riding in Virginia

It's a little cold to go riding in Virginia, yet Monika, Sabrina and I are meeting Kristin and friends in her home this weekend! Kristin has a fun schedule for us planned! CLICK on the picture to visit my sister's university!

Here are a few things I am reading today:

“You’ve probably seen it everywhere (including here at Ragan.com): 2011 is the year mobile technology takes over communication. But what does that mean? What’s in store for this year of mobile? Patrick Kerley, senior digital strategist at Levick Strategic Communications, says that’s going to depend on what the large groups of people who are buying smartphones for the first time are going to want. “What will Foursquare be worth when both kids and moms have the technology to use it?” he asks. “More important, how will Foursquare convince moms to use it? Or what’s the service that no one has thought of yet that will find its audience in this group of people?”Despite those unknowns, experts say they see a few signs of what’s coming down the pike.”

As marketers focus on optimizing their social media programs this year, return on investment is going to be a huge consideration. As a result, marketers will — and should — take a more calculated approach towards budgeting for social marketing initiatives. Prioritizing spending on particular social activities, though, is a task that hasn’t quite been mastered by most companies.”

“Audi, the German luxury car brand, has directly merged old-school advertising with new media, making it the first company to feature a promoted Twitter hashtag in a Super Bowl commercial. While the pundits and public are still divided on the number one Super Bowl spot, we’ve sized up here the newest promoted tweet strategy. Beware. The results may surprise you.”

It’s 2011. Social media is no longer a coming trend. It is here, now. And, it is critical to your success. Unless you core audience happens to 50 years old or above, the digital media channels are your new primary platforms. We are past the hurdle of trying to convince companies about the value of digital media, they already know. Ahead are the challenges of using digital channels on a daily basis. A lot of social media hacks will tell you that it takes no time at all. They say you can just publish on one channel and have that automatically cross-posted to all your other channels.”