The Next Engine: Beyond Campaign Thinking

Google recently announced that they are going to make landing page load time, where load time is defined as the amount of time it takes for a user to see the landing page after clicking an ad, an official factor that in part determines a site’s Quality Score.

Translation:

Site owners and developers now need to think more carefully about how they approach landing page design and implementation.  With this announcement, Google is effectively saying they will be punishing you for Interstitial pages, multiple redirects, excessively slow servers and heavyweight eye-candy.

 Solution:

Design and implement your site keeping “Fast is better than slow” in mind. Also, constantly keep the user’s experience at the forefront of your decision making process. Failure to do so, even with good intentions, could likely result in a negative outcome.

As is being widely reported, Google’s Android mobile software platform is getting delayed.

You can check out the details at the links above — I’m more interesting in the implications of the carrier-specific hurdles Google is finding itself trying to jump over.

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Apparently sex no longer sells.

Do you eat your own dog food? Practice what you preach? Walk the talk? When I look around the marketing landscape right now, few professionals seem to be actively participating in social media or using social media platforms in their business. I’m not talking about simply having a MySpace or Facebook profile to post pictures from your last birthday party (although those are platforms every marketer needs to pay attention to). Why aren’t more people blogging, micro-blogging, podcasting, vlogging, producing media and sharing media? Perhaps it is because of the overwhelming amount of social media services, platforms, and technologies available to marketers now? I think that’s one of the big problems for brands, marketers and agencies. How can they build, share, and innovate in the media landscape if they aren’t engaged in using the same tools are the consumers they are trying to reach?

Sure, some of the technologists and technically savvy folks prone to being early adopters are already doing this. Many of the individuals that contribute to this blog are heavy media producers and consumers. We have incorporated services and tools like Twitter, Ning, Facebook, StumbleUpon, Pownce, Digg, and Brightkite into our daily lives. But why?

Why you should start participating in social media now

The point is that there are now an entire ecosystem of social media services and platforms available to marketers, agencies, and brands that have become valuable marketing tools. There are examples of companies increasing sales, improving their customer service, or building their brand  by effectively and intelligently applying the social media tools that are available. And in each case, the only way they truly understood the value was by rolling up their sleeves, getting their hands dirty, and starting to use them.

It’s time to get involved. That means YOU. As experts, what can we do to help facilitate that? We’ll guide your journey through the complex landscape of social media services, tools, and platforms. On this site, we’re going to provide a social media tools and technology series. An upcoming set of blog posts that will give you the information necessary to begin using these tools immediately. I hope you’ll find them valuable. And they provide you with the fuel for innovation.

First up in this series:  BrightKite - a mobile communications tool

Coming soon.

Is the best fun you can have on the internet without closing the curtains. This tells a powerful story (hat tip Davezilla). First person to guess this (hint: song) wins today’s special prize.