NMM week 6.1

Quantitative web analytic tools

Google Analytics

Google Analytics (GA) is a free service offered by Google that generates detailed statistics about the visitors to a website. The product is aimed at marketers as opposed to webmasters and technologists from which the industry of web analytics originally grew. It is the most widely used website statistics service, currently in use at around 57% of the 10,000 most popular websites. Another market share analysis claims that Google Analytics is used at around 49.95% of the top 1,000,000 websites (as currently ranked by Alexa)

Yahoo! Web analytics

Yahoo! Web Analytics is a highly customizable, enterprise-level website analytics system designed to help website businesses increase sales and visitor satisfaction, reduce marketing costs and gain new insight on online customers. By storing data in raw, non-aggregated form, Yahoo! Web Analytics is more than simply a reporting tool. It is a powerful, and highly flexible, data analysis tool. Both near real-time and historical data can be segmented instantly and visualized with advanced graphs to help marketers and site designers answer specific business questions and find new insights to improve their business.

KISSmetrics

KISSmetrics is a powerful person-based analytics platform that will give you the information you need to make smarter decisions for your product and your business.
KISSmetrics is used by engineers, product managers, analytics gurus, marketing, designers, and sales.

Omniture SiteCatalyst

Omniture® SiteCatalyst® is now Adobe® SiteCatalyst®, powered by Omniture®. Adobe SiteCatalyst provides marketers with actionable, real-time intelligence about digital strategies and marketing initiatives. Adobe SiteCatalyst helps marketers quickly identify the most profitable paths through a website, segment traffic to spot high-value web visitors, determine where visitors are navigating away from the site, and identify critical success metrics for online marketing campaigns. Adobe SiteCatalyst is part of the Adobe® Online Marketing Suite of applications for online business optimizations.

References:
http://www.omniture.com/en/products/online_analytics/sitecatalyst
http://www.kissmetrics.com/what
http://web.analytics.yahoo.com/features
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_Analytics

Qualitative web analytic tools

Survs

Survs is an online survey tool that allows you to create, distribute and analyze online surveys with simplicity and elegance.

KISSinsights

KISSinsights gives your customers a way to tell you what they need.
Ask a question (or two) and your customers will see it slide up from the bottom right-hand corner of your site.

4Q by iPerceptions

4Q is an online survey tool which allows business owners to evaluate the online experience, measure customer satisfaction and quickly implement website improvements based on real visitor feedback.

Clicktale

ClickTale is the industry leader of In Page Web Analytics, providing businesses with unparalleled insights into their visitors’ entire online experience. Unlike traditional web analytics that monitors visitor movement between pages, ClickTale’s web analytics solution focuses on what visitors do inside the web pages themselves.

UserTesting.com

UserTesting.com is a “crowdsourcing” service that provides fast and cheap usability testing. UserTesting.com gives you access to a large panel of users, on-demand. You get to “look over the shoulder” of these users while they perform common tasks on your website, to see and hear where they get confused and frustrated. This dramatically decreases the cost and hassle of usability testing.

Loop11.com

Loop11 is a remote usability testing tool that enables you to test the user-experience of any website and identify navigational and usability issues. Get the hard facts about your website quickly and cost effectively.

References:
http://www.survs.com/
http://www.kissinsights.com/tour
http://www.4qsurvey.com/
http://www.clicktale.com/why_clicktale/in_page_web_analytics
http://www.usertesting.com/faq.aspx
http://www.loop11.com/

 

NMM week 3.2

Standing Sushi bar, Chalkboard on Clickability: New Media Marketing.

1.What is the name of the company and nature of the company business in the video?

Standing sushi bar. Basically a Sushi Restaurant.

2.What is the objectives of the Video?

The video mentions about what it takes to succeed in the new digital age and how small business can benefit from small, free mobile applications.

