Using Data to Segment and Target your Audience

Image Credit: Jeff Sheldon / Caption: Know where your customers spend their time

Data is all-important when it comes to successfully targeting your customers. There are many things that you can find out about them, even just from how they use your website. You can understand what kind of products they buy and what their browsing behavior is like. You can also discover their age, location, and perhaps occupation. Through social media or other sources of data, you can discover their other interests, whether they are a parent, what they search for, what they buy, and where on the internet they spend most of their time. All of this can be extremely useful.

Behavior
Behavior is, first of all, a very important factor. You need to be able to market your product in a place where your customer will see it. If you know that your customers spend a lot of time on Facebook, for example, then you may invest in advertisements on this platform.

It is also important to know where they go when they look at your site. Do they head straight to a certain page, or come in through the homepage? Perhaps special offers and new products may be ignored if visitors are bypassing the homepage, meaning that you need to make them more prominent on other pages as well.

Desires
What your customer desires is the key to knowing what they will buy. Your task is to sell them exactly what they want, even if only in a broad sense. For example, if someone is a parent, you may present your product to them as an asset because it will help them to be able to spend more time with their family.

On the other hand, if your time-saving product is being sold to a young business owner who is single and dedicated to their start-up, then you might instead sell it to them as a product which will help their business to grow quicker. The product is the same – only the marketing message is personalized.

Support
It is absolutely essential to follow your customer through every part of their relationship with your company, and ensure that their needs are well met. With a CRM you can set up marketing automation so that a customer receives an email after they sign up to your site, after they purchase something, and so forth.

It’s also important to keep an eye on their experience as a whole. Having a central data hub for customer information means that you can check back on prior support requests, complaints, and orders to give them a thorough and detailed response in all communication.

Answer
All potential customers will have objections about using your service or buying your product. Your job is to use the data to understand your customers and then answer those objections before they arise. You can, for example, run a survey to find out why customers did not buy on a particular occasion.

Let’s say the young business owner feels that your service is too expensive for them. To combat this, market it to them in a personalized way as being something that will save them money over time and help to build better profits.

Data can be used to significantly increase your sales if you know what you are doing. Give the right message to your potential customers in the right place, and support them through every step of their relationship with your brand, and you will find sales figures rising. This is a delicate process, and almost impossible to do without the proper use of data and a CRM. Once you get it right, your sales will go through the roof almost immediately.

Source

Read More

Getting it right with social when everything we know is wrong

Though still relatively new to the marketing sphere, social media has undergone many incarnations. As a communication tool, what is its true branding value and purpose?

There was a time in history where the prevailing wisdom of scholars was that the Earth was flat; the brightest minds of their time were certain that reaching the end of the world meant reaching a cliff, rather than an unending continuation. When reflecting on the early history of social media and the views of the visionary class, you might be forgiven for thinking their opinions represented unwavering fact.

Consider just the following views, starting with sheer viability (especially in the wake of MySpace’s demise):

• Facebook remaining relevant as audiences grow older? A fad that will age poorly.
• Facebook scaling an audience? Impossible.  
• Pinterest? Mom’s play site. 
• SnapChat? Your kids' sexting app.
• Of course earned media will always reign supreme!

The early wisdom of the social space was one of distance – it was not a place for brands and digital marketers. It wasn’t until brands noticed the ongoing dialog that the industry began to rethink this. Social platforms presented a new opportunity to connect directly with audiences, and, in a quick 180, brands began talking to people as if they were long-lost friends and family.

But the desire to make social the new source for customer service has also created as many problems as it has solved. Brands struggled to find balance between buying exposure and favor with earning trust and inclusion at every turn – that is, until the 2013 Super Bowl.

Everyone knows the story of the blackout during the game and how Oreo's real-time response via its "Dunk in the Dark" tweet changed everything we thought about social. With reported figures suggesting more than 500 million earned media impressions, this was a historic moment for the industry and a huge moment for brands.

Power out? No problem. pic.twitter.com/dnQ7pOgC

— Oreo Cookie (@Oreo) February 4, 2013

Now brands had a new purpose – to find its own Oreo moment. Many have tried, yet few have succeeded - actually, most have looked laughably bad. But striving for Oreo greatness created a reason for brands to be on social, with smart, hip, culturally relevant content as the ideal target to hit.

