Mobile Security

Eventually, I imagine I'll use a cell phone to pay for goods and services. It's already being done in places like Japan and Finland, although not all of the technology has been worked out. But it's only a matter of time before I whip out my cell phone to pay a bill at a restaurant or buy a new pair of shoes.

The first steps have already been taken. According to Wikipedia, there are four main methods of mobile payment. The method most commonly used in Asia is direct mobile billing, where the customer's mobile account is charged. Some companies have mobile apps that allow on-line shopping from your mobile device. For example, Amazon has apps and procedures for mobile payments from the Android, iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch.

Mobile Marketing Watch reports on a survey of mobile phone users done by Myxer, a company that specializes in mobile media content. According to the article, ("Myxer Sheds Light on mCommerce Habits of Today's Mobile Shoppers", http://www.mobilemarketingwatch.com/myxer-sheds-light-on-mcommerce-habits-of-todays-mobile-shoppers-17090/#more-17090), 53% of 2400 mobile users who answered the survey said they made a purchase from their mobile phone. Of that 53%, 31% said they like to have their purchases charged on their mobile bill, while 18% liked to pay by credit card. Younger people in the 18-24 age group were more likely to prefer having the purchase on their mobile bill while those in the older age group preferred to pay by credit card.

No doubt those numbers will continue to grow. In my opinion, that makes security an even more important concern. In the wake of the Rupert Murdoch phone hacking scandal, it's clear that smartphone security will be in important issue, as use of smartphones and other mobile devices increases. Not only do smartphone users need to secure email messages, other information used for e-commerce must be protected.

An article on smart phone security on the website Tech Republic (What are the prospects for smartphone security threats?, http://www.techrepublic.com/blog/security/what-are-the-prospects-for-smartphone-security-threats/3752?tag=mantle_skin;content), downplays threats like viruses because laptops, desktops and servers are still better targets. But the article outlines two immediate security threats to smartphones. The first is the simple danger of having a device stolen. " I have yet to see any smartphone from any vendor whose screen-locking mechanism is worth more than a few moments’ delay for a determined and technically proficient thief," the article reads. "The blame, of course, lies in part at the feet of the smartphone’s need for convenience — and the fact that, with the extremely limited user interfaces of these devices, convenience effectively means no security at all."

The other threat, according to the article, involves the growing use of the smartphone for financial transactions. "The problems are with the lack of suitability these devices have, at present, for securely managing these transactions," says the article.

All of these issues will be worked out, but it may happen in a jerky, one-step-forward-two-steps-back fashion, as technology tries to keep pace with consumer demand.

The Search Engine Optimization chapter of the Social Media Handbook discusses some of the practices used in SEO that try to cheat the system and fool the search engines in order to drive more traffic to a site or increase the sites's visibility.

According to the book, "Wiki Brands", SEO is a $16-billion industry in the U.S. and is predicted to be the third highest online expenditure, after social media and online video. The book says, "Keyword ownership, optimized website architecture, new content and link building are the success drivers of effective search engine optimization."

But how do you know the person you hire to help you with SEO will do a good job, using legitimate SEO methods? Should the SEO industry to regulated.

It seems to me that the industry is too new and changing too fast to be governed by any meaningful regulation. Just as anyone can call themselves a "social media expert", it probably is easy for someone to set up shop as a SEO consultant. Because so-called "black hat" tactics are seen as unethical, but not really illegal, it would be hard to police regulations or guidelines.

Google does take action to penalize companies for using "black hat SEO".

For example, in February, the New York Times reported on "black hat" SEO tactics used to keep J.C. Penney at the top of the list throughout the holiday season. "Someone paid to have thousands of links placed on hundreds of sites scattered around the Web, all of which lead directly to JCPenney.com." , the article reported. ("The Dirty Little Secrets of Search", http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/13/business/13search.html?pagewanted=1&_r=3&src=buslness) J.C. Penney fired its SEO consultant, SearchDex, and Google took action to "demote" JC Penney so that it would show up lower on the search engine rankings.

A number of problems plague the SEO industry. The companies that use "black hat" tactics may get better results, at least in the short term, so they attract businesses away from the "white hat" consultants. There are SEO associations that try to encourage the industry to follow ethical standards but the associations don't really offer a lot of benefits to their members, according to the Search Engine Optimization Journal. "Growing a good, white hat SEO company almost isn’t worth the effort when a quick $50 can be made with a little link buying. Industry associations create cliques that don’t play well with each other and don’t provide any real value to the members. Before the SEO industry can really rebuild its reputation, it has plenty of internal cleanups to take care of." ("Major Issues Within the SEO Industry" http://www.searchengineoptimizationjournal.com/2011/06/02/issues-seo-industry/)

Really?

