Digital Lifescapes

With macro-economic uncertainty continuing in numerous markets around the globe, some chief marketing officers (CMOs) at large multinational companies are already being forced to make dramatic budget cuts to both their staffing levels and the associated annual operating budget. One key area of marketing that’s going to be hit particularly hard is the Corporate Social Media team. These organizations -- led by people who consider themselves as “Social Media Experts” -- are notorious for having difficulty justifying their leap-of-faith expenditures. But the savvy senior executive is no longer intimidated by their jargon, or tolerant of their demands for greater budget allocations. Game over. Experts, or not, they’ve now come under the close scrutiny of their CEO -- just as their counterparts in the legacy PR department did during the end of the 20th century. What’s happening here – and why is it surfacing now? The High-Cost of Low-Quality Business Communication B2B Social M...

The global Technology, Media and Telecommunications ( TMT ) marketplace was very eventful during the past year. The vast majority of TMT sector product and service marketers have experienced both great challenges and unprecedented new opportunities in 2011. That being said, I've selected a few stories from the Digital Lifescapes archive that I believe are noteworthy, from a marketing practices point of view -- both in retrospect and a forward-looking perspective. Spending on Under-Performing Ads is Still Foolish The media-buyer mentality is still pervasive with most marketers. Given what we know about the typical ROI results from advertising, when compared to quality editorial content publication, why do marketers spend their budgets on under-performing ads? It's easier to buy advertising placements than create meaningful new content that appeals to your customers and prospects. More >> Legacy Marketers Provide a Windfall for Facebook Transmedia Storytelling Cr...

Measuring the performance and resulting impact of a marketing organization has always been difficult -- particularly where the primary metrics tend to be quantitative, and few are qualitative. Today, most marketers would like to demonstrate meaningful online influence as their key performance indicator (KPI). But when capturing that metric proves to be elusive, they attempt to refocus their monitoring efforts on target stakeholder engagement. By far, the more common outcome that's reported, however, tends to be counting activity-oriented or event-oriented metrics (clicks, impressions, etc.). eMarketer reports that companies now realize that amassing fans and followers is not the ultimate goal of social media marketing. Yet the challenge remains -- how to measure marketing success that a chief executive would gladly reward. Data from the August 2011 Chief Marketer “2011 Social Marketing Survey” found that only 26 percent of marketing professionals saw amassing total follow...

According to the latest market study by eMarketer, the UK has long dominated the Western European ecommerce landscape, accounting for well over half of annual sales in the European Union top five (EU-5). But France, Germany, Italy and Spain are increasingly important markets. eMarketer estimates that in 2013, combined B2C online sales in these countries will reach $121.5 billion -- and overtake the UK total for the first time. By 2015, spending across the region will reach $343.5 billion, with 58.2 percent of the total -- or $199.9 billion, coming from France, Germany, Italy and Spain. “Europe’s ecommerce market is a resounding success by any standard,” said Karin von Abrams, senior analyst at eMarketer. “The number of online buyers in Europe’s four main continental markets is rising steadily as consumer confidence increases and online sellers provide an ever-wider range of goods and services.” However, the number of online buyers in these countries -- as a percentage of tota...

Many senior executives may want to believe that an investment in social media marketing is strategic to their business, but they're apparently still not convinced. They've read all the hype about the huge amount of people that registered on Facebook, but they question how many of their customers or prospects access the social network regularly. They wonder if people really are looking for product or service information on Facebook, when most users activity tends to revolve around sharing photos of friends, family members or their pets. The most doubtful executives hear all the talk about the power of user engagement, yet their marketing staff prefers to write checks to Facebook for consistently poor-performing ad placements. Can the launch of Google+ help to reverse some of the bad perceptions that these senior executives already have about today's social media marketing practices? Or, can Google simply avoid the debate altogether, and gain a significant market advanta...

  eMarketer reports that online monitoring of commentary about your brand or product is vitally important. Even if a company isn't involved in social media activities, customers almost definitely are and sometimes their conversations can end up in the news media. According to a survey of business technology professionals by InformationWeek Analytics, most companies are relying on the proven low-tech solutions to the social media monitoring challenge. Note: for those marketers who need some guidance, I maintain a list of free social media tools . Why the DIY Monitoring Approach is Preferred Most companies are using basic tools, such as Google Alerts, to monitor online discussions. Outsourcing the task or using a dedicated application for the purpose was relatively uncommon. This is not surprising, since the free tools are easy to use and they're also effective. That said, the typical survey respondent approach to dealing with online engagement suggested many were not ...

