Memes: What Are They And How Can They Help My Business?

June 15, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Normally when we watch TV we change the channel or fast-forward during commercials. But there is one day a year where we not only look forward but also enjoy commercials. And that day is the Super Bowl. This years Super Bowl featured a commercial by the Coco-Cola owned company Vitamin Water. This commercial sparked controversy amongst viewers because either you understood the commercial and found it hilarious, or you had no idea what was going on.

That’s because this commercial featured several references to Internet “memes.” If you are asking what is a “meme” then you’re one of the people who didn’t understand the commercial.

A “meme” is usually a video, image, story, trend or joke that spreads throughout the internet via social networking sites and for lack of a better term, take on a life of their own.

Basically, a meme starts with one thing that has a basic meaning, whether it’s a picture, animation, or viral video. Then it is copied, altered in some fashion, and then shared. This process repeats creating multiple versions of the same “meme.”

There are hundreds of “memes” on the Internet. But advertisers are finding that some “memes” are more popular than others. You may have heard of “rick-rolling,” “honey badger,” or perhaps “keyboard cat.” If you have not heard of any of these, then you need to spend more time on the Internet.

“Memes” are now becoming the new spokes person for brands. Instead of celebrities, companies are hiring famous “memes” to be in their commercials or Internet ads. Using “memes” appeals to the Internet generation because they recognize and acknowledge them.

Vitamin Water’s Super Bowl commercial featured 7 currently popular Internet “memes” in their commercial. It featured the star of the sexy sax man video, a person planking, a person doing the worm, cats with limes on their heads, a parody of a video of someone getting hit by an antelope, prisoners in orange jumpsuits dancing another spoof of a video and a cameo appearance of Nyan cat.

Anyone who has spent time on the Internet recognized all of these characters and could identify which viral video they came from. Showing that your company is up to date with current Internet trends is another way of establishing brand image. Internet users can associate your product as “cool” with the hopes that eventually they purchase your product.

But “memes” can work in the opposite way. Companies are now using “memes” about them to their own advantages. For example, on the Internet there was a popular “meme” of the main character of Futurama, Fry, called “Not Sure If…” It consists of a picture of Fry with squinty eyes giving the allusion that he is thinking. This image has many difference captions such as “Not sure if I am in a bad mood or everyone is just annoying” and “Not sure if I actually have free time or I’m just forgetting something.”

Capitalizing on the success of “memes” Comedy Central, which airs new episodes of Futurama, started to run commercial spots with this “meme.” This time the caption states “Not sure if happiness is due to life getting better or just new Futurama.”

“Memes” are gaining in popularity by the second. “Memes” can be a useful tool to in marketing because it shows that you understand the Internet, the Internet generation, and their humor. As previously mentioned, “memes” can be helpful in establishing a unique brand image which will hopefully increase your business.

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The Future of Social Music

January 4, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Open up your Facebook page and do a search for “new Facebook.” Unsurprising to anyone who has been on the social networking site in the last five years, the results page is littered with links to groups dedicated to the hatred of whatever the most recent updates are. Groups like “I Hate the New Facebook Profile,” and “Can we find 500,000 who hates the new Facebook chat bar?” have memberships in the tens of thousands and at their height, even more.

In my opinion, none of this resistance matters. Aside from the most recent changes, no one can even remember what Facebook looked like before? If history has taught us anything when it comes to redesigns on the web, people will be resistant to the changes at first, then grow accustomed to them, then forget about life before those changes entirely.

While it’s still fresh in our minds, let’s review what the most recent “enhancements” were. The chat function was converted from a small tab in the bottom right hand corner to the entire right side of the screen resting beneath a second news feed updating in real time. Another change mad was the creation of twitter-like rss which one can subscribe to.

Now, as Facebook, as it is want to do, makes recommendations to its users.  Today my recommendations are a “person you may know” that I actually did go to high school with, and a popular rss feed belonging to Sean Parker, who is listed as a director at Spotify.

Hold on for a second…. Justin Timberlake?

More seriously, how did this happen? This guy is genius. Despite recent detractions, Spotify may be the first real competitor itunes has had. Personally, I find the program’s layout slightly more user friendly. Also if I actually paid for my music it would make a lot more economical sense to use Spotify.

Don’t just take my word for it, look at Parker. The man single handedly changed the way the world bought music a little more than ten years ago, and then helped reshape the way humans connect only a few years later. All signs point to this guy being a magnet for success on the internet so why should Spotify be any different.

Aside from the cost effectiveness of Spotify premium, my favorite part of the Swedish music service is the ability to sync your account with Facebook. Now I can make playlists for my friends and see what all the people I know are listening to. It’s just another way Parker has allowed us all to stay connected.

