Upgrading your smartphone? Think carefully when choosing a supplier!

November 9th, 2011

As smartphones get smarter, you as the user need to think about everything that you rely on.  Why?  Because if you change systems, those features may not be available.

Thinking about moving from an iPhone to Android?  You will have reload your APP’s.  Also, how are you going to handle your music.

You can do this, but it will take some time.

But what about the iPhone feature called Siri.  This feature  will let you ask questions and learn about what you like.  You’ll get used to that capability.  Want to move systems then?  Unlikely you can take Siri with you.

Increasingly, capabilities will be created that extend from your laptop, to your tablet, to your smartphone, to your house.  Those capabilities will be optimized to work across one system.  So, you will have to choose.  Apple, Microsoft, or Google?

So, when you upgrade this time, think about who you are choosing.  You may be with them for quite some time.

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It’s not where you post your content, it’s what you say

August 1st, 2011

Every day you get get emails about using various internet tools to enhance your business communications.  12 ways to better use Linkedin, 10 steps to making Facebook work for you.

These are good programs.  If you have an interest in the tool, go for it.

But once you learn how to use the tool, what are you going to say?

Think about the questions that your customers and prospects are asking.  Today, you can take out a sheet of paper and start writing them down.  At the end of two weeks write down the answers.

Are these questions and answers on your website?  Have you reviewed them with your sales and customer support team?

You can use them in any of your social media.  Tweet a questions, link to an answer.  Put a question and answer up on Linkedin or Facebook.

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Take your IT manager out to lunch

July 16th, 2011

I run across sales and marketing managers who comment on the inability to access and utilize the internet in their efforts to grow their business.  Often they comment on the difficulty to get their IT people on board.

How many times have you run across a person who can’t get access to YouTube, Twitter, Facebook etc on their company system?  For many employees, the solution is to just forward an email to their “gmail” account and read / view the content on their smartphone.  I’ve even heard it be said, “if it’s really important, send it to me on my iPhone”.

Your IT manager is unlikely to be measured on your ability to connect with your customers and prospects.  Most IT managers are measured on connectivity, costs, and confidentiality.  But, if you invite them to lunch, ask them to attend a sales meeting, forward them links about your competition, you would be surprised.

Challenged to be part of the business, IT can be a resource, instead of an impediment.

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Does limiting access to social media really protect your corporate data?

May 19th, 2011

Many corporations are limiting access to YouTube, Facebook, Twitter and other community sites.  Some companies don’t allow employees to use text messaging.   When asked about information security, the CIO can state, “we don’t allow access on our company provided devices!”

So, what actually happens.  Employees text people on their own smartphones.  They tell colleagues, customers, prospects, to just send them the links or the information to their home emails.  How many times have you heard an employee say… “just send that to me on my gmail account”.

Instead of saying no, companies need to create a social media policy that says yes.

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Empower your employees with a social media policy & e-Content tools

May 5th, 2011

When discussing social media, sometimes we hear “my company won’t allow me to access Twitter, YouTube, text messages etc”  For many companies, their social media policy is just saying no.  This harkens back to the mid-1990′s when companies would not allow access to the internet.

A few things a company should think about.

1. Just because you don’t allow access on the company devices, it does not mean people aren’t using the tools with company information.  If you cut it off on the company Blackberry, employees just tell their collaborators to send it to them on their iPhones.

2. Employees want to do a good job.  They generally don’t access information that they don’t need.

3. Employees know that you monitor their internet usage.

The solution is to create a social media policy and e-Content creation plan that empowers employees.  Outline what kind of use is acceptable.  Provide the content tools that will allow them to participate effectively.

Check out this video:

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Why should YouTube be part of your content distribution plan?

April 22nd, 2011

When working with prospective clients, we sometimes get asked about using YouTube as opposed to keeping videos on your website.  If you don’t use YouTube, you are likely to miss out on two opportunities to reach searchers.  First, you will not be getting traffic from people who start watching one video, then move to yours.  On the channels, that we have created, the average user watches two videos per visit.  While your video or channel may not be the first, effectively positioned, it can be the second.

Here is an example of a piece on 100% Bonus Depreciation.

Associated Equipment Distributors put up this video

They drove traffic to the site by creating an aggressive campaign with using a website http://www.depreciationbonus.org/

The good news is that this whole campaign is driving traffic to the video that we produced.

A good channel should get between a quarter and a third of all traffic from “Related Videos”.

