Daily Archives: July 20, 2009

GroupExclusives.com launches as a new RFP service facilitating visibility of hoteliers to collegiate, youth, amateur and association sports travel planners. In addition to facilitating the teams hotel needs the site offers meal solutions in both hotels and restaurants. Combined with the Memory section of the site, athletes, fans, parents and friends can both create and share Memories as they happen and for years into the future.

GroupExlclusives.com allows hotel sales professionals that are interested in sports team group travel to get in front of their target audience when they are ready to buy and gain the competitive advantage. “The launch is just in time for the upcoming fall sports season,” says Jimmy Legg, Founder of GroupExclusives.com.

Jimmy Legg explains, “The concept has been in the works for over five years now, it remains important to me that the site be fun and heavily interactive via our Memories function of social networking, however, still offer value to both users and members. Creating a website that combines these elements is important to the entire community as well as growth and longevity.”
There are many social networking concepts that have arrived over the past few years, however, the model to generate revenue has remained elusive to their creators. I feel confident this model will quickly overcome this elusive concept by offering level of value to the members as well as users not found anywhere on the internet today. Combining a true business need with the excitement and visibility of our Memories, will create social and corporate network of buyers and more importantly, create buyers.”

The sites Memories feature presents a unique social networking function specifically for athletes and fans, hotels become associated with all the fun and exciting blogs, videos and pictures associated with the sports that they do business with. As more users create Memories, the ranking of that hotel in that city becomes more predominate in their listing based on number of Memories associated with their hotel. Interested sports travel planners can review hotels based on popularity as well as view specific Memories of previous teams.

“Introducing hotels nationwide to this exciting new technology is the first step in creating an endless and exclusive library to benefit your business. Near term future phase rollouts will bring GroupExclusives enhancements as well as World Memories associated with industries beyond hospitality. The value to members is very good now, however will become increasingly valuable as new phases are introduced,” remarks Legg.

GroupExclusives members can also enjoy another first for the internet, the restaurant RFP tool. Traveling sports teams can also plan meals for their athletes both in hotel restaurants as well as surrounding nearby eateries at their destination. Restaurants listed by hotels become recommended destinations to resolve the nutritional needs of the traveling athletes. The truly new approach of this function is that the restaurants that are added to the database range from small family owned establishments to large chains. Restaurants can create a comprehensive website to display their menu as well as participate in the RFP process for teams. Sports team nutritionists can upload a specialized, nutritional menu to receive the most competitive bid to feed their hunger team mates.

The Memory section brings all these elements together. From the team travel planners Personal Travel Dashboard, they can create an entire social networking site, in one click, associated and dedicated specifically with that trip or game.

The Memory section is simple to use and can accommodate a small team of seven or eight athletes to literally tens of thousands. Colleges, universities, high schools, amateur and association sports groups can now plan a hotel stay and meals in one serach as well as document the entire experience with the combined memories of all the participants.

About GroupExclusives.com:
Benefiting Team Sports Travel Planners
GroupExclusives.com is America’s first group travel planning tool designed specifically for Collegiate, Youth, Amateur, and Association team sports travel planners. Now anyone who handles team sports travel arrangements can research competitive rates for group travel to hotels and restaurants without being a meeting professional. Our database gives team sports travel planners a direct connection with potentially thousands of hotels and restaurants throughout the United States.

You can search for hotels or restaurants surrounding a specific college, theatre, convention center, museum, parks, fairgrounds, or simply by city or state. Once you have identified that perfect fit for a hotel or restaurant, you can send requests directly to the sales managers at those locations. Our unique and exciting website allows sports travel planners to negotiate the best cost savings deals for one or multiple occasions.

Benefiting Hotels and Restaurants
Having a hotel profile or restaurant profile in the Group Exclusives database is an easy way to instantly increase your opportunities for increased revenue from the college and youth team sports market.
Over 30,000 hotels and 130,000 restaurants surrounding the 2,200 colleges and universities across the nation are being invited to be part of Group Exclusives database. Hotels and restaurants will draw from an additional customer base of college and youth athletes, their friends, family, and school athletic directors. Restaurants can also offer customized meal services through Group Exclusives. Coaches can plan meals for their teams while on the road and upload custom menu requests for the athletes.

