Archive for August, 2008

I attended the Google/Quirk Gadget session last night, and thought it would be worthwhile to post my notes for those of you who could not make it.

The first session was presented by Rob Stokes, from Quirk and basically introduced us to the role that gadgets have in marketing.

Now, I should immediately confess that when I got the invite I interpreted “gadgets” as, well …the gadgets that I have like cell, iPod, iTouch etc. Turns out, gadgets are also widgets, and that is what the presentation was all about.

Lest you think widgets are new, think again. The first one was created in 1997, so by Internet standards they have been around for almost forever. Today they most often appear in the side bars of blogs, or as a collection of apps on a web page, such as iGoogle.

According to Wikipedia, “A widget (gadget) is anything that can be embedded within a page of HTML, i.e. a web page. A widget adds some content to that page that is not static. Generally widgets are third party originated, though they can be home made. Widgets are also known as modules, snippets, and plug-ins.”

iGoogle gives you the opportunity to create your own, customized homepage that is filled with nothing but gadgets, or widgets. And there are 30,000 to choose from, so you can really have some fun playing around with it. Your page can include your Gmail, your horoscope, pacman, daily quotes, feed reader and countless other applications. If you have never tried, I suggest you go and play around there a bit.

Gadgets are good for marketers

It makes sense to develop an application/gadget/widget that can be branded or that can promote your business directly. For starters, the gadgets bring you eyeballs and interactions with your brand. One in five Google users in the US uses iGoogle. That’s a lot of eyes.

Gadgets also enable a user to engage with your brand. As Rob said, engaging your users online is no longer about engaging them at your website.The brand (your brand) needs to be on their turf. iGoogle can be that turf, and it is Google’s fastest growing product.

What makes a good gadget?

Things to consider when developing a gadget:

Make sure it is

How to use gadgets for marketing

Make sure the gadget is remarkable, because that more than anything will ensure its success. Once it has been developed, you can start by syndicating it on your blog or website, with a “add to iGoogle” button. Since the gadgets work in any online environment (such as websites, blogs, dashboard) you are not limited to only promoting them through iGoogle.

There is an iGoogle directory of gadgets, and you should add your gadget to it as soon as possible. As with Google search results, the rank of your gadget depends on an algorithm, and there are factors that affect the ranks. Some of these are:

The performance of gadgets can be measured with Google Analytics or any other web measuring tool. In addition, the iGoogle directory will show you how many page views your gadget has received.

You can use a gadget as a mini version of your website. For instance, if you are running a travel website, you can have users choose a destination and dates for hotel accommodation from within the gadget itself. In other words, the user can engage with your site from within their own site. Far better option than simply displaying a banner enticing a user to click through to your website.

To view excellent examples of gadgets, visit www.widgetbox.com.

A round up of interesting and relevant news related in some way to social media.

I pulled the links to these posts from my Feed Reader. If you write on Social Media, and would like me to include links to your posts, please email me your blog URL. Please put “Feed for TwoJumpsAhead” in the subject line. The address is eved@ideabank.co.za.

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“Who’s saying what, right now”

Technorati is a search engine that indexes blogs only. Type in a search term, see what blogs are saying about it.

Technorati also ranks blogs according to their “authority”. A blog’s authority is determined by how many other blogs link to it. One blog that links is one “Authority Vote”. Many links form one blog only count as one vote. Each vote is valid for 180 days from the latest link from that blog.

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So, you should know:

How do you find out your blog’s rank?
First thing to do is go to Technorati.com and sign up your blog. You will have to claim it, which is a pretty standard procedure.

Then, search for your blog, and see your rank!

Why is rank important?

How do you improve your rank?
No magic formula, no secret algorithms. Just write good posts, promote them via the usual channels and links should come. Comment a lot, with your blog’s URL. In fact, leave a footprint of your blog anywhere you ethically can (your profiles, home pages etc).

You should also note that unlike Google, your authority is really based on live results. As soon as soemone posts a blog that links appropriately to your blog, your authority improves. (Google can take days to index someone’s blog).

You can find the top 100 blogs, as ranked by Technorati.com here.

Note: If your Technorati rank is low, it is not the end of the world. Some blogs are written to be read, not linked to. There is a big difference!

Welcome to all my new subscribers!

This is only the third blog post for Two Jumps Ahead.com, and I thought it would be a good idea to track some numbers right from the start.

Since this is a blog about Social Media, and how you can use it to extend your presence/impact/influence/reach, it is only fair that I practice what I preach and extend the impact of this blog.

And the nice thing about Social Media is that it is so measurable.

So here goes the first batch of monthly numbers:

Alexa ranking: 1,507,216

Technorati.com: 4,567,253

Amatomu.com: 1,590 (South African blogs only)

Subscribers: 7

Google mentions: 8

Comments: 1

Posts: 3

Days live: 2

Visitors: 26

Here’s to a heroic rise in all these rankings!

It is seemingly impossible to sell a client on the idea of Social Media without good case studies to back up your claims.

Unfortunately, case studies are hard to come by. There is lots of anecdotal evidence, and we have all seen what impact social media can have if you are not paying attention.

But what about those times when a client has applied the Social Media philosophy, and got spectacular (or not) results?

This page is a collection of case studies I have found scattered across the web. Hopefully, I will come across enough good new one to keep this page updated regularly.

Socialtext manages a wiki for case studies, and there are five there now. I list them below, with a short summary, and a link, so you can pursue them in your own time.

Case Studies:

• Angel.com
  Angel.com required an easy-to-use wiki solution with enterprise-class features delivered as a secure, reliable hosted service; Socialtext provided a robust wiki platform for collaboration between Angel.com’s employees, with its business partners, and as the foundation for its public community.
• AT&T Collaborative Integration
  This case study provides an overview of the first 5 years of an evolving journey with Enterprise 2.0 applications within a large telecommunications company.
• Boston College Case Study
  Boston College required social software to stimulate the education process & create lively interactions between students and faculty; Socialtext provided easy-to-use platform for wiki collaboration that seamlessly integrated with email, RSS feeds, search and other popular web-based technologies.
• MWW Case Study
  MWW Group required rich collaboration tools for managing projects, tracking status & collecting relevant competitive intelligence into a searchable knowledgebase; Socialtext wikis provided easy-to-use platform that users could get comfortable using in minutes, plus integrated with traditional tools like email, RSS feeds & search.

Now is Gone also maintains a blog page linking to case studies. It is definitely worthwhile checking out. I have chosen some of the best entries and listed them below.

• Up Your Budget Treasure hunt for Budget Car Hire, created by BL Olchman in 2005 resulted in 1 million site visits. It was the first campaign driven solely by bloggers and blog advertising.
• CMP’s TechMash
  How Social Media was used by Engage in PR to drive attendance to a tech show in Boston.
• SplashCast’s use of social media for Marketing, written by Marshall Kirkpatrick outlines basic, but essential steps and techniques to make drive traffic for your blog.

Your 5 minute Social Media must read scan for the day: