Archive for May, 2009
*** The following is a press release distributed by us online and to various media organisations. ***
As more and more people pile onto the Twitter bandwagon each and every day, the site is experiencing a massive growth in not only those using the site to keep in touch with friends and family, but those who want to use the site expressly for marketing purposes.
It’s a common sight these days for anyone with a Twitter account to be bombarded with links to affiliate products, services or whatever else. And while there are a select handful of people on the site marketing the right way, it seems that for the most part, spammers are having a field day on the site.
But according to web traffic company uSocial.net, there is money to be made on Twitter whether someone is spamming or not.
“There are new scripts being created almost on a daily basis to simply allow people to follow thousands of people at a time,” said uSocial CEO Leon Hill. “In many cases we’ve seen brand new accounts grow to over 1,500 followers in a day. While they generally get suspended in a very short time, in the time they’re active they market like crazy to their followers.”
uSocial say that people are using these tactics repeatedly in order to conduct spam-marketing campaigns and in some cases can attain tens of thousands of followers in a day over several accounts.
And they say that despite Twitter’s best efforts to contain it, things are not slowing down.
“Twitter has software in place which detects strange activity and suspends accounts based on this,” said Hill. “While it’s excellent for weeding out spammers, it can sometimes take days for the software to pick it up so these spammers usually have free reign for a while on each account.”
“Most of them have several accounts running simultaneously and as soon as one is shut down they simply open another and repeat. In the great scheme of things, Twitter really isn’t stopping anything at the moment.”
But uSocial say there is a light at the end of the tunnel in that most people are savvy not to take notice of spam accounts that send out hundreds of URL tweets in the space of minutes.
“Most people just ignore it so a lot of it isn’t doing much harm apart from the annoyance of having this stuff come up on your screen for a few days until the account is closed.” Continued Hill.
And speaking of marketing on Twitter, uSocial recently launched a new set of services based around the site which include the ability for users to buy followers. But what is the company’s stance on that? Should this be considered spam?
“Many people have suggested that buying Twitter followers is spam, however we simply manage other’s accounts in order to get them the greatest amount of followers possible in a short amount of time,” said Hill. “We have no control of the content someone places on their account so if they decide to use it for spamming, it’s their choice.”
“Though if they do, it’s almost a certainty their account will be closed by Twitter’s bots quite quickly.” Finished Hill.
The new services were launched around two weeks ago and can be found by going to http://usocial.net/twitter_marketing or for more information the company can be contacted via the form on their website.
But it seems as far as the Twitter spammers are concerned that uSocial have spoken about, most people believe they won’t be going away any time soon.
Alright guys, we hate to nag but today is the last day of our promotion where you can get 20% off all our packages of followers of 2,500 and above. We’d hate for you to miss out and if you do we don’t want you curling up into a ball in the corner and weeping, so if the clock runs out then don’t say we didn’t tell you so!
The only package that’s not being discounted is our 1,000 follower pack, though everything else you’ll get an automatic 20% off right now.
But how much will you save? Well it’s $29.40 off 2,500 followers, $53.40 off 5,000 followers and a whopping $99.40 off 10,000 followers. But you have to act right now to get those savings — they won’t last forever. In fact, they’re only going to last until the end of the night!
Want some? Get them by clicking here now.
In case you’re new to the world of us (that would be uSocial), you may not have known that about three days after we initially began trading in December of last year that Digg — or should we say Digg’s lawyers — sent us a Cease & Desist notice demanding that we cease trading due to our sale of social bookmarking votes.
In short, Digg were basically saying that we were in some way breaking the law by selling votes. We politely (well, maybe not so politely) advised them we were breaking no laws by selling votes and since then, nothing has come of it.
Anyway, if you haven’t yet read it (check it out on Mashable here — though they claim we were ‘banned’ by Digg, no such thing happened) then here is the letter Digg sent us in all its glory (names an contact detail omitted)!
