Sherpa: Changes in 2011 Email Marketing Budgets!

Have your email marketing budgets increased, decreased or stayed the same for 2011?

Take a look at this week’s chart from MarketingSherpa to learn how the changes planned for your 2011 email marketing budget compare to those of more than 1,100 marketers.

The extent of changes to email marketing budgets for the coming year



There's no question about it -- email budgets will continue to rise in 2011. As organizations become (cautiously) optimistic about the improving economy, purse strings are starting to loosen, and email marketing is a primary beneficiary.

In addition to economic forces, email is earning increased investment because it continues to prove itself as one of the most (if not the most) effective tools in the marketing toolbox.

Multichannel (B2B2C) organizations are much more likely to increase their email budget by a significant amount than are single-channel organizations.

B2B organizations, particularly in the industrial sector, are often considered conservative marketing spenders. While a majority of those marketing exclusively to other businesses are increasing email budgets, B2B marketers are also more likely than other marketers to keep their 2011 email budget the same as 2010.

For additional research data and insights about email marketing, download and read the free Executive Summary from the MarketingSherpa 2011 Email Marketing Benchmark Report.

by Jeff Rice, Research Analyst

MarketingSherpa: New Chart: Changes in 2011 email marketing budgets.

Emineo Media

Google Analytics, Meet Webmaster Tools!

Google continues to provide amazing ways in which search marketing professionals can improve their campaign efforts. The latest is this week’s announcement that webmasters using Google Analytics to track site data can link verified sites in Webmaster Tools when using the same Google account. What does this mean to you?

Perhaps the most valuable aspect of connecting the two services is that users are able to access the Google Analytics Referring Pages report from within Google Webmaster Tools. This means that you will be able to “understand the overall trends in traffic volume from referrals, as well as the sites driving those trends,” according to Google.

This is quite the important development for a few reasons, but perhaps most notable is that webmasters will be able to use the data to see if the sites that link to them most frequently or the content that is linked to the most on a website are actually driving traffic. Why is it important to know that? Well, should you be witnessing links that are not driving traffic you can assume that there is not a lot of value in them which might in turn encourage you to seek out those that do.

This might just be the first value proposition from connecting the two account - in the future you might see others. For example, it is completely possible that Google could take data currently available in Webmaster tools (information on impressions or average position for example) and show the relationship between a number of variables including unique visits, time on site, etc.

WM won’t go into detail about how to link a verified site in Webmaster Tools to a Google Analytics profile but we will say this – the entire process takes just a few minutes and you’d be nearing foolish not to do so. Expect a lot more to come from the Google Analytics and Webmaster Tools connection in the near future.

Website Magazine

Emineo Media

Strategic Use of Social Media 2011!

Bazaarvoice, the market and technology leader in transforming customer conversations into long-term business value, released the second-annual Bazaarvoice Social Marketing Survey conducted with The CMO Club. The new study charts the progress of CMOs against their 2010 social media goals and benchmarks projected social investments, challenges, and expectations for 2011. The survey shows that social media had become an essential component of executive marketing strategies by the end of 2010, with 90% of CMOs participating in three or more social media activities. CMOs still focus on measurability and ROI but are recognizing there’s even more business impact to uncover. Nearly all (96%) are beginning to look beyond sales goals and web metrics to focus on how social media can deliver strong insights that fuel improvements across the business. This is consistent with Forrester Research’s recent finding that more than 45% of all companies now use social media assets for product development in addition to customer engagement (83%), and indicates a sea change in the strategic value that CMOs place on social today.

Key Findings:

The 2011 Survey points to a big shift in the power of social media and user-generated content, as brands begin to organize these voices into strong insights that serve as the launch pad for innovation and business change. In 2011, 93% of CMOs plan on using some form of user-generated content to inform product and service decisions. Top forms of user-generated content used in 2010 include customer stories (59%), product suggestions or ideas (54%), polling (49%), and customer reviews (47%).

CMOs were optimistic about tracking ROI for social in 2010 -- 81% of those who participated in the 2010 Survey said they planned to track social media to revenues in 2010. However, standard ROI metrics proved difficult to measure for many social efforts; only 40% of CMOs surveyed in 2011 successfully tracked ROI on their social initiatives. Still, measurability remains a top executive priority, with sales conversion and revenue attribution standing out as the #1 and #2 growth opportunities in social measurement.

The 2011 Survey indicates that many CMOs still use social media tools without clear insight into the ROI that tool is delivering. More than half of CMOS still don’t know or don’t see ROI across many social media tools, in particular Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter. Bright spots include product ratings and reviews (59% see average or significant ROI); company / brand communities (56%); and company or brand blogs (48%).

Bazaarvoice

Emineo Media

Solution makes global SEO an option!

For just over a year, experts have been issuing notes to publishers and advertisers that they needed a global platform. Translated content, logos and messages have been touted as a huge benefit for brands, but many brands havent figured out exactly how to complete this translation in an economical way. by Kristina Knight. A new release gives brands a solution for the search arm of campaigns. This month BrightEdge released their global Search Engine Optimization solution, which allows brands to tap into a single solution to manage their brands rank across search platforms around the globe.

