If you are retailer and want to build your brand, social networks are where you need to be, says IDC in a new report. According to it, Web 2.0 is creating opportunities for competitive advantage with the top 10 social networks having over 1.3 billion members. Yes, there’s plenty of people who live on more than one network but that’s still a pretty big number.
IDC says, “Social networks, blogs, price comparison Web sites, and the likes can all be used by retailers of all kinds and sizes to attract and influence customers, to study demand patterns, to improve brand reputation, and, finally, to provide customer support.“ I’d certainly agreed with the latter – I think we’ve all heard the stories about certain companies responding to individuals who have tweeted about problems they’ve had with products.
It also notes that the social networks are a great source of information about customers and what they’re saying about products, whether it’s the retailer’s or a competitors. For those of us in the space, this isn’t exactly news but for companies looking in and wanting to get value out of their investment, this is going to be important.
Obviously, it’s taking time but if the big consultancies are now able to produce reports with hard data regarding the benefits of social media, the money will start coming into the social / new media and out of traditional media.
The full report costs money but you can read the press release for free.
Rumors are circling that Apple is proposing an online TV media subscription model. For just $30/month you could possibly have access to the archive of syndicated shows and the new shows as they come. Later in the day I read of a favorite tutorial site, which shall remain nameless until I do a proper review, was bumping its fees to about $15/month. Many of my favorite podcasts have donation links on their site for $2/month or so. Please understand, I am a believer in paying for labor. I am just beginning to wonder when this evolving online monthly subscription model will break.
Some people believe a service like Apple’s would get rid of the need for Cable or Dish and save some money. I don’t see that. The streaming system is not ready for the high-def load and most people will keep the Cable and Dish for their instant viewing. For those that jump into the online media, how many monthly payments do you want to sign up for? I just can’t keep signing up for more monthly payments. The inflation on monthly tech and media services is getting pretty high.
Cable and Dish consolidated traditional media into a monthly package. What about online media? It will forever and always be a mix of traditional and common man media. How many packages can I pick up? One traditional media package, ten small media packages, one cell phone media package. . . A revolution in content delivery is underway and will continue to occur, I just wonder where and on what there will be a price tag.
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The truths:
- News is moving online. People want instant access to news without waiting until the next morning or afternoon.
- The recession has caused a terrifying drop in printed advertising causing a quick but low profit move online.
The conclusions:
- Local news companies must move to quick unabbreviated news online that incorporates local business advertising.
- Local businesses must move online with a web presence that brings both foot traffic to the brick and mortar store as well as an online business.
An example:
The Fargo Forum moved to a CMS and used their site extremely well during the recent flood. The site is not necessarily as polished and easy to navigate as Foxnews.com, but a good start in the online news business. However, the prime advertising real estate on the site is for Forum operated sites. Sites that local businesses can join and participate/advertise in. Really they are ads for the Forum classifieds (i.e. Homes, Apartments, Cars, etc.) There are really very few ads for individual businesses. And once you visit the the business you may or may not be greeted by a discount or sales offer. This must change if local news and businesses are going to make the transition. The Forum is definitely in the game and making progress but it has room to grow.
The online move of news could force more and more local businesses to develop a true online presence. It may not mean an online store, but it will mean an online version of what they would have had printed in the paper. Additionally, they can have the equivalent of an entire sales flier for the price of an online click-through ad. Could this mean a resurgence for web developers as local businesses must build dynamic CMS sites? I believe that the local news agencies and businesses that catch on to this partnership and market will rediscover the advertising gold mine. The early bird will get the worm.
Recently Disney bought an estimated 30 percent stake in Hulu.com, bringing the streaming giant even closer to world domination, and adding to the credibility of its online-based television distribution force.
It is clear that Hulu.com and its partners have invested large sums of money into developing and funding this new media distribution center, yet anytime someone tries to bring this content to the general public and make it easy to use, they seem to go out of their way to hurt their own investment.
Take Boxee for example, they have developed an easy to use interface that collects all of the online media sources into one place for users of a broad range of operating systems. Instead of embracing and thanking them for this improved user interface and social media integration, Hulu’s partners demanded that Hulu take steps to ensure that their content wasn’t available on Boxee’s system.
Their chief concern according to many tech analysts is that the major media companies make more money from standard broadcast commercials than they do from online advertising. This sounds to me like the classic question of “What came first the chicken or the egg?”
