A New Tablet In Town

I’ve been holding back on discussing tablets, if only because no effective competition to the iPad has appeared.  But this week something significant occurred —  we learned of the Kindle Fire, with a 7“ color  touch screen, web browser and cloud storage, which will give the consumer access to Amazon’s book, music, game, movie and tv content.  The iPad is no longer the only tablet in town.    

How Health Insurance Can Use Social Media

Everyday, more medical insurance companies are begrudgingly beginning to integrate social media as elements of their marketing strategies. This probably would not be happening but for the fact that for years, many of their members have been using online communities and blogs to discuss healthcare issues. Some suggestions for the uninitiated:

1. As smartphones continue to proliferate and people have the ability to carry more information in their pockets than ever before, health insurance companies have an opportunity to create two distinct mobile apps. One, to give customers easy access to claims, plan details, network providers, drug prices, etc. and the other to provide lifestyle information on diet, exercise and healthy living.

Social Media and the Supermarket

With their own established customer communities, who more likely than not shop at the same location on a regular basis, supermarkets are naturals for utilizing social media as a marketing and sales tool. Some thoughts…

Thoughts on Recent Publishing News

The New York Times announced their pricing model last week, to take place at month’s end. I have no issues with their minimum free content, 15.00 and 20.00 per four weeks (not monthly) subscriptions and am glad that they won’t be making an effort to prevent Twitter and Facebook from linking to their content.

Regarding the book publishing industry — Did we really expect that the major publishing houses would price their electronic books at a minimal discount from their paper counterparts? Other than major bestsellers, Kindle savings are minor. Let’s see if we have to pay sales taxes on digital downloads!

I’m as disappointed as I am glad that a federal judge denied Google’s plan to digitize every book ever published. There will be time to come up with a settlement. No one should be in a hurry to have Google become the world’s bookstore.. .

How Social Media Works For Human Resources

Despite our current unemployment malaise, job hiring and hunting remain inexact sciences. “Good people” (whatever that is supposed to mean) have always been difficult to find, no matter what size the talent pool. Savvy human resources departments have been steadily familiarizing themselves with the abilities of social media to assist in the process of finding and attracting new talent. It’s a natural fit – LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, et.al, are all communication tools of transparency, interaction and engagement based upon a foundation of truth — virtues that any HR department should aspire to. Current uses of social media by HR include:

Social Media Good For Car Dealerships

Auto makers continue to embrace social media as a marketing tool. Lexus, Land Rover and Ford have all created outlets for “influencers” (usually bloggers), who take new models out on the road and relate their experiences, via tweeting, blogging and video posting. Mercedes has their own invite-only social network for younger customers. And Audi has created an iPad app for their flagship A8.

Does Pharma Mix With Social Media?

There’s a great piece in the current Marketing: Health blog, which asks the very legitimate question ‘Do Patients Want Pharma Involved In Social Media?’ It makes a particularly convincing point when it says that people don’t participate in social networks to “engage with brands” and that the scrutiny that pharma industry faces is particularly heightened when compared to others.

Smartphone Field Continues To Level

With the underestimated growth of Android, good advances on Windows Phone 7, WebOS 2.0 , and an ongoing slew of new models coming off the assembly lines from: Motorola, HTC, Samsung, Blackberry, et al., how much longer can Apple hold smartphone throne with one model released a year with a proprietary OS? Ultimately, the consumer wins this one.

Publishers Get Greedy With Digital

An ebook actually costing more than its paper counterpart? Hey, it’s less than one dollar, but the ebook versions of new Ken Follett and James Patterson titles are selling at a higher price than the hardcover editions. Come on! Although, I suppose we thought this would occur sooner or later.

Ain’t It The Truth