Mediamania, the Central Carolinas media blog

No “R” in Social Media

2009-07-06T07:55:00.002-04:00

Tom Morse – MCAI Central Carolina Chapter, President

Even without use of spell checker, I know there isn’t an “R” in social media. But, Communications professionals need to understand the return, and how they will evaluate the return, on investments in social media.

Measuring ROI for social media is part of the job. Social media is about more than just engagement and awareness. While social media is at the top of the sales funnel, there are still many ways to track and evaluate the return on investment. The process should begin with an agreement on how the organization will define the “R” in ROI - is it awareness, leads, conversions, sales? Evaluation of social media is less about what can be done than what should be done. Identify the evaluation criteria, and then secure agreement with sales enablement and business executives on how social media will be evaluated. At this point in our understanding of social media, the criteria will be different from other activities such as advertising, trade shows, or speaking engagements. But, establish some criteria and process for assessing the payoff on investments in social media.

Many organizations use applications such as Google Analytics or SAS® Customer Intelligence to monitor web traffic and gain valuable business insights. For organizations without such capabilities, there are still many ways to track and measure the business value of social media. Regardless of the channel, a strong call to action can drive traffic back to where engagement can be turned into leads and sales. In some cases it might be a unique 800 number, hotlink, promotional code, or email address that delivers prospects to where tracking and conversions can be done – a call center or company website. These simple techniques, some would call them old school, have long proven effective. Regardless of whether the engagement begins on a syndicated blog, Facebook, or Twitter, prospects can be engaged in a way that can provide meaningful information.

Things can get murky when it comes to “soft metrics,” such as measuring views on YouTube, comments on blogs, brand mentions, or tweets. Activity that happens beyond an organization’s website is more difficult to quantify. An agreement on how these will be evaluated is important. Construct strategies that help drive traffic into an environment where you have more sophisticated capabilities to engage and convert online actions into sales. For example, a video posted to YouTube can include a unique URL providing content that supplements the video. Hits to the web page can the tracked and offers for items such as white papers can be converted to sales leads.

One company engaging prospects in a new way is Best Buy, the world’s largest electronic retailer. A team of 500 employees, working at local stores and at the company headquarters, will soon (July 19) begin searching Twitter posts to find people seeking information about the products they sell. The “Twelpforce” will be part of the customer-service team according to Chief Marketing Officer, Barry Judge. “The old paradigm is you open your doors and hope someone comes in. In the new world, you can go out and find people that are talking about technology and what they are interested in buying, and be generous with your knowledge. And hopefully if you’re generous and knowledgeable, people will come in and buy.” In a tough environment for electronic retailers, Best Buy is fighting for every customer.

Measurement of traditional and new media strategies does not have to be so very different. The critical issue is coming to agreement on how social media will be evaluated. It’s not about measuring everything that you can, what’s more important is measuring what you should.

Don’t Forget Traditional Media

2009-06-12T14:25:00.007-04:00

Tom Morse – MCAI Central Carolina Chapter, President

Social media, new media, rich media, interactive channels... Open any marketing publication (OK, visit their website, read a blog post in your feed reader, etc) and it’s easy to come away with the impression that all communication messaging has moved to the net-based world. It’s true that companies are continuing to shift an increasing percentage of ad dollars away from newspapers, radio, magazines, yellow pages, direct mail and even TV to interactive channels. But, don’t lose sight of the role for traditional media in any marketing communication campaign.

Last year Starbucks faced a new challenger when McDonalds took on the coffee giant with expansion of their line of McCafe premium beverages. Despite a drop in sales because of the economic downturn, Starbucks ramped up a $28M advertising campaign. It began its first concerted branding campaign with a series of newspaper ads. The campaign made the Starbucks' case for its prices, including health care for its employees, relationships with coffee farmers, and its dedication to sustainability. Starbucks CMO, Terry Devenport, addressed the print strategy in an interview with Advertising Age Magazine. “One of the things [we did] was to find a way to get our stories out there in a way that both our existing customers would recognize and that would speak to the employees and partners and give them a sense of pride, and that's clearly happened. We're exceedingly pleased with it to date. We've had a huge return on that investment.”

