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Archives for 2012

Getting People Talking

The term ‘social networking’ is so ingrained in our daily life that it’s easy to forget why it started out that way. Of course, social networks don’t deliver tangible products or services, rather they allow you to socialise with others on a level that wasn’t possible beforehand. These may well be people you know, but they could just as well be people you’ve never met: perhaps they’re just people you’d like to know.

The reason social networks are so successful are that they bring people with common interests together and get them talking which, if you’re trying to interest people in your corporate site, is exactly what you need. Trading information allows people to become better informed about your opportunities and you about theirs. One of the finest ways of doing this is by creating your own social network online: a forum.

Questions and Answers

Whichever side of the table we’ve been on, we have all been through that interview where the applicant isn’t very clued up on the role. This is particularly common for difficult technical positions and, really, it’s understandable: the fine details of a role are what you learn on the job. Forums can be fantastic ways of allowing applicants or even recruits to talk with each other or current employees about the role and to help themselves prepare for that big interview or the big first day.

Letting Networkers Network

Using a homegrown forum allows new or potential recruits to talk to and find other people who could well be useful to your business in the future. Whether interviewees get the job or not is not important – connections are useful inside and outside of your firm. If you think about the number of people you’ve met at interviews alone, you’d be amazed at the expertise available at your fingertips: a forum can do that on a huge scale.

Innovation in Moderation

It’s true that forums need to be closely moderated and that anything inappropriate should be removed, but it can also be interesting to see what potential applicants have to say about a role online. Beware – candidates will talk much more openly on a forum than in an interview, but a forum could even be a useful pre-interview tool for seeing who does and who doesn’t have the right online communication skills.

A good, well moderated and active forum can be an invaluable tool for a recruiter. It can draw in applicants or introduce recruits to one another and can act as a useful SEO tool.  If  you’re still unconvinced, take a look at sites like thestudentroom.co.uk to see just how useful the right forum can be.

Popup Into Shareholder Safety & Trust

As a leading UK retailer, Marks and Spencer knows how to protect their customers. Recently they have included a popup that warns shareholders about scams. Ordinarily, many users consider a popup to be a nuisance, but this particular popup is effective in several ways.

  • First, it’s strategically located in the center of the screen where website visitors are compelled to read its contents. Typically, important information such as this is seen in the sidebar or in the main content, where it’s rarely viewed by visitors.
  • Second, it may discourage potential scammers from targeting their shareholders.
  • Most importantly, it improves trust in Marks and Spencer. When visitors read the conveniently brief message, they become aware that Marks and Spencer is attentive to the security of the confidential information of their shareholders.

This popup is an example of a simple way to effectively improve security while also gaining consumer loyalty and trust.

See it in action

Benchmarking Your Analytical Skills

IBM offer a self-assessment tool that allows you to answer questions to receive a personalized account of how well your organization is doing in making best use of analysis, against the industry average.

It then provides a more detailed breakdown of your score, and provides a link to which particular one of IBM’s services can be used to improve each area. This is useful as not only is it customized to the user, it provides

  • a basic overview of what your organization is doing well, and where it’s falling short in easy to understand terms
  • a suggested solution and invitational link to “Learn more” about that specific IBM service.

All in all, an engaging and informative way to promote IBM and their technology solutions.

Brand Digital and Social Campaigns Are Not Aligned with Consumer Online and Mobile Purchasing

holiday sale shoppingRetail brands are ramping up their marketing efforts as the 2012 holiday shopping season approaches, but new research from Yesmail Interactive reveals that brand digital and social marketing campaigns do not align with consumer online and mobile purchasing preferences and patterns. That could mean brands are missing significant opportunities to connect holiday campaigns to consumers and to meet end-of-year sales goals.

Yesmail Interactive surveyed more than 500 consumers and analyzed their shopping preferences against marketing campaigns from the following companies: Amazon, Apple, Best Buy, Crate & Barrel, Dell, Game Stp, HH Gregg, JC Penney, Kohl’s, Macy’s, Nordstrom, Pottery Barn, Rue LaLa, Sears, Sprint, T-Mobile, Toys ‘r Us, Verizon, Walmart, and Williams Sonoma.

While 7 out of 10 survey respondents indicated that they’ll spend the same amount or more during the 2012 holiday shopping season as they did during the same time in 2011, the marketing campaigns of leading brands are missing opportunities to capitalize on how and why consumers use email and social channels for shopping activities.

The following findings show that marketers are not meeting consumer shopping trends in mobile and online environments, and are missing opportunities as a result of this misalignment:

Mobile, Social, and Email Promotions

  • 80% of online shoppers and 71% of in-store (offline) shoppers claim that email promotions (discounts, free shipping, etc.) influence their purchase decisions.
  • 62% of survey respondents have used a mobile device to compare web prices to in-store prices while shopping in a brick-and-mortar store.
  • More than 41% of mobile device owners have made an online or offline purchase as a direct result of a promotional email message that they viewed on their device. However, only two-thirds of those email messages linked to brand web pages that were mobile-optimized.
  • Social media promotions drove 34% of shoppers to make a purchase, but only 8% of Facebook and 4% of Twitter campaigns focused on discounts, free shipping, and other money-saving promotions.

