I think brands are finally getting it. With all the buzz about social media over the past few years, it’s been pretty confusing for brands to get a handle on why social media might be useful. Converting old metrics to a new medium meant that social media was going to go through some growing pains. However, it seems that brands are finally realizing the value of online marketing.

The change in the corporate attitude towards social media dawned on me during this year’s Super Bowl commercials. Almost every commercial I saw included a link to the brand’s Facebook Fan Page. It was amazing, it’s as if a lightbulb went on and everyone suddenly saw the value of connecting offline and online marketing efforts.

Combining television advertising with a social experience was a pretty simple step but it had a huge impact on the value of the ad. Just by adding a link, these brands weren’t just buying a 30 second spot to increase brand awareness, they were giving themselves the chance to convert a massive audience into a more valuable brand connection. Their 30 second spot may have been forgotten after Sunday’s game but that connection they created with new fans is something which will last long after the super bowl is over.

What do you think? Is the integration of offline and online marketing the future of advertising?

2010 is shaping up to be an exciting year for Joyspoon! We will soon be ready to roll out our branded app platform, with a community version close behind. Joyspoon will make it easy for both companies and bloggers to reach their exact target audiences in their preferred locations.

Our apps for distributing content and tracking audience reactions stretch across every major mobile device, desktop OS, website and social network. This gives you a turn-key solution for reaching people in all the most popular locations without any extra work. Check out our new website for more information on how Joyspoon can help you and your organization.

On the development side of things, it has been pretty hectic getting everything ready for launch but we’re almost there. Recently, we’ve been focusing on making some major speed and stability upgrades to the Joyspoon project so we can launch with a stellar product that people love to use. Our testing has gone really well so we can’t wait to give you an opportunity to see it live.

Highlights of the upgrades and changes include:

• Launching our branded Desktop, Iphone, Blackberry and Android apps
• Moving Joyspoon to the Rackspace cloud
• Releasing a completely re-engineered embeddable flash site
• Completing a lot of “under the hood” upgrade work

Here’s to a great 2010!
John Robinson
Joyspoon Community Manager
Twitter: @Joyspoon & @johnsrobinson

The hype is almost over! Apple will likely introduce some sort of new tablet device tomorrow. If you’re up on your gadget news, then you’ve likely seen all the latest rumors detailing the various proposed features so I’ll spare you from more speculation. If you haven’t heard the rumors, click over to Engadget to get your fill.

I thought instead of more feature coverage for this post, it’d be interesting to take a quick look at why Apple might think now is the right time to launch a device in this category.

What is this new “invention”?

Apple’s tablet will likely be a thin device with no physical keyboard and a screen size of 7″-11″. This isn’t anything unique, other tablets and E-readers have been on the market in this same screen size range for quite some time but Apple’s presence has generated a lot of buzz and they’re sure to do something special to differentiate themselves from the pack.

Regardless of the specific features, the hype generated by this device seems to have overshadowed the main question which needs to be answered; what is this thing going to be used for?

Well Here’s my take:

The tablet will quickly become a popular device for consuming content in any place where you want to read, listen to music, browse the internet or watch video without using a laptop. My thoughts are that it will be a useful device for situations where people don’t feel comfortable getting their laptop out, using this thing on transit is the first thing that comes to mind. What usecases can you think of? Sound off in the comments below, there are likely a ton which I haven’t even thought of.

Re-thinking how people read.

Asking people to buy an entirely separate device just for surfing the internet, listening to music, ect. is going to be tough. All of these things can be done both on a phone and on a laptop so Apple will need to create a user experience which is far superior to anything else out there. This means, quick and simple access to the exact information that people want, translating the concept of the Iphone to a larger screen with more power and functionality.

How does this all become a reality?

Creating a whole new way for people to consume content isn’t an easy task. We’re going to need a new breed of desktop applications and new gestures for interacting with the device, it will be interesting to see what Apple has come up with.

Get excited for tomorrow, whatever Jobs pulls out on stage will definitely change the way we think about devices in this category.

We’ll have two more posts before the launch exploring some other reasons for why Apple’s tablet makes sense, so stay tuned in the run up to the launch.

Reading a newspaper after my mom is a nightmare! She clips out so many articles of interest, that by the end you’re only left with the sports section in tact. Still to this day, she clips out her favourite articles and sends them to family and friends because she truly enjoys sharing information. Ok, so maybe she wasn’t the first person to tear an article out of the newspaper but this form of social bookmarking has definitely been around long before the internet! It is a natural human desire to find like minded individuals with whom we can share information. Methods for sharing information have always existed but with the growth of internet popularity, the ways of sorting information have definitely changed.

Today, online writers are producing opinionated writing at an alarming pace. Every person with a computer now has the ability to put forward their opinion online. Some individuals have bemoaned this development as the fall of journalism but not me! I look at this as an opportunity, an opportunity to develop new sorting methods to access the best possible information on whatever subject I desire. After all, I’m part of the “I want it now!” generation and I’d accept nothing less. People need to realize that there has always been an endless supply of information available, it is just easier to access online and so you need to figure out how to manage the process.

Think of the internet as the world’s greatest library. Would you ever think of going into a library and trying to read every single book there, just to find the piece of information you want? No, you ask someone to help you find what you’re looking for, until you learn how to find it for yourself. The internet has amplified information and it can be overwhelming if you try to digest every piece of it.

