Ad Operations Online » Online Communities

Rembrandt Social Media, LP Files Suit Against Facebook and AddThis, for Patent Infringement

Otilia Otlacan — Tue, 12 Feb 2013 09:45:26 +0000

BALA CYNWYD, Pa. - Rembrandt IP Management, LLC (“Rembrandt”) announced that its affiliate, Rembrandt Social Media, LP, has filed a patent infringement lawsuit against Facebook, Inc. and AddThis, Inc. in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia. The patents at issue involve a “Method and Apparatus for Implementing a Web Page Diary,” (US Patent 6,415,316) and a “System and Method for Generating, Transferring and Using an Annotated Universal Address” (US Patent 6,289,362).

The inventor, “Jos” van der Meer, developed his ideas in his Netherlands-based company, which now does business as “Aduna.” After Jos’ passing, the van der Meer family, through Aduna, partnered with Rembrandt to enforce the patents and will share in the litigation proceeds.

“Rembrandt strives to help inventors and patent owners receive the credit and compensation they deserve,” said Dr. Paul Schneck, Rembrandt’s Chairman. “We work to level the playing field for patent owners who do not have the expertise and/or capital, to enforce their rights against companies which use their inventions without paying for them.”

“Years before Facebook and AddThis, Jos van der Meer conceived of and patented core aspects of social media,” Dr. Schneck continues. “The United States patent system is designed to give inventors an exclusive right to practice their inventions. Facebook and AddThis are using the ideas disclosed in Jos’ patents without permission or payment. Through this litigation, Rembrandt Social Media hopes to recover payment for the unauthorized usage of patents by Facebook and AddThis.”

Rembrandt Social Media, LP is represented in this matter by Fish & Richardson, P.C.

About Rembrandt IP Management, LLC

Since 2004, Rembrandt has provided patent owners with the necessary financial capital, in-depth research and analysis, industry expertise, and hands-on litigation management to help monetize their inventions. Rembrandt is comprised of professionals experienced in each of the areas critical to commercializing infringed intellectual property including scientists, attorneys, engineers, licensing executives, and market analysts. Rembrandt aligns with, or acquires patents from, leading innovative corporations, universities, research institutions, the investment community, and entrepreneurial and creative individuals. Rembrandt frequently augments its internal team by engaging “best in class” outside legal and technical experts to assess opportunities and provide their talent and knowledge to obtain a return on infringed intellectual property. For more information please visit www.RembrandtIP.com.

PostRelease Re-Brands as SponsoredContent

Otilia Otlacan — Tue, 05 Apr 2011 08:40:42 +0000

Expands Online Content Marketing Options for Advertisers – Creates Revenue Opportunities for Website, Forum and Blog Publishers

New Content Marketing Platform Provides Companies and Brands with Simple, Scalable, Effective Way to Reach Audiences with Relevant, Highly Targeted Content; Names Tanaka VP of Business Development

Web 2.0 Expo San Francisco 2011
LONG BEACH, Calif. – PostRelease™, the first effective solution for influencing word-of-mouth forum discussions by enabling marketers to insert sponsored posts into targeted online forum discussions, has been re-branded as SponsoredContent (www.SponsoredContent.com). The re-branding applies to both the company and its existing forum discussion product. At the same time, the company announced that the product’s features and reach have been expanded significantly.

Concurrent with the re-branding, the company named Tyler Tanaka vice president of Business Development. Tanaka, an automotive digital marketing expert, previously served as account director for PostRelease. Tanaka has been an active participant in the automotive aftermarket for more than 20 years as an enthusiast and a marketing specialist. He has pioneered the use of social media in helping brands form direct connections with their customers online.

The new SponsoredContent marketing platform provides companies and brands with a simple, scalable and highly effective way to reach audiences with advertiser-generated content, such as viral videos, product announcements and special offers. Content can consist of text, images, embedded video and other valuable content that is automatically distributed and published on relevant websites, forums and blogs.

