Reasons Why? You Need to Stop Ignoring Twitter:

Why Twitter is Becoming Increasingly Important to Marketers:

There have been many articles written about why to use Twitter, and at IT Bloke we have certainly published well more than our fair share of them.  However, the landscape is constantly changing, at an alarmingly fast rate. New trends, ideas, applications, and features come out, and they further emphasise Twitter's place in said landscape.

As stated above, IT Bloke over the years has published many articles about our favourite little social networking tool, Twitter, http://www.twitter.com and the  Twitterverse.

Following on from this I thought it would actually be slightly more informative to publish actual reasons why it has become increasingly important for marketers, and why it should not be ignored as potentially one of the greatest marketing tools that we now have have in our armoury.

1. Twitter Lists:

Twitter Lists are changing the game. We recently looked at several reasons why, but also consider that with the Lists gadget, your tweets may appear all over the web if you can get onto lists. They will appear on sites and blogs, which are more than likely going to be related to the niche you are in anyway if you have the right audience on Twitter.  Also if done correctly it can be quick and effective way of getting your message out through all the new Social Networking Conduits that are now appearing, (a subject we will be discussing next.)

2. The Openness of Twitter:

The openness of Twitter, social media and the web in general, pretty much means that your messages on Twitter won't be limited to your Twitter audience. Facebook and other social networks will bring tweets in. People will share them, screenshot them, link to them on blogs, etc. Twitter is a means of getting your message out to more people, but it's not necessarily only limited to the people on Twitter that will see those messages, don't buy into the fact that Twitter is limited to Twitter, see our article on: Ignoring Social Media at your Peril: as Toby persistently loves to remind us, "Twitter now has a Twittterverse"

3. Building Valuable Relationships:

Laura Fitton, the author of Twitter for Dummies, chalks up success on Twitter to four basic concepts: listen, learn, care, and serve. Basically, if you listen to the community, you will learn, and if you show that you care, you are more likely to get more out of your efforts. Serving means providing something of use to the community. If you don't know what you're not doing then, you may be setting yourself up to fail.

4. Traffic That Cares:

Twitter can bring you not only random traffic, but traffic from people who are actually passionate about the niche that you are a part of. Retweets are huge in this regard. Guy Kawasaki calls retweeting the sincerest form of flattery. He has a point. He notes that people are willing to risk their reputations by retweeting your content, (or even destroy yours, LOL)

5. Staying Current:

Being found in Twitter searches (not to mention real time search in general, which is starting to become a main area of focus for all of the big search engines, not to mention all of the standalone real-time search sites) provides a lot of opportunity for exposure. We have already discussed this here and gave tips for getting found in real-time searches.

6. Connecting with Local Customers:

There are a variety of ways you can connect with local consumers and customers using Twitter and Twitter-related tools. There are tools like the IT Bloke favourite of  http://journotwit.com/ ), which let you find Twitterers in your area, for example. Another thing to keep an eye on is Google's new Social Search. It's currently just a lab experiment, but could become more. It certainly has potential.

A recent Search Engine Land article made some good points about the potential of local marketing with this tool, which delivers Google search results based on the communities you are a part of. It draws from Google profiles, which include the networks that people are connected to (based on what any person includes in that profile).

7. Going International and Multi-lingual:

Twitter is expanding into more languages. If you thought Twitter was important to marketing already, consider that for most of its existence, it has only been available in a couple of languages. Now it's in Spanish, and many more languages will follow. That's not only going to be huge for international and multi-lingual marketing efforts, it's going to be huge for Twitter's growth, and the more Twitter grows, the more potential customers are out there.

8. It's Still Young:

Consider that Twitter is just getting started in the grand scheme of things. It's still young. There are no doubt going to be a lot more features added in the future. And don't forget about the thousands of Twitter apps that are already out there that can make Twitter useful in different ways to different people and businesses. Take some time and explore them.

