Ad Storm #7 - Fun with RSS feeds

Hey Guys,

Public Relations, Advertising, these are things we know and for the most part the way to use them most effectively have been for the most part become routine. Although the internet has become a new playground for marketing think tanks and visionaries. While Search Engine Optimization seems to have all the glory of online marketing, capitalizing on RSS feeds and content delivery to me is the true key to online marketing success.

Before most social networks tried to create walled gardens where everything had to be done within the network, but as competition began to open their walls the pressure to create content portability has increased. While many feared this would kill the competitive edge of a closed community this actually became a boon to then upcoming networks Twitter and Ning as they capitalized of the use of cell phones and widgets on other networks to get the word out.

So that kinda is the situation from a historical context, but I'm here to talk about RSS feeds and how to use them. RSS feeds is way of syndicating content, when content is formatted into an RSS feed it can be read by any RSS feed reader. Every blog and major news source has an RSS feed, so what how does that benefit content delivery.

One way to think about it is this, all major email services now have built in RSS readers, so if I could add the feed to all my favorite news sources to my email reader and read them in one place I'd be willing to read it more often, right? If I read it more often it means any advertisements in the content will get more consistent views, right? Which means monetization. This is one way to look at it.

When creating your product website you can seamlessly incorporate RSS feeds into you page, so what are some clever ways to use this? Let's say I have a product website, but my marketing department head doesn't have time to be at a PC typing up updates and uploading photos, how can I keep him connected.

1. updates answer - I can register my marketing rep with Twitter in which he can update news and promotions via his cellphone. I then will incorporate the RSS feed from his twitter profile seamlessly into my page using standard web design techniques and you get constant content without a need to chain your marketing guy to a chair.

2. Photos Answer - While Ning.com's purpose is to let brand build their own social network, Ning has some useful features for content distribution since all content is syndicated in RSS feeds. So register your guy again with an account on any Ning network, he is then giving an email with which he can email photos and video to with his phone.

So your marketing guy, armed with a good camera phone now has the ability to update your website via his phone with text, photos, and videos. This is only the tip of the iceberg of what you can do RSS feeds. Then you can recycle the the feeds into widgets for your consumers to paste on their myspace profiles and such for further content exposure.

See the value?

- Alex Merced

Ad Storm #6 - Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

Hey Guys,

In todays marketing climate if your not at least somewhat familiar with the ins and outs of SEO your in danger of losing a lot of potential traffic to your site. I won't lie, while I'm pretty knowledgeable about marketing especially using web technologies my practical use of SEO is limited enough that I won't call myself an authority. Although for all of you who aren't the most web savvy or never really red on SEO here a few quick tips for on-page optimization.

- Make sure your brands tagline is not only something people remember, but also something that uses words people would look for. The key to SEO is using popular search terms in the most natural way possible. You tagline will be put in the most vital places by your web designer naturally, don't assume they are SEO experts so make sure wording is right.

- testimonials are a classy way of getting certain terms on your page over and over again without going overboard. Go out and ask your current consumers questions that might get them to use your target words naturally, it shouldn't be hard if the search terms your targeting are worth anything.

- make sure your site has some sort of blog that way it is crawled whenever there is new content and make sure to use your terms in any content added if it goes into it naturally of course.

Those are some quick tips for on-page optimization, otherwise email press releases to key blogs and newsletters which not only serves your PR goals but also helps SEO, got to love the online marketing karma.

- Alex Merced

P.S. go SEOFAQ and SEOmoz and don't forget about your link karma when making content.

Ad Storm #5 - Building your Own social network

Hello,

With Ning and Kickapps trailblazing in the world of Social Network Hosts, the question is what is the major benefit of building a separate branded network instead of just using myspace/facebook groups and profiles to build your community. I'll give the same explanation I gave the guys at SHANE&SHAWN (where I'm currently a marketing intern, amazing shoes) before I created their Ning network.

Having a profile on a social network is about building awareness, even though people can interact with your brand with comments and through reading content you put out the end user still have thousands of other profile to dedicate their time to while on this network than to really burn your brand into their brain.

If your brand is a lifestyle brand, then a social network is valid investment cause instead of putting out content to fight for the end users time, you let the end user create content in a branded space. This creates a deeper experience of the brand, and of course the air of exclusivity and legitimacy over a myspace group or profile.

