We recently chatted with Laura Coronado, Las Vegas Fashion Blogger at LollieShopping.com and long-time LVIMA member.
How is your career growing, even through the current tough economic times?
Because I am continually in the throws of developing my career and making a name for myself, I hold many titles. Mainly everyone knows me as a Las Vegas Fashion Blogger at LollieShopping.com where I am basically running my own online publication. I write, take photographs, record video, sell advertising, work promotional deals with brands, etc. I am a one-woman show doing it all, including personal brand development. Others know me as the Bargain Hunter columnist for Vegas Seven and a Las Vegas retail and fashion freelance writer. As a columnist and freelance writer, I work hard to champion the Las Vegas shopping scene.
But Monday-Friday from 8-5, I am a Copywriter and Editor for the marketing and communications department at Passion Parties, Inc. where I write copy for marketing collateral and training materials.
So what gets you up and going in the morning?
The satisfaction of having helped another person is what truly motivates my career. My passion is empowering others by giving them information and inspiration. That's why communications, particularly writing, is my chosen career. Whether I'm writing a product description for a retailer, a blog post about what I wore this week or a fashion article for a local magazine, I feel a connection to the reader and hope that he/she will be better informed and inspired to make confident consumer decisions.
What lesson has helped you get to this point in your career?
The greatest career lesson that I just learned within the past decade is to not rely on my employer to develop my talents, skills and career. One must be proactive in his/her career. If your employer seems to lack an interest in your professional development, take initiative to develop these skills for yourself. Do not hesitate to make a name for yourself beyond the walls of your full-time job. It's the greatest thing you can do for your career. And believe it or not, your employer will be impressed.
Let's talk a bit about networking in Las Vegas. What has been your greatest take-away from being a LVIMA member?
My greatest benefits from being a LVIMA member are the connections, friendships and networking. In Las Vegas, it helps to know all the right people; and most of them are LVIMA members.
Of the many Las Vegas networking organizations, why did you select to become a LVIMA member? And do you belong to any other professional organizations?
I don't belong to any other organizations besides LVIMA. I originally went to my first LVIMA mixer at the suggestion of Brandie Feuer, another LVIMA member and former committee chair. But I've maintained my membership because of all the fabulous people I've met through the organization. I truly believe Las Vegas' best and brightest are LVIMA members and can be found at the various events. It's quite dazzling and mesmerizing to engage in scintillating conversations with such smart people. I'm better for it.
What events have stood out to you as being most memorable and why?
That's a hard one to answer. Every mixer is enjoyable. Every presentation is educational. Every banquet is delightful. And every venue that generously offers their space for these events are amazing. I can't think of one single event that stands out as the most memorable, but I can think of several moments at various events that will stay with me forever, like sipping on wine with Vicki Soares at Mix Lounge, getting to know Shahab Zargari at Blue Martini, watching a bunch of guys scarf down hot wings at the summer mixers and spotting Hugh Grant at a recent mixer at The Foundation Room. Every LVIMA event has memorable moments to offer. Best of all, LVIMA keeps a wonderful archive of photos to prove it!
While Hugh Grant didn't make an appearance this time, the April 19th Mixer was yet another well-attended networking function. Held at Bar Vdara, the outdoor venue was an excellent choice to enjoy the pleasant mid-80s Las Vegas weather. The surroundings -- sophisticated yet playful -- set the tone for the evening. Guests couldn't resist trying out the whimsical swings or even sitting on the froufrou silver chairs that reminded me of bejeweled ladies' shoes. People at the bar could easily see the famous CityCenter "Big Edge" sculpture. The popular Bar Vdara appetizers included Thai-style shrimp wraps with pomelo, peanuts and sweet chili mayo; and vegetable samosas with chutney. Divine! Adding to the experience were the fancy trays and carriers.
During this event, attendees added Twitter handles to their name badges and included a favorite topic under "Ask me about [fill in the blank]." What a fun ice-breaker!
The interactive marketing community of Vegas arrived by 7pm and packed Bar Vdara. With the perfect weather, most stayed outdoors to mingle with first-time attendees, old friends and former co-workers. Big smiles all around! And yes, these interactive folks did not fail to check in on Foursquare or tweet about #lvima.
