RSS Feeds – the new online marketing tool

RSS Feeds are essentially lists of links or articles which you can subscribe to, in order to check for updates and new content across a range of websites, without needing to waste time visiting them all each day or week to keep track of new content. They can therefore be useful as an information source but also as a potential marketing tool.

RSS stands for Really Simple Syndication and is the fastest growing source of web feeds, although other methods also exist, such as Atom, XML or RDF feeds, as well as more traditional syndication of material. Any type of content that is regularly published or updated, such as newsletters, blogs, press releases or job listings can be included in an RSS Feed.

In order to view Feeds, you need reader software, which is available in a number of different formats:

• Standalone software: such as FeedReader.
• Web based: such as BlogLines or Google Reader.
• A web browser: the latest web browsers, such as Internet Explorer 7 and FireFox now have the ability to read feeds alongside other bookmarks. From a marketer’s perspective this will mean that most web surfers will have the ability to subscribe to feeds without needing to download or set-up special software, making them more accessible and increasing their usage.

As a web user, feeds are useful for keeping up-to-date with the latest news and content in a particular interest area. They can also be used for other purposes – for example, using an online bookmarking service such as del.icio.us to create a feed of you favourite bookmarks to access from any computer, or creating a feed showing the search engine results for a particular term to monitor, such as your brand name.

As a website owner or marketer, RSS Feeds allow you to ‘push’ your latest news and content to users who choose to subscribe, helping to keep your website and offerings at the front of people’s minds, and to encourage repeat visits to your website.

This ‘push’ attribute is also applicable to email marketing, although feeds give users control over whether they subscribe or not, making them less obtrusive. Users like to have this control, but it does mean that you need to create content or offers that will be of interest to them – as with any form of promotion!

If you’d like to know more about RSS feeds and how they can be used to the advantage of your business, please contact us for more details.

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