Jan
31

The Changing Web Communications Environment


Since traditional advertising techniques are on the downturn, and developing more Internet content that is both relevant and engaging is highly popular, the move towards Internet-based marketing is rapidly occurring.

Corporations are moving their communication tactics to the employee-level so that communication is no longer the primary job of a public relations or marketing department. For example, IBM decided to merge their marketing, public relations, and corporate responsibility functions into one department. IBM saw this as a move which would combine the company culture with the brand, with IBM values at the core of both.

One-way communications from company to consumer no longer works, and even large, more traditional corporations are realizing this. “The web is blurring the distinctions between corporate communications and individual employee communications with customers and stakeholders now” (Debruyn).

The most important way that companies can engage in two-way communications with consumers is by utilizing social networking sites. Social sites now have extensive search capabilities that may even revolutionize searching habits. Steve Rubel from Edleman said, “Social networks are going to start to make it easier for you to search content at point of information” (Convertiv).

What does this mean for Google? Even though Google embraces social sites being on the uprise, they are terrified of what it may mean for the new age of searching. Twitter allows users to search for any topic, person, business, etc., and shows real-time results of what is being talked about. While Google will still dominate searches for years to come, with over 37% search domination, they do fear what social searches will bring (Convertiv).

I think that Google must quickly develop a competing strategy so that they can stay on top of their search dominance on the web. With the rise of social media searches, Google must make a first mover advantage in the search engine industry to keep social searches less used than Google.

What do you think Google should do? Should they allow social searches to rise, or should they do something to keep their dominance of searches worldwide?

Jan
30

Lost Without Technology

What would you do without your most prized piece of technology?

I didn’t think of this question until my iPhone was stolen last week. I kept most of my life on that phone; my contacts, social networking sites, banking, messaging, videos, etc. Once it was gone, I felt like a part of me was gone as well.

This got me to thinking about how advanced our society is today. Even a year ago I would have been fine without my phone because it was a simple flip phone with no special attributes. Now I am a Mac Loyalist and hold onto all of my Apple products with my life. It is strange to think how much we tend to rely on technology today. Our computers help us process information on a daily basis, whether it is at school, work, or at home. Our phones help us keep in touch with friends, store special dates on the calendar, and provides Internet access so we are always connected. Our iPods or MP3′s allow us access to music anywhere, anytime.

What is one piece of technology that you could not do without? For me, it is my iPhone. I would love to hear you input!

Jan
28

Generation WHO?

Who is Generation M2?
How much media do they consume?
Are they your own children or friends?

Generation Who?


(Photo courtesy of Flickr Creative Commons)

A major reason why search results and social sites have become such hot topics of interest is because of the multimedia teen, or Generation M2. As expected, this age group spends more time than anyone utilizing media. A study by Kaiser Family Foundation found that kids 8-18 years old spend almost eight hours a day using media!

However, with access to so many types of media (social sites, Internet, smart phones, applications, iPods, etc.) these teens are multi-tasking, therefore fitting in over 10 hours a day using media!

For example, they typically will be watching television while texting, or listening to their iPod while on the computer. In addition, teens have dramatically increased their media use by 66% since 2004. Personally I do not find this surprising because I too multi-task and use all types of media all day long. However, those as young as eight who do this is a bit surprising.

Also since 2004, cell phone ownership among Generation M2 consumers raised from 39% to 66%, and ownership of iPods jumped from 18% to 76%, more than a four time increase! (Melanson) “With teens spending more time with media in a week than the average person does at a full-time day job, we can only wonder what this next generation will look like as they enter the work force. Oh wait, aren’t they called ‘bloggers’?” (Melanson).

While the amount of media usage increase in general for teens, television viewing time actually decreased for once and was replaced by listening to music, playing on the computer and with video games, reading, and watching movies. Dr. Michael Rich, a Boston pediatrician said, “media may have become essentially ‘like the air they breathe, the water they drink and the food they eat’”.

I now notice children as young as ten carrying around Blackberry devices, and almost everyone walks around with an iPod earpiece in their ear. I also find more and more of my friends joining more social networking sites. This is a neat phenomenon to see since I jumped on board the social networking bandwagon way before my friends, and to see the influx of numbers joining is fascinating and correlates perfectly to this study.

