When I started with R2i over three years ago, I quickly discovered that marketing and technology intertwine and that you really can’t have it any other way. This was a new idea for me, but it made perfect sense and still does.

Marketers need to work closely and effectively with their counterparts who are ultimately responsible for managing online business technology. Why? Because technology is an integral part of all your online initiatives.  The more you understand the technology, the more you are able to work in unison with your IT department… help each other spark ideas and assure that all of your projects will run smoothly. The key here is building cohesion.  Developers tend to be introverted and don’t focus as much on the target verticals and brand strategies. Marketers understand the pulse of the business world and can help craft a more robust technical strategy by keeping closer relationships with the teams which ultimately build the products and services they will provide.

Marketers can devise killer ideas, but if it’s not possible to build out, what does it matter?  Programmers can build out an amazing application, but if marketing isn’t involved to push it out and get people using it, what’s the point?

I like to think of technology as “the marketing enabler.” The technology is what makes it possible to do 95% of marketing initiatives. Whether it’s content distribution, launching a marketing campaign or measuring the success of those campaigns, technology is in the driver’s seat a good portion of the time (or at least giving me directions from the back seat). Technology allows us to create online initiatives that take R2i into new markets and serve our audience in new and innovative ways. Thinking of the technology as the enabler provides a better sense of the constraints and possibilities of implementing marketing ideas.

The technology team has to now expand their job description to “think tech”, but keeping marketing in mind. And marketing must continue to be innovative, not only with strategies but with the technologies used to implement them. With technology and marketing co-mingling, the dance will always be in full swing.

R2i traveled to San Fran late in April to unveil the latest version of their social networking mash up technology, R2i Live, as the focal point of the Inbound Marketing Summit 2009 Conference. Assigned the aptly named moniker “Smash”, short for social mash up, R2i SMASH provides a robust and friendly environment which integrates the popular heavyweight social networking capabilities of Twitter, Flickr, text messaging, mobile video, Ustream, webcasting and multimedia messaging.

Extending on their open source frameworks, the R2i SMASH platform leverages a slick and easy to configure CMS backend, a modular what you see is what you get approach. The platform is easily configured for each service, allowing for direct streaming of text, image and video feeds in a readily malleable look and feel.

With R2i SMASH you can quickly setup anything from a simple page with grouped social streams, to a full event conferencing web property, complete with locations, sessions, abstracts and schedules to conduct a full social networking world’s fair online or shared and in person.

R2i SMASH has been used for simple websites used to act as the one-stop takeaway point for single day conferences, to multi-day extravaganzas. It can have a custom user interface for each event, or a set of shared layouts for quick setup for use in any setting.

•    Quick setup
•    Custom URLS
•    Popular social networking feeds
•    Twitter tweets by tags and phrases
•    Flickr pics by tag and author
•    SMS texts from custom email addresses
•    SMS pictures with automatic scaling
•    Video streams with web capture
•    Built in moderation capabilities
•    Quick export of all multimedia types for archiving
•    Adjustable and skinable layout

Custom dimension flexibility appropriate for any display requirements like:

• laptops/desktop
• conference booths
• TV and HDTV
• standard and widescreen projectors

R2i SMASH brings you the best features of social networking, in one centrally located package.

R2i SMASH has been used for GBTC’s TechNite 2008, OpenForce ‘08, Inbound Marketing Summit San Fran, and DPAC III. It will be appearing in upcoming events such as Inbound Marketing Summit Dallas and Boston, DigiDay Social, MD BIZ EXPO, and more.

For questions or to learn more, please contact Lindsey Hill @ lhill@r2integrated.com.

With that in mind, we wanted to create something that would help facilitate the search and spread of ideas for use by digital marketing professionals everywhere — something that would help thought leaders spread their ideas in a way that would provide practical value to those looking to understand this ever-changing digital landscape.

And so Digitips was born. Digitips is a widget that is updated bi-weekly with tips, thoughts and success stories from the thought leaders who live and breathe in this space every day.  The founding contributors consist of Matt Goddard, CEO of R2integrated; Dave Evans, Social Media Strategist and Co-Founder of Digital Voodoo;  Greg Cangialosi, President & CEO of Blue Sky Factory, Inc;  Johnny Boston, CCO of Raw Digital; and Nick Friese, Founder and President of DM2 Media. The founding contributors were chosen as people who we consider unequivocal leaders in their fields; ones who would bring unlimited contribution to Digitips users. You can view the founding contributors and their bios here.

Because we recognize that the digital landscape is an ever changing one, we happily soldier on in our quest for innovative approaches. If you have some to share, we want to know.  With that in mind, we are making a standing invitation:  If you are interested in being featured as a guest contributor and have something you want the world to know, we strongly encourage you to send to send it to us. Just fill out this short form. We want to hear from you – and we know others do, too.

As a Digitips user, if you find it has been valuable to you, please share with your peers, friends and colleagues by clicking the “Share This” tab on the widget.

Learn on!

Your Website: The Turkey
Thanksgiving doesn’t really exist without the turkey, and if you don’t have a great website, neither do you.

Analytics: The Stuffing
Think of the stuffing as your website analytics. It can sometimes come out a little dry and boring, but it does tell you what’s going on inside of that turkey!

Your Content: The Potatoes
Your content, just like your potatoes, is the staple to your feast. They always said you can’t have the meat without the potatoes, right?

Search Engine Marketing: Directions to Grandma’s �
If people can’t find you, it’s a lonely Thanksgiving.

Email Marketing: Plenty of Wine
Make sure you always have enough wine and beer. You always have to be prepared in case you have a really high open rate. Don’t drink wine? You can always opt out.

Online Advertising: Your Table Manners
Don’t forget those good table manners. They always make a good impression (that is if impressions really matter anymore).

Social Media: To-Go Boxes
Spread the bird. Spread the word.

Mobile: The Mystery Dish
There is always that one dish that sits at the end of the table untouched. The recipe is all the rage, but no one is really sure how it’s going to taste.

Now what it all boils down to….

ROI:  Family & Friends
Without it, it’s not even worth the effort.