Wouldn't you love to drive people from your physical world marketing efforts to the web in real time? Who wouldn't? This has been a dream of marketers since the popularization of the web and technology is starting to catch up. QR (or quick response) codes are, quite simply two dimensional bar codes. The codes were designed in Japan for the auto industry and they remain popular today.
In marketing, QR codes have started to pop up sporadically in ads and catalogs. I did a post on this technology in 2007 which you can read here. In that post, I noted that this was a potential technology for marketers to leverage in the future. To be blunt, this is still in the future, but the trend is one that is coming quickly (though it may take another form). The ability to grab information and go will build momentum over time.
The entire system works by taking a picture of the code with a cell phone camera, decoding the symbol on the device and taking an action. That action can be directing someone to a URL, passing them a phone number, giving them marketing copy or sending them a text message.
Here is a demo of the technology in this edition of Inside//Out
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Able to be placed on myriad surfaces (paper, cloth, etc.)
Convey complex information to mobile customers
Cons:
Lack of consumer education about how QR works
Hardware/software readers are scarce
Lack of adoption in the US
Key Takeaways:
QR should be used for nothing more than a test/experiment at this point
The ability for mobile users to get complex content very quickly is a major trend
Scanning codes, text message response or the next generation of this idea will push the need further
You already see this in real estate in major markets using SMS
Integration between physical marketing and digital marketing will continue to converge using new technology
Have you seen these in mainstream ads? Would you consider using them in your campaign? Are you looking at SMS response? Let me know!
There are a number of readers out there. I use the NeoReader on the iPhone. The Kaywa Reader is probably the most popular.
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One of the most confounding issues in social media for most people/companies is finding, tracking and staying in the conversation. Backtype is a service that I've found helpful in monitoring comments that I leave, as well as reviewing comments that others have made.
As most of the value in blogs comes "below the post", monitoring comments is vital
On top of monitoring your own comments, the service also lets you track keywords inside all of the comments they index. This is an area that you will find hard to manage if you're monitoring with Google (who doesn't index most comments). As most of the value in blogs comes "below the post", monitoring comments is vital.
Here is a video overview of how it works:
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Key Takeaways:
Listening in the comment stream is normally difficult because Google does not index comments (so no alerts, etc.)
Uses a simple interface and method to track where you leave comments
Tracks replies to your comments or other comments in the same thread
Allows you to see how other people are commenting
Allows you to track keywords in comments (also hard to do with Google)
Built around a social network platform, add friends to see their comments when you log in
Do you monitor comments? If do, how do you monitor comments? If not, why?
If you have a suggestion for my next video, let me know. You can send me an email or you can leave me a comment.
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Location awareness has a lot of potential to tie the gap between digital and the physical world. The iPhone's integrated GPS clearly hints to the future of mobile social networking. Fire Eagle (a Yahoo product) aims to make updating your location easy.
The service is very simple and has only one true function. Tell the world where you are. Once you tell Fire Eagle where your location is, they allow third parties to tap in and use that same data. This way you don't have to update your location on 4-5 different sites, it is done automatically.
[Feed readers please click through to the post if you cannot see the video.]
Key Takeaways:
Social utilities, like Fire Eagle, are going to make network convergence a reality
The privacy settings that Fire Eagle uses are robust and should allay most fears of intrusion
The open API they are providing developers has picked up the adoption rate and made some major players take notice
Competition from Google/Apple/etc. will be quick to come about
As always, I want to know what is on your mind. If there is a video you would like to see me do just email me or leave a comment on the post.
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Does the world need another Twitter clone? How about thousands of them? Identi.ca is a Twitter competitor that us running on an open source platform called Laconica. The product is open source and can be installed and rebranded anywhere including behind corporate firewalls.
The trend with these services is to become more and more distributed and eventually interconnected. I would fully expect Google to implement a common protocol for these services to become universally integrated in the future. For now we'll have to rely on tools like Ping.fm and Summize (which was purchased by Twitter today) to carry out our conversations.
[Feed readers please click through to the post if you cannot view the video.]
Key Takeaways:
More and more Twitter competitors will rise up taking niche communities with them as Twitter remains on top for the foreseeable future
Open source versions of Twitter will begin appearing behind corporate fire walls acting as communications tools and helping knowledge managers compile conversations across the enterprise
Oddly during Twitter's periods of sporadic downtime, sites like Identi.ca were so crushed with traffic that they also crashed limiting Twitter's exposure
Core components missing here are the API, mobile integration (both of which are allegedly down the road)
Twitter's own open-source software is out there and may trump all of the up and comers
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Ever time that I show somebody what is possible with Facebook's advertising system, they immediately see the future of advertising. Facebook allows marketers to create ads that are extremely targeted to a unique, specific audience. The ads are pay-per-click so you only pay when somebody is interested enough to engage with you through a click.
