NPR has a really well put together survey right now about the use of Facebook and other new media tools to access their news. What I like about it is that it asks your user habit, interaction preference, and just the basic demographics. It gives you the sense that they care about your privacy (although being so careful means that they aren’t the first movers in the latest social media trends).
If you’re an NPR fan, follow them on Facebook, Twitter, the web or radio, it’s definitely worth the three minutes to fill it out and give your feedback.
I suggested adding the Facebook “Like” button to their web posts because it’s a great passive way to share their stories without being invasive on someone’s wall or requiring them to include a comment about it, as Facebook links often require (or so it feels).
I’m curious to see what the results are. If they post it, I’ll be sure to include it here as an update.
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A recent post at BusinessInsider reads “One huge bummer about e-books: No one can see how smart you are“, citing that publishers find the transition to e-books the beginning of the end for them, as well as retail bookstores. The reasons cited in the article appear to be two-fold:
The real bummer here is that book publishers are not seizing the opportunity to transition a reader’s behaviour to “show-off” from their intimate living rooms to “sharing” on the vast Social Web. The two reasons above are simply excuses that will likely fail at buying traditional publishers time.
Book publishers and sellers alike could instead be spending their efforts addressing the demise of the printed book (glass half empty)… or rather, the rise of the e-book (glass half full).
Cover art is dead?
Far from it, in fact. Cover art is now more important than ever. With e-book readers like the Kindle and iPad, publishers have the opportunity take a single image, and create a dynamic cover that gives a potential readers more than a singular visual impression.
Read moreTHEN
Marketing and branding were about pushing your message to consumers. You sold them what they never knew they wanted.
Marketing used to be all about the product or service. What made your product unique from anything else on the market? What was the value-add in your version versus a competitor? Did you have the best price or experience for the money?
Branding was all about the image of that product or service. What perception did you want your customers to have about your company? What did customers feel about consuming what you had to offer?
NOW
Marketing and branding are responses to real-time customer demands and needs. Customers are telling you what they want. You are listening – more than ever – to the consumer, instead of dictating to them what they can or cannot live without.
Marketing is now much more than the product or service. While people still connect with an object such as a particular coffee brand or airline, it’s not enough to sell how tasteful your peppermint latte is or the extra 6-inches of legroom compared to a competitor.
Likewise, branding is now about customer interaction (not to be confused with customer service), corporate social responsibility, online culture and community, and much more.
Making this shift to social media isn’t an easy move. Wait too long to get on the bandwagon, and you’ve lost your first-mover advantage. Act too fast, and you may not have a well thought-out strategy.
So how do you know whether to jump into the next new web trend? How do you evaluate your presence in that landscape? How do you use the new media tool in such a way that no one else is using it? Thinking outside the box and being innovative with the new media tools will help in setting your company, brand and product apart.
Whether it’s a mobile app, interactive website that has nothing to do with your product and everything about your consumers, there’s definitely a niche that you can create for yourself within your industry that will accomplish the original goals of branding and marketing.
Here are a few new media integration examples that are successful at tying together “new marketing” and “new branding” into the digital customer experience:
The Sonicare Facebook application keeps the user engaged over and over again by encouraging good dental hygiene through a “pet” tooth. Take better care of our “canine” and be privy to special gifts and promotions.
When someone takes action with their pet tooth, it can appear on their friends news feeds, and is always visible on the owner’s profile.
In today’s social network landscape where the popularity of social gaming such as Mafia Wars and Farmville are growing exponentially, it’s smart for a brand to jump into the arena with the right interactive app.
Coca-cola claims that Coke Zero has been one of the most successful product launches in its history. In the two years since its release, Coke Zero has sold nearly 450 million cases and is available in more than 100 countries. So why not take this success and broad reach to connect your fans online?
That’s exactly what cokezero.com does. The site says nothing about the product except for a wordmark that includes the tagline “Real Coke Taste. Zero Calories.” Instead, their site is home to the Facial Profiler application, which uses Facebook Connect to troll tagged images of you to help find your look-alike.
The premise? A social experiment: If millions of people like you enjoy Coke Zero, then there surely is another person that looks like you that enjoys Coke Zero.
Your new media presence doesn’t always have to be through a web browser. USAA takes personal finance management to a whole new level with their iPhone app. Unique features include:
[Unfortunately, this isn't a well thought out post, and completely un-researched. I write this blog-post-turned-essay as a way to spark constructive discussion about the Web and the way it is transforming lives.]
Happy 40th birthday Internet.
The first test that led to the operation of the Internet happened on September 2, 1969. Many other things happened that summer, including the Apollo 11 lunar landing and Woodstock. All three events changed the course of history in then unimaginable ways. None, however, has affected individual lives as much as the Internet.
The Internet made the Web possible. (By comparison, the Web is only half the age of the Internet.)
I’ve been thinking a lot about how the Web has changed so much about our society, culture and habits. Many are embracing it, while others will continue to shun it. Regardless of which side you’re on, it’s hard to ignore the fact that the Web is here to stay.
Read moreHow does the Internet see you?
That is the question that Personas, a project at MIT, asks. It’s a kind of Doppler Radar for your Web presence. Here’s what my Personas looks like.
It leaves me wondering… what’s so “illegal” about me?
I don’t think there’s anything you can decipher or definitively pull from the Personas analysis. But it is a great way to take an alternate look at your personal brand on the World Wide Web.
Here’s an analysis for Liz Pulliam Weston, a personal finance adviser, and contributor to MSN. Liz’s presence is much more diverse, colorful, and spans 29 dimensions (versus my three). If nothing else, it says that her brand touches a wide-spectrum of interest and very broadly on the Web.
And why not type in your corporate brand as well and see what comes up?
[Hat-tip to Sam Kaufman]
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