A perpetual work in progress, today we officially unveiled our new creative reel on our Facebook Page. With the popularity of Facebook and the fact that Pages can now be indexed by Google, it kind of makes you wonder why we need to have a website at all. Think about it and hit us up with your thoughts. To our regular followers, please take a moment to head on over to Facebook and become a fan of Rearden Killion Communications.
For the second month in a row, China reported a decline in exports--This time, by nearly three percent and hundreds of workers are losing their jobs. This is a major decline for the cheap producer of global products and just the beginning of the ripple that the country is beginning to feel since the financial crisis began.
Adding insult to injury, Sony is reporting its first loss since 1995 and it will be a major $1.1 billion. Due in part to heavy spending during the holiday season that didn’t produce the results the electronics giant was looking for.
Even in this crisis, companies dabbled in social media and search marketing but continued to spend the majority of their budgets on traditional efforts while ignoring opportunities to slash costs and speak to their best buyer profiles, directly.
Some of the blame lies with the agencies that keep pushing high cost tactics and are reluctant to understand and fully embrace more strategic methods--Working their way towards a pink slip at the very same time.
I was interviewed by a reporter recently that asked me why these tactics are so important and it kind of just rolled off my tongue.
“It’s no longer about casting the widest net and hoping the 10% you need will respond, but rather speaking to that 10% directly and trimming the waste.”
The news of Rearden Killion's Facebook success made it to the print version of the Tampa Bay Business Journal. I'm happy to say we've received a lot of interest since news broke and even signed with a member of the US Congress. Who is it? Stay tuned.
Facebook is the leading social networking site. Rearden Killion Communications’ Candidate Button Application maximizes the opportunity for political candidates to create awareness, start a fan base and, most importantly, build a constituency that will influence voters and fund raising.
How it works: Users add the application and become fans...
In the process, users invite other friends to add application and become fans...
Application appears in user's news feed that is seen by other people in their network...
Button appears prominently on user’s profile and can link to the candidate’s website or Facebook group page with latest news updates, videos and photos of campaign.
If you have a Facebook account, you can test drive the application here.
A campaign using the advertising and social media tools on Facebook is getting credit for Kevin Beckner’s win in the District Six democratic primary for Hillsborough County Commission.
The Facebook campaign, kicked off in early August, was more targeted and cost-effective than traditional advertising, according to a release from Rearden Killion Communications, a St. Petersburg firm that handled the campaign with political consultant Larry Biddle.
The campaign, including content, video production, management and media buying, was valued at about $7,000, Rearden Killion said, although the company also said it charged a bit less to prove the effort could work.
Beckner, 37, a certified financial planner, won 45.6 percent of the vote and defeated Joe Redner and Denise Layne in the Tuesday primary.
Facebook advertising tools can target specific user variables such as age, gender, education, profession, employer, interests and hobbies, the release said. The ads themselves also can address specific issues.
In one example, Beckner used a Forbes article about the lack of opportunities for young adults in Tampa to call for more proactive business recruitment efforts on the part of the County Council. The video had nearly 700 views and online discussion, the release said.
Rearden Killion also created a Facebook application, allowing supporters to put a campaign button on their own pages and providing a link to Beckner’s page.
The overall effort increased Beckner’s Facebook group membership by 50 percent, the release said.
In November, Beckner will face incumbent Brian Blair, who won the republican primary with 65 percent of the vote, defeating Don Kruse.
ReadWriteWeb
Written by Sarah Perez / August 28, 2008 9:00 AM
In Tampa, Florida, one of the cities that comprises the megalopolis known as the Tampa Bay area, home to Busch Gardens, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and only minutes from beautiful beaches on the Gulf Coast of Florida (oh, and this author's stomping grounds, too), a local politician is giving credit to Facebook for his recent win in the primaries for the local County Commission.
On Facebook, the crowd is still very young, with an average age of 22.96 as of this February. Typically, the youth vote, although coveted, could not be counted on thanks to low turnout of young voters at the polls. However, this small time local election may prove to be one of the first examples of the huge impact Gen Y can have on the political process.
Now that many members of Gen Y are of voting age, their sheer numbers can no longer be ignored by politicians. The biggest generation since the baby boomers, Gen Y has been poorly characterized by some as lazy, unfocused, and self-centered - a generation that would just as soon stay home with mom and dad than go out and climb the corporate ladder. While it may be true that Gen Y has the good financial sense to maximize their time in rent-free accommodations, they are certainly proving themselves the opposite of lazy when it comes to involvement, be it social involvement, community involvement, or political involvement. Considering this recent "Facebook-powered" win, it could be that this generation is all talk and all action, too.
According to Rearden Killion Communications, the St. Petersburg advertising firm that handled the campaign of Kevin Beckner in the District Six democratic primary for the Hillsborough County Commission, the Facebook effort comprised of content, video production, and media buying valued at around $7000. There was also a Facebook app which let supporters put a campaign button on their own pages and provided a link to Beckner's page. The overall effort increased Beckner's Facebook group membership by 50 percent.
In this local election of this County Commissioner, you have to wonder if this is a hint of things to come in the upcoming presidential election here in the U.S. The Obama campaign has defined themselves by the way they have embraced technology. From blogs to social networks to even SMS text messages announcing the VP, the campaign is "a revolutionary shift in our country's political media ecology," says Andrew Rasiej over on techPresident. Although it has yet to be seen whether or not the use of technology will propel Obama into the Oval Office, the results of this local election prove that there is merit to targeting the online crowd and asking for their vote.
