Looking good in 2010, this year’s shall be a different look….
It is once again that time of year. The ‘Mo’, slang for moustache, and November have come together again for Movember. In 2010, over 64,500 US Mo Bros and Mo Sistas got on board, raising $7.5 million USD.
Mynt Public Relations fully supports the cause and therefore I’ve donated my face to Movember and the fight against cancer (think I will be going with the Clark Gable this year). Every cent counts, if you would like to donate to me and my team campaign, please visit our Movember page.
32,000 men die of prostate cancer in the US each year, to increase awareness and raise funds, every Movember men change their appearance and the face of men’s health by growing a moustache. The moustache is our ribbon, the means by which we raise awareness and funds for cancers that affect men. Much like the commitment to run or walk for charity, our commitment is to grow a moustache for 30 days. Funds raised benefit the Prostate Cancer Foundation and LIVESTRONG.
We thank you for support and hope you can also join the month of fine moustachery and immaculate grooming.
For detailed information about the Movember Foundation, financial and annual reports, men’s health, the programs being funded and the social impact Movember is having, please visit: http://us.movemberfoundation.com/
Looking good in 2010, this year’s shall be a different look….
The official Mynt Public Relations Halloween 2011 Jack-o-Lantern… only took 2 hours to carve last night!
October 27 is the birthday of the first time banner ads were seen on a website. Hotwired.com was the first company to run these ads in 1994 and they were the beginnings of what would become a $24 billion business and generate a CTR of 78%. They were simple ads, created for AT&T and Volvo—the latter’s banner didn’t even send the consumer to the company’s website but rather to a questionnaire of what type of automobile they’d be interested in. It’s been 17 years since then and online advertising has grown tremendously, but the average CTR of banner ads today is only a fraction of a percent: a measly 0.1%. So how does one generate ad revenue in a world where online consumers have adapted to ignoring banner advertising?
We must ask ourselves why the CTR of banner ads drop so much. This has a two part answer; banner ads are ignored, consciously and subconsciously, and when they aren’t ignored, they don’t convert at a high rate because the ads are not delivered at a relevant time. The solution to these issues is to reach online consumers where their attention is and when they want it. In-content advertising allows advertisers to accomplish this.
In-content advertising is much like the product placement that you see in movies and television. This advertising technique is contextually relevant as well as tightly integrated and works for two reasons: Consumers see and interact with these advertisements and they experience the advertisements while they’re actually looking for the information. The easiest way to reach your viewer is with in-content advertising with link insertion. Link insertion allows users to scroll the mouse over a word that then pulls up a pop-up to link to the relevant site.
This article was a guest post from Murray Newlands, to learn more about in-content advertising and link insertion, please read his most recent eBook,”Content Monetization” or “INTENETclick“:In-Text Advertising Secrets.
Social media is not a phenomenon that can be ignored. Millions of users every day access various social media platforms, and they tweet or post or share information freely. Companies who are working to thrive in the information age cannot pass these platforms by if they expect to be successful. There are many reasons why social media should play a large role in your branding, and the three biggest are listed here.
Extremely Low Cost of Entry. A single television advertisement or newspaper page can cost a company a tremendous amount of money, and it still only reaches a limited market. A profile on Facebook or humorous videos on YouTube are free and grant you world-wide exposure. The ability to reach so many people at so little cost has never existed before. The interaction and brand-building that can go on through social networking can gain a great deal of revenue for your company. With so little expenditure, it would be foolish to miss this chance to build rapport and relationships with potential customers.
Build Awareness of Your Brand. Where else can you go to reach thousands of people with a single tweet, and thousands more with a single shared video? Social media is where your customers go for information, entertainment, and connections with friends. If your brand is also there, you are getting the kind of incredible exposure that can make your business a success. A simple, memorable branding strategy can take on a life of its own as it is shared through the networks from person to person. In addition, this sharing from peers increases your brand’s credibility – people are much more likely to take something seriously if it comes from a friend, rather than the company itself.
Manage Your Company’s Image. Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Google+, blogs and other platforms lend themselves very easily to positive customer interaction. In addition, if your customer care department sees a complaint shared on a social network, they will be in a position to respond quickly to resolve the complaint, saving the company a lot of negative publicity.
Social media is the current wave of social interaction and information sharing, and that makes it the current wave of marketing. With an extremely low cost of entry and excellent opportunities to build awareness of your brand and manage your company’s image, social media represents one of the most important marketing tools available. If you leverage it correctly, you will be able to grow your revenue and customer loyalty for years to come.
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This article was a guest post from Capterra - With over 300 business software directories, from public relations software to applicant tracking software, Capterra enables you to find and compare any kind of software for your business, filter results based on your needs, and view ratings and peer reviews.
DeviceLock, Inc., an international leader in endpoint data leak prevention solutions, today announced that its DeviceLock® Endpoint DLP Suite software can now be used by corporate IT to control the use of the Google+ social network on endpoint computers including content filtering of their data exchanges via Google+ services. As Google+ has become one of the fastest growing social networks, its uncontrolled use in corporate environments presents the risk of data leakage for IT security departments in organizations of various sizes and industries.
