5 Marketing Technology stories you might have missed 2-11-12

Marketing Technology 5

Marketing Technology Stories you might have missed

MT5 Edition:  #25

Stories This Week: Consumers don’t want personalized search, failure of two screen TV viewing, social media advice you NEED, Google will fail at consumer hardware.

 

1. Consumers Concerned About Personalized Search Results

[eMarketer] Only 15% of those surveyed preferred personalized search results. In contrast, 45% felt everyone should see the same results.

My Take: I’m a bit puzzled by the results. Why wouldn’t one want information aligned with their interests?  The one thing that stood out in the comments was a concern that this is an opportunity for Google to insert promoted results under the guise of personalized results.  But wait! I thought Google was the “Don’t be Evil” company!

2. Opportunity and Failure of Technology to Bridge Two Screens

  • [SearchEngineLand] Google: 41 Percent Of Super Bowl Ad Searches Were Mobile
  • [A&G] Shazam: Is it QR All Over Again?

My Take: I put these two stories side by side to show the opportunity and complete failure of anyone to deliver on an elegant two-screen strategy.  The first story shows that a lot of people had their laptop, tablet or smartphone in hand during the Superbowl. The second post shows how awful Shazam is at connecting consumers to the ads.  My take is integration will come when the TVs are smarter. I want to speak  commands such as “play the Doritos ad on my tablet” and have my TV issue commands to my second screen. Why put TVs in charge? They don’t have to power, bandwidth and battery challenges that second screen devices do.

3. 10 Things You Still Need To Know About Social Media / Social Business

[The Brand Builder] Check out these great quotes from Oliver Blanchard (@thebrandbuilder).

My Take: You see so much trite advice on social media, but his recent post provided some real gems such as:

  • “Social” is something you are, not something you do
  • Marketing on social media channels isn’t “social.” It is just marketing on social media channels
  • Change management, not social media tools and platforms, is at the crux of social media program development
  • Shut up and listen!

4. Dual monitors saves 15 minutes a day

[NY Times] A study, not surprisingly sponsored by a display company, showed that an extra display (or two) can tangibly boost productivity.

My Take:  I need to monitors, I’d like to have a third (browser, email, twitter). But there can be no doubt that adding a second monitor to an employee’s desktop is THE BEST way to boost employee productivity.

5. Google’s Foray Into Hardware Will Be A Total Disaster — Here’s Why

[Business Insider] Google is positioning itself to take on Apple in the set top box and music streaming device business. The article convincingly lays out why it will fail.

My Take: I’ve been pro-Google for a long time. Their free services have always helped me organize my life and communicate better. However, their recent design improvements, bone-headed business strategies with Google+ and so-so TV offerings have given me less faith in their ability to compete with Apple or Facebook.  They just don’t have the necessary design ethos and they’ve even take steps back in software development.

5 Marketing Technology stories you might have missed 2-4-12

Marketing Technology 5

Marketing Technology Stories you might have missed

MT5 Edition:  #24

Stories This Week: Pinterst blows up, desk.com, Twitter engagement increase, email effectiveness, and social picks a president?

1. Salesforce launches Desk.com

[VentureBeat] Enterprise cloud powerhouse Salesforce has launched Desk.com, a savvy customer support application that connects agents with e-mail, phone calls, and social channels.

My Take: I spoke with Social Support Superstar – yes a triple SSS threat – Mike Pace and he liked the original acquisition. He also likes the small business price point, what remains to be seen is if Salesforce can integrate Desk.com with it’s other online properties like CRM and Radian6.

2. Study confirms Twitter engagement is on the increase

[link] The article pulls out some interesting data from a recent study showing that active use of twitter has grown and that the global use of twitter is increasing.

My Take: Only 27% of tweeted during a 3 month period. Now that doesn’t sound like a lot, but when you figure that some people use twitter in a “read only” mode you actually get a higher # of users.

Email Impact on CMO Goals

Email Impact on CMO Goals

3. Does Email Deliver on CMO Objectives?

[Marketing Sherpa] Their chart of the week shows that email drives website traffic, lead generation, nurturing prospects and building brand awareness. What does it not do well? Increase sales conversion/revenue.

