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Facebook To Buy Skype? Say it Isn’t So!

posted on May 5, 2011

Who has more registered members, Facebook or Skype?

The average person is going to say Facebook, but since I’m asking the question, you’re probably going to pick Skype. The truth is somewhere in between. According to their S.1, Skype has 663 million registered users. Back in July, Facebook crossed the 500 million mark, so it’s likely they’re very close to Skype’s number about now.

So what will happen if these two giants join forces? I’ll be very unhappy. I’m sure that’s not going to affect Facebook’s decision, but I’d rather see Skype go to big brother Google. Why? Because Facebook is about bells and whistles and forcing people to share and smile. It’s the social media equivalent of a Coca-Cola commercial.

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Are Digital Only Agencies Less Desirable?

posted on May 5, 2011

As the commercial Internet space as evolved over the past two decades the businesses that exist to help others navigate the tricky waters have as well.

Initially, traditional ad agencies were harassed by smaller and more nimble digital agencies who did all the ‘neat-o cool’ whiz bang Internet stuff. SEO, PPC and other acronyms helped to spawn the type of agency that focused their efforts directly where their traditional competition was weakest and they have benefited for many years through that strategy.

As with most things in life though balance is a critical measure of effectiveness. It appears now that the digital agencies are being called to look at becoming more traditional to succeed.

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Google and Marketing to the SMB

posted on May 5, 2011

If you are an SMB owner or marketer and have been in the Internet marketing game for any length of time you know how strange it sounds to consider Google reaching out to you though marketing. It’s a well known frustration regarding Google that having something that has a pulse behind it rather than a blinking light to field questions or concerns or even give some general information often feels more like a matter of fate and chance rather than design. Of course, if you spend enough money in AdWords you may have spoken to someone but that’s another story (that’s called revenue).

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ROI of Social Media is Unknowable and Other Wisdom from Fashion140

posted on May 4, 2011

Do you ever wonder why no one every asks you the ROI for print or TV? That’s because they learned a long time ago that you couldn’t measure the direct response from consumers through either one of the channels. And yet, when we talk about digital marketing, ROI is all anyone wants to know. What’s my ROI for Twitter, Facebook, video advertising. . . ?

Those statements (paraphrased a tad) came from David Sulute, the VP of Technology for 9 Threads. Sulute was one of the speakers at today’s Fashion140 Conference in New York and thanks to the miracle of live streaming, I got to listen in.

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Online Video Ads Expected to See Largest Increase in Spend

posted on May 4, 2011

onclick=Advertising on television is far out of the reach of most small businesses, but advertising on online video is very dooable and may be just as effective in the near future. It” onclick=”return TrackClick(”,’%2F%2Fwww.brightroll.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2011%2 F05%2FBR_VideoAdvertisingReport_Final_2011_Q1.pdf’)”s become so accessible, that the respondents on ” onclick=”return TrackClick(” onclick=”return TrackClick(”,’%2F%2Fwww.brightroll.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2011%2 F05%2FBR_VideoAdvertisingReport_Final_2011_Q1.pdf’)”" onclick=”return TrackClick(”,’%2F%2Fwww.brightroll.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2011%2 F05%2FBR_VideoAdvertisingReport_Final_2011_Q1.pdf’)”,” onclick=”return TrackClick(”,’%2F%2Fwww.brightroll.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2011%2 F05%2FBR_VideoAdvertisingReport_Final_2011_Q1.pdf’)”%2F%2Fwww.brightro ll.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2011%2F05%2FBR_VideoAdvertisingReport_ Final_2011_Q1.pdf” onclick=”return TrackClick(”,’%2F%2Fwww.brightroll.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2011%2 F05%2FBR_VideoAdvertisingReport_Final_2011_Q1.pdf’)”)”BrightRoll” onclick=”return TrackClick(”,’%2F%2Fwww.brightroll.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2011%2 F05%2FBR_VideoAdvertisingReport_Final_2011_Q1.pdf’)”s new survey chose it as the category likely to see the biggest spend increase in 2011.

65% of the respondents said they would be shifting money from TV advertising to online advertising. 30% said they felt that online video was equally as effective as TV and that” onclick=”return TrackClick(”,’%2F%2Fwww.brightroll.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2011%2 F05%2FBR_VideoAdvertisingReport_Final_2011_Q1.pdf’)”s likely to swing upward as more people move away from TV and on to some form of computer.

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Marketing Pilgrim Welcomes HubSpot As Our Inbound Marketing Channel Sponsor

posted on May 4, 2011

We are excited to announce HubSpot as our new sponsor for the Inbound Marketing Channel at Marketing Pilgrim.

We are partnering with HubSpot to bring our readers great Inbound Marketing information to help them stay on top the many facets of the increasingly complex world of inbound marketing. HubSpot joins our SEO channel sponsor SEOmoz and Trackur who currently sponsors our Reputation channel.

At Marketing Pilgrim we are looking to partner with world class organizations like HubSpot for other news and information channels like PPC, social media, web analytics, Internet law, mobile, local, search industry news and more.

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Top 25 Online Marketers to Follow on Twitter

posted on May 4, 2011

If you’re looking to expand your Twitter universe, you’ve found the right post. While opinions will vary on any list of this sort, I’ve picked out and reviewed my choices for the top 25 online marketers you should be following on Twitter. They are not presented in any particular order so as to prevent any in-fighting with those listed :-) .

I tried to dig in and give you a little more depth provided in most of these kinds of lists and I suspect these folks would love for you to follow them if you are not already.

I hope you enjoy and feel free to add your own favorite online marketers to follow in the comments!