DeviceLock 7 Endpoint DLP Suite gives IT security administrators the ability to control which users on protected computers are allowed to access, read or post information on the Google+ site, even the days and times access is allowed. If needed, filtering of file and message content flowing between the protected endpoint and Google+ can be enforced to block the posting of unauthorized information. DeviceLock provides a full log of user activities and optional shadow-copying of data transferred for use in compliance auditing and forensic investigations.
“Many of our customers are worried about potential data leakage when employees communicate through Google+ with the outside world from their corporate computers. Even prior to the release of Google+, our customers had access to a recent DeviceLock version that enables them to control which corporate users can access Google+ from protected endpoint computers,” said Vince Schiavo, CEO, DeviceLock, Inc. “DeviceLock controls when and how users can access Google+ and the software can monitor and filter information considered by the organization to be confidential or sensitive. The speed of implementing this unique DLP capability is a tangible confirmation of DeviceLock’s dedication to its mission of providing proactive endpoint data security.”
Prior to the release of Google+, DeviceLock could already control the use of other popular social networks like Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, and Live Journal along with common webmail solutions like Gmail, Live Mail (Hotmail) and Yahoo Mail. In the latest version, DeviceLock’s Endpoint DLP Suite also adds contextual and content-aware controls over several regionally popular social networks and webmail systems, including XING.com, Studivz.de, Meinvz.de, and Schuelervz.net, as well as AOL Mail and Yandex.Mail. User access to mobile versions of social networks and popular webmail applications from endpoint computers is now also controlled by DeviceLock.
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NextLevel Internet today announced that the company’s NextLevel Voice and co-location services provided uninterrupted service to emergency organizations and first responders during the massive power outage in San Diego on September 8, 2011.
The power outage, which was the largest recorded in the region’s history, lasted for more than 10 hours and left roughly eight million people and thousands of organizations in parts of Southern California, Arizona and New Mexico without power, Internet, and phone access. This disruption of power and the associated loss of connectivity could have resulted in the loss of life, money, or reputation for many of those affected.
“We had a number of emergency calls, all of which were either handled at our office or on our off-hours emergency line,” said Michael Murphy, president of Computer Protection Technology. “With customers such as Scripps Healthcare and General Atomics, it is imperative we maintain our communications channels. During a time of uncertainty, NextLevel’s services remained fully operational and were a great success from our end.”
NextLevel’s hosted voice and co-location services are maintained in secure, SAS 70 Type II compliant data center environments with disaster recovery plans, multiple generators, redundant power, multi-homed bandwidth and diverse dial-tone carriers in place to maintain business continuity during a disaster scenario.
“With the immense power outage in Southern California last week, I’m happy to report our customer’s service never skipped a beat,” said Eric Fleming, vice president technology operations for Golden Hour Data Systems. ”As we help facilitate communications in the emergency medical transportation industry on a 24/7/365 schedule, our customers are often on lifesaving missions transporting those who are critically injured or ill. NextLevel’s proactive actions to ensure uninterrupted internet and hosting services have a direct effect on helping to save people’s lives.”
NextLevel’s high-availability (HA) hosted VoIP service provides organizations the advanced features and security of a sophisticated Private Branch Exchange (PBX) system for a fraction of the cost, with unsurpassed ease of use and often with zero system set up fees. NextLevel Voice eliminates costly maintenance and upgrade fees associated with obsolete phone equipment, while often getting rid of some of the monthly fees associated with a company’s access to the Public Switched Telephone.
For organizations that would like to request more information on NextLevel Internet’s hosted voice, business-to-business co-location, Internet, and managed data services, please visit www.nextlevelinternet.com.
DeviceLock, Inc., a leading developer of endpoint data leak prevention software, is pleased to announce the appointment of Vincent M. Schiavo as the company’s Chief Executive Officer. In this role, Mr. Schiavo will focus on the global expansion of DeviceLock endpoint data leak prevention software and the execution of the organization’s vision and strategic direction.
A veteran of the computer industry for more than 30 years, most recently Mr. Schiavo served as the Executive Vice President of Worldwide Sales for LogLogic, a San Jose-based security information and event management provider.
Prior to LogLogic, Mr. Schiavo was the Senior Vice President of Worldwide Sales and Marketing for Secure Computing, a San Jose-based web information security company which was acquired by McAfee in 2008. During his six-and-a-half-year tenure at Secure Computing, Mr. Schiavo built a worldwide sales team that drove the company’s billings from under $36M to over $300M per year.
“Vince brings an impressive resume from both a business perspective and depth of technology expertise,” said Ashot Oganesyan, founder, DeviceLock, Inc. “We look forward to using Vince’s strong business background to continue to expand our global reach.”
“The introduction of employee-owned devices such as smart-phones, digital cameras, iPads and other USB-attached devices has dramatically increased the risk of data loss and information theft in the enterprise,” said Vince Schiavo, CEO, DeviceLock, Inc. “DeviceLock has positioned itself as a premier enforcer against data loss and as an integral part of a successful security strategy. As we continue to grow our company, we are committed to maintaining our technology innovation leadership in this important industry segment.”
