Latest Web Engagement News & Articles

Like many voices at a party, the many kinds of social media conversations all compete for attention. To help deal with what it describes as the “anarchy” of social media marketing in many agencies, social enterprise software provider Buddy Media is announcing major enhancements to its social marketing suite.

The last post has blown for PostRank, with the company confirming the "sunsetting" of its popular social media analytics service, which Google brought last June, with users being advised to switch to Google Analytics instead.

IBM is getting ready to release some updates to its Web Experience Management (WEM) platform. While we can't give you details of what's to come, we can give you some perspective on IBM's approach to WEM and the customer experience.

As brands move online, they want better metrics than just hits and ad clicks. Google is stepping in with a new initative under the DoubleClick banner called the Brand Activate Initiative.

Step aside CMIS for a few minutes, the new Web Experience Management Initiative (WEMI) needs a little attention. The first face-to-face meeting was recently held in Copenhagen and there were plenty of Web CMS vendors in attendance — a sign that many are ready to play nice.

This week we've got questions (and answers) for you:

• How do you get your employees to care about the customer experience?
• How do you deliver a personalized experience to every visitor?
• How do you measure digital influence accurately?

These are just some of the topics we explored this week — and the answers have been enlightening.

Customer Experience Management (CXM) is on the mind of every CEO, CIO and CMO and there are no easy answers, no cookie cutter blueprints to do it right.

Tomorrow we welcome you to April — join us this coming month as we look at the evolution of Digital Asset Management (DAM) and it's increasingly important role in the online customer experience.

Most Popular

• Upcoming Revolution in Web Content Management
• Managing Records in SharePoint 2010: An ARMA Report Review
• Forget Everything You Know About Measuring Digital Influence
• Kindle Fire 2 Stories Heat Up as Amazon Aims at the iPad
• Office 365: Is SharePoint Online a Good Business Move?

Editor's Picks

• Conversion of a Gamification Skeptic: CRM Adoption and a Clean House
• Data is the New Oil
• Customer Experience Optimization: A Custom Website for Every Customer
• The Future is Digital & Adobe Plans to Deliver It
• Using Taxonomies to Drive Intranet User Adoption

Around the Web

• The Forces Shaping What's Next in Social
• How Social Sites Make Money [Infographic]
• Social Media, a Knowledge Management Tool
• Content Curation: Truths, Threats, Motivations and Opportunities
• The Risks of “Gamification” for the Enterprise

Featured Events (all events | post your event)

• Apr 11, 2012 — OpenText Content Day New York
• Apr 11, 2012 – (Webinar) Creating Great Mobile Websites, Quickly
• Apr 12, 2012 — (Webinar) Building Rich Web Experiences with Open Source
• Apr 17, 2012 — Social Media Analytics Summit in San Francisco
• Apr 18, 2012 — Forrester's Marketing Leadership Forum Los Angeles

Featured Jobs (all jobs | post your job)

• Senior Online Content Manager in Georgia at Digital Sherpa
• Interactive Project Manager in NewYork at Bridgeline Digital
• IS Business Analyst in Ohio at Hyland
• Director of EMEA Marketing in United Kingdom at Alfresco
• Senior Data Technology Specialist in London at VMware

Last week, I wrote about the different types of agencies and consultancies out there and gave a few hints about how to discern between them and what some of their high-level strengths and weaknesses are. I specifically chose to avoid writing about the RFI/RFP process itself as I'm sure it's been covered before by people more qualified than I. This week I promised to help people understand some of the nuances around the actual selection process and how to avoid some of the biggest pitfalls that plague enterprises of all sizes, including startups.

You could argue the ability to easily repurpose content has been fundamental to the success of the Internet. A small percentage of people create new content and then the masses quote, blog and mash it up. Content mobility is good, but the rampant re-sharing common online is not without its problems like how to reuse content fairly and “give props” to the original author. Will the new Curator’s Code system make a difference?

It starts with inspiration. It starts with an idea of something new. Something that people — users and executives alike — will love.

Today, enterprise social management platform, Shoutlet, announced the release of Shoutlet 5.0. Designed to abridge social media for enterprises, the latest version adds three ultra-sophisticated new features and a round of updates to the existing program. Makes you just want to shout out loud thinking about it!

