Instagram, The Insta-Brand In It’s Glory

Hey guys! Been a busy month! Hope everyone’s been doing well! I’m back with another brand to buz

Jeremy Lin: Basketball Superstar, Brand, & and a #Linsane Amount of Buzz

If you haven’t heard of Jeremy Lin or anything associated with the hashtags: #Linsane, #Linsanity,

Long Live The Facebook BRAND!

2 weeks ago, Facebook filed for an IPO of $5 billion (the largest of its bunch) after 8 years of rev

 

Instagram, The Insta-Brand In It’s Glory

April 11, 2012 in Brand Visibility, Brands, Entertianment Brands, facebook, featured, Personal Brands, social media, social networking, technology

Hey guys! Been a busy month! :) Hope everyone’s been doing well! I’m back with another brand to buzz about – Instagram! With my Facebook and Twitter feed blowing up with news about Instagram the last 2 weeks, I couldn’t help but share my thoughts on this new (or rather slightly new) innovative, social photo-sharing app.

What makes Instagram such a hot topic? It’s been offered as an iOS app since October 2010 and since then, I have seen more and more people within my community “default” it as a way to share their photos via Facebook, Twitter and/or Tumblr. Not only that, I was amazed by the variety of cool effects that made those photos unique with every mobile upload. The Instagram app comes with different filters and the best thing about it all? Doesn’t cost a cent to use!

I came to conclude – Instagram makes photo-sharing fun, unique and brings life & flavour to every day photos. I personally do not use the App as I am still hooked on Blackberry device, but am still intrigued by the many photos I see and to some extremes – have even made it to Mashable’s “Best Instagram Photos Ever Taken” mini-album!

Recently, Instagram has decided to extend its creative photo-sharing fun to Android OS and statistics shows a whopping 1 million downloads within 24 hours after hitting the Android market. Mind-blowing, no? Has Instagram become the “default” platform for photos just as YouTube has become the “default” video-sharing platform since 2005? Of course just like there are alternatives sites people can use instead of YouTube, like Vimeo, there are other Apps out there that are comparable to Instagram, although the brand loyalty is questionable. According to The Next Web, here are 8 alternatives for Instagram (if you can’t stand the craze).

2 days ago, the biggest buzz was… you guessed it! Facebook’s $1 billion acquisition of Instagram. For a company that is making $0 revenue, they are sure worth the money in Zuckerberg’s eyes. My Twitter feed blew up. Moments later there were already polls to gather information as to how “happy” consumers were about this deal. Is this another antic for Facebook to acquire more data from users and what exactly does Facebook plan on doing with Instagram upon acquisition? In one tweet I read, “Would it be renamed to Facestagram?!” Besides the obvious buzz that Facebook openly “overpaid” for Instagram, they are acquiring more than just an App. It is the brand loyalty, the talent behind the buzz, and a shift towards a more social mobile photo-sharing infrastucture. Zuckerberg is thinking of the future, as the world shifts from Web 2.0 to 3.0.

Below are excerpts from Zuckerberg’s Facebook status regarding the acquisition (2 days ago):

“… For years, we’ve focused on building the best experience for sharing photos with your friends and family. Now, we’ll be able to work even more closely with the Instagram team to also offer the best experiences for sharing beautiful mobile photos with people based on your interests.

… That’s why we’re committed to building and growing Instagram independently. Millions of people around the world love the Instagram app and the brand associated with it, and our goal is to help spread this app and brand to even more people.

… We plan on keeping features like the ability to post to other social networks, the ability to not share your Instagrams on Facebook if you want, and the ability to have followers and follow people separately from your friends on Facebook.

… This is an important milestone for Facebook because it’s the first time we’ve ever acquired a product and company with so many users. We don’t plan on doing many more of these, if any at all. But providing the best photo sharing experience is one reason why so many people love Facebook and we knew it would be worth bringing these two companies together.”

I wish the acquisition to be a success and I can’t wait to see what new ways Facebook & Instagram can provide value to its growing amount of users. Instagram-users, don’t run away yet! Believe in Facebook and more importantly, believe in the brand!

Happy photo-sharing!

