Monday, December 03, 2007

For You, and for the Children

I've been receiving Search Marketing Standard for the better part of a year - and if you don't subscribe, you should really consider doing so.

To my surprise, they've been around for a little longer that I thought; this month, they're celebrating their 2-year anniversary as a matter of fact! And as part of their celebration, they're giving a discount to readers of the Social Media Marketing Blog.

If you would like to subscribe, you can receive a 67% discount off the normal rate, bringing the U.S. cost down to just $4.95 a year! In addition, SMS will donate $1 for every new subscription to the Toys for Tots Foundation.

Just use the coupon code HOLIDAY67 when you subscribe to Search Marketing Standard between now and December 10th and you can begin receiving a top-notch publication related to search for a great price and you'll be making a difference in the lives of children for the holidays.

Labels: Marketing, news, search

Posted by Scott Monty at 12:49 AM

Comments |

LINKS TO THIS POST |

Friday, October 05, 2007

New Feature: Social Media Takeaways

I get a lot of industry news in my RSS reader and my inbox. You probably do, too. Typically I parse through it with a eye for what would be interesting to share with you here.

Lately, there have been some great examples of Top 10 or Top 5 lists of what's going on in social media, which I'm enjoying following.

But rather than acting as an aggregator, my goal in posting newsy tidbits is to give you a bit of commentary and perspective on each item as it relates to social media, marketing, PR and advertising. I call them Social Media Takeaways (SMT). I hope you'll find it helpful.

Online Advertising Up 27%
According the IAB and PriceWaterhouseCoopers, $10 billion was spent in the first 6 months of the year. Making up 41% of this was search, which is an increase over last year (via Just an Online Minute)

SMT: With search becoming increasingly important, now's the time to consider how a corporate blog might fit into your search strategy. With timely and relevant posts, your content is indexed and searched so that additional traffic can be brought to your company's site. Blogging is a natural for SEO.

The MySpace Crowd Migrates to Facebook
ComScore notes that Facebook attracted 69.3 million users in August, 33% more than in June. Visitors to MySpace declined 7.4% to 105.7 million. There are a number of reasons for the defection to Facebook, including more privacy, more functionality, less spam (you get bacn instead) and a cleaner look (via Bloomberg)

SMT: While there is a huge influx in Facebook traffic and we're seeing a boom in the resulting business uses of Facebook, don't count MySpace out yet. Steve Ballmer may think Facebook is just a fad, but you need to assess your marketing goals against where your audience is. And if they like sharing music on MySpace, then MySpace is still relevant for them. The bottom line is you should be aware of trends, demographics and new developments to make the most of them.

And that's all for this installment of Social Media Takeaways. What do you think of this new feature? Should I continue it? Do you have any news or insights that you can share from the past week?

Labels: facebook, myspace, news, search, social media, social media takeaways

Posted by Scott Monty at 3:23 PM

Comments |

LINKS TO THIS POST |

About Scott

For hi-res, click here

The best way to describe Scott is "Renaissance Man." Friends and colleagues that know Scott from one facet of his life are very frequently surprised to learn of his interests and talents in other areas.

Scott is a marketing and communications professional focused on the digital industry — specifically on social media. His career spans a number of industries such as healthcare, pharma, biotech, travel, automotive, tech, and communications, and includes a wide range of clients, from start-ups to Fortune 500 companies.

Currently on the staff of corporate communications in Ford Motor Company, Scott heads up the social media function and holds the title Global Digital & Multimedia Communications Manager. He is a strategic advisor on all social media activities across the company, from blogger relations to marketing support, customer service to internal communications and more, as social media is being integrated into many facets of Ford business.

Prior to joining Ford, Scott served as Consigliere for crayon and spent a number of years with PJA Advertising + Marketing, a boutique BtoB agency specializing in health sciences & high tech.

In addition to his consulting and agency background, Scott is an active blogger and podcaster. He writes about the intersection of advertising, marketing and PR at The Social Media Marketing Blog and also writes The Baker Street Blog, a literary undertaking. Scott has been featured in numerous news and business publications, on a variety of podcasts, and on national television. Scott is a recognized thought leader in the social media industry and frequently speaks at industry events.

Scott received his Master's in Medical Science from Boston University's School of Medicine concurrently with his MBA from BU's Graduate School of Management. He lives in the greater Detroit area with his wife and two young sons, golfs all too infrequently, and has a hidden talent for voice over work.

Oh, and one last little-known fact: Scott coined the term "tweetup."

You may download a headshot here, courtesy of C.C. Chapman and a PDF version of Scott's bio here.

Books in which Scott's work is featured:
The New Rules of Marketing & PR
Twitterville
Six Pixels of Separation
Monkeys with Typewriters
Read This First
World Wide Rave
Get Seen

Disclosures/Relationships

Scott is on the Advisory board of SavvyAuntie
Scott is on the Advisory board of Business Smart Tools
Scott is a judge for the SAMMY Awards
Scott is on the Advisory board of The Hive Awards
Named one of iMedia's 25 Top Internet Marketing Leaders & Innovators
This blog's content is also syndicated on Social Media Today
Plaid occasionally does web work for me and designed this site
No animals were harmed in the making of this blog.

Speaking Events

Scott speaks on social media at events, seminars and conferences around the world. His topic generally focuses on corporate use of social media, becoming an online spokesperson, and specifically on the progress that Ford has made in the recent past. If you're interested in booking Scott to speak at your event, please send an email to speaking [AT] scottmonty [DOT] com. Scott's bio and headshot can be found in the "About Scott" tab above.

Some previous engagements include:

BlogWell - How Big Companies Use Social Media - Minneapolis - August 13

Who is Scott Monty?

Hi, I'm Scott. I'm the head of social media for Ford Motor Company. This is my personal blog, where I share my perspectives on social media - the convergence of marketing, advertising and PR on the Web - for marketers, agencies, the enterprise and the individual. This blog contains my personal views.