Social Media is a phrase everyone knows or has heard, and is certainly being tossed around by seemingly everyone with a heart beat and a pulse these days, and yet it is difficult at times to answer the question regarding Social media. If Facebook, MySpace, and Wikipedia are Social media sites, then what is social media? Perhaps the best way to define social media is to break it down. Media is an instrument used for communication, such as the radio, a newspaper, and television, and social media would be a social instrument of communication.

In Web 2.0 terms, you’re given information while that information interacts with you. The interaction can be various things from comments to rating a product or articles, and thus the beauty of Social media – it’s a two-way street providing you the opportunity to communicate while you’re engaged on that site. At one time it was commonly held that no one could sell High-priced items online, or anything else of real value for that matter – but that time has come and gone. More than three-quarter of US online adults made a purchase over the Web.

Nearly 4 out of 10 online buyers have made a travel purchase and more than one-third have managed their credit or banking accounts online. American Express Publishing and the Harrison Group’s report “The Second Annual Survey of Affluence and Wealth in America” found that 70% of US consumers with over $100,000 in discretionary, house hold income surveyed prefer online buying to the in-store experience. The same number (70%) also goes online to research products, comparison shop and make purchases.

This fondness for online shopping could very well be a case of time equaling money. More to the point, the retail experience has varied in its character. For example, the introduction of online retail has significantly changed the overall shopping experience. The term e-tail encompasses so many different experiences such as grocery e-tail, auction e-tail, and or specialty e-tail and a host of others. But now there’s a new experience on the rise and has been added to online shopping which is the rise of e-luxury online.

So what has sparked this sudden growth for luxury online? This new growth is largely because most wealthy Internet users in the United States are optimistic about the economy going forward according to Ipsos Mendelsohn and their online spending has historically been higher than average. That should make everybody happy and present an attraction to retailers, which have increased their attention to social networks to attract customers. But does this mean that the affluent will be as receptive to social marketing as other Web users? The answer to that question depends on who you ask. According to a study conducted by Unity Marketing, the outlook is mixed. But as confidence grows among Affluent about the economy, the Affluent will drive online spending. Believe it or not, the affluent lead the way to E-Commerce recovery, and that leads to another interesting point I’d like to make.

In the past, most corporations’ communications teams were responsible for protecting and preserving the corporation’s reputation. However, with the huge popularity of Social media, every department in your business can play a huge role in branding, monitoring and protecting the corporate image and reputation, beginning with the Human Resource department. One of the greatest challenges for Human Resource executives is breaking through walls that some corporations put up simply because there’s a belief and or policy to allow only their communication’s departments to represent the company and its brand identity. In some companies the wall is big. But there is a way to knock it down, if one has the right tools. Except in a few instances, most companies offer largely undifferentiated products and services; airlines for example fly their aircraft over and over, while serving the same food, and retail stores offer the same merchandise.

In many respects, their brand strategy is quite simply their business strategy. A brand, frankly speaking, is a promise to consumers to provide a specific level of service, value, and quality that can be expected and received. Think of a brand as a covenant between a business and its customers. Branding expert Martin Lindstrom said it best when he said “Great brands and religions have something in common: the idea of vanquishing a shared enemy.”

Today’s media approach to branding the message of a company to the consumer is greatly enhanced, with all the Social media platforms out there today, one thing is for certain – if the promise is not kept, customers will flee and go elsewhere. A classic example is Eastern Airlines who promised to “Earn its Wings Everyday” through superior customer service while simultaneously canceling flights, losing bags, and serving passengers horrible food. As a direct result, trust between customers and the airline were irrevocably broken, passengers boycotted and eventually Eastern Airlines went out of business and destroyed the brand forever.

What went wrong? Eastern Airlines failed to align the behavior of their employees with the brand promise, and that leads to my first tip to anyone building a brand; understand that the copy in your ad does not deliver your brand’s promise, nor is it your product – your brand’s promise is delivered by your people.

Herein lies the opportunity for Human Resources to break down the walls and into the branding game, by helping ensure that all of the large and small actions that people in the company take every day, throughout the organization, fall in line with the brand strategy.

Finally, use these seven tips to further enhance your position and participation in the company’s brand identity, ensuring that your company and its brand will have ever lasting years, and be in business for years to come.

