Real-Time, Targeted Advertising is a Gold Mine For Retailers And Brands…

According to Deloitte and Harrison, 66% of U.S. internet users said that they would click on additional internet ads if they were more targeted. This means that the more targeted an ad is, the higher the likelihood that consumers will click on it to make a purchase or become involved, i.e.”engaged,” with a brand or retailer.

BrandXads, Inc. – providing social marketing solutions for today’s marketer.

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Top 5 Reasons Businesses Benefit From Social Media

Social media has become the fastest-growing media trend. Ever. To reach fifty million customers, radio took thirty eight years. Television took thirteen. The Internet took four. Facebook reached fifty million customers in just five months. There are now more daily Tweets than there are people in the world. Linked In announced it’s 100-millionth member just last week. Professional bloggers are publishing industry-related content with broad readership that far surpasses the reach of traditional newspapers and magazines. It’s a virtual communication revolution and businesses everywhere have caught on. Here’s why:

1. Businesses now communicate with one another online. Employees, colleagues, prospects, clients and vendors all interact with one another via apps like Chatter, Facebook, Twitter, Foursquare, and YouTube. In today’s marketplace, any company – regardless the size – is expected to communicate in this way.

2. Smart businesses recognize the opportunity. For example, an airline passenger tweets his arrival in a city. Within minutes he receive a mobile message from a local transportation service (complete with picture of the vehicle), offering a ride to his hotel or office. Country clubs are getting in on the social media game too, tweeting offers for discounted rounds of golf while professionals are in town. If your business hasn’t yet made the leap, you’re quite simply missing the boat… or shuttle, as it were.

3. Advertising budgets depend on it. Few people watch commercials or flip through ads anymore . In this day and age, to reach prospective customers, businesses need to go where the customers are - on Social media sites. Social Media is not only the marketing wave of the future, it’s already the marketing vehicle of the present.

4. Social media enhances work ethic. Lest you fret over dreaded declines in productivity, studies show that a social media business presence actually reduces the number of e-mails, meetings, and phone calls, while at the same time increasing efficiency, customer service, and communication. Important data and opportunities are right at our fingertips, with up-to-the-minute updates and instant information.

5. Critical to the life and health of your business. Being a technically competent company is not just reserved for technical industries alone. It is certainly no longer considered cutting-edge to be plugged in. Staying regularly connected to social media activity is, quite simply, the new standard.

So ask yourself, is my business waiting to get connected? Has my company been slow to realize the excellent marketing opportunity available in social media? Are we operating within an outdated system with an antiquated business approach? If you answered yes to any of these questions, then isn’t it high time you and your company caught the vision?

BrandXads, Inc. – providing social marketing solutions for today’s marketer.

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Small Businesses Turn to Social Before Search

MARCH 28, 2011

Social media is the top online marketing channel for small businesses after company websites

According to the American Express OPEN and Search Engine Marketing Professional Organization (SEMPO) “Small Business Search Marketing Survey”, US small businesses recognize word-of-mouth as the top way their customers find them, followed by the internet and search engines.

The reliance on word-of-mouth—likely along with the low cost in dollars of participating—has led small businesses to make social media their No. 2 online marketing effort, after company websites. As of March 2011, 44% of respondents to the survey used social media for marketing, vs. 28% who used SEO and 21% who used paid search. Looking ahead, more small businesses planned to add social media marketing this year than either search tactic.

Other research supports the finding that small businesses have made social a top priority. A February 2011 MerchantCircle survey found over 70% of US local small businesses used Facebook for marketing, while only about two-thirds used Google and one-third used Bing.

While 57.2% of small business respondents told Ad-ology that social media was at least somewhat useful at generating leads, the MerchantCircle survey found local small businesses were more likely to say search engine marketing was an effective channel than social networks, at 40.2% vs. 36.7%.

Social may have an easier learning curve and require less direct spending by small businesses that are less experienced with online marketing—and the “must-do” factor helps as well—but time-tested online marketing methods like search should not be ignored. Search, in particular, unquestionably helps businesses get found by consumers right when they’re looking to buy.

BrandXads, Inc. – providing social marketing solutions for today’s marketer.

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GroupM Search and comScore recently released the findings of a new study that aims to reveal the impact of Search and Social Media. The results are quite interesting and may provide insights that could alter your current marketing strategies.

The study found that 58 percent of purchase decisions started with search and that 18 percent started with social media. Fifty-one percent only used search in their decision making process, while 48 percent used a combination of search and social media.

With nearly HALF of all purchase decisions involving the use of social media, the medium is definitely becoming an important driving force in the purchase decision process.

BrandXads, Inc. – providing social marketing solutions for today’s marketer.

