The internet is taking over as a news source for adults.

A research report released by Pew Research Center shows that the internet now only lags television as the source for news for adults in the United States. Newspaper viewership has been bumped down. It seems the time is ticking for companies that are solely relying on newspapers as their source of revenue.  While other media channels were able to make gains in revenue in 2010, newspaper revenues fell (read more…).

What is surprising however, is that television was able to increase its revenues despite having the largest decrease of news viewership.

While the information about television from the above two graphs may seem contradictory (shouldn’t revenues shrink with a shrinking audience), the increase in revenues for television can be explained by the fact that they were largely helped by the bail-out of the auto sector in 2008; much of the auto sector’s advertising was done through television. As audiences continuously turn to the internet, it is not unreasonable to assume that the auto sector will begin to focus their resources on that medium. Time can only tell exactly when the internet will become the king as a news source, but it is inevitable of all the content and convenience the web has to offer.

The significance of the Pew Research Report is that the shift to the internet combined with the increasing online presence of social media and mobile use will mean that the way that journalism is reported and marketed may have to change. Social media is a marketing system in itself, and it has become quite apparent that people in networks, market to their networks, information that they find interesting. Furthermore, this occurrence is significantly enhanced with the ability of people to access the internet from their mobile. Finding out about news anytime, anywhere, will amplify the requirement for news media companies to be the first to report, and the news must be appealing to gain the attention of internet users from the infinit amount of online content. In addition, news will have to be readily accessible, and just like any content on the web, Search Engine Optimization, and Social Media Optimization will have to be amongst the primary goals of the news media.

In response to the March 12th Japan 8.9 magnitude Earthquake, Microsoft announced that it would donate $1 for every retweet to one of Bing’s twitter posts. The original post said, “How can you #SupportJapan — http://binged.it/fEh7iT. For every retweet, bing will give $1 to Japan quake victims, up to $100K.” Yes, Microsoft limited it to only $100k, and users of social media quickly responded negatively and backlashed against this capaign by expressing their dislike of the use of a tragedy as a marketing campaign.

A few hours later, Microsoft responded with a public apology and a promise to donate $100k stating “We apologize the tweet was negatively perceived. Intent was to provide an easy way for people to help Japan. We have donated $100K.” Read more.

By quickly issuing a public apology and not pretending that no wrong was done, Microsoft showed that it listens to its followers, and was therefore able to mitigate the damage that it itself has caused.

Companies that have poor reputation management, and low levels of social monitoring often do not realise how the public perceives them and their products. In today’s age, where marketing is strongly about pulling customers rather than pushing products towards them, a company that is negatively regarded often fails. Microsoft’s apology clearly displays that the power is actually with its customers.

Update: Microsoft Pledges $2 Million In Japan Quake Aid: “Company will donate $250,000 in cash and $1.75 million in free software and services that can be used to reestablish communications.”

For more information on social monitoring, click here.

For more information on reputation management, click here.

Social media seems to be a self-learned method for disaster response. In the wake of the Japanese 8.9 earthquake that happened on March 11^th 2011, the power of social media cannot go unnoticed. Individuals and families within the areas of the

disaster are able to tweet about their safety and status, can ask for help and

Lee Jae-won / Reuters

resources, point to areas that were more seriously affected and more. However, the difference that social media makes over other traditional media is ease of access and

immediacy. Social media allows one to quickly communicate with the people they feel can help immediately, or take the necessary action to help; I underline feel because it may not be the most effective method available at the moment, but I also think it can be. Many people in Japan are already showing its effectiveness through tweets using Twitter.

There was an incident in 2009 where a couple of young girls were trapped in a stormwater drain and used Facebook to get help by updating their Facebook status.  A friend of theirs read the status and contacted help. (Read more…)

If the girls were able to use their mobile to update their Facebook, why not call for help instead?

That same question was raised by the Metropolital Fire Service, as well as Terry Flew, a professor of Media and Communications at the Queensland University of Technology. Flew explains that public education campaigns are facing an ongoing struggle to compete with social media.

There is no clear answer to the question, but I think that the struggle against social media should stop; it should be embraced as a method for to bring relief; as Flew states, “clearly it’s not good enough to say ‘well they should have rung emergency services’, the point is that they didn’t, and we need to think about why that’s the case and what strategies can be used in the future.”  A simple emergency relief tab on Facebook, Twitter, mySpace that is monitored by emergency sevices is a possibility, and even a community relief page are simple ideas that I think should be considered.

