Currently only enjoyed by a select few – rumoured to be those spending $2 million – the sight of Twitter brand pages is set to become a much more common occurrence, according to an email intercepted by Ad Age and referenced in an article published by Search Engine Watch
Those businesses spending in excess of $25,000 on advertising on the micro-blogging site will gain access to the enhanced profiles from tomorrow (February 1) according to the email.
Advertisers can currently bid for Promoted Tweets, Accounts and Trends (which Twitter’s director of revenue, Adam Bain, revealed were going for around $120,000 per day last summer) which can then be used in social media marketing campaigns.
Bain previously said of brand pages: “A tweet’s only 140 characters. When consumers want to learn more, spend more time, or get deeper in terms of engagement, we think they’ll end up on a brand page.”
Global giants such as Pepsi, Nike, Disney and Coca-Cola are amongst the 21 companies that currently have a Twitter brand page.
News brought to you by ClickThrough – experts in Search Engine Marketing & Internet Marketing.
German football giant, Bayern Munich, has received a huge backlash from fans after duping them into ‘liking’ the official club page on Facebook, according to an article published by Econsultancy.
In a social media marketing campaign the club’s marketing team stated that the club would be unveiling the signing of a “new offensive player;” excitement soon turned to anger when the new signing turned out to be a hoax, used to draw people in for the launch of Bayern’s new app, “The New FCB Star.”
Following a barrage of angry responses, the Bundesliga club apologised to its “dear fans” just three hours later.
Commenting on the risk of such stunts, UK head of digital at Waggener Edstrom, Jon Silk, warned: “Marketers need to be more honest than ever – fans will quickly turn to enemies if they feel they are being conned, and that negativity will spread even more quickly that the support.”
News brought to you by ClickThrough – a best practice Internet Marketing Agency.
Following the much publicised Search Alliance formed back in 2009, Microsoft’s adCenter is set to power PPC marketing campaigns and results on Yahoo!, according to an article published by Search Engine Watch.
Writing for SEW, Duncan Parry, has produced a list of steps that should be taken to prepare for the switch – set to take place during the second quarter of 2012.
Here are just a few of those steps in a summarised form:
Shorten your Yahoo! ads by February 1 – The Panama system, currently used for Yahoo! ads, allows adverts that are much longer than those allowed on Microsoft’s adCenter.
Parry states: “All new or modified ads on Panama are required to have an ad title of 25 characters (instead of 40) or less, and a display URL of a maximum 35 characters on February 1.”
He also adds that descriptions need to be shortened, by just one character, to 70. Any ads that aren’t altered will simply be paused when the migration takes place.
Take the time to learn the difference between Panama and adCenter – Panama and adCenter are very different; therefore time needs to be taken to learn how to use and adapt to the new system. There are a number of webinars and training videos featured on the Search Alliance website, according to Parry.
Adjust bidding and budget strategies – The minimum bid on adCenter is much higher than on Panama – £0.05 compared to £0.01. This will mean that you’ll need to set a revised monthly budget that incorporates this increase.
News brought to you by ClickThrough – experts in SEO, PPC, Multilingual Search Marketing and Website Conversion Enhancement services.
Google has warned Welsh businesses that they could be missing out on Internet marketing opportunities, as figures have shown that around 40 per cent of small firms based in Wales don’t operate a website, according to an article published by BBC News.
The message has coincided with the announcement that Google will work with the Welsh government as part of a year-long campaign to boost the presence of Welsh businesses on the Internet.
Google’s Laurian Clemence stated: “You are really missing out if you can’t be found online.
“We do believe there are definitely more benefits than not. The key thing is that people who have their business online see their business grow four to eight times faster than those that don’t.
“We realised that Wales was lagging behind in the adoption of web presences for SMEs (small and medium-sized enterprises),” she said.
Clemence concluded: “There ia lot of opportunity there to help them get a website for the first time or if they do have a website improve it.”
As part of the project Google will be providing one-to-one advice sessions for small and medium-sized businesses, as well as a roadshow featuring tutorials, workshops and advice from experts.
Edwina Hart, business minister, said: “We welcome this initiative to help companies gain maximum benefits from using and exploiting digital technologies to innovate, grow and access new markets, driving business growth.”