In the example I go through in the video (which you can see in the image below) I show you the full range of targeting capabilities within Facebook. While it is very robust, there are some missing elements including ethnicity. Though you may not be able to target the exact individual you are looking for, you can use interests and keywords to achieve the same result.
Here is an Inside//Out look at Facebook's advertising system:
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Here is the screen capture from the video.
So what does this look like when done right? Here is a good example that I saw today when I logged in to Facebook. The ad to the right is promoting a Chris Brogan"Twebinar" that is hosted by Radian 6. The ad is targeted to my interests, the headline caught my eye and I recognized Chris' headshot immediately. I clicked through to the Twebinar in short order.
Key Takeaways:
Micro-targeting your audience using these services is easier than ever
Determine how you can target people directly with ads as well as using meta data to reach them indirectly (for example reaching people who watch Monday Night Football to target football fans)
Ads that speak to the audience with the right message at the right time are highly effective
The prevalence of broad, un-targeted advertising inside social networks is nearing an end
Invasive ads like Facebook's social ads should be used sparingly if at all (there is too much risk at this point)
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If you read the title of this post and thought I was kidding about the name of the service, I assure you I am not. Plurk is a new micromedia service that is just coming on the radar screen for the early adopter crowd. It builds on the ideas that Twitter has made de-facto standards and adds a bit more interactivity.
The key differentiator for Plurk is the timeline of messages that users can surf through, the modifiers (loves, hates, thinks) that are used to filter messages and the overall style. This looks to be geared toward a younger audience overall. There is a mobile site at www.plurk.com/m that allows you to post and read Plurks from your friends.
Here is a video overview:
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Key Takeaways:
These sites are all about community and this one is still young
Users must update Plurk separately from Twitter, there is no stream connection at this time
Plurk allows mobile web and IM updates (haven't seen SMS yet)
Plurk is still new so the API isn't open yet
I personally think that people can reasonably manage 2 services like this at one time, the most broadly functional services will win out
Are you using Plurk? It's open to try if you'd like. Make sure you add me there. I'll add you back.
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I'm finally set up again to do more video for you guys and this is the first one on the new equipment. Thanks again for your patience.
FriendFeed stormed onto the social media scene a couple of weeks ago and has received a lot of buzz. To break it down into the simplest terms, FriendFeed allows users to create one RSS feed that combines all of their social media touch points. You can then subscribe to your friend's feeds and have one single feed that combines all of their feeds. In the end, you can consume a lot of information in one stream instead of going to 8-10 disparate places to do the same thing. You can add me here.
Information overload is a real problem with social media, especially for those who are new to the space and could become easily overwhelmed. Services like this one are popping up to solve the information overload problem. The service is entirely opt-in so you follow who you like and you can remove somebody at any time.
[Feed readers please click through to the post if you cannot see the video.]
Key takeaways:
Information overload is a real problem as social media outlets grow daily
RSS is the technology that enables FriendFeed to scale and grow
RSS feeds can be combined, shared, redistributed and consumed in a number of helpful ways
FriendFeed allows users full control over who they follow and they can un-follow people at any time
If you know of a service that you would like to see me cover in a future post, just let me know by email or by leaving a comment on this post.
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When I posted my original Inside//Out video on Beacon, I couldn't have known how vehemently anti-Beacon people in this social media space would react. Well, Facebook took notice of the opposition and Zuckerburg himself apologized to users on the matter asking for patience and thanking users for their support.
When I asked people outside of this microcosm if they knew about Beacon, I couldn't find one who did. They all had Facebook profiles and most thought it was an interesting idea to share activities in one network. We're all in the echo chamber and have to remember that a) we're the first line of defense/adoption and b) we're *way* ahead of the normal John and Jane consumer out there. We're all working in unchartered territory, Facebook needs to beta these things better in the future with some community participation instead of unleashing them. Facebook messed up, acknowledged it, made changes to respond and have a pretty good solution in place on their end (minus a few caveats).
On the marketer side, however, we need to make sure we ALWAYS allow people to opt-in to services like this from now on. If we use an opt-in, confirm it with people and let them opt-out, we're giving people full control of what's transmitted to third-parties. These are basic email marketing practices and can be adopted for situations like this.
