How the 2012 presidential campaign will affect social media strategies for 2013
As businesses look at their plans for 2013 its time for them to seriously consider adopting a maturity model for social media. For many marketers social media is looked upon as an immature media, but when Nielsen titles its 2012 report “Social Media is Coming of Age” perhaps its time to stop treating social media as a wild child and instead approach it as the rapidly maturing media that it is.
Adopting a maturity model for social media will require businesses to evolve their thinking and approaches, as well as their use of resources, in order to take advantage of social media as a mature media form. One way might be to adopt some of the strategies that Obama For America campaign used in the 2012 presidential campaign.
Facebook Exchange (FBX): What we've learned so far
There has been no bigger news this year in the world of digital advertising than the launch of Facebook Exchange (FBX). The implications are many. It opened up a gigantic pool of inventory in the hottest sector of ad tech: programmatic buying or, more specifically, retargeting. Furthermore, it brought together Facebook API buyers and DSPs in a way that companies are still trying to figure out, and overnight, it created competition, in terms of attention and dollars, for Google’s advertising juggernaut, DoubleClick Ad Exchange.
Now that it’s been almost five months since AdRoll and a handful of other tech companies have joined the FBX alpha, we thought we’d share the key things that we’ve learned about this exciting new channel.
Q&A: Sarah Chambers of Radley and Co on conversion rate optimisation
Sarah Chambers is Site Operations & Development Manager at fashion retailer Radley and Co, focused on optimising the website to improve customer experience and conversion rates.
Her role involves overseeing a data-driven approach to website optimisation that combines analytics, usability, design and testing. We asked her a number of questions about her approach, and the company's work with RedEye to improve conversion rates.
40% of shoppers would spend more if offered a better customer experience
As e-commerce becomes an increasingly overcrowded marketplace dominated by a handful of major brands, businesses are having to think of new ways to stand out from the crowd and attract new customers.
Previously it was commonly assumed that price was the best way to beat the competition, but that just results in a self-defeating race to the bottom.
Instead, businesses are now focusing on the customer experience as a way of differentiating themselves. It's a subject our CEO Ashely Friedlein recently debated in a post looking at whether CMOs should actually be aspiring to become chief experience officers.
And a new survey from Oracle adds weight to the argument that the customer experience is of paramount importance online.
Overall 40% of respondents in the survey said they would be willing to spend more with a company if they improved the overall customer experience, rising to 81% of consumers in Western Europe and a whopping 90% of UK respondents.
Furthermore a third of total respondents (35%) want businesses to ensure they can easily ask questions and access information before making a purchase.
How to adapt your Facebook strategy for success in the MENA region
Econsultancy has published its first Facebook for Businesses in the Middle East and North Africa best practice guide, authored by digital marketing consultant, Husam Jandal.
Focused on the region-specific factors that need to be considered when creating a Facebook page for businesses, the guide stresses the importance of understanding your audience, taking cultural and religious influences into account when pushing out content via a Facebook page.
First look at Google+ Communities: the importance for brands, search and PR
You've got to give it to Google. When it launched Google+ over a year ago, it said it was the real deal. Something the company was going to really invest in. And that's certainly been the case.
Whether or not you share my enthusiasm about the potential of Google Hangouts, the importance of Google+ for SEO or the impact of AuthorRank on thought leadership, you'll likely be intrigued by Google's latest new feature coming to a Google+ page near you soon.
I am, of course, talking about Google+ Communities, which launched late last week.
Metro becomes latest newspaper to use responsive design
Metro has become the latest newspaper to embrace responsive design as it moves towards a “mobile-first” strategy.
A blog post announcing the site redesign says that the company made the change “sure in the knowledge that mobile users are making up an increasing proportion of our visitors – and will soon be in the majority.”
According to our fourth annual Conversion Rate Optimization Report, produced in association with RedEye, the proportion of organisations designing their websites specifically for mobile phones has increased from 25% to 35% since 2011.
Therefore Metro.co.uk’s redesign is part of a wider trend – in fact we’ve previously reported on the BBC’s move towards responsive design, as well as USA Today’s new site that was built with tablet users in mind.
Australian retailers in high spirits during the lead-up to Christmas
Australian retailers are entering into the Christmas season with high spirits, but few expect to see more than 2% of sales from their online channel, according to a new Deloitte report.
The Christmas Retailers’ Survey 2012 found many interesting trends regarding the current state of retail in Australia, yet the key issue within the findings appeared to be that online is still not a top priority for retail heads.
Betty Crocker fans go wild for Elf on the Shelf bait recipe
This week Christmas is slipping into the mix alongside some inspiration sports brands in our weekly showcase of The Dachis Group's Social Business Index.
Our focus is on three companies – V.F. Corp, General Mills, and Woodman Labs known for their brands Vans, Betty Crocker and GoPro - as analyzed by the team at the Dachis Group.
We'll also take a glimpse at the top twenty brands on the Social Business Index, a real-time ranking of more than 30,000 global brands based on their performance in the social space, to see how the biggest brands in social are faring.
Is Facebook's AdSense finally on the way?
Some investors and analysts are increasingly bullish on Facebook's prospects for solving the social networking monetization riddle, something reflected in the recent increase in the company's share price.
Assuming that they're right, one thing remains to be seen: what Facebook's cash cow will be. One thing is not in question, however: there is no shortage of monetization ideas the company could conceivably pursue.
