Tag: Social Media

  • Now Promote Your Tweets Faster

    Twitter has launched its new feature called ‘quick promote’ which is a fast and easy way to promote your tweets. It gives you the power to amplify your best performing tweets directly from the Twitter Activity Dashboard. All you need to do is follow a few simple steps and your tweet will be automatically targeted to users having similar interests to your followers. This way you can make an impact on the minds of people who are most likely to respond to your message.

    If you want to promote a new product, service or blog then Promoted Tweets can drive you measurable business results. This service is specifically targeted towards small and medium enterprises to help them get their best content in front of more viewers on Twitter.

    To promote you tweet all you need to do is

    • Go to your tweet activity dashboard
    • Click on the tweet that you want to promote
    • On the left sidebar you will have an option to promote that tweet

    Though this feature lacks advanced targeting options at present, it is a good initiative. It has been found that users who see a relevant promoted tweet are 32% more likely to visit that business. The ability to promote a tweet directly from your Twitter Activity Dashboard is hugely beneficial for all the small and medium businesses that are active on the micro-blogging site. It assists one in quickly pinpointing content that performs and then targeting people who are naturally inclined to view such content. This way you can effectively expand your audience and augment your message.

    Do share your views on Twitter’s ‘Quick Promote’ with us.

    Contact us for your brand’s integrated social media marketing!

  • How to Improve your Digital Marketing ROI Using Big Data

    Today we are in the middle of a radical shift in the way we interact and communicate with one another. Factors like democratization of data, mobile computing, broadband Internet ubiquity, faster and cheaper computing prowess have all contributed in making big data so momentous today. Big data might happen to become as important as Internet itself to businesses and the society in general in the not so distant future. You don’t need to be intimidated by big data as that is clearly not going to help you in any way. All you have to do is implement these big data essentials to enjoy better ROI for all your digital marketing campaigns.

    Use Data Analytics

    You can find exactly how your website is faring using any data analytics that is available online. Google Analytics is a very useful tool if you want to get an accurate feedback on your website. All you have to do is register for Google Analytics and you can begin monitoring your website. It gives you an accurate idea about how many people visited your website and how long they stayed. You can find out how exactly they landed on your page i.e. the external site that directed them here. This is useful if you are already into digital marketing since now you know which are the campaigns that are working for you.

    Go for Retargeting

     

    retargeting

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    Today it is not enough if you track your users on your website, you need to keep tabs on them even after they leave your website. It is an essential part of retargeting wherein when they go to some relevant website you can again target them and have better chances of converting them to customers. Since the user has already seen your ad before, he is more likely to reciprocate positively to your ad this time around. But for this you need to use cookies in order to keep track of your user whenever he is online.

    Exploit Social Media

    The explosion of social networking sites is one of the hallmarks of the Internet since the rise of the search engines during the early part of the millennium. Today everybody is connected via Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram, et al. This makes your job easier since all you have to do is find out what these people are saying about you and your competitors thus offering you a lot of insight into customer opinions and proclivities. You can then dovetail your digital marketing strategy accordingly and make the most of this new found knowledge.

    social media

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    Learn from People’s Searches

    Learning from people’s search queries can be a very rewarding experience for you if you do it analytically, diligently and persistently. This can throw light on what people are demanding and what are their expectations from any product or service. Google Trends is a very good platform to delve into people’s search patterns. You might not get too excited in the beginning since it is a whole lot of data that you have to sift in order to get anything valuable out of it.  But if you do it with perseverance then you would be surprised to find out how much insights you can gain about your customers both existing and prospective. You can get a detailed list of what people are searching, the frequency with which they are doing it, the websites that they click on the results page and such other useful nuggets of information.

    Put your House in Order

    Before you go about looking for data anywhere on the World Wide Web do organize the data that is lying in your own data centers. This can be immensely helpful in ways you would have never imagined possible. You can do detailed research about your customers and profile them as per their past interactions with your website and the result that it delivered to you. You can compare two instances where you received different results and find out the exact reasons for such a disparity; sales is one parameter to consider here.

