Cincinnati Internet Marketing Blog

Cincinnati Digital Hub General Meeting Thursday

Attention Cincinnati AdClub members and new media types in the Cincinnati area.

Jack Streitmarter of Screaming Bob & Sound Images has been spearheading an effort to promote Cincinnati as a "Digital Hub" and called a general meeting for the Digital Hub Conference for tomorrow, Thursday May 29th from 5:30 to 6:30 at the Newport on the Levee Community Center (next to Gameworks).

In his email to folks that have been involved Jack announced the committee is now calling it the "Digital Hub Non-conference" as it will be held at the Hyatt and surrounding pubs over two days: Friday & Saturday November 14-15.   

If you're interested in being involved or learning more about the event come by the meeting!

Game Day Communications Uses New Media For The Flying Pig Marathon

Game Day Communications of Cincinnati did a great job of using new media technologies to help foster communication before, during and after the recent 10th running of the Flying Pig Marathon.  Jackie Reau of Game Day sent out an email this week detailing their effort and I thought it would be great to highlight their case study as a way for folks to see how e-mail, text messages, Twitter, Facebook & YouTube were all used in a creative and helpful way.  Here's info from Jackie:

      

E-mail Communications

For 26 days leading up to the Flying Pig Marathon, daily email alerts were sent to the e-database of 30,000+ providing race tips, updates, sponsor recognition and spectator information. Game Day also used the email database to encourage use of the technology options created for the weekend.

Real-Time Results & Text Messages

Working with Cincinnati.com, runners and their families members could view real-time results on Cincinnati.com the day of the race for the full marathon, half marathon and 4-person relay. Also, some 3,000 cell phones were buzzing with text updates with runner's split times courtesy of Cincinnati.com and Zebra Mobile.

Twitter

From Friday through Sunday, the staff at Game Day Communications provided behind-the-scenes updates from race events starting with the Health & Fitness Expo through the end of Sunday's race. Twitter is a social media networking tool that allows people to register to receive posted updates from Twitter.com. Some 70 people signed up to "follow" our alerts and we made 130 postings over the three days. (Next year, we will use Twitpic to add photos with postings.) While this is a small number of the total field, Twitter is a good tool to engage participants and to share timely or emergency information. For instance, Jackie used Twitter to announce the 15-minute delay for the race due to the fire on the course at the same time it was being broadcast on WLWT-NBC and at the Starting Line. Check it out at: twitter.com/gamedayjreau.

Facebook

Each day during the race weekend, the Game Day staff took about 20-30 photos from various events and posted them on Facebook for participants to enjoy. Click here to view them...

YouTube

Working with Silver Sun Studio, a two-minute overview video was produced for distribution on YouTube featuring the start and finish as well as course shots of runners and spectators. View the video here.

For more information, contact Jackie Reau at (513) 929-4263 or jreau@gamedaypr.com.

Social Networking for B2B Companies

I'm going to be giving a presentation to the Cincinnati AMA's Northern Kentucky B2B (Business-to-Business) Shared Interest Group next Friday the 25th on "Social Networking for B2B Companies".  In this presentation I'll cover the various forms of online "social media", such as blogs and profile sites like Facebook and how companies can use online social networking to promote their businesses and engage with customers and other stakeholders.

The free meeting is for AMA members and Northern Kentucky Chamber of Commerce members only, so if you are a member of either one of those groups you can get the details and register here.

If you are local marketer and haven't joined the AMA, or a business owner in Northern Kentucky I strongly encourage you to do so in order to take advantage of the events like this one they have on a regular basis.  Also, if you have a question or comment on social networking please feel free to post your comment or question here on my blog.   

April AMA Word of Mouth SIG: Viral Marketing

Next Wednesday the American Marketing Association's Word of Mouth SIG which I am a part of is having its' April meeting and it'll be a group discussion on Viral Marketing.  Here's the details:

Come join us in an active discussion around Viral Marketing. Bring your thoughts, ideas and success stories as well as your questions and we will discuss the latest trends, the best solutions and what the future holds for this inexpensive, yet highly effective form of marketing.

Please register if you plan on attending so that we have an accurate count for food.  To Register, please visit:
http://www.cincinnatiama.org/events_cur.php and click on the event.

Date: Wednesday April 9th from 11:30 to 1:00

Location: Web Media Tools, 18 W. 7th Street, 3rd Floor (above Provident Camera, between Race & Vine)

Parking is available nearby, including down the street at the Gramercy Garage (7th & Elm) and a block away at Fountain Square as well as other lots and meters.

Cost: AMA Members - Free!       Non-Members - $10

Lunch will be provided courtesy of AMA members Robynn Anton & Betty Hakes

Register at: http://www.cincinnatiama.org/events_cur.php

Cincinnati Enquirer Article on LinkedIn & LinkedCincinnati

Today's Cincinnati Enquirer features a good, quick-read article "Networking Tool for Grownups" describing LinkedIn and includes an interview with Jennifer McClure of Centennial, a Cincinnati executive recruting firm. 

