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Social Casting Campaigns Hot With Hollywood

Talent seekers are now launching formal casting campaigns on the Internet.  Network executives, TV/film producers, casting directors and talent representatives use social media as alternative means of discovering talent.

For example Oprah and reality TV super producer Mark Burnett are joining forces in search of the next big TV star on OWN (Oprah Winfrey Network).  The OWN casting call is requesting audition videos to become Oprah’s next big discovery.  Video submissions began posting May 14, 2010, on the OWN web site .

A couple of weeks ago I entered Oprah’s Your OWN Show contest to host a show on OWN TV.  I submitted an audition tape and need your votes to win.  So please, click the following link: http://bit.ly/bG2CPr It takes you DIRECTLY to my video.  Then, VOTE FOR ME!  You can vote as many times as you want.

Your vote is so important.  I am working toward getting at least 3,000 votes before the July 3rd deadline.  So vote early and vote often!  Because after I win this, I’ll be looking for entrepreneurs, who reinvented themselves during the recession, to feature on my show … Entrepreneurs By Necessity.  It will be a WIN/WIN for everyone!

Please spread the word and share my audition video, direct link (http://bit.ly/bG2CPr) on Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, email and/or word-of-mouth.  Remember, you can VOTE as many times as you feel like doing. With your help, I will reach my goal.  Thanks in advance for your support (especially if voted earlier).

By Googling, “We surf the Internet.  We swim in magazines,”  I discovered how much was being said about MPA’s latest campaign that touted the power of magazines.  So, I “LISTENED.”

Through my research, there were 48,000 results from Google on the topic.  Included in those results were blogs that simply posted the ad again and bloggers that provided commentary about the campaign.  There were 43,700 blog posts in Google and 12,807 results from Google blogs about the topic.  That’s huge any way that you look at it!  So there’s definitely a buzz.

Check out what some of the bloggers had to say–> Max Hartshorne, 574 (see comments too), blankanvas and Aslyum (LOL … see below).  These bloggers  and some of the comments say more than the ad does about magazines vs. the Internet.

With the new iPad, magazine publishers have another shot at making it work for them.  Some early adopters are already on board with the iPad.  Back in the day, I remember using MPA research and ad campaigns as awesome resources to sell magazine advertising to reluctant advertising and marketing executives.

Magazines aren’t dead … yet.  Maybe magazine publishers will learn how to swim with the sharks.  Dive in … it’s sink or swim!

President Obama; Hampton University; May 9, 210

Yesterday, Mother’s Day, President Obama spoke to the graduating class of 2010 at Hampton University.  There was nothing unusual about the President’s commencement address as he told the story of Hampton’s history and spoke about the value of an education.  In fact, his address was reflective and filled with encouragement.  “Frederick Douglass once put it, that education…means emancipation,” said the President.   But what became controversial among social media and blogging circles today was what President Obama said in the middle of his commencement speech about “coming of age in a 24/7 media environment … with iPods and iPads; and Xboxes and PlayStations … information becomes a distraction, a diversion, a form of entertainment, rather than a tool of empowerment, rather than the means of emancipation. So all of this is not only putting pressure on you; it’s putting new pressure on our country and on our democracy.”

The rest of the President’s speech was without controversy.  However, I found the headlines of certain blogs, social media sites and Internet news, unfortunately misleading.  It’s understandable why so many went in that direction with only half of the story.  After all, who would read a blog about President Obama’s recent commencement speech at Hampton University with a bland headline such as Education Means Emancipation.  It’s just not sticky or juicy enough.

Bloggers, journalists and reporters, how ironic!  It is your writing style that is exactly what the Hampton University commencement  address referred to.  The point, to my well-meaning social media colleagues, was succinctly well-said by President Obama at the end of his Hampton commencement speech, “… A dream of brighter days ahead, a faith in things not seen, a belief that here, in this country, we are the authors of our own destiny. That is what Hampton is all about. And it now falls to you, the Class of 2010, to write the next great chapter in America’s story; to meet the tests of your own time; to take up the ongoing work of fulfilling our founding promise. I’m looking forward to watching.”

I am looking forward to watching too because we are in need of some integrity, and taking responsibility for the words that we publish throughout the Internet.  Too many people believe everything that they read is true, factual and is exactly as it is written.  So many do not dig deeper to find the facts and then reach their own educated conclusions.  It’s a shame, the level of misunderstanding, ignorance and confusion that runs rabidly throughout social media commentary.

Check out the video and transcript of President Obama’s commencement address at Hampton University and judge for yourself–> Hampton University Commencement Adresss – Class of 2010.

Education means emancipation for us all!

Promoting an online business can be easy if you know the tools and techniques to use. One effective way used by internet marketers is blogging. How can you make your online marketing through blogs more effective? Below are ten blogging mistakes you should know to help you avoid committing them:

1) Not being committed

If blogging is just your past time, then you can get away with blogging whenever you feel like it. But if you’re blogging is part of your online marketing technique, commitment is important. See to it that you give time to blogging on a regular basis.

