The Web Uncovered

Part of working on the world of online marketing is  that you are straddling two very different worlds.  One on hand you have the seasoned Chief Marketing Officers, whose education and understanding of marketing predates the internet.  They often are confused by the technologies, and attempt to apply their knowledge to the new media, not realizing that a new medium requires a new strategy.  On the other side you have tech-heads, who are absolutely necessary as they hold the key to using these technologies, but often have no basis of understanding marketing principles, or best practices.  Your basic need is to be their middle man, and your endgoal should be to understand both worlds well enough that you can take over both their jobs.

When it comes to online marketing, the most elemental part of traditional marketing that I believe is missed is marketing research.  Once you have your target segment, you MUST answer these questions:

1.  What websites is my target segment patronizing

2.  How are they using the website

3.  What is important to them, and how can I reveal our value added?

If you don’t have a marketing background, think of it like fishing.  If you grab random bait and go to a random body of water, if you catch fish, it was dumb luck.  Most fishermen find out what fish they are targeting, then put together a tackle box of what they need.  The most important part is your bait or lure; without the bite, there is no fish.  Your fishing pole, bait, etc is all dependent on marketing research.

Now let’s just avoid a fishing story.  :)

Last Week, there was an interesting article in the Washington Post regarding “new laws to save journalism.”  Bruce Sanford and Bruce Brown co-wrote this article, where they proposed that journalism can be saved by creating laws that support the industry, which they claim is being murdered by the internet.

While their article is an interesting discussion, it seems completely lined with folly.  First off, they equate the industry of journalism with print, which is a huge oversimplification.  What journalism needs is better business model to adapt to the changing technologies, not stronger copyright laws and antitrust exemption.  The philosophy taken by Sanford and Brown is as bad as the recorded music industry during the past ten years.  As record labels kept their head in the sand, industry outsiders dominated online distribution, like Apple and Emusic.

Matt Cutts, a google employee who blogs regularly on such topics, commented on this article saying:

“Last week I was on vacation down in Florida and I had a chance to tour Thomas Edison’s winter vacation home. The tour guide told us that Edison wired his house and switched on electrical lighting in 1887. Then the tour guide leaned in and quietly mentioned that it took 11 years to install lights in the rest of the town. Why so long? Because the townspeople were worried that cows would stop giving milk.

“I believe good journalism is critically important to a well-functioning society. I love newspapers, magazines, and the journalists that they support. But I disagree with Bruce Sanford and Bruce Brown, and reading their piece reminded me of those townspeople sitting in the dark, afraid to switch on their electric lights.”

As Twitter adoption increases, it will become less of an extension to other social networks people use, and more of a platform of its own from which others utilize their structure.  One such example of this is Magpie.  Magpie allows Twitter users to submit their account to Magpie to be occassionally used for ad tweets.  This allows the user to approve specific ads, and limit their frequency.

But the blog SEO Smarty poses some good questions.  For instance… Would engaging in this hurt your following?  Does it dilute Twitter itself?  Will Twitter block this service, as they have yet to monetize Twitter?  Such issues will likely contribute to a lack of adoption by Twitter users, even if advertisers find it worth their while.

While Twitter has seen a huge explosion in use, one must ask, who is using it?  The common assumption is that the Millienials, teens through mid 20s, are the users, as they are the most active segment in social networking.

The Shocker:  While 99% of people ages 18-24 use social media, only 22% use Twitter.

On Andy Beal’s Marketing Pilgrim blog, he break it down further:

Of the 22% that do use Twitter:

• 85 percent follow friends
• 54 percent follow celebrities
• 29 percent follow family
• 29 percent follow companies

The Takeaway:   While Millenials do use Twitter for social networking, and even following their favorite actors or musicians, it seems that companies may have to evaluate if it is really worth their while to promote on Twitter.  For many, it would be time, energy, and money better spent elsewhere.