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Oct 26 2012
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Brands, Google, Social Media

Google Shopping Is Effective

A few months ago Google announced that it would be changing Google Shopping into a pay to play service. Many brands decided to pay and many opted out. The ones that stayed are seeing their money’s worth. Google Shopping ads are out performing text ads by 47% on clickthrough rates and conversion rates are 38% higher with the new vertical service.

One of the reasons for the improved performance is a universal lesson for the social media agency. Vertical searches (a search that has a global filter installed, think of all the Google options at the top of the screen such as ‘image’ or ‘shopping’) are better able to ascertain user intent. Searches are almost guaranteed to be more in line with what the customer is looking for and so clicks and conversions will also be more efficiently delivered to the user.

Another advantage of these engines is the lack of the big box retailers. While there are some, Wal-Mart is an example of a business that withdrew when Google changed to a pay to play system. Wal-Mart has the ability to offer up semantic searches within its own internet presence. That makes Google Shopping and other verticals more competitive for the smaller businesses. The social media agency would be wise to advise clients to take advantage of this.

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Oct 25 2012
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Foursquare, Social Media, Uncategorized, Yelp

Yelp Purchases Qype

In Europe the competition between the two largest location based social networks looks like it does here in the US, however it is not Yelp and Foursquare but Yelp and Qype vying for top spot. Today, the Yelp CEO announced that the two will be merging under the Yelp banner. This will help solidify Yelp’s standing in Europe as the go-to social network.

The merger will have implications for the social media agency here in the US. If a European were travelling here in the US then it would have been unlikely any Foursquare interactions would have occurred. The social media agency would have lost out on those customers if they did not have a presence on Yelp. It was also possible the Euopean traveler was not on Yelp and the social media agency would have had a hard time finding her to begin with. Today’s news changes that. Yelp is now the global leader and a presence on the network is essential for the agency and its clients.

The longer-term effect will be a broadening on Yelp interactions. Qype did have an API for third party developers. That technology will now be available to Yelp for further development and implementation. This will help Yelp become a more full functioning service offering better data to the social media agency.

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Oct 24 2012
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Social Media, Social Network, Twitter

Twitter Testing New Star Button

A small group of Twitter users now has access to a star button. As of now the star button seems to behave similarly to FaceBook’s ‘like’ button, but it does not flag in the newsfeeds of people following the one who invoked the star. The star button does, however, flag in the newsfeed of the person whose tweet was starred. Most commentators are so far comparing it to a ‘favorite’ button, which makes the tweet easier to find after time has elapsed.

This change will probably not be a significant change for the social media agency. One of the great things about FaceBook’s ‘like’ button is that it allows an interaction that does not require much from the viewer. Twitter has been missing an easy interaction. Retweeting has been the method and it is still cumbersome for the viewer, especially if the RT function drives the message over the 140 character limit. One good thing about this is it signals Twitter’s willingness to experiment and try to improve the service. Twitter is also eager to make things better so it can provide a better experience for advertisers. The star button may not help much when it is implemented, but it will help some and it shows a future for social media outside of FaceBook’s domination.

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Oct 19 2012
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Brands, Facebook, Social Media

Few FaceBook Fans Engage Directly with Brands

Napkin Labs, a FaceBook app developer, has finished a study about FaceBook brand pages and fan engagement. The news is sobering for the social media agency because an accumulation of a large number of fans does not account for much as only about 6% of fans actually engage on a brand’s page.  The easy rebuttal is that 6% of a million is still significant. While that is true, the study found the larger the fan base, then the lower the engagement rate.

The solution is not to pare a fan base down, but about changing how the brand interacts with those fans on FaceBook. Instead of passively applying content and waiting for it to enter into a fan’s newsfeed, the brand needs to target fans with engagement that is likely to spur future engagements. The social media agency needs to track fans of its clients to see which ones are tastemakers. The other type of fan to take note of is the devoted fan, the one that is likely to engage. The way to attract more people’s engagements is by having people engaging. Those are the stories in a newsfeed that spur people into action. Targeting the two groups of fans most likely to respond is what is needed to overcome the apathy of brand fans.

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Oct 01 2012
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Digital Marketing, Mobile, Social Media

Foursquare Updates Mobile App Again

Not too long ago Foursquare announced a new app for mobile devices. The app was streamlined and faster and now Foursquare is announcing that it has updated its app again to make it even faster and more streamlined. This app also introduces a couple of other new changes. There are now personalized search categories to make it easier for the user to find what she is most likely looking for. The new app also makes it easier to save places to lists as well as to see only previously visited places as well as places visited by friends. The new app is compatible with iOS 6 and is also optimized to take better advantage of the new iPhone 5.

In a world where Apple Maps has credibility issues for helping the user find businesses, this update will help users find businesses. The social media agency can see this as an opportunity to not only appeal to Foursquare users but also an opportunity to recruit new users into the social service. The updated app does not require any additional effort from the social media agency, but should increase the number of people that return to the service as well as the frequency they use the network. It is a valuable resource for the business as a way to attract customers.

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Oct 01 2012
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Digital Marketing, Online Advertising, Social Media

Showroom Shoppers Willing To Purchase From Showroom

Showroom shopping is the activity encouraged by Amazon last holiday season that brought down a lot of criticism. A showroom shopper goes into a brick and mortar store and investigates a product. The shopper then does more comparison online and makes the purchase online. Recently the discussion has been about the large vendors—namely Amazon—to poach customers from other vendors even though the other vendors front the educational cost for the shopper’s decision.

