77

Top Rank Blog

73

Copyblogger

68

Marketing Profs Daily Fix

59

PR 2.0

54

Duct Tape Marketing

46

Seth's Blog

39

TwistImage Blog

32

JohnChow

• The Blueprint for Writing The Perfect Blog Post 18 May, 2012, 11:02 am
  Posts are the lifeline of a blog. This is what makes a blog different from others. This is what brings in the traffic and makes sure they return for more. But, what makes a perfect blog post? What are the factors you need to look after when planning for your next post? Let me share some of the tips I learned from following blogging gurus and content marketers like John Chow, Darren Rowse and Jeremy Schoemaker. The process begins when you start planning for a post and finishes when you hit the publish button. Your post is as good as you carry it out. We can split the process in three phases. 1. Planning and Researching As I told you, the process starts when you start planning for your next blog post. After you decide your topic, you should start researching on that. Gather as much data as possible before you start writing your post. 2. Creating the content Here comes the most important part, creating your content. I am not talking about the quality as it varies author to author. I am talking about formatting the content so that it grabs the attention of both human visitors as well as the search engine spiders. A good post should have at least three paragraphs; introduction to the subject, description to clearly describe the subject and then conclude the subject. Then it comes to enrich and styling the content with proper tags. Yes, tags like h1, h2 and h3 can do wonders. It not only makes your post looks great, but also helps search engines to find the important sections within the content. Therefore, it is a good practice to put subheadings for your paragraphs and wrap them in h2 or h3 tag depending on the nesting of subheading. Do not over style your content with bolded, italic or colored words as that might hurt eyes of human visitors and will decrease the content to code ratio. I use SEOPressor Plugin that helps me to improve the quality of my post by suggesting changes in real time while I am posting my content. 3. Posting the Content The way you post your content also matters. I mean, if you are using WordPress you can choose a better permalink, a better keyword rich title and add meta descriptions. Well, some of those aren’t default WordPress functionality, but plugins like All in One SEO or Yoast SEO can do it for you. Having quality and properly formatted content getting more and more important after Google introduced the Over Optimization Penalty. You can afford having little onpage optimization (or no optimization at all) but the quality of your posts should be high. All you need is content that search engines love. Abhik shares SEO News and Affiliate Marketing Tips on his blog ItsAbhik.com. Subscribe to his Newsletter and get 3 Make Money Online eBooks.
• Staree: A New Way To Make Money Online with Videos and Photos 17 May, 2012, 10:31 am
  My friends over at IZEA have just pulled back the curtains to their newest social media platform: Staree. Staree allows users to post photos and videos from their mobile device or desktop, and share them with friends through Facebook and Twitter. Users make money from display advertising targeted to their content and product placement in photos and videos. Ted Murphy, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of IZEA, has this to say about his new baby. IZEA’s mission is to help social media fans monetize their content, creativity and influence. We brought paid blogging to the market six years ago, and were pioneers in sponsored tweets and check-ins. The monetization of photos and videos through Staree is a natural addition to the IZEA product portfolio. It creates new ways for influencers to earn money and new marketing opportunities for advertisers. Starting today, Staree is available to everyone: From Hollywood A-listers to everyday people. The hottest celebrities like Kendall Schmidt and Logan Henderson are already using Staree to take their social media presence to the next level. Kendall got his start on hit shows like “Frasier” and “ER” and is currently starring on “Big Time Rush.” His co-star Logan found his passion for acting after appearing on “Friday Night Lights.” Staree is designed with branding, protection and collaboration in mind. Users have the ability to customize their profile and copyright their content. Managers and agents can access their client’s accounts and post on their behalf. “Our goal was to provide professional features through a simple user interface that anyone could use on the web, iPhone or Android device,” said Ryan Schram, Chief Marketing Officer, IZEA. John Chow dot Com on Staree I have been using Staree for the past three days. So far, I have six photos and a video on the network. All the media was uploaded via the Staree iPhone app. The app hasa bunch of filters so you can give your photos that Instagram look. Unlike Instagram, Staree can post videos, photos and messages. Uploading a photo is a lot like Instagram: fire up the app, take the photo, choose the filter and write a description. You can send a photo to your Facebook or Twitter stream. The process is the same for making a video, but there are no filters at this time. Making Money Online with Staree Like I said before, I’ve been using Staree for only three days and uploaded half a dozen photos. Still, that was enough to make me 74 cents yesterday. At this rate, I’ll make enough for a nice lunch at the end of the month, but I’m just getting started. I do see good potential with Staree. As the network gets biggest, the income can only increase. And the money-making potential of Staree will attract over a lot of Instagram users. Why make nothing uploading photos to Instagram when you can make money uploading it to Staree? Give Staree a try and let me know what you think. Become a Social Media Star with Staree
• How to Make $593 in less than one hour? 16 May, 2012, 10:05 am
  Can you make $593 in 30 minutes from the comfort of your own living room? In this article you will see that yes, YOU CAN! With just 3 quick steps, the easy to learn technique of following the trends of the market will enable you to do just so. The trends monitoring method is simple and easy to do. Step 1/3: Understand the system The trading system shown here is based on the monitoring of trends , a strategy widely used by many professional traders and recognized for its effectiveness. An asset rises or falls when pushed in that direction by large financial powers that influence the financial markets such as investment funds and banks. The principle of this method is very simple: If the recent history of an asset shows a significant and constant increase, it is more probable that it will continue to rise in the near future in that direction rather than the probability that it will go the other way. We will therefore invest on the asset going up. Obviously, the same logic applies in the case of decline. Recognize trends – Recognize a pattern on a graph is very simple. It is easiest to use 5 minutes graphs as seen below. The “candles” on the graph represents a period of time equivalent to 5 minutes . Here are the trends that we can detect: Uptrend: Declining trend: Neutral trend: To recognize trends, use the real-time graphics available HERE Step 2/3: The best amounts to invest Even when you follow the system perfectly, it is normal to lose some of the positions that you open, it is very unlikely to win all of the trades you will do. My method of trend following will enable you to win more trading then the ones that will be lost, which leads to you earning significantly on your account. There may be a bad day where you will make several losing trades, that is why it is important to follow up with this strict rule of investment: If you have $200 in your account, each open position should be $10 tops If you have $500 in your account, each open position should be $25 tops If you have $1,000 in your account, each open position should be $50 tops If you have $2,000 in your account, each open position should be $100 tops If you have $5,000 in your account, each open position should be $250 tops And so on: each position you open should not represent more than 5% of your capital. Step 3/3: Registering to Trader24 Begin by opening an account on the Trader24 site. There are several sites to trade binary options, buy Trader24 provides the strongest platform and is the easiest to use for beginners. This is the site where I trade the most and there my earnings grow day after day. Let’s get started…
• How To Get Shoemoney’s Local Marketing Blueprint for $9 16 May, 2012, 10:01 am
  My friend Jeremy Schoemaker (ShoeMoney) recently published his Local Marketing Blueprint on udemy.com. This course is made for two types of people: those who own small businesses, and those who want to sell services to these small businesses. As you may know, ShoeMoney is a huge Internet marketer. He has over 172,000 followers on Twitter, over 21,000 Likes on Facebook, and a Klout score of 73. Yes, those numbers are even higher than mine! The Local Marketing Blueprint has over 43 lectures and 3.5 hours of content. The course sells to Udemy users for $197 but I got Shoe to offer it to John Chow dot Com readers for only $9. That’s right. NINE DOLLARS! I know people who purchased Local Marketing Blueprint at regular price may get upset by this but hey, even at $197, it’s still worth the money. At $9, it’s the steal of the century! Click Here To Get Local Marketing Blueprint for $9 If you don’t see the price discounted to $9, just enter chow in the coupon field and you’ll get the discount. The coupon is good until this Friday, May 19 so get it now!
• How To Get Shoemoney’s Local Marketing Blueprint for $9 16 May, 2012, 10:01 am
  My friend Jeremy Schoemaker (ShoeMoney) recently published his Local Marketing Blueprint on udemy.com. This course is made for two types of people: those who own small businesses, and those who want to sell services to these small businesses. As you may know, ShoeMoney is a huge Internet marketer. He has over 172,000 followers on Twitter, over 21,000 Likes on Facebook, and a Klout score of 73. Yes, those numbers are even higher than mine! The Local Marketing Blueprint has over 43 lectures and 3.5 hours of content. The course sells to Udemy users for $197 but I got Shoe to offer it to John Chow dot Com readers for only $9. That’s right. NINE DOLLARS! I know people who purchased Local Marketing Blueprint at regular price may get upset by this but hey, even at $197, it’s still worth the money. At $9, it’s the steal of the century! Click Here To Get Local Marketing Blueprint for $9 If you don’t see the price discounted to $9, just enter chow in the coupon field and you’ll get the discount. The coupon is good until this Friday, May 19 so get it now!
• How To Dominate Google By Guest Posting 15 May, 2012, 1:17 pm
  This is not going to be another post on why you should write guest posts for other blogs because I don’t recommend you do that. I have never written a guest post, and I doubt I ever will. One of the best ways to get higher blog traffic and Google rankings is by guest posting. By having a popular blog (like this one) post your guest article, You expose your writing to a much bigger readership. However, an equally big benefit is you’ll be able to link back to your blog from the guest article, which not only sends you traffic, but helps your blog rank higher on Google. Why I Don’t Write Guest Posts Writing a guest post takes a lot of work. You are already spending a lot of time creating content for your own blog. Creating guest posts for other blogs can easily double, triple, quadruple, or more, the time requirement. This is because every post has to be unique. Guest posts submitted to me must be exclusive to my bog. This mean the post can’t be posted anywhere else. If you’re submitting guest posts to a lot of blogs, it could mean you will have no time to update your own blog. Doing Guest Posts The Right Way How do you get the traffic and Google benefits of guest posting without having it suck the life out of you? You outsource it! The easiest way I’ve found to guest post is by using the guest posting service offered by Get Links Pro. If the name sounds familiar, it’s because I’ve written about these guys before. Get Links Pro has been my exclusive link building service for the past year. Their prices are the lowest in the industry and they don’t offshore anything because they are located in India (they’re the company that SEO companies in the US outsource to). While link building is the primary business of Get Links Pro, they also have an extremely economical guest posting service that is used by many of the top Internet marketers. Get Links Pro will write 500+ word articles in any topics you want for as low as $15 per article. Not only will they write the article, they’ll find the most relavent blog to guest post it on. Get Links Pro has built relationships with hundreds of blogs so the chances of them getting a guest article posted will be higher than if you try to submit it. Your Writing Should Be for Your Blog With Get Links Pro, you can concentrate on creating quality content for your blog, and leave the guest blogging to them. They have a team of writers with experience in every topic you can imagine. No matter what your niche, Get Links Pro can write that guest post for you. Don’t just take my word for it. My friends Zac Johnson and Shoemoney use them as well. Here’s what Shoe has to say about their service: The results for me have been nothing short of amazing. For each property we have tested them on they have soared in rankings. Since Get Links Pro uses nothing but whitehat techniques there is no risk of being penalized. Every article will be over 500 words longs and contain one or two dofollow links for the author bio (depending on blog’s policy). The post will be sent a PR1 to PR6 (or higher) blog relevant to your niche. A 500+ word blog post takes at least an hour to research and write. Then you have to find the best blog to submit the post to, email the blog owner and hope he accepts the post. If I had a choice of doing it myself, or outsourcing it to Get Links Pro, I would choose Get Links Pro every time. As I stated in the beginning, Guest posting is one of the best ways to get higher traffic and Google rankings. It’s also the most time-consuming and not something I recommend you do. Your writing should be for your blog, not someone else’s. This is why I love Get Links Pro so much. They will do the work for you, and they’ll do it a price that is so affordable, it will give you sweet dreams, and give Michael Kwan nightmares.
• How To Dominate Google By Guest Posting 15 May, 2012, 1:17 pm
