August 29, 2008

A view into the world of Marketing.

Politics - apparently it isn't about the issues in the video circuit.
- It is the summer of love; John McCain used satire and humor with his "Can't Take My Eyes Off of You" video; a montage of news readers and journalists going ga-ga over Barack Obama. While subsequently pulled from the site, it was meant to paint the media as one sided and use voting on what song best represented . (From Michael Gass' Fuel Lines).
- It is the real estate market; Barak Obama has been using the snafu over how many houses McCain owns to paint an elitist view. Its either seven or ten.
Social Network Marketing: leveraging conversations to align solutions to the needs of the audience. (thanx to LJ Jones for help on this one.) It isn't about advertising and selling as Seth Goldstein of Social Media Networks talked about in a speech to the IAB. "Social media is killing advertising." The brands most interested in social media are those looking to build connection through branding. It isn't about utility or rational functionality its about emotion and engagement.
For the "I don't get it" crowd: this is all new territory just like newspapers, radio, talking movies and TV were once upon a time. All new media go through growing pains. "[new tactics are] important if people spend an ungodly amount of time with them."
If you're an adult and dealing with businesses, then email is the channel. Ipsos research asked adult Internet users their preferred method of communication. The results also showed that people maintain multiple email addresses for different purposes.

Communication Preferred by Adult Internet Users When Dealing With Businesses April 2008
*Type of Communication*	*% of Respondents*
Email	67%
Web site	34
Postal mail	35
Fixed-line voice	29
Mobile voice	12
Fax	13
Text/SMS	2
IM	5
Web meetings	2
Video conferencing	1.3
Source: Ipsos/Habeas, May 2008

Not surprising then that direct marketers use email as the top choice: 72% send emails to customers, 50% to prospects. The source of the list remains a critical element of the campaign. Direct mail is second, with the rest of the tactics eroding. (see June issue of Direct).
Tracking conversations online? Here's a collection of tools to consider: Facebook Lexicon, Summize (Twitter), BoardTracker, and IceRocket.
Classified ads continue to be the traffic builder. First craigslist, then local TV and radio stations, and now Walmart.com. So, what's your classified strategy?
New ad platforms for social media continue to emerge and evolve. "social targeting" is the new black with the goal of raising CPMs (nobody seems to be talking much about CPC) from the sub $1 level to the $1-$2 range. Still a far cry below the premium content sites where CPM will push $30. Wouldn't want to see a business model for a social network site predicated on an advertising revenue model.
Vilfredo Pareto might have been right about the distribution of wealth, but the contributions to social news/content sites skews even further to a smaller cadre of people. An analysis by Eric Lander of Sphinn data shows that people take on different roles - some submit, some comment, and a lot just read. So make sure to understand the objectives before deciding on metrics.