An evolving feast…engaging with the readers of your blog
Posted by: Lisa on: September 12, 2008
Mark Cahill has written an interesting post claiming that some of the ‘sacred cows’ of building blog readership are becoming less relevant:
- The value of trackbacks has been destroyed by spammers
- Technorati has now been overtaken by Google Blog Search as the key source of linking information.
He suggests that this new world requires a new strategy: a focus on depth of reader engagement rather than counting the volume of passing eyeballs, and the encouragement of links, links and more links.
Here is a summary of Mark’s excellent action list:
Content – create compelling content and more open calls to discussion.
Linking - provide more links to people writing on the same issues.
Value - find ways to provide better value to the reader.
Understand the readership – think more about what the market really desires than simply writing for yourself.
To develop community, use community - spend more time reading and commenting on other blogs in your sphere of influence, using your url in your signature.
Increase post volume – increase the number of interesting tidbits on which you comment. Not every post needs to be a definitive guide on a subject.
Social networking – don’t forget to direct blog posts into Facebook and Twitter, but without inundating your network with overly specialist material J
More community – get more involved in communities where you will be in front of people whom your blog is written for. Social networking should lead to more face to face marketing opportunities, not less!
Dive deep into Google – use the free analytics tools to find out what is going on, and then make changes as required.
No doubt this list will look very different again a year from now, but that makes it all so much more fun! I’ve put the Technorati tags in anyway…
New term, new challenges
Posted by: Lisa on: September 11, 2008
Alan and I from the PAYW Team had a trip to Bournemouth University last night to introduce our material to the CIM Dorset branch, and the next ‘hands on’ Workshop will be held at the Hub, near Liverpool Street, London, on 10th October. You can find out more details and book your place here
Alan has also been busy upgrading and restructuring How To Do Business around our current projects, and we will both be presenting on the University of Southampton’s new Marketing DNA executive programme from January 15th – 17th. Our course is called Optimising Multi Channel Communications, and we will be covering the latest tools and techniques of online marketing – rather like Punch Above Your Weight on steroids J
We hope to see you there!
Groundswell: it’s all about attitude rather than technology
Posted by: Lisa on: August 30, 2008
‘Groundswell’ by Charlene Li and Josh Bernoff is a thoughtful and clearly written book that is as much about attitude as it is about technology. It benefits greatly from the backing of Forrester Research which has provided the hard data illustrating the changing behaviour of online consumers and their growing use of web 2.0 technologies. Although much of this data is from the US, there are also some useful comparison tables profiling European and Far Eastern consumers by age, geography, political affiliation etc.
The book begins with a useful review of a range of web 2.0 tools that includes separate sections on how to use them, how they can help to build customer relationships and also how they may threaten established ways of doing business. It then moves onto the thorny topic of evaluation – how can you assess which of these tools are right for your company, and what should the timescales for introducing them be? Is the kudos associated with being at the ‘bleeding edge’ of a new tool worth the increased risk of failure, or is it better to wait and learn from the mistakes of others?
Next the authors introduce their customer profiling categories which they rather dauntingly term ‘social technographics’. Do you know which of your customers are ‘creators’, ‘critics’, ‘collectors’, ‘joiners’, ‘spectators’ or ‘inactives’? Clearly if most of them come into the final category (yes – the authors do acknowledge that there are still significant numbers of people who are not prepared to engage online) then your new social media strategy is going to be rather wasted…but understanding the profile of your customers allows you to develop appropriate strategies. If a high percentage of them are critics, then have you thought through how you will respond to negative comments they make on your blog posts? And how will you encourage the creators to contribute the sort of content that the spectators will want to read?
The remainder of the book focuses a chapter on each of 5 specific objectives that ‘early adopter’ case studies of the Groundswell are pursing:
- Listening (or ‘research’ in old money)
- Talking (customer communications)
- Energising (sales)
- Supporting (customer support)
- Embracing (collaborative development)
The examples are bang up to date, and additional value comes from the sections in how the new policies will change the organisation once implemented, and also the ROI calculations to help convince the sceptics. The final chapter demonstrates how the Groundswell principles can be applied within organisations as a necessary precursor to effective external application.
In summary, the Groundswell is about attitude rather than technology. Social strategies can flourish only in a culture of openness where criticism is tolerated and responded to in a proactive manner, change is regarded as an opportunity rather than a threat, and senior managers actively support new initiatives. The book is less clear on how progression can be made within the many organisations that do not meet these criteria…and the end notes would give the text more weight if they were integrated within the chapters, but these are minor gripes. If your role involves implementing or teaching marketing strategy, or if you are an entrepreneur developing your own business, then you should read this book and open your mind to the fundamental changes that it recommends.
