My recommendations on the 10 most useful features

As you may have heard, the latest version of Google Analytics has just launched in Beta mode (you can sign up for the beta here) [Dave Chaffey has a separate post discussing whether it's worth switching or not in the Google updates 2011 summary] This post takes a look at why Google Analytics is changing, then breaks down some of the bigger changes, with screengrabs, comparisons, and a quick guide to the biggest of the new features. I've broken the post down into 10 features, with the biggest & most complicated new feature last. Why Change? It's almost 4 years since the last big change to the overall interface of Google Analytics ('v2' in May 2007). In the interim, 2 things have happened that would cause Google to want to update the interface. First Reason to Change - interest & user growth has been huge…

We're big fans of using the web for qualitative feedback using the many types of website visitor feedback software. These tools really enable you to find out what web users think and feel about your site and your brand online, while the web analytics are more about the how and when web users interact with your brand. Around a year ago we did an interview with Kampyle where I asked Eran Savir, their co-founder about how their online customer feedback tool could be used for feedback. We've been using Kampyle since we launched Smart Insights and have found it really useful for feedback. We get around 30-40 pieces of feedback each week and average around 4 out of 5 which we're pleased with - thank you for telling us what you think. What we find most useful though are the occasional negative comment which really make us sit…

I've had several meetings over the last week that have prompted this post - hearing misconceptions that getting into social media is somehow free, fast and a return is to be somehow expected. I don't think so. It's not that social media marketing is hard, I feel it requires more joined up thinking and, like any investment, it needs fore-thought. Social media is cheap (if not free). This is the biggest one, I feel. Social media isn't at all free - there are simple a vast number of free tools to help you, a big difference. This is the classic problem now, social media seems to be about the tools, so in conversation we talk about Facebook, You Tube, Flickr, Stumblupon, Twitter, Wordpress blogs etc - but that isn't social media marketing. Social media marketing is people, real people with real interactions, albeit digitally. So - you need a plan, a…

Value: [rating=4] Commentary As a big advocate of inbound & content marketing, this article on SEOMoz really caught my eye, so I wanted to alert you to it. It's great to see people that live and breathe SEO like Will Critchlow talk more about the link between content & search performance. Afterall, without content, what is there to comment on, share, link to, tell your friends about. [WHAT] - a piece of content receives the link [WHO] - someone places the link [WHERE] - a piece of content contains the link In his article, Will shows through examples of large, switched on companies how it is possible to scale quality content creation to produce a seemingly never ending stream of amazing content. He also reminded me of one of the best articles ever written on creating content that will naturally attract links. All bloggers should know the 5 main hooks and decide if and when…

Created  by Jess3 and Brian Solis "the Twitterverse is a single graphic designed to inform brands, individuals and organizations about the thousands of Twitter applications available today", so reads the intro on Jess3's web site (I love Jess3!). The idea of Twitter, like Facebook, as an industry in itself speaks volumes - and this graphic does a great job to map that out. The Jess3 approach also reminded me about oneforty.com who write great material and publish rated lists of tools for Twitter specifically, like this one for brand tracking. Be sure to check it out.

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Online Customer Experience and Branding - an example of integrating the website and social presence

Today, with so many prospects and customers interacting with you online, I believe your brand really is greatly influenced by  the Online Customer Experience you develop. But I think many don't see how a website can support and especially enhance their brand. In this posts I'll share an approach I use with businesses and I hope you can adapt this model for your own business or your clients - it's classic brand marketing.

Brand value mapping

The first stage is to understand where a brand is right now.  I was recently discussing this approach with my class for marketing students in Derby. As a starting point we did a brand mapping activity for different companies. The areas highlighted in red are the key review areas for your online brand.

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Lisa Wood, Head of Marketing at HSBC Bank International explains the thinking behind their annual customer engagement campaign

HSBC International offer Offshore banking, so people living overseas are a key audience, with the Expat Explorer survey a key part of customer communications strategy:

It was great to get the opportunity to interview Lisa about the commercial thinking behind the campaign since I've used this brand-led campaign as an example of this customer engagement approach for several years now in my digital strategy and SEO workshops. I think it's a good example of how you can develop a customer engagement device within an audience that's often time poor and it really adds to what the brand offers. The fourth survey has just gone live, so in this timely…

LinkedIn Today - the features and implications

The professional's choice of social network, LinkedIn, has launched a new product: LinkedIn Today. It works out the main news within sectors interesting to us i.e. marketing and online media and then based on what's most popular and shared  within Linked In prioritises the stories. It's like Google News really, but more relevant to the interests of marketers. The example below shows how it identified the new Google Analytics launch as the "biggest news". So it looks a great time-saver! So, it's a social news product specifically aimed at professionals, leveraging their 90 million strong network of users it delivers the top stories you need to know from your network and industry. LinkedIn wants to be considered the ‘profile of record for professionals’ and it wants LinkedIn Today to be the first place business professionals go to get insights into their jobs and…

Is the Google Adwords Quality Score (QS) relevant to you?

If your company or agency is using any form of PPC then Quality Score is very relevant. If you are managing Adwords hands-on you will know QS well, but marketers working with agencies or specialists need to have an understanding of the Google Quality score. We find it's not always so well known, so is worth flagging up as THE key factor which affects your returns from Google Adwords. Have you asked your agency about the QS distribution for your keywords recently? Further into the post we'll show you a hidden, secret? formula that Google no publishes but explains it well we think! The aim of this post is to give a refresher on how Quality Score works, why it is important and how you can improve you current position. Through knowing the fundamentals of Quality Score you can: Increase your reach -…

I came across this post by Jeremiah Owyang. His comments resonated with me regarding what I too have noticed is the mis-use of micro-blog media - namely Twitter. Whereas Jeremiah sees it as over-using Twitter, becoming reliant on it, I wonder if it's a symptomatic content issue with sales promotion thinking being a big example. In that case Twitter is but the most recent channel to suffer mis-use.

Are you short serving your audience?

Jermiah comments "I’m seeing an unbalance in how individuals are trying to get the word out, and an excess focus on micro tools, resulting in some bad behaviours". It's a serious point because if so you only hurt your own brand as your audience will refuse your messages and content and go elsewhere.

What's causing this problem?

Jeremiah calls it shish kebab in his analogy, essentially serving…