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A great multi-screen strategy can ensure advertisers reach consumers wherever they are, no matter what they are doing. By using multiple platforms, advertisers can also build consistent and cohesive experiences from the ground up, giving companies the ability to reach incredibly targeted audiences. Still, we must always remember to keep coming back to the consumer: listening to their needs and desires, their dislikes and concerns, and always putting them first. Through native advertising experiences on mobile devices, gaming consoles, smartphone apps, Skype and web browsing, advertisers can deliver the most relevant message to the right audience, but we must keep striving to tell brand stories in the most unique, personal and interesting ways. At its core, great advertising is great storytelling. It surprises and delights audiences while remaining relevant, memorable and unobtrusive....
Content Marketing is important to the success of your biz, so we’re going to keep bringing you lots of info, including this newly released infographic from Uberflip. If you’re targeting other businesses (B2B), you may wonder how your marketing tactics compare to others, or may be looking for inspiration. We think you’ll find both in this infographic; here are a few key points: 94% of B2B marketers create new content rather than share. 82% of B2B marketers use content marketing to gain new customers and leads. The top three ways to share content: Social media 87% Website articles 83% Email 78%...
Here are some of the most interesting digital marketing stats we've seen this week. Stats include website personalisation, email marketing, mobile paid search, mobile commerce among young men, online video and Samsung's growing popularity among Europeans. For more digital marketing stats, check out our Internet Statistics Compendium....
Technology and the Internet are fundamentally changing the way we do business around the globe. Consumers have unprecedented access to information and to each other. In fact studies show that consumers are far more likely to trust each other over brands. This holds true even if the other consumer is a complete stranger. For any business, especially smaller businesses that want to master the basics of social media marketing, the days of simply creating a Facebook page are over. Effectively reaching today’s mobile consumer requires integrated Social Local and Mobile (SoLoMo) for short. By the time you finish this post I hope you’ll be convinced that avoiding social media is a bigger risk than fully embracing the basics of social media....
Connecting and networking are easier than ever before. I'll go over a few of my favorites and how they can help you to expand your network and connect with new people.... What I am about to say may shock you - probably depending on what generation you were born in - but trust me, it's all true. You might want to brace yourself. There was a point in time, surprisingly not that long ago, that people memorized each other's numbers, because cell phones did not exist (I know, the horror). In order to network with someone, often times a degree of proximity was necessary. Before social media existed it required a great deal of work to connect with the people that you needed to connect with. Thankfully, we do not have to live in a less-connected world anymore due to social media sites like Facebook, Twitter, Google+, LinkedIn, and even picture-based sites like Instagram and Pinterest. Connecting and networking are easier than ever before. I'll go over a few of my favorites and how they can help you to expand your network and connect with new people....
..Social.com lets marketers integrate CRM information from Salesforce.com with data held by social media companies. For example, a marketer buying targeted advertising on Facebook could combine the interests expressed by Facebook users with its own customer information in order to refine the audience for a campaign. The dashboard includes a "trending" word cloud that can help marketers identify topics or hashtags to which they can quickly tie sponsored stories, posts or tweets. Speaking at a Salesforce.com customer day in San Francisco, Adam Bain, chief revenue officer for Twitter, called this "buying into the moment." Gordon Evans, vice president of product marketing for Salesforce.com, told ClickZ, "We can connect real-time social listening with ad campaigns. If a hashtag is trending and has positive social sentiment, you can buy ads against whenever someone uses that hashtag, via Twitter keyword targeting."...
Starting a social media campaign? Check out these top 32 tools that will help you manage the campaign, via Jamie Turner and Erik Qualman.... The e-book was so popular that our good friend Shelly Kramer suggested that readers of the V3 blog might benefit from it, too. So, with that in mind, here’s an excerpt that includes 32 of the most important tools to help you manage your social media campaign. (If you’re interested in downloading the entire e-book, just click 83 Top Social Media and Mobile Marketing Tools)....
Small business owners are seeing a return on investment from social media. 81% have increased their time spent on social media or stayed the same.... Thirty-nine percent (39%) of small business owners are seeing a return on investment from social media. That is according to a recent survey by Manta, released just last week. Manta, an online small business community, surveyed more than 1,200 of its members to generate its quarterly Small Business Wellness Index, where these findings are from. Now you might think that 39% isn’t so positive, if more than 60% are not seeing a return. However, let’s put it in perspective with the other findings of the survey. When you do that, the small business attitude toward social media looks far more positive. Consider these additional findings...
...Towards the end of 2012, WordPress recorded more than 56.6-million blogs on its platform. That doesn’t include Blogger, Tumblr and a host of other blog platforms available.
So why do people blog? Some have an opinion they want to share, others simply enjoy writing and many are blogging because the digital marketing folk are telling them their business needs them to — search engine optimisation, being considered an expert in your field… there’s a variety of reasons they’ll tell you this a good idea.