I hope that has now given you a few reason why you should not be ignoring Twitter in you upcoming marketing Campaign, here at IT Bloke we have a great deal of hard fought for knowledge on the subject of doing just that, so if you would like any further assistance in using the power of Twitter to enhance you brand our company please do not hesitate to give us a call and start a conversation on the subject, Regards….. Ashe, IT Bloke – London.

Ignoring Social Media at your own Peril:

As I am continuously trying to tell people and companies, we are now living in a very brave new world of Social Media and Word of Mouth viral marketing, which we ignore at our own peril, transport for London have just been involved in a Classic Case/Example of this, which I really do feel needs highlighting.

A London Underground worker who was seen yelling at an elderly passenger in a video was forced to resigned from his job because of a have a go citizen journalist and his very slick use of Social Media and word of mouth marketing, it is a very real story the we all should be now taking notice of ,  just in case our companies fall foul of the same set of circumstances, do you know what your staff are Facebooking or Twittering let alone what they are posting on YouTube.

Transport for London said Ian Morbin, a customer service assistant, handed in his resignation over the incident at Holborn station on 15 October.

Mr Morbin has apologised but TfL said the behaviour was "unacceptable".

The video shows him calling the man "a jumped up little git" and "little girl" before apparently threatening to "sling him under the train".

The statement said: "Mr Ian Morbin, a Customer Service Assistant at Holborn Tube station, has advised London Underground that he wished resign because of the incident.

Arm stuck

The incident was captured on video by businessman Jonathan McDonald, a fellow commuter at the central London station.

Describing his version of events leading up to the scene, Mr McDonald said the elderly man had got his arm stuck in the door of the train.

When the victim told the Tube worker what had happened, he was sworn at three times in an attempt to make him stand behind the yellow line, he said.

Mr Morbin can be heard threatening to call the police to deal with the passenger, who is understood to have done nothing wrong.

Mr. McDonald posted the video on YouTube and then put up a Tweet about it and the rest is history as they say, 203,421 views later and god only knows how many Re-Tweets and the game is up so to speak.  I can see this type of thing, happening again and again from now on,  after all we have already seen the damage when  a pop star or country and western singer from Nashville gets caught doing cocaine, once that goes viral in this day and age that is his career effectively finished before it even gets started.  Well now it can happen in the general world of employment.

After the footage emerged London Mayor Boris Johnson put a response on Twitter saying he was "appalled by the video".

So if your now worried about how this Brave new world of Social Media, and how the rise of the citizen journalist could effect your company, please get in touch with us so we can advise you on how not to fall foul of it, our legal dept is expert and has long term experience of social media policy and contract writing to protect your company from any little incidents like this.  Anyway have a look for yourself and see what you think, the actual video is posted below, Regards….. Ashe, IT Bloke – London.

Smartphones & Social Networks are making the classic Web and intranet obsolete?

As Senior parter here at IT Bloke I get asked all the time two very important questions, (1) actually what is an IT Bloke, this I will address another time and (2) why has IT Bloke London, become the over night Success it is so quickly?,  well the answer is really very simple, but I thought I would take the time to answer it anyway, just to lay the matter to rest for good.

As long as eighteen months ago I realised that there’s was and will be a relatively sudden change taking place  in the way in which we interact with the Web.

It is one that not many of you where aware of but to be fair should have been, as it directly effects the way in which you should market yourselves in the future and will now eventually render most of the conventional forms of marketing and advertising almost totally impotent.

If you do not start to working with Social Network Marketing and WOMMA I assure you one of your competitors will and will leave your business simply standing by the Roadside it is seriously that powerful and not to be ignored.  It is one that relies exclusively on totally honesty, transparency and your ability to fully take on board and publicise any all public chritasism  of your business.

While direct access or search activity has been (and still is) the most common way that we access the content and applications of the Web, new ways have been rapidly growing and competing with how we work online, both at home and at work.

