Twitter’s Misbegotten Live Video Strategy. And…Champagne and Caviar Dreams, Meet Cold Hard Cash. Plus, rants and raves about the visual effects artist with the most amazing video to sell his used car – ever, and more. It’s episode 63 of Media Unplugged with branding authority Tom Asacker and media strategist Mark Ramsey. This episode is brought to you by StackAdapt,  an omnichannel digital advertising platform that helps brands accelerate customer acquisition. Listen as we go

Amazon lands NFL streaming rights…So what? And… Should Twitter be charging? Plus, rants and raves about Netflix’s new ratings system, the value of authenticity (or lack thereof) in Pepsi’s aborted new campaign, and more. It’s episode 61 of Media Unplugged with branding authority Tom Asacker and media strategist Mark Ramsey. This episode is brought to you by StackAdapt,  an omnichannel digital advertising platform that helps brands accelerate customer acquisition. Sources: htt

Apple is the new Hollywood! And… You can’t fix Twitter. Plus, rants and raves about new products at CES that make perfectly good items too complicated, advice on writing stronger that should be more strongly written, Tom’s great new book, “I Am Keats,” and more. It’s episode 56 of Media Unplugged with branding authority Tom Asacker and media strategist Mark Ramsey. Listen as we go inside media to reveal the ugly truth! Click the play button below: And if you’re reading this b

Tweet this: Quality news is dying. And… Twitter growth screeches to a halt – at 52 million users! Plus, rants and raves about the “connected lawn” and proof that Donald Trump’s hands are not as HUUGE as he says they are. It’s episode 48 of Media Unplugged with branding authority Tom Asacker and media strategist Mark Ramsey. Listen as we go inside media to reveal the ugly truth! Click the play button below: And if you’re reading this by email, click here for the audio. Sample

How do radio, online radio, and podcasting fit into the larger pattern of tech trends washing over today’s audiences? What’s the power of audio in the first place? Peter Kafka is a great person to ask. Peter is Senior Editor for Media at Re/code, the digital news platform launched by Kara Swisher and Walt Mossberg. Peter has been covering media and technology since 1997 for Forbes, forbes.com, and the brand that became Business Insider. He is the host of the “Recode Media wit

Netflix’s Secret Way to Predict Your Likes. And… Twitter Streams NFL Games – that’s GREAT – for the NFL. It’s episode 40 of Media Unplugged with branding authority Tom Asacker and media strategist Mark Ramsey. Plus, rants and raves about how YOU can “hack the media” the Donald Trump way, what it means when 2,000 YouTube channels have more than 1 million subscribers, and a free slogan maker that makes some really heinous taglines. Listen as we go inside media to reveal the ugl

Rush Limbaugh’s contract is up and it’s decision time – not only for Rush but for the industry which awakens to a 2016 where, for better or worse, Rush is the most famous name in radio. And it’s time for Rush Limbaugh to go. Now this is nothing personal. Rush has had an amazing symbiotic relationship with radio over the years he has been behind the mic, and for that a great many listeners, broadcasters, and clients are grateful. And when Rush moves on, obscurity will not be t

Is social media “a great wasteland” of the modern media age? And…why is MSNBC launching daily Facebook videos that have nothing to do with the MSNBC brand? It’s episode 15 of Media Unplugged with branding authority Tom Asacker and media strategist Mark Ramsey. Tom rants and raves on platforms mistaken for brands. Mark rants and raves about the importance of Hollywood actors’ Twitter followings, how often you should (or shouldn’t) post to social media, and one new podcast that

We have about two thousand listens to the new twice-monthly podcast I produce with branding strategist Tom Asacker. It’s called Media Unplugged. Have you listened yet? This week Tom and I ask whether the Internet is disrupting the TV industry or – after decisions by HBO and CBS to provide streaming-only subscription services – is Big Media eating the Internet? We think so! Then, is Pinterest the coming ad colossus that could dwarf Twitter and Facebook? There are lots of good

