Analyzing the New Yahoo! RSS Report for Marketers
We were waiting for something like this to happen for a
long time. Yahoo!, one of the key providers of mass-market
RSS aggregators, finally took a step forward and published
their RSS whitepaper, covering their own findings with RSS,
based on their usage data.
1. YAHOO!'S KEY FINDINGS
Let's first take a look at Yahoo! key findings and what
they mean for marketers.
a] Awareness of RSS is quite low among Internet users. 12%
of users are aware of RSS, and 4% have knowingly used RSS.
Although RSS awareness is increasing, only few internet
users yet understand what RSS is and how to use it.
For marketers, this means that simply placing an RSS button
on their site it not nearly enough, with the report finally
demonstrating that marketers needs to use clear and
persuasive copy to get their visitors interested in RSS,
explain RSS to them and get them to subscribe to their
feeds.
In addition it also shows that marketers need to make sure
they are using "user-friendly" buttons to generate
subscribers, such as "Add to MyYahoo!", which consumers do
understand.
b] 27% of Internet users consume RSS syndicated content on
personalized start pages (e.g., My Yahoo!, My MSN) without
knowing that RSS is the enabling technology.
This finding only underlines the above suggestions.
Stop touting your RSS feeds only using an RSS button, but
rather aim for a "subscribe feature" and then explain to
the visitor how to use it.
Strong copy has never been so important.
c] 28% of Internet users are aware of podcasting, but only
2% currently subscribe to podcasts.
Goes to show that podcasting still has a long way to go and
can right now function only as a supplement to your
existing marketing activities.
It might also give an indication that audio is not the most
appropriate format for much online content.
d] Even tech-savvy "Aware RSS Users" prefer to access RSS
feeds via user-friendly, browser-based experiences (e.g.,
My Yahoo!, Firefox, My MSN).
e] My Yahoo! has the highest awareness and use of any
RSS-enabled product.
Both of the findings above, although indicating that these
are the results Yahoo! would want to publish, show that
having browser-based RSS reader subscribe buttons is a must.
It also shows that the market is ready for the soon-coming
IE and Outlook integrated RSS features, which should really
boost RSS usage among consumers online.
Now, let's take a deeper look at the report ...
2. "UNAWARE RSS USERS" VS "AWARE RSS USERS"
The whitepaper makes a strong distinction between "Unaware
RSS Users" and "Aware RSS Users", positioning the "Unaware"
batch as the mainstream Internet population.
This makes it absolutely clear that B2C marketers,
targeting consumers, should take special care to promote
their feeds using "friendly" subscribe buttons.
On the other hand, if targeting a more tech-savvy audience,
going the way of "RSS" and more complex RSS reading tools
might be a better choice. This might also prove more
effective for targeting executives and other corporate
target audiences that might be using an enterprise-wide RSS
solution, such as NewsGator.
3. CONSUMPTION LEVELS
The whitepaper says that on the average "Aware RSS Users"
subscribe to 6.6 feeds.
The consequences of this are not as simple as they might
seem. Even "RSS Aware" users do not subscribe to "just
anything" and seems they only subscribe or keep being
subscribed to the content of highest relevance to them.
The message for marketers is to become even more relevant
and more focused on providing real value for their target
audiences.
RSS does not mean that end-users will start consuming that
much more online content, but simply that their primary
consumption channel will change. It's up to you to make
place for yourself in this consumption channel, but you can
only do so if you become one of the key targeted content
providers for your market and can deliver consistently
high-quality content.
4. TYPES OF RSS CONTENT CONSUMED
Even in the world of RSS, mainstream media rules, with
World news and National news both leading the pack at 52%
and followed by Entertainment at 34% and Weather ad 31%.
If we take a look at what lies beneath this we can see that
end-users still see RSS as a news consumption tool and a
tool to receive time-sensitive updates, such as weather
info.
The interesting part is that blogs achieve only 23% and
although they are gaining quickly are still not part of the
mainstream.
Whichever way you look at this, the real long tail is still
far from fruition.
There are two are interesting categories listed in the
report: investment/financial info/banking at 13% and
Shopping/online commerce at 10%.
The popularity of these two shows that RSS in fact is
appropriate for delivering business info and that RSS can
be used for e-commerce. A strong case in point urging
e-retailers to start providing RSS feeds.
5. WHY END-USERS USE RSS
"RSS Aware" end-users subscribe to feed because of "ease"
or "convenience", followed by being able to choose what
they read.
To marketers, these three should be the founding stones of
how to get their visitors to adopt RSS.
6. THE FAMOUS ORANGE BUTTON
Marketers, pay attentin to this.
Only 4% of total RSS end-users actually use the orange XML
button, and only 38% of RSS aware users use it.
It seems the orange button isn't dead ... it was never
alive.
Let's move on and replace it with something more
user-friendly.
And BTW --- 22% of the people that clicked on the button
don't even know what action they took after clicking the
button and 26% left the site. Goes to show the RSS button
is only losing us subscribers.
7. HOW USERS FIND THEIR FEEDS
50% use the defaults available in the RSS reader and only
13% use the search engines to find them.
Yes, it's cruical to be in the RSS feed search engines, but
it would be even better if you could move your way to the
default seetings. And by all means, actively promote the
feeds on your site as end-users, according to the report,
actively tend to subscribe to the feeds on the sites they
find interesting.
8. CONCLUSION
To conclude this, here's a direct quote from the report,
saying exactly what I've been trying to get through for a
couple of months:
"To position RSS among mainstream Internet users, it is
essential to effectively communicate the benefits of RSS
(ease, convenience, access to information of interest).
Internet users do not understand how to use the XML button,
how to actively seek out RSS feeds, or even what the term
RSS means. Instead, they need a simple interface where they
can choose the information and content that interests them.
This is where personalized start pages and browser-based
experiences can help move RSS into the mainstream."
Learn how to take full marketing advantage of RSS and get all the expertise, knowledge and how-to information for implementing RSS in your marketing mix, from direct marketing, PR, e-commerce, internal communications and online publishing to SEO, traffic generation and customer relationship management. Including complete interviews with more than 40 RSS marketing experts. Click here now:
http://rss.marketingstudies.net/book/Article Source: ArticlesBase.com