Timing

  • Nearly 80% of in-store shoppers prefer to make purchases on the weekend. Only 31% of online shoppers prefer to make purchases on the weekends, but nearly 50% of online shoppers prefer to make purchases on Monday, Tuesday, or Wednesday.
  • Nearly 40% of survey respondents preferred to make purchases between 6:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m., but only 5% of email campaigns sent by brands were sent during that time period.
  • Nearly 60% of survey respondents preferred to interact with brands on social media sites between 6:00 p.m. and 2:00 a.m., but more than 60% of social media campaigns on Facebook, Twitter, and Google+ are launched between 10:00 a.m. and 6:00 p.m. Central Time.

The survey also found that 20% of consumers plan to begin holiday shopping at least three months before the holidays begin. That means retailers should already be running 2012 holiday marketing campaigns. Is your brand leveraging the opportunities identified in this survey? Simple modifications to your campaigns could have a significant effect on their success based on the findings from this survey.

Image: Jay Lopez

Nearly 1 in 5 U.K. Mobile Shoppers Have Made Mobile Purchases

iphone branded appsIt is predicted that by the end of 2015, more than half of the population in the United Kingdom will access the mobile internet. That’s according to a study by eMarketer, which also reports that 18% of the U.K. smartphone user population have purchased goods or services using their mobile devices. In other words, brands need to have a plan in place to connect with mobile shoppers in the U.K., and brands need to make it easy for them to make purchases from their smartphones and tablets.

According to comScore, purchasing goods and services using a smartphone ranked as the second most mentioned activity performed by U.K. smartphone users in a July 2012 study (18%). Coming in first was finding store locations (24%). 16% of survey respondents had compared product prices, researched product features, and made shopping lists using their smartphones. Finding coupons or deals was mentioned by 15% of U.K. smartphone users, and 14% had checked product availability using their smartphones. Interestingly, eMarketer reports that in August 2011, making purchases using smartphones didn’t make it into the top 10 mobile activities for U.K. smartphone owners.

As you develop your brand’s mobile presence, keep the following in mind:

  • The U.K. mobile shopper audience still skews male (55%).
  • The  U.K. mobile shopper audience skews middle income (more than half of mobile shoppers reported incomes between $24,193 and $72,850).
  • Over half of mobile shoppers in the U.K. are between the ages of 25-44 (29% between 25-34 and 23% between 35-44) with another 19% falling in the 18-24 age bracket.
  • Nearly 50% of mobile purchases cost between $33 and $161.

Now is the time to start researching your brand’s mobile audience to gain a better understanding of how you can offer mobile brand experiences that turn into mobile brand purchases. The move toward m-commerce from e-commerce isn’t going to slow down, and your brand needs to be mobile sooner rather than later.

Image: Sean MacEntee

Top 5 New Social Media Channels for B2B Marketing

In my previous post, ‘Top 5 Social Media Channels for B2B Marketing‘, I focused on the (some would say) ‘traditional’ channels, i.e. the ones that have been around for quite a few years already and are well established as social media channels and tools for social media marketing. But unless made directly aware of the benefits, many marketers are either unaware of or slightly scared of using new channels. In this article I will outline the top 5 new up-and-coming social media channels that could help your B2B company get ahead in the social media game.

1.       Google+

A largely misunderstood channel, Google+ hasn’t got off to the best start in life. But as people begin to give it a chance and understand the mystery of ‘Circles’, it is fast becoming a very useful channel for B2B marketers. If the fact that Google have integrated Google+ into their search algorithms isn’t enough to sell it to you, they have also integrated AdWords and the unique Circles feature allows for social and geo targeting in a much easier format (once you get to grips with it) than any other social network

2.  Foursquare

Foursquare is another social media channel that everyone has heard of but no-one really dares to use, mainly because they don’t know exactly what it does. And for those who have already used it, it tends to be for B2C marketing, meaning B2B marketers are instantly put off. But Foursquare is actually very useful to B2B marketing, not only for the company’s social media presence, but for researching into your audience. You can use it to find out where your B2B clients regularly check in and consider those companies and places as potentials for sponsorship and advertising, and you could also use this information to generate incentives and rewards based on their genuine interests

3.        BranchOut

Many of you will have probably received requests for BranchOut via Facebook already, but still aren’t sure what it is exactly. It is very similar to LinkedIn in that the overall use is professional networking, but the advantage people are beginning to see with BranchOut is that many people who are on Facebook are finding it easier to access than LinkedIn, allowing you to connect with those people who wouldn’t normally use a networking site, as well as those on LinkedIn who have also joined BranchOut. Therefore there is the potential to reach new audiences and almost double your connections compared with LinkedIn. Not to be used as an alternative to LinkedIn just yet, but definitely worth setting up on the back burner as it has the potential to knock LinkedIn off many people’s top spot.

4.       Mashable

Mashable is the latest craze in news consumption, and they allow just about anyone to submit news. Think of it as a secondary to your blog as there is no guarantee you will get everything you send in published, but send in relevant news, reviews or advice articles with mentions of your products and services with the potential of getting them seen by a worldwide relevant audience via social media.

5.       Pinterest

As with Flickr or any other image sharing tool, Pinterest is not recommended as one of your company’s core channels, but it is still worth consideration as a secondary channel for promoting brand awareness and creating blog and website traffic. Pinterest is, after all, the 3rd largest social network in the world…

There are plenty more new and old social media channels and tools where that came from, and if you have any opinions on the ones mentioned or any I didn’t mention that you feel should be on there, please comment!