A nice concise article about fundamental realities of Social Media interactivity, if you want the money.

1. Relevancy, having something tangible to offer other than an altar upon which users can worship your brand.

2. Currency, that ’special’ offer that sets up a value proposition

3. Usability, eliminating friction in the path to purchase.

How to transform social media into a sales generation engine - iMediaConnection.com

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I always like practical articles, real world, stuff that works.  This is too good not to share.

Using the “Landing Page” to get your way.

As interactive marketing develops, we are increasingly going beyond the home page and the rest of the corporate website. Topical microsites, optimised for SEO or SEM, or simply for special purposes ( temporary or permanent) get added to the portfolio regularly.  The object is to drive specially targeted traffic to these “Landing pages” towards a “conversion” be that a purchase, registration, download, whatever.  These are often key to generating the metrics to review the success of a campaign.

So, knock one up for me!  No, wait, not like that!

Landing pages often bring a clash between Interactive user interface designers and marketing departments.

Some marketers don’t realise the complexity of the full functionality;

-technical for monitor, platform and font variations, optimisation and

-strategically, for structure, including identification,  hierarchy of message and navigation.

Likewise, some interactive designers get so close to their technical and strategic direction, that they miss the big picture;

- The ’step back’ perspective of fresh eyes

- The proper reinforcement brand values and image.

- The complete marketing plan and objectives.

This is a great resource for both, hopefully to broaden your horizons, or crystallise your thinking, from Visual Website Optimizer Blog:

Landing Page Optimization tips: analysis of 50+ sites to find out what increases sales and conversions « I love split testing

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Great article with all sorts of time savers and neat tools for doing online design.

50 Powerful Time-Savers For Web Designers - Smashing Magazine

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One thing we all know, the newspapers and magazines are hurting. But, there is more news and information at your fingertips than ever before.

A new model is slowly evolving to face the opportunieits online: Free news with ads, paid news (with ads too?), sites that consolidate news from other sources, Citizen Journalism…

Pulitzer Prize for Journalism is a benchmark of sorts, here’s what happened this year.

Online sites win journalism firsts at Pulitzers

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Being that it is still an evolving issue, I thought I’d post it, for anybody that’s interested in how social media works to follow it as it moves throught its course. My interest is solely from an interactive social media point of view, but be warned it is very racially charged, violent and there is a lot of course language.

Sometime on 16 Feb a video of an interracial fight on a San Francisco Bus between an an older Caucasian guy and a younger African American guy was published on YouTube.

6 days later, the main videos have gotten over 2.5 million hits, and there are over 900 response videos, re-posts, and a bunch of tag on posts trying to capture the traffic and interest of this phenomenon.  Search YouTube for “AC Transit Bus Fight” to see the growing list of results.  The other social media are picking it up as well, with 34 pages on Facebook, for example.

It has a bunch of issues that strike right to the American psyche: violence, racism, senior citizens, veterans, political correctness and “land and order”.  All this bound up in YouTube, and the digital space, with lots of follow-on commentary from self appointed pundits.

It is a feast of social science as well as social media.  America speaks!

NOTE: there is strong language and violence in the following links.

Original AC Transit Bus Fight video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lQJFv9SMSMQ

The aftermath, outside the bus:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u5fnjFVPCek

Interview with the old guy (Epic Beard Man):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ni08RoIh5jo

Interview with the female video author:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CbsX5j-8T3Y

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eMail Click-Through Rates 2/10 - Courtesy of Constant Contact

Accountant 14.5%
Art Gallery 10.6%
Association 11.0%
Communications 8.9%
Consultant 12.0%
Crafts 22.1%
Education and Services 15.1%
Entertainment 10.8%
Event Planning 12.2%
Franchise 12.5%
Government Agency 14.7%
Hotel, Inn, B&B 13.9%
Legal Services 13.0%
Manufacturing & Distribution13.1%
Marketing/PR 13.5%
Medical Services 13.3%
Non-profit 12.3%
Office Supplies 9.4%
Personal Services 12.6%
Products & Services 12.2%
Professional Services 13.0%
Publishing 27.6%
Real Estate 10.4%
Religious Organization 9.8%
Restaurant/Bar/Catering 6.6%
Retail 15.7%
Salon/Spa 7.0%
Sports & Recreation 12.3%
Technology 10.9%
Transportation 13.8%
Travel & Tourism 11.6%
Web Developer 16.4%
Other* 17.8%

Wishing you the best of success.

Cheers,
Robert

Robert Fleming
President/CEO

eMarketing Association
www.eMarketingAssociation.com

Tags: Marketing // 2 Comments »

Social interactive marketing is reaching further and deeper into our everyday interactive experiences.  1.5 million daily visits to gmail are not to include an increasing social element, with, I suggest, more to evolve.

I think its plain to see that Google knows no bounds as it expands across all interactive frontiers.

Google email takes on Facebook | News.com.au

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Available on newsstands, not on the web

Basically, you download software, use a camera to scan the codes strategically placed throughout the magazine and it initiates an online experience.

Newspapers and magazines are struggling.  Murdoch is in the news with his intent to sell news content and maybe even remove his listings from Google.  Neither tactic is new, neither has yet proven successful.

Online advertising is not as profitable as the newsstand sales lost is the issue, more or less.  The old established industry has too much capital and intellectual property invested in the old ways.  The innovators are capitalising on the opportunities.  Change is the order of the day.

So, instead of trying to raise revenue (i.e. value) from its online content, Esquire is leveraging the technology and adding online value to its newsstand publication, with the hope of increasing sales.

How is this an improvement on the CD stuck to the cover with industrial snot?

1. Web interface means content can be changed, regularly updated to maintain a customer’s interest.
2. Unlike a cd with web links, there is no alternative, its is an engagement, and all the metrics that go with it.
3. It’s customisable, configurable and personalisable.  It brings all the good things about web accountablity and measurement to analogue publication.

The promo will pass or fail based upon the quality of the content, user experience and marketing sensitivity.  There are a few mechanical hurdles to overcome to participate, and that is the greatest weakness.
It also makes me think of different models where you might be able to sell “tickets”, or pass out secret “pass keys” as part of a promotion…
Jump to the Esquire video demo of the magazine:

Video - Esquire

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An interesting perspective, separating viral marketing from Social Media.  To my mind, the two are symbiotically bound.

Organized Chaos: Viral Marketing, Meet Social Media | Epicenter | Wired.com

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Destination web is beginning to lose traffic to the distributed phenomena known collectively now as the social web space, i.e. Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, the blogsphere, etc.

The assumption is that people are getting their information via social contacts, web2.0 sites with user generated content and other indirect sources, other than the main web properties.

The problem with jumping to conclusions, is basically, jumping to conclusions.

What else could we infer from these stats?

- S0cial web is addictive, sapping the strength and curiosity from web users?

- Corporate websites were just fun as long as there was nothing better to do?

- Traffic shifts to where the action is, above and beyond the ‘need to know’ requirements of individuals farming specific information.

- You wouldn’t want to own stock in MySpace.

I don’t think the recommendation is to get rid of your landing pages.  You may get less traffic, but is it more qualified traffic?

I do think the recommendation is to get involved in Social Web.

American

www.digitalbuzzblog.com - loosing-to-the-social-web-visualized

Australian (thanks Mike!)

Australian brand sites losing to the Social Web - Datalicious Blog

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