By Guest Blogger, Donna DeClemente, Donna's Promo Talk
Where did 2011 go? Today is my 50th and last post of 2011 on the Lip-sticking blog. I'm planning to continue throughout 2012 and keep my Wednesday morning spot.
At the end of 2010 I wrote this 2010 Year In Review post that included what I felt were my top posts that helped to define 2010. I decided to continue the tradition so I went back and read through some of the posts that I wrote during this year. Here are my 12 top picks, one per month, that I felt reflected the pop culture of the month or that defined a major milestone or shift in marketing.
January - Social Media Monitoring tool helps businesses track who's winning on Facebook in 2011
I started off 2011 with my first post about Facebook and it's continued to be one of my most popular topics all year. I state here that 2010 was definitely the year of Facebook. The social network dominated the media towards the end of the year and this has continued throughout 2011. If you recall, Facebook's CEO Mark Zuckerberg was named Time Magazine's 2010 Person of the Year. We were speculating a year ago on when Facebook would file for their IPO and now it's apparent that will happen sometime in second quarter of 2012. So if you haven't yet, check out this Social Media Monitor that was developed by Wildfire. It continues to be one on the resources I turn to when assisting my clients with their Facebook marketing.
As with tradition, every year I write about promotions and advertising associated with the Super Bowl. This post was written after the game, and yes the Packers won, but overall I felt we were all let down by the overall marketing experience. Today most of us still will say that the Chrysler Detroit ad was one of the best of the year and we still seem to love the Volkswagen Darth Vader spot. But where was the conversation? On Twitter? Perhaps, but were the brands really listening? We'll soon see what this year brings.
March - Dove's Close Up Challenge to choose a woman to Dance With the Stars
Continuing with tradition, Dove was the first brand I wrote a blog post about. So it was befitting that I wrote about the brand again on the 4th anniversary of my becoming a blogger! This was the first year I watched Dancing With the Stars and I can now understand how people do get hooked on it. The winner of Dove's Close Up Challenge was Kristy Herman from Jersey City, N.J., who got to show off her skin and dance moves in a TV spot that ran during the Dancing with the Stars finale on Monday, May 23.
April - Moms Love their Smartphones: Study shows mobile is now mainstream
This “21st Century Mobile Mom Report” revealed that most women purchased a smartphone as a result of having a child and 51% of them admitted that they are “addicted’ to their smartphone. Their favorite feature is the phone camera of course. This report was one of many this past year that drove marketers to get on with their mobile strategies quickly and figure out the best way to market to these women. Mobile has now become mainstream and marketers need to understand now how to build meaningful relationships and connect through this channel.
May - Speaking at the Marketing to Digital Divas Conference
This was my first "International" speaking engagement which was in Toronto, Canada and my first time attending this conference, which I was invited to speak from an introduction made by Yvonne DiVita. They were interested in having someone speak about promotions so Yvonne pointed them to me. My session was titled Interactive Promotions and Social Media Marketing -- A Winning Combination! I covered a lot of what I write about on this blog and reviewed the benefits of what I call Social Sweeps promotions, best practices, the rules and regulations along with some examples. It was a great experience.
June - Google introduces Google+. Will it be the new social network?
The introduction of Google+ was one of the most talked and written about topics of the year. Many people said it would not stand a chance to compete against Facebook. Others said how brilliant it was and would change the way we search. We're still in a wait and see mode, but my recommendation for all businesses is to get on board one way or another. The lines between social and search are merging more and more. That is a trend for 2012 we'll see continuing.
July - Harry Potter Grows Up with Social Media
I've been writing about this magical film and book series since I started blogging back in 2007. This was the last movie in the series to be released and it broke all box office records. But what's special about this post is that reflects on how my daughters grew up with Harry Potter, being the same age as Harry growing up in the story. It also reflects on how much the social media utilized to market Harry Potter changed from the first post I wrote about this series.
August - Sweepstakes and Contest Laws and Guidelines Overview from BlogPaws 2011
This was the second year, and the third conference, that BlogPaws has hosted and that I also got to speak at. Both a hurricane and an earthquake where part of the main topics of conversation which was held in Tysons Corner just outside of D.C. on August 25-27. There was approximately 400 people in attendance and I was one of three women who spoke in a session titled Copyright Basics, FTC Updates & Contests Rules & Regulations. I'm already looking forward to BlogPaws 2012 which will be held in Salt Lake City, June 21-23.
September - Henkel Helps Kids Get Fit Contest Offers Schools $30,000 for Youth Fitness Programs
Henkel is the parent company of some famous brands we've all used which include Dial®, Purex®, Renuzit®, Right Guard®, Soft Scrub®, and Loctite®. I had the opportunity to work with their marketing team along with their digital agency on their largest promotion of 2011. Part of my roles was the opportunity to contact all the finalists to deliver the good news that their submission made it as one of top five in one of the three school categories. The winning schools are posted online here along with their videos and essays.
October - Pink Is Back: Many are Supporting Breast Cancer Awareness Month
As the calendar turns to October, another one of my traditions is to write about pink promotions, those that support Breast Cancer Awareness Month. This year I wrote this post along with this other later in the month. It's a very personal topic me, as unfortunately it is with many others who have lost a loved one to breast cancer. I lost my mom in April of 2011 to what this one program focuses on, metastatic breast cancer. Now just this year two young women in my golf league both had a double mastectomy. Thankfully, they are both doing well.
November - Day 1 of PMA's 33rd Annual Marketing Law Conference
It was that time of year again for PMA's Annual Marketing and Law Conference which was being held back at the Marriott Hotel on Michigan Ave in Chicago. Social media was again a dominate topic of the sessions. We reviewed both Facebook and Twitter's Promotional Guidelines. However, mobile marketing was another topic that people had a huge interest. This is "Future" as the conference theme suggested. Foursquare location based marketing, QR codes, applications and SMS were all areas discussed. However the laws are still not quite up to speed with the technology.
December - Home for the Holidays T-Mobile Campaign goes Viral
Ending the year on another tradition is my review of some of the best and most unique holiday promotions. This one by T-Mobile is a great example of how to successfully market to women, integrate video with a promotional sweepstakes and engage fans on Facebook. I still can't get that song out of my head. YouTube has recently made some changes to its site to make it more social and therefore is a platform that more and more of us should be integrating into our marketing mix in 2012.
Hope you enjoyed the review. I wish you a very Happy New Year and here's to a wonderful and prosperous 2012. Thanks again for reading!
The 12 top picks, are so brilliant to go through. The blogs are just informative and educative. Above all, they offer a unique flow of studying throughout the year. It's one of the superb posts I've gone through so far. Thanks for all.
Posted by: Anne athanne | December 30, 2011 at 04:27 AM