Xoxo,
Trish Rubin aka The Broker Babe

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Jeremy Lin: Basketball Superstar, Brand, & and a #Linsane Amount of Buzz

March 5, 2012 in Brand Visibility, Brands, featured, Personal Brands, social media, Sporting Brands, twitter

If you haven’t heard of Jeremy Lin or anything associated with the hashtags: #Linsane, #Linsanity, #AllLin – then you’ve probably went on a long vacation, far from this universe!

Friends & colleagues of mine that are disengaged with sports, especially Basketball – have heard of the spectacular achievements that Jeremy Lin, 23-year old Harvard Graduate has accomplished thus far in the last 2 months. And those that weren’t interested in basketball one bit in the past are NOW die-hard fans.

You can’t help but admire how much buzz he has surrounded himself with in the world of Social Media and what a dream he is to the Asian-American community. I applaud you, J. Lin – a newborn NBA Superstar that has truly utilized new-age Marketing and changed the way we view the NBA as a brand.

In this article from TechCrunch,“Seize Your Opportunities Like Jeremy Lin”, it’s explained that “All over night successes are years in the making.” While many believe that Lin was merely an “overnight success” story with a lot of luck on his side, they’re wrong! Do a little research and you will see that he strived hard to get to where he is today. For starters, it was mentioned that when he first started with the NY Knicks in December 2011, he was sleeping on a teammate’s couch before moving into a more prestige West NYC hotel. With failed success with the Golden State Warriors and Houston Rockets, he truly worked his way back up to seize an opportunity with the New York Knicks and created a brand- all to call his own.

Contributing to 7 consecutive wins for the NY Knicks, #Linsanity continued to build buzz throughout the Internet and instantly became a trend for others to use his name for any “winning” reference. Of course, all he does is “#Lin #lin #lin, no matter what.” As a huge sports fanatic, it was amazing to watch him outscore Kobe Bryant – LA Lakers veteran hotshot with 38-34. After the game, Kobe exclaims, “Players playing that well don’t usually come out of nowhere. It seems like they come out of nowhere, but if you can go back and take a look, his skill level was probably there from the beginning. It probably just went unnoticed.”

Let’s talk influence with numbers. This gave me laughs when I noticed a chart of his Klout score on Social Media Today. On February 6, it was well into the 50’s and only 6 days later it rose up to 73! Influence? He’s got tons.


Compelling, isn’t it?

Jeremy Lin, we support you as a basketball player and as a brand! What you have showed us about buzz-building will be a great case study for Marketers, Analysts & Entrepreneurs for years to come! I wish you & the NY Knicks the best, so for the rest of the season – let’s go out there and #lin like there’s no tomorrow!

Xoxo,
Trish Rubin aka The Broker Babe

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Long Live The Facebook BRAND!

February 13, 2012 in Brands, entrepreneur, facebook, featured, social media, technology

2 weeks ago, Facebook filed for an IPO of $5 billion (the largest of its bunch) after 8 years of revolutionizing the way people connect to one another. After all, its mission is “To make the world more open and connected.” Was this a smart move on Zuckerberg’s part? What effect does this have on the Facebook brand?

If all goes well and the offering gets signed by the SEC, Facebook will begin trading as early as May! How will Facebook be valued? Will it sky-rocket, stay steady or go through a series of bumps? According to Mashable’s article on how “9 Tech Giants Traded After Going Public”, tech giants such as Microsoft, Amazon, Yahoo have well increased their value since going public in the 1990’s. More recent Tech stocks like Zynga & LinkedIn that have issued their public offering in the last year have grown slightly in value. Overall, the charts don’t lie. It appears that investing in Tech-stocks is a win-situation.

What’s notable is within 24 hours of the Facebook IPO filing, Social-Networking stocks across the board have jumped as high as 17% (Zynga). Can we trust investing in Facebook? Why not! Facebook has a reputation for adding on features to improve the way people socialize in all aspects of life, showing us the impossible can be made possible.

According to Washington Post, Facebook’s privately traded shares risen 10% since its filing. This brings its market value over $100 billion!

Enough about pricing, let’s talk about the future! Zuckerberg introduced powerful messages in his IPO Address. From TechCrunch:

“We hope to change how people relate to their governments and social institutions.”

