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
Monday, February 7, 2011
Tuesday, February 1, 2011
The 2010 Inc. 500 Update: Most Blog, Friend And Tweet But Some Industries Still Shun Social Media!
A research report conducted By: Nora Ganim Barnes, Ph.D. reveals the growing social media trends with the Inc. 500.
The Center for Marketing Research at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth recently conducted a new in-depth and statistically significant study on the usage of social media in fast-growing corporations. This new study revisits the Center’s study of Inc. 500 social media usage for the fourth consecutive year, making it a valuable and rare longitudinal study of corporate use of these new technologies.
The new study compares adoption of social media among the 2010 Inc. 500 with previous years. The Inc. 500 is a list of the fastest-growing private U.S. companies compiled annually by Inc. Magazine. For details about the 2010 Inc. 500 and the complete directory of the included companies, please visit Inc. Magazine's website at http://www.inc.com/.
In 2007, the Center’s first study of this group and their use of social media was released and revealed that the Inc. 500 was outpacing the more traditional Fortune 500 in their use of social media. For example, at that time, research showed that 8% of the Fortune 500 companies were blogging compared to 19% of the Inc. 500. This difference continued in 2008 with 16% of the Fortune 500 blogging vs. 39% of the Inc. 500. This trend held in 2009 with the Inc. 500 blogging at a rate of 45%, while the Fortune 500 had 22% of its list with corporate blogs. The new data shows adoption of blogs leveling off in the Fortune 500 but continuing to grow among the Inc. 500 companies.
Read full report
Download full report
Emineo Media
The Center for Marketing Research at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth recently conducted a new in-depth and statistically significant study on the usage of social media in fast-growing corporations. This new study revisits the Center’s study of Inc. 500 social media usage for the fourth consecutive year, making it a valuable and rare longitudinal study of corporate use of these new technologies.
The new study compares adoption of social media among the 2010 Inc. 500 with previous years. The Inc. 500 is a list of the fastest-growing private U.S. companies compiled annually by Inc. Magazine. For details about the 2010 Inc. 500 and the complete directory of the included companies, please visit Inc. Magazine's website at http://www.inc.com/.
In 2007, the Center’s first study of this group and their use of social media was released and revealed that the Inc. 500 was outpacing the more traditional Fortune 500 in their use of social media. For example, at that time, research showed that 8% of the Fortune 500 companies were blogging compared to 19% of the Inc. 500. This difference continued in 2008 with 16% of the Fortune 500 blogging vs. 39% of the Inc. 500. This trend held in 2009 with the Inc. 500 blogging at a rate of 45%, while the Fortune 500 had 22% of its list with corporate blogs. The new data shows adoption of blogs leveling off in the Fortune 500 but continuing to grow among the Inc. 500 companies.
Read full report
Download full report
Emineo Media
Monday, January 31, 2011
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
"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
Friday, January 28, 2011
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.
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
Tuesday, January 25, 2011
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
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
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
Friday, January 21, 2011
SMBs Look to Facebook and LinkedIn for Lead Generation!
The majority of small businesses still haven't figured out that social networks can help meet their marketing objectives. Many small businesses are aware that social networks exist, yet remain skeptical on the benefits they can have in their business profits. The survey conducted by Ad-ology shares their findings and the perception small businesses have on social media.
Social media is becoming more popular among small-business owners, and many will be spending more on advertising, marketing and new business development in 2011, which will also impact the amount of resources devoted to social media.
More than 55% of small-business owners view Facebook as somewhat or very beneficial to their business, according to data from Ad-ology, which surveyed 752 US small-business owners. Other sites, such as Twitter and LinkedIn, also received nods from small-business owners, while group-buying sites such as Groupon and LivingSocial were lower on the list. Additionally, Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn all saw significant increases in the percentage of small-business owners who view them as beneficial compared to last year. In the prior year’s survey, only 33.2% of respondents called Facebook somewhat or very beneficial, and only 18.5% said the same of Twitter.
Social media is becoming more popular among small-business owners, and many will be spending more on advertising, marketing and new business development in 2011, which will also impact the amount of resources devoted to social media.
