Aaron Hoos

In this second of 5 videos, Janice Roberts talks about how the modern customer interacts with technology… and how businesses need to understand this trend to succeed.

A friend of mine observed that I tend to change my brand a lot: Longtime readers will know that I’ve shifted various aspects of my blog and my brand over the years.

The reason for this continuous shift isn’t a lack of definition about who I am or what I do; it’s not because I have nothing better to do; it’s not because I’m addicted to change. Rather, I’m constantly testing and experimenting. Here are some of the things I’m always testing:

Content

• Content value: what do I like to talk about?
• Content potential: What services do I offer and how do I communicate value in line with those services?
• Content impact: What gets read, clicked, backlinked, and commented on?
• Site stickiness: How long do people stay?

Marketing effectiveness

• SEO: Where am I showing up in search engines?
• Sales funnel: How am I doing at each stage in my sales funnel? Is my funnel full and is everything moving along? the way it should be?
• Sales results: How are my proposals doing?
• Niche markets: Am I reaching my potential customers?
• Longevity: Am I keeping up with industry and buyer shifts?

Technical/User-experience

• Page load speeds: Do pages load quickly?
• Error messages: Are people actually seeing my content?

I haven’t picked these items randomly, and they’re just a sampling of a larger group of things I’m paying attention to in my business. But these are all — for one reason or another — factors that have my attention. And although I’m not slavishly pouring over stats and code every day, I do devote time to those elements. I figure, if I get these things right, I’m most of the way there.

And here’s why I do this: I want to get and keep customers, but I also realize that the marketplace is always shifting. We can’t stay the same because the world will pass us by. Business owners need to stay on top of the trends in their industry (trends that they and competitors are experiencing, which will influence how they deliver their products or services) and in the marketplace (trends that customers are experiencing, such as buying habits).

That’s why I seem like I’m always tweaking my brand. Yes, it drives down the consistency of my message. That is a risk. However, I think there is a significant upside as well: I’m not likely going to “age out” of my marketplace. And, I’ve worked hard to keep my finger on the pulse of the market so I know where it’s going.

You would do well to make your own informal list of things to track. Start with an overall idea of what your industry is all about and what your marketplace is demanding. Then, start thinking about what your marketplace will be demanding next week or next year and experiment today with some small brand shifts.

You’re probably already familiar with Foursquare, the social media site that lets you “check in” to venues and leave tips and to-dos while generating a stream/timeline of where you go and what you do.

I like Foursquare. I think it combines two powerful forces on the web right now: social and local. It gives you the ability to share with those around you in a way that can be practical and valuable (for your friends and for you). Regular use of tips and to-dos, as well as the marketing opportunities that businesses can enjoy because of Foursquare, makes this site a potentially powerful tool.

But Foursquare is also a game. The game seems to be an integral part of the site — people collect points and badges (even though they have little use right now). In fact, Foursquare even says they’re a game.

Foursquare isn’t a game in the same way that, say, chess is a game, or World of Warcraft is a game, or Monopoly is a game. It’s not a separate environment with distinct rules and winners and losers. Rather, it’s a social utility that has an element of gaming to it: Incentives and a dash of fun… more like an environment where good-natured competitiveness and one-upmanship can thrive.

Recently, I heard about another site that offered something similar: It, too, is a social utility with a gaming element.

EmpireAvenue is a site that helps users put a value on their social “footprint’ while at the same time acting as a sort-of stock market where you can buy and sell shares in people.

I just signed up to check it out (so I might not have all of my facts nailed down) but it basically works like this: You sign up and get some money (“eaves”, I think they’re called). You can buy shares in other people. The price of their shares rises and falls based on — (well, I haven’t fully figured that part out yet) — something to do with their social network.

What’s also interesting about EmpireAvenue is that they have a monetization model that could be very beneficial for social influencers down the road.

Like Foursquare, it’s not a game but a site that has a practical purpose but in an incentivized, enjoyably competitive environment.

LIFESTYLE GAMING: A NEW TREND?
This has me wondering if we’re seeing the beginning of a new trend. For lack of a better word, I call it Lifestyle Gaming — that is, the addition of a gaming element to something you would normally use in your life, perhaps to enhance your lifestyle.

There are Foursquare alternatives out there (off the top of my head: Loopt, Gowalla, and Facebook Places) and they don’t have the gaming element that Foursquare has. And, there are social media valuation/measurement tools out there (Klout is my favorite) that again does not have the gaming element that EmpireAvenue has.

Are there others that I’m not aware of or have overlooked? Where might we see additional Lifestyle Games appear? Are there current sites that would benefit from the addition of Lifestyle Game attributes? I’d love to hear your thoughts on this!