On Clickz.com I saw this nice discussion on the subject of using Flickr for commercial reasons.

In general social media is used more and more for commercial reasons and not everybody is staying relevant.  But the difference between wrong and right is not always clear.

Even if Yahoo is monetizing Flickr with more relevant advertising options. Free publicity will always exist.

Like in old media free and paid publicity have their own place and advantages. Big difference though is that in old media there are editors who are in charge of the quality of content. In new media it’s us, the audience.

I am not the first to mention it, but it is just to important. So I just have to mention it on this blog.

Competitive intelligence is now for everybody. And again it’s free.

Avinash Kaushik, webanalytics expert and author of the book Webanalytics an hour a day, is explaining competitive intelligence on his analytics weblog. This week he is explaining the use of Google Ad Planner to get information about your competitors audience. You get demographics and psychographics about their website visitors and you can easily compare it with your own.

He is even giving a Procter & Gamble example. So read this article.

I have just created a Google custom search for Switzerland, CH Social Search. Searching within major social networks and websites used by Swiss people. If you need it, use it.

This custom search is open for contribution. So if you have any suggestions to make it better just send it in.

Custom search is vertical search made easy for everybody. I suggest companies should make their own custom searches serving or exploring their target audiences.

Most of us still have the presumption that with online marketing you only reach youth. The European Interactive Advertising Association (EIAA) now published a report about Digital Families. It is interesting to see that Digital parents engage in a wider range of digital activities than those that live without children.

The research also shows that the websites visited by digital parents and their online activities vary according to the age of the children. If you are planning on targeting this online audience this information is really useful:

People living with very young children (between nought and four) are increasingly visiting health and film websites (+24% since 2006) while those living with children between five and nine are going to games sites (+32%). Price comparison sites are seeing a boost amongst those living with children between ten and fifteen (+31%) while those with older children (between 16 and 18) are enjoying more TV sites (+77%). Users living with older children also seem to be more technically advanced – almost half (47%) of those living with children aged 16-18 use instant messaging services compared to 37% of people living with children aged nought to four. A similar trend is seen when comparing film, TV or video clip downloads (30% vs. 22%) and music downloads (36% vs. 32%).

(sources: Google Alert and marketingfacts.nl)