I found this interesting blog post on iMedia Connection about conversational marketing, and it made me think of how it relates to SEO…
Back in the old days of traditional marketing (which really weren’t so long ago), communication with the consumer was generally a one-way street. The consumer was told, “BUY THIS.” Period. End of conversation.
But, today’s marketers & businesses must keep that conversation going.
It’s called “Conversational Marketing,” a buzzword brought to global attention by 1999’s “ClueTrain Manifesto.”
Here is a simple example of conversational marketing: a business sets up a blog on their webpage. The blog is there to, of course, help sell the product -- but also to provide some good content and a place where customers and potential customers can engage in Conversation about said product.
Having something valuable to say and being there to listen – the hallmarks of a good friend, or at least somebody you’d want to hang out with. And that’s the key to conversational marketing, and of the sea change that has taken place in the world of marketing in general.
The consumer of today is tired of being talked down to, ordered around, and generally told what he or she should do with his or her money. He or she is also getting too savvy for the bells and whistles marketers and advertisers dream up to coax them into a purchase. No, what they want is not bells and whistles – but a person to talk to.
The meteoric rise in social media of all stripes – blogs, message boards, social networking, social bookmarking, news aggregate sites – have provided the perfect platform for this conversation between Business and Consumer to flourish. And, it’s incumbent upon every company, big and small, to make use of these resources.
Now, how does conversational marketing relate to a public relations firm that has transitioned to SEO?
Well, we can extend the conversation over to SEO pretty easily. In conversational SEO, you are not merely looking at a list of keywords, but really understanding how your audience is conversing – and then optimizing on the words they use to search! Again, the art of conversational SEO – like that of conversational marketing -- is a distinctly two-way, personal interaction. One-to-one (or many-to-many) versus one-to-many.Now certainly, one cannot live on “conversation” alone. However, making the most of social media in conjunction with a skillful SEO campaign is a winning combination!
Labels: conversational marketing, conversational SEO, Marketing, media, seo, social media, social networking
Good old fashioned football
Friday, February 01, 2008
This Sunday, many Americans will put their Blackberries, computers, cell phones and iPods aside to enjoy some good old fashioned football. Despite all of our technological leaps throughout the years, it seems that football has yet to be perfected beyond the invention of the television.
Sure, TVs have gotten bigger, and high definition allows us the pleasure of seeing every drop of sweat. Also, while my knowledge of football is about as good as my handle of the Chinese language, I understand that the way in which the game is shot has gotten some very sophisticated upgrades.
Still, this Superbowl Sunday will be enjoyed just like the ones in many years past. There will be lots of beer drinking, fried foods with various preservative-filled dips, not to mention, lots of screaming and hollering.
It might seem trivial to point out, but it is interesting.
Rationale would suggest that by 2008, there should be some sort of interactive component to the game through a site or a social network. Perhaps even a joint venture with a video game in which you can manipulate the players in some sort of virtual simulation.
After all, we can't just sit and watch regular television anymore. As a whole, we are drawn to shows that allow some form of participation; whether it be voting for our favorite singer or talking to producers in an online forum.
According to comScore, the only online interaction people seem to want to devote for the big game is to check stats and replay the ads. And that's only before and after the game! Less than 1/3 of those polled to go online at all on Superbowl Sunday promised to do so during the actual sacred hours of play.
Even though I don't care much for football, it's kind of nice to know that Superbowl Sunday is still best savored in its natural state.
Labels: football, social media, superbowl, Web 2.0
Diggers digging their own hole?
Monday, January 28, 2008
With social news networks like Digg around for some time now, the interesting realities of human behavior on these types of sites are being revealed.
Last week, Founder Kevin Rose
announced that a new algorithm would take control over Digg, changing the way stories make their way to becoming popular on the network.
Leaving complexities aside, the basic idea is that from now on, the diversity of people digging stories will be taken into consideration in deeming which articles are catapulted to the top of Digg and which are buried in its depths.
For prominent Diggers, this change might mean a sudden fall from grace. Apparently, there is a group of them that has invested such an avid participation in the site, that they, in principal, control it.
This means that the “popular” stories we read are really not popular by true definition. Rather, the Diggers in this specific and relatively small group are the ones who deem articles to be “popular.”
Obviously, news of the changed algorithm caused
an uproar among these Diggers. After all, no one likes to be stripped of their power, no matter how mediocre it might be.
Fortunately, Digg founders did not ignore their devoted fans despite their dictatorship-style tactics. Rather than admonishing them for turning Digg into their own personal platform, Kevin Rose and his fellow Digg leaders talked things out with some of these high profile Diggers, who were charging them with
abandonment.
This scenario is an interesting two-sided coin. On the one side, these dedicated Diggers are the pulse of Digg. On the flipside, though, those who visit on a less frequent basis might feel - and some apparently do (see
comments) - that Digg is a pointless endeavor. This sentiment discourages recurrent use of the program, stripping it of hits, which equal value.
It seems that morale has won this round. However, in time, I predict that we will see more of these types of situations. The basic elements of human behavior are inherent no matter if we are interacting in the real or in a virtual world. In a social group, there will always be those who take charge, while the majority remains largely apathetic.
Labels: digg, Internet, social media, Web 2.0
And they’re off
Wednesday, January 09, 2008
With the primaries well on their way, we are beginning to see the real impact social media is having on the voter turnouts as well as the actual votes cast. For reference sake, I will note that on Facebook, Obama has an overwhelming lead with 61% of participants of the US Politics feature supporting him. Clinton has just 18%, and Edwards comes in 3rd with 10%.
On the Republican side, surprisingly, Ron Paul is the front runner with 37%. The support for the other candidates is split fairly evenly. In order, Huckabee is 2nd with 19%, Romney 3rd with 14% and McCain 4th with 11%.
Facebook doesn’t break down these figures further, for example, indicating the median age of supporters. However, it can be safely assumed that the majority of these folks are in their 20s and 30s and, thus, represent a voice younger than that captured by the polls conducted by CNN and other traditional news organizations.
With that said, the argument can be made that social media is having a relatively big impact for Democrats. In Iowa last week, where Obama was victorious, young people came out in record numbers. According to
Time, “[t]urnout among the youngest slice of the electorate more than doubled from 2004.”
The same was true in New Hampshire yesterday. In a
press release today about the state’s voter turnout, the presence of youth - deemed as adults under 30 - increased 25% from 2004, from just 18% to 43%.
An
article from MTV.com about Clinton’s win in NH broke down the numbers. In Iowa, just 10% of Democrats aged 17-24 voted for her, while 57% voted for Obama. In New Hampshire, 22% of 18-24 year olds supported Clinton, but an astounding 60% rallied for Obama.
So how did Clinton manage to win in New Hampshire? While young voters are taking the most active role in history in the primaries, so is the rest of the population! In that same article, strong support from women, 46% to be exact, was cited as the reason for her win in NH. Apparently, women in Iowa don’t care much for other women.
Perhaps what’s even more telling about the success of social media in these elections is CBS’ announced
plans this week to partner with Digg on coverage pertaining to the campaigns. It’s a you-scratch-my-back-I’ll-scratch-yours kind of deal. CBSNew.com will feature stories rated highly on Digg on their site and Digg will feature articles from CBSNews.com.
It’s nice to know that when all is said and done in November, our country is already well on its way to creating real change. Through the integration of social media, apathy is quickly becoming very passé.
Labels: 2008 elections, digg, Facebook, new media, politics, social media, Web 2.0
