Using Facebook In E-Commerce

Facebook has over 500 million active users in the United States and very recently beat Google in weekly visits.  Lets consider that consumers are getting more and more comfortable with online shopping, so as a E-commerce provider, you need to capitalize with Facebook, however you can.   In this article, let us take a look at how you can use Facebook to increase your awareness and your sales on your E-commerce site.

Facebook is certainly aware that E-commerce sites want to leverage Facebook traffic, so they allow businesses to create free Facebook business pages or pay-per click advertising campaigns.  Have you ever thought how nice it would be to have a business page that would take your friends directly from there over to your E-commerce site?  The leading website that is now doing this is www.voiyk.com.

Let us take a look at some important applications that Facebook will allow your E-commerce site to take advantage of.  First, discussion boards enable your fans to get their thoughts and ideas out into the open.  The boards also let you know what your customers and fans think and want.  Next is the notes application which allows you to share your business news and engage your fans in written notes.  The next application is the video platform and this is really taking off.  Recent surveys indicate that consumers respond “very positively” to well made marketing videos.  You might have read that YouTube just surpassed 1 billion hits per day, marketing is a big reason why.  The last one is reviews where fans and customers can leave opinions about your business.  The most important thing to remember there is that a negative response can be a positive.  First,  do not respond quickly to a negative comment, think about it for a day first.  When you do respond, make sure to engage the individual and truly listen with a concerned ear.  Typically, what happens is that the individual feels empowered and a lot of times this could lead to a positive change in your business.

A great way to use Facebook with E-Commerce is give your fans and customers an offer that they can not receive anywhere else, even if you have “brick and mortar” locations.  This will continue to drive these folks back to your Facebook page/storefront to find deals.  In this economy, everyone is looking for a deal.  Also, word will begin to spread that the best deals are at the Facebook location of your business.

The value of Facebook with E-commerce is that it allows you to engage with customers and fans in a interactive and meaningful way.  Consider making Facebook an integrated part of your marketing strategy.  Customers who have had a great experience love to share their stories and the repeat purchase rates through a Facebook application are off the charts, far higher than brick/mortar or even other social media applications.  Lets consider this as well, even if your customer has had a negative experience, this customer can engage with you in the comforts of their home, behind a computer, where their comfort level is much higher and in person.

Using E-Commerce with Facebook is vitally important to your business these days.  It allows you to have meaningful dialogue with customers,  offer exclusive deals, and tap into the 500 million member network of Facebook, and that is a lot of new business potential!

Technorati Tags: matt blum,facebook marketing,advertising,branding

How to Make Effective Commercials

I enjoyed watching this video, and think it will help you on your commercials.  Are you enjoying your weekend?

best to you and your family,

marketmpb

Technorati Tags: matt blum,effective commercials,advertising,branding,marketing

The Marketing Genius of Old Spice

hilarious commercial that has went viral and been very successful…

enjoy your weekend,

matt

Technorati Tags: matt blum,oldspice,marketing,advertising,branding,viral

Social Media and E-Commerce, Great Combination!

 

We have all seen the explosion of corporations creating online communities, but let us take a look at how easy it can be to connect with your e-commerce customers and how important social media is to your customers.

First, we have to ask the question, How do you take the seemingly limitless social media conversations and turn them into actionable insights?  Also, how can you understand what is being said and the context of those conversations?

Social media in any context offers incredibly good (and free) feedback on a variety of goods and services.  Online Retailers need to use this information to their advantage.  Using it to your advantage means using both the good and bad comments.  Here are some practical tips we can take a look at.  Most importantly, keep the conversation going and make sure your social media content is relevant and current.  Do remember that the end goal is product sales and customer connections.  Also, rekindle the passion for your brand consistently using social media methods.  For example, if you a leading e-commerce website (www.voiyk.com) and you are involved in a social media forum,  why not hold weekly or bi-weekly chat sessions about the experiences with ordering product via www.voiyk.com?  You will get invaluable responses from doing something like this.

