Posts Tagged: Internet Marketing

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21
Apr 10

Twitter is evolving and still relevant

SmartPulse — our weekly reader poll in SmartBrief on Social Media — tracks feedback from leading marketers about social media practices and issues. Last week’s poll question: With the rise of location-based platforms such as Foursquare and Gowalla, has Twitter become old hat? The new and shiny has worn off Twitter, but it’s still useful — 35.10% Perish the thought; Twitter is still very viable — 35.10% Foursquare? Gowalla? What are those? — 17.31% Yawn. Twitter is yesterday’s news — 12.50% On one hand, the new and shiny has worn off Twitter, but it is reinventing itself to maintain relevance. For example, the company recently announced a revenue model based on advertising. For the first time, Twitter has a chance to become profitable (at least to actually earn revenue). Twitter is also entering the geo-location craze with a new feature called Points of Interest . It is orienting itself to be used ubiquitously in a mobile environment. In his keynote at the recent Twitter developer conference, Chirp , company CEO Evan Williams said that as of today, only 37% of active users use Twitter on their mobile devices. He wants to see that number rise to 100%. Speaking of use, there are more than 55 million new tweets created each day, and more than 600 million search queries per day. Finally, Twitter is putting lots of emphasis on building out and shoring up its infrastructure in order to handle the growth. I won’t say that gone are the days of the “fail whale,” but the platform does seem to be much more stable than in the past. Williams says that “Twitter is evolving. The goal is to serve users. There is much left to invent.” I believe Twitter’s heyday has not yet passed. It will be with us for a long time to come. Paul Chaney is an Internet marketing consultant and speaker on the topic of social media, author of “The Digital Handshake” and a member of the SmartBrief on Social Media Advisory Board .

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Twitter is evolving and still relevant

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16
Apr 10

Top 5 Search Terms at Online Marketing Blog – Including Pirates

Here on Online Marketing Blog , we post a tremendous amount of insight on organic  search optimization and content marketing related topics each month. But how about the site search tool on our own blog? Who’s searching for what, and why? And what are they finding? Mining the site search report from Google Analytics can be very useful since it’s an indication of what our visitors want to read more of. Here are the six most popular site search terms for Online Marketing Blog including our favorite, “pirates”. 1. Facebook With Facebook taking off as a top channel for social media marketing, it’s no wonder that them comes up as our leading search query. Just consider the recent numbers : Facebook boasts more than 400 million active users 50% of Facebook users log on during any given day More than 20 million Facebook users become fans of pages every day A quick Online Marketing Blog site search for “Facebook” yields recent posts on tools for sharing microcontent , insight on social media advertising and how to leverage channels like Facebook to take advantage of real-time search . 2. Twitter Speaking of popular social media marketing channels, Twitter takes to No. 2 spot for most common site searched on Online Marketing blog. Twitter may only have less than 106 million users compared with Facebook’s 400 million. But consider how quickly Twitter is growing and how active its users are: New users sign up at the rate of 300,000 per day 180 million unique visitors visit the site every month Users post an average of 55 million tweets a day So what can you get with a search for Twitter on Online Marketing Blog? Learn more about the role of news in blended search or find ways to electrify your social network . 3. Books Who says print is dead? “Books” turns up as our fourth most popular search term. Here on the Online Marketing Blog, we’ve posted reviews of some of latest most intriguing marketing online marketing books like “The Art of SEO.” Plus, we’ve conducted exclusive interview with some of the hottest marketing authors out there, such as David Meerman Scott , author of “The New Rules of Marketing.” We’ve even polled our readers on the best available books on SEO . 4. Social Media These days, social media isn’t just a hot topic for B2C marketers looking to connect with consumers on sites like Facebook, MySpace and Twitter. Social media is equally as relevant in the B2B world. In fact, 91% of business buyers read blogs, watch user generated video and participate in other social media, according to Forrester Research. A “social media” search on Online Marketing blog pulls up posts on setting and measuring goals for business blogging , which social media sites are the biggest time wasters and the risks of sponsored blog posts . 5. Email Marketing Contrary to predictions, RSS never did replace Email. Social media and network use and status updates or microblogging haven’t “killed” the popularity of email either. In fact, there have been reports that Email use is actually up. So it certainly makes sense that our readers are looking for more information on email marketing. A search for “email marketing” reveals some insight posts including, “ 5 Top Email Marketing Tactics for 2010 “, 5 Tips for Effective Email Copywriting ” and “ How Social Media & Email Marketing Boost Customer Reach “. And Finally: Pirates! Few things seem less relevant to Online Marketing Blog than pirates. Yet somehow it’s one of the most searched terms on the blog. So what do pirates have to do with Internet marketing and Web 2.0? There is an answer in this social media marketing post, we promise. Hint: It has to do with Dave McClure. Are you analyzing the top search phrases on your web site? Are you using that insight to guide your site content? © Online Marketing Blog , 2010. | Top 5 Search Terms at Online Marketing Blog – Including Pirates | No comment | http://www.toprankblog.com

