Wordle – Word Cloud Creations September 5, 2008
Posted by Jennifer Lind in Uncategorized.Tags: wordle
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A great tool you should try on your blog or create from scratch: http://wordle.net. Larger words have been used more frequently. Here is the wordle cloud from my blog:
What if you used this tool on your homepage or landing page? This would help visitors see what products or services are more prominent on your site. You could also create embedded links for each word to a specific page on your site.
Social Technographics People Classifier July 22, 2008
Posted by Jennifer Lind in Uncategorized.Tags: groundswell, Interactive Marketing, social technologies
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I have been reading Groundswell by Forrester Research (Charlene Li & Josh Bernoff). In this book, they define 6 levels of online consumer groups according to their activity on the internet:
- Creators – create blog postings, videos, etc
- Critics – comment on the writings/postings of others in the form of writing reviews or editing articles on Wikipedia
- Collectors – utilize RSS feeds, add tags to photos or websites they find
- Joiners - connect with other people via Facebook or other social networks
- Spectators – these people do not contribute, but they read ratings and reviews, listen to podcasts, watch videos, etc.
- Inactives – no participation with social technologies
For example, in the example from Amazon, they have 2 visible types of contributors: creators and critics. Creators are able to write reviews and the critics can rate how useful the review was. Amazon sorts the reviews by the comment that was rated the most helpful.
Consumers can Adapt their Social Technographic Behavior for each Buying Stage and Situation
In Groundswell, they describe how a company should build a social technographic profile of their clients before developing a social marketing strategy.
I think it’s important to do the research specific to your own products and services rather than using a general guide for a specific age group or gender.
Looking at my own behavior online, there are times when I am a creator and times when I am just a spectator. It depends on the subject and the type of people who are already Creating on the site.
If I am researching the best Christmas present for my nephew, for example, I am more likely to be a spectator or a collector. I will read the reviews of certain toys on Target and Toys R Us, save the best products to my favorites, and go back to make the final decision later. You want to know what others are saying, but you don’t have the experience yet to really contribute to the conversation. However, if you are a frequent user of the product, you may be more likely to write reviews or add to another person’s review.
Of course there may be products out there where the average consumer would need to ask a lot of questions, find out who else is buying the product, and why they should buy it. instead of talking to a sales person, they want to hear from others and get specific answers to their questions.
Therefore, in setting up a social marketing tool on your website, I think it’s important to know what activity level your current customers are and what level your potential customers are, and allow them to interact with each other if your goal is to create new business.
Do you know the social profile of your customers? How would you utilize this information to develop a new social marketing strategy?
How Airlines can Increase Customer Happiness and Stay in Business July 17, 2008
Posted by Jennifer Lind in Uncategorized.add a comment
This may sound crazy, but I think the answer to the airline crisis is to follow the advertising model of Nascar.
My husband travels frequently and he is always happy to talk about the types of jets from the Northwest fleet that he’s flown on: whether it’s a Boeing 727, an Airbus, or a DC-9 (oh yea, I looked those up!).
So what if Northwest created an interactive website that profiled the planes and the pilots that fly them? And allowed sponsors to put their logo on the planes?
Here is how the plan would work:
Pilots: Show us pictures of the pilots, how many seasons they’ve had, interesting statistics like how many miles they go a day and how many places they have flown to (like the “where I’ve been” application on Facebook), and details for the ladies like are they single. Image the teenagers and kids looking at these pages with admiration!
Planes: Show us the funniest moments on the plane, special features of the plane, the crew, and where it’s going next. Allow travelers to find the plane they traveled on and enter their own stories or upload a video.
Sponsors: Advertisers could offer free samples, ask travelers to fill out surveys, have them try out your product, etc. You have people engaged, just sitting in a seat for hours, why not!
Benefits:
- Northwest can generate revenue from the advertisers to balance out what they are losing on fuel costs
- Travelers will be excited to see who their pilot is, the plane number, and main sponsor of the plane
Possible problems are obviously security concerns. We would also need to know how often planes are repainted.
Painting Poetry March 19, 2008
Posted by Jennifer Lind in Uncategorized.Tags: blurb, book publishing, poetry
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I am currently in the middle of remodeling our master bedroom. Taking down the old purple floral border and other purple decorations from the previous owner of our house and setting the stage for a more classic, clean-line look. I was in a horrible mood when I got home from work, but found that painting got my mind off of the issues from earlier in the day.
Skip to earlier today… I came across this website called Blurb, which allows you to make a bookstore quality book. You can add images, text, and customize the format with some free software that you download from their website. Then you just order the number of books you want, and the best part – they start at around $12 per book! That is insane! I think this is a great idea because getting a book published has always been a mistery to me. This makes it so easy. I mean obviously you don’t have the publisher behind you, but Blurb would be great for personal stuff such as making a photo book, a book of poetry, etc.
So while I was painting, I was thinking back to my college days of the poetry class and how I really enjoyed it. What if I created a book of the poems I’ve written? Right now they are saved on a CD, but haven’t really been read by me or anyone else for a couple years now. Something to think about I guess. It’s interesting how I wrote so many poems for that class and haven’t wrote a single one since. I think when you have a reason to write and an outlet, it makes the task easier. Similar to having a blog with the continual need to say something interesting that others may want to read. It makes you do more thinking…
