Marketing

Facebook Rolls Out a Tool for Testing Ads With Control Groups

Internet News, Marketing 668 Responses »

Jan 272015

Basically, before an ad campaign launches, advertisers can create two test groups: a control group of Facebook users who won’t see the ads, and a second group of users who will. Then, after the campaign runs, advertisers can compare the behavior of the two groups.

The new service move is just one way that the giants of the net—and a wide range of other companies—are working to show that modern technology can not only deliver ads in more pointed ways, but actually prove that people are responding to ads. Google, Twitter, and Adobe are the other big names here. But for Forrester analyst Richard Joyce, who closely follows the online advertising market, Facebook is uniquely positioned to track the success of ads, because it collects so much personal data about its users.

“This can be very powerful,” Joyce says. “It’s hard to create this kind of 360-degree view of the user without the kind of data that Facebook has.”

via Facebook Rolls Out a Tool for Testing Ads With Control Groups | WIRED.

7 sales pitch tactics that actually work

Marketing 600 Responses »

Aug 182014

From a marketing perspective, the old saying “you can never make a second first impression” means you better have a stellar pitch. And with the increasingly crowded and competitive digital space, making your first introduction stand out to a potential client may seem daunting. To find out how the top young professionals are approaching the matter, iMedia asked seven members of the Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC) the following question: In a vast sea of marketing and service provider pitches, what is the most effective tactic that salespeople use to get you to take their calls or set up a meeting?

via 7 sales pitch tactics that actually work – iMediaConnection.com.

5 tips to increase organic reach on Facebook

Internet News, Marketing 551 Responses »

Aug 182014

For the past few months, brands have experienced a decrease in the organic reach of their Facebook fan pages. Initially, many thought this was Facebook’s push for more paid advertising and paid promotion, but then the social network finally released its own explanation for why reach is decreasing.

Organic reach is important to all brands as it greatly impacts the potential audience of its updates and the resultant value Facebook can provide, whether it be simple engagement in the forms of “likes” or comments, or the wider advocacy of sharing and more tangible results of clicks, site visits, or actions.Facebook also stated, “To choose which stories to show, News Feed ranks each possible story from more to less important by looking at thousands of factors relative to each person.”

This relative importance is a key message that every page needs to consider, and it can be condensed into a simple mantra: Are you posting the right content to the right people at the right time? Here are five key tips that could help you to achieve greater reach and page engagement.

via 5 tips to increase organic reach on Facebook – iMediaConnection.com.

How can referral marketing counter Facebook’s organic reach problem?

Internet News, Marketing 574 Responses »

Jun 022014

It’s becoming clear that brands looking to get their way into more fans’ and users’ News Feeds, there are two main options — advertising and getting a friend to share a message. Referral marketing is one way to get that important share.

Facebook announced recently that explicit shares from a third party app now hold more weight in its News Feed algorithm. But how can you get a Facebook user to willingly share your content with their friends? Offering some kind of reward or incentive works, according to Extole Vice President of Marketing Chris Duskin. He said that Extole’s clients have seen a lot of success with referral marketing, motivating fans and customers to share content and have the message spread across Facebook.

For Extole customers in Q1, 33 percent of acquisitions happened within an hour of a friend receiving a referral message from an existing customer. While referral marketing may be a little easier to do via email, Duskin talked with Inside Facebook about ways that brands can use this technique to get back into the News Feed.

via How can referral marketing counter Facebook’s organic reach problem? – Inside Facebook.

Latest News Feed algorithm change: third party implicit posts punished

Internet News, Marketing 374 Responses »

May 282014

Facebook’s News Feed algorithm is tweaked constantly to ensure a better experience for users and a more profitable experience for advertisers. The company announced the latest major change today, as stories shared automatically from third parties will receive a lower ranking in News Feed.

Facebook found that when a user posts content to News Feed through a third party or an app, that generally gets more activity than a post automatically generated via a third party. For instance, the News Feed post generated by automatically listening to a Spotify playlist or artist will move down in the algorithm, while an album or song manually shared via Spotify to Facebook will receive a better ranking.

According to Facebook’s Peter Yang, many times, automatically generated posts from a third party were marked as spam. Additionally, the users didn’t like how stories were being shared implicitly.

via Latest News Feed algorithm change: third party implicit posts punished – Inside Facebook.