Blogs beat traditional mainstream media in that there are no fast and hard rules governing them. Bloggers are free to express an honest and unedited opinion. Didn’t like the service you received at a restaurant? Absolutely horrified that the latest skin product you used left your neck in red patches? Well, blog about it.
Brands have realised that the readership of a blog is far more loyal than that of a magazine. Readers have a personal relationship with the blogger, they interact with them on other social media channels and therefore they trust them – far more than their copy of Car or Cosmo magazine. Their opinion matters and it only follows that their opinion sells.
The blogging bandwagon has taken off and it has hit a few potholes in the road....
New research released by the U.K.’s telecoms regulator, Ofcom, has flagged significant growth in social networking among older Internet users — which is helping to offset lower rates of growth across younger age groups. Ofcom’s latest Adult media uses and attitudes report, which examines 2012 U.K. data, indicates that more than a third (35%) of 55 to 64 year-old Internet users created a social networking profile last year — up by half in just one year (24% in 2011). Ofcom notes that it’s the only age-group with a “significant increase” in social networking growth but the research also found that a quarter (25%) of Internet users aged 65+ also set up a social network profile last year....
Investing time and money on social media is necessary for all types of businesses nowadays. Here are nine examples of small businesses using social media for branding. Social media is the new way for the word to spread: from product recommendations to advice on what to do, where to go, and what to do. From little conversations that mean nothing to meaningful revelations that could change lives, from stupid pictures to inspiring profiles – social media has it all. Customers have the final word now. News gets out faster. Other users and buyers are now the trusted sources. Social conversations are now the holy grail of business reputation management. Social media is social proof that materializes quickly. Small businesses are indeed tapping into the power of social media....
After years of significant growth, social networks exhibited mixed results last year. It was bound to happen. Here are 10 reasons social media has peaked. Maybe it concerns you if you are in the social media business, but I will give you 8 reasons that it’s a relief that social media has peaked....
Tips for developing a SEO content marketing strategy for your business blog. You need great content and a plan to get that coveted top spot. The coveted #1 position in Google is sought by everyone with a business site. How are you going to beat out everyone jockeying for that number 1 spot? You can make it to the top with a strategic SEO content marketing plan. Do you know what that means? Not certain your strategy is working? I’m sharing my 5 five tips to developing a SEO content marketing strategy that will send your business blog to the top. ...
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Social Contests are a great way to increase engagement, reach, followers and leads. You can run social contests on a variety of platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, your website – all while being mobile compatible. There are a variety of different types of social contests you can combine with your contest ideas – Wishpond offers sweepstakes, photo contests, vote contests, pinterest contests, essay contests, photo caption contests, video contests, and group deals all available to you in our Social Marketing Suite. In this article, you’ll discover some contest ideas and have a better understanding of how you could run a contest for your business.These are just a few examples, There are endless possibilities for contest ideas....
How a social program can help to change brand perceptions.... I set out to connect with communications professionals and marketing thought leaders, the most relevant audience for me as a marketing executive. Before taking the plunge, I carefully considered what value I could bring to the social conversation in a very crowded field. I thought about how Xerox helps customers so they can focus on their real businesses — and my purpose as its CMO. My answer was clear: giving a real, clear-eyed take on the business of marketing and communications. Marketers have a reputation for being full of hype; I wanted to share information about and examples of smart, yet simple, marketing and communications. Where to start? Not Facebook, that was a given. While I'm on Facebook, it's reserved for life outside of work when my heart and mind kick full-time into mom mode. It's a social place where, for me, the lines don't blur between work and family. Twitter felt like a more natural place to kick start dialogue — my target audience was fluent in 140 characters. I didn't have a huge Twitter following then and I still don't. Quantity is never the point. Quality engagement always is. I tweet a few times a day — much of it is sharing what I'm reading, watching, and inspired by in marketing, branding, communications, leadership, and the occasional a-ha moment I have as a runner and/or as a parent. These are topics I live and breathe every day...
...So how are brands capitalising on this social smorgasbord? The results are in, and they’re somewhat mixed. While 87 percent of Fortune 100 companies have a presence on at least one social media site, with Twitter leading the way, only 26 percent of businesses regularly include a call to action in their tweets. Moreover, less than half (44 percent) of customer questions sent on Twitter are answered within 24 hours, and 56 percent are ignored altogether. Overall, less than 20 percent of U.S. companies have integrated social media with their customer service, sales or product development processes. This, and more, can be found in the infographic below, which takes a closer look at how businesses are using social media....
Excellent learning... One of the simplest ways to boost your conversion rate is by tweaking your headline copy. If you don’t believe me… just look at KISSmetrics.com, I was able to boost my conversion rate by 40% just by adjusting the headline copy. That’s right… 40%. So what was the original headline? It was… KISSmetrics helps you get actionable metrics for your business. And the new one is… Google Analytics tells you what happened, KISSmetrics tells you who did it. So how can you boost your conversion rate through headlines? Well, there are a few simple strategies you can test....
