Email, Social Media to See More Marketing Dollars in 2011!

Email marketers have been warming up to social media for the past year, using social elements like “share with your network” and buttons to connect with brands on Twitter and Facebook in email campaigns. Email and social media also go together in another way: They are the top tactics marketers worldwide expect to increase budgets on in 2011. 

According to a November 2010 survey of business executives around the globe by StrongMail, nearly two-thirds of companies will increase spending on email marketing, and 57% will put more dollars toward social media marketing. Search took a distant third place with 41% of respondents indicating they would spend more.



Email, Social Media to See More Marketing Dollars in 2011

Emineo Media

Improve Your Blog SEO with Inbound Links!

Businesses continue to search for practical ways to improve their search engine rankings?

Here are 7 useful tips from Social Media Examiner to optimize your website and blog content and help increase ranking!

#1: Create Content Others Will Want to Share

#2: Distribute Online Press Releases

#3: Write Guest Posts

#4: Link to Others

#5: Share Content with Relevant Websites

#6: Create a Link Network

#7: Don’t Forget Internal Links

Click on the link below to read the full article.

7 Ways to Improve Your Blog SEO with Inbound Links

Emineo Media

Resources Are Now a Big Issue for Social Media Marketers!

Lack of sufficient time and resources worse than lack of strategy or objectives

Social media was once seen by some marketers as a quick and easy way to reach consumers at their newest channel of choice. Advertising on the sites was relatively cheap, and marketing on the sites by creating a brand page or profile was free—it only cost internal time and resources.

But those resources can prove to be substantial, as many marketing professionals seem to have learned, based on a November 2010 survey by social media marketing solutions firm R2integrated. Asked what the biggest barrier to social media marketing was, more than two in five selected time and resources. Just half as many said questions about return on investment were as problematic.

Resources Are Now a Big Issue for Social Media Marketers

Emineo Media

Online Ad Spend Surpasses Newspapers!

A milestone for advertising on the internet 2010 will mark the first time marketers put more money into online advertising than newspapers, eMarketer estimates.

Total newspaper spending, including advertising in print and online editions, will fall to $25.7 billion in 2010, a decline of 6.6%. Spending on print newspapers alone will fall more steeply to $22.8 billion. Meanwhile, a rise of 13.9% will push US online ad spending up to $25.8 billion by year’s end.



The spending gap will widen significantly next year, as total newspaper spending falls again to $24.6 billion (including $21.4 billion for print) and online climbs to $28.5 billion.

Online Ad Spend Surpasses Newspapers

Emineo Media

Word-of-Mouth Has Greatest Effect on Moms!

If moms weren’t already an attractive enough target for marketers, a Keller Fay study of US internet users and their brand conversations has found that they are more responsive to word-of-mouth than other adults and more likely to help pass on brand messages.

Nearly two-thirds of mothers studied in September 2010 said they typically thought word-of-mouth was credible, 2 percentage points ahead of females in general and 10 percentage points ahead of men. They were also more apt to take action, including passing the information on to others, making a purchase or doing more research on a brand. Across all metrics, while females were more receptive than males, moms were even better disposed to listening to brand conversations.



They also mentioned more brands per week in their own conversations, at 73 mentions compared with fewer than 65 among females and just 57 among males.

Word-of-Mouth Has Greatest Effect on Moms

Emineo Media

Social Network Ad Spending to Double in U.K. by 2012!

The rise of social networking, and the involvement of advertisers in these channels, was one of 2010’s mega-stories—not least in the UK. Though spending in social networks is still a fraction of total online ad spending, many UK brands have leapt at the chance to engage with consumers in an environment where they spend increasing amounts of time and are highly motivated to share their thoughts. eMarketer estimates social network ad spending in the UK will rise from £130 million ($203 million) this year to £275 million ($430 million) by 2012, an increase of more than 110% in two years. This will boost social network ad spending from 3% of all online ad spending to 6% over the same time period.

via UK Social Network Ad Spending to Double by 2012 - eMarketer.

Inside Twitter’s “100 Million New Members” Number!

How many users does Twitter really have?

Last week, Twitter announced that it added 100 million new accounts so far in 2010. That’s a staggering number when you consider that six weeks ago it revealed it had signed up a total of 175 million new accounts since its launch and was adding new ones at a rate that would bring it to 200 million by the end of 2010. Translation: 50% of Twitter’s accounts were added this year.

