All posts tagged Social Media

3 Kickstarter Campaigns I’m Pumped About

by Adam Lehman on April 25, 2012 in Entrepreneurs with No comments

It’s been well documented by other media outlets, but let me reiterate: Kickstarter is going to revolutionize the way projects & products are launched. We haven’t seen anything yet.

Here are 3 of my favorite projects right now:

1. Instaprint – The Location Based Photo Booth for Instagram

So imagine you’re at a party, restaurant, concert or museum. You snap a picture, post it to Instagram. Your immediate network sees it. Cool.

Now imagine you are that restaurant or venue. You love the free press that is going out because of Instagram pictures, but you can’t really force them to take something. You install a couple of boxes on the wall that print pictures from Instagram. Someone posts to Instagram and a picture falls out. Then another person at the venue observes all this happening. Then they take a picture. Repeat, repeat, repeat. You can’t pay enough for the organic marketing that just took place.

Watch the video for more or head to the Instaprint Kickstarter Page.

2. Pebble Watch – E-Paper Watch for iPhone and Android

These watches are sexy, gorgeous, awesome or hawt. All the above. I can’t even begin to describe the coolness. Watch the video to see for yourself or head to their Kickstarter page.

3. Portrait: A Documentary on the Minds Behind the Camera

2 things I love about this project….

A. The mission is to “demystify the creative process.” I dig it! Portrait will follow three innovative photographers and let you into their life, their process & their craft.

B. Any contributor will receive their portrait in the film. I don’t possess a shred of vanity, but my portrait in a film seems to make me feel good.

Watch the video below for more or check out their project page.

Social Media vs Email Marketing

by Adam Lehman on February 27, 2012 in Email Marketing, Marketing, Social Media with 2 Comments

Eloqua just published some remarkable statistics about Email Marketing vs Social Media.

Using aggregate numbers from their clients, they decided to look at how each effects traffic to websites.

Here’s the data:

The numbers for each are increasing:

Web traffic from Social Media are up 331% over a year.
Email opens grew 27% over the past year.
Email click-throughs grew 19% over the past year.

You could interpret the data to mean that social media is growing rapidly, so you should jump on board. Or you could argue that email marketing is significantly more important for you business.

I’d argue that it shows an increasing percentage of online engagement (not shocking to anyone) and companies should jump on board with both.

But lets say you have to choose one:

Considerations for focusing on email marketing:

Email marketing is going to require that you capture data from interested folks. That requires a bit more effort than a “like” on Facebook or a “follow” on Twitter.
Email marketing is the anti-Groupon. You’re going to be connecting and rewarding your most interested customers with incentives rather than “new” folks.
Email marketing gives you a place for long-form story-telling. Pro: you get to be a bit more creative. Con: it requires more work.
Consumers can learn to ignore your emails.
Email marketing can “feel” spammy if done wrong.
Lots of solid data supporting best practices here.

Considerations for a focus on social media:

Typing status updates or tweets doesn’t require a lot of time.
Much more “conversational.”
Longer investment until influence shows the return you’re looking for.
Crowded space. Fighting for attention with celebrities, comedians & close friends.
Data supporting best practices exists, but not solidified.

What are your thoughts on the data?