From Britney Spears, to Oprah; from Sarah Palin, to Ashton, celebs and politicians alike are employing social media as a means of online reputation management.  Whether they want to promote their books or shows, refute paparazzi and journalists or simply stay in the spotlight doesn’t matter- it’s all different means to the same end.

Social media has become a great way for people to get out their message with a large reach and a low cost.  Recently, Sarah Palin has been making waves on Facebook to promote the launch of her new book “Going Rogue: An American Life.”  She used to be an avid tweeter but decided to cash in the 140 character microblogs for Facebook notes.  Now, she regularly writes back to readers and journalists making false accusations about her memoir and suggests that AP writers engage themselves in something more newsworthy than ripping apart a book.  See a recent Facebook note of her’s below:

Sarah Palin's Facebook Note

This is only one of many and the others were definitely more aggressive but I think this gets across the same message in a brief manner.  Clearly, Palin isn’t afraid to be frank and candid, which was shown to the world on her recent Oprah appearance as well.  Oprah, who is also heavily engaged in social media, made the interview a trending topic on Twitter and posted a podcast of of some of the clips.  While the video claims, “There’s nothing we didn’t talk about!,” much of the interview has not been released to the public.  But, Oprah does occasionally give her Twitter following some proprietary information:  On November 20th, when she announced the end of her show in September 2011, she first informed her fellow tweeters.  Before the episode, she tweeted, “Big day…. tune in my tweet friends.”

Rach and Tey prior to break up

Oprah isn’t the only public figure using Twitter to relay big news.  Rachel Zoe and lead employee, Taylor Jacobson, publicly broke up on Twitter only weeks ago.  They had been working side by side for the last four years styling celebrities all over the world on the show the Rachel Zoe Project.  On November 6th, Taylor tweeted: “Today is an end of an era and the beginning of a new professional chapter.  Looking forward to what the future brings…!!”  The media picked up on this immediately and their split soon became common public news. But, sources are still not sure who broke up with who….  What do you think?  Let us know what gossip you’ve been hearing around the globe.

Dean Loudermilk and Ellen Albert with the Alumnae Women of Emory board

Although Dean Loudermilk still teaches the semester long class at Emory University, Social Movements and the Media (the basis for the presentation): let’s just say it wasn’t your average college class last night! We had guests from Atlanta, attendees ranging over 20 class years and even a Cornell Alum who eagerly signed up to get in on the action too. Well, seems like everyone had the right idea, as the talk was spectacular—funny, futuristic and engaging all at the same time. It seemed as if everyone was laughing on cue, but really, it was just a good speech coupled with some racy images that boasted a broad appeal.

The event, hosted on November 11th at MTV Studios by Emory Alum, Ellen Albert, was from 6:30 p.m. to 8:00 p.m., but it seemed like the crowd didn’t want to leave! We had a wonderfully diverse group of 30 guests. A surprising amount of men actually showed up to listen to the talk too, which was, even in the event description but more so in actuality, largely focused on feminism in advertising. Dean Loudermilk began by plowing through the history of various different social movements and their effect on the media, but guests became overwhelmingly engaged during the saga on feminism, which was presented in conjunction with commercials and ads. The presentation spanned the gamut of brands—beginning at Dolce & Gabbana, critiquing Virginia Slims and ending with oomph on Maidenform Bras.

At one point, an Emory Law Grad, Marni Galison, was so intrigued by an ad and Dean Loudermilk’s interpretation of it that she interrupted mid presentation to play devil’s advocate. In older Virginia Slims marketing, a lot of feminists hated the “You’ve come along way, baby” campaigns. Marni, after vehemently denying smoking, exclaimed: “Is there any cigarette ad that feminists do like?!” Her point, essentially, is that, if they inherently don’t like the product, they certainly will disapprove of the ad. But, we did see some commercials that feminists happened to be fonder of—for a sexy 45 seconds, I recommend checking out “The Diet Coke Break” on YouTube.

Regardless, thanks to Marni, the tone was set for an informative and inspiring feminist advertising debate post presentation. The group finally concluded, with Dean Loudermilk’s guidance, that feminism in advertising moves in waves and eventually always comes full circle. Last night, we learned that only 16 percent of people in senior advertising roles are women! So, who is really spurring the innovation here? Our best bet is that it stems from men in high positions with slight interferences by politics and presidential administrations. Keep your eyes peeled for the future because, just like with the Reagan and Clinton administrations, we are certain to see a new wave of advertising with the “Change” advocate, President Obama.

