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Thursday, March 29th, 2012
It would seem that scammers have been quick to jump on the Pinterest bandwagon, using fake Pinterest and Twitter accounts, harnessed to affiliate links, to generate revenue.
Pinterest will need to take action to prevent this becoming more widespread but the process for the scammers is little different to that which a genuine business can use to get the most out of Pinterest.
Firstly, you need people following you on Pinterest, and you need to be following others, plus taking an interest in what they are pinning. Tying this into other social media accounts too can help to widen your audience so link Twitter, Facebook, Google+, and so on to and from your Pinterest account.
Secondly, you need to post eye catching photos and images that are linked directly to a product or landing page, not to the home page of your website.
Thirdly, you need well-written copy on that product or landing page that entices people to buy and also to repin.
Pinterest as a marketing tool will not suit all businesses, just as other social networks cannot be all things to all men. However, if you are in the retail industry, Pinterest should be high on your list of properties to populate with product photos, as well as to engage with your potential customers. Hotels, restaurants, travel agents and accommodation providers are also discovering the value of Pinterest in reaching a wide audience, although it is still difficult to localise to reach the audience required.
If the scammers can make money on Pinterest, you should be able to as well by encouraging repins of your boards’ items. Why not run a monthly competition and offer a prize to one random repinner? Or create a special discount landing page for Pinterest users? Incentivise pinning in imaginative ways for great products and you should be able to use Pinterest as a cost-effective internet marketing tool.
Tags: cost-effective, images, marketing, photos, Pinterest, scam
Posted in Blog, Small Business Resources, Social Media, Tips & Tricks
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Thursday, March 22nd, 2012
Only 33 per cent of businesses have a long-term strategy in place for social media marketing, according to white papers recently released by Facebook.
Dubbed ‘Social Media Blueprints’, the documents have been compiled using surveys conducted with business leaders.
Just one-third of those surveyed agreed with the statement: “We have a long term strategy for becoming a social business,” whilst 76 per cent concurred that: “Social media is important for brand-building for our business.”
More worryingly, whilst 59 per cent of company chiefs believe that the future looks uncertain for businesses that fail to fully embrace social media, nearly half of those surveyed felt that they had not yet completely integrated social media throughout their business.
Facebook’s blueprints aim to help businesses ‘fill in the gaps’ that are preventing them from becoming 100 per cent social, and identify opportunities to engage with customers more effectively using social media platforms.
The first document, nicknamed the ‘Brand Building Blueprint’ focuses, as its name implies, on articulating a brand’s identity in the social world, and creating a compelling voice with which to engage with consumers.
The second, dubbed the ‘ORG Design Blueprint’, looks at the organisational changes that a company must make in order to implement its new social marketing strategy.
The two blueprints, produced in conjunction with Forrester Consulting, are the first in a series.
News brought to you by ClickThrough – a best practice Internet Marketing Agency.
Tags: Brand, facebook, Likes, marketing, pages, Social Media
Posted in Social Media Marketing
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Tuesday, March 20th, 2012
The UK’s Internet marketing and search engine optimisation industry is now worth more than £500m, according to a report by Econsultancy.
The online marketers’ site released the SEO Agencies Buyer’s Guide on March 19, with figures showing an 18% leap in the SEO market in 2011.
Econsultancy says the year-end value of SEO in the UK was around £514m – up from £436m in 2010.
The 2012 SEO Agencies Buyer’s Guide breaks down the valuation: explaining it was calculated using payments to agencies, investment and specialist costs for PR or social media marketing campaigns.
“It’s great to see that natural search has developed into a half-billion pound industry in the UK,” said Jake Hird, senior research analyst for Econsultancy.
“This also demonstrates the shifting landscape of the SEO marketplace. Now, search practitioners have to deal with elements such as social, mobile and local search, as well as continuing to optimise for other types of content, such as videos and images.”
The Econsultancy report also drew a correlation between SEO activity and other kinds of online marketing: with SEO becoming intrinsically important for PR, social media, content marketing and on-page information.
The report also looks at trends, changes and predictions for SEO, such as the focus on Google+, mobile search and increasing integration of SEO with other marketing campaigns.
The guide is aimed at companies looking to hire an SEO agency, with a breakdown of the UK’s most successful online marketing firms, together with their costs, services and achievements.
