Carrot Creative Blog

I’ve had some discussions lately about the changing landscape and the need for social media for brands as well as who is the “right person” for the job of managing the social media campaign. Is it the advertising agency? The PR agency? A whole new type of agency or specialist that has yet to emerge?

Andy Sernovitz, contributing writer for the Smart Blog on Social Media has a great take on this and who he think should be running the social media world: PR executives. As Andy says, “PR executives make the best social media executives. There is a similar mindset. Traditional media relations requires finding the right influencers, building trust, and sharing credible, relevant stories. Translating those actions to social media — replacing reporters with the bigger community — is exactly how to run a great social media program.”

Last night I had the privilege of being a panel member for the Social Media and Presidential Elections Conference at the Samsung Experience on Columbus Circle. I wanted to thank the organizers: NY:MIEG, E.Factor and CBSAC/NY for putting on a smart and engaging affair. I liked seeing how all the different panel members were using social media to influence and inform everyday people about important political issues.

Ellis Henican did a great job moderating the event, everything flowed smoothly and the packed audience was interested from start to finish. It was interesting to see how the folks at 23/6 are using humor to offer an alternative view on the political scene.

Today is one of our favorite days…Blog Action Day.

For the last couple years, >carrot has used Blog Action Day to highlight one of the many initiatives we take in order to do good in our office and in our world. However, this year we would like to take this opportunity to highlight the work of some fellow bloggers whom have inspired us to join their cause in ending poverty in the world while bettering ourselves personally.

We’re gonna go ahead and say yes.

The Brooklyn Paper recently reported that Spike Lee is making moves to the 6th floor of our awesome building in DUMBO. We are on the 3rd floor of 55 Washington St… so we basically have become cooler overnight. Our CEO- Robert Gaafar- is already projecting exponential growth in sales and awesomeness for the remainder of our fiscal year. Meanwhile, the rest of us are going to have to play it cool and hope for casual elevator high-fives when we’re in need of a sweetness pick-me-up. Does Spike Lee play Wii? I bet he does.

One of the most respected names in business publishing has asked me to speak at their worldwide Direct Marketers Forum this coming March. Direct Marketing International Magazine is “the only publication which has the global reach among international direct and interactive marketing professionals. Now in its third decade, DMI was the first magazine to be printed in the UK for direct marketers - so not only is it unique, it is also truly original!”

This exciting opportunity is a great way to stay informed about marketing activities around the globe and to find out how my European counterparts are using the Social-Web in powerful new ways.

We’re Internet famous! >carrot is a featured story on today’s edition of Guest of a Guest, the famed blog concerning all things NYC. In it, >carrot is tapped as the leading source for all things DUMBO, and considering that the area is poised to be the New Media Capital of the World that means we’re at the epicenter of the next Internet boom.

Exciting times indeed, check it out!

New data has come to light that pins the success of Facebook’s new visual overhaul with a dismal 20% approval rating. According to Mark Zuckerberg, “Around 20% of our users have now migrated to the new platform and it has been received well after people get used to it.” ¹

As with other novel features on Facebook the redesign has clearly been met with massive opposition. Now the real question is, what should Facebook do? That’s easy, think of the user.

Some of the folks in the office last week were playing around on Facebook on Flock browsers when we discovered that the site was using SSL. Our own Mike Germano broke the news on Twitter, and this was followed by a great write-up by Nick O’Niell on the AllFacebook blog. We all figured that Facebook was getting ready to launch a new payment platform.

The news was so big that once it was published on AllFacebook, TechCrunch featured the story on their blog. The interesting thing about it is that you can see (if you clicked the previous link) that the story was taken down only hours after it was posted.