So What is RSS?

RSS is a term used widely online today. It stands for Really Simple Syndication. RSS was created to make it easy for people to get all of the information they wanted from their favorite sources delivered to one central place.

Check out this video quickly, it makes understanding RSS really easy.

How does RSS work?

RSS allows you to have content delivered to you, all you have to choose is a destination.

The first step as a reader is to choose a place to receive all the new updates. I suggest creating an account with Google Reader.

When you go to a website and decide that you like the information they offer, the next step is to look for the RSS subscription button. You may have to hunt a little bit but most websites now offer an option to subscribe through RSS.

A few examples are pictured below, they take many different forms but the circle and the two lines are consistent in every example.

After you click the RSS button you will be prompted to choose where you’d like the content to be delivered. This is the destination that we chose above, if you setup a google reader account, then select google reader from your list and you’re all ready to go.

Here’s a quick re-cap on how to use RSS feeds.

1. Setup an account at Google Reader

2. Find a website that you like

3. Locate their RSS button

4. Click the button

5. Choose Google Reader as the destination

And that’s it! Now, anytime new information is available on the sites you chose, you’ll be updated in Google Reader.

Was this explanation helpful? How do you explain RSS? Let us know in the comments below.

Here’s a great lesson for any company. If you’re going to take the time to hire a development firm to create an application for a social network like Facebook, make sure you have all the right elements to make it a success.

Back in February, Burger King launched the Sacrafice Friends for a Wopper campaign. It was a huge success that spread quickly across Facebook.

Whopper > Facebook Friends.

I hunted down an interview with Jeff Benjamin, the creator of Burger King’s hit viral Facebook application to find out how he came up with the idea. Benjamin very succinctly puts goals of the application into perspective, “we try and find spots where it’s not just about buying impressions—it’s about creating something that makes people create the impressions for you for free. People can do the advertising for you if you give them the inspiration and the tools.”

Online Marketing Requires a Different Strategy.

Benjamin says it perfectly! So many companies don’t realize that marketing in the digital era requires a much different strategy than traditional tactics. Marketing online is about creating something unique and worth sharing. The attention of audience is pulled in so many different directions that you need to be creative with your marketing dollars.

Why The BK Application Worked.

Burger King combined all the right elements to make their application a hit. Facebook users were asked to sacrafice ten friends and in return BK would give them a coupon for a free whopper. Pretty simple concept and brilliantly executed.

BK directly integrated sharing features and publishing to the Facebook stream. They also gave people an incentive to use the app and did it in a unique way that made it worth spreading the word. BK did everything right to make it a success.

What You Can Learn.

There are two main lessons here. The first is to find creative ways to spend your marketing dollars online, the internet makes it really easy to reach your ideal target audience if you’re creative.

Second, if you’re going to spend the time and money developing an application for a platform like Facebook, make sure you take full advantage of the platform’s features! Make it easy for people to share the application with their friends and give them an incentive to do so. If you’re creative enough, your fans will spread the word for you.

What are you doing to make your company a success online? Let us know in the comments.

The Blendtec Story

Back in 2006, I remember being forwarded one of the videos from the “Will It Blend” series. The basics of the campaign are that they take all sorts of items and answer the question “Will It Blend” by massacring the item in a BlendTec blender.

I orginally thought it was kind of silly to be ruining expensive electronics just to answer the question “will it blend” but after over 200 million views on their Youtube channel, I see the genius in their plan.

Here are a few highlights from the series:

“Will It Blend” seemed pretty silly initially but after looking through a few of the videos, I forever remembered the Blendtec name. Call me a sucker for a good marketing campaign but if I’m ever in the market for a new blender, I’ll probably go with a BlendTec. So there’s success #1, they won my mindshare.

Make something worth sharing.

By allowing users to send in suggestions of what to try blending, BlendTec was able to give their customers a distinct connection to the blender. BlendTec had all the right elements of intrigue and user participation to make their brand an online success.

They found an incredibly creative way to get people excited about a product in an industry that doesn’t typically produce very innovative marketing techniques. I mean, when was the last time you forwarded a fridge, dishwasher or oven ad to a friend?

What they’re up to today.

So how is BlendTec doing these days? Well they’re still making new movies and their Youtube channel is one of the nicest I have seen complete with gorgeous HD videos. They also have an active FaceBook Fan page with a couple of thousand fans where people can suggest new things to try blending.

What’s the Take-Away?

The biggest lessons to learn from BlendTec are: produce great content, put it in the right places and give users lots of ways to connect with the campaign. Give people something worth talking about and they’ll do the work for you.