Another big hit that evening was the iSnap kiosk, set up especially for the event. Thanks to Rick Williams of SocialKiosk. With iSnap, guests took snapshots and instantly shared them via e-mail, Facebook, or Twitter.
As the event came to a close, a lucky winner received two tickets behind home plate to a Los Angeles Dodgers game PLUS a one night stay at The Standard in downtown L.A. (This door prize courtesy of ThinkRealtime).
For those who didn’t make it to this LVIMA mixer, we certainly missed you! To those who have yet to attend a LVIMA get-together: we sure hope to see you in our next event. If you're looking to gain more interactive marketing tips, join us on May 15 for an Educational Seminar at Sierra Gold. Save the date and stay tuned for updates.
Social media is and has been all the rage in recent years and for good reason. Used correctly, it can introduce a new brand or product to the world, rescue the reputation of a familiar but tarnished brand, establish a company or entity as the thought leader in a given vertical and so on and so on. And hey, it’s free! This simple fact makes diving into the medium very attractive for many companies without evaluating the hidden costs associated with a social media presence.
Sure the tools are free. Anybody can create a facebook account or sign up for Twitter in a matter of minutes, with absolutely zero money changing hands. Companies do just that on a daily basis. But do they have content? Most companies do, but is it relevant? Maybe not. In fact, probably not. Who’s going to curate that existing content and shape it into the timely, bite-size nuggets of goodness that the web runs on like tiny lumps of coal in the furnace of technology (yeah, that was cheesy, but I couldn’t resist)? Who is going to stoke that fire (yeah, I’m continuing the cheesy analogy) on an ongoing basis?
Social media content needs to be relevant and timely and it needs to be produced often. Establishing a blog is a great way to share your company’s knowledge in your given space and can ultimately be a place where consumers of whatever it is you produce will come to vet you and your brand. Ideally it’s also where they find out that you are a trusted expert in your field, one they want to give money to. But if your blog’s last post is dated April 13, 2011 and it’s 2012, that thought leading nugget of goodness you posted could cost you. How can a company who hasn’t posted anything in a year be relevant? And even if the content is smart and on the mark, it’s still old and by extension, you will be considered old, too. It’s just the sad reality of today’s social media landscape.
When your company is considering a social media presence, consider the hidden costs of content creation, curation and the man power required to keep that content and your company relevant on a regular and frequent basis. Otherwise, the social media tools you’re hoping will push you forward could end up being the reason you don’t go anywhere at all.
Set at the top of The Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino, high above the flurry of tourists & the bustle of The Strip, the iconic Foundation Room was host to the year’s first Las Vegas Interactive Marketing Association mixer. As expected, when you gather Las Vegas’ finest internet experts, marketing mavens, and social gurus together, the sheer volume flooding the Vegas Twittersphere was astounding. Add wristbands for complimentary open bar, and the tweets get even more compelling!
The Kickoff Mixer was like a two-sided coin; On the one side, it was awesome. It’s always enjoyable to see familiar faces from dear friends you know & love. On the other side of the coin, it was extra awesome. Being able to put names to faces I’ve never met “IRL” is always a joy and finally shortens the emotional distance you experience when you’ve only emailed someone in the past. (To catch anyone up, “IRL” is In Real Life. You should get a Twitter account.)
While in attendance of the Kickoff Mixer, members who tweeted us @LVIMA were entered to win an iPad 2 that was generously donated by our sponsor Think RealTime and a Roku player thanks to YuMe. Our lucky members Natalie Glover and Jay Fenster walked away one tech gadget richer that night and we hope they’re enjoying them. Let’s take a moment to have our eyes run over the fabulous sponsors below, as it is because of them that LVIMA is possible.
Last Thursday also commemorated LVIMA”s first official get-together under a new executive board. Now, I assure you, if you were in attendance of last week’s mixer and had as good of a time as I did, this year’s event schedule should grab your attention. A set of educational sessions, networking events, forums, Digital World Expo, and additional mixers should be on your “OMG Totally Looking Forward To” list…everyone has those, right? There will be no shortage of marketing geekery and Internet savvy at your disposal at LVIMA events this year, so be prepared for your attendance to pay off in valuable interactive marketing acumen. Check out the events page to make sure you save the dates when you can reconnect with your LVIMA friends again!