As American marketers choose to invest more of their budget in social media marketing and search engine optimization activities, a new eMarketer report highlights the accelerating downside for traditional advertising. Is 2011 set to be the year of Facebook, even among search marketers? Based on what U.S. advertisers told search marketing agency Covario, it's definitely the year that social media and social networking is adopted by everyone -- including the prior market laggards. Traditional advertisers that are also savvy about unpaid search results have discovered how social media marketing can help build their search engine optimization efforts. Respondents to the Covario survey said their top priority for SEO next year was integration with social media programs. Social media will also play an important part in paid search efforts next year. Search ad campaigns on sites like Facebook and LinkedIn were top of mind for nearly half of advertisers surveyed -- far ahead of p...

eMarketer reports that according to a market study performed by Network Solutions and the University of Maryland, small-business social media marketing use has apparently plateaued in the U.S. at 24 percent adoption. The study of American small to medium businesses (SMB) found that most primarily use Facebook (82 percent), and that common activities are maintaining a "company page" on a social network and posting status updates or links to interesting content. About half of those businesses that used social media also monitored social networks for mentions of their company and/or product names. As small business gains experience with social media, some have realized their expectations are not in tune with reality. As most begin to look at social media as a channel more for customer loyalty than for prospect acquisition, they're also finding that hopes for increased brand awareness and attracting new customers have not been fully met. However, while fewer small b...

According to a June 2010 survey by King Fish Media, HubSpot and Junta42, a remarkable 72 percent of the polled American business leaders said that they now had a social media marketing strategy. eMarketer reports that the companies surveyed 457 U.S. marketers and managers -- 52 percent of respondents were in the publishing, media, advertising and marketing industries. Those findings are among the highest percentage from surveys that polled whether U.S. marketers had a social strategy. In May 2010, Digital Brand Expressions found that 52 percent of marketers had no plan -- similar to the 50 percent of poll participants in an April 2010 study by R2integrated. King Fish and its partners found that 75 percent of the companies with a social strategy said they planned to increase their marketing budget investment in the coming year. A February 2010 survey by Duke University's Fuqua School of Business found that survey respondents were devoting 5.6 percent of their marketing bud...

The next upside for advertising in America was supposed to be a new mass-market opportunity. Theoretically, mobile devices provide the most personal and direct ways for marketers to reach consumers with Ads. eMarketer estimates nearly 80 percent of the U.S. population has a mobile phone as of 2010. And yet, most U.S. marketers are slow to take advantage of the opportunity. According to an April 2010 survey by eROI, less than a third of U.S. marketers think optimizing the mobile marketing experience is important to their customers. Almost as many are unsure and nearly a quarter are "testing" the value of mobile optimization. Despite the number of marketers testing mobile, apparently they're not serious tests. In fact, 63 percent of marketers told eROI they were not measuring how many of their email subscribers were viewing messages on mobile devices. And, mobile-optimized messages were sent by only 25 percent of respondents. Usage of marketer websites via mobile ...

Who should lead our social media marketing activity? It's a question being asked frequently, but the answer can vary greatly from one organization to another. Initially, it's wise to focus on the skilled people within your qualified talent pool -- or, talent puddle, as the case may be -- rather than choosing a functional group. Meaning, the possession of proven experience should be a key deciding factor in leader selection. eMarketer reports that it's quickly becoming common wisdom among marketers that a meaningful strategy is required to apply social media tools effectively. That doesn't mean a majority of those involved in the space have created a well-thought-out approach. According to a May 2010 market study by Digital Brand Expressions, 52 percent of marketers using social media are operating "without a game plan" -- similar to the 50 percent found in April 2010 by R2integrated. Many marketers that do have a strategy find it doesn't address ...

Technology, media and telecommunications marketing practitioners are ready to let go of legacy practices and try something that's potentially more effective. eMarketer reports that social media is now developing a reputation for being valuable -- for customer interaction, brand awareness and lead generation. In February 2010, for example, inbound online marketing platform HubSpot found Twitter usage could double monthly leads, and Onesource reported in January that business-to-business salespeople were looking to LinkedIn for prospecting. Moreover, according to virtual events provider Unisfair, social media is now the top emerging channel for sales lead generation among technology marketers that they surveyed in May 2010. Lead generation was marketer's first priority, with 66 percent saying it was their greatest concern for 2010, compared with just 17 percent who chose brand awareness. When online marketing firm R2integrated surveyed U.S. marketing professionals in A...

eMarketer reports that the Web and its meritocracy for content publishing has put more power into the hands of consumers and business buyers. They can easily conduct their own product research, get advice and read reviews from peers, and share their own perspective. According to a market study by marketing services company Alterian, this apparent transformation has led to increasing public skepticism and cynicism of many traditional marketing practices. Rather than simply trusting experts or putting faith in brands, Internet users expect to do their own research and comparison shopping using many different "more trustworthy" sources. Nearly every respondent to Alterian's survey did their own research and comparisons before a purchase at least sometimes, and 71 percent said they looked for as many information sources as possible to verify their findings. Friends and family were most likely to be trusted for advice, while advertisements and other carefully crafted...

