Facebook Places
I have recently been spending a lot of time focused on Mobile and Location Based ideas. Foursquare is neat and fun. Google Places is useful. I’m not sure what Facebook Places will be yet. It might be “jumping the shark” a bit. Once everyone finds your favorite dive with really good fish tacos then it gets to busy to find a seat, and your favorite waitress gets fired because she spends too much time talking to the tables, and now they start buying fish fillets in bulk, because they can, but they aren’t hand selected anymore. And now they make the sauce by the tub and it sits in the fridge for days instead of fresh each morning – etc etc etc…
…once everyone is checking in everywhere – will it loose the fun?
OR – does this now make it the KILLER APP Location Based Services (LBS) needs – now I won’t miss my distant friends who are randomly at the same concert, but now my mom will know I’m out late on a Thursday night…HMMMMM.
The news this morning positioned it as a privacy concern. What are your thoughts?
Will Social Media Cut Off the Long Tail?
I was recently discussing interactive marketing with someone who brought up a very interesting thought. Will Social Media Cut Off the Long Tail? Follow me…
“The long tail” refers to those people on the fringes – the ends of the bell on a bell curve are called the tails. The people on the fringes are loyal and passionate, partly because everything is generally focused on the middle. For example Vegans. There are thousands of non-vegan restaurants in town, and non-vegans aren’t that loyal or that good about promoting their favorites. These restaurants market to the masses, and so don’t do anything that inspires loyalty. The 1 Vegan restaurant in town however is dialed in to their market. They speak directly to them and as such have a loyal fan base, not just customers. The middle of the bell curve is where most businesses target (The most customers) and why many fail (not enough traction).
The long tail becomes more powerful the larger the population gets…and technology grows the population. Before cars, there was just one restaurant that served the basics that most people liked, few people loved, and few people hated. Everyone ate there because it was the only option and it was good enough. When cars come around people will drive a distance for specialty foods, those niches are the long tail.
Internet technology allows a tribe of fringe consumers to come together, build community, and support stores that sell specialty items. These consumers are loyal to their niche, and their niche stores.
Social Media however works against this. Social Media crowd sources reviews, comments, and critiques. This causes a regression towards the mean which elevates safe and mediocre For Example a restaurant with 10 “3 star” reviews earns a higher ranking than one with 3 “5 star” and 2 “1 star” reviews. Niche establishments do not attract as many customers, and by design it’s “not for everybody” so even some adventurous souls won’t like it.
Likewise – we’ve all heard “if a consumer likes your product they’ll tell 1 person, if they don’t like it they’ll tell 10” Twitter seems to be a loudspeaker for complaints. Again, removing motivation for risk takers.
OR – perhaps the complete opposite is true. Perhaps the ranking algorithms take this into account and rank businesses based on superlative rankings as a percentage of their overall, instead of total number of positive reviews?
Perhaps Twitter is a loudspeaker for the niches, raising previously unheard of ideas and businesses to the mainstream
What are your thoughts?
Interactive Marketing for Local Business
Here is the slideshare of the paired down version of the presentation I did this morning on interactive marketing trends for small business owners.
If you are managing the marketing for a small business. I dare you to visit the Google Adwords Keyword Tool HERE then type in your city and your product and service offerings – just 5 or so like “Atlanta Heating” “Atlanta A/C” etc.
Then look at the Search Volume that comes up. I bet you’ll be surprised. Then try and find your business using any of the terms with the high search volume…then call an Interactive Marketing Firm to find out how to fix it!
Privacy Lives!
Here is a great satire from the Onion (if you don’t know what that is, it’s fake news) about the new Google Opt Out Village, where you can live a life of privacy.
Watch Video at the Onion HERE …the <embed> script wasn’t working
This parody draws to light the fact that Google, and the indexing of the world is such a pervasive part of our lives. However, it’s not necessarily a bad thing…
…I dream of a world where I only see commercials that are relevant to me based on my interests. In this world, commercials are no longer interruptions but instead valued services. Of course, I have to be willing to share information about myself in order to achieve this…to me it’s worth the trade-off to reveal I’m a male to never see another commercial for feminine hygiene products.
In all seriousness, Google Analytics provide valuable information on who is using your website, and how to better serve your customers…but savvy Interactive Marketers have other tools and services they can use to track behavior. The truth is out there…and someone is indexing it!
