32% of Influential Churches in the U.S. are on Facebook

Social Networking is Shaping Religion Today

According to a survey Sojo recently conducted, 32% of the country’s most influential churches surveyed are using Facebook. Some of the churches surveyed included:

• World Changers Church International in College Park, Georgia
• Calvary Chapel of Ft Lauderdale
• North Point Community Church in Alpharetta, Georgia
• Southeast Christian Church in Louisville, Kentucky
• Second Baptist in Houston, Texas
• Word of Faith International Christian Church in Southfield, Michigan

Of the churches surveyed, 32% reported either having a Facebook page or group for their church or for its individual ministries. All 32% of the churches using Facebook stated that they initially started using Facebook as a means to connect with their Facebook-using members. Now, the top reasons for using this particular social network is still for connecting with members but has evolved as a tool for communicating important upcoming events and volunteer opportunities to members of the congregation that use Facebook. One church reported that they wanted to stay "relevent" to what its' youth in the congregation was using to communicate.

In this survey, junior high and high school membership averaged to be 1,063 members. Averages for college student and members in their early 20's were not applicable.

Two churches surveyed reported that their pastors had personal MySpace pages. MySpace and YouTube tied for being the second most used social networks among the churches we surveyed. Twitter, one of the fastest growing social networks right now, is currently only being used by 10% of the churches in Sojo's survey. Several churches mentioned they were looking into possibly jumping onto the Twitter bandwagon.

Surprisingly, only 10% stated they were using Tangle (originally GodTube.com), the world's largest faith and family-based social network with 550,000 registered users. And another 10% stated they were not using any form of social networks.

Below is a breakdown of the social networking sites revealed in our survey.

The Stories behind the Big Brands

Neatorama tells the stories behind some of our country's biggest brands. I really enjoyed reading them! Check out the top 10 food brands, car brands, Hollywood Studio logos, and tech logos.

Morton Salt

Betty Crocker

Paramount Studios

Ford Motor Company

Canon

Even Carnival Cruise Lines is going Interactive

Want a pet fish but don't want to have to deal with the maintenance of feeding the fish or cleaning out the tank? Just find one of Carnival Cruise Lines interactive fish tanks and you can create your own digital fish!



Carnival saw an opportunity to utilize empty store windows to their advantage. When pedestrians walk by the window, sea life move in response to their movements. Using your cell phone, you create a fish, and even come back to feed and interact with your fish later!

Currently the interactive aquariums are in Baltimore, Dallas, Houston, Los Angeles, New York and Washington D.C.

The History of the Internet

Microsoft released version 8 of Internet Explorer and a funny video on the history of the Internet.

Social Networking Sites Launched

We've been super busy here at Sojo!

Recently one of our clients ventured into social networking waters and we couldn't be more happier! Now they are unlocking even more opportunities to further connect with their audience. Not to mention, we had a ton of fun creating these sites for them!

Be sure and check them out!

Taffi Dollar's Facebook

Follow Taffi Dollar on Twitter

Taffi Dollar's MySpace

Taffi Dollar's Ministry MySpace

The Silver Lining

Innovation is everywhere.

It can come in the simplest forms - and are often born from problems or tough times.

Despite the current automobile industry crisis, take for example Henry Ford. He often wondered, "How can I get the people to the work?" His solution arrived when he changed the form of his question, "How can I get the work to the people?"

From that problem, came a little creativity, and a big innovation: The assembly line.

The assembly line later led way to a total reinvention of the work flow - the mass production, which allowed for more affordable goods (not to mention higher wages for Ford employees). Now that owning a vehicle was more of a reality, this created a higher demand for the product. This innovative work flow that Ford Motor Company instilled would become the example that many other industries would follow.

Simply because Henry Ford reformed his question.

Challenges often breed more creativity.

And sometimes, we can accidentally stumble across a discovery. For example, chocolate chip cookies, Post-It Notes, microwaves, and Penicillin were all discovered accidentally while the person was trying to solve another problem.

Thus, we must always be open to new ideas and new ways of thinking...especially during challenging times. You never know what great innovation or invention could come out of it!

Brand New: Logos

Ever see redesigned logos of well-known brands and then find yourself googling them to compare the old with the new? Okay, maybe that's just me.

Anyhow, Brand New is a great design blog that focuses on corporate and brand identity work. And with some hilarious commentary to accompany.

Here are a few side-by-side looks at some of the brands they feature.






Now whether the new design fairs better than the old, well, I'll let you decide.

Still not on the wagon?

The media has changed so much in such a short amount of time and it affects all industries, especially the journalism industry. There is the traditional media relations method of press releases and pitching, but that is only one aspect now. Nowadays, with social networking, RSS feeds, and blogs - and just so much information floating around in cyberspace, organizations have to compete even more to get noticed. Because of the advances, journalists' method of finding material to cover has changed.

