HEY, I know that lately I've been hating on social media sites but, they aren't all bad. All in all, many people use it to get their businesses, work, and or music out there for people to see. It is cost effective and the reach is enormous.

But, besides all that advertising/marketing krap, I wanted to feature a rather noteworthy NJ band that is just getting started. They had just release their first song and music video on 4/20, and I have to say I am impressed. I listen to a good amount of hardcore music and yesterday as I paused my All Shall Perish Pandora playlist (yes, I listen to All Shall Perish at work....) to listen to this, I really felt like the voice and instrumentals were up to par if not BETTER then the bands that I had been listening too who are already big. 

Now this  band really comes as a breath of fresh air. To elaborate I've lived in NJ my whole life and throughout high school many if not all of my friends were in bands, trying to make it big. But, they had always  been a huge let down and I doubted they would go anywhere. Of course to their faces I would always be like "OH that song is amazing" or "that breakdown was epic" but nah, in the end I always went back to my playlists and thought they'll never sound like these guys, who've made it big.

But, I think Julius Seizure has some real potential here, they are different. THE SOUND IS ACTUALLY GREAT. And everything they do is professionally done. Really worth checking out AND their fully using Facebook, Youtube, and the Web to get their name out there. Which is fine by me.

There first show is coming up! and I'd encourage everyone to check it out:

Recently marketing is being overwhelmingly concentrated in social media. Admittedly, social media is today’s communication giant but I feel marketing and advertising could use a breath of fresh air. Some marketers are attempting to change their focus away from social media towards the ‘next big thing,’ that isn’t necessarily going to be web-based. 

While I had been looking into the topics of social media and marketing trends, I had encountered some interesting results. For instance, we all know that SEO is much more popular than PPC when considering social media, but did you know that Emailing still hold the top spot at as top marketing channel used other than social media. Search engine optimization lagged behind significantly at number two. Furthermore, “68 percent of respondents said they’re planning to increase their SEO efforts — a number that’s down slightly from 71 percent in 2011.” Could this be due to some crowding out in the social media / web field?

Crowding out could be a viable reason for marketers and corporations to be looking elsewhere to get their creative genius out. In its’ initial start social media had been an outlet for ‘the average person’ to get their word out; today, the platforms are OVERRUN by corporations bombarding viewers with ads and gaining so much recognition that ‘the average person’ struggles to find a place where they can have a significant say.

Nonetheless new venues in social media are being adopted. Google+ being the most prominent. But, Facebook remains as the top social media site used by marketers and business owners, followed by Twitter and Linkedin. Google+ falls behind YouTube and Blogs in 6th place. Yet this venue is projected to increase in popularity in the coming years and really give Facebook a run for it’s’ money.  But, as Google+ had recently revamped its page to allot users more creativity, Facebook buys one of the most popular phone apps (Instagram) to expand their operations into the mobile market (a market where Facebook doesn’t get money from their advertisements, a significant aspect of their business model.)

This social media war is truly becoming old. I find that there is little to be surprised about anymore with advertisements on this platform. Let’s face it, you can do ANYTHING online, so what is there to be surprised about. So where the true challenge and ability to really impress lies, is in other non-web-based venues. In detail, I would prompt everyone to check out Sid Lee Architecture. This firm is different from regular architecture companies in that it merges with the commercial creative world. They use art and buildings to portray a brand image. Truly innovative! Most impressive is that they are against the digital. The owner has been quoted as saying; “We won’t hire a digital-media artist, but we’ll hire an architect who can program and we won’t hire an illustrator but bring someone who like to draw.”

Up above is a diseign by Sid Lee for the Red Bull headquarters. Can we say corporate culture?

Change is key in this sector!!!

(source.)
(source.)