MEDIAPOST — Contests in which consumers help design or contribute to special product labeling -- closely tied in with digital/social media and larger marketing missions, of course -- seem to be popping up with increasing frequency among food manufacturers these days. Two recent examples include Chiquita Brands International and Knorr, Unilever's largest brand...

IMEDIA CONNECTION — In a challenging economy, the instinct to reach for the marketing option with the lowest impact on your budget can be strong, especially for small businesses. And with the range of online services and social media sites growing larger by the day, it's tempting to want to choose between powerful options like email marketing and social media marketing. But it should not be a choice of one over the other. In fact, it's the two working together that will result in the strongest and most productive connections with your most passionate customers...

SOCIAL MEDIA EXAMINER — Did you know you can use social media to influence website visitors to stick around, read your content, become a subscriber or even tell their network about you or your business? You can, and social media can be more effective than other forms of influence, as you’ll see in a minute. First, let’s talk about the phenomenon I’m referring to. Influencing people you don’t know (in this case, new web visitors) by using information is known as social proof. Social proof isn’t a new concept, or one that only applies to social media. It’s a psychological phenomenon. Marketers have used social proof as a fundamental principle for years...

E-CONSULTANCY.COM — In-game advertising is nothing new. From automotive giant Jeep advertising in Tomb Raider in 2007 (image below) to FarmVille based incentives from Bing this month. The question is; how does it work? Have companies and game providers cracked the method of getting into our psyches to get us to do what they want? With the global in-game advertising market set to hit the $1bn mark by next year (it's likely we’ve already surpassed this), this is turning into a big business. Social gaming has grown an army of enthusiasts prepared to spend valuable time and money on virtual rewards and companies are all queued up to capitalise on this...