Sugababes split…but new girl joins (again)!

Rumours that new-ish girl Sugababe Amelle was being bullied by Keisha have been “hot” gossip for some time. They turn up separately for interviews, miming to their songs (Heat had them in this week with a fake record company plug “we all love each other” feature).

Well, believe the hype for once. Marketing Mole friends in radio can confirm that, yes, they DO turn up separately for interviews, then hold hands on air, then leave separately. While they shamelessly plug their cheapo cover version single (Right Said Fred – please???).

So exclusively, I can confirm, that they’ve exhausted the line up, AGAIN. No surprise. After all, Amelle disappeared in May, causing even her family to call the police desparately begging her to come home (some people will do anything to cling to their fifteen minutes of fame). Let’s not forget that all the ex sugababes have a “I was/wasn’t bullied by Keisha story:    http://tinyurl.com/ncqejh    and    ”Keisha made my life a living hell” :    http://tinyurl.com/ny4e32)

They’ve done well to keep a lid on it long enough for the single to limp up to the top of the charts. But the latest revelations of a new line up challenge even the most die hard of deluded Babe fans….Jade? The Eurovision Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber hopeful…is to be the FOURTH incarnation of the jaded Sugababe cash cow. Surely no amount of remixing can allow anyone to take their jingles seriously (see: http://tinyurl.com/mpgh6p).

Get the new girl in!

As the only original “band” member, Keisha, can you really claim to be so squeaky clean and innocent now? Lightning strikes twice, but double that and even we have to doubt your naive “they never get in touch anymore” act. If  you’re that much of a diva, celebrate it. It launched Alesha Dixon’s solo career!

The sad fact is, you’ve only managed to stay in the charts so long because of the line up changes, and the record company must absolutley embrace the fresh blood to give them one more shot for a number one cover version. Remixed of course. And co-written by Andrew Lloyd Webber.

By the way, The “Babes” didn’t even approve the Right Said Fred song, the record company over rode it. You’re puppets, and your time is up!

5 Amazing ideas on how to use Twitter as business

Twitter continues to come a long way from just following Team Katie or Team Peter (but is it still fun?)

Found this on ezinearticles.com which is useful: FIVE Twitter business ideas to make social media work. The full article is on http://tinyurl.com/lvrpbz  

- but here are the highlights. It’s steeped in jargon, drop me a line if you want to cut through the chaffe and speak plain English. 

Local List Builder 

Local marketing is the new rage. It’s a little known fact Twitter is a really potent local marketing tool. You can search for a particular locale using the Twitter search engine, and follow tons of people who are in your area. Develop a relationship, get easy consultation gigs–that’s a lucrative Twitter business strategy right there.

Authority SEO 

If your Twitter account is a mavenship maker where you can become an authority in your niche, how much more will that effect be quadrupled when you pair it up with SEO success. Even thought your tweets may not have link juice, but because of its high PageRank–you’re able to rank in the front page of Google with a few measly backlinks.

JV Attractor 
Any marketer worth their salt is looking to network with other marketers. That’s why marketing experts are saying conferences are the best ways to form strategic alliances that will lead to cash in the pocket. Twitter makes that easy by cutting away the distance and time issues and makes connections easy. Twitter is the Country Club of the Internet.

Sales Scoop Exploder 
One key factor in a Twitter marketing campaign’s success is relevancy. The more in tune you are with your prospect’s needs, the more sales you will make. Plain and simple. The best way is to again go to Twitter trending topics, see what people are talking about and tailor your marketing messages around them. You’ll see response rates go up.

 

New Twitter homepage to train brands and users

There’s endless Top Tips and How To’s on best practice for making Twitter sell your brand. This week, we may not need them, as from the following article, Twitter are doing it for themselves now. What’s next? An advertising rate card and technical specification sheet for advertising enquiries?

News from Warc: http://www.warc.com/News

Twitter, the microblogging website, will launch a new homepage this week, as part of a broader effort by the social media service to “better show who we are” to both companies and consumers.

VMS, the news monitoring service, estimated that Twitter received $48 million (€33.8m; £29.2m) of free media coverage for the 30 days to 20 July this year, and the social networking portal is seeking to capitalise on this sort of publicity.

In order to achieve this, “we need to do a better job of explaining ourselves to people who hear about us and then have no idea what do to,” Biz Stone, one of the platform’s co-founders, said.

“We have to turn a lot of awareness into engagement. Our front page is not reflective of that right now,” he added. 

The new features on its redesigned homepage are set to include a search box, data on current “trending topics”, and more details about how to use the social messaging utility.

Stone also said that visitors will now be able to “try it out without having to sign up, so you can get an idea of what Twitter is before you use it.” 

Alongside giving the site a more interactive tone, the new welcome page is intended “to show us as a place where people can discover what is going on in real-time and much more,” he added.

The company has also developed a section of its website, called Twitter 101, which explains to brand owners how best to utilise its product, and offering case studies from several advertisers. 

“Businesses of all kinds, including major brands, increasingly find that listening and engaging on the service lead to happier customers, passionate advocates, key product improvements and, in many cases, more sales,” the Twitter 101 page states.

It quotes the example of Dell, which has 80 branded accounts on Twitter, and has used the site to “let people know about deals,” as well as “interact with customers” and “raise awareness about the brand”. 

Earlier this year, the computer manufacturer reported that it had posted $3 million in sales using Twitter, while KFC and Whole Foods have also successfully “tweeted” to connect with consumers.

Similarly, Pepsi established an official presence on the social network in January this year, and regards it as the “only medium where we can have a two-way continuous dialog about the brand,” Bonin Bough, director of social and emerging media for PepsiCo, said.

Its initiatives on the portal include tracking consumer feedback related to the launch of Pepsi Throwback, and even offering a tribute to Michael Jackson, who featured in ads for the company in the 1980s. 

“We’re trying to humanise the brand, to make it more accessible to consumers. On Twitter, they can complain or praise, and we can use it as a way to gauge how people are feeling,” said Ana Maria Irazabal, brand director for Pepsi. 

Among the major differences in the ways customers use the social media service compared with the soft drinks giant’s toll-free phoneline is that they tend to offer opinions of its brands, rather than focusing on specific issues. 

“They feel they’re invited to give their opinions on the how the brand should move forward, and they’re very detailed,” Irazabal argued. “When we respond quickly, people give us kudos.” 

Moreover, Pepsi is increasingly requiring staff members to register for personal account on social media sites, as it is “very hard to talk to agencies if you have never used the tools,” she said.

Data sourced from Boomtown/AdAge/Twitter; additional content by WARC staff, 27 July 2009