Pink Banana Media & LGBTBrandVoice.com

Upon hearing the recent news of Fab.com throwing in the towel on the LGBT market, it immediately got me thinking about what actually did seem to work with the Fab.com website.  As one of the very first consumer websites, LGBT or otherwise, to integrate user-generated content in the form of social media, it truly was cutting edge in terms of what it had accomplished, what it showed can work and even more importantly, what it foretold about the future direction and success in consumer-oriented websites in general. What Fab.com showed the world was that the integration of social media into a newly-formed community-based website can work.  Websites for consumers seem to have followed a basic pattern, starting in the mid-90s as informational resources and then slowly, over time, graduating to the level of building true community, with tools for a website’s members to interact with each other, comment collectively on articles they had read together, meet each other and more. ...

In This Issue Spotlight on Destination Marketing Utilizing Facebook, Twitter, Blogs, Photos and Video to Market a Destination to both Gay & Lesbian Travelers and Locals as well The formula commonly in use today incorporates a Facebook fan page, a blog, a Twitter account, a Flickr account, and occassionally a YouTube channel... all dedicated exclusively to featuring the best of a local destination.... Other Highlights Updates on our Social Network Marketing Webinars What Are Other Destinations Doing in Social Media HOW TO: Use Twitter Hashtags for Business Proud Out coverboy or dangerous stereotype?: Sacha Baron Cohen’s “Brüno” gives LGBT media much to report and ponder “CBS News on Logo” is LGBT media’s latest economic casualty A Bear’s Life Gold Card Program Appreciate Marketing: Sendout Cards Paranormal Activity - A Film & Social Network Marketing Download PDF

The concepts of Touch Points and Connections become even more poignant in this new age of Twitter and the recent Facebook updates There can be little doubt that social network marketing is becoming one of the fastest growing areas in the marketing world today.  Every day, we are inundated with new terms and forced to continue to keep up with the latest in social networking technology, including these new Twitters everyone keeps talking about, and the more recent updates Facebook has launched in order to both stay on top of the growth curve and counter this Twitter phenomenon. In addition, it is becoming more and more clear that the eyeballs and attention of online users worldwide are continuing to migrate and spend more time in social networking sites than ever before.  Facebook was at 100,000,000 users as of July 2008, and they are now surpassing 200,000,000 today, doubling in the span of just months.  To accommodate this growth, Facebook has made a variety of changes designed to try...

For many years, traditional marketing was in the form of one-way communication. Through public relations and advertising campaigns, companies put forth value propositions to generate market appeal, attract and retain customers, and drive sales by talking “to” their potential customers. However, with the rise of social media such as blogs, online forums, and social networks like MySpace and Facebook, the voice of the consumer is quickly drowning out those carefully crafted company messages. With 3.5 million brand-related conversations taking place online daily in the United States, companies are realizing that marketing to today’s technology-driven consumers means engaging in two-way communication and talking “with” their potential customers. With the rise of social media, the transparency of information is increasing and companies are not able to hide behind their branding experts any longer. The successful companies of the future are going to have to establish a sense of ...