Intermedia

The end of the website as we know it

Okay, so that's probably a bit more extreme than it needed to be, but a recent post by Edelman's Steve Rubel struck a long-standing chord with me that has to deal with the whole "content versus container" issue.

In his discussion of digital trends on the Authenticities blog, he writes:

I believe (and I could be dead wrong here) that the era of web sites is coming to an end, ushering in an era of web services. To succeed, brands and content producers will need to make sure their content is portable and can go where the people are. Example: the NBA's successful widget program

This is such an important point. We live in the era of the evolving container, thanks in large part to RSS. By focusing too much on the delivery mechanism -- the website, the blog, the plasma screen, txt to phone, etc.  -- you'll always be a step behind. The key is to get your content into a portable format that then can slide into any container. The website is an important repository for content, but it can't be the only one.

Sure, post your photos to the homepage and inside pages, but make sure they're also available on the social photo sites, Google Images, etc. Same thing for news -- make it all available via RSS. Video? Same deal. By unhinging your content from the container, you'll also make it more viral. Have a prospective student, parent, or alumnus who likes a particular story or picture? They should be able to share it, drag it to their Facebook page, and extend its social life.

 

Measurement - Track behavior, consistently

I'm a fan of measurement. It's part of my practical, "why am I doing this?" nature. So, I tend to write and talk about it quite a bit. What's bugging me recently is the number of folks who either say, "You can't measure [fill in the blank], because the stats are unreliable or something seemingly reasonable. I don't buy it though, at least when talking about internal measures.

If you're trying to measure efforts or outcomes of your operation, all that really matters is consistency. Pick the thing you're going to measure -- anything, really -- and get a benchmark, then repeat to see if you're improving, declining, staying flat. The other key, I'm coming to realize, is that you measure behavior (which, for some reason, I've started spelling behaviour), not activity. There's just to much unknown, particularly on the web, with measuring action/activities. What does a click, or path, really mean? What's the behavior you are trying to cause -- apply, visit, give, register, etc. By taking your measurement to this level, you keep the strategies and tactics in the right place and don't focus too much on the small things.