Today, I wanted to do some shameless self-promotion. I have been working very closely with some great talented folks in Milpitas and New York to launch the Nielsen Online Analyst Blog called “Connecting the Dots.” Its been a really fun project and they even allowed me to post on the Blog!
We already have some great post up from many of the analysts, I have been working with at Nielsen Online. I look forward to all the great insights to come in the future. So, I want plug anymore just head over to “Connecting the Dots” and browse some really cool information.
Special thanks to everyone who worked so hard on this project with me.
There are many tactics to influencing the SERPs (search engine ranking pages) but you can still end up with listings on your search shelf-space that can damage your brand. Using defensive branding and reputation management measures can be the cornerstone to fortifying any good online marketing plan against negative entries. My colleague says keyword-buys, social-media and press releases are all good weapons to have in your arsenal but one less obvious tactic flies under the radar. That is buying negative domain names and linking them to a positive result.
I was reminded of the importance of fortifying your brand’s domain today, when I read an article in the Guardian, that showed the influence cybersquatters were having on the London Mayorial election between Ken Livingstone and Boris Johnson. This site was particularly scathing in the way it portrayed Ken Livingstone as a freewheeling politician attempting to turn London into New York. And to make matters worse, they were using the domain kenlivingstone.org and showing up on the first page of Google results for the keywords “ken livingstone.” (Ken Livingstone’s real site is located at kenlivingstone.com.)
This is a prime example of the importance of making sure that you purchase the top results of your brand’s domain name and the negative results. Or risk someone else purchasing and deciding how you are portrayed online for you.
Yesterday eMarketer reported that online advertising spend is approaching 10% of all media spending and will be there by 2009. Considering the accountability, that digital commands and traffic quality it should come as no surprise that money is shifting to online at a quicker pace than other media. But what are some of the social media trends that this move will precipitate? Here are three that I think will be important part of my work here at Nielsen Online.
1 - Social Media become increasingly salient as connection hotspots - As trust continues to erode in traditional media, consumers will look increasingly to social media as a trusted opinion for all sorts of decisions, from which restaurant to eat at or what jeans to buy. Malcolm Gladwell describes, in his book The Tipping Point, “weak links” as influential to humans for making connections that make ideas tip. These individuals will become even more important as online migration triggers even more diverse and larger groups of connections who will exert overwhelming force over trends and ideas. (As I write this, I have over 100 twitter friends most I do not know but they shape many of my opinions on any number of things)
2- Brands continue to fortify their digital positions - With dollars shifting to the internet so quickly, brands will rush to keep up with the digital consumer migration. Brands will increasingly face the tough questions about social media and what they should do in this new platform based web. Corporate blogs are not for everyone but opening up the lines of communication can benefit brands. The question is, what is the best way to leverage social media, to empower your consumers and gain valuable insights.
3- Web trust factor becomes site currency - Inevitably, web sites will come that try to game the system and erode consumer trust in social media. From this, will arise a digital trust factor that will eventually become a web currency. It could come in an organized fashion or maybe it will just be semantic based - meaning you don’t travel far from home on the web. You have a few sites you visit and trust based on history, promotion and recommendations and only visit them frequently. This trend will hasten the move to platforms that portalize you to the web at large - Facebook applications are a good example of this in action.
As we see all media continue its move to digital, these three trends are one to watch. Any I missed?
Project Runway had its big season finale last week. The three finalist were Christian Siriano, Jillian Lewis and Rami Kashou. It was great season full of excitement with extraordinary talent this year. Week in and week out, these folks put great clothes down the runway, so congratulations to them for all their hard work.
Now onto the buzz, I pulled two Blogpulse charts today to see if any themes surfaced in the data. The first chart queries the three finalists names. Nothing super exciting here, but we do see that the colorful Christian was the most talked about all season long and he had a huge spike for his winning designs. To quote Christian, he was “fierce” on the runway and also in the blogs.
The next chart shows some recent HBO shows compared with Project Runway. Its interesting to me for a couple reasons. First the season finale’s of each show seem to drive quite a bit of buzz represented in the major spikes on the chart.
The second reason is Project Runway and HBO’s runway hit Flight of the Conchords both shows that have amassed cult type followings in a very short period. One interesting fact, Flight of the Conchords buzz seems to be comparable to both The Wire and Project Runway even though it has not aired a new episode since early September of last year. (FYI - Flight of the Conchord’s season finale aired before this chart’s data)
What leads to the success of Flight of the Conchords and Project Runway in the engagement arena? In a time when strategist are stressing the benefits of social media and diversifying your marketing program, we see that both of these shows have integrated strategies encompassing social media and emerging trends. On the HBO site, you will find a vlog (video blog) and all sorts of social media features. Project Runway similarly has all the bells and whistles of a social media site with mobile fan clubs, widgets and many more interactive features.