So what's changed? Check out this video which gives a look at what changes are in place as well as their progression to get where we are today.
[Feed readers, please click through to the post if you cannot see the video.]
Here is a re-post of my diagram explaining how Beacon works:
Marketers apply for and install the beacon code on their site
Marketers then set up actions on their site to send information with Beacon
Beacon looks on the user's local machine to see if they have a valid Facebook cookie, if it finds one, it sends the data to Facebook
When users log in to Facebook, they are presented with a message asking to allow the data to be pulled in
Users can automatically allow all, request to authorize each or deny all on a site-by-site basis
Update: Facebook now allows you to opt-out of all beacon messages (data is still transferred to Facebook if the marketer sends it)
If approved, the message is added to the users timeline (mini-feed) and is presented to their friends on the main landing page
Guidelines for marketers:
Make sure that you are allowing people to opt-in to use Beacon to push information to their profile. This is permission marketing 101.
Allow them to opt in to each action you hook Beacon up to (if there are three places you are using it, that's three opt ins).
Add some explanatory information every time information is sent, as you saw in the video the notification Facebook uses is seen only briefly. Give people a short reminder and allow them to opt out quickly.
Only use beacon for things that will add value to the user on Facebook. Hold off on the mundane things and focus on items that add value, reduce the time spent re-typing it on Facebook or hook into an application the user already has installed.
All of that said, would you recommend a client use it? If you are a marketer, would you implement this right now? Are you waiting for something more from Facebook before you step in? What is your most important takeaway from this experience?
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Wow, when those Facebook guys launch a new service, they really know how to create some buzz. Their latest addition is a service called Beacon. Quite simply, Beacon is a way for marketers to allow users on their sites to send information to Facebook. Some examples include making a blog post on Typepad and having it automatically fed into Facebook or eBay sellers having their products pushed to their profiles. This is a great way to bring chunks of information into one central location and when paired with Facebook's Social Ads, it's a powerful, integrated marketing tool.
Some big name marketers are using Beacon at this very moment. They include AllPosters.com, Blockbuster, Bluefly.com, CBS Interactive (CBSSports.com & Dotspotter), ExpoTV, Gamefly, Hotwire, Joost, Kiva, Kongregate, LiveJournal, Live Nation, Mercantila, National Basketball Association, NYTimes.com, Overstock.com, (RED), Redlight, SeamlessWeb, Sony Online Entertainment LLC, Sony Pictures, STA Travel, The Knot, TripAdvisor, Travel Ticker, TypePad, viagogo, Vox, Yelp, WeddingChannel.com and Zappos.com.
But, Beacon is causing quite a stir with privacy advocates. One reason is that some sites are using Beacon to send data to Facebook without asking the users if they want to do participate. Beacon looks to see if you have a valid Facebook cookie on your machine and uses that to push content to your account. (Multple people using one machine will undoubtedly have problems with Beacon since it is machine specific.) Charlene Li at Forrester has one such story while making a purchase on Overstock.com. Many other people are talking about Beacon across the blogosphere.
Facebook is only partly to blame. Marketers who use Beacon to exploit their users should be held fully accountable.
Facebook is listening to feedback from its users and committed to evolving Beacon so users have even more control over the actions shared from participating sites with their friends on Facebook…Facebook already has made changes to ensure that no information is shared unless a user receives notifications both on a participating website and on Facebook.
Check out the video as I take you through a real example and be sure to jump down below for more information and some guidelines all marketers should follow.
[Feed readers, please click through to the post if you cannot see the video.]
Here is a diagram of how it works (click for a larger image):
Marketers apply for and install the beacon code on their site
Marketers then set up actions on their site to send information with Beacon
Beacon looks on the user's local machine to see if they have a valid Facebook cookie, if it finds one, it sends the data to Facebook
When users log in, they are presented with a message asking to allow the data to be pulled in
Users can automatically allow all, request to authorize each or deny all on a site-by-site basis
If approved, the message is added to the users timeline (mini-feed) and is presented to their friends on the main landing page
Guidelines for marketers:
Make sure that you are allowing people to opt-in to use Beacon to push information to their profile. This is permission marketing 101.
Allow them to opt in to each action you hook Beacon up to (if there are three places you are using it, that's three opt ins).
Add some explanatory information every time information is sent, as you saw in the video the notification Facebook uses is seen only briefly. Give people a short reminder and allow them to opt out quickly.
Only use beacon for things that will add value to the user on Facebook. Hold off on the mundane things and focus on items that add value, reduce the time spent re-typing it on Facebook or hook into an application the user already has installed.
