Mediaboss Marketing

In 2008, Rupp Arena marketers faced a thorny problem: How could they keep pace with an increasingly sophisticated concert market?

Back then, the nation was in the throes of the golden age of blogging. What would come next? And how would Rupp market itself to the changing social media climate?

In retrospect, the answers seem obvious: Facebook. Twitter. And others, including Pinterest, Instagram, Flickr, Vimeo and Eventful.

But concocting a social media strategy is neither intuitive nor foolproof.

Rupp Arena's response to the challenge it faced has succeeded to the point that it was recently ranked No. 5 on a list measuring the social media power of venues nationwide. On the list by trade publication Venues Today, Rupp was up in the stratosphere, along with media-savvy giants including Los Angeles' Staples Center and The Roxy.

How did Rupp do it? And how can other organizations build a social media base that can adapt to changing media platforms?

The Rupp Arena marketing team composed of Sheila Barr Kenny, marketing director; Paul Hooper, graphic design/social media; and Matt Johnson, graphic/Web designer started with a blog on Rupp's Web site. But Kenny said that soon, it "became apparent that Facebook was where people were spending the most time."

But going from zero to a fully developed social media strategy is more than simply starting a Facebook page and tossing in an occasional Twitter post.

For Rupp, casting a social media net is a finely calibrated combination of Web site, blogging, Facebook and Twitter. The real-time nature of Twitter lets members of the marketing team visit campuses to hide event tickets and give clues to their locations even as students are searching.

"The strategy was to keep it active, but not so active that it was inundating people," Kenny said.

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Rupp Arena a leader in social media marketing

Wouldnt it be great if you could prove youre more valuable to your company than everyone else?

Thats the idea behind a new social networking tool from Saba, an outfit that makes human resources software. On Tuesday, the company will unveil yet another Tweetbook-type application for businesses, called the Saba People Cloud, competing with business social networks such as Yammer and Jive. But theres a twist: Everybody gets a People Quotient (pQ).

Yes, the pQ is a number that seeks to rate how valuable you are. Its reminiscent of services such as Reppify and BranchOut that analyze your activity on public social networks Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn to create a score for HR departments thinking about hiring you. Instead, Sabas grabs similar info from its own company-specific social network and build a score specific to your activity in the workplace.

In some fields, employees are already rated with hard metrics. Salespeople are easily ranked by the number of deals or dollars they bring in. But in other cases, your impact to the company is difficult to pin down. Saba CEO Bobby Yazdani tells Wired that he wants to cultivate an environment where a company knows exactly how well all employees are performing. We want an organization where people can benchmark themselves and know the impact of what they do, he says.

At this point, sharing a pQ score across the network is optional. But to many, it may feel like another example of social networking turning into Big Brother. While Yazdani says Saba is just starting this journey with pQ, rating ones performance according to their activity on a social network will undoubtably provoke debate. After all, theres more to work than sharing, commenting and the other nuances of social networking.

The algorithm behind pQ will examine a wide range of data. Simple tasks like completing your Saba profile and entering background certifications contribute to the score. But as you use the service regularly updating your status, following other employees, and being followed your activity will play into the score as well.

The engine looks across an organization to compare your performance against other managers with similar positions and goals, and it determines the quality of your social interactions and contributions across the company. The idea of quality is part Google search algorithm, part gamification, and part natural language processing. Its like a corporate Klout score a controversial score that rates your social networking impact on the public internet.

The more you accrue followers, engage with others, and post stuff that people reference in their own posts, the better your pQ score. If you share a report you wrote and a bunch of people cite it, your pQ increases. Saba also runs through the feedback and comments on what you share, and it decides whether it was of value to the company.

Not all businesses have the same goals and operations. But Saba says that as employees share and interact on Sabas network, the algorithms learn how people operate and react accordingly. The system also alerts employees when their scores are low.

