Earned User Content = Marketing Ammo

Rainmakers know that great content is a key component to any digital marketing initiative, but when that content is user generated, its value multiplies. The travel sector is by nature a social segment as people always want to tell others what a great time they had visiting a destination or how their expectations were not met by the experience. Sites like Tripadvisor understand the value of earned media in the form of reviews so they support a campaign to recognize its most loyal reviewers and community members. The initiative showcases Tripadvisor’s star reviewers and their reviews. Great way to engage users and build credible content. Can't wait to read about all the Super Bowl experiences in New Jersey and New York City!

My TV - Anywhere, Anytime

This past Holiday Season the tablet proved to be the consumer electronic gift of choice positioning itself as a more promising marketing and e-commerce platform than the smartphone. In a new research report TDG boldly predicts that by 2017 U.S. tablet owners will view 58 billion hours of video on tablets, well beyond the 38 billion hours of total video viewed in 2011 online and via set top boxes connected to TVs. While the 58 billion hours still pales by comparison to the 520 billion hours viewed via TV, this trend points to an interesting possibility. Can you imagine the targeting if consumers adopted their tablets as their personal TV channel? Tablets could revolutionize personalization and portability and change the TV viewing experience, which for decades has been tied to a room. True portability untethers TV from a place and from the communal experience and imagine the added services that a Rainmaker who controls the pipe could create with a little imagination and a lot of targetable information?