It is also very important to constantly think about the audience you are trying to go after, consider your age demographics, race, and gender as well.  Who are the most likely people to purchase your products and who do you want to expand to?  These are key points to remember when considering your marketplace.

Technorati Tags: matt blum,marketing,social media marketing,branding,ecommerce

Would you like Matt Blum to write Original Content for your Website?

Good afternoon all,

I am thrilled to announce that I am going to be writing expert marketing articles on voiyk.com.  It is a phenomenal e-commerce application for Facebook that allows your Facebook fans to go to your e-commerce website seamlessly.

Would you like me to write original content articles for your website or blog?  I specialize in marketing, online marketing and social media marketing.

Currently, I write for

ezine.com

articlesbase.com

voiyk.com

Cincinnati Enquirer

and have over 100 articles published on the web…

Feel free to email me at marketmpb@rocketmail.com for more information,

best regards, marketmpb

Technorati Tags: matt blum,blog,marketing,blog writer,social media marketing,marketing blog college

Higher Education at a Crossroads

This is a great report for all higher education marketers…. enjoy!

marketmpb

http://www.apollogrp.edu/Investor/Reports/Higher_Education_at_a_Crossroads_FINALv2%5B1%5D.pdf

Technorati Tags: matt blum,apollo,higher education marketing report,higher education marketing

Marketing and Texting Increase for Those Over 60

Great post by Richard at sellmymobile.com…

enjoy, marketmpb

(source sellmymobile.com)

Texting and emailing are no longer the preserve of the young. A growing number of people over 60 are now using these communication tools.

A recent survey carried out by T-Mobile found that 71 per cent of those over 65 regularly used email to keep in touch with family and friends, while 15 per cent preferred to text from their mobile phone, particularly for breaking news.

When it came to telling others about good news, 49 per cent told researchers they used text while a further 24 per cent used it to tell people about some bad news.

Interestingly, when asked why they preferred to text rather than speak to someone, many of the respondents said it was because texting gave them time to plan what to say.

Using text or email to keep in touch isn’t the only mechanism used by a growing number of older people. Facebook has seen an upsurge in membership. Four per cent told researchers they regularly keep in touch via the social networking site and found it useful for sending important information.

A spokeswoman, Jo Bryant from Debrett’s, the etiquette company said: ”Advancements in technology over the last 20 years mean how we send and receive news is different across all generations.

”It’s not just teenagers who are sharing life changing news by text, those in their 60s have become more at ease with this form of communication, and prefer in some situations to break big news in one simple, short message.”

Technorati Tags: matt blum,marketing,text messaging,older people

 

Facebook Marketing Strategies

Did you enjoy your weekend?  I did, took the family to a bbq in Indianapolis, Indiana, had a great time!

This is a great video on marketing using Facebook, without looking like a jerk!

enjoy, admin

Technorati Tags: matt blum,facebook marketing,james hicks,online marketing,social media marketing

Facebook Places and What It Means to You

Good afternoon, are you marketing well today?

Facebook announced yesterday the launch of their location place application and let us take a look at what that means to you.

The service is similar to Foursquare in that you can create and “check into” places, most importantly know what you and your friends are doing.  Facebook places uses GPS to allow folks to check in on their mobile phone, also the service allows you to leave tips and comments for people to see.  Lets say for example you had a great steak at The Precinct (in Cincinnati), you can let others know that and for your friends to drop by.

The application also uses the GPS to identify other “hot” spots within a particular geographic area, possibly close to other places you have identified.  Currently, the service is only available on the I-Phone, however you can use your laptop as well.

What does this mean to you, the marketer?  Basically, quite a bit!  Businesses are already clamoring to claim all of their locations in a certain city or across the country.  It would be wise to create specific badges for specific locations of a restaurant, bar, etc..  The other interesting piece here would be to offer exclusive deals just through the Facebook application, I recommended the same thing awhile back with Foursquare. 

