There is finally a feature in social networking that mirrors the half-attention of real life. You know when someone is gabbing away at you at some party (cocktail, family gathering, what have you), and you’re just nodding your head or maybe adding in an “uh huh”? You can now do that on the internet.
FriendFeed, a twitter like application that is in beta has implemented a “fake following” feature where users are told they are being followed by certain people, when in fact they really aren’t. The notice will show up in their browsers, but updates won’t show up on the followers feed.
With this new feature being implemented, gone will be the days where users expect you to follow their move. This just saves a whole lot of egos from being bruised.
Ever forward a funny email? Did that message contain any advertising? When individual consumers pass advertising messages to their friends, family and co-workers they are participating in viral marketing. Today, whole campaigns are designed to get the public to endorse products to their peers.
Initially the impact of the message is limited, but by motivating readers to propagate the information, the campaign has the potential for exponential growth.
Viral Marketing is considered to be an art rather than a science - it doesn’t allow a lot of control, and you can’t always track results. Advertisers have no way of knowing what the recipients did with their messages. In many cases it’s hard to tell if new customers found the business because of the viral marketing campaign, or through more conventional means.
If done incorrectly, viral marketing breeds SPAM. In too many cases, individuals eager to make more money are motivated to spam the masses. This can be problematic for the client company image.
One way of ensuring the ‘worst case scenario’ doesn’t happen to your campaign is to spend more time than money doing market research, analysis and planning.
The current world population is estimated to be 6,676,120,288 of which 1,407,724,920 are internet consumers. This is a world population internet penetration of 21.1%. Relatively, the most internet consumers are to be found in North America (73.1%), Australia (57.0%) and Europe (47.7%).
In absolute numbers the most internet users are to be found in Asia (530 million), even though the internet penetration in Asia is only 14%. Europe comes in second here with 382 million internet users.
The current Canadian population is estimated to be 32,440,970 of which 22,000,000 are internet consumers. This is a internet penetration of 67%, which is higher than the US penetration. Google sites are currently the most popular and used websites in Canada, followed up by Microsoft and Yahoo sites. Facebook seems to be extremely popular in Canada and cover the #4 spot.
Read our full Internet Consumption Report for more demographics and statistics, featuring the most popular activities on the internet, social networking, mobile social networking and much more.
Search engines are the most important online medium to search for information. 92% of all internet users are frequently making use of search engines. Of all search engines, Google is by far the most used search engine. It provides search results not only on its own website, but powers other search engines’ results as well.
Placement at or near the top of the rankings increases the number of searchers who will visit a site. However, more search engine referrals does not guarantee more sales. SEO is not necessarily an appropriate strategy for every website, and other Internet marketing strategies can be much more effective, depending on the site operator’s goals. A successful Internet marketing campaign may drive organic traffic to web pages, but it also may involve the use of paid advertising on search engines and other pages, building high quality web pages to engage and persuade, addressing technical issues that may keep search engines from crawling and indexing those sites, setting up analytics programs to enable site owners to measure their successes, and improving a site’s conversion rate.
Since SEO strongly influences the volume of traffic to your website, it is important to invest into this. There are numerous agencies out there that can assist you to get into the top of the rankings. These agencies are usually quite expensive, so make sure a sitemap is present, issues such as broken links are fixed, etc. so the agency can focus itself on ‘the real work’. Since there are so many agencies out there, picking the right one can be quite hard.
There are a lot of different theories on ‘the perfect method’ to gain a high rank in the search engine result pages (SERP). The algorithms used by the search engines are secret and nobody can give you a 100% guarantee on a good position. However, through extensive research some methods have been proven to be influencing the ranking in a positive way. Which elements are the most important is unknown, but the following methods will help you gaining a better position in the search engine rankings.
The term podcasting derives its name from Apple’s iPod, but to create a podcast or even to listen to one, you don’t need to own an iPod, or any portable music player for that matter. Podcasting is a new type of online media delivery.
Podcasting is broadcasting on iPods or other MP3 Players. Created by ex MTV host Adam Curry, Podcasting is a new method of communication for the internet – unfortunately, it’s still limited to your PC. But thanks to companies like Apple, creator of the iPod,podcasts can be downloaded to your personal media device and accessed at anytime. Your trusty mp3 player can become a true audiovisual media player - this handy companion is not just for music anymore.