Social Networking with Memories Function
In addition to being able to receive bids from hotels and restaurants, Group Exclusives also offers a unique feature we call Memories. Create in one simple click, your personal Memories website for each trip, allowing all your guests to connect with each other, RSVP online, blog, upload pictures, and post videos of their special game or occasion. Everyone can participate in your personalized Memories page and your site is visible to the world.

Each Memories page is stored indefinitely, so you can come back and visit your specific Memory for years to come. Imagine visiting your personal Memory Page for that great high school football game years after college graduation. Create your own history of Memories over the years by adding links to your personal page, compiling years of pictures, videos and teammate comments.

Over 50 percent of marketers look to social media as a key way to build brand awareness, create conversation, and gain consumer insights. The Ritz London, a long-time leader and innovator in guest relations, is stepping into this dynamic terrain of communication and engagement. The legendary luxury hotel has selected TravelCLICK’s new Social Media Optimization (SMO) service to help grow awareness and community, increase web traffic and search rankings, and deliver more connections with guests worldwide.

TravelCLICK’s SMO service offering takes the mystery out of social networking by providing a personalized strategy that targets the most appropriate sites–based on the hotel’s target guest demographics. TravelCLICK’s award-winning digital marketing team will work with The Ritz London to build the right social network presence, leveraging user-generated content across all media, from blogs to guest review sites and rich digital viral content such as video and targeted promotions, to deliver fresh, relevant content. Facebook will be used for providing news about special events and promotions, offering London travel tips, and engaging fans and guests. Twitter will serve as a conduit for last-minute promotions, customer relations, and guest feedback.
Recent global news events, such as contested elections and celebrity passings, reflect more than ever the power of social sites as real-time virtual news bureaus. The ability for consumers–on a tremendous scale–to engage businesses directly in very public two-way conversations is rapidly redefining traditional customer relations and marketing communication models. Hotels that leverage this opportunity will benefit from the unfiltered feedback and insight from guests.

“Our partnership with TravelCLICK has already enabled us to increase our guest base and drive substantial revenue for our property,” said Ruth Jones, Director of Marketing for The Ritz London. “Their proven expertise in hotel Internet marketing has enabled us to focus on the heart of our business, our guests. And now, with SMO, we can begin our next evolution of customer engagement. Social sites are a perfect forum for feedback on our brand as well as ideas for improving the guest experience–and that is what The Ritz is all about.”

Currently, The Ritz London uses TravelCLICK’s distribution solution, including the iHotelier® Central Reservations System with the award-winning iStay® web booking engine, to increase online bookings. The hotel also uses TravelCLICK’s pay-per-click (PPC) advertising solution as part of a profitable Internet marketing strategy.

In May 2009, its PPC advertising campaign alone accounted for a sizeable portion of visitors to the Ritz London website and corresponding online bookings. Keywords achieved high click-through rates and helped bring a highly profitable return on advertising spend.

“In being at the forefront of online marketing, The Ritz London is reinforcing its position as an industry innovator,” said Jan Tissera, President of TravelCLICK International. “It is uniquely adapting its long- established legacy of glamour and sophistication to the new, hip world of Internet trends. With SMO, the hotel has a new venue for adding credibility to its brand promise, validating and personalizing the guest experience, and driving even greater awareness.”

About The Ritz London (www.theritzlondon.com):
Opened by renowned hotelier Cesar Ritz in 1906, The Ritz still today retains all the excitement and glamour synonymous with this legendary hotel. The 137 guestrooms combine Louis XV1 style interiors with modern-day technology, while fine dining facilities include the magnificent Ritz Restaurant, the opulent Palm Court for afternoon tea, and the stylish Rivoli Bar. William Kent House, the 18th century mansion house recently opened at The Ritz, features a spectacular choice of banquet rooms and suites.

