What’s Hot (What’s Not) Online?
360 hosted a professional development session of digital media leaders last week for our Converge agency network. The two-day summit kicked off with three phenomenal speakers on what’s hot (and what’s not) online. Here are a few key nuggets from each speaker:
Kevin Dando - Director of Online Communications & Education, PBS
On Wikipedia:
“It is unbelievable how much traffic can be attracted to your website from Wikipedia. Whether you like it or not, so many people are using this site as a resource… Companies are not supposed to make any edits (to their own Wikipedia page)… if you do Wikipedia ‘right’, it requires a LOT of time.”
On StumbleUpon:
StumbleUpon has been great! You can actually buy placements for your website, so your page is fed to people with certain interests. Via StumbleUpon’s voting system, people can then rank your site, which can be a great traffic booster. On the other hand, if your site is voted down, your advertising can be pulled.
On FaceBook:
“One of the things I really like about FaceBook are the social ads…We can go in and set up an ad for a PBS TV show, for example, and narrow the distribution by demographics and more…We did a ‘Jane Austen’ TV series and had 3,000 people join the profile page as a result.”
“We also held a party this year at South by Southwest that was co-hosted by other organizations as well. We never sent out a paper invitation - only sent out an invite via FaceBook and it turned out to be the best decision as so many more people attended compared to last year’s event.”
On Twitter:
“Twitter user names are getting grabbed up fast! It was only 3 months after Twitter started that ‘PBS’ and ‘PBS Kids’ were already gone.”
On YouTube:
“Once you put a video on YouTube, it becomes indexed in Google really fast - typically in 24 hours. Of all the videos on the Internet, 34% of them are on YouTube…”
“How-to and demonstration videos are really popular on YouTube.” (Marketers can take advantage)…If you are putting up videos, really watch the comments.”
Maura Welch - Director of Marketing & Content, WeeWorld
“Reading has changed…the internet is training our brains to search and bounce, not read in depth.”
On Blogger Outreach:
“Don’t spam. You need to know your target, their audience and their recent posts. Don’t use acronyms and marketing hype. Provide links to supporting data and visuals.”
“What you say can and will be used against you in the court of social media.”
“Engage, but don’t assume. Don’t be too informal/ casual if you don’t have an existing relationship with the blogger.”
As a blogger for the Boston Globe, Maura mentioned that “I never once blogged from a press release. Except once. When my editor, who left me alone 99% of the time, asked me to.”
On Social Networks/Communities:
“Don’t fall into the ‘one size fits all’ trap. Evaluate your audience, your goals and your options. Be upfront, open, and honest about who you are and what company and organization you represent. Continuously engage and create and open dialogue with your end user. Make it personal. Don’t cross the line - the thoughts and opinions shared in the social media realm reflect on the entire organization.”
Walter Carl, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Northeastern University, and Chief Research Officer, ChatThreads
On Social Media:
“For a lot of companies, the problem is that they know they want to get involved and they know they need to get involved, but they see all types of options out there and they end up asking themselves ‘where do I begin?’ The problem with (looking at the technologies available first) is that it becomes short-sighted…what I suggest is to have some type of a tool to look at your options more strategically - a Word of Mouth Program Plan.”
On Monitoring:
“By monitoring online conversations, you can put your whole marketing efforts into perspective - whether it be offline or online, etc.”
“So what types of things should you be monitoring? Company name and URL, any public facing figures, product names or URLs, any hangouts that are popular in the industry, employee activity and blogs, everyday conversations, brand image, and your competitors as well.”
“I am shocked by how many companies are not monitoring social media. Some of them are doing it, but they are dong it very haphazardly. You CAN do a lot of the monitoring using free tools, which is a great place to start, but there are a number of great firms that provide a much broader analysis. These come with a hefty price tag. How do they do it? The good firms are monitoring both with machines and human coding….”
“You have to know what to do with the stuff that you find - it can be overwhelming. Figuring out how you can take action is where the consulting firms come in.”
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