In plain English? Texts that make critical commentary about other texts and texts that are based on, or contain some elements of other texts. The concept of intertextuality also refers to the way meanings of texts are shaped by others. I suppose this is what postmodernism is. (What is ‘what is’? will haunt me forever).

So, it’s about deconstruction, derivatives, building on the old, fragmented identities and so on and so forth. But what does this have to do with internet marketing I hear you ask?

Well, there seems to have been much debate in the recent past about ‘copy cats’. We’ve seen it with the DA’s relaunch and their new branding, on several sites in terms of their design, and even with regard to other design elements.

I suppose the question now is – is this plagiarism? Or are there really just no truly authentic ideas anymore, and is everything basically just another incarnation of what has gone before?

It’s interesting to note, that (certainly in my experience) a large percentage of blog ‘content’ is just re-hashed versions of news and information that has been published elsewhere. Also, a great deal of our discourse (to use an academic term) in the blogosphere revolves around commentary. This isn’t a negative thing at all - but purely metatextuality in practise.

On the web today, in a world of stock widgets and stock templates, where the ingredients are available to all – how you use the common ingredients by process of crafty selection and combination will determine how flavourful a social media dish you whip up.

So, maybe it’s time to stop being precious about ‘my’ building blocks, in the web world ownership of intellectual property is almost a secondary consideration to reputation and impact.

With an entity like the web, which is a ‘free-access to all’ type setup, how would you retain absolute ownership of anything?

Just something to chew on.

CINCINNATI (AdAge.com) - Social networks may never find the ad dollars they’re hunting for because they don’t really have a right to them, said Ted McConnell, general manager-interactive marketing and innovation at Procter & Gamble Co., at a forum on digital media.

“I have a reaction to that as a consumer advocate and an advertiser,” he said. “What in heaven’s name made you think you could monetize the real estate in which somebody is breaking up with their girlfriend?”

Just two extracts from a great article “P&G Digital Guru Not Sure Marketers Belong on Facebook” on Ad Age yesterday. He says there is a growing feeling from consumers that social advertising is “hijacking conversations” in their current format.

This, amongst others, was one of the primary reasons that Facebook (and a few other networks) had its interface revamp a few months ago. The advertising elements are now more integrated to the general experience rather than standing out like a sore thumb.

Much like the concept of using AdSense for monetisation. If you integrate the colours and make it look more like part of the content on your page, the higher the chance of a click.

McConnell further continues with a very accurate statement IMO

Consumer Generated Media: Consumers weren’t trying to generate media. They were trying to talk to somebody. So it just seems a bit arrogant. … We hijack their own conversations, their own thoughts and feelings, and try to monetize it.

Of all media it is true that marketers jump on any opportunity to get more face-value and interaction from their demographic audience. We do it in Magazines, TV (thank goodness for PVR that let’s you fast forward through adverts!), search engines and social networks, blogs etc.

One the one hand that is the pure definition of marketing - on the other - I have often had conversations with people that feel that SEOs saturate the engines with irrelevant content. For example, quite simply put, if you have a website and you do not apply SEO tactics, the chances of your site appearing Top 10 is slim to none. Even if you have the most relevant content compared to the ones appearing on Top 10. You are competing with other SEOs for eyeballs (market share). This has obviously a factor that has also influeced the way in which we search…(more keywords to narrow down results. ‘pages from your country only’ etc.) But that is a convo for another day

Back to topic: From our experience FB flyers do work well - depending on the product and how it is targeted. In some instances more niche targetting results in higher conversions, in others, the broader the better. But applications still seem to get two thumbs up. Well those that have a functional purpose at least. The only problem with applications (in the SA market at least) is that they are quite expensive to your average SME. And in my opinion they work most effectively in multi-channel campaigns: online-offline-online. But second to that combined with a robust online campaign. (network-website-online.advertising)

Elements such as FB flyers do make social advertising much more accessible to the SMEs though, it is still much cheaper than running a PPC campaign - IF your target market is present on the platform of course…

‘Spray and pray’ is a little harder to do when you’re under economic pressure. Ted McConnell

Return on Investment (ROI), or “bang for your buck” is what it is all about at the end of the day. I have always been very result oriented, and try to *encourage spending CPC (cost per click) rather than CPM (cost per million impressions). This way it is performance driven - so you are guaranteed to see results on your campaign.

(* This does depend on the campaign though. A good reason to adopt the CMP model is if it is for brand awareness purposes for example, and then also very carefully defined.)

How did he do this?  Amongst other things, Obama used Web2.0 techniques to manage his reputation and influence potential voters online.  Obama’s team utilised social networks in a way never seen before in a political campaign.  On Facebook the team created an application that allowed users to share and spread news items, blog posts and speeches featuring Obama.  Taking it one step further, the team created a Barack Obama branded network where people could network and form a sense of community with other Obama supporters.  The team blogged on a regular basis on the Barack Obama blog to keep supporters up to date with what was happening “behind the scenes.” 

Businesses should look to these campaigns and think about how they can utilise internet marketing to promote their products and services on the World Wide Web.  According to eMarketer B2B marketers in the US are planning to increase their internet marketing spend by 18% compared to 6% for traditional marketing spend.  Carol Krol at eMarketer says “B2B marketers are increasing their online spending, particularly for customer acquisition, because they can measure it and determine quickly whether it is working.  In an age of heightened accountability, the ability to measure is critical.”

Two internet marketing elements Obama exploited are online brand building (also known as online PR or web PR) and online reputation management.  In a broad sense, online PR works in a similar way to offline PR by building trusted relationships.  These relationships are formed with directories and websites that share an interest or operate in the same industry as your business.  Online PR consists of specialist articles being created and optimised with the intention of distribution directly to these websites and directories.  These articles create brand awareness and traffic for the client as well as enhance search engine optimisation (SEO).

With online reputation management the web is continuously monitored for mentions of the client on websites, blogs and forums.  Online reputation management is of vital importance as it allows the client to respond in a timely manner to either positive or negative press and allows the company to either save or claim its reputation. 

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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.