Thus these new models, exemplified by social networking sites like Facebook or mobile apps on platforms like Google's Android, will ultimately herald a new frontier  in the way in which we all work with our IT systems and mark a direct end to the exclusive strangle hold Web Designers have had on the market for so many years now.

The once relatively unified world of the Internet, with a few major top-level types of access directly connected to it (browser, e-mail, IRC client, newsreader, etc.) and a few key sub-apps such as search that virtually everyone online used have been extended — as well as fragmented — into popular new channels into which users are now rapidly moving en masse.

That’s not to say that direct usage of the Internet (loading up and using sites and apps via the traditional Web browser) is going away. It’s still far and away the most common way to interact with the Web today and will likely be that way for quite some time, if not forever.

But real shifts in both online platform alternatives and in the mobile market are beginning to usher in foundational new usage patterns by users. These new channels — of which the latest generation of mobile apps and social networking platforms, which are often tightly integrated with the Web but are not truly one with it, are just the two biggest examples — demonstrate what is probably a generational transformation of the vital border between us and the Internet.

And this is the crux of the point: Where the point of user attention and interaction resides and who controls it is one of the most important conversations between us and our “preferred intermediaries”, a fancy term for who we like to work with to interact with the Web. This in turn has significant implications for enterprise intranets, our often clunky yet essential local “Web” in our organizations.

IT Bloke London did not only immediately recognise this fact but totally and actively fully emraced it without question, debate or argument, this was our strength, as  to debate challenge  it simply hinders and somewhat blurs your WOM marketing message, you cannot stop Word of Mouth Marketing so simply fully embrace it because if you don't, "it could finish you".

The Secret is, don't be afraid to say "I don't understand this new media and way of doing things and need a little help to move forward with my own word of mouth marketing campaign" and do not be afraid to fully admit your ignorence of the subject and ask a Word of Mouth Company for a little support most of us will be glad to talk to you about it F.O.C. (this really is a case of pride coming before a fall, believe me we have seen to many cases of this now, to debate it), after all, starting positive conversations is what we should be all about and to be fair all over.

I hope that this has further served to answer some more of your questions as regards Word of Mouth marketing, should you have any more please do not hesitate to contact me ( ashe@itbloke.net ) I will be delighted to help you and please check back for my next tutorial on Friday, Regards….. Ashe, IT Bloke – London.

Unethical Word of Mouth Marketing Strategies:

Any practice intended to deceive people is unethical and should not be used.

"A Good Word of Mouth Marketing campaign does not use and in essence is absolutely opposed to any of the following unethical word of mouth marketing practices or tactics"





Stealth Marketing: Any practice designed to deceive people about the involvement of marketers in a communication.

Shilling: Paying people to talk about (or promote) a product without disclosing that they are working for the company; impersonating a customer.

Infiltration: Using fake identities in an online discussion to promote a product; taking over a web site, conversation, or live event against the wishes or rules set by the proprietor.

Comment Spam: Using automated software ('bots') to post unrelated or inappropriate comments to blogs or other online communities. 

Defacement: Vandalizing or damaging property to promote a product.

Spam: Sending bulk or unsolicited email or other messages without clear, voluntary permission.

Falsification: Knowingly disseminating false or misleading information.

Word of mouth marketing cannot be faked:
Artificial word of mouth marketing is dishonest and ineffective. Word-of-mouth marketing must be based on the honest opinions of real people. We strongly oppose any practice that tries to fake word of mouth. 

* Ethical and responsible word of mouth marketers do not… 
* Impersonate people, shill, or hide their identities 
* Manipulate or corrupt honest opinions Infiltrate, invade, or violate online or offline venues

Marketers must work to oppose and eliminate unethical practices. 

All marketers should be aware that unethical practices are currently used by unscrupulous or uninformed companies. The standards of ethics and consumer protection are evolving rapidly, and many marketers have not yet learned about the current standards (or choose to ignore them). Regardless of intent, such unethical practices jeopardize consumer trust and ultimately harm both consumers and honest marketers. 

