Tracking users and their location has been, up until now, a crude form of trying to pin point a web users whereabouts using IP logging and guestimates.

GeolocationBut now, with an increasing number of web users surfing through their laptops and mobile devices, geolocation has become possible within a couple of metres of your actual position using IP and wireless data piggy backing on Google Location Services.

Firefox 3.5 is leading the charge in the browser category that allows websites to request your location, once you have given them permission to, of course. According to Mozilla, Firefox doesn’t track your location it only supplies it when a website requests it, so you have full control over who has access to your info.

This use of current technologies opens a host of new opportunities for marketers to target their market. Online advertising will become more relevant, search will become more efficient and using your mobile device to scan your surrounding will become second nature.

Many sectors can benefit from thinking innovatively about how to harness this technology. Having location data will make effective marketing, unstoppable. 

Responsibility and accountability of social media.

With all the insights and research that are at the marketers fingertips as of late, there is another level of responsibility when it comes to marketing campaigns and execution thereof.

With all the marketing tools available, messages are becoming more targeted and are more likely to take effect on the receiver of that message. The challenge, other than getting that message to target group, is the control of the interpretation of that marketing message.

Most competitions lately require that consumers [I guess they should be called participants] submit some sort of media for entry and a community built around that brand and its competition vote for who they feel deserves to win. The concept is great, and as I have been part of this sort of competition before, I can vouch for the results obtained, as well as the public scrutiny that comes with it. One thing I did notice was the length that I, and my fellow contestants, went to, to get votes. Strategies varied from knocking the other contestants to posting very private information in the hope of “winning the crowd” on familiarity. Whichever strategy was employed, I’m sure most were out of their comfort zones but had to push the limits to stay in the running.

People are willing to go to extreme lengths to stay in the running for this sort of thing, they push their personal limits by trying new things, taking their existing skill sets and challenging themselves. Some succeed and some, unfortunately, do not.

NBC Orlando reported earlier this week on a 13 year old that had a friend set him alight while he was wearing a banana suit, which he tried to recreate after seeing it on Youtube. The boys mother is pointing the finger at Youtube and warning parents to take tighter reigns on their children’s browsing habits. Although this wasn’t linked to any marketing campaign, this sort of thing should be taken into consideration when planning CGM based campaigns as no-one wants a PR fiasco when/if people get hurt or do something stupid. Someone is eventually going to be held responsible.

Most of us spend years at a tertiary institution then go into the real world building up hundreds of working hours in the hope of finding that one light bulb moment that will launch us into the career stratosphere and, if all goes well, industry wide recognition. For some it is a bit easier.

15 year old, Matthew Robson,  whilst doing an internship at Morgan Stanley. He was placed in their media and internet research department and this was a task assigned, which obviously he passed with flying colours.

The report is clear, to the point and doesn’t waste time with the usual report structure and jargon, but what I find the most appealing about this report is the rate at which it spread across the world, from Tokyo to Wall Street.

Morgan Stanley’s executive director of the media team in Europe, Edward Hill-Wood, said Robson’s report was “one of the clearest and most thought-provoking insights we have seen”. They were so impressed with it that they made it available to clients for insights, which “generated six times the usual level of interest” according to the bank.

The report was made available on Scribd, the social publishing company and has thus far had 7,343 Reads, 12 Likes, 1 Comment & 12 Favorites.

Now for the most interesting part, the actual effect of disseminating this very sought after report through social media. Compete.com shows a total of 352,927 visits and a 30% increase in unique visitors to their site.

This alone should stand as a case study, to the effects of social media and content on consumer interaction with one’s web presence.