In addition to the traditional print campaign, Starbucks began running one-time TV ads in high-profile shows such as "Saturday Night Live," or quick hits on news networks such as CNN, which then drive traffic online. Furthering their traditional media presence, last week Starbucks announced a title sponsorship of MSNBC's "Morning Joe." A natural partnership, Mr. Davenport said, it will include occasional references to the chain's environmental activism or efforts in volunteerism.

Radio can play an important part in promotional campaigns as well. When Smirnoff, the makers of America’s most popular vodka, made plans to introduce its first line of ready-to-drink products in the United States, radio played a key role in creating a high level of buzz. Unique radio and on-site promotions included on-air DJ product-tasting parties, bar and club events, and customer testimonials. The success of the initial campaign triggered an immediate nationwide rollout of Smirnoff Ice. The campaign generated sales of 300% above projections in test markets, resulting in one of the most successful new spirit introductions in the United States.

And let’s not forget traditional broadcast television. This year’s Super Bowl provided a big score for online video giant Hulu. In a last minute decision, company CEO Jason Kilar bought a spot during the fourth quarter of what proved to be the most-watched Super Bowl in history with an average U.S. audience of 98.7 million viewers, and the second-most-watched U.S. television program of any kind. The promotional strategy worked. According to Kilar, Hulu's Super Bowl ad was directly responsible for increasing the online video portal's business by 49%.

Hulu Super Bowl Ad Scores Big

The battle for the minds and wallets of consumers will continue to be waged on many fronts. Spending for online media will continue to increase as a percentage of overall promotional spending. As communicators we’re largely leading that charge. But, let’s never lose sight of the impact traditional media can have within the context of a well planned promotional campaign.

Branding is for Big Companies… Right?

2009-06-01T09:23:00.000-04:00

Branding is a topic we associate with organizations often referred to as an enterprise. It’s one of those sophisticated marketing strategies used only by big companies. Right? Wrong. Branding is equally important for small organizations. It’s my belief that branding is even more important for small businesses than for the large enterprise.

Branding is all about increasing a product or service’s perceived value to the customer and thereby increase brand equity. For a large business, the brand becomes a complex issue with brand valuation tracked as a critical business asset. For a small organization the perception of a business can be more important – determining whether one stays in business or goes out of business.

Large companies occasionally suffer enormous blows to their brand image. A case in point is Union Carbide. The Bhopal India chemical disaster in 1984 was a tremendous blow to the company’s reputation as well as to their bottom line. However, the company retained enough value to be acquired by Dow Chemical Company in 2001. Compare that with the fact that only one third of small business ever turn a profit. Statistics show that half of all newly started small businesses fail within the first four years.

For a small business to succeed, it must offer something that truly differentiates the business from its competitors. Barry’s Café in Raleigh, North Carolina is such a business. The business had operated in the red for two years when a community emergency redefined the business in the minds of local people. This short video tells the story of a truly remarkable business.

Barry Doyle’s nonprofit Feed the Firefighters Foundation, has served some 35,000 meals. The efforts have earned Barry’s Café the 2008 Best of Raleigh Award in the Restaurant Category by the U.S. Local Business Association (USLBA). The owner set out to do something good for his community. In the process he established his business as a local landmark; clearly differentiated from the competition. Barry may not think of his efforts as brand building, but the success of his business, and the foundation, make a strong case for the critical importance of brand recognition for small business.

Social Network Marketing – It Ain’t Your Granddad’s Relationship Selling

2009-05-26T10:29:00.004-04:00

My mom is 85 and does not have Facebook page, doesn’t tweet, in fact she does not have a computer. But, she has taught me everything I need to know about the value of social networks to an integrated marketing communications program.

Even though the cost is a penny of two more, my mom fills up her car at the same service station every week. She knows the owner and rewards the relationship with her business. People and businesses do the same. If everything is equal (price, quality, etc.) or nearly equal, we do business with those whom we have a connection.

With social networking taking center stage in any discussion of relationship selling, we’ve entered a new era of marketing through social media. But how effective is it? I was in an online chat about social networks and someone mentioned a 2008 Forrester Report citing that less than half of survey respondents indicated Forums, Online Communities, and Social Networks as being an information source impacting the decision making process. Does that mean the buzz about social network marketing is just that, buzz and nothing more?

