Sports Illustrated, Jim Tressel and Not Taking Advantage of Virality.

I write a lot about "in the river" marketing - which is all about leveraging the power of existing, engaged traffic to deliver relevant, actionable messaging / marketing / promotions. You can see lots of examples of in the river marketing done well here.

Here is an example of the contrary.

Yesterday's huge news was Sports Illustrated's investigation of Jim Tressel and his subsequent resignation. The article went viral and filled my Twitter feed, Facebook stream and email inbox. But Sports Illusrated (SI) didn't take advantage of the immense traffic - this was clearly an opportunity to facilitate sharing and drive downloads / purchases of their new paid mobile applications.

This is the mobile experience when you arrive at the article:

Notice the line: "To purchase a digital version of the magazine, go here." First, that language is unappetizing; but more importantly, "go here" isn't clickable.

For some reason, when you view the article within Twitter mobile, it looks much better and the word "here" is clickable and red:

But when you click it, you arrive at a promotional screen that is not mobile aware and therefore not actionable. It should prompt you to download their application or, if you have the app, purchase the magazine version.

In summary: most sites dream of the opportunity to be flooded with traffic. Prepare in advance and make sure that your experience / funnel is primed to take advantage of the flood.... after all, they only happens once in a blue moon.

Twitter Promotes Mobile Apps & SMS To Logged-Out Users. Smart.

A little over a year ago, I wrote about Facebook's post-logout promotion of Facebook Mobile - which helped to significantly increase iPhone usage (+20% in a week).

Meanwhile, another giant social / mobile player is now doing the same. Twitter has recently redesigned their homepage and, in an effort to view it, I logged out of my account today. I was greeted with the following screen:

For Facebook, the unit's efficacy makes sense because, despite targeting logged out users, it is still highly targeted ... and therefore still counts as "in the river marketing". So why shouldn't this work with Twitter?

And Twitter's approach to showcasing their App across all platforms is equally compelling (and reminiscent to Amazon's marketing).

Also interesting is the dual action item of "download now" and "use via SMS". Both actions route content directly to your mobile device either by email or SMS. Once there, you are either directly engaged or Twitter is able to direct you to the appropriate application / app-store. Smart.

My Response to Mark Cuban's: Does ESPN.com Have a Twitter Problem?

Whether you are a sports fan or work in media, Mark Cuban's "Does ESPN.com have a Twitter problem?" is a relevant, good read. Cuban argues that ESPN is struggling with social media because their writers generally do not have big followings and the company hasn't figured out how to effectively monetize the platform (like most publishers, monetization is through traffic referrals). I will offer three follow up points that are specifically aimed at ESPN but relevant for any content publisher.

In short, ESPN does not have a Twitter problem. Like all other media networks, they have a Twitter opportunity. ESPN has a tremendous brand, a powerful promotional platform, and 100s of great personalities who can together leverage social media to enhance the ESPN.com experience. Here are three ways to get there:

1. Solve Finding & Promotion.

The primary problem is that big publishing networks like ESPN have big networks of writers / personalities. That creates a serious problem in finding and following the relevant personalities.

I am a paying ESPN Insider Subscriber. ESPN knows explicitly and implicitly that I like the Red Sox, Patriots, and Celtics - and I visit ESPN Boston. But this the ESPN Boston homepage and there is no promotion (let alone mention) of the writers I should follow on Twitter / Facebook. I should be able to subscribe instantly to all related writers.

Other ideas:

- ESPN.com/twitter should list out Twitter handles by popularity, team, relevance, etc - ESPN personalities should have Twitter pages that promote other personalities and/or ESPN.com/twitter - ESPN should build and promote Twitter lists - Articles on ESPN should promote writer's Twitter handles (this would be a good example of In the River marketing right?)

2. Ensure an On-brand Voice (not uniform - But on-brand).

A couple things to get out the way: - we are following these writers primarily because of their expertise... that is because: - there are very few personalities like Bill Simmons - therefore, there is a difference between their professional and personal Twitter accounts (or habits)

So publishing networks who promote their writers should ensure a consistent voice. This does NOT mean that ESPN writers should all engage similarly (Bill Simmons and Buster Olney are both great and very, very different). But it does mean that ESPN should make sure that their personalities are engaging appropriately and on-brand on Twitter.... just as they do within ESPN.com articles.

For every Buster Olney, Colin Cowherd, and Bill Simmons - there is a Jemele Hill. Here Twitter description is: "Jemele Hill is an ESPN columnist and television analyst. I tweet a lot. If you don't like it, keep it to yourself! ". Now Jemele may be a great reporter and sports thinker, but she is annoying on Twitter (sorry). She often posts dozens of times an hour on subjects irrelevant to sports and ESPN. But she has 40,000+ followers and affects how we think about ESPN (and their writers') roles in social media.

