that when it comes to location-based apps, consumers really just want more mobile coupons. One way to get them is through Shooger.
Shooger is a mobile coupon platform that specializes in helping consumers find local and national deals on their mobile device. The service currently makes a free iPhoneiPhone
and AndroidAndroid
application (and soon BlackBerry) that antes up location-based coupons that shoppers can redeem right from their mobile phone.
As a Shooger user, you can browse and clip the coupons you like on the web or via mobile app logged in users can sync clipped coupons between web and mobile. You can also follow the merchants that interest you most to get a real-time deals feed to more quickly siphon through the apps thousands of deals. Shooger was also built with the social web in mind, so you can share the coupons you like with friends on FacebookFacebook and TwitterTwitter.
Just this week, Shooger introduced a way for business owners to add barcodes and QR codes to the mobile coupons it offers through the service. Business owners can leverage the upgraded functionality to track in-store redemptions, and even limit the number of redemptions per person. Right now this an iPhone-only feature, but barcode and QR code support is also coming to the Android app in the near future.
Most of Shoogers 100,000 plus coupons come from coupon companies such as Valpak, but the startup has engineered a pretty slick mobile experience that makes accessing, sharing and redeeming coupons while out and about a breeze. Plus, by introducing barcode and QR scanning functionality, Shooger is likely to attract more independent business interest from local retailers.
Image courtesy of For Inspiration Only, FlickrFlickr
Sponsored by Microsoft BizSpark
BizSpark is a startup program that gives you three-year access to the latest Microsoft development tools, as well as connecting you to a nationwide network of investors and incubators. There are no upfront costs, so if your business is privately owned, less than three years old, and generates less than U.S.$1 million in annual revenue, you can sign up today.
Article source: http://feeds.mashable.com/~r/Mashable/~3/hgj_UEFWIHg/
3 Steps To Your Own Social Web
September 18, 2010
Guest Blogger, Suzanne Roy is Lead Contributor with Tech Savvy Agent and Owner of V.A. Work, and has been working with Real Estate Agents throughout North America since 2002 initially as a virtual assistant, and more recently as a social media specialist, concentrating her efforts in assisting Real Estate Agents with blog design, content and syndication, custom Fan Page designing, keyword research and search engine optimization.
The World Wide Web (better known as www) is described by Wikipedia as a system of interlinked hypertext documents accessed via the Internet. Just less than 20 years ago, August 6th, 1991, was the official debut date of the www.
More recently, (over the past 6 years) Facebook, Twitter, Foursquare, Yelp and scores of other social networking sites have taken the World Wide Web to a completely different level; one that, without some strategic planning, can become, overwhelming in a split second.
Real Estate Agents have the ability to market themselves and their specific areas of expertise to millions of people through social networking and media sites taking their offline marketing (such as recipe postcards and local football team schedules) completely out of the picture Thank God! Oh, and without costing a penny either
So where do you begin to create your own social web? Well, the true heart to all your online marketing and social web integration has to start with your blog. No, not your website your BLOG. And not just any blog a self-hosted blog meaning one that you are in control over, you have the complete rights to, one that is a standalone site, and not embedded into another. Godaddy is an excellent option for getting this set up easily, since they have a direct link to WordPress blog hosting and can be linked to one of your purchased urls. But thats another post for another day
Integrating your social networking profiles with your blog allows you to have your own social web of content and information. Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIN are what make up the most dense population of eyeballs that will see your content and get traffic to your blog. So with this in mind, here is a step-by-step guide on how to make your own social web and get your information found consistently.
1. Self-Hosted Blog to Facebook Fan Page
Facebook has an encyclopedia full of applications that can be utilized on your Fan Page and, in this case, your blog. NetworkedBlogs is an excellent application which allows you to automatically upload your new blog content to your Facebook Fan Page with a simple process as shown in the video below:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rW84XruyPTI
2. Facebook Fan Page to Twitter
Utilizing the same Facebook application NetworkedBlogs you can link your Fan Page up with your Twitter account simply and effectively:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2JKpbwZtJ14
3. Twitter to LinkedIn
There are probably dozens of different ways to go about accomplishing having your Twitter account linked to your LinkedIn profile, but heres the easiest route we have found to make this circle complete:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZmriAbdGFxs
Now, when you post your daily blog (ok, weekly?!), your hyper-local content will be broadcast throughout these three massively trafficked sites with the simple push of the Publish button.
