Many in the mass media industry specifically television websites are starting to catch on to the idea of RSS feedsand the power they harness.

See one Mitch Joel of Six Pixels of Separation for more on the power of RSS feeds.One corporation has even gone to great lengths to make sure that every story that gets posted is categorized under a corresponding RSS feed. A great idea especially if you have alot of content on your site and the content can be subdivided into micro-categories. Individual RSS feeds are a good idea for people coming to your website for a specific reason whether it be for recipes, sports info, or the latest family photo you posted. It's taking your big tent of content and creating little tents within. Good stuff right? Well it is if you really manage the content going into the feed. You have to make sure you don't cross the line of what content should be sent via that particular feed. Case in point, if I subscribe to an sports feed and the last few feeds I get from the content provider are about a tv show. My perceived value of that feed has dropped and the weight I give it has lowered and in all honesty, it's now on RSS Death Row, the RSS feed chopping block, in much the same way you stop watching a cable channel when it starts to change their programming. Another great opportunity is to take a specific story or event and create an RSS feed around it and pump that feed with as much detailed content around the subject as possible...

i.e. Following Hurricane Dolly (notice how easy it would have been to include an rss feed just for following the hurricane)




i.e. Clemson Football
again, great place to put an RSS feed right there on the story content

Note to Businesses: RSS feeds for specific niche content is a great idea but must be closely managed.
What are your thoughts?

Just heard an interesting story from Cliff Ravenscraft (PodcastAnswerMan episode 68) about having to rename his consulting company due to some litigation and that the name Bitcast was trademarked. Anyway, he mentioned that he thinks it all started by using Twitter and that he was tweeting about his new company Bitcast Media when some of the folks at the "real" Bitcast followed his tweets and may have started the legal trademarking process sometime back in September 07. All of this unconfirmed of course but it does make you stop and wonder about the power of the digital space and that maybe the company was hoping to benefit financial on Cliff's success or perceived success in digital media. Funny how he just received the email from the attorney this month, 6 months after he started his new media business fulltime. hmmm, must be all that doe he talks about raking in on his podcasts ;) Seems like the company could have leveraged themselves better in the digital media space by working with Cliff instead of against him, maybe start their own internal podcast or Intracast as Scott Whitney from Podworx likes to call it. I wonder how the two parties could have benefitted from one another. For now, it seems like the company, albeit legally in the right, may have stubbed their toe when it comes to advancing their walk in the digital space. Cliff, by no means is a media powerhouse but think of what could have been had Bitcast utilized Cliff's talents. Shortsighted to say the least. Note to Big Business: It may be the little guys that keep you hanging around to do business later. Not a smart move especially given Cliff's unique voice in the digital community. btw, the company's name, BitGravity oh, and here's what they call Bitcast

BitCast™ is comprised of patented innovations designed to solve problems affecting delivery and application performance. It starts with the elimination of routing and processing overhead – an improvement that can lead to 4-20X improvements in application responsiveness.

I read it 4 times and I still don't know what it is. Definitely wasn't written by Cliff.

It's been awhile but I'm back from a vacation in Charleston, SC and I'm just getting back into the swing of things. Was sad to hear of Tim Russert's passing especially given that I blogged about his last show. I'm glad I got to watch it and see him in action. I always liked his delivery and style when interviewing guests and the back and forth banter, not too mention it is "the show" in political discourse. Needless to say he will be missed. Still looking to finish my review of the ipod touch and given that the new 3g iphone came out it may be outdated but then again, isn't that always the case in digital technology. Catching up on Mitch Joel's Six Pixels of Separation and love his six points in episode 108. you can listen to all of them here but for now I'll just focus on numero uno, content is media. hmmm, lets soak that up for a moment...Content is Media. Content could be defined in various ways but I really like this definition which I happened to stumble upon...

content is the sum or range of what has been perceived, discovered, or learned

interesting, I know but isn't that what keeps our attention or prods us to engage. It is for me. and of course, what is media.

Media = forms of communication.

