Marketing Pilgrim Published: “A Jobless Recovery? Not According to Our Job Board” plus 3 more

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A Jobless Recovery? Not According to Our Job Board
Android Leads in Smartphones, Will Tablets Ever Follow?
Twitter’s New Quickbar Promotes Trends Over Tweets
Simon & Schuster Turns to Webcam Videos to Connect Authors and Readers

A Jobless Recovery? Not According to Our Job Board

Posted: 08 Mar 2011 06:01 AM PST

We hear so much about how we are officially out of a recession but the jobs just aren’t happening. Well, according to our Internet marketing and social media job postings board in the past week that’s just not the case. Heck, we have one company alone that posted 16 positions to fill! Here’s a quick sample.

List your job opening for only $27 per month per listing today! Our readers are your next employees!

At Internet marketing company Performics – 16 positions in total in New York and Chicago including:

Client Solutions Consultant – SEO – Chicago

Conversion Optimization Strategist – New York City

At consulting firm Booz Allen Hamilton:

Social Media Analyst – Linthicum, MD

At language software producer Rosetta Stone:

Social Media Coordinator – Arlington, VA

The industry is growing and so is the opportunity! Gat your next job or employee through the Marketing Pilgrim job board!

Android Leads in Smartphones, Will Tablets Ever Follow?

Posted: 08 Mar 2011 04:55 AM PST

More data keeps coming in showing how Android's grip on the smartphone market is tightening with each passing month. Information from comScore (via Mashable) shows that the Android platform has taken the number one spot from BlackBerry. Note that this data doesn't include the iPhone introduction to the Verizon network (remember that hype?).

It's easy to see that the eventual HUGE loser in this will be BlackBerry as it struggles and continues to lose ground in the smartphone platform race. BlackBerry's troubles are bound to be a case study sooner than later as the company just didn't react quickly enough or with the right products. Oh well.

What's more interesting is to watch whether this pattern will continue in the tablet market. Like the iPhone, Apple has taken the early lead by being first to market. What makes the tablet race different is there is no carrier dependent influence on sales. Anyone can buy one and right now, Apple's iPad is the king of the mountain by far.

With Android tablet devices slow to get real traction against the iPad will it mean that Apple can get out in front and stay in front?

What are your thoughts?

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Twitter’s New Quickbar Promotes Trends Over Tweets

Posted: 07 Mar 2011 03:50 PM PST

Twitter’s new iPhone update is all about helping you Tweet faster and easier, but like everything in life, it has a downside. In this case, it’s an overlay with the latest Trends that resides at the top of your timeline and it can’t be removed.

If you’re interesting in going along with the majority, or you’re an online writer looking to capitalize on some SEO, then the Quickbar is a nifty tool. It scrolls sideways to show you the top trends and when you click on them, you’re taken to search results for that item. In other words, it’s useless for most Twitter Tweeters.

The update isn’t all bad, though, they actually added a couple of tools that are very helpful including a camera button on the Tweet blank so you can upload photos instantly and an auto URL shortener.

The best new tool is Autocomplete. Now, when you access the Tweet blank, you’ll find a series of buttons for @usernames and #hashtags. Choose one and you’re presented with a list. Click your choice and it autofills in your Tweet blank. That’s a real boon for people like me who tend to use a lot of popular hashtags.

Other new features include the ability to find out if your friends are on Twitter using your contact list and . . . wait for it. . . you can get local trends based on your location. Except for the case of a natural disaster, I can’t see this being very useful.

Okay, I take back what I just said. Thanks to my Twitter iPhone update, I now know that it’s #bootyappreciationday. That better mean there will be a gift waiting for me at dinner tonight.

Have you tried the new Twitter iPhone update? Helpful or not?

Simon & Schuster Turns to Webcam Videos to Connect Authors and Readers

Posted: 07 Mar 2011 12:28 PM PST

If you could ask your favorite author anything, what would you ask? Would it be a question about how to become a best selling author? A query about the motivations of a character or something more personal like, what would you do if you found out your date had false teeth?

No question is off limits on Simon & Schuster’s Ask the Author page, but just cause you can ask, doesn’t mean you’ll get an answer. Unlike canned interviews of the past, this new program is set up so fans can leave a question for a particular author and get a video response back at a later date. You can also scan through a list of current questions and listen to the answers that have already been recorded. The whole thing is made possible by VYou.com and if you visit their webpage you’ll see how other businesses have used their conversational video software to connect with their readers and fans.

Because the authors are replying from their homes and replying directly to a, sometimes nonsensical, question, it creates a personal bond and that’s important when marketing anything.

In an article about the Ask the Author program, The Wall Street Journal quotes Seth Godin as saying,

“The author who can build a tribe via one-to-one connections, at mass, is guaranteed a career and is also going to have to work at it pretty much full time.”

The Ask the Author program is especially good news for niche authors whose books don’t warrant the cost of a cross-country book tour, especially if they’ve got the personality to sell it. Take a look at pop culture author Chuck Klosterman. He answers his questions in a dark room with “You Light Up My Life” playing in the background. Just watching him speak for two minutes will make you want to buy his books, which of course, is the whole point of the exercise.

Using video to personally connect with your customers is something anyone can do. Just switch on that laptop webcam or point your iPhone at yourself and say hello. Don’t worry about looking and sounding perfect, the less polished the better (unless maybe you’re a lawyer or a surgeon). Present yourself and your product, use your Facebook fan page to solicit questions, then answer them on camera, or you can sign up for a VYou account and let them handle the Q&A for you. Who knows, in addition to gaining more customers, you might become YouTube’s next big video star.

Have you ever put yourself on camera for your business?