Halloween Social Media Treats and Scares

Talk about hilarious. This haunted mansion in Canada posts pictures of people being scared on its Facebook Account for people to comment on and share. Their site traffic has gone up by 100,000 percent.

Google Finally Gets Rid of Google Buzz

Google has announced it will get rid of Google Buzz. It's about time. Buzz was pretty useless in the first place, and it was definitely unneeded once Google Plus came out.

What do you think? Did you ever use Google Buzz?

Netflix changes its mind.... again

Remember my previous posts on Netflix's bad moves in price hikes and splitting the streaming and dvd services? Well now they've changed their mind again based on customer complaints and are staying the same, but keeping the price hikes.

I know they're trying to please customers, but even worse than making irrational, unpleasant changes is staying inconsistent in your brand by going back and forth of the teeter totter. Netflix has a lot of damage control to do, and the Marketing, Public Relations people aren't doing a good job at it so far.

What do you think? Is Netflix making the right decisions?


Here's the letter Netflix sent out with its most recent announcements:

Dear Harmony,  

It is clear that for many of our members two websites would make things more difficult, so we are going to keep Netflix as one place to go for streaming and DVDs. This means no change: one website, one account, one password…in other words, no Qwikster. While the July price change was necessary, we are now done with price changes. We're constantly improving our streaming selection. We've recently added hundreds of movies from Paramount, Sony, Universal, Fox, Warner Bros., Lionsgate, MGM and Miramax. Plus, in the last couple of weeks alone, we've added over 3,500 TV episodes from ABC, NBC, FOX, CBS, USA, E!, Nickelodeon, Disney Channel, ABC Family, Discovery Channel, TLC, SyFy, A&E, History, and PBS. We value you as a member, and we are committed to making Netflix the best place to get your movies & TV shows.

Respectfully,
The Netflix Team

The Advantage of Hands On Marketing

People like hands on stuff. Look at the Nook vs. the Kindle. You can go to your local Barnes and Noble and try the Nook out. But you have to buy the Kindle on faith. Give the customer a taste, and he's far more likely to crave your product in the future. Just look at Edmund in "The Chronicles of Narnia." He really liked his sweets, didn't he?

What have you done to make your company or product more hands on and interactive? Are samples as effective as they seem?

A Social Media Cheat Sheet

Visit Sociable Blog (the original provider of this graphic) for the accompanying article.

RIP Steve Jobs

Get your audience involved part 2

Yesterday we discussed the importance of getting your audience involved. Let's take that one step further.


If you want more followers.... get your audience to relate.
If you want more customers... get your audience to relate.
If you want more results......... get your audience to relate.

Think Broadway.com's "Word of Mouth" videos. The Broadway news site takes everyday people of all ages, sends them to shows, and then has them talk about the shows in a candid way. Because these people are not your typical New York Times reviewer, viewers can relate to them and trust them more.