About TravelCLICK, Inc. (www.travelclick.net)
TravelCLICK, the leader in hotel ecommerce solutions, provides a continuous flow of high-value online bookings to hotels worldwide. A uniquely comprehensive one-stop solution, TravelCLICK offers market intelligence, distribution, electronic marketing, and media solutions delivered with personal attention and local market expertise. With revenue optimization experts in every global market, we help our clients make better business decisions, generate greater demand from the right mix of channels, convert more shoppers to high-value guests, and increase revenue and profitability. Serving the hospitality industry since 1999, TravelCLICK has more than 14,000 customers in 140 countries with offices in Barcelona, Baltimore, Chicago, Dubai, Houston, Phoenix, Melbourne, Shanghai, and Tokyo.
Contact:

TravelCLICK, Inc
Katrina Pruitt-Andrews, Director of Marketing
Phone: +1 410 257 9154
Email: kpandrews(at)travelclick.net
300 North Martingale
Suite 500
Schaumburg, IL 60173
USA
http://www.travelclick.net/?utm_id=506

Reality Digital, the leading provider of web community software for enterprises, has predicted that social networks are set to become the primary hub of online activity, with other movement focused around it, as brands continue to push their marketing efforts into the digital world.

With social media having risen in popularity over the last few years, many brands are opting to utilise this for the purpose of marketing their products, using social networks as a great crowd sourcing mechanism. The internet population is a vast one, and it has become a vital factor in the marketing success of brands all over the world.

Rob Proctor, Head of EMEA for Reality Digital, commented: “The rise of the social network over the last few years is one that has been well documented, and Reality Digital has always been at the forefront of developments in the social media industry. Brands that show the initiative to adapt to the latest innovations in social media technology will undoubtedly be the ones to benefit as social media evolves, as it is constantly doing at present.

“Software as a service is of a huge benefit to businesses that are suffering in the recession, as they can implement a white label social network without the risk of unexpected costs. As social media continues to change, there will be an increasing number of avenues to success that open up in the future. One of these developments is that a social network will become the focal point of a brands marketing activity, a central point of interaction between the brand and its audiences.”

Reality Digital’s Opus social networking platform allows brands to implement a social network that is tailored to their brand, through the use of a fully customisable interface and management console. The community has the power to upload their own video, audio or images, further enhancing the consumer’s experience of the brand within its network.

For more information on Reality Digital, please visit RealityDigital.com, or call 0203 1785 883.

PlaySpan™, the leader in monetization solutions for online games, virtual worlds, and social networks, today announced a new marketplace storefront for Facebook, and coming soon to MySpace, which enables consumers to purchase online game items, virtual goods, and game currencies from many of today’s most popular online games and applications.

The news marks the first time that consumers will have the ability to participate in a universal virtual goods commerce marketplace that also enables them to buy, trade, and sell goods within social networks and use the items in their online game environments. The application provides game developers and publishers a massive new social networking based distribution channel to engage consumers within the context of their social graph.

“Our social network marketplace takes online game commerce experiences to the next level. We are bridging the gap between gaming on and off social networks through a common monetization platform,” said Karl Mehta, Founder & CEO of PlaySpan. “Providing our marketplace application to hundreds of millions of consumers on the social networks will significantly help them to conduct virtual goods transactions across multiple platforms, as well as engage their friends in the process through gifting, trading, and sharing.”

“Combining the PlaySpan marketplace with our existing monetization solutions within the social networks and online communities like Facebook and MySpace signals a giant step forward for publishers and developers who want to make virtual goods available to consumers wherever they are” said Lex Bayer, General Manager of Social Networks at PlaySpan and Co-Founder of SpareChange. “By uploading their items into the PlaySpan market place, publishers will tap into a syndicated distribution model that places their items in store fronts that span gaming sites, online portals, and social networking sites.”

Facebook users can go to the following page to start utilizing the marketplace:
http://apps.facebook.com/sparechange/landing.html

About PlaySpan, Inc.
PlaySpan™ is the leader in monetization solutions for over 1,000 online games, virtual worlds, and social networks. PlaySpan’s patent-pending in-game virtual goods commerce and micropayment platform enables game publishers and developers to generate new revenues, acquire new users, and extend the loyalty of existing users.