Living in Missouri, the utilization of social media has created a very different experience over the past 18 months. I live less than 15 minutes from #Ferguson, so the social rise of #BlackLivesMatter and the efforts of ConcernedStudent1950 (@CS_1950) from University of Missouri are very close to home. They've all played out for the world to see, and this is largely because of social media.

For years, Twitter's conversation on the Arab Spring felt distant - as things happening across the globe and beyond our daily lives tend to do - but the events of August 2015 changed everyone’s personal perspective. Complex issues were truncated to 140 characters and dangerously debated in Facebook posts. Suddenly, for better or worse, social media was driving the story.

Once again, this abrupt shift social’s functional objective calls everything we thought we knew about these communication platforms into question. And, if everything we once believed to be true about social media has been proven wrong, perhaps the target for brands is more complicated than fulfilling the role of that quick-witted guy in the corner with topical joke and wink.

When I began this column, I was actually on a plane - the date: November 13, 2015. Taking a break from emails, I fired up Hootsuite only to discover that the world had been rocked by the news from Paris. In the aftermath, brands have respectfully shown support and compassion for the lives lost, acknowledging the larger tragedy. These responses represent progress and show early steps toward becoming social brands of the world.

To all our friends in Paris, you’re in our hearts and our thoughts. -TH ❤️🇫🇷 #PrayforParis pic.twitter.com/7elzJMsHYN

— Tommy Hilfiger (@TommyHilfiger) November 14, 2015

If you're in Paris in need of emergency accommodation, our hosts have opened their doors https://t.co/E3TUbqD8m2

— Airbnb (@Airbnb) November 14, 2015

So, did we have the role of brands on social all wrong? Now the answer seems obvious.

As brands seek to play a role in people’s lives, they cannot simply be there to add a funny quip or a solution to a simple problem. Just as scholars realized the world was not flat, this realization opens up a host of “Now what?” moments, posing a plethora of new questions: How can we do that? Who do we empower to do that on our behalf? And, to twist a famed Facebook mantra, are we ready to "fail fast" when the stakes are higher than ever before?

If the social media world is round, fully-formed, and connected, then brands have an opportunity to be both citizens and partners on the voyage ahead, thus creating a better place for all.

Source

Read More

The 4 Generations on Social You Ought to Know

There are many things in my life that I love, and dinner parties are one of them. Before I hosted my first ever soirée, my mother made it a point to instill a statement in my head. “Know your guests,” she said. While she also said, “Your chicken tends to be dry,” it was, “Know your guests,” that stuck with me for years—even to this day.

At first it took me some time to really understand what she meant, but after hosting a few parties it all became crystal clear. When you’re hosting a dinner party, you’re essentially creating an experience, and the best experiences are shaped by the preferences and behaviors of your guests. To this point, the more I knew about my guests, the more I was able to personalize aspects of an event for each person—making them feel valued and special. 

And isn’t that what we’re all about on social? As marketers, aren’t we hosting experiences on social media networks so that customers feel valued and special? It’s like an ongoing dinner party with an open invitation—one where we hope audiences happily consume our content and share their enjoyment with others. As such, knowing our audience is imperative to the success of our social strategy.

And that’s what we’ve done here. For this piece, we’ve mined through reports about age to gain more insight into a few audience segments prevalent on social. More specifically, we’re examining the four primary living generations: Baby Boomers, Gen X, Millennials and Gen Z. You see, your audiences will be comprised of all ages, so it’s necessary that we analyze behaviors and preferences in aggregate. It’s the only scalable way to create personalized content that will resonate with large audiences. By getting to know these generation types, you will be able sift through your own data to identify trends and opportunities that can help you build a more informed content strategy.
 

Baby Boomers

(Born between 1946-64)

Qualities:  With an age range of 51 to 65, this group’s key life experiences span mostly throughout the twentieth century. Baby Boomers were born into post-WWII cultures. They are considered the “rock and roll” and first TV generation. They lived through the wars of the ‘60s and ‘70s, creating a “me” attitude that ultimately broke from the traditions of generations past: such as women working outside the home, divorce acceptance, and a “buy now and use credit” mentality. Baby Boomers are also identified as people who see technology and innovation as a learning process and, unlike their parents, think of retirement as more than just a stay-at-home part of life, but an exciting time to travel and enjoy life. Most importantly, they are a very populous group. In the U.S., Baby Boomers secure one quarter of the population.

