More time has been spent watching videos online in 2009 than reading emails. This is the first time that has happened in a year, but it won’t be the last. YouTube is the biggest video site on the Internet, so we will discuss it as the primary source of video marketing, but it’s definitely not the only one. This is one part of a five part series that will be posted on various sites. It covers the basics: a 30,000 foot view of the various social media sites as well as easy, practic... Read Full Story

This video from Social Blade Theater is a quite hilarious. As a fictional depiction of Tom Anderson from MySpace joining and trying out Facebook, this video takes an offbeat look at the competition between social media giants. * * * See more funny social media happenings on this Social Media Blog. Read Full Story

I was browsing the genius of “Noise to Signal” today and came across a comic that broke down everything new social web users fear. That pretty much sums up Web 2.0 fears, both for individuals as well as business. * * * Find more interesting Web 2.0 content on this Social Media Blog. Read Full Story

A Guest Post By Erin Ryan First off, this is not for those mainstream New Media folks that already know that Digg is a news site or why Twitter has nothing to do with a bird. This is meant for those who are new to the Social Mediaverse and are unsure, skeptical and maybe even too old fashioned to be persuaded. As a twenty-eight year old growing up in the so-called “Tech Age”, as computers revolutionized and “the internet” was the coolest thing on the face of the earth, even if dial-up took... Read Full Story

Digg normally rolls out new features poorly. The debacle that was the “new and improved” dupe detector has yet to show signs of improvement. The Diggbar changes are still a sore spot for many, especially in the way that it was rolled out, changed, and re-rolled out. Digg Trends is, for now (crossing fingers), a new feature that seems to be doing what it’s supposed to do. I was terrified when I saw the story below listed as a Trending Topic and held this blog post until it ha... Read Full Story

If car dealers thought they needed to worry about getting negative reviews before, now there’s something else to fear - the paid review. This screenshot was taken from Mechanical Turk, a site that specializes in letting businesses “outsource” mundane activities for pennies. Worried now? You should be. Here is a respected site that is PAYING people to review your dealership. What are the people going to write? It doesn’t matter. The idea is to get enough unique content ... Read Full Story

Listen to 10 important minutes of Jared Hamilton’s keynote speech at Driving Sales Executive Summit in Las Vegas on October 14, 2009.  Jared discusses the evolution of automotive marketing over the last 25 years and how social media and other online marketing tactics are replacing the old ways of marketing more and more every day. Read Full Story

On thing was definitely made clear at the Driving Sales Executive Summit in Las Vegas: even the fiercest competitors can agree when it comes to how to do proper Internet Marketing. Paul Rushing, Brian Pasch, and I went on stage in preparation for a fire storm. There was little doubt that in the highly competitive field of Automotive SEO, putting 3 of the industry leaders was certainly going to bring about clashes, debates, arguments, and perhaps even a little bloodshed. It didn’t happen... Read Full Story

YouTube has been a valid social media marketing tool for a long time. Many companies are now starting to realize this. Others are starting to re-realize this. Here is an example by Bacardi. The video itself is from 2007, but they are re-introducing it and its Halloween theme this month. It works on so many levels and fails on one level. First, the video: First, the successes… It Tells a Story The last thing you want to do as a business trying to advertise a brand or a product is talk ... Read Full Story

On the heels of the Driving Sales Executive Summit and the JD Powers convention, two thing is still clear in the automotive industry – SEO is at the top of the priorities lists and information about proper SEO is still being debated. This post by Richard Valenta couldn’t have come at a more opportune time: Offsite SEO vs. Onsite SEO – It’s All in the Follow-Through Search engine optimization (SEO) has found steady footing within the automotive industry as dealers adopt cost... Read Full Story