The infographic below accentuates just why marketers need to look at themselves and their behaviour and not re-interpret that as the same for their customers.

Now, we are seeing video ads that are the actual content and revolve around something bigger than a product or a service — something a viewer would actually care about. This new generation of video marketing has swept us with its thought-provoking nature because it introduces content that, as AdWeek reporter Tim Nudd says, “makes you believe people don’t have short attention spans after all.”

We find this new genre of video very compelling as a way to engage with both B2B and B2C customers. An interesting trend evolving is the influence video has on decision making and engagement.

Paul B our SEO expert says that Google rates video higher in its search algorithim too. One of the trends these days is to turn the traditional short video into a movie (see link).

We know that social media marketing is an important part of the digital mix. This survey from B2B online suggests that Linkedin is the most widely used. The report focuses on “Which of the following social media methods does your company currently use for your b2b marketing (i.e., not personal use)?”

LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter are virtually tied as the most used social media channels by B2B marketers, who were asked to choose all that apply. These are followed by YouTube, blogging, customer communities, Flickr, Digg,  Stumbleupon and Tumblr as favorite social channels.

While most marketers engaged in social media are using a combination of several channels, there are clear preferences. When B2B marketers were asked to choose the one most important method that they use for their social outreach (see chart above), LinkedIn was the clear leader, chosen by 30% of respondents. Following it were Facebook (20%), blogging (19%), Twitter (16%) and YouTube (8%).

It’s interesting that Twitter—used by B2B marketers almost as thoroughly as they use LinkedIn and Facebook when all social channels are considered—falls well below those two as the single most favorite social media channel.
It’s an interesting observation. And whilst I dont disagree with the findings social media is still way down the list in terms of effectiveness.
In my view, the use of linkedin as a B2B tool in NZ is still in its infancy. We still see web design, video and webinars and email being the most effective. See the second table.

As more and more businesses start using social media to market and talk to customers, understanding the reach and influence of those customers is becoming more important. This has seen a wave of start ups developing algorithms to help brands, social media managers and PR agencies identify influencers and highlight their online reach. However measuring online influence is no easy task and can’t be seen as a one size fits all solution; instead it should be taken as a benchmark to help inform but not dictate your social media plan.

Here are the main players:

Klout

Probably the most well known site for measuring online influence, Klout looks at activity across all of the major social networks (Facebook, Twitter, Google+, LinkedIn, FourSquare and Tumblr) and assigns a Klout score between 0 and 100. At this stage Klout probably has the most comprehensive coverage of social networks in its algorithm, however it has come under criticism for not being transparent and easily gamified (people can manipulate their social media activity to increase their Klout score). Klout has also implemented Klout Perks, allowing businesses to offer products or services to individuals with a certain Klout score or influence in a specific topic. The idea is to get that product or service into the hands of the people who will then talk about it through their social channels and influence their audience.

Kred

A relatively new player, Kred launched in September last year and is trying to differentiate itself by transparently outlining exactly how your Kred score is broken down. Every tweet, mention or retweet is given a score (which is all visible from your dashboard), which is then totaled and averaged across the Kred network to give an idea of where an individual sits. Kred gives two scores, a measure of Influence, which is based on how often you are retweeted, replied, mentioned or followed on Twitter, and a measure of Outreach, which is reflective of how often you engage with others. Outreach is calculated from how often you retweet reply and mention others.

PeerIndex

PeerIndex aims to measure influence in the context of authority on a particular subject. Its main point of difference is that as well as an overall PeerIndex score, topical PI scores are allocated based on category, making it easier to pinpoint people with authority in a particular subject. This could be quite powerful because targetting the right audience is crucial to seeing ROI from your social media outreach activities – after all touting a sports related product or experience to someone who is influential in beauty or fashion will not be relevant to them or their audience and will not be talked about.

These are all free tools but there are many more out there, including some more powerful but not so-free options, and they are all offering different features. My thoughts are that you should trial a couple of different tools and find what works best for you. Most importantly, remember that popularity does not always equal influence. Use influence scores as a starting point and back them up with your own research into who is an authority in your industry, who your online advocates are and how they interact with their friends and followers. Building solid and personalised relationships with customers will always result in greater returns for both you and your customers.

Are you using any social influence measurement tools? If not why not?

