menéame -Part 1
menéame - Part 2
So basically the question on the table now is what is it that menéame can be doing to better monetize the user base that it currently has? Some thoughts:
- Before taking any specific steps, it seems more than warranted to start off by understanding the issues to a much deeper level. This would mean running a marketing research to better understand its users' behaviour but also understand why there advertising revenues are not pouring in, in other words, what is keeping advertisers from menéame.
- menéame has also maintained a policy of not collecting any specific demographic data on its user base. This might seem to be something they should consider changing since a better understanding of what kind of user base they can offer advertisers will make a more solid sales pitch to advertisers
- Currently menéame has seen a more prevalent appearance of CPC (cost per click) advertising which might not be the most successful considering that the majority of menéame users are not actually the "clicky" type, therefore, although probably generating less commission per unit for menéame, CPM (cost per thousand impressions) would prove to be more profitable overall.
- menéame does act as a traffic broker for some of the mainstream Spanish media websites and this can also be a place where menéame can search for revenues. How can menéame monetize its positive impact on such media websites? The creation of click through cuts or charge for direct menéame links from the media wesbites might be an option. However, this would need a closer look at how the online media industry works and what value-added services menéame can provide to the media websites. Although menéame would have a certain degree of leverage since it is the leader with no real competitors in its field in Spain
- Creation of paid corporate accounts and clearly marking them as such is another option. They need to be clearly marked as being corporate accounts since their objectivity will be highly contested and it would be needed to set them apart so as to stick to menéame stands for in terms of an untainted democratic space.
- For many of the proposed alternatives to be successful, there needs to be a great degree of transparency with menéame users so that their support wouldd guarnteed and no adverse impact would occur on the user base.
- One of my classmates, Alberto, brought up a suggestion with regards to setting up a donation campaign so that users can be contributing to menéame, similar to what Wikipedia does. However, I would be more skeptical on the results of such a campaign since Wikipedia is run by a non-profit foundation which in many users' minds warrants the collection of donations. Therefore, I would probably only consider such an option in the case that the initial marketing research tells us something that might support the running of such an initiative.
- Finally, there was a point brought up with regards to that the brand menéame might have had a deterrant effect on advertising due to the sexual connotations it carries. This is something to investigate through the research to be conducted. In the case that these assumptions are proven correct, then menéame should look at an incremental re-branding effort. It might be a scary prospect due to the brand equity that the brand name menéame currently carries, however, there have been many cases in the non-virtual world were companies and products were re-branded successfully, the key was an incremental long term approach.
Thanks!
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