Apple is developing iPods that can play videos, handle live streaming, make phone calls, etc. Popular television shows such as “Lost,” and “Desperate Housewives,” are main attractions. Motion picture editors are busy transforming hour long stories into six minute formatted ‘vcasts’ to be played on your iPod. This raises some alarming questions about the future of television programming – perhaps it will become as short as the average viewer’s attention span?
However, will people enjoy watching their favorite television show on a 2.5inch screen? IPod itself is continuously going through changes. The original model had the capacity to save three hundred songs, yet the current versions hold over thousands. Please note that in order to listen to podcasts you do not need an Apple iPod. Any personal media device will probably meet the requirements, even your regular PC.
Podcasting is a fresh medium. There has not yet been a comprehensive marketing plan developed to guarantee positive results with advertising in podcasts. Because the medium is still in its infancy, many advertisers are unsure of how to maximize its potential - pioneers are still experimenting.
More progressive marketers are researching information / entertainment hybrids or what they call ‘focused programming’ that will let them distribute a compelling message through traditional podcast channels. Podcasting’s challenge is similar to video-on-demand’s own situation - What does a brand have to say to consumers on an ongoing basis beyond a buy-me-now message? Brand as content producer is a trend that’s not likely to abate any time soon.
Looking for more resources on how to create and market your own podcast? Read our full article on Podcasting in our article section.
Social Media Marketing is a powerful tool but also hard to control. Researching someone else’s mistakes can give us heads up for any future efforts. Even though we can’t control the outcome of a viral we should always try to minimize the possibilities of a campaign turning into wasted efforts. Let’s take a look at Wal-Mart.
The Wal-Mart case
In August 2007, Wal-Mart started its own Facebook profile, aimed on students. The goal was to stimulate the consumer behavior of students on their student rooms. After a few weeks the original goal of the ‘Wal-Mart Roommate Style Match’ was far forgotten.
Visitors of Wal-Mart’s room decoration page can leave comments; a function intended to receive praise on the decoration tool, or a few suggestions for improvement at worst. Wal-Mart did probably not expect to have their complete Facebook Wall filled with criticism on its low wages, aversion to trade unions and unhealthy competition practices.
Marketers should keep this in mind when offering customers the option to make their opinions public. You could have many satisfied customers, but when you expect a small group of ‘brand terrorists’ to vent their frustrations for the whole world to see, you might want to think twice about opening a brand page on a social network site.
One of the visitors said Wal-Mart’s biggest mistake was putting a ‘Wall’ on their profile.
Wal-Mart – The second attempt
Packed with the experience of their last campaign a new attempt on social marketing was made. Wal-Mart announced the launch of a Social Marketing Campaign by allowing users to review content on their site.
A Social network site was launched for kids on the Wal-Mart website named ‘The Hub’. What happened was, parents had to be informed of every new registration which isn’t very ‘cool’ for the kids, although it’s great for parents. All content got screened by third a third party, while social networks are joined to express yourself in the way you want to. Next to that there were no options to PM or mail each other. Communication possibilities are a basic requirement for a social network site.
The marketers should’ve realized that just one stage of child-protection is the best they can do to keep kids safe while building a popular social network. People need to be given control and have the ability to allow two-way conversations to flow without you being the only one talking.
Another good learning school and example of an unexpected turn out of events. If you found this interesting; more cases are featured in our full article on Social Media Marketing failures.
Web 3.0 describes the next evolution of the World Wide Web. The true definition of Web 3.0 has been unclear ever since it has been created. Some people refer to the semantic web as an equal to Web 3.0, others consider the semantic web part of Web 3.0. What does “the semantic web” mean though?
The way computers read data is very different of how we communicate. Let’s take a look at the sentence “Mike loves Kate”. The syntax of this sentence is the composition and structure of the sentence. The semantics indicate that Mike really likes Kate. If we change “loves” into a heart symbol, the syntax will change but the semantics will stay the same.
In the communication between computers the syntax has an important role. When you request a website to show up in your browser, you are actually doing a request to a web server. This server looks up your request and returns this in HTML format. Your browser reads the HTML syntax and translates this into a designed page. The meaning of what is on this page will stay unknown to the computer.