News brought to you by ClickThrough – a best practice Internet Marketing Agency.
In 2012, the majority of big companies operate, or have at least dabbled with, social media marketing campaigns on a regular basis; despite this many still struggle to get a ROI (return on investment), according to Kritsta Neher, writing for ClickZ.
As a relatively new marketing platform, mistakes are, and will continue, to be made on social media sites, such as Twitter, Facebook and now, Google+.
Neher has created a list of common errors made by businesses when conducting social media marketing campaigns; here are just a few of them:
Too much focus on fans/friends/followers – By and large people determine the success of their social media marketing campaigns based on how many fans/friends/followers they’ve gained – this shouldn’t be the case.
A recent study, conducted by PageLever, revealed that just 3 to 7.5 per cent of fans of a business’ Facebook page see the posts produced. Instead of obsessing over fans/friends/followers, look to produce the highest quality content you can – this will get more people reading what you produce and improve your ROI.
Not knowing how to respond to questions posed by fans – People who take notice of your social media presence do so for a reason – they expect your business to communicate and provide regular updates. Be prepared to answer the questions and queries posed by those who take the time to follow or like you.
A non-response won’t do your reputation any good. To prepare Neher recommends: “Make a list of the top ten questions you’re asked on the phone. Also make a list of the top ten PR crises that you have had in the past five years. Be prepared to handle these on social networks.”
News brought to you by ClickThrough – a best practice Internet Marketing Agency.
In their PPC marketing efforts, small, local businesses hardly ever use Google AdWords to its maximum potential. Writing for Search Engine Watch, Howie Jacobson has highlighted three ways in which local businesses can benefit from AdWords.
Here is just one of those aforementioned three ways suggested by Jacobson, in a summarised form:
Test Messaging For Other Media – AdWords can be used to test for the best possible ad copy for other platforms – such as print ads.
Jacobson states: “It’s not unusual for one a to perform two to five times better than another.” As most offline advertising is “of the ‘interruption’ variety” it is possible to use the Display Network, AdWords’ interruption arm, to test other ads.
According to Jacobson, the Display Network generates around 10 times the amount of traffic yielded by search and the clicks are considerably cheaper. He concludes: “So the Display Network is the perfect place to find messages, offers, and calls to action in offline media.”
News brought to you by ClickThrough – experts in SEO, PPC, Multilingual Search Marketing and Website Conversion Enhancement services.
There does seem to be a constant erosion of privacy by social networks, and the announcement this week that Google’s latest privacy changes will use data across the entire product set is already subject to criticism. LinkedIn introduced social ads last summer which had a default opt-out setting for your name and photo to be used publicly in advertising on the network. Facebook has caused untold furores with its many privacy changes and this week is ‘forcing’ users to adopt the new Timeline.
The need to monetise social networks and apps and services is of course standard business practice. However, the consumer created content which leads to the growth and potential of services such as Facebook, LinkedIn, Youtube etc should not come as cheaply as it does to the network. The harvesting and use of personal details in order to attract advertisers is the payment that the users have to make in order to generate the profits for the network. This is not on a commission or affiliate level, but is ‘gifted’ freely to the network to do with as they choose. However, the depths to which some social networks seem willing to go in order to maximise this “free” content seems to increase rather than decrease over time. It is this seemingly never ending of the pushing of the limits of privacy decency with little respect for opt-in, permissions, or even the awareness of the users, that is worrying privacy advocates.
Despite protestations to the contrary, there would seem to be a casual yet ruthless attitude towards users’ privacy, mainly due to the cut throat market the networks are in. Facebook has been forced to add the strapline – it’s free and it always will be – after unfounded rumours that users would be charged to use the social site, leaving Facebook with one less route to capitalising on their enormous user base. (Friends Reunited, for instance, made its money by charging a nominal £4-5 per annum to access additional data on friends such as email addresses). However, the continuous drip drip introduction of default settings that require action by the user, rather than opt in, is telling about the attitudes which prevail amongst the internet giants.
LinkedIn require you to opt out from having your name and photo used on advertising across the site. Although this was introduced last summer, it is likely that a vast proportion of the users of LinkedIn remain unaware of the change. For many, the account and privacy settings on Facebook are simply too complex to work out what is being shown to whom. Google+ endeavoured to address these concerns by allowing you to choose precisely the people with whom you shared content, but the inclusion of Google+ posts in top search results, as well as the latest privacy changes across all of Google’s real estate, may have unravelled that feelgood strategy.
