This is a great question to ask since it's easy to get lost in the accumulation of Likes and Follows. I'm not sure of how actionable this info-graphic is though it useful to ask the question.
A few observations:
10% less of the youngest demographic in Facebook
Facebook perceived to be the place to 'friend a brand' - this being an indicator of loyalty
Facebook influences buying decision
Yet isn't Twitter a more useful tool for knowledge sharing and so relationship building?
What are your experiences - which of these two networks provides a better means of connection to your audience?
…
Integrating email marketing into a display ad campaign boosts recall by 13%
I'm sharing this recent research study since it offers some interesting results and insight for multi-channel marketers. It covers an area you don't see discussed so much - the intersection between email marketing and online ad campaigns.
Today email is mainly thought of as a customer communications tool for developing loyalty and sales to existing customers, but this study shows how using email as a media buy through ads in email newsletters and in rented lists can help in customer acquisition and conversion to sale.
You'll see that the results suggest that online advertising campaigns are enhanced when the email marketing channel is added. It's a classic case of the increasing reach and awareness through adding an additional channel.
Methodology / case study
The study, which analysed the advertising effectiveness of…
8 questions to ask to help get your brand messages across in Google
Importance: [rating=3]
Recommended link: Official Google announcement on sitelinks
Folks have been discussing Google’s experiments with Google Sitelinks through August, e.g. http://www.hallam.biz/blog/2011/08/12-google-sitelinks-2011.html but yesterday we started seeing this more consistently on all Google searches and now Google has made the announcement above.
If you’re not familiar with Sitelinks, they are the listing of extra links below the brand main site description when you search on a brand name. We have a briefing on sitelinks which shows the previous simple format of just 8 links.
This example shows they now take up much more of the page with 8 to 12 alternatives and include more detailed descriptions:
Marketing implications of sitelink change
Well for almost all sites, the most important searches…
By
15 Aug 2011
Pizza Express’ multichannel QR code
Nothing makes an idea or concept come to life better than a story or an example. So I’ve decided to create an ongoing series of posts simply showing some of the best examples of engagement I’ve seen. These are both as part of campaigns and as engagement devices on web, mobile or social network sites.
If you know of anything I should feature please drop me a line.
Pizza Express – from QR code to iPhone App payment
Over the last six months the rise of QR codes for multichannel customer engagement and marketing has reached a tipping-point. Providing an easy way to use a smartphone to scan a small code in the real world and immediately access information or a service online means QR codes have started to crop up on posters, newspapers and even…
How do you really approach your marketing planning?
After my recent post on marketing with the human factor, I've been thinking that most marketing today is still very product or category orientated - based entirely on what the business has to say or sell... typically it’s very features orientated and competitor obsessed as opposed to what the customer is wanting to find, learn, decide or buy? This isn't so much a criticism but a reality of pressured organisations today where marketers (including digital) are focussed on sales in its most direct sense.
There’s potentially a huge gulf between the marketers and customers which is where customer-centric marketing came in to the fore 10 years or so back and Philip Kotler inspired a new generation of marketers. Customer-centric marketing was born from the information age and where CRM’s over took corporate structures broadcasting information en masse, it typically adds to product based…
Why do Twitter users follow brands?
Value: [rating=4]
Recommended link: Econsultancy Twitter Best Practice Guide
New research from Toluna and Econsultancy of 4,000 UK and US respondents has shown that over a quarter of consumers now have a Twitter account with 52% of these following brands and companies on Twitter, illustrating the potential of the channel for business.
What are Twitter users looking for when following a brand? This chart shows that many are on the lookout for deals, but it’s not just about the deals with other content also of interest. Some will simply follow to prove they are a fan of the brand.
The importance of Twitter as a feedback channel is also shown with around a quarter saying they will use Twitter for feedback:
Only a quarter (26%) of consumers have complained on Twitter, while over half…
Can email marketers learn from how social media marketing is evaluated?
In a recent article on evaluating social media, Jay Baer argues that our obsession with high-visibility numbers like "Followers" or "Likes" leads us to make false assumptions and wrong marketing moves.
At this point, some email marketers might feel the urge to smirk and point fingers at the supposed superficiality of their social media colleagues. But those same colleagues would silence the laughter with two words: open rates.
The metrics debate would then get out of hand, forcing the email marketer to pull out the big one: R-O-I.
Any self-respecting article on "why do email marketing?" doesn't take long to mention surveys showing the estimated ROI of email as somewhere north of 4000%.
This focus on profits and costs is admirable. But does our ROI obsession properly reflect email's value? And does it also lead to less-than-ideal decisions?
I believe the answers are…
Yahoo now using Bing search results in UK and Europe
Importance: [rating=3] (Given the dominance of Google)
Recommended link: Summary of countries affected
Our commentary
The Yahoo & Bing alliance is old news from this time last year, but it is only recently that the affects of the alliance has started to make its way to the UK and Europe.
Advertisers & search businesses alike in the US have been using Bing to market on Yahoo for some time now. Any search on Yahoo UK will now display results powered by Bing.
Marketing implications - what does this mean for your SEM strategy?
It all depends. If you are a UK focussed business this shouldn't change your strategy too much, according to the latest hitwise data Yahoo & Bing between them only account for…
Four tips to get better quality copywriting for less
There are certain things in life that we think of as free even if they aren’t.
Water – turn on a tap and out it comes
Motorways – drive as far as you like whenever you feel like it
Web content –it doesn’t take long to bash a few words out
Yet the fact is, that every piece of copy you commission is a cost that comes straight out of the bottom line.
There are seen and unseen costs. The seen cost is what you pay your copywriter to create the words and the web developer to upload it. The unseen cost is your management time of briefing it out and approving it. Every revision costs more time and money. Cut that time and you’ll cut the expense.
Take a look at this example of a typical retail site...
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Web response time statistics summary
I was recently called by an email service provider following-up on a whitepaper I had downloaded. Nothing unusual there, it's a good B2B permission marketing practice and for high value consumer products or services too.
What stood out for me was that it was a full month after I had downloaded the document and they chastised me for not reading the paper when I said I hadn't had time to take a look. How about they followed-up sooner!
This got me thinking about when is the ideal time for a follow-up? Is immediate better or is this too "big-brother". Well I recalled some data on this from a while back and turned to my Google+ Email commentators circle who soon pointed me at the data I was thinking of from back in 2008. Thanks Brian Eisenberg and Riaz Kanani!
Here are the results... It's from a post on 5…
