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Drill-down into your social activity

Following on from our July marketing seminar, last month we provided you with a blog dedicated to the importance of Google Analytics and what your business should be measuring. As promised, in this blog we delve deeper into the world of social analytics to provide you with additional tools to help you make sense of your social media presence.
Identifying social media ROI is a difficult task for any business.  We have seen a dramatic rise in the number of businesses using social media within their marketing mix over the last few years; however, many have jumped on the bandwagon with little consideration for the actual benefits to their business. Identifying ROI has been, for the most part, fairly elusive for marketers and business owners; provoking questions such as, ‘How do I know if social media activity will generate business?  Is this really an effective way to spend my time?’

In the past, a measurement of social media success was determined by the number of followers or ‘Likes’ generated through Facebook and Twitter. Many businesses struggled to see the bigger picture, often basing their decisions on assumptions, because defining a meaningful ROI was difficult. However, recent changes to Google Analytics have helped ensure marketers and businesses owners are now better informed about the impact of their social media activities on their website traffic, helping them establish how to spend their social media time and budget most effectively.

Google Analytics have taken their social analytics tools a step further with the intention of delivering the following information:

  • The full value of traffic to your website coming from social networking sites and the ability to measure how they lead to direct conversions or assist in future conversions.
  • What social activities are happening both on and off of your site to help you optimise user engagement and increase social key performance indicators (KPIs).
  • Make better, more efficient data-driven decisions in your social media marketing programs.

So how will the latest Google Analytics developments help businesses achieve the above?

New data is now available under the “Social” tab in Google Analytics, which includes:

Overview:

The overview report provides data from all the other social reports and contains a Social Value visualisation of how social networks contribute to website conversions.

Sources:

The Sources report shows the source activity based on social referrers. Google unifies different URLs that can be used to send traffic from one social network. For example, Twitter can send traffic from both twitter.com and t.co. Traffic from both sources are combined under the category of Twitter.

Pages:

This report highlights social activity per page, what happened on and off the site.

Conversions:

The Conversions data provides a quick view of which social sources drove conversions on the site.

Social Plugins:

Social Plugins is a summary of pages and the social activity that happened, such as clicking on a like, tweet or +1 button.

Social Visitors Flow:

Social Visitors Flow is a visual presentation of how visitors from social properties are navigating your website. Assuming the goal of your social media campaign is to get more traffic to your website, this report gives you insight into which social platforms are sending the most traffic to your site and what your social visitors are doing once they get there.

The reports available have the ability to drill-down further into data and reflect things like comments, shares or likes to help you identify successful social media campaigns and what works for your business.

At TLC Business, we believe measuring the ROI of any marketing activity is essential, the new tools from Google Analytics will help you perfect, tailor and manage your social media campaigns, helping you make the most your time.

Install, sign in and start measuring your Google Analytics today.

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Top Marketing Tips – October 2012

  1. Pheed is the latest social media platform to come on the scene. It offers the standard sharing features, such as text, photos and videos. However, they have decided to differentiate their offering by including new features like voice notes, audio clips and crucially, live broadcasting. It also offers a unique way for users to generate income from their content. They do this by enabling account holders to charge monthly subscription fees to access their content or set up pay per view features. Will it take off? We think it is unlikely, but it does offer small businesses an interesting platform to showcase content.
  2. Google have realised their newest tool that allows website owners to “disavow” low quality links that might be reducing their PageRank. The function has been added toWebmaster Tools. It comes with the warning though; “only to be used with caution”. The main purpose of the Disavow Link tool is to stop low-quality spam links negatively impacting on the search rankings of your website.
  3. If you organise events, seminars or meetings, Doodle could be just the tool you’ve been looking for. It is a free online scheduling tool that enables users to identify a date and time to meet multiple people, which is convenient for all.
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Top Marketing Tips – November 2012