Article source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheFutureOfRealEstateMarketing/~3/cbxZUgyj278/
4 Free Google Tools You Must Use in Your Business
September 18, 2010
Guest Blogger Stephen Pacinelli has delivered presentations to thousands of REALTORS on the benefits of sales automation, social media, blogging and online marketing. Stephens strategies come first hand from some of the best Realtors around the country. Steve co-founded Tech Savvy Agent and helped build it from the ground up to provide the best technology and marketing information to REALTORS seeking the latest strategies and tools.
Lets face it, Google pretty much runs the Internet. It dictates where we go and what we see. So if I want to play nice with anybody, guess who its going to be.Google.
There are 4 indispensable tools that I feel everyone should be implementing in their current business. These tools are easy to get, and free, simply by going to google.com and signing up for an account on the upper right hand side of the page. Were going to start with the most basic, being your profile and touch upon some more advanced tools like, the Keyword Tool, Google Alerts and Analytics.
1. Google Profile
We cant control what appears on the first page of Google, right? Wouldnt it be great to at least know that a hand-typed profile and a nice looking bio created by you, would be guaranteed to appear on the first page? Well, guess what? We can do that by simply filling out your Google profile.
After getting your Google account, go to Google.com and click on Google Account Settings. You will see an empty profile screen on the upper left hand side. This is where you want to add some information, such as a short bio or other variations of your name. The information entered onto this screen is guaranteed to show up on the first page of Google (on the bottom) when someone searches for your name.
2. Google Alerts
The next important tool I would recommend is Google Alerts. The Internet is a wide open space for anyone to say anything. Do you know what people are saying about you? You spend a lot of time making sure your reputation is secure off-line. How about on-line? Under the Google Account Settings screen, look for the small yellow bell and click on the Alerts link. Key in your name here but be sure to put it in quotes as shown below, to lock your first name in with your last. Otherwise, in my case I would get notified of all Steves or all Pacinellis. Answer the next few questions and Google is now set up to send you an alert the second it finds any reference to your name on the Internet.
3. Google Analytics
Everyone has a website these days. But it seems as if only a small amount of agents are truly harnessing the power of their on-line presence. To do this, you need to have an understanding of your consumer and know what they liked most as well as what they didnt like or did not find beneficial from your website. Google Analytics to the rescue! This tool will compile and save data about your visitors on your site including location, time spent, pages visited, their entry page and exit page as well as a myriad of other statistics that will give you better insight to cater towards their needs. Google Analytics will work on almost any website and most reputable website providers will have a custom box to enter in the code that Google supplies. Simply find the Google Analytics button under the same Google Account Settings screen I referenced earlier.
4. Google Keyword Tool
In this blog post, we definitely saved the best for last. Knowing what your target audience is searching for on the internet can give you a competitive advantage in trying to meet the needs of this fickle group. Since Google knows where everyone is going, it keeps detailed information about what people are searching for on the Internet. This fantastic feature is the Google Keyword Tool. Any tech savvy agent that is looking for a good domain name, has a website or enjoys blogging will find this tool invaluable. The easiest way to take advantage of this free tool, is to Google Google Keyword Tool. The first entry to pop up is what you are looking for. Type a phrase into the space and instantly see the amount of searches completed for that phrase. This is a component that has limitless use, since knowledge is power in understanding consumer behavior in the real estate industry.
I hope you find these four tools as useful as we all do at Tech Savvy Agent. What are some other free tools are you using in your business?
Article source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheFutureOfRealEstateMarketing/~3/FL38so0TjcY/
Our Favorite YouTube Videos This Week: The Drama Edition
September 18, 2010
Had any epic meltdowns this week? You know, of the crying in your cube, trashing your computer, screaming at God variety?
Well, you little Drama Queen, you, then this weeks YouTube roundup has you covered. Thats right, the theme is: Drama.
