‘Direct Consumer Engagement’ posts

Designing for the Social Web

Posted by Optaros on 10 Nov 2008

When the World Wide Web first hit popular consciousness, the major challenge for designers was to understand that the web wasn’t print. The conventions, patterns, and approaches that traditional design had prepared them to rely on were no longer valid, and they needed to develop new conventions for the new medium. Similar challenges emerged as | View post »

Reviewing the Groundswell

Posted by John Eckman on 22 Jul 2008

One danger of reviewing a book is the reality that the reviews ultimately say more about the reviewer, and the book he or she wishes had been written, than they do about the book which actually was written. It’s in that context that I offer this review of Groundswell: Winning in a World Transformed by | View post »

Enterprise 2.0 Open Source Panel

Posted by John Eckman on 23 Jun 2008

Stephen Powers of Forrester Research recently released a report identifying Alfresco and Drupal as the two open source content management platforms to which enterprises should pay the most attention. Specifically, the report claims that “enterprises interested in open source should keep an eye on two offerings — Alfresco Software and Drupal.” (Also check out Matt | View post »

Content Management in the Age of User Participation – Presentation

Posted by John Eckman on 20 Jun 2008

Earlier this week, I had the opportunity to present at Web Content 2008 on user generated content and the impact it has on content management.The presentation is called “Tag, Upload, Share, Discuss: Content Management in the Age of User Participaiton” – you can view it below, or download the PDF at slideshare. | View | View post »

Ecommerce Strategy – Personalization Tools

Posted by Optaros on 22 Apr 2008

Personalization tools and techniques are considered significant building blocks for an ecommerce marketing strategy. Assuming that a well-developed personalization strategy has been vetted, we can begin exploring the ways to collect and analyze data most effectively to achieve our goals. The good news for ecommerce retailers is that there are many options along the price | View post »

Marketing to Women? Don't Ignore the Blogosphere

Posted by John Eckman on 18 Apr 2008

Brands who hope to market to women should no longer consider the blogosphere as an emerging or fringe channel, but should recognize the pervasive presence and increasing influence of women as authors, readers, and commentors on blogs. That’s the message of the BlogHer | Compass Partners 2008 Social Media Benchmark Study, based on a presentation | View post »

Open Source CMS – How Telcos can benefit

Posted by Optaros on 14 Apr 2008

The larger telecom operators have been reinventing themselves over the last couple of years again and again. They constantly look to replace voice revenue and profit lost due to competition, they fight price declines, migration and substitution effects. It’s a fine line of introducing new products as needed and demanded and at the same time | View post »

Turning the Web 2.0 Tide to Your Advantage

Posted by John Eckman on 19 Feb 2008

Josh Bernoff and Charlene Li, both of Forrester Research, have an article in the Spring issue of the MITSloan Management Review titled "Harnessing the Power of Social Applications," which, for now at least, is available in free full text to non-subscribers, as part of an Online Preview. It's a very smart article, worth reading in | View post »

Acquiring new customers using new media

Posted by Optaros on 27 Jan 2008

Times are changing for marketing and product managers. Several years ago advertising budgets were completely focused on TV and print media. Today the fragmentation of channels and the emergence of new, Internet-based media is causing a realignment of funds, or at least a questioning of the effectiveness of previous strategies. New media allows potential customers | View post »