More than 55% of small-business owners view Facebook as somewhat or very beneficial to their business, according to data from Ad-ology, which surveyed 752 US small-business owners. Other sites, such as Twitter and LinkedIn, also received nods from small-business owners, while group-buying sites such as Groupon and LivingSocial were lower on the list. Additionally, Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn all saw significant increases in the percentage of small-business owners who view them as beneficial compared to last year. In the prior year’s survey, only 33.2% of respondents called Facebook somewhat or very beneficial, and only 18.5% said the same of Twitter.
Just as several social media sites are useful to small businesses, there are also many objectives companies find social media outreach useful for. Lead generation was the top benefit reported, selected by 57.2% of small-business owners. Ad-ology also found 54% of small-business owners highlighted monitoring what is being said about their businesses. Improving customer experience was another reported benefit of social media.
SMBs Look to Facebook and LinkedIn for Lead Generation
Emineo Media
Wednesday, January 19, 2011
Parents of Young Children Prime for Social Marketing!
Age plays a major role in how likely a person is to be a social media user, but important demographic characteristics go far beyond simply how old a potential user is. Consumers’ life stages influence their presence on social media as well as their concerns as shoppers and buyers, which is what makes them of interest to marketers on social sites to begin with.
Preliminary results from a Media Audit study of social media users highlight the differences in usage and interest among adults in different phases of their lives.
While the youngest respondents without children were most active on Facebook, Twitter or Myspace, the presence of kids made adults overall much more likely to be on social sites. More than 60% of adults with kids of any age living at home used Facebook, Twitter or Myspace, vs. 51.3% of all adults, and the parents of young children were especially avid users. Among respondents with children under 6 years old, 67.1% had used one of the sites in the past month, while 58% of parents of teenagers reported the same.
These young parents also represent a group more likely than average to make many big-ticket, family-oriented purchases, such as cars, video cameras, PCs, large appliances or a new home. And parents looking to make these purchases for their families are more likely than average to be found on Facebook and similar sites, especially parents of kids under age 6.
Parents of Young Children Prime for Social Marketing
Emineo Media
Preliminary results from a Media Audit study of social media users highlight the differences in usage and interest among adults in different phases of their lives.
While the youngest respondents without children were most active on Facebook, Twitter or Myspace, the presence of kids made adults overall much more likely to be on social sites. More than 60% of adults with kids of any age living at home used Facebook, Twitter or Myspace, vs. 51.3% of all adults, and the parents of young children were especially avid users. Among respondents with children under 6 years old, 67.1% had used one of the sites in the past month, while 58% of parents of teenagers reported the same.
These young parents also represent a group more likely than average to make many big-ticket, family-oriented purchases, such as cars, video cameras, PCs, large appliances or a new home. And parents looking to make these purchases for their families are more likely than average to be found on Facebook and similar sites, especially parents of kids under age 6.
Parents of Young Children Prime for Social Marketing
Emineo Media
Tuesday, January 18, 2011
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
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
Monday, January 3, 2011
Start with "Why"
If you haven't figured it out by now, reaching your target audiences can be simply complex. What's meant there is the old shot gun method is still easy. Getting responses is still difficult. At least until you consider how the social audience interacts. Engagement is the key to success. Being engaging however is the challenge. What can you say or write to invoke a conversation? Rather than asking a barrage of questions to start a dialogue, start by answering one simply question. "Why?" Starting with "Why" blows away the outer shell and pierces through to the inner belief. It encourages, inspires and instills integrity.
What are the core values of your company? Do you share and demonstrate them to your current and potential customers - or only to your staff at all employee meetings? Better yet - do you promote them in your marketing? And is that message engaging?
If you aren't, perhaps 2011 is the time for you to consider changing your strategies?
How are you engaging your prospects and customers?
What are the core values of your company? Do you share and demonstrate them to your current and potential customers - or only to your staff at all employee meetings? Better yet - do you promote them in your marketing? And is that message engaging?
If you aren't, perhaps 2011 is the time for you to consider changing your strategies?
How are you engaging your prospects and customers?
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