We strongly recommend that all companies aggressively review their practices and always insist on the highest level of ethics, and make sure that all of your campaigns comply with a stringent Code of Conduct and Honesty, if you need a hand developing such strategies for your company or Brand, then please get in contact with us we would be delighted to assist, Regards….. Ashe, IT Bloke – London...

Positive Word of Mouth Marketing Strategies:

"Good word of mouth marketing strategies involve finding ways to support satisfied customers and making it easier for them to talk to their friends."





1. Encouraging communications:
* Developing tools to make telling a friend easier 
* Creating forums and feedback tools 
* Working with social networks

2. Giving people something to talk about:
* Information that can be shared or forwarded 
* Advertising, stunts, and other publicity that encourages conversation 
* Working with product development to build WOM elements into products

3. Creating communities and connecting people:
* Creating user groups and fan clubs
* Supporting independent groups that form around your product 
* Hosting discussions and message boards about your products 
* Enabling grassroots organization such as local meetings and other real-world participation

4. Working with influential communities:
* Finding people who are likely to respond to your message 
* Identifying people who are able to influence your target customers
* Informing these individuals about what you do and encouraging them to spread the word 
* Good-faith efforts to support issues and causes that are important to these individuals

5. Creating evangelist or advocate programs:
* Providing recognition and tools to active advocates
* Recruiting new advocates, teaching them about the benefits of your products, and encouraging them to talk about them

6. Researching and listening to customer feedback:
* Tracking online and offline conversations by supporters, detractors, and neutrals
* Listening and responding to both positive and negative conversations

7. Engaging in transparent conversation:
* Encouraging two-way conversations with interested parties
* Creating blogs and other tools to share information
* Participating openly on online blogs and discussions

8. Co-creation and information sharing:
* Involving consumers in marketing and creative (feedback on creative campaigns, allowing them to create commercials, etc.)
* Letting customers 'behind the curtain' to have first access to information and content

Well I hope that has given you a few positive idea's on how to use WOM, if you need any more or some help on how to implement them with you company or brand, please start a conversation with us and we will be glad to assist.  My next post is more on the the Negative, basically a 'What not to do with WOM' and the ethics of WOM, however I will endevour in my usual way to make even this as positive as I can, see you next time, Regards….. Ashe, IT Bloke – London.

WERE BACK:

Welcome back old and new IT Bloke Customers and Readers alike.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank you all for your patience, as we put together and launched this our new Multi-Blog website.

Don't worry we have not changed our ethos in anway,  just our site.  We will still be bringing you our own unique and ubiquitous brand of Gonzo Journalism tailored for the Social Media age that you have all come to know and love.  However now our new Multi-Blog site will allow us to expand on that and also make your life easier as it now has three totally separate Blogs/Sections:

HOME PAGE: which is now totally devoted to all things Word of Mouth {W.O.M.} Marketing.

product reviews and of course championing those less known about concepts, causes,  problems and facts that they don't want us to know about!.

IT BLOKE's: is our totally new section, where we will be blogging about the more leisure and cultural orientated side of being an IT Bloke or Blokette for that matter.

And so,  our dear  friends,  bookworms, most noble fellow drinkers, frustrated burglars, affronted policemen, upright citizens with furled umbrellas and secret buccaneering dreams--that seems to be very nearly all for now. It has been nice having you with us, and we hope you will come again, not once, but many time and once again thank you for your patience, we hope you enjoy reading our new site as much as we have enjoyed making it for you.

Kind Regards & Best Wishes ~ Ashe, Toby & all our  Staff & Gonzo Journalists @ IT Bloke - London.....

Word of Mouth is…

Word of Mouth is…

* The voice of the customer
* A natural, genuine, honest process
* People seeking advice from each other * Customers talking about products, services, or brands


Word of Mouth Marketing is…

Recognizing that a happy customer is the greatest endorsement: We work to create customer enthusiasm instead of pushing marketing messages .