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Top 5 Search Terms at Online Marketing Blog – Including Pirates

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12
Apr 10

SmartBrief on: Integrating e-mail marketing and social media

Here at SmartBrief, we’re huge fans of the power of e-mail. But as social technologies become more powerful and more prevalent, it can be difficult to understand how e-mail fits into your marketing strategy. How can make sure you’re getting the most out of every send? How can you integrate your e-mail and social efforts so that they support each other? Read on for a roundup of relevant stories that made it into our e-mail newsletter, SmartBrief on Social Media . Fuse your e-mail and social-media strategies Embracing social media doesn’t have to imply scrapping your e-mail-marketing campaigns, writes Jeanne S. Jennings. Social-media users actually tend to be avid e-mail users, and people are more amenable to receiving marketing messages via e-mail from companies they’re already connected to socially, a study shows, so there’s plenty of incentive to overlap. “Smart marketers know that social and e-mail work together well,” Jennings notes. “[B]y leveraging that relationship they can make both their social-media and e-mail marketing strategies more effective.” MarketingSherpa/Sherpa Blog (3/1) Turn your Facebook page into a newsletter It’s easier than ever to send out e-mail newsletters, thanks to the NutshellMail Facebook app. The service allows users to add an “Email Newsletter” tab to their fan page, allowing subscribers to receive updates by e-mail. TechCrunch (1/18) Use e-mail alerts to grow your company’s blog Corporate bloggers should make sure that they enable e-mail alerts, since they can generate far more traffic than RSS subscriptions, writes Lily Zhu. A survey of more than 600 businesses found that almost 12 times as many people signed up for e-mail alerts as subscribed to RSS feeds, Zhu notes. Many blog platforms don’t turn on e-mail alerts by default, so simply flipping a switch can be an easy way to boost blog traffic, Zhu writes. HubSpot.com/Internet Marketing blog (1/4) E-mail has value in social-media strategies Before you write off e-mail, try to integrate it into your social-media marketing strategy by using sharing tools, Jolina Pettice writes. “Social sharing options embedded in online content have helped increase distribution and reach for thousands of Web sites,” she notes. Share content that is trustworthy, simple, targeted and adds value for the reader, she suggests. Online Marketing Blog (10/14) Nielsen: Social net boosts e-mail use Social media is making users consume more e-mail, not less, a Nielsen study found. Many active social networkers rely on their e-mail to get out notices about Facebook and Twitter activity, Helen Leggatt writes. It may also be that social-media users are more socially active and so they tend to send and receive more communications, she noted. BizReport (9/29) E-mail marketing must be easy to share Social media has changed the dynamic from messaging to engagement and sharing, Mikal Belicove writes, so it’s vital that your e-mail marketing be shareable, too. Make sure your messages are shareable on social sites Bebo, Delicious and LinkedIn, where users are most likely to post and forward them. E-mails with brand names in the subject line are more likely to be forwarded, he notes. Entrepreneur.com/Daily Dose blog (9/16) Improve your e-mail marketing Regardless of who your audience is, there are some guidelines for e-mail messaging that hold true, SmartBrief’s Sarah Brown writes. Keep the writing short, ask readers for just one action and provide graphics and a sample of what you offer. SmartBrief/SmartBlog on Social Media (8/24) Signing up for SBoSM is a fast, free, easy way to make sure you’re never caught off guard concerning social-media news. Our exclusive summaries will help you digest the latest updates in a flash. Check out today’s issue and see what else you’ve been missing. Image credit, Zeffss1 , via iStock

