Let’s talk about budgets.

It took a while.

Even though tens of millions of users were flocking to social media sites every day, most marketers stayed away. They either didn’t understand how to join the conversations—without sounding like shills—or they were frightened away by the prospect of associating their brands with questionable content.

But things are changing.

Companies are learning how to leverage social media and tap into the rising tide of consumers participating in social network sites, blogs, wikis and Twitter.

According to the “The ROI on Social Media Marketing” report from the Aberdeen Group, sponsored by Visible Technologies, marketers have developed the tools and methodologies to drive marketing ROI by listening to and learning from customers and prospects.

 

Originally posted on emarketer for the rest of the article go to http://www.emarketer.com/Article.aspx?R=1006989

BuzzCity, which provides wireless communities and consumer services, has announced the results of its quarterly Global Mobile Advertising Index. According to BuzzCity, the results show that the global recession is having little to no effect on mobile advertisers or user habits. The Index documents the growth of mobile Internet advertising and represents inventory sold across the BuzzCity Mobile Advertising Network in more than 200 countries globally. It indicates growth in the number of users accessing the mobile Internet, in spite of declining public confidence in the economy and security in the job market.   
In the first three months of 2009, the BuzzCity Advertising Network delivered 8.5 billion paid advertising banners, an increase of 11% over the previous quarter. The top 10 countries by the number of paid advertising banners delivered in each are:

1. Indonesia: 4.4 billion (23% growth)
2. India: 842 million (+16%)
3. United States: 527 million (+38%)
4. South Africa: 428 million (-8 %)
5. Egypt: 162 million (+8 %)
6. Romania: 161 million (+9 %)
7. China: 130 million (+67% )
8. Philippines: 125 million (+8 %)
9. United Kingdom: 113 million (+54 %)
10. Bangladesh: 112 million (-16 %)

 

See full article at http://www.mobilemarketingmagazine.co.uk/2009/04/mobile-advertising-recessionproof-says-buzzcity.html

In October 2008, Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak, in an exclusive interview in the Daily Telegraph, made a prediction on the iPod’s imminent death.    

“The iPod has sort of lived a long life at number one,” he says.  This device will be as common as walkmans and transistor radios that it will eventually lose its favored place due to oversupply.  “It’s kind of like everyone has got one or two or three. You get to a point when they are on display everywhere, they get real cheap and they are not selling as much,” explains Wozniak.

While not everyone believes Wozniak’s prediction, the days of the iPod’s tremendous growth could be over.   In the midst of a recession, iPod users may see no need to buy new iPods or upgrade to a new one.  An article in Business Week notes, “Growth for the music player franchise averaged more than 200% in 2006 and 2007, before falling to 6% in fiscal 2008.”  Figures released last March by the NPD Group, a leading global provider of consumer and retail market research information, showed a 16% decline in overall iPod sales as of February this year.

Read more:

References:http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/mediatechnologyandtelecoms/3145691/Steve-Wozniak-interview-iconic-co-founder-on-the-iPod-iPhone-and-future-for-Apple.html [accessed 6 April 2009].

Neate, R., 2008.  Steve Wozniak Interview: Iconic Co-founder on the iPod, iPhone, and Future for Apple.  The Daily Telegraph [Online].  Retrieved at: 

 

Read more here: Hesseldahl, A., 2008. Apple’s iPod Problem. Business Week [Online]. Retrieved at: http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/dec2008/tc2008122_679456.htm [accessed 6 April 2009].

Elmer-Dewitt, P., 2009.  Mac, iPod Sales Each Down 16% in February – NPD.  Fortune on CNNMoney.com [Online].  Retrieved at: http://apple20.blogs.fortune.cnn.com/2009/03/16/mac-ipod-sales-each-down-16-in-february-npd/ [accessed 6 April 2009].

 

 

Michelle Obama was hugged and cheered by schoolgirls she told could be future world leaders

“Be the best that you can be,” Mrs Obama said.

Addressing a gathering of schoolgirls in London, the US First Lady urged her audience to have “confidence and fortitude” to determine their own success.

Mrs Obama choked up as she took to the stage to speak to the pupils at Elizabeth Garrett Anderson School in Islington, north London.

Fighting tears at one point, she described her audience as “the future leaders of Great Britain and this world”.
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Free online bartering hub, Mumswap.com.au is determined to give mums an easier and more creative way to save money and ‘have it all’, including a very handy husband dedicated to doing jobs around the house that your current husband can’t, won’t, or doesn’t have the time or money to do.

Ask Not What Women Bloggers Can Do for You … Getting Things Done in the Blogosphere

Rosie the Riverter – We Can Do It!

Recently a departing employee gave my partners and me framed prints of this iconic image of Rosie the Riveter, with a new subtitle: ‘BlogHer Inc., Founded 2005.’ The image is incredibly meaningful to me. I see it as an illustration of what my partners and I did when we got tired of hearing the question “where are the women bloggers?” In response, we established a business around this community. Rosie reminds me of a shared trait among women who blog about everything from parenting to politics: We have a compulsion to make things happen, especially when times are tough.

Read the original By Jory Des Jardins

As co-founder and President of Strategic Alliances for BlogHer, Jory Des Jardins is an innovator in online advertising, women’s media and Internet entrepreneurship. Jory can be contacted at jory@blogher.com.
Read all Jory’s MediaBizBlogger commentaries at Jory Des Jardin – MediaBizBlogger.

The chief financial officer of troubled internet portal giant Yahoo! Blake Jorgensen is leaving the company ahead of an expected reshuffle.

 

Women are giving marketers a headache; one that will turn into a full-blown migraine unless brands learn how to communicate effectively to female shoppers during tough economic times.

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