It would seem logical to me that the best way to improve the value of your product for advertisers would be to reach as mainy people as possible. In a time of economically hardships such as these I would expect that advertisers, like any other business, would be looking for the most bang for their buck. I would state that online distribution is a much better advertising proposition for today’s market, for one simple reason. if I’m watching something I’ve recorded on my DVR equipped cable box, there is zero chance of me watching an ad. If I’m watching Hulu or one of the other major media online outlets that have built-in mandatory ads, I’m almost guaranteed to watch it unless I need to get up and refill my drink or perform another mundane tasks typically reserved for commercial breaks.
As it stands now, television has went from the world of ad supported shows of the 1960’s to the DVRed shows with no commercial breaks of the 21st Century.
Feel free to comment or rate this with the links below or I can be contacted at jparie@gmail.com.
A couple of years ago I was making good money each month with Google Adsense, enough so that it made sense to keep the codes running on the website. Then suddenly the revenue dropped, and it no longer made sense to have the Google ads running on the website.
Traffic to the website was climbing month to month, the content was largely the same yet I had no explanation for why the ads were no longer making money. So I pulled the banners.
Upon the launch of the new site design I decided to try Google Adsense again on a test run to see how it went. All I can say is that you don’t see the banners anymore for good reason, as earnings on Google Adsense was ridiculously low.
I am wondering if other bloggers are seeing the same drop in ad dollars running Google Adsense. I have been hounded by some ad networks to run contextual ads within the content but I really hate those types of ads.
Thankfully my podcast sponsors help keep the lights on, and allow me to hire bloggers that contribute here on Geek News Central. Google on the other hand was not even good enough for a cup of starbucks coffee.
Recent Microsoft ads have attacked the image and value of Macs. Whether the commercials are real or scripted, or if the product purchased truly compares is a mute point. For several years the “Get a Mac” ads have poked, prodded, and mocked PC users. Now for once, Windows is doing a decent job of marketing revenge. You win one you lose one. Take it like a grown up all of you fellow Mac addicts. We had this, and more, coming. We should at least recognize good marketing when we see it.
The point of marketing is to create a logical and emotional attachment to a product or 
service. Apple is perhaps unmatched in marketing and product presentation. Microsoft has struggled as of late. It’s Jerry Seinfeld & Bill Gates productions were beyond a flop. Now the giant of Microsoft finally snapped out of it’s marketing funk with a sequence of commercials that actually have a little traction. The emotional response finally went in Microsoft’s favor. A long awaited ovation from the crowd can be heard.
Apple has said very little about the ads, other than simple statements reaffirming the “value” of their products. Kudos to them. After all, the recently released Forrester Research user experience report sings the praises of Apple pretty loudly. Calm down Mac users. Let the fur on your neck settle, and your claws recede into your paws. Macs are doing well and the operating system is an amazing fit for more and more people. Apple HQ is staying pretty silent and so should we. Let Microsoft have their moment. They earned it. Everything is going to stay the same. Even the price of my next Mac. Expensive. Ah yes, life goes on.
The other day I reinstalled a machine: A VIA chipset motherboard. I had to get the Video, audio and other drivers. I went to VIATechnologies, which then shuttled me to VIA Arena – where the drivers were held.
What I was surprised to see was the site was littered with Ads. We’re not talking about a Google Ad on the side. Ad after ad after ad.
I selected a link I thought was a VIA driver detection program. It turned out to be a 3rd party program that wanted me to PAY to download. I went back and finally noticed the ‘(SPONSOR)’ note.
I went back to the page and tried to find my drivers. It wasn’t that easy: Actually took me a few different tries. I eventually found the drivers which I installed.
I understand if a company decides to put an invasive ad on the the site. Maybe a Google ad on the bottom or a sponsored link exchange. However 22 ads encompasing the company’s website?
What’s worse is that I fell for a sponsor program. What would a non-IT person do? Most likely they would buy the software because they think VIA requires them to have it. Then VIA gets a portion of that sale which means you are giving VIA more money.
VIA needs to re-think their site. Like I said, I don’t mind ads. However, turning the whole page into one big ad is annoying and, in a way, deceptive. I know for sure I won’t be looking toward VIA motherboards if I have to build a new system for someone.