We really appreciate your membership to LVIMA, and the executive board truly cares about our members’ interests, opportunities and continual education. That’s why I cannot stress enough that 2012 is going to be LVIMA’s best year ever. A full workforce of leaders is actively developing a year’s worth of events to keep you informed, excited and participating in the Las Vegas Interactive Marketing industry. If it’s good enough for Hugh Grant, it’s good enough for me.
The proliferation of travel deal companies and social media platforms is leading to user's feeling overwhelmed by information. To counteract this, provide more information in an easy-to-understand presentation.
Newly released research by PhoCusWright and Amadeus shines new light on issues facing marketers. The main takeway for me is that there really isn't information overload -- there's actually a lack of relevant information when booking travel online.
First, some statistics from the report:
Roughly 50% of travelers don't have a destination in mind when starting to plan a trip
But more than 40% of travelers are flexible with their travel dates
And 47% of U.S. travelers experience frustration when planning and booking travel online
To break through the clutter, a new report titled "Empowering Inspiration: The Future of Travel Search" gives a number of key findings:
Not only isn't there too much information "out there," but there's not enough! Users feel overwhelmed when the organization and navigability of content is poorly constructed -- and when a high dose of irrelevant information is also included. Solution: summarize information at a high level then allow consumers to drill for more details.
The traditional city pair/travel date box is too constricting for the majority of users that have flexibility in their travel plans. Booking engines should display more information, not less.
Example 1
A user tries to book a 3-night trip to Las Vegas.
Booking engine "A" (poor): These nights are not available, try your search again.
Booking engine "B" (good): $109 / sold out / $149
Example 2
How are price fluctuations presented?
Booking engine "C" (not as good): $99 per night
Booking engine "D" (better): $89 / $99 / $109
More information -- not less -- leads to a better user experience and a higher chance the user books at your site. Taking into account the flexibility most users have when booking travel, each user can shift their travel dates so you retain the reservation.
- New combinations can unlock new possibilities. For example, Company E has hotels in four major U.S. casino destinations. Half of this company’s target audience doesn't even know where they want to go. So when a user does a search at one of the company’s property sites (e.g. Las Vegas Strip resort), show relevant content at other resorts -- even in other cities.
Provide every opportunity to capture that reservation once a user interacts with a specific property’s website and booking engine. Make it easy to search one site and show results that open up every relevant door. Keep that user in the brand family. Don't make that person go to another URL or (horrors!) an OTA that displays pricing across all resorts in a city. Now lost that customer won’t book direct and might book at a competitor.
A more intelligent booking stream would lead from inputting information the user is decided on. Don't force location and specific date fields to be filled in. Most people know one or the other. Some don’t know either.
Then highlight and feature search results for the specific parameters the user included for the specific hotel that person searched for. But then provide additional information on:
Other Las Vegas properties (and provide rate information)
Rates on other dates (if flexible when the person travels)
Other location options (Reno, Atlantic City, Biloxi) with deep-link options to see rates in those locales
Provide more intelligent information at the point a user makes a decision. This will also help drive more bookings online vs. phone.
There's too much in the 37-page report to summarize in this blog, but another key learning is to develop a laser-sharp focus on exactly what is achievable via social media and apply internal resources only to achieve those specific goals. The report found that "travelers are not as likely to seek company-generated content on their social networks because they habitually use other websites like OTAs, supplier sites, etc."
Is pouring resources into mass social media campaigns and efforts a wise investment for your company-- and will it likely change the online behavior of your customers?