Now stop torturing everyone with your anguished, anguished soul and go out into the sunshine. Breathe in the sweetness of nature. Dance into the loving arms of the impending weekend. Wander the avenues of your soul. Everything yes, everything will be all right (Probably).
- Karen Hartline: Dawson’s Creek was the show of choice in our sorority house. So much so that we turned off the house phone and told people to leave the living room for talking.
Will Joey choose Dawson? Is it Pacey? And [SPOILER] Jen dies??? - Erica Swallow: This kid obviously has issues of some sort.
- Brett Petersel:
I know I am going to get a lot of backlash for this: I never saw The Godfather Part I or II. Life goes on, people, life goes on. My parents took me to see this wreck of a film back in the day (1990). I’m not a great actor (some of my ex-girlfriends might dispute this) but this one scene in the film had us crying (tears of laughter, that is). To this day my family still talks about this one part of the film when Mary Corleone (played by Sofia Coppola) is shot. She mutters the word “Daddy” to Al Pacino’s character, Don Corleone, and then slumps to her death on the steps outside. Both the faces and screams of those around her made it very implausible. Lucky for us, Sofia Coppola has not been in front of the camera many times since, but she has both produced and/or written such films as Lost In Translation and The Virgin Suicides. - Radhika Marya:
There’s nothing like your first love, teen angst, unrequited love and slow motion shots set to earnest rock. THIS is drama. - Ben Parr: So what if everybody’s seen it already? Dramatic Gopher FTW!
- Sarah Kessler: My grade school went with Hansel and Gretel…
- Brenna Ehrlich: If Cera used the Meisner Method, it would mean he has no soul.
- Brenna Ehrlich: Last night there was a tornado in my hood. I reacted a little less strongly than these dudes.
image courtesy of iStockphoto, Choreograph
Article source: http://feeds.mashable.com/~r/Mashable/~3/kLSWoxGND7A/
Flash vs. HTML5: Adobe Weighs In
September 18, 2010
Much has been written about the next wave of web technologies, namely HTML5, JavaScript and CSS3. A big part of this conversation has surrounded the impact that these new technologies will have on older technologies like Adobes Flash.
Weve written a lot abut the HTML5 vs. Flash war, primarily in the context of Flashs use in mobile and Flash as a video wrapper. I personally have taken the position that at least when it comes to mobile devices, Flash is at a disadvantage in terms of its abilities and capabilities when compared to newer technologies that can better harness hardware and software optimizations.
Adobe, understandably, has a different position. It believes that Flash and HTML5 can exist side-by-side and that each has its own set of strengths and weaknesses. I had a chance to talk to Paul Gubbay, Adobes VP of design and web engineering, about HTML5, Flash, the emerging mobile landscape and how Adobe fits into this new world.
The world of technology moves really, really quickly. To give you an idea of just how fast things can move, when I started working on this piece last month, Apple was still anti-Flash as an IDE for iOS development and Adobes set of HTML5 authoring tools was limited to Dreamweaver.
In the last week and a half, Apple has updated its developer guidelines and Adobe has issued an HTML5 add-on pack for Illustrator CS5.
I point out these recent changes because it indicates just how fast this industry is moving and that speed, inevitably, can impact the choices that designers, developers and end-users end up making.
How Adobe Sees HTML5
The mobile web is exploding. Ive often compared what we are seeing happen on smartphones with the micro-computing revolution of the 1980s, only at a much faster pace. Adobes Paul Gubbay agrees, and he thinks we are witnessing a rebirth of sorts of the web.
For Adobe, a company that has made its name in creating tools and technologies to drive digital creativity forward, this is exciting. As a technology company, this kind of movement in any direction is interesting to us because of the opportunities it affords us, say Gubbay. Here too, Adobe sees lots of opportunities because of the real focus on mobile.
When asked where Adobe sees HTML5 and CSS3 are headed, Gubbay pointed out that there are several areas where these new technologies really make a lot of sense:
- Doing more with design like CSS3 and rounded corners
- Doing more on mobile and making it more efficient
- The emerging design and interactivity space that has typically had more of a Flash or JavaScript focus
- Making mobile interactive as in the case of iAds and other advertising platforms.