Our next Punch Above Your Weight workshop…
Posted by: Lisa on: August 18, 2008
…for small businesses who wish to stand out from the crowd by implementing the latest online marketing tools and techniques takes place on 10th October at The Hub, near Liverpool Street Station, London. You can book your place at www.punchaboveyourweight.com
Gifted Amateurs lead the way with Cloud Computing
Posted by: Lisa on: August 17, 2008
Recent articles in Business Week (‘How Cloud Computing is Changing the World’ by Rachael King), and the Financial Times (‘Back to Bust?’ by Richard Waters) chime with the experiences of the ‘Gifted Amateurs’ attending our Punch Above Your Weight workshops. These entrepreneurs are growing their businesses with limited time, expertise and available budget by drawing upon new web-based technologies such as the Google Docs, blogs and emerging social networks. They are circumventing the need for increasingly complex IT systems as their businesses grow by continuing to rely upon cost-effective Web 2.0 tools and their own networking skills.
Business Week notes how tapping into web-based applications represents a significant change in the way that businesses obtain software and computing power. It draws upon the example of a $11 billion electronics manufacturing company called Sanmina-SCI which is using Google Apps for email, document sharing and diary planning. Merrill Lynch suggests that such ‘cloud computing’ will expand into a global market of $95 billion over the next 5 years.
The Financial Times describes the example of 2nd Wind Exercise Equipment which has saved over $200,000 by switching its email system from Microsoft Exchange to Google’s Gmail. In a worsening economic climate, cost savings like these are not to be sneezed at for those companies prepared to take a chance with Cloud Computing. The risks, of course, concern the reliability and security of cloud-based systems. As Broadstuff shows there have been a number of high profile ‘out-ages’ already this year by providers such as Amazon S3, Google Docs, MobileMe and Twitter.
The above examples show that proactive companies are dipping their toes cautiously into the Cloud – using it mainly for non-essential applications at the moment, but with a view to extending their commitments if their experience is positive. For the new business ventures of our Gifted Amateurs, the trade off between the cost savings of Cloud Computing and the occasional reliability glitch is definitely worth it.
Book Review: Web 2.0: A Strategy Guide, by Amy Shuen
Posted by: Lisa on: August 11, 2008
This timely book contains a number of interesting contemporary case studies of such luminaries as Flickr, Amazon, Netflix, Facebook, LinkedIn and Google. These examples illustrate how Web 2.0 permits the early enthusiasm that exploded with the dotcom bubble to be finally realised, now that network effects are established, capital costs have reduced, high speed broadband access dominates, user engagement is welcomed and the ‘long tail’ has been made accessible.
The explanations of Web 2.0 principles are easy to follow, and each chapter includes a list of practical questions that proactive businesses should be addressing if they are considering whether to venture into what are still largely uncharted waters. For example, an excellent question that Amy Shuen poses to Marketing Managers is “can you identify the 1-3% ‘active uploaders’ in your customer community and then engage them as evangelists for your business?” Clear warnings are also contained within the text for those businesses that fail to see the relevance of Web 2.0, or who regard it as a threat rather than an opportunity.
The real value of this book is provided in the end notes which highlight established books and articles about strategy that have ‘stood the test of time’, and also where traditional academic frameworks have been usefully updated with Web 2.0 thinking. (For example, see the discussion of Michael Porter’s SIX forces and Clayton Christensen’s disruptive innovation.) Pointers are also made towards new research that is now emerging from around the world that directly investigates the business implications of a Web 2.0 world.
Overall this is a well written and thought-provoking book, although a few more European examples would have been welcome J
Be afraid…be very afraid
Posted by: Lisa on: July 18, 2008
Alan Cane’s recent article in the FT, “Adding IT to the SME toolkit” http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/df378cac-4a45-11dd-891a-000077b07658.html provides an interesting overview of the often difficult relationship between technology suppliers and small businesses. However, in defining a small business as one with 10 employees or more, he ignores the 70 percent of businesses in the UK who employ only the founder, and the further 25 percent who employ fewer than 10 people.
Our research with such businesses shows that many are indeed using technology to build strong market presence and to “punch above their weight”. However they are doing this through freely available online software such as Skype communications, YouTube videos, weblogs and RSS (really simple syndication) news and information feeds. This “freeware” strategy helps small companies avoid reliance on particular suppliers, as well as removing the expense, complexity and bureaucracy that tends to be associated with traditional IT systems.
What are your views? Should technology vendors be afraid of the growing power of ‘gifted amateurs’ punching above their weight with freeware?
