davep is.me

“Tricks and treachery are the practice of fools that don’t have brains enough to be honest. ” - Benjamin Franklin

A friend of mine that I assist with online marketing received an email recently regarding the transfer of their domain. The email read that the transfer of their domain was “not yet complete” and provided the recipient on how to unlock their domain record so that it could be transfered to this new organization.

My friend forwarded the email to me because they were unsure of what to do. It was all very official looking, but it turned out to be a deceitful practice. They send emails out to domain owners to confuse them in unlocking their domain with their current registrar and transfer them to their organization.

Always be wary of emails that ask you to provide sensitive information and always question the source. It’s disheartening that companies will use such tactics to confuse consumers in order to make financial gains.

Here’s the email…

Hello █████,

The transfer and renewal of your domain name, █████, is not yet complete because your domain name is currently in a “REGISTRAR-LOCK” status with your current registrar █████.

In order to complete the transfer and renewal, the “REGISTRAR-LOCK” status needs to be removed and an EPP Key/Authorization code needs to be obtained. Please see below for instructions on achieving this.

Solution:
- Log into your account with your current registrar, and change the status of your domain,█████, from “locked” to “active”.- Then look for the EPP Key or Authorization Code.

- Alternatively you may call your current registrar, █████. (see phone number below) and ask them to remove the lock status of  your domain name, give you your EPP Key and allow the transfer to █████ █████ █████ █████.

- Once done please notify us that you have done so, by calling our toll-free number below. We will then re-attempt the transfer and renewal of your domain name.

As a convenience, we have supplied your current registrars phone number below.

Domain: █████
Current Registrar: █████
Registrar Phone Number: Please visit their site to contact them

Some mid-Winter drama popped up this week when Google exposed that Microsoft’s Bing actually piggyback’s search results off of Google results. When Google realized this, they actually setup a “sting” operation just to make sure they were correct. You can read the detailed post by Google’s Amit Singhal here, where he actually calls Microsoft out by calling Bing results ”stale” and “a cheap imitation”. Them are fightin’ words!

Microsoft countered with a post of their own, explaining that they learn from their user’s searches to provide a better search result. Microsoft’s explanation doesn’t sound like it holds much water though. It’ll be interesting to see how this plays out in coming weeks.

Social media channels can be a great, low to no cost means of promoting an event prior to the event itself, engaging participants while on site and as a means of gauging success post-show. Here are some “brainstorming” ideas to help you make your event a success!

Let me begin with the caveat that unless you’re hosting a reoccurring event (a large event at that), I’d recommend that you utilize existing channels rather than creating new event specific ones. For example, you are likely to get more traction from your existing Twitter account for your event by using an event specific hashtag rather than setting up a new account for your audience to follow.

With that said, let’s jump into the brainstorming!

Blogging

• Post regular updates on preparation leading up to the event.
• Include highlights from either the previous years event or from related events so potential attendees can anticipate what the experience will be like.
• Use your blog as a means to reach out to people to see what they’d be interested in seeing/learning.
• Partake in “Live Blogging” at the actual event. People who did not have the opportunity to attend or who might attend future events could read this for relevancy. Also a great tool for an event “postmortum”

Twitter

• Develop a short, event specific hashtag.
• Promote tracks, speakers, news regularly.
• Use your Tweets to promote discounts or specials on registration fees.
• Target the key influencers among your followers and communicate directly with them about the event.
• Use tools such as twtpoll for electronic polling of your audience.

Facebook

• Create a custom tab with venue info, summary of event, and link to event website and/or registration.
• Facebook allows for you to actually show content only to people who have “Liked” you. Post copies of select presentations relative to the event available for those who have “Liked” you.
• Use Facebook Discussion Groups on your page to engage possible attendees on your event content.

Video

• Have presenters create short videos as “teasers” or summaries of their tracks.
• Videos don’t need to be “professional” quality. Handheld cameras (Flip) or even a PC Webcam video can be a great, informal way of building a rapport with your audience.

QR Codes

• Place QR Codes on attendee badges so that users with smartphones can share data with one another.
• Have a QR Code on display at your booth and allow booth visitors access to a URL where they may download a piece of collateral for visiting.

