Amazon founder and CEO Jeff Bezos delivers graduation speech at Princeton University

A very simple but inspiring speech.I loved this: "...one day you'll understand that it's harder to be kind then clever...since cleverness is a gift and kindness is a choice"

Here's a Funny Commercial - taking a break from Online Marketing

5 Tips for Aspiring Social Media Marketers

Here's the article from Mashable.com and below is my quick take on it applying it locally.

1. Join Social Media Meet-up and Networks - to get this started follow well known bloggers on Twitter and Facebook, introduce yourself, sometime they are very willing to help new bloggers or online marketers out

2. Make Relationships Not Pitches - this is really the essence of social media marketing, relationships and nurturing these relationships. This would have a tendency to open up opportunities for people

3. Stay Informed of Tools, Trends, and News - research, everything is already available on the internet

4. Find an Online Balance Between Personal and Professional - a little tricky especially for your Facebook, blogs and Twitter accounts can be separated easily though

5. Make Your Resume Standout - especially if you're looking for freelance jobs, all your blogs and web presence should really be good and stands out. This is what I need to work on, I have to push traffic to my site so please visit regularly and often.

Click here to view the article.

Mobile Trends 2020

Check out this SlideShare Presentation:

Mobile Trends 2020

View more presentations from Rudy De Waele.

How Small Agencies Can Boost New-Biz Opportunities

One key take away I got from the video is that you've got to nurture relationships. It may initially not bring in the clients but it can create for yourself a good reputation.

Top Facebook User World Wide

Here's a quick look at Facebook users world wide broken down per country re-posted from Yugatech. Based on this the Philippines has 14.6M users which is effectively 15% of the population. Just to put the growth of Facebook into perspective this was just about 3.5M in May 2009. I am just wondering if they include Fan Pages in the count as users.

If this growth continues it may (maybe has already) overtaken Friendster as the no. 1 social networking site here in the Philippines. That's just based on numbers though, Facebook is still THE platform to do your marketing programs from. If you're asking about Multiply....I'll just say Facebook.

Twitter has a lot os users locally and based on worldwide trending anything that happens here easily becomes a top 10 trending topic. It's just a little tricky to use Twitter as a main platform for online marketing programs.

Click here to see the table.

Kobe Doin Work Trailer

I'd like to get a DVD of this...

Do what you LOVE!!

"There is no reason to do shit you hate!"

5 Entrepreneurial Tips from Richard Branson

Here's a quick rundown of his tips, these tips are not exactly new. But we still have to be reminded...

1. Find good people - ne need to expound on this one

2. Realize that the employees are the business - some business owners actually don't realize this, the employees are the business and they will build your business

3. Look for the best in our people - lavish praise, never criticize - this simply fosters a more conducive work place

4. Don't take yourself too seriously - HAVE FUN!

5. Just do it!!! - please do we wish me luck!

Here's the complete article.

Social Media Marketing Facts (from slideshare)

Social Media Marketing Facts

View more presentations from Sorav Jain.

Be Inspired

5 Lessons to Learn from Web Start-ups

Here's another cool article from Mashable.com - 5 Lessons to Learn from Web Start-ups

1. Your company culture can be fun - I personally think that having fun and being happy at work should be part of any company's mission and vision statement. I believe that happy people are more productive. I even believe that you choice clients that you are happy working with. It's really no use working in an environment where you are unhappy. We shouldn't look at work as a means to an end but a journey that we should enjoy.

2. Work can done anytime anywhere - with portable internet connections and laptops people can now literally bring work with them anywhere. In fact, we can even consider virtual offices in the near future where office teams just meet as necessary to save on office space rental. Working from home saves both the company and the employee a lot of money. A certain degree of maturity though is needed for this model.

3. You don't need a lot of money to have a good time - As the cliche goes money doesn't buy you happiness. Since start-ups don't have the funds you really have to get the best of the resources you have.

4. It's ok to change your mind - Sometimes the best laid plans are the plans you didn't make but the circumstances that just worked out for the best. Life and circumstances sometimes push you where you need to go, as such you have to be fluid in your plans and be able to take advantage of all the opportunities that will come along your way. I don't believe in lucky breaks. I believe that luck goes to those who pursue opportunities and because of this good breaks follow. Embrace change for change is the only sure thing.

5. A small risk can return a great reward - well in fact some people don't really risk that much at all. A lot of bloggers just actually started writing and as their followers grew and opportunities opened up they decided to jump. Some of them have actually more rewarding lives right now. People who come to mind are Anton Diaz of 'OurAwesomePlanet.com' who gave up a lucrative career in P&G to work full time as a web start-up. The web has opened the opportunity for people to to follow their passion and live more fulfilling lives. Now I ask the question....are you happy where you are right now?

