Pink Banana Media & LGBTBrandVoice.com

Social networking has been around for centuries. Today, however, its most popular manifestation is online. For the LGBT community, social networking has proven to be beneficial in so many ways. Gay social networking has proven a means of galvanizing support for causes while creating real bonds between groups allied for specific social issues. For a business or charity interested in reaching the gay community, we at Pink Banana Media understand how important it is to reach out in appropriate ways to connect effectively. The Power of the Web in Gay Social Networking The purpose of social networking is to expand the number of social or business contacts. It begins with connecting with one individual or organization. This is a social tool businesses can utilize to expand their area of influence into a specific targeted group. Gay social networking is a means through which businesses, organizations and individuals can connect with the community. In such endeavors, it is important to...

How Do I Get My Web 2.0 and Social Networking World All Working Together in Synchronized Harmony? Finding the most efficient ways of using photos, blogs and videos to promote your company on the Internet, far and wide! ...from our July 2009 Gay Business Report, we went into great detail as to how and why to use Twitter, and over the past two months, even more has evolved on this topic that provides even greater relevancy to using Twitter in our business lives. But Twitter is still only part of the story, as it is both one of our primary TOOLS?for managing our online content and one of our primary TOUCH POINTS?for communicating our content’s message to a wide and relevant audience worldwide... Other Highlights Updates on our Social Network Marketing Webinars How To: Manage Social Media Goals and Expections Interview with Scott Monty, Global Digital Communications Manager at Ford 13 Steps That Transformed One Company From Invisible King to Sought Leader 9 Rules of Facebook Promotion...

Finding the most efficient ways of using photos, blogs and videos to promote your company on the Internet, far and wide! It’s interesting, but as we enter into the latter half of 2009, we can look back less than a year and see how when it comes to social network marketing, we’re living history as we speak. There was a day when only a small handful of early adopters even knew what Twitter was. Now, it’s become part of our daily dialogue (can you say “Tweet”), the way “ Google ” has turned into “Googling” and become a verb. From our July 2009 Gay Business Report , we went into great detail as to how and why to use Twitter, and over the past two months, even more has evolved on this topic that provides even greater relevancy to using Twitter in our business lives. But Twitter is still only part of the story, as it is both one of our primary TOOLS for managing our online content and one of our primary TOUCH POINTS for communicating our content’s message to a wide and rele...

We are working on an article for the September 2009 Gay Business Report that ties in nicely with Part 2 of our upcoming webinar we are doing on September 2nd, focusing on some of the more advanced trends and techniques in social network marketing as we enter the latter half of 2009. The focus of this article, and what we touch on in our webinar and offer as a service to our clients, is all about setting a social network marketing strategy that includes and brings together the various social network marketing activities a person or company is doing, into one cohesive marketing plan and execution. Part 1 of our discussions is always easy... it focuses on Facebook , as Facebook is a great place for most of us to start... to cut our teeth, so to speak, on how social network marketing works. And for many of us, Facebook can be the beginning and the end of our social network marketing strategy, as it provides us a platform from which to speak our mind (status updates), share links of o...

In This Issue New Marketing Tools for 2009 How to get more targeted visitors to your site In the last edition, Matt Skallerud wrote a great article, "Making Sense of Social Media." He compared social media to talk radio and old-fashioned telephone party lines. "A tiny percent call - but everybody is listening." This article is going to teach you how to best market to all of those "listeners...." LGBT Marketing Forum: European Tourism and Hospitality Leaders to Gather in London Timely Discussion of Gay and Lesbian Growth Opportunities During Economic Downturn Unprecedented economic challenges facing the global tourism and hospitality industries have led leaders to explore viable "niche" markets to fill the gaps. Research over the past decade has indicated particular strength in the gay and lesbian markets, who continue to take holidays in large numbers during recessions, health scares, etc. Community Marketing, Inc. (CMI), the international LGB...

Monthly Gay Business Report November 2008 Edition A monthly companion piece to the annual Gay Market Report , this monthly publication features select new articles from the Gay Market Report , as well as Current GLBT Business News relevant to companies targeting the GLBT community. In addition, we're featuring a variety of company spotlights on unique companies in the GLBT space, as well as successful companies reaching the GLBT community. In This Issue 5 Steps for Successful Social Media Marketing Let's say you've gotten the approval to get your company involved in social media marketing and are ready to launch your efforts. How will you define success? Spotlight on Clear Channel’s PrideRadio.com Over the past few years, we've had a variety of satellite and online radio stations appear with some incredible content ranging from dance music to talk radio. We've also recently had real world, terrestrial radio stations bring their music online including 92.7 Ene...

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 ...