Does all this social media drive active engagement in a television show? For now, it definitely seems to be working.
I have been a loyal Wachovia customer for 14 years now but lately I have been contemplating defecting to a new bank. Why? My defection has many reasons but mostly it has to do with my personal feelings toward their treatment of me. Personal banking should fulfill three needs for me at this point: convenience, low-fees and professionalism.
Let me explain how my dilemma evolved, I recently noticed that some online company has gotten my debit card number and fraudulently charged. I have complained to Wachovia numerous times and had the loss department open a case each time. They recommended a few fixes (which have all failed) including: ordering a new debit, contact said company (I could not find a listing to contact) and close my account and open a brand new one. I am currently on fix #4 and I am not hopeful that it will work.
Wachovia has failed me consistently on three of my personal needs over the last few months. Lets look at them separately:
Convenience – I am currently averaging about 16.00 a month in ATM withdrawals from other banks. The fact that Wachovia has not strategically placed their branches in Manhattan is the number one factor. Many of the branches seem to be located on the east side. In fact, on one stretch of Third Ave. you can find three Wachovia’s within a few blocks. But if you are on the West side you have to go for many blocks before you find one. Hence the high monthly fees in ATM withdrawals.
Low Fees – The free banking is nice but I have to compromise my convenience to enjoy it fully. They charge me infrequently for all sorts of things including charges I cannot normally explain. (Wachovia – I would love to know why I am randomly charged. Can you not just give me an itemization of the charges on my monthly balance?) It is deceptive practice to just throw some arbitrary number on my statement (arbitrary because It makes no sense to me).
Professionalism – I cannot complain about the local branch by my work. They do a tremendous job of helping me and trying to fix any errors. But the phone people are absolutely abhorrent. They are usually very unhelpful and place you on hold numerous times before asking you questions about your account that you have answered three times already. I am from Georgia but the accents on some of these phone people are scary and remind me of Deliverance. Can we get them some training on sounding like a bank?
Despite all this I continue to use Wachovia and have expanded my accounts to include the “way-to-save” account. Why? I have yet to find a bank that can satisfy my three personal needs. I guess we have to attempt to get as close to those as possible until some bank comes along and totally rewrites the rules. I am waiting.
I have for awhile now been hearing various comments about the Twitter craze. Friends say its great and others say “pointless.” Love it or hate it, Twitter is here to stay. I have been using it for about 8 months now to varying degrees of success. Recently it has become much more than a microblog informing me of news and events in real-time.
A colleague unfamiliar with Twitter asked me what I thought about the platform as a vehicle for brand insight. The question was mind-blowing. The amount of valuable content available for spidering is beyond explanation. I directed him to run a search for any brand’s name and discover himself.
Distribution of content and reputation are important factors of Web 2.0 communities. Twitter incorporates both of these factors brilliantly. It can deliver you information to multiple touchpoints including mobile phones. Furthermore you can choose to follow people or have their information delivered to your stream.
The picture above shows Jeremiah Owyang’s highly creative and innovative way use of Twitter to rate Super Bowl ads. The ability to rate these ads in real-time with a mobile phone (RE: versatility) leaving short blurbs (RE: qualitative) is fascinating. If Twitter were to set this up so they could quickly compile data like this and make it available to brands the opportunities are endless.
One thing is for sure Twitter is definitely helping to redefine marketing tools.
Today on Armano’s blog he mentions something called “ambient interruption.” Its about the pervasive ever-present aurora of brands in the digital space. Its true that we are facing more subtle engagements from brands everyday. Email, display advertisements and search are all forms we experience on a daily routine. Our minds are able to block out many of them but they still seep into the brain.
All this “ambient interruption” has some interesting side-effects including subsurface recall. What is this? Today’s consumer is bombarded so frequently by messages that they are able to ignore most of these ads. But some are ignored at the conscious level and soaked into the subconscious for later recall.
These messages however sit inside the mind and can infect you at any time. Do you remember seeing and ad and wondering why it was astonishingly familiar? Perhaps because you have seen it before but blocked it out only to have it find it lodged in your subconscious.
Why are my so-called friends spamming me? I open my notifications in Facebook to find this monstrosity and it is only a portion of the tower! The really amazing thing is that most of these notifications come from the same 2 or 3 people. As I think conscientiously about my social connections managing them will become ever more important as I seek to filter the best data from this spam.
Which part of the importance filter are you? Our reputation economy is eroding quickly and I suggest you stay on the side of value. Needless notifications will only serve to invalidate your reputation and further erode your social networks trust. Its the essential “boy who cried wolf” model.
Think about the content you choose to disperse and make it useful to your network. We are all dealing with so much information and your reputation will be the defining factor of whether you wind up being a digital loudmouth or important addition to a network.
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