Strategy

I saw the following advertisement in a Toronto Subway the other day:

At first, I actually had trouble understanding the ad.
I examined it closely,
twice.
But I couldn't figure it out -
what does UPS have to do with a nurse?

Then it occurred to me - this advertisement has nothing to do with UPS! This advertisement is for George Brown College. UPS has just done such an amazing branding job, that when I see the word BROWN used as a noun, I think UPS.

Al Ries famously explained a brand as "A singular idea or concept that you own inside the mind of the prospect."

Congratulations UPS, you've definitely gotten inside my head.

Does anyone else interpret this ad in the same way?

How to title articles and blog posts for search engine optimization (SEO) purposes.

There is an interesting article over at news.com about the increasing necessity for newspapers to use search engine optimization techniques when titling articles.

A basic summary of the article is as follows:
1) Newspaper websites rely on search engines for traffic.
2) Journalists take pride in intelligent titles for their articles.
3) Search engines have difficulty interpreting the meaning of witty/humorous article titles, and therefore rank them lower on results pages.
4) Pressure is therefore being put on journalists to simplify their article titles to increase the newspaper’s search engine placement.

Whether you are writing for the newspaper, a blog, a press release or a web page, the same issue applies. In the new media world, how do you maintain a balance between creativity and utility?

One method is to double-title your articles/blog posts: one title for humans, and one for search engines. It’s almost a light version of keyword-stuffing, the old technique to get to the top of Altavista’s search engine. Double-titling means changing both your web page’s file name and title tag to a specific search phrase for SEO purposes, while using a different human-readable title in the actually body of the webpage.

Double-titling doesn’t always work with blogs and other content management systems (CMS) though, as they automatically set your document title tag and file name to the title of your article.

While some blogging software offer plugins which enable this functionality, there are workaround: you can use search engine optimized keywords as your article title, and then use a sub-title as the first line of your post for humans to read. The end result is three to four word to the point titles, with a subtitle right below it expanding on its meaning.

Although not a perfect solution, double-titling can significantly increase the amount of traffic your webpage receives from search engines. When double-titling, be cautious of “stuffing” your website with keywords - search engines have been known to penalize that.

What can be done to reduce self-censorship in socially moderated media?

Forbes recently had an interesting article about the failures of eBay’s feedback system. Many socially-moderated systems like eBay’s have a significant flaw: users are afraid of stating their true opinions of other users in feedback comments, as they expect the other user will respond with retaliatory negative feedback. The end result is the majority of users end up having near perfect ratings, even if they do have a very tainted auction history, as the “social norm” becomes maintaining the status quo.

A related problem occurs on a macro scale at many socially-organized news/discussion sites (what marketers call Web 2.0 applications). If a user submits a news story which some members disagree with, that news story is voted down. After the article submitter sees this occur,
they are less likely to continue submitting news stories which are against the grain, as “what’s the use, it will just get voted down again”.

A “social norm” is therefore unintentionally established on the website which gets re-enforced over time. The enforcement of this social norm soon results in the polarization of the community, ultimately leading once “neutral” sites to become clearly left vs right politically, capitalistic vs socialistic economically, or most commonly pro-Apple vs everyone else (I’m a part-time Apple user btw).

Whether or not this polarization is actually a bad thing is another discussion onto itself. The greater question is, if you own and operate a socially-organized site, are you willing to accept the possible alienation of some of your users?

Common sense would dictate that you should try to avoid alienating your customers at all times. So what can be done to prevent social norms from developing on your social media / web 2.0 / interactive website?

(How did the HFPA, a group of seemingly insignificant people,
gain such authority with their Golden Globe award show? More
importantly, how can other brands emulate their success?)

I recommend you read Part 1 of this post before continuing, as otherwise I may come off as a conspiracy theory crazed lunatic.

L.A. Weekly film critic John Powers described the members of The
Hollywood Foreign Press Association as “essentially just bottom-feeders
around the industry, who’ve somehow been inflated to this point where
their judgment is supposed to be very, very important.” (source) So how did the HFPA gain such authority in the field of entertainment review?

As it turns out, the HFPA gained their authority using pretty sound
business strategy (whether it was intentional is debatable). By
organizing an event which appeals to the needs of all the relevant
stake holders in the entertainment business, and maintaining that event
for a long enough period of time, the HFPA gained authority in the
entertainment industry - regardless of the question if they “deserve”
it.

Who are the stake holders in the Golden Globes?
There are the people who watch the show (the viewers), the people who
attend the show (the stars), the TV network which hosts the show (the
network), the movie studios which gain free publicity as a result of
the shows (the studios), the general media which covers the show (the
media), and of course the Hollywood Foreign Press Association who
organizes the show (the organizer).

It all starts with the beautiful people
The brilliance of the Golden Globes begins with creating an award show that actors actually want to attend. As Hollywood Homes mentioned,
the Golden Globes are known as a social event – the actors get to sit
at round tables with their friends, and are given free alcohol and
“goodies” just for showing up (it also doesn’t hurt that the whole
purpose of the show is to praise the existence of its very guests). Oh
– and it’s all for charity, so it would be improper for them not to
show up.

So the stars show up. The TV viewers love watching stars. The
network loves the viewers, so they jump on board by telecasting the
ceremony. The studios love free publicity, and the purpose of the show
is to publicize actor’s performances in the studios films, so the
studio does all they can to get the media to show up. The media is more
than happy to show up because not only do they need something to write
about, but they love beautiful people too, as that’s what their readers
(viewers?) demand.

So in other words, the HFPA has become an authority in the
entertainment business purely be being a facilitator of an event –
their actual knowledge/experience did not come into play.

…and this is what can be learned from the Golden Globes.
You can establish your brand as an authority on any subject by being a
facilitator - you do not need actual experience in or even knowledge of
the subject.

As stated in a previous post, this is all too common on the Internet, where the process of becoming a facilitator is logistically easier than in the “real” world.

Using a similar model to the Golden Globes but applying it online,
one could become an authority on any topic. Because it is snowing
outside right now, I will use the example of how a brand can become an
authority on snowboarding:

• Setup a forum, blog, Wiki or similar community-based interactive tool
  on the topic of snowboarding. Let’s call it snowboardingmaniacs.com.
• Find an “anchor” for your interactive tool to convince “viewers” to
  show up to snowboardingmaniacs.com (e.g. What is the equivalent of a
  celebrity to snowboarders? Pay professional snowboarders to write
  articles for your community? Provide great snowboard photos? etc…)
• Partner with an “exhibitor” who can help you expand your audience, in
  exchange for a portion of your advertising revenue (become part of the
  Yahoo network? Becoming the official photo gallery of a certain ski
  hill?)
• Get the manufacturers of snowboard related equipment involved, pumping
  money and free stuff to the top users of snowboardingmaniacs.com
• Call the snowboard and extreme sports magazines, and get them to print
  a monthly feature about the top pictures from snowboardingmaniacs.com.
• Continue to repeat this process for a few years, so people get used to the existence of snowboardingmaniacs.com.

Congratulations! Snowboardingmaniacs.com is now an authority on
snowboarding. As the founder of snowboardingmaniacs.com, you are now
qualified to speak at snowboarding events and be interviewed about
snowboarding on the news, regardless of the fact that you have never
stepped on a snowboard (or maybe even seen snow!) in your life.

Isn’t authority wonderful?