Viral Community News

First of all, if you are coming here for the first time, let me quickly explain what this post is. Viral Community News is my way of highlighting interesting and relevant posts I see at other blogs that I read. It gives you a way to (hopefully) find some interesting reading, and maybe be introduced to some new blogs to add to your feeds.

Also, I have added an 'About Me/FAQ' spot to the sidebar, as well as a 'The Best of The Viral Garden'. Both should be pretty self-explanatory.


Seth, THIS is the best-case example I have ever seen for why bloggers should allow comments. After I left my 'Does the Best Marketing Go Unnoticed?' post on Daily Fix, which highlighted the 'marketing' efforts of The Favorites on MySpace and the work Brains on Fire and Fiskars did to create The Fiskateers, Spike from BoF, Jeremy from The Favorites, and 2 of the Fiskateers, Stephenie and May, ALL commented to give further background information on their efforts. Absolute gold. If you are in marketing in any shape, form, or fashion, then you MUST read the comments to this post, because these people are foretelling the future of marketing. A future where companies find their passionate community members, and empower them to market for them.


Anyone else notice that Miami Vice opened #1 in the box-office wars ahead of Pirates of the Carribbean? Can we blame it on 'The Miami Vice Story'? ;)


Great story from Mike Wagner, how as a kid he didn't go the 'lemonade-stand' route to earn money. Marketers can learn from his example.


Laura chimes in on how Mel Gibson can save his brand after the fallout from his remarks during his DUI arrest last weekend. Also, Jennifer Rice disagrees with an earlier post that Laura made about Weber grills and their branding. I agree with the points that Jennifer make, but don't think they are applicable in the Weber case. And Jennifer then has a follow-up post. Another great example of comments making the post, as Laura and Jennifer give a sort of Branding 101 primer. Pure gold.


Paul from Hee-Haw Marketing has started posting 'It's the Links I love, My Friend', where he posts his own list of posts that have caught his eye lately. Here's his first two.



Tricia at Studio UES gives her 5 Reasons Every Artist Should Have a Blog. A great list, and also Tricia you might want to check out Jason's Music Business Blog, which is another great read.


Mario's blog interview with Jeremiah Owyang is up. As I said earlier, I'm not a big fan of blogger interviews, but this one is different because Mario let his readers pick most of the questions for Jeremiah. Great way to include your community in the process. Here's Part 1, and Part 2.


Teresa comments on having bloggers 'embedding' with artists as they tour. She thinks it's a good idea, and so do I, but I think it works so much better if the artists themselves will at least occasionally post. Or do like Rob Thomas did, create a vlog showing sound-checks, portions of the concerts, and backstage interviews with Rob and the band. As with most efforts to integrate social media, it's a good start, but still has endless possibilities.


CK has a great post explaining exactly why the current Mac vs. PC ads work so well. I won't give away the ending, but I think she's exactly right!


Bob has a great review of the book “A Whole New Mind – Why Right-Brainers Will Rule The Future” by Daniel Pink. Again, this is why blogs are such effective communication tools. Before this post I had never heard of the book or the author, now I am looking forward to reading the book.