SponsoredContent’s proprietary algorithm automatically matches marketing messages to the right audiences across hundreds of content-rich sites and blogs – in addition to the hundreds of forums previously available with PostRelease. Advertisers also have the ability to integrate their social media marketing by directly engaging enthusiasts and consumers with links to both Facebook and Twitter.

SponsoredContent complements traditional online banner advertising by allowing marketers to “pull” consumers by telling a deeper story about a brand, product or service. Placements appear in the content area of highly relevant sites, blogs and forums and are designed to be consistent with the appearance, look and feel of the site where they are published. As a result, SponsoredContent posts are 5-10 times more effective than traditional banner ads, according to Justin Choi, founder, president and CEO of SponsoredContent.

“As the amount of ‘noise’ increases online, it is more difficult for marketers to reach their audience through traditional banner advertising,” said Choi. “Our experience with SponsoredContent proves that content marketing cuts through the clutter and generates a far higher percentage of engagement by providing the audience with something of value to them – information they can use to make more informed buying decisions.”

The easy-to-use SponsoredContent content marketing dashboard enables marketers to create, manage and track impressions, read rates and click-throughs. “Once a marketer completes the easy-to-execute three-step campaign creation process, SponsoredContent automatically analyzes submitted headlines, text and visuals, finds sites with similar content, and executes a media buy,” said Tanaka.

“Pricing works like Facebook ads and content placements are optimized based on response rates,” he said. “This automatically maximizes the effectiveness of the media buy. Content marketers set their own budgets and can adjust the pool of sites on which their content is published. They can spend as little or as much as they want to attract new audiences and consumers ready to take action or make a purchase decision.”

While SponsoredContent gives companies and brands of all shapes and sizes a highly effective way to reach their target audiences, it also provides a new, premium revenue stream for publishers of content-rich websites, forums and blogs where SponsoredContent-distributed articles appear. Joining the SponsoredContent network is free and easy. In time, members will receive access to a comprehensive dashboard they can use to monitor results.

SponsoredContent posts are clearly labeled as branded advertising content, in compliance with FTC disclosure regulations, and feature the sponsoring company’s logo and list the company as author.

About SponsoredContent

SponsoredContent (www.SponsoredContent.com) is a comprehensive content marketing platform that provides companies and brands with a simple, scalable way to reach audiences with text, images, embedded video and other valuable content that is automatically distributed and published on relevant websites, forums and blogs. SponsoredContent provides marketers with a medium by which they can tell a deeper story about a brand, product or service. It also provides a premium revenue stream for the content-rich website, blog and forum publishers who opt-in to the SponsoredContent network.

How to Create iFrame Tabs for Facebook Pages – Illustrated Step by Step Guide

Otilia Otlacan — Fri, 11 Feb 2011 17:17:43 +0000

Create custom tabs on your page on Facebook containing HTML, JavaScript, and your own styling

Facebook has recently rolled out a major overhaul of their Facebook Pages product, which, along with numerous other much-awaited features, includes the possibility to running iFrames as tabs. In fact, the old Static FBML way of building Facebook Pages tabs will be retired in March 2011. The only way of having custom tabs afterward will be to use the new option involving iFrames. Since the new way of building these tabs is not the most straightforward thing for all those page admins out there who are not web-development savvy, we thought of sharing with you an illustrated, step-by-step guide to make your own iFrame tabs for your Facebook page.

PREREQUISITES

1. Upgrade your page to the new format of Facebook Pages

Unless you have already done so, you will need to upgrade your page to the new format of pages launched yesterday. To upgrade, simply visit your page on Facebook (either type its URL, such as www.facebook.com/adops, or access your pages through the Ads and Pages link from the left sidebar on Facebook), look up the upgrade notification (see image below), click the “Upgrade This Page” button and follow the indications.

Take moment to familiarize yourself with your new page layout and options.

2. Ensure you can create a pages and directories / folders on your website’s hosting account

In order to use the new iFrame tabs for your Facebook page, you will need to create the content you wish to include within the iFrames. You can now display any regular HTML page as a Facebook page tab, however it will need to be created and styled first.

Facebook requires that iFrames for tabs are pulled from directories, therefore you will not be able to pull the content directly from a page such as www.yoursite.com/fbtab.html. Instead, you will need to make that page’s content available from www.yoursite.com/fbtab/ (note the trailing slash). There are many ways of achieving this, and we’ll show you a very straightforward one below.

In the meantime, make sure you have access to your website’s hosting account and that you can create directories and upload files.

BUILDING AN IFRAME TAB FOR A FACEBOOK PAGE

Now that you have upgraded your page on Facebook and have a website where you can create directories and upload files into, you can start creating the iFrame tab.

1. Create a Facebook app for your iframe tab

iFrame tabs for Facebook Pages must be created as standalone Facebook apps, which you will then add to your page.

To create a Facebook application, go to http://www.facebook.com/developers/apps.php. You will be taken to the “My Apps” section – click the “Set Up New App” button found on top of the page.

In the example below, we will create a custom tab for our page on Facebook, that will display the Advertising Events Calendar we maintain at http://www.adoperationsonline.com/events/. For this, we will need to create the associated Facebook app, name it, and accept the Facebook T&Cs:

Once you click the “Create App” button and pass the captcha verification that follows, your app will be available for further edits via the “My Apps” section from your Facebook account, at http://www.facebook.com/developers/apps.php.

Feel free to fill in the basic information for your new app: description, contact and support email, upload a logo and an icon if you have them handy (you can also come back later for the finishing touches). Click “Save Changes” and do not edit anything else for the time being.

2. Create the page that will be displayed in your iFrame tab

As previously mentioned, you will need to prepare in advance the content you wish to display in the iFrame tab of your Facebook page – you will not be able to pull it from a regular web page URL and will need to have it available via a directory instead. While you can achieve this through mod_rewrite, we found that most non-technical Facebook page admins would be uncomfortable using it. Instead, you can do the following:

a. Create a directory on your website and give it a relevant name

For our Advertising Events Calendar, we created the directory adoperationsonline.com/fbcalendar/.

b. Create an index file for your directory

The HTML content you want to display within the iFrame tab of your Facebook page will need to sit in the index file of the directory created at step 2.a. above. This content can be any standard HTML, JavaScript, another iframe etc.

Open a notepad file, save it as index.php, and fill it with a simple structure such as:

Drop your page’s content between and : it can be anything from a widget code, script, or simple plain HTML, whatever it is that you wish to be then displayed on your Facebook page. Since the calendar that we wanted to display was a Google Calendar widget, our content was actually the widget code supplied by Google. We added a bit of extra text, which was very basically styled as shown in the section above, to avoid have it displayed in large Times New Roman. You can define your own style, of course, or a fully developed css.

Save your file and upload it in the directory you previously created. Check that when you type the directory URL in a browser (in our example, http://www.adoperationsonline.com/fbcalendar/) it correctly displays the content you wanted. Style the content ahead as needed, add further code, until you get exactly what you want to display in your Facebook page’s new iFrame tab. Don’t forget to save and re-upload the file to the directory.

3. Assign the web content to the Facebook app

You will now need to instruct the Facebook app you have already created to pull this web content. To do so, go back into your Facebook account, access the “My Apps” section, and select the app you created. Click “Edit Settings”, then click “Facebook Integration” from the left sidebar.

In the Canvas area, define a canvas page name and enter the canvas URL, as in the example below:

For canvas page, define anything that helps you remember what the app is for and what is going to be displayed. For canvas URL, enter the URL of the directory you have created. Make sure canvas type is set to iFrame.

In the Page Tabs section, create a tab as you want it displayed on your Facebook page.

In our case, we have named the tab “Ad Events” (you are limited to 16 characters). Make sure the Page Tab Type is set as iFrame. For tab URL, specify index.php, as shown above. This is an URL relative to the canvas URL you have entered already. The Edit URL can be left empty. Save changes – this is your new app!

4. Add the iFrame tab to your Facebook page

All that is left to do now is tie your app to your Facebook page. To do so, go to your app’s profile page (go to “My Apps”, then select the app you have just created). Look up the links below and click “Application Profile Page”.

Once on the app’s profile page, click the “Add to my page” link from the left sidebar menu, then, in the window that opens, click the “Add to page” button corresponding to the Facebook page where you want to display the tab.

Your new tab will be available in the left sidebar of your upgraded Facebook page and should be displaying the content you have created in the index file of the directory URL you associated with the app.

See more examples of iFrame tabs for Facebook Pages at www.facebook.com/adops, where we have created a tab for job openings and one displaying our media kit, using the method described above.

Mediabistro’s SocialTimes Pro Publishes Research Report on Why Facebook’s Self-Serve Ad Platform Works

Otilia Otlacan — Mon, 07 Feb 2011 11:00:04 +0000

NEW YORK – Mediabistro.com (a division of WebMediaBrands Inc.) (Nasdaq: WEBM) announced its latest Facebook research report entitled ‘Social Targeting: Why Facebook’s Self-Serve Ad Platform Works.’

When Facebook introduced its newest iteration of “social advertising” in 2007, it had already tried and failed with a number of interest-based targeting products. But the company kept upgrading its ad platform, and its ad revenue reached nearly $1.9 billion in 2010 — double what it earned in 2009. The SocialTimes Pro report reveals trends and best practices for optimizing Facebook’s targeting platform and creating effective Facebook ad campaigns. SocialTimes Pro also announced a new virtual goods report entitled ‘Virtual Goods in Free-To-Play MMOs: Opportunities and Advice on Monetization.’

SocialTimes Pro offers monthly reports on topics related to Facebook and Virtual Goods. SocialTimes Pro is associated with Mediabistro’s AllFacebook.com and SocialTimes.com. For more information, visit www.socialtimespro.com.

About WebMediaBrands Inc.

WebMediaBrands Inc. is an Internet media company that provides content, education, trade shows, and online job board services to media and business professionals. The Company’s online business includes: (i) mediabistro.com, a leading blog network providing content, career and educational resources about major media markets and industry verticals including new media, social media, Facebook, TV news, advertising, public relations, publishing, design, and mobile; (ii) SemanticWeb.com, providing industry leading content on Semantic Web technology; (iii) Brands of the World, Ads of the World and other related websites, providing industry leading content for creative, advertising, and design professionals; and (iv) e-commerce websites including Freelance Marketplace and StockLogos.com. The Company’s trade show and educational offerings include conferences, online and in-person courses, and video subscription libraries on topics covered by the Company’s online business.

ExactTarget, NTT Com Sign Partnership to Bring CoTweet Social Media Marketing Platform to Japan

Otilia Otlacan — Mon, 07 Feb 2011 10:00:51 +0000

Work Underway to Localize Product to Help Businesses Engage on Twitter, Facebook

SAN FRANCISCO – Global interactive marketing provider ExactTarget announced an agreement with Japan-based global ICT solution provider NTT Communications Corporation (NTT Com) to bring CoTweet, ExactTarget’s social media management platform, to the Japanese market by end of first quarter 2011.

“By partnering with CoTweet and ExactTarget, we can provide NTT Com customers the scalable technology and global expertise they need create, manage and measure social media engagement with customers around the world.”

The partnership will make CoTweet’s enterprise Twitter and Facebook management, engagement and measurement application available in Japanese and will rely on NTT Com’s existing Online Marketing Group sales team to sell the localized application.

“Consumers around the world are interacting with brands in real-time via social media, and corporations need an enterprise solution to authentically and efficiently manage the growing number of online conversations,” said Peter McCormick, general manager of ExactTarget Global and company co-founder. “Through our partnership with NTT Com, we can bring the power of CoTweet to the Japanese market and help organizations across the region better serve their fans and followers online.”

Trusted by thousands of enterprise customers around the globe including Coca-Cola, Ford, McDonald’s, Microsoft, SunTrust and Whole Foods, ExactTarget’s CoTweet application gives companies the power to publish updates from multiple Twitter and Facebook accounts, collaborate on responses, track and measure engagement and analyze campaign results.

“Social media is rapidly growing in Japan, and enterprises need a solution to help their teams manage the online conversation with consumers,” said Yoshie Tsukamoto, head of the marketing solution office, NTT Com. “By partnering with CoTweet and ExactTarget, we can provide NTT Com customers the scalable technology and global expertise they need create, manage and measure social media engagement with customers around the world.”

