The RSS Engagement Problem
Last Friday, at the SNAP Summit (basically a Facebook conference), I sat down to have a chat with Newsgator’s Jeff Nolan and we stumbled onto the topic of RSS engagement. This is a really, really thorny problem not only for companies like NewsGator (our client), who build the RSS infrastructure but for media entities that publish lots of RSS feeds (like, say, the NY Times blogs).
If I were able to define the solution, I’d have a bestselling book on my hands. My conversation with Jeff only defined the problem, and I hope this becomes the start of a larger conversation about RSS engagement. We temporarily labeled this problem The Loop. Maybe I called it that because I lived in Chicago for a few years. But this loop is a loop that stubbornly remains open. The question is this: how do you effectively put a metric on one’s engagement with an RSS feed?
I have a few blogs that I read when I’m at home on the weekend; I have them set up in both NetNewsWire and my Google Reader, and I’ve read over the Google Reader’s stats a few times. Google has a real basic approach here; they can put a metric on which feeds you’re clicking on, so the reader can understand how valuable each feed is to him. Let’s call this the UTILITY metric. For example, if I realize that I’m only reading 20% of what comes in on the Oakland Tribune’s feeds, and there’s a high volume of feeds, then that feed has really low utility to me.
But let’s say that I’m reading 100% of what’s coming in from the Entrepreneur Watch blog. So, that blog is a high-utility blog for me. But if that’s all the information I can get, then I’m stuck, as a publisher, wondering what the next-action is for someone who reads that blog. RSS feed readers and enterprise content-management systems lack an effective way of tracking what the reader does as a result of the information they read in an RSS feed.
RSS readers can map out discrete metrics. Google’s Reader can tell whether you’ve shared an item on their service (which ports over to Facebook and a host of other social networks via in-network applications) and NewsGator’s Enterprise Server product surfaces the most popular feeds and articles within organizations, which is really useful. And they also do the Facebook thing well with their NewsFriends application. But no one, so far, has figured out how to close The Loop and really map out any kind of ENGAGEMENT metric. (By the way, this FeedHeads Google Reader application is seeing really low adoption – like under 300 users).
This is only the beginning of this conversation, and a little work has already been done on this in the social media blog space, but the thing that’s clearly come out of that writing is that somebody needs to do something about it (and waiting for metrics companies like Factiva, Buzzlogic or Buzzmetrics to just come up with the answer is probably not the soundest business strategy). I’m beginning to wonder if some sort of engagement consortium is in order, because this is one big question mark.
When ‘Click’ Happens
Sometimes I feel like giving a big hug to all the people that click on Internet ads. They make so many of our favorite websites and online applications free. But me, I’ve never been a clicker. In fact, I take (well, I should say ‘took’… please read on) pride in not being a clicker. But then a funny thing happened not too long ago. Fluke? Maybe… but then it happened again.
I was looking for a flight to New York to find the overpriced and undersized Manhattan apartment that I currently live in. It just so happened that The San Francisco Chronicle had an article online that day about Virgin America’s first day of ticket sales. So, I clicked. Before I got to the article, I was face-to-face with a big, full-page advertisement for $139 Virgin America ticket to New York City. The paranoid part of me says they mined my computer’s data to figure out that I wanted to go to New York, but most likely it was just a perfect symbiotic relationship between PR and advertising. Long story short, I clicked on the ad and ten minutes later had a flight booked to New York on Virgin America. A blow to my pride? Yeah, a little bit.
A month or two passed and as I watched the baseball playoffs, I noticed an ad for a Charles Schwab checking account that earned 4% interest and fully refunded ATM fees. Sounded good, but probably too good to be true. Ignored it… Back to baseball. A few days later, I again came face to face with a full page online ad for this same account. I clicked… Again. After reading about the account and making a call to Schwab, I decided I wanted to open an account. Transaction completed — I am now officially an advertising statistic.
Click pride? Completely gone, but hey, I got a really cheap flight to New York and 4% interest on my checking account — a gift to myself that keeps on giving.
What caused the clicks here was not flashy advertising or spinning bad products with fancy language (as PR people are sometimes accused of doing), but instead it was timely advertising of very good services to the right person. Get a good deal in front of anyone mildly interested in what you’re offering and clicks (not to mention transactions!) are sure to happen. This is not unlike how we represent our clients at LaunchSquad. We choose to work with companies that have timely stories and legitimately great products. It’s not about spin or any kind of trickery and praying for clicks (or stories). It’s about telling a great story about a disruptive company, accurately and to the right people.