PlaySpan also offers global payment solutions through its subsidiary PayByCash® with 85 payment methods in 180 countries. The ULTIMATE GAME CARD® is used by consumers to pay for 300 multiplayer games and around 700 games on popular social networking sites. It is available in about 45,000 retail locations across North America and growing rapidly worldwide.

Social network payment solutions are available through Spare Change©. Acquired by PlaySpan in April 2009, Spare Change is the first and leading payments platform designed specifically for social networks. Featured on over 700 applications, across Facebook, MySpace and Bebo, Spare Change empowers developers to successfully monetize their applications through micro payments. The Spare Change platform enables users to make safe, convenient, and friendly 1-click purchases through a variety of funding sources.

PlaySpan is headquartered in Silicon Valley with offices in Virginia, Ohio, and Mumbai. Investors include Easton Capital, Menlo Ventures, STIC and Novel TMT Ventures. The company has recently won the 2009 OnHollywood Category Award for Best Gaming Company.

For more information about PlaySpan, visit http://corp.playspan.com
For more information about Spare Change visit: www.sparechangepayments.com

Webnoxs Technologies a web development boutique, today announce the official launch of FacebookGenie.com, a website offers customized Facebook applications development and social applications marketing for half the cost of their competition. Sales representatives are online 24×7 for customer assistance and quick quotes.

“Facebook Platform creates an ecosystem for developers to build applications that integrate deeply into Facebook and use its social graph,” said Mark Zuckerberg, founder and CEO of Facebook. “By enabling developers to make applications within Facebook, we’re working together to create a better utility for millions of people.”

Facebook is a social utility that offers an efficient way for people to stay connected with their friends and the people around them. Facebook users communicate and share information through the social graph, the network of connections and relationships between people. With more than 24 million active users, Facebook is the sixth-most trafficked website in the United States.

Facebookgenie provides you a range of services which would includes:

– Facebook application development.
– Innovative and unique design layouts for your application.
– Listing of the application in facebook application directory.
– Developing marketing strategies and plans.
– Market the application to a number of users worldwide.
– Tracking your application.

The pricing model behind FacebookGenie includes a low one time development cost. FacebookGenie.com continues to tailor services to help a starving market of facebook application development. The opportunity of FacebookGenie is that anyone can realize the advantages of including a robust social networking platforms in their marketing campaigns without huge upfront costs.

About FaceBookGenie.Com
FaceBookGenie.Com is based in New York, US. The company specializes in facebook application development services include consulting and development for other social networks like Bebo and MySpace, as well as options for developing websites, web-based projects, and automating industry specific business processes.

Official Website: http://www.facebookgenie.com

Guy Kawasaki gave a rare, totally live presentation of his personal techniques on using social networking for business marketing. The presentation was made to a “standing room only” crowd of over 600 attendees during the June meeting of the San Diego Venture Capital Group.

The world famous author of “The Art of the Start” and “How to Drive Your Competition Crazy” gave a type of presentation that he admitted he rarely did… a totally live demo of his carefully honed “twitter techniques” and other social networking practices. The humorous, thought provoking, and detail laden overview of bleeding edge marketing techniques had the crowd both laughing out loud, and taking notes at a furious pace.

The presentation was professionally recorded and is now available on this page, and for a limited time at the Youreeeka Content Network – http://www.youreeeka.com/content-network – for only $19.99. You can access a preview of the video before purchasing to get a feel for the quality of the production and the timeliness of the presentation. Youreeeka is a pay-per-view online distribution platform available to anyone who has video content they want to sell via the Internet.

The presentation covered all the major players in social networking including: Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Jigsaw, Spokeo, and more. Guy covered Tweeting, Re-Tweeting, and advanced techniques such as using social network mash-ups to get marketing messages out to multiple outlets as well as targeted audience groups.

