Email marketing by sending generic emails to a long list of people does not get results in terms of CTR and conversion.  The email will most likely end in the spam folder for most people.  I believe the key to avoiding this and getting people to actually open the email and just maybe eventually buy something as a result of reading the email is through personalization.  People will most likely be inclined to buy something if a personal touch is added to the email such as a birthday greeting during their birthday.  This will make the consumer feel more special and help make your email stand out compared to the hundreds of other emails people get regularly.  Acknowledging the person by his or her name in the subject heading should also help in this regard.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vgk1YfInZoM

Daily deals have been really popular in recent years.  Some famous deals site are Groupon, Living Social and Teambuy.  Business is booming for these sites and I believe their timing with the economic difficulties has helped them tremendously.

People are always finding ways to save money and one way is through deals.

People now base their entertainment and vacation based on what deals are available.  In short, people are letting deals control their actions and what they consume.

Some people only go to restaurnts that offer deals on these sites.  I believe that bringing this to developing countries like Asia and Latin America will help them further in their business.

People from these countries have less disposable income and deal sites can help them tremendously.

Here is the Groupon superbowl ad.

1 million new members have joined Myspace in the past month , and the rate of signups has risen to 40,000 per day.

Myspace has been considered dead when Facebook arrived, which is similar to what happened to Friendster years ago.

Recently though, actor/singer Justin Timberlake bought Myspace.  This and a couple other new features like its music services and TV services has attracted users.

It also offers integration with Facebook. “Now their focus is on being a complementary social network site, not another one that can co-exist besides Facebook,” Donnini told TechNewsWorld.

“Myspace really doesn’t see itself as a standalone entity anymore,” he said. “You can see that from the registration process of the new site — right away, they try to link you to your Facebook and Twitter account. They also begin encouraging the social sharing right away.”

The music player is a good deal compared to other offerings, though, he acknowledged. “It has an extensive library, it is free, and they are making it easily accessible.”

As you can see, they are emphasizing and focusing on music for this site.

Google is having a hard time keeping people interested in their social networking site.

According to comscore, people don’t even devote 5 minutes per month to their site.  Google+ is  good at signing up users for its network due to its strategy of integrating its other products to the network. However these users, which is now approximately 90 million, don’t stick around to actually use the network, according to the data.

So where are the people devoting their time?  They devote their time on Facebook and Twitter.  People spend 6 to 7 hours per month in Facebook to Google+’s less than 5 minutes per month.

Another reason for this is the social networking market is reaching a saturation point.

Here is Seth Godin on making your small business successful.  He talks about how small businesses should leverage their image as being a human being as opposed to a faceless big corporation to get and keep customers.

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This is taken from SmartMoney Magazine, “… the ubiquitous “Like” button. But press it or not, if you’re logged in to Facebook while surfing, it will know when you visit any site with these so-called social plug-ins, says Nicole Ozer, a policy director at the ACLU of Northern California. “Facebook can essentially track you around the Web,” she says. Facebook makes all such policies known to users, but critics wonder how many people are paying attention.

Facebook is now tracking everything we do on the web.  Are people aware? Are people concerned?  Most people will probably not stop using facebook because of a fear of their privacy being invaded.  But for a small percentage of people, this will definitely be a red flag.  For people who are very conscious of their privacy, which a lot of the older generations seem to be, this will further keep them away from Facebook and social media in general.

Most of the demographic of Facebook are the younger generation while some older generations are starting to get into it too.  But I believe news like this will close the door for the older generation and keep them away.

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I am a huge fan of basketball and the National Basketball Association (NBA).  I also visit their online store often and I believe they do a good job in marketing it.

They update their products frequently and offer lots of coupons and promotions weekly.  Anyone who is a fan can go to their online store and be satisfied with their service due to their discounts and fast shipping.  Once you get an account with them, they ask you to specify who your favorite teams and players are and they send you promotions accordingly.  This way, you are always updated about new merchandise and promotions for your favorite teams and players.

This makes people like me go back to their store over and over again to purchase their products.  This basically makes me believe they are doing something right with their marketing

Here is a basic lecture on the fundamentals of social media and how to leverage online tools and emarketing for artists to share their art to the world.  This can also help in bringing exposure to artists who can’t get any major labels to sign them or any galleries to show their art.

Here is a video on intro to social media marketing.

Social media has become really popular since Facebook users increased exponentially.  Now, we also have Twitter.  Social media is integral to any online marketing.  It is the most cost friendly way to market your product or service since it’s free.

This video shows why word of mouth marketing is important.

Word of mouth marketing is important because it is a great way to market your product.  It is free and more reputable to consumers because the message comes from people they trust who are close to them.