A September 2010 report from Forrester Research Inc. entitled “A Global Update of Social Technographics” found 36 percent of Japanese adults are active creators on social networking sites and 75 percent of online Japanese adults view content on social sites as spectators.

The news of the partnership between NTT Com and ExactTarget comes less than a year after ExactTarget acquired San Francisco-based CoTweet to create the industry’s first complete solution for managing communications across all interactive marketing channels including social media, email, mobile and the Web.

About NTT Communications Corporation

NTT Communications provides a broad range of global networks, management solutions and IT services to customers worldwide. The company is renowned for reliable, high-quality security, hosting, voice, data and IP services, as well as expertise in managed networks and leadership in IPv6 transit technology. NTT Communications’ extensive infrastructure includes Arcstar™ Global IP-VPN and Global e-VLAN, as well as a Tier-1 IP backbone reaching more than 150 countries in partnership with major Internet service providers, and secure data centers in Asia, North America and Europe. NTT Communications is the wholly-owned subsidiary of Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation, one of the world’s largest telecoms with listings on the Tokyo, London and New York stock exchanges. Please visit www.ntt.com/index-e.html.

About ExactTarget

ExactTarget is a leading global provider of on-demand email marketing and interactive marketing solutions. The company’s Interactive Marketing Hub TM technology provides organizations a single solution to connect with customers via email, integrated text messaging, landing pages and social media. Supported by collaborative global services teams, ExactTarget’s technology integrates with more sales and marketing information systems than any other in the industry, including Salesforce.com, Microsoft Dynamics CRM, Omniture and Webtrends among many others. ExactTarget powers permission-based multichannel communications for thousands of organizations around the world including Expedia.com, Best Buy, Aurora Fashions, Papa John’s, CareerBuilder.com, Gannett Co., Inc., The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, The Home Depot and Wellpoint, Inc. For more information, visit www.exacttarget.com or call 1-866-EMAILET.

Mediabistro Announces Innovative Online Conference and Workshop on Creating Social Media Strategy

Otilia Otlacan — Mon, 07 Feb 2011 09:00:43 +0000

NEW YORK – Mediabistro.com (a division of WebMediaBrands Inc., Nasdaq: WEBM) announced an innovative 8-week online conference and workshop, Social Media Marketing Boot Camp, March 23-May 11, 2011.

Keynote speakers include social media trailblazers Brian Solis (author of Engage!), Kara Swisher (co-executive editor of AllThingsD), and Mari Smith (author of Facebook Marketing).

The event bridges the best of conferences and online learning. Talks by world-class social media pioneers will be followed by interactive Q&A sessions. Practical how-to sessions show participants how to put big ideas into immediate practice. Working closely with a small group, they’ll get feedback from an advisor and make meaningful connections with the entire attendee roster.

Mediabistro runs about 20 national and international conferences per year on media and technology; its continuing education program serves 10,000 media professionals per year.

For more information, visit http://www.mediabistro.com/socialmediamarketingbootcamp.

About WebMediaBrands Inc.

Harvard Business Review Analytics Services Releases Study on the Impact of Social Media

Otilia Otlacan — Mon, 03 Jan 2011 10:57:40 +0000

BOSTON – While a growing number of companies are experimenting with social media as a way to have a new conversation with customers – few feel they have the metrics and tools in place to judge the impact of their efforts.

Harvard Business Review Analytic Services, in partnership with SAS, recently conducted a survey of 2,100 companies to identify if and how companies are using social media channels. The study found that nearly two thirds of the participating organizations said that they are either currently using social media channels, or have plans in the works. However, only 12 percent of the companies surveyed said they felt they were effective users of social media. These were the companies most likely to use multiple channels; use metrics for reporting; have a strategy for social media usage; and integrate social media into their overall marketing strategy.

Despite the vast potential of social media, many firms in the study seemed focused primarily on using social media as a one-way promotional channel. They had yet to capitalize on their ability to listen and analyze customer conversations so that the information could be used to impact the bottom line.

