[newspapers, new media & monetization]

Thanks to a link from @jayrosen_nyu I've seen this interesting article on how to obtain value from (or rather, monetize) online content. Zachary M. Seward notes that the meeting of industry execs held on Thursday was aptly titled "Models to Lawfully Monetize Content."

The report itself outlines five key changes (or "doctrines" according to Rick Edmonds).

• True Value. Establish that news content online has value by charging for it. Begin "massive experimentation with several of the most promising options."
• Fair Use. Maintain the value of professionally produced and edited content by "aggressively enforcing copyright, fair use and the right to profit from original work."
• Fair Share. Negotiate a higher price for content produced by the news industry that is aggregated and redistributed by others.
• Digital Deliverance. "Invest in technologies, platforms and systems that provide content-based e-commerce, data-sharing and other revenue generating solutions."
• Consumer Centric. Refocus on consumers and users. Shift revenue strategies from those focused on advertisers.

Why the interest in monetizing online content...to protect the print newspapers.

Paid content wall would protect print subscriptions

The report also suggests a paid content wall would help retain print subscribers, citing a recent USC Annenberg survey finding that 22 percent of online news readers said that they had dropped print subscriptions because they could most of the same content free online.

But is charging for online content the best way to generate revenue? Hard-hitting sales tactics doesn't seem synonymous with loyal readership. In James Warren's words: "collecting enhanced online newspaper user data across newspaper properties and mining that data to aggressively sell target content to specific audience segments across the network (e.g. golf enthusiasts)."

Newspapers need to get creative. Leverage some of the amazing web 2.0 tools to generate interest. Perhaps online versions might offer something for the long tail too which won't be present in the print versions (I know some newspapers are already doing this).



Note: The Huffington Post, having "reinvented the American newspaper," seems to do quite well (without a print version) though only 6% of it's news stories are original content.

[social media & marketing]

When writing (righting?) the title for this post I was struck by how the conjunction changes the proximity of social media to marketing...they aren't really situated at opposite poles of a spectrum; they can in fact embody similar values.

Speaking with an advertising company today about incorporating aspects of social media into their "marketing strategy" (erm, online identity) I found myself being asked (repeatedly) what exactly *is* social media. Well, that is a big question, with answers of varying depth and complexity. Perhaps the simplest and clearest explanation of social media is, well: having conversations online. Because it is *social* media, i.e. media that's social. Its use stimulates discussion and, surprise, there is a feedback loop here, there is plenty of opportunity to respond. However, using Facebook and tweeting about the latest, coolest, über product is not really *social;* it's marketing. We're told how savvy social media users are now (Pew) so really, there is no excuse for being (as a company/advertiser/etc...) anti-social...(geddit?). Just look at these stats (via online gaming news):

• Community users visit nine times more often than non-community users (McKInsey, 2000)
• Community users remain customers 50% longer than non-community users. (AT&T, 2002)
• Community users spend 54% more than non-community users (EBay, 2006)
• In customer support, live interaction costs 87% more per transaction on average than forums and other web self-service options. (ASP, 2002)
• 56% percent of online community members log in once a day or more (Annenberg, 2007)

Findings: community is key.

So, companies (or whomever) need to build community, not just a facebook profile. They need to be seen as experts in there (no matter how focused) field, not novices. Easy words to say, time-consuming to develop. And that's key too, "develop," rarely does community or expert knowledge happen in an instant, that takes time too.

Engage, build conversation, listen and connect.

Oh yeah, and as I noted at a meeting in Paris last week, "google is truth." At least in terms of online visibility and that certainly counts for something.

And, for those of you already decreeing the death of social media...take a look at Mitch Joel's post "Social Media is Just Getting Started."

[dmu on telly]

On September 1st a new ad. for DMU will go live on Channel 4, E4, ITC2 and Dave. I've just seen it on the DMU website and it's pretty good! And, best of all, it's created by students and shot on campus (check out the bridge over the canal and the lovely cobblestone path)! The scene with the motion-capture suit is quite exciting too. I'm all for uni-patriotism but perhaps that's just reflective of my Canadian background where we all collect everything from mugs, jogging pants, backpacks, pens and jackets embossed with our uni logos...

Now...where's my IOCT jumper?

Annoyingly there's no embed link on the dmu ad. so you'll have to click here if you'd like to watch it. The mini-documentary on the making of the ad. is a fun viewing too.


Edit on 12 Sept. 2008 (thanks Kate): the link doesn't seem to work unless you're on the dmu intranet. Try here instead: http://www.dmu.ac.uk/study/applicants/ug/television-advertisement/

[wear your seatbelt!]