Struggling to calculate return on a text campaign or Facebook investment? Just apply this single, simple equation.... ...So do what the big guys do. Most Fortune 500 marketing VPs look at the revenue to cost ratio: incremental revenue driven by a marketing campaign divided by the cost. It's a deceptively easy metric, but if you use it properly, I guarantee you’ll be able to make the bold marketing decisions you need to grow your business.
Recently, for example, one of our FiveStars merchants ran a text message campaign to their loyalty program members. It cost them six dollars to send the text to a few hundred of their current customers. Four percent of the recipients of the text came to the store and spent a total of $110. The revenue to cost ratio of this campaign was 18x. Was this a good result? Rule of thumb for most companies is that 5x is a decent return, and 10x is a home run. Considering that the restaurant only had to incur incremental costs for the food of about $30, and spent six dollars to get $80 in gross profit, this was a great result. We recommended that this merchant expand the size of loyalty program, and start running bi-weekly campaigns. Implementing these simple tactics and investing less than $600 could increase the restaurant’s revenue by over $10,000 per year.
Although social media has been around for a few years, plenty of businesses and entrepreneurs still get it wrong. When planning your social marketing strategy and being active on social channels, avoid these 5 common content mistakes....
Social Media Engagement: learn to craft calls to action that get your social community to do what you’d like them to and get the results you want.... Is your audience responding to your social activities? Have you integrated the right calls to action into your social media strategy? A call to action is a way for you to entice your social media audience to focus their attention on the next action you want them to take. Here are seven steps for crafting calls to action to get your social community to do what you’d like them to and transform your social media marketing to get the results you want....
Social media sites such as Twitter and Facebook are on a meteoric rise, and so are social data. Here are five insights social data can provide for businesses.... With social media sites such as Twitter and Facebook on a meteoric rise, companies are beginning to incorporate data collected from these social sites and their users into many aspects of their business from marketing to internal Human Resources issues – and with good reason. The sheer volume of social media data makes it incredibly difficult to analyze. However, various data services are popping up to answer the challenge of making sense of all this potentially advantageous consumer information. Here are five insights social data can provide for businesses....
Brafton reported that 60 percent of B2B brands say their greatest marketing challenge is generating new leads online. Fifty-five percent say they fail to reach their audiences in the right ways, despite engaging in multiple marketing techniques. Businesses may see the value of high-quality internet marketing efforts, especially with custom content, but they may not have a defined strategy behind their campaigns. The flashiest website content in the world may draw readers in, but if marketing collateral doesn’t communicate anything of substance, then lead-gen opportunities miss the mark. With many business-facing organizations focused on acquiring new customers via web marketing practices, Ascend2 and Research Underwriters conducted a survey to understand what practices help organizations achieve their goals. The study looked at most effective channels and most difficult to implement tactics....
There is a misconception that mobile Internet use mainly occurs on the go, when people are travelling to and from work for example. This is not the case; mobile devices are widely used at home as second screens and at the workplace. Now is the time to get on board with mobile marketing and mobile business. Mobile device users are five times more likely to abandon your website, if it is not mobile-optimized. It is vital to enable mobile capability for your website to lessen the risk of losing valuable mobile Internet traffic, leads and greater business generation. Mobile optimization is no longer optional. If you offer a service, your content must be clear and attractive for mobile readers. If you offer products or run an ecommerce website, it needs to be optimized for mobile purchasing....
Who are the best marketers out there right now? Who are the leaders shaping the way businesses interact with their customers and the marketplace? Big questions, right? ...Put best is how Lisa Gevelber, VP of Marketing for Google and one of the Council Members put it, “it’s about moments that matter. It’s when brands bring the right message at the right time through the right channel to the right customer. It’s no longer pushing out generic messages but instead, delivering relevant, helpful information. As marketers, we’ve always wanted to do that. Now it’s really possible. Things like mobile devices allow us to tailor a message to a person’s context (like location or time of day) in a way that’s more useful to users than has ever been possible. The new digital world has brought greater speed, better data, incredible technology and new creative palettes – they all give marketers a huge helping hand. Our goal is to reach customers with engaging and useful experiences they’ll love, remember, and spread.” Who Are These Marketers on the Forefront? This year’s finalists are included below. To find out who the winners are, you need to wait until April 25th. Congrats to this year’s finalists!...
...You see, what’s actually evolving is a new and far more complex role for the store, and online brands like Google, Bonobos and Warby Parker are affirming it, as they each embark on creating their own, branded, physical stores. They along with a growing number of other online pure-plays recognize that in order to “fully actualize” their brands, they need to animate a physical presence and visceral experience for their consumers, not to move products but more critically, to move hearts and minds – to sell the idea, essence and values of the brand – all of which has more traditionally been viewed as the role of media. Which brings us to a critical point....
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![B2Bs say email, content marketing best for lead gen [study] | Public Relations & Social Marketing Insight | Scoop.it](https://img.scoop.it/F39gwUX3FJ7OVm7rkkZu0zl72eJkfbmt4t8yenImKBVvK0kTmF0xjctABnaLJIm9)
Storytelling is still at the heart of every communications program.