“Most organizations are in discovery mode when it comes to social media,” said Alex Clemente, Managing Director of HBR Analytic Services. “But the significant participation in the survey of more than 2,000 senior executives demonstrates how important the topic is—and it’s one they are working hard to figure out.”

In addition – HBR’s research uncovered the following statistics:

- Three-quarters (75%) of the companies in the survey said they did not know where their most valuable customers were talking about them.
- Nearly one-third (31%) do not measure effectiveness of social media.
- Less than one-quarter (23%) are using social media analytic tools.
- A fraction (7%) of participating companies are able to integrate social media into their marketing activities.

“We are pleased to have been able to provide some metrics on a relatively new, exploding marketing channel,” said Clemente. “Many executives are keen to learn best practices in a fast emerging field that represents a new paradigm.”

To see the full survey with results, please visit HBR.org.

About Harvard Business Review Analytic Services

Harvard Business Review Analytic Services is an independent, sponsored research unit within Harvard Business Review Group, which conducts research and comparative analysis into timely business and management ideas. HBR Analytic Services has been recognized for its 2009 “Face-to-Face” research report, sponsored by British Airways, as a finalist in the 2010 M&M Awards in the category of “Best Contribution to a Media Campaign By a Media Owner.”

About Harvard Business Review

Harvard Business Review is the leading destination for smart management thinking. Through its flagship magazine, 11 international licensed editions, books from Harvard Business Review Press, and digital content and tools published on HBR.org, Harvard Business Review provides professionals around the world with rigorous insights and best practices to lead themselves and their organizations more effectively and to make a positive impact.

Despite High Interest in Social Media Marketing, Widespread Inertia Persists

Otilia Otlacan — Tue, 14 Dec 2010 12:52:56 +0000

Significant opportunity exists for vendors to educate small business owners on social media marketing benefits, says AMI

NEW YORK – Social media marketing is growing among small businesses (SBs) in the U.S., but true breakout growth in this category is being challenged by SB owner inertia.

According to a new report by AMI-Partners, “2010 U.S. Small Business Marketing Activity and Spending Study: Where and How U.S. Small Businesses are Spending Marketing Dollars,” marketing program decisions are largely driven by business decision makers, such as owners, who are responsible for managing many other aspects of their business. This limits the amount of time they can devote to exploring and engaging social media. Consequently, a majority of U.S. SB marketing activities are likely to be on an automatic renewal cycle, benefiting traditional vehicles such as printed telephone directories.

AMI predicts that the effects of the recent economic downturn will lead to an acceleration of U.S. SB social media marketing adoption in the near term. “Overall these SB’s marketing activity in 2010 was down in comparison to levels in 2007,” said Don Best, VP at AMI-Partners in New York. “The greatest declines were in print, broadcast and outdoor media advertising; conversely, online media experienced an incline.” While a significant number of U.S. SBs are finding value in online media advertising, factors like variable costs, lack of understanding and the need for proactive management act as hindrances to widespread adoption. At the same time, however, more U.S. SB decision makers are expressing high interest in social media marketing.

The minimal cost of social media marketing has emboldened some U.S. SBs to experiment with this medium. “As the popularity of search and social sites continues to magnify among their customers,” said Best, “AMI expects U.S. SBs to become much more strategic concerning their online marketing activities, including social media.” Given the 6.3 million SBs that currently exist in the U.S.; this presents significant opportunities for vendors that can offer these SB decision makers tools to better utilize the web for marketing.

About the Study

AMI’s 2010 U.S. Small Business Marketing Activity & Spend Study provides an in-depth analysis of the marketing mix used by U.S. SBs including over 20 marketing channels with specific spending information for each. In addition, the study identifies trends around social media marketing and e-commerce activity.

The overall market sizing data in this report has been determined through an extrapolation of survey finds, secondary research information, and AMI-Partners’ proprietary small and medium business (SMB) Global Model and U.S. small business marketing forecast model.