  This is not going to be another post on why you should write guest posts for other blogs because I don’t recommend you do that. I have never written a guest post, and I doubt I ever will. One of the best ways to get higher blog traffic and Google rankings is by guest posting. By having a popular blog (like this one) post your guest article, You expose your writing to a much bigger readership. However, an equally big benefit is you’ll be able to link back to your blog from the guest article, which not only sends you traffic, but helps your blog rank higher on Google. Why I Don’t Write Guest Posts Writing a guest post takes a lot of work. You are already spending a lot of time creating content for your own blog. Creating guest posts for other blogs can easily double, triple, quadruple, or more, the time requirement. This is because every post has to be unique. Guest posts submitted to me must be exclusive to my bog. This mean the post can’t be posted anywhere else. If you’re submitting guest posts to a lot of blogs, it could mean you will have no time to update your own blog. Doing Guest Posts The Right Way How do you get the traffic and Google benefits of guest posting without having it suck the life out of you? You outsource it! The easiest way I’ve found to guest post is by using the guest posting service offered by Get Links Pro. If the name sounds familiar, it’s because I’ve written about these guys before. Get Links Pro has been my exclusive link building service for the past year. Their prices are the lowest in the industry and they don’t offshore anything because they are located in India (they’re the company that SEO companies in the US outsource to). While link building is the primary business of Get Links Pro, they also have an extremely economical guest posting service that is used by many of the top Internet marketers. Get Links Pro will write 500+ word articles in any topics you want for as low as $15 per article. Not only will they write the article, they’ll find the most relavent blog to guest post it on. Get Links Pro has built relationships with hundreds of blogs so the chances of them getting a guest article posted will be higher than if you try to submit it. Your Writing Should Be for Your Blog With Get Links Pro, you can concentrate on creating quality content for your blog, and leave the guest blogging to them. They have a team of writers with experience in every topic you can imagine. No matter what your niche, Get Links Pro can write that guest post for you. Don’t just take my word for it. My friends Zac Johnson and Shoemoney use them as well. Here’s what Shoe has to say about their service: The results for me have been nothing short of amazing. For each property we have tested them on they have soared in rankings. Since Get Links Pro uses nothing but whitehat techniques there is no risk of being penalized. Every article will be over 500 words longs and contain one or two dofollow links for the author bio (depending on blog’s policy). The post will be sent a PR1 to PR6 (or higher) blog relevant to your niche. A 500+ word blog post takes at least an hour to research and write. Then you have to find the best blog to submit the post to, email the blog owner and hope he accepts the post. If I had a choice of doing it myself, or outsourcing it to Get Links Pro, I would choose Get Links Pro every time. As I stated in the beginning, Guest posting is one of the best ways to get higher traffic and Google rankings. It’s also the most time-consuming and not something I recommend you do. Your writing should be for your blog, not someone else’s. This is why I love Get Links Pro so much. They will do the work for you, and they’ll do it a price that is so affordable, it will give you sweet dreams, and give Michael Kwan nightmares.
• 6 Ways to Protect Your Blog from being Hacked 14 May, 2012, 7:44 pm
  You know how it feels…you’ve been writing a blog post every day for the past 2 years now, and you recently checked your dashboard to see that you already have over 600 posts; 600 posts that took an average of an hour to write, proofread and edit, format with images, and publish and share. You’ve also noticed that you have a little over 10,000 comments; that’s at least 10,000 minutes of yours and you readers’ time, cumulated over the span of several years. The above scenario seems cool, until something really strange happened. You no longer own the 600 posts, and the 10,000 comments, and any other part of your blog. It would have been good news if you just sold your blog for five figures, but in this case, it was stolen from you; yes, a malicious hacker just got into your website, and is ready to rip it apart. As if the pain isn’t enough, the hacker that hijacked your blog will probably redirect your blog to an illegal website, or turn it into a website filled with adult content. What Are You to Do in a Situation Like this? Do you just sit down and fold your hands, and believe this is your fate? Or do you get your blog back? Or let’s reexamine the question: What if you can prevent that from every happening? What if you can make sure that thousands of you and your readers’ hours won’t be wasted eventually? A lot of us are sad at every instance of a particular website being hacked, when we are really doing nothing to protect ours. Here are 6 ways to protect, and save yourself in the case that hackers are targeting your website. 1. Have Strong Passwords, and Change them Regularly The first step you should take to protect your blog from being hacked is to have a password that is very strong. You’ll be surprised at how simple the password some people use is, and they end up complaining when they’re hacked. Make sure your password doesn’t contain your name, address, or even date of birth. Use something nobody can ever associate with you, and don’t ever talk about your password to anybody. Also make sure you change your password regularly; like every 3-6 months, and you will be able to protect yourself from being trailed by a hacker. 2. Have More than One Admin Account It could be 3 or more, and it could be only two. It is very important not to have just one admin account. The reason for this is that the first thing an hacker will do once they hack your blog is to change your details, and you can protect yourself by taking control through your other admin account. Another thing you should realize is that this technique is just as dangerous as it is helpful, so make sure you prepare yourself for this; the more admin accounts you have on your blog, the more routes an hacker can take to get to you. To protect yourself from this, make sure the username and passwords for all your admin accounts are so unique and different, so that it will be difficult for any hacker to take control upon getting to your blog. 3. Install Plugin that Monitors Your Files and Notify You of Changes Immediately You can also tell your hosting to help you configure your server to notify you in case there is any change in any of your files at any time, or you can look for a plugin that makes this easy. A lot of little changes happen to our blog every day, but the reality is that some of them shouldn’t be. It is important for you to make sure you don’t come to know about any of these changes lately, so make sure you regularly monitor your sever and wordpress installation for any changes. 4. Scan Every Theme and Plugin You Want to Install This is especially important if you download your themes and plugins from other websites online, or if you’re using cracked plugins and themes. You never know when a sleazy programmer will put a little code in your theme or plugin, or when that cracked software you’re downloading will be virus infected. Don‘t just wait to get hacked before you realize this, so make sure you scan every theme and plugin you want to install on a regular basis; scan them with your own antivirus before you install them. 5. Back up Your Blog Regularly Don’t ever miss a day, because you never know when your blog will be hacked. One thing I have noticed in the hacking world is that, no matter how secure, there is nothing that cannot be hacked. Of course, you can invest time and effort into making your blog very secure, and you can even hire an expert to take care of this aspect. But the reality is, if a group of hackers dedicate their efforts to bring down your blog, it will only last a few hours at best. The best thing to do in a situation like this is to back up your blog regularly. Have at least 2 plugins/software that backs up your entire blog, and make sure you check regularly to ensure your files are properly backed up. 6. Use Different Passwords for Every Aspect of Your Website For every webmaster you can have up to 3 different username and passwords for your hosting, and these 3 passwords can make it easy for you to recover your website in the case that you’re hacked. The first password is for your hosting account; where you can see tickets, pay for hosting, and change your Cpanel details. The second password is for your Cpanel; where you can access various parts of your website and make changes directly to your blog. The third password is for your wordpress installation in itself; where you can add new posts, reply to comments, create new accounts, and update your blog directly. The deadliest mistake any blogger can make is to make all 3 passwords the same, and you can protect yourself to an extent by making these passwords different. You should also make sure all 3 usernames are different, and try getting your web host to help you change your details from the default one to something more secure. Paul is a freelance writer and broadband expert that help people find satellite TV providers.
• 6 Ways to Protect Your Blog from being Hacked 14 May, 2012, 7:44 pm
  You know how it feels…you’ve been writing a blog post every day for the past 2 years now, and you recently checked your dashboard to see that you already have over 600 posts; 600 posts that took an average of an hour to write, proofread and edit, format with images, and publish and share. You’ve also noticed that you have a little over 10,000 comments; that’s at least 10,000 minutes of yours and you readers’ time, cumulated over the span of several years. The above scenario seems cool, until something really strange happened. You no longer own the 600 posts, and the 10,000 comments, and any other part of your blog. It would have been good news if you just sold your blog for five figures, but in this case, it was stolen from you; yes, a malicious hacker just got into your website, and is ready to rip it apart. As if the pain isn’t enough, the hacker that hijacked your blog will probably redirect your blog to an illegal website, or turn it into a website filled with adult content. What Are You to Do in a Situation Like this? Do you just sit down and fold your hands, and believe this is your fate? Or do you get your blog back? Or let’s reexamine the question: What if you can prevent that from every happening? What if you can make sure that thousands of you and your readers’ hours won’t be wasted eventually? A lot of us are sad at every instance of a particular website being hacked, when we are really doing nothing to protect ours. Here are 6 ways to protect, and save yourself in the case that hackers are targeting your website. 1. Have Strong Passwords, and Change them Regularly The first step you should take to protect your blog from being hacked is to have a password that is very strong. You’ll be surprised at how simple the password some people use is, and they end up complaining when they’re hacked. Make sure your password doesn’t contain your name, address, or even date of birth. Use something nobody can ever associate with you, and don’t ever talk about your password to anybody. Also make sure you change your password regularly; like every 3-6 months, and you will be able to protect yourself from being trailed by a hacker. 2. Have More than One Admin Account It could be 3 or more, and it could be only two. It is very important not to have just one admin account. The reason for this is that the first thing an hacker will do once they hack your blog is to change your details, and you can protect yourself by taking control through your other admin account. Another thing you should realize is that this technique is just as dangerous as it is helpful, so make sure you prepare yourself for this; the more admin accounts you have on your blog, the more routes an hacker can take to get to you. To protect yourself from this, make sure the username and passwords for all your admin accounts are so unique and different, so that it will be difficult for any hacker to take control upon getting to your blog. 3. Install Plugin that Monitors Your Files and Notify You of Changes Immediately You can also tell your hosting to help you configure your server to notify you in case there is any change in any of your files at any time, or you can look for a plugin that makes this easy. A lot of little changes happen to our blog every day, but the reality is that some of them shouldn’t be. It is important for you to make sure you don’t come to know about any of these changes lately, so make sure you regularly monitor your sever and wordpress installation for any changes. 4. Scan Every Theme and Plugin You Want to Install This is especially important if you download your themes and plugins from other websites online, or if you’re using cracked plugins and themes. You never know when a sleazy programmer will put a little code in your theme or plugin, or when that cracked software you’re downloading will be virus infected. Don‘t just wait to get hacked before you realize this, so make sure you scan every theme and plugin you want to install on a regular basis; scan them with your own antivirus before you install them. 5. Back up Your Blog Regularly Don’t ever miss a day, because you never know when your blog will be hacked. One thing I have noticed in the hacking world is that, no matter how secure, there is nothing that cannot be hacked. Of course, you can invest time and effort into making your blog very secure, and you can even hire an expert to take care of this aspect. But the reality is, if a group of hackers dedicate their efforts to bring down your blog, it will only last a few hours at best. The best thing to do in a situation like this is to back up your blog regularly. Have at least 2 plugins/software that backs up your entire blog, and make sure you check regularly to ensure your files are properly backed up. 6. Use Different Passwords for Every Aspect of Your Website For every webmaster you can have up to 3 different username and passwords for your hosting, and these 3 passwords can make it easy for you to recover your website in the case that you’re hacked. The first password is for your hosting account; where you can see tickets, pay for hosting, and change your Cpanel details. The second password is for your Cpanel; where you can access various parts of your website and make changes directly to your blog. The third password is for your wordpress installation in itself; where you can add new posts, reply to comments, create new accounts, and update your blog directly. The deadliest mistake any blogger can make is to make all 3 passwords the same, and you can protect yourself to an extent by making these passwords different. You should also make sure all 3 usernames are different, and try getting your web host to help you change your details from the default one to something more secure. Paul is a freelance writer and broadband expert that help people find satellite TV providers.
• Email Marketing with The New Aweber Follow Up Editor 13 May, 2012, 11:22 pm
  If you’ve been reading my blog for any length of time, then you know that my email list is the secret to its money-making system. At the heart of the system is Aweber and the auto responder sales funnel. This sales funnel is powered by Aweber‘s follow up editor and I’m happy to report that they’ve given it a complete makeover! The new follow up editor is basically the same as the revamped broadcast editor, but with a different method for scheduling the messages. Scheduling With Send Windows With the broadcast editor, you choose the exact date and time your message goes out. With the new follow up editor, each subscriber gets the messages based on when they sign up, but you are able to choose windows of time they get those messages. For example, if you want your emails to arrive when your subscribers stop for lunch, you can set those windows. If you want emails to go out only on Sundays, you can make that happen. Any routine you’re trying to establish with your subscribers can be reinforced by scheduling your follow ups. To set your send windows, just use the handy calculator on the editor’s Step 2: Settings. Here’s a video showing the new follow up editor in action. It’s pretty awesome and will allow even higher targeting than before. Try The New Follow Up Editor for Only $1.00 If your blog doesn’t have an email list, you are leaving a ton of money on the table. My mailing list is the number one reason why my blog makes income that it does. Aweber is the best email service I have ever used. Their feature set is beyond anything else in the industry and this follow up editor just put them another light year ahead. Aweber offers a $1 trial account for all new customers. The account is just like a normal Aweber account and includes unlimited email campaigns, newsletter, broadcasts and follow ups. It’s a great way to test drive Aweber to see what it can do for your blog. Your satisfaction is guaranteed. If you find that email marketing is not for you, contact Aweber within 30 days and they’ll give you the $1 back.

