The Tony Soprano guide to social media
It’s that time of the year: I’m considering watching The Sopranos again from the start. I need a week off, some quality Italian food and no distractions from the goddamned Feds.
This urge was the result of a bunch of Tony Soprano quotes that I stumbled upon and – since it’s a Friday - I wondered if any of them could be applied to social media. Turns out that they can…
The A-Z of conversion rate optimisation
E-commerce professionals tend to obsess about conversion rates and how to optimise them. Why? Because a tiny increase in conversion rates can generate millions in additional sales for large retailers, so it’s obviously worth throwing resources at ongoing optimisation strategies.
A lot of the basics are obvious. Selling online is about being relevant, removing distractions, and having a clear proposition. It’s about having a competitive price and a trustworthy brand. By testing and experimenting these things you can boost conversion rates.
What else is there? Well, I’ve compiled an A-to-Z of conversion rate optimisation for your viewing pleasure, along with a bunch of links to further reading. Hopefully this will help you to boost sales at your firm.
Q&A with Spotify CEO Daniel Ek
Spotify has been a revelation since it launched late last year. The innovative ad-supported music service allows users to access and play full-length tracks for free.
Alternatively, there's the option of paying a small monthly fee to sign up to the premium version in order to remove the ads and access the mobile version.
All in all it's a fine playground for anybody who loves music. I caught up with Spotify CEO Daniel Ek, who talks about the company's progress and plans...
35 social media KPIs to help measure engagement
Social media measurement is something that I think should be undertaken with a sense of perspective, by standing back and looking at the big picture.
A widescreen approach to social media measurement ultimately looks at the things that really matter: sales, profits, customer satisfaction and loyalty. Besides, honing in on the detail might not be the best use of your time, given the obvious difficulties that arise, particularly with attribution.
But standing back and looking at the bigger picture is not going to be enough for your data-mad boss, is it? It’s a bit too soft focus, right? He or she is going to want to see proof that all this social optimisation is actually working.
If that’s the case, then don’t worry: there are lots of things you can measure...
10 ways of using Posterous at work or home
Posterous is one of those web apps that comes along and brightens up the world. It is a gift that keeps on giving. And here’s why: it’s flexible, and it’s really easy to use.
The core USP that underpins Posterous is the ability to post content quickly from a range of sources. To create posts you can use the bookmarklet, email, or the Posterous web editor. It's about the fastest way of publishing content to the web and I for one love it.
So how can you use Posterous to get the best out of it? I have a few ideas...
Five glorious presentations on visual thinking
Do you think in words or pictures, or both? Visual thinking engages the part of the brain that handles visual processing, and is said to be both "emotional and creative" so you can "organise information in an intuitive and simultaneous way".
A picture really might be worth a thousand words, while being easier to understand and recall. Therefore it is worth exploring how visual thinking can help you communicate ideas to colleagues and clients.
I have collated a few presentations to help you do exactly that. These will help you to understand the benefits of visual thinking, and there - obviously - lots of useful visualisations to aid you.
Econsultancy's top 25 blog posts of the year
I've been digging around Google Analytics today to make sense of a few trends, and also to see what kind of content has been popular on the blog this year.
I guess it's unsurprising to note that posts on Twitter and social media have been particularly well-received. Lists continue to work as a scannable, does-what-it-says-on-the-tin format, and our how-to and tools-based posts are always popular.
At any rate, I thought I'd aggregate these posts together for your viewing pleasure, and to provide - hopefully - another handy bookmark for you.
UK newspapers threaten major news aggregator
News aggregator NewsNow has been on the receiving end of legal threats from a number of UK newspapers, a move that is the equivalent of a herd of donkeys filing a class action suit against the inventor of the wheel.
The announcement comes six months after the Associated Press said it would demand more control over links and revenue sharing from aggregators.
While AP hasn’t been named by NewsNow as a complainant, an open letter by NewsNow MD Struan Bartlett has pointed to most of the UK’s top newspapers, including The Times, The Sun, The Guardian, Daily Mail, Daily Mirror, The Daily Telegraph, The Independent and Daily Express.
He's asked these newspapers to "restore amicable relations" with aggregators, including NewsNow, which itself appears under threat as a result of the mainstream media's demands.
Spotify launches MP3 download service
Spotify, the joyous music app, has launched an updated download service, seemingly in a bid to generate additional revenue.
The move comes a month or so after Spotify enabled offline access for both the deskptop and iPhone app. It makes it much easier to purchase songs, by promoting the download service via highly visible icons. Previously you had to jump through hoops if you wanted to buy music via Spotify.
Songs cost 79p and full albums are available for £7.99, though not every song or album can currently be purchased. Downloads can be added to Spotify playlists in the usual way.
What’s on your Google wishlist?
Google remains synonymous with search, but we all know that there’s so much more to it than that.
Most internet professionals use Google’s apps and services to help power their businesses. It’s pretty much unheard of for a website owner to be unfamiliar with Google Adwords, Gmail, Google Analytics, Google Webmaster Tools, much less to avoid using any of these products.
The trouble is, as good as they are, there is always scope for improvement. So here are my five wishes for improvements to Google’s existing product set. Admittedly they are not the most ambitious of requests: they’re simply tweaks that I think Google can introduce quickly, perhaps with the exception of the first one…
Holiday shopping forecast 2009: a lot like 2008, with more coupons
The NLA explains why it is going after the news aggregators
Web 2.0
Graham Charlton
Strategy & Planning