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Here are the top 5 reasons why people follow brands on Twitter:

1. To get updates on future products

38% of respondents said that they use Twitter to get updates on future products or new product developments.

From a brand’s perspective, this shows that Twitter is a useful PR tool for creating buzz around a new product launch. It would also work well for innovative companies who continuously update their offering or for FMCG businesses where new products are frequently launched.

2. To engage with the company or brand

32%  of respondents said they wanted to stay informed about the activities of a company or brand, with a further 20% stating they become  followers to interact with, share ideas and provide feedback about services or products.

From a brand’s point of view, this proves the value of Twitter as both a customer engagement and customer feedback tool.

3. To save money

Saving money seems to be another key motivator for people to follow brands on Twitter. 31% of respondents said that they follow a company to receive discounts and promotions. A similar percentage of people also hoped to get “insider” information about upcoming sales, discount events and free samples.

This means that businesses could use Twitter to feed out discount codes and coupons in order to encourage brand loyalty and drive sales.

4.  For entertainment

For 26% of the people surveyed, following brands on Twitter was simply for entertainment and no other reason.

With this in mind, perhaps brands and businesses need to evaluate the way they engage people through Twitter and include more fun, interactive content, like videos and pictures, rather than just a news and updates, in their Twitter stream.

5. To display loyalty

23% of people surveyed said they follow brands or companies to show support. In other words, it is to show their loyalty to others.

For a brand or business, this type of user could be a key influencer and, as a brand advocate, if you engage them in the right way they will help spread positive word-of-mouth about your products or services.

BrandXads, Inc. – providing social marketing solutions for today’s marketer.

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Yesterday, Monday 21^st March 2011, Twitter turned 5 years old.

From Jack Dorsey’s first tweet in 2006 Twitter has grown to be a powerhouse with an average of 460,000 new accounts being created every day in the last month.

the first tweet

Twitter In Numbers

In 2007 Twitter averaged 5,000 tweets per day – on March 11^th there were 177 million tweets sent.

It took 3 years, 2 months and 1 day to reach the 1 billionth tweet – today there are 1 billion tweets every week!

Twitter has grown from 8 employees in January 2008 to 400 employees today, they have raised an eye-watering $360 million from investors and are valued at around $3.7 billion.

Memorable Moments

Twitter has had many memorable moments since Dorsey’s first tweet …

from the US Airway plane crash in the Hudson…

to the coverage of political uprisings in Moldova, Iran, Tunisia and Egypt …

What’s Next?

But despite its success Twitter have struggled to keep up with demand and their famous ‘fail whale’ still makes an appearance 5 years on.

With Dick Costolo now CEO of Twitter all eyes are on him as Twitter strives to prove it can make money, and with its evolving advertising platform now in play some are estimating the company’s revenue for 2011 could be $150 million.

Whether they hit that target or exceed it, only time will tell…

Twitter Official Stats

#tweets

• 3 years, 2 months and 1 day. The time it took from the first Tweet to the billionth Tweet.
• 1 week. The time it now takes for users to send a billion Tweets.
• 50 million. The average number of Tweets people sent per day, one year ago.
• 140 million. The average number of Tweets people sent per day, in the last month.
• 177 million. Tweets sent on March 11, 2011.
• 456. Tweets per second (TPS) when Michael Jackson died on June 25, 2009 (a record at that time).
• 6,939. Current TPS record, set 4 seconds after midnight in Japan on New Year’s Day.

#accounts

• 572,000. Number of new accounts created on March 12, 2011.
• 460,000. Average number of new accounts per day over the last month.
• 182%. Increase in number of mobile users over the past year.

BrandXads, Inc. – providing social marketing solutions for today’s marketer.

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Time is On Facebook’s Side

The average Facebook user spent about six hours and 36 minutes on the site during February 2011. That is roughly triple the average monthly time of two hours and 10 minutes on Yahoo, the site with next-highest average minutes total. Google ranked fifth at one hour and 15 minutes.

BrandXads, Inc. – providing social marketing solutions for today’s marketer.

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Coca-Cola Cut Ad Spend by 6.6% and Invest More in Social Media

The Grocer recently published its Top 100 advertisers report and showed that Coca-Cola cut ad spend by 6.6% in 2010 and invested more in social media.

A spokeswoman at Coca-Cola said that while TV is still an important medium from promoting their brands,”many of our recent advertising campaigns and promotions have also utilised online facilities such as Facebook and YouTube more”.

With the launch of Coke Zone, a social media oriented site which offers Coke drinkers access to exclusive content and rewards, Coca-Cola has clearly realised the value of integrating offline and online marketing.

