Happy Valentine’s Day, RIP Whitney Houston, NBA’s Jeremy Lin, Bangor, Maine Football Coach Resigns After Posting Nude Photo On Facebook, Social Media Week

Posted by DD on Feb 15, 2012

Ok – let’s get the stupid stuff out of the way so we can move on to more serious things.
First, did you hear about this IDIOT High School football coach that stupidly posted a nude picture of himself on Facebook? Now, I am the type of professional who tries to be sincere, honest and politically correct, but sometimes you just have to use the word stupid and idiot. I don’t like using these strong words because someone always comes out of the woodwork and gives a good reason like, “maybe he was having a bad day” or “you shouldn’t say that about people. You don’t know the whole story.”  Well for this I apologize. I just can’t help myself until someone proves me wrong. If you are going to take a nude picture of yourself, have it on your computer, log into Facebook with a username and password, then ACCIDENTALLY or ON PURPOSE, upload that nude picture to your profile, YOU GET CALLED A STUPID IDIOT. You want to know more about it?  See:
http://bangordailynews.com/2012/02/13/news/lewiston-auburn/oxford-hills-football-coach-resigns-after-allegedly-posting-inappropriate-photo-on-facebook/

Which is the perfect segue into the next big thing on Facebook. It’s just so obvious, it’s beautiful. It is called the Unfriend Finder. It is an application on Facebook that allows you to figure out who unfriended you. Now I am in the business of social media optimization and this might be helpful to see what businesses and companies get unfriended, because if you get a negative reaction or feedback from a customer, you can try to ask that person, what happened? What bad experience occurred to make you never want to eat in my restaurant again or use my service? Was it customer service? Price? Cleanliness of the place? Because in your personal life you don’t really have those issues… you have other ones. So why did that guy unfriend you? Why did that woman friend you in the first place? I personally try to maintain a balance between my professional social media interactions and my personal ones. If you want to know more about the app: http://www.unfriendfinder.com/home (Btw – I was at 972 friends on Facebook. Now at 971 – ok – was it you?!?)

Oh, and if you want to participate in Social Media Week, its sponsored by some heavy hitters. If you don’t believe that social media can get you more business, think again! Check out these sites for more info and see who is involved. http://socialmediaweek.org/newyork/ or on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/smwnyc

Rest in peace, Whitney Houston. I am no one to judge the famous Grammy singer. Her battle with drugs and alcohol, her demons. But it’s hard not to be critical when in my first paragraph I berate a guy and call him a stupid idiot for posting a naked picture for all to see. I think life and the lives of all are equal. So I am taking back my first paragraph, and though I think the act is stupid and idiotic, what do I think about ruining a “more” successful life with drugs and alcohol. So does money, fame and fortune bring happiness and security? Do we say the same thing about all famous suicides? Jimi Hendrix, the greatest guitarist of all time? Janis Joplin? Marilyn Monroe? The list goes on and on. Basically, my take on this is that people need help and support and unconditional love whether you are rich or poor, successful or a failure. So reach out and touch someone and tell them you love them. Who really knows what happened inside Whitney’s head? Here is the Sony Music website: http://www.whitneyhouston.com/us/news. I like the way they give her fans an outlet to grieve and mourn. Janis, Jimi and Marilyn didn’t have social media to see them through. Such a shame. 48 years young.

Now let’s end with some GOOD NEWS!!!!

Have you heard of this new basketball player named Jeremy Lin? Apparently he plays for the New York Knicks in the NBA. They are calling him “LINTASTIC!” Spurring on LIN-SANITY! Check out this article. I will just quote 2 things: “Jeremy Lin is on the verge of becoming the Tim Tebow of basketball,” and “What gives this story legs is that (1) Lin graduated from Harvard, whose basketball program has never been dubbed “gateway to the NBA,” and (2) he is Asian-American.” Read more here:  http://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2012/02/the-secret-of-jeremy-lins-success/253051/ Good luck Lin! We will be watching you.

So Happy Valentine’s day whether you celebrate it or not. Birthdays. Anniversaries. Hallmark greeting card days. Who cares? Just tell someone you love them. Love your friends. Your family. Your clients. Your customers. Your patients. Today is the day. Tell them that you appreciate them. Now make your phone calls. Send your emails out and the correct marketing message to go along with it. Need help telling someone you love them? Have Conan O’Brien help. (http://teamcoco.com/content/conans-platonic-valentines-day-f-card) Can’t get in touch with Conan? Call Raphi Salem at SalemGlobal Internet Website Marketing and Lead Generation today at 212-222-3292 or email him at info@salemglobal.com. You will LOVE him!