Upon learning that the presentation was going to be taped for worldwide distribution, the gregarious, and generous, Mr. Kawasaki took advantage of the built in affiliate capabilities of the Patent Pending Youreeeka Media Player. He immediately offered to donate half of his revenue to the San Diego Venture Group – http://www.sdvg.org – whose mission is to provide an informal atmosphere to foster new ideas on how to form, fund, and build new ventures.

Rachel Barley, the executive director of the SDVG, was most appreciative of the generous gesture, stating simply, “Our Not-For-Profit thanks you, Guy!”

This presentation offers a truly unique opportunity for cutting edge computer aficionados. They get the opportunity to learn vital marketing skills from world-renowned Guy Kawasaki. And they get to access that information from a truly unique, cutting edge online content delivery system, the Youreeeka Network.

For more information on the Guy Kawasaki video, or on the Youreeeka content delivery system, visit http://www.youreeeka.com

Social networks are the perfect environment for keeping families connected, if done right, and FamilyLink.com, Inc. seems to be doing just that. The Company announced today We’re Related, their popular application for Facebook users, has amassed more than 50 million users. The application, currently ranked as the fourth most popular application on Facebook, has remained in the top 10 applications for more than a year (based on number of active users).

This announcement comes at a time when Facebook is seeing a record number of new members joining from the 35+ crowd. Facebook reported earlier this month that the number of US Facebook users over 35 grew significantly in the last 30 days, up by nearly 1.5 million in each of the 35-44, 45-54, and 55-65 categories. In fact, the number of US Facebook users 45-54 has more than tripled in the last six months with parents and grandparents logging on in record numbers. These statistics coincide with growth patterns FamilyLink has experienced with the We’re Related application growing from 15 million users to 50 million users in the last six months.

According to Quantcast, a leading Internet audience tracking service that ranks websites based on the number of unique people who visit each domain, the FamilyLink.com network of web properties attracted more than 15 million unique people in the U.S. and more than 24 million worldwide in the past 30 days, equivalent to one of the 50 most popular online destinations in the U.S.

“We had expected to reach the 50 million mark by the end of the year. Reaching that goal in 6 months is very exciting,” said Jason McGowan, Chief Social Officer for FamilyLink.com, Inc. “We are excited about the growing user base and especially about the activity of the users. As the number of We’re Related users grows, so does the number of connections people are making to their families, now surpassing 300 million.”

Connecting Families

The ease of keeping in touch with family is driving the growth of social networking, and people of all ages find it fun and rewarding to make family connections on Facebook. The We’re Related application makes it easy for Facebook users to identify family members within their social network. With features like photo sharing along with ability to communicate, organize communication, and keep everything private to a desired list of family members, We’re Related makes perfect sense for keeping family together and learning about loved ones.

A survey conducted by FamilyLink in June 2009 revealed that more than 40% of We’re Related users said access to the We’re Related application was important in their decision to join Facebook because it provides the ability to communicate directly with family members through a private news feed.

“Facebook has always been a personal tool for managing relationships,” said McGowan. “We’re Related fits that context perfectly. We are looking forward to future growth, continual innovation, and offering new functionality to our loyal users.”

About FamilyLink.com, Inc.

The leader in social networking for families, FamilyLink has developed a suite of web properties, applications and tools to connect families with each other and their heritage. The FamilyLink network of web properties includes FamilyLink.com, GenealogyWise.com, WorldHistory.com, and WorldVitalRecords.com. FamilyLink is the developer of the fourth most popular networking application on Facebook, We’re Related, with a user base of more than 50 million. FamilyLink.com, Inc. also operates the AdMazing ad network that helps high traffic social applications and sites related to family history and heritage monetize their audiences.

w2meet.com offers a new approach to business social networking sites. Instead of being a mere space where users can convene and interact, the vision of the team behind it is to pair users based on key criteria. It can be said then, that it brings a more dynamic twist to the whole process as w2meet.com actively pushes members together based on common business interests rather than just leaving members to find each other. It also helps members who are active promote their businesses, and perform further activities to make themselves known.