Signage

We have a tradition in our house where I read to my three children each night. I position myself between their bedroom doors and read loud enough for them all to hear and read until they’re either asleep or, what has happened a lot more in recent months, the story keeps them riveted and awake and I end at the closing of a chapter (to many complaints I might add).

Last evening I came to within forty pages or so to the end of our latest book, “Kingdom Keepers III: Disney in Shadow” by Ridley Pearson. Because they (who am I kidding, we) wanted to find out the conclusion, I finished the book to them midday. The fact that we’re snowed in on a post-Christmas vacation helped all the more. At the conclusion of the book, Mr. Pearson directs the reader to a URL and says that a “key” was left for the reader. At first blush, the “key” graphic on the inside cover of the book looks like an icon for design’s sake. After considering it though, I realized that it is in fact a QR Code.

When you visit the URL and open the back cover before your PC’s webcam, you’re provided a secret message from one of the book’s main characters along with a very cool 3D map. I think I was more excited about this than the kids!

This particular series of books takes place in the various Walt Disney World theme parks. The author has a series of short, 40 second or so, videos from various key locations in the stories that have made their way on to YouTube. In these videos, the author will put in little teasers about the tales. It’s been a fabulous way to help visualize scenes in the stories.

To me, nothing beats a great book. But the immersion in the stories is enhanced by these complimentary elements of technology. To me, they in no way overtake the stories themselves or the power of the reader’s imagination, but instead enhance the experience. And in that, Mr. Pearson has enveloped us all the more in his stories.

I don’t know… I’ve heard this one too many times before already. WSJ picked it up though…

This weekend The Wall Street Journal Online published an article entitled “The Web’s New Gold Mine: Your Secrets” which discusses how the sale of web user information has become a hot commodity. Many people who surf the web have become familiar with the term “cookie” with regards to the small text files which are placed on your PC when you surf websites. What many people are not aware of are beacons or “web bugs” which can function with “cookies turned off” in your browser settings. These web bugs can still gather data and in some instances even aid in reinstalling cookies on your PC after you have removed them. The purpose of these beacons isn’t always malicious, but it behooves you to be well informed on how information can be gathered about your surfing habits.

Google recently released Google Font API and The Google Font Directory allowing for web developers to use highly stylized type faces for web sites. Up to now, web designers would have to rely on a standardized set of fonts such as Arial, Verdana, Times New Roman, Courier, etc. In order to render something more aesthetic meant having to turn type into graphics which would also mean making sites much more image heavy and ultimately, slower to render. With the advent of this new resource, designers can unleash a whole new level of creativity while making their sites speedier. Combine this functionality with CSS3 and HTML5 and there ought to be a whole new revolution in website usability and creativity.

Social media applications are making efforts to help reign people in from sharing too much with the wrong audience, but it’s still not easy.

Recently, a slide deck from a gentleman by the name of Paul Adam of Google has made its way online entitled “The Real Life Social Network”. Although it tips the scales at over two hundred slides, it is well worth your time as Adam’s outlines user’s online behavior in participating in social networks. The key theme in the deck is that those of us who are active participants in the social media landscape have various types of relationships that we engage in online via tools such as Facebook, Twitter, etc. and quite often there is too much noise generated from ourselves at these overlapping audiences. When you post an update to Facebook for example, you may intend you message to be relevant to a subset of your Friends, however, all of your Friends see the update.

The emergence of this presentation is further fueling speculation that Google is going to make another foray into the social media space. Google already has Orkut, an online community similar to Facebook, but with no where near the foothold. One would hazard to guess that this may be the place that Google would implement these social best practices.

As for Facebook, there is the ability to manage your Privacy Settings and customize your posts to specific groups of Friends via Lists. MakeUseOf.com has a good article regarding this, however the vast array of options and settings is in my opinion too complex for your average Facebook user.

Segmenting your audiences for messaging has been a feature that has been around in some fashion for a while now in other tools such as Twitter and is gaining momentum with other applications. Just this morning, Brizzly announced Brizzly Picnics, where one can develop groups of contacts and share posts, content such as photos and video as well as chat solely within the group. With Twitter, one can connect their Twitter account to other social media applications such as Facebook and LinkedIn and have a Tweet appear on those platforms by adding an application specific hashtag (#fb for Facebook, #in for LinkedIn).