Give me more Buster Olneys to follow. I'll appreciate the writers more. I'll visit ESPN more. And I'll appreciate the brand more.

3. Engage with Fans & Follow Social Media Best-Practices.

This is simple: engaging in social media has to be more than just linking to an article. Twitter and Facebook represent opportunities to behave in ways that traditional media doesn't afford. For instance:

- real-time commentary - commentary beyond the article or in-response to reactions - engaging with readers and fans: questions, comments, responses, etc. - provide behind-the-scenes access that is better suited for Twitter than an article - cross promote other content, writers, etc

Darren Rovell of Sports Biz on CNBC is great at this. Here are a few examples:

Google Voice & GMail - More 'In the River' Marketing

I write a lot about product marketing and the concept of "in the river" promotion / marketing. As companies more aggressively test and roll out new products / variants to users - in the river marketing becomes more important. And for those reasons, it has also become more prevalent. Here is a great example from Google, who is pushing Google Voice within GMail. To push Google Voice, Google is providing free phone calls for all of 2011. That's an aggressive, compelling promotion.

So how does Google get the message across? They place is prominently on the screen where its users are absolutely engaged and can't miss it: when you open GMail:

Facebook Announces New Facebook Photos With Hover Promotion.

Perhaps because they are continually rolling out new products and split tests.Perhaps because they are terrific product marketers and designers. And/or perhaps because they need to figure out how to message 600m+ users in efficient, effective ways. ... Facebook is the best at "in the river marketing". Yet another example:

This week Facebook rolled out a new Facebook Photos features to all users. Rather than an email announcement, page takeover, or letting users mysteriously figure it out... they promoted the change simply, cleanly and directly at the point of importance. If you had not yet clicked on a photo, Facebook revealed a message upon hover that clearly stated the new change. Once the photo was clicked, the new experience was obvious and the hover over disappeared. Well done.

Huffington Post, Google Promote Chrome Application 'In the River'

I write a lot about the importance of marketing and promoting "in the river" - my terminology for engaging users in the most specific and relevant experiences / locations. This concept is increasingly important new platforms (software and hardware) emerge and as those experiences consequently change. Just the other day I wrote about how Evernote has done a masterful job creating numerous applications for each native environment: iPhone, iPad, desktop, Outlook, browser, etc. This will become the norm... and the result is that targeted messaging becomes tougher and more challenging.

Here is a great example from Huffington Post (along with Google & Chrome) - who is always far along the marketing & experimental curve. If you visit their site in the Google Chrome browser, the header is taken over to promote their new Chrome Application: Newsglide. Simple - but brilliant. This messaging would be overlooked if it were a traditional location. And it would wasted real estate if it were a universal promotion. Furthermore, the promotion is native to the experience (a similar action in Firefox would look different).

It wasn't long ago that I commented on Huffington Post's in-experience promotion of their Google Chrome Application (see example here).

Two More Examples of "In the River" Promotions: Google & Yelp

Have you gotten sick of my writing about getting your marketing and product promotions "in the river"? "In the river" is my terminology for making sure that messages are delivered inside the core experience and to the respective audience. We used the term frequently at eBay to make sure that products weren't fully integrated into the core experience and would reach enough users (and more importantly: enough of the right). Here are two more examples:

1. Visit Yelp on the iPhone's web browser and you'll be presented with an unmistakable promotion for the iPhone app. Targeted audience already interested in the brand:

2. Lots of iPhone applications try to get users to turn notifications on... Google's app goes a step further and presents a takeover unit that encourages users to turn notifications on (also explaining the benefits).

ESPN's iPad Experience: Choose Your Own Adventure

I write a lot about the importance of getting product, messaging and promotion "in the river" (in other words: making sure that messages are delivered inside the core experience and to the respective audience - good example by Facebook here). Here is a great example by ESPN. When you visit ESPN via the iPad, it presents you with three options: 1. Visit the iPad optimized site (ideal for 3G usage) 2. Visit ESPN.com's full site 3. Download the new ESPN Scorecenter App for the iPad

The first two options were always present for iPad users, but now that they have an iPad app (that is pretty good by the way), ESPN has decided to promote it to all iPad owners.... this is more effective of a marketing campaign than running site-wide banners on ESPN.com.

Twitter Takes Over Mobile Site to Promote Twitter for iPad (Love It)

Two weeks ago, Facebook rolled out their new Places product; and, to drive user awareness and adoption, they prominently promoted it within their mobile application and web experience. This week, Twitter rolled out Twitter for iPad. It's an exceptional product and I encourage non-Twitter users to trial it as well... the user experience is that good!

To drive awareness of the new application, Twitter is delivering an interstitial to users browsing via an iPad. It's big, highly relevant and promotes the application over the web experience (just compare the size / placement of the 'download button' vs. the mobile.twitter.com link).

It's another great example of driving usage through relevant promotion (relevance defined by placements and user targeting)... and what I refer to as getting product "in the river".