How have your media usage habits changed? Do you find yourself noticing teens using more and more high-tech products than ever before? I’d love to hear your input!

Jan
26

Traditional Media: Past, Present, or Future?

Ten years ago, television, radio, newspaper, magazine, and yellow page advertisements all worked very well for companies big and small. Today, people have learned how to block out these traditional outbound marketing techniques. The days of interrupting people’s lives to shows a minute clip about your company or product are over. Instead of tuning into advertisements to learn about products, people are going online to find this out, and are using social networking sites to gain valuable input from peers and colleagues alike.

In the past year alone, traditional media outlets experienced drastic changes due to changing customer preferences and increased usage of the internet. To give an example, 293 newspaper companies shut down, eight magazines with circulation numbers over 1 million had to close shop, and 1,126 magazines in general closed down. Also, more than 10,000 jobs were lost in the radio industry, and over 100 television stations are reporting bankruptcies (Vocus Whitepaper). These staggering statistics show how hard of a hit traditional media took. Although the economy did take a huge plummet recently, advertising just wasn’t working enough to sustain these businesses.

Newspapers

It is quite obvious that writing on the Internet (blogging) is the new form of newspaper articles. “Blogs offered more opinions and provided more water cooler discussions. Never mind that the skill of reporting quickly became a lost art. Once, three or four sources were required for a newspaper to go with a story; now just one source is enough for a blogger to put it on the Web site and spur a heated debate” (Vocus Whitepaper). 293 newspapers shut down in the past year, and only 45 started up; nine of which were based online first. The Wall Street Journal, USA Today, New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribune, and a few other major newspapers experienced over 421 layoffs and buyouts (Vocus Whitepaper). If major, well-known newspapers are folding, what is in store for the ones still in existence? I think the best move for them is to move their publications online and be supported not by subscriptions, but by online advertisements. The Wall Street Journal is already doing this. This shift in the newspaper industry will be drastic, however many newspapers may decide to form partnerships with other news media companies to utilize many more resources. Also, people are used to getting information for free online, so people are not making sense of having to pay for a newspaper when they can get that same information for free online.

Magazines

“Magazines that struggled in 2009 will cease to be in 2010” (Vocus Whitepaper). With over 1,000 magazine companies shutting down, the realm of magazine readership is a very different environment today. Rebecca Bredholt, a managing editor of magazine content stated, “The current recession was like a naturally occurring brush fire. It got rid of dead wood. The green shoots we’ll see will be from online trade and association publications” (Vocus Whitepaper). Magazine companies will need to reconfigure their strategy to either focus on a more specific niche interest, or move to online publications instead. Personally, I have not subscribed to a magazine in many years. Instead, I use Google Reader to subscribe to blogs and news sites to get my information. This causes much less waste in paper, and is easier for me to filter through articles.

Television

According to a Vocus Media Research Group, approximately 100 television stations were affected and/or shut down due to massive bankruptcies. Julie Holley, a managing editor of television content at Vocus said, “So stations are continuing to broadcast through the bankruptcy while the parent organization gets back on its feet, meaning there is no obvious effect on what the viewers see.” Companies are no longer able to support high cost technologies and staff to fill every position they used to hold, resulting in lower quality broadcasts, and staff will hold a more varied role in the company. This overall will cause a strain in television companies, ultimately resulting in their demise unless they can find a way to sustain themselves using new technology and the Internet.

Radio

Radio stations alone experienced a revenue decrease of up to 15-20% in the past year, and 10,000 jobs were lost. A majority of this loss was from the largest owner of radio stations, Clear Channel. “To keep costs low, stations have been forced to run nationally syndicated shows like Don Imus and Rush Limbaugh in favor of original programming” (Vocus Whitepaper). Although radio stations realized a huge plummet in profits and employee losses, this medium is predicted to outlast all other types of media. They are predicted to continue to air shows on their Web sites and provide links to previously recorded material as well. This will help radio stations transition into the digital age which still maintaining their purpose. In addition, there will be more applications that will allow users to listen to specific radio stations. Radio and portable music devices, such as iPods and Zune will become very popular in 2010 as well. It seems that radio is adapting quite well with newer technologies and may be able to sustain a competitive advantage during this unstable time in the media industry. “Radio has always been known as a survivor. When television, and later, cable TV came about, radio’s demise was widely predicted. But radio adapted, became more specialized, and differentiated itself with a sense of localism” (Vocus Whitepaper).

