Tag Archives: digital media

March 28, 2016 · 10:53 am

Home Base

I had a potential client ask me if having a website was still a big deal or if it was a good strategy to use the plethora of platforms to engage with consumers. I have a strong feeling about that, and it’s that digital homelessness is a really bad idea. Let me explain why.

I’ll deal with facts before I get into my opinion (as I’ve encouraged you folks to do many times here on the screed). Let me quote from a Digiday article of last November:

Referral traffic (desktop + mobile) to the top 30 Facebook publishers…plunged 32 percent from January to October, according to SimpleReach, a distribution analytics company. The more reliant the publisher on Facebook, the bigger the hit: Among the top 10, the drop was a steeper 42.7 percent.

Those results line up with those from social traffic tracker SimilarWeb. It found that The Huffington Post’s Facebook traffic fell 60.1 percent, Fox News’ dropped 48.2 percent, and BuzzFeed’s Facebook visits fell 40.8 percent. Across all 50, the biggest drop in traffic in the period took place from January to February, when publishers’ Facebook traffic fell an average of 75 percent. There was a smaller but also significant drop from March to April.

Maybe it was an algorithm shift, maybe it was that the publishers weren’t offering content that was click-worthy.  That proves my point – you can’t know.  If it was the former, you’re at the mercy of a gatekeeper.  I’m not singling out Facebook – Instagram just went to an algorithmically determined feed, as has Twitter.  The point is that without a home base you are at their mercy.  Why?  Because you can’t market for yourself.  “Like Us On Facebook” does a world of good for Facebook and little for you, in my opinion, because while a consumer might like you, they might never see you.

Yes, you can buy ads on any of the aforementioned platforms to drive traffic.  Is that any different from buying search ads?  I think it is.  Search is targeted differently and can be better integrate with site analytics than can any outside platforms.  Putting that aside, with so much in our business lives out of our control, why would we give up anything that can be completely ours?  Having a well-designed and maintained website – a home base on the web – is one of those things.  That’s how I see it.  You?

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March 21, 2016 · 11:46 am

Call First

Do your friends just show up at your house around supper time?  Do any of them knock on your door unannounced as the game is starting so they can watch on your big screen TV and drink your beer?  I suspect most of them don’t.  It’s common courtesy to call first, isn’t it?  Even those folks who might have a standing invitation of sorts will generally do so, if for no other reason than to see if you’re home. 

I find it interesting, therefore, that many marketers don’t think about the same common courtesy.  That thought came to mind as I read the latest State Of Content report from the Adobe folks.  You can read the whole thing here (pdf), and there is a lot to digest.

Consumers understand the benefit of content recommendations, as long as those recommendations respect privacy. In the US, 73% believe they are meant to enhance the viewing experience. At the same time, 62% believe they don’t respect privacy.  In other words, sure, you’re a friend but you’re also showing up without calling.  Most Americans who use digital media (82%) are comfortable with sharing at least one piece of information about themselves in order to improve the recommendations they see. In other words, CONSUMERS ARE WILLING TO SHARE INFORMATION, BUT EXPECT RETURN ON VALUE.

Calling first means making the consumer comfortable about data collection. Those who are uncomfortable with predictive recommendations believe companies can do something about it, and the biggest thing companies could do is to ask permission to collect their data.  That’s why 63% trust content from a friend or family member and only 23% feel the same about content from a company whose products they don’t buy.

So how about it?  Are you calling first, or are you just showing up?

 

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March 10, 2016 · 11:49 am

No There There

You’re probably familiar wth Gertrude Stein‘s quote about Oakland – “there’s no there there.” Putting aside the meaning of the statement (nostalgia and not a diss of Oakland), it came to mind when I read about Obsessee. This offering, as reported by WWD, will cover fashion, culture, music, beauty, food, shopping and relationships for the 14- to 22-year-old set. What’s unusual about it is that the brand will exist only on social media platforms. No website, no app of their own. In other words, no home base. No there there.

Accession Number: 1979:4010:0001 Maker: Alvin ...

(Photo credit: Wikipedia)

It will be interesting to see how this works. One thing many companies forget about social and other non-owned media platforms is that your brand is at the mercy of the landlord. When the landlord decides to change the terms of the lease or to raise the rent, you’re sort of screwed. Won’t happen? I’ll tell you what – go look in your Google Analytics for all the keywords used to come to your website via Google search. They’re all (not provided) Google decided to change their policy. It’s just as easy for any of the social platforms to do the same, and we have many instances of Facebook changing both their policies and their algorithm in ways that require any brand in the platform to rethink how and why they’re using it.

What happens when you become wildly popular and, as with some other analytics, Facebook decides to charge you if you want full data in your Insights reports?  Maybe I’m too much of a control freak, but it seems that without a home base that’s completely under a brand’s control, there is no alternative but to sign up for whatever terms and conditions the non-owned platforms decide will be how you operate.  Moreover, you never really own the customer. What are your thoughts?

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