It's the same difference as buying the latest Puma shoe at the foot locker at the mall over the Puma store at union square in NYC. In both locations you can buy the product but which brand are you truly immersing yourself in, Foot Locker or Puma?

A branded social network isn't something that's gonna tip the scales in your favor overnight, but through active community building and content producing you can carve yourself a niche to re-enforce your brand into your core consumers who'd appreciate the fan service. Though to get new faces make sure you still are building awareness with a heavy dose of Myspace/Facebook.

- Alex Merced

Ad Memorial #9: MercedForFreedom.com

In my political efforts of late, I have created a website where I educate people on the issues called MercedForFreedom.com. While the site has a very simple design the drive of the site is the information in form of Videos, Mp3's, and Blogs that it's provides.

In videos by Eban Pagen of GetAltitude.com he talks about giving value, and that is essentially the idea of all the free media. By providing valuable and educational media for free the value of visiting the site increases. This is the idea behind most media driven websites who's ends is high traffic. While the purpose of my site is to educate and boost awareness of the Alex Merced political brand, this technique can be used to fulfill many Marketing Communication goals.

Remember, free media is a low cost way to add value to your brand.

Ad Memorial #8: Ron Paul

Hey Guys,

As of late my new promotional obsession has been getting the word out about Ron Paul, who is running for the president of the United States. I have created many flyers like the ones above. These flyers try to do one thing I feel a lot of Ron Paul from supporters don't do, KISS (Keep it Simple Stupid). The Ron Paul campaign has done a good job of creating highly targeted slim jims to pass out but sometimes you just need something even simpler people can read on the fly, especially since we're in the process of building awareness, so too much information will trigger selective attention.

Many of us Ron Paul supporters I would claim are more educated than your average American and don't have a hard time following the logic and explanation of non-interventionism and Austrian Economics and attempt to explain them on materials. I just try to point prospects to the Ron Paul website where most issues are broken down in a way anyone fully digest and further understand. This is the argument I use in my politics blog, Cause of Freedom, as to why Mike Huckabees surge in the poll is at a faster pace than Paul's. Paul is the thinking mans candidate.

The point is I'm trying to drive home is simplicity when creating awareness. You want to make sure the only information given is that which NEEDS to be remembered such as Brand Names, Websites, and Logos. As long as these few pivotal things are registered the prospect is more likely to respond more in depth to the next level of information proliferation.

Ad Storm #4: Grassroots Support

Hey Guys,

It's been awhile but I've been involved in the political sphere as of late supporting Ron Paul. If you are a campaign supporter the question I'm about to pose is a no brainer, but if your not it's the question everyone is dying to understand, how does Ron Paul use the internet so effectively in communicating his message.

The Answer...

He Doesn't

While the Ron Paul official website is one of the most Web 2.0 candidate pages and is great at providing info and tools, the fact that he has permeated the net so strongly has nothing to do with a tech savey campaign staff, it's the message. The message behind his candidacy resonates in a way so deep rooted that people can get behind the Ron Paul brand to make grassroots videos, fundraising campaigns, and even renting a blimp without spending a dime.

This is where the other candidates fail in developing their marketing communications, they focus on how to make their message resonate without asking the question, what do the people want? Ron Paul himself doesn't quite have the campaign machine visibility as Romney or Giuliani yet he still permeates stronger in the free media, it's cause his supporters feel Ron Paul is the only one who understands them and is truly out there for them.

While Ron Paul isn't a marketing expert, he has a level of brand equity from a long career of honesty, integrity, and rationality which has afforded him the credibility and authenticity to have the strong loyalty he demands.

So what as Marketers should we learn from this?

• No amount of gimmicks and media saturation will beat having a clear target based marketing message
• Credibility and Authenticity is something that only develops truly over time, taking short cuts for short term gains only hurt your long terms brand equity
• A strong brand can survive on what it represents and will permeate without a huge marketing budget

Ad Memorial #7: kissing Rabits

In order to promote my Social Bookmarking site, Zuki.Us I created a mock Public Service Announcement about an epidemic of Kissing Rabbits. The intention of course that the video would go viral so here's the video and let's see what happens.


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