Social Marketing

Quality beats quantity when it comes to measuring social media effectiveness, according to an August 2013 study by ExactTarget. The survey found that 38% of US Facebook and 43% of Twitter marketers were more concerned with the quality of audience members added via social efforts than with the number of followers gained.

We started working with mom bloggers nearly eight  years ago, at a time when hardly anyone knew who or what they were and persuading brands to trust this new and mysterious form of media was a lengthy, painful and, for a long time, unsuccessful experience.

Latin America will add nearly 100 million people to its social network user audience between now and the end of 2017, according to eMarketer’s latest estimates.

Valassis announced new findings revealing the heightened digital and social engagement of the growing Hispanic population when it comes to savings.

Univision Communications has offered an interesting infographic regarding the importance of the US Hispanic Social Power.

Brand strategy on social media has expanded drastically in the past year. While many monitoring conversation during the most-talked-about televised events has been a commonality, brands have taken their social media efforts to a new level: predictive and real-time/responsive content marketing.  By Bill Mrazek, Social Media Strategist, BodenPR

I spent the greater part of last week in Silicon Valley and surrounding areas with about 50 brand managers. We visited with a selection of startups, accelerators, incubators and the usual suspects of social media movers and shakers.

Call 2014 the year of “social acceptance.” More marketers are committing budget to paid social media advertising. And social media companies are providing advertisers better targeting than ever, and more ways to see the return on investment, according to a new eMarketer report, “Social Media Advertising: Seven Trends for 2014.”

Although social media users’ top methods of discovering, researching and keeping in touch with brands vary, they rely heavily on social networks throughout the entire customer life process, according to a September 2013 study by Wildfire.

Social media’s value to companies can be difficult to measure, and the efforts required for successful outreach can seem daunting. But, execs seem to think it is helping them improve customer relations. Some even consider it “transformational.”

Alexandre Hohagen, Vice President Facebook Latin America, has moved to Miami to assume the additional responsibility for U.S. Hispanic. Christian Martinez, previously Vice President of Network and Interactive Sales at Univision has joined the team to help run ad sales for the U.S. Hispanic market and will also be based in Miami.

We need to rethink the question of calculating ROI on digital and instead see digital as one of the components of a larger brand voice.

Nearly one-in-ten U.S. adults (8%) get news through Twitter, according to a new report by the Pew Research Center, in collaboration with the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation. Compared with the 30% of Americans who get news on Facebook, Twitter news consumers stand out as younger, more mobile and more educated.

Social paid advertising and real-time marketing are changing the way retailers strategize their campaigns. Jennifer Kasper, group vice president of digital, new media and multicultural marketing at Macy’s, spoke with eMarketer’s Rimma Kats about how the retailer is approaching social media, as well as the key role Pinterest will play in its 2014 efforts.

A new analysis from Experian Marketing Services found that moms with young kids, defined as children under the age of 5, are often more active on social media, more likely to shop using mobile devices and more open to engage with brands across digital touch-points than other segments of moms and consumers at large.

Marketers are using social media more and more as an integrated tool for branding and advertising. Social media is shifting away from being used as its own individual medium, and is now consistently paired with other channels to increase ROI.

As the market for beverages continues to fragment and brand extensions grow, brands are jockeying for position on store shelves and competing for consumers’ attention in social media, according to a new eMarketer report, “CPG Focus—Beverages: Emerging Mobile and Social Strategies.”

Social media usage is maturing, and as more networks emerge and gain popularity, advertisers and marketers are constantly on the lookout for the “next big thing.” One of the most common ways marketers identify up-and-coming social networks is by looking to a highly social demographic—and one that is highly digital-savvy: teens.

Facebook is no longer positioning itself as just a social media solution. Carolyn Everson, Facebook’s vice president of global marketing solutions, spoke with eMarketer’s Rimma Kats about the key role social advertising and real-time marketing play for the company’s clients, as well as how mobile is constantly opening up opportunities.

Will the marketers of the future look back and decide that 2013 was the year of content marketing?