Thankfully, online information sharing communities are setup to solve the problem and help you find relevant information to your interests. Forums, social networks, social bookmarking, social RSS readers, blogging and micro-blogging all have one common purpose. To share opinion and information with people.

To deal with the massive volume of opinionated writing being produced today, we will begin to increasingly rely on more targeted community models of news consumption.  As more information shifts online, these communities will continue to evolve and scale to meet the demands of online information sorting.

Journalism will not be harmed by moving online. The key will be managing the overwhelming amount of information available and my advice is to not think you can do it alone. Information sharing communities are setup to filter out the online garbage and direct you to the best information. Connect with like minded individuals, explore what they have to offer, share your own insights and you will give yourself the ability to find the best information online.

Note: Not my real mom pictured above – she didn’t want to be featured on our blog, guess it was because she couldn’t clip the article out and send it to the rest of the family

Photo Credit: Grandma Picture

So What is RSS?

RSS is a term used widely online today. It stands for Really Simple Syndication. RSS was created to make it easy for people to get all of the information they wanted from their favorite sources delivered to one central place.

Check out this video quickly, it makes understanding RSS really easy.

How does RSS work?

RSS allows you to have content delivered to you, all you have to choose is a destination.

The first step as a reader is to choose a place to receive all the new updates. I suggest creating an account with Google Reader.

When you go to a website and decide that you like the information they offer, the next step is to look for the RSS subscription button. You may have to hunt a little bit but most websites now offer an option to subscribe through RSS.

A few examples are pictured below, they take many different forms but the circle and the two lines are consistent in every example.

After you click the RSS button you will be prompted to choose where you’d like the content to be delivered. This is the destination that we chose above, if you setup a google reader account, then select google reader from your list and you’re all ready to go.

Here’s a quick re-cap on how to use RSS feeds.

1. Setup an account at Google Reader

2. Find a website that you like

3. Locate their RSS button

4. Click the button

5. Choose Google Reader as the destination

And that’s it! Now, anytime new information is available on the sites you chose, you’ll be updated in Google Reader.

Was this explanation helpful? How do you explain RSS? Let us know in the comments below.

Here’s a great lesson for any company. If you’re going to take the time to hire a development firm to create an application for a social network like Facebook, make sure you have all the right elements to make it a success.

Back in February, Burger King launched the Sacrafice Friends for a Wopper campaign. It was a huge success that spread quickly across Facebook.

Whopper > Facebook Friends.

I hunted down an interview with Jeff Benjamin, the creator of Burger King’s hit viral Facebook application to find out how he came up with the idea. Benjamin very succinctly puts goals of the application into perspective, “we try and find spots where it’s not just about buying impressions—it’s about creating something that makes people create the impressions for you for free. People can do the advertising for you if you give them the inspiration and the tools.”

Online Marketing Requires a Different Strategy.

Benjamin says it perfectly! So many companies don’t realize that marketing in the digital era requires a much different strategy than traditional tactics. Marketing online is about creating something unique and worth sharing. The attention of audience is pulled in so many different directions that you need to be creative with your marketing dollars.

Why The BK Application Worked.

Burger King combined all the right elements to make their application a hit. Facebook users were asked to sacrafice ten friends and in return BK would give them a coupon for a free whopper. Pretty simple concept and brilliantly executed.

BK directly integrated sharing features and publishing to the Facebook stream. They also gave people an incentive to use the app and did it in a unique way that made it worth spreading the word. BK did everything right to make it a success.

What You Can Learn.

There are two main lessons here. The first is to find creative ways to spend your marketing dollars online, the internet makes it really easy to reach your ideal target audience if you’re creative.

Second, if you’re going to spend the time and money developing an application for a platform like Facebook, make sure you take full advantage of the platform’s features! Make it easy for people to share the application with their friends and give them an incentive to do so. If you’re creative enough, your fans will spread the word for you.

What are you doing to make your company a success online? Let us know in the comments.

The Blendtec Story

Back in 2006, I remember being forwarded one of the videos from the “Will It Blend” series. The basics of the campaign are that they take all sorts of items and answer the question “Will It Blend” by massacring the item in a BlendTec blender.

I orginally thought it was kind of silly to be ruining expensive electronics just to answer the question “will it blend” but after over 200 million views on their Youtube channel, I see the genius in their plan.

Here are a few highlights from the series:

“Will It Blend” seemed pretty silly initially but after looking through a few of the videos, I forever remembered the Blendtec name. Call me a sucker for a good marketing campaign but if I’m ever in the market for a new blender, I’ll probably go with a BlendTec. So there’s success #1, they won my mindshare.

Make something worth sharing.

By allowing users to send in suggestions of what to try blending, BlendTec was able to give their customers a distinct connection to the blender. BlendTec had all the right elements of intrigue and user participation to make their brand an online success.

They found an incredibly creative way to get people excited about a product in an industry that doesn’t typically produce very innovative marketing techniques. I mean, when was the last time you forwarded a fridge, dishwasher or oven ad to a friend?

What they’re up to today.

So how is BlendTec doing these days? Well they’re still making new movies and their Youtube channel is one of the nicest I have seen complete with gorgeous HD videos. They also have an active FaceBook Fan page with a couple of thousand fans where people can suggest new things to try blending.

What’s the Take-Away?

The biggest lessons to learn from BlendTec are: produce great content, put it in the right places and give users lots of ways to connect with the campaign. Give people something worth talking about and they’ll do the work for you.

Have you ever thought of making a video series to spread your message? Let us know in the comments below, we’d love to hear what you’re thinking.