 

Internet Marketing NYC, LeBron James Heats Up Miami, NY Yankees Steinbrenner Dead at 80, Beautiful Rainbows: What your business can learn from sports legends and viral video

Posted by Salem Global on Jul 13, 2010

There’s only 1 thing that can ruin my regular friendly poker game. No – not a bad flop. Nope, not my friend’s quads beating out my full house. It’s a ridiculous hour of LeBron James hour-long TV special on ESPN. Come on people. It’s like a Christmas special in July. Wait – that’s EXACTLY what it was. But that’s the advertising and media for you. Why just make an announcement when you can go on TV, get paid by a network and have advertisers and sponsors foot the bill. Because WE, the consumers actually foot the bill. Thinking about it now, I should’ve paid more attention to the advertisers during the hour long special. My guess is that it was all beer, cars and shavers. While my poker friends were betting team jerseys and numbers (23 – James and Michael Jordan), I took advantage by focusing on my OWN game. Let’s just say that though Miami will be paying James $11 – $15 Million dollars next year, I came home with an extra $20 bucks in my pocket… that paid for beer and hot dogs for the SalemGlobal Internet staff at Rudy’s Bar & Grill on 9th Avenue and 44th. (http://websitestrategymarketing.com/salemglobal-staff-summer-2010) So who ELSE is the big winner huh?!?

It got me thinking about the true ROI (Return On Investment) one player actually brings to a team. Well, considering how much an average ticket to a sports event costs these days $30 – $60 per game. Multiplied by how many seats in a stadium or arena? Plus don’t forget box seats, lounges, food, beverages, sponsorships and the list goes on for moneymaking opportunities in the billion dollar industry of sports marketing… Yeah – why not. It’s only another $15 million dollars. But as I understand it, it truly wasn’t so much about the money anymore. I think I read that the Chicago Bulls were actually offering even MORE money. And the Cleveland Cavaliers were offer even MORE money than the Bulls! It had to do with actually winning a championship. Similar to what do you get for the person who has it all? You get them something more special than a material possession. In James’ case, he was looking for a ring – but not the one you can buy. I guess he sincerely believes (or maybe his agent does) that Miami offers the greatest hope for a championship. By the way, if you want to know who are the top paid athletes in the US – check out http://www.gkmen.com/sports/north-american-sports/who-are-highest-paid-athletes-2010190210. And if you want the international list, check out the following link for the #1 at $110 million. Here is a hint before you click on the link; he is a better driver on a course instead of his own driveway… http://www.mensweekly.net/2010/04/17/10-highest-paid-athletes-2/10/.

On a sad note, we lost a great one today. New York Yankees brilliant, charismatic character, (former) owner and frequently mentioned on Seinfeld, George Steinbrenner. I grew up with the Yankees and Steinbrenner has always been a huge personality in New York. But even outside of NY, Steinbrenner is known and will always be remembered as the guy who brought (and bought) greats like Reggie Jackson, Derek Jeter, Alex Rodriguez, Catfish Hunter, Dave Winfield, Gooose Gossage, Joe Torre, Billy Martin, Yogi Berra, Darryl Strawberry (and the list goes on) to New York. The Bronx Bombers won seven World Series titles and 11 American League pennants since Steinbrenner took the helm. He will surely be missed.

What does all this have to do with Internet Marketing? Sports marketing. Want to sell more product or services (mostly to men)? Start incorporating sports into some of your marketing. Need I say more?

Think stupid videos are just plain old stupid? 3,664,719 think so also. If you haven’t seen it already, check out: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OQSNhk5ICTI. And if you want to experience my sense of humor, please check out: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SLSvEe7No_w. What does it mean? It means that anything can go viral on YouTube. But the real winners are the 4 kids – ok – young adults – who put together a song “honoring” the double rainbow video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MX0D4oZwCsA (1,966,418 views). Why aren’t they implementing the Google AdSense feature where they can make money every time someone clicks on an ad? I don’t know. But maybe they share in the ad revenue derived from the advertisement on the right? If your business isn’t utilizing video in your marketing approach, you should start. Your competitors are thinking about it right now.

Last comment for this week: Great book (and blog) www.WaiterRant.net. You will think very differently next time you eat out in a restaurant. Also started billion dollar IMG CEO Mark H. McCormack “On Selling.” Gives some good insight into the world of sales. Also reading Michael Wolff’s “Burn Rate.” It’s an “old” tale about the early days of the Internet from 1994 – 1998. It’s a fun read. It overlaps with the beginning of my career but it’s very relevant to all businesses and its written well.