In taking a look at the report I come to a different conclusion. With a title only an unabashed academic could love, The Social Technographics® Of Business Buyers, a key finding reports that four of the top six influencers on technology purchase decisions involve people-to-people contact. Social network marketing is about building those inter-personal relationships.

Here’s the list:
* Peers and colleagues – 84%
* Vendor, industry and trade Web sites - 69%
* Your direct vendor salesperson – 69%
* Technology or business magazines – 66%
* Consultants, VARs and SIs – 65%
* Industry trade shows or conferences (in person) – 59%
* Forums, online communities and social networks – 45%
* Industry analyst firms – 45%
* E-mail or electronic newsletters – 41%
* Web events or virtual trade shows – 40%
* Interactive media: podcasts, video, online demos – 30%
* Blogs – 24%

Dell Computers is the now well known business case example of integrating social media within a marketing program. Following a much publicized customer service problem, Dell embraced social media by launching a community site, numerous blogs, multiple Twitter IDs, and a Facebook account. In a public statement, Dell has acknowledged they’ve earned $1M in revenue from the use of Twitter alerts. At Dell, the use of social network marketing is a central element of their integrated marketing campaign.

And take a look at one of the latest promotional campaigns launched by McDonald’s to build brand association. The video shot at London’s Piccadilly Circus is moving up the ad charts that track viral videos. Does it sell burgers? Not directly. But building positive brand awareness through viral social networking will certainly move the brand scorecard in a positive direction.

Social networking provides capabilities for people to discover new ways of connecting with each other. Social network marketing offers B2B and B2C marketers the opportunity to establish those same connections. As I’ve learned from my mom, we buy from people we like.

Make me a viral video, and super-size it!

2009-05-13T15:07:00.003-04:00

Tell me this hasn’t happened to you recently. A client comes to your office and asks you to make them a viral video. Marketers everywhere are reading trade journals, going to conferences, and learning of case studies where a video presentation topped a million views on YouTube. They want the same, and want you to deliver it.

As a communicator, how do you respond? Got an unlimited budget, willing to compromise your integrity, open to the idea of lawsuits? If so, you can deliver a message that will spread and super-size the number of views. But in the real world ‑ a world driven by content, messaging, and qualified sales leads ‑ the process gets a lot harder.

Part of the job of a media professional is to challenge concepts and requests received from clients… carefully of course. Organizations expect us to consider communication requests and offer clients our best advice. That’s why we were hired. How do you respond when asked to deliver a viral video? Below are some of my ideas. I hope you will comment and share some of your thoughts.

* It’s About the Brand: Arguably the most successful viral video of all time is Dove’s Self Esteem campaign. Web video, combined with a comprehensive website, provides thought-provoking, confidence-building programs and messages that embrace all definitions of beauty. For Dove, the campaign is about associating their brand with efforts to raise self-esteem among women, especially young women, and to widen the definition of beauty. For Dove, it’s not a product pitch, it’s about brand association.

* “That’s where the money is.” OK, the truth is bank robber Willie Sutton never used the phrase to answer the question, “Why do you rob banks?” Still, it makes for a good story. It also makes the point that sales leads come from attracting the right audience, not just any audience. The formula for success will be somewhat different for B2B than for B2C marketers. For those in the B2B space, the total size of an audience is less relevant than who comprises the audience. The question needs to be asked, “Where is the target audience the viral video is aimed at attracting?” If the target audience is unlikely to be spending time viewing the hottest videos on the web, time and money might be better spent fishing where the fish are.

* Viral Does Not Mean Cheap: There is a cost to everything we deliver. The expense may be internal, inherent overhead cost (soft money), or above-the-line billable dollars. Yes, there are countless examples of amateur videos drawing big viewing numbers on video web portals. Countless numbers of animal lovers watch live streaming video of puppies sleeping in a crate. Drawing a big audience and delivering a compelling message about a product or service are two different things. Keep in mind the old production adage, “Good, fast, or cheap – pick any two.” How much time, effort, and money did T-Mobile spend in driving 10M+ web views of their highly choreographed dance number shot at Liverpool Street Station?

* “Show Me ‘da Plan!” To paraphrase a line from the movie Jerry Maguire, what’s the plan to incorporate a viral video into a larger, integrated Marketing Communications campaign? The success of Dove’s Self Esteem campaign is the completeness of the marketing initiative. While compelling, the viral video is but one element of the campaign. The resources available from the Dove website fulfill the need for specific, actionable information. What’s the call to action? A viral video is only one component. It’s the fun part no doubt. But a viral video does not stand alone; it must be part of a well thought out business plan.