Top 7 Strategies and Tips for getting Involved with the Company’s branding from the Human Resource Department to reach the Affluent:

1. Conduct interviews as if you’re using a crystal ball. Look deeper and ask questions that lead to future responses.
2. During interviews start thinking of the big picture – convey how the corporate reputation affects every aspect of the company’s business, including the hiring and terminating process.
3. Create a company policy centered on conduct and disclosure, and offer to the communications department for implementation outside of your office and department.
4. Understand how quickly information moves online and be ready to respond swiftly should an issue appear online.
5. Review Social media sites before conducting an interview, and become aware of the social behavior of the person seeking the position in the company before to employ them.
6. Keep your temper under control, and never speak badly to anyone using Social media and review if the potential new employee has done the same. Remember that your bad comments will out live your temper.
7. Think the Future. Try to predict how announcements, changes in policies, ad campaigns, and world events can impact your organization, while taking part to lead in a reputation crisis.

Keeping these helpful tips and strategies in mind will go a long way in the process of an HR executive participating and supporting with branding strategies. Ten years ago it would not have been possible for this kind of intelligent departmental interaction to be feasible.

As a Human Resource executive, you can take advantage of this opportunity to reach the affluent consumer by incorporating social media and monitoring into your communications plans today!

The progressive innovations today launch numerous doors of company chances for desperate online marketers and entrepreneur in reaching more customers to be thinking about their company brand and offers. When incorporated with a well created online marketing technique in producing natural leads that are feasible and helpful to company development, a direct mail might be an efficient marketing device.

It is not unexpected to keep in mind the enhancing innovative methods of marketing utilized by aggressive online marketers making use of the very best of innovations. A well developed marketing mix might consist of possible “conventional” direct-mail advertising marketing which might add healthy varieties of capacity causes business.

This consists of incorporating blog sites, short article directory sites, social networks websites, internet search engine and lots of other sites and platforms that might be important to a company’s success using cross-media marketing.

Cross-Media Marketing

Cross-media marketing is ending up being increasingly more popular as it incorporates several marketing channels in performing a more efficient marketing project with a certain target market. Such marketing applications are extremely reliable as they cover a great deal of scope for business in regards to greater capacity leads and sales.

There are specific essential distinctions in between cross-media marketing and traditional direct-mail advertising marketing albeit lots of resemblances.

Direct mail marketing is individualized about each recipient with certain name and address as well as URL to direct the recipient to an individual landing page. There is an individual interaction with receivers who are directed to a suitable landing page with quality material.

Direct-mail advertising on cross-media marketing provides a range of alternatives for measurability and tracking of reaction rates. There would be suitable reports to expose the status of every marketing project that would contribute in establishing future effective projects.

A great deal of advantages might come through cross-media marketing that would benefit business and online marketer.

1) Clearer Targets for Business

Cross-media marketing is really vibrant in targeting a recognized audience or sectors of it to benefit business. Direct-mail advertising marketing might be integrated to provide tailored mails to this recognized segmented group with pURL and QR codes leading the receivers to their tailored landing pages straight.

The marketing efforts would be more effective and concentrated without losing unneeded time and effort on unenthusiastic leads for a certain item or service promoted. Faster outcomes might be protected with more appealing ROIs that please online marketers based upon the expense sustained.

2) Trustworthy and Accurate Tracking

Cross-media marketing with direct-mail advertising provides marketing outcomes that might be easily kept an eye on and tracked in genuine time to offer precise info about the marketplace and the success of the marketing project. Comprehensive details about every visitor to the site is caught and looked at, consisting of page visits and link clicks with opt-in and study reactions if carried out.

Direct-mail advertising in cross-media marketing steps reactions on every marketing project to comprehend the effective aspects that might be used to future projects to take pleasure in greater success.

3) Flexible Marketing Options

There is a greater versatility with direct-mail advertising marketing that might engage a multipage pamphlet or a basic postcard. Several project stages might be executed to the very same targeted specific niche markets by means of cross-media platforms.

Such a marketing technique shows to be promoting and fascinating to the target market with arise from earlier stages to benefit subsequent stages. This would enable improvements to subsequent marketing methods to be tweaked for greater enhancements. Various direct-mail advertising parts might be sent to in a different way directed sections for screening reaction rates on print media types.