    DBMS (Database Management Systems) from marquee names like Oracle, IBM and Microsoft cost prohibitively high and are beyond the reach of small business enterprises. In such a scenario, you can consider buying the software from small suppliers who differentiate themselves by focusing on niche markets. You can even try Linux operating system as a database platform since it is an open source product. According to Forrester Research’s product evaluation, open source databases viz. Ingres, PostgreSQL and MySQL come out as some of the best.

    You can find out the exact reasons why you could not convert your leads to sales in a particular scenario as you are now backed by compelling data from your own database. This shall help you fine-tune your digital marketing strategy saving you precious resources by offering you better insights into conducting highly targeted campaigns.

    Position² Point of View

    Today we are living in a world where information is generated at an unprecedented rate and off-the-shelf raw computational power is getting better by each passing day. Now these are the two parameters that make big data so widely popular and sensational. You might love it or you might hate it but you just cannot ignore big data. The field of big data analytics is still in its infancy. The explosion of data in today’s world is really mind-boggling to say the least. Data scientists today are the new age rock stars (excuse the metaphor). There is highly valuable information out there in all that raw data that is zipping from one end of the globe to the other in the blink of an eye. Though it is still nebulous as to where we are headed in terms of exploiting big data to our advantage, one thing is for sure that big data analytics has evolved today from being a business initiative to a business imperative. The faster you realize that, the better it is for the fortunes of your company.

  • Social Media for Enterprise [Infographic]

    Today if your brand is not present on social networking sites you are unwittingly losing out to your competition. Companies around the world are investing heavily in social media marketing in order to ensure favorable customer engagement. Here’s a quick primer of what the social media world looks like in terms of enterprise participation. This might just spur you to take the plunge and actively incorporate an integrated social media strategy backed by real-time analytics, to power your digital marketing campaigns.

    Social Media for Enterprise Infographic

  • LinkedIn Launches Sponsored Updates API, Partner Programs and Facebook is Rumored to Launch Mobile Ad Network

    LinkedIn

    The networking site is adding more weight to content marketing with the launch of Sponsored Updates Partners and Content Partners.

    LinkedIn Certified Sponsored Updates

    Sponsored Updates Partners can help brands increase their campaign ROI by supplying them with campaign management tools that make it easier to handle large Sponsored Updates campaigns. They can create bulk updates across campaigns, target different audiences at scale, schedule advance updates and track performance using reporting dashboards. These partners also help brands manage paid content activities on multiple social channels with a single dashboard.

    During the pilot test, participating companies experienced an overall increase of more than 30% in engagement on their Sponsored Updates campaigns, which was higher than previous campaign results without partner services.

    If your brand does not allocate resources to manage its social media campaigns, some Sponsored Updates Partners also offer managed services, providing expert campaign strategists to supervise brand activities on behalf of your company.

    LinkedIn Certified Content Partners

    Certified Content Partners help brands who do not have enough quality content to share with their audience. They build a bridge between companies and publishers, platforms and original content producers. Content Partners provide brands access to information relevant to their audience.

    Brands who want to run large Sponsored Updates campaigns on LinkedIn can now go ahead whether they have the requisite resources or not since a few Sponsored Updates Partners offer managed services.

    It does not matter even if you do not have sufficient relevant content to share. LinkedIn’s Certified Content Partners program, which puts such brands in touch with original content providers who can provide relevant content, can help you out.

    Facebook

    Is the social giant launching a mobile ad network?

    According to a post on Re/Code, yes it is. Facebook is reportedly working on a mobile ad network that will help it post ads to publishers and developers, making it possible to monetize a large user base even when users are not connected to Facebook.

    Facebook is expected to launch this network at the F8 Facebook Developers Conference on April 30.

    As per the Re/Code post, Facebook’s mobile ad network will attempt to give Google’s AdMob mobile network, Twitter’s MoPub network and small players like Millenial Media.

