Archive for May, 2009

Dodgy facebook ads

May 30 | by Sam Deeks | business insight, critical approach to online media
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dodgyWho’s going to win the Facebook Dodgy Ads Jackpot?

I got two dodgy lemons and a rotten tomato this morning.  Have I won anything?

Isn’t it sad that all three are for totally dodgy propositions.  Just Google their name with a “scam” or “rip-off” on the end to see what people are saying about them.

Sad, too, that facebook has to repeat them just to fill its slots.

And even sadder (for them) that facebook’s lack of regulation and control is turning its advertising real estate into a toilet.

Greed.  Lack of regulation and control.  Has a familiar ring to it at the moment, don’t you think?  Turns everything to shit, apparently.  Ask Google.  Ask any forum owner.

Or any politician, for that matter.

Wordpress 2.8? What was wrong with 2.7.1?

May 26 | by Sam Deeks | business insight, change
2 Comments

Who actually decided there has to be a Wordpress 2.8? And why, exactly?

evolutionI often wonder who it is that decides there has to be the next version of something and more importantly, when.  Heck, I’ve only just managed to upgrade to Wordpress 2.7.1 with its attendant joy of re-learning everything plus finding out (the hard way) which plugins no longer work.

So who is it that decides there has to be a Wordpress 2.8 and when?  And, come to think of it, why?

Look, I’m no luddite.  But the difference between evolution and upgrade-mania is that evolution happens s l o w l y.  Nor does it happen just for fun or simply because the universe’s techies need to solve problems that don’t actually exist.

Why couldn’t we have planned upgrades? Hmm? Say, once a year on the same day?  Then, we could all look forward to it together and perhaps even declare a national holiday.

Upgrade Day: a whole day off to sort out all the chaos created by the latest upgrades.

Live puppies used as shark bait

May 25 | by Sam Deeks | critical approach to online media
2 Comments

“Sign this petition to stop live puppies being used as shark bait”

Some people believe that the Internet will give everyone a voice they didn’t have before. Some people believe that the Internet will give everyone the vote they never had – or had, but just couldn’t be bothered to use..

Maybe it will. But so what?

If the technological debate is always framed in simplistic terms, it’s probably so that technology can be positioned as an easy solution to our problems.

Like the problem with democracy was just that too many people didn’t vote, right? Technology can fix that.  Like the problem with human cruelty was that there’s wasn’t a petition we could all sign. But technology can fix that, too.

Will signing a digital petition from the comfort of my bed (where I’m writing this) reverse the damage we’ve already done to our environment?  I can’t see how.  Will voting from beneath the duvet cover help us transcend the limitations of our greedy, perpetual-growth politics?  Show me how.

Whether or not the Internet has a positive impact on politics, the environment or human spiritual evolution remains to be seen – if we even retain the power to see it.

What I do know right now – and what every online marketer knows – is that people are irresistibly drawn to conflict, cruelty, suffering and disaster and that just means lots and lots of valuable traffic.

Think I’m being heartless and cynical?

The last petition like this I researched (‘Artist Starves Dog To Death In The Name Of Art’) turned out to be, um… not true.  Overblown, good for traffic and getting pulses racing all over the world.

And this one?  Well, who knows.  Except that all roads in this story lead back to National Geographic and a 2005 (yes, 2005!) story about stray dogs being used as live shark bait by Renunion islanders.

Ask yourself who benefits most?  The stray dogs or National Geographic?

Big Marketing Mistake No.5: Compete on price

May 23 | by Sam Deeks | Big Marketing Mistakes
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Competing on price is a slippery slope to the sweatshop

competingonprice

Conventional wisdom has it that if you’re entering a competitive marketplace with an offering, you’re going to need to match or beat your competitors on price.  Too many small businesses seriously undervalue their offerings from the start – and when the going gets tough, make the mistake of lowering prices to gain more business.

You need to remember that price is only one part of the picture.  Instead of trying to undercut the competition, perhaps a better strategy would be beat them on features and service.

