SIIA Blog
Many publishers are experimenting with online events and webinars, and know they want to expand this business but are unsure of the next steps. On Wed 2 Oct, at the latest SIIA London Issue Brief, we gathered together twenty publishers to hear from two organisations that are further ahead on the learning curve – the Economist and Melcrum – and swap best practice with their peers. If you missed it, here are the main takeaways of the session:
Alan Mutter’s Reflections of a Newsosaur blog led me today to the Reuters Institute Digital News Report 2013: Tracking the Future of News. Core questions were asked in France, Germany, Denmark, Spain, Italy, Japan, Brazil, and the U.S., as well as the UK, to a nationally representative audience to provide an international comparison.
Here are some interesting notes:
1. Here comes mobile. Tablet usage has doubled in the 10 months since the last survey. In many countries, smartphone users are now in the majority, and most of them use these devices to access news every week. Across all the countries surveyed, 46% use a smartphone and 31% say they used the device for news at least once in the past week. (See the next Mobile Essentials webinar Oct. 24.)
2. Get to know your audience better. “In all countries we asked if people agreed that they preferred to get news from sites they know and trust. The figures were universally high, with 90% supporting the proposition in Brazil, 82% in the US, and 77% in the UK.”
3. Twitter, etc. may be as important as SEO. Social media is now rated more important than search among the ‘under 45s’. In the U.S. 47% of under 45s use social media to find news. (How’s your social media involvement?) In the U.K. it’s only 27%. (Hear a social media case study at the Las Vegas Marketing Conference.)
4. Encourage your audience to share. In the UK 18% had shared a news story in the last week by email or social network but among those actively interested in news the figures are much higher. Almost a third of those with a high interest in news share a news link at least once a week.
5. Publishing information daily (and maybe at various times of day) makes sense. Only older people are staying on any schedule for accessing news. Younger people tend to access news at all times, and “even the 35–44s seem to be losing the commitment for appointment-to-view news bulletins in the early and late evening.”
6. Americans like local. We have the highest interest of any country in news about our city or town (59%). (More women indicated that as an interest than men.) We are near the lowest to be interested in news about technology or science (26%). Wonder if that has anything to do with our students’ test scores in those areas.
7. Find tablet users. While smartphone users say the convenience not the experience draws them, tablet users like the experience more than PCs. Tablet users are also more likely to pay for news than smartphone users.
8. Americans consume video and audio. Are you using any? Only Brazil was higher (64%) for consuming news through video and audio than Americans (55%). (See a hands-on video session in Las Vegas.)
9. Check your analytics. People in the UK find news more by trusted brands, where in the U.S. people use more social and search. In both countries, the number of people who use search does not vary much by age. Of course, social does vary by age when it comes to search, but it again differs by country. In the UK, under 45s are three times as likely to use social for search; in the U.S., the numbers are much closer (38% to 23%).
10. Have you built your app yet? Those who use smartphones and tablets are more likely to go straight to a news brand. “The data also indicate that certain mechanisms – like social newsreading apps and ‘push’ news alerts – are disproportionately used on these devices to discover news content.”
11. Appeal to smartphone users to reach out. Of those who share news in the UK, 56% do so through Facebook, 40% through email and 26% through Twitter. In the U.S., Apple smartphone users are 41% more likely to share news than other digital news users.
Interesting stuff. Again access it here.
To subscribe to SIPAlert Daily, go to the SIIA site.
Ronn Levine began his career as a reporter for The Washington Post and has won numerous writing and publications awards since. Most recently, he spent 12 years at the Newspaper Association of America covering a variety of topics before joining SIPA in 2009 as managing editor. Follow Ronn on Twitter at @SIPAOnline
The Software & Information Industry Association, the principal trade association for the software and digital content industries, today announced the Public Sector Innovation Summit, formerly CloudGOV, will take place February 13th in Washington DC. Formerly Cloud/GOV, the Public Sector Innovation Summit is the premier government IT conference, bringing leading ISVs, cloud service providers, systems integrators and IT services companies together with government decision-makers to learn how innovation is changing the public sector IT market.
When: February 13, 2014
Where: The Westin, Washington DC
Who: ISVs, cloud service providers, systems integrators, IT services companies, and Government decision makers
“The landscape of federal agencies continues to change as they transition to data-driven cloud computing,” says Rhianna Collier, Vice President of the SIIA Software Division. “SIIA’s Public Sector Innovation Summit will provide critical insight and intelligence into the government’s movement towards cloud platforms and services and how ISVs can capitalize on this transition.”
For sponsorship inquiries, please contact Rhianna Collier at rcollier@siia.net or +1.408.884.3834 or Mike Hettinger at mhettinger@siia.net or +1.202.789.4456..
SIIA opened its third annual marketing survey to gain insight on marketers’ goals and objectives for 2013.
Asking valuable questions that look into social media use, top marketing focuses, mobile marketing, and marketing communications, marketers will learn the metrics their peers and competitors are watching to determine the ROI of marketing activities and the areas where marketers continue to face challenges.
The previous reports show that technology is playing a significant – and in many cases, growing – role in corporate marketing. While nearly all companies have embraced social media marketing, other platforms, especially mobile, have only limited appeal for digital marketers. Last year, executives had yet to invest significant resources in their digital marketing efforts – though many appear ready to increase their commitment of both time and money. Will this be the year the results shift?
I encourage you to take the survey today and be a part of the ever changing industry. All survey respondents will receive the full comprehensive results and will automatically be entered into a drawing for an Amazon gift card.
We are at a key inflection point in the history of information technology (IT). The last decade has brought about significant advances in IT, representing an evolution for IT from a specialized tool into a pervasive influence on nearly every aspect of everyday life.