Further comments and ideas about this would be greatly valued.



Organic search results are listings on a search engine results pages that appear because of their relevance and quality to the search terms entered as opposed to paid advertisements on those pages. In contrast, paid search results appear in opportune spots on a search engine results page, but at a cost.

On March 9^th 2011, eMarketer released an article based on User Centric’s findings, and explains that Paid search ads tend to be overlooked; the findings show that organic search results were viewed 100% of the time and that users spent, on average, about 10x longer looking at these results when compared to paid ads on search engines.  Right hand side paid ads were only seen 28% of the time on Google, and 21% of the time on Bing (read more…).

The implications of this simply mean that Search Engine Optimization is extremely important; at the same time however, it cannot be concluded that Paid Search should be dismissed in exchange for SEO of Organic Search. A recent survey conducted by Anil Batra shows that the bounce rate of users that clicked on paid ads that had “unique” landing pages was much lower than those without. Furthermore, in many cases, paid ads that had ‘unique’ landing pages also had, on average, lower bounce rates than a website accessed through organic search (read more…).

Make your own opinion:

Organic Search

Advantages:

• Free – does not cost anything
• Generates more traffic as most people pay attention to the organic search results, especially as they get more knowledgeable about the relevance of SEO and how paid advertising works.
• Ranking generally lasts as the historical clicks and attention to a website is recorded, and therefore helps maintain if not improve the ranking during times of re-evaluation periods by search engines

Disadvantages:

• If a website’s search ranking is low, very little traffic will be generated
• Website investment is required (need a relevant, great quality and content, and appealing website)
• Improving search ranking takes time, and there may be a high level of competition for key terms relevant to the website content

Paid Search

Advantages:

• Targeting by geography, time, and choice of keywords gives website administrators and marketers more control over which and when users see advertisements, as well as what they see as the advertisement description
• Can choose to run the advertising as a campaign, and quickly get results to find what is working and what isn’t
• Unique landing page control such that users land on the webpage of administrative choice

Disadvantages:

• Costs money (either per click, or by number of impressions)
• Impressions and clicks may not turn into conversions
• There is a continuous increase in competition

In deciding which to use, or both, an organization/administrator should consider the goals that are to be attained, and how to achieve them through the understanding of the advantages and disadvantages of both.

In the day and age were Social Media has become so prominent, online monitoring can allow a firm to prepare for crisis and reputation management, find niche campaign idea, research for future campaign ideas, and gain a competitive advantage through better understanding consumer behaviour, needs, and preferences. However, internal goals and systems must be aligned before a social media monitoring and campaign can be put in place so as to have a basis to compare what is happening in the media against the current goals and strategies.

I have provided a summary below of the 10 Steps for Successful Social Media Monitoring as explained by Maria Ogneva, a writer for Mashable:

1. Define an Objective – have a clear end goal to guide you to target your resources correctly
2. Decide Where to Monitor – determine the best channels to engage through and listen to
3. Decide What to Monitor – track what people are saying about the brand, products, company name, competitors etc.
4. Prioritize – Social media has many large channels and networks, focussing on key channels and networks will help you determine what is most important while using resources optimally
5. Develop a Plan – figure out how to manage different situations, and the online reputation
6. Involve Others – involving others can greatly help manage information flow
7. Listen first – listening provides the basis of creating a profile of members, stakeholders, and community norms and will give an idea of how to communicate within the community setting
8. Inbound vs. Outbound Conversations – outbound communication is the proactive participation in discussions, while inbounds refers to the communication that people are talking directly to you or about you with specific end goals.
9. Build Relationships – building relationships, especially with influencers, can allow you to have a voice and become a resource for others
10. Select Tools that Match your Strategy – selecting the right tools to use will be key to the effectiveness of the previous steps (read more…)

For more information on the above 10 steps, please click here.

As can be seen, Social Media Monitoring is an opportunistic approach to enhancing a brand/ name, and at the same time, allows for an better understanding of the target market and their influencers.

Since Google became the most used search engine, many businesses have scrambled to perform Search Engine Optimization (SEO), and while only a few can be at the top in SEO, and game changer has arrived, Search Media Optimization. Will it kill SEO? Probably not for a while, but it could.

