Holiday Gift Guide: 3 Best Alexa Smart Speakers: Echo Dot and Show Review

Thinking about business or family and friends gifts for the holidays? Scoop up these powerful Echo devices and share the gift of voice! Here are our top three recommendations with honest product reviews:

1) Echo Dot 3rd Gen (Echo Dot Clock) - “Add Alexa to any room”

$34.99. File under: Gifts Under $50:

Our most popular smart speaker - Now available with an LED display that can show the time, outdoor temperature, or timers.

This is the newest generation Echo Dot with a digital clock. It's a smart speaker without a screen but it can display short messages like a stock ticker crawl. This feature is going to be used a lot more in 2020, just wait for it. We'll see brands begin sending notifications from their custom skills with this LED display. Because the price point is low, this will be a top popular Echo device and now it has a visual component. I’d grab one of these to replace any clock in your house because it is a clock and so much more.

2) Echo Show 5 - “Compact smart display with Alexa”

At 5.5 inches, it sits compactly on a nightstand, office desk, or book shelf with a handy clock face whose appearance you can customize from several artistic visual options. The smaller size means it’s not obnoxiously large or a big space commitment. Good for a smaller kitchen or limited desk or counter space. However, it is a bit small if you intend to watch video.

The speaker quality is not fantastic but it’s good enough for the average person. It’s about as good the quality as playing music straight out of an iPhone, but louder. The Echo Show 2nd Gen (see #3 below) has even better sound if you are looking for a high quality speaker. If you’re not a major music aficionado and not buying it for primary use as a music playing speaker, the Echo Show 5 is FINE.

Bottom line: If you want a smart speaker with a screen (known as multimodal) to start using Alexa, grab the Echo Show 5. It’s perfect to: hear Flash Briefing news and weather, to set timers, to play Spotify or Pandora or Amazon Music etc., to control your smart home, Roomba, smart plugs or Philips Hue lights, to cook simple recipes by voice, or as an additional device in another room of the house, and more.

3) Echo Show (2nd Gen) - “Premium sound and a vibrant 10.1” HD screen”

10.1 inch screen. Buy this for your favorite friends, family members, or clients. It’s really nice.

• Premium speakers with Dolby processing let you stream music and books in crisp, stereo sound. With a vibrant 10.1" HD screen for watching videos, movies, and TV shows in a new fabric design.

• Ask Alexa to see lyrics and album art with Amazon Music. See weather forecasts, calendars, to-do lists, and your favorite playlists.

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Disclaimer: We post these types of links a couple times a year to get a bit of listener and reader support for producing all the free content we provide on shows like the Voice Marketing Flash Briefing. It’s a win-win since you may have wanted to buy this stuff anyway. Thank you for supporting our shows by shopping through our links!

We use Amazon Associate links which help cover hosting costs for our blog and podcast. This means if you click through and end up buying, we will get a small affiliate commission. It’s really small, but it helps a bit. Details are in our disclosure.

How to Grow Your Alexa Flash Briefing Audience

You’ve published your Alexa Flash Briefing, and you understand why voice is important.

Good move: smart speakers are the fastest growing consumer technology since the smartphone, and Amazon has market share.

Amazon Echo Dot was Amazon’s best-selling product site-wide, across any category during the 2017 holiday season. (Source: Slate) Photo by Andres Urena on Unsplash

Before you start any of the below tactics, benchmark where you are now - what gets measured gets managed.

Record how many listeners you have using the Amazon Developer measure tool.

Then track the increase you’ll see over the next month as you implement these steps.

Read on for the best ways to grow your Alexa Flash Briefing audience.

Alexa Flash Briefing Terminology

• Alexa: Amazon’s virtual voice assistant which powers millions of devices like the Echo family of devices.

• Skill: Like apps on your phone, Alexa provides skills enabling customers to create a personalized experience. Skills provide weather, traffic, news, trivia, cooking, exercises, etc. There are now thousands of skills from companies and organizations like Domino’s, Starbucks, NPR, and Uber and individual creators (like you).

• Flash Briefing: A quick overview of news and other content such as business or financial advice, music, comedy, podcasts, and sports. Customers hear their Flash Briefing by asking their Alexa-enabled device, “Alexa, Flash Briefing” or “Alexa, tell me the news.” Flash Briefing comprises at least one Flash Briefing skill.

• Flash Briefing Skill: This is a type of skill. It provides content for a customer’s Flash Briefing (typically composed of several Flash Briefing skills). Anyone can create a Flash Briefing skill. In this post, I often refer to a “Flash Briefing” to mean your particular briefing (AKA skill) because this is how most people talk about it.

So, how do you get people to listen to your Alexa Flash Briefing?

Cadence and Content

• Publish your Alexa Flash Briefing daily. Amazon wants more content. If you only publish weekly, that’s okay, but aim for daily if possible. (You could always reduce the frequency later, or split the baby and update three times per week.)

Tip: Batch recording sessions. Come up with fifteen content ideas, then record them in one sitting. Batching is an effective way to be more productive because it lets you avoid task switching costs.

• Publish at peak times. Morning is key here because most listen before starting their day (it’s a routine). Publish around 4 AM ET (use tools such as Effct, SoundUp, or Storyline to automate this).

• Keep it under two minutes. This is the listener sweet spot. Not only will they appreciate brevity and listen all the way through, but it’s also likely Amazon will reward briefs whose listeners don’t skip ahead or become bored and exit. (Much like YouTube rewards videos with the most watched minutes and those that keep users on the platform longer.)

