I’m currently on a solo, round the world motorcycle trip for charity. I am raising money for the Alzheimer’s Association, the Pulmonary Fibrosis foundation, and RAINN. Currently I have a website setup for blogging and displaying pictures from my travels. I’m looking for ways to use that site and my trip to raise money for the 3 aforementioned organizations. I’m looking for ideas like allowing those who donate to use my pictures for commercial use, hiring myself out for travel journalism, charging admission to slideshows after the trip has concluded, etc.
Several other LinkedIn users provided some good ideas and suggestions, but I didn’t see anyone mention Facebook Causes, as well as some other viral marketing resources available out there. Here was my answer:
You have a lot of important and valuable insight in the other responses above, but one idea I didn’t see is for you to set up a Facebook page and a Facebook Cause page. Facebook Causes already allows you to collect funds for charity, and with a facebook page, you can provide a viral tool for people to let other friends know about your charity fund raising efforts.
Its a great place to upload pictures, updated, and link to your blog — as well as to the charity sites and donation pages.
Related to that, make sure to ad a “tell a friend” or “email this page to a friend” tool. You want to empower those supporters that already believe in you and make it easy for them to recruit more donors and supporters for you.
The YouTube video clips idea is a great suggestion — I’ll add another tip. Use Flickr to upload pictures of people you meeet, place you visit, etc. Keep a sort of “picture blog” on Flickr. The power of Flickr is that it has viral elements to it which allow current supporters to spread the word.
All these things, by the way, should include links back to your main blog and donation pages. This will all help increase your organic search engine rankings, which in turn can make your web efforts more visible and easier to find.
When users “Google” the agency and click on Modernista, they are brought to the same results page — with an added nav bar. Clicking on “About” brings you to either Modernista’s Wikipedia entry or Facebook page.
The agency’s past work appears on Flickr, YouTube and del.icio.us. For company news, users are directed to Google News.
As MarketingVox points out, it’s risky as it means that competitors and potentially disgruntled ex-customers might have a way to place negative information within their web destination. You have to give them credit for walking the walk when it comes to the web.
Interesting results via NBC about video ad memorability:
Advertising in programs streamed online has a better rate of recall and is preferred by users to similar ads served on TV, according to new research from NBC.
It’s a no brainer — stop stuffing ads down consumer’s throats and make the ads more relevant — you’ll get better results.
“NBC.com’s loyal users actively navigate and curate their own experience in NBC Rewind, so there is a high level of engagement,” Peter Naylor, SVP for digital media sales at NBCU, told TV Week.
For many web developers, Microsoft’s decision to make IE 8 conform to standards used by other browsers will go a long way toward making the web work better.
Microsoft’s current browser, IE 7, came under fire from some web developers because it handles web page code differently than Mozilla’s Firefox, Apple’s Safari and other browsers. The lack of standards between browsers confounded developers and forced some to create two different versions of the same website.
This should go a long way to make the web user-experience a little better, and reduce the costs of web development.
I just visited the new Hyundai Hispanic marketing website and was very disappointed. Not only was the site boring, but it took me 5 minutes to figure out the navigation — clever, but way to complicated.
The site lacks visuals, of all things! I didn’t see a single picture of a shiny new Hyundai. The copy was good, but why, oh why, would they not use images or video? I mean, buying a car is a cultural and emotional experience, and there is no better way to communicate that but through visuals. Even when checking the “design” section — nothing — No pictures, no colors, no videos.
The company has a new head of multicultural marketing and is riding its third Hispanic agency in less than three years.
I visited LatinWorks site, (beware of the urban music on their splash page…) and immediately you can see that their Flash animator has a love for words and animated lines.
Hyundai’s new Hispanic slogan is “Discover it for yourself” but all I did was read about it… They missed the opportunity to provide their customers a truly interactive discovery process through the power of the web.