While radio is looking to adapt to new technology, there is hope for newspapers as well. A company called NewsCred had developed an online source for users to build their own customized newspapers. Users are able to generate a professional0looking site which can include content of their interest. With a premium account, users can even create a news aggregator and opinion site as well. To create their preferential content, users specify which types of topics they are most interested in reading about, and NewsCred generates a feed of this information directly to their personalized site. Hence, the virtual newspaper, the new form of newspapers. This site also allows users to write editorials which can be featured on the front page of the virtual paper. Although this idea is a great revolution of the typical newspaper, NewsCred will face some tough competition; by iGoogle in particular. iGoogle is a new service by Google which allows registered users to have news feed widgets, much like that provided by NewsCred. Other custom news sites such as Meehive and Kosmix provide the same direct threat at iGoogle does for NewsCred. (Kincaid). It will be interesting to see how this new online virtual newspaper will change how news is processed, and if it can stand up against strong competition.

Jan
24

Job Hunt Transparency

Guest post by David Gallant.

Since the days of Monster.com’s popularity, the job hunt has become a process of gaming the system, networking, and beating out hundreds of applicants for a single position. In 2010, there is a large amount of publicly indexed information, so intricate background checks are not reserved for government jobs and classified research positions anymore. Especially fighting for positions like Kristin Dziadul is in the digital space, online appearance is equally or greater the importance of a paper resume.

Creating transparency around the job hunt will allow someone to have an edge over the competition. By creating online content and driving someone to a home base, you will be able to emphasize a paper resume with organic search. Many, if not all online rolls, will include a Google background check, and a social media research report.

In addition to creating visible resume on the internet, I strongly believe that only one copy of a resume should be created and distributed. With the ease of transmitting data, one person may by chance receive two copies of the same resume. It is quite embarrasing if the same recruiter or department manager recieves one resume selling yourself as a marketer, and another as a SaaS salesman. Becoming visible is very important when connecting with people, but as with websites, a resume or skillset may be delivered digitally through the most least expected route.

Jan
22

Inbound Marketing: My Review

To say that Inbound Marketing by @Hubspot’s founders @BrianHalligan and @Dharmesh was an amazing read would be an understatement. I recently finished college with a Marketing Communications/Advertising major, but this book completely revolutionized my theories of marketing. The authors ask the reader at the beginning of the book to take every outbound marketing theory they learned and disregard it. Now at first this made me regret spending over $130,000 on college tuition, but I realized that my traditional marketing background helps to support the reasoning behind why inbound marketing just makes sense.

Below are the most critical and interesting pieces from the book that everyone should pay attention to:

1. Realize that ten years ago, traditional marketing techniques (i.e. television, radio, magazine advertising) did work very well; especially for companies like GE. However, how people are much better at ‘blocking’ these messages out. This is where inbound marketing comes into play.

2. “It’s not what you say–it’s what others say about you.” People have become more skeptical about what companies say about themselves. It is much better to have customers come looking for you, find your content incredible, and spread the good word.

3. Create a REMARKABLE strategy. Your content strategy must be very unique and highly valuable to your customers. This not only drives them to your site, but increases the chance that they will become a lead and customer. Remarkable content also increases the likelihood that more people will link your site to theirs, which in turn increases your ranking on Google.

4. While traditional marketing methods tested the ‘width of your wallet’, inbound marketing is much different. If done right, you can spend much less money and create an incredible web presence.

5. Create a blog. Blogging is more powerful than ever. If you write about incredible topics that are valuable and relative to your audience’s interests, they will talk about you. Blogging also gives you credibility and increases your visibility on the web.

6. Subscribe to other people’s blogs. By reading what others are saying about your industry, you can reflect on their articles in your own blogs, start a conversation with the others by commenting on their blogs, and therefore you increase your visibility.

