By Rok Hrastnik
We were waiting for something like this to happen for along time. Yahoo!, one of the key providers of mass-marketRSS aggregators, finally took a step forward and publishedtheir 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 whatthey 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 internetusers yet understand what RSS is and how to use it.
For marketers, this means that simply placing an RSS buttonon their site it not nearly enough, with the report finallydemonstrating that marketers needs to use clear andpersuasive copy to get their visitors interested in RSS,explain RSS to them and get them to subscribe to theirfeeds.
In addition it also shows that marketers need to make surethey are using "user-friendly" buttons to generatesubscribers, such as "Add to MyYahoo!", which consumers dounderstand.
b] 27% of Internet users consume RSS syndicated content onpersonalized start pages (e.g., My Yahoo!, My MSN) withoutknowing that RSS is the enabling technology.
This finding only underlines the above suggestions.
Stop touting your RSS feeds only using an RSS button, butrather aim for a "subscribe feature" and then explain tothe visitor how to use it.
Strong copy has never been so important.
c] 28% of Internet users are aware of podcasting, but only2% currently subscribe to podcasts.
Goes to show that podcasting still has a long way to go andcan right now function only as a supplement to yourexisting marketing activities.
It might also give an indication that audio is not the mostappropriate format for much online content.
d] Even tech-savvy "Aware RSS Users" prefer to access RSSfeeds via user-friendly, browser-based experiences (e.g.,My Yahoo!, Firefox, My MSN).
e] My Yahoo! has the highest awareness and use of anyRSS-enabled product.
Both of the findings above, although indicating that theseare the results Yahoo! would want to publish, show thathaving browser-based RSS reader subscribe buttons is a must.
It also shows that the market is ready for the soon-comingIE and Outlook integrated RSS features, which should reallyboost 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 "UnawareRSS 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 promotetheir 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 toolsmight be a better choice. This might also prove moreeffective for targeting executives and other corporatetarget audiences that might be using an enterprise-wide RSSsolution, 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 mightseem. Even "RSS Aware" users do not subscribe to "justanything" and seems they only subscribe or keep beingsubscribed to the content of highest relevance to them.
The message for marketers is to become even more relevantand more focused on providing real value for their targetaudiences.
RSS does not mean that end-users will start consuming thatmuch more online content, but simply that their primaryconsumption channel will change. It's up to you to makeplace for yourself in this consumption channel, but you canonly do so if you become one of the key targeted contentproviders for your market and can deliver consistentlyhigh-quality content.
4. TYPES OF RSS CONTENT CONSUMED
Even in the world of RSS, mainstream media rules, withWorld 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 thatend-users still see RSS as a news consumption tool and atool to receive time-sensitive updates, such as weatherinfo.
The interesting part is that blogs achieve only 23% andalthough they are gaining quickly are still not part of themainstream.
Whichever way you look at this, the real long tail is stillfar from fruition.
There are two are interesting categories listed in thereport: investment/financial info/banking at 13% andShopping/online commerce at 10%.
The popularity of these two shows that RSS in fact isappropriate for delivering business info and that RSS canbe used for e-commerce. A strong case in point urginge-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 whatthey read.
To marketers, these three should be the founding stones ofhow 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 XMLbutton, and only 38% of RSS aware users use it.
It seems the orange button isn't dead ... it was neveralive.
Let's move on and replace it with something moreuser-friendly.
And BTW --- 22% of the people that clicked on the buttondon't even know what action they took after clicking thebutton and 26% left the site. Goes to show the RSS buttonis only losing us subscribers.
7. HOW USERS FIND THEIR FEEDS
50% use the defaults available in the RSS reader and only13% use the search engines to find them.
Yes, it's cruical to be in the RSS feed search engines, butit would be even better if you could move your way to thedefault seetings. And by all means, actively promote thefeeds on your site as end-users, according to the report,actively tend to subscribe to the feeds on the sites theyfind 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 acouple of months:
"To position RSS among mainstream Internet users, it isessential 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 termRSS means. Instead, they need a simple interface where theycan choose the information and content that interests them.This is where personalized start pages and browser-basedexperiences can help move RSS into the mainstream."
Article Source: www.ArticlesBase.com