2) Not getting any help

If you’re maintaining a blog for marketing online, consider getting some assistance. Trying to update and optimize your blog alone can a difficult job especially if you have other tasks to attend to. Have another person, or better yet, a team to help you attend to your blogging tasks.

3) Not targeting an audience

Niche blogging is surely the way to go. If your blog is not targeted to a particular niche or audience, it would be too difficult to get the traffic you want.

4) The lack of passion

In reality, if your main purpose for blogging is just to sell your ads, then this won’t take you very far. People will instantly see right through you if your blogs are all about commercials. An Adsense ads on your blog without quality content cannot give you a more positive result.

5) Not being original

Some bloggers rely solely on news feeds from other sources. However, if people can read the same content in your blog that they can find from other places, they will not be convinced to subscribe to your blog. They may not even bother to re-visit you.

6) Not analyzing your website traffic statistics

Your web stats can tell you a lot of information. It can tell you which page of your site most readers like, it can tell you which days you receive more visits, where you hits are coming from, what type of readers go to your site and other important details.

7) Not making the needed changes

Don’t be contented with just the same layout, the same content, and the same structure on your blog. If something’s not working, then have the initiative to make some changes. The adage “there’s always room for improvement” also applies to blogging.

Not editing your posts

If you don’t have time to do the editing or you don’t have the editing skills, it is best to hire an editor to do it for you. The role of an editor is to make sure that your posts are free from grammatical errors, typos and punctuation mistakes. It will make your blog more credible and professional.

9) Not using RSS feeds

RSS feeds allow people to get updates from your blog. There are many free feeds on the web that you can use. Make sure that your blog has RSS feeds buttons that your readers can simply click on.

10) Not using keywords on your title tags

Without keywords on your titles, it would be more difficult for search engines to find you. On the other hand, keywords on your title tags allow search engine spiders to crawl on your page and categorize your content easily.

According to Jolie O’Dell, there are 10 things that brands should not do and do on Twitter.  Are you guilty of any of the Twitter infringements or are you a savvy Tweeter?  Check it out!

The following are 10 Do’s and Don’ts for Brands on Twitter:

1. Don’t Be a Showoff

2. Don’t Use Poor Grammar or Spelling

3. Don’t Get Too Personal

4. Don’t Auto-Tweet

5. Don’t Leave Air in the Conversation

6. Don’t Overtweet

7. Do Shout Out to Users Who Mention You

8. Do Monitor Keywords and Competitors

9. Do Make an Informative Profile

10. Do Fish Where the Fish Are

(10 Dos and Don’ts for Brands on Twitter Posted using ShareThis from Mashable)

According to Jolie O’Dell, there are 10 things that brands should not do and do on Twitter.  Are you guilty of any of the Twitter infringements or are you a savvy Tweeter?  Check it out!

The following are 10 Do’s and Don’ts for Brands on Twitter:

1. Don’t Be a Showoff

2. Don’t Use Poor Grammar or Spelling

3. Don’t Get Too Personal

4. Don’t Auto-Tweet

5. Don’t Leave Air in the Conversation

6. Don’t Overtweet

7. Do Shout Out to Users Who Mention You

8. Do Monitor Keywords and Competitors

9. Do Make an Informative Profile

10. Do Fish Where the Fish Are

(10 Dos and Don’ts for Brands on Twitter Posted using ShareThis from Mashable)

Posted using ShareThis

Differentiate or Die

According to a white paper by Product 180, “In today’s world globalization, where products become commodities in 9 months or less, it takes more than a good product to succeed.  It takes a Killer Value Proposition, and the ability to deliver on it.”

Here are some fundamental questions from Product 180 CEO, Steve Rankel, for entrepreneurs to think about when creating their KVP’s:
1. Why do customers buy from you?
2. What are their top pain points?
3. What keeps them up at night?
4. When are they most open to buying a service or product like yours?
5. What language do THEY use to describe their problem?
6. What matters to THEM?

“No matter how much time and effort you spend on getting in front of potential customers, if you don’t have THE RIGHT MESSAGE for YOUR TARGET AUDIENCE, an understanding of their needs, hot buttons, wishes and how you can solve them, then you are wasting your time.”

The following are more questions from Product 180′s Steve Rankel to ask yourself:

1. What is your value proposition?
2. Does our value proposition ‘qualify’ under the definition of a value proposition above? Or is it a long list of features, confusing techno-Latin, business babble or something incomprehensible or uninteresting to your potential customer?
3. Does our value proposition answer the key question every value proposition must? If you can’t answer this, they certainly won’t be able to…
4. Are you genuinely the best option available to your potential customers – including the option of doing nothing at all?
5. If so, why? Are you sure? Did you hear that from a customer, or is that your opinion?
6. If not, why not? Is there a market: product mismatch? Are you missing features? Is your product old and in need of refreshing?
7. What do you need to ADD to, or SUBTRACT from, your offering to make yourself the best option, so you have a KILLER value proposition?

Source: “Differentiate Or Die: Why You Need a Killer Value Proposition (and How to Create One);” “5 Keys to Creating a Killer Value Proposition,” Steve Rankel, CEO, Product 180