Personally, I dabble in many different social platforms. Using a social media aggregation tool such as Digbsy is an easy way for me to maintain multiple accounts across various platforms. I find it easier to maintain multiple Facebook accounts, personal and professional, via a third party application rather than regularly segmenting posts and lists within Facebook. However, if you tend to gravitate towards a single social application rather than another, I’d highly recommend that you familiarize yourself with how to maximize your Privacy and audience settings within that tool.

In my “day job” I work for a marketing technology software company. I happened to have an interesting hallway conversation with a co-worker today. We got to discussing the state of our company blog and some topical conversations on there regarding email readability on smartphones. Using web analytics, we’re able to discern that about 10% of our email recipients view our emails on smartphones. This begged the question from my co-worker, “Do we, or anyone else for that matter, need to really concern ourselves with what could be additional expenses and ‘hassles’ of accommodating that 10%? And what about social media? Is it really worth time and effort? Should it be a shared responsibility across a group or do you need a full-time headcount to manage it?”

My answer(s): yes, yes, yes and yes!

Social media as a whole, whether it be blogs, Twitter, Facebook, is a new means of being able to manage your company’s brand and communicate your customer base. If you don’t take the lead in managing your company’s persona in this wild frontier, someone else could. Is that what you really want? I call this a wild frontier because the social media realm is still very nascent. There are literally new applications springing up everyday and then offshoots from some of the more popular ones. (Check out this comprehensive graphic of the ‘Social Media’ spectrum) Even the omnipresent Google has just recently entered the fray relatively recently with Google Buzz.

Back to our discussion, that 10% segment represent early adopters. Here is a group of people using smartphones to view their email and actually interact with the offers within. Typically these early adopters are also embracing other new technologies and means of communication such as social media. Facebook shares that “there are more than 100 million active users currently accessing Facebook through their mobile devices.” If you’re including these people in your target audience of recipients, chances are that they will Tweet and blog, for better or worse, about how their experience was in dealing with your company. As early adopters, this segment too is likely to have their own sphere of followers. Another statistic from Facebook reveals that the average Facebook user has 130 friends. If a vocal member of your email campaign couldn’t read the email you just sent them because they’re on an iPhone, you’ve got a potential base of 130 people who they’ll trash you in front of. Then think of those folks and their 130 friends each, and so on and so on!

As to whether your company should share the responsibility or make it a dedicated role, I’d argue that both are needed. With the current state of the global economy, everyone’s resources are strapped. However, being active in the realm of social media doesn’t need to be burdensome. And, when it is a shared responsibility, the task of maintaining a presence and managing it, can lighten the load for all involved. This has to become part of your corporate culture though. I have witnessed firsthand people being made to blog as well as opening up the opportunity to blog. It makes all the difference in the world. Those who are truly interested in it will gravitate to it and be more prolific with it. That “voice” will come through. Having a larger group of your employees/co-workers participate can also open up new opportunities for engagement and interactions. It also breeds a sense of shared ownership in the overall success of the endeavor.

There are also a myriad of applications available to help share common accounts. If you have a Facebook Fan Page, you can have multiple administrators manage an account via their own Facebook account. For Twitter, multiple users within an organization can use applications such as Digsby or Hootsuite to Tweet to a single account.

Additionally, it’s always great to have a dedicated owner of your organization’s social media efforts. This person would be the “go to” person for overseeing the effort as well as ensuring that questions and comments are answered in a timely fashion. They’d also be the resource to monitor what’s working and what’s not. After all, with the depth and complexity of the current social media landscape, no one can be everything… and with the nuances of various tools, you don’t have to be everywhere. Some platforms such as Twitter and Facebook are now regarded as “must haves” for some companies, but you need to find what is right for your situation. Some companies thrive solely on Twitter. Others are more successful with video blogging, and thus, YouTube and Vimeo are the way to go. Perhaps a more interactive community is right for your organization and a Ning site is what is more appropriate. Having a dedicated resource take the helm and help you navigate the choices is important to the success of your efforts.

So, don’t dismiss the potential that lives in social media. It is a means of directly shaping your brand and communicating with customers and prospects. But, as with any new effort, don’t think you need to be everything to everyone. Choose the path that is the right one for you.