Quick Summary: How do today’s tech startups launch and scale big and fast? By using a new union of traditional and direct marketing and business development that adds up to one thing: Growth. How can radio and other media brands become “growth hackers”? Ryan Holiday is the former Director of Marketing for American Apparel. He has promoted the works of authors like Tim Ferriss, Seth Godin, Marc Ecko and Tucker Max. He is a devious genius when it comes to the art and science of

What is this show @midnight that has exploded in ratings and social media buzz since its debut last October? And why should radio care? You should care because @midnight and its creator/host Chris Hardwick have cracked the code on how to use Twitter – and there’s much you can learn from their strategy. Writes The Wrap: Hardwick’s “@midnight” on Comedy Central – a half-hour comedy/talk/game show hybrid that, as its name suggests, deals with all things internet and social media

I just read a fascinating report on Radio’s relationship to Twitter in the U.S. and the results will startle and unsettle you. You can download the full report here. It’s from Brandwatch, a social media analytics company. Here’s a summary of some of the key bullet points from the study which sampled 20 radio stations from various genres (but lacks several important formats like Rock, Alternative, Country, and NPR, yet – oddly – includes two Classical stations): On average, on

Twitter’s ability to attract a swarm of conversations around particular TV shows means that it can marshal a large audience engaged in a particular show without necessitating the use of the traditional TV spot. From the advertiser’s perspective there will be a motivation to reach the people who count without blowing a big wad of money on the TV spot that was traditionally used to do exactly that. Why bother, when Twitter’s “TV conversation targeting” is designed to do somethi

So I’m talking to a digital solutions provider who has created a platform featuring new value for consumers as part of a radio station’s online brand. Right in the middle of his on-screen experience, surrounded by the new stuff he created for his radio client, is that particular station’s Facebook feed. “Why is that there?” I asked, since it has nothing to do with the value proposition of the content around it. “The station wanted it there,” he replied. “Why?” I asked. “Becau

It was my first visit to the Sundance Channel, and I was met with this visual: Not so much a “pop up” per se as in invitation to deepen a relationship which was at least strong enough to bring me to the page in the first place (and it didn’t “pop” during my second visit). Does your radio brand have such an invitation? One that invites consumers to give up their email in exchange for information of real value? One that says “we want to connect with you personally”? I was struc

Here are some stats from a brand new eMarketer report on U.S. digital media usage changes from now to 2013. I’ll focus on some highlights relevant to broadcasters: Facebook users:  147 million, up 4% Twitter users: 36 million, up 14% Smartphone users: 138 million, up 19% Mobile Internet users: 144 million, up 18% Mobile video viewers: 23% of the population, up 20% Smartphone video viewers: 22% of the population (and more than half of smartphone users): up 22% Online movie vie

“Social media is for conversations, not broadcasting.” That’s a common bromide among social media gurus.  But is it true? This matters to traditional broadcasters, because so much of what we do is built for broadcasting – it’s built for “one-to-many.”  Should we shoot for more conversation or more distribution? Hubspot’s Dan Zarella took a closer look at this question: For blogs, “conversation” means “comments.”  But Zarella found no significant correlation between the number

Here are the results of an unscientific and thus unrepresentative (but still revealing) poll from Inside Radio: Half say social networks a revenue-building bust. Facebook is fun and Twitter is a 140-character soapbox but when it comes to making money or contacts, half of Inside Radio readers say social networks haven’t done a thing to advance their career or promote their station. One person tells us, “Social networks, however necessary to what we now do, are an incredible ti

Guy Kawasaki is one of the most widely read and respected voices on the digital frontier.  He’s an entrepreneur, marketing guru, one-time Apple chief evangelist, and author of ten books (most of which I have read), including his newest, Enchantment: The Art of Changing Hearts, Minds, and Actions Watch the video of our conversation here.  An abbreviated transcript is below, but the video is richer and funnier, too. Prefer audio?  Try this: Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (versi

You can learn a lot from Twitter – and not just about Twitter, but also about how to spread messages about anything to anyone any way. Dan Zarella has studied what makes folks share content on Twitter and his takeaways can apply more broadly to any message you want to spread, no matter how you want to spread it. Here are his key points, from Smartblogs.com: Scarcity rules. Tweets that center on news — particularly urgent information — are more likely to be retweeted. Content