My Take: You have to look at the entire sales process, especially for B2B sales. Just because email doesn’t make the sales doesn’t mean it’s not valuable. Email is good for filling the top of the funnel. Prospective buyers are going to look to other marketing channels, like the information on a website and a direct sales  force, to commit to a sale.

4. Consumers Turn to Social Media for Presidential Campaign Info

[eMarketer] Candidates’ ad agencies invest more heavily in Facebook than Twitter, while Twitter wins out over blogs for more posts about the race.

My Take: I really like the comment from Jordan Bittman of Digitas:

“JFK is considered the first television president. Next year’s victor may well be determined by the impact of Facebook and Twitter”

Pinterest On The Rise

Pinterest On The Rise

5. Pinterest Drives More Referral Traffic Than Google Plus, YouTube and LinkedIn Combined

[Shareaholic] Pinterest drives more referral traffic than Google Plus, YouTube and LinkedIn combined.

My Take: The headline astonishes me but Pinterest is pretty crazy.  Want an example, look at what it did to Christina Refford’s traffic. After her post got pinned (and repinned) her traffic exploded.

5 Marketing Technology stories you might have missed 1-28-12

Marketing Technology 5

Marketing Technology Stories you might have missed

MT5 Edition:  #23

This week: 50 tools you should know, CMAD3, “Showrooming”, Google consolidates its privacy policy and opens to teens.

1. 3rd Community Manager Appreciation Day was Jan 23rd 2012

[Web Strategist] Jeremiah Owyang started CMAD 3 years ago to celebrate and support those who support us!

My Take: I’m glad Jeremiah started the special day to salute community managers. In addition it also raised awareness and helped define the position with greater clarity.

2. Showdown Over ‘Showrooming’

[WSJ] Box retailers are tiring of customers coming to their stores to inspect products then buying them online at a discount. Essentially consumers are using retailers as showrooms.

My Take: Target is trying to squeeze vendors to match price. I just can’t see that working.  So what will work?

Apple is extending its Best Buy program to put Apple outlets in more stores. like Target. Will that be the future? Will Amazon partner with retail stores or open actual its own retail stores?

3. Google Consolidates It’s Privacy Policy

[VentureBeat] Google is changing its privacy policy, consolidating 60 different policies into one. You cannot opt-out of it unless you stop using all Google products.

My Take: This is part of Google’s plan to unify it’s properties under one umbrella. Thankfully you can manage all of your Google apps on one Dashboard as well as download all of your data in Google’s cloud with Takeout.

4. Google+ includes Teens

[Mashable] Google, which had previously barred consumers under 18 from joining Google+, is attempting to avoid such a situation on its network via a series of enhancement aimed at protecting people on the network aged 13-17.

My Take: Google continues to ramp up it’s ability to compete against Facebook (and twitter). It’s easy to forget that Google+ is still a new product. It’s only been broadly available for the few months. Will teens adopt Google+?

Consolidating it’s product platform, opening to teens and allowing for pseudonyms – are all part of it’s competitive strategy.

5. 50 Tech Tools You Should Know About

[CNN] CNN tallied 50 tools/apps that caught its eye.

My faves: Path (love), Flipboard, Hipmunk, Instagram, Pinterest, Tweepi, Zite (love)

BONUS Social media cheat sheet

[Mktg Tech Blog]

 

Social Media Cheat Sheet

Social Media Cheat Sheet

 

 

 

 

5 Marketing Technology stories you might have missed 1-21-12

Marketing Technology 5

Marketing Technology Stories you might have missed

MT5 – #22 Stories this week: new apps for Facebook open graph, dead SOPA, Google includes social in SERP, paid search in B2B, and social ROI. Continue reading

5 CES Products That Caught My Eye


Marketing Technology 5

5 CES Products That Caught My Eye

MT5 – #21

Stories this week: This week I’m bypassing a lot of good news (Google+ into SERP for example) to focus on 5 CES products that caught my eye.

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