Tutorial de lectura masiva de noticias: 5) RSS vs redes sociales

derrotero.net

Las redes sociales no se han diseñado para poder difundir noticias ni informarse de un tema, pero cada vez más usuarios declaran con orgullo que sus redes sociales son su principal -única, incluso- fuente de información. ¿Por qué tomarse el trabajo de vigilar fuentes originales mediante RSS, y no limitarse a Twitter, Facebook y demás?

Veamos las ventajas que nos ofrecen las redes sociales:

Nos dan el beneficio principal de internet (la diversidad de fuentes, por oposición a los pocos medios de comunicación que había antes) y el beneficio adicional del filtro humano (otras personas en las que confiamos se han tomado ya el trabajo de seleccionar lo más interesante).

Muchos usuarios ya emplean las redes sociales para otros usos, como conversar con amigos, compartir fotografías, organizar encuentros, etc. Estos usuarios sólo necesitan aplicar sus redes sociales también para el objetivo de la agregación; p.ej. haciéndose seguidor de otros usuarios especialmente dedicados a la divulgación.

El volumen de usuarios crece sin parar. En los últimos dos o tres años se ha popularizado un concepto denominado curación de contenidos (content curation) para definir la actividad de seleccionar y difundir en las redes sociales contenidos de terceros sobre un tema o para un público determinado. El número de curadores en las redes sociales populares, para cualquier tema concreto, crece a gran velocidad.

Las redes sociales más importantes son muy fáciles de usar. Se encuentran entre las páginas con más visitantes de internet, y dedican amplios recursos a mejorar su usabilidad.

Frente a esto, el RSS resulta complejo, trabajoso y poco social. En los últimos cinco años, la muerte del RSS a manos de las redes sociales ha sido anunciada tantas veces que ya suena a lugar común, o aun peor, a sabiduría convencional. Y es cierto que el RSS nunca ha llegado a ser una herramienta popular. ¿Por qué, entonces, tomarse el trabajo de aprenderlo? Continuar leyendo «Tutorial de lectura masiva de noticias: 5) RSS vs redes sociales»

8 Tactful Ways to use your Personal Facebook Account as a Marketing Tool

http://blog.kissmetrics.com

Facebook personal profiles are not for business use. With that said, plenty of people use their personal profiles to interact with their target audience through sharing blog posts, industry news, and events. So today, we’re going to look at how to set up your personal profile for marketing and eight things you can do with your personal profile that can’t be done with Facebook business pages.

Before we begin, there are a few things that you will want to do before using your personal profile for marketing, in terms of privacy and making sure the right information is displayed on your profile. Continuar leyendo «8 Tactful Ways to use your Personal Facebook Account as a Marketing Tool»

Six approaches for future-proof email marketing

So in a terrifying moment of weakness I found myself saying:

“It would be nice to get 3000 Twitter followers by the end of the year”

Oh dear.

Why 3000? Why by the end of the year? Why focus on THAT metric? Why, Mark, why?

I’m only human. The seductive appeal of using a random number of followers, likes, +1’s or subscribers as your measure of success is a tricky one to resist.

But the mistake led me to ask whether I’ve learned anything over the past 13+ years of online and email marketing.

Cue a brief period of panic…followed by a longer period of reflection.

Here’s what popped out: six approaches and principles that have stood the test of time.
1. Understand the true meaning of value

Well, it didn’t take me long to come up with the principle of “delivering value” as an email must.

You have to give to get: give value and it comes back in return…as opens, clicks, conversions, loyalty, word of mouth etc.

But there are three traps we commonly fall into.

Avoid one-way value

It’s important to ask how different email approaches, content and offers might address business needs.

But the result depends on the recipients reacting the right way.

And their reaction depends on how these different email approaches, content and offers contribute to their needs.

So the real question to ask is how email can help our subscribers, and in doing so help us.

Don’t over-estimate value

We’re all (probably) passionate about our products and services. Readers usually aren’t quite so excited.

Our enthusiasm can blind us to the true value of what we offer through email, leading to unrealistic expectations of response and sending email to people who maybe shouldn’t be getting it.

Don’t misunderstand value

So what is “value” anyway?

Yep, for a lot of people it’s discounts, coupons, savings, free shipping, or a bonus lollipop if you register by Friday.

But it’s also helpful information, feeling appreciated, feeling understood, a story, entertainment, humor, a sense of community or just a simple reminder that the sender is still open for business…

I’m not a psychologist, but the potential value you might deliver via an email message covers a lot more than “20% off your next purchase”.

email-marketing-reports.com

So in a terrifying moment of weakness I found myself saying:

“It would be nice to get 3000 Twitter followers by the end of the year”

Oh dear.

Why 3000? Why by the end of the year? Why focus on THAT metric? Why, Mark, why?

I’m only human. The seductive appeal of using a random number of followers, likes, +1’s or subscribers as your measure of success is a tricky one to resist.

But the mistake led me to ask whether I’ve learned anything over the past 13+ years of online and email marketing.

Cue a brief period of panic…followed by a longer period of reflection.

Here’s what popped out: six approaches and principles that have stood the test of time.

1. Understand the true meaning of value

Well, it didn’t take me long to come up with the principle of “delivering value” as an email must.

You have to give to get: give value and it comes back in return…as opens, clicks, conversions, loyalty, word of mouth etc.

But there are three traps we commonly fall into.

Avoid one-way value

It’s important to ask how different email approaches, content and offers might address business needs.

But the result depends on the recipients reacting the right way.

And their reaction depends on how these different email approaches, content and offers contribute to their needs.

So the real question to ask is how email can help our subscribers, and in doing so help us.

Don’t over-estimate value

We’re all (probably) passionate about our products and services. Readers usually aren’t quite so excited.

Our enthusiasm can blind us to the true value of what we offer through email, leading to unrealistic expectations of response and sending email to people who maybe shouldn’t be getting it.

Don’t misunderstand value

So what is “value” anyway?

Yep, for a lot of people it’s discounts, coupons, savings, free shipping, or a bonus lollipop if you register by Friday.

I’m not a psychologist, but the potential value you might deliver via an email message covers a lot more than “20% off your next purchase”. Continuar leyendo «Six approaches for future-proof email marketing»

10 Effective Ways to Get More Email List Subscribers

Savvy online marketers will tell you “the money’s in the list!” but that’s not entirely true. What they should be saying is that the money’s in the quality of the list, rather than the quantity of subscribers. Lists with a few hundred dedicated customers can outperform lists of 10,000 or more generic “freebie seekers” when you focus on building relationships instead of counting sales.

So how do you attract the right kind of people? How do you get interested visitors to become eager subscribers? Keep reading for 10 outstanding list building tips you can’t afford to miss.

more-email-list-subscribers

By Sherice Jacob
http://blog.kissmetrics.com/get-more-email-subscribers/

So how do you attract the right kind of people? How do you get interested visitors to become eager subscribers? Keep reading for 10 outstanding list building tips you can’t afford to miss. Continuar leyendo «10 Effective Ways to Get More Email List Subscribers»

“The Times” cuenta con 105.000 suscriptores online

Por primera vez desde que el pasado mes de julio las versiones online de las cabeceras The Times y The Sunday Times pasaran a ser totalmente de pago, News International ha dado a conocer el número de lectores que se han suscrito a este nuevo modelo.

The Times y The Sunday Times cuentan con alrededor de 105.000 suscriptores para los contenidos web de ambos diarios y para las aplicaciones para el iPad y el Kindle de las dos publicaciones, informa The Guardian.

Aproximadamente la mitad de esos 105.000 abonados son suscriptores mensuales. El resto paga una libra por el acceso a números individuales de The Times y The Sunday Times.

Por primera vez desde que el pasado mes de julio las versiones online de las cabeceras The Times y The Sunday Times pasaran a ser totalmente de pago, News International ha dado a conocer el número de lectores que se han suscrito a este nuevo modelo.

The Times y The Sunday Times cuentan con alrededor de 105.000 suscriptores para los contenidos web de ambos diarios y para las aplicaciones para el iPad y el Kindle de las dos publicaciones, informa The Guardian.