Foursquare currently has a little over 2 million users, while Facebook has north of 500 million users, so certainly there is a lot of potential for exposure here.

A lot of folks have had concerns about privacy with Facebook.  This particular application allows you to now check in, therefore your location would not be revealed.  Also, if you do check in, your location would only be revealed to your Facebook ‘friends”.

Start claiming your business locations and creating those “badges"!

Technorati Tags: matt blum,facebook places,marketing,social media marketing

Facebook Location Service

Great article from computerworld.com…. enjoy! marketmpb

source: computerworld.com

Computerworld - If all the speculation pans out and Facebook later today unveils a location-based service, the news will excite some users, raise new privacy concerns and make for a really bad day for the folks at Foursquare Labs.

The Internet has been abuzz with conjecture that Facebook is getting ready to take the wraps off a location feature for the phenomenally popular social networking site. All of the speculation surrounds a hush-hush press conference that the company has set up at its Palo Alto, Calif., headquarters for early this evening Eastern time.

Social sites with location-based services, like Foursquare and Gowalla, have been picking up a loyal following in the past year. Facebook apparently wants a piece of that expanding pie.

"If Facebook adds geolocation features, it would open up a whole new world of functionality for their users," said Dan Olds, an analyst at Gabriel Consulting Group. "It would allow users to easily let their friends know where they are or where they've been. Facebook can also easily add functionality that equals what is available from companies like Foursquare, and that would inevitably lead to commercial tie-ins and more revenue for Facebook."

Facebook Watch

• Facebook checks in to location-based services with Places
• Facebook unveils new batch of updates, features
• Facebook location service could kill Foursquare, ignite privacy issues
• Facebook fixes e-mail notification problem
• 5 tips to protect yourself on Facebook
• Facebook tweaks photo album browsing on its site
• Facebook calls ownership contract a 'forgery'
• Facebook's Zuckerberg 'quite sure' he didn't sign away the company
• Fake femme fatale shows social network risks
• Facebook hits milestone: Half a billion users

More about Facebook

Foursquare, a year-old social networking site, enables users to share their locations with their friends. For instance, when a user walks into a restaurant, she can "check in" on her mobile device and friends will see her location pop up on a Foursquare map.

Gowalla, another major player in the location arena, is a travel game that rewards users for visiting everyday and exotic locations.

It's not yet clear what Facebook would do with a location service. Would it mirror Foursquare or would it offer games like Gowalla?

Analysts say a location-aware feature could be a boon for Facebook -- and really bad news for competing location-based services.

"If successful, this would further embed Facebook into the lives of its users and could hold off what appears to be a declining interest in the service by making it new and fresh again," said Rob Enderle, principal analyst at Enderle Group. "Depends how successful this is. But, assuming success, FourSquare likely becomes redundant over time."

Olds agreed that Facebook's entry into location services could spell trouble for the folks at Foursquare.

"If Facebook does add this functionality, it will probably destroy the smaller companies already in this space," said Olds. "Facebook just has too many users for smaller sites like Foursquare to effectively compete. They might survive for a while, but they will definitely have to make radical adjustments to either their services or their business model in order to keep out of Facebook's way."

However, Olds also noted that Facebook will have to tread cautiously as it rolls out any location-based service if it doesn't want to create another privacy commotion.

Many users have been angry and frustrated in recent months over Facebook's privacy policies, as well as its privacy controls. Both Olds and Enderle said Facebook will have to make sure that users -- particularly those who don't want to broadcast their whereabouts -- will have their privacy protected.

"If this isn't handled well, it could easily make the PR problems we have already seen seem trivial by comparison," Enderle said. "Location-aware services, if misused, could identify vulnerable children or unmonitored properties, either of which could result in catastrophic events."

