Over the last decade, the Internet has become increasingly more interactive for its users by the year, by the month and even, by the day.  New innovations are happening constantly and it would be impossible to stay updated on them all on a regular basis (another good reason to read the IMI blog everyday!).  Today, I want to mention a relatively new phenomenon that is taking off like wildfire- website applications that allow user personalization.  And I don’t just mean custom forms that allow people to search the value of their old cars like on KelleyBlueBook.com or something; I mean true personalization with digital imagery upload- something that really hits close to home for our population’s more visual users.

So let’s start with something seasonal: Has anyone ever checked out ElfYourself.com?  On this website, users are allowed to upload pictures of themselves and four additional friends.  After the upload is complete, each of the head shots are inserted onto elf bodies, which then sing and dance to holiday themed songs.  Whereas two years you could only select one standard song, this holiday season, users have the option to select from country, disco, hip hop and more.  And now, when you’re done, you can embarrass yourself and your friends by sharing with Facebook!  It’s truly phenomenal.

But, if you’re already over the holidays and you’d prefer a blast from the past, check out YearbookYourself.com.  This website allows you to upload a head shot and after you’re done, it will place you in a persona from yearbooks of the past.  For some reason, whenever I try it, it has an uncanny ability to make me look identical to my mom.  Anyone else getting the same results?

My latest find in the interactive web arena is a site called MorphThing.com.  It would probably behoove you to check it out everyday for a good laugh when you’re in need of a smile because you never know what new morphs will be featured.  Today’s best morph was a cross of Marilyn Manson and Barack Obama.  Other featured morphs include: Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie entitled “Brangelina,” Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez entitled “Bennifer,” Jessica Simpson and Dane Cook, Ashley Olsen and Mary Kate Olsen, and the list goes on.  Users can also make custom morphs and even baby morphs, which could be a very useful tool in marriage preparation (and might send some people to counseling).  Use these tools wisely!  Enjoy.

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.

There’s some new entries in the Hilton Appreciation Vacation contest…. here’s one of the latest video’s:

If you haven’t signed up yet, open Facebook and search for Hilton Appreciation Vacation, or click this link: http://apps.facebook.com/hiltonvideocontest

The drawing is very soon so there’s an excellent chance to win this vacation for yourself.  Just post a new video to your YouTube account and then submit it to the contest before Nov. 15th.

In a time of economic downturn and an ever changing online universe,  the end consumer has always dictated what the future holds for businesses and technologies alike.  According to some recent Nielsen ratings and Lightspeed research, video is becoming the hottest social medium on the web.  With over 116 million consumers watching and interacting with online video, you can now say that online video viewership is comparable to television viewership.

Consumers are now not only watching videos but sharing them with others.  According to Lightspeed research the most popular methods consumers are using to share videos include : email to friends (50%) , Send to a social network friend (23%) and Instant message a video clip to a friend or colleague (21%)

In conclusion, if your watching videos online your interacting with them more than ever. If your an online business or product online without video optimization and distribution you are definitely missing the picture or should I say online video!

Optimized video content is a key element in a well rounded search engine optimization campaign.  With Google’s newest algorithms and Universal Search features, a company must optimize not only it’s website but also ALL other digital assets such as video content.  YouTube.com videos are some of the best video content to embed on a website because Google gives them the most relevance. 

Video files can be optimized in the same way you optimize a web page with title tags, meta descriptions, etc.  Those videos then can be blasted out through networks such as Tube Mogul.  The idea being that when users run searches, they may not get your website everytime but a video result can be just as powerful.  Video optimization is a great Internet marketing tactic that enhances brand image and supports both SEO and social media strategies.

Here are some great tips for optimizing videos:

Upload the video to YouTube and write an optimized title and description, plus add a link to your site from that YouTube page

Video should ALSO be located within one of the company’s domains, IF POSSIBLE, and have the page itself optimized for the video which includes the Title Tags, META Description, & content.

Embed both the YouTube video and a link to the raw video on the client server

Video should not be in FLASH

Have all videos within one subdirectory or subdomain

Create a video XML feed file for iTunes and other podcast readers, to include BOTH the YouTube video AND the client server download URL for readers – adding the video location to both the site’s current HTML & XML sitemap would be an added benefit

The XML file should contain the description, Title, Client Server URL, YouTube embed, link to blog post/client page and other meta data

Enable a CALL TO ACTION be located in the video, especially a link to where they could purchase something similar to what’s in the video

If there are issues hosting videos on the client server then YouTube videos alone should suffice but its best if you can have both in tandem since there will NOT be duplication penalties applied

NOTE – The YouTube video will rank fairly quickly while the client hosted video would be a slow climb in the rankings

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You bet!  The following example is one of the most aggressive (but simple) gorilla marketing efforts (via social media) done by a simple Mom and Pop Korean Taco Truck in Los Angeles.  The good old days of big marketing budgets may be over for a while but small companies with large visions are killing it with social media.  There is a big difference between basic social media and social media down right.  A company must make a true committment to these efforts if they want to see a tangible ROI.  The soft an easy approach usually doesn’t work.  A good recomendation is to hire an experience Internet marketing company or social media marketing company to handle this effort.

Take a look at how Kogi tackled the world of late night Korean BBQ tacos with agressive (but meaningful) use of Flickr, YouTube, Twitter, and blogs. First, the set up a great looking

website with a design feel that you would not expect from people in the late night taco business.  After that they used the following basic SEO and social media marketing tactics. First, they realized that content is king, but not just with thoughtful blogs and articles.  Although they have a great blog.  They developed a large inventory of videos as well to fill the site with rich media in a Google friendly way (i.e. YouTube videos).  They also set up an account on Flickr and use Youtube to marketing the videos.  They have a powerful SEO campaign because the site has great basic SEO coding and the rest is in the valuable content (a good mix of copy and video as well as great inbound links developed through their social media efforts).

Next, they did what any good social media company would do and found out where their target audience was hanging out online.  Twitter just so happened to be the most responsive tool in their soccial media tool kit and they are up to a following of about 14,000.  The next step is crucial and where many social media campaigns fall short.  They actively and regularly interact with their audience.  They don’t just post comments and truck locations on Twitter, they use it as a real communication tool. They talk to their customers, get feedback and even include them in branding ideas, t-shirt designs, etc.  This gives their customers a sense of community and ownership.  It sounds crazy because most of their customers visit them after being at the clubs and bars all night!  But it works!

The company has a true sense of authenticity and transparency.  They know their customers and their customers know them.  They started as a simple mobile taco stand and know have two trucks and customers that stand in line for over an hour late at night to get their hands on the awesome tacos!  The best part about their social media campaign is that they have a good product.  None of this works in the long run if there isn’t something great on the other end for the consumer.  In fact, that is where the world of Web 2.0 can bite you.  This leads into a discussion of online reputation management, but we will dig into that later.  More to come!