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Best of Mike – Newsletter

It just takes one short week to realise Christmas isn’t that far away, and neither is the AdNews Challenge that we find ourselves registered for! Yep, on 19 November, Alan will kayak 2km, Mike will run 6km, I’m taking the bike for 12km and Jacki will be swimming 600m. Wish us luck!

If you’re headed to Econsultancy’s Digital Cream next week, you’ll find Mike moderating a table on Cross Channel Marketing and I’ll be there taking charge of Online Advertising Strategy – looking forward to seeing you there.

For the lucky readers who are under 30 in Adelaide or Brisbane, get into ADMA’s 30Below – Buzz into the Boardroom event, and quiz local marketing greats on how they got the corner office. It’s all happening on 10th October so get in quick!

Don’t forget there are plenty of ways to stay in touch with us outside of this newsletter, try following us on Twitter, hear our thoughts on LinkedIn, or catch up on our culture on Facebook. Until next time….

Float like a hummingbird…

Google celebrated its 15th Birthday last week by going back to the garage where it all started (I don’t think frankenfurter was there), and announced that it’s completely re-engineered its search algorythm with a release called Hummingbird. The amusing part of it is that it released it about a month ago and no-one picked it up. The biggest changes are around “conversational search” allowing users to search using “natural language” like “where is my nearest bottleo” or “which Australian university is worth going to”.

It’s Google’s latest move towards semantic search and the implementation of some of its patents (great patent diagrams) – however it would seem most of the SEO world aren’t really sure if you need to do anything different – the general concensus seems to be keep calm and carry on.

…Sting like a bee

At the same time, Google have shut down all information about what terms users are using to get to websites via organic search. This has been decreasing for a while, but now (Not Provided) will become 100% of all traffic. There are some ways of getting around it, but the quick SEO report looks to be a thing of the past.

…and your Doctor using Google Glass to repair you

Philips Heathcare and Accenture have started using Google Glass as a tool to provide real-time information to doctors both in surgery and whilst dealing with patients. Don’t try and use them on the road to the hospital though, they’ve already been banned (thankfully) for drivers in the UK, as well as casinos, schools and movie theatres.

BuzzWord bingo segment

If there is a marketing buzzword of the moment, we like to throw in a few interesting stories about it, so how about 4 great examples of Content Marketing, or some great Data Visualisation tools. For Multi-screening and Omni-Channel Shopping, Google have introduced their Estimated Total Conversions metric. Three simple ways to create Online Personalisation is a great read, and my pick of the Viral Videos this week is definitely NSFW, but was taken “with a sense of humour” by the CEO of the company that was targeted (if you watch high-brow entertainment, this one’s for you)

Technology to make you feel better

If crowdsourcing works for kids’ toys and watches, why not use it to work out what rare and dreaded disease you may have. CrowdMed allows “medical detectives” to work together to diagnose you. Once you’ve worked it out, you can use the Touch Surgery app to watch a video and simulation of the surgery you’re about to have. Given my experience with birthing videos in prenatal classes, I’ll be giving this one a skip. Sometimes you can know too much.

All things Social

The startup world is aTwitter with the news of Twitter’s IPO – some interesting charts show that Twitter has never yet made money and when compared with Facebook, has a relatively small user base. It’s still hoping to IPO for a valuation of $1billion though. This chart puts the hype and the reality into perspective.

Speaking of Facebook, the value of a Facebook fan is around $174, on average, according to a study by Syncapse, but varies wildly depending on the brand. The study makes for interesting reading, both in terms of the methodology (mostly survey-based) and for reflecting on time vs return.

Wondering when the best time is to Tweet, Facebook, Blog or Email? This post collects together lots of different research to provide you with (some) definitive answers.

Bits and Pieces

An interesting view from WPP’s Martin Sorrell, making a case for the role of independent agencies to ensure “media companies” like Facebook, Google and Twitter don’t swallow up all your advertising dollars.
Get behind a great anti-cyberbullying app that Zuni has crowd-funded – vote today for Dandelion, a finalist in the Lovie Awards (it’s already been a finalist in the 2013 Sydney Design Awards).
Pixar has visualised its 22 rules of story-telling – given their pedigree, they’re rules worth noting.
Cookie monster your browser and watch him eat up web pages.
The world’s most famous vandal, banksy, has gone digital to document his visit to NY.
Snapchat, the app that put the “s” in sexting, has launched Stories, the ability to document your life and share with your friends.
A great round up of 10 interesting examples of mobile used in retail.