How Social Media Has Radically Altered Advertising

It seems to me that advertising agencies here in the Philippines are quite slow to adopt to the digital medium. Either they are blind to the new trends or they simply do not what to learn what is out there. Ironically, most of them are probably on Facebook following their favorite brands being affected by social media without being aware of it. There are a lot of potential to mesh the traditional with the digital but they simply haven't considered it. I guess the shift from the brand to the consumer is quite difficult to fathom.

Here's a great article about 'How Social Media Has Radically Altered Advertising'.

Cool Social Media Friendly Calling Cards

I came across another cool article from Mashable.com on social media friendly calling cards. The Philippines hasn't totally embraced the medium but being the text capital of the world and maybe the social networking capital of the world I can see a lot of businesses embracing these types of calling cards.

You can see all the 12 cards here.

5 Social Media Trends to Watch Right Now - from Mashable

Here's the top 5 social media trends to watch right now:

1. Location based social networks and platforms
2. Group buying
3. Mobile Ads
4. Mobile Payments
5. Having a social media policy

Items # 2 and 3 may not yet be relevant to consumers here in the Philippines but as for the others I think it's just a matter of time. I think location based platforms are just gathering critical mass before it is utilized for main stream marketing but there are a lot of potential projects for these and i think it's just making brand more aware of what can be done with such applications.

I currently have a platform for delivering mobile ads unobtrusively and I think it really just a matter of time that brand jump into it. I feel this is sooner rather than later. To me I think it's just a matter of having the first client to run a campaign. Hopefully, my company can close a deal soon and implement one of these campaigns.

The here and now is having a social media policy. In fact, I just developed guidelines for a clients Facebook page. Since this medium is quite new I tell them that we also have to be flexible and learn along the way. This also extends to the management of their web presence and how we need to connect both to make it work best for them.

Here's the complete article.

The Changing Relationship Between the Advertiser and the Consumer

Managing Your Personal Social Media Presence

I am still a relative newbie in this arena so I'll defer to get advice from major social media blogs such as Mashable.com and probably long time bloggers and internet personalities such as Janet Toral and Carlo Ople (for Filipinos). First I'll give a rundown of my internet persona:

Twitter - I am most active here especially if I'm bored and I have no one to speak with I Tweet away. This is more of a personal presence but I do post links to my blog here. So I guess, this crosses over.

Facebook - This is also a personal page with some professional mix since you can't really separate both. I also use this to manage some fan pages. If I need to manage more fan pages I'll probably create an administrator account to make it more professional. I did this for my client Ayala Malls when I was still with Rogue Digital.

Blogspot - I started this to practice my craft, so it was really just a personal blog. Somewhere along the way I decided to make it a blog about digital marketing. It also makes it easier for me to look at research and videos which I can show to potential clients.

Fousquare - Location based social network sites are gaining ground and I need to know how to use this effectively with my campaigns. This is why I signed-up. This is also linked to my Twitter.

These four are where I am most active. I am now registering on social bookmarking sites just to help with a site I am working on and I also need it for SEO purposes.

I still have Friendster and Multiply but I only maintain them because I am in the online industry. I would have deleted it a long time ago if I wasn't. Everybody is now on Facebook.

If you're looking at ways to manage your social network footprint here's "5 Ways to Clean Up Your Social Media Identity" from Mashable.com.

Finally a local case study from my former company...

Here's a local case study from Rogue Digital. I need a lot more of these case studies to convince more clients to go digital. Hat's off to my former colleagues and good luck!

 

Non-Traditional Awareness Campaigns by Volkswagen

Here's a cool below-the-line campaign by Volkswagen. It's their fast lane campaign. It's an offline execution where they expanded to online to generate more awareness. Enjoy the 3 videos.

Yahoo Insights Page

Here's a link to Yahoo's Insights page where you can get some case studies for digital campaigns implemented on Yahoo (maybe online in general). I haven't actually downloaded stuff from it (time is quite scarce) but I post items like these on my blog for a reason - so I can go back to it.

Maybe I'll place some case studies of my own in the near future...

Secrets to Success

Here's a short talk about secrets to success. I've read and watched a lot of stuff about the secrets to success I think it's really summarized in one statement "DO what you LOVE and you will NEVER WORK a single day on your LIFE". Simply find something your passionate about and everything will follow. This is what you will notice in most of my videos from ted.com....the speakers are all very passionate. Carpe diem...seize the day!!

10 Brands That May Disappear in 2011

I came across this article in Yahoo Finance predicting brands that may disappear next year. Some of the brands I expected to be on the list but the other were quite surprising. I am not an economist and I really don't follow the global economy that much but I guess the world hasn't fully recovered from it.

