Bonanzle Action Club – Creative Word of Mouth Marketing

As i have written previously here on the Trading Assistant Journal, Bonanzle is the marketplace venue which has a new fresh outlook and web 2.0 feel. Part of being Web 2.0 is including community and social marketing as part of the overall business plan.  Bonanzle has taken this idea and its very enthusiastic member base and created a new type of marketing initiative.

The Bonanzle Action Club

It is a brilliant way to get the best advocates or in today's corporate speak "evangelists" to go out into the Internet universe and promote your company for free.  This particular "Action Club" is made up of 50 of the most active members/sellers of Bonanzle. These members are ready to promote the company at a moments notice and they are happy to do it simply because they are aware of the effect of community marketing.

The tasks these select members perform change from week to week. Most certainly they will be more effective as a group of 50 marketers than if they were only one or two.  It is a brilliant idea and I applaud Bill and Mark at Bonanzle for hatching it before our eyes.

Here are some of the specifics of the club:

Each week, every BAC member will be given one actionable objective to help Bonanzle grow. The task will never take more than 20 minutes of your time. Some examples of a BAC objective might include: post a comment about Bonanzle on a specific forum or blog; email a specific media person to tell them to feature the site; or Digg some article about the site.

We will email you at the beginning of each week to let you know what the week's action objective is. The objective will also show up in the list of BAC objectives (accessible via "My Bonanzle"). When you complete the objective, you check it off your list, and your karma + Bonanzle cred increase a notch.

We should be clear that joining the BAC is an important commitment. If you are considering signing up, you should be willing and ready to follow through on the objectives. We are limiting enrollment to 50 people, so that we only keep people on board who feel that Bonanzle is worth 15-20 minutes of their time per week.

I became aware of this new marketing initiative through the comments section of this blog. Suddenly I was innundated with positive comments about Bonanzle coming through my Blackberry. Apparently the Trading Assistant Journal was listed in this weeks to do list for the BAC.

Taking a cue from politics I can certainly the power of many when it comes to getting out the word, either for a company or candidate.

Congrats to Bonanzle!

Twibler – Top 9 Reasons Why Twitter + eBay = Traffic Jam

twibler

Question recently seen on Twitter from @stevekennedy:

Do you think using Twibler to post your eBay items here helps your conversion rate? Have you asked any buyers? I am just interested to see if anyone has ever made a sale because of Twibler. Thanks 4 input!

I will attempt to answer the question, (any comments from readers with different points of view are welcome in the comments section below) but...

First lets discuss what Twitter is for those who have not yet been initiated.

What is Twitter?

Twitter is first and foremost a social network

Scott Pooler on Twitter

Scott Pooler on Twitter

Twitter asks "What are you doing?" and provides users with a 142 character chance to inform the world about what it is they are up to?

Think of an early 1990's AOL chat room with dozens of updates per minute available to everyone in the world. Only, as a user of Twitter, one may pick and choose who's "updates" they want to follow. Conversely other users may choose to follow you, even if they do not know you. 

These features make Twitter unique, simply due the fact that users can craft the experience by selecting whom they follow.

Interested in Internet marketing and the Tech world? Simply follow icons in these industries and fellow Twitter users who also follow the thought leaders. The same goes for almost any interest or industry you can think of. Transparency is all part of Twitter, not only can you follow interesting people, but you can also see who they follow and do likewise.

Its the fastest and sometimes most accurate way to get the news and collect intelligence about anything or anyone with whom your interested in. Continue reading “Twibler – Top 9 Reasons Why Twitter + eBay = Traffic Jam” »

Coca Cola and Twitter – Am I Worthy of YahooBuzz?

Last March I wrote an article about twitter in one of my other blogs (All Business Auctions - Blog).  This morning it occurred to me that I have not mentioned Twitter much to the readers here at the Trading Assistant Journal.  I apologize for being remiss.

Today I am thinking about Twitter because I awoke to find an email announcing a new Twitter user following my Twitter Tweets.

Coca Cola Ink is now following you on Twitter, the email said....

To be honest, I have no idea if this is the real company, just an employee or if it is just some marketing managers way to spread the word on the next "New Coke" campaign.  But the fact remains that without being active on Twitter I would not have an opportunity to make an impression upon whomever Coca Cola Ink may be, marketing person or CEO of the company.

It is nice to think that a company such as Coca Cola may have chosen to follow me on Twitter because they think I may have an influence, or my blog articles have inspired them, or for some other fantastic reason...  But it could be my name was on some other Twitter users list.

Just last week I received  similar email from Twitter... Continue reading “Coca Cola and Twitter – Am I Worthy of YahooBuzz?” »

Wake Up eBay – Sharing Links, Social Marketing Good – Closed Networks Fail

eBayeBay started as a social network of buyers and sellers.

Interaction between these two separate yet linked groups of people crossed all boundaries, social, economic, international, class and religion.

eBay is social marketing

...and has been relying on social marketing for its success since long before the terminology was coined.

The Internet has changed a great deal since eBay started.

Back in 1995 the only social networks were AOL, Yahoo and eBay. No one at the time knew eBay would grow into a social marketing network but this is what has happened. Buyers and sellers connected on a personal level over great distances and found common ground in the items they traded for online.

Now eBay is turning its back on the basis of social networking and social marketing. Continue reading “Wake Up eBay – Sharing Links, Social Marketing Good – Closed Networks Fail” »