Marketing: How WolframAlpha Can Stir up Attention

If you don’t know about it yet, WolframAlpha is a new search engine that can provide data and fact based answers to a number of questions. My description doesn’t do it justice so go watch this video to get an idea of how it works.

So far, I love their execution and I think they have a terrific idea. Once they develop a strong database that can cover a wide array of topics, I could see it being picked up by the mainstream. The catch being that to continue with extensive development, more people are going to have to start using it. Here are two ideas that popped into my head on how they can garner a wider audience:

1. People Love Easter Egg Searches:

Easter Eggs are hidden features that can be found in software and on websites. Early equivalents of this were the Google Bombs which falsely linked search results with something unrelated or humorous. This practice has since changed but lots of people knew about basic Google Bombs which provided hilarious results. I remember that Yahoo Answers began to come to my attention when I started seeing screen grabs like these pop up on forums and other websites.

Similarly, WolframAlpha has some search results which are amusing and humorous. The Wolfram team has obviously picked up on this, wisely using it as a marketing tool. Responses to questions like “Are You Skynet” have popped up on Digg and brought them a lot more users. Check out some of their other Easter Egg searches here.

2. Know/Target Your Initial Audience

My perception might be biased, but I would like to think that the initial users of Wolfram Alpha are going to reflect the user base of Digg. Young, educated and knowledgeable about computers and the internet. If Wolfram Alpha was able to grab a share of this audience, that would be a huge success. To do this they should focus on providing that demographic with data and answers that would be of interest to them. Targeting a specific audience and making sure the website serves that audience is the main goal of Ratemyfraternity/ Ratemysorority. While Wolfram is aiming to catalogue all systematic knowledge, it would be a smart move for them to initially target a specific audience in order to drive traffic and bring them a solid user base.

I hope their project succeeds. The direction Wolfram Alpha is taking is one which all search engines should be aiming for. I’m looking at you Bing.

The Twitter phenomenon has clearly been established. Everyone and their mother (especially moms) have adopted the new social networking trend. It is yet to be determined whether Twitter is a flash in the pan and doomed to be the next online version of pogs. Beyond the hype, Twitter undoubtedly brings something new to the table of Social Media. Their simplistic design offers companies an incredible way to interact with customers, share content and ideas while networking with other people and companies.

What baffles me about Twitter is the immense amount of success despite the shortcomings of their site. The technical difficulties page, known as the “fail wale”, is now a common joke among Twitter users. Images and graphics on the site routinely do not load. Searches commonly end with glitches. Their interface is buggy and the navigation isn’t all that logical. Despite all this, Twitter flourishes.

I am amazed at what Twitter has done because of the amount of competition which exists. To grab the attention of people on the internet, I always assumed that your website and product had to be flawless. Why would someone want to use your site if they ran into errors? Twitter has been able to succeed despite that the site cannot keep up with the growth. Much of their success is a reflection upon their stellar marketing and the ability to properly execute a good idea. I am sure much of this was out of their control.

I would argue that most of their success is due to Twitter’s ability to “create the party”. People want to come to a party if their friends are there. People flock to Twitter because they can interact with friends and celebrities. This is an important lesson for any type of site which offers interaction among its users.

Blogs have taken an odd step in recent years. Like everything internet related it’s still a new trend that has gone through major shifts. Right now, blogs are coming out of an era where they were seen as a tool for high schoolers to dwell on their drama and the harsh reality of suburbia. It became a tool for the masses to voice their opinion when no one wanted to hear it. The result was lots of drivel. In recent years, blogs have re-emerged for a number of reasons. First, people that actually have something to say started writing. Second, people who don’t suck at writing started coming to the attention of the masses. Lastly, people started getting creative how a blog can be used.

So why does this blog exist? The RateMyFraternity blog will be a chance for us to write about the site, track online trends that pertain to college kids and let us share our thoughts on what’s going on with the intranets.

While this will not be an effective way to pull in users, blogs add such amazing functionality to any website. It’s a must even when the purpose in no clear.

And on that note…