However, Adobe still doesnt see HTML5 as a catch-all for every project. Gubbay and I discussed that while there are lots of great looking one-off HTML5 or CSS3 demonstrations, in many cases, these are proofs of concept and not ready to be used in real projects.
Googles Chrome Experiment with Arcade Fire is actually an exception in this space. What makes that experiment and presentation so great is that it is useful, it works, and it is a complete project. Its not a one-off example. Its real world.
Still, even when these experiments do have real-world uses, the reality is HTML5 isnt always optimized for all environments. You need not just the latest browser (or latest version of a specific browser), you need enough RAM and enough resources on your computer. These are CPU and GPU intensive tasks.
As a result, even on the iPad and iPhone, not all HTML5 or CSS3 demonstrations will work as well as they should. This is a very real limitation that will eventually get better, but it needs to be taken into consideration.
Where Adobe Sees Flash
On the other hand, because Flash has years and years of tooling and frameworks and a robust ecosystem behind it, it remains a viable choice for many implementations. When building an RIA designed for the desktop, in most cases, Flash does make more sense. Not only is it more capable, the performance is usually going to be better.
However, we should note that on mobile, this isnt always the case. Even with Flash 10.1 for Mobile, Flash content needs to be optimized for mobile devices. Flash video and Flash animation designed for the desktop doesnt really work the same way on mobile platforms.
Developers need to re-configure and re-optimize those projects and specifically target mobile devices.
Why Not Just Use HTML5 for Mobile?
I asked Gubbay, why should developers especially when targeting mobile devices use Flash at all? If they have to re-target for mobile devices, why not just rebuild in HTML5?
Gubbay said that it becomes a decision based on budget and the desired level of richness. For some developers, making the jump to HTML5 makes more sense. If the bulk of your visitors are going to be accessing content from an HTML5-enabled smartphone, HTML5 may be the better choice.
Likewise, for consumer video or smaller-scale productions, using HTML5/H.264 or Web-M to encode content and play it directly through the web browser may make more sense than using Flash Video for Mobile.
However, for developers who need to provide DRM, efficiencies in services, or do more elaborate masking, Flash is going to be the better bet.
In other words, its all about what a project needs. Still, even with Flash as a now accepted IDE for iOS development, for web applications, HTML5 is clearly at an advantage for more device types.
How Adobe Wants to Approach the Market
Gubbay made it very clear to me that Adobe listens to its customers and that the company wants to provide them with the tools that they need. If that means Flash or Flex or Adobe Air, great. If thats HTML5, thats a space Adobe wants to invest in too.
Adobe has already released some add-on packs for Dreamweaver CS5 and Illustrator CS5 that add in HTML5 support. I asked Gubbay if Adobe had plans for an HTML5-specific authoring tool and he couldnt comment.
On the side of Flash, if Adobe could find a way to utilize some of the existing support, frameworks and tools that have been built around ActionScript and help users move more fluidly to jQuery, HTML5 and other technologies, I think the company could have a winner.
An HTML5-specific authoring tool, as an example, that isnt an add-on, but can integrate using Bridge with other Adobe apps to take advantage of scripts and actions developed around Flash could be really helpful.
Furthermore, making more mobile specific Flash development tools that are better tuned to mobile devices so that new content created in Flash is mobile rich, is something I definitely expect to see Adobe invest in.
So Where Are We Now?
Were at a cross-roads of sorts in terms of web technologies. The new wave of technology is here; its developing quickly and innovations are happening all of the time. On the flip side, there are still hundreds of millions of users that are using browsers and devices that arent necessarily ready for those tools.
After speaking with Adobe, its clear to me that the company does want to offer solutions for both sets of developers. I was impressed with the companys candor in discussing mobile and the admission that Flash on mobile isnt quite there yet.
Going forward, we see Flash as continuing to be a great tool on the desktop, but on mobile and on other platforms, HTML5 is coming up fast. Adobe has no plans to sit this one out, and we fully expect to see more solutions from the company.
For current developers, sadly, making the decision to go Flash or HTML5 is still going to be difficult. Its still at the depends on the project stage. For video and mobile content, HTML5 is winning. For more rich and interactive content, Flash has a huge advantage that isnt going to be displaced anytime soon.
