Marketing, Advertising, Digital Media Thoughts and Observations

Must Reading

November 10, 2009

It may not be the Internet that's killing newspapers. Maybe it's us.

That's one of many salient points that Richard Rodriguez makes in a long, somewhat rambling but extraordinarily compelling article in the November issue of Harper's Magazine. Unfortunately, the full text of "Final Edition, Twilight of the American Newspaper" is not available online so I can't link to it; you'll have to go to your nearest newsstand to pick up a copy. (Take that, new media!)

It's worth every penny of the six dollars and ninety-five cents.

Another thoughtful point: The newspaper is the city and the city is the newspaper. Rodriguez tells the story of the rise and fall of the San Francisco Chronicle to elegantly illustrate this.

Rodriguez's article reminded me of my afternoons as a teen lugging a bag full of 100-plus copies of the Tarrytown Daily News (long ago subsumed into a Gannett regional newspaper) to deliver faithfully to the faithful customers on my route. I hadn't thought about that in a long time.

The article also helped me make a connection about myself that I hadn't before. I grew up delivering newspapers and when I grew up, I worked to influence them.

'Yankees Suck'?

November 4, 2009

First, a few caveats about this post.

• I'm a passive New York Yankees fan.
• I'd rather play ball than watch it.
• I rarely read the sports pages.

That revealed, I don't get why the Yankees are so reviled. Is it the money-can-buy-the-pennant approach? Steinbrenner? Certain unnamed players?

Once a year or so I'll catch a Boston Red Sox game at Fenway, usually not a Yankees game. And I'm stunned by the vitriol toward the Yankees even when they're not in town. You know, the "Yankees Suck" tee-shirts for sale outside the stadium and similar expletives inside. I just want to scream, "Get a life."

I guess this activity in Boston might qualify as a passionate network of disbelievers.

Microblogging Best Practices

November 3, 2009

The Kelliher Samets Volk social media team recently published a primer on microblogging, with a focus on Twitter. We shared it with clients and friends several weeks ago and now I share it here as a public service.

What have you learned about Twitter that you're willing to share?

Twitter as High School

November 2, 2009

Is it possible that Twitter is nothing more than high school all over again? A piece by Sarah Lyall in yesterday's New York Times suggests as much.

Ms. Lyall writes "It was also an example of how Twitter reinforces the tendency of adults to behave like high school students, passing rude notes, spreading exaggerated rumors and obsessing endlessly — and pointlessly — about who said what mean thing about whom."

Read the details here (http://bit.ly/4EX8Oq) and laugh.

Newspaper Sites Struggle

October 26, 2009

It looks like ad networks are scooping newspapers, at least in terms of ad spending.

In a report in today's Times, Stephanie Clifford's article, "Online Rally May Sidestep Newspapers" (http://bit.ly/2gvIiJ), suggests that "newspaper sites are the patent-leather stilettos of the online world: they get used for special occasions, but other shoes get more daily wear." Colorful language.

Ms. Clifford cites a recent Mercedes-Benz USA campaign that used The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times for an online roadblock, buying expensive 3-D ad units on the front pages but then quickly migrating the campaign to smaller, less expensive, more efficient sites via ad networks.

This could be an ominous trend for the big newspapers.

Ms. Clifford also cites research that suggests "as long as an ad looks good, it does not matter whether it runs on a fancy site or a lower-end site." Ouch!

7 Things I Learned at SMX

October 24, 2009

Earlier this month I attended the Search Marketing Expo in New York. I participated in workshops on paid search, Facebook and Twitter marketing, and online reputation management, among others. There was a lot to take in. Here are just a few nuggets:

1. Web users spend only 5% of their time on search engine sites and 95% at content sites. You may want to think about how to get your message on the latter.
2. Think key phrases not key words. Longer key phrases--three and four words--get searched more these days.
3. Typeahead tools used by many search engines can be a great source of key phrase ideas because they usually are the most popular, recent phrases people are searching .
4. The very best search engine optimization is great content on your site.
5. Putting your toll-free number in your paid search ad may save money if buyers call before clicking. It's worth testing.
6. Facebook advertising is like a massive land grab at the moment with 120 million people logging in daily. Count on advertising rates skyrocketing in the next year.
7. One speaker described Facebook as "the other Internet, only worse."

How the Rich Are Different

Ernest Hemingway reportedly said to F. Scott Fitzgerald, "The rich are different...they have more money." They also have more social media sites.

Not for long, perhaps.

In a recent post (http://bit.ly/1BBZfs) to the WSJ Wealth Report,"'Facebooks' for the Rich Flounder," blogger Robert Frank suggests that interest in asmallworld.net and gawker.com are waning because, according to Gawker, "Rich guys don’t want to socialize only with one another, and once you let in enough attractive young women and such, your VIP site loses it cachet and everyone might as well just hang out on Facebook."

Except for the money thing, perhaps the rich aren't so different after all.

Twitter Trends

October 19, 2009

Blink and you may miss the latest Twitter trends.

Mashable has just published a list, "Top 5 Twitter Trends to Watch Right Now" (http://bit.ly/25ufvg).

The online media guide cornered five top social media luminaries--Steve Rubel, Chris Pirillo, Leo Laporte, Brian Solis, and Guy Kawasaki--at BlogWorld Expo in Las Vegas and asked them to contribute one trend each.

One memorable line from Pirillo, "Twitter is a great place to tell the world what you’re thinking before you’ve had a chance to think about it."

Facebook Versus MySpace

October 14, 2009

Here's a provocative take on the Facebook/MySpace battle. According to this article (http://bit.ly/JQFbQ) on CNN.com, based on some Nielsen Claritas research, "people in more affluent demographics are 25 percent more likely to be found friending on Facebook, while the less affluent are 37 percent more likely to connect on MySpace."

And Twitter and LinkedIn serve an even more affluent demographic, according to the research.

Read the article and weigh in.

Is Luxury Spending Dead?

October 13, 2009

It's a question many marketers are asking themselves. Now there's an answer or, at least, a partial answer.

In a September poll conducted by the Harrison Group for American Express Publishing, only 40% of those with $100,000 or more in discretionary income said that when the recession is over “I will go back to the way I used to shop.”

Read more at WSJ Blog "The Wealth Report" (http://bit.ly/1eYuO9).