When I read the chapter on virtual worlds my first thought was, "This is crazy. I can't keep track of my real life and now they want me to have a virtual one?" And after reading the Gaming the System chapter, I thought, "Aha! So THIS is the time-suck that my kids are involved in." I'm going to blog about these chapters together because of their similar nature.

I checked out Second Life to see what it was about and mostly did a lot of eye-rolling during the "virtual tours". Really? Who does this? Who has TIME to do this? I couldn't quite force myself to try the video games. I'll leave that to my sons.

But I did find some articles about marketing and virtual worlds that were interesting and made some good points.

The news is mixed for Second Life and other virtual worlds when it comes to whether there's a good ROI for marketing. At times, marketing efforts struggle and flounder in the virtual world. An analysis of Second Life marketing on Gigaom gives three reasons why marketing in a virtual world doesn't succeed. ("Marketing in Second Life Doesn't Work: Here's Why!" http://gigaom.com/2007/04/04/3-reasons-why-marketing-in-second-life-doesnt-work/) One of the reasons the article cites is that avatars in Second Life sometimes move around by flying or teleporting, so they bypass billboards and other advertisements without seeing them. The article also says that successful entrepreneurs operating in Second Life attract business by having constant events and giveaways. And finally, the article says real businesses can't compete with the amazing businesses created in a virtual world by college kids and housewives who have time and the creativity.

"Faced with such talented competition," reports the article, "smart marketers should concede defeat, and hire these college kids and housewives to create concept designs and prototypes that re-imagine their brands merged to existing SL-based brands which have already proved themselves in a world of infinite possibility."

One Second Life success story is Coldwell Banker. The real estate company worked with a software company to develop a tracking technology that monitors when avatars visit the Coldwell Banking "metaverse", how long they stay and what they do there. The technology also helps streamline the process of purchasing a home in Second Life. (Second Life Success, A Case Study, https://kinesismomentum.wordpress.com/2007/06/05/second-life/) When avatars have a good experience buying a house in a virtual world, they're more likely to visit Coldwell Banker when the time comes in real life.

Another successful campaign in Second Life was an IMAX promotion of a Harry Potter movie. The agency behind the promotion had "buzz agent" avatars at the Welcome Center who's job was to greet newcomers to Second Life, pass out flyers and memorabilia and direct them to the IMAX retail site. The promotion was credited with increasing online ticket sales. (Virtual World Marketing That Works: My Top Three, http://gigaom.com/2008/09/19/virtual-world-marketing-that-works-my-top-3-tips/)

Online gaming has a better and more proven track record for advertising. And the trends suggest the market is growing. MediaPost Online News predicts consumer spending for hardware, software and videogaming will increase from $11.9 billion this year to $20.3 billion in 2015. Mobile devices are expected to boost the dollar amount even higher. ("In-Game Advertising On Rise", http://www.mediapost.com/publications/?fa=Articles.showArticle&art_aid=153692)

One successful trend involves setting goals in games that are sponsored. Players could win an incentive after playing for an hour or achieving a certain level. In return, they get rewards that can be redeemed in either the virtual world or the real world. For example, 50% off coupons for Nike shoes could be offered in return for reaching a certain level of a game. If a player also tweets about the deal to friends, and they retweet the message, the friends would receive the same prize.

A new development in Microsoft's Xbox Kinect will also allow users to interact with an advertisement while playing a game or watching a movie. ("With Xbox's New In-Game Advertising, Engagement is the Key", http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/21/business/media/21xbox.html) The "NUads" allow gamers to use voice and movement to interact with ads. They can send tweets or other messages about an ad, wave their hands and vote on a new pizza topping or ask for help in finding the closest retailer. The article says the NUads provide a new way to interact with the TV. '“When you have highly interactive people and a passive medium, they are interacting with their phone or their laptop while watching TV,” said Mark Kroese, the general manager of the advertising business group at Microsoft. The new ads, Mr. Kroese said, “create a natural way for the user to engage with the TV.” '

Yes, there are some marketing possibilities in virtual worlds and online gaming that we should take seriously. The key is to be creative and provide possibilities for interaction.