Read more:
Meet Saba, the Social Network That Rates Your Job Skills

SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING: At noon Wednesday, March 21, Unlimited Future Inc. will host a brown bag lunch and learn and find out how your business can use social media to communicate with your customers and increase your bottom line. The seminar will be taught by Larry Nitardy of ComAssit, a local business that helps start-ups, small and mid-sized companies identify possibilities, map and execute actions that improve margins, empower personal and corporate choices and create sustainable growth.

Unlimited Future, Inc. Business Incubator is located at 1650 8th Ave. To register, go to http://www.unlimitedfuture.org or call 304-697-3007.

TOURISM MINI GRANTS: At 10 a.m. Monday, March 26, The West Virginia Department of Tourism will be at Unlimited Future Inc. to discuss the The Tourism Matching Advertising Partnership Program (MAPP). MAPP provides matching funds for innovative and effective advertising projects that increase tourism in West Virginia. The purpose of the program is to extend the advertising resources of the tourism industry through partnerships, support advertising strategies (both small and large), provide incentive and opportunity for tourism growth and to help communities to improve the local economy by strengthening West Virginias tourism.

Attend to find out if your business, festival, fair or location is eligible to take advantage of these matching grants. Unlimited Future is at 1650 8th Ave., Huntington. To register or with questions, call 304-697-3007 or go to http://www.unlimitedfuture.org.

GOODWILL OFFERS HOMEBUYER EDUCATION CLASSES: Goodwill Industries Consumer Credit Counseling Service will hold a Homebuyer Education Class from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday, March 24, in the conference room of Goodwills offices at 1102 Memorial Blvd. in Huntington.

The class will include assessing homebuyer readiness, budgeting and credit, the value of homebuyer inspections, financing, mortgage instruments and loan closings, as well as keeping proper records for home maintenance.

The class fee is based on a sliding scale and participants must bring proof of income to the class. For more information or to discuss fees, call Michelle Hightower, Certified Housing Counselor and Homebuyer Educator at Goodwills Consumer Credit Counseling Service 304-522-4321, ext. #135, or email her at mhightower@goodwillhunting.org.

CAKE DECORATING: Goodwill Industries is offering a six-week course in professional cake decorating beginning from 5:30-7:30 p.m. Monday, March 26, at 1005 Virginia Ave. The class will meet once a week, always on a Monday night, and costs $100.

The hands-on course aims to teach students to prepare, decorate and complete original cake designs. Students can develop skills in making flowers and leaves, writing and working with icing colors. Those who successfully complete the course could leave with the skills necessary to launch a career in cake decorating. Course costs includes decorating tips and supplies for the students to keep.

Students will be prepared to decorate an entire cake of their own unique design by the last week of class. Class is limited to 15 students.

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Tri-State in training: Upcoming seminar focuses on social media marketing

SEOUL -- A wave of protests by journalists in South Korea against alleged government interference in news coverage shows no sign of abating, despite threats of legal action from their bosses.

It started with a strike launched by journalists at Munhwa Broadcasting Corporation (MBC) at the end of January, demanding the resignation of the Chief Executive Kim Jae-cheul whom they accuse of suppressing news reports critical of the administration of President Lee Myung-bak.

They claim that MBC has intentionally eliminated or reduced coverage that could cultivate negative public views towards the government, including vehement protests against the country's free trade agreement with the United States.

Some 700 reporters and producers at MBC have joined the strike, resulting in shortening of its nightly news broadcast to 15 minutes from an hour and suspension of several other news programs. Their walkouts were soon accompanied by strikes staged by colleagues at the country's largest television network, Korean Broadcasting System (KBS), and Yonhap Television News (YTN), a state-financed cable news network.

About 650 KBS staff members, including 250 reporters, took part in the strike but the broadcaster's management said its news programs were not affected. Yonhap news agency, the country's flagship newswire service, was the latest to join the intensifying calls for fair, unbiased news coverage that is free from government influence.

