Bloggers Outreach. My new blog and site to help connect bloggers to bloggers, and bloggers to brands

I have recently launched a news blog/ site/ community called Bloggers Outreach which can be found at http://www.BloggersOutreach.com


Why have I created this?


I have been an active blogger since 2005, and over the last few years I have seen the influence and power of blogs grow and grow. The good ones are getting more important, and more influential, every day.


I believe that this will continue as key and important blogs on topics become seen as the independent, unbiased and opinionated sources of advice, information and guidance.

We are seeing "user generated content" sites (like TripAdvisor) in my view becoming less effective and reliable, as users vent or rave in short sentences - while on the other side companies and agencies are trying to manage what is said and how they are rated. This means these sites, unless they find a new model, will become less important and less effective.The good blogger who has passion, expertise, understanding and stays independent  of mind and views will become very important. They can be experts in key niches and topics.


I find increasingly that I turn to and refer to blogs when trying to find out about places, purchases or issues. I find they end up being more detailed and more accurate and more reliable. This, when done well, will be the future of advice and recommendation.The BloggersOutreach blog and site is an attempt to help create a place to share, support and promote blogs and blogging. I think that so much interaction with bloggers is done badly, as brands and companies try and find out the best way to contact and interact.

An emerging trend and practice is for bloggers to start to create communities and forums to share, discuss and learn. They are fascinating as they also start to filter out and bring blogs on topics that they as a group feel are strong and complimemtary. These forums become a great opportunity for PR and Brand owners to connect in more efficient and effective ways - and learn the best way to do it.



BloggersOutreach.com is exploring how bloggers can connect with other bloggers and blogging communities, and with brands and companies.

Visit the site and sign up for the ride...


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Digital Fundamentals: 10 things you need to know to develop a great digital stratgey and plan

Check out my SlideShare Presentation covering 10 key funamentals to driving a successful digital marketing stratgey in a business.

Digital Fundamentals: 10 things you need to know to develop a great digital stratgey and plan

View more presentations from Gary Bembridge.

For more podcasts and talks subscribe on iTunes (click here) and my blog http://www.garybembridge.com

INTERACTION. TRANSACTION. RESEARCH. ENTERTAINMENT. The 4 key things to think about when it coems to digital?

This is an article I wrote in August 2003 to help people think about the internet and digital. It is mazing how valid and accurate it still is today....

The Internet and its use as a marketing tool can strike fear and trepidation in the hearts of marketers – or simply be dismissed by them.

The industry itself did not – and has not – helped at all. Firstly it sent everyone down the wrong path by focusing on the use of the Internet in particular as a direct response tool, where clickthrough is king. And more recently, the debate is over how big your ads should be.

Let’s get back to basics: here’s a simple approach to consider as you think about if, how and when to use new digital media and channels like the internet to build your brand or company. This straightforward way of looking at new digital media and channels is based on consumer insight – which should always be the basis of marketing initiatives.

A consumer has four main uses of digital media. Let’s look at each in turn – their roles, applications and the opportunities they present:


1. Interaction

People mostly go online to interact – with email being the most popular tool. Instant messaging, community sites (e.g. iVillage for women) and chat facilities are not far behind – and are growing fast.

So?

The implication of this is that your consumers are online, ready to interact, chat and engage with you in as close to real time as possible. Are you set up and able to take advantage of this?

2. Transactions

This doesn’t just mean shopping – although online retail is the area that gets the publicity. The real powerhouses are things like online banking (faster and more convenient than queuing at your high street branch) and most importantly, peer-to-peer activities. These are where consumers transact in goods (eBay), information (dooyoo) or money (PayPal) with each other.

eBay, the online auction site is the master at this and is not only the most-visited site in the UK, but is also the most profitable online business.

So?

Consumers love peer-to-peer activities and online services that enable and facilitate these make money. Is there a role your company or brand can play in this arena?

