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"digital marketing"
So, today a contest was announced at work and the challenge is to get as many new followers to follow us on Twitter, Like us on Facebook and Connect with us on LinkedIn. By using special URLs they can track who sends people to the pages.
Here's what I need you to do (PLEASE). Click on each of the links below. Like, Follow or Connect as the destination page allows. That's it.
AND - If you leave me a comment with your Social links, I promise to return the favor. Deal?
Pretty please with sugar on top...
Click NOW!
LinkedIn: http://bem.bz/SQmSxv
Here's what I need you to do (PLEASE). Click on each of the links below. Like, Follow or Connect as the destination page allows. That's it.
AND - If you leave me a comment with your Social links, I promise to return the favor. Deal?
Pretty please with sugar on top...
Click NOW!
LinkedIn: http://bem.bz/SQmSxv
Facebook: http://bem.bz/OljYMm
I mentioned a while back that I had enjoyed reading Nicholas Carr's book, "The Shallows." It is a great read that attracted me because it addressed a symptom I have been experiencing in my own life: Prolonged interaction with the internet makes it harder for me to think and write creatively.
While Carr deals with this topic, I have found others who question the research and conclusions he draws from it. Most recently, I ran across a report from www.nominetrust.org.uk that does a nice job of presenting facts and conclusions (and sometimes the acknowledgment of the lack of conclusions). I encourage you to read The impact of digital technologies on human wellbeing EVIDENCE FROM THE SCIENCES OF MIND AND BRAIN.
The report does a nice job of avoiding an agenda. It is a report, not a marketing piece. This excerpt from the Executive Summary demonstrates this position:
-Rather than label any type of technology as being good or bad for our brain, it is how specific applications are created and used (by who, when and what for) that determine their impact.
− Existing forms of online communication for supporting existing friendships are generally beneficial for their users, with little basis for considering that social network sites and online communication, in themselves, are a source of special risk to children. Internet-related abuse (eg inappropriate sexual solicitation, cyberbullying) appears related to issues beyond the use of the internet.
− Internet use (including online gaming) is problematic when it regularly interferes with normal daily living and is difficult to control, although internet/gaming addictions have not been established as psychiatric disorders. No particular threshold has been identified that can be defined as excessive use, but research supports a guideline of maximum two hours total screen-based entertainment per day for children. Problematic internet usage is associated with a range of psychosocial difficulties, but the internet can also support mental health through online therapeutic treatment for a range of mental health disorders.
− The internet is a valuable learning resource and all learning involves changes in the brain. Some technology-based types of training can improve working memory, and others can provide mental stimulation that helps slow cognitive decline.
− Some types of gaming (whether on-line or off line) can improve visual processing and motor response skills, prompting suggestions that games may represent a particularly effective way to enhance brain plasticity across the lifespan. The mechanisms involved are still not understood, but may help explain the effectiveness of such games to also influence affective response. Playing violent and prosocial video games generally shifts behavioral tendencies towards aggressiveness and empathy respectively. Gaming can strongly engage the brain’s reward system, and this may also help
explain their attractiveness.
It is a beast of a document, so grab a pot of coffee and settle in. Enjoy!
Do you have any shifts in abilities, thought process or skill sets that you experience from prolonged internet activity?
While Carr deals with this topic, I have found others who question the research and conclusions he draws from it. Most recently, I ran across a report from www.nominetrust.org.uk that does a nice job of presenting facts and conclusions (and sometimes the acknowledgment of the lack of conclusions). I encourage you to read The impact of digital technologies on human wellbeing EVIDENCE FROM THE SCIENCES OF MIND AND BRAIN.
The report does a nice job of avoiding an agenda. It is a report, not a marketing piece. This excerpt from the Executive Summary demonstrates this position:
-Rather than label any type of technology as being good or bad for our brain, it is how specific applications are created and used (by who, when and what for) that determine their impact.
− Existing forms of online communication for supporting existing friendships are generally beneficial for their users, with little basis for considering that social network sites and online communication, in themselves, are a source of special risk to children. Internet-related abuse (eg inappropriate sexual solicitation, cyberbullying) appears related to issues beyond the use of the internet.
− Internet use (including online gaming) is problematic when it regularly interferes with normal daily living and is difficult to control, although internet/gaming addictions have not been established as psychiatric disorders. No particular threshold has been identified that can be defined as excessive use, but research supports a guideline of maximum two hours total screen-based entertainment per day for children. Problematic internet usage is associated with a range of psychosocial difficulties, but the internet can also support mental health through online therapeutic treatment for a range of mental health disorders.
− The internet is a valuable learning resource and all learning involves changes in the brain. Some technology-based types of training can improve working memory, and others can provide mental stimulation that helps slow cognitive decline.
− Some types of gaming (whether on-line or off line) can improve visual processing and motor response skills, prompting suggestions that games may represent a particularly effective way to enhance brain plasticity across the lifespan. The mechanisms involved are still not understood, but may help explain the effectiveness of such games to also influence affective response. Playing violent and prosocial video games generally shifts behavioral tendencies towards aggressiveness and empathy respectively. Gaming can strongly engage the brain’s reward system, and this may also help
explain their attractiveness.
