In 2011, The Grey Lady made waves by introducing its paywall. It received its share of praise and criticisms about its long term viability, ability to pay the bills, and potential alienation of its readership. Recently, several major US papers have followed the Times’ example by erecting paywalls of their own. Papers are plugging the gaps in their systems and the leaky paywall itself may become a thing of the past.
Washington Post
The Washington Post is the latest of the big papers to consider going behind a paywall. Rather than following the “charge first and ask questions later” strategy of some other sites, it is actively gathering information from its users beforehand. In preparation for its imminent block, visitors are being polled on:
- How often they read the site.
- What other sites they read,.How much would they pay?
As the Washington BizJournal reports:
There were three options… seven-day delivery and unlimited Web access for $24.95 a month, unlimited Web access without a print subscription for $14.95 a month, and Sunday delivery plus unlimited Web access for $7.95 a month.
Boston Globe
The Boston Globe previously allowed visitors from Social Media sites to read 5 articles per month before requiring a subscription. That number has now dropped to 2 articles per month.
This change only affects the BostonGlobe.com site. They still maintain their free Boston.com site, which contains less content.
Globe spokeswoman Ellen Clegg says, “We have been trying to find the right balance between the free-sharing culture of the Internet and paid access to premium Globe content.”
New York Times
The Paper of Record has knocked off one way of getting around its paywall. Visitors can no longer trim the URL to avoid triggering the pay warning. This was the easiest and most common method of avoidance, though several more still remain.
Spokesperson Eileen Murphy says that keeping these venues of free access open is a feature, not a bug:
When we launched our digital subscription plan we knew there were loopholes to access our content beyond the allotted number of articles each month. We have made some adjustments and will continue to make adjustments to optimize the gateway by implementing technical security solutions to prohibit abuse and protect the value of our content.
What Does It Mean?
Paywalls seem to be where the online news industry is heading, at least for now. These three papers have different methods of going about it:
- WashPo: Getting feedback on various payment plans before proceeding.
- Boston Globe: Offering a free option and a superior paid option with few leaks.
- NYT: Making the paywall leaky to get users acclimated before clamping down.
Opinions run strong on which method is best, or if paywalls are a viable long-term solution for monetizing online news. I think that DigitalFirst’s John Paton’s words of caution are appropriate for those of us on the outside. We should be humble in drawing our conclusions:
[E]motional arguments over what something is worth in a market economy is a near worthless waste of time at the expense of finding real solutions to the problem.
What other paywall strategies have you seen?
February 22, 2013
While media marketers might not put themselves into the same camp as internet trolls, they both have similar goals: getting seen and engaging the audience.
Gigaom’s Martin Belam discusses how sites have deployed countermeasures against drones.Some sites use real IDs (e.g. Facebook) or voting mechanisms (e.g. DISQUS) to shape the comment conversations, but these don’t seem to largely affect the tone or engagement of the commenters.
As Mary Hamilton says:
“In the end, it appeared that actually the tone set early on in a comment thread looked like it influenced comments much more than anything intrinsic about the format or identity system used.”
Being one of the first commenters is the most important factor, whether you are seeking to legitimately engage the author and audience or troll them.
I encourage you to read the entire article, especially if you are running a website with user comments enabled.
Tell us what you think in a tone-setting comment below.
February 8, 2013
YouTube has been growing and maturing as a platform for distributing content generated by users and companies alike.
In a recent blog post, Storyful editor and TED speaker Markham Nolan says that YouTube is ”becoming the most important repository of documentary evidence about humankind in existence.”
What makes YouTube so important, and why it it important to monitor it?
It’s a valuable primary source
YouTube is a source of original, unedited videos of events and presentations that aren’t available elsewhere. Media will edit, spin, label, and otherwise attempt to color the raw material.
As Markham Nolan says:
I wanted to watch the [Democratic National Convention] unadulterated, without commentary, without the partisan hackery or faux-objectivity of the networks. YouTube had a page dedicated to the conventions, where I could browse in and out of the live action as it happened, or, when things became a little dull, review videos from speeches I had missed.
Your niche industry is covered
Broadcast media, such as cable news or radio, have a set number of channels or frequencies and can only dedicate limited time to any single event. YouTube, on the other hand, has no such limits. No matter how small a subject is, it can be covered in great depth.