Filed Under: Social Media

Newsday: Inside Long Island business Feature

May 25, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Marketing specialist moves to law firm

10:25 AM By Ann Smukler

Matt WeitzmanPhoto credit: Valli, Kane & Vagnini

Matt Weitzman, of MJW Media, has been named Internet marketing specialist at the Garden City law firm of Valli, Kane & Vagnini. The Port Washington resident will be responsible for all website design and development as well as web promotion and social media integration for the practice.

Original article www.newsday.com

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A New Place for News

May 18, 2011 By Leave a Comment


Probably less than a week into the month, you unknowingly click the headline of your 20th article and an online popup halts you, insisting that “to keep reading, sign up today.” Alas, the time has come that The New York Times will no longer allow free riders of the Internet to mooch off their professional paper.

It’s been long theorized that online articles will stimulate the demise of paper journalism, so it’s no surprise that nytimes.com has implemented a fee for online subscriptions. But the truth is, even professional online news carriers aren’t necessarily society’s top informer anymore.

Instead, word of mouth—or word of fingertips, rather—has become the first source of top news: through social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter. Status updates and tweets infiltrate news feeds (in which you can even select if you want to see the most popular posts or the most recent) and inform virtual friends and followers of top news—usually including the writer’s personal feelings on the subject. It almost becomes a competition to have the wittiest one-line comment on the matter, instead of the most intellectual, well-developed news report.

Take Osama Bin Laden’s death, for example. Late that Sunday evening, Facebook was flooded with the subject from patriotic exclamations to mobile-uploads from rallies to the simple “Bin Laden is dead.”

Site users worldwide were updated with this information simply by being “social.” Many people who would otherwise not be watching the news or reading an online paper at that time, but do frequently check their social networking sites or receive notifications to their phones, received and spread the news quite quickly. And the same holds true for even smaller scale news like sport event turnouts and television show finales.

Evidently, credible and prestigious news carriers aren’t necessarily needed for the simple informative part of news spreading. There’s no denying that people still follow up with real stories after encountering news off a social network, but there’s also no denying that many people don’t.

And aside from relying on peers, the New York Times itself can even be followed on Facebook and Twitter. So instead of connecting users to news reports, social networking sites may be nudging their way into being the news for many people.

 

 

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Social Media Creates Unprecedented Advertising Methods

April 4, 2011 By Leave a Comment

A new form of direct advertising has been created through social media.  Facebook, Twitter and other social media sites have made it possible for advertisers to create content that meets the needs of their demographics, thus making it possible to effectively advertise over the web.

Advertisers are providing engaging and interactive content over social media sites to capture people’s attention and drive them into action.  Social media has made it possible for companies to create one-on-one conversations about products and services, formulate low-cost direct marketing strategies and enhance the perception of brand images by directly communicating with the public.

Consumers are constantly searching through social media for recommendations and reviews of products and services.  Companies can directly communicate with consumers via their social media pages, providing on-the-spot information and compelling messages that drive consumers to make the purchase.  Companies have used Twitter as a way to exchange knowledge with followers, and to create personal connections through @ replies and re-tweets.  Likewise, Facebook allows consumers the opportunity to post directly on the company’s website.  The company can reply to the consumer through their personal Facebook page, providing timely and honest information catered to the consumers needs.  Directly contacting consumers through social media sites creates personal relationships between companies and the public, allowing businesses to create messages and direct advertisements that are trusted and valued by consumers world-wide.

The web provides low cost options for direct advertising through the collaborative nature of social media.   Consumers seek to connect with people of the same interests.  Therefore, people in specific demographics create groups and forums on social media sites to share their thoughts and reviews of products and services.  These groups can be targeted by direct advertisers, cutting out the cost of focus groups, surveys and research.  Companies no longer have to go to extreme lengths to find their target consumers for direct advertising because consumers have already sorted themselves into interest groups all over social media.

Social media marketing can be used to increase exposure of brand images and to distribute messages and advertisements to the masses. Syndication sites provide opportunities for messages to be dispersed among large audiences, adopting the interactive and direct nature of the original advertising message. Syndicating advertising messages to various social media sites creates a pyramid effect- the message reaches the masses through a line of websites and postings.  However, it still provides the direct business-to-consumer message and continues making personal relationships.  By providing a consistent message and brand image through the various social media sites, businesses gain a reputation of being a company that cares about their consumers.

Social media has changed the nature of direct advertising; no longer do marketing messages need to have content.  Rather, the companies are the content that convinces audiences to buy products and services.  By generating trust within the community and creating personal relationships, companies gain value that is unprecedented by other marketing efforts.

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Libyan Revolutionary Fire Ignited and Fueled by Social Media

April 1, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Social media is the new tool in rallying for revolutions and igniting fire within Middle Eastern countries.  After the Tunisian and Egyptian revolutions used social media platforms as effective means to stir up dissent, Libya quickly caught on to the trending strategy.  Utilizing social media as an aid for protests, Libya uses the hashtag #Feb17 to sprout conversation and provide information across the world.

