Here is a really interesting video with some statistics about the current state of the internet and how it has evolved. Videos like this help us step back from the minutiae and realize how fast we are moving.

JESS3 / The State of The Internet from Jesse Thomas on Vimeo.

…wow. That was cool.

While we’re at it, here is another video with cool statistics. It’s a little preachy at the end, but we like the overall idea:

Our Director of WOM, Andrew Krebs-Smith, recently went to the Blog World Expo in Las Vegas. Below are notes from a session on Social Media for Business to Business (B2B) clients.

Often B2B companies find it hard to enter the social media space, because they see it as a direct-to-consumer method of communication, which doesn’t help their corporate client audience. But social media has something for everyone, and this panel underlined the value of social media for B2B companies.

Most of all, social media is valuable for B2B companies because it is all about creating and strengthening relationships. As most salespeople in the B2B world will attest to, making a sale involves much more than just having a product that people want to buy. When B2B client relationships can involve multi-million dollar deals, and long-term relationships, the purchases/agreements are not made on a whim. Rather, they inv0lve creating a relationship, not just between companies, but between people.

So how can social media help? Teach your salesforce to leverage social networking tools (LinkedIn, Twitter to name a few) to create and maintain relationships with clients, prospects, and anyone in-between. This also lets all the salespeople within a company know what each person is up to, so efforts aren’t duplicated and networks are maximized. Make sure to track these efforts through your CRM tool so that you can assess return on invesment (ROI), cost-per-lead (CPL), and other key metrics.

So how do you get the ball rolling? Bring together interdepartmental team to hash out differences, get everyone on the same level, talk about situation, etc. Talk about best policies, talk about what is recommended, allowed, and how social media can help achieve your business objectives. You don’t want employees neglecting these powerful tools, but they need to have specific goals and training on how to use them so they aren’t spinning their wheels trying to figure everything out.

And please, PLEASE don’t just use these tools for blatant promotion. These tools can be harmful if you abuse them and see them as just another place for your corporate message. Someone on the panel had a great analogy: “[you] don’t walk into a cocktail party and say ‘hey! buy my book!” Instead, give your prospects value. Share your resources with customers. Use these tools to keep in touch with customers and give them support.

The question is no longer IF B2B companies should be using social media, but rather HOW, WHEN, and WHERE. Any questions? You know where to find us.

Speakers on this panel: Kipp Bodnar, David B. Thomas, Kyle Flaherty, Mica Viehamn

Ever see the advertisements on steps at a DC Metro Station? What about advertisements on the fronts of elevator doors? Non-traditional, out-of-home media such as the ones on steps and elevators doors are called “ambient media.” The above examples are only two examples of ambient media. If you look at the slide show below, you’ll see some of the most attention-grabbing, highly creative examples of ambient media.

When you have a product or service that really needs some attention, and newspaper, TV and online ads just aren’t going to cut it–ambient media may be the answer.  Sometimes all it takes is a few imaginative displays in a high-traffic areas to get some buzz. Seriously, could anyone actually ignore this giant BBC microphone?

A few days ago, Julie (our Word of Mouth Manager) came into work eager to share a story and a picture she had taken over the weekend. Not surprisingly, it was about advertising (because we really do live and breathe it here). She was out in Annapolis over the weekend and saw an ad for a pre-natal massage… in a BAR bathroom. Its placement was so compelling that she just had to take a picture.

Talk about horrible ad placement! This could be advertising the best pre-natal massage in the entire world, but its placement is a total non-sequitur. Its impact was enough to make Julie come in and tell us all about it, even sharing the picture. And here we are, writing about it on our blog. Now that is word of mouth (and not the good kind)! Because most people have camera phones, this sort of negative word of mouth can spread quickly, and can harm a brand that much faster.

Advertising goes above and beyond the message and the creative. Placement is key, too. If not in the right place at the right time, your audience can simply bypass the intended message and walk away with something else entirely: a negative image of your product or service.

In a year of joblessness and disheartening economic conditions, Julianna Wittig was among many individuals who were laid-off and forced to begin the job search.

In her search for a new job, Julianna, who is now The Cyphers Agency’s newest Account Executive,  headed straight to her computer. In her online search, however, Julianna didn’t rely on typical job search sites such as Monster and Indeed.  Using social media sites such as Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook, Julianna took a proactive approach to finding a job. She kept her profile updated and her eyes open for any opportunities she found on those sites.

While Julianna was searching, Darren Easton, Vice President and Creative Director for The Cyphers Agency  was using social networks to find a candidate to fill an Account Executive position. For the position, Darren wanted to find a social-media-savvy individual, who could handle several accounts in the agency’s Push-n-Pull division.

Julianna saw the posting on LinkedIn and began researching The Cyphers Agency–checking into the culture, environment, clients and other employees. Darren was researching too. He asked others online if they knew of Julianna and if they thought she would be a good fit for the Account Executive position.

Thanks to word of mouth and social networks, Darren told Julianna in the interview that he “already knew everything he needed to know about her.” It was clear that Julianna knew how to effectively market herself online, therefore, Darren knew she would certainly be capable of marketing clients online.

Social media has impacted so much of our daily lives. It changes the way we do businesses, network, communicate and even find jobs. The days of faxing resumes and mailing resumes on crisp resume paper are done.

Job seekers can use social networks to search for jobs, interact with potential employers and create online profiles that display their skills. Employers can social media to post jobs, find qualified candidates and ask others about these candidates.

We’re glad social media enabled us to connect to Julianna. Welcome, Julianna, we’re happy to have you here at The Cyphers Agency!