As long as there is new techniques for things there will be new frightening words derived to strike fear and wonder in all those who hear them and don’t understand them. Digital Asset Optimization (DAO) can be viewed two ways. In one way it’s this new and exciting and potentially frightening form of Search Engine Optimization (SEO) where everything is cataloged. In the second, more blue-collar take on the subject it’s what you should have been doing all along.

DAO is what you need to be doing to make sure you have the maximum “find-ability” for any and all content for your site and if you’re actively engaged in it you will most certainly generate more traffic for yourself and convert for whatever it is your targeting. It’s about appearing in search results, it’s about appearing in image search results, it’s about appearing anywhere and everywhere you possibly can in a given scenario on the web.

http://www.etsy.com/listing/60839649/librarian-the-original-google-bing

When you think about it we’re all librarians. We label, catalog and coordinate the information on our websites in a way that, hopefully, is the easiest to navigate to and find the information for our visitors. Now it’s 2011 don’t forget so our visitors aren’t just Suzie and Timmy looking around for something that piques their interest. Out scouting the informational wasteland ahead of us is a computerized version of Lewis and Clark, the search engine algorithms web crawling spiders. They’re not fully aware of the environment they navigate just yet so for the time being we have to tell them, “Hey this photo is a photo I took of a gift basket in South Carolina from Gift Baskets For All.”

In other words you should be using Search Engine Optimization (SEO) already. You should be doing, or you should have someone doing the following: monitor site traffic, identifies keywords, places keywords into site content, are you using trendy keywords in your blog posts? Does your webpage have anything other than the name of the website in the title bar all the way at the top of the browser? If no then you need to go back and reevaluate your SEO tactics before moving on any further.

The purpose being that when Suzie or Timmy types in “Myrtle beach” your image now has a chance of coming up in an image search, which potentially can lead to a visit to your site. The question you should be asking yourself about now is, “Should I be posting my images to sites like Flickr.com and my site?” Now you’re talking DAO. It’s more than just labeling the content on your site correctly so that search engines can find it. It’s making sure that you get it where it can be shared and making sure that it points back to you, like it should! Upload it to your site do all the tagging and meta tagging like you should for traditional SEO. Then, upload it to Flickr.com and tag it appropriately there.

http://giftbasketsideas.net/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/GiftBasket.jpg

What do I mean by that? Well when you label your “Gift Basket” image right now the alt text or even the file name may just be “Gift Basket”. This is incorrect; you should be more specific, use Fruit Gift Basket as a descriptor instead. Then when you post to Flickr.com you do all of these tags again in similar fashion, paying attention to keywords, but this time you make sure you link back to a targeted page on your site. Now the image has a purpose beyond it’s original intent. What once was just a useful image to draw attention to a product on your website can now do the same thing from across the Internet.

http://www.ere.net/2011/01/28/4-social-media-steps/

I can’t mention Flickr.com and not talk about social media and DAO. While SEO has been traditionally focused on getting your site to appear in a vertical search listing DAO is about getting it to the rest of the Web. Is “Gift Baskets For All” showing up when you do a Twitter search? How about a Facebook search or Youtube? DAO is the series of steps to ensure that happens.

So it works for photos and it applies to social media, but what about videos? Does it apply there as well? The answer is yes. The same way that it applies to photos DAO can be applied to video content. By using targeted words and by providing as much information as possible you can optimize your videos on your site and on video sharing sites such as YouTube.com.

Search engine optimization is evolving; it has to, because search engines are evolving. The Internet landscape is evolving, the people that use it are adapting to new technologies and trends, and they’re not searching in the ways they were just 3 years ago. Digital Asset Optimization is a way to address the information overload.

http://www.henrickborger.net/archives/789

Without applying a filter to the information that is under fire hose levels of pressure your information the information you want to be found will fly right under the radar of anyone who might be looking for it.

Without creativity your ideas and concepts and plans will never see fruition. Without concise, targeted tagging of that creative content no one will ever see your ideas and concepts.