What makes a price ‘right’ is a combination of factors: the quality of the offering; the added value it brings; the strength of its features; the back-up and after sales support; the quality of the materials and the precision of the construction to name but a few.

If you can make your offering win out on quality, features and downright desirability (think iPhone!) then the ‘right price’ could quite easily be higher than your competitors’.

Competing on price is a destructive process where the logical outcome is outsourced products and services and ultimately sweat-shop exploitation.  Competing on quality, features and benefits on the other hand, makes for a much healthier business environment for all.

Secret of instant wealth

May 22 | by Sam Deeks | business insight
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Follow the 3 step route to instant wealth – the ‘mu:kaumedia way

Step 1) Switch off the computer and stop looking for a ’solution’ to your life’s ‘problems’ in it.

Step 2) Put on your boots, your coat and call your cat.

Step 3) Take your cat for a long walk in the countryside.  Stop, sit or lie down wherever the mood takes you both.

Result?  Instant, lasting wealth.

catwoodsI’m not joking.  Contrast this with the grasping, needy feeling that comes with starting at the computer trying to get-rich-quick online and there’s no contest.

The computer is great as a communication device.  Wonderful.  Things like email, Skype are miracles in themselves.  The computer is great when used for discovery.  Watching the earth turn in real-time from the International Space Station or a dust devil on Mars is breath-taking.

But the computer seems to have become awful,  poisonous even, when it meets business.  It’s not the computer itself though.  It’s the underlying human emptiness that puts the computer to work in such inhuman, soul-destroying activities.  It’s that emptiness and neediness that’s in danger of turning online communication into simply a medium for driving sales and content into nothing more than a kind of soil in which to plant keywords.

leavessq

When I use the computer to communicate or learn, I generally feel good.  It’s a positive experience.  I feel enriched in some way.  But if I use it to try to ‘fix’ the ‘problem’ of my life (not enough money, independence, status, success, control, love, expertise, followers, traffic, hits…) I feel bad.

If you’ve just gotten off the computer after a day of chasing search engine positioning, or social media connections, or website traffic or any number of online marketing activities and you feel… well, less than you would had you gone for a walk with your cat in the countryside, then maybe it’s about time you took a look at the story you tell yourself about wealth.

I did.

TripAdvisor Bali hotel review singled out for ‘horror story’ marketing

May 21 | by Sam Deeks | ORM, feedback, marketing
1 Comment

Is Tripadvisor in danger of damaging it’s own reputation by exploiting negative reviews?

This morning I got an email from TripAdvisor entitled “Hotel horror stories you won’t believe”.  The first told of a live mouse swimming in a hotel toilet bowl.  I clicked the link and found myself on the TripAdvisor page for the Conrad Bali Resort & Spa.

picture-6The mouse-story reviewer slated the hotel with a negative review and a 1 out of 5 rating.  But a quick check of the overall listing for this hotel showed that out of 191 reviews, an overwhelming majority (138) rated it 5 stars, 35 rated it 4 and only 18 (a small minority) rated it 3 stars or below.

The fact that 38 out of 65 (!) travellers found the review ‘helpful’ is an indication of the potential damage that this review could to this hotel – despite its clear track record of excellence (above).  In addition, more than half of the 65 people who rated the review rated it useful - which means they take it seriously.

Someone at TripAdvisor thinks that this was a good marketing move.  I don’t agree. Using an email to drive traffic at a negative and completely unrepresentative review for a particular hotel doesn’t feel balanced to me.

TripAdvisor already has quite a few enemies in the hotel industry.  Some are simply the owners of badly-run hotels who have lost business as a result of reviews on the site.  Others are angry at what they see as TripAdvisor’s lack of accountability and regulation.  And some allege that TripAdvisor’s system permits – and then protects – malicious and fake reviews posted by competitors.  Those are serious charges indeed.

So, in that climate, I would have thought that TripAdvisor needs to do everything it can to maintain and strengthen its impartiality – and therefore, its credibility – not erode it.

I think today’s email was a step in the wrong direction.

Hazel Blears’ resignation: it’s imminent, surely?