4) Costing and Budget Management

Direct-mail advertisings in cross-media marketing strategies might be traced and tracked for much better responsibility in expense and ROIs. Online marketers would be notified of the variety of mails sent with an accurate expense of each mail and the variety of reactions from targeted receivers.

These marketing figures enable online marketers a more precise ROI analysis from any marketing project to enhance company profits easily besides making sure a close watch on the marketing budget plan.

5) Boosted Print Elements

It is not unexpected that direct-mail advertisings would move forward through cross-media marketing as print innovation enhances with vibrant print options such as sophisticated print methods and software application.

A well prepared print and digital marketing project takes pleasure in easier and much cheaper marketing tools that induce greater ROIs that please companies. Conventional printers who get on the cross-media bandwagon quicker would conquer the obstacle with the most recent innovations easily offered.

Effective Cross-Media Marketing Project

The crucial aspect of an effective cross-media marketing project surely is organization of the lists which have to be precise and targeted, even if segmented. Landing pages should consist of call to action functions such as sign-up types or opt-in choices for web visitors to be on business newsletter as consenting customers.

Making use of an auto-responder system would be a plus point for effective cross-media marketing with direct-mail advertisings updated where an organized follow-up is carried out for each opt-in customer. Analytical reports of every marketing project are examined for enhancements on future marketing projects.

When incorporated with proper digital channels, direct mail holds a popular position in direct marketing with a high hand on printed marketing interactions that might improve ROIs. Customer reactions and sales conversion rates enhance enough to benefit companies in protecting their market positions. When printed direct mail integrates efficiently with well created e-mails and customized web pages (PURLs) as well as emerging mobile aspects, this takes place.

Conclusion

Cross-media marketing with direct-mail advertisings integrated shows to be a vital marketing device for any aggressive Web online marketer to delight in greater returns by means of innovative incorporated marketing innovation.

Standard printers who accept innovative innovations to place direct-mail advertising marketing even more in today’s aggressive marketing patterns would be forming the international market with a synergy that prefer both companies and customers.

How can you assure success with the media when calamity–fire, embezzlement, ownership or leadership change, workplace accident, sexual harassment, or similar events– strikes your business and catapults you into the spotlight?

Cultivate relationships in advance. Every organization needs to cultivate the media during ordinary times. In an emergency, you don’t want to be questioned by strangers, but by people who know you and your organization’s culture. Establish relationships through tours, briefings, regular press releases, and invitations to milestone events. Think of these steps as “partnering with the media.”

Train your people. Write and distribute a plan for crisis communication. Explain procedures for emergencies. Announce who will speak for the organization. Put your staff through simulated press conferences, videotape them in action, and critique them to find points needing improvement. Make sure new employees get this training.

Take initiative instantly. When a crisis happens, never wait for media professionals to approach you. Take aggressive steps. Remember, delay fosters distrust. Call your media contacts before they call you.

Spotlight your CEO. Put the CEO in the front lines as the spokesperson. While CEOs may justifiably delegate other duties, they must assume top visibility during a disaster. Readers and listeners don’t want to hear that she is “unavailable for comment.”

Be truthful. Tell the truth, without diluting or withholding. “Little white lies” mushroom into a huge loss of trust. Even one misleading remark starts a “feeding frenzy” not only among the media, but also among the general public.

Avoid estimates. Make no estimates of dollar damage, injuries, or loss of life. Lawyers, insurance companies, and others will make you wish you hadn’t. This is why CEOs say, “We must make sure the families have been notified” or “We are still gathering estimates.”

Refrain from “No comment.” Never say, “No comment.” Whatever you might intend, the interpretation is that you’re being evasive. Try: “I’ll have to get back to you later on that, after we have gathered relevant information.” Of course, be sure you follow through on that pledge.

Control press gatherings. Take control of press conferences. You have the right to say where, when, and who will attend. Assert leadership instantly, and don’t relinquish it. Videotape the press conferences. The tapes will become valuable when someone charges later, “I know what you said on TV.”

Follow up thoroughly and publicly. After the crisis subsides, debrief your colleagues. Assess what you did right, and what you can do better next time. Also, keep the public informed about how you resolved the situation– through interviews, tours, letters to the editor, speeches to civic clubs, special letters to shareholders.