“By giving people the power to share; we are starting to see people make their voices heard on a different scale from what has historically been possible. These voices will increase in number and volume. They cannot be ignored. Over time, we expect governments will become more responsive to issues and concerns raised directly by all their people rather than through intermediaries controlled by a select few.”

I applaud him for taking such a big leap of faith. There are many things Facebook can do in order to bridge the gap between politics and social. What wonders could possibly come out of this?! One article mentions establishing Online Parliaments, sort of how Facebook Groups work. Can you imagine voting for representatives the way you vote for “Best Movies” on polls?? Or perhaps they can extend their growth to focus on “transparency”, by creating a platform for people to voice their opinions on political issues – encouraging online protests? Let’s sit back and watch.

Going back to money…

Once Facebook goes public, more revenue will be demanded by the big players on Wall Street. How will Facebook find ways to increase revenue without negatively impacting user experience? Of course, more revenue means more advertisement. According to Associated Press, it is important for Facebook to raise revenue to match its competitor- Google. Also, with the growing usage of mobile as a platform – how will Facebook pave way into mobile advertisement without generating too much noise? Afterall, Zuckerbergs’ terminology consists of putting “users interests over company’s financial interests.”

In the end, Facebook is all about creating value. It is predicted that in 2012, Facebook will reach 90.9% of all United States Social Media users & 60% of Internet users. Talk about brand power! Come May, we’ll see how Facebook plays out. I wish them all the best in their proceedings with the IPO and must end this with, long live the Facebook BRAND!

Love,
Trish aka The Broker Babe NYC
@brokerbabe_nyc

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Twitter, Does Size Matter? [Quantity vs. Quality]

January 26, 2012 in Brand Visibility, Brands, networking, Personal Brands, twitter

There are tons of platforms out there that specialize in finding “followers”, but with every perk there’s always a price to pay.

I recently received a message claiming I would have X number of followers for only $49. I contemplated whether I should make this move or not & whether these “agencies” were to be trusted.

In the end, $49 saved is $49 earned.

Although it’s pretty exciting (and sometimes intimidating, in a good way!) viewing users with high follower-base, I can’t help but think:

1) How are they keeping track of these followers?
2) What should I be doing instead to raise my numbers?

Here is what I learned:

If you end up following someone that has an even ratio of followers to following, they most likely use an auto-follower/adder platform. At the end of the day, it’s a numbers game. One great thing about building a large follower-base, quickly – is spreading your brand in order to reach secondary or tertiary markets to drive business results.

For instance, according to Dave Kerpen, CEO of Likeable Media:

@DellOutlet’s over 1 million followers led directly to over $6.5 million in sales.

However, if you’re an entrepreneur on a smaller-scale, will having a large follower-base work towards your advantage if your brand doesn’t resonate with the audience’s interests?

This is where I believe quality to be key. If you formulate a genuine relationship with a user, they’ll mention or RT your content so their follower-base will see. Your brand can be spread like wildfire. Of course, this is a hit-or-miss and will entail some major data-mining (and can be time-consuming) to ensure you’re hitting the right targets.

If you tweet out content related to your brand personality, then those that data-mine within your market will be able to “mine” for you as well. In addition, make sure the ‘About you’ portion of your Twitter resonates with your brand, because at this day and age – it’s all about first impressions.

[Storytime]

A community manager I know performed an experimentation to naturally grow her follow-base single handedly. Before she decided to pursue her passion in the realms of Social Media, she led a private lifestyle – one where she only allowed her & her 40-some followers to see.

When she became a community manager, she decided to open her brand up to the public. She started tweeting out more content related to her brand personality, establishing her ‘online reputation’ as someone who really knew what she was doing. Within 3 months – the woman with 40-some followers ended up with 500+ followers. Oh, she made sure she followed back and communicated with those that:

1] Resonated with her brand & interests
2] Those that have a large follower-base that could gain her more followers

As for now, I’ll stick to the route of growing my follower-base naturally. As an Independent Brand Consultant, I am MY brand and I still feel it’s more authentic to be able to keep track of who I want to follow & who is following me.

