Top Internet Strategy, Marketing & Technology Links – Jan 25, 2010

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Gizmodo reports that monthly information subscriptions and fees can easily run to $500 or more nowadays. A lot of people today probably spend more on information than they spend on food. The reason we fork out all that dough is (I’m going to whisper the rest of this sentence) because we place a high monetary value on the content we receive as a result of those subscriptions and fees. – Information wants to be free my ass (Rough Type)

It’s interesting to think about how much we do pay for information – especially since most people think of information on the Internet as free. And there’s always a clammer when a site that’s offered information for free starts to charge for it (ex: NY Times). But, in reality, we already do pay quite a bit for most of the information we access – although a good portion of that goes to the broadcasting technology (cable, wifi, cellular) rather than the content providers (depending on the medium). It should be interesting to see if that relationship changes as people are able to get information from multiple media. Also of note – people do assign value based on how much they pay for something.

In looking closely at the astonishingly wide variety of ways our users have chosen to represent themselves, we discovered much of the collective wisdom about profile pictures was wrong. – The 4 Big Myths of Profile Pictures (okTrends)

This study covers profile pictures on a dating site, but the results are still interesting. I’d be interested if they hold with a more business-oriented network.

Everyone wants to know the one thing they can do to get things going, the magic pill they can take, the one bit or advice from a guru that will turn the ship around. (How’s that for some clichés?) Truth is, business is mostly a bunch of hard work, done consistently. However, there is one thing that every business can do that works in every instance – the one simple secret to guaranteed business growth. Want to know what that is? – The Simplest Secret To Business Growth (Duct Tape Marketing)

I’ll spill the secret if you haven’t read the post – figure out what’s working and do more of it. It sounds easy – and maybe it can be, if you do a lot of talking with your customers. Figuring out what’s working used to involve heavy statistics and market research (which still have their place), but now, with social media, you can get a feeling for what your customers like and dislike just by asking them diretly.

Building conversations anywhere in the world of social media develops relationships, grows brand recognition and expands expertise. The formula for starting and building a community around your topic calls for a heap of passion, a large scoop of planning and a big bowl ofpromotion – the three P’s. – How to Build Conversations in Social Media Using the 3 P’s (WebWorkerDaily)

Companies struggle with what to say on social networks – how to have a personality – and how to seem genuine. I have clients who will post a few blog articles and wonder why no one is commenting. The 3 P’s in this article – passion, planning and promotion – may help you figure out what your company needs to do to start conversations with your customers.

You have a vast number of engaged, passionate visitors who live and breathe your site. They love your clothes, they consider you great value, and they adore your brand.

But you don’t know what to do with them. They are an asymmetric asset.

What you have here, is a large, untapped resource. Put them to work! A lot of sites could benefit from a Mechancial Turk.

– E-commerce strategy – advanced tactics: innovation (Econsultancy)

Companies succeed by providing something that no one else provides (or in a way no one else does) – by having a competitive advantage. One way to create competitive advantage is by innovating within your industry. It may seem like this would require a lot of research and work, but it may be as easy as mining your customer data (or just asking them). Find something that would provide more value to your customers – innovate your products – and create competitive advantage.

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