On the flip side, the Pew Internet & American Life Project just reported that only 8% of US adult internet users used Twitter in 2010. According to eMarketer’s estimates, there were 178.6 million adult internet users in the US in 2010, so Pew’s figure translates to 14.3 million users. This number is lower than eMarketer’s April 2010 estimate of Twitter users, which will be updated in early 2011.

To be clear, Pew asked survey participants if they actually used Twitter, not merely whether or not they had an account. This is very different from Twitter reporting its total number of new or existing accounts.

Inside Twitter’s “100 Million New Members” Number

Marketers Buy In to Promoted Tweets!

Twitter’s ad formats mature and grow

Twitter advertising is attracting more interest from marketers.

In November, the TWTRCON conference and oneforty, an online directory for Twitter tools, surveyed 110 business professionals, mostly from marketing and communications, about their interaction with Twitter’s Promoted Products suite.

Overall, the respondents were interested in using Twitter ads as a part of their marketing mix, with 51% of respondents somewhat or very interested in Promoted Products. However, 27% hadn’t made up their minds and 22% said they had no interest at all.



Marketers Buy In to Promoted Tweets

Emineo Media

Social Media Is Greater Marketing Priority for Small Businesses!

Facebook is now third most important marketing tactic Small businesses, while not yet at the usage levels of their larger counterparts, are warming up to social media marketing, according to a fall 2010 survey from small-business marketing firm Constant Contact.The businesses surveyed overwhelmingly considered word-of-mouth the most important marketing tactic for finding new customers, but that figure includes discussions that take place both online and offline. Websites and email marketing followed as the only other tactics a majority of small businesses said were “very important.”

The businesses surveyed overwhelmingly considered word-of-mouth the most important marketing tactic for finding new customers, but that figure includes discussions that take place both online and offline. Websites and email marketing followed as the only other tactics a majority of small businesses said were “very important.”



Social Media Is Greater Marketing Priority for Small Businesses

Emineo Media

2011 Trends: Content Marketing Is Critical!

Next year, marketers will need to rethink their approach to advertising and marketing and intensify their focus on creating magnetic content that will naturally attract consumers, rather than relying solely on the interruption model of advertising, which consumers are responding to less and less. Think pull vs. push. Magnetic content can include anything created on behalf of a brand—be it an ad, YouTube video, online game, Facebook page, Twitter promo or mobile app—that consumers genuinely want to engage with and pass along to others. This content entertains, amuses, informs, serves a function or satisfies a consumer need. It’s welcome instead of annoying or interruptive. Marketers, especially those working in social media, have seen the proven value of branded content, sometimes also referred to as “earned media.” Nearly three-quarters of US companies with a social media strategy used such content in their campaigns, making it the most common type of content used, according to a June 2010 study by King Fish Media, HubSpot and Junta42.

Creating effective, breakthrough advertising has always been a challenge for marketers, as well as for the agencies charged with the task. But the classic interruption-disruption model of advertising is moribund. Marketers should ask themselves five questions about the magnetic content they are seeking to create to determine whether it will be truly attractive to their audience:

1. Is the content unique?
2. Is the content useful?
3. Is the content well executed?
4. Is the content fun?
5. Does the content make good use of the channel in which it appears (e.g., social, mobile, video)?

Marketers should base their magnetic content ideas on well-researched customer behaviors, attitudes and lifestyles. This entails altering your emphasis in marketing from “selling product” to identifying and solving a consumer need or want that transcends or complements the physical product or service you are selling. Ask yourself this critical question: Besides your product, what can you do for the consumer?

Geoff Ramsey—CEO, Co-Founder

2011 Trends: Content Marketing Is Critical

2011 Trends: Census Highlights Demographic Shifts!

Future growth in the digital population will come from minority audiences.

The overall growth of the online population in the US is stagnating, and most future growth will come from increases in minority audiences including Hispanics, blacks, seniors and children.Hispanics are the fastest-growing segment of the US population, and eMarketer expects the Hispanic online population to grow by nearly 10 million people between 2010 and 2014.