What do you think?!  Tell us below and check out the EAAvesdropping blog.

Last week, the FTC (Federal Trade Commission) announced a new set of rules to govern bloggers with a connection to any company selling a product they are writing about. So, how far will the government go?  Right now, it’s unclear, but the guidelines could extend to regulate posts people make on Facebook and other social networking sites.

So what does this mean for our 1st amendment rights?
•    The government will have the ability to further dictate the parameters of individual communication via the Internet.
•    Several new questions arise about what exactly constitutes blogola and disclosure. (For those unblog-savvy types, “blogola” refers to posts made by bloggers who have been given some sort of incentive to post about a product.)  Should the disclosure be written in the post or can it be in the bloggers “about me” page? Is blogola really that different than traditional forms of advertisement and promotion?

However, here at IMI, we do believe that there are two sides to every story:

•    Libel is illegal. Defamation is illegal. Do they still happen frequently?  Yes.  Do they happen on the Web?  Way too often, but it’s not rigorously regulated online at the moment.  These new regulations will hold people responsible for their blog posts, which is a logical extension of current laws surrounding these concepts.
•    Has anyone ever posted anything nasty about you or someone you know on ripoffreport.com, juicycampus.com, etc.?  These sites continue to pop up every day, constantly grow in usage and exposure, and have significantly injured the reputations and careers of many.

So, what’s fair?  What do YOU think?  We’re interested, let us know…

Marketing is a very important and specialized element to growing a business and differentiating yourself from the competition.  I didn’t used to think so.  My background is originally in finance.  I used to think marketing was just some common sense piece of the puzzle that any intern could handle.  Boy was I wrong.  Much of the “wisdom” I now have comes from making mistakes and following the wrong instincts. 

Being in the Internet Marketing business, I have also spent time analyzing other companies and reviewing their internal strategies from the outside looking in.  This exercise has lead me to gain a more keen understanding of how some of the seemingly “best” mid to large size companies out there completely miss the mark when it comes to marketing.  Here are some basic things that business owners should avoid:

The Good Old Marketing Fallback:  Maybe you used a specific marketing strategy 5 to 10 years ago and it worked very well to drive leads and sales.  Maybe you haven’t even really used “marketing” in years because times have been great and all your business comes to you.  But now times are tough and you realize you need to reach out to your customers more.  Their behavior seems different.  They are price comparing and actually seeking opportunties outside of your brand.  Looks like its time to turn on the marketing again, right? 

In this situation, business owners often revert back to the same strategy they used years ago.  Just because direct mail and billboards did wonders 10 years ago does not mean that you should use the same marketing plan.  Design a plan that will define and address immediate business goals.  If you do not have the in-house expertise to put this together, seek advice from colleagues that have a more current marketing plan to see whats working.  Doing a competitive analysis will also give you great insight into what others are doing to drive new business.  Don’t however make the mistake of assuming your competition is getting it right either.

Branding and Creating “Awareness”:  I have seen some business owners who seem satisfied with their marketing plan because THEY see their ads and assume everyone else is seeing them too.  Not only do they assume that others take notice but they assume that others are responsive to the message.  This can be referred to as “ego” driven marketing.  A business owner should never assume their big billboard ads and fancy print ads are channeling new business.  This was easier to get away with in a good economy.  Owners did not scrutinize marketing dollars as much and therefore assumed their expensive print ads had something to do with their sales.  Maybe they did, but maybe not…how would they know.  How can you truly measure an ad campaign like that? 

As business owners wise up and move away from startegies that are not measurable, they seek more cost effective methods that can be supported by true analytics.  Enter Internet marketing and online media.  Marketing is much more that creative brand awareness.  Your loyal customers are most likely aware of your competition, but something called them to choose you and something is keeping them loyal to your brand.  Do you know what that is?  You are doing something right, just make sure you know what it is and how to translate that into a marketing plan.

Push Advertising:  Push advertising and messaging is alright as long as it is combined with true inbound marketing.  Inbound marketing, or better yet, inbound Internet marketing, is about getting your prospective customers to come to you.  Consumers are constantly expsoed to media of all kinds and therefore we must stay on top of the methods that are curently working to engage people and build trust. 

