A common question I get asked by people who are unsure of whether or not they should go into social media, (or even online marketing,) is “why should I be present on social media or online marketing when, on average, only a small portion of people are even present there?” It’s a tough question to answer from a marketing perspective, but I feel like there is a side to social media, (and online marketing,) that most people don’t consider: avoiding people that you’re not looking for.
If you think about your experiences on the internet, you might find that some of the more deeply engaging ones haven’t always depended exclusively on the content you’re consuming.
It’s an elusive concept, that in the world of web development we refer to as metadata. Loosely described, metadata is information and insight into data and how it moves around. Metadata might be the time you visited, how many pages you went to during your visit, what country you’re from or which links brought you to each page. It doesn’t focus on the “what” and “why” so much as the “who”, “where”, “when” and “how”. As web developers, we typically focus on using metadata to return marketing information about visitors or to improve how well web sites are described for search engines.
You may or may not have watched Mark Zuckerberg’s much improved attempt at public speaking yesterday, you may subscribe to a Twitter account or RSS Feed that was posting updates on his important talk. But whether or not you were keeping up to the minute with updates coming out of the Facebook “F8″ conference, unless you are one of the now rare few who are holding out against Facebook, the updates will inevitably affect you.
A Screenshot of the Facebook Timeline Developer Preview
I find it interesting when we talk to smaller clients and we discuss Google pay per click advertising and they say that they are running a campaign themselves. The next question always leads to budget and they say that they are spending $50 per month. My first thought is that Google is so smart to make their pay per click service so easy for companies to setup and appear to run themselves.
Google’s home page, iGoogle, Google Docs, and other apps are offering users a new look recently, changing the day-to-day just slightly for millions of people. These are mostly cosmetic changes, the kind that could be missed. I first noticed the unlikely dark grey with orange accents and generous white padding this summer at the introduction of Google+. Google ran with it and we expected “Try the new look” prompts to move across its vast suite.
The normal method of hiring staff is to advertise for a position and wait for the resumes to roll in. This method does not make a whole lot of sense anymore. Anyone looking for a job should have a full resume on LinkedIn with all their information. A resume should not be necessary.
If you haven’t caught the news yet, Microsoft has released a developer preview of their upcoming Windows 8 operating system.
Most regular users will want to avoid installing it, as it is not of release or even beta quality. But for developers and even enthusiasts, this is a great way to get a peek of the things Microsoft plans on changing as well as getting an early start on creating applications for Metro.
Have you ever thought about the food you are feeding your mind each day. Lets compare a couple of scenarios to illustrate a point. Let’s compare Mike and Steve’s weekend. Both are married and have 2 kids 8 and 10. Mike is not much a planner, he just likes to let the weekend go where it goes. He also loves to watch sports on TV. His Sunday’s are always spent in front of the TV from 12 noon until his kids go to bed. He also likes to watch horror movies when the kids go to bed. His kids spend most of their time wondering if they can have some of Daddy’s time between his TV shows.
Have you ever found yourself searching Google.ca looking for information, a product, or a service but find yourself presented with information that is less relevant you because they are from websites outside of Canada? Google.ca is Google’s Canada specific search engine and it does its best to figure out where you are to make your searches geographically relevant, but at the same time it understands that sometimes the information you require will come from websites based outside of Canada too e.g. Wikipedia.
How important is growth in business? Just ask the stakeholders of Canadian based Research in Motion (RIM), creators of the Blackberry Smartphone. RIM’s share price has taken a monumental beating in the last month and one can safely contribute the hit to a lack of perceived growth potential rather than an actual lack of growth in the company. How does such a prestigious company take such a step back in consumer/shareholder perception?
Toll Free (866) 889-1906 local (204) 889-1906
You are currently browsing the Online Marketing at Canada's Web Shop blog archives for September, 2011.
