In digital marketing, there’s no substitute for experience
You want the good news or the bad news about digital marketing? The good news? Ok, the good news is that there is always new technology being created that allows us to reach and engage with customers in new ways. The bad news? The bad news is that there is ALWAYS new technology being created that allows us to reach and engage with customers in new ways.
That’s right, its extremely tough to keep up with all the new things happening in the world of digital technology. Heck, just look at all the cool stuff coming out of CES (good places to start are here and here). And its not enough just to read about the new stuff. To really understand it, you have to jump in. There’s really no other way.
Right now I’m several months in to testing out the geo-location, checkin-style mobile apps. Specifically, Foursquare, Gowalla, Whrrl and Loopt (I’ve stopping using Loopt because it really didn’t compare with the others). And it took a little while but I am starting to “get” what is so appealing about telling your friends where you are eating, drinking, etc. And FYI I’m really digging Whrrl so far…
Back to the point. I recently tried Farmville. Have you seen the stats on Farmville? Over 70 million people are playing Farmville. 70 MILLION!
However, I gave it a go for a few months and you know what? It got me. And look, I’m no farmer. I wasn’t even exactly sure what the difference between “harvesting” and “plowing” and “seeding”. Seriously. But I became addicted to keeping my farm going. And now I understand more about what makes for an addictive, successful game on Facebook. And that knowledge is invaluable as I work with clients on their digital marketing goals for 2010.
Oh, and you can just try something for a while until you “get it”, and then quit. I had to quit Farmville so that it didn’t become DivorceVille…oh, and you can check out my farm at this point in time ;)
OMG, you must be reading my mind, I'm doing a lecture at MSU all about experience marketing! Crazy!
Can't believe you didn't mention augmented reality! That has definitely been one of the coolest things we've played with so far.
I'm nominating your farm for Farm of the Week! :)
hey! I”m a foursquare fan. we need to connect. dont judge me though for how many times I am at Ormsby's in any given week…
Just requested a friendship on foursquare ;) Btw, try Whrrl and add me there too, I think its got a lot more potential. Foursquare definitely has the hype and more users at this point though.
Good point, augmented reality is something one must experience in order to “get”.
Dude, awesome, let me know how it goes!
[…] by jeffhilimire on January 15, 2010 digg_url = 'http://jeffhilimire.com/2010/01/foursquare-and-gowalla-not-in-mytown/'; digg_title = 'Foursquare and Gowalla? Not in MyTown…'; digg_bodytext = 'This blows me away. I’ve been researching, playing with, somewhat obsessing over location-based gaming, check-in apps for the last few months. You can often find me standing outside of a place I’m about to enter, furiously opening apps, checking-in, and then firing up the next app so that I can check-in on many different systems. […]'; digg_skin = ''; digg_topic = 'tech_news'; digg_window = 'new'; This blows me away. I’ve been researching, playing with, somewhat obsessing over location-based gaming, check-in apps for the last few months. You can often find me standing outside of a place I’m about to enter, furiously opening apps, checking-in, and then firing up the next app so that I can check-in on many different systems. Only way to learn about them is to dive in. […]
[…] fact, I wrote a post over a year ago titled, “In digital marketing, there’s no substitute for experience“. There’s just […]