Lots of fishermen tend to waste time fishing in unproductive waters just because of “the big one” that legend holds was caught and got away 25 years ago. If the legend is true, the time that has passed far exceeds the life expectancy of the fish, even if it wasn’t caught by another angler in the interim. Then, of course, the pond itself could have died, the victim of acid rain, eutrophication, or another type of pollution. The same logic applies to advertising buys. In simple terms, times have changed.

Just as a successful fisherman will spend time fishing in a productive habitat, any advertiser should focus ad buys on media outlets where prospective buyers spend their time. A Harris Interactive survey released in late 2009 found that 80% of U.S. adults are Internet users, and these users spend an average of 13 hours per week online. Of that time, the number of hours on social networking sites (the vast majority of which is on Facebook) now exceeds the amount of time either reading e-mail or conducting the (previously) conventional “search and surf” routine. Another recently released report, the American Time Use Survey issued by the United States Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics, shows that the average adult American spends over 19 hours per week watching television. Those numbers are actually in decline, primarily cannibalized by Internet usage (where, ironically, a significant volume of television programming is now being viewed online). With readership levels down, recent statistics have also shown that the average American who reads a daily newspaper spends only 15 minutes per day (but up to 90 minutes on Sundays). Similarly, and with circulations spiraling downward, the average reader spends a scant 45 minutes reading the average magazine. Keep in mind that your target demographics (strongly considering factors such as age) will strongly skew any of the numbers which may be applicable in your particular instance. For example, newspaper readership has been in steady decline across all population segments, but the amount of time spent by younger people reading newspapers is virtually nonexistent. At the same time, it is fair to say that cell phone usage and text messaging is skyrocketing, particularly among those same younger demographics that eschew newspapers.

Comprehensive and current statistics on how we spend our time are not easy to find. If the information was easily accessible, it would probably be outdated as soon as it was published. We can sometimes only work with bits and pieces and get a general feeling for overall trends. For a general feeling with a comical spin and graphic effects, I would suggest a visit to the “Life and Time Spent by the Average Joe Blow” post on the Canadian blog, “Life in the Fast Lane”. (Seriously, check out that blog, run by Fast Lane Transport, Ltd. in Edmonton, Alberta, a freight trucking company serving Canada’s four western provinces.) In general, if you are trying to reach a mass market but cannot afford (or afford to wait for) the Super Bowl, which of the following makes more sense: Online advertising (where 80% of adults are spending 13 hours per week) or direct mail (where we each probably spend an average of 3 minutes per day deciding what gets a second glance and what goes into the recycling bin unopened)? Advertising over the years has relied upon the type of inferential data which has only proven to be slightly better than this type of generalization. Have you ever noticed how many erectile dysfunction commercials have text that reads, “See our ad in Golf Magazine”? The presumption, no doubt correct and based upon expensive market research, is that the demographics of the two markets overlap. With the advent of social media, where users volunteer and share a wealth of demographic information, we now have access to the type of real data which allows target marketing to go beyond inference and finally live up to its real name.

Advertising generally falls into one of two major categories: Advertising which is intended to fulfill an existing demand, and advertising which is intended to create a demand. Brand advertising is a textbook example of the latter, accounting for 80% of the two-way split. Ideally, your message should be designed to either reach out to consumers who are willing to embrace a new or improved product or service (now most typically as the result of viral marketing and social networking), or effectively introduce yourself to consumers who are already sold on your product or service but are unfamiliar with your company or brand name. When using social networking as a viral marketing tool, it is important for an advertiser to remember that they not be controlling the conversation but simply joining the conversation. Although it may seem contrary to the old rules of the game, it is best to sit back and allow the satisfied users of your product or service to be your most effective spokespersons.

Once you find the right pond, you will be pleased to discover that it is loaded with fish, and those fish are on a feeding frenzy!

Author’s Note: The Wikia Search project ended on March 31, 2009, due to a lack of funding. Click here for more information.

I first became aware of the Wikia Search project when I read a couple of articles in a January 2008 issue of eWeek Magazine. An alpha version of Wikia Search was launched in early January by the same folks who brought us Wikipedia. The idea was to provide a socially driven, open-source alternative to Google, Yahoo, and the other major search engines. (Sounds a bit like the inspiration for the Open Directory Project, doesn’t it?) With Wikia Search, users filter sites and rank search results, influencing subsequent searches.