Registration is quick, simple and free. Once registered, members can specify the products/services that they offer and other business areas they are interested in. This effortless operation will ensure that the content on the site is tailored to their specific interests. Discerning business operators don’t want to be bombarded with content that is not relevant to them, and w2meet.com eliminates this filtering step to ensure that members get content that is relevant and interesting to them. The net result of which is that members can focus their time on the actual building of bridges, finding leads and (hopefully) doing more business.

All w2meet.com members have access to their own blog as standard, as well as access to a comprehensive list of discussion forums. Messaging between members is also available to all members, something which is often restricted for premium members. In the interests of promoting the network and all of its members the vision behind the site is that communication between members and the ability to generate content on the site should be as accessible as possible.

Credits are rewarded to members for bringing others to the network and for generating content within the network. These credits can be redeemed against advertising on w2meet.com giving smaller companies and entrepreneurs an opportunity to gain further exposure simply for networking! This dynamic approach sets w2meet.com apart from other business networking sites by taking a more communal approach to helping each other in business. For those companies who wish to accelerate their exposure, additional credits can be purchased at very competitive rates, making w2meet.com more cost effective than other PPM advertising options.

It is also possible to exchange credits for premium membership to w2meet.com. Premium members will have access to more advanced tools and statistics to help them further in their search for new business prospects, for example, the ability to share their blog entries with the most popular social media sites. More details can be found at www.w2meet.com.

MaYoMo (Map Your Moments, www.mayomo.com), a powerful new social network for mobile citizen journalists and the most inspired alternative source for global, multimedia news content, today announced it has launched a new, improved beta version of its site. Unlike other sources of world news, MaYoMo delivers independent, global news content with Web 2.0 convenience and flexibility. It is designed for both journalists and independent-minded, socially and globally aware readers around the world who need a new, socially-connected, real-time platform for global news reporting — and conversation about that news.
“It’s a new concept,” said Hristo Alexiev, CEO and cofounder of MaYoMo, “a video-centric ‘social news network’ for journalists and their readers, empowering a new era of Internet news creation and distribution. A key difference with our site is that we’ll be providing an income source and career path for our contributors — both young, aspiring journalists and experienced, professional, independent journalists and bloggers.”
Access to all content on the MaYoMo web site is free. Anyone can quickly create an account and start contributing content and uploading photos, video, and other media assets — from a variety of devices, including video-enabled phones. Contributors who have met certain criteria can create their own “channels” and generate income from them. When a contributor has a channel, he or she will have options to help create better and more viewed content.
“MaYoMo allows contributors to develop networks of colleagues and audiences for collaboration and sharing,” continued Alexiev. “We really believe it will help erase borders between countries for professional and aspiring or student journalists alike.”
Contributors to the MaYoMo site in its “alpha” form (it was first available in Q4 2008) have already posted more than 50,000 news entries from 214 countries. “We’re confident MaYoMo will have unprecedented geographic coverage,” said Alexiev. “And we provide the familiarity and comfort of local language and customs.” The MaYoMo platform is available in English, French, German, Italian, Russian, Japanese, Spanish, Chinese, Arabic, and Dutch.
“Once fully operational, MaYoMo’s shared-revenue advertising model will reward members with 70% of associated advertising revenue, creating an entrepreneurial business opportunity for professional and student journalists around the world,” said Pavel Ezekiev, Managing Partner, New Europe Venture Equity (NEVEQ) and a board member of MaYoMo.
About MaYoMo
MaYoMo is a video-centric “social news network” empowering a new era of Internet news creation and distribution. With an ever-expanding corps of mobile citizen journalists reporting from every corner of the globe, MaYoMo is shaping the evolution of journalism and delivering the world’s most inspired multimedia news content. Now, thanks to MaYoMo’s highly unique and entrepreneurial “news channel approach,” professional and student journalists can create and manage their own custom news channels, unleashing new career and income opportunities via the company’s shared advertising revenue model. To experience the power of news like never before, and participate in the future of journalism and news content distribution, please visit www.mayomo.com.

ClickZ Events, along with YouTube and Google, will sponsor a forum entitled Social Media and Video Strategies on August 11 at the San Jose Marriott, to run concurrently with the Search Engine Strategies San Jose 2009 conference.

