My So-Called Digital Life

Online E-Commerce Helped Along by Social Media

It's true that social networking sites are definately directing an increasing number of online users towards shopping web sites.

You can find comments and shopping info on sites like Flickr, MySpace, etc. According to research, sites like these increase their shares in September due to shopping and ecommerce becoming a big part of the social networking activities.

Research from Hitwise revealed that shopping and classified sites received 2.4 per cent of their visits from MySpace during September, and furthermore that this represented an 83 per cent increase on figures released six months earlier.

I have found that google alerts that have come up for snazzygirl.com, that were original on blogs and social network sites, talking about opinion about products on the site, really do direct people in a postive way towards the web site. Much more than doing any kind of online advertising.

The Launch of Visual Search

I don't know how many of you have checked out www.like.com, but honestly, you should head right over there. For years, people have been discussing and testing the idea of visual search technology. A search technology that would be more than just text links and descriptions. Like.com has done it one better by matching pics with "like" products that can be found and bought online. And how do you cleverly launch that...well hook people up with the products similar to what the celebrities are wearing!

And you can submit to their database, you products, which in turn, finesse their technology when more people use it. I submitted www.snazzygirl.com to see what would happen. And considering some of the products that the celebrities are wearing are actually available on snazzygirl.com, it should be a no-brainer.

There are other visual search engines...sort of, like pricecanada.com, shoptoit.ca, shop.com, shopping.com and others, but this one takes it up a notch by letting people see ahead what they would like to shop for and then using search in a very creative way, to solve the problem. All visually.

Overstock.com’s oversight

This is something that is my personal worry everytime I update a client's site or Snazzygirl.com. I worry of a spelling mistake that I didn't catch, a broken graphic, etc. And if something happens, I feel I'm generally fast enough to fix it before anyone notices. Or at least I hope so.

Problem is, as of 11:20am PST on Monday, October 30th, the problem is still there on Overstock.com. No joke, check it out. But I wasn't the smartie to find this. It was the clever people at Varian who did...and I guess thousands...and millions of others who are shopping on Overstock.com right now.

What happened? They doubled their ‘coming soon’ tab that link nowhere. (see graphic). Additionally, why would anyone, especially a company like overstock.com put a "coming" soon tab in their tab area or even at the top of their site. Remember way back when, when people would have a "under construction" graphic on their site or a link to an underconstruction page. Who cares!!! Never, ever, ever, ever, link to nowhere or link to a page where people can't do, see, shop, read, scratch, sniff...whatever. Bad idea and bad for the brand! An ecommerce site is for commerce...i.e. buying stuff. Linking to something that is coming in the future is both annoying and unnecessary.

MTV and China's Baidu.com

MTV Networks, owned by Viacom Inc., announced today a landmark content and advertising alliance with Baidu.com, Inc., China's #1 search engine, at a press conference in Beijing. The new strategic partnership will give China's 123 million Internet users easy access to 15,000 hours of MTV and Nickelodeon original video content and music videos licensed by five top Chinese and Asian music companies for online viewing or download through http://www.baidu.com starting today. As part of the agreement, MTV will provide the first-ever branded area featured on Baidu - MTV Zone, which will include advertising at launch by Motorola and P&G. This deal extends MTVN China's digital media position, where MTV has 100% reach of the country's mobile subscribers through partnerships with China Mobile and China Unicom.

More here.

Where's Your Digital Answer?

I told my mother the other day, of a recent stat that I came across that said that in all of 2005, online purchases totaled approximately $175 billion, which was up a massive 22% over 2004. She didn't believe me. She isn't one of "those" people. She liked getting into her car and going to the mall to shop. She's hesitant...actually scared to shop online, but she's getting to be part of the minority.

Well even if you're not shopping, or the people around you aren't...there are millions who are and they are looking for product to spend on!

How do you target these fine spenders? I ask myself that question all the time. With a limited budget, I try to get the word out about snazzygirl.com on a regular basis, with a marketing cocktail of search marketing, web advertising (blog and site) and affiliate marketing. I do the same for my larger clients who have real advertising budgets. The mix is the same, the money is different.

The pace, in which both ecommerce and online marketing is going to grow, is fast and furious and not likely to stop over the next decade. But to convince traditional companies, that market on television, buses, billboards and in newspapers and magazines that they need to try this new Internet thing out, is sometimes a very difficult sell. Which is curious because I can track (in most cases) online advertising right down to the sale. But what can one say about a billboard...or an overpriced ad on the side of a bus? One might be able to do some expensive focus group research on identity, but that wouldn't track a real sale.

