Interesting article in today’s Wall Street Journal entitled “Video Speed Trap Lurks in New iPad” about how users of the new iPad are discovering beneath the beautiful  new HD retina screen and streaming lots of crisp HD video to their iPads on the blazing fast 4G  AT&T and Verizon networks lurks a nasty little surprise…running through 3 to 5 gigabytes of data…a month’s worth…in just a couple of days! Maybe the article should have been titled “The Money Pit Lurking in Your iPad” because for every 1 gigabyte of data you go over your plan, you’ll be coughing up an extra $10.

I have had two personal experiences with this issue. And, my data choking encounters don’t just involve the wireless 4G network or the new iPad. Just this week, the issue raised its ugly head dealing with overages in my internet cable data plan. Let my sad tales be a warning to you all…

Et tu, iPad?

My first experience with THE MAN coming down on my happy-go-lucky, all-you-care-to-stream 4G wireless data buffet occurred this December while my wife and I had a little weekend get a way in Las Vegas.. Upon checking into the hotel, I was eager to fire up the new AT&T 4G wireless hotspot I’d purchased to replace my old, slow and one-device only wireless laptop modem.

The hotspot fired on, I connected my MacBook Pro, my iPhone, my wife’s first-generation iPad and my iPad 2 and everything worked great – until it didn’t. My wife asked if she should download a couple of TV shows and movies on iTunes to enjoy on the flight home. “Sure,” I said. “Why not?”.

Here’s why not…a couple of seemingly innocent media purchases wiped out my entire data plan for the month. I discovered this after she had departed for home and I, having stayed behind in the hotel to work on client projects, received a dreaded “suspension of service because of exceeding your monthly data limits” notice from AT&T…right before I had to lead a client web meeting, of course. After arguing with AT&T in disbelief that I could have used an entire month’s worth of data…5 GB’s…in just two days…they agreed to give me a 2 GB “grace” credit. But, they sternly scolded me, “You did use this much data and you have been warned”.

Hello, my name is Scott and I’m a Data Hog

My second experience in bumping up against today’s increasingly short data ceiling occurred just this week when I received a notice from my cable company that my internet data usage was nearing my 250GB per month limit. “250 GB’s” I yelled throughout my house, “who in the world is using this much data?!?” Turns out, it was all of us.

Maybe it’s because I insist on living on the bleeding edge of the consumer electronics technology revolution. I have to have the coolest, newest, shiniest objects. We have two AppleTV’s, two Roku players (love ‘em), two Playstation 3′s, two XBoxes, two iPads, three iMacs, four iPhones….my granddaughter has an iPod Touch, which she uses at our house a lot, my other granddaughter has an iPad and we’re all constantly streaming NetFlix; having FaceTime chats with Gram and Gramps and my grandkids; my son is always on World of Warcraft; my daughter is on Pandora all the time and downloading iTunes purchases…and you know what?

All this streaming and downloading and playing adds up to over 250 GB of data every month. It’s clear to me, our data consumption habits are quickly outstripping the abilities of our networks to keep up and surpassing the ability of our wallets to afford it. Something has got to give.

Don’t Mock Me Marketer…You’re Next!

Now, what does all this mean for marketers? Having just finished reading over a couple of industry reports on digital marketing trends…an excellent one from the Altimeter Group on Content Marketing and another from eMarketer on Top Digital Trends 2012…marketers are just now starting to deliver lots of video content. As online video use by marketers continues to explode and mobile consumption of that video by consumers continues on its frantic pace, is this situation going to present barriers for marketers trying to reach their audiences? You bet!

The implications are this: our attention is limited, our data is limited, our wallets are limited. If you want me to pay attention to your content, it better be pretty darn good. It better be able to stand up with the stuff I’m willing to pay for and download…then pay for again with overages on my data plan. But, once a data hog, always a data hog. There is no going back to the days of measly megabytes. I want my monthly terabyte plan and I want it now!

Video is certainly the shiny new online marketing object for marketers and one doesn’t fault them for that. But, video is a bandwidth super pig. And, when you understand that search is still primarily text based, maybe it starts to make a little more sense to focus on creating less data-intensive content.

It will be interesting to see if some big marketers can adapt to these challenges and wean themselves off the video super star into producing more creative forms of text-based content. In the end, that’s really what it comes down to…how good are your consumer insights and how creative can you deliver the answers, information and inspiration your audience is looking for.

What do you think about the data limitations facing marketers?

Do you have a data choking horror story to tell? Talk to us!

This latest change, as all Google’s changes are, is attempting to give you more relevant answers to the searches you conduct. By looking at the semantics of a keyword phrase (the relationship and context of the surround word), Google is hoping it can get you to Martha Stewarts web site or maybe more historical information when you type in the phrase, “what’s the best apple pie recipe?” rather than sending you to a certain computer makers web site (that’s some exaggeration there). The point is, Google doesn’t always know when the word “apple” refers to a computer, a fruit pie or certain type of figure.