Works Cited

Ashton, J. (2009, 2 26). SEO 3.0 = Digital Asset Optimization. Retrieved 2 4, 2011, from searchengineland.com: http://searchengineland.com/digital-asset-optimization-to-maximize-investment-in-multimedia-16678

Gold, H. (2010, 3 29). Digital Asset Optimization: Social Media Meets SEO. Retrieved 2 5, 2011, from clickz.com: http://www.clickz.com/clickz/column/1717009/digital-asset-optimization-social-media-meets-seo

http://www.aniseo.com/. (2008, 10 10). Digital Asset Optimization. Retrieved 2 5, 2011, from Digital Asset Optimization: http://www.digitalassetoptimization.net/

Sannino, G. (2011, 1 31). Will Digital Asset Optimization Be the New SEO? . Retrieved 2 5, 2011, from search engine journal: http://www.searchenginejournal.com/will-digital-asset-optimization-be-the-new-seo/27508/

With me in my jammies and Sarah on couch
I sat at my computer and started to slouch,
when down came the stairs with a whine and “What’s a matter?”
A child did come and excitedly did chatter
I can’t sleep I can’t sleep they both did exclaim!
but off to bed they soon went with threats of butt pain.

We got through the day with nary a scream or a fight
and now to all of you I say,
Merry Christmas and goodnight!

The great thing about marketing is how much it mirrors everything in life. There’s more than one way to market anything. It’s not always about television commercials or web site banner ads and I love all of the new ways to communicate from product to person without leaving people feeling like they got smacked in the face with a wet fish. I love how there’s something for everyone in this field. For the logic brains there’s the analytical side, the SEO, the metrics, the demographics, the polling. For the creative type there’s advertising, creative design, usability and it goes on and on for both sides.

The reason? Because we live in an evolving society. What’s useful and friendly today may not be so in a year. That newspaper that you grew up with, today isn’t so appealing for getting all the information about the world around you. Maybe you’ve even realized you’re not watching TV the same way anymore because you’ve found alternative methods that suit your lifestyle more. That is what Internet Marketing and marketing in general is. It’s an answer to the question of how do we reach out to people to tell them about what’s going on when they keep adopting new forms of entertainment and information gathering? Then how do we do that in a way where the people we’re trying to start a conversation with don’t feel like we’ve just interrupted them?

I love finding answers to these questions, I love monitoring technological and scientific trends and I love writing down new ideas for others to pick up, exam and process their own opinions on.

When Google launches new services, they often gets a lot of hype (see: Wave, Buzz). Unfortunately, they don't always live up to that hype (see: Wave, Buzz). But one service that Google launched last year definitely has: Google Voice. Sadly, it has only been open to those with invites. But starting today, it is open to all. Google Voice started as GrandCentral, a startup launched in 2006 to revolutionize phone management on the web. Google quickly … Read More

via TechCrunch

At Wired’s Business Conference in New York City, Starbucks’ Howard Schultz announced that the coffee giant is partnering with Yahoo to offer free Wifi to customers beginning July 1. Currently, you can connect to AT&T WiFi in Starbucks stores, which is free for two hours if you have a registered Starbucks card. And if you are an AT&T DSL customer, you can access connectivity in coffee shops for free. If you’re not a registered Starbucks or … Read More

via TechCrunch

Where do people go when you entice them with a viral video? You can send them aimlessly back to your homepage but that really doesn’t complete the experience you set them up for with good content. One possibility is the landing page. While it’s been around for awhile and designers tire of them it is a great way to tie in your brand story with a call to action to close the deal and complete your goal for the campaign.

Something that’s easy to understand and still reverberates the story of your video with a clear call to action button to complete the experience and push the sale, sign up or registration, whatever is required to achieve your conversion goal.

The company Laptops For All doesn’t exist, but if they did calling out the clear competitor in the mobile device industry (Apple) would be key. By creating a multicultural caricature Apple suddenly becomes understandable by all through their cartoon representations that their agenda may not be your agenda.

primitive brain is capable of perceiving. They have seen trends beyond trends and if you try to think outside of their design, they… will…

come for you!

Along Came A Viral Video Assignment

The following video is a “what if” viral video for a fictional company specializing in laptops (Laptops For All). Its purpose is not for you to think this is the greatest thing ever and show it to all of your friends, though if you do feel inclined please feel free to turn me into viral video’s own personal Spielberg. It’s purpose is to show that a viral video can be used for any company whether it’s a fortune 500 or a mom and pop down the street. You can capitalize off of the net through a variety of ways and a viral video is an affordable way to get your brand out there and create interest based around it where there probably wasn’t before.

The story here is simple, the “Macanites” a fictional intelligence living in your Apple products are continuously talking down to you not letting you get a word in edgewise all the while thinking how they’re doing everything right for you. It connects itself to the brand story of Laptops For All because the company is all about freedom and expressing yourself through your technology, designing it the way you want from the inside out.

As far as other story telling methods go it would connect to a landing page on the fictional company’s website which is all about the “Macanites” trying to persuade you to do things their way and it would allow you to try to customize one of their computers.

