Thursday, December 6, 2012

unfolding social business

Pay attention, people. Google Communities, which launches today, defines Web 3.0.

This is the real intent of Google+... beyond a social network, the true semantic web.  Google Communities enables topic pages beyond groups, company pages and blogs because rather than operating as standalone topic pages, they’re interconnected.  Everything is indexed so you can discover, link and share topics of interest.

What does this mean for marketers?  Don't simply create content, consider how that content relates to your products, your promotions, and your other content. From a social media and social business perspective, enable these connections between customers, not just between you and the customers.


Great TechCrunch writeup by Drew Olanoff this morning.

Wednesday, December 5, 2012

perspective: current industry ideas

i find it useful to seek out blog posts and niche marketing sites for scoop and new ideas. here are a few floating around:

  • subject lines drive click rates on marketing emails more so than the sender/from
  • marketing email deliverability rate is currently 82%.  how does that compare to your organization's performance?
  • direct email is one of the the most trusted marketing channels
  • there's a direct relationship between content and social exposure, so get newsletter [in part or full] on your organization's website and social networks, don't just utilize that space for promotions
  • email marketing automation cannot replace personal connections of inside and outside sales reps in B2B environments; those personal connections are still proving necessary


deliverability from thomson local on and on trust
newsletter scoop from search engine journal
customer think on B2B

wired: missed opportunity

I'm an avid reader of Wired news and blogs.  That team puts together a great print magazine, a well designed website and fantastic content.  I'm wondering why their email newsletter is so mediocre. They send me 2 photos with headlines, one of which is "from the archives."  I am not sure the business sense of pushing archived content since it's free to readers, though there could be some benefit to them in promoting the depth of their website.  25% of the page is an ad for an outside vendor.  And on my laptop, I cannot read the images or copy for the additional five headlines (bottom right list).  When I try to view this on my phone... well, I can't try.  It's a miss, guys.

Monday, December 3, 2012

paper culture nails it

One message.  One button to click. Works on mobile. Well done.



nielsen's social news is mobile

Nielsen's 2012 report on Social Media indicates consumers spend 30% of their time online visiting social networks on mobile devices; only 20% of their time online is visiting social networks via personal computers.  Forty-six percent of social media users say they use their smartphone to access social media.  The U.S. mobile web audience as a whole has climbed 82 percent, and 25% say seeing ads on social media sites is OK.
Check out the complete Nielsen report here and a great TechCrunch writeup by Sarah Perez here.