Source: zealousweb.net

Search Media Optimization (SMO) is the methodisation of social media activity with the intent of attracting unique visitors to website content. SMO, in contrast to SEO, focuses on driving traffic to websites from sources other than search engines. SMO is like viral marketing technique except that “word of mouth” is created through the use of social bookmarking, blogs, RSS feeds, video, and photo sharing websites.

Social media has become a force to be reckoned with as it is becoming common knowledge that sites are starting to see and increasing number of visitors coming from social media sites such as Facebook than from search. According to Ben Elowitz, co-founder and CEO of Wetpaint, states: “the era of SMO liberates publishers from the exercise of tricks, hacks and keywords. Instead the big opportunity is now once again creating and refining the most appealing content possible.” Google has yet to crack the code on what drives social interest, it is currently a reflection of what people are interested in after enough interest is garnered. Facebook and other social media platforms can check “Likes” and quickly use that as an advantage in their marketing techniques, while Google has to wait for enough people to “search” data before it seems relevant enough to move up the search rankings.

Beware Google, it may be a good time to click the “Like” button on social media, and position yourself well in SMO.

Source: http://digitalquarters.net/2010/10/seo-is-dead-and-the-new-king-is-%E2%80%98smo%E2%80%99/

Owners and marketers of businesses often ask themselves how they can use the internet to find new customers and engage with existing customers. Social Media gives businesses the ability to amplify visibility and create a value proposition for their target customers.

Social Media serves as a platform to identify, learn, and connect with customers and prospects along with those who influence their decisions.

This means that Social Media provides a business the opportunity to:

1.       Identify and attract new customers

2.       Continuously engage with customers

3.       Develop a high awareness of the business within its target market

4.       Collaborate with all within the supply chain

While these opportunities alone can be extremely beneficial, especially for a small business as it can exponentially increase its brand awareness online, there is also another important factor that must be realised – the business image is now largely placed in the hands of its customers and patrons, and a business must be ready to deal with both positive and negative exposure. Learning to deal with these two forms of exposure can make or break a business.

So, how should a business embrace and manage Social Media?

1.       Social Media is a platform for building relationships

• A business must build a relationship with its patrons in Social Media. Responding to positive and negative feedback, while treating the patrons with dignity and respect, is a big part of maintaining and enhancing the image of a business, and shows that it values its patrons. Dealing constructively with negative exposure is extremely important.

2.       Use Social Media as a platform to communicate any special value to existing or potential customers

• Social Media provides a space where businesses can easily advertise special promotions.

3.       Become a part of the Community

• Showing involvement in communities further creates exposure, and this exposure is controlled by the business and can therefore almost always be positive.

Social Media gives a business the firewood, and it is up to that business to light it and make it shine, but must be careful not to burn itself.

In early February 2011, a move seen as a chance for redemption for AOL by some and also a move that makes no sense to others, AOL acquired Huffington Post and puts the combined companies in a position to command over 250 million unique visitors online globally. AOL is currently fading in its dial-up Internet services and is trying to re-establish itself as a media empire that is already made up of MapQuest, AOL Music, Engadget, TechCrunch, and other well known media platforms. Huffington Post is one of the top 10 online news companies and boasts a large online visitor base of over 25 million monthly viewers and blog posts by celebrity contributors (who post for free) such as Bill Gates and Barack Obama.

According to Ben Parr, author of the article “AOL’s $315 Million Bet: “The Huffington Post” Will Make It Relevant Again [OP-ED]” states: “Until today, AOL has been a disorganized collection of media entities that weren’t strong enough on their own to truly transform AOL into a media powerhouse.”

“The acquisition of The Huffington Post will create a next-generation American media company with global reach that combines content, community, and social experiences for consumers,” said Tim Armstrong, Chairman and CEO of AOL. “Together, our companies will embrace the digital future and become a digital destination that delivers unmatched experiences for both consumers and advertisers.”

Arianna Huffington went on to state, “The Huffington Post will continue on the same path we have been on for the last six years – though now at light speed – by combining with AOL. We are fusing a legendary and powerful new media brand with [an] innovative news organization, known for its distinctive voice [and] highly engaged audience.”

It can be identified from what Armstrong and Huffington are voicing is that there is a goal to create a large community of visitors who go online to access interactive content. Where there are online visitors, there is also an opportunity to make money through online paid advertising. AOL has been using this knowledge to try and reinvent itself; however, passed acquisitions of MySpace, Friendster, and others have been deemed as failures, we will have to wait and see if AOL has learned from its past failures and make itself relevant, especially since online media is even more competitive than before.