When you’re looking for a device that lets you play music and perhaps also watch videos while you’re on the go, the hardest thing is probably figuring out which one to buy. There are so many different digital media player models out there that it’s easy to get confused. Then there’s also the question of whether you want an MP3, MP4 or MP5 player. And what’s the difference between them anyway?

MP3 players have been around for several years now, so you have probably used one at some time, or played MP3 music files on your computer or cellphone. MP3 is a file format for audio files, which can also be played on media devices made for later file formats. Portable MP3 players are still very popular, and are available as standalone devices or incorporated in cellular phones, laptops and tablets, and even sunglasses, headsets, watches, pendants and many other items.

Like all media players, portable MP3 devices are available with various storage capacities. The smallest versions come with a memory chip, while there are models that let you store your entire music collection of, say, 30 gigabytes, on an internal hard drive. However, even a tiny 1GB player has room for 500 tracks, and some of your favorite photos as well.

MP4 is also a file format, properly named MPEG-4 Part 14, and is used for storing and playing videos. An MP4 player is thus a significant upgrade from the previous version as it can play not only audio files but also movies and video clips. In addition, most models will also play files in other formats such as AVI, WMA and WAV.

The LCD screen is usually larger than on an MP3 player, for the obvious reason that you need to be able to view videos comfortably. A lot of MP4 multimedia players sold these days also let you play games, listen to FM radio and read ebooks, as well as taking photos and shooting video with an onboard DV camera. Some also allow you to upload a variety of external apps for a truly multifunctional experience.

Now that you can also buy MP5 players you’re probably wondering what the extra features are and whether it’s worth getting one. One thing you should know is that there is no MP5 file format – it’s simply a trade name that is used by Chinese manufacturers to show that these are more advanced than MP4 players. You’ll also see some products sold as MP4/5 players – some of these are just MP4 devices with some extra bells and whistles, while others are actually “true” MP5 players.

The general definition of an MP5 media player is one that supports a wide range of video and audio file types. This means the user doesn’t need to convert the file to an easily playable format, the way he would with a previous-generation player if he want to play something recorded in RM, RMVB, Divx, 3GP, ASF, DAF, FLAC or APE, for instance. Since there is no official definition, it’s always a good idea to check the exact product specification before you buy, however. Many MP5s do pack in a lot of other extras such as enhanced sound quality, though, so you’ll probably be pleasantly surprised at how much you get for your money.

Whichever type of portable media player you go for, make sure you’ve considered your needs first. If you just want to be able to listen to music while you go jogging or work in the yard, a tiny MP3 player that clips onto your belt or hangs around your neck could be ideal. However, if you also like the idea of watching movies, reading or playing games while you’re on the train or just relaxing at home, you’ll need an MP4 or MP5 player. Remember that they all come with earphones, and that most can also be connected to external speakers, so they can truly be used in a variety of situations.

What do you know about social media? Before you answer that question, let me tell you that you know more than you may think. Social media is simply another way for us to communicate and connect with one another. If you are a smart communicator and understand the power of connections, you already know a lot about social media.

Ashton Kutcher said “One person’s voice can be as powerful as an entire media network,” once he surpassed 1 million followers on Twitter, beating CNN. He described this achievement as the “democratization” of the media. I have to wonder. Wasn’t the media democratized before? What makes it now a “democracy” because one man can reach 1 million people?

Perhaps democracy and democratization are the wrong words (even though it sounds catchy). What social media has done is unleash the power of communication and connection one person at a time. Communicating one-on-one always had a powerful effect on us because it enabled us to connect with one another. Everything you read and hear about social media requires connection and building relationships. Remember when communication consisted of three choices?

1. Face-to-Face

2. Telephone

3. Handwritten letter

When given these three choices, we selected face-to-face interactions when we knew we had to make a special connection with someone. Telephone connections happened when we did not need as much intimacy or when distance prevented us from making face-to-face contact. We resorted to the letter as the least personal form of communication.

