Posts Tagged ‘social media marketing’
Paid Search vs. Social Media
Wednesday, April 7th, 2010
I’ve heard of many people pulling their hair out because they don’t know where to focus their energies: paid searches or social media? But why do you have to pick just one? They both have different benefits that can strengthen your campaign.
Paid searches are mostly for driving leads, conversions, and sales. Unless the person that clicks on your ad takes the time to search through your site to see what you’re about, you probably won’t be doing much brand-building with your pay-per-click campaigns.
Social media, on the other hand, is where a lot of the brand-building can take place. It’s a great supplement to any campaign for nearly any brand that can promote discussion and interaction as a primary goal, and ideally, generate sales as a secondary goal. However, social media has a bit more to it than people let on.
The more interaction a potential customer has with your brand through social media, the more likely they are to make more specific searches that are related to your brand. In turn, your paid search positions come up more consistently, and this high click-through rate helps your page gain ground on the organic searches. A win-win, if you ask me. Also, social media helps you generate keywords that are more effective for your paid searches, because you can dig out words and phrases that are used heavily by your followers/fans anyway.
In conclusion, don’t focus all of your attention at one point of marketing. Here’s a video that shows you some fun facts about social media. You know, just for the fun of learning:
Did You Know: Social Media – Watch more Funny Videos
No Comments | Tags: brand strategy, marketing mix, online advertising, ROI, social media marketing
Posted by Paulina in Online Marketing
Use Your Tools
Thursday, February 18th, 2010
It’s not the tool but how you use it.
You can have a group on Facebook, an account on Twitter, a photo collection on Flickr, and a channel on YouTube, but what does that mean to your brand?
Online marketing is more than just creating accounts online and hoping the search engines lead potential customers to them. You have to be active with your fans, followers, and subscribers. Social media is an important part of Internet marketing that allows you to build a more solid brand by having a human connection. Current customers are more likely to suggest your product to friends if they have a good experience.
However, if you leave your accounts idle, you are missing out on communication opportunities. Even if your potential customers don’t need your product or service right now, keeping them posted with fun facts, transfixing trivia, and pensive pictures will keep you at the forefront of their mind when your product/service becomes a need.
Not only that, but the more relevant information you post, the more searchable your brand becomes to potential customers. And with Google as today’s #1 search source, pleasing the Google Search Engine Gods could lead you down a path of Internet sainthood.
Ready? Set? Rock!
No Comments | Tags: advertising, blog, Facebook, Google, Internet marketing, marketing blog, search engine, social marketing, social media, social media marketing, Twitter, YouTube
Posted by Paulina in Online Marketing
Bloggers, Are You Ready?
Monday, November 30th, 2009
Bloggers, YouTubers, Tweeters, and Facebookers!
Tomorrow is December 1st, and in the midst of all the pre-holiday craziness have you remembered that the new FTC guidelines go into effect tomorrow? Don’t worry, it’s not that scary. Some important clarification has been made that makes the whole thing much easier.
The thought process behind these guidelines is to add more transparency to the internet reviews and endorsements we see almost everywhere. Have you ever seen a magazine ad with “paid advertisement” at the bottom? What about those endorsement ads with the “paid for by…” blurb at the end? That’s exactly the sort of transparency the FTC is aiming for us to have here on the internet.
The “$11,000 fine” that was talked about? Does not exist. The FTC guidelines are guidelines, not laws. They do however enable the FTC to pursue charges against someone and get a court order so that someone can be fined. Don’t fret, the FTC is much more likely to go after advertisers than bloggers. Think about it from their standpoint. The internet is saturated with bloggers. It is much simpler to just make sure advertisers understand the rules and expect them to communicate them to the bloggers they work with. Since without advertisers sending things to bloggers this would be a non-issue, I feel this is the much smarter way to go. The FTC does not have the time or resources to go after everyone in the blogosphere. This is not to say that you shouldn’t make an effort to comply! Just that you should not be freaked out that the FTC is going to come knocking on your door.
What needs to be disclosed:
- Paid posts (that includes videos). If someone gave you money to post something, you need to disclose it.
