May 25, 2010: summarized from ClickZ -- Many marketers still think they can't track social media marketing ROI (define). They say it's so new and hard to define that the old metrics and tracking technologies just can't be applied. This widespread perception is reflected by comments in major publications (I have taken out their real names, but I assure you the quotes are real and recent):
"The problem with trying to determine ROI for social media is you are trying to put numeric quantities around human interactions and conversations, which are not quantifiable...What you're trying to do is assign multiple choice scoring to an essay question. It's not possible." -Principal, social media marketing agency
[Figuring out the ROI of social media] "is the million dollar question." -Director of corporate branding, major retailer
However, as a person coming from the online media world, I never accepted that. When it comes to online, everything can and should be tracked.
You can track social media ROI just like online media and search, and even layer on a few extras!
The difference is that, unlike paid search, online media, and other online marketing tactics, the social channel can take more time to mature and the results can take longer to be realized.
For many of the metrics, there is no need to reinvent the wheel - one can look at the same performance indicators in use for online today such as clicks, cost per click, leads, cost per lead, and even revenue.
Read more at: http://bit.ly/9EfDYq
Tuesday, June 8, 2010
Are You Engaging or Interrupting?
Remember back when a marketer's primary goal was to catch the attention of consumers in any possible way? The content of the ad, brochure or sign seemed to take a backseat to the need for catching a consumer's attention for just a split second. The methods used to grab attention became more and more extreme as shock advertising, sexual innuendos and outrageous imagery took center stage in marketing.
However, with the growth of social media, marketers have learned that simply interrupting the online conversation doesn't always lead to sales, nor does it lead to positive word-of-mouth marketing. Now the goal of marketing is engagement. Consumers want to know, what are you going to tell them after you interrupt them?
Marketers have discovered that there is tremendous value in building brands and relationships through long-term social media strategy vs. short-term direct-marketing tactics on social websites.
Does that mean there is no place for interruption marketing on the social web? No. Carefully executed direct-marketing tactics that truly add value to the user experience online can be very successful.
For example, Dell's @delloutlet Twitter stream is very popular and features a great deal of tweets announcing discounts and special offers. However, the people who follow the @delloutlet stream know what kind of content they're going to get before they choose to follow it. Because of their expectations from the brand, they don't turn away from the direct-marketing messages they find there. They actively choose to follow that Twitter stream because they want to be interrupted with the valuable offers communicated there.
Interruption and engagement marketing can coexist online, but it takes research and planning to achieve success.
You need to understand who your customers and target audiences are, and what they want from your brand and your business. Then you can create the kind of content and conversations your target audiences want and need on the social web destinations where they already spend time.
Lastly, create niche content on your own branded online destinations that directly meets the wants and needs of the target audiences, and invite them to spend time on those destinations to access more valuable content.
The key is to surround consumers with branded online experiences and let them select how they want to interact with your brand. By cross-promoting your efforts and executing a fully integrated marketing plan, consumers are able to connect with you and experience your brand in the ways they choose. In other words, they feel empowered and in control of their relationships and interactions with businesses and brands. Don't aspire to just interrupt them unless they have already demonstrated their willingness to listen beyond the interruption. Instead, engage and add value to boost your long-term social media marketing success.
Make your marketing messages last beyond an interruption by starting every online marketing brainstorming session with this question: Once we interrupt the audience and get their attention, what are we going to tell them to keep them engaged?
Read more at: http://bit.ly/9VsJ2X
However, with the growth of social media, marketers have learned that simply interrupting the online conversation doesn't always lead to sales, nor does it lead to positive word-of-mouth marketing. Now the goal of marketing is engagement. Consumers want to know, what are you going to tell them after you interrupt them?
Marketers have discovered that there is tremendous value in building brands and relationships through long-term social media strategy vs. short-term direct-marketing tactics on social websites.
Does that mean there is no place for interruption marketing on the social web? No. Carefully executed direct-marketing tactics that truly add value to the user experience online can be very successful.
For example, Dell's @delloutlet Twitter stream is very popular and features a great deal of tweets announcing discounts and special offers. However, the people who follow the @delloutlet stream know what kind of content they're going to get before they choose to follow it. Because of their expectations from the brand, they don't turn away from the direct-marketing messages they find there. They actively choose to follow that Twitter stream because they want to be interrupted with the valuable offers communicated there.
Interruption and engagement marketing can coexist online, but it takes research and planning to achieve success.
You need to understand who your customers and target audiences are, and what they want from your brand and your business. Then you can create the kind of content and conversations your target audiences want and need on the social web destinations where they already spend time.
Lastly, create niche content on your own branded online destinations that directly meets the wants and needs of the target audiences, and invite them to spend time on those destinations to access more valuable content.
The key is to surround consumers with branded online experiences and let them select how they want to interact with your brand. By cross-promoting your efforts and executing a fully integrated marketing plan, consumers are able to connect with you and experience your brand in the ways they choose. In other words, they feel empowered and in control of their relationships and interactions with businesses and brands. Don't aspire to just interrupt them unless they have already demonstrated their willingness to listen beyond the interruption. Instead, engage and add value to boost your long-term social media marketing success.