Today, we have many more choices. Nonetheless, our decision-making process remains the same. How much connection, how much intimacy do we need in order to communicate our message? CNN does not care about intimacy; they care about getting the news broadcasted to many people at once. Amazingly, social media also broadcasts news in much the same way CNN does. But, because the source comes from a “friend”, a “follower”, or a “connection” we are more likely to believe it. In the past we could eyeball the communicator during a face-to-face interaction to determine truth. Today, we must depend upon building relationships that create trust and that create believability.

Here is what we do know about social media:

1. Our young people are connected. Today’s youth understands social media; they live and breathe it every day. They use the tools as ways to share with their friends. As kids, we used the telephone. Today’s kids use cell phones and MySpace. When you put the cell phone with MySpace, you get Twitter. To any young person, the power of Twitter is a no brainer.

2. Social media brings on two-way communication. Where email was one-way communication that was often not instantaneous, Twitter is two-way and instant. Furthermore, with Twitter you can have instant two-way communication with virtually thousands of people at once.

3. Social media enables people to deepen connections and relationships. I could correspond with you quickly through email. But, through Facebook I learn what you look like, what you like to do on Sunday afternoon, who your favorite actors are, and where you love to eat. Through Facebook, I find out that your dog has been sick or your child won a top honor at school. Through Facebook I learn who you are and what makes you tick.

4. Social media is here to stay. The way we are communicating is in a revolutionary change and that change centers on social media. Traditional advertising and broadcast media must adapt to this new step-child. In fact, Evan Williams, co-founder of Twitter, said, “Journalists who embrace the new media will thrive; those that don’t won’t.”

5. Social media is forcing changes in marketing and sales. The way we discover, evaluate and purchase products and services is experiencing a major insurgency. Word of mouth purchases come not from the neighborhood pharmacist but from what our friends tell us on Facebook or what we hear on Twitter.

6. Ashton Kutcher taught us that the way we hear about news and events is also changing through the social media. The fact that CNN wants 1 million followers tells that a major network recognizes the power of a social networking tool like Twitter.

What are the things we do not know about social media?

1. Where is social media taking us? Where will we be in 5 years? No one has a clue.

2. Which media tools will survive? Is Twitter a passing fad? Will the little bird be eaten by the big cat, Google? MySpace is already on the decline. What about Facebook? My hunch is that each of these tools will find the right niche. MySpace will survive for the very young. Twitter in some form will survive for instant message type communication world-wide.

3. How will social media affect advertising, public relations, marketing, and sales? My guess is that broadcast, intrusive advertising as we know it today, will not survive. For some products (not many) it will continue in some form. Social media adds a new component to the “marketing” mix. By doing so, traditional marketing efforts must adapt. Time will show us how and who will survive.

4. What’s next? We now have Web 2.0 which means an interactive Web. It’s much more engaging to read a blog in which you can comment than to read a static website. For that reason blogs have soared in popularity. What will Web 3.0 or 2.5 or whatever look like? I’m sure there are some guru’s out there who can share what they see in their crystal balls. But, for most of us it remains a mystery. The challenge is to be ready. Two things we can count on: we are on the cusp and there’s more to come.

As a communications expert, all this excites me. Social media provides new opportunities to communicate and to connect. The fun part is joining the party. What are you waiting for? Now that you know that you do know something about the social media, and you also know that no one knows what’s next, come join us! See you on Twitter.

Given the importance organizations place on generating press coverage, it’s vital to have a strategy and skilled professionals assigned to critical tasks. Preparing individuals charged with speaking to reporters is central to this effort, for five reasons.

1. Media interview training helps individuals cultivate the skills to engage in more productive give and take with reporters. Being interviewed by a reporter isn’t simply a matter of answering questions in rote fashion, while adopting a defensive posture. It’s incumbent on spokespeople to take the initiative in telling the organization’s story, from its perspective. To this end, spokespeople need to be familiar with how reporters work, the editorial environments in which they function, types of questions they’re likely to ask, and their individual backgrounds, among other issues.

2. Trained spokespersons help an organization secure more media coverage. Being interviewed by a reporter does not mean that the person will be quoted, or that a story will even result. So a successful media interview training program must also address what makes news from the journalist’s perspective. Equipped with such knowledge, spokespeople can focus their remarks on what journalists want, suggest story ideas, refer reporters to other resources, and, in short, make themselves valuable resources reporters turn to again and again.