1. Instagram Web ProfileInstagram is about to launch a web based profile for its users. This will allow Instagram users to directly edit and create pictures through their PC and laptops rather than through a mobile phone. Instagram released an official statement through their blog post on Monday: “You’ve asked for Instagram on the web and we’ve listened, over the next few days, we’ll be rolling out Instagram profiles on the web.”
The Web based profile is set to look similar to the current Facebook profiles; however, one of the major differences is the design layout. Instagram’s web profile will also allow you to use more than just one picture as your cover photo; it also updates itself on a regular basis, once you have taken a picture and uploaded it through your mobile it will automatically be updated on the web profile. To set up your web profile click here http://instagram.com/

 

2. GIMP – The GNU Image Manipulation Program
Want to edit images but don’t want the expense of Adobe Photoshop? GIMP is an open source (
and therefore free) image management program. It is great for tasks like:

  • Photo retouching
  • Image composition
  • Image authoring
  • To find out more and to download it, click here.

3. LinkedIn Company Profiles
LinkedIn have finally listened to users about the social media site’s company page feature. For so long, users have been unable to make their company’s profile page more attractive. LinkedIn have finally rectified this with the addition of functionality that allows you to add a cover photo to a company page. If you haven’t updated yours, take a look today athttp://www.linkedin.com/

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The Marketing Week that Was – Obama, Apple & John Lewis

Obama’s Presidential Social Media Campaign – 2008 vs. 2012As Barack Obama celebrates another four years in the White House, a recent staudy by Cognitive Match looked at the numbers behind Obama’s latest campaign, and how his social media influence has changed since 2008. Two areas that the study focused on were: social media between 2008 and 2012 and how online costs have increased.

  • Number of Likes on Facebook = 2.3 million in 2008 → 32.1 million in 2012.
  • Number of Twitter Followers = 112.4K in 2008 → 21.9 million in
  • Online advertising spent = $16 million in 2008 → $52 million in 2012.

Obama’s tweet “Four more years” has also become the world’s most popular tweet with over 780,000 retweets.

John Lewis get a social media boost from their Christmas Ad

With Christmas fast approaching, retailers across the country have been releasing their festive TV adverts, and one advert in particular has been a huge hit on social media sites. John Lewis’ Christmas offering, ‘The Journey’, which follows a snowman on a journey to buy matching red gloves and a scarf for his ‘snowwoman’, has received 6,790 likes and 1,340 shares on Facebook so far, since its launch on the 10th November. According to the retailer the advert was trending on Twitter with more than 89,000 mentions, and had received over 1 million views on YouTube.In case you missed it, you can take a look here.

Is Apple’s halo finally starting to slip?

With 2012 drawing to a close and Apple once again finishing the year ahead of its competitors, new research from Harris Interactive identifies several worrying factors for Apple, which suggest the gap between Apple and its competitors may reduce in 2013. According to the research, the margin of Apple’s lead over Samsung in tablets has reduced from a 6:1 ratio among all consumers, to 3:1 among those consumers who buy brand new technology as soon as it hits the market. The research also claims that the margin of Apple’s lead over Samsung is even smaller among younger audiences aged 16-24, which begs the question, are younger audiences becoming disillusioned with Apple? What do you think?

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Don’t delay – review your marketing straight away

As the end of the year approaches, businesses need to take the time to look at how they are going to improve their marketing’s effectiveness and grow their business in the coming year.
What tools are you currently using for business growth? Are you reviewing their success? Are your campaigns actually generating your organisation new business?

No matter how brilliant, creative and unique a marketing strategy may seem to be, if it doesn’t generate results and return on investment, something needs to change.  Now is the time to go back to basics and simply look at what worked and what didn’t in 2012.

So where do you start? How do you review your marketing and what should you be looking for?

For any marketing campaign you undertake, analysis should be a vital part of your plan. If you have missed this step, or you are unsure what you should be reviewing, take a look at our 3 top tips for reviewing marketing effectiveness.

 

Email marketing – don’t ignore the data:

Many businesses understand the importance of sending out emails to their database, whether it be a monthly e-newsletter, or the occasional special offer.  A company invests time and resources into creating campaigns, but few measure the end result effectively.

