New Forrester reports on RSS for marketers released
By Charlene Li
We just released two new reports on RSS for marketers: "RSS 101 For Marketers" and "Using RSS As A Marketing Tool". A special thanks to everyone who contributed marketer examples -- you can see many of them in the comments of this post.
One point that's sure to catch attention is the number of people using RSS -- our Technographics survey of 68,000 North American households showed that only 2% of all online households were "using RSS". Now here's the caveat -- that doesn't include all the people who may be using RSS (for example, through My Yahoo!) and don't realize it. Young consumers between the ages of 12-21 were more likely to be using RSS -- 5% of online young consumers say they use RSS.
The second report has detailed best practices on how marketers can create effective RSS feeds for marketing purposes. There are four steps I outline: 1) Determine what content to distribute via RSS; 2) Build the feeds; 3) Market the feeds; and 4) Measure the feeds -- and their impact.
Below are excerpts of the reports:
RSS 101 for Marketers: In Forrester's February 2005 Marketer Online Survey, 57% of marketers said that they were interested in using Really Simple Syndication (RSS) as a marketing channel. Why the interest when just 2% of North American online adults use RSS? The combination of reduced email marketing effectiveness and growing consumer advertising backlash drives marketers to test RSS — from creating their own feeds to putting ads into RSS feeds themselves. This report introduces who uses RSS in North America and the implications of RSS adoption. The second report in the series looks at best practices for marketers using RSS.
Using RSS As A Marketing Tool: Despite its resemblance to the Wild West, best practices for how marketers can use Really Simple Syndication (RSS) are already emerging. In this second of two reports, Forrester outlines why marketers should experiment with RSS, especially marketers with customers who fit the profile of early RSS adopters. Even if it's something as simple as putting press releases in an RSS feed, marketers will benefit from early exposure to distributing information via RSS — and receive valuable feedback from key constituents on what types of content they would like to have.
You nailed it - I'm calling both required reading for everyone at Sabre.
Posted by: Gary Potter | July 28, 2005 at 10:04 AM
Charlene -
these are really terrific reports. great analysis, incredibly helpful... even for those of us already doing it, they are quite educational.
(and thanks for including Simply Hired in the RSS feeds for jobs discussion :)
- dave mcclure
www.SimplyHired.com
Posted by: DaveMc500Hats | July 29, 2005 at 02:06 PM
Hi Charlene,
Sat next to you for a while at the Blogher Friday night dinner. Wish you were at the "Advanced Tools" session on Saturday -- 85% or more of the time was spent on syndication. You could have saved us a lot of time by just telling us that you blogged about RSS and has a RSS 101 report!
Posted by: Maria Tseng | August 01, 2005 at 02:47 AM
With RSS, a small business can communicate with people in a new way, in a way that is not susceptible to SPAM, in a way that has marketing and messaging opportunities
Posted by: Ann | January 04, 2006 at 04:02 AM
Recent Forrester Research study titled Using RSS as a Marketing Tool revealed that only 2% of online househoulds in North America were using RSS. It seems like marketers can just ignore this content distribution channel for now.
Posted by: Ruckus | April 02, 2006 at 05:04 PM