I haven’t seen the TV spots, so I won’t include those in this critique, but as far as the website, not effective use of marketing dollars, if you ask me.
I’ve been giving my cousins in Honduras some help setting up their first online store for their limited-edition handmade designer leather handbags. It’s been an interesting project — helping them set up a Facebook fan page (social marketing), putting up Google AdWords, and more.
You can check out the Danilo’s Pura Piel (Fine Leather) Facebook page where you can see videos of Danilo’s craftsmen making a original Danilo’s leather purse or handbag. Guys, this is a guaranteed “love it” gift for the ladies. Ladies, you are not going to find a leather handbag of this quality and at this price. Plus, they’ll send it next day for a $15 flat shipping fee. Check out the pictures and product details at www.danilos.com.
Found an interesting question on LinkedIn Answers that I posted on, and I figured I would share my response here.
What are the pro’s and con’s of using embedded video on a corporate website?
I am in the process of specifying a corporate website (The company is active within the Automotive Aftermarket) and wonder if using video on the website is a good idea to present the company and its key values, possible using a human presenter. I have been searching far and wide, some use it and others don’t (rarely used in the aftermarket industry). I wonder if it is a good idea. I am keen to know others opnions and if any knows some really good websites using video.
I think there are more pro’s for this than con’s.
Depending on how big of a company you are working for (and how attractive you are to lawsuits), ADA compliance can result in increased costs or risk if you publish non-ADA compliant videos. But, the good thing is that making your online videos ADA compliant just takes some research and a little more development/production time.
The key thing about video is to make sure its entertaining or interesting enough to attract some sort of audience. Don’t just put the CEO or Marketing Dir. in front of a camera if they just don’t have camera-presence. Hire a talent, or do an internal casting to find someone that is comfortable and that looks & sounds compelling on video.
Video can be a great way to communicate brand, and strengthen the company’s image. Its also a great way to possibly bring in sales leads, or as an incentive to generate e-newsletter subscriptions.
I wish more companies where using online video to communicate — both internally and externally.
I’m not a football fan, but the commercials should be noteworthy. I’ll post some comments and reactions as the game goes on. While the actual game is going on, I’ll be doing some online shopping trying to figure out how to use all the birthday money I got today. [Most recent posts at the top…scroll down for the whole thread.]
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Final post… I’m going to call it a night. Feel free to post your comments and reactions to the spots, either those featured below, or the ones I missed.
8:42 Ok! My favorite Super Bowl commercial for 2008 is the baby trader spot for E*Trade!! It was funny, entertaining, and right on message.
8:32 Genesis commercial was pretty good. Good re-branding for Hyundai. The Disney & Pixar’s “Wall-E” preview was cute too. It got laughs out of both of us.
8:22 Vitamin Water O’neal commercial was funny! Poor horse–I hope PETA wasn’t watching! LOL Very entertaining.
8:09 The Daytona 500 spot was cool! That was amazing graphics and animations.
7:50 Sounds like the half time show is about to start. Tom Petty? I don’t think I have ever heard of him. I keep watching the Sarah Connors Chronicles spots…I’ve been enjoying that show. I’m looking forward to Monday’s new episode.
7:46 Watching some local spots…blah, blah, blah… While the talking heads discuss sports (boooring…) I wanted to mention I did also like Budweiser’s “Breath of Fire” spot. Really funny. Even my wife laughed. Here is the spot via YouTube.
7:26 Just saw the new Narnia series “Prince Capsian” trailer! WOW! WOW! This is awesome! Can you tell I’m a HUGE Narnia fan!
7:14 I’m not sure what to think about the “accent” Budweiser commercials. It’s funny, but I don’t know that any one of the ethnic groups represented would appreciate the joke in the spot. I’m not all that PC, so I won’t say I find it offensive or anything, but I’m not sure it was good advertising.
7:12 Gross! The Career Builder “Follow your heart” spot again hits the “to graphic” category… good messaging though.