A new study shows that showroom shoppers are quite willing to purchase from the showroom’s online presence instead of a competitor. Most of these decisions are motivated by price, but the data shows that customers may be willing to take a small hit in price to make the purchase from the brick and mortar’s online site, even if it is just a desire to remain consistent among vendors.

This data gives the social media agency a way to convince clients, or potential clients, for further investment in online options. For a shopper to make the purchase there needs to be an online presence. These shoppers are also sensitive to other mechanisms, such as coupons and apps and exclusive discounts for online purchases. Price is an important determinate, but what shoppers seem to ultimately be looking for is information. The social media agency needs to help clients provide as much information as possible to boost sales and prevent poaching from larger vendors.

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Sep 26 2012
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Digital Marketing, Facebook, Social Media

New Study About Social Networking on Conversions

A new study by Forrester casts doubt on the role of the social media agency in the purchasing of goods online. Email and Search are useful expenditures of advertising budgets, but social media influences less than 1% of online purchases. The firm analyzed 77,000 online purchases during early April and found that most of those purchases first went to numerous sites online and that social media only affected about 1% of those transactions

The problem with measuring influence is how to credit the different websites visited. The normal methodology is to count the last site visited before the purchase was made. This study explodes that metric by pointing to an amalgam of influence as people visit many different types of sites before making a purchase. While the study concludes in a direction that is not favorable for the social media agency, it also contains the kernel of wisdom that the agency thrives upon: the inaccuracy for attribution of conversion.

Forrester concludes that social media may be most beneficial for small businesses and that it is also important for general brand maintenance, which goes undetected in its study. The agency can use this study as proof of its importance. Email and search need to also be used (email is best for repeat customers and search is necessary for those customers that know what they want) but social media helps raise awareness of a product or a brand and helps prepare the customer for a future purchase.

 

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Sep 24 2012
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Facebook, Social Media, Social Network

FaceBook Buys Data from Datalogix

One of the problems facing FaceBook and the social media agency is the ability to show causation between seeing ads and engagement on FaceBook and then seeing those same people move off the social network and later make purchases. If the causation can be demonstrated instead of hinted at, then clients and agencies would rush to the network with more advertising dollars. To help draw this causation link FaceBook has just acquired data from Datalogix that covers over 70 million U.S. households. The initial report is that in 70% of the 45 campaigns tracked every dollar spent resulted in three dollars earned in purchases.

FaceBook has recently made moves that will help them better track users movements outside the FaceBook ecosystem. Acquiring data similar to this is precisely what FaceBook is searching for, but its new platforms and ad exchange will take time to acquire a rich data set. This purchase can be seen as a jump-start to those efforts.

All of this is very good news for the social media agency as a tighter circle can be drawn around customers and what works to motivate them to purchase. The tighter circle also allows better understandings of particular customers. It s the unexpected and unpredicted relationship among a user’s preferences that can really help unlock motivations for brands and their agencies.

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Sep 19 2012
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Good.is, Social Media, Social Network

New Social Network Built Around Philanthropy

Good.is is a new social network from the makers of Good magazine. The website is not new, but has recently been relaunched to offer users a platform similar to FaceBook (shareable content) centered around pushing the world forward. As a social network it is still very new and hosts very few members and even less content. Like a social network, though, it only needs a slight nudge to grow exponentially.

For the social media agency the network offers very little. It may not grow, but because of the small user base an active brand might be able to reach a large percentage of that user base. There is not (yet?) advertising available but as a platform for teaching people about a firm it might be just what some brands are looking for.

As momentum picks up for the Social Good Summit (Twitter recently announced its participation in the project) then Good.is might just become a leader in the world of philanthropists around the globe. This may not help many of the clients of the social media agency, but for those that have an interest this may present an efficient location of efforts.

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Sep 17 2012
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Digital Marketing, Social Media, Twitter

Twitter Now Allows Targeted Tweets

Twitter has been actively pursuing new options for advertisers. As well as creating
new types of interest targeting Twitter has now announced another option.
Advertisers are now able to target users based on their locations. The locations can
range from country down to certain metro areas. This geo-targeting can also be
linked into other targeting options, so it is possible for an advertiser to target a user
that likes professional wrestling in a certain neighborhood of Tokyo.

Increasingly Twitter is coming online as a viable alternative to FaceBook for the
social media agency. This new step will make ads on Twitter more effective. The
ads will become more expensive as their effectiveness increases, but that value is
something each particular social media agency and its client will need to determine.
In time there will be reports about the effectiveness of these new Twitter ads relative
to other social networks, especially as numbers about FaceBook’s new exchange are
just starting to come out.

A note of caution about this announcement needs to be injected. Twitter has not yet
released a list of its major metropolitan areas, so it may not yet be a major boon to
some advertisers. An example of this issue is in California where the San Francisco
crowd is very different from the LA crowd. Twitter has also not yet announced if it is
relying on profiles for location data or if there is an active tracking of geo-locations
when people tweet. Will a person from Detroit visiting New York receive NYC or
Detroit ads? More details are sure to follow.

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