Dear ####:
My firm represents Digg, Inc. (”Digg”). We have become aware that uSocial.net (”uSocial”) is paying users of www.Digg.com to manipulate content rankings on the Digg website. Digg hereby places you on notice that its website terms of use (located at http://digg.com/tos) expressly state:
IN ADDITION, YOU HEREBY AGREE THAT YOU SHALL NOT USE THE SERVICE (INCLUDING, WITHOUT LIMITATION, BY “DIGGING” ANY CONTENT) ON BEHALF OF (OR PER THE REQUEST OR INSTRUCTION OF) ANY THIRD PARTY. FURTHERMORE, YOU SHALL NOT REQUEST THAT ANY THIRD PARTY, OR PAY OR OTHERWISE ATTEMPT TO INFLUENCE ANY THIRD TO, MANIPULATE OR OTHERWISE AFFECT THE SITE IN ANY MANNER (INCLUDING, WITHOUT LIMITATION, BY PAYING ANY OTHER USER TO “DIGG” ANY CONTENT).
Pursuant to the website terms of use, your manipulation of Digg’s content rankings constitutes tortious interference with Digg’s agreements (i.e. its website terms of use) with the Digg users involved such activity.
Digg hereby demands that you immediately cease all attempts to have Digg users manipulate or otherwise affect the Digg service. Please provide us with written confirmation of your understanding of this matter within the next ten (10) days and assure us that the foregoing demands will be met.
This message should not be construed as a waiver of rights, an offer of settlement, or reliance on any specific facts or legal theories. Digg reserves all of its rights and remedies under applicable law.
If you have any questions or comments, please do not hesitate to contact me at ###-###-####.
Sounds strange? Well, it might be a funny name, but it’s the brand-new term we’ve coined for shock-tactic marketing, which we’ve already used and will be using to good effect in the future.
Simply put, Dead Baby Marketing is drawing attention to your business with powerful — and some might say extreme — tactics, like using phrases which will be picked up by the media, or which will grab people’s attention. In fact, the term “Dead Baby” we use in the title of this marketing tactic is a prime example of this, as it is something which will draw extreme attention.
This is an extremely basic introduction to just what Dead Baby Marketing is, so be sure to come back here soon where we’ll be going into it in more detail, how you and your business can use it, as well as examples of how we’ve used it successfully to promote ourselves.
In other words…watch this space!
Sending a press release to the media — whether you decide to use a free distribution or effective paid distribution like the service here — there are some things to remember to ensure what you are sending gets the greatest response possible. In this post, we’re going to look at some of the main points to consider before you send your release out.
MAKE IT NEWSWORTHY
Too often we see companies sending out press releases which relate to something extremely minor such as a discount they’re running on services for a week. While it’s not always a bad idea to submit released like this to online distribution channels like PRlog.org as it will help boost your visibility online, It’s not something we’d recommend distributing to the media as you won’t get any response.
WRITE IT WELL
Nobody wants to publish a press release that sounds as if it were written by an orang-utan. If you have no idea how to write a press release, do a simple search on Google for examples, or check out some of the press releases we’ve submitted to the media for help. But at the end of the day if you’re really stuck, it might be a good idea to invest in a high-quality release writing service like the one you can find here.
CREATE EXCITEMENT
All press releases that garner a load of media attention are written to instill a certain emotion of excitement and drama. Not only will this pique the interest of the journalist who receives in their inbox (vastly increasing the chance of them creating a story about it), but it will also achieve the same effect when a potential client or customer reads it.
DETAILS
To make certain your release appears as credible as possible, be sure to give as many details as you can about your company, including a contact name, email address and phone number where possible. Have a catchy title for the release in bold at the top of the press release, along with when the news in question can be distributed to the public — if it’s right away, print “FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE.”
TIMING
When it comes to sending out news, the time in which you send it can be crucial to it being picked up. For example, a lot of publications are crying out for news on the weekends as there is generally less for them to write about. Take advantage of this and send your release out on a Friday or Saturday night so it’s in the inbox of journalists when they get to work the next day. Also, keep in mind the cutoff times for news organisations, or the time before the news is broadcast. For TV and Radio it’s generally an hour or two, however with magazines and newspaper it is around 6-12 hours before commencement of printing.
If you keep these points in mind when writing and submitting your own press releases you should find their effectiveness seriously increasing. And in the end, a more effective press release means more customers and more money!
To find out more about uSocial.net’s press release services, including out world-first unlimited press release distribution, click here now!
