Category — Interactive Marketing

As promoted on this blog previously, I’ve been given the opportunity to present the impact of social media on meetings & events at this year’s Incentive Works conference - Canada’s largest meeting & event show.

I really enjoyed pulling together this presentation as it builds on last year’s topic of “meetings 2.0” and really shows how far we’ve come in one year in terms of leveraging and incorporating technology in our lives - and in our work place.

Here is an outline of what is being presented over 90 minutes on August 19th:

1. Creative opening (thanks to Michael Ofarrell for some of the visuals!)
2. Introduction to Social Media
3. Defining & introducing the tools
4. Impact on meetings & event planning
   • Before the event
   • During the event
   • After the event
5. Measuring Social Media’s impact
6. Pitfalls of Social Media
7. Top 6 things to remember
8. Questions and Answers
9. Obligatory self-promotion of the company I work for, my blog, and the other blogs I contribute to (onedegree.ca & canadianmarketingblog.com)

Specials thanks to Craig Ritchie for providing some of the foundational content and context.

I’ll post a link to the presentation on slide share sometime next week. PDF version also available upon request.

Thanks to Andrew Boisvenue for forwarding me this classic satirical look on the “typical” creative / agency briefing process.

Does this look familiar? I’ve seen this happen before on Interactive projects when technology ends up trumping strategy… and not the other way around.

From my perspective, strategy should lead technology and creative. What do you think?

 
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1994 Original burning the bacon logo

It’s been one year since I launched burning the bacon with barrett as a way to add to the conversation in the mobile and interactive marketing ecosystem with an emphasis on the Canadian market.

You can check out my first post here.

Some people doubted that I had the patience and enough things to talk about to keep the conversation going beyond the first few months. The blogsphere is littered with dead blogs - sites that are perpetually on hiatus.

I’m proud to say that in 12 months I’ve generated 441 tags, 122 posts in 19 categories with 183 approved comments. I’ve also continued the conversation by consistently commenting in other blogs and have started contributing to both onedegree.ca and the Canadian Marketing Association blog.

This site has gone through a few redesigns and now incorporates 16 plug-in widgets. I’m struggling a bit with how to continue to get link love from articles that are still relevant… but aren’t easily findable because of the volume of content I’ve generated.

What do you suggest?

In celebration of the one year anniversary of this site, two things happened this weekend

1. My domain host did not renew my domain name… so it was temporarily down & redirecting to one of those spammy looking directory search pages.  Luckily it was resolved within 6 hours and it happened on a Saturday… the lowest traffic day of the week.  I’m working on a separate post with additional thoughts and insights into the domain business
2. I’ve updated the site with new widgets and an updated blog roll that reflects sites that I’m currently following

Every month attracts a larger audience than the month before. Thank you for following my conversation and thank you to those who actively participate with comments and personal emails.

I’m looking forward to the next 12 months and welcome (as always) your feedback

Thanks to Lolly at blog till you drop for introducing me to Wordle clouds.

They work three different ways… enter a bunch of words, give them a URL or provide a delicious account name. Below is my wordle cloud for this blog. You can also see it online here.

 

Former Google employees launched a new search engine today called Cuil - pronounced “cool”

Stating that they index three times more sites than Google and ten times more than Microsoft, they believe their entirely new architecture and breakthrough algorithms which focus on the content and not the user is the future of search.

I think the future of search is social… and local - through mobile.

From my perspective, the future of search looks a lot more like Taptu. I posted a video blog / demo of their service here and here back in February of this year.

From a marketer’s perspective, the fact that Cuil also doesn’t track search history or behaviour means it will be difficult to match Yahoo or Google for behavioural ad serving. As of now, there is no “Ad sense” equivalent with the service - but that may change in the future once the investors ask that they monetize their fancy new search engine.

What do you think - are your search needs not being met enough today to drive you to Cuil? What do you want from your search engine?

Just because I’ve admitted that I find Linkedin useful as a professional networking tool, that doesn’t mean I’m satisfied  with the entire experience.

Here are 6 things I’d like to see implemented to make this a truly great professional utility:

1. RSS feeds for more than network updates. The news is often useful… but let me have it through RSS! Same with my inbox. And Answers. All site updates should be RSS enabled
2. Talk / chat feature. Facebook added it… wouldn’t it be great if you could engage people who are online right now in linkedin instead of waiting for their email response?
3. Better widgets - we should be able to add a twitter widget for example to our profile page. While you’re at it, drop the ridiculous revenue sharing conditions you’ve placed on developers. No wonder nobody is developing on your platform!  
4. Leverage groups- it’s great we have badges to show off group status… and getting access to ppl in that group is pretty super awesome, but why not create the ability share information in a social / collaborative setting? It could be an extension of the answers utility.
5. Extend interface. Social aggregators are all the rage right now… why not become the professional social aggregator and allow people to extend and personalize the interface? A stickier interface is one that can be more easily monetized too…
6. Add SMS alerts to the system. Email alerts are great… but email is for old people.

