5 Marketing Technology stories you might have missed 12-31-11


Marketing Technology 5

Marketing Technology Stories you might have missed

MT5 – #19

Stories this week: Twitter demographics, B2B Marketing in 2012, Social Media in America and MORE!

B2B Marketing: 6 lessons learned in 2011 from 7 marketing experts

[link] Article has a focus on lead generation tactics.

My Take: If you look at their experts, you’ll see it contains true leaders like Jay Baer so I think you’re getting some valuable insights here.

Marketers Look Beyond Social Media Experimentation

Factors Driving Further Use of Social Media

Factors Driving Further Use of Social Media

[link] Marketers are becoming more mature when it comes to their social media marketing, and many in the US say they hope to move beyond the experimentation phase in the coming years.

My Take: This makes sense. As Marketers are learning to use social they are feeling more comfortable with the medium and how best to use it.

Analyze Your Twitter Followers with “Schmap It”

[link] Provides interesting demographic information at an aggregate level for free. Paid versions provide more data points.

My Take: There’s an arsenal of free analytics tools available for twitter, add this to the list.

8 Ways Digital Will Improve B2B Sales in 2012

[link] Here are the 8 Ways

  1. Social Selling Will Go Mainstream
  2. Companies Will use Facebook as a Sales Channel
  3. Sales Executives Will Adopt Big Data
  4. Customer Engagement Becomes a Top Priority
  5. Outside Sales Reps Will Use iPads
  6. Most Sales Tools Will Move to the Cloud
  7. Sales and Marketing Will Converge
  8. More Companies Will Offer Free Trials

My Take: Some of these things, such as Sales use of iPads certainly will happen in 2012, however I don’t think Sales & Marketing will converge organizationally in the next 12 months.

9 Surprising New Facts About Social Media in America

[link] For example, super socials love twitter, but most brand interactions happen on Facebook. What does that mean? Engage with influencers on twitter and market to potential customers on Facebook.

My Take: I saved the best for last, Jay cuts through the noise with some simple truths

The WordPress Progression (with Tom Catalini)


Blog guru, Tom Catalini

Blog guru, Tom Catalini

Blog Technology: The WordPress Progression

Tom Catalini blogs about People & Technology over at tomcatalini.com (http://www.tomcatalini.com/). He runs that and other sites on the WordPress platform and has shared lots of WordPress tips in is Website 101 blog post series (http://www.tomcatalini.com/category/website101/). He’s presented at WordCamp and PodCamp on similar topics. In this post Tom takes us through the WordPress progression so that those looking to get started with a blog can get a feel for what WordPress has to offer.

The WordPress Progression

WordPress is a popular blogging platform – and for good reason. It’s very, very, very easy to get started yet there is also virtually no upper limit to features and functionality. You can easily use WordPress as a foundation for a complete website, even if you need to manage complex interactions, conduct financial transactions, and build communities. 

But, let’s not get ahead of ourselves just yet. Let’s go back to the beginning and step through some key progression points for WordPress.

Level 1 – Get Started with WordPress.com

If you’re just starting out, you want things to be easy. And you need to focus on the content you’re going to create more than the technicalities of getting it published to the world. The first step in on the WordPress path meets that need.

WordPress.com is a free site for blogging, and it only takes a minute to setup an account. Once you’ve done that, you can start blogging immediately. The software is pretty intuitive and there are plenty of tutorials to help get you started. The point is, you really have no excuse anymore. So get started!

Level 2 – Customize Your WordPress.com Blog

Once you’re over the initial hurdle of deciding on a title for your blog and getting some content out there, you’ll probably want to make some tweaks. Again, there is no need to look further than WordPress.com. On the site you can choose different themes to adjust the look and feel of your site. You can configure how the basic layout will work, and you can easily plug in some predefined functionality like including updates from your Twitter feed, adding a search bar, or incorporating a photo album.
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One big (and important) customization option is to use your own domain name for your blog, right on WordPress.com. You’ll pay a small fee for this, but it’s worth it. Once you establish your own domain name, you begin to build up search engine value for your content. Your domain, rather than WordPress.com, will be the target of links and search results. This is valuable, and it’s portable.

 

Level 3 – Take Full Control with WordPress.org

WordPress.com, configured with your own domain name, will take you a long way. There are tons of things you can do to customize your site and to add functionality. Eventually, though, you’ll run into a situation where something you want to customize just isn’t possible on the shared platform of WordPress.com. Not to worry, there’s an easy answer – WordPress.org.The name is confusing, but the WordPress.org site is the next progression on the WordPress path. WordPress.org is a site that allows you to download the WordPress software – the same software that powers WordPress.com sites – for free. 

