Archive for category online
punish your biggest fans
Posted by Chris Houchens in media, online, strategy on January 20, 2010
A memo from the top brass at the New York Times was sent to employees about the plan to charge for online content at nytimes.com…
Today we are announcing that we will be introducing a paid model for NYTimes.com at the beginning of 2011…we have chosen a metered approach that will offer users free access to a set number of articles per month and then charge users once they exceed that number.
(Read the full memo here)
There is no doubt that there will have to be a paid model for online news. Journalism is not free. But what’s the revenue solution for online news consumption? Hard to tell.
But I do know that penalizing your best and most frequent users is not the answer.
While I can see their plan is to try to have their cake and eat it too — I think it would work better in reverse. Give it to the power users. Those influencers would spread the links, ideas, etc to occassional users who would pay.
electing the best spammers
Posted by Chris Houchens in online, strategy on October 23, 2009
The people who seem to be the most clueless about communication are incumbent politicians.
And the area that they seems to be the most clueless about is opt-in/opt-out communication of any kind. Initiate any contact with them and you’re added to their snail and email mailing lists — whether you want to be added or not.
Today’s example: Take a look at the end of this e-survey form from a member of my state’s congressional delegation:
Do or die. Opt in is not an option.
The cynic in me says that constiuent input is not really wanted here and it’s just an underhanded way to populate a database. After all, I’m used to members of Congress trying to scam me.
But I like this Congressman and think he’s a good guy. And he actually does a really good job getting out and making personal one-on-one connections with people in the district. So I’ll give him the benefit of the doubt and assume that he doesn’t know that opt-in communications are not only much more effective for the sender, but are also just the right thing to do.
It’s basic e-communication 101 and anyone with any common sense should know it, but politicians seem to be blissfully ignorant.
But think about this. These ham handed / bone headed moves are done by the same people who are making big decisions that affect every aspect of your life. Sleep well.
stupid tweets
Posted by Chris Houchens in marketing, online on September 30, 2009
I’m sure you find value in your Twitter stream. But among the constant golden nuggets of twitter-dom, there are ocasssionally some stinker tweets. Most of these come from wannabe gurus who feel they have to constantly “provide value to the community” so they wind up tweeting their idiocy.
The ones that get me the most are when something big has been happening for several hours and is already firmly entrenched as a trending topic. Someone logs on and feels they need to be an “innovator” and help their poor “laggard” followers. For example: if gmail has been down for 5 or 6 hours, they would tweet this:
Whoa. I’m having trouble with my gmail acct. Something may be happening.
Related to that are the people discovering technology, but trying to act like a tech insider:
Just visited a Wordpress blog and it gave me the ability to leave a comment at the bottom of the post. New feature?
Matt Foley wannabes:
Attitudes are contagious. Is yours worth catching?
You gotta love people’s first tweet:
Trying out this new Twitter thing…
btw — I think a person’s first tweet should be:
@Watson! come here I need you!
T.M.I:
Good news: I get to leave the house today. Bad news: It’s to buy new catheter bags. (actual tweet!)
Crowdsourcing the mundane:
Anyone know how many toothpicks are in a standard box? has it traditionally been that number?
Spending the attention that I have given you to play some inane game:
I just ousted Cleatus as the Dog Catcher of Hooterville on Five Rhombus!
And sadly, I see this truly stupid one all the time…
Is Twitter down?
Did I miss some tweets that annoy you? Leave them in the comments. And if you want to see some really dumb tweets, you can follow me on Twitter @shotgunconcepts!
just a tweet
Posted by Chris Houchens in media, online on July 28, 2009
The twittersphere is all a-twitter about a company suing a woman for $50,000 over one of her tweets. The offending tweet from @abonnen to her 20 followers was:
…who said sleeping in a moldy apartment was bad for you? Horizon realty thinks it’s okay.
Most reactions to the news seem to be centered around the idea of “it’s just a tweet / lighten up”.
OK. Using that same mindset, then…
- United Breaks Guitars is just a YouTube video.
- ComcastMustDie is just a blog.
- #MotrinMoms is just a hashtag
If we’re all going join hands in a circle and get weepy over the fact that “everyone is now a publisher”, then everyone is now accountable to established publishing laws. This tweet may violate a little one called libel.
Ask yourself this: If a newspaper or TV station reported without justification that a local landlord condoned their tenants sleeping in mold infested apartments, would the company be justified in suing the media outlet? If you think so, then how is “new media” different than “old media”?