7. Get found on Google. You must know which types of keywords are best to be found by Google. If you use a highly common keyword, you will get lost in search results. Start off with less popular but still relevant keywords. Also, focus on the keywords you assign to each page on your website for increased visibility.

8. Recognize the power of inbound links. The more links that are created on other sites to your page, the better ranking you will have in Google. Do not ask others to put your links on their site outright; make sure they value your content and are willing to do so. The more high-power sites that add your link to theirs, the better ranking Google will give you.

9. Get found using social media sites. Create a consistent image of your brand by the look and feel of your pages, pictures, bio, etc. Post valuable and interesting topics on your sites so people will want to engage in conversations with you. Focus on getting found on Digg (even though this is a tricky thing to do), get discovered on StumbleUpon, and be searched for on YouTube

10. Learn how to convert your visitors into leads (make compelling yet simple calls to action and track your progress), convert prospects into leads (use highly effective landing pages, easy to fill out contact forms) and convert leads to customers (figure out what stage in the buying process each customer is in and keep in contact with the lead)

11. Pick the best people to hire for inbound marketing. Hire ‘Digital Citizens’. Digital Citizens are those that have an RSS reader, read blogs, rank high up in Google, use Delicious, write their own blog, use social networks and update them regularly, and post videos on YouTube. Hire those who are very analytical since inbound marketing is all about measurements and data. Hire those with a large web reach. Make sure they have lots of content, have subscribers to their blog, many followers on social networks, etc. Finally, make sure they are content creators. If they create remarkable content that attracts others, they will spread good word about your company as well.

12. Watch your competition. Some of the best CEO’s and leaders tend to be more on-edge about what competition is doing, but this is a good thing.

For more information on Inbound Marketing, Hubspot created their own Inbound Marketing University.

Now, onto reading Steve Garfield’s Get Seen book!

Jan
21

Y Bank?

“Why should I open a bank account if I have my wallet and good money management skills?”

“Why should I open more accounts, such as a credit card account, if all I need is my savings?”

“What is banking even for?”

Sadly, these three questions are commonly asked by Generation Y consumers. There are three categories of banking consumers in Generation Y: underbanked, unbanked, and WhyBank. Generation Y consumers range from 9-29. Those on the younger age of the spectrum do not know why they need a bank account at all, simply because they do not have much of an income (probably mostly from babysitting or a summer job). If they do acquire a bank account, it is probably because their parents wanted them to, but they are likely to not keep up with the account.

Those on the older spectrum of the age group may know that they need a bank account, but do not know much about banking or which bank to choose. Personally, I only had a small savings account up until my freshman year of college. When I went to college, I had to switch to a bank that was available around my school since I was using a local bank in Connecticut at the time. I had no idea what my banking options were, nor which bank would be best for me. (Thank goodness I had my parents to advise me!)

A major reason Gen Y consumers do not use banks is either because they do not know why they would need an account, or they do not trust banks.

So what is a bank to do with these confused Gen Y consumers?

I did a senior marketing project for a bank in Western Massachusetts called Country Bank. We examined this exact question. They were looking to expand their popularity with Generation Y.

- Banks need to educate these consumers about banking services in general and THEN tell them why Country Bank is the best choice for them.

- Banks cannot simply tell Gen Y why they are the best if they do not understand banking first.

- Banks must ensure that they have the proper technology to attract these consumers. Gen Y is the most technologically savvy, so they want internet banking, mobile banking, and text messaging alerts. This makes it most accessible for them to use your services.

- Banks should also get into the social realm. Research reports that Gen Y uses friends, family and the Internet to gather a majority of their information. If people are talking favorably about your bank, you will have a higher likelihood of being chosen as their bank.

- Lastly, keep a personal touch on all communications with these consumers once they have created an account. Do not lose their trust in you, and make them feel important.

See my two Slide Share presentations under the page ‘My Portfolio’ for a detailed outline of Generation Y and their attitudes towards banking!

Jan
20

Taylor Swift: A Gen. Y SUPERSTAR!

Taylor Swift is my favorite music artist, so naturally I follow her on Twitter and am a fan of her on Facebook. Since the release of her first album a few years ago, I knew there was something different about T. Swift. The difference is that she has a lot of traits and ambitions that I have. She is young, passionate, creative, independent, and most importantly, follows her dreams.