These uncertainties aside, this is an exciting time to be a web user, web developer or web designer.
More Dev Design Resources from Mashable:
– HOW TO: Get Started with HTML5 Boilerplate
– 5 Cross-Platform Mobile Development Tools You Should Try
– 15 Developer/Hacker Women to Follow on Twitter
– 10 Tools for Distributed Developer Teams
– 11 Delicious TextMate Themes for Designers and Developers
– 7 Awesome CSS3 Techniques You Can Start Using Right Now
Article source: http://feeds.mashable.com/~r/Mashable/~3/cXxrL4syI9s/
Jing Project – Screen Capture Made Easy
September 18, 2010
Guest Blogger Chris Smith is the Co Founder of Tech Savvy Agent, which recently won Inman News prestigious Most Innovative Blog in Real Estate for 2010. Tech Savvy Agent provides bite-sized tech and social media tips daily for real estate agents as well as interviews with industry leaders.
Believe it or not the Print Screen button on your keyboard actually used to fire up the printer! With the evolution of technology and cloud computing comes a myriad of useful tools and one that I highly recommend all real estate agents download is called Jing.
If you are not currently leveraging a screen capture tool for your real estate business you are really missing out. Tech Smith is the company that first introduced us to Snag It, which many agents have come to know and love. The downside of Snag It is that it comes with a bit of a learning curve that most Realtors are not looking to push through.
Enter Jing: Also by Tech Smith, Jing simplifies the art of screen capture/sharing and has really big and easy to use buttons, which makes using it daily to help improve your marketing doable for all tech skill levels. Jing has the ability to capture both simple images as well as video screen capture and has been one of the most well received tips that I have given out over the last year.
The beauty of Jing is in the simplicity. Once you have downloaded Jing there will be a small sun that will appear at the top of your screen. When you hover over the sun it extends and allows you to then easily crop out the part of the screen you want to focus on. Where Jing takes it to the next level without becoming overly complicated is in that you can easily overlay text boxes and arrows. These calls to action will really spruce up the look and feel of your marketing and can also help to increase your lead conversion. In the example below I show a standard map view of an IDX and also one where I have used Jing as a way to speak with the visitor on my site or blog. Can you see a difference? Both were taken using Jing, but by leveraging their easy to use editing tools I was able to really make option #2 stand out and thus convert more visitors into contacts.
Option #1 Simple Screen Capture
Option #2 Screen Capture with Quick Editing
As you can see the 2nd option really pops off the screen and also tells the consumer exactly what the next step is, in this case to contact you! Another useful tip would be to include any social media sites so that consumers can connect with you there if they prefer.
The basic Jing is a free download which can be used to create images, screenshots and video for your website, blog, direct mail and anything else you plan on putting in front of potential prospects. Once you have cropped and edited the image you simply save it to your computer and can add it any- and everywhere. Jing works for both Mac and PC users.
As is becoming commonplace with software applications, there is also an upgraded version available called Jing Pro. If you find yourself using the free version regularly it could be worth a minimal investment of $14.95 annually. The additional features include one button push of your newly created content to both Facebook and YouTube. Jing Pro also reduces the size of the files that you capture which helps a ton with load speeds of the videos and images once they are placed on your website.
Check out the video below to see Jing in action. I feel Jing is a great addition to any Realtors computer. What are some of your ideas for how to use this tech savvy tool?
Article source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheFutureOfRealEstateMarketing/~3/x4zCqwxmPwo/
Real Estate Advertising Humor
September 18, 2010
Guest blogger Tina Merritt is a Realtor and Real Estate Trainer in Virginia and recipient of NARs Realtor Technology Spotlight Award.
Weve all been in this situation: you just listed a property and are desperately searching for something.anything.positive to say about the property in an ad designed to entice a buyer. Thanks to the Department of Mathematics at Washington State University and the ConstructionDeal.com Blog for their definitions of real estate terminology.
I have a few of my own to share:
Feel free to comment and add your definitions. Have a great weekend and thanks for reading my posts this week!
Article source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheFutureOfRealEstateMarketing/~3/RN9tgp62Ypk/