* How viral is viral? Is the view target some arbitrary number based on a case study presented in a marketing journal? Is a million views really needed? How about 10 thousand? Come to a mutual understanding about how success will be measured.

Why no mention of creativity in this post? Simple, that’s step two – after the business issues have been addressed. I hope you will comment and share some of your ideas.

What’s New in New Media?

2009-04-13T10:39:00.000-04:00

I was reading posts on a LinkedIn community and came across an interesting question. Responsible for naming a corporate media department, the author posed the question, “What is new media?” That got me thinking about how corporate communication has changed, and the role of technology in affecting that change.

Technology is a fundamental force driving our economy. Advances in technology drive innovation across a wide range of industries. In communication, technology is central to the process of message delivery. As technology advances, it affects all forms of communication. Communication changes culture; and changes in culture drive technological evolution. The circle goes round and round.

Corporate communicators have long relied on print as the primary vehicle for communication. However, over time technology changed the paradigm. In the late 70’s, print was joined by video as a key communication technology. Vast networks of VHS tape players became a fixture in many offices. Moving into the 90’s web-based technology emerged as the primary channel of both internal and external communication. New technologies emerged and were integrated into the communication process at a dizzying pace – forever changing the communication landscape.

When web-based technology emerged as the primary communication channel for most organizations, “network pipes” were limited. The broadband connectivity we take for granted today was still a decade away. Early adopters of communication via the web were limited primarily to text and simple graphics. Photography, multimedia, video, and audio were pushed to the sidelines. Then along came fiber optic technology, Fast Ethernet, and a new generation of more powerful multimedia servers. The relentless advance of new technology emboldened communicators to demand more from the network. A new battlefront emerged with IT on one side, facing off against those pushing the envelope and demanding better communication capabilities. IT insisted on centralized control and governance over media distribution. Communicators pushed for a richer online experience. There are still skirmishes between those who manage infrastructure and those who use network resources to communicate with audiences both internal and external. The battles continue, but the outcome is certain.

New media, rich media, multimedia are one in the same. Web-based communication has become a mashup of data from multiple sources combined into a single, integrated tool. The line between text, graphics, animation, and video has blurred. All represent content, that when creatively combined create a persuasive new form of communication. Video has emerged as a key component of new media on the web. In 2008, video accounted for 60% of all Internet traffic. The amount of video on the net continues to increase and is projected to account for almost 90% of all Internet traffic by 2011. Combined with video, graphics and animation enable video to be presented in new and different ways. Live video webcasts have become an important part of how many organizations communicate. Websites increasingly offer users video content in streaming format or for download to a portable media player. Where once content downloads were limited to a PDF document, multimedia is now a common form of content download. And this not limited to large Fortune 500 organizations. Sure, IBM has video on its website, but so does KnittingHelp.Com.

What’s new about new media? Nothing, and everything. At the dawn of history, cave painters illustrated the results of the hunt. The application of technology, charcoal, made some hunters more successful than others. Incorporating technological change is what corporate communicators do. There’s nothing new about that. What is new, and central to success, is having a vision and the ability to put powerful evolving technology into the hands of skilled communicators who in turn can deliver compelling messages in new media form.

10 Ideas for Weathering Recessionary Times – Part 2 of 2

2009-03-05T08:00:00.001-05:00

This second post continues a look at how experienced media professionals are dealing with the downturn in the economy. Everyone acknowledges it tough out there today. Clients have seen their budgets cut and have less money to spend. Just keeping the doors open is a challenge, let alone doing great work.

Thanks to the many media professionals who offered their ideas for this list of 10 Ideas for Weathering Recessionary Times.

6. Production Choices: Several people I spoke with commented that despite the downturn in the economy, cutting back on innovation and creativity is never an answer. In fact, it may be more important now than when clients have more to spend. A project I recently developed for SAS was planned as a live, in-studio webcast. Scheduling problems and the skyrocketing cost of international travel, forced a look at other alternatives. Since the key messages were well supported with PowerPoint charts, it was agreed that rather than a video webcast, an audio seminar would work equally well. The client was pleased with the program, as well as the smaller hurt I put on their budget.

