Posts by InsightsDigital

In the age of online transparency, building trust with your consumers is very important in building your online community. Thus, building trust may take time and effort. I would like to know how others on this site have build trust online?
http://www.ducttapemarketing.com/blog/2009/08/17/building-trust-online/

Is there such a thing as "online clout"? What do you think of those "twelebrities" or super facebook fans with thousands of friends or who can forget Tila Tequila whose claim to fame was having excessive numbers of friends.
I read a post on Seth Godin's blog about online clout which made me think - http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2009/09/clout.html
The question I do have is: Even if you have a high "clout level", can you personally pick up the phone and call these so called friends and contacts?

I know many of us have created our websites in WordPress. From a SEO perspective, it is a great tool. But of course, with every service or product, there is always a new and better competitor. So as Im reading a blog, I read about squarespace. It seems affordable, so far. But I wonder what would entice me, a Wordpress user, to check out this new service. I posed the question to you. Why would you check out squarespace?

I know that as internet marketers, we are very aware of how pervasive social media is in today's society. However, there are situations where it is better to be offline than online, especially if its a life or death situation. Thus, when I read news clips like this one on mashable: http://mashable.com/2009/09/07/trapped-girls-facebook/ it makes me think twice. It is like people returning each other's calls with text messages instead.

I just read an article on Ad Age about how Nielsen have confirmed what we all knew, that advertising spent went down in 2009. It also reflect that advertising spend was affected not only online, but on traditional form of advertising as well.
http://adage.com/mediaworks/article?article_id=138852
So have you personally have seen effects of the Recession on your advertising spend?

For those who are pro-Microsoft, Microsoft has their own research panel you can participate. Google it.

I personally had an online poll on one of my blogs and I never had any takers. But then again, not everyone who visits your blog will take the poll.

There are many scooping online software to detect your significant other's online activity. Is this just wrong or has the level of transparency grown to another dimension?

As school is starting soon (it may have already started in some places), I believe the pros and cons of social networking will grow. I actually saw a PSA yesterday advising teens to be careful what they post online since it is the equivalent of posting it on the school's bulletin board.

I wonder if such business can put an end to many social media consultants who make a living providing such advice and social media optimization for businesses.

My analogy for friends is the following - can you pick up the phone and call them? If the answer is no, then it is just a "Facebook Friend."

I want to share another link about a report releasing info on major companies and how vulnerable their software are for attacks. http://www.itbusinessedge.com/cm/community/news/sec/blog/ibm-report-web-apps-making-businesses-vulnerable/?cs=30239

Here is a good explanation of Twitter - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twitter

And Twitter is not the sound of birds, though originally it was.

I found this useful blog from Jeremiah - formerly with Forrester - about social media measurement. http://www.web-strategist.com/blog/category/social-media-measurement/

Though if you optimize your site for SEO, it will affect both Google and Bing. But I just saw this interesting post on this site: http://blog.searchenginewatch.com/090904-121551
So what do you think?

Almost every single internet marketing related magazine and conference touts social media. Thus, I wonder about measuring success on social media. Most of the information I read on this topic is very qualitative. At least this article tires to quantify it in some way...
http://searchenginewatch.com/3634843
So how to explain social media metrics with your clients?

At certain events, I am introduced as the social media or insights maven. Thus, I often find myself in situations where I have to explain: "What is Twitter?". As I was on youtube, I found this cool video which could help me and help you explain what is Twitter in plain english.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ddO9idmax0o

Hi
I know a friend of mine whose Facebook account was hijacked. Now I read this: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/09/04/facebook_friend_in_peril_scam/
Its scary. It does not matter if you limit who can view your profile or not.

The concept of friends on Facebook is a blurry concept. There are Facebook profiles with thousands of friends while there are others who only have a handful or so. So what if you have a business client or a colleague and you receive a Facebook invite. What is your policy on accepting such invites?
http://www.suntimes.com/news/commentary/1755335,CST-EDT-open06b.article

I just read an article on PC World about the top 4 Facebook apps.
http://www.pcworld.com/businesscenter/article/171511/4_facebook_apps_to_watch.html

One app that jumped out for me was Wild Fire. It gives business owners many options on how to optimize their Facebook presence.
http://wildfiresocialmedia.com/

So what do you think? Will use such service? Let me check it out.

It had to happen sooner or later. I do believe that such tactics do blur the line of what is public worthy and not. I do think that if it does help small counties connect with their constituencies, then great. But I do wonder if in a way, it can bring discord. What do you think?
http://www.kitsapsun.com/news/2009/sep/05/social-networkings-open-nature-drawing-public-in/

I just read this article a moment ago about a Christian Couple giving each other full access to their login information.
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5i4K9oYt7cM-jdwRCVMU9TgajMsygD9AHAMUG1

So what do you think?

I personally dont agree with it. Why? Well, I believe there should still be a level of privacy in a relationship.

