Happy Holidays from Community 2.0!

We're going to be taking a much needed break from the world of online communities to celebrate the holidays with our family and friends. A huge "Thank You" to you, our loyal readers for your insight, news and communication about our shared community experiences. We look forward to 2009 and all of its glorious opportunity!

Thanks again and have a very joyous holiday season.

No more shooting in the dark- track your marketing campaigns.

So you just started a blog and have been promoting it like hell. Or maybe you just realized the power of the web for marketing and use it to promote your small business. Email signatures, emails, status messages and commenting and being a part of discussions across the blogosphere- and what is called as the social media. However, there is one problem- you just do not know if any of this is working better than the other. You spent time installing a web analytics solution, but many sources are listed as direct/others and you can’t figure out if they were from your email marketing campaigns or something else.

Whether you are a savvy blogger or a smart, hands-on small business owner who uses the web to connect, market and sell- there is one major part of the RoI jigsaw puzzle- tracking your off-site marketing campaigns. Sure you can use some existing ad tracking applications- but knowing that blogging and start ups are cash stranded, that might not be a very good idea.

I recently developed a marketing tool- a simple spreadsheet app that you can use to generate tracking tags for your marketing campaigns. And it is not just for online marketing, if you are creative, you can even use it for tracking your offline campaigns.

Interested? Read on. One caveat though. This works if you use Google Analytics (GA) as your web analytics tool. Not too much of a problem I presume- as GA is free and going by the success of it, it is likely that you’d be using this any which ways. In case you do not, I recommend that you do. (No- not getting paid to say this).

To access the tool, click on the link: ChasingTheStorm campaign tracking tool

It is a Google Docs spreadsheet- so you can log in using your Google ID, export the cells in your excel or spreadsheet, follow some simple instructions- and there you go.

There is a detailed explanation on ChasingTheStorm on how to use the sheet. Some details are also available on Google Analytics blog - and the inspiration to make the tool comes from there, though I have explained in a manner I thought would add value to the discussion. Of course, Google does not have a tool- they just have the theory.

Essentially- the sheet has 5 columns that need filled up- all according to your understanding and convenience. The 5 columns refer to the campaign variables that you as a marketer- populate. These variables will tell you about the source of the referrer and give you more detailed insights into the traffic emanating from your various campaigns.

The last cell has a formula that need not be changed- as it takes on the inputs from all those cells and then automatically develops a redirect/tracking code/tag.

What are the ways you can use this (there could be many ingenious uses that you can use this for):

• You could insert it as links in your email newsletter- and track not only one link- but use to track what call to action drives most traffic to your website
• If you track conversions, you could attribute this to conversions as well
• You could use this to update your status messages on your social network- and track people coming to the site from your social network
• You could even use it in your offline campaign- use URL shortening using a web service- and put the URL in your offline DM or newspaper classifieds ad. Track how many people visit your website after seeing this ad. Cool eh?
• You could use the auto tagging feature for your PPC campaigns across search engines and see which KWs are converting better

Are there any other ways that you think you can use the tracking for? Let us have the discussion continue for the benefit of all.

Best of Community 2.0 in 2008!

As the year draws to a close, lets look back at some of the most popular posts from Community 2.0 in 2008!

Here were the top 5:

B2B Advertising in Social Networks are Increasing

Podcast conversation with Dawn Lacallade

American Express adopts social media: OPEN Forum

Podcast conversation with Zappos CEO, Tony Hsieh

Pros and Cons of Social News Sites

Social media diary 19/12/2008 - Skype

Skype launches video cards in Facebook

Just in time, perhaps, for those of us who haven't yet sent all our Christmas cards, Skype this week launched Skype Video Cards, as both an application in Facebook and also as a standalone feature at SkypeVideoCards.com.

The concept is quite simple and it works well as a Facebook application. You choose a basic card, record your video message and send this to your friends. They receive a personalised flash video message from you (and with Skype branding!). It's a nice application, and out with good timing as we enter the festive season with a force. It's simple to use (in four clicks you can create a card), creates a personal message and sends a flash video card which means it can be viewed directly from a web browser.

So what can we learn from this?