7. Alternate Distribution Channels: The past several years has seen the unrestrained growth of many new distribution channels. Broadcast television commercials will remain a mainstay for many producers, but in some cases there are alternatives. Dan Schwartz of Philadelphia’s Center City Film and Video has found this tactic effective for some clients. “We have used viral distribution of advertisements on YouTube, marketing through Face Book and other social media platforms, when the target viewership required it. This is a huge cost saving over TV media buying. Of course, more traditional marketing outlets always have to be considered as well.” Use of alternate distribution channels requires a different kind of communication’s campaign and possibly a different creative approach.

8. Virtual Office: Next time you need to shoot in Russia, or need something shot for you in Moscow, check in with my friend Fyodor Mozgovoy. Working across distance is something Fyodor does all the time and knows a lot about. “I cannot imagine doing business without Google, Skype, and iChat nowadays. Google services offer me a virtual office with multi-access calendars, ability to collaborate on planning, and share all important documents at a click. This saves me and my employees lots of time, and money for travel expenses. Skype is a great money saver, and iChat is amazing in its ability to share your screen on-line while keeping the voice connection, making online presentations easy and very impressive.” What can I say; the man knows how to squeeze a Ruble.

9. Production Sharing: Reduced budgets mean more than doing more with less. Sometimes sharing production responsibility can help reduce costs. Projects that are developed as part of a coordinated marketing campaign can use elements between projects and reduce overall cost. For example, photos used in a brochure can be incorporated into a video project, reducing production costs. “Resource sharing with clients and their other production agencies can help lower costs” said Jim Fink of New Century Digital Media in Chapel Hill. “Some clients have in-house production resources for creating graphics and web content. Using some of what they have already developed can help hold down expenses.” Such assets don’t always fit easily into the production process, but with some creative design, they can reduce costs and improve the bottom line.

10. Communicate-Communicate-Communicate: “Keep your client in the loop - (over)communicate - updating them often on the status of the project, milestones, and action items.” Great advise from Melanie Raskin, writer, actress, and voice over artist. “Prove your value every time. Not only strive to be the fun, engaging, creative, easy, can-do pro to work with - but also measure what you've done - put dollars and cents to those efforts. Send surveys to customers asking how your work/video/webcast/communication helped move the needle for the audience/users...and the company. This can be as simple as just a few questions to your clients or as complex as a survey clients can distribute to their audience (complimentary, of course!). In a challenging economy, clients are asked to make tough choices; make it easy for them to choose you and your services.” What more can I say, Melanie is the consummate professional.

There were many other ideas that came from talking with a great group of communication pros. Please comment on the two parts of this post and offer any suggestions of your own to share with the online community.

Networking was something that came up quite often. A number of people expressed ideas similar to what Melanie Raskin summarized so well, find ways to stay in touch with clients even if a current project is not underway. Maybe ask them for ideas about a blog posting. ;-)

10 Ideas for Weathering Recessionary Times – Part 1 of 2

2009-03-05T07:54:00.002-05:00

During recessionary times many organizations scale back advertising and how marketing budgets are spent. For media professionals, what does this mean in practical terms? For many, this is not the first time we've seen a downturn in the economy. We know clients are watching budgets more closely, there’s more competition, and margins are slimmer. We know how to operate lean-`n-mean – editing on a laptop while flying home from a shoot. But there is only so much expense that can be removed from a business. How can media professionals weather the storm?

I spoke with a number of media professionals who have been through the dry times before. Some of those I spoke with have their own business, some work for production companies, and others work within an enterprise. Regardless of your business model, these ideas can help you Weather Recessionary Times.

1. Showcase Flexibility: What does your front door, that is your Internet home page, say about you and the services you offer? Bruce Wittman of Eagle Video touches all bases with his website, showing on-line clips for use in marketing, training, recruitment, medical, multimedia and more. Bruce says, “people come to the [his] site looking for a specific kind of project. If someone wants to do a program with dancing frogs, it helps to have something like that on your website.”