Consumer behavior has changed in large part to the economic conditions.  People want to trust the brands they surround themsleves with.  They want transparency and honesty.  They don’t want to just hear your pitch anymore.  They will seek out the truth by asking their peers, going to their online social networks, or looking at rating and review sites.  Great online inbound marketing starts with SEO, blogging and social media.  These elements build online visibility and better yet trust among your audience.

Hiring a Consultant too Soon:  It is common for large brands to have a full inhouce marketing team.  But is the team really on the same page and using the same strategy?  Big companies will sometimes have an Internet marketing team, a PR team, and content team, and a general marketing team.  It is quite common for the PR team to have no idea what the Internet marketing team is doing.  When things are disjointed like this, it is best to put an internal communication plan together before bringing in an outside consultant.  This will ensure that there is a team working towards the same goal when new marketing plans are put in place. 

Planning without Analyzing:  There is no point in putting a plan together that will most likely cost you a lot of money if you haven’t really analyzed the problems.  Business owners need to define the true goals behind what they are trying to accomplish because it will affect how a great Internet marketing strategy is built.  For example, search engine optimization isn’t just about going after keywords you think are relevant to your industry or terms you see your competition showing up for.  It takes many factors into account that include basic marketing, customer behavior, competition, business goals, financial goals, conversions, etc.  Spend the appropriate time analyzing the situation before design the marketing plan.  It will save you money in the long run.

To remain competitive in today’s environment, real estate professionals and home builders must understand who their buyers are, where they are doing their research, and how to effectively communicate their brand message.   As we continue to see a dramatic shift away from traditional media, home builders and marketers are seeking advertising channels that are most cost effective, more targeted, and more measurable. 

Internet marketing is earning greater recognition as the industry becomes more educated about the valuable marriage between creativity and technology.  Social media is one of these strategies that is gaining fantastic momentum.  Social media as a marketing strategy has made so many advancements in the past 12 months that it is hard to keep track.  The online marketing space has redefined how companies brand themselves, communicate with customers, and allocate marketing dollars. 

Transparency is the only way builders can remain relevant and competitive.  The old days of companies hiding behind their “big brand” are over.  Companies that are engaging in social media are committing to real customer interaction and showing who they really are as a brand and as a team.  This article aims at providing insight into why we should care about social media, how it is redefining the way we market products and services,  and how to use it effectively to sell homes.

Why Should We Care About Social Media Marketing?

Home builders and real estate professionals need to understand that their buyers are in fact online and are using social networking sites on a regular basis:
• According to the National Association of REALTORS “Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers 2008″ 87% of home buyers use the Internet to search for a home.
• According to a 2009 Facebook statistics report, the fastest growing group on Facebook is now the 35 to 54 year old demographic growing at growing at 276.4% in the first six months of 2009.  The 55+ demo is not far behind with a 194.3% growth rate.
• According to Nielsen, unique visitors to Twitter increased 1,382 percent year-over-year, from 475,000 unique visitors in February 2008 to 7 million in February 2009, making it the fastest growing site in the Member Communities category for the month.
• YouTube is now considered the largest vertical search engines in the world with well over 70,000,000 videos (as of March 2008)

Redefining the Marketing Landscape

The hybrid approach:  Social media marketing has created a fusion between real estate marketing, advertising, and customer relations.  The most successful real estate focused social media campaigns combine all online and offline marketing efforts and truly engage the audience.  The companies that use these strategies effectively are fully committed and spend considerable time on these initiatives.  Once a campaign gains momentum, the social platforms (i.e. Facebook Fan Page, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube) become real communication tools.  Builders can now actively interact with potential buyers and industry professionals in a more personal manner.  Consumers want to see user-generated content and learn about your brand from people outside your organization. 

Branding:  We should be careful about how we define “branding” as it applies to marketing and advertising.  Sometimes branding can be thought of as that marketing strategy with an indefinable ROI.  Actually, it is of course much more important.  These days it doesn’t take just good advertising or PR to brand your company.  For home builders that already have a distinct brand image social media is about creating trust and transparency while still protecting the brand.  Once a real estate professional or home builder begins social media they should encourage everyone in the company to contribute.  A builder’s brand shouldn’t just be about the homes and communities.  It should be about the team of people driving the business.  If the Simon Cooper of Ritz Carlton is a regular blogger and uses Twitter, that should tell us something.