May 20 | by Sam Deeks | GRRRR!!!, feedback
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If Hazel Blears hasn’t tendered her resignation by the time this post gets indexed by Google…

…I’ll eat my cyber hat. [**munch, munch, munch**]

As of tonight, Wed, her political career is already over.  According to the Daily Mail’s website today,

“The Communities Secretary launched a public relations offensive to save her job after Mr Brown condemned her expenses claims as ‘completely unacceptable’.

I don’t envy her these last tortured hours but I can’t help thinking that she – like so many politicians – is simply reaping what she has greedily sown.

Setting themselves up for disastrous falls is, inexplicably, what politicians seem compelled to do.  Writing in the Guardian online, less than three weeks ago, she said:

“People want to look their politicians in the eyes and get their anger off their chests. We need a ministerial “masochism strategy”, where ministers engage directly and hear the anger first-hand.”

Too right, they do, Hazel but they don’t just have to do it face to face.  They can vent their anger at you on YouTube too -  as some of the responses to this two year old video demonstrate.

Conversation Studio: video blogging meets Twitter

May 18 | by Sam Deeks | Twitter, news, podcasting technique
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Is Conversation Studio any good for Twittering video bloggers?

‘Conversation Studio’ is a Twitter-enabled video & image & audio podcasting site by Michael Bailey (who created the cute little ‘MyChingo’ audio widget a few years ago).

Seems to me it’s easy to use from my macBook.  What do you think?  Any good?

Or is it an evolutionary dead end just waiting for a video-enabled iPhone to come along and kill it off?

God this stuff rushes on at a pace! How anyone (Michael included) makes any money trying to keep up is beyond me.

Podcasting is dead! Long live Podcasting!

May 18 | by Sam Deeks | iPhone, news, podcasting technique
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AudioBoo – podcasting meets social media (finally!)

Once upon a time there was a thing called podcasting.

You got some kit together, took a deep breath, recorded your words of wisdom spent hours editing them and then?  Then you faced the daunting technical task of distributing them to an unsuspecting world.

To do that, you had to build a site to host your files and create mysterious (and unfathomable) things called ‘RSS feeds’ so that people could become regular subscribers. The technical stuff was hard enough, but harder still was attracting subscribers in a ‘pre-social media’ era.

‘AudioBoo’ connects podcasting to social media. No more worry about where your stuff lives (they host your audio), no distribution worries (it integrates with Twitter and Facebook plus has its own social network) and no recording hassles (it uses your iPhone as a good quality mic).

Perfect.  Except for the silly name and the fact that there’s no search facility yet although they say they’re working on it.  Makes it hard to, er…network.

And don’t forget that you still have to create interesting, quality content that your market will want to hear :-)

Amazon.co.uk customer service phone number (and reputation boost)

May 13 | by Sam Deeks | mukau reputation boost
15 Comments

Don’t waste your time searching Amazon.co.uk for their well-hidden customer service phone number

Here it is.

0800 496 1081 You can also try this number 0207 084 7911 (listed as for ‘International Customers’) The 0800 number is working as of January 10th 2010

Where did I get it?  www.saynoto0870.com.  Why did I have to go there? Because it’s deliberately buried on the Amazon website so you can’t find it.

That’s the bad news.

The good news is that I called about my mate’s Harmon Kardon soundsticks that were broken when he got them about 2 months ago.

“Sorry but it’s outside of 30 days” said the friendly operator.

“Well it’s taken me 20 minutes to find your phone number – and only then from ’saynoto0870.com’” says I by way of return.  “Show me where it is on your website”.

Five minutes later, we finally got there – buried so deep that it’s no wonder my mate gave up long before he ever found it.

“Do you think that’s really fair?” I asked, reasonably “What would be great is if you replaced them for him”

“Hold on one minute Sir…. [pause, music]… yes, Sir, we can do that for you”

Well done Amazon.co.uk.  Bad, bad, bad for hiding your phone number.  Good, good, good for replacing my mate’s faulty soundsticks before incurring a social media slating.  ;-)

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