It’s been quite a busy month in the social media world: Instagram launched its latest attack against Snapchat, Google+ is set to introduce social ads via the display network, and Twitter unveiled retargeting capabilities.
Instagram vs. Snapchat: Instagram Direct Unveiled
Every year, consumers flock to stores to take advantage of specials on Black Friday. However, retailers are getting smarter in the new digital age, leveraging the power of online marketing to push out promotions as early as Wednesday or Thanksgiving Day Thursday, and extending them to Cyber Monday. However, Black Friday is always of interest for marketing professionals because it’s typically the beginning of the holiday shopping season, where consumers open their wallets to take advantage of season-ending specials. From an online marketing standpoint, overall performance reached new heights, setting sales records and providing intriguing insights into the efficacy of mobile marketing and social media advertising.
In an effort to improve the overall user experience and tailor news feed content to the right audiences, LinkedIn has announced the launching of Showcase Pages, a way for brands to create sub-company pages for specific products and services.
In a recent blog post (published yesterday, in fact), yours truly discussed the different types of advertising solutions available on the major social networks. One form of paid social media discussed was Twitter’s advertising products: Promoted Tweets, Promoted Accounts, and Promoted Trends. As Twitter has recently gone public, it was only a matter of time before it launched it’s self-serve advertising solutions internationally.
Just a couple of years ago, marketing professionals were getting their feet wet with social media advertising, testing different types of display campaigns on Facebook. Since then, however, the burgeoning channel of online marketing has evolved to adopt a multitude of advertising products across all social networks. Although some remain to be released to the general public (Twitter outside of the United States, Pinterest & Instagram self-serve options), brands will have the ability to promote content to targeted audiences and see their content go viral.
Young or old, Halloween is a day that everyone seems to enjoy, whether it’s for stocking up on candy or coming up with outrageous costume ideas. However, it’s not often that people delve into the consumer trends behind the festive occasion. Statista, a statistics portal, prepared an interesting infographic going into the consumer trends this year. While the data is largely general and focuses on end-user expenditures, it does provide insights for businesses that depend on the Halloween season as a big source of revenue generation. With that knowledge, businesses can plan strategic marketing efforts to ensure that consumer dollars are going into their pockets and not to their competitors.
Some interesting stats include:
- Average individual consumer expenditures is expected to be $75.03 this year, a drop from the average $79.82 per person last year.
- An alarming $330 million will be spent on pet costumes, ensuring that cats and dogs everywhere will be scared on this day.
- Overall consumer expenditures fell to $6.9 billion this year, compared to $8.0 billion in 2011. This drop can be attributed to a number of trends, but it’s most likely due to the continuing shift towards healthy eating, resulting in less candy being purchased.
Happy Halloween from all of us here at Rank Media!
Beginning your foray into social media marketing and don’t think your knowledge on the subject is up to snuff? You’re not alone – many individuals and businesses may understand the basics of social media, but names such as “Vine” and “Pinterest” may ring hollow for most. In fact, the social media landscape is becoming more cluttered as exhibited by this very simplified diagram below (only the most popular sites were included – many other sites are missing):
However, whether you’re a novice or a social media ninja, everyone loves statistics (except for college students). Below are some interesting social media statistics and facts that will you learn more about the most popular sites and how to integrate them within your strategic online marketing initiatives. (more…)
It was no surprise to marketing professionals when Google announced that keyword-level data for organic campaigns will be replaced with “not provided” in Google Analytics due to the recent trends in PPC. Google profits largely from pushing marketers from SEO to paid search advertising, and by eliminating keyword-level data in organic reports, Google hopes to convert more users to using Adwords. Although search engine optimization is the foundation of online marketing, PPC advertising continues to become an important marketing tactic to capture leads and generate sales immediately. Some insights from a multitude of reports prepared within the industry provide some telling insights and indicate that pay-per-click spending will only continue to rise in the coming years.
Paid Search Advertising has Grown 10% the Past Year in the United States
Over the past couple of years, digital marketing has quickly evolved alongside the concomitant development of different types of technologies. Mobile marketing, for example, is quickly becoming a necessity for brands to reach users ubiquitously and drive them to physical and/or online stores. Social media, another channel of internet advertising, has exploded with a number of different companies monetizing their traffic in the form of paid media. Lastly, content marketing has become essential for both brand management and search engine optimization, giving companies opportunities to drive in more traffic through organic mediums. An infographic prepared by ViralInNature provides some insights into all three digital marketing trends:
Mobile Marketing
Ever wonder about the true power of social media when it comes to finding the perfect gift for a friend or a loved one? Crowdtap, a marketing agency, investigated the growing trend of peer influence and social media networking and the effect recommendations have on motivating users to purchase.
Social Media Proves its Worth as a Form of Earned Media
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