2. Web Delivery: Everyone gets it, yes even clients. It’s all about the web. Barnstormer Communications Larry Wegman has been assisting clients transition their communication to on-demand, web-based content. “Clients are increasingly interested in creating messages that live on their website. It’s more convenient for them, they have control over distribution, and they can change it when they want.” Larry has helped clients develop shorter, more focused messages, which help offset reductions in advertising budgets.

3. Innovation & Quality: We’re all familiar with the phrase, a race to the bottom. It refers to people being prepared to settle for "good enough" when they ought to be striving for best. Service providers can reduce the price of their services, but as Greg Rowland of MindWorks Multimedia points out, with everyone reducing prices, “you do not have a competitive advantage and your margins become so small that you can’t survive for long. If a service provider offers better quality, improved service, and innovation, they stand out from the competition. Often times, innovative solutions are also cost-reducing solutions. For example, innovative eLearning courses are more effective and less expensive than classroom training.” Helping clients reduce their costs goes a long way when budgets are tight.

4. One-Stop-Shop: Economists talk about it, managers talk about, parents paying their teenager’s gasoline bill talk about it… productivity being efficient, getting the most bang for your buck. Taylor Sisk, a freelance producer and writer who works in association with Take One Productions, has begun offering his clients additional services. “I've started producing radio spots for political clients, [in addition to television commercials] as a means of providing them with more of a one-stop-shop service.” Established client relations, or the knowledge gained from developing a first project, can open the door to new opportunity – if you’re willing to stretch your communication skills.

5. Enthusiasm: In my closet at home I keep advice from a fortune cookie, reminding me to stay true to the dreams of youth. Documentary-style producer, David Rose of Rose Films, believes it’s important to “take on the kind of work that really interests you, and then go after clients who appreciate what you have to offer. This does not mean that we don’t get into other types of projects, but our core business is in what we do best, and like to do.” Work pays the bills and consumes much of our time. Enjoy life. Enjoy work.

More thoughts and ideas for how experienced media professionals are dealing with today’s difficult economy in part two of this post.

Dance with the one that brought you

2009-02-18T13:53:00.001-05:00

This Web 2.0 phrase that we all seem to hear thrown around now in any conversation we have with others in this broad reaching trade that we ply is getting a lot of mileage without clarification of what the heck it really means. This can be frustrating, especially when you are trying to be hip and cool and connected and someone brings up this really cool new web 2.0 application that you've never heard of and the hip cool facade crumbles right away. You feel like shuffling back to your Hudson Hornet and slinking your way down the street and quietly pulling into the driveway of your home (that looks a lot like the Cleaver place) and try to quietly slip into bed without waking your spouse and having to ashamedly admit that you were trying to be cool again and exposed yourself as a schmaltz.
The next day you realize that this web 2.0 thing has been beaten to death and nobody really knows what it is anyway.

Not so fast there old timer, lets re examine this.

The digitization bomb is still sending its shock waves throughout the old industry, and affecting the evolution of the new digital age in ways we simply can't get our heads around yet. When videotape replaced film (you know...'back in the day') it was a linear transition, easy to see and identify where it would fit into the future. Web 2.0 is just the opposite, as non linear as you can get, constantly redefining itself and finding new and exciting applications with which it can grow within. This is the opportunity that creative minds like ours have (or should have) been waiting for! A time to explore and experiment with this new "thing" in all of it's incarnations. The days of the broadcast are gone, on with the narrowcast! Right now is the time to find out what web 2.0 is to you, and how you can best fit within it. Take your old school knowledge and apply it to this new and evolving communications technology and do the incredible things you wanted to do to begin with, when you got into this business.

Now you can dance with the one who brought you. That defines it simply enough for me.

Into the Hands of the Consumer

2009-01-27T13:02:00.001-05:00

Tom Morse – MCAI Central Carolinas Chapter, President

The realization that it’s all about the web has long been accepted as a fait accompli by communicators. It’s now official – finance has derived the numbers and marketing has hit on the killer app.

Item one: financial value creation. A new research report from Spain’s IESE Business School reports that the stock performance of new media organizations far out performs that of traditional media channels.

Over a five year period ending in 2007, IESE Professor Javier Aguirreamalloa analyzed the financial performance of American and European businesses in the technology, new media, and telecommunications sectors. Here’s the bottom line. New media channels – software companies, social media, and web-base rich media – delivered higher levels of shareholder performance. The five sectors that created the most value were: social networks (+42%), businesses that provide services to telecommunication companies (+28%), online content retailers (+24%), multimedia application software (+21%), and consumer electronics (+19%). By contrast, traditional communication companies such as radio/television stations, record labels, and press publications shattered shareholder value.