31

BrianSolis

• What’s the number 1 thing you’d like to see from Facebook post IPO? 18 May, 2012, 10:39 am
  Mark Zuckerberg by Brian Solis Mark Zuckerberg and 900 million of his friends hit Wallstreet with America’s largest IPO and has once again made history. Facebook’s first trade was $42.05 giving the social network a valuation of ~$115 billion.  In the process, Zuckerberg became the 29th-richest man in the world with another half dozen employees also becoming billionaires. It’s also estimated that U2′s Bono will make more from his investment in Facebook than in his entire 30-year music career. As the stock trades, investors will learn to Like Facebook as long as Mark and Co. continue to perform for those very investors who may or may not actually have a Facebook account and who may or may not even understand the future of media or the evolution of the human network. Zuckerberg has made it clear that he intends to spend his time, energy and that of his team to run Facebook “the hacker way.” Doing so, he believes, will steer Facebook clear from the fate that befell Myspace. To compete for the future, he will invest in the ongoing development of engaging user experiences. As I mentioned in an interview with Al Jazeera, Digital Darwinism threatens every company, including Facebook, “In an era of digital Darwinism you have to compete for relevance in real time, almost faster than real time.” Certainly Zuckerberg will face challenges of balancing the company’s focus on investor versus user value and as an analyst, I will not only study its progress, I’ll continue to share my thoughts on where the company can invest its new found capital to effectively compete for relevance. Let’s start here… 1. Mobile: Facebook must communicate its mobile strategy and how it plans to monetize engagement on tablets and smart phones. As of May 2012, time spent on Facebook via mobile devices exceeds that of traditional desktops. Facebook does not monetize mobile and with this stunning shift in Facebook engagement, the time to do so, was well, yesterday. Post IPO, Facebook must convey its vision and supporting business models for a single view, but dual platform community. 2. Search: To compete with Google in traditional search is fruitless. To compete against Google in social search, where the experiences of friends contribute to an evolving customer decision journey is lucrative. I do believe that search becomes an integrated part of a larger experience where Facebook has the potential to become something along the lines of a personal OS. The idea here is that the right information will find you based on how you curate your network with people, apps, and services. It’s where the online experience and all you do, starts on your personal dashboard. 3. Relevance: As you read, I believe that in order to not only survive Digital Darwinism, businesses must lead stakeholders toward new and rewarding markets. To compete for the future starts with competing for relevance. In almost every business interview I’ve conducted about Facebook, I’m asked whether or not Facebook is “cool” anymore. The discussion naturally progresses toward Myspace, which I feel is counter productive. Comparing Myspace with Facebook is like comparing Saab to BMW or Saturn to Ford. Competing for relevance becomes part of the leadership regime and it’s why on the eve of its IPO, Facebook chose to host an all-night hackathon rather than throw the usual rooftop party made popular in the days of Web 1.0. I guess in its own way, Facebook is trying to stay cool, or more importantly, stay true. 4. Building and Shipping: 1 hacker way isn’t just the way of way of life at Facebook, as the official company address, it’s literally the way to Facebook. Zuckerberg is creating a “build it and ship it” culture. This heads down, in the developer zone focus is part of the company’s now famous ability to innovate and execute. It is also now a potential liability as the company moves into the public and investor spotlight. Fail fast and learn isn’t just part of Facebook, it’s a mantra in silicon valley. However, Facebook must focus on more than just user experience, it must focus on people and behavior globally and locally. Google tends to take an algorithmic approach to development. One could argue that seeing the future through a developer lens and not one of digital anthropology, sociology or ethnography is why Google has wrestled with opportunities to socialize new and existing products. While Facebook builds and ships it must also continue to explore the intersection of technology and liberal arts to build and ship in ways that continue to define or redefine how people discover, connect, and share. Facebook has every potential to truly earn Wall Street as both a friend and a fan. To do so however, will take the company’s continued investment in the social graph and now also the investor graph. In honor of Facebook’s IPO and as my way of sharing my thoughts of whether or not Mark Zuckerberg’s attire will affect his ability to run a successful company, here’s a picture of my hoodie: Connect with me: Twitter | LinkedIn | Facebook | Google+ The End of Business as Usual is officially here…
• 9 Ways to Improve the Signal to Noise Ratio on Twitter 17 May, 2012, 7:43 am
  Even at 250 million Tweets per day in addition to the updates across Facebook, Google+, Pinterest, and every other feed that we willfully subscribe to, information overload is in of itself a fallacy. But the feeling the overload of information is very real and a reflection of our inability to pull the levers necessary to decrease noise and improve signal. Doing so, requires some very blatant actions that don’t simply reduce the volume of the information we don’t care to see as often, it requires disconnecting from human beings. Whether we’re severing ties with individuals or those representing an organization we once supported, it’s emotional. It’s an action that carries an element of guilt knowing that at some point, our action will cause an incremental blow to the psyche of the individual we’re unfollowing. I know…so what right? It still is what it is. Yet, we don’t unfollow or unlike as often as we should. So by not reminding people to not be more thoughtful about their posts and updates, we are by default enabling their objectionable behavior. Think about why you Tweet or update your status. It’s part self-expression, part therapy, part fulfilling, and of course, part egocentric. You share something and naturally, you await or anticipate a response. There’s a bit of anticipation that builds up around it. Have you ever tried Qwitter? It’s an old school service, when compared to the overall history of the Twitter ecosystem, that tells you who unfollowed you, when, and gives you the Tweet that sent them over the edge. We are as guilty by our inaction as others are for their action. And at the same time, we are also guilty of contributing to the noise. The truth is that it’s easier to blame others than hold up a digital mirror.  But now, some very interesting reports are substantiating what we’re feeling. In one such study conducted by researchers at Carnegie Mellon University, MIT and Georgia Tech, people on Twitter said that only one-third of Tweets that hit their streams are worthwhile. All others are either at best “meh” or not worth reading at all. It’s not a surprise of course that a well-received Tweet is not all that common. So, what makes a Tweet worthy of response or sharing? The team is currently studying the specifics, but initial findings point to tweets that included questions, featured curated/relevant information with added personality, and those used for self-promotion, such as including links to original content. Paul André, a post-doctoral fellow in Carnegie Mellon’s Human-Computer Interaction Institute (HCII) and lead author of the study explained an important outcome of the research, “If we understood what is worth reading and why, we might design better tools for presenting and filtering content, as well as help people understand the expectations of other users.” While we await tools that will save us from ourselves, the research team documented nine best practices to use as an editorial guideline of sorts. While the information is drawn from insights on Twitter, I’m sure that they apply across other networks as well. The idea is that these lessons will improve our own streams while inspiring others to do the same… 9 Ways to Improve the Signal to Noise Ratio in Social Networks 1. News No Longer Breaks, it Tweets: Old news is no news. Twitter places emphasis on real-time information. Followers quickly get bored of even relatively fresh links seen multiple times – unless they’re repackaged through a different lens of context or perspective. 2. Add Perspective: Opinions in social media tend to spark dialogue. So, add an opinion, a pertinent fact or move the conversation forward rather than simply sending your update or hitting Like or Retweet. Consider the MT (modified Tweet) if you will to express your views. It is the difference between who you know you are and who others think you are that is fortified through your words. 3. K.I.S.S.: I often say, in brevity there’s clarity. Of course, it’s easier said than done. Studies show that followers appreciate conciseness. Keep it short. Using as few characters as possible also leaves room for longer, more satisfying comments on retweets. But even that’s not enough. Think about a new K.I.S.S. where simplicity is replaced with significance and short is substituted with baked-in shareability (Keep It Significant and Shareable). 4. Don’t #geekout with @’s and #Syntax LOL
• The Fallacy of Information Overload 15 May, 2012, 6:50 am
  Some of you know me through my work in studying how social media and disruptive technology impact business and culture. Others have worked with me in translating insights into action and change within the enterprise.  Every now and then, I share another side of myself that evokes the aspiring social scientist in me as I explore how all of this is affecting us as individuals and human beings. Not a day goes by when I’m not asked about whether or not the social media bubble will finally burst. Twitter, Facebook, Google+, Foursquare, Pinterest, this all has to be too much right? More often than not, I’m expected to assume the role of psychologist to either validate their digital existence or help individuals understand, and in some cases cope, with what is most often diagnosed as information overload. This isn’t a new phenomenon by any means. The sensation of being overwhelmed by information has been linked to every media revolution. With every new innovation and the mass adoption of disruptive technology, the volume of information available to us grows exponentially. With media now so pervasive and portable, information, of any focus, is available, on demand, and more importantly, resides in our hands to create and consume at will. We are, for better or for worse, always on. And this is both part of the problem and part of the solution for how we evolve as individuals and as an information society. Social media has gifted us a new democracy. And with it, the ability to connect to people around the world and create, share, and devour knowledge, entrainment, and irrelevant information at will. It’s as intimidating as it is beautiful. We have passed the Attention Rubicon and there is no turning back. The towers of social media will not come crumbling down upon the foundation of a former reality when we or the generations before us led a much simpler life. The key for us now is forged in self-control or some form of aspirational governance that focuses our connects and interactions. Indeed, there is a very real human cost of social connectivity. But, the symptoms of information overload are only a reflection of our inability or lack of desire to bring order to our chaos. See, we are the engineers of the media levees that prevent overflow. The challenge lies not in the realization that we are empowered to curate our social streams and relationships, but in the consciousness of what is and what could be. Meaning, that we must first understand that how we’re connecting, consuming, and creating today is either part of the problem or part of the solution. We, and only we, are in control of information overload and everything begins with acceptance. Where do we fall in the contrast of where we are and where we want to be? For these dichotomous positions are separated only by our vision and actions. But even still, with the glut of information and the overwhelming sense of responsibility to duly engage, we succumb to fatigue. Like in anything, there’s a dark side to all of this. One of the quiet perils of living in an always-on society is the need to stay connected. In part, we’re driven by relevance or the fear of irrelevance. If we are always part of the conversation, we remain top of mind. Additionally, we’re driven by a sense of vanity. We need to see what, if anything, people are saying about us, how they’re reacting to our engagement, and who others are talking about or to whom they’re connecting. There’s a perpetual sense of “missing out,” which is I think at varying levels, true for all digital denizens. These networks after all are homes to very emotional exchanges. We laugh, love, fight, cry, but most of all, we live…and for some of us, we live online differently than we live in real life. The difference is, to what extent are we compelled to plug in and participate, how often, for what duration, and at what emotional depth. The answer either defines are digital lifestyle or our digital lifestyle defines us. In 2010, Pennsylvania’s Harrisburg University of Science and Technology introduced a week-long ban of social media in an effort to curb the media diets of students. What was the inspiration for the ban? According to Harrisburg University provost Eric Darr, stress and potential addiction played strong roles in the cold turkey experiment. Darr shared his concerns in an interview with Fast Company, “I’m sure that we have some students who are clinically close to addiction…that aside, it’s clearly the case that this set of technologies has the possibility of taking over our lives.” Following the ban, the university conducted surveys that revealed some disturbing realities. One such result was the level of duress students were under in checking status updates on a variety of social media sites. Sound familiar? Roughly 15% of students admitted to spending between 11 to 20 hours on social media sites such as Facebook every day. This reminds me of the science fiction novel by Philip K. Dick, “Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep.” Our digital lives will only become far more challenging to manage. With smart phones, tablets, in-car technology, wifi in public spots in addition to planes, trains, and automobiles, the temptation to connect is pervading. And it doesn’t just stop there. Social networks are investing technology and marketing in expanding your online relationships. Through recommendation engines, they lure you to link outside of your social graph, those you know to now form an interest graph, those with whom you share common interests. Information overload is a real phenomenon, but it is I believe, by design. It either works for us or against us and it is our choice as to which way the stream flows. To be clear, information overload is a symptom of over consumption and the inability to refine online experiences based on interest and importance. Early in 2012, I hosted a poll across Twitter, Facebook, and Google+ to get their perspectives on information overload.  I asked a simple question, “Do you suffer from information overload because of social media?” The answers were revealing…You can see the detailed results here (comments are worth reading too). Just over 800 people in 41 countries responded and the results while scattered, told a compelling story. If we look at a simple take on yes or no, only 14% say that they feel overwhelmed with 21% affirming that they are in control of their online experience. Another 57% however feel that they are sometimes overwhelmed with social media, but they do believe it’s in their hands to manage. Interestingly, when you combine Yes, Sometimes, and “I’m addicted,” you can get a better idea of the pervasiveness of information overload, or aspects of it.   In his new book, “Too Big to Know,” good friend David Weinberger shares why Information overload is our new golden age. Weinberger believes that facts have been replaced by “networked facts,” which are the result of a collective repository of shared experiences and exchanges in any digital network. In his book, Weinberger makes the case that technology can now easily feed our endless curiosity. And, as a result, how we learn, connect, interact, and work is forever changed…for the better. Access to information and people is intoxicating. Creating an online portrait of who we are or who we want others to see is equality alluring.  But without direction, governance, and discipline, we are at risk of giving ourselves to the very networks we value rather than managing the platforms to our advantage. Our participation must be inspired by purpose and parameters. No, we are not obligated to connect with everyone who connects with us. We are obligated to maintain balance in who we are, what we value, and equally the value we invest in the communities in which we participate. As Clay Shirky once observed, “There’s no such thing as information overload — only filter failure.” My take? “Information overload is a symptom of our desire to not focus on what’s important.” It’s a choice. Perhaps said another way, information overload is a symptom of our inability to focus on what’s truly important or relevant to who we are as individuals, professionals, and as human beings. But then again, maybe that’s the problem. The reality is that we are learning how to use these networks and what to expect in return. We’re learning what’s possible. However, we learn as we go. We discover where the proverbial line is only after we’ve crossed or are witnesses to those who do. Our teachers, parents, role models and peers, they to coming to grips with the evolution of social media and digital culture as it affects online and offline behavior along with us. Therefore, this is a time when we are all students. But at some point, we must also become teachers Connect with me: Twitter | LinkedIn | Facebook | Google+ Please consider ordering The End of Business as Usual today… Image credit: Shutterstock
