What makes Twitter so useful is also what makes it difficult to navigate: everyone is spewing what they think, all the time, about anything imaginable. This is good for tracking brand buzz, because when you run a search on Twitter it's like being clairvoyant: the opinions are there, raw and ... more

Research coming out of Penn State reports that 20% of tweets—those wee messages published on Twitter—are brand-oriented. And not the way you'd naturally expect. While researchers originally thought they'd find lots of brand engagement in the form of product reviews or referrals, what they discovered was this (hold on to ... more

Want to get started with an effective earned-media marketing program? Here are three tips for launching, measuring, and monetizing a low-cost earned-media program that will drive a surge in online word-of-mouth traffic about your brand. more

New FTC guidelines will affect marketers who use blogs, Facebook, Twitter, and the like for word-of-mouth and viral campaigns, starting Dec. 1. more

For the small-business owner, getting your name out via local search is a must. And to many marketers, that means optimizing for Google's universal results. After all, Google is the leader of the search-engine pack these days. But as David Mihm points out in a recent article at Search Engine ... more

According to The Wrap, ABC has chosen an unorthodox way to promote a new comedy on its fall schedule—by keeping it hush-hush. "The network is offering the sneak peak of '[Modern Family]' only to members of a special online fan base it's built called ABC Inner Circle," writes Josef Adalian. ... more

It's not just the recession; the digital revolution has wreaked havoc on traditional music retailers, who can rarely match online juggernauts like iTunes or eMusic on price or convenience. "As of April," reports Amy Kaufman at The Wrap, "there were 185 record stores in the LA area, down from 259 ... more

"If you're interested in building a flourishing online brand and website that generates links and traffic organically as part of your Internet marketing efforts, it's important to develop an active base of subscribers and fans," says Adam Singer in a recent post at the Online Marketing Blog. Here are a ... more

Women with children at home are more likely to use Facebook, MySpace, and Twitter than average adults, according to a newly released survey. They're big on word-of-mouth, and some 15.3% maintain a blog. more

The sun is setting on the tyranny of business cards—that stack of stiffs that seems important as you add to it again and again, but which you never really get the chance to sort through later. Well, hail and farewell!  One application precipitating the demise of these paper dinosaurs is Bump, which pretty much turns ... more

Spending on word-of-mouth (WoM) marketing slowed in 2008, nevertheless increasing 14.2%, to $1.54 billion. It is on pace to increase another 10.2% in 2009, placing WoM among the fastest-growing advertising and marketing segments. more

What do you do when potentially devastating information about your company goes hyper-viral online, reaching millions of people essentially overnight? more

Here's a juicy tidbit to chew on: One of the reasons Facebook is such a force in the social scene is that it makes it easy to catch up with friends without actually having to talk to them. Yep, you got it: Your Newsfeed outfits you with their latest photos, blog ... more

"Back in the day, I was into punk rock," says David Meerman Scott in a post at his Web Ink Now blog. "It was loud, it was NOT disco, there was a culture surrounding it, and the cult-like followings for the bands were intense." And even if you didn't share ... more

Last week, we showed you some cool makeup vids as an example of how viral videos can rack in the mega-bucks. This time, we offer a sample of how a consistent, useful and compelling online video campaign can serve your brand amazingly well. Consider "Will it Blend," a fascinating online ... more

Deservedly or not, industry these days is accused incessantly of greenwashing. It's not surprising, for several reasons, that industry isn't trusted to make truthful green marketing claims and provide information that is credible, straightforward, and useful. So how do we restore trust in industry's green marketing claims and eco-labels? Can industry get ... more

"How much do you know about your customers right now, at this moment?" asks John Kembel in an article at MarketingProfs. You can't depend solely on the static nature of composite profiles, he argues, when the current downturn has put needs and attitudes in a state of flux. "[Y]ou need ... more

Total communications spending will decline 1% in 2009, to $882.6 billion—its first spending decline since the 2001 recession—according to the latest Communications Industry Forecast (CIF) from private-equity firm Veronis Suhler Stevenson (VSS). more

One reason social media sites have caught on like wildfire among users is that, by and large, they operate on basic principles of social decency. Now, be honest: Do your social-media skills match the subtle standards set at sites like Twitter and YouTube? Not sure? Well, here are a few site-inspired rules ... more

It seems almost inevitable these days: You run a search on your company's name or product and a negative review, remark or blog post appears in the top listings. What do you do? "Don't  ... lose your cool and try to retaliate," says Internet Marketing Consultant Jeremy Martin in a recent ... more

OK. Quick fable: Prior to a trip to Nebraska, Dave Carroll checked his $3500 Taylor guitar with United Airlines. (If you've been online at all recently, you know where this is going.) The guitar suffered serious damage, and Carroll spent months pursuing the issue via the usual channels of complaint—to no ... more

Heads-up, all of you out there who market to moms: Food mogul Nestlé is using Twitter to promote Juicy Juice—the super-popular, and now vintage, juice-box brand that caters to kids. Expect to see the pea-green pieces on mom-targeted sites like CafeMom and BabyCenter.com. Questions like "How do you stimulate your child's ... more

"Is your website search- and social-media-friendly?" inquires a recent post at the Online Marketing Blog. According to Lee Odden, search is the most efficient and effective way for consumers to discover content. However, focusing on standard SEO tactics, such as keyword usage and links, is not enough to remain competitive, ... more

In a post at the Marketing Minute, blogger Drew McLellan admits he gets some rather strange mail. "But I have to say," he notes, "chocolate-covered grasshoppers might just top the list." The unusual package arrived from Grasshopper.com, which provides integrated telephone services, and McLellan praises the company for a well-executed ... more

The dreaded phrase "word-of-mouth" keeps a lot of company execs awake at night. It's that feeling of helplessness: How can any company apply quality assurance to something that is so out of their control? Well, a recent post at the Church of the Customer Blog says the secret to ensuring ... more