It is a beast of a document, so grab a pot of coffee and settle in. Enjoy!
Do you have any shifts in abilities, thought process or skill sets that you experience from prolonged internet activity?
Lauren Carlson over at Marketing Automation Software Guide recently sent me a link to an article entitled "Going Beyond Opens and Clicks – Metrics to Measure" by Lisa Cramer. The article positions itself as a vote to move from less valuable metrics of measuring marketing success to more measurable and more valuable metrics tied to actual lead and revenue generation. The posture is that it is time to wake up to the need for more measurable marketing. I agree, in premise - and have some thoughts of my own. Surprise.
Let me state my bias. I work with a digital marketing agency, so my experience and focus is almost totally on online marketing. More than perhaps any other type of marketing, digital marketing is expected to be measurable. With all those technologies and codes, surely we can track the success of digital marketing. Lisa Cramer's title appears to be about the digital world - however her advice (and graphic) skews to the larger, more traditional world of marketing. I'm more focused on the digital end of things - what happens before it turns into a lead or a sale.
It is my experience that business owners (small and large), and marketing executives are already very aware of the need to measure the success of their marketing. I have never had a business leader tell me that they wanted to spend money in order to get more clicks or opens. They always want more revenue. If anyone is guilty of skewing the graph to talk about clicks and opens to measure the results of digital marketing - it is those of us who are in the industry and those who create the tools that measure that way.
What we need to be figuring out - and what businesses need to demand - is how we can best track the results of our digital marketing efforts across all platforms. Each platform or tool has it's built in analytics to measure it's results within the isolation of that particular platform. Email marketing tools will tell you delivery, opens and clicks. Social Media campaigns will report growth in fans and followers. Search Marketing will gladly calculate the number of visits to your websites. Then, your website analytics will track what happens on every page and link. The trick, and it is a bit tricky, is to practice the art and discipline of connecting each of the platforms so a cohesive line can be draw from each marketing tactic to lead generation. It is my opinion that this ability is what truly separates the few greats from the many in our industry. If you're interested in more about this, drop by and listen to a recent webinar I led for the folks over at Vortx.
Additionally, while we digital marketers are often guilty of measuring the trees (face it - tree counting is such fun) without considering the forest, companies are sometimes guilty of demanding measurement from us while failing to put in place the kinds of system integration of which Lisa Cramer speaks. The sword does have two edges. The best solution comes when both company and marketer can implement full integration to track and measure the activity and results directly related to their marketing efforts. Ms. Cramer gives several thought provoking examples of what needs to be measured once a lead enters the funnel. I would add that we need to be sure we are tracking exactly how those leads enter the funnel and the best digital marketing folks can deliver just that information.
A final nod of thanks to Lauren Carlson for sharing the article with me - now go read it if you haven't already!
Let me state my bias. I work with a digital marketing agency, so my experience and focus is almost totally on online marketing. More than perhaps any other type of marketing, digital marketing is expected to be measurable. With all those technologies and codes, surely we can track the success of digital marketing. Lisa Cramer's title appears to be about the digital world - however her advice (and graphic) skews to the larger, more traditional world of marketing. I'm more focused on the digital end of things - what happens before it turns into a lead or a sale.
It is my experience that business owners (small and large), and marketing executives are already very aware of the need to measure the success of their marketing. I have never had a business leader tell me that they wanted to spend money in order to get more clicks or opens. They always want more revenue. If anyone is guilty of skewing the graph to talk about clicks and opens to measure the results of digital marketing - it is those of us who are in the industry and those who create the tools that measure that way.
What we need to be figuring out - and what businesses need to demand - is how we can best track the results of our digital marketing efforts across all platforms. Each platform or tool has it's built in analytics to measure it's results within the isolation of that particular platform. Email marketing tools will tell you delivery, opens and clicks. Social Media campaigns will report growth in fans and followers. Search Marketing will gladly calculate the number of visits to your websites. Then, your website analytics will track what happens on every page and link. The trick, and it is a bit tricky, is to practice the art and discipline of connecting each of the platforms so a cohesive line can be draw from each marketing tactic to lead generation. It is my opinion that this ability is what truly separates the few greats from the many in our industry. If you're interested in more about this, drop by and listen to a recent webinar I led for the folks over at Vortx.
Additionally, while we digital marketers are often guilty of measuring the trees (face it - tree counting is such fun) without considering the forest, companies are sometimes guilty of demanding measurement from us while failing to put in place the kinds of system integration of which Lisa Cramer speaks. The sword does have two edges. The best solution comes when both company and marketer can implement full integration to track and measure the activity and results directly related to their marketing efforts. Ms. Cramer gives several thought provoking examples of what needs to be measured once a lead enters the funnel. I would add that we need to be sure we are tracking exactly how those leads enter the funnel and the best digital marketing folks can deliver just that information.
A final nod of thanks to Lauren Carlson for sharing the article with me - now go read it if you haven't already!