While thinking about that, peruse the full findings:
Mobile Shopping: Mainstream 38 percent of smartphone owners have used their phone to make a purchase at least once in the course of their device ownership. The most popular products purchased on smartphones during the month of September included digital goods, clothing/accessories, tickets and daily deals. _____________________
Tech Marketers Increase Budgets in 2012 In a new global research report released today by IDG Research Services, two-thirds of the technology marketers surveyed said they expect their budgets to rise on average 3.5% next year compared to this year. Digital programs will capture half the spend with 58% on demand generation and 42% on branding. Events is second at almost 24%. _____________________________
Four Best Practices For Online Video As the online video economy expands, agencies continue to refine their rules of the road. These four best practices can help put developers and marketers alike on the right track to producing successful videos for online consumption. _____________________________
XBOX, Sorta, "Kinecting" with Mobile So much attention is being paid to the new Xbox 360 and Kinect platform's TV partnerships that it is easy to overlook another critical component also rolling out in today's big refresh. Now that the Xbox 360 is starting to act like a set-top TV box, it is also reaching out to the same mobile platform that is also so appealing to the likes of Turner Cable and Comcast. _____________________________
Google Acquires Katango Google has acquired the social networking software company Katango, the startup disclosed in a brief announcement. Katango, just over a year old, says it develops "social algorithms that improve people's online social interaction." The company will become part of the Google+ team. The company in July launched an iPhone app intended to make it easier to selectively share with various groups of friends on Facebook; they describe the company's software as an "automatic friend sorter." _____________________
No Computers Exploding on 11/11/11 Internet message boards have been abuzz with queries and concerns about computer security and today's date - 11.11.11 - but experts reveal it's unlikely anything monumental will happen and that exercising normal security measures should keep computers functioning normally. "My my cuz told me that on 11 11 11 the computers will explode," read one message on a Yahoo! message board. _____________________________
Google Launches Daily Deal App Google has released its new Google Offers mobile app that allows users to discover, buy and redeem deals on the go. The free app will notify users about all the offers as per their interests. One can purchase offers in just a few clicks and even redeem paperlessly with select merchants, highlighted Google. _____________________________
GroSocial Adds Viral Vote to Platform GroSocial today announced the addition of Viral Vote, a new feature that enables the creation of promotional voting campaigns on Facebook pages, to the company's low-cost, premium Customizer platform. The Viral Vote feature allows Facebook administrators to create customized, side-by-side comparative voting promotions. Customizer is GroSocial's social media marketing solution that enables small-to-medium businesses to connect to customers on Facebook through a platform that provides robust features and simplified functionality at a low cost. _____________________________
Crowdsourced Advertising Brought to Facebook Marketplace. Crowdsourced SEM management startup Trada is released its version of a crowdsourced Facebook advertising marketplace. Trada, which launched in March of 2010, is launching a marketplace that lets advertisers and agencies leverage Facebook ad experts to create campaigns on the social networks.
11.03.11 - LAS VEGAS – Las Vegas Interactive Marketing Association (LVIMA) officially opened the Call for Entries for the 6th annual Las Vegas Digital Media Awards being held on December 14, 2011 at Cili Restaurant located at 5160 Las Vegas Boulevard South.
Las Vegas digital media designers, ad agencies, interactive media firms, businesses and local interactive marketing professionals are invited to submit entries for the much anticipated Digital Media Awards. Entries for the 2011 LVDMA will close at midnight on November 21, 2011. For rules, categories and submission visit www.lvdma.com. The judging panel consists of national Interactive Marketing Associate (IMA) chapter leaders from across the country.
“We’ve built a momentum in annually showcasing and recognizing great creative talent. We’re expecting this to be another successful awards event.” said Chairman and Co-Founder Shawn Rorick. “We launched the Media Awards six years ago with four categories and only 30 entries. Last year we had more than 100 entries in 10 different categories.”
This year the Las Vegas Digital Media Awards has once again partnered with Vegas Seven, a weekly local news and entertainment publication. A portion of all event proceeds will be donated to the Through the Eyes of a Child Foundation.
FTC officials have repeatedly said they would like companies to allow people to opt out of online tracking by third parties, not just ad targeting. Current self-regulatory standards prohibit ad networks and others from sending targeted ads to users based on the data about which sites they visit, but don't prevent companies from tracking users as they go from site to site.
A computer virus that records the keystrokes of US military operators has infected two classes of American military drones. "We keep wiping it off, and it keeps coming back," a military source told Wired's Danger Room, which broke the story. "We think it's benign. But we just don't know."