Nielsen to roll out Twitter ratings for TV shows on Monday

Internet News, Marketing 470 Responses »

Oct 072013

Television networks have been tapping Twitter hashtags for a couple of years to drum up more buzz for their programs. However, new Nielsen data shows that programs with the greatest Twitter activity does not always correlate to programs with the highest ratings, according to the Wall Street Journal.

That is one of the takeaways from data Nielsen will begin publishing on Monday, ranking shows with the greatest traction on the microblogging social network. The goal of the “Nielsen Twitter TV Ranking,” which the companies announced last December, will be to measure the unique audience tweeting about individual programs.

MORE: Nielsen to roll out Twitter ratings for TV shows on Monday | Internet & Media – CNET News.

Simple ways to recycle your content

Marketing, Your Brand 430 Responses »

Sep 192013

The great thing about content marketing is that businesses — big and small — can get started and become part of the conversation. They can make true connections with consumers and, more importantly, drive sales and leads for their products and services.

Anyone can get started without spending a penny, and great content produces long-term results. I’ve seen marketers bring in tons of business from articles written years ago. The only things you need are commitment and drive to build a content marketing strategy.

Still, it takes a long time to create content. There is no sense in creating great content to use only once and never see it again. Recycling content makes it easier to supply all the different channels you have to fill on a daily basis. I’m using the term recycle and not reuse. With recycling, you’ll be taking existing content and adding to it to create something slightly new. For SEO reasons, you don’t always want to reuse the same content everywhere — that’s duplicate content and you can get a penalty for it.

Here are tips for recycling content.

MORE: Simple ways to recycle your content – iMediaConnection.com.

Staples, RadioShack Yank Amazon Lockers From Stores

Marketing 226 Responses »

Sep 192013

Staples Inc. SPLS and RadioShack Corp. RSH have removed Amazon.com Inc. AMZN lockers from their stores about a year after starting the program as competition stiffens with the online retailer.

The chains began testing a system last year in which Amazon shoppers could have a Web order delivered to a store and then pick it up for no extra cost. This allowed customers, especially urban apartment dwellers, to avoid being home to receive a package or risking a delivery being stolen because it had to be dropped off on a doorstep or in a lobby.

The decision to enter a partnership that made life easier for Amazon’s customers came at a time when the online retailing giant was already a major competitor to both chains.

“That was a little bit odd, but what they were hoping for was that when customers would come in to pick up stuff from the locker, they would pick up additional items,” said Brian Yarbrough, a retail analyst with Edward Jones & Co. in St. Louis. If they pulled the lockers, that means they probably “weren’t seeing the incremental sales out of the deal.”

Staples ended the test with Amazon after it “didn’t meet the criteria we set up together,” Demos Parneros, president of North American stores and online for Staples, said in an e-mail. The company declined to comment further on why it ended the partnership or how many lockers it had in place.

MORE: Staples, RadioShack Yank Amazon Lockers From Stores – Bloomberg.

Social media: Why its the worst phrase in marketing

Marketing 457 Responses »

Sep 172013

I have been involved in social media since the early days when Facebook was exclusively used by college students. I helped build one of the first and largest social agencies, MRY — now part of Publicis Group. I have since founded a social marketing platform for large brand marketers.

So, how can I view social media as the worst term in marketing when my career has been built upon it? In short, its a misleading term that confuses both consumers and marketers. Heres how:

Its NOT media

Its communication. Its how we communicate with groups of friends, share photos, and make plans. It is also a filter that we use to personalize what we read, watch, listen to, and do. Our social filters are key to achieve relevance in what we consume and how we remove the rapidly expansive noise.

MORE: Social media: Why its the worst phrase in marketing – iMediaConnection.com.

Getting Started: How to Create your First Facebook Ad Campaign

Marketing, Your Brand 502 Responses »

Jun 032013

We’ve put together some useful tips on how to create your first Facebook advertising campaign.

If you are a brand that’s new to Facebook advertising, the first thing you’ll need to do is open a business account.

Note: This process is a bit different than opening a private Facebook account and is used solely for business purposes. You can create a business account even if you don’t have a personal Facebook account. To get started, first you need to create a Facebook Page.

Business accounts:

Accounts are not publicly available

Accounts do not have individual profiles

Are used to manage Pages and ad campaigns

First steps:

Create a business account by visiting this link

Once there, choose from six classifications that best suit your business

MORE: Getting Started: How to Create your First Facebook Ad Campaign

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