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‘Surround Sound’ and Measuring Social ROI With Email Signups

posted on May 25, 2011

Does your Facebook page ask people to sign up for your newsletter? I’m guessing not. After reading about this idea in the new guide from Lyris, I went to Facebook to take a look. I checked the fan pages for four of the brands I follow and not one asked me to sign up for their email list. Interesting.

The Lyris guide, which is all about creating “surround sound” with your marketing efforts, hones in on the idea of using Key Performance Indicators (KPI) rather than traditional methods of figuring ROI.

In this case, the goal might be increasing your email list by 10%. That’s a measureable goal that is likely to bring results because we know that email conversions are excellent.

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It’s the One Media Device That Really Doesn’t Matter to Marketers

posted on May 25, 2011

You would think that any report showing a rise in a media device would be of interest to marketers, but it’s not so when you’re talking eReaders. Why? Because eReaders are only just now starting to take on advertising and it’s a case of coming way too late to the party.

eMarketer has a new chart that shows eReader usage is on the rise. There’s no doubt this is true. With Amazon’s Kindle leading the way and the glut of Nooks that turned up under the tree this past Christmas, more people than ever are experiencing the joy of virtual paper. As it goes, the rise in eReader devices has led to a rise in the number of ebooks being published, so the logic is that this trend will continue.

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New York Times Using People for Twitter Feed (For A Week At Least)

posted on May 25, 2011

That headline seems funny in this day and age doesn’t it? You half expect automation everywhere you turn but in certain areas automation just doesn’t cut it. One of the areas where it is less and less attractive is social media and apparently the New York Times is taking the hint.

According to an article at Poynter.org

The New York Times is turning off the automatic feed for its main Twitter account this week in an experiment to determine if a human-run, interactive approach will be more effective.

Social media editors Liz Heron and Lexi Mainland are taking turns running the@nytimes account during weekday business hours, hand-picking and writing the tweets and engaging with readers.

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Sony Decides to Commit Reputation Harakiri

posted on May 25, 2011

It appears Sony has bought a one-way ticket to reputation-implosionville, and seems happy to sit back and enjoy the ride.

After the embarrassing hacks of its Playstation Network, the electronics giant is once again facing a multitude of security breaches. This time, Sony appears to either not have an explanation or just figures it’s lost all credibility so may as well shut up.

…now that Sony’s apology cards have been played and the hacks and breaches continue, the company has resorted to its only remaining tactic: silence. The Japanese giant hasn’t responded publicly or answered my requests for comment on the five security incidents that have occurred in just the last week.

Oh yeah, silence. That’s always a great tactic for preserving your reputation…not! Ask Dell how sticking its head in the sand worked out for the company!

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5 Free Tools to Measure Online Brand Awareness

posted on May 25, 2011

This post comes from our SEO Channel Sponsor SEOmoz.

The concept of brand awareness has changed a lot in the past 10 years. Who knows your brand, what do they think, are they loyal and who are they? For many marketers, this is valuable stuff. But, before the days of the direct attribution provided by online marketing, companies had to rely on brand awareness studies to help understand the efficacy of their marketing efforts.

SEOmozMarketing Pilgrim’s SEO Channel is sponsored by SEOmoz, the leading provider of SEO tools and resources. Take a 30-day free trial, and see why over 10,000 marketers currently use SEOmoz PRO

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Future’s Digital Profit Nearly Tops Print Decline

posted on May 24, 2011

It’s coming faster than we expected, that moment where digital magazine sales top those of their print counterpart. Future Publishing showed off their wares this week at PaidContent.org and it’s looking good. “£1.1 ($1.78) million in digital profit, nearly making up for a £1.2 ($1.94) million print decline.” When you think about the fact that tablets are only just beginning to hit the market, the future for Future, and everyone else, looks pretty amazing.

Future Publishing does have a leg-up since their reader base is already tech savvy. They’re the publishers of Mac Life, Xbox Magazine, T3, TechRadar and other music, movie and tech magazines. However, it’s Guitar World’s “Lick of the Day” app that is making a big splash for Future. This is a simple, but useful app that is the perfect add on for the magazine’s print subscribers. By driving them to their smartphones, Future is giving their audience a taste of the digital life and from there it’s an easy hop to the tablet and paying for a digital magazine subscription.

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In-House SEO: An Interview With Gordon Magee of Drs. Foster and Smith

posted on May 24, 2011

You may be asking yourself, who in the world are Drs. Foster and Smith (DFS)? Well, that may be unless you are a pet owner. You see, Drs. Foster and Smith currently ranks #115 on the Internet Retailer 500. That list includes names like Amazon, Staples, Apple, Netflix and about 495 others who top the online commerce world. If there is anything you need for your pet, it’s likely you can find it on the site.

DFS has reported in the past total revenues between online and catalog sales of $250M annually with $155M of that coming online. As part of our desire to bring you information about the world of search from many perspectives, I was afforded the pleasure of interviewing Gordon Magee who heads up the online efforts for this very large and successful site.