Posts tagged Internet Marketing

As we are forthcoming the end of 2010 is the development of a number of companies using social media. I expected that the characters must build out how to adapt its social stigma in general, noting the multiplier effect of social media and how to handle it.

Online communities are now everywhere is accessible and shared goals. While social networks are interconnected they pushing and pulling content through various channels. Entrepreneurs, bloggers and marketing, we must realize that the landscape is changing and will continue to move carefully, not incidence.

In its place of trying to reach the range of demographic groups, investment in means of payment, we find the organic matter more useful and more powerful, the ranking of search engines and shared by communities of fans. It is revealing that the evolution of social media not just tools. The true “leading indicators” will be how the media used in the real world, not how advertisers want it to be used.

And because we’re living in an over-communicated society with competing and conflicting information, true engagement in this on-demand world will be the biggest challenge moving forward. I am not just talking about getting people’s attention in marketing; I’m referring to real meaningful conversations that open up the communication channel that leads to authentic actions. There is so much noise and deception across all media channels that it only makes sense for most people to ignore them.

Here are 4 internet marketing trends that will be maturing in the coming year:

1. The Return of Direct Marketing

The meaning of your communication is the response you get especially in the social web where people can only close a window, ignore a tweet or click the links to grab the attention of others. Everyone has a blog, website, Facebook page, Twitter or YouTube account channel. So how does a sea of identity?

As it turns out direct response marketing is still the most effective way to test your marketing campaigns. The difference with social media is that you need to be measuring the right metrics. It’s essentially the same concept as great salesmanship. Great marketing is great one on one sales focusing on finding out what customers want, their pain, urgency, desire and needs.

Done right you will get insights about your customers that tells you not just what they clicked on but from where, why and how. Remember, greater marketers don’t make assumptions! Once you have meaningful data, it’s easier to craft your direct response campaign that converts better because you’ll have a list of “high quality” leads that are more likely to buy.

Without qualified leads, you’re basically playing the guessing game, driving in the dark and often a waste of time and money. Concentrate on appealing and selling to the top 20% of the prospects that are more likely to convert. And if you can integrate your email marketing efforts with social media, you’ll gain further insights on your customer’s media habits, which can be used to optimize your next campaign.

2. The Raise of Social Metrics

Like most of your potential customers will not convert immediately after receiving your communication, it is important to follow up with media mail and office, because not only will you know when someone opened the email and what they clicked on, you will also learn their habits and social influence.

The goal is to find out your customer’s “from” and “to” path to your web properties. It could be your online store, a product(s) page, your opt-in page (landing page), a sign-up to webinar or simply a Facebook page.

Ask yourself these questions:

1.       Where is my source of traffic? How much does it cost me? (Time, money and resources)

2.       What are the demographics (age, location, habits etc…) of my traffic? Are they on social networks?

3.       What do my customers want? Do I have the same customers online and offline?

4.       How much time does it take for my customers to go from the original source of traffic to my web properties? And what can I do to get them to take the action I want that aligns with what they want?

5.       What social media metrics can bring clarity to the habits of my prospective customers?

There are some nice free tools out there that will provide you with social data to get you started. One of my favorite ways to view my engagement performance is using Hootsuite’s statistics with Google Analytics and email marketing data. This allows me to view the engagement performance across social media from blog articles to emails.

For example, in the past 12 months, I generated 16,000+ clicks from my Twitter account which allows me to see what sort of topic my followers are interested in. I can then tailor my blog content to target further engagement and sharing. The same can be applied to email and this is particularly useful if you have an ecommerce site that allows you to track sales conversions.

The key here is to link metrics to actionable options that you generate for them. That’s why you want people to visit your web properties because you will have control of the environment.  Everything is a test in marketing.

3. Focus Shifts from Tactical to Strategic

The combination of customers and prospects has talked about this year, most of them belong to one of three buckets: they still tried social marketing, social media by using an additional tool for the current marketing tactics and their integration into social part of its commitment to more customer-centric.

In the coming year I see more businesses moving towards wanting to be more social embracing what Jeremiah Owyang described as the “hub and spoke” social business model. The challenge will be how to strategize, streamline, automate, budget, and measure social media and social marketing. Simply put, the one-size-fits-all volume marketing will no longer be effective.

You want more consistent, predictable campaign that can be efficiently replicated instead of one-off campaigns that requires lots of resources and attention to operate. So how can you achieve that?

The best way is to conduct split testing across integrated campaigns. You must become gradually efficient at implementing and optimizing your campaigns focusing on frequency and delivery of real-time value. It also requires the big picture marketing strategy, NOT just tactics. At the end it is about getting the highest return on the value you create for your customers. Start thinking about how you can earn engagement that leads to conversation that leads to revenue.

4. Video Marketing Becomes Mainstream

Do you make videos? Did you know that a channel on YouTube is a Facebook profile? Did you know that online video, so video can help your SEO? Take a look at some data here for you to think. Something to remember is that although online video has exploded the other media channels braking or downhill!

According to a recent Edison Research’s study indicates that “during an average day, Americans age 12-24 spend two hours and 52 minutes on the internet, making the web the media format American young adults spend the most time consuming. Television closely follows with a daily average of two hours and 47 minutes.” In addition, as opposed to TV ads, online videos are trackable and can be viewed repeatedly attracting the “long-tail” viewers while allowing you to measure the exact impact of the video and participate around it in the comments section or on blogs.

The bottom line is that although video (Youtube) marketing isn’t anything new, it’s gaining more momentum now because the cost of video production are dramatically reduced today than it was a few years ago. You can now purchase high definition cameras (such as the Flip HD) for under $150 which creates amazing looking videos. Even the new iPhone4 has HD videos that enable everyone to become a video producer at all times.

Keep in mind that you should consider video marketing tactic to support your overall marketing campaign not the other way around if it doesn’t fit into your strategy. Success video marketing strategy focuses on attracting the right audience with a topic or theme that’s video-worthy and can be compelling!

The take: We are in the midst of changing media in which technology has fundamentally changed the way we consume media and interact with each other. It is not Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Youtube, Google, iPhone or IPAD, never has been. This is how these tools and platforms of support you want to accomplish with your business.

Social is just a label; the real challenge is how to deliver the best customer experience establishing meaningful relationships between you and your customers. Am I missing something here? Please leave your comments and questions; I am curious how to use the Internet to promote your business, products or services.