These changes simply mean that the marketer’s job of creating helpful, relevant content becomes even more critical because it’s yet another signal Google can draw on to serve your site and information.

http://www.businessinsider.com/these-5-brands-are-making-a-splash-without-tv-ads-2012-3#ixzz1oW5Som1o

When NRG unveiled its eye-popping energy exhibit at the world’s largest Consumer Electronics Show January 10th, visitors got their first taste on an experience stretching seamlessly into cyberspace and across the state of Texas during 2012.

The exhibit was packed with energy-themed eye candy like the new prototype DeLorean electric vehicle; an electric vehicle charging station; a human-powered “hamster” wheel and specially equipped mountain bikes where visitors generated energy to benefit charities; solar panels, intelligent thermostats and; The Smarter Home on Wheels, a giant, rolling demonstration of today’s top energy-efficient home appliances, home automation and personal energy management solutions.

Custom-designed digital experiences and social media tie-ins enabled CES visitors along with those online to contribute to charities tied to the exhibit’s theme of “The power to change life. The energy to make it happen” as well making possible an entry into a sweepstakes to drive the one-of-a-kind DeLorean electric vehicle.

“CES is the perfect place for NRG to demonstrate how consumers can use smart energy products and services, solar energy and electric vehicles to build a more sustainable energy lifestyle,” said Karen Jones, Chief Marketing Officer of NRG. “Working with our subject matter experts and internal creative teams, AIM has helped us to create a truly unique exhibit.”

“Our goal was to create an immersive experience that would appeal to different customers and be able to live beyond the 4-day trade show,” said Jeff Symon, Chief Creative Officer of AIM, the marketing firm and brand experience agency that created it. “We wanted to not only create an engaging brand experience for those visitors at CES but also be able to amplify NRG’s brands across multiple platforms and multiple audiences.  Through the ability to repurpose the physical assets we created as well as through the social media sphere we were able to maximize NRG’s overall investment.”

The experience is designed to reach a range of potential customers, first as a B-to-B exhibit at CES, and later as a B-to-C event when the core of the exhibit, the rolling Smarter Home on Wheels, travels to fairs, events, schools and retail store locations in Texas as part of Reliant Energy’s, “Your Smarter Home Tour 2012″.

The Smarter Home on Wheels, which includes solar panels and smart energy solutions that demonstrate how home network technologies can work together to put consumers in control, giving them the power to make more informed decisions about their energy usage.

The NRG Power Playground Backyard, including the Human NRG Wheel, allowed visitors and people linked in through social media at the Facebook pages of either NRG Energy, Reliant Energy, Evgo Network or DeLorean Motor Company to use their personal energy to raise funds for the Boys & Girls Clubs of America and Rebuilding Together, a national nonprofit that provides free rehabilitation and critical repairs to the homes of low-income Americans.

The prototype of the first electric-powered DeLorean, plugged into NRG’s eVgo home charging station. The DeLorean’s appearance streamed live during CES. Both on-site and as part of the online experience, participants could enter the Drive Into the Future Sweepstakes for their chance to win a weekend in Houston to tour the Reliant Energy SmartHouse, visit the DeLorean factory and take the car out for a spin.

On-site, a photographer captured visitors as they got their picture taken in front of the DeLorean. They received a unique code to pick-up their pictures online and share them through the Reliant Energy Facebook page after the event.

The unique social media tools enabled fans not present at CES to also participate through:

• A fangate on the NRG Energy Facebook page and a double fangate on the Reliant Energy, Evgo Network and DeLorean Motor Company pages creating a unique synergy and seamless social media experience across multiple brands Facebook pages.
• Live video streams from the event focusing on the DeLorean and Human NRG Wheel that include the ability for fans to view, comment and share.
• A click for charity interface that enables online visitors to contribute to the overall donation just through their clicks and by sharing with their friends, as well as being able to monitor their impact with a real-time donation meter.
• Online registration and sharing of the Drive Into the Future Sweepstakes.

“We wanted to amplify the NRG brands by getting a much bigger bang for the buck,” said Symon.  “Through close collaboration with our client, we were able to create an on-site experience packed with state-of-the-art energy touch points that could launch at CES and travel beyond to other events along with an integrated social media experience engaging online visitors and their friends.”

Earlier this week, we posted about Facebook’s changes and what it all might mean for marketers.  Mashable was kind enough to run an article on how you can implement Facebook’s timline right now. It’s a fairly easy to follow set of instructions but be aware that only other people who have done this will be able to see your changes for now. Once timeline goes out of public beta, it will be viewable by everyone.

Mashable added another article a day or two ago regarding how these changes might directly effect brand pages. We’ve already heard rumblings that Facebook is pushing down brand pages from fan’s news feeds, in preparation for coming back to brands with their hands out for MONEY!

