Monica Yoo

technology. science. marketing.

For The Computer-Addicted

This video is for you:

There is still a large number of people out there (even amongst my close friends) who are unfamiliar with Meetup and I think this “Intervention” video is a pretty good attempt for getting the word out. It definitely is going to go viral, if it isn’t already…but I’m sure it is.

You may be wondering how I got my hands on this and the truth is, someone sent it to me…because I, Monica Yoo am a “Screen-Addict” (Computer and Crackberry, specifically) and have a high probability of developing large thumbs … and I also refer to my bestfriend, Google, quite often. =D

Leveraging Social Media

While the idea of Social Media has become a fairly mainstream concept in the startup, internet and technology realm, it seems as though it is finally making an entrance in other industries. In other words, the value of leveraging various online tools such as social networking, social bookmarking, blogging, and etc. are receiving the acknowledgment they deserve for the tremendous amount of influence it can potentially spawn.

The following video below demonstrates and explains how Social Media plays an integral role in marketing and driving business.

An important lesson to note about Social Media is keeping in mind and paying attention to how it is utilized to enhance marketing within the business scope. Many times, I’ve noticed that people place too much effort and weight on tactics. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not undermining the value of any tactical execution because it’s arguably a necessary component of any successful marketing attempt, but there’s more to maximizing Social Media tools than just posting a video onto YouTube, creating an email campaign, writing a few blog entries and submitting a couple of articles to Digg. It’s vital to be aware that each Social Media tool has its own unique personality, environment and sense of community. What this means is that as a modern day marketer, you need to understand the culture of each Social Media micro-world to see how involvement with it will ultimately affect your business marketing goals. You want to know why partaking in some type of Social Media will move you closer to your goal, so that you have the knowledge to do other things to help achieve the aim.

I view Social Media as if it were a watch. It has many moving parts, with gears of different shapes and sizes but each that have their own purpose to tell time. Some gears work more than others, but if one gear breaks, big or small, the entire time-telling breaks as well. In Social Media management, you’re going to find that some tools have a greater value to your operation (which is a-OK) and the beauty of this is to find a balance in all of it. The objective is to effectively listen to and monitor your target audience and cater to what they want and looking for. You need to formulate a Social Media campaign that makes sense to your audience and the people you want to reach out too. Translation: Each Social Media campaign will be unique for every company.

I can’t tell you which Social Media tools are great and worthy, because frankly they’re all good in their own right (and new ones are sprouting daily). But I will share with you that an effective Social Media campaign will be one that fosters a pleasant user experience that provides all the stuff (information, links, videos, online gadgets, advice, podcasts, blogs, people and etc) that they’re looking for and might be interested in all readily and easily available.

Social Media management isn’t about managing your audience, but managing the tools to fit what your audience needs and wants.

Now that we live in a highly sophisticated world of saavy internet users, it’s faux pas for companies and organizations to not incorporate modern marketing strategies along with their traditional marketing methods.

Big News: Bubblevine has Launched!

bubblevine

Bubblevine is a project I have been working on for a while now and it’s very exciting to have it go live!

The idea for Bubblevine came about at the end of my junior year in college when I noticed how much stuff (perfectly good stuff) was being thrown away all because students didn’t know what to do with it since they couldn’t take it home with them. Walking down the halls of various dorm buildiings, it was fairly common to see piles of bookshelves, lamps, TVs, bean bags, toasters, futons and other items by the dumpster. I remember thinking to myself that there must be hundreds of kids on campus that need stuff like this to furnish their apartment and dorm room. This is the magical moment where I decided to start my own little project to create a website that fosters a campus community where college students can buy stuff and sell stuff with one another.

There is also one other reason I felt inclined to pursue Bubblevine, and that’s safety. Before there was any other alternative, most students resorted to Craigslist. Although the site works, the downfall to it is that you have no idea who’s house you’ll be going to pick up the bargain deal, what their neighborhood is like, how far the place is in relation to you (until you Google it) and the flip-side, you have no knowledge about the person who will be coming to your doorstep to pick something up. During my college years, my experience with Craigslist has been less than awesome – and I’ve had several. There are two specific instances I vividly remember. The first one was when I thought I found a great deal on a TV. It wasn’t too far from me, so I said, “why not?” Not being a San Antonio native, I naively drove into a pretty sketchy part of town. I came out OK, but sometimes I question if it was really worth it. Another not so great experience was when I drove out to the other side of the city for a dinky desk. = All of this could have been avoided had something like Bubblevine existed. I would’ve appreciated a tool like it while I was in school, because there was probably someone a few streets down or even next door who would have been more than willing to sell me their stuff.

On a different note, the site is currently open to a few schools, but once it gains a little more popularity we’ll expand the list.

Here are a couple of videos to watch:

If you have any ideas or suggestions on how to promote, feel free to contact me. =)

Internet Access on Flights – It’s Almost Here!

Internet access on plane rides! Is anyone as excited about this as I am?

I have been patiently waiting for the time to come where I could look forward to opening up my laptop to do something productive on the plane (besides catching up on reading and naps). With the internet universally available while you’re on the ground through wi-fi, cell phones/smart phones and wireless cards for your laptop, it’s a huge takeaway when you board the plane and can’t compulsively check your email. Yes, it’s temporary, but an inconvenience when you want to catch up on some work or do something to entertain yourself while you sit in idle stillness. No readily available internet access is like stepping into the 1990s.

JetBlue Airways will be offering email and instant messaging on one of their planes next Tuesday – FOR FREE. They have acknowledged that the service is still in its testing phases, but it’s a great way to build awareness momentum. I, as well as the rest of the loyal internet-using population will be more inclined to purchase a JetBlue ticket over another just to try out the new service. Although I’m not entirely sure what JetBlue’s strategy is here, my gut feeling tells me that their intentions of providing these new features is to lure the young adult audience, as well as the tech-savvy. Email checking and instant messaging on an air flight? Those two features will provide more than enough entertainment and “productivity.” It’s genius. It’s important to note that JetBlue is not providing a full range of internet access, just email and instant messaging. Anything more would require much more bandwidth that they could handle for now.

However, the next wave of internet services on airplanes will be coming in the following months by American Airlines, Virgin America and Alaska Airlines. The downside to their internet options is that they will be charging the service at approximately $10 a flight. Not entirely that bad if you really need or want it – especially if you think of it as a convenience cost.

I’m curious to find out how each airline plans on promoting and representing each of their internet services in the future. I’ll definitely be keeping up with this.

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