Monday, October 20th, 2008
Oh so much good stuff this week from my favourite writers. Let’s get right to it!
Plurk
I’ve talked so much about Plurk, I really hope you’re on it by now! Make Use Of tells you how to become a star in the Plurk Universe. Nothing groundbreaking, but it’s a nice read, especially for those thinking about signing up. (ps: Don’t forget to add me as a friend too).
Recession Opportunities
It’s the wrong move, but ad spend, marketing and PR are the first things to go when budgets get cut, especially in recessions. Which means it’s never been a better time to look at social media tools as a great alternative.
Christopher Penn (of the Marketing Over Coffee podcast) gives us opportunities and predictions for the recession and Chris Anderson of the Long Tail tells us what the recession meant for “free”. I would pay attention to the “freemium” model, which isn’t yet hugely popular back home.
Twitter
In those small pockets of time that Plurk is down, some of us still go over to Twitter, and Brian Solis gives a great rundown of tools available, which is worth reading if you’re using Twitter for business or community management. (ps: I’m on Twitter too)
Community Management
Speaking of community management, Corvida over at Shegeeks.net recounts her lessons as community manager for Read Write Web. Most important for people thinking they’re community managers, “Everyone wants to be our friend” is a very terrible misconception. Get with the programme.
Word Of Mouth
Andy Sernovitz aka the word of mouth guy has a post called “Give away your buns” which brings home the lesson: “Every spoiling asset is a marketing tool”. I’ve seen this - or rather the lack of this - at work too many times. It’s time for companies to start utilising word of mouth more effectively.
Did you read anything mindblowing this week? Would you care to share? Share it with me on Delicious.com, or post it in the comments below! Did you find the links useful? What type of links would you like to read more of? Love to hear from you as well.
Tags: ad spend in recession, andy sernovitz, brian solid, chris anderson, christopher penn, community management, corvida, delicious, free, freemium, make use of, marketing over coffee, Plurk, plurk universe, read write web, recession opportunities, shegeeks, social media during recession, the long tail, twitter, wom, word of mouth
Posted in Icio | 2 Comments »
Sunday, May 4th, 2008
A few more thoughts on the influence issue, part one is here. Once again, I’m exploring this from the consumer’s point of view based on how I surf and am affected (or not) by what the blogs I read say.
Case Study 4: Podfire Soft Launch
The Podfire soft launch got pretty good coverage on ping.sg. I think that night and the day following, easily 3-4 of the top then most read posts were on blog coverage of the Podfire launch. One thing about influence and popularity is network effects.
One person talking about it positively on ping.sg is very different from five people talking positively about it. Again pulling in the “people like me vs bloggers” debate into the picture, I’m thinking someone who knows some or all of the five people talking about it (or any other topic) will probably feel a compelling reason to at least check it out.
Will it lead to the complete viewing of a video? Will they be repeat viewers? I don’t know, but by that stage, the product has to speak for itself. But leading them to click is the first step.
It’s Not About Reach Or Circulation
I read a comment somewhere ridiculing the buzz of the Podfire launch saying some people didn’t hear about it. Completely missing the point. I’m always asked in school whether I saw an article in the newspapers, or a good/bad advertisement on tv last night, and the answer is usually no. So…. people didn’t hear about it via print or tv either and therefore it’s useless?
The important thing for Podfire (and how blogs should be approached), is to try to reach the immediate community (small as they may be) and work from there. It’s targeted as opposed to the shotgun approach.
Get Help!
Su Yuen has a Facebook application called Get Help. It allows users to post out a question and get replies back from friends, acquaintances or maybe strangers. Again, the idea of influence seems relative. Anyone can help on the app, to varying degrees of influence. Would you discount a brilliant idea via Get Help just because a person who replied is a stranger?
Even “Weak” Links/Influencers Play A part
Case Study 1: Camera Buying
When I was deciding which dslr to get, Ingrid recommended a friend to of hers to help me out. I didn’t have any idea who that friend was prior to this, but I did continually go back and ask her what she thought of product A over product B, and bought the final camera based on that advice. Could I have made my decision by reading a professional photographer’s review? Sure. But the fact that I could interact with this person and listen to firsthand experiences made a difference to me. It just happens in this case she isn’t a blogger. But… what if she was?
Case Study 2: Iron Man
Twitter has been alight with raving, positive Iron Man reviews. I’m reading about people from all over the world (majority of whom I’ve never even met) saying how good it is. The Straits Times gave it three stars. After watching the show, I’m glad I didn’t listen to an “expert” reviewer, because anyone who’s watched the show will know it’s not deserving of three stars. Would you like to listen to an “expert” reviewer and forgo the show? (Assuming three stars is your threshold for “not watching”)
Ultimately this issue is still a tough one to tackle. My point here is not to say bloggers are the influencers, but that pointing to the various research without considering the intricacies of it is probably a bad idea. We know about the Long Tail (The ants have megaphones) and about the Wisdom of Crowds and crowdsourcing, and blogging fits squarely into the realm of these phenomena.
Tags: ants have megaphones, bloggers, crowdsourcing, expert reviewer, facebook application, get help, influence, influencers, iron man reviews, network effects, people like me, ping.sg, podfire, podfire soft launch, straits times, the long tail, twitter, weak links, wisdom of crowds
Posted in Blogs, Media, Research, Singapore, social media | 5 Comments »
Friday, February 29th, 2008
As promised, we’re kicking off a series of guest posts by Shi Heng Cheong on Search Engine Optimisation (SEO). Here’s question #1:
1) What is SEO and Why Does it Matter?
SEO is about getting visitors to your Web site from search engines by being visible when people search for terms related to your site’ content. SEO is more than just getting high ranking in the search engine results page(SERP).
Targeted Traffic High Response
You want search engine traffic because these are filtered traffic and highly relevant to your site’s content which in turn increases the success rate of getting your most wanted response.
Effective search engine optimization strategies can get you the search engine visibility and targeted traffic to promote your services and products. It is low cost, offers measureable results and imposes no geographical barrier.
On the other hand, advertising and promotion using traditional media is high cost, results not easily measureable and usually confined by geographical barriers.
Search Engine and The Long Tail
Search engine is an effective tool for filtering The Long Tail, and it is in this part of the market that search engine optimization and search marketing excel.
Now, small and medium-sized companies with limited marketing resources can tap into this huge number of niches and grow their business. The days of blockbuster hits are numbered. With the Internet and ever increasing online space, more variety can be offered in smaller numbers. Think Amazon.com and eBay.com.
The search engine helps the consumers to find the unique products they want. As for the merchants, it is important that their Web site can be found in the search engine results listing.
SEO - Marketers’ Core Competence
Search engine optimization should and will be the core competence for all marketers as companies rely more on the Internet to conduct business. Using the search engine to promote your business need not be rocket science.
Here’s the 3 simple steps that will ensure good ranking and quality traffic to your site:
1. Select the right keywords
2. Make your Web design search engine friendly
3. Make your site simple and easy-to-use
About the author: Shi Heng Cheong is with Finggle Pte Ltd - a search marketing training company that conducts regular SEO Web Design Courses and SEO workshops to Web specialists, marketing professionals and business owners.
Tags: search marketing, SEO, the long tail
Posted in Google, SEO, Search | 3 Comments »