The same thing happens when we search for information on the internet. A search engine searches through billions of pages to find the keywords that you requested. It will then show you a list of pages that include the keywords you were looking for. The search engine knows which keywords are in these pages, but the real content of the pages remains unknown. This could be compared to learning a parrot a couple words, which it will replicate without knowing the actual meaning of the words.
Using this analogy, the current web can be considered as a “web of documents”. These documents are all linked to each other in one way or another, but for web applications the content of these documents is undefined. The content however is what is of interest to us.
The goal of the semantic web is to let computers understand the entities within these documents. When the semantic web is realized and successful, it will create a huge load of information exchange between organizations and individuals, producing a new level of findability and knowledge sharing.
Let us know if you enjoyed reading this article. This is only our first article published, but expect a lot more to come during the upcoming two weeks. So don’t forget to come back tomorrow for a case study on social media marketing failures!
It has been a long running joke to see people on myspace in emotional and “teen angst” mirror shots looking forlorn, merely seeking attention through high contrast and weirdly angled poses. Woe is the life of a young teenage middle classed suburbanite spending their days in the basement writing poetry about how their parents don’t pay enough attention to them - but for some people, the battles of teenage life are a reality, and at times a grave hardship.
NYC Mindspace is a campaign created by the New York Health Department which utilizes social networking sites like Myspace to giving struggling teens resources to help overcome their problems. Through a series of fictional teen profiles, the NYC Mindspace “teens” interact through video blogs, pictures, online quizzes, music downloads, and help resources.
It’s an interesting concept, but we already know that teens won’t reach out to someone because they either don’t have someone to talk to, don’t want to talk to, or just don’t trust someone enough to confide in. Would finding out that the person giving out advice and befriending you was not real not traumatize the person into not knowing what to believe? Regardless, the initiative by a local government organization is a step in the right direction. It shows that web 2.0 systems can be used for something more important than twittering your dogs where-abouts.
The upcoming two weeks, starting July 14, we will be sharing a number of articles regarding online marketing. The articles will feature various subjects such as the upcoming semantic web, social tagging strategies, viral marketing, etc.
Each workday a new article will be published for you to take advantage of. Let us know if you liked the articles and if they have been helpful to you.
It’s remarkable to see that companies still don’t get the power of the individual on the web.It can really make you or break you. The silo mentality that drives many organizations just does not work in our interconnected world.
There are two things every company must now remember for brand management:1. the internet is an equalizer and 2. There are many people out there with a chip on their shoulder.
First – the internet is an equalizer.The internet now gives everyone connected to it a relatively equal voice.That’s to say that you and I have as much ability to promote our views or agendas as does any big organization.We no longer live in a top-down communication stream.Wherein the ‘old’ days when the only way to quickly express your views to a wide audience was either to be published or broadcasted.So unless the gatekeepers allowed you to get your message out there or you had the money to buy the ads – you as an individual living remained an unheard voice.
Second – there are many people out there with a chip on their shoulder.The world is populated with bitter people who for whatever reason gravitate towards telling everyone else what’s wrong with your brand or services. There are people that will make it there life mission to try to bring your organization down.
The danger for any company is when the bitter individuals out there link up en mass as to take on your organization.This is what happed with Rogers recently and it goes to show how in a relatively short period of time you can quickly lose control over your own message.
So what do you do about it?Be pro-active and be heard.You need to be out there monitoring what others are saying about you, be out there talking with your customers, challenge your critics about what they’re talking about.Your online communication strategy doesn’t need to be aggressive; it just needs to be out there.Nor do your discussions need to revolve around you and your products/services.It can be as simple as disseminating the facts or pointing out flaws in others arguments. This is what Social Marketing is all about.– Stephen Crooks
In an earlier post, I had mentioned the wonders and growing popularity of the viral video. Ad firms could spend far less to reach an audience that compares to some of the biggest ratings on tv today. In an email later on in the week, a colleague had said that the viral video was dead, that the online community with a system of social currency where users were rewarded for their participation was the new way to go. I really couldn’t disagree more with his comment, when viral has gone totally subliminal, and has kept growing in a market where user generated content is really a mask for a huge brand push.