Social media marketers feel that having a presence on social sites is more important than advertising there, but there are still challenges related to keeping a community running online.
Yahoo! News reports that content delivery network provider Limelight Networks, Inc., has sold its rich media advertising unit EyeWonder to DG Fastchannel Inc., the network operator that links advertisers with radio and television stations, for about $66 million in cash. As a result, its shares went up 8 percent in pre-market trading. ____________________________
Hacking Has Now Become "Gamified" To the uninitiated, hacker culture commands a mysterious allure. It's a world filled with shadowy aliases and technical jargon. In this secret underground, libertarian warriors — or infantile nihilists, depending on your point of view — plot the capture of corporate data centers and attacks on government agencies ____________________________
The Math Behind Multi-Touch Attribution To put it simply, people spend a lot of effort (R&D cycles, budgets, etc.) on "what" can happen - and not much effort to explain "why" something happens. In digital advertising, to explain "why," a user takes an action that falls within the area of attribution. _____________________________
The Value of Social Media Sponsorships Paying for mentions in social media, or social media sponsorships, has become a more popular marketing tactic. By late 2009, it had attracted the attention of the US Federal Trade Commission, which released regulations requiring bloggers and certain other online publishers to disclose when they receive cash, free products or other compensation for a product or brand mention. But marketers are still interested in this form of outreach.
Steve Jobs Resigns, 5 things to watch for... Apple cofounder Steve Jobs has stepped down permanently as company CEO, and many observers are asking what's next for the popular technology company now that its visionary leader is gone. Jobs was succeeded by Tim Cook, who has served as Apple's chief operating officer since 1998. Jobs, while no longer CEO, will remain at Apple as the company's board chairman. ________________________
Now there are some company names a lot fewer people may recognize than Facebook or Twitter. These companies don't get nearly as much press, but they're just as important in their own way. Without them, navigating and managing social media accounts would be a lot more difficult - maybe even impossible. ________________________
"Anonymous" Facebook Takedown... NOT It appears as though the threat for a Nov. 5th takedown of Facebook is false (duh!). The "Hactivist" group 'Anonymous' relinquished their hold on everyone's captive attention by posting the final nail in the coffin of speculation.
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ComScore's Main Web Tracking Tool Hit With Privacy Lawsuit comScore (NSDQ: SCOR) is one of the biggest analytics companies out there, and its statistics about internet usage are quoted constantly in the press. A new lawsuit alleges that the company's primary strategy for getting that data—composing a "panel" of more than 2 million users who install comScore software on their computers—is a serious violation of those users' privacy.
Social Media Check-up With budget season around the corner, is your social media marketing on track to achieve its business objectives? Your social media marketing assessment should be done in the context of your overall marketing mid-year checkup. Here's a five-point social media marketing checklist to assess how you're doing so far this year.
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Mobile Marketing Mashup Mobile is hot. We get that. What makes something hot in the Internet marketing space is the amount of information that is flying around about it and if that's one of the main barometers of success mobile has hit the big time for sure. Here is some of the latest mobile information that you may find interesting.
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Google Plus to Fuel Real-Time Search Google, which recently ended its contract with Twitter to help power its real-time search function and subsequently suspended real-time search, is working to bring back the service by using data from Google+ and other services. Google Fellow Amit Singhal shared these plans at a recent panel about search moderated by Search Engine Land's Danny Sullivan.
Inter-connected TV to Grow 36% by 2016 Over 60% of Internet-connected TV households use TV apps at least once per week, according to Scottsdale, Ariz.-based In-Stat. New wave TVs allow consumers to connect with Netflix, YouTube, Facebook, and more. _______________________
Display Ad Execs Call For Data Education Ignorance is bliss, but not when it comes to tapping data to target display ads. In fact, not knowing the nuances can turn a brilliant ad campaign into a costly disaster. ______________________________
Virtual World Usage Accelerates Second Life, with 27 million registered users, continued to hold the top position in terms of the age of the average user — 36. Its closest neighbor by age group was Utherverse, with 8 million registered users, and an average age of 35. The fastest-growing age group, however, was those between 10 and 15, who gained 652 million new registered users.
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