Key Social Insight: 60% of Baby Boomers are actively using social media. Studies also show that Americans over 55 outspend younger adults online 2:1. (Source)

Takeaway: Today, Baby Boomers are making strides toward learning these platforms in hopes of making their lives better. These audiences are either retired and/or their children are now adults, which means there’s more disposable income and time—a big opportunity for online sales. While it’s taking this generation a little longer to grasp all the major social networks, when they are on, they are ready to learn and spend. Look through your analytics and see if they’re consuming your content. If they are, think about how your product or service can benefit this demo and test a few pieces with them. If they’re not, consider tactics relevant to your brand that might peak their interest.  

Gen X

(Born between 1965-80)

Qualities: Children of the above generation, these now 35 to 50 year olds were once kids of two-income households or a single parent unit. This type of “empty home” produced a generation that is very individualistic and entrepreneurial. They are seen as short on loyalty and commitment and they desire exploration and contribution. This may be the reason why Gen Xers have an average of seven career changes within their lifetime. Currently, most are homeowners with children at home. 

Key Social Insight: 86% of Gen Xers are online on a daily basis and are multi-tasking professionals that are actively seeking information. They are the second largest percentage of Pinterest users and nearly two-thirds have used Facebook in the past month. (Source)

Takeaway:  Gen Xers are a well-informed, goal-oriented audience. People in this generation are reaching the height of their careers, with many out-earning Baby Boomers. On social, marketers have a chance to build long-lasting product value and brand loyalty with this generation. And the way to get there is through authentic, trust-worthy information. If your intent is to target people identified as Gen Xers, then the content must be easy to understand, insightful, and offer a benefit upfront. Transparency is key with this audience.

Millennials/Gen Y

(Born between 1980-98)

Qualities: Ages 17 to 34, most Millennials came into this world nurtured by focused parents. Millennials grew up with fast food, video games and computers, which shaped them into placing a high emphasis on quick information and instant satisfaction. They tend to have a sense of entitlement and a keen understanding of the digital space (since they grew up with some type of digital appliance). One significant trait of this generation is that they value work, but do not live to work. Having a social life outside of work is a necessary feature in life that they strive for. Lastly, Millennials represent more than a quarter of the U.S. population (more than Baby Boomers). 

Key Social Insight: 62% of millennials say that if a brand engages with them on social networks, they are more likely to become a loyal customer. They expect brands to not only be on social networks, but to engage with them. (Source)

Takeaway:  This tech-savvy generation knows exactly what they want from brands on social media. They’re active on most of the major networks so planning a connected social strategy that spans across multiple networks is a critical step toward reaching this audience. In order to generate content that resonates with a Millennial, marketers must be creative, clever and quick. This audience wants to feel like a valuable customer, so baking that message into your content is a powerful way to nurture customer loyalty.
 

Gen Z

(Born between 1999-Present)

Qualities: From babies, to toddlers, to teens, Generation Z is the youth of today’s world. For this group, digital is all they know. This audience is the mobile device generation. So much so that the second screen is a necessary component to the television experience. Because of the easy accessibility of information from digital tools, Gen Zers are adept researchers. Where Millennials use an average of three screens, this group uses five. Due to the immediacy at which content has been delivered to them, this group has a lower attention span than the generations before them. Gen Z is also the third largest group in the U.S. (trailing behind Baby Boomers), but by 2020, they'll account for 40% of all consumers. (Source)

Key Social Insight: Consumers age 19 and younger prefer social networks like Snapchat, Secret and Whisper, and a quarter of people age 13 to 17 have left Facebook this year. (Source)

Takeaway: While the purchasing power of this group is no match for the aforementioned generations, they do have influence over some of them because they are their children and grandchildren. But the main thing here is that Generation Z is an audience interested in the next big thing. Emerging networks—ones that their parents are not on—are far more attractive than Facebook and Twitter. Testing on new social frontiers is the only way brands can really capture the attention of Gen Z. And it’s not just being on these networks, it’s also about standing out and creating highly visual, fascinating content. Unlike Baby Boomers and Gen Xers, Gen Zers are more open to experimentation and risk-taking content—so have fun with it. If you do, they will, too.   