And hire people to be part of the campaign who don't roll their eyes.

Livecasting

Years ago, two friends of mine and I decided we needed our own TV show. Our conversations were so entertaining and interesting (in our own minds, at least) that we believed we could have a show on cable access where we just talked about the issues as we usually do, and our water-cooler gossip would fascinate legions of viewers.

Little did we know, that a few years later, we could have done exactly that with our own Internet TV or radio show. After reading the chapter about livecasting in the Social Media Bible, I'm wondering if it's an excellent opportunity to reach a targeted audience.

I checked out VoiceAmerica.com, one of the sites that provide the opportunity to host your own show. I listened to segments of a few of the shows and found them entertaining but with varying degrees of professionalism. One of the health shows, called Good Life Fitness, sounded like it would be a topic I'm interested in but the actual show was severely over-modulated so it was annoying to listen. It's a reminder that poor production isn't acceptable. Other shows I dropped in on were well-done and professionally produced.

I couldn't find out what, if any, is the cost associated with livecasting a show via VoiceAmerica.com without registering and having someone call me. But the benefits include an in-house producer assigned to your show and a toll-free number for call-in guests.

VoiceAmerica.com also provides opportunities for advertising. According to the site, "online radio attracts an upscale, highly educated and employed audience", delivering 14% of the 18-49 radio buying demographic and one in five of the 18-49 year olds per week. The site also claims , "a minimum 'sticky factor' of 24-25 minutes per listener. Stickiness is anything about a website that encourages a visitor to stay longer or come back frequently. On the VoiceAmerica Talk Radio Network, it’s the quality of our content, talented hosts and compelling guests."

It's hard to believe that what seem to be obscure radio shows are doing that well. But then, I'm someone who still has a land line and watches TV on the television set, not the computer. Maybe the rest of the world really is moving toward more personalized and individual broadcasts, like VoiceAmerica or BlogTalkRadio. How long before everyone watches individualized programs online as a rule, instead of an exception?

It does make me wonder if we could take advantage of the medium by producing our own shows for the University of Nebraska. I haven't really thought it through, but perhaps there's a market for a show about the university. The key is how to market such a show and promote it in order to grow the audience. It's worth looking into.

Twitter Campaigns

I'm a reluctant "twitterer". I have an account and once in a great while, I check in. It's one of those tools that I just don't seem to have time for. I did recently set up a Hootsuite account that combines my Twitter/Facebook/LinkedIn accounts and I'm going to TRY make it my go-to social media source.

I found "The ROI of Social Media" in the micro-blogging chapter particularly interesting. This was a business that makes effective use of Twitter and actually sees results.
I started trolling the web for other successful examples.

One case I found on Mashable is the Edge Shave Zone Anti-Irritation Campaign. (Mashable.com, http://mashable.com/2011/01/18/edge-soirritating/, Twitter + Random Acts of Kindness = A Successful Social Campaign.) Edge relieves the suffering of irritated twitterers out there who tweet their annoyances to #soirritating or other accounts. Mashable reports two Edge employees work full-time seeking out irritations and, in some cases, trying to ease those annoyances with clever and creative solutions from the #EdgeofGreatness account.

For example, when someone tweeted it was irritating to run out of cereal, Edge sent him a supply of cereal. Another annoyed tweeter received a new iPad. One woman who reported hearing voices in her head speaking Spanish received a Spanish-English dictionary.

The campaign has garnered thousands of followers and is building the always sought-after and elusive "buzz".

Two key points jumped out at me after reading this article.

First of all, a social media campaign like this one requires an investment of time, energy and creativity to be effective. The campaign kept two employees busy full-time. If you want a social media campaign to be successful, you have to be willing to devote the resources to it.

Secondly, the campaign was also a success because the employees were able to move quickly and autonomously. The Mashable article says the Edge team had the freedom to make decisions without consulting with the client. Reports Mashable: "Had the team, let’s say, had a weekly meeting with the client to approve that week’s tweets, the campaign would have lacked its conversational tone and much of its ability to engage."

This gets at one of the benefits and dangers of a social media campaign. In order to run a successful campaign, a client has to let go. That's a scary prospect. But with communications campaigns that evolve and develop as quickly as social media, you can't keep tight control without losing effectiveness.