This ClickZ forum consists of six sessions and an opening keynote speech. It will focus on a series of individual online marketing successes and failures as experienced by a number of companies, celebrities, and politicians, allowing attendees to learn from the decisions and mistakes showcased in each session.

The opening keynote will be given by Clay Shirky, a New Media expert, adjunct professor at New York University’s Interactive Telecommunications Program, and author of the critically acclaimed book “Here Comes Everybody: The Power of Organizing Without Organizations.” Shirky has been referred to as one of the most knowledgeable and respected speakers in the industry.

“I’m thrilled to be speaking at the Social Media and Video Strategies forum,” said Clay Shirky in a recent interview. “This forum is a great idea on the part of ClickZ and the event organizers because we’re going to address some key issues and look at interesting case studies that attendees might not find in the main SES sessions.”

The Social Media and Video Strategies forum will take place alongside the SES San Jose conference, which runs from August 10-14, 2009. Sessions include:

Marketing in a Social Media World introduces the forum by asking the questions that will be addressed over the course of the day.

Going Social: Effective Advertising via Social Networks discusses the latest trends and tricks for engaging potential customers in the world of social media.

In the Now: Conversational & Real Time Marketing explains how the publishing model has been revolutionized by the advent of microblogging tools like Twitter, and how marketers can take advantage of this revolution.

What Works: Online Video Advertising Made Easy with Google & YouTube introduces three platforms for incorporating sight, sound, and motion into marketing campaigns, along with real-life case studies that drove results.

What Works: Best Practices / Case Studies for Online Video lets attendees hear from three marketers who have used video marketing to achieve great success across platforms and how to incorporate these tips into marketing campaigns.

How Coldwell Banker Has Leveraged Social Media & Video to Connect with their Customers: a Chat with Michael Fischer provides a forum for attendees to hear from Michael Fischer, Coldwell Banker’s senior Vice President of Marketing, who is known for his multi-industry marketing expertise.

Tickets to ClickZ’s Social Media and Video Strategies forum can be purchased at a discount through August 7 and include admission to the SES San Jose keynote presentations and sponsored sessions, as well as entrance to the Expo Hall.

Vocus, Inc. (NASDAQ: VOCS) the market leader in online software for corporate communications, today announced it will host a free Webinar on “Monitoring the Social Media Conversation: From Twitter to Facebook.” The event will feature Jenni Lloyd, Social Media Strategist at the social media agency Nixon McInnes and Neil Stinchcombe, Managing Director, Eskenzi PR.

The one-hour Webinar, aimed at a European audience, will be held on Tuesday, 21 July, 2009 beginning at 2:00 p.m. BST and the featured speakers will discuss strategies for effective social media monitoring. Specifically they will cover the following topics:

Monitoring your online reputation – and that of your competitors
How to positively impact your company’s online reputation
Uncovering potential sales opportunities

“Social media and the conversations that take place within social media are dynamic and ever changing,” said David Parker, Commercial Director at Vocus. “Whether you are an expert in social media or just beginning to learn about it — this Webinar will offer you some of the best tips for effectively monitoring online conversations in order to protect or advance your brand’s reputation.”
In addition to the Webinar, Vocus also offers a whitepaper on the same topic that is available for a free download by clicking here. Additional information and registration information for this Webinar can be found here: http://tinyurl.com/lsc24j

About Vocus, Inc.
VOCUS, Vocus, Inc. (NASDAQ: VOCS) is a leading provider of on-demand software for public relations management, helping organisations of all sizes fundamentally change the way they communicate with the media and the public, optimise their public relations efforts and measure their impact. The web-based software addresses the critical functions of public relations including media relations, news distribution and news monitoring, and provides the critical capability to monitor and analyse social media conversations from virtually any source and track results compared to key competitors. Vocus is used by more than 3,500 organisations worldwide and is available in seven languages. Vocus is based in London, UK with offices in North America, Europe, and Asia. For more information, visit www.vocus.co.uk

A new study released today from Wetpaint and the Altimeter Group confirms that deep engagement with consumers through social media channels correlates to better financial performance. The ENGAGEMENTdb study (www.engagementdb.com) showed significant positive financial results for the companies who measured as having the greatest breadth and depth of social media engagement. These “Social Media Mavens” on average grew company revenues by 18 percent over the last 12 months, while the least engaged companies saw revenues sink 6 percent on average over the same time period.

