This month on the Webinar Series, we were privileged to welcome one of one of the leading consultants in social engagement and online reputation management, Craig Agranoff.  He has worked with many Internet start-ups and founded the tech blog sCommerce.com and Rev2.org.  Craig is the author of two books: Do It Yourself Online Reputation Management and most recently, Checked-In: How To Use Gowalla, Foursquare and Other Geo-Location Applications For Fun and Profit.

The topic of the webinar addressed the topic of location-based marketing through mobile devices. There were a number of great takeaways that came out of the content, plus a few that we weren’t able to fit into the sixty minute time slot. I wanted to pass along some of those items, but be sure to go back and check out the recording for the full rundown.

• The latest study by Pew Research says that 72 percent of American adults use their mobile phones for text messaging (that number jumps to 87% for teens).
• The average e-mail open rate hovers around 15% while the average SMS open rate is close to 90%.
• The foursquare business development team recently wrote a post sharing various example of how participating companies are truly cashing in on the platform to cultivate customer loyalty and continual drive traffic to their establishments. One that stands out – Starbucks has seen a 50% increase in check-ins at its locations simply by running a $1 off incentive – 50 %! That’s pretty impressive even for Starbucks who is already the most checked in retailer on the foursquare platform.
• Foursquare has over 5.6 million venues listed, receives over 1 million check-ins a week, and gets 13k new users a day!  Gowalla comes in at just over 1.4 million venues and 1,370 newcomers each day.

So, what’s my point? Look at these numbers and the potential reach of those that are in the different networks. Word spreads fast among communities and simple incentives can encourage people that may not be your typical customer or consumer to explore new territory. People use location-based applications for numerous reasons.  Some use it to find people, some to get badges or points, but many use them specifically for special offers/coupons and local tips. Think of it as a way to track someone’s personal history of places, then get creative and capitalize on their behaviors.

Has your company started using mobile marketing to reach customers? What have your successes been? What are the pitfalls? Share your thoughts below.

Simone has been involved with both the sales and marketing teams at ReadyTalk and currently fills the role of Programs Coordinator and  manages the monthly ReadyTalk Webinar Series, which is a free  forum for professionals to interact with their peers and other experts on topics ranging from sales and marketing to nonprofits and funding to leadership and professional development. Simone is an outdoor enthusiast – skiing, climbing, triathlons, and trail runs with her dog, Bucket, are just a few of the things she enjoys outside of the office.

How are Facebook ads different than other forms of advertising and what should you do to capitalize upon that?

What are the 5 most effective techniques in managing your Facebook page so that it gets traffic and conversions?

How do you measure the ROI of your Facebook marketing efforts and justify this to others within your marketing organization?

What are the first critical steps you must take in setting up your Facebook page if you don’t already have one?

Dennis Yu of BlitzLocal and Justin Kistner of Webtrends will cover these questions, as well as questions from the audience in a free 60 minute seminar on Wednesday, October 27th.  Register here for Facebook Marketing Secrets:

In a former life, I ran a sponsored webinar program for an analyst firm and we relied on extensive promotion of on-demand recordings to meet our lead generation targets. So, I could feel the pain and frustration of Webinar Success’ Ken Molay when I read his recent blog post that described his first-hand experience with a recording vulnerability in GoToWebinar that resulted in the unrecoverable loss of an important webinar recording.

Since Ken’s post, we’ve fielded a lot of questions about our own recording functionality. ReadyTalk users can rest assured that (as always) their recorded content is safe and accessible. I also wanted to take this opportunity to highlight a few things that make ReadyTalk’s recording and playback functionality unique:

Immediate Access – With a few clicks of the mouse or commands on the telephone keypad, your ReadyTalk recording is initiated and stored to our servers. As soon as your conference ends, you can immediately access your recording file through the Manage Recordings interface in Conference Center. No waiting around for your conferencing vendor to make the recording available for use.

Easy (and Undo-able) Editing– With our easy-to-use recording editor, you can quickly cut out unwanted content from the beginning, middle, or end of your recording to create a polished and professional playback. Uh oh … made a mistake? Don’t worry – it happens! We always keep the original version of your recording so you can undo one or more edits with the push of a button.

