via cmo.com
Women in Tech Rule
OK, so it's not quite that women are dominating, but we are adding our own little 'touches'. It's no huge surprise to me that women are of the higher participants of social media - it's in our DNA to be more social then men. I've read from biological researchers that our socialisation is linked to our survival instincts.
Anyway, I'm glad that more women are finding their niche within digital technologies and I predict that once more women realise there's something in it for them we'll see a massive influx of women working in digital media.
A change that will improve things significantly because we can hear from both voices in equal volume. Publications such as Wired, are heavily male-centric - the articles are mostly gender-neutral, but the ads are assuming that only men are reading the mag; which is not the case.
I reckon women will be leading in the new roles associated with social media; which is very exciting. Roles such as: Online PR, Online Community Manager, etc.
Are you thinking of buying an iPad?
I'm a HUGE fan of Apple - my Mac Book is the best laptop I've ever owned and I can't live without my 2 iPods. I would own an iPhone if I weren't living out of country - being a foreigner means most phone plans are totally unreasonable (i.e. minimum 2 year contract when my visa is only for a year, etc.).
Anyway, I think most people are gaga for Apple, but I wonder if the iPad is really a necessary device. Is this a case of product for the sake of a new product, or is this a technological revolution?
As a marketer I have to make a choice about the work I produce. If a potential client comes to me and wants help selling a product I need to be 100% behind the value of that product. Because I need to believe that there are people who will benefit from it.
I believe that we live in an overly populated world of gadgets and junk. A trip to a local garage sale will give you a taste of it or a journey across the vast garbage dumps of the world with little to no ability to cope with Western society's obsession with over consumption. We buy too many things we don't need, and there is a very real price to pay for it.
Reading this article by Eliot Van Buskirk from Wired Magazine I'm still not 100% convinced about the value of the iPad. I think music LPs is a very interesting concept and digital magazines have always intrigued me, but do we need yet another device for these types of digital possibilities?
What if instead of an iPad we had a macbook air with a twistable display? You could turn it into a template or use it as a notebook- I'm holding out for the hybrid that does both.
"By Eliot Van Buskirk"
- Can Apple’s iPad Save the Media After All? | Epicenter | Wired.com (view on Google Sidewiki)
Other articles on the environment implications of our techology:
The Story of Apple's Environmental Footprint
The Ecological Footprint of eBooks
Knowmore.org
How to Create an Online Network, part 2
It is always vital to conduct extensive market research prior to getting started. Within the early planning stage internal research and analysis needs to occur in conjunction with external research - all users including: moderators, admins and members will need to be thought through in terms of their unique perspective. Then decisions can be made as to the appropriate objectives to pursue, whether to keep membership restricted or open, and whether to recruit customers or prospects as moderators or external staff.
The community manager is the host of the community. This role requires a person who is able to rally online members to take action, complete their profile information, create their own content, and comment on other members’ content. The goal is not for the community manager to control member behaviour, but to teach them how to use the networks functionality.
Collecting feedback and observing how the members interact is vital for future enhancements and improvements to the functionality. The majority of testing should occur during a soft launch in order to trial the platform using a wide range of members in real-world scenarios.
Another aspect of the community manager’s role is to conduct real-time surveys by asking members questions about their experience. The aim is for members to take initiative in submitting feedback, but because the need for feedback is so high during the early stages the community manager will solicit feedback on a regular basis. Surveys should also be conducted using SurveyMonkey and Google Documents.
Recognise & Reward
Upon first arrival to the network a new user should become instantly aware that this is no ordinary network, but a community with a pulse. Before registering, a user will be presented to a barrage of positive examples for registering- most of these examples will be seen through a reward system; this could be both a financial incentive and a recognition incentive.
Each new member should receive a personalised email from the community manager welcoming them to network. Receiving some form of acknowledgement is the single most important factor in determining if someone returns or not. During the soft launch, the community manager never stops being the host for new members uncertain about how to participate.