Technorati Tags: matt blum,facebook,computerworld,marketing,social media marketing

More College Rankings from US News and World Report

Good morning, I thought these rankings would interest you as well… best, matt

Best Colleges: Best Values: National Liberal Arts Colleges

Methodology

Rank
Percent receiving need-based grants:
Average discount from total cost:

Amherst College Amherst, MA
1
56.6%
75%

Williams College Williamstown, MA
2
52.2%
72%

Wellesley College Wellesley, MA
3
60.0%
64%

Pomona College Claremont, CA
4
53.6%
65%

Swarthmore College Swarthmore, PA
5
49.3%
65%

Hamilton College Clinton, NY
6
40.9%
69%

Grinnell College Grinnell, IA
7
63.1%
59%

Bowdoin College Brunswick, ME
8
43.1%
64%

Claremont McKenna College Claremont, CA
9
43.8%
65%

University of Richmond Univ. of Richmond, VA
10
45.6%
66%

Vassar College Poughkeepsie, NY
11
55.5%
61%

Presbyterian College Clinton, SC
12
67.6%
65%

Smith College Northampton, MA
13
59.6%
58%

Virginia Military Institute Lexington, VA
14
50.0%
61%

Agnes Scott College Decatur, GA
15
73.5%
56%

Ripon College Ripon, WI
16
83.9%
51%

Haverford College Haverford, PA
17
45.7%
62%

Macalester College St. Paul, MN
18
67.0%
55%

Middlebury College Middlebury, VT
19
49.3%
56%

Wesleyan University Middletown, CT
20
42.8%
61%

Hanover College Hanover, IN
21
76.4%
53%

Wabash College Crawfordsville, IN
22
79.1%
46%

Trinity College Hartford, CT
23
38.8%
65%

Mount Holyoke College South Hadley, MA
24
65.2%
54%

Carleton College Northfield, MN
25
55.9%
53%

Centre College Danville, KY
26
59.4%
52%

Cornell College Mount Vernon, IA
27
74.2%
51%

Colgate University Hamilton, NY
28
34.6%
63%

Wofford College Spartanburg, SC
29
51.8%
59%

Bryn Mawr College Bryn Mawr, PA
30
57.1%
57%

Harvey Mudd College Claremont, CA
31
53.5%
56%

Bates College Lewiston, ME
32
40.7%
60%

Fisk University Nashville, TN
33
87.9%
39%

Beloit College Beloit, WI
34
63.2%
51%

Westminster College New Wilmington, PA
35
82.7%
48%

Scripps College Claremont, CA
36
39.4%
60%

Thomas Aquinas College Santa Paula, CA
37
67.8%
42%

Transylvania University Lexington, KY
38
64.9%
49%

Colby College Waterville, ME
39
37.8%
60%

Washington and Lee University Lexington, VA
40
33.3%
60%

 

Best Colleges: Top Public Schools: National Liberal Arts Colleges

Rank

United States Military Academy West Point, NY
1

United States Naval Academy Annapolis, MD
1

Virginia Military Institute Lexington, VA
3

St. Mary's College of Maryland St. Mary's City, MD
4

New College of Florida Sarasota, FL
5

University of Minnesota--Morris Morris, MN
6

University of North Carolina--Asheville Asheville, NC
7

Purchase College--SUNY Purchase, NY

 

Technorati Tags: matt blum,college rankings,us news and world report,higher education marketing,branding

College Rankings from US News and World Report

It is finally here, the new rankings from US News and World Report.. I took some lists that thought would be of interest, enjoy!  marketmpb

Best Colleges Specialty Rankings: Undergraduate business specialties: Marketing

University of Pennsylvania Philadelphia, PA

University of Michigan--Ann Arbor Ann Arbor, MI
University of Texas--Austin Austin, TX
University of California--Berkeley Berkeley, CA
University of North Carolina--Chapel Hill Chapel Hill, NC
Indiana University--Bloomington Bloomington, IN
New York University New York, NY
University of Virginia Charlottesville, VA
University of Wisconsin--Madison Madison, WI
Massachusetts Institute of Technology Cambridge, MA

Best Colleges: Highest graduation rates

Following are the schools with the highest rates of students who graduate in four years.

