Marketing Pilgrim

Finally Groupon has announced its IPO. We could talk all day long about what this means but I think it might be best to just read the letter that CEO Andrew Mason wrote to future stockholders. It went something like this. Buckle up, apparently Andrew likes to write.

Dear Potential Stockholders,

Twitter is making a serious bid to compete in the online ad space, this time buying up a small company called AdGrok whose tagline is “we make internet marketing simple.” Actually, their interface was designed to make Google’s AdWords simple and if they did that, then it’s no wonder Twitter wanted to scoop them up.

The AdGrok system included a GrokBar, the Grok-o-Matic and the Groknoculars, all of which made you a Pro-Groker for only $59.00 a month. And I tell you all of this only because I like the word Grok as much as they do. But now, sadly, the time has come to move on to a world where everything happens in under 140 characters, which is enough to say Live long and prosper six times in one Tweet, so it’s all good.

It was inevitable really, Amazon, who pioneered many of the currents trends in online retailing is now a follower. Introducing AmazonLocal! Likely coming soon to a city near you, but right now, only from Boise.

Now, I’ve got nothing against the folks of, what I’m sure, is a lovely city in Idaho, but really? According to TNW, Amazon chose the city because they liked their sense of whimsy, as demonstrated by BSU’s blue football field. Got me on that one, but everything has to start somewhere so why not Boise.

When I went to check out the service, it already knew my name, which always creeps me out. Obviously it pulled my name from my Amazon login, but it still wanted to know where I lived. As I moved through the process, I had this strange feeling of deja vu. TNW says that’s because Amazon isn’t sourcing their own deals (yet), they’re getting them from partnerships with other sites such as LivingSocial.

Whenever we update you on some of the latest job listings I can’t help but recognize just how blessed this whole sector of business is considering our current lackluster economic state of affairs. While other industries continue to feel the pain of the economic conditions the online space offers opportunity that is unparalleled in business today.

Below are listed just a few of the great jobs listed just yesterday on the Marketing Pilgrim Internet Marketing Job Board. Check back often as we add more and more great jobs all the time.

If you are an employer looking to hire the right person for your job, we receive comments all the time about the great success employers found in reaching an extremely talented pool of candidates in our readers. For just $27 per month per listing how can you go wrong?

Our favorite research source, the Pew Internet and American Life Project, has completed a study looking at just who uses Twitter. The chart below summarizes the findings.

Of note to marketers should be the popularity and increasing use of Twitter among African-Americans and Hispanics.

In addition, the use among 25-44 year olds has increased which is likely attributable to the increase in mainstream exposure of Twitter in brand advertising. A commercial or ad without the Twitter logo looks conspicuous these days as compared to just a year ago where only the ‘cool kids’ were showing off their social media chops.

For those who started with the service back in 2006 when it was a tech/geek only play today’s Twitter looks nothing like it used to.

Pictures can be worth a thousand words so take a look at the chart below provided by SAI. Bank of America Merrill Lynch conducted a study that found the most common first stop for online buyers is Google.

Of course, it is important to note that this study is about the first step, which is extremely influential in any decision process. If Google places a brand first in the mind of a potential buyer that is a powerful ‘endorsement’.

Does that make Google more influential overall? I have no idea. I suspect though that as people use Google to establish the contenders in a potential purchase they may be using social media options like Facebook to pare down their choices. And who better to help make a hard decision easier than your ‘friends’ of which you really know about three but who’s counting?