Monthly Archives: September 2011

trends

Embracing Process-Oriented Social Media Strategy Development

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Process is important when launching a large-scale social media strategy. Create a process that is easy to follow; that doesn’t leave any room to guess; and is reality-based, with regard to the amount of time it takes for the company’s management and senior staff to approve actions.

By creating processes, it gives others in the company guidance for how they should approach social media adoption in their own departments.

If you get an e-mail from someone in your company asking about creating a Facebook Fan Page for Product X, instead of responding with a list of questions, instead e-mail them with the relevant document to get the process of Facebook Page Development started.

The same goes for determining who will be that page’s community manager. Create a process that is to be followed from start to finish.

via Embracing Process-Oriented Social Media Strategy Development – 10,000 Words.

Infographics

How Does the Internet of 1996 Compare to 2011? [INFOGRAPHIC]

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Fifteen years ago, in 1996, I was still in middle school. We had one computer (a really old Apple) in our house and logging onto AOL was by dial-up only, took at least five minutes and ended with that cheerful voice saying, “You’ve got mail!” (Anyone miss this?) The Internet has definitely changed a lot, and for the better, in a decade and a half.

For those of you interested in a visual representation of those changes, check out this wonderful infographic by Online University comparing the Internet of 1996 to today.

Some highlights:

In 1996, Americans spent 30 minutes per month surfing the web. Today, that number has skyrocketed to 27 hours.

Netscape claimed the third spot on a list of most popular site in ’96. I can barely remember what that is.

It now only takes 6 seconds for a page to load as compared to the 30 seconds it took back in the day.

via How Does the Internet of 1996 Compare to 2011? [INFOGRAPHIC] – 10,000 Words.

Infographics

An Infographic Look At Generational Media Use

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Here’s something to think about. How does your media use — everything from newspapers to radio to Facebook — compare to your parents? Your siblings? Your kids? Chances are how and when you spend time on each of these media is quite different.

AdAge posted this interesting infographic that drives that point home with data from a study by Magid Generational Strategies on how different generations use various media throughout the day. One interesting point I noticed was in the fine print: The percentages of media use at any given time do not add up to 100 percent. That’s because there’s an awful lot of media consumption multitasking, especially among the millennials.

via An Infographic Look At Generational Media Use – 10,000 Words.

SEO

SEO for Non-dicks

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http://mattgemmell.com/2011/09/20/seo-for-non-dicks/

  • Use descriptive URLs, ideally containing the page’s title. Those URLs are easier to remember, easier to search for locally in your browser’s history, and provide a preview of the page’s topic. They’re desirable for the same reason that a well-crafted email subject increases the chance of your message being read.
  • Make sure the page title matches the first heading. Why wouldn’t you do this? I mean… what else would it be? It’s the title. It’s what the page is about. It’s about trusting that you have any concept whatsoever of what a “title” even is.
  • Incoming links are good. If people are linking to your stuff, it’s because they think it’s relevant or interesting. It’s the ultimate natural, organic process on the web. Real people, reallythinking your stuff is worth showing to others. The message isn’t “create incoming links yourself”, you cretin, it’s “write something fucking interesting”.
  • Use titles that are relevant to the content. The reason this happens is because you actually went to high school, and don’t have either a crippling brain-injury or a Monty Python-esque penchant for the surreal. The title should describe what you’re writing about, in a way that’s either immediately meaningful or will rapidly become so upon starting to read the piece.
  • Use descriptive anchor-text for links. When you read an article online and the author references another page, you hate it when the link is simply “this” or similar. The reason that’s dickish is because you’re forced to choose right now whether to read it. You can leave it until later, but you do so entirely without the context it might have provided. If, instead, the anchor-text summarises the article, you can at least make an educated decision regarding if and when you want to follow the link. Is that difficult to understand, or unexpected? No.
  • Keep writing. Relevance is a democratic process, and it also naturally declines if not actively maintained. That’s what relevance means. If you’re not willing to keep updating your site because you actually have something new to say, you don’t deserve to be thought of as relevant. Just accept it, and move on. Do something else. Be relevant elsewhere. You don’t strive forrelevance; you just are or aren’t, to whatever current degree the rest of the internet feels appropriate. Some topics retain relevance more than others, but ultimately it quite rightly declines.
trends