I recently came across an article via one of my twitter friends, @sallyfalkow, that confirmed my thoughts. She posted a recent report from Bulldog/TEK group reporter's survey on her blog.

It went a little something like this:

More of What Journalists Want

The second annual survey of working journalists across all media generated responses from 2,386 journalists, of which approximately 48% were editors or editorial staff and 34% were reporters or writers. The survey tracks the resources journalists use to search, follow and report news and features material.

There‘s been a significant increase in usage of blogs, social media and RSS feeds to stay on top of the news.

* Almost 75% of journalists read one or more blogs to keep up with the subject matter they cover, compared with only about 70% a year ago.
* 29% of journalists regularly read five or more blogs to keep up with their beat, compared with about 26% last year.

Social media use has seen an even bigger jump

* 75% of journalists use social media to research stories, compared with about 67% last year.
* Almost 38% of journalists now say they visit a social media site at least once a week as part of their reporting, compared with only 28% last year.
* More than 53% now say they visit a social media site at least once a month, up from about 44% last year.

Tracking news with RSS Feeds has increased too:

* 19% of journalists report that they receive five or more RSS feeds of news services, blogs, podcasts or videocasts every week, a gain of about three percentage points over last year
* 47% of online journalists track more than five feeds
* 41% of journalists receive at least one regular RSS feed, a gain of over four percentage points.

Digital Assets – a new PR skill

23% of the journalists polled say they seek audio or video material from corporate websites at least once a month—an increase of about three percentage points over the past year.

Among journalists working in national television, some 10.3% seek audio or video material once a week or more and that number jumps to 46.7% seeking such material at least once every three months.

Among journalists working in local radio, some 38.4% seek audio or video from corporate websites at least once a month.

Online News as a Resource

51% of journalists report that they use Google News and 32% use Yahoo! News services to follow the news. That means they are searching news sites for information and you need to have all your digital assets - press releases, video and images - optimized for search.

Technology - blogs, social media, RSS feeds, SEO - they are all here to stay. Still feeling overwhelmed? It's okay, we are here to help. That's what we are here for. Take a look at our website to see how we can help you. Or better yet, email me at nicole.galletta@sojoinc.com with any questions you might have.

Ads on Edge

Ads on Edge

View SlideShare presentation or Upload your own. (tags: branding recession)

More information encouraging decision makers to change advertising and marketing spending, not cut it. In challenging economic times, all areas - professional and personal - need to be evaluated and altered, but not necessarily eliminated completely. This slide show presentation from The Economist, while aim solely on print advertising, can be applied to all elements of marketing, not just print.

Arby's Hijacks Atlanta Billboards

Arby's, which is headquartered in our home city of Atlanta, has recently taken over many billboards in the city without having to pay for the expense of actually being on a billboard. How so?

By hijaking the billboards! And for their current campaign, "I'm thinking Arby's" it works pretty well.



Here is a billboard of one of Atlanta's local weather meteorologists, Dagmar Midcap, that was recently taken over by Arby's.

Don't Cut the Budget, Just Change It!

Often times during tough financial times, companies feel like they should cut some unnecessary spending. And more often than not, the marketing department is the first area to get budget cuts. Various studies over the years, however - like the ones featured on the Financial Times website, prove that marketing is beneficial and even crucial, in times of recession.




According to one study featured on Financial Times, Kellogg's maintained its marketing spending during the 1930s depression, while Post did not. Kellogg then dominated the dry cereal market for the next half-century. As shown in a McKinsey & Company report, the companies who increased their spending in a recession were the only ones whose profits rose substantially when the economy recovered.

The companies that kept their marketing budget in tact, or increase them, were able to keep their voice heard, thus allowing consumers to stay familiar with their brand. And by keeping or increasing their marketing budget, these companies were able to increase market share and profitability over time, ultimately making their companies stronger players than the companies that decreased or eliminated their marketing spending.

Can I have your attention please: Banner Ads

Has anyone noticed that banner ads are a lot sexier than they use to be? These mini, yet flashy animations are much more impressive than their static counterparts that were displayed back in the day. Unfortunately, flashy doesn’t necessary mean a hit. A “hit” is when the user actually selects the banner ad to view the web page.

Banner ads are key components of branding a company’s identity. Ideally, the company wants you to click the ad, visit their site and hopefully purchase something. A memorable ad may stick around unconsciously and the viewer may search for that product or service at a later time. Many people have caught on to the schemes of online freebees and the success rate of banner ads have dropped since their initial introduction. The integrity that a company upholds in the public’s eye is key to their longevity. If the product or service can’t be offered for free then maybe providing general information or a discount is more suitable.