The viral hasn’t died because people still like seeing crazy people do crazy things, the only problem is telling whether or not it’s real. Over the past few days, I’ve discovered more viral videos with a subliminal brand push, and for the most part, the general audience passes it off as the real deal. For example, a ball girl at a minor league baseball game climbs 15ft up a wall in order to catch a foul ball. The “catch”, no pun intended, is the Gatorade bottle beside her feet when she sits back down. Closer analysis from those who guard their internet have announced that a Chicago based ad firm created the video regarding a Gatorade project.
People love seeing a girl spiderman her way up a wall for a baseball. Throw in a product somewhere in the video, and you have yourself crazy content to push around - “If I drink Gatorade, can I leap into the air like that?” Who knows, maybe.
It’s the reality that just building a website won’t guarantee any visitors.
Sorry folks - the internet has come a long way since the 1990’s where you could put any site, with any content, virtually anything at all and you’d get visitors, people linking to the site en-mass.
That was then, and this is now.Think of websites like wannabe stars – they’re a dime a dozen.To breakthrough to stardom level takes time, effort and resources.Saying you want to be famous is far removed from becoming famous. The only way to rise up above the crowd is continuous exposure, getting your name/face out to the people.
Just like real stars, only a few new websites has what it takes to become viral on their own – often out of sheer luck.For the rest of the world hard work and continuous, never ending promotion is what it takes to drive visitors to a website.Nor is there any one magic bullet solution - each website will need have its own promotional needs, and often this involves a blend of real world and online advertising and Social Marketing.
What we do with our customers is we deploy a multi-faceted strategy that consists of various approaches as to effectively reach the desired target audience.Our experience has taught us that you can’t rely on any one method to drive traffic to a website.It has to be a perfect blend that properly targets the demographics your site appeals to. This includes everything from conventional online ads, blogging to social marketing.
So when it comes to building out a new website, don’t be surprised if your traffic is very low without any promotional push.Nor should you expect that putting your entire ad budget into one form of advertising (i.e. Google) will have the same results as that of a wider campaign that targets your customers from multiple approaches.
Hoping something goes viral, is like being a wannabe actress living in the middle of nowhere wishing to be famous.- Stephen Crooks
Who says you shouldn’t let your customers talk about your products?
One of the common things that clients often reject from the outset is allowing customers the ability to post comments and questions regarding their products on their websites.The fear is that consumers with a vendetta towards the brand will post extremely negative comments hurting the overall brand image.So it’s interesting to see that Ford has teamed up with Yahoo as to allow the general public the ability to ask questions.Mind you it is a daring exercise but there’s wisdom in what they’re doing
Customers will ask questions, make comments and want information regardless of you wanting them to.People will search and seek out the information either for the cars they own or as research for a new purchase.The question is where do you want this information to come from in the first place?Do you want your user base contacting people in discussion forums where bitter former customers may feed them false, biased (i.e. anti-Ford) commentary and making suggestions leaning towards competitor products?Or do you want these dialogues to be held in your venue where you have control over what’s posted and said?
The reality is by allowing commentary on your product and on your site with full transparency you open the window for a new avenue of customer service.You can have your staff monitor the discussions and provide assistance when needed.But in addition you’re theoretically outsourcing your customer service department to the wider web.You have the general public responding to other customer’s questions and concerns, probably quicker and more accurately then internal staff could possibly ever do. Thus this creates a win-win scenario.The person having the issue such as: “My horn doesn’t work on my ford focus!!?” within a day had an answer: “Perhaps it is as simple as a blown fuse.”
The Ford Answer Centre capitalizes on the expert effect.Wherein people always want to be perceived as experts in whatever field they love.This is what drives Wikipedia.As the site developers so too will the database of answers.With products as complex as a car it’s foreseeable that there’s many technical issues that have occurred and resolved that aren’t on the books.But as the site matures these product quarks will have been identified and resolved for people who have similar issues in the future.