Muammar Gaddafi instructed Libya to refrain from using social media sites after Facebook and Twitter were being used to call for reform.  Gaddafi understands the threat of social media's power and the influence it has in revolutions.  He has arrested activists using Facebook and Twitter as means to rustle up the community and encourage dissent of the regime.

Reporters across the globe have been left without facts and information because of Gaddafi's censorship, making the Libyan revolution appear to be a hazy subject including a lot of “he said, she said”.  But activists in Libya have created Twitter accounts to correct the false information that is circulating, despite Gaddafi's orders.  They've found social media as a way to provide their own news feeds and footage of the protests, and to stand against the government in support of the revolution.

A report by the Associated Press stated that the Libyan protests were not directed toward President Muammar Gaddafi.  The report quickly sprouted tweets in disagreement across the globe.  An angry Libyan protester named Libyan4Life tweeted “@SMH @HuffingtonPost @AP Protests in #Benghazi were solely towards #Gaddafi despite direct evidence, continue to report misinformation #Feb17?.  Another Libyan under the Twitter name Cyrenaican responded to the misled media conglomerate, “They say the revolution will not be televised. Fine. Can we at least get it reported correctly? @AssociatedPress #Benghazi #Feb17 #Libya”.

Despite the restrictions of the protest on television, Libyans used social media to publish the first video footage of the revolution.  The video was posted on YouTube by a Libyan protestor and shows images of people, young and old, fighting verbally and physically.

Through Facebook, Lybian journalist Mahmud Shammam rallied over 200 people to join in overcoming the false information and video restrictions by creating a satellite channel named Libya TV.  After calling for volunteers on his Facebook page, a team quickly assembled to create the station.  Their goal: to provide news and commentary while countering Libyan state propaganda.

“We need a heavy dosage of dialogue,” says Shammam, “we want Libyans to think about the future: the rule of law, civil society, a new constitution.  We want to promote a culture of forgiving.”

After hundreds of years of dissent and protest, it’s incredible that social media became the powerful outlet that finally made it possible for Middle Eastern countries to be heard across the world.

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Relief for Japan Spearheaded by Social Media

March 25, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Once the power went out on March 11th at the Misawa Air Base in Japan, Air Force Senior Master Sgt. Joy Josephson knew she would have come up with a creative way to update the world about the 9.0 earthquake. Using Facebook as her main source of communication from Japan to the outside world, she regularly posted updates and information for followers across the globe. Josephson was on to something. After the earthquake, Twitter, YouTube, Flickr were constantly updated with information on power outages, the nuclear crisis and volunteers looking for ways to lend a helping hand.

Social media has been a forerunner in Japan’s relief efforts, with communities and individuals uniting to provide support systems, funding and goods to the victims. Companies have caught on and are using social media as a way to fundraise for the earthquake relief. MotionPortrait, a Japanese based entertainment company, is donating all sales of its 12 iPhone apps between now and March 31 to the Tsunami relief. LivingSocial, a U.S. website that offers deals for subscribers, matched $1 million in donations for Japan while Zynga (a Facebook game company) raised an addition $1 million within their first day of launching relief efforts.

“The response for volunteers [at Misawa] has been enormous,” Josephson said. “People want to know what they can do. Folks want to donate clothes, nonperishables, but we also have the people who want to go clean up and help — anything they can do to help our Japanese friends.”

Facebook pages like Global Disaster Relief on Facebook and Dog Bless You are designed specifically to fundraise for the victims. Twitter created a blogpost that has a people finder, updates on power outages, public transportation facts, disaster site evaluations, evacuation details and other relevant information. “

"It’s been amazing; it’s really exploded,” Josephson states about social media’s effect on the tsunami relief efforts. “It’s becoming such an asset, not only to our community, but more so to the community outside of Misawa, to people just wanting to gain information.”

Social media has recently become a way for the community to become involved through many causes and disasters, and will continue to be our stream of information and hope for every victim.

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Censoring your Social Media Page for Employment

March 18, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Companies are using social media websites as an information gateway in hiring and monitoring employee behavior.  Sites like Facebook and Twitter are influential in the hiring process for employers, and can also result in termination if they see information that is not “appropriate employee behavior.”  Employers monitor social networking sites for provocative or inappropriate photos, drinking and drug use, bad-mouthing coworkers and much more.  They even measure your communication and creativity skills from monitoring your social networking sites.

While we all use our social networking sites to display information regarding our private life for friends and family, employers fear that proprietary information will be revealed over the web and they will be negatively represented in the online world.  If you are looking for a job or currently employed, follow this list of Do’s and Don’ts to clean up your page and remain in the safety zone of social media.

