By all accounts, I would say that Charlie Sheen is winning.  He is getting an amazing amount of exposure from his recent online rants, tweets, and talk show/guest appearances.

And to keep the feeding frenzy alive, major media outlets have been there to report every detail and to discuss what makes Charlie tick…. Or at least offer a warning that he is a ticking time bomb that might explode any minute.  No such thing as bad press…

I offer another scenario.  There is no denying that it wasn’t a “stretch” for Charlie Sheen to play his character on 2 ½ men.    I think we were seeing his real personality, albeit scripted for television, every week.

What we saw streaming online was the more Real and Raw Charlie… but Charlie nonetheless.  And now that he has taken his show on the road and looks like main-stream media, (television), is interested in having him return.   Winning indeed.

From the perspective of one who has coached sports teams for many years, I know there is nothing worse than having to constantly discipline a kid who won’t conform or might influence his teammates with his bad behavior.  It is hard to complain, however, when that kid shows up for games and helps his team have a winning season.  Charlie Sheen has been giving his coaches, (movie and TV studio execs), many winning seasons.  They have milked his talent to line their own pockets for years.  They are even doing it now by exploiting his drinking problem showing commercials to promote previous episodes of 2 ½ Men.

I think Charlie is a pioneer… In the sense that he recognizes online marketing really does have an audience for his brand of entertainment… and realized how to capitalize on that fact.  He no longer works “for the man”… He is calling his own shots.

I think what Charlie Sheen has done has made him the “artist internet marketing poster child.”  By promoting himself through the internet, he has given hope to all the frustrated musicians, actors, writers and other artists out there who are at the mercy of those in control of media distribution.  No longer is an artist required to have a company control them and retain the rights to all material that artist creates…  Look at how Taylor Swift was found… via You Tube.  There was also a recent story about a college grad trying to make ends meet.  She started publishing her stories online, they went viral, and she ended up making a lot of money without the help of those big distribution moguls.  Internet marketing has brought the distribution power to the people.

Just because the power to distribute content  via the internet has made its way to us common folk still does not guarantee immediate success.  Charlie is an online marketing success because he was already famous and was given a lot of publicity before he ventured into cyberspace.  But what he did do is prime the pump for average consumers to become twitter followers and even online streaming video watchers; stuff those consumers never would have considered before.  Paradigm shifts like this have happened before… like the explosive demand for VCR’s brought on by controllable, (stop, rewind, start), pornography that could be watched at home.   This lead to consumer demand for all types of watchable media and Blockbuster became a household word.  Now Netflix is becoming the distributor of video content via high-speed internet.  But the difference is that these companies are still in control of distribution.  When Charlie Sheen bypassed those in control of distribution, he showed us that it is possible  to do the same.

There is a growing internet audience looking for media, goods and services online.  This means it is more important than ever to be where “the eyeballs are” if you are an artist or even a business.  Just like the artist, a business no longer has to rely on limited distribution channels owned by publishers like yellow pages or any other media outlet.  No longer will a business be left in the dark on how their internet marketing is doing…. Who is looking at my online store?  What are they looking at?  How effective were my coupon codes?  Where do I need to market my products?  All of this information is available on the internet and can be gathered by any savvy person or with the help of an SEM company.  It is helping the small business survive… companies thrive… and Corporations embracing online marketing, super-size. (Google + CBS?)

 
 
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With such a rapid advance in social network users in recent years, there is evidence that the numbers are tapering off here in the U.S.



According to Emarketer.com,  we will see only modest growth in social networks in the future and have hit saturation in some age groups.

For those companies like Facebook and Twitter who are looking to increase their revenue by advertising, this level of use by US consumers gives them a definite platform to push tailored and location-specific ads.

However, growth overseas is still a concern.  Will our Government place more emphasis on creating an even playing field for our companies to compete for Global users and more importantly, advertising dollars?