Ford has embraced the reality of the online world.You can’t silence the masses; therefore have customers talk with you instead of behind your back.By having everything in an open transparent forum gives your company far more control over the message, then leaving that up to the self-control of the wild web.Control your brand - so you don’t let the web control you. - Stephen Crooks
Viral videos on their own, be they big or small budget, have a huge impact on what the consumer will decide when it comes to buying a product. A recent trend in viral video marketing has seen a shift from well made sleek looking online commercials, to low fi and low budget “high school film class” shorts, where characters partake in irregular activities reminiscent of “hanging out with the boys”. At a cost of almost nothing, these user generated videos have caught the eye of many an advertising firm, making it seem like your average joe is simply showing something off with no purpose of blatantly shoving a brand down your throat.
For example, basketball star Kobe Bryant decided to take a video camera and tape himself jumping over an Aston Martin driving at full speed in a parking lot. The initial video shows no sign of any real product placement, yet the sole act of Kobe leaping over the sports car while in motion gives off great subliminal advertising for the shoes he his wearing. If you wear the shoes that Kobe wears, then you can effectively jump over a moving Aston Martin. The popularity of the video is obvious because of its low budget nature and the fact that it seems like Kobe was simply goofing around.
This movement of viral marketing is exploding mainly because of the youtube generation. Anyone can post anything at anytime with little to no effort, allowing them to reach an audience that wants to see random stuff going on. I recently ran across a video (see below), where a group of friends decide to fill up their pants with helium and float around. An obvious Levis commercial that meets the immature “hurt yourself” culture of “Jackass”. Again it is shot to look like some high school short, or just a bunch of kids goofing off with nothing better to do on a Saturday afternoon.
People love it because it does look pretty cool to float around in an almost no gravity state when all it takes is some duct tape and helium. The guys seem to be having a lot of fun, and people can relate because they think about doing things like this (and probably do) with their own friends. Plus, the jeans he is wearing look pretty nice.
For the past three years or so, I’ve been following this new trend in gaming where digital and real life play come together. Geo caching is a method of connectivity where users interact with each other through all forms of media in order to complete certain tasks. It’s taken a while to become noticed here in North America, but in Europe, real life scavenger hunts and alternate reality gaming has become immensely popular. Using GPS technology, cell phones, and the internet as tools to progress in the games, users are constantly in a state of conversation by working in teams to obtain prizes or rewards from the games.
Some might call it performance art, or just a really nerdy way of playing games. The social aspect of the medium is awesome, in a sense that companies have sponsored viral campaigns based around these games. Everyone is always talking, and in order to win, people need to be constantly conversing and sharing ideas. The web acts as a tool to give clues, and in a larger sense, continue discussion as people all over the world work together to figure out the giant puzzle. The science fiction buff inside of me loves the idea that some games will create an alternate future or past reality within our real life confines.
London has one upped the rest of the world in social media once again by hosting the “Hide and Seek” festival of social gaming. In my own mind, social gaming is a great way for brand oriented marketing and social networking. Dorito’s could be pushing a new flavour of their tasty snacks by holding a nation wide scavenger hunt. Users must follow clues to find some grand prize hidden somewhere in the country, and must communicate with others in order to achieve the end reward. What makes it even better is that there is no pay to play method. The game is totally free - but the cost of using the technology and huge amounts of traffic that will generate ad revenue on the site will pay off for the company. Frito Lay might also decide to sell out merchandise, authenticating the users experience within the game. There are a number of methods to generate a profit from this form of gaming, and it’s just getting better.
This has to be social media marketing at its finest. You, me, and everyone else gets to decide (thumbs up or down) if the ad that you have placed on a website is worth keeping. We the people hold the power to decide if your product or investment will succeed or fail. Think of that immeasurable power for a second. We are “the Deciders”. A mass band of merry internet dwellers, trolling the web when all of a sudden American Express pops out of the corner with the new “titanium plus VIP low interest can make you waffles faster than your mother” card, and what’s that? You don’t like it? Was it too bright on your eyes? Did it interrupt your streaming of the latest “Battlestar Galactica” episode? You gave it a thumbs down? Did you notice that 500 other people had given it a thumbs down? The site just had the ad yanked because of your opinion. Feel better now? You can go on watching “Battlestar Galactica” in peace. You sure made a fool of them.