    Facebook seems to be stepping up its efforts to monetize the mobile space.

    What do you think about these two developments?

    Images Source: LinkedIn

  • Getting the Most Engagement for Your Tweets

    As a top social platform, Twitter is a strong contender for the attention of brands. A wide user base coupled with a powerful ad interface beckons with fans on Twitter. A recent study by Simply Measured showed that:

    • 92% brands covered in the study tweet at least once every day
    • Top brands scored an average of 20% growth in Twitter followers in Q4, 2013

    Judging by the amount of content posted by brands, we can gauge the current levels of engagement. A new study by Twitter identifies what drives engagement for verified accounts:

    • Photos received 35% more re-tweets
    • Videos led to a 28% boost in re-tweets
    • Quotes came third with 19% re-tweets
    • Statistics led to a 17% increase in re-tweets
    • Hashtags gathered 16% re-tweets

    Of course, these figures vary based on the industry, but as mentioned in our earlier blog posts, visuals and videos are powerful marketing tools that build engagement.

    However…there are more ways of improving engagement on Twitter.

    With the growing trend of using multiple media simultaneously, you can cross link TV with Twitter using the latter’s TV ad targeting feature. You can craft compelling stories through your tweets to get consumers interested like Google and Nike have.

    Curated content not just creates relevance, but also puts your individual stamp on it. At the end of the day, it’s all about providing great content.

    The most effective way of creating engagement may be through the simplest thing. If you want engagement, ask for it through a powerful call to action. Ask people to follow you, download your content, retweet or even ask for replies.

    To engage consumers you need to engage them on their interests, values or just capture their imagination. Sometimes that means doing the obvious and at other times, being creative. It starts by knowing your audience. Go ahead and try it – fortune favors the brave.

    What are your strategies for getting more engagement on Twitter?

    Image Source: Binkd

  • Influencer Marketing for B2B, Need to Embrace Content Consumption Monitoring and much more…| Best of the Week

    This week’s hot news, events and videos from the online marketing and social media world.
    Despite Strong Growth, Share of Online Display Advertising Spend Well Behind TV
    From the Position² Blog This Week:
    Influencer Marketing for B2B
    Influencer marketing, done right, can be an effective tool for B2B companies. Read this blog post to learn some of the key questions you need to answer before taking up influencer marketing and the advantages it offers to you.
    Top Stories this Week: Social Media
    Top Stories this Week: SEO, PPC and Digital Media
    Best of the Week Video Best of the Week Video
    Check out this video to learn about tips and tricks for various Google AdWords features.
    White Paper: Increase Visibility for Your Content by 4x
    Today’s traditional SEO is inadequate: Ignite your search results by accelerating visibility in more places than ever before.Download this White Paper and learn:

     

    • SEO, why the way we know it is not enough
    • Introducing and implementing Enterprise Visibility Accelerator (EVA)
    • Using multi-channel tracking tools for effective monitoring
    • How EVA benefits businesses.

    Download the complimentary EVA White Paper now

    Know more about Enterprise Visibilty Accelerator(EVA)
    If you are reading this blog post via a RSS reader, please click here to subscribe.
  • Social Media User Engagement – Facebook is Still King [Study]

    Facebook is King
    Many social networks were launched in the last few years and attained a respectable amount of popularity. They’ve found their place in brands’ social strategies.

    But, it looks like Facebook is not relinquishing its hold on the market anytime soon…

    A recent study by Pew Research Center found that Facebook is the dominant network for user engagement followed by LinkedIn and Pinterest. 71% adults had Facebook accounts in 2013 as opposed to 22% and 21% on LinkedIn and Pinterest respectively.

    What Facebook is also succeeding in is drawing users to login multiple times in a day. While 63% of Facebook users check the site at least once a day, 40% login multiple times.

    According to the study, 36% adults use only one social network. A whopping 84% of those who use only one major social network said that Facebook is the chosen site.

    How does this affect B2B marketers in specific?