Compendium announced results from its Corporate Blogging and Social Media Trends Survey. They gathered data from 266 companies about blogging traffic, visitor trends, and their business related Twitter usage. The results counter the commonly held belief that business blogs have a core group of loyal readers. The study found that almost two-thirds of respondents reported more than 80 percent of all blog traffic was "first-time" visitors. "As more traffic is being driven to corporate blogs through organic searches and more first-time visitors are landing on blogs, companies need to develop blog and social media content that is appropriate for this audience in order to be effective," said Chris Baggott, CEO and co-founder of Compendium. Therefore, a keyword-optimized blogging and social media content strategy geared towards first-time visitors is a valuable tool for marketers to increase conversions. Of the B-to-B companies surveyed, 64 percent of respondents said tha...

eMarketer reports that U.S. small and medium businesses (SMBs) are adopting social media marketing in greater numbers, according to a market study by Network Solutions and the Center for Excellence in Service at the University of Maryland. Social media usage increased to 24 percent, from 12 percent the year before. It's interesting to note that the most common usage of social media among small business was a company page on a social networking site, followed by posting status updates. SMB expectations of social media are in line with their experiences, although they are not quite as successful as they had hoped. Survey respondent's top accomplishments were customer acquisition and placing their own businesses within the market, but did not meet expectations fully. Social media's capabilities for staying engaged with consumers and collaborating with other businesses, however, were more in line with user expectations. Most SMBs say they are breaking even with their current u...

eMarketer reports that as marketers become more experienced using social media, they naturally progress from the "trial phase" of their online marketing efforts toward a more strategic use. While most marketers are still in a state of flux, according to the MarketingSherpa assessment, about one-quarter of social media marketers have already made it to the strategic phase of their efforts. Frankly, I doubt that percentage is accurate, based upon what I've witnessed. eMarketer says that gaining maturity means improving the ability to tie objectives to specific metrics. Marketers in the strategic phase are significantly more likely than those in earlier phases of the process to measure their success across all objectives. That said, an increase in Website traffic was the number one objective targeted and measured by all marketers surveyed. In contrast, finding mentors and retraining your legacy marketing staff, to regularly interact and engage online, should be the highest ...

eMarketer reports that McKinsey & Company recently polled people about the benefits gained from using various Digital Marketing practices and associated Web 2.0 tools, both internally and externally. The study found that several technologies were a benefit for enhancing relationships among employees -- as well as with customers and external partners. When it came to customer-related benefits, blogs were the most useful tool, bringing measurable benefits to 51 percent of responding companies worldwide. That was followed by video-sharing and social networking, at 48 percent each, and RSS feeds, at 45 percent. Technologies such as wikis, podcasts, ratings and tags were less useful, but still benefited customer relationships for about one-quarter to one-third of companies worldwide. More than one-half of respondents (52 percent) said Web 2.0 tools increased marketing effectiveness, while 43 percent reported higher customer satisfaction and 38 percent reduced marketing costs. Businesse...

eMarketer reports that the Social Media Marketing bandwagon is in motion, according to the latest market study from Equation Research. Their survey of U.S. brand marketers found the majority already using social media. Some marketers were planning on adding social media activities over the next year, including 15 percent of respondents in businesses with fewer than 50 employees and 24 percent of those whose companies had at least 500 employees. The most popular social media channels for brand and agency marketers were Facebook, Twitter, online videos and blogs -- each used by more than one-half of survey respondents. Respondents reported common barriers to social media adoption. Among brand marketers, 37 percent did not know enough about social media to begin, and another 37 percent said there was no good way to measure its effectiveness (seriously, compared to traditional "leap-of-faith" mass media marketing?). Agency marketers reiterated those concerns, and were also likely...

As the South by Southwest Festival of 2009 comes to an end, let's acknowledge the open unConference events -- as people from all over the world connected together and joined their Indie Music or Independent Film "community of interest" while in Austin, Texas. I've launched the GeoBrava Media project, in celebration of all the independent talent that stays true to their art-form -- passionately creating new digital media content -- regardless that their work is considered unCommercial by the legacy big-media companies. Free and Open Distribution Models The rise of the unLabel music production and open distribution model is a revolt in response to the traditional record label's business practices. Ditto, with the rise of the unStudio video production and open distribution phenomenon. A multitude of social media networking sites are creating the new open marketplace online, where the vast market supply is freely exposed to the awaiting eclectic market demand. The ...