Points of contention from privacy groups that you need to be aware of:
Some sites are not allowing people to opt in to use Beacon, instead people are surprised by it (See items 1, 2 and 3 above).
The opt-out message shown on the screen is too quick and not prominent enough (you can see this in the video)
The alert on Facebook (after you log in) is hard to see and, again, is phrased as an opt out message instead of opt in.
Each use of Beacon requires users to set preferences and is tedious.
The opportunities with Beacon are immense, but if marketers lose sight of customer privacy it can be a disaster. What do you think about Beacon? Is it too invasive? What should Facebook do to make it work without sacrificing privacy? They have to make some changes to this, but it's anybody's guess as to when that will happen.
[Update 1:] 11/29Jeremiah just posted a link to this response from Facebook on Beacon via Twitter. The key points are: 1) making it more clear before something is posted to Facebook, 2) asking partners to provide visual cues that they use Beacon and 3) they are going to provide more info and a tutorial on how Beacon works to allay fears.
[Update 2:] 11/29Justin Smith at InsideFacebook notes Facebook's changes to the system making it opt-in. He notes the following specifics:
Stories about actions users take on external websites will continue to be presented to users at the top of their News Feed the next time they return to Facebook. These stories will now always be expanded on their home page so they can see and read them clearly.
Users must click on “OK” in a new initial notification on their Facebook home page before the first Beacon story is published to their friends from each participating site. We recognize that users need to clearly understand Beacon before they first have a story published, and we will continue to refine this approach to give users choice.
If a user does nothing with the initial notification on Facebook, it will hide after some duration without a story being published. When a user takes a future action on a Beacon site, it will reappear and display all the potential stories along with the opportunity to click “OK” to publish or click “remove” to not publish.
Users will have clear options in ongoing notifications to either delete or publish. No stories will be published if users navigate away from their home page. If they delay in making this decision, the notification will hide and they can make a decision at a later time.
Clicking the “Help” link next to the story will take users to a full tutorial that explains exactly how Beacon works, with screenshots showing each step in the process.
[Update 3:] 12/5 Mark Zuckerberg has posted on the Facebook blog with an explanation and apology to users.
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Utterz is a new micromedia service along the same lines as Twitter, Pownce and Jaiku. Utterz, however, concentrates more on multimedia than straight text with options to record audio and send video and photos. All of this content is tied to the user's cell phone, so all you have to do is dial in and Utterz knows who you are. The same thing goes with video and photos, just send the file in an email and they post it to your account.
As with any social network, and micromedia networks are no different, there is a balance between audience and functionality. The people make up the network and Utterz is new to the scene and has low adoption right now. On the other hand, the service makes it so easy to create content and automatically feed it out to existing services (website, blog, Facebook, MySpace, etc.) that it is worth a look.
Check out this Inside//Out look at Utterz:
[Feed readers, please click through to the post if you cannot see the video.]
What you need to know:
Utterz allows for micromedia content from a mobile phone to be easily created and distributed
Content creation is down to the level where anybody who has a mobile phone can be a creator
Content can include voice, video, photos or text
Content can also be accessed through the web or through applications built on their API
Utterz allows for quick creation, but the power is in the distribution (widgets, RSS feed, etc.)
Uses include communication breaking events in photo, video, voice and text, update messages to customers ("the network is down and we're working on it")
The use of multimedia allows more expression in out attention-casting
The success of these tools is getting the content to the audience, Utterz is a network, but your customer may not be there so extending the content to other networks is a key strategy
Here is one of the widgets that allow you to take the content to
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Matt Dickman is a blogger, speaker and technology evangelist working as SVP, Digital Marketing at Fleishman-Hillard.
This is his personal blog and the thoughts and opinions expressed here are his and do not necessarily represent the views of his employer or its clients.
To help you stay on top of what is happening in digital marketing and social media subscribe to the Techno//Marketer podcast on iTunes. Stay informed and get access to new videos first.
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Location awareness has a lot of potential to tie the gap between digital and the physical world. The iPhone's integrated GPS clearly hints to the future of mobile social networking. 
Does the world need another Twitter clone? How about thousands of them? 
Ever time that I show somebody what is possible with 
So what does this look like when done right? Here is a good example that I saw today when I logged in to Facebook. The ad to the right is promoting a 
If you read the title of this post and thought I was kidding about the name of the service, I assure you I am not. 
I'm finally set up again to do more video for you guys and this is the first one on the 
When I 
Utterz is a new 
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