And the Winner is…
Last week, for the first time ever, Facebook beat Google for most traffic online according to CNN Money.
So what does this mean? Maybe not much. The last site to beat Google was MySpace. If you’ve been living under a rock, MySpace was sold to Fox and has been on a steep, steady, and rapid decline into irrelevance for some time…
But maybe it does mean something…Google is suppossedly the democratization of the web. Google’s stated purpose is to index (and make searchable) all the information in the world. Maybe people need tastemakers – someone to help them SORT all the information in the world, not just by keywords, but based on what is most relevant to them.
Maybe people trust sites and corresponding businesses recommended by their friends more than they trust sites / businesses recommended by a computer algorhythm (Google).
Or maybe, Facebook is simply aggregating things that people used to do on several other sites. For example, many people are forsaking email to use Facebook messaging; many people are forsaking Twitter for Facebook status updates; many people are forsaking Yahoo Groups and other Forums for Facebook Groups.
I believe that is the case. The beauty is, this makes Facebook an even more powerful marketing tool. By aggregating lots of services and lots of users, Facebook simplifies a very complicated digital landscape.
If you are not using Facebook to market your business – you probably should be. Simply having a profile for your business is a waste of time and server space. Talk with a creative, skilled, interactive marketer about how to leverage the platform to deliver results. Send me an email and I’ll point you in the right direction.
Comments ? What else could this mean? What is the next social media platform? What are successful ways you have seen Facebook used to deliver results for your business?
Spending Ad Dollars on Booster Seats?
Example, Google Local Business Center Listing
Clark Howard recently had a piece on CNN’s Headline News (I love waking up with Robin Meade) talking about Google’s Local Business Center Listings – the GLBC is the MAP that pops up on top of the Search Results when you search for something using a geographic modifyer, like “Tack Store Portland.”
Clark incorrectly reported that this service was not yet available in all markets, but that Google was testing it in a few markets. I believe what he meant was – this service is now available for FREE in all markets, but they are beginning to test charging for it in some markets. The thought being that if businesses are willing to pay for the Yellow Pages, which has very little accountability, and very few results, they would probably be willing to pay for this Google Local Business Center Listing which costs much less.
The Atlanta Journal Constitution recently reported that when AT&T stopped delivering the White Pages in Atlanta – NO ONE NOTICED!!! What value is there really in the Yellow Pages then?
I would be curious to hear from anyone that uses a separate tracking phone number in their Yellow Pages ad to see what actual results they get. When was the last time anyone used the Yellow Pages as anything but a booster seat for a toddler?
If you need help setting up your Google Local Business Center Listing, let me know. Google is in the process of indexing every business, you’d be better off creating one for yourself than letting them create it for you.
How to Make a Million Dollars
Genius Marketing
I ran across this GENIUS marketing the other day. ZERO inventory, ZERO overhead, 83% PURE PROFIT, ALL MARKETING.
Sorry for the image quality I snapped this in the convenience store with my Blackberry.
Lucky Lottery Numbers…for $1.50 – more than the price of a lottery ticket you can get your LUCKY numbers for the day.
I asked the convenience store owner “do people actually buy these?”
His response – “EVERY DAY.”
I once heard the Music Business described as “The Industry of Cool.” They aren’t really selling music. They’re selling cool.
Ipods didn’t sell a convenient way to carry your music, they sold an image.
Converse, Doc Martins, Birkenstocks. All fine utilitarian products, but more than that, they are part of a uniform that defines cool for particular sub-cultures.
How can you turn your business, product, service into an artifact of cool? Once you do, you surpass the price for product model – because you can’t put a price on cool.
What are other examples of Genius Marketing you’ve seen, where the product isn’t really the product, but rather the BELIEF that the product gives you LUCK or COOL is the product?
Mad Men Dolls vs. KISS Dolls
OK, I can’t help but comment on this. Is Barbie really the right platform for Mad Men? I would’ve thought someone other than the wholesome Mattel would’ve taken this licensing deal, even that Mattel would’ve passed – it’s not like they’re going to have martini shakers or zippo lighters come with…
Not that I’m against Mad Men dolls – I wanted KISS Dolls when I was a kid – I guess the characters on Mad Men are the new KISS. Larger than life caricatures of flawed heros who over indulge in everything, but get away with it because they are just so damn talented!
Atlanta Interactive Marketing Consultant Mark Osborne's Blog Remarkable Marketing 