One question that this application raises is why is Skype doing this? As some people have noted, the video card tool doesn't make use of any Skype technology, it doesn't even integrate with your Skype contacts list to send to your friends.

For me this doesn't matter, especially not for the Facebook application. If this were only a standalone feature, then it would be odd that it didn't actually showcase the product whose brand it carried. But in Facebook, and indeed in other social networks, it is not so easy to market and product-place in this way.

As we've written about before, it can be very difficult to advertise in social networks. Primarily because social networks are social environments with social rules. People are there for their own, personal reasons - to upload their photos, network with their friends, plan their events and talk about issues that are of interest to them. It's a 'me' space and when brands enter this they need to be fully aware of the social rules they must abide by. It's not that easy to just place your product in front of people or pump your marketing message to them.

This is why the Skype Video Card application works for me. Rather than trying to integrate their actual product and develop an application that people will use and forward to their friends. Instead they opted for the solution of creating an application that creates real value for the users (especially those who have forgotten to send holiday greetings already) and allows the Skype brand to be associated with this.

Facebook and other social networks can be scary places for brands, and difficult places for them to succeed in. My advice: think first how you can add value to the users experience and then put your brand on it. You have a great chance of being successful, and of getting that brand forwarded round the internet faster than you could hope for.

From the FreshNetworks Blog

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How can marketers use Web 2.0?

The Wall Street Journal recently took an in-depth look at how marketers can use online communities. Some areas that have benefited from Web 2.0 tools are product development, service enhancement and promotions.

They highlighted these areas as a way to engage your communities:
-Don't just talk at consumers -- work with them throughout the marketing process.
-Give consumers a reason to participate.
- Listen to -- and join -- the conversation outside your site. -Resist the temptation to sell, sell, sell.
-Don't control, let it go.
-Find a 'marketing technopologist.' -Embrace experimentation. For a more concentrated look at these items, read the article.

Everything you need to know about your customers

Jacob Morgan recently wrote a great post about why your business needs to be online. He pointed out that 1.5 billion people are online throughout the world, and they're using search engines to find out more about what they're interested in. Yahoo, Google, and YouTube are some of the most visited sites on the internet. They're already taking time to find you and engage about a topic pertaining to your product or service. When they arrive at your site, you are already given useful information to determine who they are and how to target them: who they are, how they find you, where they come from, what languages they speak, what they click on, how long they visit your site, and what pay they take through your site.

Need a holiday light tour?

Recently, at Fox News, they focused on the online community Tacky Light Tour. Matt Burgess of Richmond, Virginia, started this online community which plots houses with more than 10,000 holiday lights up on an online map. Families can then hop in the car and follow the map's directions to be treated to a festive treat. The maps started out in his hometown of Richmond, Virginia, but have since spread across the country.

How do people use their RSS feeds?

An interesting poll taken by the Social Media Club shows where people read their RSS feeds. Out of his 170 respondents, 146 people read their readers during work hours. Following that, 96 people read their feeds in the living room. Interesting numbers may be that 18 people read while in the car and 11 while walking.

What do you think? When do your posts go live? How can you take this information and promote your blog?

Social media diary 12/12/2008 - PlayStation

Sony launches online community for PlayStation gamers

After many years in development, this week Sony launched PlayStation Home, an online community for Playstation gamers.

The community is something of a virtual clubhouse for PlayStation owners. All registered PlayStation Network users will be able to create their own avatar and then interact with others in a 3D environment. Some are calling this a cross between Facebook and Second Life, but this is really an online community of gamers. Members will be able to chat with and text each other, build their own 'home' and explore those of other members, and take part in mini games and special events.

Building on the popular chat functions that sit alongside many online games, the concept of a central community that allows members to meet and join games has been in development for a number of years. The beta launch of PlayStation Home this week shows us what Sony has to rival Microsoft and to enhance the gaming experience. As Kazuo Hirai, president of Sony Computer Entertainment, says:

PlayStation Home is truly a promising network community service. We are committed to providing PS3 users with exciting gaming experiences with PlayStation Home and together with our partners and users, expand the new world of interactive entertainment as we move forward.

So what can we learn from this?