Giving customers a voice: Providing something worth talking about Providing tools that make it easier for them to share their opinions.

Listening to consumers: Engaging them in open, unfiltered conversation Promptly and honestly responding to their concerns Valuing customer opinion, whether it is positive, negative, or neutral.

Engaging the community: Finding the right people and connecting them to each other Helping new communities to form Participating in and supporting existing communities and conversations.


The only marketing based on genuinely passionate people...

Word of mouth marketing is the most honest form of marketing, building upon people’s natural desire to share their experiences with family, friends, and colleagues.

Our work empowers people and gives them a voice … a process that can never be reversed. If we succeed in satisfying our customers, we will benefit greatly because they will share their enthusiasm and support our brand. But if we fail, that same voice will hold us accountable and broadcast our failings.

Only honest marketers with confidence in their products dare engage in word of mouth marketing -- because it will backfire if the promise of your marketing message isn't backed up by reality. Once you give people a voice, they will tell the true story of your company, good or bad.

Word of mouth marketing is self-policing and pushes marketers to create better products and provide genuine satisfaction.

I will be back soon with my next article where I will open for debate; Organic vs. Amplified Word of Mouth~ 

Regards, Ashe… IT Bloke - London.

THE TWITTERVERSE:

Well we have all heard of the BlogoSphere, well now we have the Twitterverse, {obviously, or so I am told}.

I found this rather interesting graphic of the twitterverse and being as though Twitter has really proved it's metal in the past few days in Iran, I thought that I would share it with you.

It  ‘visually charts the important tools to help communications, service, marketing, and community professionals more effectively navigate, engage, analyze and measure participation on Twitter’You can find the full size version here. ~ Regards..... Toby: IT Bloke... London.

An Introduction to WOM Marketing:

Word of Mouth: The act of consumers providing information to other consumers.

Word of Mouth Marketing: Giving people a reason to talk about your products and services, and making it easier for that conversation to take place. It is the art and science of building active, mutually beneficial consumer-to-consumer and consumer-to-marketer communications.

What is WOM Marketing?

Word of mouth is a pre-existing phenomenon that marketers are only now learning how to harness, amplify, and improve. Word of mouth marketing isn't about creating word of mouth -- it's learning how to make it work within a marketing objective.

That said, word of mouth can be encouraged and facilitated. Companies can work hard to make people happier, they can listen to consumers, they can make it easier for them to tell their friends, and they can make certain that influential individuals know about the good qualities of a product or service.

Word of mouth marketing empowers people to share their experiences. It's harnessing the voice of the customer for the good of the brand. And it's acknowledging that the unsatisfied customer is equally powerful.

Word of mouth can't be faked or invented. Attempting to fake word of mouth is unethical and creates a backlash, damages the brand, and tarnishes the corporate reputation. Legitimate word of mouth marketing acknowledges consumers’ intelligence -- it never attempts to fool them. Ethical marketers reject all tactics related to manipulation, deception, infiltration, or dishonesty.

All word of mouth marketing techniques are based on the concepts of customer satisfaction, two-way dialog, and transparent communications. The basic elements are:

• Educating people about your products and services
• Identifying people most likely to share their opinions
• Providing tools that make it easier to share information
• Studying how, where, and when opinions are being shared
• Listening and responding to supporters, detractors, and neutrals

Anyway I hope that has given you a better idea of what WOM actually is, I will be back soon with some new articles about WOM and its various forms,  styles and implementations ~ Regards, Ashe… IT Bloke - London.

CORPORATE SOCIAL NETWORKING:

JUST A GIMMICK OR A POWERFUL MARKETING TOOL?

While social networking sites such as Facebook and YouTube are becoming as dominant as newspapers, magazines, radio and television for consumers, corporate usage of social networking has been limited to individual employees using social networking tools such as Linked In to build their professional networks. However, organisations are now beginning to understand and embrace the benefits of corporate social networking.

