Blog Technology
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So I’m Marketing Technology guy. My take is form follows function. First you decide what you want to do and then you decide how you want to do it.
On blogs we know that content (and context) are king, but does the technology matter only as an afterthought? To put a fine point on it, I’m doing a simple Yes/No poll. Does the blog technology matter?
Photo credit: Travelin’ Librarian
Blog Technology
Exhausted and exhilarated from Movember chaos (there’s still time to donate! http://mobro.co/iamreff), I’m back in the Marketing Technology saddle.
This December I’m focusing on Blog Technology. I have a ton of ideas for topics, enough to do a post each day of the month, but since each post takes research, there’s no way I can dedicate enough time to cover all the topics in depth.
The one thing I’ve been dying to do is to create a decision tree that helps people decide which blog platform is right for them.
If you have any burning technology questions about blogging, let me know and I’ll find a way to cover that topic. Also, I welcome the opportunity to have posts from guest bloggers so if you’re interested in participating please let me know.
Photo credit: Travelin’ Librarian
Marketing Technology 5
MT5 – #14
Stories this week: Facebook phone, Winning with Animated GIFs, Cyber Monday, Comments 4x more valuable than Likes and Pintrest growth
[link] After years of denying that Facebook was building a phone. Yeap, you guessed it, Facebook is partnering with HTC to build a phone.
My Take: It’s hard to see what a Facebook phone would do that other phones do not. Nonetheless, it’s an interesting move by Facebook.
[link] This was just too good not to share, Helzberg Diamonds boosted online sales 288% with an email that featured a personalized and animated image.
My Take: Interesting tactic…combining personalization with animation. Still I think that it will often be foiled by email clients that dont render pictures. Not to mention mobile email clients.
Reasons for participating in Cyber Monday
3. Cyber Monday Deals
[link] The top reasons for holiday shopping online: take advantage of sale prices and free shipping deals.
My Take: Watching  some of the CrAzY Black Friday mob scene videos of crowded stores with throngs of people fighting for the same few sales further entrenched me in the “Cyber Monday” camp. Cyber Monday has actually become Cyber Week as people start hitting the online stores earlier and earlier.
[link] From the data…
My Take: A major tenet of inbound marketing is: people are more likely to trust recommendations from a friend than a brand. Â This study shows the importance of creating content that your audience will interact with – not just “Like” since these comments drive clicks.
pinterest vs etsy chart
5. Pinterest Is Now Pulling In More Pageviews Than Etsy
[link] Pinterest page views grew 2,000% since June.
My Take: The power of social at work again. I don’t use Pinterest, but it seems the power of social sharing of cool stuff is beating out having to weed through an online catalog where you have to find the cool stuff yourself.
Overheard this week:
“Social Media is where brands act like people and people act like brands.
Friends can buy you a drink right?
As individuals, social media is used by many as a personal branding platform. Once you become adept at twitter, Google+ or the social network flavor of the day, you’ll see people using social as a stage — a way to tell you about themselves. Those that do it well attract large audiences by providing interesting information, curated content, expert advice and use social networks to have a dialogue. Those that do it poorly are insufferable bores that share trite advice, link to stuff that you’ve already seen and only want to talk about themselves. Etiquette, content and style matter.
Brands come at social from a different angle. They realize that they just can’t focus on themselves and their products. In order to attract an audience, they must create and curate content that serves their customers. Brands can’t broadcast on social networks the way they advertise on TV or radio. It’s a different medium with different expectations. They have to adapt their techniques to act more “humanâ€. A great example of this is the Chase Community Giving social campaign. By focusing on philanthropy (not products), Chase has garnered an audience of over 3 million on Facebook. I imagine Chase was already quite generous and by turning their philanthropic efforts into a social campaign they are able to generate a positive affinity for their brand. Tthat they can then work to convert those “likes†into customers.
Studies (A, B, C) show that people don’t want to “like†a brand. The idea puts people off. Brands are not my friends, my friends are my friends. However, people who follow brands tend to be strong brand advocates that will promote and defend a brand on social networks.
Photo credit Glenn Harper
MT5 – #13
My Take: <sarcasm> Yay! Another social media network! </sarcasm>
2. The future of online advertising
one of the big reasons why online advertising has done so well is simply the negative one: online micropayments were a disaster, and never took off.
I’ve been looking at ads online for over 15 years now, and I’ve never wanted to click on one
It’s a known fact in advertising circles that only idiots click on ads — and yet advertisers still think that click-through rates mean something, and that a higher click-through rate means a better ad. It’s the measurement fallacy: people tend to think that what they can measure is what they want, just because they can measure it.
its quite astonishing, the degree to which we’ve collectively trained ourselves to ignore ads when we bring up a web page.
[link] Flite provides a ad platform that allows the brand to use different media formats, including social media. The content can be changed in real-time. Click here to see an example.
My Take: This ad platform makes a lot of sense to me. Instead of paying someone do develop a static rich media ad you can buy a branded ad container where you can put in whitepapers, video, social media, etc. You can change the content as you need to and it allows you to integrate your online properties. Sounds pretty smart.
[link] Founded by twitter founder Jack Dorsey, Square started as a peer to peer payment app. From there Square is looking to move into other segments of the payment value chain. Square also has “Card Case” which is a payment system between merchants and customers [see video]
My Take: A cardless, cashless payment system seems great. I welcome the innovation, however, to start it looks like it will only be sensible in urban areas with lots of merchants and customers who find value in this disruption. Â I’m expecting this will take a long while to take hold.
[link] You may have read that Amazon is providing new Kindle Fire owners with a trial subscription to Amazon Prime – a value add service that provides free two-day shipping, movie streaming and now a lending library.
My Take: This looks like Amazon is following the Apple playbook of hardware and software integration. [ipod + itunes] [kindle + Amazon store]. With so many options for online reading, I’m wondering how B2B players can best publish their materials to devices like the iPad, Android tablets and kindles.