"Our clients asked us to extend the platform's reach so they can drive the same ROI globally that they are seeing in the U.S.," said Jim Yu, BrightEdge CEO. "At home and around the world, the Web is increasingly cluttered and complex. Our clients use BrightEdge to break through this clutter and use natural search as a major revenue driver. Bringing our platform to international search engines will give companies a means to scale and drive new business in ways simply not possible before."

The number of search queries continues to increase month to month. The latest numbers from comScore finds that more than 15 billion searches were queried through search giants Google, Yahoo and Bing. Queries from Bing and Yahoo have potentially the highest accuracy rate, with users clicking through to a website after querying Yahoo or Bing more than 80% of the time.

According to eMarketer, the overall US ad spend will reach $36.3 billion by 2014, a 9% increase over 2008. According to Efficient Frontier, SEM spending is on track for between 15% and 20% growth in 2011. Researchers found that, year to year, SEM spending increased by 23% in 2010.

Solution makes global SEO an option - Search Marketing

Emineo Media

What Makes Facebook Fan Pages Successful?

Engagement, interest and constant connection keep fans coming back on Facebook!

Well-known brands like Coca-Cola and Starbucks have had success turning their Facebook fan pages into popular sites with millions of fans. Local businesses are also leveraging the site and can learn from their global neighbors.

Local businesses make up 17.6% of Facebook fan pages, according to financial services firm Wedbush, while companies come in at 6.3% and products at 3%. Interests, musicians and public figures are also high on the list.

Starbucks has 18.5 million fans as of November 2010, and Alexandra Wheeler, director of digital strategy, talked to Marketing Week in the UK about how the brand uses Facebook.

“It’s about making sure that we do our job every day to give those fans some sort of meaningful value,” she said. “Having 10 million people on Facebook who like us would be useless if we did nothing with it.”

What Makes Facebook Fan Pages Successful?

Emineo Media

Marketers Experiment with Social Games!

Social gaming exploded in 2010. Addictive apps like FarmVille and Mafia Wars grabbed the attention of social network users, the press—and marketers. eMarketer forecasts social gaming revenues will surpass $1 billion this year.

Most of those dollars will come from virtual items purchased by the 61.9 million internet users who will play social games this year, according to eMarketer estimates. That represents 27% of the US internet audience and will rise to 29% by 2012.

“That is a spectacular number considering that this form of gaming took off in earnest less than two years ago,” said Paul Verna, eMarketer senior analyst and author of the new report, “Social Gaming: Marketers Make Their Move.” “Next year’s growth will be modest compared with the meteoric rise of this form of gaming in its first two years, but the projected increase will be healthy enough to sustain multiple opportunities for game developers, publishers, investors and marketers.”



For that reason, eMarketer’s projections are cautious. Data from Inside Social Games shows there were sequential decreases in cumulative worldwide monthly active users for the top 15 games on Facebook in the last four months of 2010. The index bounced back in January 2011 as a result of CityVille’s instant popularity, but there was a 9.6% year-over-year decline in January 2011.

How Marketers Can Experiment with Social Games

Emineo Media

Website and Email Critical B2B Investments!

In a recent survey of business-to-business (B2B) marketers, traditional online tactics remain key to marketing success.

Just over half of B2B marketers surveyed told BtoB Magazine their budgets would go up this year, mostly by less than 15%. With a primary marketing goal of customer acquisition (69%), the greatest number of respondents expected spending increases to come from online (78%). By contrast, 44% said they would be spending more on events and 36% on direct mail.

Online, B2B marketers were most likely to report planned increases in marketing spending on their websites and email programs, followed by social media. These results differed in priority from those of a survey of general US marketers by RSW/US.

Among that group, 65% planned to spend more on social media, followed by 47% on email. RSW/US did not report on increases in website spending.



More than two-thirds of B2B marketers already used social media marketing as of December 2010, where the main focus of marketing efforts was brand building. Despite customer acquisition being B2B’s top goal for the year, less than half of respondents were using social media for lead generation.



In 2010, social media, websites and email each received a median of 10% of B2Bs’ online marketing budgets. Spending levels were higher on display and video advertising.

 Article

Emineo Media

Facebook Drives US Social Network Ad Spending Past $3 Billion in 2011!

Social network advertising to account for 10.8% of online market

US marketers will spend $3.08 billion to advertise on social networking sites this year, eMarketer predicts. Spending will be up 55% over the $1.99 billion advertisers devoted to social networks in 2010 and will rise by a further 27.7% next year to reach nearly $4 billion.

This year’s dramatic growth in spending will bring social media ad dollars to 10.8% of the total spent online in the US. Worldwide, where social network ad spending will rise 71.6% to $5.97 billion, that proportion will be somewhat lower, at 8.7%.



The 2011 forecast for US spending is $1 billion higher than eMarketer’s last estimate of US social network ad spending, made in August 2010. The primary driver of the change in projected spending is greater ad spending on Facebook, by far the biggest player in the space.

Facebook Drives US Social Network Ad Spending Past $3 Billion in 2011

Emineo Media

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

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

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.