There you have it. Communication that is the sum of perceptions, discoveries, and knowledge. And wouldn't that include just about everything? Or could we narrow that down? I guess it would depend on your definition. To me, just about everything we see or hear could be considered content. Some forms more digestable than others. Ah, good to be back talking about content...err..marketing. Until next post.

sdh

My Ipod Touch is amazing. As I stated in a previous post , I will be giving a complete review of the Ipod touch soon but for now I just wanted to leave you with a few things I've noticed. First, the interface can be completely customized and that's a good thing! You can put your favorite apps as quick touch icons in any order you like. I'm not too fond of the 4-button home row though. Seems odd? Also, the touch screen capabilites are truly remarkable. However, what I don't like is constantly having to hit the main button that's below the touch screen to exit out of apps. Seems like there should be an icon on the screen that would allow you to exit out of the app you're in. More on the ipod touch later but lets transition the conversation to podcasting and ID3 tagging.
I listen to alot of podcasts on my ipod touch. And the touch is pretty impressive when it comes to organizing all of my mp3s. However, I've noticed a common theme/problem that keeps popping up. Some of the podcasts are not being tagged consistently and here's what I mean. The touch has several ways to organize your mp3s..

Audiobooks
Compilations
Composers
Genres
Podcasts
Songs
Artists
Albums

just to name a few. The problem is when podcasters tag their mp3s differently each time i.e using a cap letter or shortening the name for any of the above mentioned fields in the production process on the backend it creates a separate folder for the user on the front end in the ipod touch.

So for example, The Geeks and God Podcast, of which I love ...
Here are the entries on the Artists folders

Rob Feature & Matt Farina
Rob Feature and Matt Farina
Rob Feature And Matt Farina

It's the same description but three separate folders...No big deal right? Well it is if I want to listen to all of podcasts at the same time without the inconvenience of going back multiple folders. Not only is it annoying, it doesn't help me keep track of what I've listened to already because it's not right there for me to see. Proper tagging would have allowed me to see all of their podcasts on the same page. I know it's not a big thing but even the small things become noticeable in this digital space. Here's another example under my Composers folder...

PodWorx.LLC
PodWorx,LLc

Podworx is a great company
and Scott Whitney and the crew have really provided lots of insights into podcasting and how to put together a quality podcast but notice that even a cap letter can create a separate entry and make it seem like there's two different composers. Under the first folder I have two mp3s and under the second folder only one mp3.

My point is not to pick apart the producers of these podcasts, because they're really good at what they do (I have been guilty of the very same thing), my point is that now I see the "user" side of things and whenever I create ID3 tags for iTunes or just tagging in general, I need to make them consistent. And knowing the devices your users/subscribers use and how they use them could help you better position your podcast on their mobile device or computer.

Stefan

If you get a chance, watch Sunday's episode of Meet the Press" which could have been titled "Meet the Political Brands."

It was very interesting to hear how professionals in the news media are watching and following the run-up to the presidential election now that we have two clear nominees. David Gregory of NBC...made an interesting point as both nominees get closer to selecting a Vice Presidential running mate...here's an excerpt of the transcript...

MR. GREGORY: They didn't, they didn't mentor him at any point, they just had to deal with him bursting out on the scene.

I think for Barack Obama, look, this is his party now. The Clintons are always going to have to be managed--right?--because they are formidable couple, including a former president and now a nominee who, who, who had a very successful campaign. So this is a difficult choice for Barack Obama. What is his political brand, and how is he going to deal with this force within the party?

Notice he used the words "political brand" in context with the image of Barack Obama. If you want to know the full scope of his comments go to msnbc.com Isn't it interesting that he used the term "brand" instead of image, or ideals. Who says brands are dead? And does't this speak volumes to what can be done when clever and tech savvy marketers get together to run a campaign i.e. the Obama campaign. Political or product driven, branding is inevitable. Watch in the upcoming weeks and months how those in the news media will help or hurt the candidates and their "political brands." This will be interesting to say the least.

Three things have happened to me in the past 48 hours that really made me think about marketing the small in order to achieve big branding results. Let me see if I can explain this better...
(1) I had to ship something off using FedEx, no big deal right? Well, that's what I thought too. So I went to the website and spoke to a human (I hate the automated responders.) She told me the nearest drop-off location and that all the packaging materials would be there and that they refill them everynight.