While Coke Zone is considered to be a valuable point of interaction with consumers, what’s more interesting is that using social media has allowed Coca-Cola to break out of the stop-start cycle of more traditional media campaigns and to start engaging on a more frequent, ongoing basis. Coca-Cola’s social media strategy is clearly about long-term sustainable engagement, developing advocacy and encouraging brand loyalty.

This is something that other fmcg brands would do well to think about. Social media is not just about campaigns or generating buzz around a new product launch. It can be used to engage with consumers on an ongoing basis in order to deepen relationships with a brand.

Perhaps it’s time for other areas of the consumer market place to reconsider their advertising spend too. In particular, household brands. Household brands spent a whopping £177.8 million on advertising in 2010. But with the rising cost of detergent ingredients threatening retail prices (both coconut oil and palm kernel oil are up 130% on last years price) can household brands continue to spend big bucks on advertising or should they be looking at alternative means, perhaps through social media, of developing brand loyalty?

BrandXads, Inc. – providing social marketing solutions for today’s marketer.

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White label daily deals platform and TC Disrupt finalist ChompOn is releasing some interesting data today comparing the value of shares, Tweets, likes and follows in the context of e-commerce. Using data from the sites that it powers daily deals for, ChompOn examined the conversion rate and action for deals shared on Facebook and Twitter.

According to the startup, the value of a Facebook share is $14 and the value of a Tweet is $5. For shares and tweets, ChompOn was able to directly attribute sales to the original action and took the total revenue attributed to each action and divided it by the total number of shares/Tweets. ChompOn is working with 50 partners including Blackbook Magazine, JDeal and the wine vertical of flash sales site Beyondtherack, to power Groupon-like crowdsourced coupons.

By comparison, ChompOn says the value of a Facebook like is $8 and the value of a Twitter Follow is $2. For likes and follows, ChompOn estimated attribution by looking at traffic references and subtracting out purchases made through shares/Tweets as well as purchases made through direct traffic. Of course this data is a bit tenuous and anecdotal. And it’s important to note that this analysis does not capture the long-term value of customers over time.

We’ve seen other data that shows the higher value of a Facebook share over a Tweet. Eventbrite recently reported that a share with Facebook friends results in $2.52 worth of ticket sales whereas a Twitter share is only worth $0.43.

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Written By Mathew Ingram

Lots of companies — more every day, it seems — want to have Facebook “fan” pages, where customers or would-be customers can connect with them and become part of their online community. But what are those fans actually worth to a company? Everyone has their own views on that question, but now a social media measurement firm called Syncapse has come up with an actual dollar value in a report released today (PDF link).

The answer? An average fan is apparently worth about $136.38, although for some very successful social marketers the value can be dramatically higher, while for some less successful companies it can be virtually zero.

Syncapse came up with the figure by asking 4,000 fans of 20 of the top brands on Facebook — including Nokia, BlackBerry, Victoria’s Secret, Adidas, Nike, Coca-Cola, Starbucks and McDonald’s — why they were fans of those companies or brands, and about their past and future purchasing behavior. Syncapse then tried to estimate what the value of each fan’s spending would be to a company, as well as the value of continuing to have that fan as a customer over time.

The key findings of the report are likely to come as music to the ears of advertisers that have been pursuing a Facebook-based social media strategy. According to the survey:

• On average, fans spend an extra $71.84 they would not otherwise spend on products they describe themselves as fans of, compared to those who are not fans.
• Fans are 28 percent more likely than non-fans to continue using a specific brand.
• Fans are 41 percent more likely than non-fans to recommend a product they are a fan of to their friends.

That probably helps to explain why, according to recent statement by the company, the number of advertisers working with Facebook has doubled in the past year. But Syncapse also said that its results showed how the value of a fan can vary widely:

“An average fan may participate with a brand ten times a year and will make one recommendation. But an active fan may participate thirty times and make ten recommendations. The impact this has on fan value is quite dramatic. In the case of Coca- Cola, the best case for fan value reaches $316.78 but is $137.84 for an average fan. In the worse case scenario, a fan is worth $0.”

As the chart below shows, fans of McDonald’s spent on average, more than $300 on the company’s products, while non-fans spent just half that. Fans of Starbucks also spent more than twice as much as non-fans.

Some might argue that these conclusions aren’t exactly rocket science — after all, one would assume that if someone goes to the trouble of becoming a fan of a product on Facebook, that person would be enough of a supporter of the brand that they would buy it more often, recommend it to their friends and so on. And Syncapse’s results may also not be 100 percent reliable if extended to the entire universe of 500 million Facebook users, since a few thousand users is a relatively small sample. But it’s still interesting to see someone try to put an actual dollar figure on the value of a Facebook friend.

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