Optimize Your Skill Title and Keywords

Just like a product listing on Amazon, take advantage of every field on your Alexa Flash Briefing skill’s page (it’s essentially a product detail page as far as Amazon SEO is concerned).

• Title – Name your skill with a short, clear name that tells users what it is and contains at least one top search term. For example, if your brief is about local news, the title should contain your city name. This is almost better than containing “news” because you may appear in search results for anything related to your city – not just “news”, which is much more competitive.

• Keywords – You can select up to thirty single words as your descriptive keywords. These and your description are important real estate. Do some keyword research and include terms that people search for related to your content or industry. If you’re lazy, type the first few words of a typical search query into Google and look at the suggestions that appear.

Share Your Skill on Social Media

Sharing on social has the best ongoing effort-to-reward ratio (it doesn’t take much time and can reach lots of people). Try it two ways:

1. Share with your social network (existing connections).

   • Write five different social posts that promote and link to your skill. Schedule them in advance with a tool like Buffer or Hootsuite. Don’t overpost, maybe 1-2 times per week on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Google Plus. For Pinterest, pin once to the keyword-rich board(s).

   • Track post-performance. Determine which posts receive the most engagement (e.g., Twitter shows each tweet’s impressions and engagements). Keep top performing posts, reschedule them, and continually iterate by tweaking words and length to find the most effective language.

2. Entice. When you publish new Flash Briefings, post teasers on social. Create curiosity! For example, here is a post which creates curiosity and provides clear instruction:

“Tune into today’s Flash Briefing to hear about the greatest marketing trick of the century. How to listen: 1) Enable the Skill here: [LINK TO SKILL]. 2) Say “Alexa, what’s my Flash Briefing? on your Echo or in your Amazon app.”

Any smartphone can become an Alexa device and play Flash Briefing – no Echo needed. Source: Emily Binder, iPhone screenshot

And that last part: yes, bonus! Users don’t need an Echo to hear your brief.

Anyone can turn their phone into an Echo device by downloading the Amazon shopping app.

The circle in the top right of the app activates Alexa. Try it!

(Smart move, Amazon - now everyone with the shopping app has Alexa, Echo or not.)

Join and Share with Interest Groups

Reddit hosts communities with people who have an interest in Amazon Alexa and Echo.

Publicize your skill in a few of the top groups.

But remember, don’t just self-promote.

First, help others. Try their skills then leave reviews on Amazon.

Interact, introduce yourself, and ask people to enable your skill and provide feedback.

Here are some general Echo and Alexa groups on reddit:

https://www.reddit.com/r/Alexa_Skills/

https://www.reddit.com/r/amazonecho/

https://www.reddit.com/r/alexa/

Find niche groups based on your topic. For example, if you focus on meditation, you could hang out here.

Look for similar interest groups on Facebook. Then rinse and repeat.

Make it Easy to Share

Create a shortlink to your Alexa Flash Briefing Skill (use bit.ly, Googl, or a custom-branded one, which is even better). Try Plink for an automatic 1-click podcast listen experience (if your briefing is available on podcast platforms like Apple Podcasts and Stitcher).

Do this immediately to reserve the shortest and clearest custom link.

Make the shortlink easy to read using words that easily separate. Make it easy to type and use all lower case (shortlinks are case sensitive). For example, mine is bit.ly/beetleflash (for Beetle Moment Flash Briefing).

You can then easily share the shortlink:

• In your social bios (i.e.-Instagram, Twitter, and your email signature)

• You can do this verbally if you plug yourself on a podcast or other interview. Save new listeners from searching – make enabling your skill a one-step shortlink process.

Share Archived Briefs

Use the same formula from above and give people an accessible, easy way to hear your content anytime.

Copy any MP3 URLs from your past briefs and add to blog posts with clear titles and ideally a bit of introductory text.

Ratings and Reviews

The faster, the better.

Begin to rank for your keywords before the Alexa ecosystem becomes more crowded.

Join a Facebook group related to Flash Briefings. If you want to join our private #FlashBriefing Slack channel, contact Emily and send a link to your briefing.

Or use reddit groups to connect with others who might review you.

We all operate on the reciprocity norm.

Leave reviews for new contacts from these groups or fellow creators you’ve found on Twitter.

It’s easy to reach out to almost anyone through Twitter or LinkedIn.

If you enjoy a briefing, tweet the creator and let them know. That puts you on their radar, and they’ll be more likely to return the favor after seeing your review.

Archive and host past briefings on your website or blog. I recommend Pippa to make embedding audio on blogs and social easy. (Get a $25 Amazon Gift Card when you sign up for a year of Pippa hosting for your Flash Briefing or podcast here.)

Benefits of doing this:

• SEO

• An evergreen place to send people to hear your content

• Your hard work won’t disappear

• A convenient way to entice reviews. End with a CTA like this: “Please rate and review so others can find this skill! [LINK TO SKILL]

Have a page of your website called Alexa Flash Briefing and post each brief or a handful of your best ones.

For example, here’s my Alexa Flash Briefing page with some of my favorite briefs.

If you publish daily, this could get cumbersome, so feature the top ten.

Put a big clear button or link to “Enable this Flash Briefing Skill” at the top and bottom of the post(s).

Use your skill icon, make it clickable to your Amazon skill or your episode archive like mine below, and you’ll be on your way to showcasing your Alexa Flash Briefings and gaining a wider audience.

This post originally appeared at spinsucks.com in August 2018. It was updated for this blog in May 2019.