Cost Effectiveness:  Just like any other marketing strategy, Internet marketing and social media should be designed to support a builder’s sales goals.  With budgets being tighter, it is crucial to design a marketing plan that contains strategies that are measurable and can produce a desired ROI.   One of the key ways that Internet marketing and social media are more cost effective is because it is targeted.  With social media marketing, an effective campaign starts first with setting goals, doing research, and defining the audience.  There are many great social media tools available to help plan and manage campaigns.  The key element for measuring results should be in the analytics.  All social media pages should link to the company website and gradually build traffic and conversions.

10 Tips for Getting Started

1. The team:  Whether your hire a social media agency or consultant or use an in-house team, you have to be committed to investing in the process.  It’s all or nothing.  If you outsource, it is still recommended to have someone in-house directing the message and strategy.  The more your buyers and potential buyers communicate with you, the more you will have to remain involved.  If you plan to build an in-house team, enlist the help of some Internet savvy interns for some extra man power. 

2. Website:  Do not spend time and energy engaging in any online strategy until you have a website that is user-friendly and designed to foster conversions (i.e. building an email list, capturing registrations, and generating sales).  Your website will always be your most important foundation from which any online marketing strategy will be built.  Make sure to have Google analytics installed in your site so you can actively monitor traffic levels, traffic sources, bounce rates, and time on site. Be sure to have a great database management system for capturing and organizing incoming leads. 

3. Blog:  Keep in mind that social media is first about providing value to your online community and building trust.  The best place to start is with a blog.  Blogs are easy to set up and show your customers that you care about what’s going on in your industry.  Word Press blogs are a great recommendation and very “Google-friendly”.  Be sure to build your blog into your website as opposed to having it as an external site.  Write about current topics that people can relate to and never make your message self serving.  If you don’t think you have time for all this, think again.  Like physical fitness, if you care about it and are committed, you will make the time.

4. Facebook, Active Rain, Twitter, YouTube:  Set up a Fan Page on Facebook.com and profiles on Twitter and ActiveRain.com.  You will build a large network in two ways: (1) networking within the online community itself and inviting people to “join” your fan club or “follow” you on Twitter; (2) driving traffic from outside sources to your profile pages, which you can accomplish this by having links to your profile pages and encouraging people to follow or join. 

You will keep them engaged by having good content (i.e. your blog articles is a great place to start).  You can set up an RSS feed so that your blogs are automatically posted to your Twitter page and Facebook page.  Set up a YouTube channel and start adding content.  Most builders have some kind of video or TV content so start adding it to your YouTube channel and Facebook fan page.  To create new video content, purchase a simple flip camera and shoot three to five minute videos at your properties.  Interview sales representatives, property managers, and even owners. 

5. Communicate & Build a Following:  Your efforts will be fruitless unless you have a loyal following which takes some time to build.  The more effort you put into it, the better your results will be.  Ask your social media partner for effective ways to build a following on Twitter without spamming the community.  Be active on your profile pages on Facebook and ActiveRain.  The more value you have to offer the more people will talk.  Management should lead by example and get involved.  Encourage all employees and sales people to be a part of the network.  Once you have some momentum you can start incorporating your special incentives, promotions, events, grand openings, and other creative messages.  When communicating special offerings, remember to include links to landing pages that give more details and have very clear calls to action like simple registration forms. 

6. Online/Offline Integration:  Include links to all of your social media profile pages and YouTube channel on your website.  Also make reference to these sites in all other marketing and advertising efforts.  If your fully engaged in social media and offer a great resource to potential buyers, why not brag about it?

7. Track Results and Conversions:  The best way to really track results is to be sure your social media platforms are always pointing back to your website and landing pages.  From there you can use your analytics to watch how much traffic is coming from these sources and how its converting. 

8. Get your sales teams involved:  Every member of your sales team should be active in their own social media efforts and the company’s.  Just be sure that there is some level of control to the overall message being communicated through your social networks. 

9. Get your communities involved:  All of a homebuilder’s communities should have their own Facebook and Twitter accounts and be actively involved in the company’s network as well. 

10. Get Creative:  After you gain momentum, the sky is the limit.  Your social network sites then become a platform for creativity and true customer relationship management.  Develop new concepts like special promotions, events, and contests.  Make it fun for people to be inlcuded in your online community.