Professor Javier Aguirreamalloa’s conclusion is that narrowing the distance between the communication sector and the end user delivered the greatest financial value. Those segments that made content more accessible and gave users greater control performed best. This comes as no surprise. Now there’s financial performance data to backup the growing number of market studies that all show the impact of Web 2.0.

Item two: Killer App for iPhone. They’re everywhere. The Apple iPhone is a hit with consumers largely because of the library of downloadable apps. There are apps that let users connect to their Facebook account, play games, or purchase from eBay. But one of the most popular iPhone apps comes from Kraft Food and provides recipes and shopping lists for Kraft products including Jell-O and Minute Rice. Don’t laugh, it’s true. iFood Assistant is one of the top selling apps for the iPhone. Yes, that’s selling apps. Consumers are paying Kraft Food to be marketed to on their iPhone. The app is one of the top 100 most popular paid apps and is number two in the Lifestyle Category. The app was launched in December and consumers have found it a helpful tool for making dinners faster, easier, and more convenient. The lesson: consumers are willing to pay when they discover something that’s useful and gives them greater control.

Item three: Accessibility. The research report from Prof. Aguirreamalloa draws a clear line between proximity to the consumer and successful performance. Putting the consumer in control is central to success, whether its 24 hour service, a selection of pizza toppings, or DVR playback when the consumer is ready. This explains the success of online rich media companies such as YouTube and Hulu. A recent post by blogger Chris Pirillo points out, “It’s a numbers game. YouTube is now 25% of the Internet’s search traffic, and if you’re not doing something on YouTube, you’re… crazy.” Joining the on-demand bandwagon last November is the Vatican. Available in four languages, the Vatican Channel offers news and other information about Pope Benedict XVI and Vatican events.

Yes, it’s all about the web – finance has the numbers, marketing has the killer app, and Web 2.0 even has a papal blessing. (That last item may be a bit of a stretch.) Those communication providers that bring consumers closer to desired content and put them in control, are those who will deliver the greatest return.

Communication in a Net-Based World

2009-01-27T12:55:00.000-05:00

Tom Morse – MCAI Central Carolinas Chapter, President

At a recent conference I attended, the keynote presenter spoke about social trends. Rather than the term Gen Y, he prefers the term Net Generation. His comment struck me as very applicable for our profession – it’s all about the net.

In titling this post I considered using in the title Web 2.0 or Web 3.0. But that’s a distraction. It’s about the web, Internet or intranet, platforms are irrelevant to the end user experience. As communication professionals, content delivery is everything.

Our industry has changed. ITVA is gone. Now, we are MCAI. U-Matic and VHS, gone. Now, digital video. DVD, bye – replaced by web-based delivery. Consider three press releases:

Cisco Delivers Advanced Network-Based Media Processing Platform – The gist of the release is that Cisco is now marketing a media processing platform that “simplifies live and on-demand media sharing across PCs, mobile devices, and other digital screens, by seamlessly formatting video and rich media for viewing on any device.”

Follow the money.

In another release, Ignite announced a content delivery solution that extends the delivery of “rich media within the enterprise and includes support for enhanced capabilities and delivery of content to mobile devices.”

The same day as the Cisco and Ignite releases came out, Brightcove announced a video platform alliance “to support online video initiatives to help customers grow businesses and expand the role of online video.”

I sometime joke and refer to this affect as YouTube-azation. Joking aside, our video communication industry has been radically reshaped by the web. This becomes even more apparent as media professionals struggle with today’s punishing economic conditions. Organizations have cut back on spending for marketing and advertising. Yet, a recent industry report points to one bright spot. In 2009, spending on webcasting is projected to increase by 30% over current year spending. A survey of over 1,200 business executives by Interactive Media Strategies, shows that organizations are spending more on web-based multimedia to reduce travel, save time and money, while supporting sustainability (green) initiatives.

What are you doing to help your clients bring rich media to the web? How can you differentiate your business and offer a service your clients need in today’s troubling economic times? That’s what we need to talk about. I hope you will join in the conversation.