Now you can install it on your own hosting site (this will cost a few more bucks, and require a little more maintenance – but you’re progressing to a more sophisticated and savvy user, so that’s ok). Here, your options for customization become virtually limitless.

Rely on the WordPress Community

Going out on your own is a little scary and intimidating. It’s great to be able to have full control over the software platform, and to push the envelope further. But that means there will be more issues and that the problems will get more complex. 

Not to worry – WordPress has a thriving community. There are millions of people using the platform and the community is extremely active in creating software modules you can use (most for free) to add functionality, themes that can give your site a really custom look and feel, and advice on solving common – and not so common – problems.

No More Excuses, Start Blogging!

WordPress can get you started and go to any level you like. As your needs get more sophisticated, you’ll need to dedicate more time to the technicalities – but the software won’t hold you back, and the community will help you every step of the way. 

Go and get started. I look forward to reading your blog.

 

Photo credit: Adria Richards

5 HOLIDAY videos you might have missed 12-24-11


Marketing Technology 5

The hell with Marketing Technology, Here Are 5 Holiday Videos

MT5 – #18

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I Hope Santa Checks in to My House

Mortar Holiday Card 2011

Puppy Christmas

Apple – iPhone 4S – TV Ad – Santa

Angry Birds Christmas Light Game

5 Marketing Technology stories you might have missed 12-17-11


Marketing Technology 5

Marketing Technology Stories you might have missed

MT5 – #17

Stories this week: blog comment platforms, Millennials read!, social sign-on, email and video content marketing

1. Blog Technology: Livefyre vs. Disqus

[link] Pimping my own stuff here. This post covers two popular comment platforms for blogging.

My Take: They’re certainly quite similar with a slight nod towards Livefyre for its ability to loop others into the conversation. Disqus has a update coming up and I’ll wait to see what that’s about before considering a switch to Livefyre.

2. Most Millennials’ Store Choices Influenced by Print Media

[link] Direct mail (92%) and newspapers (91%) are the media most Millennials say affect their store choices, ahead of digital channels such as visiting a store website using a computer (84%) or receiving emails from retailers (78%).

My Take: The report goes on to say that indeed Millennials are more likely than Gen-X to be influenced by digital advertising – no surprise there. Yet I was surprised by the impact of more traditional marketing channels.

3. Social Sign-On Could Be a Boon for retailers

[link] Making it easy for customers is just good sense, plus the additional social graph information will become useful in the future.

My Take: As mentioned in a previous weekly 5 (last weeks), there are new regulations coming online, especially in Europe on managing privacy. Push vendors to explain these regulations and how they help you stay in compliance with the law.

Increases in email and social media budgets

Increases in email and social media budgets

4. Email Top Channel for Increased 2012 Marketing Spend

[PDF] Email marketing (60%) is the program most cited by business leaders for a 2012 increase in spending.

My Take: When an email marketing firm tells you email marketing spending will increase, you have to be a bit suspicious, but for the moment let’s assume this data is valid. In any case, it passes my “eyeball test.” I expect further increases in email marketing and social media.

5. Content Marketing: Videos attract 300% more traffic and nurture leads

[link] Case study of a B2B company having great overall results when using video content marketing.

“Sometimes it’s easier for people to digest a complex concept by watching a two-to-three-minute video versus trying to read an eight-page whitepaper.”

My Take: The quote above is correct, but you still need a long-form of thought leadership statement, whitepaper or other, that provides the foundation for your content marketing. Use the concept as the center piece and consider what content should be developed to tell your story.

BONUS: THE STATE OF THE MEDIA Q3 2011

You can download the report free behind a registration form here.


Blog Technology: Disqus vs Livefyre

Blog Technology

Blog Technology

Blog Technology: Disqus vs Livefyre

I intended to do a post comparing Disqus vs Livefyre blog comment platforms.  Turns out, this topic has good coverage already. So rather in covering old ground with new material, I thought I’d share what others had done and let you make your own decision on which comment platform is best for you.

Comparison posts

“I switched to Livefyre” posts

“I’m not switching to Livefyre” posts

In summary

The energy is clearly behind Livefyre and I don’t believe it’s just because its the new kid on the block. Consistently the posts I read showed Livefyre’s features are the best for engaging in a conversation. Real-time commenting, the ability to pull others into the conversation and SocialSync are the primary reasons to switch to Livefyre.

 

Photo credit: Travelin’ Librarian

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