Note: Data from the "Qualities" section of each generation was provided byMarketingteacher.com 

What are your tips for marketing to certain age demographics? 

Source

Read More

5 Simple Ways to Segment Your Social Media Audience

"How can I get more leads from social media?"

This is a question I get often from marketers who are struggling to find and prove the value of social media to their business. Generally, it's followed by an explanation of the various social media tactics they have tried to address this concern. Maybe they'll publish more often or change up the type of content they share. Maybe they'll engage with industry experts on the platform. They might even try hosting a live chat or event. 

The one thing most of them aren't doing? Segmenting their audience on social media. 

Segmentation is not a new concept for marketers. We use segmentation to send emails, create pricing models, and understand the behaviors of our most loyal buyers -- so why aren’t we applying this practice to social media?

To get some ideas for ways you can use segmentation in your social media strategy, keep on reading.

1) Use social media targeting.  

When most people think of social media segmentation, they think of paid targeting options. Facebook allows businesses to target their messages to users based on data such as user demographics, interests, and geographical location. Other platforms including Twitter, LinkedIn, and Instagram have followed suit. Paid targeting is effective because it enables companies to get a specific message in front of a specific audience.

Lucky for budget-minded marketers, there are also some organic targeting options. Below are ways you could make use of both organic and paid targeting tactics.

Organic

Organic targeting allows users to tailor their content to specific audiences without paying to promote a post. Facebook, LinkedIn, and Google+ make it easy for companies to do organic targeting.

Facebook

Facebook allows you to filter by gender, relationship status, age, location, interests and more. Simply create your post and select the target audience of your choice.

LinkedIn

LinkedIn allows you to target by industry, company size, function and more. This is a a great feature for B2B companies that are seeking to attract more visitors.

Google+

You can also select a specific audience on Google+ by publishing your content to a select circle of friends (you will need manually add members to the circle).

Paid

Paid targeting enables companies to be seen by social media users who are already active users and more likely to engage your offer and campaign. As a result, companies can increase their reach, expand their audience size, and achieve more quality conversions.

Almost all the social networks allow you to create targeted paid campaigns. Below is an example from Facebook -- you can target posts by gender, age, behavior, location and more. 

2) Create a group.

Social media is all about community. Building communities of people who share common interests is an easy way to segment your audience and gain valuable insights. You may decide to keep the group open (anyone can join) or closed (new members must be approved by a moderator) -- there are advantages to each.

Open groups enable you to gather information about how a more general audience feels about your brand. You can use this forum to have discussions and ask open-ended questions such as, “What are your biggest challenges?” or “What makes excellent customer service?” You can also test out new ideas with your audience members or discover new content ideas that they would find interesting and relevant. The advantage here is that you will have a large group to bounce ideas off of. The disadvantage? They may not be as knowledgeable about your industry as you need.

That's where closed groups can come in handy. Because you are approving each member's admission to the group, you can cherry-pick the most qualified candidates. Maybe they're a group of customers whose opinions you value, or list of people who have attended an even you've hosted. Regardless of what the requirements of admission, this can be a great way to get specific, helpful feedback from a group you trust -- but you may not get as many responses as an open group discussion.

3) Make a list.

Most marketers are familiar with creating lists -- we do that every time we send a new email campaign. 

But did you know you can use lists to have more productive social media conversations? Social networks like Facebook and Twitter allow users to create lists of friends, followers, people who have attended an event, and more.

If you're a HubSpot customer, the lists you use for your email can actually be one and the same as your social monitoring lists. (If you're curious about how to create one, check out this Academy help document.) This means that you could set up a stream for each of your buyer personas, a stream for leads who are talking about your brand, or customers in a certain industry. You'll spend much less time trying to filter through the noise, and much more time having relevant, targeted conversations. 

4) Post at different times of the day.

We’ve all heard how important timing is to marketing, especially on social media. If you have a global following, you should be publishing posts throughout the day at the times most appropriate for different geographic regions. Differentiating your publishing times allows you to get engagement from a larger portion of your audience. Additionally, publishing a message more than once or at different times of the day can help your reach a specific audience that you haven't reached before.

5) Maintain multiple social media accounts on each network.

As you become a better marketer and master ways to segment your audience, more and more people from all over the world are going to be interested in connecting with you through social media. At that point, you may find that the best way to consistently serve your audience relevant content is by setting up several social media accounts, each with a specific bent.