4-year graduation rate:

Williams College Williamstown, MA
93%

Franklin W. Olin College of Engineering Needham, MA
91%

Yale University New Haven, CT
90%

University of Notre Dame Notre Dame, IN
90%

Princeton University Princeton, NJ
90%

Carleton College Northfield, MN
89%

Davidson College Davidson, NC
89%

Pomona College Claremont, CA
89%

Bowdoin College Brunswick, ME
89%

United States Naval Academy Annapolis, MD
89%

Duke University Durham, NC
89%

Wesleyan University Middletown, CT
88%

Harvard University Cambridge, MA
88%

Haverford College Haverford, PA
88%

Boston College Chestnut Hill, MA
88%

Vassar College Poughkeepsie, NY
88%

Washington and Lee University Lexington, VA
88%

Bucknell University Lewisburg, PA
88%

University of Pennsylvania Philadelphia, PA
88%

Northwestern University Evanston, IL
87%

Babson College Babson Park, MA
87%

Columbia University New York, NY
87%

College of the Holy Cross Worcester, MA
87%

Claremont McKenna College Claremont, CA
87%

Bates College Lewiston, ME
86%

Lafayette College Easton, PA
86%

Swarthmore College Swarthmore, PA
86%

Brown University Providence, RI
86%

University of Chicago Chicago, IL
86%

Georgetown University Washington, DC
85%

Cornell University Ithaca, NY
85%

Kenyon College Gambier, OH
85%

Amherst College Amherst, MA
85%

Tufts University Medford, MA
85%

Colgate University Hamilton, NY
85%

Scripps College Claremont, CA
85%

Wake Forest University Winston-Salem, NC
85%

Dartmouth College Hanover, NH
85%

Providence College Providence, RI
84%

University of Virginia Charlottesville, VA
84%

Washington University in St. Louis St. Louis, MO
84%

Vanderbilt University Nashville, TN
84%

Emory University Atlanta, GA
84%

Brandeis University Waltham, MA
84%

Wellesley College Wellesley, MA
84%

Middlebury College Middlebury, VT
83%

College of William and Mary Williamsburg, VA
83%

Barnard College New York, NY
83%

Johns Hopkins University Baltimore, MD
83%

Connecticut College New London, CT
83%

Massachusetts Institute of Technology Cambridge, MA
83%

Hamilton College Clinton, NY
83%

Rice University Houston, TX
83%

Fairfield University Fairfield, CT
83%

St. Olaf College Northfield, MN
82%

Colby College Waterville, ME
82%

University of Richmond Univ. of Richmond, VA
82%

Macalester College St. Paul, MN
82%

Skidmore College Saratoga Springs, NY
82%

Villanova University Villanova, PA
82%

Furman University Greenville, SC
81%

Dickinson College Carlisle, PA
81%

Whitman College Walla Walla, WA
81%

Illinois Wesleyan University Bloomington, IL
81%

Denison University Granville, OH
80%

Wheaton College Wheaton, IL
80%

Susquehanna University Selinsgrove, PA
80%

Gustavus Adolphus College St. Peter, MN
80%

Stonehill College Easton, MA
80%

United States Military Academy West Point, NY
80%

Technorati Tags: matt blum,college rankings,us news and world report,higher education marketing

Mobile versus Mobile App

A great post (as usual) by Bob Johnson’s Marketing blog…  enjoy, marketmpb

 

source: bobjohnsonblog.com

Mobile Mrketing: Invest in Mobile Apps or a Mobile Website?

At both the ACT and eduWeb mobile marketing workshop sessions in July, a popular question was this: Should we first invest in mobile apps or should we be creating a "mobile-friendly" website?

Wise people differ on the answer.

The Urge for an App

Apps are best done for special events that can range from virtual tours to campus transit instructions and time tables to specific marketing campaigns. An individual app done for mobile is easier to do than reconstructing an entire website. And after all, there's an app for just about everything anyone wants to do online, isn't there?

