Category: Friday Five

Friday Five: Brand news, early edition

Since today is my Friday (three-day weekend FTW!) here’s an early edition of the Friday Five. This week’s post contains linky goodness about brands and branding. Enjoy and happy weekend.

1. 2010’s top 10 brands, according to Bnet’s Geoffrey James (via PRDaily). From electronics to entertainment, learn which brands stood out this year and what lessons can be learned from their success.

2. Brand buzz without advertising — wise words on the importance of “social currency” from brand expert Bob Brock of Educational Marketing Group, with examples of some universities that know how to do it right.

3. How much engagement is there in ‘liking’ a brand? It’s easy to give a thumbs-up to any brand on Facebook (and now, on Amazon). But, asks Vikki Chowney at newmediaage.com, “Is a click of a button really that inspiring? … It’s too easy to do without thinking for it to prove you have a real relationship with the product in question.” (Hat tip to @jesskry and @KellyOlexa for sharing via Twitter.)

4. 12 principles of social media marketing, by Jeff Bullas. Good list. No. 3 (Educate – Don’t Sell) is my favorite. What’s missing? (Hat tip to @AskAaronLee for the share, which is principle No. 1.)

5. mStoner’s First Law of Branding, from the brilliant mind of Michael Stoner. If you get nothing else from this post, get this law down. (Ries and Trout have nothing on you, Michael!)

Friday Five: 5-year blogiversary and a shout to the new kids

Five years and two days ago today, this blog was born with little fanfare, an audacious title and a post about the escalating cost of a public college degree: A UC degree: ain’t it (about a hundred) grand? Five years and 800-some posts later, this blog is still chugging along. And since we’re still talking about the affordability of a college education, I guess this blog is still relevant.

Anyway, to celebrate five years of blogging about higher ed marketing, I thought I’d give a shout out to some of the new kids on the higher ed blogs. These youngsters all have the right stuff and should be required reading. I hope they keep blogging, vlogging and sharing great ideas long after this blog bites the virtual dust.

1. Patrick Powers, who keeps cranking out good, relevant posts about social media in higher ed.

2. Higher Ed Live, a weekly webcast about all things social media in higher ed, hosted by Seth Odell.

3. Mobile in Higher Ed, Dave Olsen’s excellent blog about the world of mobile web.

4. Graduate/Professional School Marketing, by Davina Gould. Though her blog is geared for marketing folks in those fields, Davina posts good stuff for just about any higher ed marketer.

5. New Adventures of an Old SID, by Christine Syme. This is the only blog by a sports information director that I read routinely. Chris talks about much more than sports.

Bonus blog: I’d be remiss if I didn’t point out that Karine Joly’s College Web Editor blog has been around even longer than this one. Karine commemorated her blog’s 5-year anniversary last February. Finally, Karine is the elder for a change. Among higher ed bloggers, I believe that only Michael Stoner has been at it longer.