• Music, Film, TV: How social media changed the entertainment experience 10 May, 2012, 7:56 am
  Social media is more than a digital water cooler for TV and movies. The global conversation that takes place around events and the experiences people share based on what they watch teaches us about consumer preferences. More importantly, their activity influences behavior. Behavior counts for everything. Studying it is just the beginning of course. In order to understand and eventually steer behavior, we must translate activity into insights and in turn, translate insights into actionable strategies and programs. The Hollywood Reporter recently published an exclusive poll about social media led by market research firm Penn Schoen Berland. As the report opens, THR notes, “There’s a sea change afoot in how Americans discover and consume entertainment.” According to the study, 88% of respondents view social networking sites like Twitter and Facebook as a new form of entertainment. Hours Spent Each Week Doing Online Activities Social networking and listening to music top the activities for Generation-C and each is greater than the time spent watching full-length movies or television shows on a weekly basis. - 8 Hours: Visiting social networking sites. - 8 Hours: Listening to music - 7 Hours: Watching full-length television shows. - 4 Hours: Watching full-length movies. - 4 Hours: Watching video clips (e.g. YouTube) - 4 Hours: Instant messaging How Social Networking Impacts Entertainment Choices The report found that 79% of connected television viewers visit Facebook while watching TV. Pollster Jon Penn notes, “Social media is the connective tissue that enables consumers to multitask during their entertainment experiences by connecting with others and sharing their opinions.” Additionally, 83% surf the web while viewing TV and 41% tweet about the show they’re watching. When we look at the psychology of engagement, this next stat becomes a bit more revealing. Of those who post about TV shows, 76% do so live and 51% do so to feel connected to others who might also be watching. Comedies, Reality TV Put Social in Social Media Social networking is in its own right a reality show made for the web. It is its own form of entertainment. And, as the study found, an overwhelming majority of people agree. When we look at the types of programs viewers are most likely to post about while watching TV, Comedy, Reality TV, Sports and News take the top four spots. Types of shows people are most likely to post about while watching TV: 56%: Comedy 46%: Reality TV 38%: Sports 26%: Cable News Social Media on the Silver Screen Digital Influence is often misunderstood, but it is potent. Influence is causing effect or changing behavior. Here, we can see that those who Tweet about movies actually influence the behavior of those who follow them. One out of three connected consumers saw a movie in a theater because of something they read on a social network. The report found that horror and other younger-skewing film genres benefit most from social networking. For example, more than 6% of respondents saw Paranormal Activity 3 because of social networking activity. One can assume based on psychological studies, that this form of social commerce is driven by either #FOMO (fear of missing out) or social proof. Social Networking in Theaters…Really? Prior to watching any movie in theaters nowadays, viewers must sit through a short spot that reminds them not to use their phones during the theater. Aside from the ringing adding unnecessary distractions to other theatergoers, the bright white screen is also disruptive as it tends to light up an otherwise dark room. However, social networking is not limited to at-home movie watching. 55% of moviegoers have texted during a movie. Film moguls and theater owners should take note: The poll also found that an overwhelming majority of 18-to-34-year-olds believe using social networks such as Facebook and Twitter while watching a movie in a theater would actually add to their experience. Nearly half would be interested in going to theaters that allowed texting and web surfing. Penn added, “Millennials want their public moviegoing experience to replicate their own private media experiences.” The same can’t be said for all consumers though as 75% of respondents said that using a mobile phone would take away from the experience. Additionally 24% and 21% have posted about what they’re watching in theaters on Facebook and Twitter respectively. Social Media Multitasking ≠ Distraction Gen-C is often falsely diagnosed with a thin attention span. Yet in reality, Gen-C focuses on all that’s important to them many times at the same time. They’re just wired differently and rather than challenge it or try to debunk its value, our energy should instead focus on understanding how multitasking adds to the experience. When asked what other activities are performed while social networking, watching programs on TV was by far the most popular at 66% followed by watching movies on TV at 50%. Interestingly, 11% stated that they watch a movie in a theater while networking. So, what are viewers saying while multitasking between networking and watching TV. It’s a bit of give and take as 67% will listen to or read what others have to say and 33% will most likely express their own opinions or thoughts. Social Media Impact on TV Viewing Choices How can social media drive tune-in? That’s often one of the top questions on the mind of TV marketers. As of now, serendipity certainly plays a role in contributing to tune-in. Three out of 10 people watched a TV show because of something they read or saw on a social network. Social Media Spawns a New Genre of Critics In the age of social media, viewers have become participants in real-time experiences. And many, are also becoming critics simply what they say and share online. Social network activity certainly influences behavior, but to what extent requires greater study. The study found that 72% of respondents post about movies on social networks after watching a film. We can assume that those expressions are rooted in opinion and we can also hypothesis that these shared opinions in some way affect the impression of those who see them. At the same time, 20% post before and 8% post during a viewing. This Just In… News no longer breaks, it Tweets. Those who run social activity streams all day will tell you that they learn about news on Twitter first which then drives them to a online or broadcast news source to learn more. But, 31% and 28% of respondents reported that their main source for breaking news is cable news stations news web sites respectively. I wonder about that data point however as it’s not clear if it is the primary source or the main source. The fact that the study found that social networks make up 19% of their breaking news source provides some clarity, but I still question the source of the flashpoint. Social Media is Music to My Ears It’s not just TV shows or movies that benefit from social media. All forms of entertainment lend to peer-to-peer behavioral influence. THR found that musicians also benefit from social media with 70% of respondents listening to music by an artist based on what a friend posted on a social networking site. For those who saw or read about my interview with Billy Corgan of The Smashing Pumpkins at SXSW, certainly heard how he believes fans must step up their support for the artists that they love. And, sharing what you’re listening to is certainly one way to contribute, whether it’s through frictionless sharing apps such as Spotify or stated support by Tweeting, Facebooking or blogging support. Social Media Tests Positive for Influence Based on the work of Robert Cialdini, I analyzed six universal heuristics and the role they play in consumer decision making in social commerce. Referred to as “thinslicing,” consumers tend to ignore most information available and instead ‘slice off’ a few relevant information or behavioral cues that are often social to make intuitive decisions. The THR study surfaced that more than half of respondents (56%) believe that social networks play an important role in making entertainment-related decisions. Across every genre of entertainment, respondents felt that positive posts held greater influence over their decisions than those that are negative. Specifically, 82% are influenced in the music they listen to; 76% in the TV shows they watch; 75% in the movies they choose to see; and 74% in the video games they play. Facebook vs. Twitter I often refer to Twitter, Facebook and activity stream apps as new attention dashboards. THR asked respondents which networks they used and how. The answers help in how we better understand what’s of interest to consumers. Of all respondents, 98% are Facbook and 56% are Twitter members. In terms of daily visits, 9 out of 10 visit Facebook and 1 of 2 visit Twitter every day. When asked about who and what they follow, participants shared the following… Companies/Brands: Facebook = 49% Twitter = 37% TV Shows: Facebook = 49% Twitter = 30% Movies Facebook = 43% Twitter = 25% Actors/Actresses Facebook = 32% Twitter = 41% Reality TV Stars Facebook = 16% Twitter = 23% Journalists/Reports Facebook = 9% Twitter = 15% I find it interesting that consumers connect more with brands, movies, or shows on Facebook whereas Twitter is the preferred choice for connecting with people. Marketers should take note in how people form fandoms and communities, where and how. The State of Movie Marketing Considering the behavior of Gen-C as well as all other consumers, marketers can’t rule out any form of promotion or engagement without understanding the balance and how each contribute to consumerism. The study found that even through social networking is playing a significant role in movie watching and shared experiences, traditional marketing is still king in how consumers make moviegoing decisions. Trailers and previews are the biggest influence for movie choices at 40%, which can include a variety of sources for where that trailer is viewed (theater, TV, website, Youtube, etc.) TV ads still play a large role in decision making at 20%. Real world word of mouth is also a important source of the selection process at 18%. Only 9% of respondents said that comments or reviews on social networks influenced decisions. Processing this data is one thing. Interpreting its impact on your strategy for programming, marketing, and engagement is up to you. What’s clear is that what we think about social media, entertainment, and influence and how consumers are behaving can only teach us about how to be more engaging, entertaining, and how to create and steer experiences that matter to consumers and producers. So what’s your second and third screen experience? Have you defined it? If not, this is the time to develop an engaging multi-screen experience because it’s already happening with or without your design. Connect with me: Twitter | LinkedIn | Facebook | Google+ Please consider ordering The End of Business as Usual today… Image Credit: Shutterstock
• The future of TV is more than social, it’s a multi-screen experience that needs design 7 May, 2012, 11:19 am
  The future of television is much more than social; much in the same way that the future of media is too, more than social. Social is a fabric; it connects the individual nodes that make up the human network. But, social however, is not a means to an end. And, as such, the same is true about the working theories driving Social TV. Understanding the role social plays in how viewers connect with programs and other people is essential to defining the future of television. Over the years, I’ve written much about my vision for the long overdue convergence of not only web and TV, but also how the three screens (TV, mobile, and PC) and human relationships impact adoption and engagement between people and also between programming. So when I hear the term Social TV, I get it. I’ve certainly used it in the past. At the same time, I’ve also said however that the future of television is more than integrating Tweets or #hashtags into the programming to start a “global conversation” around the world’s largest digital water cooler. This is a time when bringing to life what’s possible takes imagination, design, scripting, and innovation. We need to raise the bar. The future of TV won’t be driven by a social media strategy. Instead, the future of TV will be driven by innovation and a vision for more meaningful entertainment and engagement (no it won’t be called entergagement). This innovation will in turn inspire new programming, revenue opportunities and ultimately social media strategies. Chloe Sladden, Twitter’s director of media partnerships, once said, “Twitter lets people feel plugged in to a real-time conversation. In the future, I can’t imagine a major event where the audience doesn’t become part of the story itself.” She’s absolutely right. The program is the event. It’s the epicenter of engagement. The future of TV starts with defining how the event is alluring, captivating, and most importantly shareable. Many of you don’t know, but I ran some very interesting social experiments with top networks and programs for several years. The driving questions at the time are still more than valid today. How do you expand the reach of a network, program or personality beyond the reach of the existing audience? And, how do you use social media to drive tune-in? All too often, even the best examples of social media in entertainment are simply finding new ways to connect with those to whom they’re already connected. The goal, in every experiment, was always the same and it sparked creative thinking and innovation in both approach and technology. Marketers sought to use social media to drive tune in and also find