    Facebook is an indispensable part of most marketers’ social strategy. B2B marketers are also using Facebook organically and through paid ads for various purposes ranging from building a strong audience base to selling their products.

    The principles of using Facebook for marketing don’t change too much whether it is B2B customers or B2C customers. Brands still have to build a fan base, target them with relevant content, engage them and try to convert them.

    It’s important to remember that most people visit Facebook for personal and not professional reasons. So it’s best for marketers to engage with the personal side of the prospect and target him when he is ‘off guard’. GE does this brilliantly with various subtle messages, contests, and trivia such as, the picture of a particular mobile power plant displayed on their Facebook page that weighs 2300 tonne!

    The B2B buying process is different from the B2C process and wherein buyers are likely to require more engagement and information before they take a decision. Subtle, but interesting engagement can help build predisposition towards the brand. Visual content can engage the eyes, ears and mind and communicate information powerfully. This can influence the buyer’s decision, which can be critical when it comes to choosing between companies that don’t have significant differentiation.

    Facebook, like other social sites, is all about content and an added advantage is that it has a wider base of visitors than others who visit it more often. This is a compelling combination and probably the reason why so many B2B brands like CISCO, Dell, Fluke and GE use it to promote their brands.

    If you think Facebook is all about consumer marketing and LinkedIn is only about business, think again! Facebook can be a powerful tool for B2B marketers too if used well. Do you know of any B2B brands that are doing a great job on Facebook? Let us know.

    Image Source: Outsourced Communications

  • Turning Google+ posts into display ads, Four very useful iPad stats and much more…| Best of the Week

    This week’s hot news, events and videos from the online marketing and social media world.
    Turning Google+ posts into Display Ads
    From the Position2 Blog This Week:
    Turning Google+ posts into Display Ads
    Google+ Post Ads give a brands’ online content a power boost by turning their Google+ posts into display ads that will run across the web through Google Display Network. To know more on how brands can go beyond normal, static advertising, read our blog.
    Top Stories this Week: Social Media
    Top Stories this Week: SEO, PPC and Digital Media
    Best of the Week Video Best of the Week Video
    Accenture gets it! Whether it is offline advertising or going viral, they have it all figured. Check out this week’s “awesome b2b company video” channel on You Tube and get inspired!
    White Paper: Increase Visibility for Your Content by 4x
    Today’s traditional SEO is inadequate: Ignite your search results by accelerating visibility in more places than ever before.Download this White Paper and learn:

    • SEO, why the way we know it is not enough
    • Introducing and implementing Enterprise Visibility Accelerator (EVA)
    • Using multi-channel tracking tools for effective monitoring
    • How EVA benefits businesses.

    Download the complimentary EVA White Paper now

    Know more about Enterprise Visibilty Accelerator(EVA)
    If you are reading this blog post via a RSS reader, please click here to subscribe.
  • Adapting to Changing Digital and Social Media Rules

    Adapting to changing rules in social media

    After a great run in 2013, digital and social media seem ready for a strong performance in 2014.

    So, why are we placing special emphasis on the changing digital and social media rules?

    Consider this:

    Digital and social media are the fastest growing branches of digital marketing in 2014. 100% business executives use social networks for work purposes. Social media has taken on increased importance in the B2B industry.

    In any digital strategy B2B brands need to consider both their Target Group (executives) and their digital/social media budget.

    But, there is another crucial aspect that brands should consider while working on their digital and social media strategy. Now, what’s that?

    We are referring to the frequently changing ground rules of digital and social media websites.

    Brands often focus so much on budget allocation, demographic specifics and the content to be used, that they run the risk of missing the opportunities and threats presented due to the changing ground rules of social networks. As you will agree not knowing the rules of the game will lead to a sub-optimal brand strategy.

