Interactive Agencies Don't Get Twitter

It's funny that the 'experts' in our industry talk a big game when it comes to Social Media but so few actually live it for themselves. If you are a client, take a look at the roster in your digital agency. Google their names or simply look them up on Twitter or FriendFeed, or any other social platform. I bet over 95% of your results come up with very little to no usage in those accounts. Yes, we are all busy but if you are not intimately involved with these platforms you cannot truly appreciate their value nor gain the trust of your client.

Stewart Severino
Tweet me

Hispanic spending in the trillions by 2012. Get a piece.

The data:

52% of the U.S. Hispanic populations are online. That’s 23 million Hispanics.

By 2012, more than 29 million or 58.6% will be online, increasing the penetration.

Don't assume:

Marketers, don’t assume that mass-market, English-language campaigns are reaching this audience effectively, just because 65% of Hispanics are bilingual.

As this market increases in size, it also becomes more fragmented as Latin Americans do not always share the same culture.

How do I reach Hispanics effectively?

Creating relevant messages that touch this market is a challenge as Marketers will have to speak to those traditions and use appropriate references. Multiple execution strategies will have to be created to accomplish reach.

Today, over 60% of advertisers media budgets are spent on on TV and only less than 5% is spent in online.

Although 65% of Hispanics are bilingual, Marketers shouldn’t assume they are effectively reaching their target. Education, inccome and acculturation levels affect the way consumers use media and their product choices.

Point being, Hispanics make up a diverse community that is becoming acculturated, but not completely assimilated. Retaining their pride in culture and language preference.

Understand:

I know I sound like a broken record but targeting this segment comes down to knowing what they are doing online (what is the behavior?). This of course applies to anyone who uses any type of media.

We need to understand how the various generations use media and for what reasons.

The strategy:

Begin with a multi-channel campaign to reach a wide audience, but the more digital media used, the more effectively the message can be targeted and tracked for insight and optimization. This mainly applys to Hispanics under 35 since they are the heavy internet users.

Don't forget mobile:

Also – let us not forget mobile -Hispanics are early adopters of mobile technology: 31 million have a mobile phone. By the age of 15, penetration of wireless services is 64%, by 17, it rises to 78%. Hispanics have the highest proportion of cord-cutters among all segments. Hispanics spend 42% more on mobile devices and 35% more on data services than the average user. Mobile Source, --Engage.

Stewart Severino
Tweet me

Display Ads still have a place in online marketing

Not being a big fan of online display ads because of their intrusive nature affecting my web experience, I do see them as a useful tactic if used properly.

The use of widgets embedded in display ads can be a powerful tool when used for Ecommerce.

What better way to be in the right place at the right time with a "billboard" that actually gives the user the ability to act on a piece of creative. I'm not talking about simply clicking on a call-to-action, but more along the lines of putting the user directly into the sales funnel before even landing on the site.

ROI for the ads can easily be tracked as an assist to the conversion more easily since the user will be passing real data from the ad unit directly into the destination site. 

Rather than reporting on impressions and Click-thru-rates, you have some real data that you can learn from.

An example would be if I were to see an ad for 1800Flowers on some website 4 days prior to mothers day. The ads creative is intended to act as a reminder that I don't have much time left and if I act now I can get rushed delivery for free. At the bottom by the call-to-action there is an input box where I can enter in the delivery zip code. That in-turn will put me directly into the websites shopping path where I would select the flowers I would want to send. Then I simply check-out. See, right place at the right time and non-intrusive.

Stewart Severino
Tweet me

5 Twitter Tools for Managing your Followers

I have found managing my Followers on Twitter to be a bit cumbersome.

Below are five tools that may make your day a bit easier to manage if you are 

trying to get work done and be an active member of Twitter.

1. Mass Unfollow those who are not following you back with Huitter

Twitter etiquette suggest that you follow someone back if they follow you. I use this tool whenever my ratio of Followers vs. Following gets out of whack. It automatically unfollows everyone who aren’t following you back. Huitter.

2. Automatically unfollow all inactive accounts you are following with MyCleener

This is yet another tool that will help us automatically unfollow all the inactive accounts based on when their last tweet was, and help you save your follow number. MyCleener.

3. Find out common users following and being followed by two accounts

This is a great tool, because if you knew two power user accounts, say from your niche, then you can find out who are the guys they keep in contact with and who are the guys they are following and followed by with this tool. Running this tool with maximum five accounts will more or less reveal the “hidden” circle among them. Very effective if you know whom to stalk. Who follows whom

4. Manage your friends and followers with tags

Rate and tag your friends and filter them on a timeline! You can also create custom groups of your followers and filter you timeline by that group. Very effective, but a little complicated to use. Twittangle

5. Unfollow people who have not updated within “X” amount of days

Pretty good. Probably the best one out there to date. You can find  tweeps out of your followers who have not updated within a specified # of days and lets you unfollow them.  Untweeps

Stewart Severino
Tweet me

Non-ecommerce sites - web analytics

It has been difficult providing metrics on a non-ecommerce site because, aside from Goals you need industry benchmarks to compare to. Unfortunately, there isnt much out there so you would have to improvise with what you have. Google Analytics makes this very easy and you can provide your client or yourself some real context and understanding behind these metrics.

To put things into perspective, determine what are people looking for when they come to your site.

What are your goals or KPI's ?

Are you looking for visitor loyalty? Time On Site? Page depth? 

By the way, all of these should be part of your KPI's. If you have determined additional metrics thats great too but dont go overboard. It is very easy to report on data but it is entirely different to be able to provide context to that data.