Nolan remarks on the recent Red Bull stunt:
Felix Baumgartner’s edge-of-the-atmosphere parachute jump was the second. Eight million people logged on to watch that little hop live via YouTube. News channels couldn’t devote the adequate time to it and would skip in and out, but Red Bull’s YouTube channel streamed the entire thing.
Get deep coverage
To paraphrase David Bowie, with YouTube we can be journalists, if just for one day. Gain access to raw information not available to journalists or that are too small to have covered in detail.
Nolan gives the Arab Spring as an example of this:
We are now the most chronicled generation in history. There has never been a greater level of unfiltered documentation of humanity (caveats coming) in history. It also gives us a window into countries that old-school news would never have shown.Through YouTube you get to see past media stereotypes to get candid glimpses from Saudi Arabia, central Russia, caucus states, Pacific islands and elsewhere.
What does this mean for you?
There is an ever increasing amount of content to monitor and analyze and YouTube is a space where this is occurring. Your tools should be keeping up with the pace and helping you sift through this potentially overwhelming information.
Although traditional broadcast, print, and online media are still dominant and where most people go to get their news, YouTube is growing. It’s more important than just rounding out your monitoring and competitive analysis. It’s indispensable.
See a TED Talk by Markham Nolan TED Talk here:
(Hat tip to Kate Torovnick at the TED Blog)
January 24, 2013
People want to define the terms of the relationships they have with companies. This includes where, when, and how interactions take place.
Companies that attempt to influence potential purchasers have an interesting dilemma. People researching products utilize publicly available data, but their behavior changes once they’re about to pull the trigger.
Buyers “go dark” once they reach this important step. That is, once they have informed themselves, they turn to personal social media to get confirmation of the choice. These are often in private channels and beyond the reach of monitoring companies.
Even if you have the ability to communicate in some of these channels, potential purchasers may find your influence off-putting.
So what can be done?
David F. Carr, taking inspiration from a presentation given by R2Integrated’s Matt Goddard, covers this issue in a discussion of the purchasing behavior of social media users.
Where Goddard ultimately sees the most potential is the use of social media for product research. The closer people get to making a purchase, the more they tend to turn to those ‘dark social’ networks where they get more private advice from close friends, family or business peers. Still, enough is visible to give businesses a better understanding of how their products are perceived and what new products might be brought into existence to serve unmet needs.
Because social media users listen to each other more than they listen to brands, offering them the right thing is critical. “Companies that have the best products are going to win. Those that don’t have great products are going to lose,” Goddard said.
It may be that your tactics should change from attempts to directly influence consumers to indirectly influencing them through acting on the results of good competitive analysis.
How do you do that?
- Get data about your potential consumers, competitors, and yourself;
- Analyze that data to identify important trends;
- Get it into the hands of people who can make decisions.
Read this article on Competitive Analysis for more information on how to do all of those steps.
January 17, 2013
Happy New Year!
We hope you’ve had a chance to shake off the cobwebs from the holiday season and are ready to get back into the swing of things.
Moreover has some exciting developments coming in 2013. Make sure you don’t miss them.
Subscribe to our RSS feed and/or follow us on Twitter.
January 10, 2013
We wish you health, comfort, and prosperity this holiday season.
December 19, 2012
In recent conversations with our clients, we’ve been hearing about the increased need for Competitive Analysis. Clients are telling us that it’s not enough to get a data stream from various media. They’re also looking for knowledge to help them and others make informed choices about the direction of products, services, marketing, and even staffing.
Whereas Media Monitoring is receiving a stream of relevant data, Competitive Analysis goes a step beyond that; it’s narrowing down that data until only useful and actionable information remains. It is understanding your strengths and weaknesses as well as those of the competition. It’s also about acting on that knowledge, which means sharing it with the right people.
Data: The Stuff Analysis Is Made of
So where can you glean the kind of information you need about competitors? Virtually everywhere!
Start by making sure you have online media covered. Corporate blogs and press release sites are a good beginning, but it’s not just official communications that matter. There are online news outlets, user blogs, Twitter, forums, social networks, YouTube, and more every day.
Even if all these areas are being monitored and analyzed, that still leaves the legacy media to think about. Are your competitors running commercials or getting radio or television buzz? Don’t forget that newspapers don’t always put everything online.