Advertising can make it seem as if apps are the "must have" element in mobile marketing. Yes and no. Research says that few people regularly use more than a few apps, no matter how many they download.

The Need for a Mobile-Friendly Site by 2011

If limited resources force you to make a choice, I'm in the camp that says work on creating a mobile-friendly version of your regular website and have that ready by mid-point 2011.

Don't do apps if doing them means postponing work on a website that will please people who access it from a mobile phone. We are not talking about iPads here. The mobile device that people are most likely to use to get to your site are iPhones and Androids. Maybe Blackberry. Check your analytics report to see what people are using now and track that growth every month from now until December.

Consider this from the Pew Internet and American Life Project reported in July:

• 65 percent of people 18 to 29 years old use their smartphone to access the Internet. Just under 50 percent of people 30 to 39 do the same. Expect those numbers to grow.

Top Tasks for Mobile: Student Recruitment

For the best marketing impact, you won't be able to get away with "mangling down" (thanks to Drew Stevenson, University of Minnesota for that great phrase) your regular website. Instead, you'll have to make difficult choices about the content that's most needed by people visiting your site and make that the main focus of your mobile efforts. That will force more attention in navigation to the top tasks people want to complete on your site. Consider these for student recruitment:

• Read a list of academic programs available
• Calculate the net cost to attend your school
• Register for a campus visit
• Make an inquiry
• Check application status
• Pay an enrollment deposit

Example of a Mobile-Ready Site: College of Charleston

The task is daunting but far from impossible. College of Charleston says it has adapted 95 percent of its regular website for mobile access. Frankly, that almost seems more than necessary. Adaptation to mobile just might be a great time to identify those seldom-visited pages on your regular website that people can't bear to remove. Mark them as "not needed for mobile" and focus instead on your most used pages.

Visit the College of Charleston mobile site. Start by reading the description of the change and then use your smartphone to see just how well it works. One of the first things you'll note: you don't have to "finger flick" to make the type large enough to read when you arrive at a page.

The Charleston site makes a strong first impression. That first "curb appeal" of your site, mobile or not, will help or hinder the success of your marketing efforts.

Expect more "notes on mobile" soon.

Mobile Marketing Presentation on SlideShare

The eduWeb version of my mobile marketing workshop, "Mobile in the Marketing Mix: Crafting a New Communications Strategy," is online now at SlideShare.

Technorati Tags: matt blum,bob johnson,marketing,advertising,branding,higher education marketing

How Higher Ed Should Use Foursquare

Good morning, is it the weekend yet?

Foursquare continues to grow and pick up huge momentum, in fact it has grown to one million users twice as fast as Twitter.  In this post lets take a look at some things you can do as a higher education marketer to best leverage Foursquare.

You should acquire a personal account and check what locations around campus have already been tagged and who the “mayors” are.  If your campus is in a smaller area, you can begin to tag your campus areas and leave some pointers, make it like a digital interactive tour!

You might have heard that Harvard University has gotten into the Foursquare game, with a special badge for folks who check into locations around campus.  That gives Foursquare huge credibility in the higher education world.

After you have done all this, make sure you link your Foursquare page to all of the other social media outlets you are using.   This will help you to reinforce your key messages through a variety of social media outlets.

enjoy the day,

marketmpb

Technorati Tags: matt blum,higher education marketing,foursquare,marketing,branding,social media marketing

The Next Evolution in Marketing

a great post in changes of higher ed marketing, courtesy of blog.stamats.com... enjoy, matt



The Next Evolution in Marketing

The Basics of Twitter Marketing

Good morning, was it a good weekend?

Twitter is quickly becoming the most amazing social media website in the world, now with close to 6 million users.  Lets talk about how you can market effectively with Twitter.

First, after you create your account, set up a professional background on Twitter (with company or school logo).  You want to do this to separate your entity from a personal Twitter user.  Remember, that you will be engaging with prospective and possibly existing customers!