new ways to measure social media’s effects. I learned quite a bit about how engagement between and during events created a new communal experience that connected events and people together offline and online. I also learned more about the role each of the three screens play in consumption and engagement. Whereas TV, PC and mobile are all used for consumption of content, consumers have made it clear that they only wish to use the PC and/or mobile for real-time engagement…not the television. The Medium is the Message and the Message is the Medium It is in the context of each device and the context of the event that brings viewers together. The nature of the event also defines are engagement is triggered. We can’t assume that content and channels are agnostic. What we can assume is that audiences are already more fractured and distributed. Each channel (broadcast, online, and social) and each device serves a purpose. But no purpose will ever compensate for unengaging content or events. If you think about it, some of the biggest events, such as the Super Bowl and the GRAMMYs, are only earning greater concentrations of live audiences. This is in part due to the content of the event, but it’s also driven by the conversations that make the event communal, a real-time exchange. Whether it’s driven by a fear of missing out (FOMO) or a desire to share in the experience, broadcast events are conduits to live participation and as such, can be designed to spark online engagement. I refer to the connected class of consumers as Generation-C. It’s not just about Gen-Y, it’s about all consumers who live the digital lifestyle. And, they are not only connected, they’re incredibly discerning. Connected consumers don’t just expect online, on-demand streaming optimized for each device, they expect to engage in each screen differently and in a dynamic way. This is where you come in. The experience requires definition. The experience requires architecture. And, the supporting experiential infrastructure must be adaptive. It’s part programming, part mobile and social media, and part engagement. It’s also episodic and continual. Today, we’re seeing experimentation across the screens with strategies that invite audience participation. Some live shows now run social media tickers during programs. Other live events feature tweets and also live statistics based on social media analytics. Some programs are integrating community participation into content. Others are using social media to tell supporting stories between seasons or airing special webisodes to keep interest and anticipation high between on air programs. Apps are also emerging to open new windows between programs and mobile audiences. So what? What we need to do for any of these initiatives to work is to align them with a higher purpose and a vision for what the new relationship looks like between viewer and the program, the viewer and the program’s elements, storyline and characters/roles, between the viewer and the screen, and between viewers and other viewers. You must first answer these questions… What is the objective and the purpose of your social TV initiative? What kind of relationship are you striving for and how will you enliven it through each channel in a way that’s not only engaging, but also relevant? What would the “Tweet heard around the world” look like and what is the social spark that would trigger activity? What does the experience look like on a mobile phone, tablet, PC, and a TV? Meaning, what does the second and third screen experience look like? Design it and also design it back into the first screen programming. Programming is just the beginning. Advertising also has a new opportunity to engage in a more meaningful way. Rather than simply buying seconds and using spots to promote social media campaigns, visits to Facebook pages or rallies to Tweet a branded hashtag (brandtag), think about it as a way to tell a story that can live beyond the spot or beyond the campaign. Old Spice learned that its commercials were too successful to treat as traditional campaigns that would start and stop. Viewers don’t “turn off” so why wouldn’t a great story continue to live on across distributed platforms where consumers are more than willing to engage? Now, Old Spice hosts an ongoing experience where its campaign has become a transmedia experience that perseveres across online, broadcast and social channels. The story, the product, the series keeps viewers engaged. The series also strives to make consumers part of the story where custom videos are created based on input and participation. Product placement is also open for reinvention. By making products or brands part of the story, advertisers have new opportunities for contextualized storytelling across multiple platforms and the ability to host new interactions, build communities or drive desired outcomes. Everything of course is based on the story advertisers wish to tell and the experience they wish to delivery. The point is that advertising doesn’t just have to end nor does it have to be limited to a finite engagement in new networks and platforms. Storytelling and consumer engagement are infinite if they’re compelling, delightful and shareable. But then again, it takes a different vision supported by an irresistible purpose or intention. Through experimentation, we are seeing what’s possible. However, networks, advertisers, and producers, must think beyond technology and rethink experiences. By not focusing on the experience or defining the nature of relationships, we fall to mediumalism a condition where we place inordinate weight on the technology of any medium rather than amplifying platform strengths to deliver desired experiences, activity, and outcomes. The future of Social TV is not yet written. It takes vision. It takes creativity and imagination. It takes innovation. Most importantly, it takes the architecture of experiences to engage, enchant and activate viewers. Connect with me: Twitter | LinkedIn | Facebook | Google+ Please consider ordering The End of Business as Usual today… Image Credit: Shutterstock
• The Path from a Social Brand to a Social Business 2 May, 2012, 9:17 am
  I’ve been a long-time supporter of MediaTemple’s (MT)Residence program along with Gary Vaynerchuk, Neil Patel, and many others whom I respect. I wanted to share my “8 questions to answer to become a social business” with you here.. Social Media is pervasive and is becoming the new normal in corporate marketing. Brands who get this right are starting to build their own media networks rich with customer connections numbering in the millions. Right now, Coca-Cola has over 34 million fans on Facebook, but they’re hardly alone. Disney follows just behind with 29 million fans, Starbucks boasts 25 million, and Oreo, Red Bull, and Converse play host to over 20 million fans. If we were to look at other networks such as Twitter and Youtube, we would see a recurring theme. People are connecting en masse with the businesses they support and new media represents the ability to cultivate consumer relationships in ways not possible with traditional earned or paid media. Sounds great right? This might sound abrupt, but the truth is that we’re hardly realizing the potential of what lies before us. Everything begins with understanding not just how other brands are marketing themselves in social media, but also seeing what they’re not doing and envisioning what’s possible. We’re already approaching the first of many crossroads that new media will present. Do we take the path of a social brand or that of a social business? What’s the difference? A social brand is just that, a business that is remodeling or retrofitting its existing marketing practices to new media. A social business is something altogether different as it embraces introspection and extrospection to reevaluate internal and external processes, systems, and opportunities to transform into a living, breathing entity that adapts to market conditions and opportunities. It’s a tough decision to make right now especially at a time when all we read about is how much success many businesses are finding without having to answer this very question. With all of the newfound success in social networks, the truth is that we’re only just beginning to learn what’s possible and that’s where you come in. When compared to the investment in time and resources across the board, social media represents only a small part of the mix. But with your help, that’s all about to change. The CMO Survey, an organization that disseminates the opinions of top marketers in order to predict the future of markets, recently published a report that gave credence to the fact that social media is taking off. One of the most profound takeaways from the report was this gem; “The “like button” [in Facebook] packs more customer-acquisition punch than other demand-generating activities.” With insights like this, it’s easy to see why the race to social is becoming heated. The report also highlighted exactly where social fits in the marketing mix today and as you can see, despite all of the hype, it’s not a dominant focus yet. As of August 2011, the percentage of overall marketing budgets dedicated to social media hovered at around 7%. However, in 2012 the investment in social media will climb to 10%. And, in five years, social media is expected to represent almost 18% of the total marketing budget. Think about that for a moment. In 2016, social media will only represent 18%? LINK: http://www.cmosurvey.org/blog/fasten-your-social-media-seatbelts-marketers-ready-for-full-take-off/ Queue the sound of a record scratching here. With businesses finding success in social networks, why are businesses failing to realize the true opportunity brought forth by the ability to listen to, connect with, and engage with customers? While there’s value in earning views, driving traffic, and building connections through the 3F’s (friends, fans and followers), success isn’t just defined simply by what really amounts to low-hanging fruit. The truth is that businesses cannot measure what it is they don’t know to value. [LINK: http://www.briansolis.com/2011/09/whats-the-r-o-i-a-framework-for-social-analytics/] As a result, innovation in new engagement initiatives is stifled because we’re applying dated or inflexible frameworks to new paradigms. Social media isn’t owned by marketing, but instead the entire organization. This changes everything and makes your role so much more important. It’s up to you to learn how to think outside of the proverbial social media box to see what others don’t, the ability to improve customers experiences through the evolution of a social brand into a social business. Doing so will translate customer insights from what they do and don’t share in social networks into better products, services, and processes. See, customers want something more from their favorite businesses than creative campaigns, viral content, and everyday dialogue in social networks. Customers want to be heard and they want to know that you’re listening. How businesses use social media must remind them that they’re more than just an audience, consumer, or a conduit to “trigger” a desired social effect. Herein lies both the challenge and opportunity of social media. It’s bigger than marketing. It’s also bigger than customer service. It’s about building relationships with customers that improve experiences and more importantly, teaches businesses how to re-imagine products and internal processes to better adapt to potential crises and seize new opportunities. When it comes down to it, Twitter, Facebook, Youtube, Foursquare, are all channels for listening, learning, and engaging. It’s what you do within each channel that builds a community around your brand. And, at the end of the day, the value of the community you build counts for everything. It’s important to understand that we cannot assume that these networks simply exist for people to lineup for our marketing messages or promotional campaigns. Nor can we assume that they’re reeling in anticipation for simple dialogue. They want value. They want recognition. They want access to exclusive information and offers. They need direction, answers and resolution. What we’re talking about here is the multidimensional makeup of consumers and how a one-sided approach to social media forces the needs for social media to expand beyond traditional marketing to socialize the various departments, lines of business, and functions to engage based on the nature of the situation or opportunity. In the same CMO study, [LINK http://www.cmosurvey.org/blog/a-social-media-integration-report-card/ ] it was revealed that marketers believe that social media has a long way to go toward integrating into the overall company strategy. On a scale of 1-7, with one being “not integrated at all” and seven being “very integrated,” 22% chose “one.” Critical functions such as service, HR, sales, R&D, product marketing and development, IR, CSR, etc. are either not engaged or are operating social media within a silo disconnected from other efforts or possibilities. The problem is that customers don’t view a company by silo, instead they see one company, one brand, and their experience in social media forms an impression that eventually contributes to their view of your brand. The first step here is to understand business priorities and objectives to assess how social media can be additive in achieving these goals. Additionally, surveying the landscape to determine other areas of interest as its specifically related to your business. • Are customers seeking help or direction? • Who are your most valuable customers and what are they sharing? • How can you use social media to acquire and retain customers? - What ideas are circulating and how can you harness user generated activity and content to innovate or adapt to better meet the needs of customers? - How can you broaden a single customer view to recognize the varying needs of customers and how your organization can organize around each circumstance? - What insights exist based on how consumers are interacting with one another? How can this intelligence inform marketing, service, products and other important business initiatives? - How can your business extend their current efforts to deliver better customer experiences and in turn more effectively unit internal collaboration and communication? Customer demands far exceed the capabilities of the marketing department. While creating a social brand is a necessary endeavor, building a social business is an investment in customer relevance now and over time. Beyond relevance, a social business fosters a culture of change that unites employees and customers and sets a foundation for meaningful and beneficial relationships. Innovation, communication, and creativity are the natural byproducts of engagement and transformation. As a social brand, we are competing for the moment. As a social business, we are competing the future in all that we do today. Connect with me: Twitter | LinkedIn | Facebook | Google+ Please consider ordering The End of Business as Usual today…
• At Your Service versus @YourService 30 April, 2012, 8:21 am
