Learn How Cisco Uses RSS to Driving Leads and Traffic

April 16, 2008

The internet has changed how consumers move through the sales process from awareness to consideration to conversion. If a brand attempts to influence it must also change. The three pillars of the sales process have been connected for the first time. Now brands need to create a stream of content to keep consumers engaged at every step of the way.

B-to-B marketers have know this. They have been talking about prospecting and lead nuturing for years. They are engaging prospects through whitepapers, webinars and today, RSS Feeds. Content is no longer anchored to a website. It can flow freely around the web.

We worked with Cisco's agency, Connect Direct, to leverage Cisco's content to engage users across the Pheedo RSS content network.

Connect Direct's President & Founder, Howard Sewell, explains how he leveraged Pheedo's technology.

Working with Pheedo, CDI is now able to:

• serve client ads within a network of RSS feeds, tailored by channels (ex: IT Professionals, Consumer Technology) or even specific feeds (ex: Wired, Dr. Dobbs) that are most relevant to the client's target audience, offer, or product category

• develop and place so-called "feed-powered" ads, either in-feed or on traditional Websites, in which the client's ad is populated by dynamic content powered by the client's own RSS feed

See Howards' full explanation on how B-to-B marketers can leverage RSS to engage prospects throughout the sales process.

Posted on April 16, 2008 2:12 PM
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10 Ways to Promote Your Feed

March 4, 2008

Sitepronews.com list a few techniques to promote your feed. All simple to follow things.

One thing to keep in mind, growing your RSS list is one of the challenges. Keeping subscribers active is what really matters especially if you are intersted in generating revenue from your feed. Activity means opening your feed, reading, sharing or clicking to your website.

More on that later...

Posted on March 4, 2008 9:28 AM
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MicroSharing: Enabling Consumer Reviews of Your Content

January 24, 2008

In a post written by Rohit Bhargava, Senior Vice President, Digital Strategy & Marketing, he talks about a concept he calls MicroSharing. He explains it as, "the act of individuals sharing pieces of content with others in a group who have similar interests or needs."

The concept is a solid one but how does a marketer encourage Microsharing? I discussed the 'how to' earlier. Virally-enable your content. MicroSharing starts by make it easy for users to share pieces of your content with their peer group.

Recently, a client shared their success of Virally-enable content. The results were outstanding. They added up all the traffic they received from digg, del.icio.us, StumbleUpon, RSS etc, it nearly was half of the traffic Google delivered. If you think of the size of Google compared to the cumulative size of these sites, that is a successful outcome.

However, there is a deeper impact that is occurring. Why are these sites able to drive so much traffic? Think about it as a product review. Very similar to what you might find on Amazon. A user - not you, said this piece of content is worth sharing. According Bazaar Voice, 78% of online consumers have more trust for brands with reviews.

So what should a marketer do?

1. Virally-enable your content to create consumer reviews
2. If you are producing content, studyDigg, digg, del.icio.us, StumbleUpon to understand what content is important to users
3. Heavily promote your RSS feeds to encourage viral syndication
3. Write what works. Apply your learnings from 2 above and start creating content that resonates with your target market.

Not a new concept but consumers will trust other consumers before you. By Virally-enabling your content, you are letting users decided what is worthy of sharing and reading.

Posted on January 24, 2008 10:04 AM
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