Next, make sure to follow similar folks who are in the same industry as you, whatever that may be.  The key to effective social media marketing is developing a network on Twitter and engaging with your people in your follower network.  Speaking of followers, there are tools out there to help with that such as tweetlater.com, twellow.com, etc..

It is always important to make sure your tweets are full of fresh and useful content.   Tweet things that are funny, educational, useful (to others) and breaking news.  You have can your network rely on you for great Twitter content.

Another great technique for marketing is the use of hashtags (#).  For example, if you are looking to gain more followers that are into boating, you would want to write in #boating, after your tweet.  This will allow anyone searching that term to find your profile.

Happy Tweeting…

marketmpb

Technorati Tags: matt blum,twitter,marketing,higher education marketing

Are you business friendly?

Good evening and I hope you are doing well this evening!

I write this post based on a personal experience I had the other day.

As most of my readers know my John Deere L108 recently blew up after only 5 years of use, and yes it did have plenty of oil in it! 

So I checked with my local John Deere dealer and was quickly able to agree on a price, just waiting for one to come in.  However, here is where it gets interesting.

In order to keep the local dealer honest, I take the kids across town to Bud Herbert Motors in Harrison, Ohio to test drive the tractor and find out if they would be willing to give me  a little better price.

I arrive at the dealer and the salesman who helped me was Tom Herbert (probably related to the owner?)   The gentleman was somewhat friendly, allowed me to take a test drive and generally answered my questions well.  He than gave me the price of $2999.00.

At this point I told him the local dealer gave me a price of $2900.00 , and asked him if would be willing to do $2850.  I thought I made it pretty clear that I could write him a check right there.  He immediately says no and nothing else.  I waited for him to say “we will match the price by your local dealer” or for him to ask me more questions regarding value, price, etc…  It was clear he was not being business friendly.  I politely asked for a brochure and card and walked out the door.

The question is, are you business friendly?

enjoy your night,

marketmpb

Technorati Tags: matt blum,marketing,advertising,john deere,business marketing

The Latest from Noel Levitz (E-Expectations)

Good morning,

As my regular readers know, I am a big fan of Noel Levitz and trust their data that they put out.  So here is their most recent report for internet marketing to prospective college students.

enjoy

marketmpb

The Latest Report from Noel Levitz

Technorati Tags: matt blum,noellevitz,eexpectations,higher education marketing

Social Media Marketing in 3 Minutes

Good morning, how is it going this morning?  This is a great informational, easy to understand video on social media marketing..

enjoy!

marketmpb

Technorati Tags: matt blum,social media marketing,marketing,higher education marketing

Tuesday Afternoon Marketing Humor

enjoy and hope your day is going well!

marektmpb

Technorati Tags: matt blum,marketing,budlight,advertising

United Arab Emirates Ban on Blackberries and Possible Effects on Finding Their US Colleges

Good evening, are you enjoying the weekend?

It was announced today that the United Arab Emirates will be banning Blackberry email, instant messaging, and web surfing due to a “threat” to national security.  The core issue is that their government will not be able to control information transported back and forth as much as they would like to.

The U.A.E. ban is set to start October 11th, which is just in time for winter recruiting season.  The good news is that as of right now the U.A.E. does not plan on banning smart phones by Nokia and Apple. 

The question we need to ask here is, will this affect international student recruiting?  My feeling is absolutely it will.  On a side note, there is also interest from China, Kuwait, and India to have the Blackberries banned as well. 

The explosion of mobile marketing and mobile applications is very interesting to look at with this because now as a marketer, do you shy away from U.A.E students?  It is a very rich nation with students (and consumers) who are willing to pay.  You might have to consider when you get a student that inquires with you to ask them what mobile device they are using.  It could turn out that the student (or consumer) who owns the Blackberry might be less likely to attend, or buy your product.

In the short term, it will probably not affect your marketing efforts that much, however beyond October, it very well could!

enjoy the evening,

marketmpb

Technorati Tags: matt blum,higher education marketing,blackberry ban,united arab emirates