3.How does the company make use new media technology for improving business. (Give some examples that the business owner mentioned in the video)

The company makes use of a whole range of social media tools for online presence as well as advertising. However, online reviews can also help improve business. An example is hungrygowhere.com a food review site. On the site, the boss of the business mentioned that the restaurant topped the list versus other similar restaurants and it does give the restaurant a positive image.

4.Which are the social media that the company use, and what is the benefits of the social media that the company use?

• Twitter – used to monitor feedback. Notice that people tend to tweet during meals which makes it very real and happening. It is likable for its instantaneous feedback-like feature.
• Blog – used as a journal of experiences; used as a resource from self/for others.
• Facebook fanpage – used for information dissemination. Not exactly real time interactive though.

5.Who are the targeted audiences for the company? How does new social media benefits these targeted audiences?

The target audiences are the young and tech savvy. Indirect marketing can also happen and result in increased target audience scope. An example is that a non-twitter user might have heard from a friend who uses twitter about a promotion (that is only targeted at twitter users). So actually the ‘viral effect’ of twitter helped the business to disseminate to a  larger audience/customer  base.

6.What is Chalkboard, and how it works?

Chalkboard is a mobile and web advertising platform that makes it easy for business owners to communicate your daily specials, promotions and product launches to consumers around your establishment.

7.How does Chalkboard connects people?

This is how Chalkboard works:

• (1) Register your account and business location
• (2) Send your promotions via our web dashboard, SMS or Twitter
• (3) Consumers will see your promotions on various third party mobile apps and web publishers who we partner with in order to get your promotions in front of a large mobile audience.

8.What are the critical success factors for using Chalkboard application?

A substantial customer base as well as being able to provide useful analytic data.

9.What are the rules and trends for SME (Small Medium Enterprises) when using online social media technologies?

-Getting on social media is a must.

-Don’t be discouraged by bad feedback as they are critique, respond well and potential customers would respect you

-Don’t be afraid to try out new avenues for advertising. Online social marketing is the frontier.

NMM week 3.1

Search engine optimisation: Optimized paragraph for search on Sentosa hotels and resorts.

Recommendations and features of Sentosa resorts and hotels

In Sentosa, you can find a wide range of resorts and hotels each having its unique theme and design. Here is a summarized list of the feature(s) of each hotel/ resort and my personal recommendations of who should choose which lodging.

Resorts in Sentosa:

• The Amara Sanctuary Resort Sentosa boasts of 121 individually designed guest rooms. Great for guests looking for comfort.
• The Resorts World Sentosa is Singapore’s biggest Integrated Resort and houses the Resorts World Casino as well as the Universal Studios Singapore® family theme park. It also offers a wide range of entertainment and shows, as well as celebrity chef restaurants, brand-name boutiques and a half-kilometer long shopping and dining Strip named FestiveWalk. Great for guests who are looking for lodging near entertainment.
• The Capella Singapore is great for shoppers as it is situated just minutes from Singapore’s financial and shopping districts.
• For guests looking for a panoramic view of the sun, surf and sand – Costa Sands Resort (Sentosa) or the Shangri-La Rasa Sentosa Resort, Singapore or the Siloso Beach Resort may be a good choice as they are all overlooking the siloso beach and sea.
• Guests who appreciate and love interior design may be interested in The Sentosa Resort & Spa as houses elegant low-rise buildings with stunning interiors designed by Ed Tuttle; the entire resort enjoys an open concept colonial design that creates a sense of oneness with nature.

Hotels in Sentosa:

• For guests looking for convenience, the Festive Hotel™  which is conveniently located near the bustling FestiveWalk™ (where 24-hour entertainment and a wide array of dining options are available) or the Mövenpick Heritage Hotel Sentosa which is situated within walking distance to Sentosa’s main attractions such as Resorts World Casino, Universal Studios and the white sandy beaches are recommended.
• For the art enthusiasts, the Hotel Michael™ would be a great choice as each piece of furniture in each room tells a story.
• The Hard Rock Hotel Singapore™ boasts of its sleek, modern design, hip dining options and legendary entertainment. Looking for a rocking good time? This hotel is the way to go.

Disclaimer: This post is solely for educational purposes. It is not meant to be the most accurate information.

References: http://www.rwsentosa.com/language/en-US/AboutUs || http://www.sentosa.com.sg/en/hotels-spas/hotels/

NMM week 2.2

Digital Marketing Campaign on Clickability

1.What is the name of the company and nature of the company business in the video?

Company name: Upfront Media.

Upfront media is an ideas-led Communications Planning and Activation Agency. They deliver solutions for their clients from conceptualization to activation on traditional and digital platforms.

2.What are some of the strategies that the company would implement for the New Media campaign for their clients?

The first thing to assess is whether if the company is ready and whether if the business objectives are suited to the social environment.

For example if a goal of short term sales is desired, social media would not be recommended as social media is more of a long term engagement.

3.How does the company determines which social media tools that is appropriate for the clients’ branding?

Depending on the client’s purpose:

• facebook is more suitable for building communities
• twitter is much better for creating awareness in for example a new dish in a restaurant
• youtube is useful if the company has lots of ‘how-to’ videos and youtube can act as a platform where users can go educate themselves with the company’s channel.

4.Give the example that the company stated as the successful digital marketing campaign.

All spice campaign – ” Your man could smell like this man”

5.What are the Marketing strategy that the company mentioned to gain customer loyalty?

Social media is useful. First you introduce yourselves then slowly over time (consistently communication over time) you convert them into your loyal customers.

Tracking the consumers’ information is also useful as it provides insights to the behaviors and habits of consumers. With these information, the company can adapt and change according to consumers’ needs.

6.What did the video mentioned about succeeding in Social media marketing?

The core of social media is to have a 2 way conversation – having to talk about the good sides and the bad sides and be open.

“You need to give the company a human face”.

NMM wk 2.1

Case study: Digital Marketing Campaign – Fashionista (tech)

Various market segmentation applicable to Fashionista:

• Geographic
  Fashionista seems to be targeted at the urban populated regions due to its pre-requisites of certain technologies like the webcam, printer and internet.
  Since it is generally in the urban areas, utilizing digital media (simply, television) as a form of marketing campaign is definitely feasible geographically.

• Demographic
  The demographics of Fashionista seem to be ranged from teenagers to  adults who are technology savvy probably ages ranging from 15 to 35. (facebook, webcam)
  The demographics suggest that the target audiences are are technology savvy therefore, a new media approach would be feasible. eg: facebook/twitter’s viral effect.

• Psychographic
  Targeted at people who are interested in online shopping or people who may be interested in fashion in general.
  Psycho-graphically, fashion sites are a key factor. Advertising in these sites could prove to be effective.

• Behavioral
  People who like to shop online, people who like to try out clothes, people who like to shop in the comfort of their home.
  This seem to suggest that online advertising could get the required attention Fashionista needs. But narrowing it down even more, one should consider advertising Fashionista in similar sites which have similar capabilities/purpose as Fashionista.

• Technographic
  People who shop on the internet often, people who have a webcam, people who have internet access, people who have a computer, people who utilizes social media.
  Advertise Fashionista’s capabilities near to a webcam advertisement could be considered.

NMM week 1.4

The advantages of using Youtube as one of the marketing tools.

• Content advantages
  Easy to watch and easy to upload functions attracts more people compared to other sites that may have a more difficult learning curve.
• Cost free
  Videos are free to watch/upload/download and this attracts people to Youtube.
• Content accessibility
  Since Youtube is an internet based application, it transcends geographical boundaries and reaches out to millions around the world easily.
• Rising Page Rank
  When one does a search in Google, the results would include videos too. This increases one’s site visibility in the web. See Google searches.

• Viral Effect: Sharing
  “Interesting Youtube videos that evoke any kind of positive response from viewers are usually shared by viewers with their friends and family members. “
  This effect would eventually replicate itself exponentially as more people share to even more people and so on.
• Subscribers as Customer list
  Whenever one constantly uploads videos to his profile, it becomes similar to a channel and one may gain subscribers. These subscribers can act as your customer list as their emails can be viewed.

References:
http://www.xprojectmanagement.com/strategy/strength-of-using-youtube-as-marketing-tool/
http://marketing-tools.co/?p=44943

The features available from Youtube that makes it successful as the marketing tools for a company?

• Sharing (social media)
  Youtube allows you to connect to your favorite social media platforms and share videos. If the video is being shared for example; on facebook, it would then be exposed to a greater audience and the viral cycle of sharing may continue.
  

• Video Annotations
  Youtube allows you to post links to other videos within a video as annotations. These links are definitely noticed as they appear in the video itself. The viewer may or may not be interested in navigating to the link but at least the viewer is informed rather than unknown.
  

• Autoplay to increase views
  Set a featured video in your channel to autoplay. When a user visits your channel, the featured video will automatically play thus chalking up more views. More views on a video could be a motivating factor for a viewer to watch the video.
• Youtube Bulletins
  Youtube has a feature which allows you to post a video link with a message directly to your subscribers/friends youtube homepages. Concept similar to that of email advertising.
• Youtube Suggestions
  Suggested related videos of a currently viewed video are shown on the right column of youtube. This feature may help increase exposure of your video to the users of youtube if your video happens to show up there, thus increasing the chances of your video being clicked and viewed.
  
• Youtube Comments
  Youtube videos allow commenting (you can disable it if you wish). Commenting is a fast and efficient to obtain your audiences’ feedback/opinions.
  
• Youtube Views and Likes/Dislikes
  Each video on Youtube has it own distinct number of views, likes or dislikes. These are a good indicator of whether your video is achieving the desired effect or the reverse and they update instantly.
  

References:http://www.marketingtoolscentral.com/internet-marketing-tools/5-youtube-features-to-get-more-video-views

NMM week 1.3

Give an example a company using Microsite as their marketing strategy.

The company I found is Sony and the microsite is about their 3D products.

Sony 3D

What are the benefits of developing Microsite for the company?

• Detailed information
  Microsite allows much smaller details to get displayed. Whereas a full website would appear very much overloaded if every small details were shown.
• Resolves Overcrowding
  Too much information in a full website can cause the user to get impatient if it is taking too long to find what is desired. In a microsite, information is much more straightforward and direct; usually the microsite would be designed according to what its target audience wants to see and what the company wants to show thus the viewer would not have to look for it.
• Search engine friendly
  A microsite’s domain name would usually be directly relevant to its product /purpose thus making it search engine friendly. Also, as a microsite’s content is much more focused on a few products itself, more related keywords would enable the microsite to rank higher in searches.
• Unique product identity
  A microsite can be used for new product/service launches. A microsite can give your product an identity of its own and sets it apart from your main branding impressions.
• Relate to audience
  The microsite’s audience are more likely to respond if the design and the tone are relatable.

  Source: http://www.deftcreative.co.uk/articles/website-marketing/divide-and-conquer-the-benefits-of-using-microsites/

NMM week 1.2

Web 1.0 vs Web 2.0 vs Web 3.0

Web 1.0 is only static information. You can only read the information shown and not interact with anything.

Web 2.0 is about  2 way conversations. Commenting, sharing, feedback, likes, dislikes, rating, user-generated content etc. You can read, exchange information as well as generate content. Basically the onset of social media. Built on from web 1.0.

Web 3.0 can be attributed to as the “Semantic web” , personalization, intelligent search, behavioral advertising etc. Built on web 2.0.

The semantic web is a vision of information that can be interpreted by machines, so machines can perform more of the tedious work involved in finding, combining, and acting upon information on the web – source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Semantic_Web

We humans are able to complete certain tasks like using search engine to look for translations, borrow books etc. However, machines are not capable of these ‘human-like-intelligence’ without a human directing. The semantic web aims to mimic this ‘human-like-intelligence’ so that it can do tasks without human supervision. When that happens, instead of human + computer = information, it becomes computer + computer = information.

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As a digital consumer, personally, I would consult with my peers for their opinions. I would explore various opinions, reviews and ratings from forums. Newspaper and pamphlets handouts from retailers are also a good source for comparing prices and specification.

NMM week 1.1

Examples of Traditional Marketing and Digital Marketing techniques.

Traditional Marketing Techniques

• *Television Advertising
• Radio Advertising
• Newspaper/Magazines Advertising (basically advertising that makes use of paper as a medium)

Digital Marketing techniques

• Internet Ads
• Social Media platforms
• Mobile
• Email

**Note: Television advertising is sometimes classified as either traditional/digital marketing. It probably differs depending on what context & time.

Essentially, the key factors that differentiate traditional marketing and digital marketing are: speed, costs and accessibility.

Viral Marketing?

Viral marketing and viral advertising are buzzwords referring to marketing techniques that use pre-existing social networks to produce increases in brand awareness or to achieve other marketing objectives (such as product sales) through self-replicating viral processes, analogous to the spread of viruses or computer viruses. It can be delivered by word of mouth or enhanced by the network effects of the Internet. Viral marketing may take the form of video clips, interactive Flash games, advergames, ebooks, brandable software, images, or text messages.

The goal of marketers interested in creating successful viral marketing programs is to create viral messages that appeal to individuals with high social networking potential (SNP) and that have a high probability of being presented and spread by these individuals and their competitors in their communications with others in a short period of time. – source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viral_marketing

In a nutshell:

• Viral marketing basically means a type of marketing method that spreads the word very very fast.
• The desired end results may vary from product sales to just simple awareness.
• It can take many forms such as video clips, interactive Flash games, advergames, ebooks, brandable software, images, or text messages.
• Marketers who create successful viral marketing programs for a specific target group (people who have lots of contacts) which will eventually lead to an end goal of the information being disseminated across many people in a short amount of time.

One could simply visualize viral marketing as ‘a virus trying to sell/advertise things’. And most of us should have a rough gauge of how does a virus spread: Fast.

Some social media tools for digital marketing.

• Facebook
• Twitter
• Youtube
• LinkedIn
• delicious(social bookmarking)

Pros and Cons of using email as the DigiMarketing strategy

Pros

• Free of charge
• Fast speed
• Easy storage as it is essentially electronic
• No geographical boundaries. Can be sent anywhere as long as you are connected to the internet.

Cons

• Inability to retract email. You cannot delete/cancel your sent email.
• Impersonal. It is difficult to express accurately one’s feelings and sincerity through words alone eg. body language, tone of voice etc. (see relationship marketing)
• Slow. Yes, in terms of speed, it is much faster than post/mail. But there are already technologies which allow almost instant feedback eg. facebook comments.
• Spam mails.

Reference: http://www.mcfedries.com/ramblings/email-pros-cons.asp

Email has been around for quite some time and it is still not obsolete yet even with the onset of social media tools. I would say that probably due to its universality. It is easy to learn, easy to use, free of charge and accessible. I guess one can also say it is a stepping stone to the internet.

Planning for NMT project +13 (Opinions)

I was supposed to be doing research on the viral properties of social media tools. And there are actually overlapping areas. Meaning, I can group the common properties of social media can be used as advertising/viral tools.

1. Blog? Youtube? Twitter?

Not discussing about our intended effect for a blog, I personally think it is the simple fact of someone’s life being jotted down and the ability to comment. In a way, it is like sharing ideas. Except, it probably is in broken English or story form. Think of the types of blog. Music? Science? Media? or Diary? Rants? Complaints? Thoughts?. These doesn’t look like “conveying ideas” but they are actually. Like the purpose of communication; a message and recipient.

I think everyone has a little bit of exhibitionism in them whether is it intentional or not. Instinct? Think: Have you made a fool of yourself once when you are with your close ones? Or you love to see yourself in the mirror or photos?  Perhaps exhibitionism is just another form of: communication => conveying ideas.

