ZDNET — When one thinks of Cirque du Soleil, beautiful imagery and athleticism come to mind long before the nitty gritty business operations. The team at Cirque du Soleil works hard to maintain these images and the mystique that go with every one of its shows. However, just as many businesses are these days, the company is using a mix of blogger relations and social network outreach to help grow attendance for all of its home and traveling shows...

DUCT TAPE MARKETING — This summary of an article from the December issue of the Journal of Advertising Research (good luck finding the issue online because I couldn’t) says that common word-of-mouth advertising by regular folks is more powerful than "key influencers." Which is to say that sucking up to A-list bloggers may not be all that it’s cracked up to be. It seems like it’s bad day for celebrity endorsements. James Coyle, assistant professor of marketing at Miami University’s Farmer School of Business, Elizabeth Lightfoot of CNET Networks, and Ted Smith and Amy Scott of MedTrackAlert conducted the study by surveying website visitors, conducting in-depth reviews, and analyzing website usage patterns. Said Coyle...

DAVE FLEET.COM — Radian6 has announced a new tool that has the potential to be a paradigm shift in how companies manage their social media monitoring programs. The Radian6 Engagement Console combines two of the best tools out there – Tweetdeck and Radian6 – in an Adobe Air-based desktop tool. In doing so, the console makes radical improvements to the workflow process for Radian6 users. We’ve been test-driving the console in our office for a little while now, and I’ve been very impressed by the utility – and future potential – of this new tool. Some of the key features of the console...

TECHCRUNCH — Brands are engaging in the conversations that are taking place on social media sites now more than ever. But in order to tap into the social conversations that are taking place on the web, brands and agencies need to have a powerful tool to track, measure and engage sites such as Twitter, YouTube, Facebook and others. One of the leaders in the social media tracking space, Radian6, is launching a new Engagement Console to streamline this process. A desktop client built on Adobe AIR, the engagement console lets your both track and engage in the conversation taking place on blogs, videos, forums, boards, Twitter, Flickr, Google Buzz, LinkedIn, Facebook fan pages, public discussion groups, and mainstream news sites...

MEDIAPOST — Email marketing firm StrongMail said it has launched a new "campaign management application" for social media marketers tabbed Social Studio. Among its aims is to help marketers use social-media channels to find brand advocates, while measuring their effectiveness in carrying forth messages. "Brands understand very clearly that consumers have surrounded themselves with influencers and the trick is how do you communicate with those consumers, given the fact they're not necessarily as easy a direct target as they used to be," said Ryan Deutsch, vice president of emerging media at StrongMail...