FUEL Web 2.0 Conference in London 13th June
Posted by: Lisa on: June 28, 2008
Gathered at FUEL the next day (www.fuel-conference.com) were the sons (but not many of the daughters) of the Goodwood delegates. Here are some bullet points copied from the tweets I sent at the event to provide a flavour of the day (with thanks to Alan Patrick for the idea):
- Richard Moross from Moo.com keeping employees happy with cake and beer
- Rummble.com allows you to update multiple platforms in one hit
- The Web 2.0 company praised most frequently today is Flickr
- The word ‘mashup’ is going out of fashion…but has the mainstream even got to it yet?
- Innocent drinks use the product carton as media space…and they have a great sense of humour
- www.summize.com turns tweets into conversations
- www.twitpic.com allows you to post photos to twitterfeed, worth a look
- www.ustream.TV provides live video for the opportunistic, see http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/technology/2008/06/mobile_video_are_we_getting_th.html for Rory’s analysis of various new video tools
- The trend towards pulling required content by RSS means people are bypassing even the snazziest websites
- This is very cool – check out your brand’s footprint at http://virgindev.saintdigital.co.uk/flash/VirginEye.html
- Virgin is one of the few corporate brands cool enough to be credible in the Web 2 world
Global Summit at Goodwood House 11th/12th June
Posted by: Lisa on: June 28, 2008
The last couple of weeks have been very hectic and one highlight was the Global Summit http://www.21cglobalsummit.com at Goodwood House, an amazing venue as you can see from the pictures. The delegates were mainly from telco and media companies who were trying to make sense out of developments in technology and emerging collaborative business models.
The owner of Goodwood, Lord March, gave a very interesting talk at the Gala Dinner about the development of the prestige ‘Goodwood brand’. The estate provides high quality leisure experiences encompassing history, fine art, premier league horse racing, vintage cars and champagne.
I was a panel member for the Innovation and Disruption session along with senior managers from Transport for London, Virgin Media and Amdocs. The most memorable aspect of the discussion was the scale of the challenge facing Transport for London in providing an efficient transport infrastructure for the London Olympics in terms of finance, logistics and communication. At the other end of the business spectrum I talked about how the ‘gifted amateurs’ we studied in the Punch Above Your Weight project are making waves with innovative and inexpensive online marketing techniques.
Alan Jenkins from Broadstuff has blogged in detail about individual presentations here: http://broadstuff.com/archives/1019-21st-Century-Global-Summit-Part-I.html
All in all it was a very informative and friendly event and despite being some distance from London the location is hard to beat.
Punch Above Your Weight works outing
Posted by: DrAlanRae on: June 16, 2008
Last Friday the PayWeight team – Lisa, Jas and me – went to the FUEL conference at RIBA.
Dressed in web 2.0 black, we were lucky enough to hear some great case studies and have our prejudices confirmed.
Tara Hunter (www.twitter.com/missrogue) gave us 260 slides on making whuffie – which largely covered ideas like giving something valuable away, listening a lot, being part of the community, paying attention to detail, embracing chaos and having a higher purpose.
In other words – a policy of live R&D in which we try and add something of value wherever we go.
Then Keir Whittaker gave us a review of tools for collaboration. We were delighted that his recommendations included our core tools like basecamp, google docs. wordpress, flickr and feedburner, you-tube and viddler.
At least it confirmed to us that web 2.0 communication and collaboration are two sides of the same coin – which is where are own Punch Above Your Weight researches are rapidly taking us.
And he introduced us to some new tools – like www.qik.com, www.summize.com, www.ustream.tv and www.libsyncom. Not to mention www.wufoo.com which we’d come across before.
Then we had some great case studies. How Virgin Atlantic used web 2.0 to pressurise the US Department of Transport’s ruling that they couldn’t fly in the US because of non US (ie British) ownership. How sponsoring the speakers’ room is a great way to get exposure at a major conference and the way that Innocent leverage their genuine, community based, values systems to expand their family. Down to having individual hand knitted hats on the cartons for Christmas.
All in all a good day out, interesting conversations with both Sun and Microsoft.
And if you are into pictures you just HAVE to check out http://labs.live.com/photosynth/bbc/default.htm. You are going to love it.
More at our Punch Above Your Weight Collaboration Pilot on Friday 20th more details here.
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- lisaharris: RT: @Marthalanefox: Online ad spend 'set to climb by more than 7% in 2010' http://bit.ly/4yrXeS (via @media_guardian)
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- lisaharris: BL/JISC study of Gen Y doctoral researchers finds that few make use of web 2 tools http://tinyurl.com/ydrgwcf