As a follow-up to my previous article, Overview: The 'New' Google Analytics Platform, I'm providing a series of articles that dive into each of the platform's new components in more detail. For this article, I'm going to spend some time going through the Visitor Flow Report, a feature that can help you assess website engagement.

Mobile use of websites is on track to overtake conventional desktop access by the end of 2013, according to Gartner Research.

Cisco's data shows rapid growth of mobile data usage, and predicts even steeper growth over 2012 and 2013. More than one billion Android and iOS apps were downloaded in the final weeks of 2011, according to Flurry.

None of this should come as a surprise — as you fondly glance at the shiny thing in your right hand.

Source: Cisco

No longer is managing Web content enough. The entire user experience must be managed and optimized across all online channels. And because mobile is a platform shift, it requires not only a change of content strategy, but also a change of certain technology infrastructure as well.

Open source experts, Rivet Logic, are giving a one-hour, live webinar that delves into how you can use open source software to develop exceptional online experiences that address both desktop and mobile web clients.

The event runs Thursday January 19th at 11am Pacific / 2pm Eastern time. During the discussion you will learn how to blend open source software to seamlessly deliver engaging online experiences across channels. 

You can learn more and reserve your seat here.

In 2011, we saw the category of Customer Experience Management  (CXM) enter the scene. No longer was the web only about information sharing; we watched it explode to include an intricate set of social connections and mobile apps.

In 2012, we will likely see Customer Experience Management evolve into a deeper and more sophisticated engagement with any user engaging the riveting technology advancements in the online world of social, mobile or web apps.

Social media may have started out as a place for people to connect, converse and collaborate, but for the savvy marketer, it quickly evolved into an untapped treasure trove of potential customers.

For the enterprise, social media offers an even bigger opportunity in 2012 as it makes its way into productivity applications where users will desire the same friendly, accessible interface in their daily tasks. The experience for the savvy business user will look to social media as a common ground.

Why shouldn’t an employee’s training certifications be as easy to identify as their hobbies on Facebook? With advancements in gamification and leaderboards, healthy competition for stickers, badges and awards could find their way into the workplace.

2011 also saw the emergence of "B.Y.O.D" — IT had to make a decision on which devices they would support. Just as social media is more than a marketing channel (it is becoming a way of life), mobile goes beyond the apps.

Marketers who dipped their toe into the mobile waters in 2011, will continue be able to take advantage of the "always on" customer in 2012. Mobile marketing has an opportunity to expand into value-add apps that prove both productive and engaging for all information seekers – on any screen, anytime, anywhere.

Companies like Emergency Medicine Physicians (EMP) have modified the user experience to provide one-click access to popular content across many different mobile devices. EMP measures the length of time each doctor spends on the site as an increase in productivity. Doctors can tailor their one pane of glass to include their favorite "apps" and the browser and mobile experience are transparent. EMP’s goal was to simplify for empowerment.

If this resonates with you, check out the EMP case study here.

2012 offers a multi-channel experience that engages each user to his or her fullest potential. Success in Customer Experience Management depends on the ability of the organization to place a sophisticated understanding of the customer at the heart of every business interaction.

Stay tuned here as the story evolves.

The customer is the marketer; that's what social media is for. The customer is the advertiser; that's what Google is for.

We all (hopefully) use cloud services in some form, but with more apps starting to rely on them, expect Windows 8 to have cloud at the core, along with the endless possibilities of Kinect's motion, audio and lip-reading skills.

The more you integrate your content strategy with other disciplines within digital strategy — SEO, social media, usability and information architecture — the more successful it will be.

Mobile is a platform. It is a tactic, not a strategy. What you need is a strategy for the connected customer.

Creating a website structure and defining successful user journeys is an ongoing activity. It is a continually developing process as new technology changes and customer habits, expectations and norms evolve. For example, the variety of websites in the car insurance industry illustrates how each organization arranges their website and user journeys differently.

The first place to start is to identify your top tasks, then create an Information Architecture before defining user journeys.

We compare in order to make the best decision. To do that we need to consider the opinion of both experts and crowds.

At the giant search and social media conference Pubcon in Las Vegas, Google’s top Spam cop Matt Cutts said in his talk the company is getting out the knife again.  He reported Google is looking to discern “…what are the things that really matter, how much content is above the fold.”

You may remember the last time Cutts’ team went after low-quality content was with its Panda algorithm, also known as Farmer, that targeted content farms gaining top search hits on “shallow” content.