Most people think that the Web is a pretty big deal. It created a universal platform for communication and content that unleashed an astounding amount of creativity.
However, there is a second Web brewing that could be even more powerful. We won’t see much of it, because it won’t be a platform for us, but for machines and it will unleash the power of information by linking data that we have long sequestered in disparate places.
The consequences for marketers will be profound. New terms such as metatags, API’s and the web of things are already entering the media lexicon. The next Web will fundamentally change not only the way we interact with consumers, but how we work with each other. Here’s a summary of what’s going on and what to expect.
I started Digital Tonto a little over a year ago to get my views out about media and advertising. I’ve always tried to say not only what I think, but why I think it and substantiate my views with facts. For the most part, my efforts have been well received.
Lately though, I begun to feel like I’ve been cheating a bit. In my quest to put my ideas on solid ground, I’ve dealt largely with issues that lend themselves to an evidenced based approach. However, core beliefs can not be demonstrated in the same way that technical issues can. Sometimes you just have to say what you think.
Therefore, here are four things that I think are truly important if you are going to succeed at anything. I can’t prove them, but believe them to be true.
I don’t normally like to make predictions, but here’s one: In ten years, social networks will become the new econometrics.
As social networking technology becomes more advanced and increased online activity makes more robust data sets available, social networks are beginning to be utilized in an amazing variety of ways. Some of this is exciting, other facets are a bit scary.
However, one thing is clear: Social networks (although not necessarily social media) will revolutionize how marketing is done. Here’s a short overview of what’s going on.
Strategy and innovation are inextricably linked. To move forward in any direction, you need to change and improve the way you do things in an environment of changing context.
However, where many go wrong is in assuming that strategy must precede innovation. Often, if not the great majority of the time, it is the other way around. Innovations, such as the steam engine, railroads, the Internet and the search engine change the substrate within which economic organisms evolve.
Therefore, it is important not to fall into the trap of selecting specific areas in which to innovate. A preponderance of evidence shows that creating an innovative environment is more important than the ability to pick winning areas.
There is a popular marketing mantra that you should always target high-volume, high-value consumers. Why waste time on marginal, low profit prospects when you can go after the big fish. That’s where the real money is!
However, there is a problem with that argument. Different brands in different situations have different needs. Moreover, since marketing contexts tend to be fluid, targeting needs to be flexible and adaptive, not subservient to rigid rules.
While the heavy consumer argument is valid and carries weight, there are, in fact, some good reasons to look outside heavy consumers when considering your marketing plan.
Networks, spurred on by digital technology, have become such an important part of our lives so quickly, that much of the bigger story has been lost. The result has been a lot of unneeded confusion.
We tweet, update our status on Facebook and talk constantly on our mobile phones. We prospect for business, find jobs, friends, lovers and even spouses through a complex web of relationships that we’ve really just begun to really understand.
That is the story of networks. It’s a fascinating tale with many twists and turns that reach across centuries. Moreover, it’s an important one. As networks become a larger part of our lives and businesses, we need to understand them better than we do now.
Everything is changing! Nobody watches TV or uses e-mail, advertisers are racing to shift money into digital media as fast as possible and those fat cats who are too lazy to change will all soon be toast.
These things all must be true, because you can read them on the Internet. You can either accept it or…check the facts.
The amount of crap that’s regularly spewed around never fails to amaze me. Self-styled gurus often relish in mouthing off without the first clue about what they’re talking about. Here are some facts, like ‘em or not!
I was still in high school in the 1980’s when I first heard the term “information age.” I wasn’t quite sure what it meant, but it seemed to be important then and has since proved to be a true revolution.
It is clear now that the information age is now giving way to the communication age. There is an abundance of data, but getting the right information to where it can be most useful is where real value is created today.
Ludwig Wittgenstein, one of the most intriguing characters of the 20th century, can help guide us. Ironically, despite being a profound thinker about communication, he was somewhat inscrutable himself. Nevertheless, there is much we can learn from him if we make a little effort.
Websites are important. They allow us to promote, sell and communicate more effectively than we ever have before.
So it’s somewhat paradoxical that most websites fail miserably. What’s more, the reason that they fail is seldom a lack of investment or even effort. They fail because they are too difficult to use.
There’s no reason it has to be this way. Although much in the digital world is complicated and mysterious, web usability is fairly straightforward with sound principles that are well established. Here are 5 simple rules that will help you.
The Internet, and the World Wide Web it has spawned, has always had a quasi-hippie feel to it. Openness has been prized, in both architecture and practice, while proprietary technology and business models have been viewed with suspicion, if not disdain.
Lately, there is a growing sense among many digerati that a shift is taking place; that the web is passing from its idealistic adolescence into a more realistic adulthood. Accordingly, the digital future will begin to look more like the analog past where hardnosed business people defend their dominion with fervor and intensity.
Central to this view is that the open web is some kind of newfangled idea that will perish once cooler heads prevail. However, a more realistic interpretation is that the concept is as old as capitalism itself, dating back to just after American Revolution and David Ricardo, one of free enterprise’s seminal figures.
Or install manually
Copy and paste the following Google tag code onto every page of your website, immediately after the element. Don’t add more than one Google tag to each page.