One article in USA Today reported her saying “I’m so lucky to have these experiences.” She has a great opportunity and has been thankful for it since day one. She thanks her fans after every performance or show, and I think this is why us fans are so passionate about her. Taylor has won over the hearts and minds of so many Generation Y consumers, as she is one herself. She sings about real life situations that any of us can relate to, she is real no matter what, and she acts like a normal 19 year old girl.

Taylor has just about 3 MILLION fans just on her Facebook page and about 2.5 million followers on Twitter. I find Taylor a social phenomenon because she emerged as such a naturally talented singer with such a loyal customer base.
As one of her songs is titled, Taylor is “Fearless”

Jan
19

Web 2.0 Tools I Use

In the past few months I have been involved with and learning about many different web 2.0 tools and ways to manage them. For those of you new to the social media world, check these sites out:

Facebook
Originally started for college students, but now anyone can join. A great place to keep in touch with both old and current friends. I visit this several times a day.

Twitter

A newer site that allows you to connect with others in a more public way than Facebook. You can ‘follow’ companies, music artists, co-workers, friends, and more. This is a great information sharing site as well. I read many blog posts that are ‘tweeted’ about on Twitter daily.

LinkedIn

This site originally started off for business professionals but now college students and businesses have joined. Great networking opportunities abound here and you can join groups to connect with others in the same industry or with your same interests.

Flickr

A site that allows you to post, save, and share pictures and make albums.

RSS

I store all my RSS feed articles on Google Reader. This makes the process of sorting through articles and blogs I like much easier since they are all stored on one site.

WordPress

A great blogging device that has many more capabilities than any other blogging sites out there. It is also able to be hosted on a personal domain name, as I have done.

Foursquare

An application that allows you to ‘check in’ at a place (i.e. restaurant, bar, hotel, movie theatre, etc.) and post where you are right from your phone. Foursquare has most places in major areas in its directory and recognizes nearby locations for you to select from.

Bookmarks, Site Integrations, Etc.

Delicious

Awesome social bookmarking site. Most sites have an option for you to save the URL to delicious. Delicious can be added right into your toolbar for ease of use.

Tumblr

Links to your Twitter account, blogs, etc. all in one site. The results are searchable through Google.

Bluebird

An application that you download right to your desktop allows you to keep track of your Twitter activity in real time on your desktop.

iPhone Applications:

I love my iPhone because it allows me to put all of my online social media sites on my phone as well if I ever need to check up on statues or update my own. I currently have the following iPhone applications:

Facebook
TweetDeck
TwitPic
LinkedIn
WordPress
AIM
Broadcaster (lets you take and upload videos right from your phone to the internet with ease)
Bing
Foursquare

Web 2.0 Must-Read Articles:

In order to keep up with the newest trends in Web 2.0 technologies, I visit the following sites for all my up-to-date information:

Mashable

TechCrunch

ReadWriteWeb

Netvibes

American Marketing Association

Jan
19

Guest Post by David Gallant

If I Owned Foursquare…

If you have not heard of the checkin mobile service called Foursquare, well check out http://foursquare.com.
The fact that they can compile social habits of their users and their friends could be potentially worth a large amount of money to a few types of people. My background is in the nightlife industry, and being able to predict which sorts of people will end up at a venue at a certain time would be worth alot to high bidders promoting nightlife events.

Here is an example of this expensive data. Boy takes girl on date. They begin by checking into a tapas lounge, followed by drinks at a tourist bar where checkin number two occurs. Finally, they check into nightclub number three where their final checkin occurs. If a nightclub promoter could target market all of the users who checked in to tourist bar number two who may have overheard our couple talking about the club, more patrons were just created.

While target marketing has occured in the past, social media allows for inbound and passive advertisements. Foursquare could also be used to create a ‘three of a kind’ special where checking into three locations(coincidentally owned by the same restauranteur) will create a discount, promotion, or upgrade. This promotion would also be promoted through the foursquare network, which would increase the number of patrons to the location.

I am waiting for Foursquare, or any of the other locational applications to finally find a way to use their immense databases to monetize a previously weak industry.

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