Aproximadamente la mitad de esos 105.000 abonados son suscriptores mensuales. El resto paga una libra por el acceso a números individuales de The Times y The Sunday Times. Continuar leyendo «“The Times” cuenta con 105.000 suscriptores online»

ReadWriteWeb / the latest & the best news…

Digital Media Consumption Increases – But Few Are Willing to Pay

Written by Frederic Lardinois

In the UK, consumers are spending more time with digital and traditional media. According to the second KPMG Media and Entertainment Barometer, the average monthly consumption of traditional media climbed from 11 hours and 40 minutes per month in September 2009 to 12 hours and 13 minutes in March 2010. For digital media, the increase was more dramatic. Consumption of digital media rose from 6 hours 14 minutes to 7 hours 28 minutes per month. At the same time, however, consumers now spend less on digital and traditional media. Even though more newspapers are putting their content behind pay walls, the number of consumers who paid nothing for accessing online news actually increased over the last few months.

People Spend More Time with Digital Media…

With regards to new media, a growing number of consumers now spend time on social media and blogging sites (up from 47% in September 2009 to 50% in March 2010) and watch TV online (up from 19% to 24%). KPMG also found that younger Internet users in the UK between 16 and 24 are more likely to engage with new media. Those Internet users who use social media and play online games also tend to spend more time online than others.

… But Pay Less

More Statistics from the KPMG Report

The number of people who don’t pay for print journals and magazines is also up (19% compared to 12% six months ago)
21% of print newspaper readers paid nothing in March 2010 (most likely due to the availability of free newspapers like the Evening Standard in cities like London)
People in the UK spent an average of 29 hours in front of their TV last month.
Men are more likely than women to engage in new media activities (83% vs. 75%)

When it comes to paying for online content, most consumers in the UK continue to pay nothing (88%), though publishers will be happy to hear that younger Internet users between 16 to 24 are slightly more likely to pay for online content than older users. Today, only 3% of Internet users in the UK pay for an online subscription to digital content and about 7% pay for digital content.

The number of Internet users in the UK who paid nothing for digital content actually increased slightly over the last six months. Only about 10% of these users who are currently paying nothing for content indicated that they would be likely to buy a paid subscription to online content in the next 12 months. This, according to KPMG’s analysts indicates, that the market for paid subscriptions is «unlikely to grow greatly over the coming 12 months.» KPMG also found that the average spend on digital media in the UK fell from £1.99 in September 2009 to £0.98 in March 2010.

Some People Simply Prefer Traditional Media

This doesn’t mean that all consumers prefer to access media content online, however. Only about a quarter of respondents preferred online media over traditional media. Most of these users (89%) cited a preference for «reading something physical» over reading on a computer. About 60% of respondents also noted that they simply prefer the experience of traditional media over consuming digital content.

kpmg media offline access

http://www.readwriteweb.com/

Continuar leyendo «ReadWriteWeb / the latest & the best news…»

Women’s underwear by monthly subscription

The proverbial ink had barely dried on our story about Manpacks when one of our spotters alerted us to an equivalent for women: Panty by Post, a Canadian venture that offers—sure enough—women’s underwear by monthly subscription.

Where Manpacks focuses on the practical and functional, however, Panty by Post has quite different aspirations. No basic whites here—rather, the company has an exclusive agreement with Montreal’s Blush Lingerie for its signature and bridal lines. Panties come in hipster, thong and bikini styles and are made with French lace and satin. Customers can order panties individually, or they can sign up for subscriptions lasting two, three, six or 12 months. A different panty is then sent every month, each wrapped in an attractive mailing package. Pricing ranges from CDN 16 for a single pair to CDN 240 for a year’s worth of premium deliveries. Panty by Post is also about to launch a men’s subscription service featuring Montreal-based JM Intimode‘s eco-minded “Briefs in a Box.”

Part convenience and part indulgence, Panty by Post reminds us of ShoeDazzle‘s monthly subscriptions to a handpicked series of stylish shoes. Where else might fashion-minded consumers be interested in a little curated selection and recurring delivery?

Website: www.pantybypost.com
Contact: info@pantybypost.com

Spotted by: Lori Kalef
http://springwise.com/