The guide is available to buy through Econsultancy.
News brought to you by ClickThrough – experts in SEO, Pay Per Click Services, Multilingual Search Marketing and Website Conversion Enhancement services.
Tags: buyers guide, Content, Econsultancy, Google, industry, marketing, search, SEO, UK
Posted in Search Engine Optimisation
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Wednesday, March 14th, 2012
Procter and Gamble (P&G), the world’s largest consumer packaged goods company, has been discussing Internet marketing initiatives to help cut advertising costs and reach a larger audience.
P&G sells household products from razors to shampoo in 180 countries, represents some huge brands – Fairy, Pantene, Pampers, Braun, Duracell, Olay and Ariel amongst them.
As such, P&G is also responsible for the world’s biggest advertising budget: and now new head of marketing Marc Pritchard is looking to shave $1bn from that annual cost by 2016.
Against a backdrop of company-wide savings totalling around $10bn, such steep changes to marketing – at such a massive firm – are bound to resonate globally too.
Mr Pritchard told the Wall Street Journal that, along with traditional cost-cutting measures such as job reorganisation, spending efficiency changes and reining in pricey TV ads, P&G were now looking at lower-cost digital marketing measures.
The 51-year-old, who has been chief of global marketing at P&G since 2008, said: “I took a small group of people when I first got here to learn everything we can about digital, and get that through the company.”
One of the cost-cutting measures will see combined brand activity around global events: the 2012 Olympics provides the perfect platform to test this.
“You’ll see some very heavy-duty activity for our Olympics program,” Mr Pritchard said. “It’ll be Twitter, Google, YouTube, Yahoo! Those are going to be some pretty essential parts of the whole program.
“We have more than 30 brands doing Olympic activities, 150 athletes, all those brands have Facebook pages, all those athletes have Facebook pages. Then we go out, create an event, talk about it, push it out, through broadcast and digital. Then we have community managers who are amplifying the discussion, engaging on Facebook, on YouTube, things like Twitter. That’s the way it’ll work.”
News brought to you by ClickThrough – a best practice Internet Marketing Agency.
Tags: 2012, advertising, ariel, costs, digital, duracell, facebook, fairy, internet marketing, marketing, olay, Olympics, P&G, pampers, twitter
Posted in Social Media Marketing
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Thursday, March 1st, 2012
For 5 years, Twitter has somehow escaped the notice of the younger generation, with many quite happy to reside on Bebo, MySpace, and then Facebook. However, one has to wonder whether the decline of the latter of these three social networks may begin when the teens grow bored, and move on to pastures new, as they did with MySpace (now almost exclusively the haunt of bands) and Bebo (is it still the place to be for anyone?). If so, then the tipping point for Facebook may have been reached as there seems to be a growing realisation amongst the yoof that Twitter offers a cheap and simple way to communicate. Not only that, but it gives these youngsters a chance to be noticed and a remarkably quick way to share information.
A classic quote from this evening’s investigations as to why the younger generation are leaping aboard the Twitter ship was, “Be warned, Justin Bieber and Glee will be trending before you know it.” Whilst this may strike fear into the hearts of many, especially those who have enjoyed the relative obscurity of Twitter to date, for youngsters, the ability to use Twitter to be heard through something as simple as power in numbers causing global trends, (as was the case with the Arab Spring etc), may prove a bigger pull than even the simplicity. And for marketers targeting the pockets of an increasingly canny set of customers, ignoring Twitter for much longer may carry a costly penalty.
IF, and it is a big IF, the trend towards Twitter amongst teens continues at its seemingly increasing pace, it is likely that shortly the de facto place for youngsters will not be on Facebook, but in 140 character texts and twitpics. At that point, it is likely that Facebook will lose its appeal for many. Just as Pinterest appears to seemingly cater mainly for women of a certain age (but that demographic is rapidly skewing as Pinterest takes advantage of being the de rigueur site for now), Facebook may end up a wasteland without the youngsters to keep us all entertained. After all, how many people over 30 are on Facebook simply because those younger than them made it the site du jour?