  Frank Eliason and I have known each other for many years. We’ve shared the stage on many occasions, he’s made an appearance on Revolution, and most importantly, I’m proud to call him a personal friend. Frank has championed the adaption and transformation of customer service during his time at Comcast and at CITI. Never one to shy away from sharing his opinions, he’s certainly bullish on where service needs to be as a function and a philosophy versus where it is today. In fact, he’s gone so far as to call out social media customer service as being a “failure” in its current state. Already a keynote speaker on the state and future of customer service, for Frank to become a published author on the subject was inevitable. When he asked me to write the foreword for his new book, I didn’t need any time to think before I humbly accepted his invitation.  As usual, I asked to publish the foreword here for you in its entirety once the book was officially published. I’m proud to say that “@ Your Service” is now available. Foreword: At Your Service versus @YourService Dear customer, I saw your Tweet about how upset you were with your experience with our product. I didn’t see it live, but someone forwarded it to me via e-mail on my BlackBerry. I guess what was delivered didn’t meet your expectations. Hey, it happens to everyone. But, you sure did let us know in your own way, didn’t you? Come to think of it, you let everyone know. So what was originally something between you and us is now everybody’s business. I don’t get it though. Sure your time is valuable. It’s so valuable in fact that you chose to avoid the various systems we invested significant time and money in to address these types of issues. Hey, our time is valuable too. That’s why we spent millions on technology to automate our systems and responses. We didn’t divert profits toward this expensive voice recognition software because we didn’t want to be close to you or talk to you live, but to make it a more efficient process. That says something about how much we value you, right? It doesn’t stop there though. If you make your way through the series of prompts and redirects, we’ve hired and trained a staff of people who are prepared to address you directly. And guess what . . . if they can’t fix your problem, they have backup resources in locations all around the world to step in and attempt to resolve the issue. Sure each individual will ask you to start from the beginning and retell your story, that is, if you do make it to one of them, and assuming you don’t get disconnected. They do, after all, want to make sure to hear every detail of your experience from the very beginning. Also, please excuse their brashness. Everyone works hard, we all have somewhere to go, and you’re probably not the only one having a hard day. So, next time you think about Tweeting, blogging, Facebooking, Googleing, YouTubeing, Pinteresting, Yelping, Foursquaring, or whatever social whatchamacallit-dot-com you decide to vent on, remember, if you want resolution, the best path between two points is a straight line. Call us. E-mail us. Fill out a trouble ticket on our website. We’re here to help. This is an “A” and “B” conversation so you’re so-called social network friends can “C” their way to funny cat videos instead. If you want us to come to you, to respond where your attention is focused, where you are connected to hundreds or even thousands of people, you should connect with our “community manager” because we’re busy helping those customers who follow our rules. But you see, they’re just working here part time. She is the niece of one of our executives who’s helping our company with the social media plan because she has free hours in between classes and she is on the Twitter. We have a few people who work with her in between their stints as entrepreneurs. Some have profiles in Facebook, one uses Myspace, and another person has his own channel on the YouTube where he reviews other people’s YouTube videos. To be honest, you’re better off not working with them. Not only do our traditional channels have technology, we have years of established rules, processes, and even internal reward systems that make sure we get to you when we can, how we can, to ensure that your time with us is endured and rushed. Between our rules, our systems, and our people, we want you to have the most efficient experience possible so that you are a happy customer, a loyal customer, and ultimately an advocate to convince other customers to buy our products. You get a solution, we get someone in our PR department to work with you on a success story, and oh, our Net Promoter Score will go up too. It’s a win-win! See now how that social media just gets in the way of a good relationship? Now, how may I help you? Allow me to answer on your behalf. No, better yet, please allow me to Tweet this on your behalf. Businesses must adapt the service infrastructure to meet the needs of you and me—the connected customer. Not because they wanted to; because they have to. As individuals, we are gaining in influence with every connection we make. And when we share experiences, we contribute to a greater collective of experiences for anyone with a search box to find. And take a guess when that search box really hits a business below the belt . . . that’s right, when another potential customer is searching for the posted experiences of others. That’s why we’re influential. Individually and collectively we influence the decisions of others simply by sharing our experiences. Why do we take to social networks to voice our problems? Businesses might be surprised. It’s not just about resolution, it’s about whether or not businesses are living up to their promises and whether or not they’re investing in the customer relationships stated in the almighty mission statement hidden somewhere on their website. We’re empowered, and we don’t take this authority lightly. When given the opportunity to wield our influence for fairness and a sense of service, we will take to every network where we can prompt resolution or transformation. It’s more than that, however. This is nothing short of a consumer revolution. We’ve had it. Our hope for recognition and value from the myriad of businesses we’ve supported over the years had turned hope into despair. Our faith in the system was eroding until we took measures into our own hands. This isn’t about upsetting the balance. This is about introducing equality in the relationship between customer and company. So, not only is the customer always right, but the customer is always right—right now. This is the real-time web and we are venting to get your attention, to earn support from our community, and to change systems that are outdated. And, if you want a win-win situation, by paying attention to us in our networks of relevance, by connecting with us in the moment, you will end up creating a new model supported by technology, people, processes, and metrics that facilitate efficient and effective direct engagement. You build a better way while connecting with the very customers that define your success. And, you invest in relationships in the process. The result? Well, it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure this one out. It actually takes a social scientist. This is about relationships. And to invest in relationships requires a commitment to improving experiences and increasing empathy. This is a time for innovation in how you engage with customers now and over time and how you measure and appreciate the aftereffect. This is that moment to create a culture of customer-centricity and employee empowerment to enliven a more engaged, informed, and vested front line of stakeholders . . . to rekindle your company’s promise and deliver a meaningful experience before and after every transaction. If you acknowledge that someone is in need, that mere action communicates how you value customers. There’s tremendous value in extending your hand, albeit digitally, and it only invites appreciation and reciprocity. By providing resolution and seeing the engagement through to satisfaction, you’ve not only invested in a relationship, but converted a potentially negative experience into a positive outcome where one-to-one engagement will now reverberate across social networks through one-to-one-to-many connections. More important, by investing in positive experiences you influence the decisions and actions of others. Remember, shared sentiment is discoverable by prospects and as they discover these experiences, those shaped by your engagement, the resulting decisions, of course, net in your favor. These are emotional landscapes and this is why expressing that you care is so vital. The negative sentiments of dissatisfied customers will not cower into the digital corners of the social web simply because you plug your ears, close your eyes, and shut your doors to engagement simply because it doesn’t align with your current service directive. When you do engage, however, well the world of experiences is yours to define. And thus, the future of business is not created, with customers, it is co-created. Delivering exceptional customer service is the new way businesses will grow. But that means more than asking, “Would you refer us to someone else?” It means asking or observing whether not customers actually did refer your business to someone else. More important, that they did so across their social networks. This is why, as Frank Eliason so eloquently explains, businesses and organizations everywhere, must be @YourService if they are to continue to earn the business, support, and influence of their customers. In your corner and in the corner of your customers, —Brian Solis, Author of The End of Business as Usual and Principal Analyst, The Altimeter Group Connect with me: Twitter | LinkedIn | Facebook | Google+
• 3D On All Platforms: Is It Worth It? 27 April, 2012, 11:56 am
  Guest post by James Stewart, Director at Geneva Film Co The debate surrounding 3D’s viability across all platforms continues to rage. Nay-sayers maintain that 3D is merely a “flash in the pan”… a “fad”… soon to fade into technological obscurity. Yet visionary artists and innovators continue to drive 3D technology deeper into the very fabric of our screen-based culture. For brands, agencies, and content creators, is it worth it? In a word: YES. THE 3D REVOLUTION James Cameron’s Avatar set the stage for 3D’s emergence in 2009 by showcasing, to a global audience, the true potential of this immersive technology. From that time, a 3D revolution has been slowly changing the media landscape, project by project, day by day, year after year. Once considered a hollow gimmick, 3D has matured into a full-blown phenomenon. In fact, of the 10 movies that have ever crossed the $1 Billion mark, 6 are 3D films with Avatar topping the list. And there is little sign of this trend slowing down. 2012 will see blockbusters like The Hobbit, Men In Black, The Amazing Spiderman, and Ridley Scott’s Prometheus hitting theatres in three dimensions. The format continues to gain greater acceptance by audiences and critics alike. The epic 3D adventure Hugo by cinematic master Martin Scorsese is a prime example, topping this year’s Oscar nominations with 11, winning 5. One Wall Street analyst decried 3D to be “over” in 2010 when only 38% of the $1Billion grossing Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides box office could be attributed to 3D (down from the standard 55% – 80%). If 38% of your customers were demanding a 3D feature would you consider it dead, especially if that feature was selling at a 15% premium? Hugo’s opening box-office was 75% from 3D screenings. The latest box office hit is another 3D re-release: James Cameron’s Titanic. The 3D reboot debuted in China and earned the second-highest opening day ever in the country, selling approximately $11.6 million worth of tickets. It’s a hit across the UK and U.S. as well. 3D COMES HOME The 3D revolution is no longer being waged on the sliver-screen alone. The real in-roads are being blazed by the growing list of 3D-capable devices that allow consumers to experience the brands they love in 3D, anytime and virtually anywhere. This is no accident. The success of any technological innovation can always be traced back to the moment it found its way affordably into the hands of the consumer– from the personal computer, to High Definition TV, and now 3D. At the center of this surge is the 3D TV market, which showed promising growth in the 4th quarter of 2011, and is tracking for even larger gains through 2012. According to Research and Markets, the global 3D TV market size is expected to exceed $100 Billion by the end of 2014. Which begs the question: in what industry would a product worth $100 Billion in sales be considered “a passing fad”? 3D GOES MOBILE 2011 saw the launch of several “glasses-free” 3D mobile devices, including the LG Optimus 3D Max, the HTC EVO 3D (both of which offer the ability to record and take photos in 3D using dual cameras) and more recently, the Gadmei 8” 3D Tablet. These relatively inexpensive devices offer consumers the full 3D experience in the palm of their hand. This evolution of 3D technology has opened the door for a wide variety of 3D creative needs, from mobile games, to applications, to advertising geared toward the mobile 3D market. The stage is set for brands and their agencies to leap off the screen and into the hearts and minds of the customers in ways never thought possible before. My company, Geneva Film Co., has produced 3D spots for Lexus, Sprint and others, bringing global brands into this next dimension. These projects– produced mainly for cinema– will next find their way to 3D TV and mobile platforms. As the popular YouTube 3D channel has shown, mobile user-generated 3D content can be an immersive experience with huge “viral” potential. In fact, YouTube not only allows stereoscopic 3D footage to be uploaded online, but also offers users a chance to convert their 2D HD footage to 3D with a click of a button online. It’s almost too easy. 3D CONTENT = RETENTION Another exciting avenue currently being explored is 3D content in the classroom. Several schools across Europe have already started utilizing 3D projection. Astudy conducted on behalf of Texas Instruments showed a 17% increase in test results for those students who viewed 3D content as part of their normal curriculum. It also found attention-levels soared, with 92% of the class paying attention, versus 46% in the traditional 2D learning environment. This type of 3D retention and engagement is not limited to the classroom. A similar study also conducted by Texas Instruments showed that viewers presented with 3D advertising content were as much as 20% more likely to retain that information than those who saw a 2D counterpart. These promising statistics bode well for Brands who develop 3D content as part of their marketing activities, as well as for agencies and content creators who offer this type of 3D impact to their clients. 3D’s GOT GAME On the front lines of the 3D revolution are the Gamers: fearless consumers who are always ready to embrace new technology to elevate their gaming experience to a more immersive level. The Nintendo 3DS has sold over 15 million units worldwide and continues to gain traction in the US market thanks to a price cut that saw sales numbers soar. 3D-ready game consoles like Sony’s PS3 and Microsoft’s Xbox 360 now feature franchise titles like Grand Turismo and Call of Duty in immersive 3D splendor. This in turn propels 3D TV sales as gamers scramble to update their home systems to be 3D ready. By its very nature, gaming and 3D technologies are a match made in heaven, tapping into the very essence of what makes 3D so exciting: it just feels real. 3D CONTENT IS KING Ultimately, content is still king. Like the HD revolution that preceded it, 3D now has the platforms to support widespread use in every aspect of daily life. However, without content to bring these devices to life, consumers will have little reason to buy. As a presenter at both TED, and Cannes Lions, my experience has been that the enthusiasm for 3D has been palpable. Despite initial trepidation by production companies and agencies, overall 3D content continues to expand. 24/7 3D channels like ESPN3D, 3net and Sky Channel are paving the way. 2012 will see the London Olympics broadcast in 3D, with the opening and closing ceremonies, men’s 100m dash, gymnastics, swimming, basketball promising 3D action. Hollywood is also offering more Blu-Ray 3D movies than ever. As more and more content enters the market, giving a greater number of consumers a reason to introduce the growing list of 3D devices into their daily routine, 3D will quickly become a primary format for content across all media platforms. For the brands and agencies bold enough to lead the way, the sky is the limit. Is it worth it? Let’s just say we won’t have the Star Trek holodeck without 3D. When not directing “flatties” James Stewart is knee deep in the next dimension of advertising and art speaking at events like Cannes Lions and TED. Follow him on Twitter.
• They All Laughed – The road to becoming a social business 25 April, 2012, 9:30 am
