Ian@work

Spinning Away

My blog traffic's up considerably since The Browser picked up on Dead2.0's RSS commentary and pointed readers my way:

"Communications consultant Ian Joyce puts the best possible spin on the numbers on his blog: "Digital technologies are an important way to reach influencers." That's marketingspeak, we think, for telling your clients to overspend on unproven media in an attempt to get buzz."

Zing. You got me. But thanks for the traffic.

So, apparently the true measure of media effectiveness is overall penetration into the adult market. That means television is great. Radio is great, too, but satellite radio is merely mediocre. Web sites are very good, too. Email is awesome. Or is it, since there's plenty of resistance to email as a marketing medium?

But wait: RSS is used on Web sites like Yahoo!, which is really, really good as Web sites go. But if RSS has a home on Yahoo! and members are using it, even though it isn't called RSS, does that mean Yahoo! isn't quite so good after all? Can proven and "unproven" media coexist? Does this have anything to do with the application of the medium, and the audience?

If you see your audience as an undifferentiated mass the one true metric of media penetration works pretty well. But, since audiences are individuals with a range of interests -- including intensity of interest -- and limited attention, who have shifting and varied loyalties to different media, then it makes sense to be open to the whole palette of media opportunities. That's not the same as jumping on the hype bandwagon.

The interesting thing about RSS (whatever it's called), is that it's available and accessible through many community sites, and is easily integrated into any Web site. It can help contribute to a kind of online ubiquity for site owners. It satisfies info junkies who are often the most interested and potentially persuasive members of online communities, and it's simple and relatively inexpensive to implement. The notion of overspending on RSS makes for mediocre snark, but I'd love to see a strategy that suggests it. I can use the entertainment.


Technorati Tags: rss

Ze on Brands

I don't have time to watch much online video, but I make time to watch The Show, Ze Frank's (week)daily mashup of news, pop culture, music, and a revolving series of sociological experiments involving his online community. It's the only consistently produced online show that really shows an understanding of the medium.
 
Which is to say that it's more than TV repurposed for the Internet.

Today Ze explains brands.


Technorati Tags: brands, emotion, ze+frank

Digital Media Adoption

AdAge on the adoption of blogs, podcasts and newsfeeds:

"According to Jupiter Research, 7% of American adults write blogs and 22% read them; about 8% listen to podcasts and 5% use RSS feeds. According to a separate study by WorkPlace Print Media, 88% of the at-work audience doesn't even know what RSS is. And recent data from word-of-mouth research group Keller Fay indicate 92% of brand conversations were taking place offline -- far more than the commonly assumed rate of 80%."

So, blogs, podcasts and newsfeeds are fads, right? No, not in an increasingly complex media environment. Digital technologies are an important way to reach influencers:

"In Keller Fay's studies, for example, while 92% of brand conversations took place offline, nearly half involved some reference to media or marketing that people had seen or heard and were talking about. And the internet nearly tied TV as a reference source."

[Update: Dead 2.0 busts me for "paint[ing] a rosy sunset picture full of lollipops and leprechauns and unicorns and clowns" by contradicting the statistics I cited when I wrote: "So, blogs, podcasts and newsfeeds are fads, right? No, not in an increasingly complex media environment. Digital technologies are an important way to reach influencers."

The eMarketer stats Dead 2.0 cites to deliver an "I told you so" refer to digital media adoption by adult US Internet users. Influencers are a small (or tiny, if you want to get vaguely specific) percentage of the overall population of 'net users. The stats also don't account for kids who can be described as influencers. Media consumption by this small subset differs from that of the overall population -- depending on the type of influencer you're trying to reach, adoption of digital media can be much higher -- so there's not a direct correlation between the general population's adoption or awareness of RSS, blogs, etc. and the use of these technologies to reach influencers.

The stats I cited were also bullish on digital media, but my point's the same. So where's the contradiction?]

Technorati Tags: podcast, rss, blogs, research

About Us

Most Web site About Us pages (or sections) seem designed to do two things:

1. Offend no one.
2. Create the appearance that anything is within the realm of possibility for the site owner.
   

That's why About Us pages are almost always insufferably bad. Not to mention useless.

At AListApart.com, Erin Kissane goes into great detail about the various kinds of bad About Us pages, and offers some helpful advice.


Technorati Tags: clarity, writing, Web

Social Search

From SearchEngineWatch.com, a round up of the key players in social search.


Technorati Tags: social, search, bookmarking

Back from the Beach (+ Podcast Basics)

I'm back from a week at Chincoteague, VA. If you go to Chincoteague, and I recommend it, here's what you need to know:

• Skip the seafood restaurants on the island, buy crab cakes from His & Hers ( a small stand on Maddox Blvd.), and cook them yourself.
  
• If you have to eat out: Saigon Vietnamese on Main St.
• When you tire of using your cell phone as a 14.4k modem, go to The Creamery for free Wi-Fi. While you're at it, have a scoop of rum raisin.
• The beaches at Assateague are just about perfect beginning an hour or so before dusk.
  

Anyway. My first day back at work was spent in a client (a mid-size publisher) workshop, where we talked about the Web and complementary online marketing. Podcasts came up -- including a concern that podcasting is complicated and time consuming. Courtesy of ChiefMarketer.com, here's a seven step guide to podcasting.


Technorati Tags: podcast, how-to, chincoteague

Where the Talent Is

Q: Where are recruiters connecting with top talent, particularly in the fields of new media and IT?
A: Blogs and social networks.

This is a point I continue to make with clients. Social networking is a channel for finding talented people, not just marketing to customers.


Technorati Tags: social+network, blogs, recruiting

Change This

Recently someone asked what was on my reading list. I steered him to ChangeThis.com. It wasn't a book or magazine recommendation, which he expected, but I explained that if he wanted quick primers on a broad range of ideas, this was a good place to go.

The manifestos, as they're called, vary in quality, but seldom fail to get me thinking in new ways. These are a few worthy samples:

• 25 Ways to Distinguish Yourself, Rajesh Setty
• How to Be Creative, Hugh MacLeod
• The Talent Myth, Malcolm Gladwell
• The Long Tail, Chris Anderson
  

Technorati Tags: changethis, decision+making, ideas

Give Up Your Old Ways

Pay attention to this. The money quote:

"You've also got pronounced changes in consumer behavior while they're consuming media," said Tom French, director at McKinsey. "And ad spending is decreasingly reflecting consumer behavior."

More evidence that marketers need to continually question what they're doing, and why.

Technorati Tags: advertising, consumer+behavior, media, mckinsey

Work in Progress

Friend Murray, noticing that this blog is creeping toward a state of neglect, called to ask what's up.

The brief answer is that I'm in the midst of two major projects, in addition to the usual flow of work. One, an e-business strategy engagement, is carrying me back and forth across North Carolina as I conduct stakeholder interviews. The other keeps me pinned to a chair while I sort out the redevelopment of a large (currently 5,000+ pages) institutional Web site.

The clock's ticking on both projects, and with start dates for others on the horizon I've not been paying close attention to my newsreader, trade pubs, or much else for that matter. A couple of commentworthy items dropped into my mailbox earlier today, but they'll have to wait.

There's been one brief respite, a trip to Asheville to see Tom Waits in concert. While I was there I dropped in on Tim and Tara at eGlobaldesign. A mutual friend had previously introduced us, and I was curious to learn more. In a nutshell, they do solid, thoughtful work. Travel and hospitality companies are their focus, though they aren't strictly limited to that arena.


Technorati Tags: design, asheville, consulting