What is a Flash Mob?
March 13, 2008 | 11 Comments
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Periodically, in our work in social media, we discuss flash mobs with clients. (Usually, we don’t, but when it’s the right idea, they can be great.) People often ask us, “What is a flash mob?”
Just came across this video of a flash mob at Grand Central Station in New York City. This explains it really well.
In a nutshell, here’s what a flash mob is:
- A) you gather a group of people (through text messages, Facebook groups, emails, whatever) and ask them to come to a particular place at a particular time;
- B) You all do something for a short period;
- C) You simply disband and go about your business.
The more random the better (which is one of the reasons they aren’t always the best social media marketing). Done well, as in this video, they are very fun, attract a lot of attention and make people’s day…
Submit Blog Ideas to Ignite’s 2008 Editorial Calendar
January 8, 2008 | 6 Comments
Hi Everyone!
Since I’ve been out for the holidays to recharge (and then most recently to assume a role as a maid of honor) I’m really just now getting back in the social media groove of reading, writing, and participating.
With that being said, in light of the new year and in our promise to continue a discussion on social media marketing that interesting and insightful, I’m attempting to develop no small feat: a blog editorial calendar for Ignite for 2008.
First, I must state that as a social media agency, we always do these for clients with blogs- to make sure we have fresh, interesting content and that it is on strategy with our clients goals and objectives. However, as we have gained clients - we have forgotten that our own most important client is Ignite. The result? Falling into a “what am I writing today” approach from the day to day. If you write a blog for your company on a regular basis, I assume you have done this more than once or twice.
Not only is this approach against our mantra, but it guides us further away from our audience. Instead of writing what we feel like writing (or what is easiest for that day) - we should take the approach we use for our clients: to develop content with the purpose of achieving audience participation and business objectives.
Therefore - I’m reaching out to you, our readers. If you have a social media marketing question you need answered, a topic you want covered, or a review on a particular social media campaign - you name it- please submit it in the comments below. After that, I’ll try to incorporate it into our 2008 calendar (giving flexibility to cover topics or discussions that are time sensitive) and we’ll work on covering it (and give you a little shout-out in return).
With your input, and our clear plan of action, we hope to grow even more for 2008 
25 Social Media Buzzwords.. Continued from Crain’s Detroit
December 18, 2007 | 6 Comments
(UPDATE (3/08): We’ve now defined all of these buzzwords in a new post. Read it here.)
In the 2008 Crain’s Book of Lists, Ignite contributed to an ad placed by its associated agency, Brogan and Partners. This particular ad included a list of “Social media buzzwords to make you sound really, really smart”, which was quite a fun list for us to compile.
While the ad covered the first ten, we’ve listed the complete list of 25 Social Media Buzzwords below (in no particular order).
Enjoy - and as always feel free to add some of your own
- “Social Graph”
- Semantic Web
- Wiki
- Widget
- KickApps
- Tumblr
- del.icio.us
- Enterprise 2.0
- Social Media Optimization
- Meme
- Mash-Up
- Social Media Monitoring
- User-Generated Content
- Web 2.0
- Social Networks
- “Blogosphere”
- Viral Marketing
- Ruby on Rails
- Social Media Press Release
- Vlogging
- Micro-Blogging
- Transparency and Authenticity
- “White Label”
Funny Facebook Song
December 4, 2007 | Leave a Comment
A friend of mine showed me this video by Rhett and Link and I couldn’t help but to share it with you. For those of you unfamiliar with Facebook, it actually gives a little overview of how it works too…. My favorite part about the video? The recorder solo…
A Social Media Thanksgiving List
November 21, 2007 | 4 Comments
In the spirit of the season - we’ve compiled a few things we are thankful for around here at Ignite.
As always, feel free to add to the list
Enjoy!
- The “music genome project” Pandora. Without it, Lisa’s musical taste would suffer more than it already does.
- We are all thankful for Gene’s glorious dreds, being able to capture this picture, and his fluency in coding languages.
- Jim is thankful for people over 40 who join Facebook, people who don’t giggle when he says Twitter, and his small but growing number of Facebook friends, LinkedIn connections, Twitter followers and followees, Plaxo connections, Digg fans, and most of all, people who link back to us. (On a side note - Lisa is amazed at how unabashedly Jim has started shilling for new online friends with link lists like this and will be thankful when he gets stalkers.)
- Common Craft, who consistently break things down in creative, comprehensible ways and for creating helpful videos like this.
- Feedburner and Google Analytics. These have provided us with hours of free entertainment.
- Clients who “get” it, or come to us in order to “get it”.
- Christopher Locke, Rick Levine, Doc Searls, and David Weinberger for writing Cluetrain Manifesto.
- A good Technorati “Authority” rating, that puts the Ignite blog ahead of 99.825039% of all blogs in the world. (Not that we’re counting or anything….)
- Blogs like ExperienceCurve, Glen Allsopp over at at ViperChill, and Enterprise 2.0’s FastForwardBlog.
- Blendtec. For being brave enough to blend an iphone, a rake, and a can of Easy Cheese - and for proving the power of social media marketing.
On a final note, we’d like to thank all of you for reading, commenting, linking, and doing what you do. Have a wonderful Thanksgiving.
The Thinker…
November 16, 2007 | 4 Comments
I’m sure you’ve thought at one point or another - “What is it that they do at Ignite?”.
This picture tells all.
By the way, this is Gene our Senior Technologist.
Papa Johns: Order Pizza by Text Message
November 15, 2007 | 2 Comments
Ok, quick post, but this is cool. Just got an email from Papa John’s saying you can order pizza via text message. Basically, store up to 4 of your frequent orders online with your credit card #, text them, pick which of your orders you want and bang, pizza shows up. Very cool.
More and more is going to move to the mobile space. It’s already happening quickly in Japan, where PC sales are declining year over year. This has major implications for social media, social media marketing and a social media agency.
Watch this trend… (Oh, and try the Spinach Alfredo pizza from Papa John’s. That is seriously good.)
Friday Social Media Fun
November 9, 2007 | Leave a Comment
When you work in a social media agency, people send you all sorts of comics and stuff. (For the record, I enjoy that, send me stuff.) This one happens to come from one of my favorite comics, Pearls Before Swine. It’s consistently funny. Enjoy today’s strip.
If you like it, click on the comic to go to the main site so you can become a fan. Maybe if enough of you do that, I won’t get a letter from a lawyer asking me to take it down. Because that would make me sad.
Have a good weekend.
Will Rise of Social Media Marketing Lead to Boom for Apple?
October 8, 2007 | Leave a Comment
Look at this picture (found on the BrandInfection blog). If you’re Microsoft, or Dell, this should terrify you.
But it also made me wonder, since social media marketing is part content creation (podcasts, vlogs, etc.), when these folks all graduate and come to work for social media agencies like mine, or get jobs as social media specialists at corporations, do you think Apple’s teeny-tiny market share will finally take off??
I’m Cooler Online.
October 3, 2007 | Leave a Comment
I have no other reason to post this video except that I think it is funny, it says MySpace in it, and it reminds me of Jim (at least the socks and sandals part).
Enjoy.