Industry-Standard File Formats – What good is a conference recording if it’s locked away in a proprietary file format? At any time, you can download your ReadyTalk recordings in up to four industry-standard formats (Flash, high-resolution .MP4, .MP3, and .WAV). Once you download, you can edit your recordings using your favorite third-party editing tool, store them on your own servers, and distribute them as you wish.

No Downloads for Viewers – Unlike some conferencing services, ReadyTalk doesn’t make your audience download a special player to view your recordings. Whether you embed your ReadyTalk recording in a blog, social media site, or other website or simply share the playback link, viewers can watch a high-quality replay of your recording with a single click. No downloads required (as long as they have Flash 9.0.28 or higher).

ReadyTalk knows how important your recordings are and we’ll make sure they are always there where, when, and how you need them. We’re also committed to making our recording and playback features even better. Tell us what else would you like to do with your ReadyTalk recordings …

The recording interface makes it easy to edit and share recordings immediately after a webinar.

As Director of Product Marketing, Anita is focused on talking to customers about their needs and translating these into priorities for the ReadyTalk product roadmap. Before joining ReadyTalk, she gained first-hand experience with the challenges of running a webinar program while serving as director of marketing at an IT analyst firm. When she’s not thinking about conferencing, she likes to do yoga and spend time with her dogs.

I just read, RIP, the Press Release (1906 – 2010)—and Long Live the Tweet, in which Simon Dumenco discusses why he feels the press release has been replaced by tweets. The article is especially timely since I have two press releases to write today. Perhaps in the celebrity world press releases should be retired. After all, I don’t need to read 300 words on a celebrity’s recent escapades if it can be shared in 180 characters. But, I definitely don’t think the press release is dead for the rest of the world; here’s why:

Regulatory filings: Let’s get this one out of the way. It’s a gimme. As long as it is required for public companies to publish a press release about regulatory filings, press releases will continue to exist.

Reporters and the media: Yes, reporters and bloggers have turned to Twitter to find stories and sources, but they still want a single document with the facts.

Information seekers: Looking at site traffic, people still go to newsrooms looking for information about the company and to read press releases. If people are looking for it, then there must still be some value.

SEO and organic search: Posting a press release on a website adds content to the site, which is crawled by the search engines. This can help with search rankings. Additionally, distributing press releases on a wire, such as PRNewswire, can lend to externally sites linking back to your site, which helps a lot for SEO. If you’re looking for more information on SEO, check out Integrating Public Relations with SEO Strategies by Sarah Skerik of PRNewswire. The article has great tips for how to optimize your content, including press releases, to help with rankings.

While the press release isn’t going away, it is changing. It’s shorter (or should be). There is less space for and time spent on crafting perfect quotes for executives. Overall, I’d say that press releases are evolving with a continued focus on clear, concise writing with a focus on getting the facts out.

Has your company moved away from press releases? Do you still use them? How would you like to see them change?

We recently kicked off the summer Webinar Series, The Evolution of Conferencing, and are excited for part two this month. We’ll be addressing the case of the multi-tasking marketer. If you’re part of a marketing team, you fully grasp the concept of ever-looming deadlines and repeat fire drills. It’s all in a day’s work. But, as the workplace continues to adapt to a changing landscape, marketers have become more efficient with their time by implementing tools that can ease the load and dovetail some of these duties into an effective work-flow. This comes as a benefit not only to the one completing the task but also the team, customer or prospect who is directly impacted by the project.

So, give me an example, you say. Well, consider your conferencing platform. You’re not just using it for remote meetings these days. It’s likely to function in a number of ways – training, demos, collaboration, web events, podcast series and more. This is what we mean by ‘multi-tasking marketer.’ Responsibilities that span a range of projects, all with the end goal of providing qualified leads to the sales organization and meaningful content to those evaluating your service or product.

Multi-tasking has become a habit for most – some are able to manage it in a productive manner, others may still need some guidance (self included). This new series is focused on how conferencing continues to adapt to the frequent advancement of the hundreds of other technology platforms we use everyday to get our work done as marketers. From social media integration to campaign monitoring tools that allow for tracking and reporting, web conferencing continues surprise many with it’s new and innovative uses. We hope you can join us for the upcoming event (we promise it will be well worth your time, plus it doesn’t cost you a thing!) In the mean time, check out this free whitepaper download with tips on choosing the best provider for your needs and tools to consider that  may help you validate your multi-tasking habits.