In the brave new world of the Internet the breaking news of the death of the “King of POP” can travel faster on Twitter and on Facebook than on news power houses such as CNN, FOX, BBC or MTV.
According to family members Michael Jackson passed away at 1:07 pm PST. According to my research fans of the moon walker pop star started Tweeting about his death as early as 1:25 PST and Facebooking at 2:01 PST. Counter intuitively, The New York Times only confirmed his way to Never Never Land at 3:41 followed by MTV at 4:01 and CNN at 4:31.
In a time frame of less than 3 hours the search on Google “Michael Jackson Dead” resumed more than 33,000 results...WOW.
Is the Internet finally empowering each one of us with “real time” information? Is Ted Turner’s empire slower than Joe the “Twitter geek” from Boise, Idaho?
How does this translates into e-branding?
Well, that makes me think that in the Internet era any corporate mischievous marketing move or insider C-level information can leak faster than you could say “Beep-Beep!”
So for marketers out there I suggest the Youtube test:
If you wouldn’t broadcast your marketing strategy on Youtube then maybe you shouldn't do so at all!
According to wikipedidia.org E-BRANDING =
"No article title matches" or "No page with that title exists"
So I decided that, after an overpriced marketing education and some work experience in the Internet Marketing realm, I should be capable of contributing somehow to the WWW. (world wide wait) knowledge base.
I have also to confess that this serves an answer to all my friends that repetitively ask me: "What does an e-branding consultant does?"
So here it goes:
E-Branding: The marketing practice of creating a name, symbol, design and or consumer experience ONLINE that not only differentiates but also illustrates the product/service's image and identity.
Easier said than done!
A few years ago, e-branding marketing programs revolved around building a brand's website that served as another touch-point for consumers to know more about a specific product/service.
However, with the never ending wave of innovative electronic off-springs such as Facebook, Myspace, Twitter, Technorati, Reddit, Youtube, Yahoo answers, iPhone Applications, etc., etc., the new thing to do is to build a 360 degree approach to your online presence.
So in a nutshell:
If your business can't affort an e-branding strategist make sure that your brand is at least present on Youtube, Facebook, Twitter and Myspace and collect as many e-mails addresses as possible!
