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JangoMail Survey Says Less Isn’t More, Anymore

posted on September 15, 2010

You’ve heard the old saying that “less is more.” Apparently, this isn’t true when it comes to email marketing. According to a recent JangoMail survey, 67% of those who enjoy consistent email marketing success include three or more calls to action in their email campaigns.

This reminds me of my college days when I worked as a telemarketer. We were instructed to get three “no’s” from a prospect before we were allowed to end the call. With email marketing, the rejection isn’t so overt, thank heavens, it’s more about the prospect’s ability to ignore a call to action than to vocally object. (Your email came in the middle of my favorite TV show! Dangnabbit!)

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Will Google Me Become Reality?

posted on September 15, 2010

Google’s Chief Executive Eric Schmidt started a buzz or maybe a wave when he let it “slip” today that Google will be adding a  ‘social layer’ this fall.

Oh, there’s so much to discuss in that statement. First of all, ‘social layer?’ Some reporters are taking this to mean that Google will be adding social elements to all of their current sites as opposed to developing a new site specifically aimed at competing with Facebook. This being the case, it’s likely they’ll create a home page for people that allows them to link to and follow all of the related info from their friends.

Remember, Google already tried a similar trick with Google Buzz which was a horrendous failure. But Buzz was like Twitter meets Digg and not a true social networking site where you can spend virtual time with your friends.

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Twitter Gets a Make-Over

posted on September 14, 2010

I use Twitter everyday, but I rarely do it from the actual Twitter page on the web. I use HootSuite and other applications to get the most from the service, but that is about to change.

Today, Twitter announced that they’re getting a make-over and it’s a doozy. It’s a big step toward making Twitter more than just an information handler. It’s a step toward making it a Facebook-ish time sucker and that’s good for all of us.

The new Twitter page will now work as two separate columns. The left side will be the feed you’re used to, but the right side will be a pop-out that expands on the tweet you’ve clicked on. This change was needed for one big reason — the fact that you’ll be able to watch videos and see photos without leaving the site.

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Marketers Say Regulations Won’t Stop the Flow of Cash

posted on September 14, 2010

eMarketer posted an interesting statement today that was drawn from a white paper called The Changing Mission of Marketing Data. It’s a pretty extensive report that looks at the shift from old fashioned mailing lists to the online availability of detailed, customer data. It pays particular attention to the amount of money that will be spent on offline vs online marketing in the near future. Those numbers, if you’re curious, go like this:

“By 2012, U.S. marketers will continue to dedicate a steady $7.8 billion to marketing data and associated services, even while the proportion of those budgets commanded by “digital” sources and applications will more than double to represent 10.8 percent of the mix—over $840 million in annual investment.”

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Marketing to the Marketers: LinkedIn Wins

posted on September 13, 2010

Most advertising execs are quick to jump on the social media bandwagon when it comes to marketing a product to consumers, but when it comes to marketing themselves, not so much.

A recent study by RSW/US took a look at the business-to-business social media habits of a variety of ad agencies. As reported by Brandweek, 54% of the agencies polled said they never or rarely use social media when prospecting for new clients. Of those that did use social media for outreach, LinkedIn was the clear favorite getting 51% of the vote. Facebook polled at only 9% and Twitter less than that.

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The Trifecta: Making Email, Facebook and Twitter Work Together

posted on September 11, 2010

You may think that email, Twitter and Facebook are all slight variations on the same tune, but the ExactTarget Research Series, Subscribers, Fans and Followers has shown that each venue has its own X-Factor which makes it special. The trick, which is summarized in their newly published final report, is figuring out how to make them all work as a team.

The study begins by breaking down the numbers and there was a surprise here. 93% of online consumers say they receive at least one permission-based email a day. These are the subscribers. 38% said they are a Facebook fan of at least one brand. These are the fans. The surprise is in the followers, those U.S. online consumers who say they follow at least one brand on Twitter. That number is 5%. That’s it.

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Facebook Adds Social Endorsement Stats

posted on September 10, 2010

Remember when your mom used to say, “if all of your friends jumped off a bridge, would you jump too?” Statically, yeah, you probably would because it’s been proven that our behavior is influenced by the behavior and approval of our peers.

This is the idea behind Facebook’s ‘social endorsement’ ad program where you see who on your friend’s list “liked” an ad. Nielsen did a study and found that an ad with social context upped ad recall by 10% and also pumped up the intent to buy and awareness.

Facebook is now ready to test the numbers themselves as they’ve added social endorsement metrics to your Ads Manager.

When you visit your Ads Manager on Facebook, you’ll now find a column labeled “Social %.”  This tells you what percentage of your ads with social endorsements received clicks.