Corporate social networking offers the opportunity to encourage your customers to interact more closely with you and each other driving traffic to your website and adding value to customers' perception of you. After all, you're providing them with access to your social network and the amount of industry information that can be generated by your users and made accessible to others is potentially immense.

The early stigma that surrounded user generated content is now disappearing as users latch on to the real value of information provided by their peers, partners and competitors. In fact, as such projects develop, some organisations are recognising that it's not a bad thing to allow customers to communicate amongst themselves and there are real benefits to be derived.

Customers have a tendency to trust their network in preference to your marketing and the interactions they have online can provide you with an excellent insight into the needs of your markets and the perceptions your customers have of your service. This is real information straight from the users' keyboards and in some lights could be looked at as more valuable than expensive market research.

Placing yourself at the heart of these discussions by providing the platform for such interactions, enhances customer perceptions of your organisation and is an innovative way of communicating with them. In addition, you become involved in your customers' conversations and are able to position yourself as their friend and a member of their network.

In a variety of forms, internet-based social networking has been around since the inception of the web and there is now a generation in the workplace that expects to chat about issues they face in the workplace in interactive forums. These aren't the passive media consumers of previous generations who would read direct mail or industry publications, these users want to participate, question and discuss.

Such users can only increase in number as subsequent generations of advanced internet users come to the job market. Those organisations that provide a vibrant, well-managed, easy-to-use platform upon which their customers, suppliers and other interested parties can network, debate and share knowledge will have in their hands a powerful marketing tool that places them at the centre of the debate. ~ Regards: Toby... IT Bloke... London.

Social Media Futures:

Ever evolving and ever surprising, social media reliably outstrips future predictions; but trends meccaWired has just published two pretty convincing visions of where it could be headed next.

In one corner, dissenting voices too. Watch the developer’s video below and decide for yourself whether Google have nailed the start of the next great social media phase.

In the other corner Wired puts 60% of new Twitter users drop off after the first month has certainly tarnished the tool’s indestructible image), the ‘random, fleeting observation’ that is Twitter’s hallmark has become an entrenched ‘quantum of thought’ from which other cultural forms and institutions will arise.

The two visions actually compliment each other. Add this microblogging mindset that NYU journalism professor Jay Rosen has dubbed I discussed yesterday, and you get a mindblowing idea of how social media could continue to boost communication, creativity and discovery on a whole new scale.... ~ Regards,  Ashe:  IT Bloke... London.

Branding With Word Of Mouth Marketing:

Have you implemented Word of Mouth Marketing (WOMM) as part of your branding plan?

Do you feel that WOMM can help build your brand and bring about brand awareness for your business? Just to explain, brand awareness is how you measure whether your brand or business is easily recognized or springs to mind for your industry.



When you are using WOMM as part of your branding message, it’s key that you understand the basic usage for WOMM.

~

Below is a simple list that can help you with your WOMM implementation:

• Keep it simple. Determine what topics will be shared.


• Find people who can be “announcers” for your brand/business.


• Make sure that you have tools that your “announcers” can use to easily spread the word like Tell-a-friend forms on your website.


• Participate on forums by leaving comments with links back to your website. Ask others to visit your website and participate on your forum also.


• As you implement your WOMM plan, make sure to track your results.

Any how we hope this has given you a few extra idea's when it comes to branding your company, if you want some more ideas, me or Tobz always love to start a further conversations about WOM, so just drop us a line so we can get talking, ~ Regards, Ashe… IT Bloke - London.

SELLING WITH W.O.M. IS OK:

Sceptics of social media ROI take note: last week ReadWriteWeb has used the news to reinvigorate the debate about what exactly brands should be using Twitter for. Should we be expecting social media to deliver these kind of direct sales? Does it encourage brands to think in terms of one-way messaging without respecting microblogging’s two-way, conversational roots?