Also, don’t forget YouTube Search.  For some searchers, YouTube is the first place they go for content. If you are not there, you will not be found.  A good channel should get between and 10% and 20% of traffic from YouTube Search.

There is a school of thought among webmasters that once you get someone to your website; you should not let them off.    First, if you construct a channel effectively, you should be able to keep the searcher on your channel, and ultimately lead them to your site.  Also, if you set up your video embed so that it opens to another page, as opposed to view in the same page, your website will still be available.

Lastly, if you are really concerned about traffic in your website, put the video in both YouTube and your website.

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Capture Your Trade Show Experience – Reuse it in your marketing

April 4th, 2011

I relooked at the video we did a few months ago at Greenbuild 2010.  It does a really nice job of capturing the essence of the Sage Glass solution.

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Mobile Video Users Rise 40% YOY in Q4 – Nielsen Company Study

April 1st, 2011

About 24.7 million US mobile subscribers age 13 and up watched video on a mobile phone in Q4 2010, according to new data from The Nielsen Company. That represents roughly 40% year-over-year growth from about 17.6 million in Q4 2009 and about 8% growth from 22.9 million in Q3 2010.

In addition to substantial year-over-year growth in mobile video users during Q4 2010, Nielsen also recorded significant growth in average time spent per user per month. The average of four hours and 20 minutes of mobile video viewing per month per mobile subscriber is up about 20% from three hours and 37 minutes a year earlier and flat compared to the previous quarter.

Teen mobile subscribers age 13-17 spent the most average monthly time viewing mobile video, seven hours and 13 minutes, in Q4 2010. This was followed by an average of six hours and 30 minutes among 18-to-24-year-olds. The average monthly time consistently dropped as mobile subscribers got older, reaching a low of two hours and 10 minutes among those 65 and older.

Teen mobile subscribers may have spent the most time watching mobile video in Q4 2010, but they were only the fourth-largest audience segment (11%). The 25-to-34-year-old demographic represented the largest Q4 mobile video audience share (32%), followed by 35-to-49-year-olds (27%) and 18-to-24-year-olds (17%).

Mobile subscribers 65 and older only represented 2% of the total mobile video audience. Males (55%) comprised a larger share than females.

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e-Conversation Solutions helps drive traffic to your business

March 28th, 2011

We did some segments for Brad Farris of Anchor Advisors.Chicago business strategy consulting firm.  Brad had done one video on his own.  He heard what we did, so we expanded his channel with our Search Optimized High Definition Solution. The e-Conversations Solution videos had more views in one month, than his first has had in 5 months.  As of March 29, over 300 views vs. 30 views.

Brad’s comments about the Anchor Advisors channel:

“So far I’m really pleased with the videos. People are watching them. As I meet new people they’ve told me they spent some time on my site and watched a few videos.  Very nice.”

Check out the channel http://www.youtube.com/anchoradvisors

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QR Code Observations from the Drupal Convention

March 16th, 2011

Last week, I attended the Drupal Convention in Chicago  http://www.drupalcon.org .  We at e-Conversation Solutions are building a website for a major real estate company that requires a robust content management system, in addition to our video / question and answer solutions.  DrupalCon attracted a set of attendees who are pretty internet savvy.   Here is some of the ways that QR codes were used.

The Good

** The registration badge had a QR code that listed your contact information.  I would have actually preferred a link to my website, but this is OK
** Northpoint Solutions had a mobile friendly link that guided you to their website, or a map to their booth

The not so good

** One company had a link that just gave you their website, but did not link you to it
** Another company linked to a page in their website, but the website was really hard to read on a smartphone.  I guess if I had an iPad, it would have been OK.
** A third company linked to a letter about a scavenger hunt contest that they were having.  Good idea, but it was still hard to read.

If you are going to use a QR code to link your print to your e-content, here are a few suggestions.

** After you create the code, and before you paste it on your paper, scan it and look at it on your smartphone.  Can you read it, and understand it in under 10 seconds? I should not have to scroll to at least have an idea as to what you are communicating.  Ask your colleague to look at it, and see if it works from their perspective.
** Think about a link to a website that is optimized for a smartphone…. At least to start
** A link to a video, engages people immediately.

Before you start using QR codes, download a reader and scan ones that are out there.  Make a list of what works for you.  Your viewers are likely to prefer the kind of links you prefer to watch.

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