Got Social Intent?

I’ve got the worst excuse for not blogging for a while: I started a social media company. Ironic, huh?

We’re called Social Intent and we help brands ‘friend’ customers though Social Network-centric marketing strategies, backed by development of innovative social web technologies, including applications for Facebook and MySpace.

This month we’ve been working on a co-marketing project between Coca-Cola and Sony in promoting the new James Bond movie. You can check out the app here.

My eBay seller community site for sale

As some of you may know, I recently built an online community site for eBay sellers, helping them protect themselves against bad and unprofitable bidders (since that eBay doesn’t allow sellers to leave negative feedback on bidders anymore).

The site has been getting rave reviews from ebay sellers and industry bloggers. Even the Wall Street Journal called me to ask me about it!

I’m looking to sell it now as I need cash for my next project! (and I like building things more than I like managing them…;-) )

 

There is no best, one-size-fits-all online ad format

It’s hard to be a marketer today with so many new, exciting technologies to pick from, each one casting itself as the holy grail of campaign performance. Video, widgets, search advertising, social apps, in-game ads, virtual worlds, expanding banners, behavioral targeting, location based mobile ads, digital out of home advertising, even radio via Google!

I can’t tell if it’s a media planner’s dream or nightmare, but a fair share of us probably feel more confused than enlightened.

What I am pretty sure about, however, is that they all have some merit, but none of them is a one-size-fits all solution. What’s good for branding might not be a recipe for lead generation success. Choice of format, targeting, message and measurement all need to align with campaign goals.

In a recent report from Forrester research called“Getting more out of online ads” advertisers are encouraged to take a more holistic approach to planning and executing online advertising programs.To paraphrase, they recommend advertisers to:
- first determine their business goals
- then identify desired customer action and how they can entice this action
- and finally how to track and measure actual customers’ actions vis-à-vis the campaign goals

Pretty common sense when put this way, isn’t it?

James Brown & Banner Advertising

James Brown, the Hardest Working Man in Show Biz, earned his titles with his splits, hard hitting grooves, riffs and stabs. Carrying the funk scene on his shoulders for years, even when funk was in the funk, was a tall order for a short man. But he did it.

The interactive advertising industry, like the music industry, has its own lineup of characters to make sure the beat goes on. For online advertising, the hardest working medium in the biz has to be the banner ad. Like Mr. Brown, it has survived new trends and new kids on the block, yet has found ways to get on up and get even.

Banner’s got a brand new bag

Recently, renewed interest in the banner ad has been fueled by new targeting technologies coupled with more visually engaging and interactive Flash and video formats. The hardest working ad format in the biz, is working even harder. But working for what?

It seems that the industry has chosen to take advantage of these technological improvements in two ways: Create more relevant advertising (via better targeting) and secondly, more engaging ads (via richer media experiences).

More relevant advertising generates more clicks. Can’t argue with that logic. However, I’m not sure advertisers have quite figured out what to do with the new rich(er) media ads. My gut feeling says that many advertisers are investing in this type of advertising purely for their branding effect. Maybe the thinking is “if we can’t make users click, let’s at least make the experience memorable, and score high on brand recall and awareness.” That’s a tall order for a small banner.

Take them to center stage

So, I have an issue with this thinking. If you want to do brand advertising, why resort to a 728×90 or 350 x 250 pixel canvas on a 3rd party site? Why wouldn’t brand advertisers’ primary goal be to get the user to click away from the publisher page and into a rich, interactive environment completely under the control of the advertiser? Why tap-dance in a closet when you can do splits center stage?

A different second act for the banner

At Linkstorm we have chosen to take a different approach to improving banner efficiency that stands in contrast to both how “other vendors” think about targeting as well as engagement.

Targeting: We believe that the best targeting technology can never truly know what the user really wants. Our format is designed to allow the user to quickly identify and navigate to content that is relevant to them.

User Engagement: We believe that the best place to convert a customer, whatever the campaign goal is, is on the advertiser’s site, not in the banner. Our banners are therefore designed to be a conduit rather than a destination, where we increase both the quantity and quality of the traffic the advertiser receives. Simply, more & better clicks.

- vidar

Adtech San Francisco

Just back from exhibiting at ad:tech SF. Lots of fun and interesting new companies. Can’t be easy to be a marketer with so many exciting, new ways to get in front of one’s customers…

Linkstorm, with only 8 other companies out of the hundreds of exhibitors, were selected by ad:tech for a special ‘hot new company’ press briefing, and it was very encouraging to see the interest among the attending press and bloggers.

Other companies that I though were interesting included:

Placecast / 1020 inc.

Lotame

AdShuffle

and ion interactive

The Brilliant Google App Engine Strategy

Google gets it and is ready to do to the web what Microsoft did for the Desktop.

Microsoft won the desktop wars not only because everybody was using their OS, but because they also ensured the continued success of their OS by having the best developer tools to ensure a steady stream of new applications.

Now, with the web is the new OS, Google is the only company who is seriously building an ecosystem of applications and developer tools and resources to develop, host and launch new applications. (Yahoo and Microsoft is dabbling with this too – but they are followers with no clear strategy or credibility. They are focused to catching up to Google as an ad machine, and are thus many steps behind).

What’s so smart about Google is that their approach is always a little more long term focused than their competitors. The App Engine, Google Gagdets, Gadget Ads, OpenSocial, Android, etc. will shortly be highly integrated web OS components that will ensure Google’s dominance. Like Microsoft, these Google initiatives may not be designed to play well with other technologies, but then again, that’s how you create lock in.