  1. DO delete or hide anything on your profile that employers may view negatively.  Remove pictures of spring 
    break, vulgar comments or posts, rude language, and any commentary you may have posted about previous employers.  Remember there is no sense of “free speech” that is regulated in social media.  We’ve all heard the recent stories of New York teachers being fired for their online commentary of unruly classrooms and scandalous private lives.  It can happen to anyone, so keep your private thoughts and comments about your job to yourself.
  2. DON’T use social networking sites to vent about your job.  While you may need to talk about an overpowering boss or an arrogant coworker, never do it online.  While you may think your page is private, a coworker that you forgot you “friended” could take the page directly to your employer.  What you say online is permanent and is valid evidence that can be used against you in court and certainly by your employer or prospective employer.
  3. DO promote yourself socially and professionally online.  Update your pages to show your creativity and work ethic.  Write about accomplishments that you have made inside and outside of work.  Include your interests and passions and your goals.
  4. DON’T post anything that could be incompatible with your work persona.  For example, if you claim a disability or injury that alters your job responsibilities, refrain from posting pictures of you partaking in physical exercise.  If you are claiming worker’s compensation, investigators will often look at your social media sites to ensure that they are consistent with your claims.  An employer cannot discriminate against you because of disabilities, but you can be terminated if they unveil inconsistencies within your social media pages.
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Viral Video- the Newest in Social Media Marketing

February 23, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Social media has become the most popular way to express yourself, and now America is using it to market brands and companies.  But, with all the hype on social media, it’s hard to be recognized out of the millions of companies creating fan pages and websites to generate followers.  Some companies, however, are finding a new way to market on social media: viral videos.  No, it’s not a virus that you’ll spend months trying to rid your computer of. Viral videos are videos that become popular through internet sharing.  So how could that help a company?

While the internet is good for promotions and awareness campaigns, we’re really interested in the funny videos of off-tune singers scantily clad, Charlie's biting habits or auto-tuned versions of news interviews.  And some companies have caught on to that.  Take Toyota, for example.  A company that had somewhat of a media crisis (to put it mildly) with an increasingly bad reputation on social media.  If you typed “Toyota” into a Youtube search 11 months ago, the first thing to pop up would be a v-log commentary on the malfunctioning brake issue.  Now we get a fun and engaging video, made by Toyota that has over 8 million views.

You may have seen the “Swagger Wagon” duo of a middle class mom and dad that are convincing audiences around the globe that the Toyota Sienne SE is a cool, hip, and somewhat “gangster ride”.  Their viral video took off, and viewers can now watch multiple videos of “the Sienna Family” and their excursions in the Swagger Wagon.

Other companies are taking it to the next level, and encouraging their fans to create the viral videos.  Doritos launched a “Viralocity” campaign where they invite Doritos fans across the globe to create their own 60 second videos featuring the new Doritos brand and promote it on their social media sites for prize money.  What better way to gain recognition then to have your fans do all the work?  Doritos put their social media tactics into the hands of America, and America ran with it.

Youtube is no longer for funny home videos or music productions by aspiring artists.  It’s now home to some of the biggest marketing campaigns, disguised by America’s talent of creating funny videos that are quotable, shareable and likeable.

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Speak2tweet Gives Hope to Egyptian People

February 7, 2011 By 2 Comments

As the Egyptian Government is doing everything possible to quiet the desires and voices of Egyptian protesters, America has followed the unfolding wondering what we can do to help.  Just last week, Google invented a way to give the voices back to the Egyptian people and to allow them to connect with the rest of the world despite their government’s restrictions.  Using Twitter, the Egyptian people can post voice-tweets about the protests and their safety using their simple dial-in service.

Speak2tweet provides three international phone numbers that Egyptians may call to leave their voice notes.  By calling +16504194196, +390662207294, or +97316199855, anyone can leave a voice mail that will be linked directly to a tweet with the hashtag #egypt.   People may also listen to other voice-tweets by dialing those numbers.  No internet connection is needed, as the Egyptian Government blocked all internet connection within the country to prevent personal interactions between countries and citizens. Egyptian tweeter Ahmed Shalaby posted Jan 27th, “FYI | We don't have SMS, Fb, twitter, very very slow internet connection Till Now! & the worst is coming soon #jan25 #egypt”, and he was right.  The Egyptian Government quickly shut down landlines and mobile networks, cutting out almost all forms of communication.

In just one week, over three thousand tweets have been posted on Speak2tweet.  The site has acquired over ten thousand followers.  Google hopes that the site will help reunite the Egyptian people in their struggle for reform.  As stated in Google’s blog, “We hope that this will go some way to helping people in Egypt stay connected at this very difficult time. Our thoughts are with everyone there.”

Despite the Egyptian Government’s desire to tear down interactions between protesters and the rest of the world, Google has found a way to bring hope back to the people by connecting them once again.

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