Category Archives: Readings
The Delicious and Intriguing, Meatball Sundae
Today’s post comes from Reina Woodruff, a student in Eva Keiser’s PR Writing and Campaign Tactics class. Woodruff reviewed Seth Godin’s book, “Meatball Sundae.”
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I recently took the time to read Seth Godin’s book, Meatball Sundae. I was pleasantly surprised and intrigued by his wisdom and the information he had to share about the new world of media marketing.
In Meatball Sundae, Godin uses the analogy of a “meatball sundae” to represent the business of marketing. The meatball represents “the basic staple, the things that people need, the stuff that used to be marketed quite effectively with TV ads and other mass-market techniques”. The sundae toppings represent “New Marketing. Myspace, websites, YouTube, permission marketing and viral techniques.”
“The trends of new marketing require a new kind of organization and a new way of doing business,” Godin writes. Read more »
The Tipping Point: Can social media be that instigator?
Today’s post comes from Michelle Hersh, a student in Eva Keiser’s PR Writing and Campaign Tactics class.
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Malcolm Gladwell’s The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference quickly rose through the charts following its release ten years ago. Publishing Weekly calls the book, “Fascinating enough for the general reader, Gladwell’s work is a particular boon for business people looking for inspiration on how to tip their own ideas into popular crazes.”
This type of acclaim and popular success probably came to no surprise to Gladwell as his book outlined how various products or ideas can spread like an epidemic just as easily as the flu will spread over the holidays. He accredited three rules to the spread of social epidemics – The Law of the Few, The Stickiness Factor, and The Power of Context drawing on Paul Revere’s infamous midnight ride, the popularity of Blues Clues, and the decrease in crime in New York City as key studies of each of these
factors.
After ten years, does The Tipping Point still hold relevance? Or has the Internet, which successfully consumed the decade as its own epidemic, proven the tipping point may fall short of explaining social epidemics? Read more »
Are you listening to your Twitterverse?
By Kelsey Tape
Think back to the 2008 presidential election. Did you see Tina Fey’s numerous “Palin” skits aired on “Saturday Night Live?” Were you one of Barack Obama’s five million friends on Facebook? Did your friends direct campaign news your way via Facebook or Twitter?
Twitter. Facebook. YouTube. FourSquare. Social media has transformed communication between individuals and companies.
“It’s a people-drive economy stupid,” said Erik Qualman, author. And that’s exactly what is explored in Qualman’s book, Socialnomics: how social media transforms the way we live and do business.
Social media can be intimidating, especially with the numerous platforms, and deciding which will benefit you or your organization most. Steve Kaufer, corporate executive officer of TripAdvisor described Qualman’s book as a “must-read for anyone trying to leverage the social graph rather than be squashed by it.” Read more »
Seth Godin’s Tribes
Today’s post comes from Andrew Laubmeier, a student in Eva Keiser’s PR Writing and Campaign Tactics class. Laubmeier reviewed Seth Godin’s book, “Tribes.”
Is social media’s value to organizations overrated? This is a question often asked by companies who are new to the social media phenomenon. However, after reading the book Tribes by Seth Godin the answer to this question becomes incredibly obvious.
The book highlights the immense power a well-connected group of individuals can have when they feel passionate about something. Godin discusses the impact social media is having on the way tribes operate today, providing instant, two-way communication between companies and consumers. Read more »
New Rules for Old Ways
Today’s blog post comes from Sean Bestor, a student at the University of Minnesota. Bestor reviewed David Meerman Scott’s ”The New Rules of Marketing and PR: Version 2.0″ for an assignment in Eva Keiser’s Fall 2011 PR Writing and Campaign Tactics class.
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The New Rules of Marketing & PR: Version 2.0 is not only a comprehensive view on new social media techniques, but also introduces public relations professionals to the world of advertising, and vice versa.
Ina world where consumers want their information quick and make judgments quicker, the importance of integrating social media into the public relations professional’s daily business practices becomes crucial, if not necessary.
Luckily, David Meerman Scott’s The New Rules of Marketing and PR: Version 2.0 will help even the most social media-savvy practitioner develop habits that will not only increase the SEO of their respective businesses, but also enable their company to interact with the consumer. Read more »