Marketers are hungry for information on how best to manage the reputation of their organisations online as shown by the popularity of our review of buzz monitoring software and services. So, when I saw Antony Mayfield of iCrossing was publishing a book on reputation management with an intriguing title, I was keen to see his recommendations. I know Antony from his visionary advice on social media marketing at Econsultancy  masterclasses and via his blog.

What I like about the book

I think it"€™s...

A book for to enhance your career

As the title shows, this book is mainly intended to help you manage your own online footprint which had become vital to an individual professional success - particularly if you work "in digital media". This point was brought home to me from hearing Dell describe how all new senior recruits are now reviewed across all the…

I recently read a great document, Brand Trends for 2010 (PDF),  by Brand Keys with sound principles that can be applied to many business. It got me thinking how brand development has really come to the fore in digital marketing, likely because of the rise of social media, after the long obsession with all things direct response. I think this is a good thing and in line with what matters to us, as customers. So, for my first post on Smart Insights I wanted to explore some of the Brand Keys predictions further, share my thoughts and see if anyone else had things that they wanted to share on this subject given that "€œbranding"€ and "€œbrand development"€ have so often being misunderstood. First - It"€™s important to recognise that building a strong brand has always been important if differentiation and avoiding having a commoditised product or service matters to you.…

August 2010 update

Google has announced a major upgrade to their Analytics Intelligence feature.  I'm a big advocate of the custom alerts GA Intelligence (not the automated alerts) since it helps the process of making analytics useful by alerting marketers to problems or opportunities rather than us having to remember to review. The main feature for all to be aware of is the inclusion of AdWords data which has I noted below in the guide was the biggest omission. It still only provides top-level figures across all campaigns but it gives a good way of independently checking your spend effectiveness particularly if you have an agency investing separately in Adwords for you. I suggest setting up alerts for: Impressions Cost - total and Cost Per Click Clickthrough rates Depending on your level of investment a good threshold to start with is + or…

It"€™s perhaps hard to imagine now, but even just four years ago, talk of customer engagement was a bit of a rarity. It is only a couple of years ago  I did an interview with Dave where we discussed definitions and the scope of customer engagement. There are many excellent reasons why businesses now focus on engagement. This year"€™s Annual Customer Engagement Report reveals some of the most important, for example "€˜increasing customer value"€™, "€˜gaining customer insights"€™, "€˜increasing value delivered to the customer"€™ etc as shown in the chart below:

However while any or all of these are excellent outcomes from engagement they are rarely the best place to start when developing a robust customer engagement strategy. For that we need to understand the four main challenges to engagement that have come to define customer relationships this millennium.

1.…

I'm finding that marketers are increasingly hungry for information on how to best exploit Facebook to reach and engage prospects and customers. The reasons are obvious - you have to "swim with the fishes" - an expression that often arises when discussing Facebook marketing. There was further evidence of Facebook's importance this week with the announcement that in the US, Facebook has ousted Google as the most popular site. In the UK, Facebook is still at Number 2, but growing rapidly.

Today's example of Facebook engagement ads with sampling

I'm writing this post since I've been asking Facebook for more info to share on campaign best practices, and my contact has said there is a new example campaign launching today for St.Patrick's Day. Here's the creative, background info on campaign below:

Engagement Ad from 3 mobile on Right

Direct-response form on…

Just published this week, and now in its second edition, this new book on Google Analytics, by ex-Googler, Brian Clifton is a "must-buy" for any company serious about using Google Analytics to help their company succeed online. The book's title is Advanced Web Metrics with Google Analytics, but  the title of this review is intended to highlight why I think it's essential reading.  I think much of its value is in customising or tailoring Google Analytics to a business. I say this since, when working with clients or training, I find that the majority of companies don't have Google Analytics with a tailored setup which is right to improve results for their business. This prompted me to write my post giving a checklist of 6 customisation options from simple to difficult.This book explains how to implement all of these setup steps in an easy to follow format.

2015 update

Although I am a big…

My most popular blog post in the last year has comfortably been the post on buzz monitoring software tools (aka social listening tools). Problem is, there are around 30 tools on the list and of course, there are more not covered. So the obvious question for the marketer is "how on earth do I decide which tool to select for my company?". Well the original post does categorise the software according to purpose, but selecting the right one needs some assistance. I had seen some nice case studies about a tool called Social Radar, including this one on the Infegy Buzz Study blog using it to evaluate sentiment around the iPad launch. So when I got a chance to meet and interview Gray Dudek, the Managing Director of Infegy Europe, the creators of Social Radar, I had some obvious questions to ask, and I asked them from a potential…

Our digital marketing software update showcases the latest software tools to help improve your digital marketing from the ones we have reviewed this week. We include software in different categories including SEO, Email marketing, Social media and web analytics Sign-up to our enewsletter if you'd like a reminder of the updates each Friday.

Our recommendations on Internet marketing tools for week starting 30th August 2010

6 Page monitoring services and plugins Value: [rating=4] Commentary: Yes we can use feeds or Google Alerts to keep an eye on new announcements, but"€¦ Implication: if you have a competitor page you have to monitor for product or client news these are great options. Best tools to customise Facebook Pages Value: [rating=4] Commentary: A review of the 12 best services for making Facebook page tabs. Implication: Econsultancy had a…

Search marketing essentials is our weekly round-up of what really matters in search marketing if you're a marketer or digital marketing specialist. Since Google is dominant in search in most markets, we focus on the changes made by Google to it's search experience and the implications for SEO and Paid Search. Unlike the portals specialising in SEO and PPC we will only select posts from around the web which are "must-read" for marketers managing search, but also responsible for other areas of marketing. Of course, if you are a busy search specialist, aren't they all, we hope you find our updates useful. Sign-up to our enewsletter if you'd like a reminder of the updates each Friday.

Our recommendations on Search Engine Marketing practice for week starting 30th August 2010

Google Paid Search : Viewing Impression share…

Web analytics essentials are our weekly round-up of advice and developments in software tools to help you get the most from your investment in web analytics. Do let us know any developments that you think we're missing by tweeting @SMARTinsights. Sign-up to our enewsletter if you'd like a reminder through the updates each Friday.

Our recommendations on Site Design and Web Analytics best practice for week starting 30th August 2010

Google Analytics Intelligence update Value: [rating=4] Commentary: I have updated my step-by-step guide to using the custom intelligence feature to summarise the new features added. Implication: Never find the time to go into Google Analytics to check changes to your digital camapaigns or site's performance? The custom alerts feature of Intelligence will automatically remind you of significant changes. New Google Analytics Weighted…