  Guest post by Danna Vetter, VP, Consumer Strategies, ARAMARK People laughed when we began talking about putting resources towards building a social structure for a company like ARAMARK. We heard it all: The standard - “We can’t open ourselves up to this kind of risk.” The mean - “You’re just trying to manipulate company perception.” The ridiculous – “No one wants to read tweets about hot dogs.” If you don’t know, ARAMARK is a private, $13 billion global company that provides managed services (food, facilities, uniforms, etc) for clients in just about any imaginable environment and industry, including sports and entertainment, higher education, healthcare, as well as other general businesses and beyond. You might know us as the people that run the food service at your kid’s school. Or help manage your stay at a conference center. Or clean your room when you stay at the hospital. Or maybe you just know us from that aforementioned hot dog at the ball game. In whatever the case, our employees work day and night to meet the needs of our clients and we meet them well. Sometimes we are tested by natural disaster or human tragedy like the trapped Chilean Miners. Or it could be any old fire drill our clients run us through –we are there for what our clients need and we make sure it happens. And as an “ingredient” brand that constantly works to get it right, we blend into our client’s environment and deliver on their mission with service results. While our level of commitment has never changed nor has the expectations of our clients, what has is the consumer. Providing for the needs of today’s Connected Consumer has turned the service game on its head. It’s unlike any challenge we have ever seen. Sure, our businesses had dabbled in social media. Facebook page here, Twitter account there. But by not having a concerted social media effort and structure, we were striking out with an important segment of our consumers without coming to the plate. Ignoring the Digital Age, which has the consumer connected 24/7, would represent a huge opportunity cost. As Brian Solis often says, Digital Darwinism looms for all businesses. And by not connecting with this new consumer, we would be failing to deliver on those client expectations. Coinciding with all this is the large, complex structure of our businesses, which are organized by industry segment. We have thousands of client locations and over 255,000 employees that work in different environments to meet different client goals and objectives. To create an enterprise strategy to connect with our consumers through social media would require a very thoughtful approach. Social media, by nature, is alive, personal, and engaging. Anyone who has worked at a large, multi-business company knows that those descriptors of social media sometimes fly in the face of the more formal corporate culture. We are innovative, sure, but it’s a structured innovation. So, ARAMARK was never going to adapt to social media. We were going to have to adapt social media to ARAMARK. And that’s what we did. We created a team that leads social media from the center of the organization. Our goals are to connect users managing social, consolidate resources, and share information. As you start to think about how you can fit social into your large organization, here are five areas to concentrate your efforts: 1. PEOPLE/COLLABORATION Many of today’s corporations present fewer gaps of need wider than the one of collaboration. Getting internal employees to communicate and share information with each other is essential for success in today’s global workplace. To help champion social media across our organization, we turned to collaboration by creating a team of “social delegates” from across our businesses. The delegate was made responsible for helping draft their business’ social strategy, act as a point person for their community managers (those responsible for managing our social presence at each location) and become a social media expert. We regularly hold social delegate meetings to discuss what is going on in social media across the company, what big industry issues have arisen, and to just connect and communicate about what we are all working on. To further the communication, we also have workspace on an internal social collaboration network that allows us to blog about best practices and thought leadership, share files and information, and create wikis to build a library of knowledge about this ever-changing media. By having our social leads in tune with each other, they can work together to help solve problems, come up with better strategies, and learn new and important skills. 2. OBJECTIVES AND STRATEGIES Social is not a one size fits all initiative. And a social media strategy, like any campaign effort, needs to be tied back to the business needs and objectives. We started getting our businesses aligned with this thinking through needs assessment meetings with each of our business’ marketing leaders. As they built their objectives, we had them consider the audiences they are targeting and the goals they’re trying to meet. What comes out of this is the strategies needed to implement a consumer campaign, and then the social channels best capable of achieving success. 3. TRAINING Developing social media strategies for all of our businesses made obvious a wide range of learning needs. So you can imagine how difficult it can be to train employees across the dispersed enterprise, considering we’re looking to empower thousands of employees from VPs of Marketing to front line managers, cashiers, cooks, etc. What we did was bucket the organization into three categories: Awareness users, Active users, and Expert users. Awareness users are primarily the highest and lowest ranking members of the company that need to know the company is using social media and how and why this is becoming a part of the way we do business. Active users are the community managers that will represent the company on social channels. And Expert users are our social delegates, who represent our businesses in social and help develop social strategies. We are working towards a comprehensive online library of “101” modules that focus on general social media and the primary social channels that make sense for our company (Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc). Our initial module, Social Media 101, was used as introductory training for all members of the company. More in-depth training, including live sessions, is developed based on the individual strategies and needs of the business. But we try to sustain the materials we create and use as much content across the enterprise as possible. 4. TOOLS AND RESOURCES For a large segment of our company, social media was something they wanted to get involved in – they just didn’t know where to start. As we formed our center-led team, one of our primary goals was to provide the tools and resources so that the businesses could concentrate on doing their job, specifically creating the content that was going to help drive engagement within social channels. We created a handbook on how to use social media for the organization, developed guides to build a social voice, and also put together a listening framework that identifies and manages conversations from the top to the bottom and vise versa. We also got an enterprise license for a social media management system that allows our businesses to publish content, access analytics, and simultaneously manage multiple social channels. For the businesses, this really helps them manage their social users and campaigns. For the community managers, it allows them to operate their social channels in one place as well as share content, develop content calendars, and work within a hierarchical structure. But the key theme here is rather than having multiple businesses in our company create their own resources and purchase their own licenses, we are able to centrally develop sustainable tools and resources that everyone leverages. 5. TEST AND LEARN In a large company, you may only have one chance to prove a new idea is worthy. If it doesn’t meet or exceed expectations, that may be it. And as social media constantly evolves around us, getting it right is that much harder. At ARAMARK, we are a big believer in testing through pilot programs before larger rollouts. It’s not just the technology or the strategy that you’re testing out – it’s how your employees are able to adapt and implement those strategies with those technologies. Once you find the right people to test with, create the goals and benchmarks that will give you the information that will demonstrate you met or fell short of success. And when the pilot is complete, you need to document your learnings and make adjustments to your strategy before you’re ready to launch. That’s just a quick overview of the way we approached tackling the difficult process of organizing social media for a large company. We’ll go deeper into each of those five targeted areas in future posts here. Always remember, if it is the right idea for your company, there’s a way to make it happen; no matter how crazy the idea or challenging the environment. Follow Danna on Twitter Building image credit: Shutterstock
• Engagement ain’t nothing but a number – why 1% isn’t good enough 23 April, 2012, 8:18 am
  The headline calls attention to everything that’s wrong with how businesses measure engagement in social media today. Businesses that invest any level of marketing resources in networks such as Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and the like (get it?) are being groomed to focus on soft metrics instead of the relevant activity that signals the strength and worth of a community. By weighing conversations, interactions, and views, businesses are fed raw numbers that demonstrate KPIs but they do not offer the insights necessary to glean ROI or deep understanding of what people do and do not want, need, or value. And that’s part of the problem as marketers and developers are focusing on stimulating movement, which by default becomes a game of competing for attention, moment by moment. A recent study published by Ehrenberg-Bass Institute, an Australia-based research group found that less than 1-percent of Facebook “Fans” actually engage with brands. Researchers looked at the top 200 brands using Facebook’s “People Talking About This” metric as a proportion of overall fan growth over a six-week period in October 2011. As a result, the team discovered that the percentage of People Talking About This compared to overall fans was only 1.3%.  While this metric and approach is only one way to measure supposed engagement, the truth is that even by Facebook’s own standards of measurement, marketers are already boxed into a reporting process where each report serves as a benchmark for future activity. That’s the problem though. Engagement is confused with incidents and not outcomes or influence, the ability to cause desired effect or change behavior. Businesses Take a Medium’alistic Approach Brands and their marketers suffer from what I refer to as medium’alsim, a condition where inordinate value and weight is placed on the technology of any medium rather than amplifying platform strengths and ideas to deliver desired and beneficial experiences and outcomes.  Said another way, businesses are developing for the sake of development and establishing supporting presences without regard for how someone feels, thinks, or acts as a result. In doing so, “engagement” programs are calculated, brought to life in the form of an editorial calendar that, by its very nature, isn’t not designed to really engage people at all. See, engagement is not defined through likes, comments, shares, RTs or impressions. This activity is simply a result of engagement.  Focusing on soft metrics is at the detriment of the customer experience and is potentially a distraction away from developing more meaningful connections and relationships. Engagement is by design. And, this is why businesses that are attempting to drive engagement numbers are benchmarking against lower standards. Instead of benchmarking against themselves, marketers and developers should consider benchmarking against the opportunity. Doing so is far more ambitious and as such, aspirational in the development of future strategies. For example, I ran a quick experiment with a global beer brand to prove a point. We looked at the 1-percent engagement rate and decided to run a non-scientific experiment to not only debunk the value of the engagement number as defined, but also demonstrate the need to think through desired actions and outcomes. In the middle of a business day, I posted a picture of a frosty mug filled with said beer with an ocean view in the distance. I added one word to the post, “cheers.” Within minutes that 1-percent engagement rate was eclipsed with people uploading pictures of their favorite moments while enjoying their favorite beer. Along with comments, Likes, Shares, etc., the marketing and digital teams were temporarily elated but quickly realized that the engagement they witnessed was only fleeting. While a simple example, the lesson is that engagement must mean something more to groom the community toward desired sentiment, outcomes, or to simply serve the needs of the community based on stated expectations or desires. Redefining Engagement to be More Engaging It starts with redefining engagement as we know it today to ultimately improve experiences tomorrow. I spent some time exploring existing definitions and I was surprised to find a lack clarity around such an important word. Since we spent so much time talking about what engagement is not, I invested time in researching the best practices of brands that were clearly driving communities in a particular direction through digital, social, and mobile channels. Those companies include Virgin America, Dell, TOMS, Whole Foods, Giant Nerd, among others. As a result, a working definition for engagement came into view… Engagement is defined by how a brand and consumer connect and interact within their networks of relevance. Simple. But, it’s also incomplete. It’s not just about the moment or competing for attention, it’s about the aftereffect. Engagement is measured by takeaway value, sentiment or feelings, and resulting actions following the exchange. If we look at the nature of the community in which brands are investing today, editorial programming, contests, gimmicks, campaigns, etc. lend to only one of the multifaceted sides to customer engagement.  Community is much more than belonging to something, it’s about doing something together that makes belonging matter. This is why businesses must think about investing engagement by defining experiences, journeys, feelings and outcomes. Without doing so, they by default introduce experience divides that disrupt flow, hinder sentiment, and obstruct clicks to action. Redefined engagement opens the door to new strategies and resulting metrics that lend to meaningful experiences and results. By designing more meaningful initiatives, businesses can now focus on causing effect, changing behavior, or reinforcing value where previous engagement metrics can now document the progress of progress. The ultimate measure however is now something more substantial, such as… - Shift in sentiment - Satisfaction - Acquisition - Referrals - Conversion - Leads - Brand integrity/Reputation Thinking through experiences, journeys, outcomes, and sentiment will at the very least improve the number of customer interactions and overall allegiance. It is in the relentless delivery of value that extends moments beyond merely competing for attention. Engagement is about cultivating community behavior against a defined vision, mission and most importantly, purpose. Step back to gain perspective and to see new possibilities that your competitors are missing. You are an architect of experiences and as such, you must begin with the end in mind. Then, reverse engineer the outcomes and experiences your community will value and in turn, your management will value as well. Please consider ordering The End of Business as Usual today… Connect with me: Twitter | LinkedIn | Facebook | Google+