It has been worried that the strike at Yonhap could affect nearly all news outlets in the country by disrupting them from gathering news. Union members of Yonhap went on strike starting March 15 in protest against the reappointment of incumbent president Park Jung-chan to another three-year term.

"We have lost everything from fair reporting to public trust, office democracy, and reasonable appointment during the three-year presidency of Park. We have nothing left to lose," a union leader at Yonhap was quoted by local media as saying at a ceremony marking the beginning of the strike.

Despite differences in their respective corporate situations, the underlying cause shared by the strikers is discontent towards alleged management interference in news coverage under direct and indirect influence of the government. The companies remain defiant, even though the protests grow in strength and numbers. MBC's Kim Jae-cheul has sued union members for defamation. KBS has also vowed stern action against what they call "illegal" strike.

However, the tide shows no sign of receding, with the strikers promoting various public events to convey the justness of their protests to ordinary citizens. A public concert was held on March 16 in Yeouido, Seoul, where the country's major broadcasters are located, to support the causes of the ongoing protests by journalists. Local media reported that some 20,000 citizens attended the event.

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S. Korean journalists stage walkouts against alleged gov't media control

MANILA, Philippines - Social networking is everywhere. It started out with people accessing their pages with only their PCs and notebooks. Now, users are accessing their pages using their tablets and mobile phones. Because of this phenomenon, it has also changed the way people communicate - be it personal or at work. A couple of years back, people open first their email than any other application. Now, its Facebook or Twitter first before anything else.

Just recently, the NPD Group released a study stating that videogame sales fell sharply in February. Sales of game software in the U.S. went down 23% in February compared to the same period last 2011. NPD data only includes sales made through traditional retail outlets and not those made over digital channels.

According to NPD, the top selling game for February 2012 continued to be ''Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3'' from Activision Blizzard Inc. followed by ''Final Fantasy XIII-2'' from Square Enix, ''UFC Undisputed'' by THQ Inc. and ''Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning'' by Electronic Arts Inc. On the hardware side, the Xbox 360 from Microsoft Corporation sold 426,000 units. Nintendo Co. said it sold 228,000 units of its Wii cosole and 262,000 units of its handheld 3DS console during the month.

Now, where will we attribute the continuous decline of video game sales? I would dare say that social and mobile gaming has a lot to do with this changes.

If you could still remember, there was a time Farmville was one of the most played games. Then came Angry Birds. Now, people are playing Move the Box and Temple Run. Just to share with you, the top 10 paid iPhone games are: Angry Birds / Fruit Ninja / Doodle Jump / Cut The Rope / Angry Birds Seasons / Words With Friends / Tiny Wings / Angry Birds Rio / Pocket God / Camera+.

Top 10 iPhone downloads (Free) are: Facebook / Pandora Radio / Words With Friends Free / Skype / The Weather Channel / Google Search / Google Earth / Angry Birds Free / Shazam / Netflix. Temple Run is number 18. As an additional info, as of November 2011, Angry Birds has been downloaded more than 500 million times. While Temple Run has been downloaded 36 million times as of February 2012.

Now why the sudden popularity of these games? I believed it has something to do with the popularity of these devices: iPhone / iPad / iPod Touch. Not to mention, of course, that most of the games are free to download. Portability is another reason, gamers can practically play with these games from anywhere and anytime. Interactivity can be another reason since the games can be played with other players worldwide.

In other words, the landscape of how people play games is changing or has changed. Most of our young gamers are looking for devices that they can play games with, call, browse, text, take photos, videos among other things. A device that will entertain them and at the same time allow them to communicate with their friends.

The challenge now for game developers is to incorporate their games with social and mobile media. They should also price their games competitively, its very difficult to compete with games that are provided free of charge. The revenue stream has changed as well. Social and mobile media game changer and game developers have no choice but to join this new landscape.

I am logging off. Stay cool and God Bless!

Continued here:
Social Networking Changes Gaming Landscape