A new study surveying consumers’ social media use had 64% of respondents saying they “hate” it when brands target them through social media.
At the same time, 55% like contacting brands through social media to give them feedback. They also like it when a brand has a page or site, especially if the page has coupons and discounts.
What’s the takeaway? Let your social media be a lighthouse, steadily attracting traffic but not wading in the waters to collect people. Wait for them to engage, but then make sure to follow-up, even if the request falls more squarely in customer service than sales.
Unfortunately Google’s new “Search Plus Your World” feature may have dimmed your lighthouse’s beacon, highlighting Google + profiles over all other social media. However, the clever engineers at Facebook, Twitter and MySpace are not going quietly into the night. They just released a browser bookmarklet, or small piece of code, that can run in Google Chrome, Firefox or Safari (sorry IE users) and pulls up relevant social media profiles across platforms for any search you do.
Perhaps you want to tweet/post about it on your social media profile to let your fans/followers/friends know?
Just to keep us all on our toes, Google is adding one more ranking feature to its search optimization terms — the number of ads above content on a page.
Afters users expressed frustration with sites that place an inordinate number of ads “above the fold” and bury content, Google has decided to penalize sites that do so.
The good news is that Google estimates this will affect only 1% of sites, and Paywall Times readers who are concerned with serving their audience through quality content shouldn’t be too concerned. Sites can still have banner ads above the fold, and the new rule will not affect pop-overs, pop-unders and overlays at all.
How much is too much? Google Browser can help you figure out what gets looked at the most on your page, and you want to make sure there’s some content in that 90-99 percentile area. But again, this new rule does not call for the elimination of ads, just their strategic placements. In fact, Google AdSense will tell you that you can place up to three ads on content-rich pages. Although, ironically, Google may be breaking its own top-heavy rule, as this article cleverly illustrates.
Marketing professionals will be happy to hear recent data that backs up their water-cooler hunches: marketers in the US and UK spent more on paid search advertising in the last quarter of 2011 than Q4 of 2010. Similar growth is expected throughout 2012.
And while Google maintained a cool 80% of market share, Search Engine Journal claims that 30% of all US-searches are through Bing. Plus, the Yahoo and Bing alliance (Yahoo is now powered by Bing) had clicks that were 14% more valuable than Google, while also producing 9% higher ROI. These numbers support recent comments by members of our sister site, Subscription Site Insider. At the Insider’s Summit in NYC last October, a number of members claimed that Bing users were more important to them than Google users.
We surmise (with absolutely no proof…yet) that Bing users stick to desktop pre-sets (Dell computers, for example, come preset to Bing). We know that Bing users are usually older, more US-based and more likely to have children, all implying that they are more likely to be spending consumer dollars.
If this is the demographic you’re targeting, then consider optimizing for Bing instead of Google. Here’s a handy cheat sheet to get you started. Most of the rules are similar to SEO for Google, with some tweaks. Although some ideas — such as having a keyword-rich domain name — seem curious. (As any journalist will tell you after their first day, whitehouse.com is not keyword-friendly content; it’s porn. Eventually, we find our way to whitehouse.gov.)
We recently spotted this inventive sweepstakes offer by Local Media Insider. Not only can you enter to win a free iPad by signing up for a free trial, you can also refer a friend, and if that friend wins, so do you!
It’s a nice way to get B2B referrals and opt-ins for your list. The problem may be in retention. Sweepstakes hounds, like extreme coupon clippers, will be willing to sign up for a free trial of anything and then cancel their subscription after the drawing.
A more savvy approach might be to offer the sweepstakes for people who pay for a reduced price trial period — say$1 for 2 weeks? That way you’ve jumped over the pay hurdle and begun cultivating a relationship with people more likely to be genuinely interested in your content. When it comes to opt-ins, numbers count, but so does the quality of your leads.
Yes, it’s only four days into the New Year, but not too soon to begin thinking about your Valentine’s Day campaign.
Here are some tips to keep in mind:
Valentine’s Day promotions are not just for dating sites! If you’re membership site isn’t very romantic, consider partnering with one that is to boost your opt-in or conversion rates. For example, how about one free month of gaming for guys who buy their sweethearts flowers?
While women tend to dominate online shopping, guys reign supreme around Valentine’s Day. Plus, most guys hate malls, so they’ll be searching for an online option. Make sure you search advertising and SEO is up to snuff. Include a “Valentine’s Day” keyword in recently updated content.
Most ecommerce happens the week before Valentine’s Day and top online sales in 2010 were February 5-6. So make sure your email blasts and promos are ready by the first week of February.
Don’t forget to show some love to your current members. A free giveaway to a limited number of respondents is a great way to foster that community spirit that so many membership sites thrive on.
And if January is a slow month for you, put all your ducks in a row so you can test your opt-in and conversation rates with whatever promo you choose! You’re bottom line will thank you for it.
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