This made me think about those hugs I so willingly feel like giving to online ad clickers that keep so much of the internet open and free. But now it’s becoming clear that it’s not the clickers, it’s the smart advertisers and innovative companies who cause those clicks that really deserve the hugs.
Microformats: Do You Need To Know This?
I’ve been reading up on microformats for the last few weeks and spending a bit of time over at Microformats.org. Today, I came across a pretty interesting but very dense book by John Allsopp called Microformats. (For your convenience, I’ve added the title to the Metzmash Canteen). The point of understanding how microformats will play in your future communications and marketing is all about figuring out how your brand is going to answer questions.
How is your toilet company, for example, going to answer a question like, "What is a toilet that will fit into a 38" x 24" x 24" space in our new bathroom, that doesn’t use a lot of water and is available in black?"
It would probably take a human searching on the Kohler website and about 15 or 20 minutes to figure that out (have you figured out that I’m in the bathroom remodel market yet?). But there probably is a toilet on that website that meets those exact specifications. That’s where microformats could feasibly come in – product pages and PDFs can be enabled for better searchability. That’s what John Allsopp’s book is all about.
Chapters One and Two are a sturdy preview of what you need to know about microformats, and there’s a fairly solid breakdown of publishers who are currently using them (Yahoo, Cork’d, Eventful, Apple, edgeio). The later chapters get into some real heavy stuff that you’ll want to look over with the I.T. department, but Parts One, Three and Four look like they’re gonna be required reading for marketing and brand managers in the next few months.
The bits and pieces of Alsopp’s book that I’ve investigated are definitely on the geekier side of the marketing spectrum, but if you’re looking for a pretty solid download on emerging best practices of the semantic web, this is a helluva place to start.
A Chat & An Exclusive Track From Jonah Matranga
This is a post that we’ve had in the works for quite a while. Back in May of this year, I sat down to chat with Jonah Matranga (ex-Far, Onelinedrawing) about social media in the music world. Matranga’s probably best-known, recently, for his duet with Holly Brook and Fort Minor (Mike Shinoda of Linkin Park) on a track called “Where’d You Go,” which spent much of the early summer of ‘07 atop the iTunes charts.
The exclusive track, an acoustic version of “So Long,” from the 2007 And album is available here.
Matranga’s next shows are in Portland and Seattle, later this month.
The video can also be found on LaunchSquad’s new YouTube channel.
Obama Girl Joins Next New Networks
Big news in LaunchSquad land this morning: we announced that our client BarelyPolitical.com was acquired by Next New Networks and Obama Girl now has a new online channel. The story is getting a good amount of press today, here, here and here, among others.
It’s interesting news, and not just because we like to see one of our clients make good, but also for what this says about the speed of image building today. Obama Girl was born less than six months ago, somewhat on a whim, with the idea that there was a huge appetite for a new combo of online video, catchy tunes, scantily clad girls and national political figures. Today, Obama Girl has become something of a national phenomenon and the phrase alone will likely stay in our political lingo for a long time.
The other piece that’s interesting here is the mix of fiction and reality in a way that can really only happen online. Obama Girl is played by model Amber Lee Ettinger, and she plays the part well, both online and offline. It’s a tough part to play, as she needs to stay in character beyond just her roles in the videos. And while some people think that the Obama Girl videos are simply viral eye candy, I think there’s a lot more there behind the success. It comes down to character and story, and the series of videos that the BarelyPolitical team has produced so far, and will do in a bigger way as part of Next New Networks, is pushing the Obama Girl character forward in interesting ways. This, to me, is the real attraction. Much like the success of LonelyGirl15 or even serial TV shows like Heroes, I think people want to follow the lives of characters.
The intriguing piece though is that the line between what’s fiction and what’s real is blurring. Unlike LonelyGirl15, BarelyPolitical never really “pretended” that Obama Girl was anything but an actress, but still, the real Obama quickly began getting questions about what he thought of her, as if she was the real deal. And Obama eventually even acknowledged her (a PR person’s dream come true) helping to move the Obama Girl story forward.
At Next New Networks, Obama Girl and BarelyPolitical can continue to create these new characters and new stories, and I’m looking forward to what they have in store. Congrats to Ben, Amber and the whole BarelyPolitical team.