The goal for every network is to be a vibrant and highly active community of content creators and content consumers. During the early stages, all of the rewards will likely be appointed by the community manager. These rewards are to recognise preferred behaviour and encourage members to participate on a regular basis.
Online activities should always be transparent to the whole community; the rewards given for those activities need to be similarly transparent as well. Never act like Big Brother.
Letter to a Client: eCommerce Design Tips
The following is an extract from an email I sent to a client today - I seem to share the same advise over and over, so why not post it with my readers?
...definitely bad etiquette having any sort of media start automatically. A glittery animation makes sense and will draw the eye to the rich content.
In terms of having a tag cloud- I do recommend these. Not only can you optimise more keywords, but most people don't perform searches in search boxes (unless they're conducting a search on Google or Yahoo) because most people lack trust in the internal search to propagate the content they're after (mostly because of semantics- you say tomato I say tamato). A tag cloud negates semantics and helps a user by serving up more ideas for items to look for.
If it comes down to needing to eliminate elements - the main rule of thumb is the bottom line "will this end in a sale?" - content for the sake of content is not more important then merchandise.
Also, in 4-6 months you'll likely want to make a few changes and modify certain elements. The canvas is never complete- there will be plenty of opportunities to make adjustments and refinements. The best way to determine what to keep and what to get rid of is the analytics from user behaviour- we can make all kinds of assumptions about what will have the most impact now, but the best director is consumer behaviour.
Metrics, Analytics & Goals
"You can’t improve what you don’t understand.” – Avinash Kaushik
I've been reading a fantastic book this week that I highly recommend to anyone working within digital media analysis. Web Analytics 2.0, by Avinash Kaushik is a must-read for all online marketing professionals and business analysts.
Here's what I've taken away from my reading thus far:
Data is the anatomy of digital media. Within the structure of web platforms and online content is a wealth of information. It provides everything necessary to evaluate the sustainability of an online product. The challenge is not collecting data; but rather, in its evaluation and analysis. How and when decisions are made requires the right data at the right time. Timing is critical for proactive enhancements. By understanding the structure of digital media it is possible to improve the life of the product and the duration of its effectiveness.
The test and measure philosophy for success provides the awareness that no project is ever complete. It is crucial to acquire data that is actionable, and to discard data that is unhelpful or irrelevant. This principle seems simple, but assessing ‘good’ data from ‘bad’ data is unique to every web application, platform, and piece of content. Determining the KPIs (key performance indicators) requires trial and error.
Each individual within an organisation will have their own expectation for reporting based on their role and responsibilities. The role of the individual distributing these reports and evaluating them is determined by the company's corporate culture.
An administrator produces reports and distributes them to the individuals responsible for decision making. These managers evaluate the data and implement strategies based on the insights they extract. This causes delays and is not ideal for a start-up. A reporting system is better suited to a micro-management style of checks and balances, which slows down the decision making process.
The alternative is to employ an analyst who extracts insights based on their experience and industry knowledge. An analyst cuts down the time required for multiple individuals to reach a conclusion from the data. An analyst is suited to an agile development team that is trying to launch a new product. The difference is the speed in which decisions take place within the organisation. This report outlines the role of the analyst while detailing the necessary metrics to be collected and analysed.
Step 1: Customer Intent
This form of reporting is simple and standard with most analytics software. Essentially a few lines of code are added to each page; which is automatically generated by the analytics tool. This code will produce reports on general site-wide information, such as: page views and bounce rate. The core metrics listed above will be the basis for assessing the customer intent.
Step 2: Configure Settings
In order to asses “good” data from “bad” data the various conversion funnels will need to be stored within the analytics tool. These goals will allow us to determine how often a user performs specific actions that lead to positive outcomes; such as: completed registrations, subscribing to the newsletter, creating an ad, placing a bid, and even performing an internal search.