There have been users leaving the social networks in protest, but for many the privacy issue, or rather the possible results of such policies, is still unclear – what harm does it do me? Meanwhile, there are a number of start ups looking to create privacy enhanced and open source social networks, but the real benefit of social networks is when *everyone* you know is on them and a start up with limited members will struggle to compete with the phenomenal global user base that is Facebook today. (By the end of 2012, it is estimated that more than a billion people will be using Facebook).
How do you feel about the social networks use of your personal data? Would you leave a social network because of its privacy policy? What changes would be one step too far for you to stay?
Facebook is planning to give away around £4.2M of advertising to help SMEs, according to Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg, through the AdBoost programme. This campaign will offer £80 of Facebook ads to companies across Europe, hopefully encouraging more small businesses to use Facebook effectively for internet and social media marketing.
The new Facebook programme is being launched with the British Chamber of Commerce and businesses will be helped with the creation of Facebook pages, engaging with users, and using the ever-growing selection of Facebook tools for advertising on the network.
Small businesses can struggle to commit fully to social media marketing, often not grasping the importance of it for their business growth and reach, or finding it difficult to define a clear strategy for doing so. Small businesses also suffer from a lack of human resources and social media is, by its very nature, time consuming. However, this is where an agency can help, by offering additional resources, expertise and value for money marketing.
A simple Facebook page and associated advertising across the Facebook social network can help SMEs in many ways. For example, by allowing loyal customers to share their recommendations to others, including to their friends through posts on both their walls and the business page. For businesses who struggle to keep a blog updated, it can provide an easy, short form method for keeping customers in touch with new products, offers, sales, or events. However, it should be remembered that not all of the target audience of any business will use Facebook and so a more comprehensive internet marketing strategy will be required to attain maximum potential.
It is to be hoped that the free ad credits will not go to waste and that the 50,000 SMEs Facebook is intending to help across UK, Spain, Italy, France and Germany will benefit from the exposure. Start creating your ad today!
In PPC marketing, the majority of conversations – regarding reports and updates – take place over the phone.
Joseph Kerschbaum, writing for Search Engine Watch, claims that there are a number of tactics that can make these meetings extremely productive.
Here are just a few of the tactics he suggests for a successful PPC phone conference, call or meeting:
Invite only those who are needed – There isn’t any point in inviting those whose presence isn’t necessary – remember you’re just going to be wasting their time. Decision makers and those people who “absolutely need to know” should be at the top of your invite-list.
Why is the meeting taking place? – If you can’t answer this questions, there is a good chance that the meeting doesn’t need to take place. Kerschbaum states: “Don’t just focus on topics; what should everyone get out of the meeting?”
Pull up statistics before the meeting – Going into a meeting blind simply isn’t good enough; you need to spend a significant amount of time reviewing your performance.
While it might not be possible to answer all queries that come your way, don’t be afraid of saying “I don’t know,” provided that it is followed up with “But I’ll find out and follow-up.” Remember though, this shouldn’t be an excuse not to at least try to anticipate the questions or concerns that may be raised during the meeting.
News brought to you by ClickThrough – experts in SEO, PPC, Multilingual Search Marketing and Website Conversion Enhancement services.
Twitter has completed its second acquisition in just under a week, according to an article published by New Media Age.
Following the purchase of Summify, the micro-blogging site has now purchased Dasient, an anti-malware firm.
As part of the deal, Dasient will be fully integrated into the platform – popular amongst social media marketing professionals; although it isn’t yet clear what type of role the anti-malware firm will play at the social media site.
A blog post, published on Dasient’s blog, read: “By joining Twitter, Dasient will be able to apply its technology and team to the world’s largest real-time information network.”
Dasient primarily work on solving security problems created by malware. The company also launched an “anti-malvertising” service – designed to protect advertising networks and publishers from malicious adverts – back in 2010.
Twitter is yet to comment on the acquisition but the deal is thought to be effective immediately; while the financial terms of the deal have also yet to have been disclosed.
News brought to you by ClickThrough – a best practice Internet Marketing Agency.