Don't "Just Do It"

Last year, the University of Nebraska State Museum came to us asking for a viral video as part of a year-long campaign to celebrate the museum's anniversary. In my opinion, you might as well have asked us to help them win the lottery. HOW do you possibly make a video go viral? It's what everyone wants but it's difficult to attain.

Chapter 13 of the Social Media Bible suggests we just, "Just Do It." I would disagree. I think you need to be much more strategic when it comes to any type of promotional campaign.

I urged the museum officials to consider their goals and what would be the most effective and efficient way to achieve them, given a limited budget. One of their goals was to increase attendance at the museum regionally. I didn't think a viral video was necessarily the best way to achieve that goal. Even if we were able to produce a viral video that was seen by millions of people, would that necessarily bring more people in the door. Would hundreds of people watching the video in Alabama or China or Canada really lead to more attendance?

A more effective and less expensive plan to increase attendance might have included strategically placed ads in regional publications and web sites.

We did end up producing a series of "viral videos" at Lincoln schools that involved children dancing with the museum "mascot", a costumed mammoth named Archie. Five videos at five different schools were produce and as of today, the five videos had 981 views. It cost about $1500 to produce the videos. Is that a success? My guess is that most of the views were from children, parents, grandparents and other family members. Lincoln children already visit the museum at least once during the school years. I don't think that series of videos probably resulted in more visits to the museum.

I do think there are tricks to making a video go viral. Dan Ackerman Greenberg, a founder of the viral video marketing company, The Comotion Group, says, when it comes to making a video go viral, "Content is not king." (Tech Crunch, http://techcrunch.com/2007/11/22/the-secret-strategies-behind-many-viral-videos/) When Greenberg's company is hired, his goal is to produce a video and get it to Youtube's "most viewed" page. He employes a number of tactics to do this, including paying people who write relevant blogs to embed the video, starting threads on forums and embedding the video and sending the video to an email list. He also has a complex system of tagging videos to make sure they "lead the viewer down the rabbit hole" to related content.

According to Greenberg, the "wild west" of viral videos is over.

"You simply can't expect to post great videos on YouTube and have them go viral on their own, even if you think you have the best videos ever," said Greenberg. "These days, achieving true virality takes serious creativity, some luck and a lot of hard work."

So don't "Just Do It". Think about it. Plan it. Work on it. And keep your fingers crossed.

Video Shmideo

There's no doubt, online video consumption is booming. According to comScore, a company that measures digital trends, "174 million U.S. Internet users watched online video content in March (2011) for an average of 14.8 hours per viewer. The total U.S. Internet audience engaged in more than 5.7 billion viewing sessions during the course of the month." (comScore, http://www.comscore.com/Press_Events/Press_Releases/2011/4/comScore_Releases_March_2011_U.S._Online_Video_Rankings?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+comscore+%28comScore%2C+Inc.%29)
ComScore also reports Americans watch 4.3-billion ads in March.

But just because a lot of people produce videos doesn't mean you should jump on the bandwagon.

The second commandment in the Watch Out for Vlogs (Video Create) chapter of The Social Media Bible says "Thou Shalt create a video."

One of my commandments is "Think it over long and hard before you create a video."

There's a lot of really bad videos out. For every hilarious Old Spice guy commercial, there are a million poorly shot videos of cats doing crazy things.

The reason I say that is because I constantly hear clients say, "I want a video" and after discussing the idea, they realize they don't really know WHAT they want. Here are some of my tips for deciding if you should put the time and energy into a video.

• Who is the audience? We often get requests for videos that will appeal to students, alumni and parents. Those are different audiences with different concerns and you simply can't make one video that will work for all audiences.
• How will the video be used? Is it going on-line? Are you showing it an event? Are you inserting it in a power point? The "how" will help answer questions about length, content and delivery.
  
• What do you want to happen as a result of the video? Do you want to drive people to your website? Send you money? Be specific about your goals.
• How do you want people to feel after they watch the video? The best videos trigger emotion: laughter, excitement, chills. That's what you're after. If you want to simply provide information, you probably want a brochure, not a video.

It's true that prices of equipment and ease of shooting and editing video make it possible for amateurs to produce videos. But that's no excuse for bad video. Here are a few rookie mistakes that should be avoided at all costs.

• Don't make it too long. You won't get many people to sit through something that is over 3 minutes. The shorter the better.
• Make sure you have good lighting and good audio. If your subject is in the dark and trying to shout over the wind, no one will watch your video.
• Spend time planning and writing. "Winging it" is never a good strategy.