I'm not saying that traditional marketing and advertising is dead, all I'm saying is, add digital to the mix for increased and trackable success.

Additionally, consumers use the Internet as a research tool when investigating a new product, even if they don't or can't buy it online. And according to statistics, it influences more than 25% of retail sales.

It's not just email marketing, it's not just online ads, its one media with several channels. An effective two-punch to add to any campaign and its part of "marketing and advertising" in general for any company. It's not something separate and these divisions need to work together on a multichannel platformed approach that is consistant with the brand.

Call it convergence, call it integration. I call it, needed.

Sony Lands Grouper

Even though Sony bought the video sharing site, Grouper Networks last August, they still have some major issues to contend with such as rights management and the fact that YouTube has surpassed them in popularity by leaps and bounds. It's ironic that half the reason they bought Grouper was because it was so "open" in terms of content. This might get Sony in a whole heap of trouble as copyrighted material keeps landing on their servers.

It will be interesting to see how a media giant handles the situation. On top of that, users are generally hestitant to post personal information on a major site belonging to a large company. Hence the move to "private" YouTube. But now that they've been bought as well, where oh where will people feel comfortable posting now? For free that is.

For more on the story, click here.

NextGen Web Marketing 2006

I am very pleased to say that I have been asked to go back to Hong Kong to speak at the NextGen Web Marketing 2006 conference. It should be as great a conference as the last one I attended in September. There are some fantastic speakers and it's a real eye-opener to see what they're managing to do in the Asian marketplace.

ABC: Millenials and Mobile Key for New Media

It's true, you might want to watch a part of a show...heck, maybe even quite a bit of a show, on your phone or mobile device on the train into work, on the subway to your friend's place, or while you're brown bagging it alone. At least that is what ABC and other networks are hoping as they launch their mobile strategy's to keep viewers, viewing their programming, even while not watching TV. No eyes, not advertising candy and that is the biggest worry of all for the networks as they vie for attention away for sites like YouTube, iTunes and illegal downloading. Read on, to see what Bernie Gershon from ABC said at the recent Streaming Media East Conference in New York.

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ABC: Millenials and Mobile Key for New Media
By Glen Dickson -- Broadcasting & Cable, 5/24/2006 10:31:00 AM

“Millenials” and mobile TV are the two big focuses for ABC’s new-media efforts Bernie Gershon, senior VP/general manager of digital media for Disney ABC Television Group, said during an entertaining keynote speech Wednesday at the Streaming Media East conference in New York.

ABC’s broadband efforts--which include selling $1.99 shows through iTunes, streaming ad-supported programs on ABC.com, and the $4.95-per-month subscription service ABC News Now—are aimed squarely at millenials, the 79 million Americans between the age of 8 and 27. The key trait of millenials, says Gershon, is their ability to multitask and to “consume information on a variety of devices,” which informs all of ABC’s new-media efforts.

“Our strategy is aligned with the demands of the new consumer,” said Gershon, who noted that his pet project, ABC News Now, counts 25 million broadband homes and 2 million mobile users as subscribers.

So far, ABC has sold 5 million program downloads through iTunes since October, and ABC.com has recorded some 2 million video plays during the first two weeks of the service. The use of the ABC.com streaming product is not just limited to people at work, as ABC is recording significant usage during the evening hours as well.

The next big new-media opportunity for ABC content is mobile phones, which ABC is already addressing with both ABC News Now and a new mobile video program, “Lost Diaries,” that will be introduced this fall.

“Mobile phones are an enticing and compelling platform for us because of the sheer scope of the reach,” says Gershon.

While there are over 100 million TV households in the U.S., there are over 180 million mobile phone users, notes Gershon, and 400 million mobile users in China. He added that, as of March 2006, there were 2 million mobile video subscribers in the U.S., up from zero in 2003. That includes ABC partner MobiTV, which just broke 1 million subs paying $9.95 a month. Gershon says that the average viewing time of ABC News Now content on MobiTV is three to five minutes per session.

When asked about the future role of ABC affiliates in ABC’s new-media future, Gershon said that affiliates are important and that “long term, we hope to find a way to work with them.” He noted that four ABC affiliates and one owned station are currently testing the abc.com streaming service, and reiterated his message that delivery on multiple platforms creates a "virtuous circle" with ABC content at the center. In the long run, he believes that new-media efforts will help both the network and affiliates make more money.

“We believe it’s additive,” he said.

Digital Entertainment World - Hong Kong

I'm excited to be asked to be a guest speaker at Digital Entertainment World 2006 Conference in Hong Kong. It will be held August 19-21, 2006 at the Disneyland Resort.