Next year, eMarketer forecasts 32.2 million Hispanics, or 62.9% of the US Hispanic population, will be online. The results of the 2010 census could push those estimates up even further.



While the bureau has consistently projected strong growth within minority populations through 2050, the new figures for all races may change more than the bureau projected.

The census’s open-ended questions on racial and ethnic background—including a write-in answer for filers who did not feel their background could be explained by a single check-box answer—caused much confusion and comment.

It is still unclear how respondents identified themselves and their families.

2011 Trends: Census Highlights Demographic Shifts

Emineo Media

How Many Marketers Are Using Social Media?

Nearly three-quarters this year

As consumer usage of social media continues to increase in the US and around the world, marketers have transitioned from cautious engagement to full deployment.

Next year, four in five US businesses with at least 100 employees will take part in social media marketing, eMarketer estimates. That’s up from just 42% as recently as 2008, and the number of marketers using the channel will continue to rise through 2012.

“Marketers that have spent the past few years ramping up their internal social media marketing infrastructure—and their presence on sites such as Facebook and Twitter—will take social media to new heights in 2011,” said Debra Aho Williamson, eMarketer principal analyst and author of the new report “Social Media in the Marketing Mix: Budgeting for 2011.” “And as they do, they will evolve the way they market across all media, not just online.”



How Many Marketers Are Using Social Media? .

Who's Using Twitter? The Pew Center Report!

The Pew Center has a new report focusing on Twitter usage in the U.S., and it reveals that 6% of the entire U.S. adult population uses Twitter.

The report also reveals women and those with college educations are also slightly more likely than other groups to tweet.

One-quarter of Twitter users check the service multiple times per day to see others’ tweets, while one in five never look for new updates.

These are just a few select statistics about the actual tweets that are going out there:

72% of Twitter users say they post updates about their personal life, activities or interests.

62% post work-related updates.

55% use Twitter to share links to news stories.

53% use the service to retweet others’ material.

40% use the service to share photos with others, while 28% use it to share videos.

24% tweet their location.

The report was compiled as a result of multiple surveys: Data on overall Twitter usage and demographics is from the Pew Internet Project’s November 2010 tracking survey. Information on how often people use Twitter, as well as the topics they post about, were from two October 2010 surveys.

According to the center, this is the first time it has conducted research that focuses solely on Twitter users. This is because Pew typically looks into general online activities, as opposed to particular brands. So in most instances, the center’s research has involved asking Internet users if they “used Twitter or another service to share updates about yourself or to see updates about others?”

In August 2008, 6% of Internet users answered “yes.” By September 2010, the number had changed to 24% — but some analysts and readers assumed this pertained to Twitter users alone. This is what led researchers to decide that Twitter usage was worthy of being examined on its own.  Mashable

Download the full Report.

Big Jump in Social Media for Holiday Marketing!

Three-quarters will market on social sites this holiday season

Holiday advertising budgets are shifting as marketers increase their reliance on online channels, according to research from BDO USA.

While print advertising remains on top for holiday spending, nearly 27% of retailers reported they would spend most of their budget for the period online, including on social networks. That was up just from 18% last year and puts online ahead of broadcast for the second year in a row.

Big Jump in Social Media for Holiday Marketing - eMarketer.

Consumers Believe in Positive Word-of-Mouth!

Good news about brand buzz! Many marketers still struggle with the loss of control over their brand that comes with the ability of consumers to discuss them—and have those messages widely disseminated—across social media. But most brand-related chatter, both online and offline, is positive. And positive buzz carries more weight with consumers, according to research from Keller Fay Group. In a study of hundreds of thousands of conversations, the firm found about two-thirds of word-of-mouth brand references were “mostly positive.” Those can be powerful. Two-thirds of study respondents thought positive word-of-mouth was credible, compared with fewer than half who believed negative buzz. Positive information was also more likely to be passed on to others, more than twice as likely to get people to look for more information, and had nearly four times the chance of pushing consumers to make a purchase.



Overall, word-of-mouth is generally positive, but some industries do get better buzz than others. Children’s products and food brands tended to get the most positive mentions, while net advocacy on behalf of companies in the telecommunications, financial services and healthcare industries was lowest. But even for those brands, the majority of word-of-mouth was still upbeat.

Consumers Believe in Positive Word-of-Mouth