What would you add to this list?

How do you find or track websites, content and information?

For many people, it’s Google all the way. Some people even find typing in a website into Google easier than remembering an exact URL in the address bar. It’s certainly a testament to the simplicity and power of their user interface.

Having said that, people are going beyond Google.  Nearly 50% of my total blog traffic now comes from search engines. Here’s a list of search engines in order of traffic volume to this site:

1. Google
2. Google Images
3. Windows Live
4. Yahoo!
5. Digg
6. Alexa
7. del.icio.us
8. Stumbleupon
9. AOL
10. Ask
11. Earth Link
12. MSN Search
13. Comet toolbar search
14. Icerocket

Although Google still clearly rules my reference traffic - does it rule yours too?

More importantly for marketers, does your search engine marketing (SEM) and optimization (SEO) strategy include most or all of the above?

It should be noted that rates for SEM in Canada are still relatively cheap when compared to the U.S. and other mature search markets.

Combined with a good SEO strategy, you can virtually own a category in a very short period of time

The future of search? It’s social and it’s mobile. But I already referenced that here.

After each new post on this site, there is a natural spike in traffic from those who have subscribed to this site via RSS. Traffic increases again significantly when I tag items for facebook newsfeeds. So much so, that it’s now part of my post-publish routine. Friends and colleagues more often refer to my “facebook feeds” than their own RSS feeds.

Call it the natural beacon effect?

Whatever you want to call it, as a blogger or marketer you need to incorporate a facebook strategy as part of your overall marcom plan. 

Blogger tip: Add social bookmarking to your blog template so that people can tag your article to their favorite tool. Also include a twitter push so that everytime an article is published you will automatically tweet your followers with link.

Over the last 18 months I’ve given over 50 presentations / pitches and have been on the receiving end of many as well.

Most pitches suck. Mine usually don’t.

Here are some tips for those of you playing schedule battleship with me or another client for that pitch you need to sell to make those numbers in order to justify your job:

1. Confirm agenda / content before meeting. Before you spend all that time building the ultimate deck, presentation or pitch, make sure you are on the same page. There is nothing more irritating than having to sit through a presentation that is of no relevance
2. Confirm how much time you have - and stick to it. If you have an hour meeting, don’t use it all for your presentation. Allow for questions and interactions. Worse yet, don’t go over your alloted time. If the meeting is going really well and you are still running out of time, ask for a time check and confirm they can stay longer or suggest a follow-up time
3. Know your audience. A common mistake is to walk in to a room full of people and launch right into your pitch. Introduce yourself. Get to know the room - make a human connection first… and adjust your tone and approach accordingly
4. Read your audience. If they are checking their blackberries instead of making eye contact with you, chances are they are bored. Pick up the pace, ask a clarifying question, or just get to the point.
5. Practice. Practice. Practice. Your presentation should not be used as your presentation script. Practice at least 3 times before your presentation so that your comfort with the content and flow will be reflected in how it’s delivered
6. Bring your own projector - never expect your client to have one that is compatible with your computer… or assume that it will work
7. Bring your own internet connection. Most corporations are behind firewalls - so it’s silly to assume they’ll have open access for you. Get your own air card / toggle and be prepared if connecting to the net for a demo or whatever is required
8. Print a backup. Print may be dead - but it can save your presentation if you have technological issues
9. Bring your own power bar - it’s amazing how often the plug outlet is exactly 1 foot short of the table you are setting up on
10. Bring your own clicker - use a presentation clicker to advance the slides - this will free you from sitting / standing in one place

Here’s a real technology that looks like it’s from the Star Trek holodeck.

Musion has integrated their 3D holographic display technology with Cisco’s TelePrescence’s system to create the world’s first real time virtual presentaion.

You no longer need to travel across the globe to give that pitch to a client or provide a motivational speach to employees in a far away region or country or make that presentation at a conference your really didn’t want to go to anyway.

Click here to see the 11 minute video demonstration of this! You can also get more details on this technology from the Musion website.   

Thanks to Craig Ritchie who found & forwarded this link to me yesterday.