3. Media training produces better media coverage. Organizations want media coverage that, to the extent possible and practical, reflects its key messages – in other words, the main points the organization wants readers/viewers/listeners to gain from coverage. Training is the best way to assure that spokespeople master these main messages and skillfully weave them into their answers to a reporter’s questions.

4.Media training increases likelihood that what you want to communicate is covered. It’s impossible for individuals in any audience to understand the purpose of your communication if you don’t know what you want to say. Media training forces an organization to clarify what it wants to say and how, thereby increasing the likelihood that a reporter will understand these messages and, ideally, report about the organization more accurately.

5.Media training educates spokespersons on typical media relations challenges. Myths abound as to how journalists work and the vital role media relations professionals play in the editorial process. Training invites spokespersons into this process, introducing them to the art and science of building productive relationships with reporters and the vital role they play. Perhaps more important, key players within the organization begin to incorporate media considerations into their thinking as a by-product of a comprehensive training program, which benefits the entire organization as it strives to navigate through a media-rich world.

An important aspect of an effective Social media strategy is the visual impact it delivers. After all, what you see is what you get. It could be any product related information, a campaign or just a simple idea to be shared. Visual appeal can make or break your social media standing. If you are looking for Social media services to build a strong visual strategy online, here are some tips that may come in handy:

Understand image placement and colors

Plain black banners with content written on it may seem dull, but when used correctly, it delivers an impactful message. Best graphic designers use simple yet effective ways to create stunning visuals. Any strategy can only formulate when one has a sound understanding of colors. Designs with too many colors look good when there is a fashion sale, a carnival etc. But they may fall flat when used in case of a product launch. While black is associated with power, blue can be used in campaigns that want to bring out an element of trust. Similarly, social campaigns can use yellow, red and pink to bring out a clear message through their visuals and to improve social media marketing visually.

Create a balance

Another aspect to be kept in mind is maintaining an image to content ratio. If your visual strategy is the only image based, make sure the image says it all. The best graphic design is one that should be creative, well-researched and instant to understand. If you wish to add some text, logos, slogans, they need to be balanced with the images and graphics used. The image to content ratio, in short, should be in sync with the colors and patterns.

Organise the elements

A good visual social media strategy consists of the use of best social media tools, images, graphics, content, and placement. You should be clear why every single element is present and what its use is. Make sure there is contrast on the final visual be it in form of shapes or colors. This helps in looking at the visual with more clarity. Contracts further bring out impactful elements noticeably and ensure zero clutter on the visual.

A visual at times might have a lot of information. In such a case, contrasts, line management, and placement work best for your visual and increase its social media optimization.

Creative Font

Lastly, another element that can add the missing edge to your visual strategy is Font. The typography you select says a lot about your visual understanding. Words say it all when set in engaging fonts. A Graphic Design Company will always provide you with multiple options in all scenarios to best suit your social media visual strategy.

Mixed media art is a kind of artwork in which several mediums are employed. There’s an important difference between “mixed-media” artworks and “multimedia art”. Mixed media mean a work of visual art that mixes numerous traditionally unique visual art media. To provide an example, a work on canvas that mixes paint, ink, as well as collage can appropriately be called a “mixed media” work – but not a work of “multimedia art.” The term multimedia art indicates a broader range than mixed media, merging visual art with non-visual materials (including recorded sound, for example) or with elements of the other arts (such as literature, drama, dance, motion graphics, music, or interactivity).

What we all know nowadays as mixed media art began during the early twentieth century, when artists looking for a substitute for what they saw as hidebound academicism started including things and pictures that were not regarded as art materials in their works. Examples of everyday materials being included in ceremonial or aesthetic objects could be found dating back to prehistory, however, these were produced with different motives, and served quite a distinct social purpose compared to the objects all of us refer to as “art.”

Picasso’s Still Life with Chair Painting (May 1912) is often considered the 1st modern collage, it is actually an assemblage of oil paint, oil cloth, pasted paper, as well as rope, turning it into a low-relief, three-dimensional work. The first collages constructed solely of paper, on the other hand, were made by Braque in the summertime of 1912, when he utilized wood-grained wallpaper in a series of charcoal drawings. After a brief lull in collage activity, the 1920s’ art scene experienced the arrival of German dada artist Kurt Schwitters’s remarkable array of personal expressions accomplished in collage and assemblage. He fixed everyday found papers as well as things of all types to canvas, paper, and board supports, giving them another and most likely more notable life.

