This video has been on the web for a few months now. Its a mockumentary that BMW and their agency put together. It centers around a small German town that plans to launch a BMW car across the Atlantic Ocean. Initially, the car company didn't acknowledge that they had anything to do with it, but then admitted they were behind it.

What are your thoughts? Should company's be more forthright in their use of videos like this? Do you find it backhanded that they would produce something just for it to go viral?


Additional Resources:
Was BMW’s Viral Marketing Stunt Really That Risky to the Brand?
CNN - Viral Video Launches BMW

Tags: Bob Hazlett, Videos

Micro-blogging service Twitter is all the rage these days. It allows you to stay up to date with friends and family no matter where you are or what you may be doing. It's fun and it's engaging, but in my humble opinion, the application lacks certain features. Where Twitter lacks, the open market has filled in. Check out some of the services below to get more out of your Twitter experience

Find more people - Sure, you're following lots of cool people, but even they get boring from time to time. Find people in your local area with Twitter Local. Still not exciting enough? TwittEarth, TwitterVision, TwitterHolic or TwitterPoster are a few of the most popular sites that let you see what's going on worldwide at any moment. Find out who's got the most followers or discover new people twittering about subjects that interest you.

Mobile - Yes, I know that Twitter already has features for updating through your mobile phone, but to me it still lacks something.
Hahlo, PocketTweets or BrightKite are three easy ways to update and interact through your mobile device.

Coordinate with a group - If you're following a lot of people on twitter then it may be difficult to cut through all the clutter to find those conversations that are most beneficial. GroupTweet allows you to interact and broadcast your message to a selected group of friends through one main group account. This could be very useful for small teams or even communicating with family members.

Search - Interested in hearing what other people are saying about a certain issue, product or article? Punch your query into Summize and find all related Tweets. This service can be especially helpful for business owners hoping to listen in on the conversations that are going on about them. For more ways to capitalize on Twitter in your business check out my past article - Using Twitter and other Micro-blogging services to Advertise to Your Best Customers

Polls - Want to get feedback on a question or dilemma that's been on your mind? Check out Straw Poll Now or TwitterCensus for informal polling and feedback.

Software - Wouldn't it be nice if you could interact with Twitter in other ways beside your browser or mobile? Spaz and Snitter are two good looking Adobe AIR applications that can sit right on your desktop.

• TwitBin and TwitterFox integrate nicely with Firefox.
• Rather get your Tweets through email? If so try out TwitterMail
• Update your status across multiple networks including Twitter, MySpace, Facebook, Pownce and Bebo with HelloTXT

Fun - Life's too short, have some fun with Twitter. Check out Overheard or get a sense of what people are feeling at Twistori. If you're rocking a Mac, then there is a hidden feature that will show your Twitterverse within your screensaver.

Additional Resources:
What is Twitter? - 2
Twitter in Plain English
Using Twitter and other Micro-blogging services to Advertise to Your Best Customers
OneHalfAmazing on Twitter

Tags: Twitter, Tools, Bob Hazlett

So let's say you're a Mom and Pop ice cream shop or even Ben & Jerry's for this matter. What could be a better promotion than embracing social media and integrating it with the latest cultural fad? Not only do you get your customers (and potential customers) involved with your brand, but you also make it fun for them and leave a lasting impression.

This is how I see the promo set up, but feel free to add you own twist on it. Start a YouTube page for your business - they're free. Encourage your customers to upload their best performance of one of the greatest lines from There Will Be Blood - "I drink your milkshake." Promote the effort on your website, company blog, in-store promotions and to your best clients. Have a definitive start and end date in mind. At the end, have the community vote on they think gave the best rendition of the movie. Have a screening of the movie for all participants, give away prizes such as a years supply of milkshakes or let the winner be in your next company commercial.

Not only to get free PR out of the effort, but you create goodwill and get your customers talking. They'll share their story and videos with their friends. Their friends will want to take part in the promotion and before you know it, you've got life-long engaged customers. Now the tough part comes when you have to do your next promotion.

Tags: Free Trade Ideas, Videos, Bob Hazlett

I'm currently away at the Online Marketing Summit in beautiful San Diego. Just wrapped up the education portion of Day 1 and I'd give it about a 7 on a 1-10 scale. The day started out real strong with a presentation by Catfish on SEO. The guy is brilliant and the education I picked up from him more than paid for the entire conference.

