MarkThink

Stayathomia Battles the Nomadic West for Iowa, News at 11

via petewarden.typepad.com

Fun post by Pete Warden.

The amount of data we have to understand similarities and differences across geography -- and every other historically measurable difference -- is going to make an interesting transition from information-overload to information-rich analysis. Facebook (and any other mass web property) + national and local government data + new tools for displaying/crunching data will create fresh new ground for [propaganda and] intelligent debate. Long live the truthcreators.

Be sure to check out your favorite cities at http://fanpageanalytics.com/countryprofiles.html.

Social Media Tips from Lauren Kozak, Britney Spears Social Media Director

Lauren Kozak is a smart, experienced marketing pro who understands the social media landscape as well as anyone. I love her honesty and insights. My favorite comment is her advice to ignore what the pundits say and do what's right for your brand.

(Via Movable Type.)

Art and Culture Sites: Hustler of Culture and City of Sound

I'm going to highlight some of my web favorites over the next couple weeks. Here are two great places to start:

Hustler of Culture: a edited source of cool art, design and media finds by Souris, the "curator of consumption."

City of Sound: a long form, thoughtful design and architecture from Dan Hill. Read, learn and enjoy.

Let me know your favorites.

Reactions to IDC's Online Consumer Behavior Trends Research

I recently attended Karsten Weide's, IDC's Program Director for Media and Entertainment, present results from IDC's latest surveys on consumer online behavior and attitudes. Mr. Weide's "Online Consumer Behavior Trends and their Impact on New Media" presentation was full of thought starters. Here are some highlights altered (butchered?) by my perspective:

Experiment vs Innovate
According to Weide, "experimental" advertising will be a loser in 2009 because no marketer will be willing to defend advertising that is not delivering results. Mr. Weide was kind enough to respond to my inquiry for further clarification. He made sure to point out that innovative advertising that delivers results is not the same as experimental. (Weide's examples of experimental included social networking advertising and in game ads.) In a tighter economy, marketer's will need to justify their plans all the way back to the CFO, so the story will need to be results based, and not just be seen as the "hip" thing to do. Overall, IDC 5+% decrease in online advertising in Q1 2009 as it is caught in the overall advertising downturn. 

Going Mobile
The tremendous growth of smart phones is a major event and has changed the mobile landscape. The change between 2007 and 2008 is dramatic; MySpace, YouTube, Yahoo, eBay and Facebook mobile usage have exploded and now mirror desktop trend of evolving from utility tasks (weather, directions, etc.) to social applications and entertainment.

How Relevant
There is even more pressure on advertising and marketing to be relevant. And the idea of relevancy is always narrowing. I'm summarizing about half of the presentation, but the basic story is

a) we receive over 1,500 marketing messages a day.
b) we [must] tune out the majority of the messages
b) people are resistant to the idea of behavioral targeting...but they respond better and want the results of better targeting.
c) Social networking advertising claims relevance -- and in theory, should be relevant -- but it has not been successful so far because it people see are not in a "researching" mode and therefore the advertising is distracting rather than supporting the users behavior. One to one communication is not receptive to advertising, as we've seen from webmail advertising.

It's important to remember how early we are in the development of online advertising. I think the safe bet for this year is to go with online advertising channels that can:

a) show innovation to break through the clutter 
b) go with partners who can report on performance in a way that makes sense
c) supports user's actions with direct functional benefits or more compelling content that supports a user's research objective (aka, think like a publisher)
d) use search...but also realize that the online world a lot richer now and supports more than search engines for searching

Online Brands
Mr. Weide just touched on some of the online brand qualities research they've conducted and I'd like to hear more. Google dominated the all of the brand categories, with eBay, Amazon, and Yahoo being the other three online power brands. No web 2.0 companies broke through the dominance of the top brands, and Microsoft has a lot of work to do to leapfrog any of these four.

No Pretty Pictures
IDC is a paid for their thoughtful research so I don't have any free links to share. If you find one that is condoned by IDC, let me know and I'll post. Otherwise, I recommend you sign up with IDC or be on the lookout for their events.  

Mary Meeker's Latest Internet Trends Report

Morgan Stanley's Mary Meeker's latest Internet Trends update: economic outlook is still bleak, but she highlights the big internet players positive trends. You won't find any of the real innovative stuff that's going on in the web/mobile/ad market, but it's a good view of the broader market.

(Via Paul Kedrosy's Infectious Greed.)

Obama's Social Media Analyzed by Edelman

PR powerhouse Edelman has put together an excellent analysis of the Obama campaigns social media strategy. Check out "The Social Pulpit: Barack Obama's Social Media Toolkit."

On social networking:

It is also important to note that Obama was not on every social network: he selected the most significant and important platforms in which to participate. While the unsuccessful Edwards campaign was on dozens of social networks, Obama limited his official presence to 15 and leveraged these platforms to direct people to the MyBO Web site, where the campaign had a greater ability to channel people to the specific activities and causes that were deemed the most important to fulfilling the campaign’s electoral strategy.

On SEO:

Additionally, when the opposition created videos criticizing Obama (e.g., Reverend Wright), the campaign released videos that used the same tags so that its positive response could be found when people searched for the original. The campaign understood that most people on YouTube use “related videos” to find what to watch.

On mobile:

A 2006 study by the New Voters Project found that text-message reminders helped increase turnout by four percent at a cost of only $1.56 per vote, much cheaper than the cost of door-to-door canvassing or phone banking, at a cost of $20 to $30 per vote....The campaign used major announcements to drive people to the mobile platform, such as Obama’s choice of Senator Joe Biden as his running mate, which Nielsen Mobile has quantified as the largest mobile marketing event in the United States to date.

Read the 10 page white paper >>.

(Via Micro Persuasion.)