Posted by: Shannon Anderson, Project Manager
Social media marketing (SMM) is becoming an increasingly critical tactic in driving website traffic and staying involved in the conversation that surrounds a company’s industry. As you implement a social media campaign, it is important to track these efforts to see which sources are paying off.
Google Analytics now allows webmasters to see how users are interacting with a company’s website through the following sites:
To view this data requires Analytics add-ons, but once gleaned, it’s valuable in understanding what social bookmarking websites people are using to get to your site. Using this information, you can evaluate the target audiences of these sites and consider new ways to reach them. On some sites like Digg.com, you can even click directly to the users’ profiles who have bookmarked your site.
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Posted by: Kerry Houchin, Marketing Coordinator
It should come as no surprise that nonprofit donations are down. According to the Center for Nonprofit Management, 50.6% of nonprofit organizations are seeing a decrease in donations. Not only are organizations seeing fewer donors but also smaller donations from existing donors. To make matters worse, administration costs are on the rise.
Nonprofit workers clearly have their work cut out for them. My suggestion? Focus more efforts toward online marketing. Online giving worldwide hit the $10.44 billion mark in 2007, and it currently represents nearly half of all nonprofit donations.
Here are some tips on using the Internet to increase donations:
Stay in touch with donors via email. Send a monthly note reminding them to make a donation and show what donations are helping to accomplish.
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Posted by: Megan Amick, Marketing Coordinator
As 2009 gets going, it’s certain marketers will have several challenges ahead, but on a more upbeat note, it’s a great time to look toward the future of interactive marketing. There are many predictions about whether the online advertising industry will see the growth it has in years past. It seems most projections point toward increased spending but at much lower growth rates than before.
So, what can we expect from the industry that doesn’t quit?
• More keyword inflation: As traditional advertising budgets shift to digital, competition will increase and advertisers will have to be sure their paid search (or pay-per-click advertising) campaigns are strategic and focused.
• Tracking conversions: To keep cost per acquisition (CPA) at a minimum, it’s time to focus on optimizing conversion rates for the highest possible ROI.
• Data privacy and security: The question of how to regulate privacy and keep online users protected will be further explored.
• Qualitative analytics: Knowing not only what your consumers did on your website but why they did it will give greater insight to user activity and increase your ROI.
• Mobile advertising: With the release of several mobile hardware devices from Apple, Google and Blackberry to name a few, more users will have online capabilities at their fingertips.
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Posted by: Gloria Dutton, Marketing Coordinator
On my recent post about social media, someone asked a great question about how a traditional B2B company might venture into the social media space, so I thought I’d dig in a little deeper.
The difference between how B2C companies and B2B companies engage in social media comes down to target audiences and the online avenues they’re likely to explore. It’s important to understand, however, that social media is just as valuable a resource for B2B companies as B2C… if not more.
One of the great misconceptions about social media relates to what’s actually out there. When you first hear “social media,” you might think of trendy social networking sites like MySpace and Facebook. Since Facebook was originally designed for a college audience, it might not be the best match for your business goals right now. (That’s not to say that you should write it off entirely. With some knowledge growth and increases in use, it might just evolve into a worthwhile outlet for you.) read more »
Posted by: Meg Archer, Marketing Coordinator
To help you wrap your head around all the social media talk these days, I thought I’d throw out an example of a company successfully leveraging the trend.
Consider Electronic Arts (EA), a leading video game development shop. They partnered with Context to create a Facebook application. It’s based on EA’s trivia game for the Nintendo Wii called Smarty Pants. EA repurposes the same questions from the Wii game for the Facebook application. In the application, the goal is to earn the most points by answering questions correctly. The faster you answer a question, the more points you get. Users challenge friends to beat each other’s score, and there’s also a leader board, displaying the smartest smarty pants. As you get more points, you grow into different pairs of pants like pajamas, safari pants and clown pants – virtual status symbols. read more »
Posted by: Kerry Houchin, Marketing Coordinator
Of emerging forms of media today, social media is the fastest growing. Spending on social media marketing (SMM) is projected to grow 60.8% just this year. But how can it be used to generate business leads?
The usefulness of social media as a lead generator depends on your definition of a lead. A lead can vary, of course, from someone who registers to download a white paper to someone who signs up to attend a webinar – and everything in between. Methods for generating leads through social media are as diverse as the forms social media takes. But let’s consider how an event – whether live or online – might benefit. read more »
Posted by: Gloria Dutton, Marketing Coordinator
Customers are now able to research, shop and communicate online, and because more and more people are taking advantage of these opportunities, they’re able to share their experiences with a wider, Web-based network than ever before. They give opinions and browse others’ reviews in a variety of venues – blogs, social networking sites like MySpace, and within ecommerce sites that allow users to post feedback. And because consumers are basing purchase decisions on the information they find in these social media avenues, companies are making it their business to actively participate.
Social media includes an endless list of online communication outlets including blogs, RSS feeds, forums, message boards, podcasts and social networking sites. In a recent survey by Inc. Magazine, 121 companies varying in size and industry were questioned about their familiarity with and use of social media outlets. The survey found that companies are “very familiar” with social networking (42%), message boards (38%), and blogging (36%). read more »