Tag Archive for: Digital Marketing

Our Top 8 Digital Marketing Stats From the Last Week

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Big digital players released second-quarter earnings numbers last week, and many other enticing interactive statistics came to the forefront. Here are the eight most interesting, data-driven developments we came across:

1. Researcher eMarketer predicted Monday that Instagram advertising will be worth $2.8 billion in sales by 2017, but that estimate could be low if the Facebook-owned platform would start running desktop ads. Per comScore, 22.8 million people logged onto Instagram in June via desktop computer compared with 81.8 million on mobile devices. But since Instagram ads only run on smartphones and tablets, it would seem the digital entity could grow revenue even more than eMarketer’s projections, as the social giant still sits on a big audience that hasn’t been monetized.

2. For the past several months, brands like Land Rover have tested Pandora’s Sponsored Listening ads, which offer consumers an hour or free music in exchange for watching a video promo. Per Pandora, those pilot ads boosted purchase intent by 30 percent and brand awareness by 12 percent. The Oakland, Calif.-based digital company opened sponsored listening to all brands today.

3. On Thursday, Marchex will release a study based on 24 million consumer-to-business mobile phone calls. The tech vendor, working with local business researcher BIA/Kelsey, will estimate that mobile click-to-call actions—in which Web-connected consumers call up shops, bars and restaurants on their smartphones—will enable $1 trillion in commerce this year.

4. Microsoft’s devices-and-consumer category for revenues during the second quarter were down 13 percent year-over-year, underscoring a tech giant in flux. But there’s good news, too: The Redmond, Wash.-based company’s commercial cloud business grew 88 percent to $8 billion in sales in Q2.

5. Yahoo’s Q2 earnings last week also was a mix of good news and bad. Its mobile, video, native and social ad revenue was up 60 percent over last year to $400 million, helping CEO Marissa Mayer offer her investors the company’s best revenue growth in nearly a decade. But, the Sunnyvale, Calif.-based player is spending a lot of money and actually took a loss, overall.

6. During June and July, Mondelez tested interactive, e-commerce video promos and got a 220 percent boost in awareness, and engagement went up 88 percent. Let’s look at an example from the company’s Women’s World Cup campaign. An image of U.S. player Alex Morgan popped up in the bottom left corner of the ads. Hovering over Morgan for a few seconds opened an overlay on the video letting people watch other clips, shoot a virtual soccer ball, follow a Twitter hashtag or clickthrough to buy snacks at Walmart, Target and Amazon.

7. Chubbies, the men’s shorts brand, posted an LOL-minded video on Facebook on July 19 featuring dudes walking around in summer attire that’s way too small. With little paid advertising, the e-commerce startup’s clip has been viewed 903,000 times on the platform.

8. The 20th Century Fox movie The Revenant, a western thriller that doesn’t premiere until Christmas Day, already is garnering huge buzz online. A teaser for the film, which stars Leonardo DiCaprio and is directed by Oscar winner Alejandro González Iñárritu, is closing in on 20 million YouTube and Facebook views after 10 days. Check out the clip below:

H/T Adweek

Understanding the Real Meaning of “Community” for B2B Digital Marketing

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B2B businesses often approach social media marketing with an attitude that “bigger is better.” They eagerly believe that the more followers, the better. The more likes, the better. The more tweets at more times in the day, the better.

However, effective B2B digital marketing is not a clear-cut numbers game. In fact, smaller numbers are sometimes better because that means you’re targeting the right attention for your blog and social media. Why? The reason that smaller is better comes down to a hot digital marketing topic for social 2015: community.

What Is Community?

The standard definition of a community is a group of people with similar backgrounds and goals. In digital marketing, however, community refers to the small but potent group of fans and peers that make up your client base and B2B business network. Infamous marketing thinker Seth Godin refers to this kind of community as a tribe, or a group of people who connect with each other because they share an idea and a leader.

Successful B2B digital marketing doesn’t strive to add zeroes to your follower counts. Instead, its goal is to attract and engage your tribe — the people who are actually paying attention and actively seeking information. And if you do it right, you might find yourself adding zeroes to your follower counts anyway… except this time these followers will represent targeted prospective customers rather than empty seats.

The Social Media Marketing Podcast recently interviewed Jared Easley, co-founder of the industry-leading podcasting conference Podcast Movement, about creating a community. In the interview, Jared talked about how he used Facebook to build a community of followers who eventually funded his $11,000 Kickstarter campaign. This may not be the best way to raise money for your B2B business, but it does go to show the power of uniting your tribe to achieve a specific goal.