At HubSpot, we maintain more than five different Twitter accounts to provide content that is relevant to each segment of our audience. For example, @HubSpotAcademy is a channel that inbound marketers can use in order to learn how to be a better inbound marketer, while@HubSpotSupport is a channel that our customers can use to get help using the HubSpot platform. Both Twitter accounts are relevant to anyone interested in HubSpot, but they are most relevant to their particular segments.

Keep in mind that each social media account should still serve a larger audience, so be sure to work on building your overall audience from one account before you try building out more. Also, if you decide to start building out more accounts, be sure that people can easily differentiate their purpose (ex: customer support, marketing materials, your yearly event, etc.) -- otherwise, you'll be creating more work for yourself.

So there you have it, five ways to segment your social media audience for more relevant conversations -- and eventually, more conversions. 

How else do you segment your social media audience?

Source

Read More

How To Get Traffic From Twitter: Tools And Tactics Pro Bloggers Use

Here’s an amusing thing I’ve noticed recently.

There’s a gap between what the “experts” teach us about marketing on Twitter and what the Pro bloggers actually do.

Everyone knows that Twitter can be a huge source of traffic, so we’re always eager to learn any new strategies that the “experts” teach us.

But lately I’ve stopped listening to the “experts” and decided to take a look at how professional bloggers behave on Twitter and what brings them traffic.

Here are the two popular myths that got busted right away:

1. “Experts” say: Follow relevant people

Really? Let’s look at Brian Clark, who’s only following 203 tweeps. Or Darren Rowse, who’s a little bit over a thousand.

Why do they ignore such a popular tactic? Because it doesn’t work.

I already see some of you checking out Twitter account of Francisco Rosales, who’s following well over 5000 people.

I didn’t ask him about it, but I think this is his way of saying – “Hey, you’re cool!”

Whenever someone will reach out to him with something interesting, or tweet a thoughtful comment about what he does, or just mention him somewhere – Francisco will follow that person to show his appreciation.

2. “Experts” say: Grow your Twitter following

Really? Let’s do a little experiment.

Open FollowerWonk and search for people who have “social media expert” in their bio. You’ll get a list of people ranked by the number of followers they have:

Then open their Twitter profiles and see if they were tweeting any Bit.ly links lately.

I’ve picked Mari Smith, who has 341K followers:

Fun fact about Bit.ly links: you can easily see how many people clicked them by adding “+” at the end of the URL.

Like this: https://bitly.com/1EZMaAR+

I’ve checked just a few links and it seems like Mari Smith is getting somewhere around 50 clicks on the links that she tweets:

I’m sure that “50 clicks” is not the kind of traffic from Twitter that you’re looking for.

Which means that “following relevant people” and “growing the number of your followers” are totally useless activities.

And here’s what actually works:

1. Writing “contagious” articles

There’s one simple concept that a lot of bloggers don’t seem to understand:

You get traffic from Twitter when OTHER people tweet your articles, not you.

Why even bother growing your own Twitter following, when you can have hundreds of other people tweet your article to their followers and bring you traffic?

All you need to do is write the kind of article that makes people want to tweet it – a “contagious article.”

Contagious articles get spread in viral cycles:

• first readers will tweet the article to their followers;
• the followers of the first readers will tweet it to their followers;
• the followers of the followers of the first readers… well, you get the idea.

But how do you write the kind of article that people can’t stop tweeting?

There are many strategies you can use, but the easiest one is to copy what already worked for someone else.

Just go to Buzzsumo and type any keywords related to your niche. The tool will give you a list of articles ranked by the amount of shares they got:

Use these articles as an inspiration and try to write a better piece on your own blog.

There’s always room for improvement. Just spend some extra time on research and create custom visuals for your article.

Here’s how Jimmy Daly used this tactic to write an article that generated 36,282 readers and 1,000 email subscribers.

2. Creating “tweetable quotes”

Everyone loves smart quotes by famous people. Just go to Pinterest and see how much traction a simple image with a quote can get:

If you use catchy relevant quotes in your articles and make them “tweetabe” – you’re going to get a lot of extra tweets.

Let’s see a great example from the blog of Michael Hyatt. If you scroll through his article you will notice a fancy-looking quote by Jeff Coins, which can be tweeted with a single click:

Does this actually work?

