Archive for August, 2009

Sang Kim, CEO, on Ripple6 OnDemand

Posted by Katie Morse on August 27th, 2009

After speaking with Geoff Merrick about our newest product, Ripple6 OnDemand, I decided to get a few words from our CEO, Sang Kim.

This short (1:38) video explains a bit about how we’ve used our experience working with enterprise-level clients to develop a product which is not only powerful and scalable, but easy to implement.

I’ll let Sang say the rest…

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MixingBowl.com – Social Network Launches A Magazine!

Posted by Katie Morse on August 24th, 2009

mixingbolwmag2In an apparent first, a social network www.MixingBowl.com has launched a print publication – Mixing Bowl Magazine.  The magazine is a special edition from Better Homes and Gardens Special Interest Publications and appears on US newsstands until August 25, 2009.

Mixing Bowl is a social cookbook, created by the makers of Better Homes and Gardens, and full of 100% User Generated Content.  Better Homes and Gardens maintains an active presence on the site, but keeps their triple-tested recipes, which appear in the regular edition of their publication, separate from their social network – one which is truly a ‘social cookbook’.

Users have certainly stepped up to the plate (the dinner plate) and dished up some great numbers!  According to Compete.com, MixingBowl.com served over 2.1 million page views in July, spanning 200,000 unique visitors and over 40,000 members. Mixers have created 17,300 recipes and 500+ public groups since the sites launch earlier this year.

This is an example of a thriving online community being created and growing based upon an affinity for food.  Is a paper spin-off of a successful online site the future of magazines?  Perhaps, especially considering that a second edition of the magazine is slated for January, 2010.

What we do know today is that BH&G and the Mixing Bowl crew are doing something right.  The site is growing quickly and people are finding what they want there.

NOTE:  In Dec 2007 Dennis Publishing in the UK printed a Facebook “bookazine” which was a single printing.  It wasn’t intended to be a magazine.  Mixing Bowl Magazine’s future is yet to be decided but  it is definitely the first social website to print it’s own magazine as an offline companion to the online site.mixingbowlmagindex

What's in Ripple6 OnDemand?

Posted by Katie Morse on August 20th, 2009

My job as the Ripple6 Marketing Manager keeps me busy talking with many of our different departments.  I caught up with our VP of Professional Services, Geoff Merrick, yesterday afternoon to talk a bit about our new product offering, Ripple6 OnDemand.

Geoff and his team are responsible for the development and implementation of our products and this short video explains a bit about our new product from a technical perspective.

Ripple6 OnDemand Launches, Provides New Social Marketing Monetization Tool For Publishers

Posted by Katie Morse on August 19th, 2009

Full-Featured Platform Offers New Revenue Opportunities, Fast Implementation, and Scalability for Publishers

NEW YORK – August 19, 2009 – Ripple6, a leading provider of social media services to brand marketers and publishers, today announced Ripple6 OnDemand, a turnkey social networking platform that offers easy implementation, scalability, and new monetization opportunities. With Ripple6 OnDemand, publishers can connect with their audiences and generate incremental revenue by helping brands tap into the power of social networking and community building in a fast, efficient, and cost-effective manner.

Ripple6 OnDemand offers a full-featured social networking platform that helps publishers unlock the value of their audience and create new revenue streams beyond banner ads and subscription models. The product enables a publisher to create a customized, content-ready site in as little as 24 hours. Content integration is simple, using standard web interfaces; design templates can be easily customized around branding guidelines.

Ripple6 OnDemand’s proprietary features include Brand Communities™, Social Insights™ and Ripple Analytics™. Brand Communities help marketers connect with consumers and start conversations in a social community environment outside of ads. Major national brands currently using this solution include P&G, Unilever, Walgreens and Benjamin Moore. With Social Insights, publishers can use primary custom research as a means to monetize their audience. Both solutions include Ripple Analytics, which delivers social metrics to help publishers better understand and demonstrate audience value to potential advertisers.

“Ripple6 OnDemand packages our feature-rich social media platform in a low-investment turnkey solution with powerful revenue generating opportunities for publishers,” said Sang Kim, CEO at Ripple6. “Using Ripple6 OnDemand is a unique opportunity for publishers to realize incremental income and positive ROI by enhancing the value of their audience without negatively impacting current ad revenue.”

To help publishers get started, Ripple6 offers Smart Start, a program created to leverage Ripple6 social media expertise and gather insights from real users in a live environment in order to design a successful community. The program includes the creation of a community and a one-month research project. Smart Start allows publishers to avoid costly redesigns by developing a blueprint for the social network based on user experience and feedback.

To learn more, visit http://www.ripple6.com/SmartStart.html.

About Ripple6, Inc.

Ripple6™ helps marketers, publishers and e-tailers implement their business strategy through social media. The company provides an enterprise white label social media platform to create consumer engagements and relationships, enhance social marketing, generate consumer insights, and facilitate commerce and collaboration. It is easily customized to incorporate a brand’s look and feel for integration into an existing web site or to create an entirely new site. Ripple6, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Gannett Co., Inc. (NYSE: GCI), is based in New York and its list of clients and partners includes P&G, Meredith Corporation, and Unilever. For more information, go to www.Ripple6.com.

For media inquiries, contact:

Julie Nicholson
Weber Shandwick
212-445-8371
jnicholson@webershandwick.com

Ripple6 launches OnDemand – a full-featured, turnkey, cost-effective community solution

Posted by Katie Morse on August 19th, 2009

We recently launched a new product, Ripple6 OnDemand, designed to serve small to medium-sized publishers and marketers.  Ripple6 OnDemand has a few key benefits: scalability, turnkey implementation and new monetization opportunities.

You may have heard of it during the Robert Scoble interview, but if not (and even if so), we’re here to tell you more about this new offering.

Ripple6 OnDemand is a template version of our White Label offering, able to be implemented in as little as 24 hours.

Here’s what you’ll find if you dig around a bit:

  1. Ripple6 proprietary features are included:
    • Social Insights allows you to conduct research within your community and across others on our platform
    • Brand Communities delivers another way to monetize your site without cannibalizing existing display or PPC ad revenue
    • Ask/Answer helps to encourage new members to join your community while also connecting current members 1-to-1
  2. Facebook Connect comes with Ripple6 OnDemand.
    • We’re finding that our customers are viewing this tool as increasingly important, and wanted this product to support this application out of the box.

We took care to design this product with our customers’ top concerns in mind.  Publishers want and need to generate incremental revenue, especially with social tools.

We’ve noticed growing frustration about the current monetization ‘limits’ (subscription-based revenue and PPC advertising revenue) and am happy to offer this product as a true alternative.