I have no idea (and don’t care) about the specifics of this case. Maybe @abonnen was sleeping in a petri dish. Maybe the company was attacked unfairly. (although I do find it hard to side with any company that describes it’s business philosophy as “sue first and ask questions later“)
But here’s the big point that everyone needs to think about. We’re going to have to decide does consumer generated media mean “fundamental groundbreaking change” or “just a tweet”?
my God, they’re throwing guitars out there
Posted by Chris Houchens in marketing, online on July 16, 2009
So over the course of about two weeks, a Canadian folk singer has brought United Airlines to its knees with over 3 million views (and growing) of this viral video:
There’s been lots of talk online and in the MSM about how this is a great customer service lesson in the new economy. And it is. United has even said they will be using it in their internal training.
The customer service angle is the most important, but I think there are four other big lessons here:
Presentation counts.
There are thousands of consumer gripes at this very moment on twitter, facebook, youtube, individual blogs, and every other web thingy you can think of. What made this one stick and go national?
It’s because it’s well done.
The first time I watched the video, I watched the entire 4:36 (and then watched it again) and you probably did too. By comparison, see how long you can make it through another United Airlines consumer complaint video.
Unless they have no life and unlimited time, people will choose to spend their time with engaging online content instead of stuff they have to struggle to digest.
And the important part for online virility: they won’t pass it on unless it’s really good. Think about your other WOM recommendations to friends. “That restaurant is awful. You should go!”
You still need big media to make a big impact
The video got a response from United within a short time of being posted, but it didn’t really take off into the stratosphere until several new and old media like the Consumerist, LA Times, NY Times, CNN, and other “big guys” featured the video. It might have taken off itself, but these Digg/Oprah-type spotlights amplified the user-level passalong effect to make it go viral. It also helped that Sons of Maxwell already had a fanbase that could help spread the message.
You have to have a base to push off of — if you’re going to jump high.
Don’t back down
United has offered Dave compensation for his guitar and he refused, requesting that United give the money to charity (United is donating $3,000 to the Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz). And he is going ahead with the other two songs of his promised United trilogy.
In the end, he is going to come out way ahead. Taylor guitars has offered him some new guitars, other airlines are offering seats, and he and his band now have tremendous publicity.
Learn from your mistakes
It seems that United has no choice except to assume the Duck and Cover position for now. They’ve made the donation. The other songs are coming. (I hope one of them explains the sombreros.) At the minimum, the upcoming second one will get publicity. And United has said they are going to learn from the experience…
Rob Bradford, managing director of customer solutions at United, called Carroll Wednesday to apologize for the foul-up and to ask if the carrier could use the video internally to help change its culture.
(My first suggestion: eliminate stupid titles like “managing director of customer solutions”)
I’d love to see a case study or something come out of United on how they handled this. I think they actually have an opportunity to shine here if they don’t mess it up. The best thing they could do? Offer to help Dave to make the third video a happy ending.
UPDATE (7/17/09): I have thought of a fifth point. From my perspective, Dave Carroll seems like a nice, decent genuine guy. Being a good guy counts probably more than anything.
do as they say not as they do
Posted by Chris Houchens in advertising, online on June 30, 2009
Q. — As a general rule, what industry (as a whole) has the worst web sites?
A. — Ad Agencies.
I’ve noticed most agency web sites have a few common characteristics:
- Rule #1: Flash!
- Staff / Management Bios: Wacky, fun, and meaningless. There is a über-creative photo of the person pretending to have fun.
- Site Navigation: Not at the top, bottom, left, or right. In order to click around to the other pages on the site, you’ll need to take a bus to another location.
- Contact Info: Phone numbers, emails, etc hidden on the most illogical page possible.
- Office Pictures: Two ways to go here. 1) If it’s an “agency” of one guy with a Mac in his bedroom, then you’ll see some creative use of stock photography. 2) If it’s a real “agency”, the wackiness continues with pics of the foosball table, the aquarium, and the video game area to show potential clients how their billable hours are being wasted while creativity happens.
- Philosophy: Starts off with “We’re a new type of agency.” and the rest is filled with meaningless jargon and buzzwords.
- I don’t think we can say it enough: Flash!
- Portfolio: Just a few logos. Maybe a shot of an ad. The ROI is never mentioned. This link is always called “the work”
- Blogs: All staff members seem to take turns “writing posts” by copying / summarizing chapters out of the advertising textbooks they couldn’t sell back to their college bookstore.
- Content: It seems everyone shot down everyone else’s ideas until there was no content left
- Timeliness: Site is never updated. (except for every few years when the whole thing is torn down and replaced with something similar.) Rinse. Repeat.
