Web services often live or die by the critical mass of their audience. It is important when developing or considering any new service to consider the critical mass.
While discussing online content for a client this week, we came to the topic of what belongs on a companies home page, and why their website doesn’t have to (or rather shouldn’t have to) be a destination.
My thought on the matter was that if I were looking for content about the company’s brand identity, I would go first to the company’s website to try to find that information. Brad Schwarzenbach, Tippingpoint Labs’ Senior Strategist, replied to this by saying, “I’m going to try to get to you before you have to start looking.”
TGI Friday’s fell victim to a social media one-night stand with their Fan Woody campaign. Promising free hamburgers is no way to build a lasting, valuable relationship with consumers.
A couple of weeks ago, Jim Cosco wrote a great post about how to make your podcast a success. We produce a podcast every week (well almost every week), and we’re really proud about the audience we’ve built. Within three months we hit the 20K downloads marker, and we’re chipping away at the next 20 thousand. But how do you know if your podcast is really successful? How do you measure its reach? What can you infer from the stats you’re collecting?
Blog post series don’t really work and artificially breaks your ideas into pieces. It can be disconcerting and alienating to readers. Always let your content stand on its own.
When I think of podcasting, I think of radio. Not gab masters like Howard Stern or Carson Daley radio, but dramatic radio. I think of shows like All Things Considered. Masters like Paul Harvey and Garrison Keillor. And classics like The Shadow and The War of The Worlds.
These things transcend the medium and connect with the listener. Your podcasts can to. Here’s how.
Quality traffic, not traffic volume will determine your long term success on the web. One more time: Quality over Quantity.
With that in mind, it’s worth taking a minute to see whether your content sucks or your audience sucks. Here’s how you can determine if your content is being viewed by the right audience and whether they’re actually consuming your content.
Before you distribute your brand’s content on a new media channel, make sure it’s channel-appropriate and make doubly sure it’s an appropriate channel. Just because a channel is experiencing traffic volume in your desired demographic doesn’t necessarily mean your content belongs there. In fact, instead of attracting engagement, you might be attracting a big hit…
Bill Cosby, Michael J. Fox, and Ted Danson turned NBC into a powerhouse during the ’80s with their Thursday night lineup. The Cosby Show at 8PM, Family Ties at 8:30PM, and Cheers at 9PM became a regular staple in homes across the country. The ratings were huge and it got television executives talking about a phenomenon where the audience would expect shows at a certain time and they would rearrange their schedules around them in order to tune in. They called it “Appointment Television.” The most loyal of fans would make a habit out of watching the shows because they knew when and where to find them.
The concept, which developed a loyal following for NBC and turned it into the number one network, can work for you too as you develop your content marketing strategy.
Bill Cosby, Michael J. Fox, and Ted Danson turned NBC into a powerhouse during the 80s with their Thursday night line-up. The Cosby Show at 8PM, Family Ties at 8:30PM, and Cheers at 9PM became a regular staple in homes across the country. The ratings were huge and it got television executives talking about a phenomenon where the audience would expect shows at a certain time and they would rearrange their schedules around them in order to tune in. They called it “Appointment Television.” The most loyal of fans would make a habit out of watching the shows because they knew when and where to find them.
The concept, which developed a loyal following for NBC and turned it into the number one network, can work for you too as you develop your content marketing strategy.
You know the importance of engaging in a channel before trying to promote yourself. But you may wonder how it is possible to engage in all the channels your work calls for — and still actually get some work done.
Your most targeted promotion will be directly through your personal network. Interpersonal content promotion is more likely to result in a conversation through comments or an e-mail exchange. You may even invite contacts to participate.
The big three are scrambling to supply services that address this newest evolution. PR and Advertising are offering interactive. Interactive is claiming that advertising is dead. All are offering social media.
Once you have a strategy nailed down, you need a content creation process or, as we call it, a Content Engine. The Content Engine equates to the actual tactics employed in carrying out your overall strategy — it’s the way you plan, coordinate and generate your content.
PR and ad agencies drive awareness and spark consumer interest. Interactive agencies provide places online where consumers can turn interest into a conversation. So what’s missing?