To some extent Sony is providing its gamers with something they have wanted for some time - a way to meet and exchange with other gamers, to easily identify and join multi-player games and to extend and enhance their experience of using the PlayStation.

There has been much discussion over the last couple of days about the actual functionality and use of PlayStation Home. Microsoft called the technology as "outdated" and some features are not yet live - streaming video and music will be in a later release. But overall response from gamers themselves has been quite positive.

Undoubtedly Sony hope that Home will be a success, and for me success would be if they retain gamers for longer periods of time because of this. They can monetise Home quite easily, either by selling functionality or features within the environment itself (such as selling houses or other property to users or taking a cut of peer-to-peer sales). Or they can monetise through charging for downloads, streaming music and video and entry to special events and games. And let's not forget the benefit they might be able to get from advertising if they so desired.

This kind of online community may seem like a clear candidate for success, and it is certainly true that the members share a common interest and goal (something that is critical to success of any community). But perhaps the real marker of success will be if the community fills a real need that the members have. Home needs to focus on gaming and on making gaming, easier, more fun and perhaps more challenging. They're not building a new Second Life (or Facebook, Bebo or anything) as some people have suggested. Rather they've identified a need that their gamers have and are using social media and online communities to help meet this need. Always a good strategy.

From the FreshNetworks Blog

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PS3 gets an online community

Yesterday, PS3 launched its online community, Home 3D launched December 11. This space is aimed at users of the consult, and allows them to interact with other users by creating online avatars, and interact with other users by chatting and playing games. Read more here.

Test your blog

Jeremiah Owyang recently posted a mini-test for corporate blogs. It asks you to consider your Writing style, topics, Humility, Linking Behavior, Customer Inclusion, Dialog, Comment Moderation, and Frequency. This is a great way to see how your blog is doing in the blog-o-sphere and also give you the opportunity to think about how you could improve your blog.

The Americanization of Thought leadership on the Internet

I blog on Business, Entrepreneurship and New Media- and try to publish stuff with an Asian perspective. Like most bloggers, I also turn to existing material on the web for inspiration and thought starters. However, I have been slightly perturbed by the fact that we have very little from an Asian perspective on the web. Specially thought leadership.

Have you been following the sudden surge of material on “social media”? And how almost every other theory/example that you get is from the US?

Ever gave a thought on: Why is that everyone talking about Obama being an ‘Internet President’- like he was their country's president?

Quick- name a known ‘internet’ personality: Seth Godin? Robert Scoble? Michael Arrington? Guy Kawasaki? Who else? Mitch Joel? Don’t say Avinash Kaushik or something like that- he did all that he did- guess where? Right! In the US of A.

Don’t get me wrong- I’m not saying it is a scam or something or that it is ‘wrong’- I like both the American enterprise and these gentlemen. But it is something to ponder upon for sure.

I listed some points on Chasing The Storm- where the discussion still continues.

Here are some thought starters from the post- but you can get the full version on the post along with the comments

The thought starters:

Why is the internet so Americanized (or ‘westernized’- at best):

• Internet was developed in the US and spread from there.

• Internet is largely an English media. And still continues to be largely dominated by English- English is the business language of the world. In this part of the world, English is widely used, but largely has been the domain of the educated and the literate. Asia has many languages and many countries are pretty much self contained. Netizens in China, Japan, Korea, Taiwan and some South Eastern countries publish and document information in their own languages thus preventing the spread and proper dissemination of information. (Japan has the biggest blog traffic in the world- names of some famous internet personalities or marketing/thought starter/gurus or evangelists from Japan? Anyone?)

• The American obsession with documentation- It tangibalizes stuff- and increases what I call the Hype Life Cycle of the Idea/Project. In this part of the world (Asia)- documentation has not really been the best of virtues (or culture)

What Asian Netizens need to do:

• Learn best practices from the Americans- innovate, document and disseminate effectively

• Learn storytelling- the art of conceiving an idea and selling to the audience. The plot need not be ground breaking- we all know that in the end the bad guy licks dirt and the good dude gets the pretty girl. What is important is HOW the story is told. Ask Guy Kawasaki.

• Invest in research and breed thinkers.