So why do people like to comment? Like meddling into someone else’s affairs, do you actually like it? I personally think that again, we humans are probably innately curious. Just that the ethics of society requires us to respect each others space. But when there is a choice offered to us, in this case, the shoutbox in the blog, we would want to comment.

Thinking about it again, firstly, we like to share ideas. Secondly, we also like to share ideas (feedback). So is the whole point of NMT to share ideas?
New Media Trends. What is a trend?According to Dictionary.com, “trend is the general course or prevailing tendency” According to myself, it is something that gets replaced over and over again. But can ‘trends’ be defined as : “the most current and effective way to communicate ideas”? If I told you  to shut up over the phone, would you? OR if i told you to shut up in your face. So the trend to tell someone to shut up is directly. So blogs are actually powerful tools. Trend setter? Look at how successful bloggers can become now. Earn revenue from advertisements and for advertising for others.

Ambient Intimacy

Micro blog. What? Its like a shortened version of a blog. So now we have a minimized version of a powerful communication platform. Think why would products would be minimized? : Save space? Save time? Easy to carry? Accessiblility? Why are handphones getting smaller and smaller? User-friendly?

So if blogs are too long, there came about the micro blogging. Personally, I use micro blogging for posting whatever that comes to my mind. It can be anything. However, this “nonsense” ended up being one of the main attractions of microblogging. Something called “Ambient Intimacy”. I am going to try explain this in my own words. (lol)

Who would want to read a whole load of bullshit on how you went to toilet and saw a cockroach?  Well actually,  most of us do. because the internet is so accessible now, we can just log on and check any micro blogging platform whether is it update or a post. For example, twitter. Oh, and also, not to forget, there are services which you could subscribe to so that twitter could update you on your handphones. Talk about a walking antenna~.

So in real life, we don’t really have time. Time for? Time for chatting nonsense. We all are busy with stuffs. So busy that we can’t be bothered with small details. Are we really not interested in these actually? Or just that the circumstances don’t allow us to. Talking on the phone ? Get to the point! Chatting about business? Get to the point!. I don’t care how much hair you lost today or whatever. However, on twitter you can read about all these small details anytime, anywhere just a click  away. Yes, this “ability” of twitter allowing you to know these small details is kinda like Ambient Intimacy.

By shortening a blog, you get micro-blog. The results may vary (blog = long posts ) vs (micro-blog = short phrases) but then again, the intention is same no? Communication. Hello! Goodbye!. Hey! Yes?  A dialog.

Since the start of the Internet, we all become connected. So connected that we might end up soldered to the connections. Yes, social media communicate ideas. But should you get addicted to it? Addicted? What do I mean?

I mean, developing a reliance on the internet. Do you have the following habits? :Checking your phone even if there is are no missed calls/Sms-es? Refreshing your blog /micro blog page every five minutes? I believe more or less, everyone who actively use social media tools would have these habits. Just the frequency of it differs
Is it bad you ask? Hmm.. I am not sure however, I personally feel that developing an over-reliance on this could destroy our very own social nature. Humans are social beings. We began communication through drawings and making sounds. If we assume that “this”(social media tools) is the way to go, we might lose our social characteristic. I don’t mean not-going-out-of-the-house kind of problem. More like, we don’t even speak anymore. Isn’t technology designed to help us and not conquer  us?

Youtube

Yeah, short links that allow you to SHARE videos. Embed codes to allow you to SHARE videos. Comments to allow you SHARE ideas.

Sharing -> I show you how I did mine, you show me how you did yours -> Lets go ask her->she asks someone else.

Sharing. Is it really that interesting? Well, for one you could learn something from sharing. But well, doesn’t sharing somehow fulfills the equation of (humans are curious, therefore, if A has something different from B, A wants to know. So, if A share with B = curiosity). Like a cycle, everything is connected.

New Media Trends. New (new), Media (technology), Trends (ever changing effective communication).

So, What we are learning about is the Ever Changing New Technologies for Effective Communication.

Well of course, just my opinions