Marketing Tom - Digital Marketing

Are Companies Missing A Trick With The Share This Facility?

 
I was just checking to see whether there were any films worth watching on Film4 tonight when my eyes were drawn to the advertisement of the new George Clooney film, The Men Who Stare At Goats. You know the sort of ad - the one where the trailer plays but to listen to it you must turn the sound on. Well, I did turn it on and yes, it seems like the sort of film that will appeal to my sense of humour. 

If you read the reviews on Film4, you may be aware of the share this buttons - one for Delicious, another for Facebook and a third for Digg. They are all designed to take the conversation from that particular site and over to somewhere else. They can be highly effective, require no marketing spend and people who use these sites regularly are starting to become familiar with the idea of 'sharing'. 

So, you can probably see where I am going with this! Why don't the producers of films like this create share this options - for Facebook, Twitter and blogs - at the point where the site is seen by people? You can find these options once you click through to Film 4 and then some more on the Men Who Stare At Goats website but not where the ad is first advertised. Myself and other content creators would be more than happy to blog about and share these clips with friends and colleagues. 

It's just a thought!

Where Online And Offline Worlds Collide

I have spent the past 5 days in London with my family for the half term break. Whilst there we visited the Science Museum, the National Gallery (briefly!) and the National History Museum. It was at the latter that I saw some of the new touchscreen technology that museums are employing to help youngsters, and the not-so-young, interact with museum exhibits. The recently opened Darwin Centre issues visitors with cards, called Nature Plus cards that allow them to: 

save content from selected exhibits to view later online. Online, NaturePlus offers visitors their own personalised web page at www.nhm.ac.uk/natureplus where they can view content they’ve saved during their visit to the Darwin Centre, see further linked information, join our forums, follow blogs and find out about events and citizen science surveys.

In a previous article I asked how tourist attractions could use digital media to keep in touch with their target audiences once they had left their premises. I suppose that the Darwin Centre answers this by making sure that visitors get a truly memorable, interactive experience whilst at the museum and then once they go home they can log on and continue that experience in a digital world. I am sure that we will see a lot more of this going on in museums in the future and I think it is quite an exciting thought.

Digital Natives And The Rest Of Us

Travelling in the car today, I picked up the last part of BBC Radio 4's Click On programme which interviewed Professor Michale Hulme of Lancaster University.The interview revolved around the way that young people used the Internet and he threw up some fascinating points, such as in terms of the Internet 82% said it was the first port of call for information and it was the first place they turn to for advice and support. 

In discussing the habits of digital natives he said:

"they're characterised by the way they use these different modes of communication: text, voice, social networking, video, photographs and increasingly music as well. So we have a very rich fabric of communication. It's very different to older generations." 

On the way that they obtain information from the Internet he says:

"they look at many different sources, they look at the way it's being used, they look at who is using it and then gradually they build up picture of something they may trust. ...If you take a news story, a person of this age may not go to a recognised, authoritative source but rather pick the news up by looking at several blogs, getting involved in some chat, in dialogue with people they know and gradually built up a news picture which is full of contradictions and different views and it builds up possibly a slightly richer view." 

He also says:

"Young people almost act as miniature broadcasting stations - bringing information towards themselves and then sharing it."

And finally he discusses how young people are different to the older generation:

"[The Internet] is part of them. It is not a place they go to, it's just a place they live in. They draw no distinction between the physical and virtual world. It's completely enmeshed in their lives. This is very different from the older generations who tend to visit for a specific function, do something and come away." 

He concludes by saying:

"They are where we are going, we will gradually adapt, we are gradually adapting. There's changes occurring all the time but  this group is very important as they are us in the future."

Digital Marketing Essentials Course

Just a quick reminder that we will be running the Digital Marketing Essentials course on the 12th and 13th November. This is one of the 3 elements that make up the CAM Diploma in Digital Marketing, those with the eMarketing Award get an exemption on one of the modules. If you would like more details or would like to book a place, please take a look at the Digital Marketing Essentials page.

The Best Digital Marketing Tool

I was just considering what is the most effective and powerful Digital Marketing tool that I use. 

Was it Facebook? Nope

How about Blogging? Nope

Or plain, old-fashioned SEO? Nope

Well, what about Google AdWords? Nope

Online PR? Not quite.

Then it must be Twitter? Nope

I thought about it for a little while and can tell you that, based on conversions and conversations, there can only be one winner ..... email. And the app that I use, Outlook 2007. This simple tool, which allows me to write a little bit of text (no images or video) with a hypertext link is critical in all my Customer Acquisition, Extension and Retention strategies. There is no other tool in my 'little' armoury that comes anywhere near it and I think a key element in its usefulness is the fact that it allows me to talk directly (or so the plan goes!) with people. In essence, it's a superb word-of-mouth tool.

A Taste of Google Wave

There has been quite a lot of talk about Google Wave over the past couple of months and over the past few days Google has been sending out invites to selected members of its community. Google Wave is a social networking and communications tool that lets users collaborate on projects. As the Wall Street Journal blog puts it: 

Wave is a new way for businesses and consumers to collaborate. It blends elements of email, wikis, instant messaging and social networking to try to make it easier for people to plan everything from a dinner to a presentation, in real time.

If you would like to find out more about Google Wave, take a look at this loooong video from Google!

 

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