This report includes:

- SB Marketing Activities and Spend Analysis
- Usage (Current & Planned) and preferences for traditional (e.g. direct mail) vs. new media (search engines, Facebook, Twitter, etc.)
- Current & Planned marketing spending on over 20 marketing vehicles
- Importance of internet/online media in advertising and promotional mix
- Analysis of marketing activities and spending based on firmographics such as employee sizes, verticals and other attributes
- How SB marketing spend will evolve in the future
- How the marketing spending changed over 2007-2010 and predictions of how they will continue to evolve
- Identification and analysis of top small business marketing vehicles moving forward
- Opportunity analysis providing guidance related to where and how IT manufacturers and service providers can help address the growing needs of small businesses

For more information about this study or AMI’s partner targeting solutions, please call 212 944 5100, e-mail ask_ami@ami-partners.com or visit www.ami-partners.com.

About Access Markets International (AMI) Partners, Inc.

AMI-Partners specializes in IT, Internet, telecommunications and business services strategy, venture capital, and actionable market intelligence — focusing on global small and medium business (SMB) enterprises. The AMI-Partners mission is to empower clients for success with the highest-quality data, business planning and go-to-market solutions. AMI was founded in 1996. Since its inception, the firm has built a world-class management team, each with ten to fifteen years’ experience in IT, telecom, online communications or multimedia.

AMI-Partners has helped shape the go-to-market SMB strategies of more than 150 leading IT, Internet, telecommunications and business services companies. The firm is well known for its IT and Internet adoption-based segmentation of the SMB markets; its annual retainership services based on global SMB tracking surveys in more than 30 countries; and its proprietary database of SMBs and SMB channel partners in the Americas, Europe and Asia-Pacific. The firm invests significantly in collecting survey-based information from several thousand SMBs annually, and is considered the premier source for global SMB trends and analysis.

comScore Introduces Social Analytix for Social Media Monitoring

Otilia Otlacan — Fri, 24 Sep 2010 10:39:40 +0000

Powered by Radian6, New Monitoring Solution Allows Marketers to Measure What Consumers are Saying about their Brands across Digital Media

RESTON, VA – comScore, Inc. (NASDAQ: SCOR), a leader in measuring the digital world, announced the introduction of comScore Social Analytix™, a social media intelligence service for comScore clients, powered by the Radian6 social media monitoring and engagement platform.

The service will provide clients with detailed, real-time insights based on what consumers are saying about their brands and products on the web. The Radian6 technology, which operates independent of the comScore global consumer panel, captures mentions across more than 150 million social media sources worldwide including blogs, discussion boards, video and image sharing sites and popular social networking sites like Facebook, Twitter, MySpace and LinkedIn Answers.

“The emergence of social media in the past few years has helped usher in the era of the digital consumer, where one’s brand equity increasingly relies on what people are saying about it in the digital environment,” said Steve Dennen, comScore Vice President. “comScore Social Analytix leverages Radian6’s leading social monitoring technology to help us provide our clients with enhanced insights into an increasingly critical variable in the marketing mix equation: consumer word-of-mouth.”

comScore Social Analytix will enable clients to:

·         Monitor consumer-generated word-of-mouth brand mentions and gauge consumer sentiment toward their brands, products and/or competitors
·         Listen and respond quickly to potential customer service issues as they arise
·         Help identify key social media influencers, reach out to them and form strong relationships with their customers
·         Engage with social media users and scale listening and response across their organization
·         Track the lifecycle of campaigns, announcements and communication efforts
“At Radian6, we built our platform to analyze not only social media conversations, but also the metrics of the social web. We are excited to team up with comScore, a recognized global leader in measuring the digital world,” said David Alston, Vice President of Marketing & Community, Radian6. “Both companies share a common view around the value of measurement and are leaders in their respective markets. We look forward to providing customers with industry-leading solutions leveraging the unique strengths of each company.”

For more information about comScore Social Analytix, please email learnmore@comscore.com.
About comScore
comScore, Inc. (NASDAQ: SCOR) is a global leader in measuring the digital world and preferred source of digital marketing intelligence. For more information, please visit www.comscore.com/companyinfo.