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SmartBrief on: Integrating e-mail marketing and social media

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7
Apr 10

Poll: Readers skeptical on use of location-based social networks

SmartPulse — our weekly reader poll in SmartBrief on Social Media — tracks feedback from leading marketers about social-media practices and issues. Last week’s poll question: Are you currently using location-based social networks such as Foursquare, Gowalla or MyTown? I haven’t started using them, and I don’t plan to.  43.84% I haven’t started using them, but I’m interested. 25.36% Yes, I regularly check in to places I go. 15.94% I’m using them, but not frequently. 14.86% I’m somewhat taken aback by the strong response from those who say they have no plan to use location-based social networks such as Foursquare or Gowalla. It causes me to wonder if the response is based on a lack of knowledge about their use in a business context, whether the respondents represent more of a business-to-business orientation, or whether it’s a lack of interest in newer forms of social networking altogether — or none of the above. My take on these new platforms is that they can have great relevance for retail-oriented bricks-and-mortar businesses, and perhaps that’s stating the obvious. Less apparent are the soon-coming benefits to using geolocation, many of which have yet to be discerned. As participation increases and people adapt the use of  these apps to better suit their needs, I expect to see more benefits accrue, within the retail and business-to-business spaces. As Daniel Ionescu puts it : “Facebook wants to know, ‘What’s on your mind?’ Twitter asks, ‘What’s happening?’ But that’s getting old already. The burning question for the next wave of social networking is, ‘Where are you?’” We don’t yet know the impact of that question on business, but I’m betting it’s significant. Perhaps a good follow-up question to the one above should be, “What business benefits do you see location-based social networks providing?” Why don’t you go ahead and respond now by leaving a comment. Paul Chaney is the Internet marketing director for Bizzuka , author of “The Digital Handshake,” and a member of the SmartBrief on Social Media Advisory Board .

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Poll: Readers skeptical on use of location-based social networks

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31
Mar 10

How are we wasting time on social media?

SmartPulse — our weekly reader poll in SmartBrief on Social Media — tracks feedback from leading marketers about social-media practices and issues. Last week’s poll question: Where do you see companies wasting time, money and other resources in their quest to turn social media into sales? Jumping onto the social-media bandwagon just because everyone else is doing it. 42.31% Lack of an overarching strategy; putting the “how” before the “why.” 32.05% Lacking an understanding of what it is, how it works or where to find the audience. 21.79% Determining whether social media should be a sales channel or not. 3.85% I have two areas of concern regarding companies considering social-media engagement. First, there is a decided unhealthy focus, in my opinion, on the “how” at the expense of the “why.” In order for a social-media game plan to be most effective, it has to tie back to strategic marketing goals and objectives. Social-media marketing is still marketing and is, therefore, subject to the same strictures as other forms of marketing. Second, just to do something because everyone else is doing it, or because it’s the latest, greatest thing, is not a sufficiently good reason to embrace its use. As my mother would remind me when I was a child, “Just because other kids are jumping off a bridge doesn’t mean you need to!” Strategic objectives supersede tactics every time. But that is “blue sky” thinking. Pragmatically speaking, the bottom line is that social media works as a marketing, public relations and business communications tool. Don’t waste time deciding whether you should use it … just get moving. Paul Chaney is the Internet marketing director for Bizzuka , author of “The Digital Handshake,” and a member of the SmartBrief on Social Media Advisory Board .

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How are we wasting time on social media?

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