Have you ever thought of making a video series to spread your message? Let us know in the comments below, we’d love to hear what you’re thinking.

Hope...

Yes, hope.

In a time where businesses are reevaluating their models, values and even their existence, strength still comes from above; from industry leaders who have paved a path for others to follow.  The NY Times such a role to a t

It is inevitable in these economic times that the financial performance of media companies is going to be scrutinized.  The NY Times is no exception – in fact their finances have been at the center of their company’s storm.

Business is a cash game and whether cash is generated through top heavy revenues or marginal overhead costs, ca$h is and will always be king.  Many people covering the NY Times story have stipulated their financials woes are a microcosm of the larger media industry.

The reason I bring this issue of financial performance to the forefront is that in many ways the NY Times is both a poor and excellent example of the financial hurdles the media industry must address.

With companies, assets and real-estate that spread beyond that standard assets held within a media structure (here is a quick list), it is easy to see where The Times financial woes begin.

So that is the bad side…now for the good side.  If you were to break off the digital media component of The Times, we may very well find a diamond in the rough.

(***Warning: The following are assumptions made with the best information I could find***)

What I did in the table below is try to extract the online component of the NY Times Business to see if therein lies a profitable business.  My assumptions are based on the following:

1. Q1 Report of the NY Times found here
2. The Times financials are non-seasonal (indeed, they maybe – however, things have changed so fundamentally that I believe only using the latest quaterly data is appropriate)
3. The online division accounts for 10% of The Times overall costs (personally, I believe this is way too high but 10% will be good for sensitivity purposes)
4. All loses from other assets, leaseholds, etc. are not taken at all into consideration – online biz only!

* Note All Figures are in 1000s

Wow – a profitable business (13.64% margin – not too shabby)…but there remain some serious questions:

• Is their online content dependent on correspondents in the field that typically report for print?
• Is there cross revenue generation between the print and online components (i.e.: do advertisers run both in print and online campaigns under a single agreement – if so, is print the leading driver in the sales transaction and how often does this happen?)
• The Times revenues have been downward trending – have they hit the bottom or not?

I’m going to leave this post open ended as I am certainly throwing some issues into the wind but here is my point: even in the worst of times, The NY Times online division has proven that new media is sustainable and profitable with the right mix of content, technology and execution.  The approach is not properietary so there is hope for others to enjoy the same fruits of labor.

I believe this issue needs further scrutinizing but suffice it to say digital media does have a place and a business model.  It will take the right formula of people, technology and vision to bring it all together.  And with that, I say to the ladies and gentlemen fighting on this battlefield…may the force be with you.

Photo Credit: http://img.timeinc.net/time/daily/2008/0810/debt_clock_1014.jpg

A few days ago, a fellow Joyspoon blogger wrote a piece on why the success of the New York Times is necessary for the survival of smaller publishers. While I agree in principal that they are doing well to show what a major newspaper brand can do to survive in new media, I don’t believe that they are the best representative of a “real media” brand making the transition to new media.

In the digital transition, newspaper brands are suffering from their one-dimensional approach to news reporting. The reality is, to be successful in new media you have to be producing the full spectrum of content. This includes audio, text and video versions of news to satisfy the “I want it NOW” attitude of online news consumers.

Now the NYT is producing content in a variety of forms but not with the same quality as full media veterans like the BBC or CNN. I can watch BBC content live at any time of the day, streaming from desktop programs like Livestation, listen to a daily news podcast updated twice daily with quality interviews from around the world or read in-depth content on their website or iphone app.

It’s like having my own real-time global reporting team in my pocket. It’s accessible from anywhere, anytime and in the format I want. BBC is often my sole news source and if you are going to play that role in a person’s life, covering the full media spectrum is necessary.

Newspapers like the NYT are satisfying the minimum requirements to exist in new media. The 5 minute audio overview of the news and short video montages on their website show that they are trying but their content hardly compares to the BBC or CNN which both produce much higher quality content across the full media spectrum.

I truly come from the “I want it NOW” generation, if you can’t give me content where I want it and when I want it, in the exact format I desire I’m going to go somewhere else.

“Real media” brands like the NYT have a very short time to capitalize on the brand recognition they have developed before the nostalgia for their news medium disappears. CNN and BBC have had an easier transition because of their content diversity but can newspapers make-up the content gap before it’s too late?

My next post will be discussing “The issues of credibility and transparency in blogs and citizen journalism” so stay tuned to our twitter stream (@joyspoon) for it’s posting!