Marketers and brands who have omitted to work a Twitter thread into their strategy may find themselves playing a fast catch up, and will also need to understand the fickle nature of this generation. “Everything is only a click away” means that unfollowing a particular brand or company really is incredibly simple, far more so than Unlike on Facebook where so few companies have actually mastered social engagement that your Feed is not constantly cluttered with marketing messages. If a brand ceases to be the flavour of the month, be prepared for your number of followers to decrease rapidly as peer pressure and possibly even a certain type of bullying could take place if your Tweetstream is seen to be full of RTs of the wrong company.
2012 may well be the Year of the Younger Tweet, and we are currently carrying out a survey of 13-18 year olds to determine what is the trigger for the mass move, aside from two which we have heard all too often recently, “Facebook is boring” and “All the good stuff happens first on Twitter”. Some of us oldies knew that a while ago, but it seems the realisation has dawned amongst our teenagers and the sooner internet marketers realise that the downward shift is occurring in Facebook, the sooner it may become obvious that the next budget and strategy meeting of the Marcomms team should probably include a long, hard look at Twitter. After all, Gen Y may not be your customers today, but is is highly likely that they will be in 5-10 years time. Alienate them now at your peril……
Tags: bebo, customers, facebook, gen y, marketing, myspace, Social network, teens, tweets, twitter, younger generation
Posted in Blog, Social Media, Stats & Trends, Uncategorised
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Monday, February 13th, 2012
As social media gives consumers a far greater voice and wrenches control of brands away from the traditional PR and marketing teams, what strategies need to be adopted by business to try to limit the opportunities for negative press?
Consumers have been morphing into prosumers for several years now, and this can cause a headache for companies who are accustomed to having full control over the messages which are dispersed via the media, press and online about their brands. Even a simple 140 character tweet can nowadays lead to a backlash against companies for which traditional crisis management is unprepared.
Social media permits the voice of the people to be heard extremely quickly, with stories via Twitter going globally viral in a matter of hours, occasionally even less. For companies this can mean that a carefully established reputation can be desecrated within a far shorter time than previously, unless social media is managed and monitored.
Set up Google Alerts to track mentions of your company and your brand names, use tools such as SocialOomph to track keywords and mentions (eg company name, products, sector etc), make sure that your Analytics and hosting are configured to give you warning if there is a sudden increase of traffic to your website, and build a following of loyal followers/customers/friends who are active on social media to give you a heads up should anything out of the ordinary occur in the twittersphere or blogosphere concerning your company.
Over and above these basics, there would seem to be a very simple rule that can be applied to minimise any reputational crisis – be genuine. Even the most avid prosumer looking to post negative press about a company understands that people are people and mistakes can often be understood and forgiven, especially when a company ahs reacted in a timely manner to dealing with the problem. What sticks in people’s craw is when a company has attempted to misinform, delude, or hide information. Hype is one thing, distorting the truth is quite another.
On a long term basis, being genuine in all of your communications is the sensible route to ensure that there are no skeletons in the cupboard which are ready to fall out at the first opportunity.
A lie has speed, but truth has endurance.
~Edgar J. Mohn
Tags: control, marketing, monitor, pr, Social Media
Posted in Blog, Social Media, Tips & Tricks
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Thursday, January 12th, 2012
Diet Coke is set to launch a new Facebook application to coincide with the upcoming Love It Light advertising campaign, according to an article published by New Media Age.
Entitled ‘Get Glam’, the app is aimed at women and will provide fashion and beauty tips, as well as video chat tools and has been described as the “perfect accompaniment for getting ready with the girls.”
As well as this social media marketing initiative, the Love It Light campaign will be run across various media platforms, including TV and VOD (video on demand).
The campaign has been designed to be part of a three-year strategy to link Diet Coke’s advertising and marketing initiatives with fashion.
Commenting on the Love It Light campaign, market activation director for Coca-Cola Great Britain, Zoe Howorth, said: “The Love it Light campaign returns for the fourth time in 2012 featuring the distinctive Diet Coke puppets.
“The campaign demonstrates the brand’s light-hearted attitude and appeals to young fun-loving women,” she added.
News brought to you by ClickThrough – a best practice Internet Marketing Agency.
Tags: advertising, application, Diet Coke, facebook, Love it Light, marketing
Posted in Social Media Marketing
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Friday, December 9th, 2011
Facebook’s UK sales director has stated his belief that the site – a popular social media marketing platform – is “equal” to traditional advertising platforms, according to an article published by Marketing Week.