Wikia Search uses the Grub web crawler, acquired from the old LookSmart search engine last year, in order to build content. Individuals can donate unused bandwidth on their computers to help Grub to search for new content, in a similar fashion to the better known SETI (Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence) Project.

The project started modestly, by search standards, indexing between 50 million and 100 million pages. The hope is that users will then rank the relevance of the search results and feed data back into the search process. Needless to say, this is not the way that conventional search engines have worked. Even the Open Directory Project, with its thousands of editors, was not directly open to user input in this manner. According to eWeek, other search startups are attempting to develop similar concepts, including Eurekster, Mahalo and Lijit, but none of these starts out with the social computing experience or resources of Wikia. This type of search could be the wave of the future.

Six months later, where is Wikia Search today? Good question. If you type www.wikiasearch.com into your browser, you will not find the site. (What kind of logic does that demonstrate?) Already re-launched on June 3, 2008, it is said that the project is now in its “second alpha” release. In other words, it is not yet in even the beta stage of development. All criticisms aside, Wikia Search holds tremendous potential, and there is no reason not to embrace the engine early on.

Go to Wikia Search, enter the name of your business into the search box, then wait for the results. If your business does not appear, click on the “add suggestions” link at the top of the search results or enter your URL into the “Add to this result” text entry box to the right. If your business already appears, but appears on down the list of results, you can influence the sequence of the search results by passing your cursor over your listing and adding a rating to the options that will appear. Of course, you can also be socially responsible and add relevant content that has nothing to do with your business or personal interests.

As I write this, there have been 740,925 contributions to the search results on Wikia Search. If you go to the menu and choose Recent Changes > Live Changes, you will actually see the changes that you have entered, along with your IP address or (if you have signed up), your user ID.

If you go to the Wikia Search community pages, you can read more about the project and its admirable organizational principles: Transparency, Community, Privacy, and Quality.

Everybody is familiar with MySpace, Facebook, and the other social networking sites. One that I use and recommend is the more business-oriented LinkedIn. If you are either not using LinkedIn yet or are using it but know that you are not realizing its full potential, I hope to offer you the stimulus to get moving. Here are a few reasons to use LinkedIn and ways that it can work for you:

• LinkedIn offers you the opportunity to provide one more direct link to your website, from your profile page on an established site which is considered important by the search engines. In addition to providing a route for new traffic to reach your site, the inbound link in itself will contribute toward the enhancement your site’s search engine ranking.
• LinkedIn provides multiple opportunities to grow your business and to reach out to both old and new contacts. The contact network which you build can help you to get in touch with decision-makes across the full range of industries. You can start to grow your network by unleashing LinkedIn’s robot to search through your address book (in Outlook, Outlook Express, Thunderbird or other e-mail client) for people who already have their own LinkedIn profiles. For most of us, this is an instant means of inviting hundreds of your existing associates to join your network. By listing the schools which you have attended and former places of employment, you will also generate lists which might include fellow students and co-workers who have also moved on in new directions and might be willing to re-kindle the contact.
• By building a list of contacts, you also have indirect access to their networks of contacts, as well as the contacts of those contacts. Sort of like second cousins. If you need to get in touch with the CEO of Echo Industries International, you can search for someone who is connected, either directly or indirectly, to a person within your network, then ask that contact for a formal introduction. Ideally, the connection is just one degree away (from someone to whom you are directly connected). Think this is far-fetched? The fact is that all 500 of the Fortune 500 are represented on LinkedIn, either through their CEO’s themselves or upper level management. Through your listing on LinkedIn, they can also, in turn, find you.
• You can use your LinkedIn profile as a virtual resume, particularly if you request and receive recommendations from associates, former employers, and co-workers. In fact, if you are in the job market, you should include your LinkedIn link as part of your e-mail signature and include it on your primary resume. The best way to generate recommendations is to start by recommending people yourself. You will then feel no hesitancy about asking for your own recommendations in return, either from the same people or others. Most people are more than happy to provide recommendations if they are asked.
• Finally, use LinkedIn Answers to either gain business advice from experts throughout the LinkedIn community or to establish yourself as an expert within your field. Either way is a fast and efficient way to expand your network.

For more information on using LinkedIn to your advantage, I highly recommend the LinkedIn blog, particularly the “Tips & Tricks” category of posts. I also recommend the “Ten Ways to Use LinkedIn” post on entrepreneurial guru Guy Kawasaki’s blog.

Finally, here is a link to my own LinkedIn profile: http://www.linkedin.com/in/pelland