- Free services/product. If a company or its PR representative sent you something for the purpose of using it and then sharing it on your blog/YouTube, etc. you need to disclose it.
- Affiliate links. If you use affiliate marketing (ie LinkShare, Commission Junction, or are partnered with one of the many companies that do their own affiliate marketing), you need to disclose it.
What does not need to be disclosed:
- Free samples anyone can receive. If you bought a shampoo that had a sample size goodie taped to it and you want to review that free sample, you do not need to disclose anything.
- Things you bought yourself. Likewise, if you want to review the shampoo itself. Since you bought it, you do not have to disclose anything.
- Gifts. If you bought the shampoo for your sister who wants to review it on her YouTube channel, she does not have to disclose anything.
I have also seen many ask if these guidelines are just for U.S. bloggers. Yes, they only apply to bloggers in the U.S. since the FTC is a U.S. entity and has no jurisdiction over bloggers from other countries. However, don’t go moving your servers to an underground bunker in the Ukraine any time soon – you are considered a U.S. blogger if your physical body is blogging from the United States. It is not determined by where your server is.
One last thing that came as a huge relief to me is that these guidelines are not retroactive. You do not need to go back through hundreds of blog posts and add disclosures. Thank GOODNESS.
The disclosures themselves do not have to be anything complicated. They do not have to be in legal jargon. In fact, it is best if they are not! They are meant to be read by your readers, not their attorneys. Simply putting a short blurb along the lines of “This post was paid for by _____.” at the bottom will suffice.
Bottom line, just use common sense and you will be A-O-K.
No Comments | Tags: blog, Online Marketing, social media, social media marketing, Twitter, YouTube
Posted by Alyson in News, Online Marketing
Marketing Forecast: mostly Online with a chance of Traditional
Tuesday, October 27th, 2009
The 5-year projections are out and the forecast is clear: traditional marketing continues to dry up, while online marketing just doesn’t let up. By now, if you haven’t taken social media, video, or search engine optimization (SEO) seriously, you’re already beginning to sink. Have a look at the latest trends courtesy of Forrester Research:
1 Comment | Tags: Internet marketing, online video, optimization, social media marketing
Posted by Nathan in Online Marketing
Tuesday, May 26th, 2009
For those who are trying to catch up in the social marketing networks, it’s likely you’ve stumbled into Twitter.
Polls now show that 1 in 20 Americans has a Twitter account. Good social marketers have acknowledged its incredible marketing potential and ran with it, adding it to every client’s overall online marketing mix.
But, for those of us who still don’t quite understand the Twitter-mania yet, click here for a good explanation. (I thought it was funny)
1 Comment | Tags: marketing mix, Online Marketing, social marketing, social media marketing, Twitter
Posted by Jessica in Online Marketing
Measuring Social Media Marketing
Thursday, May 7th, 2009
MarketingSherpa released a survey measuring the perceived accuracy of marketing ROI in social media (below). Not surprisingly, over 50% of businesses claim they can not accurately track the effectiveness of participating in blogs, review sites, and social networking sites.
In the online marketing world, where analytics play a pivotal role in shaping your marketing strategy, this perceived inaccuracy may seem very high. But successful online marketing is not only defined by click-through rates and conversions. Businesses can learn valuable feedback about their customers behavior. How do they communicate? What makes them excited about your products and services? What other interests do they have?
At Album, we define Social Media Marketing as a Baseline Online Marketing tactic. In contrast to Lead Online Marketing (which includes services like pay-per-click and email marketing that produce very accurate metrics), Baseline Marketing encompasses search engine optimization, brand reputation management, and social media marketing. We define these services as “baseline” because, like in music, they create a critical foundation that often goes unnoticed. They play a more long term role. Performance in baseline marketing is measured more qualitatively than quantitatively. For example: what blog topics produce the most replies? Or, what angers your customers the most?
Much can be learned from the social behavior of your customers. The popularity of social media sites only adds to the qualitative market data available.
No Comments | Tags: blog, email marketing, Internet marketing, pay per click, social media, social media marketing, social networking
Posted by Nathan in Online Marketing
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