Stephen Haines stated: “We are now at the table right at the start of campaigns, with the client, media agency and creative agency, before the creative has even been decided on. This wasn’t happening two years ago; we were at the back of the (line) then.
“But now we’re at the front with TV,” he added.
Haines has attributed the level of attention paid by marketers towards Facebook to the insights that newly available data can provide.
The social media site has received plaudits from British Airways, who have chosen to launch their campaigns via Facebook on a number of occasions.
Managing director of brand and customer service for the airline, Frank van der Post, spoke of the importance of Facebook for marketing campaigns.
He stated: “Facebook gave us the forum to interact daily with our customers and for a real conversation to take place about the brand.
“This wouldn’t have been possible had we ignored the power of social media and only followed the traditional approach to advertising,” he continued.
News brought to you by ClickThrough – a best practice Internet Marketing Agency.
Tags: British Airways, facebook, marketing, Social Media, Stephen Haines
Posted in Social Media Marketing
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Wednesday, November 30th, 2011
Despite being a hugely popular platform for social media marketing initiatives, Forrester Research has suggested that businesses aren’t a priority for Facebook, and marketers using the platform are indecisive, according to an article published by New Media Age.
Whilst 96 of America’s top 100 brands operate a presence on the social media site, Forrester has stated that marketers lack an understanding of how to get a good ROI (return on investment) on the site.
In their report which has been published today, the company has also stated that Facebook has made it increasingly difficult for businesses – changing content management options and providing a limited amount of data for analysis.
VP principal analyst at the company and the report’s author, Nate Elliot, launched an attack on the approach taken by marketers on Facebook.
He said: “Marketers are all over the shop because they didn’t know why they decided to use Facebook in the first place. They rushed to be there without understanding what they are doing there.”
News brought to you by ClickThrough – experts in Search Engine Marketing & Internet Marketing.
Tags: facebook, Forrester Research, marketing
Posted in Social Media Marketing
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Tuesday, October 11th, 2011
There seems to be a fear, not just in major brands but also in SMEs, about mobile marketing. We all relate to the subject based on how we feel about our mobile phones. Just ask around the office right now, or your family, how they feel about marketing messages on their mobiles, and you will see where this fear could stem from. For the vast majority of people, receiving a marketing message on your mobile is a no-no.
However, mobile marketing is not just about sending a text/SMS to a willing (or unwilling) recipient. Mobile marketing needs to be thought of as a far broader church. Once you understand what a mobile phone is capable of, and how your potential audience are most likely to use theirs, then you can target your actions appropriately.
For instance, SMEs, retail outlets and rural businesses should all be at the least listed on Foursquare. This is one of those discrete and gentle touches with mobile marketing and geolocation. A simple sticker in your window, register your venue/outlet/premises on the Foursquare site, and offer a Mayoral prize each week to attract customers to check in.
You can take this further by organising flash mobs at your venue or shop and offering a special FourSquare badge or similar to those who attend. Tie this in with a Tweet-up and people will hang around that much longer. And spend, remember, talk, tweet about the event etc. Don’t forget a good hashtag for Twitter….
Apps are of course the big thing and generally these fall into three main courts – iPhone, Blackberry and Android. Whatever you do with mobile marketing should try to reach all the bodies of smartphone users, or risk alienating those who are left out.
Starting with the simplest type of engagement, you can encourage people to take photos either of your venue, products or for a themed competition. Add a little creativity, such as encouraging instant uploads with Instagram, or composing them into Photograms, and almost anyone with a camera phone and an app can enter.
Perhaps this is where many people fall down in the definition of ‘marketing’. It is no longer simply push marketing that is required, but now, especially with social networks, pull marketing with heavy consumer engagement is equally as important.
So, it is no longer about billboards and TV adverts that force feed the information about a product to the consumer, but very much more about dialogue, engagement and consumer interaction.
What else can you do with mobile marketing? What are you doing with mobile marketing that you feel others couldn/should be doing too?
Tags: android, apps, blackberry, engagement, flashmob, foursquare, geolocation, instagram, interaction, iphone, location, marketing, mobile, photogram, pull, push, smartphone, text, tweetup
Posted in Blog, Mobile Search, Social Media, Tips & Tricks
