Cha Cha? A mobile marketing solution?

So just recently, my cousin introduced me to a website, Chacha.com. Dancing lessons? Not quite. This is a site that introduces you to a mobile marketing solution or to a "smart friend" within your cell phone that you didn't know existed. Not a person literally, but advanced technology that instantly answers any question that you text to ChaCha.

How this works?

Simply text your question to 242242 (that spells ChaCha) from your cell phone to ask any question.

The people behind the website receive questions 24/7 and the most knowledgeable person on the topic of your question asked will answer it. ChaCha's "Guide" community will answer your question by sending a text message answer back to your cell phone.

The "Guides" of ChaCha.com are individuals who work for this company and who had to take tests to verify that they are actually capable of being apart of ChaCha's community. ChaCha actually has a Search University that these Guides have to go through before they start working.

ChaCha offers quick tips like jokes and the local weather. If you text "joke" to ChaCha (242242), ChaCha will send a joke to your cell phone. If you text "weather" with either your zip code or city, ChaCha will send you your local weather to your cell phone.

For example, If I wanted the weather from my home town, I would text "weather" New Orleans to 242242. And I would instantly get the weather sent to my cell phone.

ChaCha.com also has a section to leave a comment about how you feel about it or what you think about the whole concept of ChaCha. That section is called "ChaCha Confessions." Another interesting section is the "Events" section. It tells you what ChaCha is going to be participating in, like "ChaCha at Sundance", just for the fans to text in some questions and instantly get the answers. ChaCha also sells "ChaCha" t-shirts to promote this mobile company.

So with all the elections going on right now, ChaCha is prepared to answer questions dealing with candidates and issues. ChaCha also has recent news updates from local and national media for people on the go. Say you heard the end of something on the radio or through word of mouth about McCain or Obama and you wanted to know what it is or at least the headline about it, well it's so easy to take out your cell phone and text "October 22, 2008 and McCain" to 242242 or "news today about Obama" to 242242 and you can instantly get the news that you had missed sent to your cell phone.

ChaCha is mainly a mobile solution for people on the go or away from the Internet to gain information or just answers to general questions that a person might have. And, it's all FREE!

So you should really try it out! So go ChaCha!

The Internet Presidential Race

I am an everyday user of the social networking site, Facebook, as some of you may already know. I use other sites such as Myspace and Twitter also. Lately I feel like I am being bombarded by political ads! I think every website I use or happen to come by has some sort of political ad or section/tab. For those Twitter.com users, the Election 2008 tab is a nonstop microblogging section for users to update and leave comments or statements about how they feel about certain political issues, candidates, and anything dealing with the 2008 presidential race. 

You have to be a member to check out Twitter, but it is a free networking site that is becoming more popular each day. You should sign up. On Twitter, on each individual's profile one can choose to write a one line biography about himself. It's optional, so other users can know a little about the person's profile that is being viewed. Well, my one line bio is "Love being a conservative New Orleans Greenie. Currently trying to enter the integrated marketing comm. world" (same as my about me) and just from that bio and having one word, conservative, I have organizations like RedState, a conservative news and community group, MilitaryChild, a coalition to support children of military families, and Dateline_DC, a general news feed group, following me on Twitter. I also got some followers who are mainly using Twitter for political reasons, from both sides of the presidential race. I find it interesting that organizations and users find others who have similar interest in common, like target marketing, so when they promote websites, links, and/or events those with similar interests and who are following them can respond positively and gain supporters. 

• Twitter
• Election 2008
  

Along with Twitter.com, Facebook is also promoting the presidential race. The advertisements that come across my profile are ones like "John McCain 08 T-Shirts", "Ready to Vote?", and "Dear American Voter" are just a few of the ads. The "Dear American Voter" ad has a caption asking "What is the most important issue in the upcoming election? Tell us!", this ad is promoting the site linktv.org, which is a place that people can post blogs, videos and comments about issues that they are concerned about or want to know more about for the upcoming election and they will receive feedback on that particular issue. 

• Facebook
• Link TV

These are websites promoting other sites and organizations, but Television also promotes political websites. My sister watches Greek on ABC Family. As the commercials are ending, and right before the show continues, the cast of Greek are shown wearing "VOTE" t-shirts from a website called, Declare Yourself. The cast is telling the viewers to vote and to go to this website to register to vote. The t-shirts are white with "VOTE" in black, so not promoting one candidate over another. It's a pretty neat website. It allows individuals to read about issues, to post their thoughts and questions, and to register to vote. It is a site to allow a person to gain their own perspective on a candidate. It doesn't bash any political side. It gives both sides of a certain issue. I think it's a great website for the younger crowd to visit and explore. I would have never known about the site if it weren't for the TV promotion. The site is also known for the "VOTE" t-shirts made by American Eagle Outfitters. 

I know we all get overloaded with advertisements everyday, but I can't help but notice all the political ones. It gets annoying seeing and all the same content everywhere! But some of these ads that are being promoted are working for the organizations who are putting them out there. So good for them, I guess.  And, I don't know about you, but I can't wait till they no longer exist! 

Discussion with others while watching a TV show.

Having a Facebook account, I can decide what applications I want to display on my profile or which ones I can be apart of. Well, my favorite TV show is One Tree Hill, although season six isn't starting out to great, and I joined the One Tree Hill "fan page" on Facebook. I use Facebook daily and I sometimes notice the advertisements in the side columns and sometimes they don't catch my eye. Today, I noticed one that was advertising Clippertv.net and its headline was "Fan of One Tree Hill." It was letting me know that I am able to chat live during the actual TV show. Like a live forum to share your thoughts with other fans from all over the U.S.

So, someone can chat online with others discussing what just happened on the show or one can discuss after the show aired. When you click on this ad it takes you to Clippertv.net's home page and the home page contains many other ads from other companies. It also tells you how a company can advertise on the site. This site lets fans interact with each other in the form of a chat room, unlike the official TV show's site. The CW has a site for One Tree Hill but it isn't set up as a chat, it is set up as a forum for leaving comments. One Tree Hill is being promoted through Facebook to target audiences who might actually use Clippertv.net and Clippertv.net is used as a tool to promote other companies and itself at the same time. I think this is an effective marketing ad because this ad is targeted to viewers of One Tree Hill on Facebook. The marketing team for One Tree Hill knows how many fans there are on Facebook. And, so can Clippertv.net. These viewers are also users of Facebook which makes them potential users of Clippertv.net because Facebook has a chat application that members use, so they could possibly join Clippertv.net and use theirs as well.
http://clippertv.net/