Want to know more about sports marketing, website marketing and how video can help your business, give me a call at 212-993-5828 or email raphis@salemglobal.com to set up a conversation or check out www.SalemGlobal.com for more information. Or even better, come to one of my events. We are taking it easy in August but we will be doing a full court press in September.

Internet Marketing NY, Privacy & Seven Foot Basketball Giants: What your organization can learn from growing quickly

Posted by Salem Global on May 25, 2010

So Mark Zuckerberg, the founder of Facebook, “sort-of” apologizes this week for the “lack of” privacy controls that basically “missed the mark.” You can read it for yourself here: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ytech_gadg/20100524/tc_ytech_gadg/ytech_gadg_tc2204 …but the truth is that I agree with the camp that says that if the website is free and you choose to use it, you BETTER read the fine print… When we started commercializing the Internet back in the 90′s, it was a great marketing ploy to give stuff away for free… and then sell advertising based on traffic etc. etc. So sometimes the model worked, sometimes it didn’t. And along the way, some businesses modified their business models and some went out of business and some made money. Millions in fact.

But years ago I wrote an open letter to Zuckerberg and told him he was an idiot for not taking the 1 BILLION (that’s Billion with a “B” my friends). I said that anyone in their 20′s that can get an offer for a billion should take the money and run. Invest it and live off of it for generations and generations. But Mark wrote back and said that he thinks Facebook (and he) are worth much more than a measly ONE billion. And he has proven himself CORRECT. So much for my advice….

Do you, dear reader, have any concept of what 400 MILLION users on Facebook represents? Do you know the old saying “if I had a nickel for every time I _________?” Well basically Facebook says that 400 million multiplied by a nickel equals BILLIONS. True there are naysayers out there who don’t think there is any money behind the traffic but what they don’t realize is customization, personalization and keyword targeting. Let’s compare Facebook with 400 million users to a television event/ program that only 100 million people watch every year usually at the end of January. Yes – it’s an American Football game otherwise known as the Super Bowl. Super Bowl commercials go for around 1 million to 5 million dollars per :30 seconds. So if you add up the 90 or so commercials that get aired for the 3 hours of the game, we are talking about $500 million dollars in revenue generated from advertising alone. Now, let’s take that number and multiply it by EVERY DAY OF THE YEAR!!! (That’s 365) And what do you get? Yes. A GAZILLION dollars.

So who would like to ask me if I think social media is a worthwhile investment? I can also break down this number for you and show you how each and every one of us, whether you are in B2B or B2C can benefit from Facebook and LinkedIn and the scores of other social media websites and opportunities out there.

And speaking worthwhile investments – here are two more stories for you this week…

I was having lunch with a friend of a friend this past Sunday who owns some real estate properties as well as a building and lumber supply company. Smart guy. Anything he needs for his commercial and residential business he buys from his other business. Gotta love making money on both ends of the deal. Anyway, his son graduates from college with an accounting degree and starts interviewing around. His father then makes him an offer and says he will double his salary if he comes to work for him under two conditions. First is he lives at home and doesn’t move into the city and second is he wakes up at 5 AM and commutes with him. Son says he will do it under one more condition, that his father joins him at the gym. Long story short, father loses 30 pounds and is in the best shape of his most recent life due to his son’s motivation. Did it work out for the father professionally? Well after the son comes into the company he tells his father that they should buy all of the domain names associated with his business and industry for real estate and building supply. Within one month he rents out 60 residential and commercial units that his senior salesperson wasn’t able to do in this economy. Using Internet marketing skills, social media and domain name strategies, the green college grad turned the biggest profit his father has seen in years. Was it worth it to offer his son double anything he could find?

Last story – Growing up in India can be hard. Read or watch Slumdog Millionaire and Water. This story is straight out of fantasyland. http://highschool.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=1087336 Basically, two brothers who are each seven feet tall emigrate to Canada where the family has a better life opportunity. But then the kids get into basketball and become superstars. Headed to high school in the USA and then if they don’t hurt themselves will have stellar careers in the NBA. Check out this video of them playing: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g1Y04AMkvdg

Final message of the week – use social media, the skills given to you and while you are growing, be smart, take it easy and don’t listen to anyone who tells you that you have limits. Oh – and read the fine print… If you want to know more about Facebook and how to market your company on the Internet and in social media, call me at 212-993-5828, email raphis@salemglobal.com or check out www.SalemGlobal.com for more information. Free website consultation to the first 5 people who read this whole post