Another hook is to enable consumers to manage their relationship online with you by giving them access to their information and data – think personal address books and diaries attached to email facilities.


3. Research and education

The starting point for many people on the Internet is search engines. Google, Yahoo and MSN search tools are among the most-visited group of sites. Sites that consumers associate with education, research and learning are second in popularity only to online transaction sites.

So?

You need to ensure your sites or products are listed well and high up in search engines by making use of search engine optimisation and listings.

Can your site build in more educational content or services?


4. Entertainment

When thinking about digital media for entertainment, many people tend to think of the much-publicised music swapping and downloading. But the powerhouses of e-entertainment remains the big three portals: AOL, Yahoo and MSN.

These are the three most-visited sites globally and provide the gateway to news, business information, entertainment news, features and downloads – and much more.

Specialised target market portals like Babycentre.co.uk (new and expectant mothers) or Gay.com perform extremely well with their niche audiences.

Big money though is being made in the areas of vice, gaming, gambling and ‘adult’ entertainment.

So?

Forget the idea of building a portal yourself. Too many have burned piles of money trying to compete with the big players. Instead focus on having a presence and relationship with those portals where your target customers are going already.

Focus on the four main areas of digital media and channels that the consumer operates in: interaction, transactions, research and entertainment. Look at each in turn and see what the implications and opportunities are for your brand, product or company.

The power of context, as shown by facebook

I know there has been a lot of press, and some false starts, with Facebook's attempts to deliver ads based on a user's interests and what they get up to on the site (or even partner sites).

There was some learning for me recently.

First of all: something I found intrusive

I had posted a review of a hotel on one of my most favourite travel sites, Tripadvisor.com. A small pop-up appeared on the bottom right of my screen saying that a note that I had posted a review on Tripadvisor was going to be posted onto my facebook mini-feed on my profile.

I was surprised and then a bit annoyed. I guess I must have somewhere at sometime told either of the sites I used the other. But this felt a bit like snooping. And I wasn't really sure of the benefit to me.

Secondly: something I thought was pretty cool.

I had received an email from a friend on facebook asking if I knew someone that tracked and managed user generated content to be submitted onto brand or company websites. I started writing him a note back suggesting he speak to Dan Hawtrey who used to work with me who now had his own internet/ intranet content management company called Content Formula. When I typed in the name a small ad and link for the company appeared and I was asked if I wanted to include that in my reply.

I thought it was a really cool, helpful feature. It saved me looking up Dan's contact details and site and gave the person I was sending the suggestion to relevant information. I also did not find it intrusive as it was not personal but triggered by me typing within their site a brand / company name.


This was a good example of getting contextual advertising right. Information relevant when topic and need was there.

Any thoughts? Leave a comment on the blog using the comments button at the bottom of the posting or email me at gary@bembridge.co.uk

online advertising heat maps

Here’s an interesting new way to look at consumer engagement with your online advertising: clickmaps from FlashTalking.

Clickmaps are essentially a heat-map showing where consumers interact with your ad above and beyond regular click tag reporting. As regular readers of my blog will know, I’m a sucker for cool visualisations and relate more to pictures than stats.

The creative and strategic implication being that it helps us to garner better understanding of what drives consumer engagement. Or in regular parlance, draws the eye.

Here’s some examples. To make it work, use the fade option - fade out the map, watch or interact with the ad, finally fade the clickmap up again for the interaction view/heat map.

Sony Playstation - the Call To Action buttons seem to be getting the most of the action.

Virgin Mobile - clearly the opportunity to wax the guy and then wax him him more at the end wins out. Poor bugger.

Social networks - see the social media options, especially share trailer being high points of engagement.

I certainly know some peers and clients who would also appreciate this more visual representation of data than having to wade through reams of stats to the point where they're pushing pins in their eyes for blessed relief. You get what’s working in an instant.

Be interested to know what you think.

Nicholas Gill
bluurb.wordpress.com