Wow: Madonna making fun of herself (or is it Guy Richie?) AND performing a public service?

[online marketing don'ts]

An oldie but a goodie: how *not* to market:





video from here.

[blog-vertising]

Simpleology has this deal: blog about their multi-media course on blogging and in exchange bloggers get the course for free....it's about:

• The best blogging techniques.
• How to get traffic to your blog.
• How to turn your blog into money.

You can grab yours while it's free.

hrm...

[ad clicks]

An interesting post on the logistics of ad-clicking from Zeila Rich Enterprises.

"The pie chart shown above gives you all the different types of clicks there are to Adsense Advertisements, be it on the Search or Content Networks. We cannot disclose our methods of collection of such data, as it is our proprietary technology, and we might plan to do something about it some day. There are several categories of clicks.

We have the Fact-Finding Clicks (FFC). These clicks are just for visitors to find out more about a particular offer or just receive information, perhaps comparing offers from one advertiser to another. It is not surprising that it makes up over 60% of all clicks in our research.

What is shocking most is that out of 4 clicks, at least one of them is what we term the Curious Click (CUC). Over 25% of all clicks are as a result of curiosity. People are clicking just to find out “what’s going on”, without the intention to buy anything. That has serious implication to pay per click advertisers, but that is beyond the scope of this book.

There are also the Competitive Clicks (COC). Luckily, it is only 1% of total clicks. These are ads which are clicked by competitors of the advertisers. These competitors have no intention whatsoever to do business with the advertisers, other than to inflate the advertising costs of their competitors. Sad, but true about the existence of such clicks!


The 3% Converted Clicks (CNC) are in line with data collected by major advertising firms. These conversions only include direct sales (and exclude leads such as subscription to a mailing list, request for information, etc). What this means is that 3 out of 100 people actually buy something the first time they click on an ad. Remember we talked about Click Flipping in Chapter 4? Can you imagine making money from referral commissions from just 3% of your ad clicks (not to mention an even infinitesimal portion of your total web visitors)?"

For more see here.

[google says "no" to essay mills]

Google Bans Essay Writing Adverts
By Sean Coughlan
BBC News education reporter



Google is to ban adverts for essay writing services - following claims that plagiarism is threatening the integrity of university degrees.
There have been complaints from universities about students being sold customised essays on the internet.

The advert ban from the Google search engine has been "warmly welcomed" by university authorities.



But it has angered essay writing firms which say this will unfairly punish legitimate businesses.

From next month, Google will no longer take adverts from companies which sell essays and dissertations - and the internet company has written to advertisers to tell them about the policy.

Plagiarism software

Google's forthcoming ban on adverts for "academic paper-writing services and the sale of pre-written essays, theses, and dissertations" means that essay websites join a blacklist of "unacceptable content" including adverts for weapons, prostitution, drugs, tobacco, fake documents and "miracle cures".

The move has been applauded by universities which have struggled with the problem of students dishonestly submitting material copied from the internet.


"Making life harder for these cynical web 'essay mills' is a step in the right direction," says Professor Drummond Bone, president of Universities UK.

"We welcome this move. Essay writing sites claim that students pay hundreds of pounds for model answers - but do not then submit these as their own work. We all know this claim is absurd."

The universities organisation says that in particular there have been difficulties with essays bought by students from companies which sell tailor-made answers, where fees can be up to £5,000 for a single piece of extended work.

There have been reports of up to 12,000 essays being sold to students in a year, says Universities UK.

These essays and assignments can be written by freelance academics or other students - and it is less easy for plagiarism software used by universities to detect such work.

Google, commenting on the change, says its advertising policies are "developed and evaluated based on multiple factors, including legal and cultural considerations plus user and customer experience".

And a spokesperson said that the advert ban was expected to be applied across Google's global network.

Unfair ban?

But one of the UK companies fearing that it will be prevented from advertising, Essaywriter.co.uk, is angry at the threat to its business - with 80% of its customers coming through Google.

Managing director Matthew Wilson says this will punish the legitimate, transparent companies, which sell essays, but which warn students that they must not be used dishonestly.

Mr Wilson says that such a bespoke service, selling tailor-made essays at short notice, with prices around £70 and upwards, can be used as a guide for students wanting extra assistance.

Overseas students are frequently customers, he says - but the firm makes clear that essays should not be passed off as being written by the student.

And he says that such a blanket ban will not stop the search engine from generating links to rogue essay selling companies, which have been accused of scamming customers by providing poor quality material.

From BBC News