Pitching to Venture Capitalists

Here' a good video on how to create a pitch to venture capitalists. He doesn't like like he has a great personality but he sold his ideas so we gotta listen...as I always say you can't argue with success (most of the time).

Facebook's 50 Most Popular: The 50 Hottest People on Facebook

Just in case you are wondering who the most popular people are on Facebook - here's a photo article from the Huffington Post. I'm wondering now if some people on the list just suddenly shot up the rankings, especially those footballers from the world cup. The list quite surprising.

Be an Entrepreneur NOW!!!!

Last week I was drinking with a bunch of kids who were probably just two years off college and they were so impressed when they were told that I was starting my own business. I wanted to tell them two things I was technically forced into the situation (just to be honest) and I feel I started too late. I was telling one of them  - my best advice I can give you ever is to start your business NOW. If someone gave me this advice at that age and drilled it to my head I would have been thankful for that single piece of advice.

You have to start as early as you can, set it as a goal, give yourself a time table and simply do it!!!! You have less to lose when you are young...

To Cholo, Jots, the F boys ... be your own bosses!! This is my advice to you....

I passed out that night by the way...

Cameron Herold: Let's raise kids to be entrepreneurs

Another Example of a Viral Campaign

Sometimes I just randomly follow people on Twitter (a pretty face is always a good reason). Julia Roy was one of those follows and apparently she's a big blogger (at least I think she is) in the US. Regardless whether she is a big blogger or not I get a lot of good stuff by following her. Here's one viral campaign I got from her - Influence Project. I guess it's goal for the user is to see how big is your online influence. By clicking the link from her Twitter she probably increased her online influence. You'll do the same for me if you click on that link as well. It seems though that the company behind this is gathering a good database - how they plan to use this I can only guess (another social network perhaps?). Here's a picture of the site below:

My point in this post is not only to show the viral campaign but also inform you guys that you can get a lot of creative ideas by following 'lesser' know personalities on the web. One of the more popular Twits I follow is Mashable. I learn a lot from them but it seems that I also get a lot of cool stuff from Julia Roy. The good thing about her is that she's not that well known and I can get a lot of unique ideas from her.

Now it seems that FastCompany.com has a lot of cool ideas as well. One more site to follow...as I always mention the web is your best resource for anything. Expect me to post more stuff coming from FastCompany.com soon.

Brands and Social Network Marketing

I've been seeing local brands trying to get their feet wet in social network marketing some are really good. I think San Marino is one of the better one locally but some brands are just joining for the sake of joining. As I've said in one of my talks (there's been only 3 anyway) that social network marketing is simple but not really that simple. There is really some strategy and some thought behind social network marketing. It's not simply posting status messages like it was your own profile. Heck, sometimes people don't really care about what you put on your own  status message - so what more for a brand.

You must have a feel of why consumers follow you in the first place. Status messages must be relevant to your brand and to the people who follow you. If your brand just keeps posting irrelevant messages then sometime along the way people will just lose interest and even get turned off. People must remember a key thing with social media - engagement. If people do not engage with what you post then you are simply being ineffective and at worse an irritant to your followers.

Here's what some experts say are challenges to managing a brand on the social media.

Getting Business Advice from the Internet

As I'v always told my clients you can get anything on the internet, personal advice, digital marketing advice (just look at this blog) and small business tips. My blog is slowly evolving from digital marketing to small business advice. I guess this simply reflects the situation I am in right now. Yes, I am starting my business obviously it's related to online marketing simply because I've been doing this for a year and a half already. It's both fun and scary at the same time. If you're not doing anything you suddenly feel your not being productive. But I think that is the life of a start-up.

Anyway, join me in looking at these YouTube Channels for some business advice. 5 YouTube Channels for Small Business Advice.

Small Business Ideas - Top 6 for 2010

I came across this article earlier on small business ideas but first I'd like to share a video which hopefully can inspire some of you to start your own business and pursue your dreams. I went through this seminar a few years back and I still look back at my experience and at their videos to look for inspiration to help me move forward. They are the Organizational Change Consultants, Inc (OCCI) and you can checkout their site here.

Here's the video:


I'd just like to list down the small business ideas:
1. Start a blogging business (Hey, maybe I'm on the right track I just have to write more)
2. Start a bookkeeping business - not for me
3. Starting a web design business - hmmm, I'm not a designer but I can do this (am doing this)
4. Starting a wedding planning business - I think I'll enjoy this, my mom had a flower shop before but not right now and I suck in events management
5. Opening I gym - I'll charge people to use the gym on my condo. Will this work?
6. Starting a consulting business - haha! Bingo! Call me now!!!

Here's the link to the full article. I think this is applicable here in the Philippines numbers 1, 3 and 6 are the way to go.

Success is a Continuous Journey