So yesterday evening, I went by the drop-off box, and wouldn't you know it, no envelopes! Okay, I just stop by in the morning because I was told "we stock them everynight." This morning, went by the drop off box, guess what? No envelopes! Now I'm frustrated. The work I put into calling, talking, finding, and driving to the drop-off box has all been wasted. And who do I blame? Not the sweet lady who took my call yesterday, because I can't even remember her name, no, it's FedEx. Strike One against the orange and blue.
(2) I try to workout as much as possible. I'm not a fitness nut but I know the value of exercise.

Well, I had a good workout at Peak Fitness and was looking forward to taking a shower before heading back to work. Problem was...no hot water! I'm not a complainer, really I'm not, but not having hot water in the shower is a brand killer in the world of personal fitness centers. And guess what? This has not been the first time I've had to endure frigid water temperatures to get clean at Peak. Not only that but the shower mats they put down seem to be filthy everytime I go to the gym. Strike Seven or Eight against Peak. Oh, but they did happen to send me a happy birthday email today. Nice, but I'd rather they have hot water when I'm taking a shower. I sent them a reply just so they would know.
(3) Today is my birthday, and to my wonderful surprise, not only did my wife work her butt off making a homemade New York Style Cheescake last night, but she got me an Ipod Touch.

We celebrated this morning with cheesecake, coffee, and presents! I must say, it's probably one of the best birthdays I've had in a long time. She knew my passion, digital technology. She understood my wants, cheesecake. And then she over-delivered! Sure, it seems like just a couple of small things, but to me it meant so much more. My wife's brand of a loving, caring warm-hearted person was reinforced by doing a few small things. But you see, I guess that's my point. People who love you and companies that care about you as a person, and not not just as a spouse, not just as a consumer, and not just as an employee, can do things on a much smaller scale that can pay off huge in reinforcing their brand. The author who wrote "Don't Sweat the Small Stuff" was not thinking marketing because if he was, he probably would have titled it differently. So what small things have you done today to reinforce your brand? Help someone with a question, donated to the local shelter, picked up litter along the road? Think about it.

P.S. I will have a review on the Ipod Touch soon! I love this stuff! And I love my wife!!!

As Universal Search creeps into the conversations of businesses everywhere,
you may want to keep these things in mind when dealing with digital video and pictures on your website.
Here's a quick overview of what's going on with Google.
It's from last year but gives a good explanation about new google features.
click below for youtube video from the folks at dl.tv
Sidenote: This is a great place to get "geeky" digital tech info.
Remember that universal search doesn't care about the type of content i.e. image, video, audio, text.
The concept of universal search primarily uses tags and sitemaps to locate the sites with the content being searched.
So with that in mind, here's a quick tip sheet for online images and video.

1. Make sure all video and images have labels, alt tags, and sitemaps.
2. Create entertaining but useful videos that can be tagged uniquely.
3. Sample voice-to-text software apps to generate keywords. This could be a huge time saver.

I will try to sample some voice-to-text software apps and give a review.
Just remember, tagging, albeit tedious and time consuming is absolutely critical.

The folks at Common Craft have another hit. If you don't understand podcasting after watching this video, you'll probably never understand it. Enjoy!

Now I wonder who could have said...

Constantly regard the universe as one living being, having one substance and one soul; and observe how all things have reference to one perception, the perception of this one living being; and how all things act with one movement; and how all things are the cooperating causes of all things which exist; observe too the continuous spinning of the thread and the contexture of the web.

I wonder if this could have been said last month during one of the many digital marketing expos. Surely, some geek-minded individual like myself came up with this little gem to describe the internet and social media...nope, Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius sometime between 161 and 180 AD.

Makes you wonder how a Roman Emperor could have been so philosophical while trying to battle famine, fires, earthquakes, and barbarians. Maybe we should give a Webby to the Emperor, afterall, he did describe the world as a continuous web. Ah, you've got to love those Stoics! Thanks Tony Robbins for leading me back in time as I read "Awaken the Giant Within."

Groundswell could be one of the most current and comprehensive marketing books on shelves today. With insights into some of the biggest corporations and how many companies are dealing with social media, digital technology, and it's impact on their customers. I'm particularly fascinated by the Social Technographics of specific groups. And by group, I think it would be easier to understand if you think of a group as like-minded people on a specific subject or topic i.e. car mechanics, or quilters. Here's a quick slide presentation on the concept. Which category do you fall into on topics that interest you? Does it change? Could you be in all categories on some subjects and only in one on another? Very Interesting and yet another challenge for marketers.

Stefan