It connects with the majority of the brand demographic, pyschographic  and cultural groups because it tries to poke fun at the current leader of the pack when it comes to trendy technology and it does so with comedy. So rather than jumping up on a pedestal and pointing the finger at its rival’s failings it takes a light hearted approach, something which all groups can relate to.

It’s interactive in that it invites you to go to a website and find out more information about Laptops For All. Which is what the video hints to at the end of it as it lays out the URL before it finishes.

This video is important for this client and for any other business because it shows that with minimal effort you can get your brand out there even if it’s to a niche group of individuals. That niche group could be a large revenue source to your company, isn’t that worth sticking your neck out for?

The Macanites are coming! The Macanites are coming!

The question is how?

Should be simple but the conundrum I’ve run into is that viral videos aren’t a simple music video, cartoon or crazy stunt. They don’t need some guy going berserk in his office or asking his girlfriend to marry him in front of thousands of people.

It’s something else, something more the equation or recipe is more akin to a great piece of music than a great story.

Here’s what I’ve discovered…

They have to have a hook, they have to build anticipation, they must entertain and in doing so they must captivate us as an audience. Yet, not all viral videos receive the kind of attention their creators were seeking when they planned them out. Some fall flat on their faces while others get more attention than the product they’re supposed to be representing.

If you look at any listing of viral videos what you’ll see right now is that most of them are music videos in the top 10. I blame MTV for abandoning the demographic that needs them most and those people are the teenagers and young adults but that’s neither here nor there. So what’s going on what is it that people want that drives them to covet what they find and then share it with others. It’s the fourth ingredient that allows a video to come out of nowhere and fixate us for awhile.

Connection, an emotional connection is necessary for a viewer to first be hooked and in being hooked have building anticipation about “what’s going to happen next?” sometimes they’ll have an idea what will happen but the emotional connection will drive them through to the inevitable conclusion. Connection is why amongst all of these music videos and clips of people injuring themselves doing stupid stunts you’ll have touching vignettes where there’s a message of hope, perseverance, love, outrage, any of the powerful emotions really. Why else would a video about a dead cat and its friend’s need to be with it have  well over 2 million views as of this writing? Because of the emotional connection the video as a whole creates with it’s audience.

So what are the emotions you can connect with as a potential viral video creator?

• Sadness
• Joy
• Anger
• Shock

Any combination of the above will do.

So knowing that you have to connect with your audience how do you accomplish that and still fit your message in there without becoming overly commercial? The problem with some viral videos is that the message is so overly subtle that it’s lost on its audience entirely.Watch the following.

Did you know that was a viral video for the movie Wanted?

Quite different from the theatrical trailer for the film with over 8 million views across the various iterations of it isn’t it?

So it missed the mark and I’m back at my original problem. How do I connect, hook, generate anticipation/ anxiety and entertain about laptops while staying on message to encourage sharing? I was hoping writing this out would help flesh out some ideas but I think I’m back to where I began…. Puppets.

Does it work?

Unfortunately I’m a poor Blackberry Storm user, a phone which isn’t yet supported, so I’ll leave that up to you iPhone users to tell me but it sure looks like it has potential.

I think Toyota is trying to tell us something here…

The Sienna family is more commonly known as “The Swagger Wagon people” as their exploits are well known to television audiences from the Toyota Sienna ads where they’re hilariously featured. My personal favorite is where the little girl is clueless that she’s washing the car because Daddy doesn’t really want to. I love how he goes over the car with a white gloved hand scouring it for dirt. My girlfriend’s favorite is the one where  ”Mommy’s having a time-out.” The point is this is a great ad campaign the commercials resonate with their audience, the content is “out of the box” and then there’s supplemental content online for more antics from those crazy Swagger Wagon people.

In this particular video the Swagger family is in full on rap video mode. “Where my mother-fathers at?!” or “Where my kids at?” followed by, “No seriously honey where are the kids?” Once I heard those lines I was hooked because that’s my family, we’re that kind of goofy. Watching the little girl folding her arms trying to look rough and tumble is awesome. Then she interrupts the song whispering, “Mommy I need to go potty.”  It’s great because while yes, it is a commercial, it’s also funny. What advertisers often neglect to think about is entertainment. I’ll remember the Toyota Sienna for much longer than I will some other company’s ad with a car driving on curvy roads and rain slicked highways.

Now “…cut the crust of the PB&J’s chill the You-Hoo’s!” and enjoy!