Interactive Angle

Google SideWiki Adds Social Media Component to Every Web Page On The Internet

Google Sidewiki is a way for a visitor to comment on any content within a Web site.  When you use side-wiki, you have the ability to leave your comments and associate them with a Web site whether or not the Web site owner has enabled commenting.  Since the comments are maintained by Google, there is no direct relationship with the website.

Why am I bringing this up?

The impacts of Google SideWiki are far reaching, now every web page on the internet is social and can have a consumer opinion –both positive and negative.  At the same time this tool has the potential to shift the control over any Web site to the consumer.

Below are some other resources to help you better understand the potential impact of this new tool:

• Google Blog - Help and learn from others as you browse the web: Google Sidewiki

• Jeremiah Owyang - Google’s SideWiki Shifts Power To Consumers –Away From Corporate Websites

• Tech Crunch - Google Steps Where Many Have Stumbled: Sidewiki

• Read Write Web - Annotate the Web: Google Launches Sidewiki

Everyday Models - Rent Aspects of Your Life And Earn Money

Who would of thought that in 1985 Jim McMahon of the Chicago Bears was setting the stage for the future of advertising. Throughout his career McMahon was known for both on and off-field antics. Most famously his wearing of a headband with an unauthorized logo on it. Even-though he was fined by the NFL that did not stop him in Super Bowl XX by bringing attention to Juvenile Diabetes by wearing a headband simply stating "JDF Cure".

Today as the internet shifts communication from one-to-many to many-to-many, traditional advertising channels don't pack the punch they once did. Providing a new solution for a new media landscape is Everyday Models, which invites anyone to get paid to rent out aspects of their daily life to
advertisers.

Everyday Models allows consumers to earn money by renting at least in four different aspects of their daily life.

1. Social Network Advertising - Selling space on your social networking profiles (i.e.Facebook, Myspace...)
2. Human Advertising - Become a walking billboard
3. Car Advertising - Sell space on your car to advertisers
4. Promotions - Handout flyers and conduct in-store demonstrations

Very cool idea especially considering today's enconomic environment.

Source: Everyday Models

What Is Video Snacking?

I heard the phrase "video snacking" at a conference last month for the first time and decided to lookup a definition on the Internet to gain better understanding of this online trend. My first destination was to search Wikipedia and to my surprise there was no entry for the phrase. Next I did a Google search and I came across a couple interesting articles. The first was in MediaPost.com.

The article in MediaPost.com defined video snacking as "creating viewing habits around quick and consistent consumption of video". Not only did they provide a definition, they had metrics to support this online trend.

• 146 million people, or 77% of the U.S. Internet audience, viewed online video.
• Those viewers watched 34% more online videos than they did last year.
• The average online viewer watched 273 minutes of video, up over 40% vs. the previous year.
• The average duration of online video is fairly short, at 3.1 minutes per video.
• And, the audience viewed 87 videos per month on average, 18 more videos per month than last year.

After reading the MediaPost article I came across a NY Times article highlighting another trend on video snacking. The article stated "in cubicles across the country, lunchtime has become the new prime time, as workers click aside their spreadsheets to watch videos on YouTube, news highlights on CNN.com or other Web offerings". Even Alan Wurtzel, head of research for NBC said to go take a walk around your office at lunchtime to observe this trend. “Out of 20 people, I’m going to guarantee that 5 are going to be on some sort of site that is not work-related.”

The last set of articles I came across explained how companies are looking into harnessing the concept of lunchtime video snacking for learning, however there were no specific details. As I come across more information I will be sure to post the information on Interactive Angle.

Sources:

Media Post - The Online Video Snacking Trend

NY Times - Noontime Web Video Revitalizes Lunch at Desk 

Job Search - New Rules For Finding A Job

David Meerman Scott's article "Downsized? Fired? Here are the new rules of finding a job" has a lot of great ideas, but his strategy should not only be applied when you're in need of a job. It should be applied if you have a job as well.

 

A lot has change over the past two years especially when is comes to searching for a job. In David's article he says that individuals need to stop thinking like an advertiser of a product and start thinking like a publisher of information. Create information that people want. Create an online presence that people are eager to consume. Establish a virtual front door that people will happily link to. And one that employers will find.

 

There are many ways to do this however it takes time to learn about the different mediums and channels available. Simply put it takes time to effectively build an online presence. Pro-actively following David's suggestions will only place you in a better situation if the unfortunate situation of downsizing or being fired occurs.
 

Source: New rules of finding a job - David Meerman Scott

Ten Marketing Lessons Learned From The Presidential Campaign

I recently read an interesting article regarding the lessons learned from the Barack Obama Presidential campaign. The article was posted on David Meerman Scott's blog webinknow.com. In his article David lists 10 oberservations on how Barack Obama was elected.

As David noted on his blog:
InteractiveAngle.com is a marketing blog, not a political blog. The article is not about political observations, but thoughts about creative marketing practices. It doesn't matter who I supported or voted for or who you supported or voted for. It is simply just making observations for us to learn from Obama's victory.

Observations:

1. Social media and the new rules of marketing are essential.
2. Embrace citizen journalists.
3. Clearly and simply articulate what you want people to believe.
4. People don't care about products and services, instead they care about themselves and about solving their problems.
5. Don't obsess over the competition.
6. Put your fans first.
7. People don't like tele-marketing.
8. Negativity doesn't sell.
9. When someone becomes a customer, they want to talk about it.
10.  Take time for your family.

Sources:

• Article - Ten marketing lesson

• David's - Web Site

Razorfish's 2009 Digital Outlook Report - Social Influence Marketing exploding in 2009

Razorfish has released their 5th annual Digital Outlook report. The report reveals the key digital trends, strategies and what to look out for throughout 2009. Below is some of the thinking from the report.

•  "Social media and Social Influence Marketing exploded this year partly due to the economic downturn. Consumers began losing faith in large institutions and experts and turned to each other for advice. Marketers embraced SIM this year too because it's a very cost-effective means of reaching their customers."
• "Social media advertising will finally hit its stride in 2009 as advertisers figure out better ways to embed social media into ad units."
• "Advertisers continue to support search because it delivers a stronger ROI than many other tactics, especially in an economic downturn. We don't think search is recession-proof though, and do expect some budget tightening in 2009."
• "Television is undergoing a fundamental shift - it is going digital in all aspects and is becoming more niche in terms of both audiences and programming."

Source: Razorfish 2009 Report

Dairy Queen - Blog and receive $5 gift card

Here is an interesting way Dairy Queen is reaching out to bloggers in promoting their DQ® Sweet Deals. Bloggers who spread the word will get a free $5 gift card.

Here is how they setup the rules for this promotion:

1) Write a blog post linking here about what deal you’d make with us to try our Sweet Deals for free.
 
2) Once you’ve done this, email blog@idq.com with a link to your post and your mailing address and we’ll ship you a gift card.

Only the first 250 bloggers to email us with the link to their post and address will win a gift card, so act fast! A special bonus: Be as creative as you can as the best entry (chosen by the DQ blog team) will get treated to DQ Sweet Deals every week for a whole year.

Finally, the most creative entries will be posted on the DQ blog

More to come.

Source: Dairy Queen Blog

 

99 Things You Should Have Already Experienced On The Internet

OK, I just came across this site and I had to post this on Interactive Angle. Advertising copywriter Greg Rutter has compiled everything great about the Internet and put that on one Web page. Youshouldhaveseenthis.com is a list of 99 videos and websites that any self-respecting Internet addict needs to see — and probably already has.

I personally do not know Greg, but I do want to thank him for bringing back a lot of memories.

Enjoy!

Source: YouShouldHaveSeenThis.com

Web Traffic To Top 10 Online Newspapers Grows 16 Percent Year-Over-Year In December, According To Nielsen Online

Nielsen Online, a service of The Nielsen Company, today reported a 16 percent year-over-year increase in unique visitors to the top 10 newspaper Web sites, growing from 34.6 million unique visitors in December 2007 to 40.1 million in December 2008. NYTimes.com was the number one online newspaper destination in December 2008, with 18.2 million unique visitors.

Source: Nielsen

Higher Ad Clicks Rates For Web Sites With Quality Content

A report released by the Online Publishers Association on January 8, 2009 finds that that advertising effectiveness is higher on Web sites with “quality, original content,” compared with ads on the Web in general ad networks. In addition, the report, also showed that the weakened economy is having less of a negative impact on quality original-content sites. Since a benchmarking study last summer, measures of ad viewers’ intent to purchase declined 13% across the Web in general, but only by 5% among viewers of ads on quality original-content sites, the study found.

The report is called  “Improving Ad Performance Online" and can be found on BtoBOnline.com.