If you’re creating a website for your movie, don’t let yourself fall into the trap of buying a crazy domain name that no one can spell, that is filled with hyphens, or isn’t a “real” domain name at all but is a sub-sub folder of another domain.

As a desperate attempt to get a movie website up and running, or for lack of better options, I’ve seen many movie marketers employ bad movie domain conventions such as:

• filmname-movie.com
• filmname-themovie.com
• filmnamethemovie.com

All of these are poor domains — they’re too long, they contain dashes, they’re awkward to say. Just try to say DASH in a tv advertisement and you’ll quickly realize the trouble you’ve gotten yourself into: the DASH part of your domain will be forgotten or misunderstood and you’ll have wasted your money promoting a domain people can’t remember or properly type into their web browser or mobile device.

If you’re serious about landing a great domain name for your movie and don’t have the time, resources or knowledge how to go about it, hire a professional domain name consultant, domain broker, or digital property agent. Don’t skimp on getting a high-quality domain name as it’s a key part of your movie’s online branding and social media buzz building efforts.

Here’s a fun list of what one writer is calling the 10 worst movie domain names ever. Try to avoid getting added to this list

Some great ones here:

wearemarshall-themovie.warnerbros.com

disney.go.com/disneypictures/nightmare/

What are some movie domain names you’ve come across that make you shudder or that are so bad you’ve not gone to the movie and/or visited the website because of them?

Over 90 per cent of marketing departments are planning to launch a social media campaign in 2008, despite the fact that over a third are yet to use social tools in their organisation.

A survey, conducted by LEWIS PR at PR Week’s New Media Conference, revealed that 75 per cent of attendees are planning to use a blog as a social media asset in 2008 – an increase of 50 per cent on 2007. The number of firms planning to use social networking is tipped to increase from 33 per cent to over 70 per cent.

A quarter of marketers are currently setting no marketing budget aside for new media projects, according to the study. However, by 2009 up to 66 per cent of marketers will set aside up to 25 per cent of their budgets on social media efforts.

read more | digg story

How Much Does a Social Media Marketing Campaign Cost?

While you’re contemplating how to “test the waters” in social media marketing, your competitors are already there, or planning to be, and your customers have been there for quite a while.

“Everybody’s talking about how great social media is for marketing, but nobody’s talking about what it costs,” cry the CMOs. Verily they said: “Tell us the bottom line.”

OK, let’s tear down the wall – let’s talk about money.

The budget for an effective social media marketing campaign begins at $50K for a two to three-month period. I’m sure companies have spent less, and I know they’ve spent more.

read more | digg story