We’re at lucky number seven of ‘Above the Fold,’ and hold on to your hats, because we delve hard into theory in this one. What should you do if the top search results for your brand are all bad? Can Alexa learn to parent? How the %@#$ do you pronounce GIF?!
The guys debate Trump and Google
If you’ve paid attention to anything anywhere over the past few days, then you know that President Trump claimed Google is biased against him. In his mind, the search engine didn’t do well enough promoting his State of the Union livestreams.
Jeff and Francis, brave souls, launch into the topic, discussing Silicon Valley, bad news for brands and online censorship. Jeff likens this news item to when Google got in hot water when its algorithm supported holocaust denial.
If I may, there’s a key question missing from this conversation: What is Google’s ultimate purpose? Is it to create an algorithm that accurately matches the cultural landscape? Or, is Google’s role to provide information that helps people make the best, most educated decisions possible? These are important to think about as marketers create content.
…Jeff, why am I not on this podcast?! I have ideas, man!
My list of hot takes.
Francis shares his Alexa secrets
Gartner estimated that 30 percent of searches will be made through voice by 2020, so Jeff asks Francis what his top three Alexa commands are.
“Alexa, put the Ma children in timeout.”
Honestly, that’s the best reasoning I’ve heard for getting a voice assistant. Francis, have you talked to Amazon about starring in a commercial?
Tech parenting aside, the two get into what a world of voice search means for content marketing. Francis notes that speed and tone say a lot about a person’s intentions; will Alexa be able to process and respond appropriately? Plus, no one wants to listen to an automated voice giving thousands of answers, so how do you design content to make it into the top 3 (or however many results Alexa provides?)
Jeff is a bit more skeptical, saying privacy laws could keep voice-search data out of marketers’ hands, which is certainly an important consideration. Alexa, any answers?
Jeff pronounces “gif” incorrectly (but who cares?)
Francis asks Jeff what in content marketing needs to die, Jeff reveals his strong aversion to the phrase “use these target keywords.” The duo discuss other answers listed on the Content Marketing Institute’s “31 Cringeworthy Content Marketing Things That Should Die,” and Jeff agrees that gif should be pronounced with a hard G.
My hot take? (Told you I was full of ‘em.) The Gif vs. Gif pronunciation debate itself needs to die. We all know what they both mean, so everyone needs to move on already.
Listen to Britney.
