Archive for the ‘ALW’s take on Internet Marketing’ Category

The Middle East’s only internet business event

Friday, August 20th, 2010

Taking place from 21 – 22 September 2010, The Internet Show presented by Yahoo! Maktoob is a series of free to attend seminars and a trade exhibition.

It is the only event that brings together Big, Medium and Small businesses along with government, all eager to find new ways of doing internet business.

The recent Internet Show at Melbourne’s success has certainly generated our interest and we look forward to  attending the next one at Internet Show Abu Dhabi 2010 which is on 21-22 September.

In 2010 The Internet Show Middle East has teamed up with the Electronics and Computer Software Export Promotion Council (ESC) in bringing a selection of India’s leading solution providers to the event.  These companies will be exhibiting alongside other international names such as Google, Etisalat, du’s ‘Empire of Sports Arabia’, ayna.com, ikoo, Jeeran, Nielsen, Advansys, Rackspace, User  Vision, Omnia Connect, souq.com and dubizzle, to name just a few.

The Seminars
With over 40 seminars running over the two days of the event – including expert guidance from Google on their advertising solutions – The Internet Show will feature two seminar theatres themed around the following topics:

  • Digital advertising and marketing
  • Web 2.0 and social networking
  • e-commerce and payments
  • Content management and streaming

Access to the seminars is free to visitors who register online before the show.

The Exhibition
More than 40 leading solution providers will be showcasing the latest technology and hottest internet business solutions in: digital marketing and advertising, Web 2.0 and social networking, e-Commerce and payments, content management and streaming and hosting and infrastructure.

For more information visit www.internetshow.ae

Posted in ALW's take on Internet Marketing, The Internet Show - Abu Dhabi 2010 | 6 Comments »

Why ‘unfollowing’ can be good for you

Friday, August 20th, 2010

A very popular site today for marketing through the social media is unarguably ‘Twitter’.  Twitter is very ‘in’ for celebrities and their fans but we all know that there is much more scope to it than just some star gossip.

Many IT companies have been using Twitter to create a good ‘online personality’ for themselves.  Apart from making people acquainted with products and services, they also keep others informed about happenings in the business.

However, many such companies and the people engaged in managing their Twitter accounts are often worried about the ‘unfollowers’ more than the ‘followers’. Their simple logic is that when someone starts ‘unfollowing’ them, it should mean they have ‘displeased’ them or gone wrong in marketing.

Though these two may be the reasons for some, they are definitely not the only reason.  You just need to pay attention to who has ‘unfollowed’ you recently. Were they really important people for your business? Were they potential clients? Were they IT experts? If not, you don’t need to worry about it all. In fact, it is very important from time to time that we allow this automatic filtration to happen if we really want our efforts on Twitter to pay off in near future.  Next someone ‘unfollows’ you, ensure their importance before frowning.

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Posted in ALW's take on Internet Marketing, The Internet Show - Abu Dhabi 2010 | 2 Comments »

Online social media: New age word of mouth

Thursday, August 19th, 2010

Within a month, Twitter had gone from 1 million to 13 million users. No wonder thus that it has crossed the 20 billion mark already. Despite that celebrity tweets continue to capture the hearts and minds of viewers or users, the fact remains that a majority of users are not celebrities themselves. So what makes a social media like Twitter so ticking?

Today there’s an implicit assumption that every company serious about selling has to talk about it online. You are considered virtually a nobody if you don’t appear on the search results of the engine. The perpetrator of this trend is that consumer sitting conveniently before his PC or laptop, wanting to know about the ends of his desires without moving an inch.

This is what makes Social Media really work for most sellers. It is truly the new age word of mouth as the word spreads through the Internet. A consumer decides to buy a product from you not only because you have what he needs but also because you have a unique way of selling it. He gauges these characteristics through a social networking site.  For example, on Facebook there’s clothing brand that offers you to create your own design of clothes, choose your own fabric and colour and order it. In 24 hours, you will be holding your own creation in your hands.

The online ‘word of mouth’ has several names such as ‘Like’, ‘Follow’ and so on. If a certain group of college students decides to ‘Like’ a certain company page, soon others follow suit. Since social media also allows the consumers to have their say through ‘comment’, it opens up ever-newer avenues to market the product. The consumers feel happy and satisfied and usually ‘recommend’ it to others.

Social Media has another very interesting aspect. It gives ‘personal’ access to people, products and services. You can participate in healthy online discussions on issues that affect your choices. Consumers usually here are very observant and keen on getting up, close and personal with the products and services. This provides a great opportunity to sell and market products better.

Thus, online social media has a big mouth. It’s time to use it.

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Posted in ALW's take on Internet Marketing, The Internet Show - Abu Dhabi 2010 | 4 Comments »