There are many email software packages available to businesses, two of the biggest are Mail Chimp and Campaign Monitor. They allow you to review in-depth results generated from your emails, including open and click-through rates. The results are key to determining if your campaigns are effectively engaging with your database. An open rate indicates the percentage of people who opened your email, whilst a click through rate measures how many people actively clicked on a link and engaged with your communication.

The subject line and email address will influence the open rate most significantly.

The click through data reflects the level of engagement in your email. It shows exactly what information people are interested in. If you’re writing about multiple topics in a newsletter, click-through information can be used to determine which topics are of most interest to readers. Are the same people reading your emails each week, if so, are you following up the email with a telephone call?

Use you results to establish trends. Look at what time of day your emails are sent and what subject lines you include. Does your email include a hook?

 

Social media isn’t just for show – measure your engagement 

Like any marketing activity, in order for your social media activities and goals to be achieved, you need to put together your company’s social media strategy. Your strategy is just like your business plan; it enables you to define your social media goals and future objectives.

It is important to review the social media channels you currently use. What platforms are popular amongst your target audience and what content is worth ‘tweeting’?   In the past, a measurement of social media success was determined by the number of followers or ‘Likes’ generated through Facebook and Twitter. Google Analytics have taken their social analytics tools a step further, enabling you to drill down and measure the full value of traffic to your website coming from social networking sites. Follower engagement is also an import metric. How engaged are you with your social network? Is your content being retweeted? Are you interacting with your network?

The world of social media is constantly changing, what was popular last year isn’t necessarily relevant this year , stay on top of the trends and engage with your target audience effectively. There are many social media analytic tools out there. Some are free; take a look at Hootsuite’s free in-built analytics function or Topsy for instant social media insights.

 

Website – analyse your traffic

We can’t stress enough the importance of reviewing your website analytics. Google Analytics is one of the most powerful tools out there for businesses, providing a wealth of insight and data into the performance of your website and marketing overall. It is invaluable for monitoring and analysing traffic, allowing you to evaluate both on and offline marketing campaigns. Simply installing analytics won’t give you the results you need; value is only gained when that data is used to drive action to improve your site.

The volume of results available can be daunting; however, if you break down the data into more manageable chunks, like: traffic, bounce rate, visitor flow and keywords, you can start measuring your performance more effectively.

For more guidance on what you should be measuring with your Google Analytics, click here.

 

No matter what marketing activity you undertake, return on investment is vital.  When reviewing your marketing you need to consider every element of your campaign, from data and content through to execution and evaluation.  Reviewing your marketing each year can be the difference between having an ok year and a great one. If you have failed to generate enquiries from an advert, email or campaign, something needs to change. Start reviewing today and make use of your findings….don’t ignore the data.

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Marketing Titbits – Graph Search from Facebook, Twitter’s new video sharing app, the latest social media site

1. If your business doesn’t have a Facebook presence yet, there’s another reason you might want to get started. Facebook has recently launched its much-hyped new functional calledGraph Search. More than a new “search tool”, Graph Search lets you find people and businesses by interests, location or industry.  For example, Graph Search allows you to search “best restaurants in Winchester”, Facebook will then show you recommendations based on what your friends feel is the best place to eat, based on their likes and reviews. Just make sure that your location details on your business Facebook page are up to date.
2. Although Thumb has been around since 2010, it has only recently started to become popular around the world. Thumb is a picture based social media site that helps to engage consumers and get their gut reactions to your business ideas, images, and messages. Want feedback for your new website design, or need help choosing a business card design? Upload a picture and let your fellow Thumbers instantly share their opinions.

 

3. Twitter has recently unleashed their very own video sharing app called Vine. Vine allows users to upload very short 6 second videos to their Twitter account and has already become Twitter’s most downloaded app.  So why only 6 seconds? Similar to your short snappy tweets, posts on Vine are about abbreviation, providing little snippets of people’s lives, businesses and ideas.  At present, the only platform that the Vine app is available on is the iPhone, iPad and iPod touch.