So Phase next on the Internet should be called the Asian Internet. Not web 3.0- or some BS like that. With half of the world’s population, more than a third of world’s internet population (and number of searches conducted) and obscenely huge mobile phone numbers in Asia, this is what should happen next.

Do you feel that most content on the internet has an American origin? Do you feel that there needs to be a shift in power here as well? Like the world economic shift, financial system shift and migration shift?

Please be a part on Community 2.0 and contribute to the discussion on Chasing The Storm

The Twitter Song

Someone on the Community 2.0 Twitter recently mentioned this funny video Ben Widker for Twitter. Ben believes, "You're no one if you're not on Twitter, and if you aren't there already, you missed it." It makes a strong case for the use of Twitter in your business.

Increase your readership

At Social Media Today, Josh Peters recently commented on how to increase your blog readership. Get involved in the conversation going on around the web. People are out there talking about the topic of your blog, so throw in your opinions on their posts or Twitter comments. People will make it back to your blog if you give them a reason to read it.

Social media diary 5/12/2008 - Orange

Orange launches 'Film Club' online community

I'm a big fan of mobile operator Orange's involvement with film and cinemas in the UK - from their amusing adverts in cinemas (including this with Rob Lowe) to their Orange Wednesdays offer where Orange customers can take a friend to the cinema for free.

To date they haven't formally used social media to engage people around their film associations, but this week they launched The Film Club. In Facebook and Bebo, this 'club' is actually an application that gives users access to free preview screenings, exclusive competitions, trailers, reviews and other film related content. The Club also lets you see which of your friends are taking advantage of the Orange Wednesdays offer, and if you're not an Orange customer you can poke your friends who are and ask them to take you.

For Orange this move is all about capitalising upon their association with film and being seen as providing a place for people to share this passion with them. As Spencer McHugh, head of brand communications at Orange, says:

The new Film Club communities give movie fans on Facebook and Bebo a place to come together and chat about the things they love most.

So what can we learn from this?

At FreshNetworks we talk a lot, and have indeed posted a lot in the past, about the difference between online communities and social networks and about how building a community online is as much about building an actual community of people as it is about doing it online. What Orange have done with their Orange Film Club is to cleverly and astutely leverage social networks (in this case Facebook and Bebo) to help connect their users and act as a portal for all their film-related content and activities. But building a true community in these social networks is notoriously difficult for a brand to do.

People invariably spend time in social networks for very self-centred issues - it's a 'me' place where I upload my photos, plan my events, talk to my friends and join groups that reflect me. From this angle it is clearly a great place for Orange to bring together all of its members who engage with it on film - taking advantage of their offers or watching their content. This one-to-one relationship between Orange and individual fans or customers will continue. Building a real community, where it is these fans who also grow the discussions and content and where they talk to each other and form bonds might prove more difficult.

A community tends to have a common purpose or something they are all contributing to, it tends to have no leaders but everybody (brand and fans alike) being equal members) and it needs careful design and guidance to make it grow and flourish (a bit like a garden can grow on its own but needs a gardener to look at its best). In Facebook (or any social networks) it's difficult to do the latter and as a very public space people are often unwilling to start discussions and build that real community feel.

So if Orange wanted to build and grow a large and flourishing film community, they may find doing it in Facebook or Bebo hard. If, on the other hand, they want to bring together all their activities and fans in this space into a convenient place then things will be much easier to do. I suspect this is what they want - making it easier for both parties to find content and engage on film. However, I hope this is the precursor to something. I hope they are planning an online community here. It could be great, and their brand could really help it to work - online and on the go.

From the FreshNetworks Blog

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Asian businesses and the use of microblogging

This blog is posted on behalf of Shalabh Pandey who is Editor at Chasingthestorm.com.

So you think you have seen and heard enough on the evolution, usage and effectiveness of this phenomenon called Twitter. Present almost everywhere on every social media or marketing centric site- this one topic is an omnipresent feature of today's ubiquitous opinion led conversation culture.

Many businesses and consultants have jumped into utilizing this tool- pushed by the harsh realities of today’s extremely fragmented consumer attention that pans across media.

