I finally picked up an iPad the other day and I was weighing my options on how to protect it. I ended up picking up the Griffin iPad Screen Care Kit for about $20 at Walmart. I’ve used screen protectors before on my iPhone so I thought I knew what I was getting myself into. Before you read the rest of this post, the bottom line can be summed up in a few words – “do not buy this product”.

The package came with a blue cleaning cloth and the screen protector film in a separate bag. I started off by cleaning the iPad screen as thoroughly as possible. I used the included blue cleaning cloth as well as a photo lens cloth and an air duster. The process to apply the screen protector film was removing the film’s backing and carefully applying it to one side of the screen. Then I worked my way to the other side of the screen applying pressure to the film to evenly place it onto the iPad.

To my dismay the result was less than stellar. There were a ton of air bubbles stuck underneath the film and despite my best efforts I could not rub them out or push them out the edges. My next best alternative was to reapply the film…this was a fatal mistake. As I pulled up the film, some additional dust and floating air particles got onto the screen and film. Once anything gets onto the film, you can’t get it off. I tried using the air duster, papers, and finally my fingers. Each successive attempt to remove the dust proved to make it worse.

In the end, the product was unusable and had to be thrown in the trash. $20 wasted and motivation to let the world know to avoid this product.

Although I’d been a part of Foursquare for sometime now, I really hadn’t been too active. The reason? My circle of friends in Los Angeles are not members of the Foursquare community and the app being so social in nature had less appeal.

Everything changed this past week when I was up in the SF Bay Area for work. I decided to really use Foursquare and chronicle my trip with digital footprints. As an added bonus, My friends within Silicon Valley were power users of app which made it even more interactive. I was constantly getting pushed alerts of their activities and conversely they were receiving mine.

After using Foursquare heavily for a week, I can definitely see the appeal of geolocation apps. It lets you know what your friends are doing without asking them or checking a social media network for a status update. It was actually fun to get badges (I’ve upped my count to 7 in a weeks time) and discuss with your friends the tricks to get certain ones. It was also addicting. Every place i went the iPhone came out to check-in.

As a marketer I truly see this as the future. With Facebook’s timely release of their new Places feature, they seem to think so as well. By just using Foursquare for a week, I had already begun to look out for “special deals” nearby my location and was being influenced by the tips that people left about businesses I was considering patronizing. I also tied my Foursquare updates to both Twitter and Facebook. By letting my social circles know where I was and what I was doing, spurred comments and recommendations for places to eat, see, etc. — a truly social experience.

I’m definitely on the bandwagon for Foursquare and similar geolocation/tagging apps. I’ve continued using it even in LA. I can’t wait to see the adoption rates with Facebook Places now that geotagging is readily accessible for millions of active users to try. I’m expecting it to be high and if everyone likes it as much as I did, the question becomes how as marketers can we capitalize on it?

10. BART is really efficient and I’m amazed that I never took it during the 5 years I lived in the Bay Area.

9. In order to have a successful presentation you need to have profanity mixed in and have pictures of yourself waking up in the morning embedded into your powerpoint.

8. Google can read text in images and search video audio tracks and use them both within search.

7. People can tweet really really fast.

6. Internet speeds really suck and should definitely be faster especially at an Internet conference.

5. Tchotchkes and free books never get old….they still draw crowds and traffic.

4. I really like Foursquare (I unlocked 4 badges during my trip).

3. I’m not alone. I sat in rooms of people just like me!

2. No one on Twitter is real. We’re all have fake profiles and are having fake (yet seemingly real) conversations with each other.

1. Everyone has an iPad and I desperately need to get one!

Reminds me of being a kid and getting your Topps baseball card signed by your favorite player…

Here’s my notes/observations from day 3 of SES. Pardon the brevity and typos (if any). I’m using the wordpress app on my iPhone to post this from the airport.

AM Keynote from Tim Ash – 4 Pillars of Building Trust Online

-Trust is like a concentric circle. Closest people we trust is family, diminishes as you go out.
-Problems w/ building trust. Must be instant (1/20 of a sec) and must be done anonymously.
-4 pillars…(1) appearance, (2) transactional assurances, (3) authority, (4) consensus of peers.
-somethings to incorporate…trust symbols, large stats, professionalism

PPC vs. SEO
-not quite the lively discussion as I had thought it would have.
-bottom line – must/better to do both.
-1+1=3; 33% traffic increase w/ both paid & organic listings.
-paid search has positive impact on natural search. Remove paid search and larger sales drop than just paid search sales.

Multiple Channel Attribution
-allocate credit to all touchpoints.
-difficult to match up diff systems/tracking
-single channel reports->integrated crosschannel reports->attribution mgmt->forecasting->marketing mix allocation.
-issues to consider: cookie deletion, different devices, offline channels.
-3 consequences of not getting it right…(1)over/under spending, (2)unhealthy tension, (3)misguided investment
-hazard function

Social + Marketing Mix
-fundamental question. Why would someone want to listen?
-repurpose content for each channel.
-Find & listen to audience.
-social not in buying mode.
-should create a content/social schedule. Plan what to post and when. Should be cohesive.
-social can also be risk mgmt. Have a plan.
-chiclets as golden nuggets?

Facebook Do’s and Don’ts
-large discussion over privacy. Lawyers vs marketers.
-audience def thought sessions would be more about tips/tricks.
-mozenda…object based scraper.
-fake profiles/reviews are FTC violations.
-social is a soft sell.
-t&cs on fb to own fan wall posts and content on fan page.

Ok that’s all for SES. Had a great time and lots of new ideas are now floating in my head. Now if only my flight will take off…