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Marketing Titbits – Picture Monkey, Meetup & the latest update from Google Adwords

1. Want to quickly edit a picture, but don’t have Photoshop? Picture Monkey could be the answer. This online photo editing tool provides you with the opportunity to edit your images quickly from any computer, whether you are at home or in the office. Picture monkey has various templates, frames or colour effects that you can apply to your chosen image for free. For more advanced features, including a ‘spray tan’ or ‘wrinkle remover’, you will need to sign up to the website and upgrade.
2. Are you new to the area? Want to organise a networking event with like-minded people?Meetup is slightly different from other social media websites, the sole purpose is to organise real life meetings, whether you want to start a group for Southampton Web Developers or SMEs in Winchester, Meetup can help make this happen. According to Meetup, more than 9,000 groups get together in local communities each day. It is free to sign up and you can choose specific locations and interests.

3. Google have launched a new style of campaign in AdWords, called Enhanced Campaigns. The latest update has been designed to simplify campaign management across multiple devices and encourage more SMEs to adopt mobile advertising. The focus of the change is to enable advertisers to target people at the right time, in the right place, with the right advert and call-to-action.  Essentially, the biggest and most relevant change is that Google are growing more contextually aware. If a user is on a mobile device they will see ads that you have marked as “mobile preferred”.

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Fine-tune your email marketing

Email-marketingModern marketing requires the use of a balanced blend of marketing channels, all working in harmony for the common good – to grow your business.
One channel that many small businesses mistakenly overlook is email, assuming customers view email marketing as spam or that it’s too easy for customers to unsubscribe or simply delete messages.

However, email is alive, kicking and effective. Thanks to the rise in technology and smart phones, consumers are connected to their inbox 24/7, reading emails with the same immediacy as they do text messages.  Businesses are keen to get more bang for their buck and email marketing is certainly a platform more businesses should be considering when engaging with potential customers. Not only is it relatively low cost compared to comparable channels, but it is also incredibly generous about giving your business a wealth of marketing information off the back of a campaign, vital for giving you insights into your target audience and the ROI of campaigns.

Like any marketing activity, a business should plan their approach; simply pressing ‘send’ in Outlook isn’t enough.  To get more mileage from your marketing campaigns, adopt these strategies to fine-tune the effectiveness of your emails:


Look beyond Outlook:

There are various tools and software out there that can help you create effective and engaging emails, test and send them, then manage and track the responses without any technical skills needed. Mail Chimp is one of a number of easy to use email marketing systems out there for businesses. Others include:

Virtually all will allow you to import your own HTML design or edit one of their existing templates to reflect your brand.  Mail Chimp has the advantage that it is free if you have fewer than 2000 email subscribers and send emails no more than one a month.  The software also helps you manage your subscriber lists, track campaign performance and sync your email marketing across social networks like Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn.

 

Before you send your emails think about the following:

 

1. Segment your database into groups, for example, prospects, clients, past clients etc. Email software allows you to send personalised messages with custom offers. You could even send an email to one segment of your list by sorting on gender, role, post code or industry.

2.  If you’re sending a newsletter, think about incorporating links that drive back readers to your website, where they can access the article in full. Not only does this get recipients on your website, where they can learn more about your business, but by reviewing your email statistics, it also provides you with vital information about specific areas of interest for database member. This information can be used to target marketing campaigns more accurately.

3. Make sure you test your emails. HTML designs can appear differently in different email clients. Likewise, something you may consider as eye catching, could be difficult for contacts to actually read. Most email systems will allow split testing, which is a great tool to use to identify the most effective subject line or content. If you want to increase open rates, test your subject lines. If it is your click-throughs you are looking to boost, then test design and content variations.

 

Your campaign doesn’t stop there – Review your performance:

After sending out your email messages, your next task is to measure the effectiveness of your campaign. Measuring the response rates will help you determine the kind of articles and services  your readers want.

How do you know if your campaign is effective? The first indicator is your open rate, the number of people who actually opened your email. If you use an email marketing function like Mail Chimp, you will be able to access the full list of contacts who engaged with your campaign.

Your click-through rate is the other important indicator. Click-through rates measures the percentage of people who were sent the email that actively clicked on a link with the text. The more clicks the better.