Xoxo,
Trish aka Broker Babe

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Reply All Comic: Lawyer By Day, Stripper … *Cartoonist!* By Night

January 8, 2012 in Brand Visibility, Brands, Entertianment Brands, entrepreneur, featured, networking, women

So pleased to welcome “Reply All Comic”, by Donna Lewis to the TRISH NYC, BrokerBabe Family! The Trish NYC team is revved up to boost this unique, edgy syndicated comic strip brand. So watch for all sorts of social media love, events and appearances…even a cocktail party launch..if you are lucky enough to be invited!!

Donna Lewis is a Homeland Security Attorney by day and the coolest cartoonist by night! When does this woman sleep??? I love her wit, her energy…I think she’s got cameras set up and following me because her strip is all about me! Wait..you think it’s all about you, too…what’s with that?

That is the brilliance of Donna’s strip..it’s every girl!!!

Be sure to check out:
www.replyallcomic.com

Like it on FB: https://www.facebook.com/ReplyAllComic
Look for us on Twitter!! @replyallcomic

Xoxo,
Trish aka BrokerBabe

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Webgrrls Inc., Not Your Typical Cyber-Babes

January 4, 2012 in Brand Visibility, Brands, education, entrepreneur, forum, networking, technology, women

Happy New Year!

As a consultant working on a New-York minute schedule, I must keep up-to-date with what’s new in the world of Technology! for myself and my clients Seems like every day there’s buzz on the latest gizmos and gadgets and all sorts of technology to use. I’m reading the Steve Jobs book now…look what he started!!!What’s really the most effective and significant entities to biz owners?

I recently discovered a brand – Webgrrls Inc. These ladies aren’t just your typical cyber-babes, they’re cyber-babes shooting out resources left & right with chapters all over the world! These are power brokerbabes!!Resources shared by Webgrrls help biz owners like you & me leverage technology that’s out there, network with other entrepreneurs, find work & hire apprentices and more. Although not a member (yet), I was able to vette people who ARE Webgrrls and did a little research on past workshops & networking shindigs through www.webgrrls.com. The testimonials and photos says it all!

Examples of Past Events:
-  Gamification of Future Marketing (NYC)
-  Tablet Talk: Gadgets or Just For Fun? (SF, Cali)
-  Webinar: Get More New Business, Referrals & More Money (Webgrrls International)
-  Mobile Apps for Women & Networking (SF, Cali)
-  Webgrrls Holiday Celebration (SF, NYC, LI)

Example of Recap & Photos from their last holiday shindig:
So how do you go about being a member?
Individual memberships are only $55, rounding it to less than $5/month. For businesses, it’s $150/year. What do you get out of it?

  1.    Free admission to networking meetings, intro & mingle with other entrepreneurs
  2.   Reduced pricing on Webgrrls-hosted workshops
  3.  Access to group discussions (treasures of resources from all over!)
  4.   A chance to win tickets to industry-related events
  5.  Access to Webgrrls JobBank, ability to post & search
  6.  Exposure on sponsored sites for a reduced fee (for Business members)

So why wait, do what’s right for you & your biz. Be sure to check them out on:
www.webgrrls.com
www.twitter.com/webgrrls
www.facebook.com/webgrrls

 Xoxo, Trish aka Broker Babe!

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Google, Not Just A Brand- But A Lifestyle!

December 14, 2011 in Brands, technology

No matter what situation you’re in, where you are or where you’re going- Google is always one step ahead in revolutionizing the process of the way you live!

Google has established itself as more than just a brand, but has become a part of our lifestyle! Can anyone think of any more brands that has paved their way into our lives as much as Google has?!

From its origins of being just a search engine, competing with all the other popular ones (back in the day) Yahoo, MSN etc., Google really set itself apart by continuously adding more services, and eventually more products providing us with the latest technology and tools we didn’t even know we needed.

From offering a reliable web browser, to having interactive & easy-to-use  mobile features to an assorted range of entertainment (Youtube, Google Music, Reader etc), Google has even added more additional services to improve our lives the past decade. It just never ends!