Make your marketing messages last beyond an interruption by starting every online marketing brainstorming session with this question: Once we interrupt the audience and get their attention, what are we going to tell them to keep them engaged?
Read more at: http://bit.ly/9VsJ2X
Executives Outline Future of Server-Based Gaming
May 26, 2010: summarized from Las Vegas Sun -- Server-based gaming has been the most talked about technology among gaming manufacturers in recent years, but the technology will be a gradual change for both customers and operators, slot tech executives said Tuesday at the Gaming Tech Summit at Green Valley Ranch.
Server-based gaming allows casinos to have slots connected through a network. It lets operators change themes, promotions, the amount that can be wagered and the hold at a touch of a few keystrokes.
CityCenter’s Aria paved the way for deploying server-based gaming in newly built casinos. Almost half of the Aria casino floor is server-based, totaling about 900 games from manufacturers International Game Technology and WMS Gaming. The floor will have 100 percent server-based gaming by the summer as more manufacturers receive regulatory approval on their games.
While executives say Aria represents the future of server-based gaming, it isn’t realistic for all operators. Wiring an existing casino floor to accommodate the technology is an expensive proposition for casinos hard-pressed for cash in today’s economy.
“It comes down to us being flexible manufacturers. Let’s build it on your terms,” said Mark Pace, WMS vice president of network gaming.
Read more at: http://bit.ly/93rJM2
Server-based gaming allows casinos to have slots connected through a network. It lets operators change themes, promotions, the amount that can be wagered and the hold at a touch of a few keystrokes.
CityCenter’s Aria paved the way for deploying server-based gaming in newly built casinos. Almost half of the Aria casino floor is server-based, totaling about 900 games from manufacturers International Game Technology and WMS Gaming. The floor will have 100 percent server-based gaming by the summer as more manufacturers receive regulatory approval on their games.
While executives say Aria represents the future of server-based gaming, it isn’t realistic for all operators. Wiring an existing casino floor to accommodate the technology is an expensive proposition for casinos hard-pressed for cash in today’s economy.
“It comes down to us being flexible manufacturers. Let’s build it on your terms,” said Mark Pace, WMS vice president of network gaming.
Read more at: http://bit.ly/93rJM2
Tuesday, May 25, 2010
Google TV: Everything You Need To Know
Editor’s Note: With all the buzz surrounding the Google TV announcement, here’s a great primer on what you can expect.
May 21, 2010: summarized from Business Insider -- Google's newest product is Google TV, which is a marriage of the web and traditional cable television. Google CEO Eric Schmidt calls Google TV the biggest revolution in television since color sets replaced black and white. That's Steve Jobs-sized hyperbole! Curious to find out what the heck he's talking about?
Read more at: http://bit.ly/brQWhc
May 21, 2010: summarized from Business Insider -- Google's newest product is Google TV, which is a marriage of the web and traditional cable television. Google CEO Eric Schmidt calls Google TV the biggest revolution in television since color sets replaced black and white. That's Steve Jobs-sized hyperbole! Curious to find out what the heck he's talking about?
Read more at: http://bit.ly/brQWhc
E-Books Rewrite Bookselling
Editor’s Note: A great case study in the making. The music industry lost out in that industry’s migration to digital because the major players were late to embrace. The publishing is trying to get out in front of the wave as print moves towards digital. How will the U.S. gaming industry adjust when digital comes our way?
May 21, 2010: summarized from the Wall Street Journal -- Nowhere is the e-book tidal wave hitting harder than at bricks-and-mortar book retailers. The competitive advantage Barnes & Noble spent decades amassing—offering an enormous selection of more than 150,000 books under one roof—was already under pressure from online booksellers.
It evaporated with the recent advent of e-bookstores, where readers can access millions of titles for e-reader devices.
Even more problematic for brick-and-mortar retailers is the math if sales of physical books rapidly decrease: Because e-books don't require paper, printing presses, storage space or delivery trucks, they typically sell for less than half the price of a hardcover book. If physical book sales decline precipitously, chain retailers won't have enough revenue to support all their stores.
Some question whether book stores will go the way of music stores, which closed en masse once consumers could sample and download music digitally. Blockbuster Inc., the video rental giant, is struggling to reshape its business at a time when movies can be downloaded directly to digital devices.
Unlike music, the book industry didn't suffer dramatically from digital theft and, for years, couldn't figure out how to make money from e-books. There was no sense of urgency.
"It's fair to say that the leadership folks at the major trade publishers didn't believe until very recently that e-books had any economic life in them," says Arthur Klebanoff, chief executive of New York-based RosettaBooks LLC, an e-book publisher.
The success of Amazon.com Inc.'s Kindle e-reader recently changed all that, proving to publishers that the e-books market was real.
But it wasn't until the arrival of Apple Inc.'s iPad last month—with its promise of one day tapping more than 125 million iTunes customers—that the true potential of the e-book market became apparent.
Read more at: http://bit.ly/bSeFe8
May 21, 2010: summarized from the Wall Street Journal -- Nowhere is the e-book tidal wave hitting harder than at bricks-and-mortar book retailers. The competitive advantage Barnes & Noble spent decades amassing—offering an enormous selection of more than 150,000 books under one roof—was already under pressure from online booksellers.