In the 1930s, Henri Matisse utilized cut-paper shapes as preparatory work for commissioned items to be executed in some other media. But in 1947, he published a small collection of twenty color plates of his cutout designs. Joseph Cornell’s work in stage like boxed assemblages during the early 1940s began the abstract expressionists’ search for collage as an art form. The liberty of expression engendered by means of collage explorations headed directly to the assemblages, constructions, and also combine paintings of Robert Rauschenberg, Jasper Johns, Jean Dubuffet, and Ellsworth Kelly, as well as to their experimental work in the 1950s as well as 60’s. And their particular work in turn created the conditions for the installations, appropriations, settings, and new object works of the eighties and 1990’s.

Mixed media art, drawing from the efforts of early artists, made mixed media an accessible art form for both skilled and novice artists. Assemblage as well as collage can be obtained combined with acrylic and watercolor painting, rubber-stamped art, sculpture as well as altered books. Fibers, torn papers, inks, glitter plus beads are discovering their way into works of fine art as well as commercial items such as greeting cards and quilts. The near future of mixed media, it appears, is bound just by the creativity of artists and whatever they could possibly get their hands on.

While Social Media is the best thing since sliced bread to promote small business, one of the rules of social media etiquette is ‘Do Not Advertise’ which leaves business owners scratching their heads trying to figure out how advertise their products/services and how to integrate Social Media with their other Internet Marketing efforts.

Social Networks are for connecting and interacting with your market, building brand awareness and sharing information NOT for sales pitches.

I have put together some tips on how Social Media Marketing and Newsletter/Email marketing can fit together like peanut butter and jam.

1. Put links to your network profiles into emails/newsletters so that people can connect with you on your networks.

2. Put together a special informational email series and promote it with a link to your email sign-up page through tweets and social network status updates.

3. Add the HTML sign-up code for your newsletters to your Facebook profile, Facebook Business Page and other networking sites.

4. Search your social media sites to discover what the hot topics are and include them in your Newsletters.

5. Research your social networks to find out which products or services that you offer are in demand so that you can ‘strike while the iron is hot’ by sending out offers that are relevant and timely.

6. Viralize your emails by adding a SWYN (Share with Your Network) link to them (along side the Forward to a Friend link) allowing people to share your email with their social network groups and connections. Unfortunately, there is only a handful of email marketing and autoresponder services currently offering SWYN links but more services are adding this feature every day.

Using these two marketing channels to complement each other will help give you the advantage in your online marketing efforts. Now just cut off the crusts and add a glass of chocolate milk.

Mmmmmmmm….

Does your CVB or tourism bureau use social media in its destination marketing plan? If not, what are you waiting for?

According to a recent study, 81 percent of all marketers surveyed said their social media efforts have generated exposure to their business, and 61 percent of marketers saw an increase in Web traffic. If your destination isn’t keeping up with trends in social media, your CVB or tourism bureau is losing money. Here are a few ways to market your travel agency using social media.

1. Search for groups and individuals’ interests on social networking sites like Facebook and MySpace to find out what people are saying about your destination.

2. Publish your blog articles on Digg, Delicious, Reddit and other social bookmarking sites to generate a wider viewing audience.

3. Constantly update your travel blog with new information, paying attention to Google Keywords to improve your search engine results rankings.

4. Extend friendships to tourists (former and future) to maintain relationships and keep them coming back.

5. Use photo sharing sites to link pictures taken by tourists to create a community among people who are interested in your destination.

6. Twitter travel deals and packages, as well as updates on area construction, new businesses, events and festivals.

7. Offer contests and promotions through social media outlets to help increase your followers.

8. Create customized URLs to Facebook and Twitter to provide another contact option for tourists. (e.g. facebook.com/yourcvbhere)

9. Create a network or online community among all businesses in your area to provide more information to your future tourists, as well as generate more traffic back to your profiles

10. Post videos on a YouTube account of different activities to participate in at your destination.

Having an active presence in many social media platforms will not only generate more exposure to your CVB or tourism bureau, but it will also redirect people back to your Web site.