The ENGAGEMENTdb study reviewed more than 10 discrete social media channels, including blogs, Facebook, Twitter, wikis, and discussion forums for each of the 100 most valuable brands as identified by the 2008 BusinessWeek/Interbrand Best Global Brands ranking. Activity in each channel was ranked for depth of interaction on measures that corresponded to that specific channel. Scores for overall brand engagement ranged from a high of 127 to a low of 1. The top 10 ENGAGEMENTdb brands with their scores are:

Starbucks (127)
Dell (123)
eBay (115)
Google (105)
Microsoft (103)
Thomson Reuters (101)
Nike (100)
Amazon (88)
SAP (86)
Tie – Yahoo!/Intel (85)
Qualities of Success

Companies that scored well in the study generally have dedicated teams, however small, active in the social media channels they utilize. The study found that the most successful teams evangelize social media across the entire organization to pull in a broad range of stakeholders. These companies view social media as an indispensable tool to help them achieve results, and their approach is conversational. This mode of operation differs from the approach of traditional communications and early corporate blog experimentation, which emphasizes messaging and talking points.

“This is the first study of this depth on the top global brands and we think the results provide a good guide for corporations and brand marketers in every industry,” said Charlene Li, Founder, Altimeter Group. “The success stories we have uncovered provide a blueprint for companies making decisions about how to best apply their marketing and consumer relations resources.”

“The ENGAGEMENTdb study goes a long way towards validating the importance of social media for business,” said Ben Elowitz, CEO of Wetpaint. “The closer any company is to its customers, the better, and it’s hard to argue with the ability for social media to create such proximity. In this day and age, companies should feel much more comfortable investing in social media — the correlation to results is so clear.”

Four Quadrants of Engagement

While each company in the study received a quantitative score, the ENGAGEMENTdb study revealed that companies fell into four specific categories in terms of their breadth and depth of investment in social media channels — Mavens, Butterflies, Selectives, and Wallflowers.

Mavens — brands that have made social media a core part of their go-to-market strategies and are very active in many channels; usually driven by dedicated teams assisted by company-wide awareness and participation.
Butterflies — brands that recognize the need to be in many channels but have only met with real success in a subset of their activities; these companies are usually spread a bit too thin.
Selectives — brands that focus on just a few channels and excel in those; these efforts are usually initiated by an internal evangelist.
Wallflowers — brands present in only a few channels and very lightly in those; these brands are sitting on the sidelines and are wary of the risks. They are still trying to figure out the best next steps and investments in social media.
Rank Your Company Against the ENGAGEMENTdb Top 100

Launching today, the ENGAGEMENTdb website (www.engagementdb.com) makes it possible for companies and brand managers to quickly find out how their social media efforts rank as compared to those of the world’s most valuable brands. After taking a quick survey, respondents will receive an email evaluation of their social media efforts compared to the companies in the ENGAGEMENTdb report. Additionally, companies can detail their social media efforts for inclusion in the ENGAGEMENTdb through the website. This data will be used in future research and study of the benefits of social media.

The Wetpaint/Altimeter ENGAGEMENTdb Report can be found at www.ENGAGEMENTdb.com

About Wetpaint

Wetpaint provides the leading platform for fans and brands to easily create and participate in online communities around the topics they care about most. Wetpaint offers businesses a turnkey solution for creating and fostering passionate communities that drive traffic and increase loyalty. Consumers flock to http://www.wetpaint.com to create sites around topics they love. For more company information, visit http://press.wetpaint.com

About Altimeter Group

Altimeter Group provides advice and consulting on digital strategies, with a focus on how organizations can leverage social and emerging technologies to achieve results. It is led by Charlene Li, the co-author of the best selling book, “Groundswell”. For more information, please visit http://www.altimetergroup.com.