I’m sure I’ve missed a few. Your thoughts?
your company’s looming social media disaster
Posted by Chris Houchens in online, strategy on June 11, 2009
Think about if you’ve met any of these cutting edge people…
- Remember when the Macarena came out? You probably danced it at some public gathering for the few weeks it was popular. Then it went away. And then a few months later, you were at a gathering and a person played the song and thought they were on the hip cutting edge.
- Someone in your organization just discovered the concept of viral video.
- Has someone in the last year or so asked you if you were gettin’ jiggy with it?
- You get chain emails from them that were debunked on snopes.com years ago.
You’ve met these people, right?
These people are currently signing up for Facebook and Twitter accounts.
We’re over the adoption curve hump of Facebook and we’re steadily climbing it for Twitter which means people who aren’t necessarily online competent are now using online tools.
I’m sure you have at least one friend (probably more) on Facebook that you’re embarrassed FOR them because they post inappropriate things, spam you with requests, don’t realize that their friends can see their conversations/posts, etc. They’re new to the space, and still learning the ropes until they find out the proper etiquette.
For as much as the online world is an open-source / free-wheeling / anything-goes community, we all know there are rules…many of them unwritten ones. The community generally supports, instructs, or ignores individual newcomers when these “rules” are broken. (ALL CAPS, spam, chain emails, etc)
But that only goes for individuals. When a company / organization steps out into the water, it’s expected that they know how to swim. And that same supporting community for individuals becomes a lynch mob for corporate entities who make even minor mistakes. You’ve seen it happen.
And just as there are individuals who are laggards to the social media party, there are now companies who see the train passing by and figure they better get on — even if they don’t know what they are doing.
I am not saying that there is a “right way” to do social media. As I once tweeted…
how to spot a true “social media expert” — google their name and the phrase “NO, YOU’RE DOING IT WRONG!!!
But if your employees are venturing out onto social networks and are carrying the mantle of your organization, they need to at least understand the basics of social media and somewhat be cognizant of the “online rules”. Anything else is just asking for a disaster.
Many companies don’t see this looming disaster because they just see small numbers of customers engaging in social media with the organization and don’t understand the deep implications of making a mistake there. Remember this: Your email list, facebook fans, twitter followers, etc are some of your most important customers. These are the people who have stood up and said I WANT to engage with your company. They are the 20% of the 80/20 rule.
Why are you leaving this important group with the interns or inexperienced employees who have no idea how to talk to them?
bada bing
Posted by Chris Houchens in branding, online on June 3, 2009
Lots of people are hating Bing just because it’s from MSFT. I think you can find lots of other reasons to hate it including that Bing can’t seem to find things that are on the Internet — which is the first thing I look for in a search engine.
I really hate this line from their introductory page:
We sincerely hope that the next time you need to make an important decision, you’ll Bing and decide.
Oh snap, Google! See how they’ve verbed themselves!? What a fabulous marketing tactic for any company:
–Don’t treet my email address.
–Make me a canon of this document.
–Just stick a Curad on it.
I also dislike their look. They apparently decided to be everything that Google is not. Google’s page is clean with lots of white space. Bing looks cluttered with a background that is remnicent of a “ahem” PC desktop background.
But the big basic problem is that they’ve just slapped a new look on a pre-existing bad product. Live Search wasn’t good. “Rebranding” by slapping a new name on something is never the answer.
And what about that name? Among many other meanings, Bing means “disease” in Chinese. Nice. It’s callled research, boys. You could have googled it and found out.
at least there was a call to action
Posted by Chris Houchens in marketing, online on May 6, 2009
If your phone call doesn’t get through, maybe you could send them a letter.
I wonder if they prompt customers to email their telemarketing department.
oprah eats zuckerberg
Posted by Chris Houchens in online on March 13, 2009
Well, in case you were wondering, it’s official. Facebook has now gone completely mainstream. Zuckerberg was on Oprah today.
Apparently, Zuckerberg likes to have a weird interview every March. There was his fiasco last year at SXSW and then there was this Oprah thing. You could tell he had been coached but watch the video — was he really interviewed? It was worse than a Kathie Lee/Hoda attack with the hosts playing the part of the interviewer and the interviewee.
I liked when they asked him what to do when someone you don’t like wants to be your friend and he just completely ignored the question. He could run for President. And it was that way for most things they “asked” him. What does it mean to “poke”? How do people buy you drinks? Etc. I’m waiting for some Oprah addicts to request friendship from me now.
btw — did you read my facebook conspiracy theory tweet today?
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