By now if you have not heard that there was an election in Iran, then you have either not been on Twitter, Facebook, Yahoo!, MySpace, Digg, CNN, FoxNews, MSNBC, NBC, ABC, National, local, and international newspapers, and simply been living as a hermit in a long lost case where civilization is the furthest thing from you.  But since you are reading this that cannot be the case.

Today, Friday 06/19/09, major companies such as Apple, Google, and Facebook announced support for Persian language.  Apple has done this with their SMS’ being possible in Persian, Google Translates to Persian now, and Facebook is available in Persian too.  And if you believe that is only company, think again.  Twitter rescheduled their maintenance so that the Iranian people inside Iran would have a means to communicate because the government had shut down sms/texting, and disconnected cell phone towers, and kept everything under watch.  Even Internet sites are being filtered and censored.  With Twitter for example, because their are so many applications using Twitter’s open API, it is extremely difficult to filter those servers because their IP address differs from Twitter’s main IP.  In fact, there are countless proxy servers setup out there with people from all over the world assisting in this digital revolution.  Regular folks, Americans, Europeans, Japanese, and more are all partaking in the first true digital revolution.  And this is all being done through Social Media platform like Twitter, Digg, Facebook, YouTube, Flickr, and many, many more out there.

To see tweets from inside Iran, you can follow the hottest “trend” on Twitter, or follow two students tweeting from within the country:

twitter.com/change_for_Iran

twitter.com/iranElection

Social Media is not going anywhere, it was indicated with the power of Obama gaining incredible following using these tools, and it is being cemented in the world as not only a cool tool, but as a power changer, as a ways to gain freedom.  Through the likes of Twitter and Facebook the world will know that through sheer will of power, anything is possible.  Let the dream of unity, the dream of freedom, and the dream of a better tomorrow ring true for the people of Iran, and the rest of the world needing their own CHANGE.

It is always surprising to see major brands and companies that have been around for decades that still have website built in the 90’s.  It is fairly common and many times this is simply not a priority especially if the company “doesn’t gain new business prospects via the web”.  The response to this kind of comment of course is “Of course you don’t if your website is old and invisible to Google”.

More large companies (across all industries) are starting to realize the importance of improving their online marketing capabilities.  For most, it is a matter of simply focusing on it, making the commitment, and having an internal team to head up the effort.  Even if the Internet marketing and website development initiatives are going to be outsourced, mostly companies will still need and internal marketing team leading the charge.

Some company owners and executives wonder if now is a good time to invest in improving their online exposure.  The answer of course is that it has never been a more crucial time.  During good economic times, consumers and potential customers do not scrutinize these types of things as much nor do they price compare a shop around as much as they do now.  You have one shot when someone visits your website.  This is important especially if your website is your key resource for providing information about your company and services.

So once you have decided that it is time to make the commitment, what is the next step?  Here are some tips for getting started:

• Define your business and marketing strategy: Your business goals should drive your marketing strategy.  Look at what you are currently doing (or not doing) and set some benchmarks.  Research your competitors that are doing it better.  If your major competitors have a better website (that has been redesigned in the last 12 months), great rankings in the search engines, and an exciting social media campaign, then you have some work to do!  But don’t worry…the fact that they are doing it proves that you should be too.
• Website redesign/redevelopment: Before launching the marketing strategy, you need to prepare your online platform for traffic and converting traffic into new business.  Think of this as having a house warming party.  You wouldn’t send out 100 invitations and make big plans to show off your home unless you have done spome “house cleaning” first.  Your website needs to be compelling, user-friendly, offer great value to your visitor, and have good calls to action so the user know what you want them to do.
• Internet marketing strategy: Start with the basics.  A good search engine optimization (SEO) campaign is the right long term investment to make.  There is no point investing in a new website if noone is going to ever see it (or at least not many people).  Remember my comment above about companies saying that they do not gain new clients or business from the Internet?  Well this is meant to change that.  Great rankings relevant to your industry, business, and services, will eventually build traffic and foster new customers – if the website is set up to convert.  Pay per click (PPC) advertising can be a great way to get quick results in the search engines, target specific areas and consumers, and get faster results than you will with SEO.  PPC is advertising where as SEO is more like a true investment in the future of your business.  Other strategies include social media marketing, email marketing, display ads, retargeting, etc.