Yahoo!, Dex One Expand Partnership

Otilia Otlacan — Mon, 06 Sep 2010 07:00:35 +0000

Allows All Dex One Clients’ Listings to Appear on Yahoo! Local

SUNNYVALE, Calif. – Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ: YHOO) and Dex One Corporation (NYSE: DEXO) announced an expanded partnership which will increase local businesses’ online exposure. All businesses advertising on Dex One’s popular local search site, DexKnows™ (www.dexknows.com), will now be able to have their online listings appear in Yahoo! Local search results. The expanded partnership doubles the geographic area covered by an existing relationship formed in 2007, providing more local businesses with greater opportunities to attract ready-to-buy customers.

Dex One’s online listings are comprised of detailed business information and direct links to businesses’ DexKnows profile pages. The profile pages feature user-generated ratings and reviews, maps of business locations, and more.

The previous agreement between Dex One and Yahoo! exclusively covered the 14-state region where Dex One is the official print directory publisher for Qwest. Since the initiation of the original agreement, the relationship between Dex One and Yahoo! has proven highly successful, yielding thousands of leads for local businesses and laying the groundwork for the current expansion.

“Yahoo! is committed to helping local businesses unlock the potential of digital advertising,” said Regan Senkarik, Vice President of Channel Sales, Yahoo!. “Expanding our agreement with Dex One will provide their clients with greater exposure in local communities and more consumers with detailed information on local businesses.”

Yahoo! collaborates with a variety of premier partners to help them maximize their online spend with creative and customized campaigns that allow them to meet their unique business objectives. These collaborations include Yahoo!’s strategic relationship with a consortium of 800 American newspapers — consisting of 52 percent of all U.S. Sunday circulation — which use Yahoo!’s behavioral targeting tools to sell display ads on consortium member sites and on the Yahoo! network.

“This strengthens a great strategic relationship with Yahoo! and broadens the reach of our local advertiser network,” said Sean Greene, senior vice president of interactive, Dex One. “Through the network our clients’ online business information appears not only on DexKnows but also in prime locations on many of the Web’s most popular search sites, including Yahoo! Local.”

About Yahoo!:

Yahoo! attracts hundreds of millions of users every month through its innovative technology and engaging content and services, making it one of the most visited Internet destinations and a world-class online media company. Yahoo!’s vision is to be the center of people’s online lives by delivering personally relevant, meaningful Internet experiences. Yahoo! is headquartered in Sunnyvale, California. For more information, visit pressroom.yahoo.com or the company’s blog, Yodel Anecdotal (yodel.yahoo.com).

About Dex One Corporation:

Dex One Corporation (NYSE: DEXO) is a leading marketing solutions company that helps local businesses reach, win and keep ready-to-buy customers. The company’s highly-skilled, locally based marketing consultants offer a wide range of marketing products and services that help businesses get found more than 1.5 billion times each year by actively shopping consumers. Dex One offers local businesses personalized marketing consulting services and exposure across a broad network of local marketing products – including its “official” print, online and mobile yellow pages and search solutions (http://www.dexknows.com and http://www.business.com), as well as major search engines. For more information visit www.DexOne.com.

Ad Operations Online » Online Communities

Rembrandt Social Media, LP Files Suit Against Facebook and AddThis, for Patent Infringement

Related articles:

PostRelease Re-Brands as SponsoredContent

Related articles:

How to Create iFrame Tabs for Facebook Pages – Illustrated Step by Step Guide

Related articles:

Mediabistro’s SocialTimes Pro Publishes Research Report on Why Facebook’s Self-Serve Ad Platform Works

Related articles:

ExactTarget, NTT Com Sign Partnership to Bring CoTweet Social Media Marketing Platform to Japan

Related articles:

Mediabistro Announces Innovative Online Conference and Workshop on Creating Social Media Strategy

Related articles:

Harvard Business Review Analytics Services Releases Study on the Impact of Social Media

Related articles:

Despite High Interest in Social Media Marketing, Widespread Inertia Persists

Related articles:

comScore Introduces Social Analytix for Social Media Monitoring

Related articles:

Yahoo!, Dex One Expand Partnership

Related articles: