Do you really think people read your blog???

It is funny to know that most significant revolutions of the last twenty years have all had to do with communication, more specific: with writing! Think about it: First we had email, then webpages, then mobile phone texting and now we have blogs. All of this reflects a trend whereby the world is becoming more formal in how it communicates.

Some people say there's a book inside everybody and the Internet and blogs have let the book out! For example, there has literally been an explosion of opinions!

The advantages of blogs from an organizational perspective include the following:

1. The consumer and citizen are potentially better informed and this can only be good for the long-term health of our societies and economies.
2. Blogs have potential to help the organization develop stronger relationships and brand loyalty with its customers, as they interact with the ‘human face’ of the organization through blogs.
3. Blogs, in an intranet environment, can be an excellent way of sharing knowledge within the organization.
4. Blogs can be a positive way of getting feedback, and keeping your finger on the pulse, as readers react to certain pieces, suggest story ideas, etc.
5. Blogs can build the profile of the writer, showcasing the organization as having talent and expertise.

The disadvantages of blogs are:

1. Most people don’t have very much to say that’s interesting, and/or are unable to write down their ideas in a compelling and clear manner.
2. I have often found that the people who have most time to write have least to say, and the people who have most to say don’t have enough time to write it. Thus, the real expertise within the organization lays hidden, as you get drowned in trivia.
3. Like practically everything else on the Web, blogs are easy to start and hard to maintain. Writing coherently is one of the most difficult and time-consuming tasks for a human being to undertake. So, far from blogs being a cheap strategy, they are a very expensive one, in that they eat up time. As a result, many blogs are not updated, thus damaging rather than enhancing the reputation of the organization.
4. Organizations are not democracies. The Web makes many organizations look like disorganizations, with multiple tones and opinions. Contrary to what some might think, the average customer prefers it if the organization they are about to purchase from is at least somewhat coherent.

Shocking Advertisements & Commercials

As written below, we see advertisements everywhere, in the street, on the internet, on television and for example during sporting events. Because we see on average 3000 ads per day, it is very important to gain attention. Shocking content in an advertisement or commercial significantly increases attention, benefits memory, and positively influences behavior of people. When attention is drawn to the advertisement or the commercial companies expect that further processing will take place. The companies use these techniques nowadays more often thinking that a shock appeal will influence the customers behavior. Some advertising purposely breaches social norms with the intent to shock, which implies that companies are willing to go far beyond the borders to gain attention. Next to companies, also government organizations are willing to play this game along. See for example the next two movies from a road safety organization. These movies are extremely shocking and want to remind people to drive carefully and watch out on the road.

Road Safety Organization video 1
Road Safety Organization video 2

Besides the importance to watch out on the road, the government tells us for years that smoking is bad for our health. When normal advertisements and commercials didn’t work, they went to the shocking abilities. Have a look at the next two movies.

Anti Smoke Video 1
Anti Smoke Video 2

Do you want to see more shocking commercials? Just search for them at YouTube and become aware of how happy you are at this very moment! BUT WAIT! Before you go, please let me know whether you accept shocking commercials or not on the right site of this page!

Windows Live Messenger

MSN Messenger is one of the best and most popular instant message service existing nowadays, through this application people can be in contact with thousands of people in the network. Before the product was renamed Windows Live Messenger, it was known as 'MSN Messenger Service'. The first version of MSN Messenger service was released in 1999.

MSN allows you to be in contact instantly all around the world, in addition, it enables people to chat with many users at the same time, to send emoticons, avatars, wall screen among others; one can also share folders, make PC-to-PC calls, make PC-to-Phone, send offline messages, and play games.

Windows Live Messenger is the most popular instant messenger in Europe. In the year 2004 27 million Europeans made use of this program and in The Netherlands 5.3 million people made use of it. More and more companies are using these kind of communication programs, for example to have direct contact with their suppliers. Nowadays it is even possible to communicate with messenger through a mobile phone!

But why is this popular program for free? Many people will certainly be able to pay for this application. The answer is probably because Windows Live Messenger has enough sponsors that pay a lot of money to get visible in the main page and other places.

The internet is a Godsend!

The internet is a wonderful invention! This medium opens a whole new world for communication, publications, research, and publicity. It enables us to communicate to other people all over the world! The World Wide Web is one of the most popular features of the internet, and it is the fastest growing. Nowadays many companies have a website for advertising, marketing and public relations. In addition, the companies have the possibility to use electronic mail to communicate with (potential) clients, which is faster, easier, and more economical. Internet Chat can be another useful tool in communicating with customers, a program such as Skype allows two or more persons to communicate in real time, even with a webcam! It is even possible to apply for a job on the other site of the world with the help of the internet! This medium is also a huge source of knowledge, it can be extremely helpful in finding all types of information. It has brought the outside world a little closer to our homes.
Beside all these advantages it is much cheaper to sell products over the internet than in real stores, think about all the costs for the stores!