Regular readers of this blog will know how much emphasis we put on helping clients

understand the value of word of mouth beyond precisely measurable stats and sales.  However, it’s important that we don’t forget that consumers out in social media also want a brand to be a brand: to provide easily accessed, accurate information and expertise - in fact, to sell us stuff, albeit good stuff, that we want, and that has been developed thanks to plenty of listening to our feedback and needs.

As ReadWriteWeb point out, Dell can get away with tweets geared towards ‘hard’ ROI because they also invest in ’soft’ ROI by engaging in listening and conversation as well as pushing deals and product pages. OK, so @DellOutlet is only following 23 people - not exactly a model of reciprocity - but its 644,016 followers don’t seem to mind. They know what it’s there to do. Dell keeps its tweets regular, simple and up-to-date, and the strength of its voice and clarity of its purpose - to help people find the best products for them - is refreshing.

Many companies I talk to have a crisis of confidence in social media, almost feeling that they should hide their commercial priorities under a patina of irrelevant chat.  The truth is,  I don’t really care what the CEO had for breakfast or what he’s listening to on Spotify.  Branded social presences need to strike the balance between listening and responding to consumers, but also actually being open, direct and unashamed about who they are and what they have to offer...  ~ Regards,  Ashe…  IT Bloke, {G.B.}.

FREE ~ HOW TO USE ZERO PRICING EFFECTIVELY:

Free is tricky.   Free is great for consumers but difficult for business and creators. It is becoming a serious economic force (thanks to digital technologies and automation) but no one is really sure how to use free to, well, make money. Chris Anderson, editor in chief of Wired, offers the best utilitarian knowledge about the economics of the free I've seen yet.  I believe this book will clear up many misunderstandings about this "radical price" and assist creators (that's us these days) in pricing our offerings in a world of "freeconomics."

The hardcover book costs $27, but of course if Anderson is serious about what he is saying the book should be free somehow. And it is, in many versions. You can get free versions on the Kindle, you can get a free unabridged audio version on iTunes or Audible (but note the shorter abridged edition is not free. Time is money!).  There are free ebooks on Google, and on Scribd. You can get a free paperback version in the UK.  Some of these offers are time limited (that is called a "freemium", free first pay later), others are indefinite. New free versions will be announced on the author's blog at The Long Tail.

You need to take the free seriously. Pay attention to this book, and to Anderson's experiments in practicing what it preaches. ~ Regards, Ashe… IT Bloke - London.

Sample Excerpts:

In Denmark, a gym offers a membership program where you pay nothing as long as you show up at least once a week. But miss a week and you have to pay full price for the month.  The psychology is brilliant.  When you go every week, you feel great about yourself and the gym. But eventually you'll get busy and miss a week.  You'll pay, but you'll blame yourself alone.  Unlike the usual situation where you pay for a gym you're not going to, your instinct is not to cancel your membership; instead it's to redouble your commitment.

*

Commodity information (everybody gets the same version) wants to be free. Customized information (you get something unique and meaningful to you) wants to be expensive.

*

As Lee puts it, "This large audience acts as a powerful motivator for continued contribution to the site. People like to contribute to an encyclopedia with a large readership; indeed, the enormous number of 'free riders'--aka users--is one of the most appealing things about being a Wikipedia editor."

*

Piracy accounts for an estimated 95 percent of music consumption in China, which has forced record companies to completely rethink what business they're in.  Since they can't make money from selling music on plastic disks, they package it in other ways.  They ask artists to record singles for radio play instead of albums for consumers. They serve as a personal talent agency for the singers, getting a cut of their fees for making commercials and radio spots.  And even concerts are paid for by advertisers brokered by the labels, which pack as many of their artists on stage as they can to maximize the revenues from sponsors.  The main problem is that the singers complain that the endless touring, which provides their only income, is tough on their vocal cords.

BLOGS WILL CHANGE YOUR BUSINESS:

Companies world-wide are cutting costs as well as looking for creative, high impact and accountable marketing. With concerns over the recession and its impact on marketing,

A recent poll  of 17,000 subscribers at an Online Marketing Blog showed some really interesting facts about their intentions with reference to digital marketing tactics in 2009.

