ThingLink…If an image could sound

admin — Wed, 30 Mar 2011 23:53:30 +0000

The photos above and below are part of a transformation that I’m helping promote. I work with ThingLink but I’m also a musician. And a lucky one that I get to pioneer something I feel is truly new, innovative and important. Like lots of indie musicians, I’m always looking for new ways to promote and share information about my music. In this case, I’m promoting my debut CD, Sacred Love. Now this is a post about images but I get to be the star too — so check out the photo below. I’m bronzed like Hans Solo in Star Trek. You’ll notice small dots inside the image. They are called ThingLinks: in-image links from inside this photo to any place I choose. The tags act like channels to information I want to share. The tags are easy to set up with a description (250 characters) and URL. In this case, I set up ThingLinks to my blog, my latest press release, my Twitter and Facebook pages, to my photographer’s website, and there’s a surprise. There is a Sound Player embedded in this image. Click on the play button and my song, Edge of Eternal, plays. That is cool! So for musicians like me, that photo – which I was only able to observe before – has become something more than a beautiful composite by photographer Mario Covic. It’s now an information wallet I can share throughout my social network. Here are some things I can do with Thinglinked images that help me socialize me images:

Announce my ThingLinked photo to friends and fans on Facebook and Twitter, and email a link. Fans can do the same. If ‘m lucky, I made a new fan. Thanks to this ThingLinked photo.
Embed a photo with ThingLinks… in my other blogs and websites. The links stay in the image. And fans can share it, too.
Allow readers to add their OWN ThingLinks to the image. I wonder where fans would place links.
Receive stats from ThingLink (as part of a free account) on how many people are interacting with my images with views, hovers and clicks.

Try hovering your mouse over the image and I put links into – and see what comes up. After you sign up at ThingLink.com, you add three lines of code to your blog or website page. ThingLink works on websites and blogging platforms. If you’re hosting a WordPress site, there is a beta ThingLink plug-in that you can download via WordPress. Have fun and share your stories.

NOTE: This post was reprinted from ShambhuMusic.com – my music blog.

Public Relations Measurement 2010: Five Things to Forget & Five Things to Learn

admin — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 00:46:15 +0000

From a terrific post on public relations campaign measurement by Don Bartholomew, Principal of Acumentics Research, a social media and public relations research and measurement consultancy.

“Public relations measurement is at a crossroads. Old techniques are no longer sufficient.

Old metrics are no longer applicable. Old thinking must be replaced by new.

The need for accountability,and to prove the value of PR and social media programs,

has never been greater.

As we look to the next year, here are five things to forget and five things to learn about

public relations measurement in 2010.”

In-House Analytics Skills: Not a Luxury

Shambhu Vineberg — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 23:08:09 +0000

According to the Serengeti Agency, for digital marketers, analytics is like breathing. Nothing else in the body functions in the absence of breathing. No matter how hard you try, breathing cannot be outsourced. This is true regardless of whether digital marketing is accomplished by an in-house team or outsourced to an agency.

Social Media Monitoring & Analytics » PR Firms

ThingLink…If an image could sound

Public Relations Measurement 2010: Five Things to Forget & Five Things to Learn

In-House Analytics Skills: Not a Luxury