The days when a friend was defined as a “person” that you know well and regard with affection and trust may be changing. Today, businesses use Social Media, such as Facebook Fan Pages to create a relationship that is almost if not equal to the past definition of a “friend.” When an individual starts to interact with a corporation’s fan page, that person is starting to form a relationship with that corporation. After having browsed through several of the most well known fan pages of different corporations (e.g. Coca-Cola, YouTube, Red bull, etc), it became quite obvious that consumers are beginning to communicate with corporations almost as if they are good acquaintances. In addition, corporations are attempting to do the same. For example on the Facebook Red Bull Fan Page, a thread on Shaun White, a fan favourite snowboarder, was started by Red Bull just before his attempt to get Gold at the 2011 Winter X Games. It’s as if the corporation itself is a fan of him. That thread has garnered over 283 comments from Red Bull fans that have their own opinions related to Shaun and the event; usually these kinds of discussions are done between friends or in sport forums. Often I get calls from friends asking, “hey, are you watching the hockey game?” This is not so different from what Red Bull has been doing with the use of their fan page.

While I as yet would do not feel that I am a “friend” of any particular corporation, I do however think that the lines where a “person” is used in the definition of a friend may soon change into a word more closely aligned with the meaning of “entity.” An article titled “What Makes Facebook Fan Pages Successful” states that “engagement, interest and constant connection keep fans coming back to a company’s Facebook fan page.” Disney has used Disney trivia and different promotions to engage its fans while Oreo has launched an interactive online game. Both these methods have greatly helped the two corporations skyrocket to close to the top of the list of Facebook pages with the most fans. In their own ways, these firms’ engagement, interest, and constant connection with consumers are no different than the expectations that one usually has of his/her friends. If a corporation is able to develop trust and affection from a consumer, then the concept of brand loyalty, with the help of Social Media, perhaps may reach new levels that were before never even thought possible.

Sources: www.facebook.com; www.emarketer.com

It is well known that the world is in a trend toward using mobile computing devices (smartphones and tablets). The big talk around of the expected success of a company that offers these devices is strongly based on the mobile applications (apps) available for these devices. For example, Research In Motion is a company that has constantly been scrutinized for its lack apps on its Blackberry devices. Apple, and Google’s Android have been gaining market share in the mobile device market, while RIM has been losing market share. The media has explained that this is due to Apple and Google’s Android mobile devices providing a much larger number and better variety of applications than available on RIM’s Blackberries. I have also read many articles pointing out that this is perhaps Blackberry’s biggest problem, and that RIM would continue to lose market share unless it changed its ways and offered more competent apps.

An article I found on www.emarketer.com titled “Mobile Users Prefer Browsers over Apps” states that “mobile users polled by Keynote Systems for Adobe reported a preference for mobile browsers to access virtually all mobile content. Games, music and social media were the only categories in which users would rather use a downloaded app than browse the mobile web.”

While games, music, and social media are a very big part of smartphones and tablets, the internet browser cannot be dismissed as a key requirement for any portable computing device. The figure to the left shows users prefer to use browsers over apps for video, news, sports, blog, and product review content. The question that now arises is:

If a mobile device can offer the best browsing experience, will it succeed?

The article “Mobile Users Prefer Browsers over Apps” further states that “[such mobile user] preferences may surprise mobile experts who consider apps to offer the best content and shopping experiences. And marketers may be frustrated as well; getting an app on a user’s home screen is a constant reminder of the brand, but it doesn’t make sense to offer an app users don’t want.”

I have experienced comparative browser qualities and capabilities on both of Apple and Android mobile devices, while RIM’s Blackberries have not been able to measure up to the competition. This may be another large factor of why RIM is losing market share against Apple and Android. I believe, however, that as computing becomes increasingly mobile, and with the trend toward cloud computing, perhaps current downloaded mobile apps are not quite as important as they are said to be, and that browser capabilities and usability might be the answer to RIM’s problems.

Currently, apps require storage space on devices, and yet it is known, that Microsoft and IBM have bet on cloud computing where information is stored in large dynamic data bases that browsers connect to rather than programs stored on individual computers.

If cloud computing is the way of the future, and it requires a browser, and users prefer browsers over apps, then does it not beg the consequence that mastering a user’s browser experience even perhaps through “webapps” would be the way of future success rather than apps that are downloaded?