Category — Interactive Marketing

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.

Just as marketers are finally figuring out what the heck facebook is and why they should be embracing the platform as a way of reaching & engaging their customers and potential customers, there is a new trend developing that may impact facebook and other social mediums…

Enter social aggregators.

Aggregators won’t replace facebook - but much like RSS feeds have supplemented users visting websites directly, social aggregator services could mean marketers looking to reach and engage people through social media sites like facebook will find a smaller direct audience to engage with.

I’ve signed up with socialthing and others are raving about feedfriend. Both do about the same thing - they take updates from all your social media sites like flickr, facebook, twitter, yelp, linkedin and stream them as one interface in something called a “lifestream.”

The idea is great - instead of checking for updates on multiple sites, you can get them all at once - much like how i use Netvibes or Protopage to aggregate all my RSS feeds.

Personally I get everything I need from Netvibes. 

I can add twitter or facebook status updates to Netvibes… and i don’t really care for the extra features social aggregators include such as comments on the different feeds. When I also consider the fact that most of my friends aren’t as geeked out as I am on ‘web 2.0′, it makes even less sense. Just getting my friends on facebook was a monumental task.

Having said that, the mobile interface for Socialthing is a thing of beauty.

They also have an optimized interface for the iphone which makes checking out lifestreams on the go a pleasant experience.

I have a hard enough time keeping up with my RSS feeds (270 currently) - I’m not sure I have enough time (or care enough) to follow the lifestream of every person i know. Having said that, it could be really useful if you are stalking following a few choice people…

How can marketers get in on this?

Websites got around a similar issue when RSS feeds became popular by not including all the content in the feed - so users who liked the lead content were driven back to the site… where sponsored ads could be displayed in all their glory.

One suggestion - build your own branded social aggregator…. and include your own relevant content as one of the feeds.

I could see this working really well for Automotive, Financial, Pharma, Retail… well pretty much any brand looking to participate in & influence a person’s lifestream.

The Globe and Mail reported today that Microsoft is again talking to Yahoo. Get the full article here.

Seen largely as a way to counter any potential Google and Yahoo advertising partnership, a new Microsoft relationship would bolster their rating and access to the market while giving Yahoo shareholder value without raising too many regulatory eyebrows around anti-trust.

The long term play

Although still relatively small compared to the desktop web market, partnering with Yahoo now means Microsoft can also get access to their leading mobile platform.

Within two years mobile advertising in Canada will include inventory for marketers that will reach beyond Carrier on-deck portals. Already we are seeing early versions of mobile search (with proximity capabilities), mobile video, and mobile social networking sites with built-in ad-serving abilities. This market is going to be massive.

It also sets up the possibility of another takeover attempt in the not so distant future.

The CWTA just released updated stats for March 2008:

1. 1.4 billion text / SMS messages were sent in March alone! This is up from 1.2 billion in December 2007.  We are definitely trending towards 20 billion for the year (that would be double 2007 numbers)
2. 42% of messages sent from unique individuals - up from 37% in September 2007. This is really significant because it means the same people aren’t just texting more… we are actually increasing adoption & usage as a whole.

With reasonable data plans finally becoming available in Canada (as low as $7 / month for unlimited on a non-PDA device), we should be expecting huge increases in the mobile web /mobile widgets this year as well.