We need to capture the specific actions performed by each user in order to enhance and improve the sales funnel. Only through test and measurement of the online flows can processes be improved. If the majority of users are performing the same searches there may need to be a quick link provided upon point of entry to enhance the experience and serve relevant information directly.
Another important consideration is that not all actions will occur on the website. Thanks to open API's most users will be able to take action through external webpages and devices. Essentially, what the report needs to determine is how users are interacting with the platform (*think platform not website).
Step 3: Campaign Tracking
In order to accurately assess the ROI for online advertising and promotion it is critical that each and every Ad has a unique code associated with it. This includes emails, banners, referral links, and directory listings. The tag needs to include the location, source, and any other parameters surrounding the online marketing strategy for that particular promotion.
This requires time and a designated body assessing that the code is accurate and reports are verified. There are tools to help with the manual entry associated with campaign tracking, but it will require a person to manage and perform data entry.
It is very important to know where traffic is coming from and which referring websites are producing regular flows of traffic. The more relevant a promotion the higher the conversion rate which means a good return on investment. It’s important to determine which websites refer traffic based on internal search terms and top tags.
Step 4: Tracking Revenue & Intelligence
Additional JavaScript code will need to be embedded onto each page in order to extract data out of the page. The code will provide instructions for the script to know what data needs to be collected. Due to the fact that this data is personal and user generated it is important that all privacy measures have been taken into consideration. Legal evaluation of the data being collected is required; not only because of the user’s right to privacy, but because company data will be exported into an external tool and then processed into a report.
The value of this data is high and crucial for assessing gaps and accuracy of online forms, the payment gateway, and internal processes for user management. It is also required for measuring the payments being processed through your web platform.
Metrics to be collected include:
- Daily Payments
- Daily Fees Collected
Evaluating the effectiveness of rich media is paramount for any web 2.0 platform. Monitoring user interactions with content such as: videos, widgets, apps, audio, and any other user generated content. Developers will need to create and embed code into each piece of rich media content in order to track behaviour.
Reporting can include:
- How often a video is played.
- Viral distribution of content (sent via which aggregator)
- How often a user opens an app
- How often a user interacts via mobile device
- Action via Widgets and Gadgets
Analytics Resources:
Google Analytics Glossary
Occam’s Razor by Avinah Kaushik
Hitwise
comScore
“Let data, not opinions, drive decisions.” – Avinash Kaushik
How to Create an Online Network
“A great city is that which has the greatest men and women.” – Walt WhitmanExperts in social media warn against creating a community with no purpose or specific intent. A thriving community needs a purpose and a positive, encouraging leader to evoke a sense of pride in participation. The greatest asset of a community is its members.
Community input offers marketers an intimate — and continuous — understanding of information important to consumers, but only if they’re willing to listen closely to what members have to say. You can use feedback to uncover what consumers really want or to design new enhancements, products and marketing programs. The key is to get the entire team to focus on what's important in a sea of open-ended responses: insights that matter to the business and marketing plans.
Listen, Don’t Control
It will be vital to conduct extensive market research prior to the launch of the community. Within the initial stage internal research and analysis will occur in conjunction with external research. Then decisions will be made as to the appropriate objectives to pursue, whether to keep membership restricted or open, and whether to recruit customers or prospects as moderators or external staff.
The community manager will be the host of the community. This role will require a person who is able to rally online members to take action, complete their profile information, create their own content, and review other members’ content. The goal is not for the community manager to control member behaviour, but to teach them how to use the platforms functionality.
Collecting feedback and observing how the members interact is vital for future enhancements and improvements to the functionality. The majority of testing will occur during the testing stage in order to trial the platform using a wide range of members in real-world scenarios.
Another aspect of the community manager’s role is to conduct real-time surveys by asking members questions about their experience using Meemeep. The aim is for members to take initiative in submitting feedback, but because the need for feedback is so high during the pilot the community manager will solicit feedback on a regular basis. Surveys will also be conducted using SurveyMonkey and Google Documents.
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