Since this is causing such a storm, I wanted to do a check- like most marketing ‘hypes’- is this something that is largely US centric? A concern echoed by this post on- the Americanization of the Internet. Or is this a worldwide phenomenon?

Having worked in the Asian digital marketing space for about a decade, I know this is gaining traction very fast. A taste of this was seen recently during the ghastly terror attacks that shook Mumbai (and the world)- when Twitter was full of hash tags related to Mumbai. Ditto on the ongoing stand off in Thailand- though not of a similar scale as Mumbai.

But the issue is – are businesses in Asia using Twitter as a customer engagement tool? The answer from my post – probably not! I did an extensive research across all online social networks- tweeted on my Twitter network, asked questions on Facebook and LinkedIn, researched companies in general on twitter (using Twellow, Twitterlocal and other tools), sent DMs on Twitter- to brands and people with seemingly relevant accounts, researched whom they followed and tried to find if they had easily identifiable Asian accounts as well.

And what I found- as a result of this collective intelligence gathering was that – Businesses are not using microblogging very much in Asia. Full story on Twitter usage by businesses in Asia.

Though there are some interesting case studies in the post, and some interesting people and profiles, the number of businesses participating and using these tools is really quite limited.

Which leads us to the inevitable question- What could be the reasons behind this? Asia is home to most ‘thumb happy’ people in the world (You know what I mean). Billions of text messages flow every month- and every Asian country has its own mobile claim to fame- Phillippines becoming the SMS capital of the world, India exploding at the seams with mobile penetrations- and Vietnam and Indonesia touted as the next mobile tigers. I am not even talking about Korea and Japan, where they do unimaginable stuff (and I mean marketing and conversation wise) with their handphones. China of course has more twitter and iPhone clones than probably the rest of the world’s put together. And again, from Brand perspective- there are multinational companies that are using these tools elsewhere but not in Asia! So the big question is- why?


While the aim of the post was to gather information from the wisdom of the crowds, my top 5 reasons could be:
A) There is not enough traction in the market when it comes to online advertising. It is still treated as somewhat of a novelty and marketing budgets hover from less than 1% to close to 10% in some economies
B) Internet usage has exploded but still mobile-internet usage is relatively a niche and complex concept. Lifestreaming on the go is a novelty at best
C) Because of the above two, businesses are more interested in hygiene activities and hold on to the ‘new’ phenomenon till they start becoming mainstream
D) Marketers are more cautious in general and like to spend in tried and tested tools/vehicles
E) MNC marketing teams by regions do not converse effectively when it comes to marketing innovations (though they do so on marketing best practices I believe)

These are my takes on the results- what are yours? Have you come across any examples of businesses using twitter or any microblogging tool? Even if they are not Asian- do you have any interesting stories to share? Let’s collaborate.

Shalabh Pandey
Editor
Chasingthestorm.com

Twitter says no to Facebook for now

In San Fransisco yesterday, Twitter chief executive and co-founder Evan Williams said they've turned down a Facebook offer of $500 million, which was mostly in stock. They believe they still have many things left to do as a company, including turning a profit. This company, which is just two years old would like to stay away from turning a profit by making revenue from sales ads. For more on the story, read this article at the New York Times.

Twitter and Word-of-Mouth marketing

Jeremiah Owyang recently discussed the power that word of mouth marketing has, especially when combined with Twitter. The rapid speed at which information can be disbursed on Twitter makes it a powerful source for this type of marketing. If someone takes the time to retweet what you've said, not only did that take it as a source of information, but they went on to share that information with all of their friends.

Facebook's next quest

The New York Times recently looked at Facebook's newest quest to make the web a more social place. After Beacon's explosion last year, they're hoping that FacebookConnect with help Facebook users connect with their friends across the web. Users will log into certain sites, and they can see the activity of their friends across the web, with websites including the Discovery Channel, the San Fransisco Chronicle, Digg, Geni, and Hulu. These sites are also working together so that Facebook users can log in on one site and have it carry across teh web so they don't have to sign in at every single access point. Facebook is hoping this will turn into a way to generate more revenue, but also have taken precautions to offer extended privacy to its users.

What do you think about Facebook's newest tool? Will it result in another Beacon or will Facebook users begin to warm to the social web?