Content That Works

Over time, content creators will discover which apps, eBooks or services their audience will purchase and use on their smart phones and iPads. However, savvy publishers and content marketers are discovering ways to get their content onto mobile devices with approaches that help drive business metrics and meet organizational objectives -- and not by selling 99-cent apps.

Here are just a few ways to get your content on your customers' and members' smart phones and pad devices:

Your website's analytics can provide you with a lot of helpful information: How long people stay on your site, how they get there, what keywords bring them in, etc. But if you don't know how to drill down deeper and make sense of what your numbers are telling you, they're not going to do you much good. If you are concerned your web analytics are failing you, TopRank's Online Marketing Blog has a few suggestions as to why:

• The statistics are fuzzy: Be sure you're breaking down the data and not relying on a top-level, summary look.
• The averages are flawed: Spikes or dips will throw off your averages, so be aware when making a decision based on them vs. looking at the whole picture.
• Incorrect implementation: If you're getting no results at all, make sure your tracking code is placed on your site correctly.

The jury is still out on how the iPad and other tablets will impact what has been a struggling magazine industry the last few years, but Wired editor Chris Anderson has a positive outlook on the potential of the tablet to change the industry. Why is Anderson so confident in the opportunities tablets will create for magazines and content marketers? He shared the following insights at the American Association of Advertising Agencies' Transformation Conference in San Francisco last week:

If you are a marketer, you depend on effective content to reach and serve customers. However, we're now experiencing a tsunami of change in the ways such content can be created and distributed. Change may be good, but it can be filled with risk and confusion.

We're not out in Las Vegas this week for the annual Consumer Electronics Show (we're a bit jealous of anyone who is), but we'll definitely be keeping our eyes on what's coming out of the event.

The Business Insider is predicting 10 trends for this year's CES, and we're eager to hear more about #4:

Content generally takes a backseat at CES, but this year the show devotes an entire day-long track, called "Content, Creativity and Cash," to emerging paid models for content and how net-connected TVs, e-readers, tablets and mobile phones enable this new ecosystem. Not surprising: CBS and NBC Universal both have big stakes in how the CE industry interacts with content and both have huge roles in this year's show, the former as owner of CNET and the latter as official TV sponsor (CNBC broadcasts from the floor).

In a word: Yes. With Google Docs.

We are a team full of great business thinkers, creative designers and witty wordsmiths. But there are times when the words just won't come.

We decided about 18 months ago to create a new kind of website here at Hammock.com. As individuals, we were using lots of new online media approaches and technology -- and were incorporating them into work we were doing for clients. Our site, while attractive, was not a reflection of where we are -- as a company or as individuals. So we headed into a new direction.

[After the jump, read more about how Hammock.com is evolving.]

For example, the story, "The 21 Steps" by Charles Cumming uses a Google Maps mashup to present a round-the-world story. And the story, "Slice" by Toby Litt uses two different blogging platforms (LiveJournal and Wordpress) and Twitter.

Yes, we're impressed. Perhaps not with the stories themselves, but with the experimentation taking place. And by a book publisher, no less.

(via: Springwise.com.)

Last week I caught up with our own Summer Huggins to ask her a few questions about how she uses Flickr in anticipation of the release of a podcast she’d be featured on about the subject.

But as I prepared my interview questions, I didn’t know what to ask. What's not to understand about Flickr? You post your pictures, send the link to mom and dad, and cross your fingers that their e-mail client allows them to click on the link.

"IM?!" she exclaimed. "I'm at work; my boss would kill me if I logged into my instant messenger here!"

How 1998.

Are we at Hammock in the minority because we use IM in our daily tasks? Are other companies missing out on a great communications tool if they're not? I think so, on both accounts.

Using IM in the workplace has several advantages, one of which is knowing that my colleagues are only a click away. It's fast, simple, real-time and free. Instead of getting distracted for 10 minutes in the breakroom talking about headlines, we can brainstorm together for 30 seconds over IM and achieve the same results.

There's no mistaking it: We're big fans of Flickr around here. We're such fans that we've used Flickr a lot on Hammock.com to help power the site. And we're constantly looking for new ways to use our account on Flickr to help us present and display our work -- and share our company's story.

So it's no surprise we're extremely impressed that the Library of Congress announced today (fittingly, on their blog) that they're doing their own experimentation with Flickr on their page.

According to Librarian/Blogger Matt Raymond, "if all goes according to plan, the project will help address at least two major challenges: how to ensure better and better access to our collections, and how to ensure that we have the best possible information about those collections for the benefit of researchers and posterity."

One of the interesting things about the project is that the photos posted have no copyright restrictions and, most importantly, the Library is allowing "people to tag, comment and make notes on the images, just like any other Flickr photo, which will benefit not only the community but also the collections themselves."

So what does this mean for marketers who want to utilize new forms of online media?

We believe this is a great model for any library or archives -- even those within corporations or associations -- who have lots of old images gathering dust in files. Scan and post them on Flickr and let your community help you discover what treasures can be found on them.

As since this is the BIG DAY of the year for Macophiles -- the day Steve Jobs presents his "Stevenote" presentation at the Macworld Expo, we thought we'd ask Patrick and Rex about any announcements that will have an impact on custom media -- and, say, on what we get to use around the office.

See the chat after the fold: