10.31.08
Posted in Info at 11:03 am by Jono
On the web, content is undoubtedly the most important asset. I recently started rereading a great book by content guru Gerry McGovern called Killer Web Content. The book really is essential reading for anyone who’s serious about writing punchy and effective web copy. After all, content is what delivers services and sells products.
The main premise is simple: more killer, less filler. It’s about providing visitors to your site with the right information at the right time. The book also contains some great tips for writing compelling copy and headlines.
I am by no means the grammar police :), but I thought I’d share some of my favourite writing tips from my own experience.
Get descriptive with verbs, not adjectives. All too often, copy is loaded with mounds of superfluous adjectives – this can be cumbersome.
Less is more. Keep sentences and paragraphs short and simple. Editing your own copy is one of the most difficult tasks a copywriter faces. However, cutting down on unnecessary words will keep it tight and easy to read.
Make it scan-able. These days, most people are time-starved and information hungry. Present your information in such a way that a reader can easily ascertain what the page is about, and whether it’s what they’re after.
Generally it is best to avoid using metaphorical language as these figures of speech are easily misunderstood by non-first language speakers and frequently do not translate accurately.
Similarly, when considering non mother-tongue speakers, it’s often best to write in the active voice. This keeps sentence structure straightforward.
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10.28.08
Posted in Events, Social Media at 4:34 am by Jono
I thoroughly enjoyed last night’s 27 Dinner in Cape Town – not only for the great food and conversation, but also because of the great presentations.
First up was Eran from Springleap who gave us an insight into the various marketing channels they use to get their product out there. Interestingly, some slightly unconventional methods (well, these days) such as cold-calling seem to also be in the repertoire. Great presentation and cool to see how they’ve integrated various traditional and online strategies into their marketing approach.
Secondly, Marlon Parker from CPUT spoke about an awesome drug counselling initiative using social media channels such as Mxit and Twitter to counsel drug addicts and those with related social issues. The project, called Reconstructed, operates out of Bridgetown on the Cape Flats and teaches participants skills to aid the community.
The counsellors themselves are all reconstructed and reformed drug addicts and gangsters. The service is available on Tuesdays and Thursdays between 3PM and 5PM. The service has already broken the 3000 contacts mark – a fantastic achievement. They are clearly making an impact, and it’s awesome to see how technology and social media is empowering communities. Really encouraging stuff.
Finally, we had a short talk from Justin Hartman from Afrigator about the ‘State of the Afrosphere’ and how the product has grown over the last couple of months, and the exposure they bring to African bloggers. Sounds like they’ll be worth watching over the coming months as they have loads of cool stuff in the pipeline.
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10.23.08
Posted in Online Marketing at 8:39 am by Christine
As far as the social networks are concerned, I’ve always considered LinkedIn to be amongst the top business networks. Recently the platform launched their own advertising model which similarly to the Facebook platform flyers, uses profile-based targeting: by title, seniority, function, age, country, gender and company size, among other variables.
With all this information at hand LinkedIn have decided to partner with a few market research firms to conduct targeted B2B research among its network of some 30 million professionals worldwide.
Participation will be entirely opt-in, and those willing will receive market research surveys approximately once a quarter. They plan to incentivise participation through donations to charity, merchandise and cash incentives. That is all good and well, but I would like to see the results of the market research should I consider participating…
On LinkedIn? Connect with me here.
Hands up who likes Google Analytics?
Yes, okay - you all know I’m a bit biased - sometimes 
But to qualify - It may be based on Urchin, but in all my years, I’ve worked on a variety of Analytics programmes - some more user-friendly than others, yes, I’ve experienced a few snags here and there and have had to work around them, but as a Free service, Google’s offering is more than sufficient.
If you’ve recently logged in you will have seen that they’ve upgraded slightly. It now includes new services such as custom reporting (incl motion charts), advanced segmentation, API, visualization tool, integration into AdSense and an updated user and management interface (which IMO are subtle).
Young Adults Prefer Email over Social Ads
A recent whitepaper by Ball State’s Center for Media Design claims that young adults pay more attention to advertising through email than through social networks such as MySpace and Facebook. The study was based on a sampling of 1500 internet users only though (ages 15 to 65+). Again, I am a little biased in this assumption and would recommend accepting this outcome with a pinch of salt based on such a small sampling. Further to this the sampling of users is unfortunately not disected further from what I can see and therefore we do not really have the knowledge whether this sampling was leaning more to the latter age or the former in terms of participants.
Other interesting stats :
8% of those over 65 use SMS, and 4% subscribe to social networks! Another surprising data point is that 42% of teens prefer to communicate via SMS, yet 62% prefer to receive promotions via email vs. only 1% via SMS.
“20% of wired consumers have subscribed to marketing communications via text messaging - but they want to receive texts only for urgent customer service issues such as financial alerts or travel updates.”
“more than 50% of young homemakers use social networks and text messaging during the day, but direct mail and e-mail are their two preferred marketing channels.”
“81% of retired consumers have purchased online, and 94% have been influenced by some form of direct marketing to make a purchase. ”
One of the other statements in the article:
“It is too easy to assume that the media consumers who choose for their own news, information and entertainment are by default the best media to use for marketing messages,” said Mike Bloxham, director of Insight and Research at Ball State University’s Center for Media Design. “This is a dangerous assumption to make in a time when consumers are becoming increasingly aware of their level of control over their media experiences.”
A fantastic statement. This is why market segmentation is still such an important part of the online marketing research process. Find out where your consumers are really spending time and be sure to have a presence there.
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