The best way to get the process started is to talk to people you trust who are currently doing it.  The most important thing to realize is that consumers in all industries are researching online and could find you if you take the time to “be found”.  The web is a trasparent place and people want to know who you really are.  The days of hiding behind a website that has limited information are over (if you want to survive).   Consider starting a blog and get the executives involved.  If the CEO of Ritz Cartlon can make time for blogging and Twitter, so can you!

As the popularity of social media grows, more bsuiness owners are trying to understand what its all about.  One of the main factors deterring many businesses from using social media marketing is that they don’t understand it, nor do they think it will be targeted for their demographic (i.e. not online, not the right age range, etc.).  The biggest misconception is that people over 35 are not on sites like Facebook.com or Twitter.com.  That may have been true a few years ago but not anymore.

While just a few years ago the mediums were associated with the teenage and 20-something sets, that’s changed. Two-thirds of all online users visit social networks and blogs, according to data from Nielsen Online. And the largest growth in social media users last year came from the 35- to 49-year-old group.  There are a lot of business owners and potential customers in these groups!

The most important thing for business owners to understand is not WHAT social media is but HOW to most effectively use it for their specific brands.  It is different for every company and takes research and planning to set up a proper campaign.  The industry in general often referrs to social media as on of the most cost effective marketing channels but it is more time consuming than people think.  That is why many companies who do not have the bandwidth to tackle this effort in-house will hire a professional Internet marketing or social media marketing company.

Many firms will approach the way they offer the service differently.  Some only want to consult but not implement.  The problem with this approach is that is still doesn’t solve bandwidth and internal resource issues.  It is of course very important to have the client very involved so that the correct message is being communicated.  Experts will also advise clients who want to do some of the implementation (i.e. Tweeting, updating Facebook profiles, etc.) to make sure they understand the rules of online social communities.  The sales pitch should be subtle and only introduced once the trust has been established.  The key to social media is finding out who is talking about topics related to your business and getting involved with those discussions. 

From an online brand management scenario (an important aspect to a well rounded social media marketing effort), companies should keep open lines of communication with their customers.  If positive things are said online, say “Thank You”.  If negative comments arise, apologize and let them know you are looking for a solution.  The more that busineses can learn about social media and how they can effectivley use it the better.  That is where great Internet marketing companies can play a large role.

Social Media is a fairly new coined term.  In the past 6 months especially, the term has seeped into everyone’s lives.  If you do not know what Social Media is, and how people are now using it to notonly communicate, use it for press releases, but now also using it for dating.  It is the speedier way in many ways.  Locally here in San Diego, in the past 2-3 weeks, if you have turned into AJ’s Playhouse on Channel 933 (93.3 FM), you may have heard many stories about Twitter.

On AJ’s Playhouse, they made a song about Twitter, they had a local Tweet (Melodie Tao) come in and talk about Twitter, and they also had a dating coach come in today and talk about how to find local singles in San Diego through Twitter.  In other words, if Channel 933 is talking about Twitter this much, and you are still on the fence on Twitter, and getting an online presence through social media, then it is time to get on the bandwagon.

Social Media Circle

With the way outlook has been like since the financial meltdown, companies are looking for ways to cut costs by any means available to them.  They are looking to survive, meaning the days of wanting to be the best are becoming a faded memory.  If your company is in such a pit as most companies are, you do not have to despair – but only if you take the right steps towards survival, and thriving.

Recently on Yahoo! News, there was a story featured about a London bakery that is thriving.  But, they are not thriving through traditional means of radio, television, or print ads.  Instead, they have decided to embrace social media technologies at their disposal.  They are using Twitter to inform their Twitter followers when they are serving fresh bread.  They are a small business who have embraced social media for their sales purposes.  Large companies are also following suit.  They are building what is called “engagement marketing” by allowing consumers to be actively engaged in the branding, products, and more that companies sell or offer.  Online users are no longer restricted to the high schoolers, college students, or simply tech savvy people.  Instead it has become successful in attracting people from all ages and background – this is why companies are now not only following suit temporarily to save money, but because social media is here to stay.

Advertising online, appearing in organic listings, being talked about online in forums, social networks, discussion boards and more is what is now considered the norm for online marketing.  Additionally it also is how companies such as Dell convert disgruntled customers become happy ones through Twitter.