Social Media & Peer Pressure: What Does It Take To Change Your Mind? [STUDY]

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http://mashable.com/2011/09/16/social-media-peer-pressure/

On one level, the research that emerged from HP Labs Fridayis unsurprising: we tend to bow to peer pressure, and it’s as true in social media as in real life.

But how much peer pressure does it take, and what other factors come into play? The answers may surprise you.

HP Labs computers scientists, including veteran online behavior researcher Bernardo Huberman, asked 600 participants to answer a few simple questions about online photos. Which of two baby pictures is cuter, and which of these two couches (above) would you choose to buy for a friend?

Whichever one they chose, the researchers rigged it so the other picture was shown to be more popular, using a Facebook-style Like system. The participants then had a chance to change their minds. Each time, however, they changed the number of Likes each picture got, and waited for a different length of time before giving them a second chance.

The result: 22% of people were swayed by the peer pressure — but only if there was a long gap between the first and second chance. Given the chance to change their mind immediately, only 14% of participants did so.

Most interestingly, people were only likely to change their minds if there were a moderate number of Likes on the other side. As soon as the Likes on their choice of picture were outweighed by 20 times or more, participants dug in their heels and stuck with their original choice.

Translation: if there’s a large number of people who disagree with us, we’re stubborn as hell. If you want to persuade someone to change teams, make sure their side does not appear to be outrageously unpopular, crushed by a giant weight of evidence. That, as I’m sure you’re thinking too, could explain a whole lot about politics.

Huberman’s advice for marketers? “Rather than overwhelming consumers with strident messages about an alternative product or service, in social media, gentle reporting of a few people having chosen that product or service can be more persuasive.”

Check out the full study, in PDF format, here.

How To

7 Tips for Designing a Successful Photo Contest

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If you haven’t noticed, photos are big on the social web right now. Running a contest is a great way to tap into that content and boost community engagement in a fun and social way.

When planning a photo contest, keep these seven tips in mind — you will easily increase the effectiveness of your photo-related contest. If you have any other advice, leave a comment!

http://mashable.com/2011/09/16/photo-contest-how-to

blogs

Content Strategy: 7 Tips to Make Your Blog Stickier

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Bounce rates are the bane of a blog’s existence. The higher the number, the less engaged the reader (and the more depressed the blogger). A sticky blog means more engaged users. It means more opportunities to turn them into advocates who then share your content.

The following seven tips will help you increase the time visitors spend on your blog and the chances they’ll return often.

http://mashable.com/2011/09/16/blog-content-sticky/

trends

What UK Internet usage would look like condensed into 1 hour – TNW UK

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Have you ever wondered how the UK’s monthly Internet usage would look if it was condensed into a single hour? No, neither had we.But the infographic below, based on data from Experian Hitwise, does exactly that, and it is interesting to see how we’re all whiling our time away on the Web.In August 2011, the UK Internet populace spent 3.4bn hours online, and through combining visit data with the average visit session time Hitwise has distilled the whole month’s usage into a single hour:

via What UK Internet usage would look like condensed into 1 hour – TNW UK.

Infographics

The Growth of Social Media: An Infographic

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Say what you will about the tidal wave that is social media: it’s over-hyped, a fad halfway through its 15 minutes, that <insert social network, platform, app> surely won’t be around in a few years’ time.

But take a look below at the steep curve of the user growth rate in all age ranges and demographics, and the continuing pervasiveness of social networking into every facet of work, play and life in general. It’s hard to argue that social media hasn’t changed forever how we interact and connect online. See for yourself:

via The Growth of Social Media: An Infographic | Search Engine Journal.