This is a perfect example of why brands needs to focus on building an engaging brand experience on their own site and not put all their eggs in a specific social media service’s basket. If you buidl a storefront in Facebook what happens when Facebook changes their terms of service? It’s kind of like a New Jersey protection racket…”Gee, it would be a shame if you’re nice little store had a fire or somethin’, wouldn’t it. But, if you take advantage of our special policy, I can assure you nothin’ will happen.”

Social media is great, until it isn’t. For years, all brands could do was lease somebody elses media to reach an audience. Not anymore. A smart brand, who knows how to find out the information, education and inspiration needs of their customers can now cheaply create their own media channel and build an audience that they own.

Really, we think the safe bet is for brands to take the later course, viewing themselves as media companies, producing helpful, relevant, engaging and entertaining content that people are already searching for and building an audience they own on their own brand site. This site then functions as a distribution hub for the content to be scattered over then entire web. By all means, post it on Facebook and Twitter and LinkedIn and YouTube and any other specific social site that makes sense for your audience. But, don’t for a minute think these social channels will continue to offer brands their services for free forever. It’s only a matter of time before they start flexing their media might and changing for audiece acces.

Facebook changed the way their social network works…again. As this article from Mashable points out, there’s changes in store for how marketers use the social network as a result.

Facebook is constantly mixing things up in an attempt to stay relevant and ahead of consumer preferences. Unfortunately, this means more for marketers to keep up with. We’ve been talking about the value of content in your social media presence for some time now and this recent slew of Facebook changes makes it even more critical for marketers to deliver relevant, helpful, entertaining and informative content that serves the information and entertainment needs of their audience rather than pitching the marketers  products or services.

How to do this? We’d like to suggest a couple of simple steps:

First, use your listening platform to mine for insights about topics related to the end benefit your product or service delivers to consumers, rather than the features so many marketers drive their digital marketing around. An example of this is for a camera company to create really helpful e-books, mobile apps, videos or other digital resources to help people take better photos…the reason people buy a new camera in the first place.

Second, get your digital distribution ecosystem in place so that you can get the content out to all the social channels your consumers are using…blogs, social networks, forums and message boards, Q&A sites…you name it. Don’t keep the content behind your walled garden on your web site. Free Your Content!

Third, make sure your content is sharable. You want your audience to help with distribution, don’t you? Sure you do, because the crowd can get it out to the masses like nobody else.  Again, Free Your Content!

Finally, make sure the content has a call to action that links your audience back to your home site for a deeper layer of engagement…a special offer for more content, an incentive for purchase or some other relevant call to action. Think of your content as bread crumbs scattered across the internet, leading the little birds back to your site.

Brands that create compelling content and follow these steps reap substantial rewards, converting consumers who didn’t even know they were in the market for a product or service. When we ask marketers seek first to provide answers to needs rather than shill our stuff, everyone wins!

There’s an ever-escalating battle going on between these bad guys…parasites of the internet…and Google. I think someone needs to develop a malware for malware…a software that attacks your attacker. These guys need to get a real job!

Quick Summary: As you probably already know, the Facebook News Feed allows companies to post branded content to a live stream of information that is constantly being consumed by Facebook users around the world.

The News Feed has incredible power to deliver useful, relevant and informative content to your audience through Facebook and beyond but you also run a high risk of getting lost in the crowd…becoming a needle in a stack of needles…if you don’t know how to optimize your content. Understanding how the News Feed works is essential to ensuring your brand’s content is seen by the people you want to reach.

The Facebook News Feed has two distinct parts: ‘Top News’ and ‘Most Recent.’ A user’s News Feed defaults to the ‘Top News,’ which according to a blog post by Facebook “is based on an algorithm [that] uses factors such as how many friends are commenting on a post, using this formula to aggregate content it thinks you will find interesting.” In other words, it uses relevancy as a signal rather than recency.

Facebook’s term for this algorithm is “EdgeRank”. Anything that appears in the feed…a video, a link, status update…is called an object. Any action taken by your connections with an object…such as a like, share or comment…is termed an edge. Facebook’s formula assigns a different weight value to each edge and it does the same to the type of object on which the edge occurs.

An object’s EdgeRank is based on three factors: affinity, weight and relevancy. When multiplied together, these factors have the ability to push your content to the top of your fan’s News Feed.

In the corporate marketing environment where everyone is trying to do less with more, busy marketers are doing all they can just to get the current work done. Forget about keeping up with what’s hot and new!

So, we got to thinking…since we spend so much time keeping up with the digital marketing Jones and none of our clients can, maybe we could turn this into a plus for everyone. With this in mind, we’d like to present our first of what will be many versions of our Big List of Really Useful Digital Marketing Tools and Resources.

This list isn’t intended to be exhaustive. Books could be written each individual piece of the digital ecosystem…in fact, they are! But, rather, this is intended to be a kind of “hot sheet’ of what’s new, current or the best of the best we’ve recently run across.

We hope you enjoy this list but more than that, if you have anything to add or topics you think we should cover in this list but we haven’t, let us know.