Reaching outside our community. We have had huge success with our Advertising campaign from Citrix Online. In a few days RawVoice is going to be launching a new ad campaign and I am looking for a few more podcast for the ad buy the criteria is quite specific but a perfect match for some shows.
This campaign will be from Mid February through end of June. I have posted the podcast show requirements on the RawVoice Blog. See the details here
USAToday is reporting on a high school teacher in San Diego, who has started selling advertisements on his test papers in order to pay for printing costs for his class. He felt it was the only way to subsidize the costs of printing for his classroom; his budget is $300, but his printing costs about $500 per school year.
Most ads, at this point, are pretty innocuous. Inspirational messages from parents top the list of ads, but ads have also been bought by local engineering firms and an orthodontist.
What concerns me about this is that this marketing gives advertisers access to children. Our children are the most vulnerable to advertising, without the maturity and life experience to weed out the obnoxiousness that is advertising. I can block advertising when my kids surf (ad blocker plus for Firefox) and keep the television watching to a minimum, but if my kids are getting advertising at school on their tests and homework papers, I have absolutely no control over that. While I would trust that the teacher would not allow questionable advertising to be printed on his test papers, when it comes to the almighty dollar, often greed trumps good sense.
I can appreciate the teacher’s ingenuity, but I think there is probably a better way. If he only needs to make $200, couldn’t he have had a small class fundraiser that targeted the parents, who should be supporting their kids’ education anyway? I have to think this teacher went too far.
Ever time I see someone quote Alexa numbers it makes me sick to my stomach. The reason is that their numbers are far from accurate.
Last week I had a client email me looking to advertise on one of my properties. He sent me a advertising figure that I quite literally laughed at. When I replied that the rate was about 15 times lower than what we normally charged he replied with a Alexa chart.
I followed up with some screen shots from my Google Analytics account, and the client said it was impossible for the numbers between Alexa and Google Analytics to have such a huge delta, and actually semi-accused us of fudging the numbers.
I wrote off Alexa a long time ago, sadly many people still do not have a clue that their numbers are pretty far from being even reasonably accurate.
Faulty Alexa data ends up hurting small companies like mine because this gives agencies the ability to negotiate with bad data. I think though the Agencies know it’s bad data and they use Alexa data points when they can as they know they can strong arm companies into lower advertising rates and get away with it.
I read a blog post by Louis Gray this morning that said that “Most Bloggers Don’t Deserve Any Ad Revenue” honestly I was pretty surprised that he would advance that type of a discussion.
One of the tenants I have lived by is that if a person wants to earn money for their writing or media creation then they should explore all avenues to do so.
While I realize that a site that is not well followed will likely not make a lot of money, many bloggers are happy to have enough money to buy a few new gadgets or have take the wife out for dinner.
My advice to Bloggers want to earn some money, be realistic on what you can earn and then go out and work your tail off to get a sponsor that matches your content. [Louis Gray]
Today in the mail my 14 year old daughter received a mailing from National American Miss inviting her to “audition” for their pageant. My daughter is pretty, and I suppose getting a piece of mail like this is flattering.
Except. I wonder how they got her name and address in the first place. My children do not attend traditional school, as we are homeschoolers and have been for five years. So a school could not have sold their mailing address to anyone. My daughter doesn’t have bills or bank accounts in her name, is not old enough to register to vote or get a driving permit or anything else that might have her name and address. The only thing I can trace it back to is that she does have a state-issued ID for traveling, and she has her own library card. Which one of these two entities is likely selling information to marketers? I just don’t see either one doing that, but maybe I’m misguided.
It also occurs to me that my 18 year old son, now a college student, has been receiving recruiting materials from the armed forces for about three years now. He was also homeschooled for the last five years, so I’m having trouble figuring out where that mail is coming from. He has a state-issued ID, a library card, and a savings account at a local bank. He is also employed. So I have several other ideas about how he got on someone’s mailing list.
Getting junk mail at this age does concern me. Junk snail mail for kids is really pretty inappropriate, in my book. The marketing never stops, virtually from birth on. It is on television, radio, peer pressure from their friends, magazines, books, you name it. Even our kids aren’t safe from the pervasive attitude of buy buy buy. It’s a strange thing.
It makes me wonder when my six year old will see her first piece of junk mail.