In the same sense, say something catches your eye, you give it a thumbs up. The ad becomes a huge viral marketing success, and people totally eat into the product. You just helped to make it popular. Regardless of what happens, the company will still have to pay for the ad placement. You are spearheading a make or break policy, and in a social sense, the company has to work a lot harder to convince you of something. This is social interaction, the evolution from us telling you, to you telling us. This isn’t traditional advertising, it’s “socially endorsed advertising”. Regardless there is still a long way to go, but consider that the product becomes successful. Marketers will pay a fraction of the price in comparison to traditional forms because word of mouth and popularity will carry that product higher.
I’m sure at one point back in the late to mid nineties, everybody loved the WuTang Clan. They took rap to this level of hardcore that made you feel so gangsta, you just couldn’t resist. Shooting up this, shooting up that, shooting up everything was pretty much all they ever talked about really. Before the “Eminem’s” and “Fiddy’s” of this world made their introduction, you had nine guys on stage just shouting - and that was Wutang. Unfortunately, a lot of the members have been relegated new roles post commercial peak - I mean you had Redman selling deodorant, and practically everyone else in jail. Regardless, what I’m about to tell you next will probably shock your socks and shake your head: WuTang Clan has launched a social network to promote non-violence through chess - for a $48 fee of course.
Chess?! These guys are some of the scariest people on earth, and if they came round to your house the fish would probably stop swimming. Further research into the matter showed that a few of the members are actually well recognized chess players. Geeze. Anyways, WuChess has been launched to connect people who have a love of hip hop and chess in an attempt to keep said people off the streets and from killing each other. For a $48 fee (yikes), users can play chess online (even against the Wu!), and talk about their love of hip hop on message boards within the site.
It’s an interesting concept, though I don’t know how well the pricey user fee will go off with users. It’s probably paying someones rent within the group. They’re essentially taking the cultural aspect of street chess from New York City, and planting it on the internet - because in reality, people must be getting shot in drive by chess shootings right? The one thing I applaud, is the Wu’s attempt at creating a network that actually has a purpose and intellectual demeanor to it. In a time where all these five minute celebrities are launching pointless social networking sites that offer practically nothing, the Wu wants you to just stop the violence y’all, and move that bishop to the horse one that can only move in an L shape.
All I can conclude is that Gandhi would’ve done it first had he been alive.
Interactive Ontario Spotlight Series points the spotlight at Lifecapture Interactive.
Watch Geoff Whitlock and Dan Riley interviewed by Interactive Ontario here.
I don’t know what the internet has come to when you have complete strangers compiling data on a photo of yourself within hours of posting it online. “FaceStat” is literally google type analytics for a more web 2.0 platform of the “hot or not” website. Have people become so vain that you can actually perform market research on yourself or your friends for the sole purpose of knowing what strangers think about you in one word?
Simply upload a picture to the site, and within a day over 40 people will judge it on at least 7 attributes that include: “what is my sexual orientation?”, “what do you think my name is?”, or “do you think i would win a fight with a medium sized dog?” Answers are compiled into tag words that are ranked by popularity. The more people use the same word to describe photos, the larger the tag word becomes on the main site, compiling similarly described photos into specific groups. I can assume there already is an “ugly group”.
FaceStat says that it’s merely an experiment in crowd sourcing, but the possibilities of using this information for specialized demographic marketing is endless. Imagine a group of people have all been described as being “too pale”, this research would allow companies to already have a harnessed group of people that are all sitting around being pale on which they can push their latest “instant tan” product.
In a broader sense, the entire site may just be market research to show how people feel about certain faces. Faces that could ultimately be chosen to promote a brand. Social networking sites have a plethora of photos that show complete strangers who may just have joined or are online. How do people passing through the site feel about it? If companies knew more about what people found pleasing to the eye, then they’ve pretty much figured out a method to do consumer testing for what could end up being the new face of Revlon.
If that blonde with the cute smile is popular on the site with great tag words, then that maybe what people want to see when deciding to spend money. Sucks for the ugly people though.
Podcasting is broadcasting on iPods or other MP3 Players. Created by ex MTV host Adam Curry, Podcasting is a new method of communication for the internet – unfortunately, it’s still limited to your PC. But thanks to companies like Apple, creator of the iPod,podcasts can be downloaded to your personal media device and accessed at anytime. Your trusty mp3 player can become a true audiovisual media player - this handy companion is not just for music anymore. 
The reality is by allowing commentary on your product and on your site with full transparency you open the window for a new avenue of customer service.
