By adaptive - August 29th, 2012
Hi all, Hope everyone is well? Plenty of activity across the social web this week… Use email to promote your social networks [A] new infographic from Experian clearly shows that email is ...
Hi all,
Hope everyone is well?
Plenty of activity across the social web this week…
Use email to promote your social networks
A new infographic from Experian clearly shows that email is far from dead when it comes to brand promotion. Indeed, the humble email message can have a huge positive impact on your business’ social media exposure. Not surprisingly the main contenders are the principal social media platforms with Facebook leading the pack as the most promoted social network via email messages.
Emails promoting Pinterest get just under 25% more unique clicks than non-social promoting messages. And if your business puts ‘Facebook’ in the subject line of its emails, research suggests this will deliver a 27% increase in traffic to your business’ website the week after your emails are sent.
The B2B social marketing universe
If your business is trying to develop a clear appreciation of the B2B social media landscape, a new infographic from Marketo could be a great help. The infographic doesn’t contain any revealing stats, but it does give a clear indication of how social media channels divide up the social marketing space.
The big three of Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn are clearly a focus, but the smaller niche networks are also covered. If your business is developing a social media roadmap at the moment, this infographic is a great source of general information.
Images and video lead brand awareness
They say that a picture is worth a thousand words. This is certainly the case when it comes to communicating your business’ brand values according to a new infographic from SimplyMeasured and M Booth. Pinterest of course has shown that visual material is highly attractive to consumers. Facebook’s Timeline has transformed how brands communicate with their advocates. Today your business’ YouTube channel is just as important as its Facebook pages. When asked whether they preferred text or images connected with the top ten brands, respondents liked photos twice as much as text updates, and they shared videos 12 times more than textual information or photo combined.
The dark side of social media
Social media is an essential component of your business’ marketing activity, but have you also considered risk management? A new report from the Altimeter Group asked social media professionals and vendors about how risk management is current perceived and deployed by their companies. The report concluded: “What we found was that social media is the modern Pandora’s box – It has great value but almost two-thirds of companies we surveyed say that social media is a significant or critical risk to their brand reputation. The biggest risk? Brand reputation, followed on by the errant release of confidential information, the loss of IP, and regulatory and compliance issues.”
In Brief…
Instagram gaining pace with brands
Last year Social Fresh asked: “So the question is, can brands get real business value out of a photo sharing app that is not focused on link sharing or buying products or distributing specials to fans? The jury is still out, but there are some big brands testing the platform for spreading awareness and cultivating relationships with their biggest fans.”
It seems that brands are now adopting the network in growing numbers. Social Fresh is reporting that of the Interbrand 100, 40% now have a profile on Instagram. “Audi is a prime example of a company that has taken Instagram seriously and seen it pay off. While they don’t have the audience of some other top Instagram players (like MTV’s 813k followers and Starbucks’ 758k), they engage the audience they do have – which, at 104,511 and growing, is nothing to scoff at – at a much higher level.” With news that images and video are the preferred media on social networks, investigating Instagram for your business should be a top priority.
Demographics in the social space
Understanding the demographic profile of your business’ customers has been essential marketing information for decades. But how much do you know about your social media users? Some interesting stats from Pingdom include: the average gender distribution is 48.75% male, 51.25% female. And 55% of Twitter users are 35 or older, with 65% of Facebook users being 35 or older. The age trend for Facebook and Twitter when compared to a previous survey the company did 2.5 years ago, the age of the average Facebook user has gone up two years, while the age of the average Twitter user has gone down two years.
The value of social shopping to double by 2014
According to a new survey from eBay the value of social shopping will rocket from its current value of £1.6 billion to £3.3 billion in just two years. What’s more, the value of direct sales from actual social media sites is also set to expand by 44% from £210 million to around £290 million over the same period. Head of mobile shopping at eBay, Petra Jung, commented: “There’s a billion pound prize for UK retailers in using social to help customers make up their minds when they’re looking to buy something. Generating direct sales is part of the prize in social shopping but using peer-to-peer networks to influence purchasing decisions is the far bigger opportunity.”
Until next time….
The Useful Social Media team.