In order to develop insights for its market research section of the marketing plan, some companies use panel or internet research surveys. I actually have developed a few myself. So if you do it in-house or use an outside vendor, what do you think now after reading this:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/05/technology/companies/05nocera.html
?

Many content heavy sites have a poll on their home page. Have you filled out such polls? If so, what do you think of this as a tactic Also, how much credence to you put on the results of these online polls?

Hi
Though I am a frequent poster, I just noticed the tag option on this site. So I wonder, what effect does tagging do with the posts here versus the posts that are not tagged?

I remember listening to a few business owners sometime ago about using Skype to provide long distance customer service for clients. Though I never used it, I advised against it due to my research on Skype. So if you used Skype for business purposes, I would like to know your insights.
Also, it seems Ebay could not monetize Skype and sold it for less than what Ebay paid for. Seems they were taking business advice from Yahoo.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/05/technology/companies/05nocera.html

Many advertisers use DART data to monitor metrics for their PPC campaign. I looked at one report recently and it could be confusing for a first timer. So what advice do you have for someone who has never reviewed such data before?

I agree. But it is also easy to spot spammer sites and shady sites where the hard sell is so blatant.

So true. You know I saw a PSA today targeting young kids about being careful of what they post online since it is the equivalent of them posting these racy pictures on the school's bulletin.

True. I develop personas and I have reviewed many psychographic reports created by major research firms and you are right, Marketing Rob. The profiles may include much more information than needed and it could dilute the marketing message to these segments.

I think that buying facebook friends may provide a short term remedy but not a long term solution.

I advise clients in regards to social media to pick 1 or 2 social media communities that will really help push the needle. That is it. Why? Well I believe in conserving time, energy, and resources and we all know that participating in social media for business reasons requires time and content nurturing.

I agree with you Marketing Rob. I agree that it is good to use a combination of both, manual qualitative sentiment assessment and an automated tool to help with the process.

A stumbling block would be if the "new" user turns off the cell phone, remove the battery/card, and deprograms it very quickly before it can be found by the original user.

I actually have advised a client against YouTube. Why? The reaosns were:
1. the clients materials are not copyrighted
2. the content was not edited nor clean
3. it will actually harm rather than help the client especially if it becomes viral.

Thanks for all the good advice. Do you think that A/B or multivariate testing can help find ways to reduce bounce rate?

With the exception of the 2 hour GMAIL server is down the other day, GMAIL is very reliable and sometimes I find that I get the GMAIL in my blackberry faster than on my desktop.

From a user perspective, a cute/innovative card may enable the user to remember the business. If its too big or to cumbersome, the card may be left behind, thus, not actually helping the business at all. So it can be a double edge sword.

In the day of age where many companies have access from social media tools which identify influencing bloggers, it may become easier to approach bloggers to skew opinions. Unless the blogger is transparent about it, this type of posting can adversely affect the blogger's reputation and most of all, blog site traffic.

I personally have placed several ads on different categories of Craigslist to find business related clientele. Has it helped? Though I have not received a single valuable lead, I have been entertained with a few offers from Nigeria.

Its interesting that many companies may not take into consideration consumer feedback in due time to optimize their marketing strategy.

I also recommend being part of related meetups and promote offline.

I also recomend joining gaming related offline communities so you can promote your site offline. Try to see if you can be part of internet marketing/virtual world/gaming conferences and speak there.

I agree with you Mackone. Many years ago, I changed my IE options to restrict all cookies and it was such an comfortable and time consuming online experience because I had to personally accept not once but a few times different cookies. After a few days, I could not take it anymore and I changed my IE options again.

Thanks Mackone for bringing up the point about link dilution and how it can adversely affect your site's SEO and SERP ranking on Google.

I agree - stay away from Blackhat techniques as far as possible. Also, I advise you to be on the lookout for any new updates of Google's Best Practices. This way, you know you are abiding by regulations.

Most of the SEO related courses are either taught as part of the university or college's continuing education division or as part of a graduate course in internet marketing. I recommend checking your local business college's CE division for possible SEO related courses.
http://www.gscs.rice.edu/NccCourseView.asp?Mode=View&clCourseID=522&SnID=2

The other day I had a conversation with my colleague, strategic planner, about social media and digital advertising as a push or pull marketing. I think that the terms are now very fuzzy and getting blurred, especially with social media. Why? Well, I believe the platform allows for both a push and pull strategy. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Push%E2%80%93pull_strategy
So lets discuss here - what would you consider push -
1. PPC
2. Banner?
Pull
1. Facebook page?
2. Twitter updates?

Lets discuss?

I agree with you since in outlook, you can create a e-business card. Also, once upon a time, it was popular to send it - mostly as an attachment. Now, hardly anyone sends it since you get the info from the signature.

I read this very interesting blog about how Social Media Comprises 20% of All US Display Ad Impressions as per Comscore data.

http://blog.searchenginewatch.com/090901-125314

So I predict this will increase in due time.