Marketing Pilgrim

Here’s a headline from a new Reuters article:

"Facebook users willing to let employers see profiles"

Reuters looks at a new report on Canadian Facebook users and pretty much declares that they are now happy to let employers see their profiles.

But look at the data:

Almost half of 1,200 people questioned in an online survey said they would be comfortable sharing their personal profile with their current employer, while two in five would consider letting prospective employers look at their Facebook account in addition to their resume.

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By Michelle Greer.

It’s official. As much as people want to pile on the social media consulting gravy train to bring in the big theoretical bucks, even Biz Stone at Twitter sends email newsletters. Apparently, the guys at Twitter have cool news they want you to hear that requires more than 140 characters.

How can marketers actually send emails that people want to read, according to a study done by eROI?

• Put out something people can use. Of those who responded to the study, only 29% offer access to preferred content, 24% offer discounts/coupons, and only 22% offer some kind of contest.

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After reading Radically Transparent, BearingPoint’s Paul Dunay wants to know just how ready companies are for reputation management.

Dunay tells us, "I feel that many companies are not prepared for the full extent of reputation management and my hypothesis is that more than 70% are not prepared to handle a reputation disaster especially when you factor in social networks and communities - which are conversations they maybe cant even see at this time."

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Do you use the web to complain about poor customer service? (Maybe I should say "thanks," because you keep me busy with reputation management clients).

Well, if you do, you’re not alone. According to a new study by Society for New Communications Research 59% of respondents said they regularly use social media to "vent" about a poor customer service experience.

And, thanks to the two third of you that do complain, there’s plenty of online fodder for consumers to read, when researching a company’s reputation. And lots of us are researching:

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There seems to be somewhat of a shock wave going around the web, due to the startling revelation that 68% of small businesses have no plans to adopt “Enterprise 2.0″ initiatives.

Here’s a look at a chart from the Forrester report.

I know what you’re thinking. Wow, 51% of employers with 20k+ employees are already planning to adopt Enterprise 2.0, yet only 20% of those with less than 99 employees are planning the same.

I know what else you’re thinking. What the heck is “Enterprise 2.0″ anyway?

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Here’s something to think about, when perusing the BrandZ Top 100 Most Powerful Brands list. If Google had reported a lousy Q1 last week, would it still have taken the #1 spot?

The list–based on financial clout and brand equity–orders the top ten brands as follows:

1. Google
2. GE
3. Microsoft
4. Coca-Cola
5. China Mobile
6. IBM
7. Apple
8. McDonalds
9. Nokia
10. Marlboro

Maybe the list was already finalized way before Google’s financial report, but maybe, just maybe, Millward Brown held on to the report until it knew for sure that the company didn’t take a bath in Q1.

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By now you know that the paid click metrics released by comScore came nowhere near Google’s actual growth for Q1 2008. So what happened? Did comScore cry wolf, or is there a legitimate reason for the gaping void between what it predicted and what Google announced?

Before, I share my thoughts, here’s what comScore’s Andrew Lipsman has to say…

comScore reported that Google’s U.S. paid clicks in Q1 were up 2% vs. year ago, and down 9% vs. Q4 ’07. During the earnings call, Google noted a 20% increase in aggregate paid clicks vs. year ago and a 4% sequential gain.

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Did you know that if you read Marketing Pilgrim, you are 2.4 times more likely to be an “affluent American” earning over $100,000 a year?

In other words–for the benefit of marketers–buying advertising on Marketing Pilgrim will help you reach a highly valued segment of web users.

Compete.com has just named Marketing Pilgrim as one of the top sites to “Find Affluent Internet Users.” What does that mean?

These sites, although usually under-leveraged by ad networks and underused by media buyers, reach valuable niche audiences and can be efficiently and effectively used by creative brand advertisers to achieve success. Among the top torso websites that accept advertising and whose audience is overrepresented by affluent Americans are:

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UPDATE: Google’s Q1 numbers are out, and it grew paid clicks by 20%. So, yes, comScore is the boy that cried wolf. Or is it?

Yesterday we asked if Google’s Q1 would be a “hit” or “miss” and offered numbers from comScore which suggested the news might actually be good.

OK, scrap that.

comScore has now released the “paid click” data for March and, according to the WSJ, it’s not looking good for Thursday’s quarterly report (emphasis added):

The March data from research group comScore Inc., released late Tuesday, marked the third-straight month that Google’s paid clicks, the source of nearly all of its revenue, has disappointed analysts.

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By Michelle Greer.

You’ve created a company newsletter because it’s part of the “business plan”. Every month or so, you take a look at the deliverability and click-through rates. You know people actually open them. You also know your email marketing campaign needs work. It’s just not as exhilarating as building your Twitter following or creating that Colbert Fan Club on Ning.

Although email marketing isn’t often associated with Web 2.0, 3.0, or 12.0, people still actively open, read and act upon information from emails. According to a study done by MailerMailer, people open emails just as frequently as they did before the social web, and sometimes more often in certain industries.

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By Michelle Greer.

33% of consumer time is spent online, and yet internet advertising only accounts for 7% of advertising spending. Unfortunately, these users often have the attention span of a three month old golden retriever when it comes to online advertising. Advertisers have to think smarter to capitalize on this untapped market.

How are ad networks making sure that ads actually connect to the products and services they want to buy? Here are just a few highlights from the Rubicon Project’s report “Q1: Ad Network Landscape, Trends and Outlook”:

• Ad networks are shifting to cost-per-action and cost-per-engagement model rather than charging for impressions.

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I’d like to ask you a question.

Does the growth of online advertising spend in the U.K. versus the U.S. confirm that our economy is in/heading for a recession?

According to a new study (via ClickZ) internet ad spend in the U.K. grew by 39% in 2007. In contrast, internet ad spend in the U.S. grew by just 25%–still impressive, but way behind our English cousins.

I know what you’re thinking. The online advertising channel in the U.K. must be immature compared to America–after all, they only spent $5.5 billion compared to our country’s $21.1 billion.

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