7:08 The movie commercials are good. The Garmin spot is cool, but I’m biased on account of family connections. I blogged about the new NuviFone a couple days ago.
7:02 Budweiser’s “Rocky” themed spot was cool. I’m not a beer drinker, so I have to tell you beer makers have their job cut out when it comes to making their commercials resonate with me. This one has a nice underdog tone that should appeal to lots of people, and those horses are just beautiful! Here it is via YouTube.
6:59 The GoDaddy commercial was weak. They are just trying to capitalize on people’s obsession with tantalizing content…I’m sure its working, but what does that do for their brand? Does the average American even know what GoDaddy.com sells? Sexy models and near-nudity does not count as a product differentiators.
6:55 FedEx ad was great. Funny stuff. Cars.com was funny too! Tide’s http://www.mytalkingstain.com ad was right-on! I’m not sure they planned their server loads accurately, but it finally loaded after a few tries.
Here is the talking stain spot from Tide. Well done and good messaging.
Here is the FedEx spot via YouTube.
6:54 Dell Red commercials was catchy. It’s a good cause, so its a creative way to ad “sex appeal” to a cause.
6:49 Dorito’s “message from your heart” commercial was interesting, but who was that? Was that some sort of web 2.0 spot voted on by fans? Update: So I headed over to the Doritos…man, that is a multi-media intensive site.
6:48 Bridgestone…not bad.
6:41 I guess NFL is getting behind MySpace and their hosting of the SuperBowl ads–they just got an on-air and on-screen plug. I’m not a huge fan of MySpace’s cluttered interface, so I’ll stick to YouTube.
6:39 This explains why I didn’t get the Pepsi ad…I don’t watch Saturday Night Live. I’m a little handicapped here as a cultural commentator…
6:37 The ads seem funnier and I certainly get the message better when I’m giving it a second look in YouTube. Here is the Pepsi spot via YouTube.
6:35 Sales Genie…nice, but didn’t look like Super Bowl material.
6:34 Diet Pepsi max ad… hmm…. funny, but not memorable.
6:26 The Audi “Old luxury on notice” commercial was just weird! It took me a few seconds to even get it. I think it started off a bit slow. With today’s ad saturated audience, you got to catch their attention early — this spot didn’t do it. Frankly, I also think it might have been a bit to graphic for prime time TV. [ok…seeing it again, it’s not graphic at all. Goes to show I totally didn’t get it. Is it because I’m not filthy rich?]
Nice car, but the commercial falls flat for me. Here it is via YouTube:
6:25 Bud Light Fire commercial made me laugh!! LOL
6:22 I’m thinking of getting the Microsoft Zune 4GB MP3 & video player. This is what WalMart description says:
It’s brand-new, super-slim and goes anywhere. Highlights include wireless sharing, video playback, innovative touch controls and a built-in FM tuner.
6:13PM First commercial worth noting…the new Chase “Secret Agent Man” commercial. I’m not a huge fan of the black & white video-my TV might be the reason the image is just to dark–but the script is funny and memorably highlights Chase credit card’s security features.
I’ve been looking into Zeta Interactive’s RelevantNoise and hope to get a closer look through a demo and maybe a trial run. Having worked in the blog world for several years, I know how powerful it can be to be able to track what bloggers are saying.
Here is how they describe it:
Are your ears ringing? They should be, because someone out there in the social internet - 75 Million blogs, countless message boards and online communities – is probably talking about you. And what they’re saying could make or break your brand or your products.
Think it can’t affect you? You’re wrong. What you don’t know CAN hurt your brand. But knowing – and staying one step ahead of the tide – can empower you to protect your company, clients, products or services.
With Zeta Interactive’s RelevantNoise overview dashboard, you can quickly see what these “citizen journalists” are saying about your brands across social media – and the impact they’re having – in real-time.
I’ll write more once I get a better look at the tool.
Raising money for charity
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