Jennifer started a LinkedIn group & Yahoo Group, LinkedCincinnati, a few months ago and that group has exploded to several hundred members.  I'm one of the many member and am strongly encouraging folks to join LinkedIn (at the free basic user level), complete their profiles and start making connections online.  If you aren't familiar with LinkedIn, please read the article and post any questions as a comment here on the blog.   

Here is a link to the Linked Cincinnati Yahoo Group if you're in the Cincinnati area and would like to join it.    

March 20: Cincinnati I-marketing Meeting & AdClub Luncheon

There are two Internet marketing-focused events to mark on your calendar (and hopefully attend) this Thursday March 20th. 

As I posted a couple of weeks ago, the next Cincinnati I-marketing Group meeting is Thursday from 5:30 - 7:00 at Web Media Tools' office at 18 West 7th Street 3rd floor, above Provident Camera.  This Thursday we'll be talking about Online Word of Mouth marketing as well as industry news and have Crowbar Marketing & Market-Write in the Member Spotlight.  If you'd like to attend but haven't RSVP'd yet, please email the I-marketing Czar at robbunting@gmail.com.

Earlier on Thursday, the AdClub is having their monthly luncheon at the Covington Radisson featuring Joe Caccavano from PointRoll presenting on the "Evolution of Banner Advertising".  You can check out the details and register on the AdClub website.  I often get asked "Does anybody still use banners anymore?"  Absolutely they do, as banners are not just static HTML images anymore, banners can employ audio & video or even a small game these days.  Ought to be fun and interesting.   

 

Upcoming Cincinnati AMA Events

There are a bunch of great local American Marketing Association events coming up in the next few weeks and I encourage you to take a look at the list on the Cincinnati AMA Current Events Page where you can register for whichever ones you can make it to.

Here is a quick summary, the details are on the AMA current events page:

Tonight: Young Professionals Group: Gureilla Marketing in Action @ Sully's

Tomorrow morning: Marketing Research SIG @ Web Media Tools

Tuesday March 4: Seminar in Internet Video Advertising @ Kenwood Towers

Wednesday March 12: Word of Mouth SIG @ Web Media Tools

Friday March 21: AMA Luncheon  @ Radisson (Speaker is VP of Marketing from eBay!!!)

Friday March 28: NKY B2B SIG @ NKY Chamber NOR-com Room (Yours truly discussing online social media for B2B)

Also, Steve Phillips of Purple Trout is giving a presentation on SEO (Search Engine Optimization) through the AdClub's Ad2 on Thursday at the Museum Center and you can register for that at the Ad2 website. 

Cybercrime Panel Discussion This Thursday

The Women's Circuit and the Cincinnati Programmers Guild are having an event this Thursday, January 10th you might want to check out - a Cybercrime & Computer Briefing.

Panel discussion to include current business security risks, trends and insights on how to recognize and prevent them.

Panel to include:
Keith Kabrehl FBI Detective
Debbie Wheeler, CISO & Vice President Fifth Third Bank
Brian Lawhorn, Information Security Officer Kroger
Shannon Culp, Cintas Security Director

Thursday, January 10th  6-8pm
@ Hamilton County Business Center (HCBC)
1776 Mentor Ave., Suite 100
Cincinnati, Ohio 45212

There is no fee for this event, but we do ask that you
RSVP@Thewomenscircuit.com

Non-members are welcome to attend; but we do ask that you consider joining.

Scott Jacobs' Harvest Networking Group Featured in Enquirer

My good buddy Scott Jacobs of Harvest Consulting had his networking group featured in a Cincinnati Enquirer article this week:

http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071219/COL13/712190420/1001/BIZ

If you know a business professional in-between positions, looking to transition to a new gig or who is simply interested in improving their job or career skills you might want to refer them to the Harvest Networking Group.  Meetings are at 6 p.m. every second Tuesday in the community room at the Madeira City Building.  Want more info?  Just contact Scott at 513-271-5630.

Cincinnati I-marketing Group Meeting Sept. 27th: Managing User Generated Content & Consumer Generated Media

The next Cincinnati I-marketing Group meeting is Thursday September 27th from 5:30 to 7:00 at our regular meeting place of Profitability.net (312 Plum Suite 725) and the topic will be  Managing User Generated Content & Consumer Generated Media.

At this meeting we'll have a group discussion which I'll moderate on the issues surrounding the rise of "user generated content" and "consumer generated media".

In the brave new online world of blogs, discussion boards, YouTube videos, consumer ratings sites, Wikipedia and social networking sites what are the implications of the fact that we marketers no longer have one-way communication and exclusive control of the news and information about our companies and products.  How do we encourage such communication from and between consumers without it blowing up in our face?

We'll review basic concepts and terms, key marketing issues, best practices and case studies of how marketers are setting up their own CGM programs as well as monitoring and dealing with the huge amount of user generated content on the Web.

Of course we'll also review the latest Internet marketing industry news while we enjoy a beverage and some snacks and have an all-around good time.

As always, group meetings are free but I ask that you RSVP to me at robbunting@gmail.com so Ben Baker and I can have a head count. If you have any questions about the group or meeting, please contact me.

This should be a very another cool and informative meeting with a lively discussion, so I hope you can make it Thursday the 27th. See you there.

Rob Bunting
Czar, Cincinnati I-marketing Group
robbunting@gmail.com