I signed up for Google Buzz when it came out and I’ve been playing with it for a few weeks now (once I got my Google profiles in order, which is really something I wish they’d fix). At first, Buzz was a bit overwhelming in the amount information – and I still think that you’ll want to limit the number of people you follow (at least until they make it easier to expand/collapse/view buzzes). But I’ve found that I get some really great information that I wouldn’t otherwise see – not because it wasn’t available some other way, but because Buzz makes it so easy to see in one place.
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Mar
05
2010
A few useful things about Google Buzz
Mar
05
2010
Top Internet Strategy, Marketing & Technology Links – Mar 5, 2010
Millions of people around the world don’t know what a browser is, they don’t know the difference between a search bar and an address bar and they sure don’t follow the finer points of Google’s many little changes it makes to their search results. They go to the Google and they type in Facebook login. Then they click on the links that show up, sometimes with very humorous results.- Google Solves the Fafebook Problem (ReadWriteWeb)
Many people use Google as a web browser, meaning that they type in the name of where they want to go instead of bookmarking or typing in the direct URL. (Sometimes they even type the URL into Google – check your incoming search traffic, you’ll probably see your URL as a keyword.) ReadWriteWeb wrote an article about Facebook login recently that was showing up higher on the Google results page than the actual Facebook login page (Google is trying to serve news results as well as actual pages). People were confused when they went to the ReadWriteWeb story instead of the Facebook login page. Google’s solution? A yellow star for results these people may be looking for. I’m not sure how well it’s going to work, but I guess we’ll find out soon.
Mar
04
2010
Being Friendly Goes a Long Way
I was in the grocery store the other day and this nice older gentleman was driving around his shopping cart. As he passed people he would say hello or stop to chat for a minute. I doubt he knew many of them, but just about everyone responded with a smile and walked a way a bit happier. Think about your favorite businesses. Do you go back just because of the quality of their products or do the people that work there make a difference?
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Mar
04
2010
Top Internet Strategy, Marketing & Technology Links – Mar 4, 2010
For schools hit hard by the recession, Twitter is an inexpensive solution to the growing problem of increasing class sizes. It is a tried-and-true platform to let conversations flourish. Indeed, Dr. Parry declared that “it was the single thing that changed the classroom dynamics more than anything I’ve ever done teaching.”- How Twitter in the Classroom is Boosting Student Engagement (Mashable)
While technology in the classroom has changed over the years, it’s really done little to increase participation. The proliferation of laptops probably actually decreased it since it’s much easier to pay attention to something else. I was pleasantly surprised that a couple of college professors have found that Twitter has increased engagement. And students seem to like it since it also serves as a study guide and a continuing conversation outside the lecture. I’m not sure you’d get the same results at the high school level due to maturity issues (and that most schools ban cell phones during school, for good reason).
Mar
03
2010
Sazcast Episode 20 – Social Media Trends
Social Media Trends worth watching. Quick News – Topeka name change, Roger Ebert, AOL. Web Strategy & Marketing News & Tips.
Mar
03
2010
Top Internet Strategy, Marketing & Technology Links – Mar 3, 2010
But the thing that bugged John the most was that nowhere in the e-mail was there a mention of what, precisely, the e-mail sender was selling. Just the usual ‘we’ll get results for you, and can increase your online sales by 15%.’ I suppose inquiring minds would be so captivated by this come-on that they’d truck on over to the website and find out just what was for sale. But why make a deep, dark secret about what you do? Go ahead, tell me that you can increase our online sales, but how about letting us know that you do so through your patent pending, magic-mesmerizer that, when embedded in your home page, works with that 15% of the buying populace with receptors that will cause them to spring into action.- Bad e-mail marketing. (What is it that you do again?) (Opinionated Marketers)
You’ve probably seen this kind of email before – long-winded and “markety.” You may have even wondered if this sort of things works because all the “get rich quick” schemes seem to send them. And those long-winded emails do tend to work – if done correctly (unfortunately) – in that they get a decent click-through rate. But email can be a powerful tool without all the smoke & mirrors (which usually don’t work in the B2B world) by being personal, specific and including a call to action and followup.
Mar
02
2010
What Do Your Customers Need?
I run into this quite a bit – a client who wants to improve conversions on their website (which is good), but during our conversation they’ll say something like “I can’t seem to get people to pay for this” Huge warning flag! If people aren’t willing to pay for your product or service then you’re either 1) charging too much or 2) don’t fulfill a need or 3) aren’t explaining things in a way that makes sense to the customer. Upon further investigation, it often is #3, which is good, since that’s not too difficult to fix.
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Mar
02
2010
Top Internet Strategy, Marketing & Technology Links – Mar 2, 2010
It seems Twitter’s had enough with other folks taking control of millions of Twitter users (and the money they represent). If Twitter’s new business model is based on copying Google with Twitter AdWords, controlling the end-user interface will be very valuable. And this move seems designed to address that.- Twitter Rolling Out New Web Site To Kill TweetDeck And Other Third-Party Clients (Silicon Alley Insider)
Twitter’s future revenue streams are a fun party game – will they be ad based or service based? Whichever (or both) ends up being the case, they’re probably going to need more control over their serve – which means that they make things more difficult for 3rd party applications in the future. Which would be a shame, since they probably should have thought of that in the first place – and I happen to like my HootSuite.
Mar
01
2010
Ask Sazbean: Do Twitter Giveaways Work?
Kevin from KidsDesk.net asks: Do Twitter Giveaways work? While it’s hard to get actual numbers from Twitter giveaways and contests, they do seem to work for most of the businesses that use them. Here are some guidelines and tips to avoid breaking Twitter’s terms of service and to make the giveaway work…
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Mar
01
2010
Top Internet Strategy, Marketing & Technology Links – Mar 1, 2010
While I don’t have a crystal ball, here are some developments that I think are worthy of our attention and will affect how we do things in the social mediasphere over the next few years. Many of the things on this list will not be news to the very well-informed social media consultant types who live and breathe this stuff. But for the rest of us, there are seeds of opportunity here that should not be missed.- 8 Significant Developments in Social Media You Should Watch (WebProNews)
This is a great round-up of important trends. Some are fairly obvious – Twitter, Mobile – some not so much – virtual goods, augmented reality. One trend mentioned that I want to emphasize is the finding that gaming isn’t just for kids (or men) anymore. When you count puzzle games, strategy games and games on networks like Facebook, women make up a significant portion as well. For businesses, take a look at using a game of some sort in your next marketing campaign.
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