Let's take a look at Visitor Loyalty - 'how often do people visit my site?'

You can see by this image below that not many people come back to the site. So thats step 1 in identifying an issue.

Set a goal for the number of visits you expect for a time period (each week, month, qtr, etc), pick one and make sure your Visits are realistic, compare to the chart above. Compare your performance over time to ensure progress is being made or not made. Either way you can now guage what is happening on your non-ecommerce site. Speaking of comparissons, Google Analytics has a great benchmarking tool. Make sure you choose the industry that most resembles yours when benchmarking.

The image above shows what I believe to be a pretty common thread amongst non-ecommerce sites, particullary branding sites.

Their 1 time visits are pretty high but their return visits are pretty poor. Now that you have focused in on what is going on you can begin making changes to your site in order to increase Visitor loyalty. Give visitors a reason to come. 

If your Bounce rate is contributing to your low Visitor Loyalty, which I am sure it is, try to guide the visitor from page to page. For example; If a visitor lands on a page with a news story, try paginating the story so you continue the meaty part of the story on page 2.

This will help decrease your Time On Site and your Bounce rate. It will also increase your page depth.

WOW! All that with one little tweak from a simple lesson you learned from really looking at your data.

Hope this was helpful.

Stewart Severino
Tweet me

Retention Marketing

Your 2009 Retention Checklist: Seven Factors to Consider

Retention marketing involves relationship building over time and both parties must participate for it to endure. As online marketing continues to evolve, ensure that your retention activities cover the full array of tactics and are integrated with your other marketing plans. 

2009 checklist. 

Communication.

 Just as relationships require involved direct, engaged communications rather than repetitious nagging messages that get tuned out, your customer exchanges must be relevant. Use your database to send targeted e-mailings based on past behavior and purchases (check here and here for more information) and create related landing pages. Also, consider consumer-controlled communication channels, such as widgets and RSS feeds.

Web site. As your central online destination, your Web site must provide a wide range of information to satisfy all three types of customers who may be at different points in their purchase process. Be sure your Web site includes the following information: detailed product descriptions, suggested related products, best seller lists, customer comments and ratings, product support, 800 numbers, retail locations, company information, and returns information.

Search. 

Don't assume that because a customer found you once, they'll find you again. Therefore, your content must be search optimized. From a retention perspective, think about how customers will look for product data in terms of names, brands, and product numbers.

Customer service (including returns).

 How you treat customers can have a big impact on whether they keep the items purchased and buy from you again. A pleasant return experience that aids the post-sales process can turn someone into an advocate. Therefore, make it easy to get information about returns and related policies. Provide information regarding product usage that can be used to sell related products and services.

Social media. 

Give customers the means to interact with each other, either on your Web site or on a third-party site. Consider how your firm should participate in these forums. Among the options for these interactions include blogs, Twitter, podcasts, videos, photos, bulletin boards, forums, wikis and Webinars. Remember to check your customers Technographic chart

Offline communications. 

This includes catalogs, postcards, and information contained in the product package.

Advocacy and referrals. Provide customers with multiple means to communicate with you if they have any problems or comments. Help customers extend your reach to their contacts through forward-to-a-friend and/or social bookmarking functionality. Think about giving them special refer-a-friend offers.

Six Key Retention Marketing Metrics

To ensure that your retention marketing program works efficiently, track the following six indicators to determine the strength of your customer relationships.

House file. 

Measure the size of the file, response rates, and churn rate. In this economic environment, customers may take longer to purchase additional items. Track different segments separately where possible.

Expenses. 

Assess the total costs of retaining customers, as well as the cost of extended communications during this difficult economic period. Look at cost per customer contacted.

Revenues. Monitor total repeat sales and sales per customer contacted. Analyze what is selling and to whom. Monitor the ratio of sales to new versus existing customers.

Lifetime value. 

Calculate the profitability of customers over time taking into consideration the full acquisition and retention cost.

Customer feedback/buzz. 

Monitor what customers say about your firm both on your site and in other forums. Quick, effective communications when issues arise can retain customers.

Referral rates. 

Track the percentage of customers who refer you to others, the conversion rate, and quality of the referrals.

Retention should be a core part of your online marketing strategy. Your house file is one of your company's biggest assets. Don't fall into the trap of putting all of your marketing efforts into romancing new customers while taking your many loyal customers for granted.

Stewart Severino
Tweet me

Unlock Blackberry Bold for ATT

Okay, after a bit of searching, those of you that want a Blackberry Bold AND dont want to leave AT&T, here is a solution.

You must purchase the Bold 9500 since it has GSM.

How to unlock your Storm

 Storm Unlock instructions

 You must have a SIM card in your phone to complete these steps (can be active or inactive)

1. Go to settings menu => and then Options.
2. Select Advanced options => and then Sim card
3. Type MEPD using your Blackberry keyboard (NOTE: You will not see any text appear on the screen while typing MEPD)
4. Type MEP then type 2
5. You should be presented with a prompt "Enter Network MEP Code". Type in the 16 or 8 digit unlock code and press in the track wheel / jog dial to confirm
6. Your phone is now unlocked

You can call into at&t customer service and request the unlock code...if they don't happen to give it to you, you can try sites such as

 

http://www.cellunlocker.net 

 

or http://www.cellphoneunlock.net 

This will not work on 3G only the Edge network.

other sources

http://www.elite-electronix.com/blackberry-storm-9500-unlocked

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20081103092048AAgx7Hm

Stewart Severino
Tweet me