Good Read: Drake Morton

Be Smart, Be Social

by Jeremiah McMillan , Wednesday, Nov. 16, 2011

As “content everywhere” business models continue to expand at a rapid pace, it becomes abundantly clear what the devices and platforms defining and driving TV and digital entertainment contents convergence are.

With convergence, content providers and producers need to know and have survival skills to compete in “content everywhere” markets — including what the revenue, brand and digital extensions mean to the bottom line.

A few market shifts are painting a much clearer picture. Understanding “smart” platforms and devices, and what defines “social TV” content engagement, especially for the younger generations, is crucial to content business models in a “content everywhere” world.

Basically, multi-screen content strategy for 2012 and beyond is all about being “smart” and being “social.”

This is clear from the attention on a few new research studies that show global online TV and video revenues hitting $22 billion by 2016, up from $3.4 billion in 2010.

U.S. executives can look at with anticipation, or concern at the prediction that the U.S.’s share of that market will drop from 54% to 36% as the “globalization of content” and how people receive it takes off, with connected devices and platforms in Europe and Asia driving the growth in on-line video and TV revenues more than any other.

Smart And Social Digital Extensions:
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Interesting Read: Drake Morton

Why Google+ Matters

by David Berkowitz , Thursday, July 7, 2011

I’m done writing about Google+, at least for today. Fortunately, I have enough material for a column thanks to the powers of crowdsourcing — the act of tapping the community to achieve a common objective. In this case, I posted a message on Google+, publicly asking, “Why does Google+ matter?”
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Excellent Read: Drake Morton

Does Advertising And Digital Behavior Lack

A Unified Theory And Method For Measurement And Analysis?

by Judah Phillips , Friday, April 15, 2011

Major brainpower and capital is spent measuring digital behavior in the context of the performance of customer acquisition sources.  I mean referrers, like search (seo/sem), crm, emails, and other forms of paid, owned, and/or earned media;and, then spending mental energy and money optimizing digital customer experience for conversion and/or retention.  Digital analytical evolution over the last several years should no longer support a focus only on the linear flow of acquisition to conversion to loyalty.  The devolution of the “funnel” metaphor (are we not measurers?) makes sense because of the complexity of the digital and non-digital ecosystem, which has a multitude of customer touchpoints that lead to value-generating customer performance.  Do you believe the linear “funnel” is insufficient?   Is it really a “tumbler”?
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Good Read: Drake Morton

Less than 1% of Web Site Visits Come

from Social Media

By: Erik Sass:

One of social media’s big selling points is the high degree of user engagement it generally produces — but paradoxically this “stickiness” may also be a liability, as heavily-engaged users are also less likely to follow links leading to sites outside the social media universe. At least, that’s the conclusion I draw from some interesting research findings just released by ForeSee Results. (more…)

Good Read: Drake Morton

Five Social Trends To Get Excited About Today

by David Berkowitz , Tuesday, April 5, 2011

The digitally social world is moving so fast that as spring shows itself, it’s time to smell the roses. Here are five trends to get excited about right now, with five more coming soon.

1) Group Buying

Why does it matter? When these deals are truly social, there are countless opportunities to reach audiences and grow sales far beyond the initial audiences.

Who it impacts: Anyone with something to sell online can take part, such as retail, consumer packaged goods (CPG), travel, automotive, and many others.

How big is it? Needham & Co. pegs the local daily deals sector at $1.9 billion in the U.S., $3.7 billion globally this year, and forecasts it will grow to $4.5 billion here and $10.3 billion globally in 2015.

Watch out: Sometimes merchants must break the bank to woo customers. Certain sites like Scoutmob allow deal size-caps.

Best in class: LivingSocial is one daily deal site that is still social in name as well as deed, given that deals are free if three of your friends buy them.
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Good Read: Drake Morton

Teaching Old Dogs Seven New Tricks

The MTV Movie Awards are a trending topic on Twitter and the Internet is buzzing with comments on fashion, funny moments, celebs and performances. Chances are pretty good that teens are also talking about it offline and posting comments on their Facebook pages.
Last month, Twitter updated the algorithm that’s responsible for determining what’s in its Trending Topics list to display “breaking news” and “hottest emerging trends.” The change bumped off 16-year-old singer sensation Justin Bieber, which shocked him and his fans. Fans responded immediately by figuring out how to get him back on the list. They started spelling Justin’s name as Twieber or Jieber to get around the change. Look now, and Twieber is back on the top Trending Topics list.

Smart move on the part of Justin’s fans, and it points to some really important facts about how teens interact through social channels — and how we can learn from that behavior and apply it to traditional email marketing. (more…)

Good Read: Drake Morton

Social Media As A Sales Tool

by Angela Hribar , Friday, February 19, 2010

Many companies are starting to experiment with social media and how it can be integrated into their overall marketing strategy to support company goals and objectives.

In addition to creating and promoting a corporate presence on various social media Web sites, it also makes sense for sales professionals to become familiar with social media, and to use it for the benefit of their business.

Getting involved in social media can offer value to sales professionals, without requiring hours of time.  In fact, there are a number of benefits to be gained by spending only minutes a week on popular social media sites such as LinkedIn and Twitter.

Take advantage of these six guidelines for engaging in social media as a sales tool: (more…)

 Good Information: Drake Morton

Going Social

Anywhere and Everywhere

OCTOBER 30, 2009

Tweeting while driving

Despite the slowing growth of Twitter after its explosion earlier in 2009, many users still cannot get enough. Crowd Science reports that in August 2009, although only 27% of Twitter users posted daily, 46% checked for updates every day. Almost one in five social media users reported using Twitter in the past week.

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Interesting Read and Take-a-Way: Drake Morton

Socialized Email?

You Can’t Ignore Thousands Of New Users

by Ryan Deutsch , Thursday, September 17, 2009

Newly emerging metrics – all email marketers should be considering when looking at integrating social media into their programs. Since then I have had the opportunity to help a number of clients socialize their email campaigns to increase reach and conversions. Today, I would like to share the results that one of these clients has realized: online personal financial service Mint.com, recently acquired by Intuit.

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 Good Read: Drake Morton

Five Ways To Measure Social Media

by Jim Sterne , Friday, August 28, 2009

Ahhhhh — social media. Addictive. Fun. Downright social!

But how valuable is it? How do you tell?

There are dozens of reckoning tools online to tally up any and all countable social media elements. Most of them are interesting and some actually useful. Rather than drill down into specifics, let’s take a bird’s-eye view of the types of measurements that might prove useful to the marketing professional.

We’re looking to answer these questions: (more…)