In all, there are about 400 online marketers in attendance so lots of great networking opportunities. During the Q&A session for an advanced paid-search presentation (advanced was a very loose term at this particular presentation) I was speaking to the lady who happened to sit next to me. She pointed out something very interesting trends in the questions coming from the audience. Everyone wanted the magic pill. They wanted actionable and measurable things that they could do right now in order to be successful. The waters are so murky in the online marketing world that these people are in over there heads and don't know who to trust. They read one thing, but the data tells them another thing. They're on short budgets and need results fast. The sad thing I realized is that things are better than they used to be, but I don't see them clearing up anytime soon.

Hopefully next week, I'll be able to share with you my findings and give you some great insight that you can actually use right now in your day-to-day business. Stay tuned.

Tags: Community, Bob Hazlett, Google, Tools, Search Engine Marketing

• Smashing Magazine - 100 of the best free Wordpress themes
• 9 Benefits of Twitter for Bloggers - Also see my free trade idea post on using Twitter for your business
• The New Rules of Viral Marketing - free ebook
• How to Sneak Social Media into the Enterprise
• Best of Adobe Flash Tutorials
• How To: Effectively Talk to Execs and Clients about Social Media
• You Suck at Photoshop

Tags: Design, Search Engine Marketing, Photoshop, Tools, Web 2.0, Bob Hazlett

Here is an excerpt from an actual conversation that took place today at work.

Meeting Leader - "Mr. Executive wants our official corporate MySpace page to have all our friends turned off (this isn't even an option) so people can't add us as a friend or even comment on our page."
Web Guy Who Gets It - "That's like removing search from Google."

I know Social Networking and Social Media is scary to some. There are huge risks to many organizations, but there are also a wealth of opportunities. What do you do when the person in charge doesn't get it? How do you show value in creating a conversation amongst your fans?

Additional Resources:
Five Starter Moves for Introducing Social Media Into Your Organization
How To: Effectively Talk to Execs and Clients about Social Media

Tags: MySpace, Community, Bob Hazlett

Yesterday, Apple dropped a Hiroshima-like atomic bomb on Blockbuster.

The game has changed and Blockbuster just received the biggest wake-up call in their companies' history. It's not as if they didn't see the writing on the wall. Apple has been begun putting distribution channels out of business over the past 5+ years. Not to mention the beating Netflix has already put on Blockbuster.

In my opionon the main advantage that Apple holds are low overhead and scalability. The costs of resources that Apple has remain fairly fixed and will continue to be so. Users downloading an additional copy of iTunes costs them next to nothing. In addition, the advantage of the web makes selling 1 copy vs 1 million copies of a single movie nearly the same.

Blockbuster on the other hand is crippled with fixed (and escalating) costs of doing business. Not to mention store upkeep and such, but also purchasing an additional copy of a movie for the local store is much more than the cost Apple incurs. Blockbuster has a limited number of physical movies that are available in each store, this isn't the case with Apple and iTunes.

I can remember about 10 years ago when Blockbuster was opening stores almost every 24 hrs. What if they would have taken some of these resources and devoted them new technologies and initiatives? Would Blockbuster be sitting in a better position?

Lessons you can learn from Blockbuster

• It's not the smartest of the species that survive, but the one that is most adaptable to change.
  
• Bigger is not always better. some may say that small is the new big. No longer can you compete on size. In the current business environment, companies that rely on being fast and nimble are much more likely to be successfull. Apple should keep this is mind as well, as I'm sure more and more companies and startups looking to take them down.
• Your business can evaporate in the blink of an eye. Now, I'm not saying that all Blockbusters will shut down overnight, but I firmly believe Apple will tighten the noose and Blockbuster's current business will cease to exsist. Netflix has seen the erros of those that came before them. They will survive and continue to fight Apple for market share.
  

What would you do if you were the CEO of Blockbuster? How do you modify your business plan? What should other businesses take away from this situation?

Additional Resources:
The Internet Changes Everything
Blockbuster, Netflix shares fall following Apple's movie rental service launch

Tags: Apple, ITunes, Blockbuster, Bob Hazlett