How To Tell The Story Of Our Time
At LaunchSquad, we love seeing companies communicate their vision in an engaging and innovative way. Recently our friends over at Sequence helped Chevron do just this with the redesign of their corporate website – Chevron.com. Last week I headed over to the Sequence offices on Potrero Hill and chatted with them about this project.
Last month Chevron launched a massive marketing campaign around the theme of “Human Energy.” The message of the campaign essentially boils down to “Yes, we are an energy company. But we are also human beings who live on this planet with everybody else and we all need energy to live so we’re just trying to provide in the best way we can.” There were several components to the campaign, including a series of emotionally charged television ad spots, and Sequence handled the redesign of the corporate website.
This website is a great example of how to put your message front and center. The homepage is relatively simple and very clean, showcasing the slogan “The Power of Human Energy – Finding Newer, Cleaner Way to Power the World,” with a few provocative images – a mother holding a baby, an old man walking a bicycle, a reporter covering a protest. The message accompanying these images reads: “It’s the story of our time. More than 6 billion people on the planet. We all need energy to live.” The user is then prompted into the site by clicking on phrases like “Where Will It Come From?”
The idea behind the campaign is honesty and humanity, and Sequence’s design captures this with the straightforward presentation and the “speak when spoken to” approach to users’ interaction with the site. Using dynamic presentation tools such as AJAX and Flash Sequence created an environment that encourages the user to request information by rewarding them with rich, dynamic content and interaction. Throughout the site, text pops up as the user scrolls over it, giving them information without requiring them to click further into the site.
The site also feels very educational. There is an entire section on all the different sources of energy Chevron is tapping and exploring. They don’t play down the importance of oil, but also describe their efforts with renewable sources like geothermal and solar, and the research they are doing with emerging fuels like hydrogen. For this section Sequence developed a series of “interactive stories” integrating video and other content, such as original illustrations, compiled in Photoshop using Illustrator, Flash and other tools. They created the framework for the stories using XML so that the stories are flexible and dynamic, and can be updated as Chevron’s story changes. The result is a series of vignettes that not only give users information about how various parts of Chevron’s business works, but also conveys the flavor of the company as approachable and eminently human. Often, these sections are paired with a section that highlights the humanitarian or ecological efforts Chevron is making. For example, the “Ultradeepwater Drilling” section has a section on the ocean floor’s flora and fauna. These elements reveal Chevron’s softer side as educator and partner.
Chevron is the sixth largest company in the United States, with a massive global presence. In many ways they function like a small country, deeply involved in financial, political, ecological and humanitarian issues around the world. Telling this kind of story is obviously a challenge, yet this campaign captures it with concision and clarity, allowing Chevron to invite discussion about their company, their industry and all the issues surrounding it – communicating their story with transparency, authenticity and humanity.
Mobile RSS Solutions – What’s Out There?
Exclamation is usually our blog that’s reserved for storytelling. Well, half of storytelling is listening, right? And it’s pretty hard to “listen” to a story on the bus or the train unless you’re into books on tape, and, as much as Audible would like, I doubt a majority of the people I know are as into books-on-mp3 as I am. I think they’re much more likely to read, rather than listen, on the fly.
One of our clients told me the other day that he wanted to start reading and commenting on more blogs on his Blackberry. I realized, in talking to him, that I don’t know what are the best mobile RSS readers, as of this summer. I remember setting up HubDog about 18 months ago on the lousy T-Mobile MDA smartphone, nearly vowing never to use mobile RSS again. Mobile RSS has been tossed around for the last couple of years, but only recently have a few real contenders come along. I know that EnGadget did a posting on this a while back, and I don’t think of this as so much of an update as a condensation!
So, here’s a quick roundup, based on the popular platforms. One disclosure: NewsGator is a current LaunchSquad client.
Blackberry: NewsGator Go! is the best thing I’ve seen, but you can use a web-based app like Google Reader, if you’ve got the time to do a bit more clicking.
iPhone: The native Safari RSS reader on the iPhone is pretty strong, but lately, in the the Apple forums, NewsGator has been gaining some traction. Most of the iPhone RSS conversation takes place in Apple’s Internet & Networking forum. To register for a Newsgator account, you can go here, and you’re you’re set up you can log into the mobile RSS portal here. It’s definitely what I’d use to sync mobile and desktop RSS together. If you want to view multiple feeds at once using feeds that you’ve read before using Google, you can use Google Reader, as it’s been recently optimized for the platform. What it lacks in comparison NewsGator’s horsepower, it somewhat compensates for in look and feel.