This was a not so carefully worded question from a CEO friend of mine recently and to be fair, it was kind of tricky describing where Pinterest fits. I find alot of CEO’s and marketing directors are coming on board with how to leverage facebook and other digital assets, but now they’re confronted with the next new thing and whether they should invest in it. This helpful info graphic will help you gain some insight into one of the hottest and rapidly growing sites on-line today.

Thanks for visiting (before and now) and keep in touch!

If you think this would be a useful way of targeting your customers, why not let us talk to you about it – info@thedigitalagency.com

You’ve been retargeted!

YouTube has officially hit a HUGE milestone….. every second and hour of video content is uploaded to YouTube! That means 24 hours every 24 seconds
That means a decade a day!
That me….. you get the picture.

Video content is still a digital marketers paradise.

“If you want an Internet where human rights, free speech and the rule of law are not subordinated to the entertainment industry’s profits, I hope you’ll join us,” said Cory Doctorow of Boing Boing.

Internet entities such as Wikipedia, Google, Facebook, Twitter, Reddit and Tumblr said the two bills would force them to be online police and hold them responsible if users of their sites link to pirated content. Not an easy task!

“While I support their goal of reducing copyright infringement (which I don’t believe these acts would accomplish), I am shocked that our lawmakers would contemplate such measures that would put us on a par with the most oppressive nations in the world,” said Sergey Brin, one of the co-founders of Google, in a December post on Google+.

Here at The Digital Agency we are on the fence with this one. Copyright infringement is a serious offence and we do whatever we can to ensure our client’s digital properties and intellectual property is protected against any piracy acts, however holding some of the world leaders in digital innovation is not the ideal solution. Although this is a US ruling, it will effect the internet as we know it (as in it’s essence it is the WORLD WIDE web and not just the USWEB!). By passing this bill, search engine optimisation and back linking projects will be effected world wide and could disrupt internet usage as well as your own website ranking quite significantly. If you are worried about how this could effect your site or want more information on PIPA or SOPA just give the team here a shout or discuss it with us on Facebook or Twitter!

Check out Boing Boing’s Cory Doctorows explanation in this video -

Social media has infiltrated the purchasing funnel helping consumers make purchases from what to have to lunch to where to go on holiday! Depending on what you need to know, sometimes you turn to Google and sometimes you turn to your social graph. Is your brand available across the relevant online channels in order to target your perfect audience? Regardless of what type of consumer you are targeting, people will either search or ask a friend so your SEO/SEM must be focussed on in order to turn those in the search stage of the buying cycle towards your brand. In order to target those in the social funnel it is essential that you know the different types of consumers on platforms such as Facebook. An interesting study by MBooth and Beyond analyzes the differences between high and low sharers.

The social consumer -

53% use Facebook to interact with a brand.
40% liked a product on Facebook
20% use Facebook to Research products at least once a week
42% wrote an online post about a product or a brand

The analysis compares the ‘high sharer’ with the ‘low sharer’. If you are likely to ‘share’ a lot on Facebook, what does that mean about you as a consumer? High sharers only represent 20% of the users on Facebook as opposed to low sharers. What does that mean for you?

High sharers are -
Younger
They recommend products
They are generally brand loyal
They own multiple internet devices

As opposed to low sharers -
They are older
They research high involvement products
Care more about quality than brand (less likely to share to be in the ‘cool group’)
Open to change…
More likely to make a purchase on a researched product.

As you can see, people will trust their friends recommendations or a brand with consumer interaction (where they can ask a question) for personal products like baby and beauty) – however review sites or blog posts are less relevant as a consumer cannot tell if it is a genuine statement or a subjective advertorial. Notice the importance of search throughout the social funnel. By disregarding the bread and butter of consumer research (search) you put your brand at risk of not being exposed to the consumer through their decision making process. Facebook – has the most influence on ‘baby’ brands, YouTube – has the most influence on ‘music’ brands, Review sites – have the most influence on ‘electronics’ brands

The emphasis on search as being still the main way people research products might be a reality but it’s fast being challenged by social, word-of-mouth referrals from the people we trust must in our lives, our friends/family. The advent of Sponsored Stories in Facebook’s new plans may continue to erode the dominance of search as the means by which people research products as prep for purchases however it is always going to part of the cycle.

Knowing where your consumers are is essential… you can’t target them if you don’t know how to get in touch. For advertisers, business owners, marketeers or anybody wanting to acquire new customers – socialmedia/digital offers great opportunities to get in touch with them. Talk to us today to find out more.