    Relevant Changes in the Social and Digital Realm

    Here are a few examples of changes in the social and digital world that made a significant difference to the way these sites functioned and in turn impacted brand strategies:

    • Google HummingbirdThis was one update from the search engine that made digital marketers sit up and take a second look at search efforts, analytics setup, content used and general website health. Though marketers were already focusing on all these, the Hummingbird update prompted them into making changes to:
      1. Keyword complexity levels
      2. Level of importance of user behavior in analytics
      3. Quality of content developed
      4. Strategy for an error-free website
    • Facebook’s News Feed Algorithm UpdateFacebook’s changes to its News Feed algorithm in early December last year gave a shock to marketers. With this update, organic reach reduced. According to Facebook’s director of communications Brandon McCormick, this was the site’s goal from a long time. Facebook wanted to clean up the clutter of Liked Pages that users would have accumulated over the years. If a user has liked your brand’s Page years back and hasn’t visited you since then, post this update, its less likely that your brand’s content will appear in that user’s News Feed.Brands need to focus on improving their Facebook page user experience so that their users keep visiting it and the brand page stays in the user’s News Feed.
    • Instagram AdsInstagram kicked off its advertising plan last year. Given its popularity as a ‘visual site’, this update opened the doors for digital marketers to explore online visual marketing. However, this introduction also meant that marketers had to shuffle around their media plan within the same social and digital marketing budget to accommodate one more online portal. It’s probably money well spent given the powerful impact of visuals in marketing.Social sites keep introducing new capabilities in their race to stay ahead of each other. While it may be tough to follow these constant changes, these actually provide marketers with the opportunity to fine tune their media plans to achieve their various marketing objectives better. Discerning marketers will pick and choose sites to make their campaigns more synergistic and impactful.
    • Google+ Post AdsGoogle+ launched the ability to turn Google+ posts into ads recently. A really attractive feature of this update is the ads’ ability to offer consumer interaction with the brand directly through the ad along with exposure to Google Display Network’s 2 million sites. This change is important enough to make marketers who hadn’t given Google+ much thought, pause and re-think their strategy. If a brand decides to start using these ads, it does mean tweaking its budget allocation again.

    Impact on Marketing Strategies

    Often these changes are designed to improve user and/or marketer experience with the site. In doing so, they mostly offer new benefits to marketers and help them connect better with their audience. Even the changes like the Facebook News Feed algorithm can serve as good warnings for brands to improve their engagement with their audience.

    Keeping an eye open for changes in sites’ ground rules:

    • Helps in judicious and beneficial online marketing media planning and budget allocation
    • Helps understand user behavior better.
    • Helps avoid the negative impact that ignoring these can have on their brands.

    Can you think of any other updates that have significantly affected the digital/social world recently? In what other ways do you think such changes impact brand strategies?

  • The Social Media Race – Pinterest and LinkedIn Trump Twitter [Study]

    Frequency of social media site useA study by Pew Research Center has found that contrary to widespread belief about the popularity levels of Twitter, it is Pinterest and LinkedIn that are stealing the thunder in the social media world.

    The study covered Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram and LinkedIn.

    Pinterest’s popularity has spiked over the past year, with 21% respondents saying that they use the site more today compared to 15% who said they used Pinterest over a year ago.

    On the other hand, 22% of the respondents said they use the Linkedin. These numbers are quite high compared to just 18% of the respondents stating that they use Twitter.

    But the tables turn when it comes to engagement. 46% of the survey respondents said that they check Twitter every day. The result for Pinterest and LinkedIn was 23% and 13% respectively.

    The figures for Facebook prove that the social network is still at the top. 71% survey respondents said they use Facebook, compared to 67% last year.

    This study has sprung a surprise in the finding that Pinterest and LinkedIn have surpassed Twitter in popularity. However, seeing the increased popularity and emphasis on visuals, this is a development that is in line with the industry trends.

    The fact that Facebook is still the top ranking social site is definitely not surprising. Seeing the way Facebook has ruled the social roost until now, it is expected that it will be topping the chart for some more time.

    Did the Pew study results take you by surprise? Let us know what you think in the comments section below.