One recent example is Google Offers competing with deal-buying services such as Groupon & Living Social. Another new feature is: Google Voice & Google+ messaging, which a lot of my friends have been using to make their phone calls, track their voicemails online & text (because not everyone has unlimited!) Hmm… what does this mean for phone service providers: AT &T, Sprint, T-Mobile & Verizon in the future? If all you need is a data plan, a phone that can process Google Voice then who is going to need to “purchase” minutes or a texting plan? As of right now, this isn’t a threat since most service providers offer packages which include both minutes , texting & data plan, but this is definitely something to be more aware of as Google Voice/Google messaging becomes more popular.

Before, I briefly touched upon Google+ which includes messaging. As of right now that sub-feature is still only used exclusively for the mobile device! However, Google+ is the new talk of town social media platform! Instead of just having a friend list, you group your friends in “Circles” and sharing information is quick & hassle-free. Unlike Facebook, you can’t write on friend’s walls but can comment and can “+1” the information they share. Recently, Google+ has added “Hashtag” features similar to Twitter’s, to buzz about the latest trends as well as “Pages” for business owners to shine!

What’s next for Google? Whatever it is that’s attached to their brand, we’ll know it’s something we can all love, can trust, rely on for speed & security and is there to improve our lives!

 

 

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A Makeover Event–A BRAND of the HEART

December 6, 2011 in beauty brands, Brands, Personal Brands

In a time of giving, and as our troops are returning home, let’s remember the charitable brands that exist like Shining Service Worldwide, who staged its 4th Military Makeover this year in Long Island.

Linda Franklin, founder of Shining Service Worldwide, says the makeovers “do a lot more than you realize” for women who often put other priorities ahead of their own well-being.

Franklin runs a blog about female empowerment and is the author of the book Don’t Ever Call Me Ma’am: The Real Cougar Woman. About a year ago, she began getting feedback from women serving in Afghanistan who were reading her blog.

“After talking for a year to veterans, spouses, moms, we found out a lot about what’s falling through the cracks and how we can help them,” said Franklin, who began selling black-and-silver beaded bracelets to support the cause. She hopes to grow the makeover program into a nationwide network of salons who regularly offer these services to military women.

Stacey Alvarez of Ronkonkoma, who is on active duty as part of a Black Hawk unit with the Army National Guard, said it’s really tough to be a women in such a male-dominated area. The military has rules dictating what women can’t do appearance-wise, such as having highlights in their hair or wearing nail polish.

Alvarez was granted a pass day – meaning she didn’t have to spend one of her vacation days – to attend the makeover event.

“I definitely haven’t done anything for myself in a long time. There’s a lot of times when you just want to be in a salon and get your hair done,” she said. “They have a lot of things for men. This is the first time I’ve heard of anything for women.”

The makeover program is part of a larger effort to mentor military women, “The Power of 10,” to help them get re-integrated into society.

“When you see their smiles at the end, it’s wonderful,” Franklin said. “It’s an event of the heart.”

 

Let’s salute that!!!

 

Trish Rubin is a brand visibility consultant working with Products, Services and Professionals  who raises your brand  presence in a New York Minute!

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Splashy New Brand Buzz

November 29, 2011 in Brand Visibility, Brands

Clorox is a brand that’s been around for a zillion years. Blindfolded, people can identify Clorox, the shape of the bottle– unique. They’d feel the power. Tonight Clorox introduced me to a cool new brand blog on just denim called denimblog. After splashing Clorox on the sweetest purple denims I have  as I cleaned up a spot on the bathroom floor…I googled cool new denim and BINGO! www.denimblog.com. And then, there they were…the editors choice! Color denims!

 

Clorox…you devil! I have a new pair of skinny jeans thanks to you and denimblog!

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Brands that Give Back

November 22, 2011 in beauty brands, Brands, Personal Brands

Now that I am working with clients in the nonprofit lane, I’m more aware of brands like Warby Parker. There are big players that are involved too…Ford, Budweiser  to name a few. Check this post out from Divine Caroline that lists some of the big players. So as we go into Holiday mode…think BIG about the GIVE BACK WHEN YOU BUY! I especially like the Diane Von F idea..because of my Shining Service Worldwide connection!

Check it out: http://www.divinecaroline.com/22270/102123-philanthropic-fashion-designers-brands-give

 

 

 

 

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