Facebook apps will be a footnote in the history of cross-platform apps. Amazon’s EC2 and S3 services are doomed for death by Google. 

Latent Communities mean Social Networking Business

Are there communities, on-line or off-line, where its members are unaware of their memberships – or that the community even exists?

This might sound like a far-fetched academic argument, and in part it is (academic, that is). However, I believe that understanding the nature of this question will enable social networking entrepreneurs to create sticky communities in response.

My hypothesis is that a community, online or offline, can exist without its members’ knowledge of the existence of the community and thus does not engage in a mediated communication with other members. Maybe it’s not your father’s definition of a community. Or maybe that’s just what it is; let me indulge you with an example.

My in-laws used to have an old VW Camper. They tell me stories of going on road-trips in the 70’s where fellow VW Camper drives would honk when passing each other on the road, as to say “you’re one of us.” However, what’s “us?” My in-laws never attended any Camper owners’ fairs, or even knew if any such meet-ups existed. Did they feel, nonetheless, part of a distinct group of people with whom they had shared experiences, (albeit their shared experiences where derived individually)? You bet.

Speaking of freewheeling romantics; I remember in grad-school reading a somewhat obscure study about housewives in Des Moines who read romance novels. Unaware of the other romance novel reading housewives, the study make a case for classifying them as a community by virtue of their shared experiences as romance novel readers. (For the literary arts geeks: This study was a tangent of the concept of ‘interpretive communities’ – coined by Stanley Fish).

Now, you might not agree to classify these housewives or motorists as unknowing members of any communities, but consider this: Is red paint in a can still red when the lid is closed? The best answer might be “It’s latent. It’s got the potential for red.” Similarly, these people belong to latent communities.

Offering social networking solutions for latent communities could be a gold mine for social networking entrepreneurs for a multitude of reasons, including:

• They represent a new type of growth of the social networking ‘sector’ where membership growth has primarily been based on friend-networks, not subject matter networks.
• There is existing passion and engagement among its members that will lead to a lot of UGC.
• The subject matter may require a different platform for social networking than what’s offered by the one-size-fits-all platforms like Facebook.

One Page eCommerce Websites

I come across these one page websites from time to time. Most often via a link in an email newsletter that I shouldn't have subscribed too. These websites (i.e. one-pagers) are sometimes dozens of 'screens' long and tout one product, and one product only. 

The benefit of the one page is that it seems like such a quick read. But it never is. These pages are pushing products with a feel similar to cable TV infomercials running in the AM hours. ("If that wasn't enough, you'll also get widget Z free for just trying our product!")

However, something tells me that both of these marketing techniques work and give a pretty decent ROI. 

Are any 'serious' company using this marketing approach?  Should they? The jury (me) is out. How about you?

WEB 2.0 Hype, Hope and Unbridled Enthusiasm

One of the most frustrating things about working in an interactive agency is all the hype you have to sort through and explain to clients and prospects. They tear out pages from Wired magazine or send us a link to some article about a new technology that will solve everything, including world hunger.

“Why don’t we have this – why aren’t we doing this. I want my Web 2.0!”

I did say frustrating, but don’t get me wrong; it’s not something I’d rather do without!

It’s the price to pay for progress. In fact, I’m thrilled about the Web 2.0 hype – first of all because it is not all hype – but most of all because people are energized. Marketers are looking to the web for solutions, looking to dotcom agencies for reach and ROI.

It has really taken us quite some time to recover from the burst of the dotcom bubble. Not until the last couple of years has the web started to get its edge back; financially, in terms high-profile innovation and investments, ad spend and the impact on our lives in general. Dotcom is no longer a swearword.

There will be another shakeout, like in any maturing market. I don’t necessarily think the industry as a whole got it ‘right’ this time either. But smart companies are making new mistakes, not old ones. That’s what’s cool and that’s why Web 2.0 is more than new technology – it’s also new hope and energy.

Social tagging as marketing & spam

Marketers are still scratching their heads as to the impact of social tagging. It’s clear that it’s becoming a very powerful search methodology where any netizen, not Google or Yahoo! get a say in what’s relevant content. The search algorithm is no secret either: whichever site is most often associated (tagged) with term ‘X’, gets on top. At least it is for now.

Even Tom Hespos has discovered it, although his musings on the topic underscores that it’s seemingly not yet on the radar as a marketing tool.

Unfortunately, I think the democratic nature of this social tagging may lead to its downfall. It might be just a matter of time before sites like del.icio.us and Furl will be rendered useless by spammers who find ways to flood the system with bogus tags.

UNLESS, there is be a way to for these services to detect and block spamming. The best way to achieve this is probably to ask marketers to stay away from social tagging all together. With email the challenge in detecting spam is that spammers and legitimate marketers through their distribution methods have more in common with each other than with person-to-person email. How’s a poor spam filter supposed to know the difference? Don’t let the same thing happen to social tagging. Let spam stand out like a sore thumb!

That said, marketers, it about time you started to take advantage of social bookmarking and tagging!

Encourage and enable your brand loyalists to tag you. That’s not spam, that’s just another flavor of viral marketing, one that could actually improve the quality and usefulness of social tagging. It might be the closest thing to public service marketers will ever do. Don’t let that hold you (‘cough’… us) back.