You will also need to keep track of your unsubscribe rate. If the number of contacts requesting to be removed from your list increases, you need to re-evaluate your email campaigns. Are people unsubscribing because you are bombarding them with emails too frequently? Is the email message simply too long, or are your offerings lacking in appeal?
If planned and implemented properly, email marketing provides businesses with the opportunity to engage with a large audience in a short space of time. Not only does it offer your business a cost-effective marketing tool, it also provides you with vital information to help you integrate other forms of marketing into your mix……How about using telemarketing to follow up the contacts who clicked on a link within your email?

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Marketing Titbits – Tumblr, Facebook’s conversion measurement tool & Robert Cialdini’s book ‘Influence’

1.Influence
Robert Cialdini’s book ‘Influence’, is a must read for anyone involved in marketing a business. The book explores the 6 central pillars of Influence: reciprocity, consistency and commitment, liking, social proof, authority and scarcity and outlines, through real world examples and scientific studies, how and why they work. We’ve just read it and can thoroughly recommend it. For more information click here.

2.Tumblr

Tumblr has been around for a while now; however, it’s popularity has been on the increase of late. This free online tool straddles the boundary between blogging platform and social networking website. It allows you or your business to post text, images, video and other media to your own short-form blog, which fellow users can follow. You can use it to share anything that you or your business find interesting and want to share directly with your followers. The opportunities are endless and it is another great tool for helping build your online brand.

3.Facebook conversion measurement

Facebook’s update spree continues. Last month, Facebook launched their new conversion measurement and optimisation system that allows you to measure the ROI of your Facebook ads. It enables users to identify key online conversions, such as registrations or shopping cart checkouts, which have derived from their Facebook ads. Another feature allows you to optimise your ads based on consumer popularity.  Overall, the new features are designed to help you increase the ROI of your Facebook ads, which has got to be a good thing!

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Marketing Titbits – HootSuite, UberConference and Malcolm Gladwell’s book ‘The Tipping Point’

1. HootSuite
HootSuite has been around since 2008 and has established itself as a market leading social media management programme. It is entirely free for you to create an account, but as you’d expect, they also provide a paid-for version, with enhanced features.  With the free subscription, you have the ability to add up to 5 social media streams to your account. The software enables you to manage and update your multiple social media channels, in one place, all at once. It is the perfect tool to help manage your social media interactions efficiently, saving time when posting content across your multiple social media profiles. Both the paid and free subscription services have an internal analytics function to measure how effective your social media activity is; however, the paid-for subscription’s analytics report drills down into far more than the free account. For most, the free subscription will be ample; however, for those keen to really get to grips with social media across multiple platforms, the paid-for subscription could be the way to go. Try it out here.

2. UberConference

UberConference is designed to facilitate easy, visual and effective conference calls. It is free for to sign up free to use. UberConference has tried to enhance the conference call experience for businesses by overcoming the shortcomings of other conference call platforms.  One of the main advantages of this software over its other free competitors, is that you don’t have to spend time finding and typing in long PINs. Members can just dial into the conference number and will be automatically put through depending on their phone number. Where UberConference really excels is with its visual interface, adding a visual dimension to audio conferencing, which can be accessed from any computer. Everyone on the call can see the names, pictures and social-media derived information (if enabled) of the people that are participating in the call. The service also features call recording. If you are involved in conference calls with colleagues, clients, partners or suppliers, take a look at UberConferenceto see how it could enhance your experience.

3. The Tipping Point

The Tipping Point is a book about change. Particularly pertinent at this moment in time. The book sets out to explore a new understanding of why change seems to occur on a regular but unexpected basis. It reviews a variety of examples including; ‘Why did crime drop so dramatically in New York City in the mid-1990? How does a novel written by an unknown author end up as national bestseller? Why do teens smoke in greater and greater numbers, when every single person in the country knows that cigarettes kill? Why is word-of-mouth so powerful? What makes TV shows like Sesame Street so good at teaching kids how to read?’  According to the book’s author, Malcolm Gladwell, the answer is the same for all the examples. This book’s message highlights how we as consumers follow trends and adapt on a continuous basis to be ‘up-to-date’ with what is happening around us. The book is a great read for those interested in marketing. Take a look here.

 

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