Palm: Bloglines Mobile has a light-looking PDA interface, but for more robust RSS reading on the Palm platform, but if you’re looking for a standalone application it looks like QuickNews may be the answer. Google Reader is also a suitable alternatative, but I haven’t personally used it on a Palm.
Regular Phone: Feedm8 seems to be the service of choice for most major publishers (CNN, Reuters, Engadget), and I’ve even seen Digg using it lately. It works fairly well if you’re just reading basic RSS feeds published by large publishers. On the other hand, I wouldn’t recommend it for encrypted RSS, and it’s a free service that’s only usable with some publishers. If your phone is even slightly Java-enabled, NewsGator Go! would be a good fit, and is worthwhile for any heavy-duty RSS usage.
Our Clients Make Stuff We Use Every Day (Awareness, AnchorFree,TimeBridge, SuccessFactors, NewsGator)
While I sometimes envy PR agencies that handle super-flashy clients like Slide and RockYou, because they’re super-slick applications with huge usage (in social networks), I realize that, at the end of the day, there are probably more people working behind a desk, doing business, than on Facebook or Myspace. Which makes me pretty glad to work with clients that make some super-useful stuff. And while one could say I’m being “paid to write this,” I suppose I could secretly not use these products. But why would you want to use software that sucks? Google Reader, anyone? (Stats feature excluded…)
Here’s the breakdown:
Awareness: They make enterprise-grade content management and social media management systems. If you’re looking to manage all of your blogs and wikis (modifiable internal blog pages) and need crazy-big scalability, this is what you need. I can’t think of too many social media solutions that are a good fit for a group of 30 and a group of 3000. The search feature has saved my butt more than a few times.
NewsGator: There’s nothing like doing your RSS feeds on a plane. And until the rest of the aviation world catches up with British Airways, NewsGator’s NetNewsWire is the best freakin’ RSS reader I’ve ever used. The new Mac version is lightning-fast, and eats roughly 60 feeds for breakfast for me, every morning. NewsGator’s Enterprise-On-Demand platform is basically the backbone of LaunchSquad’s coverage and tracking architecture. I had a meeting yesterday with a tech company who told me that their PR firm sends them Google searches on their brand. For 2002, that would be totally acceptable. If my PR firm did that, I’d fire them and bring on a bunch of high-school students to research my coverage. Or, I’d start using NGEOD If you’re doing any kind of coverage tracking, beware that 30-day free trial – you’ll be hooked.
AnchorFree - Okay, who doesn’t hate paying for wi-fi? Why can’t Apple just cut a deal with T-Mobile and charge the customers an extra $25 when they buy their computer and give them free wi-fi at any T-Mobile location? Oh well, while that all gets sorted, you can reliably depend on AnchorFree not only for free wi-fi (in most cities with a population greater than, say, 1000 people) but for a solid HotSpot Shield, so you can reliably do your banking, your Amazon or any confidential-type-stuff in a public place. Complaints about the small ad leaderboard can talk to the hand. When was the last time Yahoo or Google gave you a great service that wasn’t ad-supported? Puh-leese.
SuccessFactors: Although my experience using this software is not so much on an everyday basis, it forms the basis of goals, expectations and long-term people development strategy at LaunchSquad. From what I understand, this solution is the quickest way to get innovative 360-degree reviews into smaller and medium-sized companies, without forking out for a five or six-figure consultant-enabled SAP installation.
At my wife’s previous company, the implementation seemed to eerily coincide with the firing of a bunch of unproductive laggards and the promotion of a group of her team members that worked really hard. I definitively say that SuccessFactors “did it,” but the data that the program surfaced clicked with some substantial changes.
TimeBridge: I must say, I’m not lucky enough to use this every day, but I love using it, because it means you’re making things happen. This is a tool for scheduling 2-way, 3-way, 4-way and 5-way (and more!) meetings that saves all parties involved about 3-4 emails per person. It’s a huge time-saver.
Attendi, one of our newer clients also has developed a really high-utility people search product, but it really can’t be summed up in a quick blurb, so I’m going to dedicate some time to that later in the week, to explain it in-depth and show some great use cases..