It evaporated with the recent advent of e-bookstores, where readers can access millions of titles for e-reader devices.
Even more problematic for brick-and-mortar retailers is the math if sales of physical books rapidly decrease: Because e-books don't require paper, printing presses, storage space or delivery trucks, they typically sell for less than half the price of a hardcover book. If physical book sales decline precipitously, chain retailers won't have enough revenue to support all their stores.
Some question whether book stores will go the way of music stores, which closed en masse once consumers could sample and download music digitally. Blockbuster Inc., the video rental giant, is struggling to reshape its business at a time when movies can be downloaded directly to digital devices.
Unlike music, the book industry didn't suffer dramatically from digital theft and, for years, couldn't figure out how to make money from e-books. There was no sense of urgency.
"It's fair to say that the leadership folks at the major trade publishers didn't believe until very recently that e-books had any economic life in them," says Arthur Klebanoff, chief executive of New York-based RosettaBooks LLC, an e-book publisher.
The success of Amazon.com Inc.'s Kindle e-reader recently changed all that, proving to publishers that the e-books market was real.
But it wasn't until the arrival of Apple Inc.'s iPad last month—with its promise of one day tapping more than 125 million iTunes customers—that the true potential of the e-book market became apparent.
Read more at: http://bit.ly/bSeFe8
Facebook's New Functions (and How to Leverage Them)
May 17, 2010: summarized from iMedia Connection -- With its recent F8 announcements, Facebook has again one-upped the world as we thought we knew it. Brand marketers need to start looking at Facebook as a much deeper and broader solution than one that purely amasses a fan base. As Facebook rolls out new functionality, brands have the opportunity to act immediately in a variety of ways. In addition, it's important for brand managers to re-imagine their brands by leveraging social enhancements.
Brands need to be able to take immediate advantage of features such as the "like" functionality, but they also need to be visionary in how they can build their brands for the future and become truly social. While I encourage brands to take part in these new advancements, we also need to make sure that we keep an eye on the Facebook future and build with this future in mind.
So, in the quest to make your brand truly social, uproot your assets and think of new ways to infuse them through Facebook integration and by adding key social layers to the brand experience. Look toward the future and start evaluating the role that Facebook can play at retail, on the ground, and across every channel your brand touches. Not all opportunities will be a fit, but one thing is for sure: If you only look at Facebook as a place to have a fan page, you are missing the greater offering and will likely be sitting on the sidelines when the future arrives.
Let's take a look at some of Facebook's new and evolving functionalities, as well as what they mean for your marketing efforts.
Read more at: http://bit.ly/aD2Qp3
Brands need to be able to take immediate advantage of features such as the "like" functionality, but they also need to be visionary in how they can build their brands for the future and become truly social. While I encourage brands to take part in these new advancements, we also need to make sure that we keep an eye on the Facebook future and build with this future in mind.
So, in the quest to make your brand truly social, uproot your assets and think of new ways to infuse them through Facebook integration and by adding key social layers to the brand experience. Look toward the future and start evaluating the role that Facebook can play at retail, on the ground, and across every channel your brand touches. Not all opportunities will be a fit, but one thing is for sure: If you only look at Facebook as a place to have a fan page, you are missing the greater offering and will likely be sitting on the sidelines when the future arrives.
Let's take a look at some of Facebook's new and evolving functionalities, as well as what they mean for your marketing efforts.
Read more at: http://bit.ly/aD2Qp3
25 Awesome Charts On The State Of The Wireless Industry
Editor’s Note: A great summary for everyone who sees mobile marketing in their future.
May 21, 2010: summarized from Business Insider -- The Federal Communications Commission just released its latest massive report on the state of the U.S. wireless industry. The basic story: Smartphone penetration is getting huge, teens are texting up a storm, voice usage is going down, and data revenue -- while growing -- isn't making up for the decline in voice revenue.
As FBR Capital Markets analysts David Dixon and Dutch Fox note today, it's the first time the FCC did NOT conclude that the wireless industry is "competitive," despite no material changes in the industry over the past year.
The analysts' conclusion: The FCC may put restrictions on Verizon and AT&T during the next spectrum auction to slow their dominance, giving Sprint Nextel and T-Mobile a boost.
View charts at: http://bit.ly/dzAX0V
May 21, 2010: summarized from Business Insider -- The Federal Communications Commission just released its latest massive report on the state of the U.S. wireless industry. The basic story: Smartphone penetration is getting huge, teens are texting up a storm, voice usage is going down, and data revenue -- while growing -- isn't making up for the decline in voice revenue.
As FBR Capital Markets analysts David Dixon and Dutch Fox note today, it's the first time the FCC did NOT conclude that the wireless industry is "competitive," despite no material changes in the industry over the past year.
The analysts' conclusion: The FCC may put restrictions on Verizon and AT&T during the next spectrum auction to slow their dominance, giving Sprint Nextel and T-Mobile a boost.
View charts at: http://bit.ly/dzAX0V
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