This new Internet-enabled environment, often referred to as the “Internet of Things,” presents tremendous economic and social value, and is capable of transforming the way we work, communicate, learn and live our lives. Consumers, citizens and society as a whole stand to benefit greatly from innovative uses of data to improve health outcomes, streamlining and enhancing financial services, enhancing education and learning, and improving and maximizing our physical infrastructure.
SIIA proposes the following five recommendations for policymakers to maximize the beneficial outcomes of the Internet of Things:
- Policymakers should promote technology neutrality and avoid technology mandates.
- De-identification often provides an opportunity way to balance the needs of DDI and privacy protection.
- Uniform rules cannot be applied broadly to the role of notice and choice.
- The principle of data minimization should be re-interpreted.
- The Internet of Things requires a policy framework that provides for an evolving view of privacy rights based on risk and societal benefits.
I will participate in a panel discussion at the National Press Club today about building trust and confidence with regard to the Internet of Things. The 2013 M2M & Internet of Things Global Summit, hosted by Forum Europe, will take place in Washington DC today and tomorrow.
David LeDuc is Senior Director, Public Policy at SIIA. He focuses on e-commerce, privacy, cyber security, cloud computing, open standards, e-government and information policy. Follow the SIIA public policy team on Twitter at @SIIAPubPolicy.
Okay, guess if these subject lines were opened or neglected?
Tempting August NUSA Specials!
Your April Website Stats
MotorCycling Magazine Reader Survey
Final reminder for complimentary entry to attend the West Freelands BCI Cluster Conference 2006
Preliminary Floor Plans for Southern Village Neighborhood Circle members
SALE ends soon – up to 50% off all bras at Kara!
MailChimp just updated their second big email subject line study, revealing some interesting dos and don’ts for getting high open rates. Here’s a hint for you: You should also be aware of your own behavior. Which emails do you open? Where does your eye go first? Mine often looks at the From line (see number 6).
Here are eight more of their guidelines:
1. Keep subject lines fewer than 50 characters. “The exception was for highly targeted audiences, where the reader apparently appreciated the additional information in the subject line.”
2. Personalization does not increase open rates much. You’ve seen the subject lines, “[your name], this webinar is for you!” Their research says that personalization does not increase open rates very much. Providing a city name helps more. That makes sense. If I saw, “A new restaurant in Falls Church, Va.,” I would open it.
3. Don’t repeat subject lines. So maybe my SIPAlert Daily Week in Review should always have one or two words describing what follows—SIPAlert Daily Week in Review: Branding and Digital Ads. “While it is important to establish continuity and branding of the newsletter, ideally each new campaign should provide a clear indication in the subject line of what is inside this newsletter that is of interest.”
4. Build a good list. You’ve heard that before.
5. Valuable information tops promotion. There’s a reason content marketing is all the rage (and one of the four tracks at our Marketing Conference in Las Vegas, Dec. 11-13). But, if you are sending promotional emails: “Keep the message straightforward and avoid using splashy promotional phrases, CAPS, or exclamation marks in your subject lines. Subject lines framed as questions can often perform better.”
6. The From and Subject lines should work together. As much as possible, the “From” entry should not change and should concisely convey who you are. Save any humorous phrases or concepts for the subject line.”
7. Don’t sell what’s inside, tell what’s inside. People are currently being bombarded with email. Don’t be vague, don’t be too constant—although some will say that it does work for webinars, especially if you remove the people who already signed up—and be careful about using “free.”
8. Three words to avoid: Help, Percent off and Reminder. (That gives you a strong hint on one of the above questions.) Funny about “reminder.” I think we’ve all probably used that one—I guess we just ignore it.
Oh, about the subject lines up top. Here are the results:
Tempting August NUSA Specials! - .9%
(“Special” and exclamation points test poorly.)
Your April Website Stats – 92.6%
(Timely and useful information)
MotorCycling Magazine Reader Survey – 88.1%
(High affinity to activity/experience)
Final reminder for complimentary entry to attend the West Freelands BCI Cluster Conference 2006 – .5%
(“Reminder” is bad and subject line in this case too long)
Preliminary Floor Plans for Southern Village Neighborhood Circle members – 93%
(Timely information. Implied benefit for quick action. Over 50 characters in length – which is good for this targeted audience)
SALE ends soon – up to 50% off all bras at Kara! – 1.9%
(Percent off and exclamation point are not good)
Now I need to come up with a good subject line for this. Definitely not, “[your name] Reminder: Get % off help from us!!!”
To subscribe to the SIPAlert Daily, go to the SIIA site.
Ronn Levine began his career as a reporter for The Washington Post and has won numerous writing and publications awards since. Most recently, he spent 12 years at the Newspaper Association of America covering a variety of topics before joining SIPA in 2009 as managing editor. Follow Ronn on Twitter at @SIPAOnline
SIIA today joined tech companies and civil rights groups including Google, Apple, Twitter and the ACLU in support of legislation that would improve transparency around government surveillance of the Internet.
In a letter to Senate and House Judiciary Committee leaders, SIIA joined dozens of tech companies and civil rights and technology groups in support of Sen. Al Franken’s (D-MN) Surveillance Transparency Act of 2013, and Rep. Zoe Lofgren’s (D-CA)Surveillance Order Reporting Act of 2013. The bills would clarify that companies have the right to publish basic statistics about government demands for user data that they receive.
The letter states:
“Such transparency is important not only for the American people, who are entitled to have an informed public debate about the appropriateness of that surveillance, but also for international users of U.S.-based service providers who are concerned about privacy and security.”
David LeDuc is Senior Director, Public Policy at SIIA. He focuses on e-commerce, privacy, cyber security, cloud computing, open standards, e-government and information policy. Follow the SIIA public policy team on Twitter at @SIIAPubPolicy.