Just search this quote on Twitter, and you’ll see a ton of tweets, linking back to Michael’s article:

So how do you create such “tweetable quotes” on your own blog?

If you’re looking for a free solution, you can try an online service called ClickToTweetor a WordPress plugin that has the same name.

But if you need a more advanced solution, I invite you to take a look at my own plugin called TweetDis.

3. Reaching out to influencers

If you want your contagious article to take off, you have to make a few influential people tweet it to their huge audiences.

How do you do that?

First of all, you have to write the kind of article, that would be worthy of a tweet. And then you need to feature some influencer in your article:

• ask them for a quote;
• link to some of their content;
• use their products and share your experience.

One of the most effective tactics I know is The “Drip” Technique by Gregory Ciotti.

While you’re in the process of writing your article, reach out to a few key influencers who are the most knowledgeable in that field and ask them for a short quote that you can use in your article.

Once the article goes live, reach out to them once again to thank them for their contribution.

From Gregory’s experience, many of them will tweet your article to their followers.

So what’s your focus now?

I hope I was able to convince you that it’s much more effective to concentrate your efforts on writing “tweet worthy” content, rather than trying to get more followers on Twitter.

Do you agree with me? Or do you still believe that “engaging in conversations” and “following relevant people” is the best way to get traffic from Twitter?

Source

Read More

Where Are Your Customers in Social Media?

Organic reach has become the bane of many social media marketers.

Staying up to date with Facebook’s algorithm changes is rapidly becoming a full-time job, and getting your brand message into your fans’ News Feeds without paying for it is specialist work.

This can become even more apparent in the retail sector, where a brand’s social media presence is not just about brand building and engagement, but also about actually driving customers to purchase products.

It’s a fine balance to strike, but a recent survey conducted in January 2015 in the UK offers some insight into consumer preferences.

Facebook is Maturing

The demographic profile of Facebook is changing.

According to eMarketer, the age group that will show the biggest increase in the share of Facebook users in the coming year is 65+ year-olds.

The baby boomers are finally realizing that they can keep in touch with their children and grandchildren via social media, and that it is not as technically out of reach as they had perhaps once thought.

However, the other major age groups are set to remain pretty static, supporting the findings of the UK survey. A key point in the research is that the 25 – 34 year-olds, the biggest slice of the Facebook pie, really want to see retailer promotions in their social news feeds, particularly on Facebook.

This is good news for Facebook as it is the 25+ age group who are the ones willing to spend the most money on ads. It’s also good news for retailers as the same age group is the one most likely to make a purchase via a promotion on a Facebook page.

In the past, brands have invested a lot of time and effort on their Facebook pages, and with solid results. As we know, the recent string of algorithm changes threaten to nullify those efforts unless companies are willing to fork out for ads. Promotions, however, offer a way to maximize the social ROI by showcasing products, offering discount, directing visitors to brand websites, and offering rewards for customer engagement and, ultimately, purchases.

Millennials Are Using Their Own Channels

For the younger, 18 – 24 year-old demographic, Facebook is losing its appeal as they move on to other channels not populated by their parents, and increasingly, grandparents. The vast majority of these young adults still have a Facebook account, but they are less and less likely to use it.

The same is true of an even younger demographic, the 12 – 18 year-olds, who have taken to channels such as Instagram and Snapchat in their droves.

So Where Are The 18 – 25 Year-Olds?

This millennial age group has an increasingly strong presence on Twitter. The UK survey revealed that 18 – 25 year-olds want to hear about retail promotions and offers specifically in their Twitter feeds.

This is backed up by separate research conducted by University of Massachusetts Dartmouth Center for Marketing Research who found that as many as 85% of US Millennials follow a brand or company on Twitter to get a coupon or discount. However, as with Facebook, they are not the biggest spenders.

The UK survey found that 29% of consumers follow their favorite retailers on social channels simply because their updates were interesting or funny, whereas, 33% follow only for offers. This offers compelling evidence for a balanced approach to content marketing where interesting content alongside offers and promotions is key to retail success on social media, particularly with younger demographics.

Promotions in Social Media Drive Sales

One interesting finding of the survey is that many consumers will only make purchases when a promotion is available.