For organizations of any size and industry, DeviceLock software proactively protects endpoint computers against local data leaks and malware infiltration resulting from insider negligence, accidental mistakes or malicious actions. It enables IT security personnel to precisely control, log, shadow-copy and audit end-user access to all types of local ports and peripheral devices, including personal mobile devices such as smart-phones, iPads, iPods, digital cameras and other dockable devices.
(Source: Yahoo!)
Remembering the heroes and fallen of 9/11
God Bless America
At last count, I think there are around 45 billion applications available for our smartphones and tablets. The first application that everyone probably downloaded was either Facebook, Angry Birds or Pandora (Facebook was mine and I even downloaded a virtual pet, which I forgot about, and sadly, the poor guy went to virtual pet heaven). But as more business oriented applications are developed and become available, I was curious to know which apps my fellow PR professionals use on a daily basis and can’t live without. (I should state that I have no affiliation with any of the apps listed, just looking to share some good info)
I received great responses with the most common answers being the most common apps that many of you are probably already using – Facebook, Twitter (TweetDeck, HootSuite), LinkedIn, StumbleUpon, Mashable, Google, and Yelp – so I wanted to focus on the applications that fell outside of this common group, some of which were new to me and I have since begun to use. Most of these applications are multi-platform with Android and iPhone, I have listed which are iPad only. Enjoy!
Location Based Services / Social Productivity Applications
“I work a lot with local venues and restaurants and use the app to see who is physically near; as the app aggregates all of my social media profiles - collecting my friends geotags - and allowing me to see their proximity to mine. When needing to recruit bodies in the door - in real time - you can open up the app to see what friends are near you and invite them to the venue or event within the app by tweeting them, etc.” – Kinsey Shoefield
News and Media Applications
“Since discovering Taptu, I check it even before my emails each day. I can create custom news streams for any topic and add any feeds or sites that I want to check daily.” Angela Neal
Business and Productivity Applications
“The ability to instantly access, update, save and share files at the touch of a button is a godsend, especially at times when multiple collaborators are working on a single project or presentation.” Mike Lesczinski
“I use Evernote for dictating notes to myself (e.g., if hit with a brainstorm while walking the dog) as well as keeping permanent track of handwritten notes I take in Noteshelf and keyboard entry. Love that it syncs automatically and is available from every device.” Roger Friedensen
“We like JotNot Pro for scanning and e-mailing items when we’re on the go. It’s fast and convenient and the resolution is good.” Marisa Vallbona
“OfficeTime is great for PR folks who primarily bill by the hour, keeping good track of time and tying that work to specific projects and clients is essential.” Kevin Doel
“Get the free tiny accessory that attaches to the microphone port on your phone and take charge cards with your phone. Nice for events and it’s free—-transaction fee applies but no monthly merchant fees.” Toni Antonetti
“Teuxdeux is my favorite to-do list app ever, which says a lot because Ive tried out a number of them. . Teuxdeux is by far the cleanest and most simple task management app I’ve used.” Stephanie Stadler
Personal Applications
It’s exciting to see the variety of available applications and how they help PR professionals on a daily basis, I look forward what the future brings. If there are any applications that you use regularly and you would like to add, please feel free to leave in the comment section!
Thank you to all who provided input!
Came across this great infographic from the Touch Agency on the latest Twitter statistics, facts and figures. Soak it in!
(Source: holykaw.alltop.com)
Daily Stoke recently published a great review of BambooSk8’s Natural Longboard Locker/Cruizer Complete with bat tail. BambooSk8 is an ecologically-based skateboard brand and manufacturer of high quality skateboards made from sustainable bamboo from managed forests. To read the entire review, please visit Daily Stoke.
Some highlights of the review include:
Check out BambooSk8’s entire fleet of skate and longboard decks at: http://www.bamboosk8.com/
and @Rmanning_Mynt too!
The Pew Internet and American Life Project recently released its updated statistics on Twitter use. The report found that as of May 2011, 13% of online adults use the status update service Twitter. That represents a significant increase from the 8% of online adults who identified themselves as Twitter users the first time they were asked a “stand-alone” question about Twitter adoption in November 2010.
Twitter usage by those ages 25-44 has grown significantly since late 2010
Although young adults continue to have relatively high rates of Twitter usage, the number of 30-49 year olds who use the service has doubled since late 2010—from 7% of such users in November to 14% in May 2011. This growth trend is especially pronounced among 25-34 year olds—Twitter use for this cohort roughly doubled between November 2010 and May 2011, from 9% to 19%—although growth in Twitter use among internet users ages 35-44 was notable as well (from 8% in late 2010 to 14% in spring 2011). By contrast, Twitter adoption over the same time period was stable among the youngest adults (those ages 18-24) who were the most likely to use the service in the first survey.
These findings come from national survey findings from a poll conducted on landline and cell phones, in English and Spanish, between April 26 and May 22, 2011 among 2,277 adults (age 18 and older). The margin of error among the internet users is +/- 3.7 percentage points. To view the entire survey from Pew Internet, please visit here.