A Video on the State of the Internet

Here's an interesting video on the state of the internet. People still somehow have apprehensions on utilizing the medium as a means to advertise their product since they feel they cannot equate internet advertising to sales. What they don't consider is that the internet is actually cheaper than than their traditional advertising mediums.

A TV commercial easily costs about Php1M to produce and a 30s spot on the top networks costs at least Php250K. Brands will essentially just run a certain campaign for 3 months (which can easily cost 10M). What the internet can do with a budget of a commercial and 2 spots can easily last a brand for a year.

The internet is a 24/7 brand presence on the net especially if you maximize your presence via SEO techniques. By utilizing all the the social networks such as Facebook and Twitter they can also maximize their web presence. With over 250M websites expanding a brands presence via a brand site and through social networks can create can absolutely help a brand.

A brand site can speak of the brand and be the standard base for all promotions and events. A big mistake brands do here is that they create a promo site which just lasts a few months and then do nothing afterwards. A brand site on the other hand is a sustaining presence where you can teach brand loyalists to regularly visit it to get updates on brand developments, promos and events. When this page is mirrored via a fan page in Facebook where a majority of online users spend most of their time, this will help drive traffic to your website.

Generating a base of fans on Facebook will also help a brand connect to its users. Events and promotions can easily be communicated to a loyal fan base. This I guess is what some brand managers still don't realize (or fail to acknowledge). There are potentially 10M names on Facebook (Philippines) that they can evangelize their brand to. But they still don't utilize this medium. One of the largest brands like Procter and Gamble already has a fan page - this simply means that there is value on thes social networks.

Here's the video:
JESS3 / The State of The Internet from Jesse Thomas on Vimeo.

You can also check out my old post that show the impact of technology on our lives here.

HOW TO: Implement a Social Media Business Strategy by Shrlyn Lauby

Sharlyn Lauby is the president of Internal Talent Management (ITM) which specializes in employee training and human resources consulting. She authors a blog at hrbartender.com.

 Over the past few months, we’ve talked about whether you should have a social media policy and what should be included in that policy. It only seems logical to discuss the next step in the process, which is what to consider when implementing a social media strategy in your workplace.

 Just having a policy isn’t good enough — you need a plan to put it in place. Here are five areas to discuss when implementing a social media strategy.

Here's a link to the full article.

5 Insightful TED Talks on Social Media

The 2010 Technology Entertainment Design conference will be kicking off tomorrow in Long Beach, California, bringing the leading minds of many fields together to talk shop about innovation, change, and what the future holds.

 As social media has become a game changer for industries across the board, you can bet the experts at this year’s TED conference will have their sights set on peeling back the hype and getting at the core of what social technology has in store for this year and beyond.

 Perhaps the best part of the TED conferences is that videos of the talks are archived and free to view right on the organization’s website. Given the wealth of insight we’re sure to see tomorrow, we thought we’d whet your appetite by highlighting a few recent and exceptional talks from TED’s past, with a focus on social media.

This is worth reading. Find all the talks here.

Google Buzz: What It Means for Twitter and Facebook

GMAIL USERS: You can now follow Mashable’s official Google Buzz profile here: http://www.google.com/profiles/mashable

 So far, Google has failed to launch a successful social web product to U.S. Internet users. Orkut has taken off in including Brazil and India, but not in North America. Wave is a neat concept, but it has proven too abstract to catch on.

 Is Buzz — Google’s new Twitter and Facebook-like social stream — the product that’s going to win Google a dominant — or at least prominent — place in the social web?

That all depends. Integration with existing social networks are critical for Buzz’s success — especially Facebook. I don’t believe Buzz can enjoy significant success without Facebook integration. When Google unveiled Buzz today, it announced that the app will share your Twitter updates with your Buzz followers. That’s great news, but you won’t be as thrilled to learn that (at least at launch) there will be no integration with Facebook at all.

 Read more here.

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Google's Super Bowl Ad

State of the Internet Explained In One Giant Infographic

Here's an interesting article from mashable.com:

Remember that “If You Printed Twitter” image that made the social media rounds two weeks ago? A similarly formatted graphic that describes the state of Internet use and adoption has been published today for your infotainment.

The focus is on exactly who uses the Internet, and how often. It breaks things down by gender, age, income level, and nationality. It even serves up average broadband speeds for both landline and mobile users at the bottom. Some of this stuff surprised us a bit — For example, desktop computers are still much more common than laptops. You wouldn’t guess that in day-to-day life in the developed world — at least not when it comes to personal use.

It's better seen in the actual article.