Author Archive

Digital marketing is an ecosystem, not a pet store

Posted on Friday, June 3rd, 2011 at 4:39 PM by Simon Smith  |  Comments (0)

To help people think strategically about digital marketing, I’ve been increasingly referring to a more holistic approach as a “digital ecosystem.” I think the analogy is fit. Here’s why.

Continue reading

Why the Post paywall is probably a bad idea

Posted on Thursday, May 26th, 2011 at 12:11 PM by Simon Smith  |  Comments (0)

This morning, Postmedia CEO Paul Godfrey was interviewed about Postmedia’s new paywall plans on CBC radio. Here are a few reasons why, in my humble opinion, this is probably a bad idea.

Continue reading

Is Zite the future of digital publishing? How publishers can embrace aggregation, curation and personalization

Posted on Wednesday, April 13th, 2011 at 4:33 PM by Simon Smith  |  Comments (0)

Dismissing Zite’s success as just a victory of free content over paid is as shortsighted and wrong as was doing so for Napster. What I think Zite shows is how consumers prefer to consume digital content—and how publishers may need to adapt to embrace and profit from the trends of aggregation, curation and personalization.

Continue reading

Secret of camp’s overnight marketing success? A complete paradigm shift

Posted on Wednesday, May 12th, 2010 at 12:03 PM by Simon Smith  |  Comments (0)

One of Canada’s largest overnight camps, Camp Walden has shifted its digital marketing from unstructured play to an orchestrated system that’s produced over 1,055 online leads in 2010 alone.

Continue reading

Got social media? Cafe’s so successful, it ran out of milk—here’s how

Posted on Friday, April 23rd, 2010 at 11:59 AM by Simon Smith  |  Comments (0)

They were hoping for success. But in preparing for the grand opening of their cafe, Cafe Novo, Elizabeth Wimbush and Sadie Wilson hadn’t accounted for the impact of a well-orchestrated social media campaign. Half way through their first day, they ran out of baked goods. The next day, they ran out of milk—and had to raid local grocery stores to continue serving their steady stream of customers.

Continue reading

Google Analytics URL builder for multiple links

Posted on Thursday, March 11th, 2010 at 11:56 AM by Simon Smith  |  Comments (0)

Download this Excel spreadsheet to easily create batches of UTM-coded links for Google Analytics

Continue reading

Three ways Google Analytics can improve sharing

Posted on Tuesday, March 2nd, 2010 at 11:42 AM by Simon Smith  |  Comments (0)

Here at Commune, we configure and manage many client Google Analytics accounts. Recently, in working on an analytics project with many users, custom reports and advanced segments, some challenges emerged. I’m under no illusion that the Google Analytics crew will act solely on our recommendation. But hopefully others can join us in pushing for three [...]

Continue reading

Your customers lie (so beware survey data)

Posted on Friday, January 8th, 2010 at 5:54 PM by Simon Smith  |  Comments (0)

With the ceaseless launch of new websites and technologies, it’s easy to get caught up in hype—but beware self-reporting, and trust what people say rather than what they do.

Continue reading

Why web analytics goals are worth the time

Posted on Monday, November 30th, 2009 at 10:23 PM by Simon Smith  |  Comments (0)

When we provide web analytics services, we know that one of the biggest wins is simply configuring goals and goal funnels. By doing this, you can evaluate metrics according to objectives, giving you insight rather than just information.

Continue reading

How will these “web 3.0” trends affect your business?

Posted on Thursday, November 5th, 2009 at 7:33 PM by Simon Smith  |  Comments (0)

According to Marc Pincus of Zynga and Tribe.net fame, the next phase of the internet involves apps, measurement and (believe it or not) people paying for digital content.

Continue reading

Older entries