The Web Uncovered

Thanks to a recent blog post by Andy Beal, We can find the MarketingProfs survey of Twitter users.  What did they find?

Twitter users were asked to rate the reasons why they participate, on a scale from 1 to 5 (with 1=strongly disagree and 5=strongly agree):

• “I find it exciting to learn new things from people”: Average score 4.65
• “I value getting information in a timely manner”: Average score 4.58
• “I like to be connected to lots of people”: Average score 3.91
• “I want to generate new business”: Average score 3.70
• “I find it gratifying to have people follow me”: Average score 3.64

The Takeaway:  Twitter users care more about being heard than listening.  if you are using Twitter as a marketing tool, then you must generate frequent, targetted content that will truly gain the interest of followers after you have enticed them to  follow you.

On our weekly Tuesday radio program, Rick Rovigno and the group discussed Linked In and the possibilities for building an effective professional network. Last week’s discussion revolved around the basic functionality, building a profile, and various applications like blogging and recommendations. This week, we discuss 10 rules of etiquette to excercise on Linked In…that will help you gain an advantage when it comes to finding a job and making a great impression within your network and the Linked In community. Have a listen…

When you are hiring a techie to develop your website or another online marketing tool on your behalf, they have a tendency to use a lot of jargon that will make very little sense without a background in computer science (or Star Trek).  One of the first of these terms that you will hear often is “RSS Feeds.”  

No, they are not photon generators from the Klingons.  An RSS Feed (Really Simple Syndication), is format used to publish frequently updated works – such as blog entries, news headlines, audio, and video.  Blogs, online publications, and status updates from social networks generally all have RSS Feeds.  Where do these feeds go?  That depends on where you want them to go.

Feeds can be used in an aggregator to show several feeds in one location.  Sounds technical, but it really is simple.  For instance, you can make your homepage an aggregator of three sources:  your best friend’s blog, CNN, and The Wall Street Journal.  In this regard, RSS Feeds are a time saver, as you can get up-to-the-minute updates in one place rather than three (or 20).  

But RSS Feeds can also be utilized as a tool for your online marketing campaign.  For instance, you can have your company blog automatically update your Facebook Notes, Your Twitter status, and even have an aggregator on your homepage of your website, so viewers can see new content, making your online presence consistently fresh.  Setting up an RSS has become increasingly easy, up to the point where now many aggregators and social networks accept RSS  in the form of a URL (web address).

The Takeaway:

Not only can RSS Feeds save you time as an information consumer, but they can increase your reach as a content provider online.  By posting content in places that contain RSS feeds, you can invite your target audience to subscribe to your content updates.  Furthermore, you can utilize RSS feeds to update your content across platforms, such as blogs, social networks, and more.

While the Facebook vote on terms of use are not specifically highly technical, they reveal an interesting tension point for subscriber-based websites who are dependent on advertising revenue.  Who are you loyal to?  Subscribers, Advertisers, or Shareholders?

As always, the answer lies somewhere in between.  In this case, Facebook treads murky water, as their subscription base’s information is what gives advertisers the ability to ultra-segment and target with their ads.  In other words, Facebook has the win the trust of the people who they exploit for advertising sales.  

The takeaway:

Unfamiliar challenges require unprecedented solutions.  Facebook creating a democratic vote on their terms of use are barely short of revolutionary.  Even if both the choices of pre-approved, and it requires a 30% turnout, it is still beyond what any large-scale social network or site has done before.  Consider what other ways you can maintain profitability while retaining subscriber trust.

While posting a single video on Youtube is a rather straightforward endeavor, running a multi-video campaign across many viral video sites has become increasingly complicated as both the scope possible and number of viral video outlets proliferate.

That’s where Vidmetrix comes in.  Firstly, you can upload your video, tags, description, and title once on their server, and then, after inputting your information from sites like Youtube, Myspace, Revver, Sevenload, etc, it will automatically upload it to each site you choose.  This makes executing a massive campaign a much simpler endeavor.

But it gets better!  Vidmetrix also keeps track of views and comments from each site, which it includes into a database that you can view or export.  You can even add links to the same video at sites that you uploaded before you started using Vidmetrix for uploads, or from one of the smaller sites that Vidmetrix does not yet support.  Their easy-to-use interface allows you to chart views of your videos based on day, week, month, or by site.  A catch?  It’s free!

The Takeaway:   Not only does Vidmetrix makes it easier for your to execute your campaign, but they give you the ability to see what videos and which sites are attracting the most attention, giving you better insight for future targetting.  Also, Vidmetrix has even better analytical tools as part of a paid service, which can become very necessary with larger viral video campaigns.