Monday, August 24, 2009
Tuesday, August 04, 2009
Grass Roots: its where the campaign begins
A massive divide still remains between the primary markets and secondary/tertiary markets. The Digital Britain report published last month (June 2009) identified the need for the UK to invest heavily in telecom infrastructure to improve the availability of the internet as well as digital services to throughout the UK. The report argues that individuals and businesses will be helped to join, grow and thrive as part of the global economy online.
Unfortunately the web is no place for this discussion – why?? Because the people concerned are not IT literate, do not have a stable internet connection and do not live and breathe the world wide web.
When you see all these stats about the number of people using social networking, writing blogs, having Twitter accounts, have a look next time where there source come from. Is it an online marketer? Is it a digital company? Do the words ‘XX% of users online have a ‘Facebook’ account? The answer – most probably!
* More than 250 million active users
* More than 120 million users log on to Facebook at least once each day
* More than two-thirds of Facebook users are outside of college
* The fastest growing demographic is those 35 years old and older
Therefore all this data is unrepresentative. Until you truly know how your buyers and customers feel how can you build a campaign around them to get more people following you. Online analysts can lay claim that behavioural marketing is about understanding what people browse across the internet, their age and how you can target them. But unfortunately, this data and analysis rarely incorporates users interactions beyond the web. You will be presented with user paths showing what websites they went to and from and the type of products they bought.
Analysing user behaviour should also understand the reasons why they are there Are they buying a present for a loved one? Themselves? Is this research for work, a hobby or in utter boredom?
For example, my grandma is now using a laptop, and has been for just over a year. The initial prospect of using the internet three years ago was met by one of uncertainty and fear. As a family, with our grandparents heading to Spain to live for a year – the internet offered us a way to keep in contact. Today, after spending time sitting with her – she can search and book her own flight tickets, use email and research properties to purchase. In little over a year, my grandma is now using the internet – but after several years of persuasion.
Our persuasion was communicated through traditional communication methods;
1. Sitting with her and talking about the internet and computers
2. Telling her what we had done online
3. Showing her how to use it
4. Reshowing her how to use it
5. Showing her again and helping her every time we visit
Now my grandma is a proficient internet user and starting to discover new things herself with my grandfather sat beside her looking at her confused as she strokes her fingers across a board of buttons with loads of randomly presented letters!
Getting back to grass roots is a necessity for all businesses during the digital ‘evolution’. You need to understand how the digital world fits into their private life. Asking why they go online, will help understand how they will access you. As part of our process to encourage people online, we need to ask how do we remove their fears?
Furthermore, digital lifestyles change culture – people’s values and priorities change, so how do they fit in with your service or product. Are you making a sale because it’s a great product, is it making the buyer feel good, or is it a necessity?
Understanding where your customers come from is essential if you are to make any impact and grow. Maintaining those customers is also very important. How are you going to create customer loyalty from these newfound customers?
And finally – just because you found this service, customer, product, business or whatever online – does it mean that your relationship is purely electronic?
Take a step away from the PC and find out how people still live without it – find out what their values are and how they can achieve what they want without web-land!
Understanding your publics is public relations.
Monday, August 03, 2009
Online social danger
It cannot be denied how much of a profound affect Facebook has had on people’s lives-young and old. It provides a new space for communication, away from texting and phone calls. Young people particularly enjoy using it for posting photographs, memories and keeping in touch with family and friends old and new. However, the archbishop continues to denounce the site. He blames Facebook for being a key factor in the teenage suicide rate.
Evidence for his claim is only seen however through another social networking site - ‘Bebo’, after teenager ‘Megan Gillian’ committed suicide after online bullying through the using the site. For parents, social networking is not seen as an immediate danger. They view their children as enjoying their time online. They also have a similar attitude to computer games which have been known to be highly addictive.
As recent as 2008, a “Bully Computer game” caused controversy for its violent content. The game which was made by U.S Company ‘Rockstar games’ was criticised for glorifying violence due to its concept. Users would play the character of a ‘teenager’ who had just started boarding school. In order to adjust to life there, the game would consist of the ‘teenager’ bullying classmates horrifically. Graphic imagery included placing pupil’s heads down toilets, to generally physically attacking them.
Medically, violent video games appear to pose a larger threat than the use of social networking sites. Studies into the psychological consequences of frequent use of computer games have shown that they have a negative impact on teenager’s health. Also, the portable nature of consoles that have been developed including: Nintendo Ds Lite and Sony PSP have caused further addiction to video gaming. Although incidences of suicide and addiction have been present in social networking, the importance of communication between friends daily through Facebook should not face criticism.
Moreover, social networking remains a new and ever developing online tool. Computer games have been present in young people’s lives for a long time and placed themselves as a dominant form of entertainment in teenage boy’s homes. Sony Play station games ‘Grand Theft Auto’ and ‘Scarface’ alone glorify violence. A key difference between social networking and video gaming is control. Facebook allows users to deactivate their profile at their own convenience if they are not enjoying it. Computer games on the other hand, develop their graphics, which entices the usability in a world where technology is at the forefront of everyday life.
User- generation remains restricted
At present an interesting record of users have now downloaded the ‘Chris Brown’ song, entitled: ‘Forever’. YouTube lays claim that this is after the video of ‘JK wedding dance’, which has already been viewed over 12 million times, featured the song. Although YouTube note that their site has a set of what they call ‘content management tools’, on this occasion the rights holders were able to monetize the song. Also, they included links to external online shopping websites. Externally, Amazon allowed users to purchase the song. Similarly the ever-popular iTunes were present, as users therefore had effortless access to download the track.
The world of music downloads and Royalty protected music is still far from simple. Rights holders do arguably take advantage of opportunities for increased revenue, which is shown in the case of the song ‘Forever’. More conventional copyright laws do continue to contradict ever expanding technological innovation. Users who want to use just 30 seconds of a music track for example, would in fact have to obtain licensing permission.
Some users do understandably feel that ‘The Fair use copyright law’ can easily apply. But realistically, there is no guarantee that this is a safe or more importantly legal way to post music without permission. Therefore, although user generated content online has become increasingly more popular, Royalty protected music does not allow users to post their work. A solution for users is ‘Royalty free’ music, which allows users to purchase music for a ‘one-time fee’ with unlimited use.
Consequently, there still is space for freedom online, whilst copyright laws are in place for reasons of regulation to protect the owner – it should be realised that creators of innovative online content can be the main source of revenue and marketing for the song/title track.
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