12

Econsultancy

• Performance Marketing Awards: the winners 17 May, 2012, 2:24 am
  One of the new categories was Best Consumer Targeting, which was won by Criteo for the way it advertised relevant vacancies for jobseekers once they’d left Totaljobs. Surprise of the night went to TradeDoubler, which forced Affiliate Window to relinquish its grip on the Publishers' Choice of Network award. Until this year's awards, Affiliate Window had won in this category for five years in a row.  According to the awards' founder Matthew Wood:  Stepping up from last year, the winners demonstrated a significant focus on greater collaboration, multi-channel exposure and data utilisation. Enabling all parties to contribute towards effective and smart consumer influence and loyalty. You can view the full list of winners and commended entries here. 
• Is Google selling leads in the UK? 17 May, 2012, 2:04 am
  Peter Bell from Fuse Lead Marketing (@fuselead) recently alerted me to an interesting discovery which seems to have appeared over the last few weeks in the UK. A search for “voucher codes” presents a paid ad for a well known UK voucher code company and below the ad the consumer is presented with a pre-filled email data capture field with an accompanying “Get Offers” button. Yes, that’s right the email field is pre-filled so no extra heavy lifting for the casual browser that can’t quite manage to find the energy to click through onto the site to look for any specific offers! Once you hit the “Get offers” button you then see a simple confirmation appear in the same place on the ad.   For anybody that might be concerned about privacy and how your data might be used by an advertiser or Google themselves then don’t worry because Google of course has this covered off with a handy “privacy link” in the ad. When clicked a pop up box appears helpfully informing the cautious form filler that “When you submit this form, your email address will be sent to the advertiser”. Phew, thanks Google! If this is something that is going to be rolled out across the UK it raises some very interesting questions. Is Google really planning to charge per lead for these enquiries? If so, is it really sacrificing clicks for leads? How much are leads likely to cost? Will more data fields be captured in the future? How do these site extensions affect click through rates? Is the consumer contact opt-in for the advertiser only or for Google as well? There are also more prosaic lead gen specific questions such as is there any validation on the leads? Do lead buyers pay for all leads or just valid ones? Are the leads time-stamped and sent to the advertiser in real-time (as recommended by IAB best practice) or are they batched up and sent sporadically? Whatever the answers to these questions, it seems like yet more evidence that Google are getting very serious about online lead generation. As they increasingly go head-to-head with Facebook for precious advertising dollars, moving down the funnel from clicks to leads might help to consolidate their place as the real online advertising super power.
• Demand for digital marketing freelancers soars: trends 15 May, 2012, 2:25 am
  UK marketers are using digital marketing freelancers more than other countries. In March 2011, the UK became the second biggest hirer of digital marketing talent, up from fourth in March 2011, just behind the US. The UK is also the fifth biggest country when it comes to supplying digital marketing freelancers. Video is on the up When we drill down and look at the types of jobs that are increasingly being outsourced, it is interesting to note that video is the big mover year-on-year. Videography was the second fastest growing skill in the last year (272% increase), followed by Video Production (253%) and Video Editing (233%). Requirements for infographics spiralled in the last 12 months too with a monumental 552% increase. However that growth has slowed recently and there was no change in demand from February to March this year. The only skill to see a drop in demand over the last year was Newsletters (-12%). Though in the month from February to March we saw less demand for SEM (-39%), Newsletters (-15%), eBooks (-9%) and Affiliate Marketing (-9%).  Job Post Count by Skills MOM % change YOY% change Internet Marketing 17.2% 186.0% Blogs -4.1% 138.7% Social Media Marketing 15.9% 105.8% SEO 3.5% 105.7% SEM -39.0% 89.6% Video Production 6.1% 253.3% Video Editing 5.1% 232.5% Banner Ads -5.0% 231.3% Facebook 8.5% 31.5% Email Marketing 10.9% 57.4% eBooks -8.9% 62.8% Affiliate Marketing -8.8% 7.9% Videography 39.9% 272.3% Infographics 0.0% 552.0% Newsletters -14.5% -11.8% Twitter 18.5% 0.8% Google+ 17.7%   Three reasons for increased demand A common reaction to this growth in demand would be to question why this is happening. For me, when it comes to digital marketing, there are three key reasons: Economy. There is no doubt that the difficult economic conditions over the last few years has put strain on marketing budgets. Using freelancers is a good way to control costs, especially when there are freezes on hiring additional full time headcount.  Flexibility. Marketing disciplines and campaigns are far more varied in this digital age. It is often hard for marketing teams and agencies to predict what skills will be needed from one month to the next.  Specialisms. Following on from this last point, it is often necessary to have a specific specialist for a specific task. Hiring a freelancer who has the necessary skills that might be missing in the agency or in-house department is a much more effective way to manage this. We’ll continue to chart these trends, identify areas where there is significant change and will include these in future monthly posts.
• How to survive the transition to digital direct response 8 May, 2012, 10:20 am
  "Well, we didn't get nearly the number of leads we wanted to from our LinkedIn Group this quarter but at least we got some good branding out of it." Sound familiar? You could replace the words LinkedIn Group with trade show booth and you get my point. Branding is not enough to create sales. Nor is branding—or its "kissing social cousin" engagement—able to produce customer behavior (e.g. business leads). Why? Because they are rarely executed as processes aimed at producing behavioral outcomes. Branding and engagement use tools like creativity to create, at best, brand name recall and preference. Hence, direct response must be added in to social engagement campaigns for leads and sales to manifest. It doesn't "just happen." It's What Has Always Worked The Web and social media are built for direct response and that's where we're heading as an industry. In fact direct response is where the ecommerce action has been since day one. Witness the multi-billion dollar affiliate marketing industry, Google Adwords. These innovations fueled rapid growth of ecommerce in the early days. "We're all direct marketers now. The Web is one big direct marketing machine and everyone is invited to the party," says Mike Moran, formerly of IBM, a distinguished engineer and author of Do it Wrong Quickly, who says marketers come from two distinct backgrounds: Brand marketers are the ones whose work you see on TV. They are all about branding, brand image, brand awareness—use whatever word you want—and their success has made Coca-Cola and many other consumer products into household names. Direct marketers are decidedly less sexy ... constantly searching for the next idea that increases response. They are all about sales, and couldn't care less about brand image as long as the cash register rings. Moran says social engagement marketers with an interest in driving sales have much to learn from the practice of direct response marketing. David Ogilvy said this too. In short direct response works and it's never been more needed by those of us with things to sell online. Customers Expect Proof, Upfront, for Free Based on my own research while writing my book I've come to discover that people are buying in business-to-business and business-to-consumer contexts using social media. Yes, they're buying as a result of content marketing. However, customers only purchase when the business behind the content is willing to prove the effectiveness of the product or service (in some small but meaningful way) prior to the purchase. Executing this requires use of direct response. What I'm getting at here is "engaging content that provides value" does not work nearly as well as engaging content that delivers a result before the sale. That translates to solving a related problem, or giving an actual sample of a unique experience. It's the difference between telling a customer you're the best choice and proving it to them. It's the difference between ascribing characteristics to your brand as bait for customers and letting customers' actual experiences create your brand for you. "We develop brands to help customers achieve outcomes that they can’t achieve through products and services alone," says Brian Phipps, an independent brand strategy consultant. "Thus, a 'brand'  is much more than an identity, a stylized sales stimulant, a promise or a reputation. It's a deliverable that acts as a supra-product method of creating value, limited only by the brand imagination of the company." Results in Advance This idea of being less artsy, creative or funny (branding) and more useful (content-rooted direct response) is what's fueling the success of Frank Kern and his clients. The concept begins with you/your brand giving materially useful things to prospective customers---like tools and utilities that solve problems for them. This often includes multimedia, educational content that proves your worth, builds trust. In the end, prospective buyers factor the seller's ability to actually produce a result for them into consideration when the call-to-action arrives.  In this context your product is nothing more than an extension of benefits customers already received from you (for free). Your product suddenly becomes a chance to solve a prospect's nagging problem, avoid a risk or exploit an opportunity. Good deeds (deliverables) using helpful tools, advice, free samples of experiences all help buyers see your product as a logical investment rather than an expense. By providing what Mr. Kern calls "results in advance" we marketers can do something remarkable. By moving prospects closer to their goal before we ask them to buy anything we bring customers closer to joy... so much so that they appreciate what we've given them and WANT to pay us to reach their ultimate goal. What do you think? photo credit: gnackgnackgnack
• Are digital marketing shows a waste of time? 2 May, 2012, 1:32 am
  Ask any digital marketer and they will no doubt tell you that over the last few years some of the biggest trends in digital have been the rise of mobile and social and the resurgence of display but I would add another to this list.   In the last five years another noticeable trend has been that digital marketing shows are getting worse and worse. It’s not that each individual show is badly put together, or there are no good exhibitors but it seems that in the current digital landscape these shows are just too generic and irrelevant to the majority of attendees apart from perhaps those that have just entered the industry. Most of the shows have tried to address this by sectioning off their shows into digital sub-categories, so you find a “mobile area” or a “social area” which are usually demarcated with a migraine-inducing carpet, but these all feel a bit tokenistic, more of a way to hijack some buzz words rather than to give attendees something different.   I think the industry is now at the stage where these broad-brush shows should be put to rest. The different strands of digital marketing are now so specialised and often technical that the audience for something for example like content marketing and mobile marketing is not the same. And even if some attendees are interested in more than one area, these shows don’t go deep enough into the individual disciplines to offer any real value.  As is so often the case with all things digital, the US is leading the way and there are a few niche shows starting to appear that are not only shaking up the big established players but also adding something fresh into the often tired conference circuit.  Earlier in the year, I was fortunate enough to attend LeadsCon in Las Vegas, which is the world’s biggest (and possibly only) online lead generation show. Apart from the obvious fact that Las Vegas has more to offer the average conference attendee than most UK venues, the conference itself was a perfect example of how to put on a relevant and interesting show.  Online lead generation as an industry is definitely on the up in the UK. More big brands are getting involved and budgets are on the increase. Now we might not quite be at the stage where a UK online lead generation show could pull in 3,000 attendees as LeadsCon does in Vegas but judging by the number of English accents I heard, there is certainly some untapped demand in the UK market.    To test this theory, I conducted a rather unscientific study using the poll functionality on LinkedIn asking whether there was a need for an online lead generation specific show in the UK and 69% of respondents said there definitely was and 19% said there might be. If you also include all the positive comments and emails I have received subsequently maybe the time is right for the UK’s first online lead generation show? Over the next few years while the big shows might not disappear entirely expect to see a whole host of new specialist digital marketing shows popping up all over the UK.  
• Fast Track Digital Marketing - New York 26 April, 2012, 9:45 am
  This intensive two-day course is a great place to start your training. It gives mareters a complete overview of all the essential digital marketing disciplines, how they can work together in your marketing strategy and helps to highlight areas for further in-depth learning.
• 'Have You Seen' offers commissions for social recommendations 25 April, 2012, 7:21 am
  After a successful beta trial period the service already has an impressive list of merchants signed up, including Amazon, Sainsbury’s, British Airways and Nike. Traffic Junction says that it conducted research which found that 45% of British consumers recommend products and services via email and social media, so the potential for revenue already exists.  Commercial director Dan Pearce said that users receive 100% of the commission and can choose to share it with the person who bought the product. “During the beta phase the most popular choice was to share the revenue with friends. The average purchase was £55 and average commission was 5%, but it will be interesting to see if that stays the same as we get more users on board.”  Commission is paid to users through PayPal or a bank transfer, but they can only collect the money once they have earned £20 in commission. With an average commission of £2.75 it may take a while for users to reach the £20 minimum, but Traffic Junction hopes that consumers will eventually make a habit of recommending products using Have You Seen. We see it as being similar to the existing cashback model, but the whole process is based on referral so you can’t buy products using your own links. Therefore it brings in new customers and drives incremental revenue. At this stage Traffic Junction does not receive any revenue from Have You Seen as it is still working out the best way to charge for the service. It’s been born out of a profitable company so we are able to take a long term view and get the monetisation right rather than rushing it and making the wrong decision. Have You Seen isn’t the first service to offer consumers commission for successful recommendations. Just last week we reported on Air New Zealand’s Share & Earn scheme that offers £50 cash in return for a recommendation that leads to a share. However Have You Seen has an impressive client list and by tapping into social media it is tailoring its service to existing consumer behaviour. The tricky part will be getting people to sign up to the service in the first place, but considering how popular voucher sites have become in recent years that may be not such an onerous task.
• Mobile sites and affiliate tracking: the stats 25 April, 2012, 3:23 am
   In addition to this, taking into account growth rates we experienced throughout 2011, we forecast that by the end of the year approximately 14.5% of all transactions will have taken place through mobile devices. The importance of optimising for mobile With the volume of clicks that are now driven by this channel, it is important that advertisers are in a position to be able to convert this traffic. There is still an alarming number of retailers that do not have mobile optimised versions of their site. This makes the process of viewing products, adding them to a basket and ultimately converting a fiddly process. This has led to conversion rates through mobile handsets dropping as the amount of traffic through the devices has increased. While mobile is increasingly used in the research phase of a customer journey, visitors are not being converted due to a poor user experience. Where we have advertisers that have launched a mobile optimised version of their site, complete with affiliate tracking, figures have been impressive. For one advertiser we have seen sales through mobile devices increase from around 2% to 16% of all transactions through the affiliate channel. Mobile and average order values It is not just about seeing a greater volume of sales coming through mobile devices, we are also seeing an impact on the average basket values. We have been able to monitor the average order values of customers that have bought through a mobile device and compare these when visiting the e-commerce version of the site vs. the fully optimised m-commerce site. Through Android devices, average order values were found to be 40% higher through the mobile optimised version of the site and above that of desktop. Similarly, basket values through the iPhone saw a 25% increase when coming through the mobile optimised site rather than the full e-commerce site. Affiliate tracking As well as a poor user journey being partly to blame for the drop in conversion rates, this can also be attributed to advertisers not including affiliate tracking within their mobile sites – meaning that not all sales through the affiliate channel are tracked. Despite there being a significant rise in mobile usage, there is a fundamental disconnect between what some of the largest brands in the country are doing in the running of their affiliate campaign and the preparedness for the implications of m-commerce on affiliates. When accessing an advertiser’s site through a mobile device, by default the m-commerce version of a site (if available) will load. This highlights how problematic it is when affiliate tracking is not in place. Advertisers who have embraced mobile and have developed mobile optimised sites may miss out on a significant number of opportunities that present themselves through the affiliate channel if they neglect the importance of adding affiliate tracking. Mobile traffic has been increasing month on month and our stats indicate that this growth will not be slowing any time soon. Developing mobile optimised sites will definitely help improve user journeys and place advertisers in a better position to convert the increasing number of visitors through mobile devices. However, to really take advantage of the mobile opportunities presenting themselves through the affiliate channel, it is imperative that affiliate tracking is put in place.
• Air New Zealand launches Share & Earn scheme 17 April, 2012, 6:20 am
  This coincides with a new advertising campaign from Albion, which includes an interactive panoramic scan of the cabin called SeatView – where customers can explore the space both horizontally and vertically, clicking on hot spots to reveal product service points.     Air New Zealand GM for Europe Chris Myers, said that: Since we introduced the new Premium Economy on the London route our customers have been sharing some great experiences with us. This is a great chance for them to now be rewarded for telling their friends and family about it.”  This comes just a month after it was announced that Dell had launched its own Share & Earn scheme with digitalanimal – which was swiftly rebuked by the brand with a statement that read: This announcement was distributed without our knowledge. It is based on a five-day affiliate test program that ran last week in the UK and has since been terminated. digitalanimal has been directed to remove all external communication immediately.” Adobe's director of European operations for its social media streatgy team Marc Blinder told Mycustomer.com at the time that he believes that the promotion would have left customers with a sour taste. My concern is that this campaign lacks the subtlety you'd expect from good marketing. I think customers will feel uncomfortable doing something transparently selfish in front of their friends and I don't think it's a good association for the brand. If it becomes widely known, that Dell pays for shares, it could make some fans much less likely to share in order to preserve their personal reputation.” To balance this though, we reported on Park Resorts’ use of the same model, again with digitalanimal, stating that the programme had delivered an average of five leads per one share. The brand seemed to be all too happy to use this affiliate model to reward customers.  Another company called Shopa also claims to have created the first share & earn e-commerce platform that gives financial rewards to people who recommend products to their networks and friends. While Blinder may well be right in saying that for Dell, this approach feels too brash for the super-social hardware brand. Perhaps it’s the use of the word ‘earn’, combined with the positioning of the programme and the cash-in-hand kickback that makes it feel a little dirty. However, there seems to be others who consider it a worthwhile experiment.
• Luxury goods sales increase 96% in January across LinkShare network 16 April, 2012, 2:23 am
  Though this growth suggests that interest in smaller, lower-priced luxury items has grown of late, luxury brands have been using smarter e-commerce and digital marketing techniques for some time.  In 2009 we interviewed AstleyClarke.com MD Bec Clarke about the challenges of selling luxury goods online after the company had spent £2.75m revamping its website with inspirational content, as well as better product photos and features. Clarke said that the key to overcoming consumers’ reluctance to buy luxury goods online was to build their trust by offering good content, next day delivery, personal shopping assistance and clearly stated contact details for a central London address. Furthermore, in January we reported on Fabergé’s Big Egg Hunt that used a bespoke smartphone app to direct people to Fabergé eggs hidden in various locations around London. It followed on from a similar campaign from Jimmy Choo that used social network Foursquare to give clues to the location of pairs of the brand’s newly launched trainers. Plus, we see Burberry leading the charge in terms of integrated online experiences alongside British luxury retailer Net-A-Porter. Other stats released by Rakuten LinkShare show that clicks across the network were also up 37% year on year, suggesting that shoppers are spending more time browsing online before committing to a purchase.  This is supported by previous research from the affiliate network that showed that over half (56%) of consumers check between two to three websites before purchasing an item, with 21% checking more than three websites.