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The recent numbers show just how much people are embracing the internet and using e-commerce to buy goods and services.*  The  online shopping halo effect of all those smart phones and smart tablets purchased since Christmas that augment “traditional cyber sales”, (desktop, laptop), are starting to show an up-tick in consumer use.  As Marketers and merchants continue to make the online shopping experience better and easier, more consumes will undoubtedly switch to this mobile environment.  -jdognet

*February e-commerce spending jumps 13.2%Sales increased by a double-digit rate for the fourth month in a row, MasterCard says.
Stefany Moore
Topics: bricks-and-mortar storesconsumer electronicse-commerce spendinggas pricesJohn GamelMasterCard,MasterCard Advisorsonline apparel salesonline jewelry sales,SpendingPulse

 Shoppers spent $13.8 billion online in February, a 13.2% year-over-year increase, according to an estimate released today by MasterCard Advisors, the credit card company’s consulting arm.  Consumers spent $13.1 billion online in January.

February is the fourth consecutive month with double-digit online spending increases.  Plus, customers spent more money online in February this year than February last year in every category measured except department stores, MasterCard says, though the payment card network did not release figures for all categories.

The SpendingPulse unit uses surveys and data from its credit and debit card network to estimate all retail transactions. Increasing gas prices and unseasonably cold weather prompted many customers to stay at home to do their shopping in February, boosting web sales, says SpendingPulse analyst John Gamel.  “Not only are online sales doing well, e-retailers are stealing channel share from the bricks-and-mortar stores,” he says.  “One thing to watch is gasoline prices.  If they rise much higher, that will definitely help online sales even more.”

Related Articles/ INDUSTRY STATISTICSJanuary e-commerce spending rose 12%, MasterCard says

/ MOBILE COMMERCEMobile shopping behavior varies by product category

/ INDUSTRY STATISTICSShoppers in the U.K. increase online spending by 21% in January

The online apparel category continued to top the list of high performers in e-commerce, but the growth rate for the category is slowing down, SpendingPulse finds.  Online apparel spending increased 15% year over year in February, compared with an average year-over-year increase of 26.9% in the fourth quarter of 2010.  Gamel blames at least part of the decline in the growth rate on the online apparel market maturing.

Meanwhile, online jewelry sales increased 7.2% year over year in February following a 9.2% decline in January. Online electronics sales increased 5.4%, the category’s sixth straight month of growth. “Online electronics sales, unlike the total electronics sales, are still in positive territory,” he says.

 
 
400 million internet users in China! Surely this number will increase and therefore be an almost certain marketing segment for US and other advanced online marketers to try and tap. But do those Chinese internet users get to really experience the “world wide web” as most other “open societies” do?  According to the latest BusinessWeek article on this subject, they do not.

Having the trading clout China currently possesses, this is certainly a dilemma that will pose a problem for US companies such as Facebook and Twitter when their plans to add more members is blocked by the “Great Fire Wall of China”.

The problem I see is again a double standard… US companies are not allowed to compete for potential customers in China and other closed  markets because those governments censor internet content while they allow their own similar online companies to flourish with no competition from Western Markets.  Just because we are not exporting Rice or other durable goods to these markets doesn’t mean that a Facebook account that is content rich shouldn’t be afforded the same trade status.

A double standard that has vast implications on how a social network is created….

I hope that China’s Wall Street supported social network companies  being created with Government sponsorship, (read Communistic overtones),  behind the Great Fire Wall will not be unleashed on the rest of the world without a clear understanding of what agenda these companies have…     -jdognet

 
 
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From it’s creation in 2006 as a social texting phenomenon where users can follow the lives,  exploits and opinions of others, to a now viable advertising channel for small and mid-size advertisers,  Twitter is now getting the attention of Wall Street and the investment community.

As with any advertising, it only makes sense to look at your audience to determine if there is a way to place effective ads.  With 200 million twitter users worldwide,  it is apparent that a form of advertising would eventually be created here.

In the US alone there has been a steady growth of Twitter users.  Put that together with  the fact that the increased use of smartphones and even “semi-smart” phones, (those phones that have Twitter access via their wireless carriers proprietary setup),  will get more “consumer eyeballs”  on Twitters portal, and you definitely have a  good platform for niche advertising.  -jdognet


 
 
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As has been predicted, Facebook is making gains on display ad revenue.*    As Facebook flexes it’s muscle with their unique brand of “social advertising” within their pages, the other PPC  competition, Yahoo/Bing and Google, will certainly have to figure out a different strategy.

As businesses try and determine where the best place for their ad spending is, a compelling argument to advertise in  Facebook now exists.  Putting your ad where the most relevant ”consumer eyeballs” are is always the best practice.  -jdognet