Sure, it can be information overload, but with the right tools, it is easily managed. Look for tools that will help you organize and analyze all media in a single location. Skip the headaches that come with juggling multiple tools for the various sites you want to monitor. They’re simply not worth the time or effort.
Analysis: Finding Meaning
Getting your hands on competitive information is just the start. Competitive Analysis is about being proactive in understanding what customers want and tailoring your message to them. It is about identifying trends in order to prepare for them ahead of time.
Tools for analyzing competitors should be flexible and thorough in the questions they answer including:
- Where are competitors driving conversations?
- How are they faring financially?
- What social media are they using?
- What new products or services are being launched?
- What buzz is being generated around them?
Data like this helps you chart the competitive landscape. Now you will need to use that information to plot your course. For example:
Perhaps you have identified industry experts and will engage them to capitalize on and appeal to their existing audience. Where are people talking? Maybe Twitter or LinkedIn is where you should be making a presence. Or, there may be neglected pockets of potential users that you can engage.
If a competitor does something to receive bad press, now is the time to scoop up those disgruntled clients. Are your own past decisions causing negative ripples? Maybe some damage control is in order.
Distribution: Fuel for Action
Once actionable information has been gleaned, it’s time for sharing and applying it.That means getting it into the hands of the right people so it can be used effectively. Find out how others want to receive information and accommodate their preferences. The most common media for distribution are:
- Company intranets/portals
- Email
- Spreadsheets
- Feed Readers
Distilling and acting on competitive knowledge is helping our clients stand out, build stronger customer relationships, and make more money. Whether you are looking to enter new markets, solidify existing business, or update your business plan, competitive analysis can work for you, too.
December 12, 2012
By Zachary Enos, Marketing Catalyst, 9Lenses
Sometimes business should ignore Mother Nature. Take “safety in numbers,” for instance. It’s usually a great survival strategy, but in business it becomes a liability. The more employees, customers, and exposure you have, the more opportunities your firm has, quite frankly, to fail. In today’s world, more people manage your brand than the “brand manager.”
The stakes are high. The social era equips every customer, employee, reporter, and media outlet with lethal weapons of brand destruction. Any cell-pic, twitter feed, or comment can bumble its way into the news. We’ve seen Twitter and YouTube debacles mar brands like Domino’s Pizza overnight.
In an effort to secure the castle, most brand managers focus exclusively on external threats. External reputation matters, but don’t forget that “a house divided against itself cannot stand.” Investment in brand loyalty amongst employees raises up more defenders of the castle, whilst mitigating internal risks.
9Lenses teamed up with Moreover Technologies to bring you these six tips to balance your internal and external reputation. Moreover Technologies brings home the bacon by monitoring news and media channels for some of the world’s biggest brands, while 9Lenses deploys a social platform that collects employee sentiment and thoughts across every part of a business.
I. “Our House:” Nurturing Your Internal Rep.
1) Listen to Your People
Quality people drive quality organizations. If you want to turn top employees into raving fans, you’ve got to help them fall in love with your company. How? It’s not that complicated: in fact, you foster company fans in the same way you’d grow a friendship. Friendships deepen when both parties really listen and hear one another.
You can do the same thing in every part of your company. Find a way to ask all of your people to comment on your business’s every process, system, and goal. You want to find out how your stakeholders perceive your organization’s health. Your people want to contribute! They want to be heard. Reward those who contribute at the highest level because high participation rates increase the quality of the resulting data.
2) Track Perceptions
Listening is only the first step. You must then act on the insights offered. Tell your people “we heard you, and seek to solve the problems you identified.” Next, create implementation teams and workflows to promote the best ideas offered. Reengage those teams over time to drive accountability, feedback, and execution.
Great employees can spot disingenuous engagement efforts a mile away, so make sure you’re genuine. If they’re given the opportunity to speak and your company doesn’t respond, you can kiss your internal fan base good-bye.
3) Empower Don’t Manage
Imagine for a moment, two coaches. The first, feels like he works hard but his team slacks off. They just won’t follow “the plan,” so he compensates by barking orders and refuses to hear any thoughts but his own. Does he drive performance? In a Machiavellian sense, sure. But in a world where his office tirades can be splattered all over your brand, his approach is a major liability.
