RSS: Really Simple Strategy

Unless you’re like me and you’re posting like a fiend to get your assignment done for your master’s class on time, you may not have as much of an opportunity to post on your website or blog every day.  

On the flip side, are you overrun with blogs and news sites you frequent?   For example, I just perused the Advertising Age Power 150 Blogs, and thought my head would spin with so many resources.   

In either of these cases, why not consider an RSS feed? 

Say what?   If you’re not familiar with the acronym, you’re not alone.  

 More likely, you’re probably familiar with the little orange button you’ll see all over cyberspace.

The RSS stands for Really Simple Syndication.   According to its entry in Wikipedia (more on that below), “RSS is a family of web feed formats used to publish frequently updated works—such as blog entries, news headlines, audio, and video—in a standardized format.”

Pushing Data Out

The internet is hungry for fresh content. One of the simplest ways to get traffic via RSS is to use a blog.   Each time you update your blog, the RSS feed will give readers a sample of your content and a link to your blog for more information.

Blogs sites  (such as WordPress) are  fairly user friendly tools, and can be a quick way to publish RSS feeds. By categorizing your blog by date and topic, RSS directories can be used to promote your blog.

Streamlining Data In

What about the information overload from so many newsources and blogs? RSS feeds allow you to choose to get update notifications delivered directly to you through a news reader of your choice (Google, Yahoo and Microsoft all offer these services). 

You then select the Web sites from which you want to receive information and the content will be delivered automatically to your RSS reader.

Either if you are a reader or a marketer, RSS offers an efficient means to build an effective means of two-way communication.   Companies are using RSS for a variety of reasons, ranging from public relations to one-click product deals 

 For a brief tutorial on creating an RSS in plain English, here’s a great YouTube video:

 

 

A word about Wikipedia:

Wikipedia is the free online encyclopedia that is open to the public for editing.   The site was launched in 2001 and has grown to include millions of articles in a variety of languanges. There are significant concerns about the  quality information that has an open architecture for editing.   However, Wikipedia has become one of the most popular resources, and is reported as being the eighth most-visited Web site in the United States.

 With real time editing, Wikipedia does not have a formal review process.  As a result, every article can be called as accurate as those who have taken the time to write or edit it.   Although Wikipedia (and the growing number of individual “wikis” for specific topics) continus to grow,  research from an extra source is always a good idea to get your facts straight.

Can a mattress be social? Tempur-Pedic becomes buddies with Facebook and Twitter

This is one of the first commercials I have seen in a while that directly linked Social Media with a product. Mattress Company Tempur-Pedic (the squishy mattress with the handprint) has a new “ask me” television campaign to drive potential consumers to Facebook and Twitter sites to get a first hand look at what “actual Temper-Pedic owners” are saying about the mattresses. Tying in social media directly with an ad has been done before yes, but this one caught my attention as it so closely ties in social media directly with the product’s TV ads.

Curiosity got the best of me, and I just had to check out what people are saying. Currently Temper-pedic has 3,396 fans on Facebook.   Tempur-Pedic’s Twitter presence is fan based only, I could not find a page dedicated to the company through a keyword search.   One of the first Google hits on Tempur-Pedic and Twitter came up with a comment by consumer Gretchen Rubin, who claimed that the company’s pillows had a horrible smell.   I guess that proves the posts are real, but if I was the CEO of Tempur-Pedic, it’s probably not the first impression I would want of the company.

Back to Facebook , the replies I read were positive, save one from Nicole Brown on Christmas Eve.   Ms Brown is a current customer and made a comment that she is looking for sheets that better fit her mattress. Tempur-pedic was on its game, and sent a reply with a recommendation for something that may help her in less than 24 hours. The Tempur-Pedic reply was on Christmas Day no less! That’s exceptional customer service!

Based on replies on what customer’s are saying, I wouldn’t mind giving Tempur-Pedic a try.  However, like fine jewelry and luxury automobiles, you get what you pay for. On December 22nd, fan Betsi Lynch called her Tempur-Pedic the “best $7,918 she’s ever spent.” Now that’s some pricey sleep!  

Costs aside, there are lots of consumers that desperately need a comfortable mattress due to back problems or other physical limitations, and I’ll bet this sort of product that would be perfect for them.   Kudos to Tempur-Pedic for taking a brave step into social media to keep the dialong between clients and potential clients going.  

You can check out the Tempur-Pedic ad here:

http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?comments&v=1204137496205

Oops….the problems with paid searches

Google proudly distinguishes itself as a company that does not participate as “a pay to play” search engine. If a link appears in a query for a Google keyword search, it’s because Google thought it was a relevant result for the end user’s needs. Yes, the company permits advertising on its site, but ads must be relevant to the current search (more on that below), nuisance pop-ups or fly-ins are not allowed, paid links are clearly identified, and a maximum of three links can appear before unpaid results. Placement samples are shown below:

Advertisers select the queries that paid links should match, and Google then decides placement by an auction. In turn, auction results determine the charge for the ad’s click-through rate If the click-through rate of an ad falls under a certain level, Google pulls the ad.

Sounds fool proof, right?

Wrong.

Even on Google’s blissfully end-user friendly search engine, snafus can result. A few years ago, a search about a horrific murder in which the victim was found in a suitcase yielded Google adword results for a suitcase company. Let’s pray that a copycat criminal wasn’t shopping online that day!

Google has since fixed its technical algorithms so that another similar unfortunate mix of search terms will not occur. But what this example tells us is technology’s failure to react to behavior or intent of the consumers.

Never fear, as this year Google announced a new beta search product that will match an ad with the context of the end user’s current search, in addition to the option for results to factor in the user’s online history not directly related to the current search. Although Google has an in-depth privacy policy, this type of behind the scenes advertising has privacy watchdog groups nervous.

So now it seems Big Brother Google is watching us. Let’s hope he doesn’t have a suitcase.