Do you disagree? Leave a reaction!

Advertisement, it is everywhere!!

Will it ever drive us crazy? The amount of advertising and marketing Europeans are exposed to each day exploded over the past 15 years. We see advertisements everywhere, in the street, on the internet, on television, during sporting events, we even hear it on the radio! It is really impossible to avoid. Studies show that on average we see 3000 ads per day!

Even outer space there are advertisements: The Russian Space Program launched a rocket bearing a 30-foot Pizza Hut logo, and some companies have placed ads in space that are visible from earth.

To realize all these advertisements, it is not hard to imagine that companies spend millions of euros to reach people. The question arises: What do multinationals think of us? Are we all unique persons to them, or are we just their consumer? And what do we think of ourselves? Are we in charge, or do companies decide which things we buy?

The challenge of the future may be finding areas which are free of advertising..!!

Heineken & advertising

Heineken is a Dutch brewing company which owns 120 breweries in more than 65 countries. It sells more than 170 kind of beers. To maintain its reputation the company is taking many actions. Some examples will follow:

Heineken sponsors a number of musical and sporting events such as Heineken Openér Festival, the Heineken Cup (rugby) and Heineken Open (tennis). Besides that, the company owns a museum which is called Heineken Experience. It gives an insight into the company's history and brewing process through the years. This museum is one of the most popular tourist attractions in Amsterdam.

In addition, Heineken implemented a successful international interactive online marketing campaign about responsible drinking. The message to drinkers was simple: Know your limits or be an embarrassment to yourself and to your friends. The campaign consisted of videos showing characters who displayed different types of behavior when they had consumed too much. These movies were distributed using social networking sites such as Hyves. Members of the site were able to send videos of the stereotype to their friends with the massage: 'reminds me a bit of you!'
The great thing about this campaign is that Heineken gives their costumers a good impression with the encouragements about the responsible use of alcohol. Finally, do you remember this funny tv-commercial about Heineken? Heineken Commercial!

Coca-Cola is blogging too!

These days corporations are looking for new ways to sell their products and engage their consumers. Many have turned to internet, with Social Media in particular, to market their goods.

Big brand Coca-Cola also benefits the opportunities offered by Social Media. The company has made some very interesting moves in Social Media, such as setting up the Coca-Cola Facebook Fanpage and join Twitter. Another example is that three bloggers, with salary paid by Coca-Cola, are now traveling to 206 countries in which Coca-Cola is sold and they will Tweet, Blog and put videos of their adventures on Youtube. According to Coca Cola, it's all about telling the story that involves Coca-Cola, that involves the attributes of what Coca-Cola is about: Optimism and Joy.

Social Media can help brands build up relationships. Every day, people discuss The Coca‐Cola Company and its brands in thousands of online conversations. Coca-Cola recognizes the importance of participating in these online conversations and wants to ensure that they participate in online social media the right way.

For a last nice example in which Coca-Cola wants to be entertaining to its target audience, see this Coke Creatures viral commercial! Want to see how they made this funny movie? Click here: The making of!

Optimization for Websites!

Search engine marketing is a form of Internet Marketing that promotes websites by increasing their visibility in search engine results. It has become a real trend all over the world. Not only for blogs, but also for websites it is very important to reach a high rank in the search results. Several studies show that most searchers view the natural and sponsored search results at the top of the page. This is also shown in this movie about eyetracking: Golden Triangle

The impact of the Google "Golden Triangle" which is shown here, has been discussed worldwide. For many people, it confirmed what they already intuitively knew. A high position in the results is vital in order to receive attention. Additionally, it is of great importance to give enough thought to the content to get the audience motivated to click on the link in just a single second!

To optimize a website, start by getting to know the audience. Once thats clear the next step is choosing the right keywords. Because this may be a difficult part, Google Adwords can be of great help! This is a nice program which helps finding the right keywords, just check it out! After that, make sure the most interesting information is at the top of the page, add meta description tags and if appropriate, some image alt tags! Finally, add the title tag. This is the most important part of the optimalization because it is the link that people click on in the result pages and it is generally read by the visitor before they decide to visit.

Optimization for Blogs!

One of the first questions from novice bloggers is how to attract people to their blog. Keep on reading and you will know it in a minute!

First, choose your domain name wisely and start with quality content on a specific topic. Keep it simple and make sure the division on the blog is ordered and logical. Work with headings and make important words or sentences bold. Identify a few keywords for the topic that will get indexed highly by Google, use internal links, and update your blog regularly. The more a blog is updated the more people return and the better Search Engines can find it! Only write about one topic per post, put the most interesting information at the top of the page and don't make the length of the article too long. Research shows that longer articles can have a pretty steep drop off rate in readers after the text gets below the 'fold'. Finally, advertise the blog via Twitter, email and comments on other blogs and let the blogosphere know you've arrived and have something to say!

Kim Mechielsen