3:34pm – In the Marketing Meets New Media Panel with Jonathan Coulton and also Kos.
3:35 – Challenge for bloggers is breaking out; tools for getting your word out are now free and this leads to noisiness.
3:37 – Kirsner mispronounces Kos’s name “kahs”
3:39 – They’re playing a Coulton music video set to WoW. Now I know why he’s a cult hit.
3:40 – These 5 people have been in the vanguard of trying to figure out how to build an audience and fanbase online.
3:45 – Coulton: Tools borne out of laziness then I got lucky.
3:48 – Natasha Westcoat: committed to using any popular tools like YouTube. Get involved in every website possible because the traffic is there.
3:49 – Kos states the obvious — the product is very good for both Westcoat and Coulton. Kos: I’m not a very good writer. I started in 2002 — first mover advantage? There was still quite a crowd. Two things really stood out. I had a very narrow niche that no one else was hitting. For me, it was horserace coverage. (Now we have Nate Silver.) At the time I was talking about polls. I was also a veteran — could speak about the logistical issue of the Iraq war buildup; media didn’t know what they were talking about. The second was branding. Daily Kos is now as know as “big orange” “the great orange Satan.” I didn’t use the same Blogspot template; same blue background. Very conscious decision to use a color no one else was using; orange, and the icon — revolutionary patriot with the flag which has become iconic. Very conscious of people remembering the branding of the site. (Smart.)
3:51 – Kirsner — was there a key link that built your traffic? Kos: No. In 2000, there was a site called Olivetti. Then Delphi Forums. Then Political Wire. Comment threads at PW shut down b/c of political warfare. Then over to MyDD. Shut down comments on MyDD. So they went to Daily Kos. He learned from previous comment fails. Then there were so-called liberal “pundits” like Joe Klein were pro-Iraq. The Internet at the time was dominated by the right. Create a safe haven for progressives. I was a comment nazi. I banned right-wingers. Very conscious decision to create safe haven for progressives. (WOW.) Says this was instrumental to Kos’s success.
3:56 – Burns: Consistent release schedule critical. Most people have a rotation of 5 sites in their bookmarks. Having a release schedule key to keeping this. RedvsBlue launched a few days before the Iraq war.
4:05 – Coulton: Proliferation of channels can be hard to handle.
4:05 – Westcoat: Schedule time for social media.
4:06 – Kos: 90% of my revenue is ad-based. Subscriptions were just ability to turn ads off. Then book deals and speaking fees. Paid full-time staff of 9 plus contractors. It’s a 7 figure operation.
4:10 – Coulton – 40-50% of revenue is music buying online. Then revenue from live shows and CD sales. This is an unusually high percentage, since he appeals to geeks. I would never have thought to make WoW machinema videos. Was a total accident.
4:14 – Kos: I did 150 polls in 2008. More than any news organization. I will do more this year. R2K / DailyKos poll.
4:15 – Responding to a question if do you advertise. Moderator says that if they do, it’s with cheap Facebook or Google ads. Gaylor says it’s important to have a publicist because MSM peeps are so slammed. It’s still important to have . Anti-marketing vibe on the Internet. “On the Internet people can smell marketing people a mile away.” Kos: Huffington Post, $40 million in VC, and an army of PR people and they’re the biggest news site on the Internet.
4:23 – Burns: Offline marketing worthless for the Internet. If you can’t go to the site right now, it’s worthless. So is “Coming soon…” We were on TRL a few years ago. There was NO IMPACT. Coulton chimes in. NYT piece about him – no impact on his web traffic. But a link from a small blog can make a difference. Traditional media doesn’t believe in linking. (This is very true.)
4:25 – How do you schedule your day? Coulton: be brutal about your schedule. Tuesday is a creative day. Don’t check emails or feeds.
4:26 – Kirsner: MSM journalists looking for phone numbers not emails for instant contact. Coulton: Follow me on Twitter. LOL. Kos: With staff, I can scale back and be more of a family person.