Social Marketing

As many brands have spent the past several years engaging with customers and prospects on social networking sites, marketers have a good idea of what gets web users to connect. Typically, social networkers say they make “friends” with or follow a brand’s posts to find out about special offers and deals, and current research is consistent with that reasoning.

Now that social media has become an integral part of most people’s lives, marketers are continuously looking for ways to take advantage of it to reach you with their message. Of the various tactics being employed, Content Marketing has emerged as one that marketers are increasingly focusing on. By Captura Group

As we look back at 2012 from a social media perspective, it’s important to look at the good and the bad. I always like to ask two questions when analyzing a situation: 1) “What is being done right?” and 2) “What if everything is wrong?”
So, to start, here’s a social media insider’s top-six disappointments of 2012.

Syncapse Corp. released a strategic guide to help the automobile industry navigate the complex maze of social media options available to them at each phase of the customer decision-making process.

Brands have been aligning themselves with positive causes for many years, and seeing a positive impact on their bottom lines when they do so. And the inclination among consumers to buy from brands playing a socially productive role in the world is only growing.

A research study on online social networks reveals that networking sites can drive advertising revenue by encouraging the density of social ties, or boosting the level of friendship or social connections between users. According to the findings, in a forthcoming paper in Management Science, more connected users prompt increases in visitation and browsing on the site, which helps stimulate online advertising revenue growth.

As social media continues to revolutionize the consumer-brand experience, Nielsen and NM Incite’s recent Social Media Report 2012 shows that unique, precision-driven opportunities for advertisers to interact with consumers will continue to grow.

Marketers’ excitement over new social media channels is understandable; these platforms have fundamentally changed the way that companies and their customers interact. But a September poll of adult internet users and marketing decision-makers in the US, the UK, France, Germany and Australia conducted by Pitney Bowes Software found that marketers need to be careful to make sure they are not overcommitting to social channels, and, moreover, that their actions on social media are aligned with consumer preferences.

Social media and social networking are no longer in their infancy. Social media continues to grow rapidly, offering global consumers new and meaningful ways to engage with the people, events and brands that matter to them. According to Nielsen and NM Incite’s latest Social Media Report, consumers continue to spend more time on social networks than on any other category of sites—roughly 20 percent of their total time online via personal computer (PC), and 30 percent of total time online via mobile.

How do other organizations—from small nonprofits to multinational corporations—staff a social media team? How many people are using Twitter, Facebook, and other platforms? And what do these professionals earn?

Holiday shoppers are making a list and checking it against social media content—especially reviews, which they trust to help them make the best decisions about what to buy for friends and family members this season.

Pinterest, Online Video, and Google+ are being used more regularly by marketers in their advertising campaigns. That is a key finding of the latest quarterly survey of advertising agencies by STRATA, a leading media buying and selling software provider.

BIA/Kelsey forecasts U.S. social media ad revenues to reach $9.2 billion in 2016, up from $4.6 billion in 2012, representing a compound annual growth rate of 19.2 percent.

A new report by IBM finds that while companies are increasing their social technology investments, middle management leaders are struggling to embrace these capabilities as part of their day-to-day work.

TBWA\Worldwide announced the release of a new global study that reveals the powerful engagement opportunities that exist with young adults by leveraging their deep commitment to social causes. The study proves that companies, brands and NGOs have invaluable opportunities to engage in social issues with this powerful generation.

There are some conversations you just have to have over and over, and somehow this seems particularly true with social media.

Short, yet powerful enough to amplify the voice of millions and spark world-movements in 140 characters; welcome to a new Twitter nation! Where relationships, conversations and like-minded people come together for a unique reporting-networking-happy-hour-debate-table-style-real-time-virtual-exchange. By Lili Gil, Co-founder XL Alliance and Media Contributor

Available on HispanicCMO.com and HispanicPRpro.com

Most businesses have realized that social media users often expect to get responses to customer service queries and complaints through that channel, and according to research released in October by SAP and Social Media Today, 71.2% of companies worldwide provided customer support on social media.