Getting your banner on sites that has major traffic can be costly but the ROI may be worth it. Sites that are targeted more should equal more hits for your banner. There are also businesses that will post your banner ad on publisher’s web sites. A less costly route is to exchange banner space with a partner or client, which is where building relationships can finally pay-off.

Annoying as some ads may be, banner ads can be just as entertaining as a new movie preview. With applications such as Adobe Dreamweaver, Adobe Flash and Paint Shop Pro, these compressed, interactive and motion packed ads can deliver an entertaining message.

RSS Feeds Right to Your Inbox

RSS feeds are becoming quite useful. RSS (Rich Site Summary) is a standardized format for delivering regularly changing web content - such as sites with blog entries or news headlines.

If you have a favorite blog (like the Sojo Lounge blog) or website that regularly updates its content, you can subscribe to its RSS feed. However, not every site has syndicated its content, in other words, it is not accessible via a RSS feed.

RSS feeds can be read using software called RSS Reader, Feed Reader, or News Aggregator. This software allows you to grab the RSS feeds from various sites and display them conveniently in one place for you to read. My Yahoo, Bloglines, and Google Reader are popular web-based feed readers. Disney, Wired, CNN, and Forbes are among some of the sites that syndicate their content.

Many blogs and website have icons on their site that indicate they syndicate their content. This icon is the most recognizable representation of a RSS Feed.



From that icon, you can usually subscribe directly to that website's content, however every website is different.

You can subscribe to our blog by going to the "Subscribe to our RSS Feed" feature. There you will see the icon above. Click on "Posts" and you will see several options. You can get Sojo Lounge full blog posts to several of the most popular web-based feed reader software as described earlier. You can go directly to our RSS feed url by clicking on the "Atom" option. Using the drop down menu, you can opt to have the RSS feed delivered straight to your Outlook inbox.

Happy RSSing!

Business Holiday Cards: To send or not to send?

The holidays are just around the corner and according to the retail stores, the holiday season is already among us.

So, the question is: To send out business holiday cards or not to send out?

The answer is yes. Now more than ever, companies and organizations should be sending out holiday greetings to their customers, clients, and business associates.

Here's why:

Warm Fuzzies
Your customers will appreciate the gesture. You can in turn, show your existing customers you appreciate their business. Whether you are sending a card to a customer you've had for years or to a potential customer, they will be happy you thought of them. Sending out greetings is a way to touch base with customers, nurture business relationships, and enhance customer loyalty.

Name Recognition
Name recognition lends credibility to your brand. Credibility is great for business.

Impression is Everything
Sending out holiday greetings gives your company an opportunity to stand out and make a good impression. And if you do design work, like we do, it gives also you a chance to show off what you can do by sending out your own creative holiday cards.

Head Start to Upcoming Year
The holidays are the perfect time to create or update your customer list. This list will proved to be useful throughout the upcoming year throughout all your marketing efforts. By sending out holiday cards, you will know that your customer list is updated at least once a year (given that you actually take the time update your list). It is very important that you update this list every year. Businesses merge and companies move to different locations, not to mention you've probably made a good many business contacts throughout that year that should be included.

Now that you know why you should send holiday greetings to your business contacts, here are a few things to remember:

Your Message
Keep in mind that not everyone has the same beliefs. "Season's Greetings" or "Happy Holidays" are generally some of the safe bets. Conveying the right message inside of your card for your audience is crucial. Also, the message you convey represents your company, so choose wisely.

Avoid the Rush
Remember that post offices across the country will be extremely busy during the holiday season, so to be sure your cards arrive on time, aim to mail out your cards before or during the first week of December.

Personal Touch
A handwritten address on the envelope and a hand-signed card can go a long way. It avoids that "mass mailing" look and shows your customer that you genuinely cared enough to take the time out and personally sign the car.


Interactive Greetings
The same ideas above should be applied to interactive cards. Of course, the "personal touch" aspect changes. It should still be applied, just applied differently. With interactive cards you can personalized them to your audience, and even send out specific cards to specific parts of your audience. Interactive cards should sent in a timely manner. Unless they are wishing a happy new year, cards should be sent out before the holidays. Otherwise, it is kind of like showing up for a parade that's already passed by.

Take a look at our interactive greeting.

Simple, Yet Often Forgotten

Some of the simplest ways to promote your company, organization, or website:

• Include your company name, logo/branding, and website on everything you print
• Business cards
• Company stationery with matching envelopes (with branding)
• Product labels
• Packaging
• In your phone greeting and/or hold message
• Signs in your office or store
• Trade show displays

Perhaps the simplest of all is in your email signature. Imagine how many emails you send out per day and how many potential people or markets you could be reaching...you might be surprise how far your business could go just by placing your url in that little corner of your email.

Ad Age's 2008 Marketer of the Year

There are six candidates.

Do these surprise you? Maybe so, maybe not. See why the staffers at Ad Age chose these six finalists.