Poll respondents cast 1,559 votes for their top three digital marketing tactics (from a list of 45) for 200. Blogging, Twitter and Search Engine Optimization topped the list. Out of the top ten rated marketing tactics, six fell into the category of Social Media Marketing.

The actual question asked was, “What 3 digital marketing channels & tactics will you emphasize in 2009?” Here are the top ten tactics selected:

• Blogging (34%)

• Microblogging (Twitter) (29%)

• Search engine optimization (28%)

• Social network participation (Facebook, LinkedIn) (26%)

• Email marketing (17%)

• Social media monitoring & outreach (17%)

• Pay per click (14%)

• Blogger relations (12%)

• Video marketing (10%)

• Social media advertising (7%)

Email marketing rated higher than PPC which is surprising given the budgets spent on PPC vs email. Some tactics are much easier to implement than others, or less expensive, which may explain a few of the top choices, such as Twitter.

Corporate web sites didn’t rate in the top ten tactics. Does this mean the death of company web sites? Some companies are succumbing to the social media perspective to extremes, like the Skittles site which had been simplified to a page of search results from Twitter and then changed to their Facebook page. Others are adding social features to their company sites to complement existing messaging and functionality.

By now, most companies have their 2009 online marketing plans in place. Does this ranked order of tactics mean you should change up your online marketing mix? The answer is that digital marketing tactics should match the needs of the situation, company resources, the target market and end consumer preferences. The proper tactical mix for a digital marketing program could be anything from the 45 tactics listed in the poll and still be successful as long as they support a valid strategy.

Some companies are prepared for digital and social media marketing programs and many are not. To get “ready”, companies need to develop a social media roadmap and get up to speed on both best and worst practices. Whether those methods of reaching and communicating with customers reconciles with existing marketing plans or not, companies would do well to allocate resources to some level of ongoing social media training.  ~ Regards, Ashe... IT Bloke, {G.B.}.

Word of mouth tops consumer trust yet again

Can anyone still be in doubt that peer to peer word of mouth is the one most influential factor in determining where consumers spend their money, attention and time? Neilsen’s latest Global Online Consumer Survey, which polled 25,000 Internet consumers from 50 countries, has reiterated research we’ve seen year on year by finding that 90% of people trust recommendations from those they know.



There are a couple more really interesting findings here. One is that brand websites are considered equally trustworthy to consumer opinion published online - a change from previous reports and perhaps an indication that brands are becoming much more skilled in creating engaging, transparent and personalised presences which encourage a dialogue with consumers rather than broadcasting marketing spiel. The other is that online ads - video, banner and SEO - are right at the bottom, below equivalent methods offline. For me, this proves that social media is simply not a traditional marketing tool. Interruptive brand ads are just not welcome in a space which is all about emotion, independence and UGC. Word of mouth, of course, most definitely is. ~ Regards,  Ashe... IT Bloke, {G.B.}.

Social Media Futures:

Ever evolving and ever surprising, social media reliably outstrips future predictions; but trends mecca Wired has just published two pretty convincing visions of where it could be headed next.

In one corner, dissenting voices too. Watch the developer’s video below and decide for yourself whether Google have nailed the start of the next great social media phase.

In the other corner Wired puts 60% of new Twitter users drop off after the first month has certainly tarnished the tool’s indestructible image), the ‘random, fleeting observation’ that is Twitter’s hallmark has become an entrenched ‘quantum of thought’ from which other cultural forms and institutions will arise.

The two visions actually compliment each other. Add this microblogging mindset that NYU journalism professor Jay Rosen has dubbed I discussed yesterday, and you get a mindblowing idea of how social media could continue to boost communication, creativity and discovery on a whole new scale.... ~ Regards,  Ashe...  IT Bloke {G.B.}.