How to Identify Your Community

Building your community starts with understanding who makes up your community. Take a look at your customers and the customers of your competitors. Where do they spend their time online? When you’ve identified these demographics, it’s a simple matter of researching their social usage by income, age and gender, or medium preference. Armed with the knowledge of where people spend time online, you can target people who are most likely to be a good fit for your community.

Another great way to build your community is to use your personal network and your established customers. When you speak to them in person or by phone, ask them where they spend time online. Carefully monitor which links they share on their LinkedIn profiles. Keep a list of brands, publications, and sites they mention to paint a comprehensive picture of how your tribe prefers to spend time online.

How to Connect With Your Community

As the members of your community start to become more obvious, connect with them strategically. Some of these strategies may entail a large initial time investment, but building your community will pay off in the long term.

Then consider your customer’s day-to-day life and technology usage. How many tweets or LinkedIn posts will they see and engage with in a meaningful way? How much content do they want from you? How much content is too much for them? Make note of the best times to post and plan your B2B digital marketing strategy accordingly.

In B2B digital marketing, quality trumps quantity. Even a modest social media following can help you reach your sales goals if they represent a dedicated, engaged population. Find your community first, then guide your digital marketing efforts according to what they need.

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H/T: Business2Community.

3 Digital Marketing Blunders Small Businesses Make Right off the Bat

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You’re busy supporting your customers and running your business. Taking even 10 minutes out of your day to devote to a blog post or social media updates is a challenge.  The new, holistic approaches to internet marketing–thanks to changes by Google and other search engines in the last 12 months–are enough to make anyone’s head spin, let alone a small business owner or manager who wears many different “business” hats everyday.  No matter your goals for your website and social media profiles, avoid these common pitfalls when repositioning or establishing your company’s digital presence.

1. Overpaying for a Website

A problem plaguing so many companies in the early 2000s has seen a resurgence as more and more small to medium-sized businesses have upped their online game, web designers are taking advantage of a business owners’ lack of know-how to cash in big for a minimal amount of work. Business and networking are breeding grounds for this practice and it’s taking a toll on business’ search engine visibility and the basic functionality of their websites. With so many easy-to-use, cost-effective methods of creating beautiful, functional websites, there’s no reason for nail salons and painting companies to drop $3,000-$10,000 on a website in 2015. Don’t fall for a sales pitch and a smile.

2. Quitting Early on Social

Everyone who’s tried to create a social media profile has experienced the frustration that comes with a stunted or non-existent following. As with many endeavors, people tend to approach a new project with enthusiasm and then give up when they don’t get the feedback they want. Try searching YouTube for “My First Video” and you’ll see what I mean. However, for better or worse, Facebook is becoming a major player in small business marketing and even if people aren’t finding you via the social network, your potential customers will certainly check to see if you’re keeping up with your profile. There’s no magic formula to success on social media, but there are a few Facebook tips and tricks for small business owners to gain traction and establish themselves without dedicating too many resources to your efforts.

3. Demanding Instant Gratification

The “give it to me now!” mentality of the online world does not apply when marketing a small business – sorry. As with any marketing effort, the work takes time and results aren’t immediate. Instead of focusing on “going viral” or getting 100,000 viewers to your website, redirecting your digital marketing team to establish your authority on search results in your industry and generating viable leads will show dividends in the long run. It won’t happen overnight, but it will happen if you have the right team.

One thing about digital marketing is that it’s always changing and developing as technology and consumer behavior changes. This can be an advantage or a disadvantage to any business owner. An advantage because everyone needs to constantly educate themselves on new marketing trends. When something new arises, everyone starts at the same level. On the opposite end, it can be a disadvantage to those who don’t care to learn. Business owners who are content with their existing methods and plan to steadily run things will end up falling far behind. Sticking to what you always do, will get you what you’ve always gotten.

For expert advice on how to increase your online reach, strengthen your brand equity, help achieve stronger business results and generate greater profitability, contact Onimod Global today.

Digital Marketing Faux Pas

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Having an Online Marketing strategy has become absolutely essential for any business. Just getting a website commissioned is not good enough. You need to find and continually work to attract targeted users to your site, in order to convert those browsers into paying clients of your business. Read more