Over on USTelecom.org, Brooke Oberwetter writes about an NYT article detailing the use of broadband by TV news outlets:
Rather than concentrating resources on expensive, highly staffed news bureaus in just a few locations around the globe, the Times reports that many networks are relying on a “new breed” of journalists–digital journalists…
Is news coverage better when it’s broadband enabled?
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My experience supports this premise written about by Ben McConnell and Jackie Huba in their book Citizen Marketers—roughly 1% of your site visitors will create content within a democratized community.
I know what you’re thinking: “1%?! You’ve got to be kidding me! I’m not going to waste my time…”
Well, don’t miss the section I’ve highlighted in the excerpt below. The operative phrase—Over time:
To some marketers, the polar opposite of the 1% Rule — the Law of Big Numbers– might doom any decision to dedicate resources toward a democratized community. Should it? Not necessarily, although any community organizer should be prepared to accept the reality of slow, incremental growth, not a big, Hollywood-style opening.
It would appear that small groups of people often turn out to be the principal value creators of a democratized community. Over time, their work fuels widespread interaction that engages the non-participating community and attracts new ones. If continually nurtured, the community can become a self-sustaining generator of content and value…
What are your expectations for the blog you’ve just launched?
The 1% Rule: Charting citizen participation: Church of the Customer Blog
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I’m experimenting. As I’m adding blogs to my reading list, I’m checking to see if the blogger is on Twitter, and if they are, I’m following them instead of adding them to my already-overloaded feed reader. Over on BFD, I use twitter tools to notify followers when the blog is updated. It’s pretty handy, because I’m not the sole author, and I like to know when others update it!
What’s your blog reading strategy? Please comment or take this poll:
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Here’s a follow up on my post this morning:
A growing preference for social networking, texting and cell phone communication, combined with disenchantment with email proliferation and irrelevance, are starting to impact the effectiveness of permission-based email marketing, new research from JupiterResearch confirms.
The online survey revealed that 44% of email users made at least one online purchase, and 41% made at least one off-line purchase, during the prior 12 months as a result of promotional emails. That might sound good on the surface, but those numbers are considerably lower than 2007, when the respective percentages were 51% and 47%…
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So apparently for me, part of the Optimistic Rebel blog is exploring the contradiction in things—as in how can one be optimistic and rebellious at the same time. So this post by Jeff Pulver on e-mail Marketing Mistakes to Avoid in a Web 2.0 World caught my eye.
While I totally agree with his suggestions, I’m curious about the premise—that Web 2.0 has fundamentally changed the way we expect to receive emails. While I think that you’ll get better responses by being more personal, I think that it’s because people used to communicating via email are used to the impersonal nature of the medium. Any extra effort is like a glass of water in the desert.
Don’t get me wrong. It’s essential to respect the person you’re targeting. I’m just wondering—what percentage of people on a web 2.0 platform (for example, twitter) would prefer to receive a shorter version of the email you’d send them there? What’s the ratio of social media adopters to email users? If the survey says Boomers aren’t into social networks, doesn’t that include Web 2.0? If they don’t use platforms like twitter, why would they expectations be any different for email?
As I’ve said before, make sure your demographics align with the channel you’re using. As a PCer , with a blog, twitter account, and being on various social networks, it makes more sense to connect with me there. Beyond that, I avoid email as much as possible, for the reasons I list above. As much as everyone clamors about Jason Calacanis’ retirement from blogging to focus on a listserv and his proclamation that blogging is dead, I don’t think an email to 750 subscribers (while abandoning the medium he profited from as CEO of Weblogs Inc.) is as immediate and intimate as he’d like to think.
Would you agree or disagree? Why?
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But do they buy online? What about research new brands? From MarketingVOX:
The study [identifies] three traits that characterize the shopping and spending patterns of Boomers, and it coined terms to describe them: “Promiscuous Purchasers,” “Free-Agent Shoppers,” and “Savvy Switchers.”
Promiscuous Purchasers: Boomers buy for themselves and for others of different generations. They spend more than three times the amount of money per month on spouses ($514) than adults under 40 ($169). They also spend nearly twice as much per month on children ($295 vs. $158) and three times as much on teens ($494 vs. $136).
Free-Agent Shoppers: Boomers are more open to new brands and less brand-loyal than people under 40. Some 26% say they are not at all brand loyal (vs. 21% of Gen-Xers and Millennials). This willingness to buy new brands carries over across most product categories, including electronics, personal care products, restaurants and automobiles.
Savvy Switchers: Boomers will not switch brands just because something is new. Some 91% of people in their 40s and 50s want a new brand to provide more value (vs. 83% of Gen-Xers and Millennials). These consumers also care about the promise of a brand over the image of a brand. They will consider new brands if they are more useful or functional or provide the most benefit/value.
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Thanks to Optiem’s Chief Strategist Clyde Miles for this article from Businessweek:
The older Generation X (aged 29 to 42) also use technology extensively but more when it “intersects with a personal need or fulfils a desire”.
Golvin said the key distinction between Generation X and Y is that Generation X uses technology when it supports a “lifestyle need” whereas tech is “embedded into everything Gen Yers do” making them the first “native online population”.
During the past three months, 69 per cent of Generation Xers have shopped online and 65 per cent used online banking—more than any other group.
And Generation X is increasingly using online and mobile technologies with 21 per cent now reading a blog once per month compared to 15 per cent last year. In addition, 61 per cent of mobile subscribers text compared to 49 per cent in 2007…
Are you marketing tactics in line with your demographics?
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Expert social networking connectors know how important the follow-up is when networking. Most people using Twitter will follow you in-turn, but very few follow up with a note thanking you for following them. Fewer still engage new followers. Why do you think that is?
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Over on FastCompany.tv, The Congressman from Youngstown, OH is scobleized.
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Jon Stewart talks with Bill Bishop, author of “The Big Sort”. My favorite quote “Politics is not about issues today, it’s about lifestyle.”
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