This is very important information for retailers to consider in their social media marketing activities. Simply trying to gain followers and fans on social media is being replaced by more concerted efforts to use social media to convert sales. According to the 2014 Internet Retailer Social Media 500 Guide, referral traffic from Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and YouTube increased 41.8 percent from 2013, driving 51.5 million unique monthly website visitors. The use of promotions in social media will undoubtedly drive this referral rate even more.

Savvy Marketers Will Lead The Way

Social media channels are undoubtedly critical in creating engagement, and they increasingly drive sales, but marketers would be well advised to maintain an even spread in their digital marketing activities.

Research has shown that promotions have a real effect on the behavior of consumers on both sides of the pond. It is the savvy retailers and social media marketers who will be the ones to reap the benefits of this knowledge.

Read more about how to reach your customers with promotions in social media.

Source

Read More

Learn What Matters to Your Audience: The Emergence of Topic Data on Facebook

In today’s e-commerce climate, it is not uncommon to find that browsing the ever-increasing number of companies, products and services can be daunting when trying to find just the right thing. But fear no more, because Facebook has recently made a milestone announcement that could mean huge changes for consumers and businesses alike.

Introducing ‘topic data’ to select partners in the US and UK, Facebook will loosen its hold on its user data information to provide marketers with a broader look and deeper understanding of how their online presence is faring so they may optimize future business strategies.

Topic Data Explained

So Facebook is selling my personal information? Well, yes and no. While Facebook has always provided paying marketers with a narrow scope of how and what people share, they are now offering all of their data for a bigger look. Although the actual boundaries of this data is a bit vague at this point, it is safe to assume that everything and anything that gives a fuller picture will be used to increase insight into overall access, effectiveness and appeal of a given topic.

So what is the actual data Facebook is using? Topic data is all of our user activity, page visits, friend and group requests, posts, likes, shares, clicks, messenger conversations and other social activity information. This is then simplified into coherent data that acts as a reliable sample that can be studied and analyzed for trends, patterns and other inferences. In turn, this gives an exclusive and honest look into a particular product, service, brand, subject, activity or location.

Then what do they do with it? Once marketers have this information they may troubleshoot their approaches and improve the choices they make for their business plans, product road-maps, or more simply, their promotions on Facebook or other online networks. Still not getting it? Here are examples to give you a better idea:

• A coffee bean retailer learns that their Colombian beans are talked about the most among java connoisseurs and baristas alike, yet their sales are not very high. This allows the retailer to scrutinize their supply chain, availability, product costs and promotional techniques to find a better way to get these well-liked beans to the buying consumers who want them.
• A ski tourism company can assess what kind of skiing specific types of skiers prefer in certain conditions and what they try to avoid, giving them a better idea of who to appeal to and what kinds of locations to expand into.
• A company is looking to tap into a new market with a product so they get an accurate read on prospective customer bases, competitors and specific demographics to hone the right to corner a portion of that market.

A comprehensive view of a company’s audience offers a top-down assessment of every aspect of their business. Be aware, however, that this topic data does not include targeted tracking of specific ads. Instead, topic data is a broad-view, holistic approach that merely builds a fuller picture of a product, marketplace and industry.

How Does it Work?

Facebook has teamed up with DataSift, an industry-leading data analysis firm that “enables social networks to build data distribution to an extensive ecosystem of application developers.” Serving over a thousand companies between twenty social networks, blogs and news organizations, DataSift has developed cutting edge technology for synthesizing social data into organized information that can then be retrofitted into improved company tactics. With summary results and quantified facts, marketing innovations and new business applications have never been easier to develop through Facebook’s topic data.

What about Privacy?

Facebook is guaranteeing that all topic data will be anonymous and otherwise private; this means no identifying information disclosures to their partners and marketers. However, this is a moot point considering this data is crunched by DataSift then turned over as facts and figures, analysis and long-form exposition rather than singular pieces of user data.

What Does Topic Data Mean for Everyone?

Though it is hard to say definitively who will prosper the most from Topic Data (aside from consumers), it is safe to assume those few lucky partners who get to use this service will increase their profitability hands down. Whenever a business knows their consumer better, the better they are at creating something they need and want. These marketers will likely modify their praxis be it in approach, products, service areas or clientele. While topic data will encourage some to expand, others will trim down to narrow their scope so to speak. As a business owner or marketer, topic data is valuable and something you are going to want to get in on.

Source

Read More