The second coach is quite the opposite. “I hired great people, “ she reasons, “they ought to know how I can optimize their performance.” She combines her people’s feedback with her experience to create relevant KPIs. She distributes resources to empower not control, reduces permission seeking, and rewards employees who give back. She rocks, and people love working for her. Her employees become little brand evangelists who use their circles of influence to spot and mitigate brand assaults before they spread.
II. “Outside the Gates:” Building a Siege Proof Exterior Rep.
4) Build Trust
You’re halfway there! Your house is in order. Now it’s time to look outside into the mysterious beyond. This is a customer-centric world. Invest significant time, energy, and resources into discovering precisely who your customer is and what makes them tick.
Customers trust those who help them understand and solve their problems. Be that source of educational content on your chosen topic of expertise. Blog where they read and publish in their newspapers. When someone offers positive feedback, leverage it to gain the trust in his or her circle of influence.
5) Target Niche Markets
As a marketer, I can tell you that great messages are tight. I can beat industry standard “click through” and “open rates” every time if the offering is tightly linked to my prospects personalities, pain-points, and needs. If you hit the nail on the head, adoption becomes viral and is rapidly passed from one relevant prospect to another, effortlessly.
A Belgium based company called Engagor helps clients like Volvo Group, McDonalds, Ikea, and the European Parliament target their brands toward niche clients by managing their brands online. Engagor partnered with Moreover to give clients confidence that websites of every size in every country were being thoroughly tracked, so Engagor clients could micro-sell their brands to key niches. Using technology like Moreover’s Newsdesk to track brand impressions in micro-markets is key to braking into niches.
6) 360 Your Rep
Even a king can fall to a stray arrow, so too can a healthy firm fall to a news article on an obscure website. You’ve got to find tools to help you see, assess, and respond to brand mentions in online/print news outlets, social media channels, word-of-mouth rumors, and tv/radio spotlights. In short, you need to see your brand from every possible angle—360 insight.
The world is moving too fast to drop the ball on this one. One of the best places to start is with news outlets. Take the Business Intelligence team at Shell Oil. They’re constantly on the lookout for tools to keep their team informed. Industry trends, brand mentions, competitive positioning, and political landscape refocus their strategies, constantly.
Like Engagor, Shell leverages Moreover Technologies’ Newsdesk service to set highly targeted news feeds that parse critical stories and brand mentions for employees at every level of the company. With one service, they get a nearly 360-degree view of their brand, market, and competitors all in one intuitive interface. That’s exactly the sort of technology communications professionals can leverage to snapshot their reputation from every angle.
December 5, 2012
Good morning! These are the styling changes you will see when you log into Newsdesk today.
The Email Tab Gets a Facelift
The Email Tab has been improved with a sleeker look and more user-friendly layout.
Gone are the grey spaces and lines. The Edit Template button now appears in the upper right corner and the name of the Newsletter or Alert being edited appears at the top of the screen.
Search Results in Expanded Mode
To facilitate future design upgrades, the Search results now only appear in “expanded mode”. The grid view has been removed.
If this is something that you would like to see reinstated, please contact us.
IE Improvements
To ensure continued compatibility with Internet Explorer, several behind-the-scenes changes were made. The Expanded View was made the singular display for search results and some minor display bugs have also been fixed.
Bug Fixes
- Analytics: You can set the colors for charts again.
- Dashboard: The “User Comments” widget now updates automatically.
- Email: The Last Send Time always shown for Alerts and Newsletters.
- Search: Clicking the “Clear All” button on the Refine Panel resets the Relevancy Slider as well.
We always want to know how we can improve Newsdesk. If you have any ideas, let us know in the comments or contact us by email.
November 29, 2012
In the United States, this is the time of year that we pause to reflect and give thanks. After having a great year, Moreover has much to be grateful for.
Most of all, we appreciate our clients, all around the globe, for trusting our products and services. And for giving our sales people, client services team, developers, marketing, operations professionals, and executives the opportunity to shine. It’s with pride and appreciation that we strive to exceed your expectations.
We’ll remember that as we stuff ourselves with turkey, watch The Game, and celebrate with friends and family.
Happy Thanksgiving!
November 21, 2012
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