Social Media: Monitoring, Marketing, Measuring, Testing, for Optimum Result.

A while back I posted a blog with a helpful list for those who were wondering how to find out if their social media was actually helping them or not. Well, I decided to add to the list and here are a few more items to keep an eye on.

1. Brand mentions in online media. So, you have a highly active social network and members are talking about your company, the company’s brands, your service/product names and maybe even your company url. Measure and track both positive, negative, and neutral mentions, and their quantities for all of them. This is also something that can be done even if you do not have an active social network. Because you are not active does not mean they will not talk about you through online mainstream media, forums, blogs, comments, posts, update, tweets, and reviews. Just remember “Stick and stones may break your bones, but, online, words can last forever.” If you don’t find the negative mentions and rectify them, others will stumble upon and judge for themselves.
2. Measure & Monitor Competitors. Know what your competitors are doing from a social media marketing standpoint, measure and Monitor their mentions, and know their share of voice compared to yours
3. Virality. Social members might be sharing Twitter tweets and Facebook updates relevant to your company, but is this info being reshared by their networks? How soon afterwards are they resharing? How many FoaFs (Friends of a Friend) are re-sharing your links and content?
4. Blog interaction. This is actually more than one metric lumped together. Blogs are part of a SMM (Social Media Marketing) toolkit, but only if you allow comments and interaction with readers by responding. If you’re doing this, encourage responses either directly in the comments section of blog posts, or via Twitter. (Use a blog widget that allows this.) If your blog’s content is suitable for social voting (Digg, Propeller, Mixx, etc.) or social bookmarking (Delicious, Stumbleupon) sites, install a blog plugin that displays the necessary sharing “buttons”, then track referrals back from those sites

As I said before, if you’re doing social media on your own or if an agency is doing it for you make sure that while they’re Marketing, they are Measuring and Testing for optimum Results.

Testing Changes in PPC Advertising

As many of you have probably heard, both Google AdWords and Microsoft adCenter are testing multiple aspects of PPC advertising. Some items being tested include placement, layout, ad extensions, images within text ads, and more. Descriptions of each follow:

Placement

It has been reported that text ads have been spotted with the organic results on search pages.

Layout

The Headline can sometimes include the first line of description and the URL has jumped to just under the Headline.

New Ad Extensions

These let you have searchers request that you contact them via phone of email directly from your ad.

Images within Text Ads

Lastly of the ones that I am mentioning is the ability to show off products being advertised or the company logo within the contextual ad space.

To wrap up, keep an eye out for some, if not all, of these aspects being tested to be implemented into either Microsoft adCenter and/or Google AdWords. Also remember that no matter how frustrating these changes are to keep up with, both Google and Microsoft are trying to improve their services so that we as online markets can improve our CTR and Conversions.

The Latest and Greatest in SEO

Here is some of the latest and greatest we’ve found going on in the Search Engine Optimization world:

1.     Google introduced new and improved site links which means visibility to sub-navigation pages, link selection changes from query to query, and delivery of relevant links. 

2.     Yahoo's new image presentation also allows for easy searching of galleries, a connection to your friends' Facebook images, and easy navigation of full-sized images.

3.     Content is still king.  Don’t use redundant articles, duplicate content, limit the automatically generated content, and reduce the high ad-to-content ratio on your web pages.

4.     Google + and other social media metrics will be part of the evolution of search engine optimization and link building.

5.     Link Building isn’t going away but it may not weigh as heavily as it once did in the overall search algorithm. 

Monitor Phone Lines, Billboards, Direct Mail Pieces, and More Using Multichannel Analytics

Most people involved with the marketing facet of a company would agree that there are countless avenues to market with. Websites, banner advertising, e-mail marketing, direct mail marketing, cold calling…the list goes on and on. Over the past decade, it’s become increasingly important to monitor marketing effectiveness. Web analytics tools have been improving as quickly as the rest of the internet has, allowing for more dynamic, in-depth analysis with every new update. With these new updates and improvements, it has now become possible to monitor much more than just a website.

When implemented properly and in the hands of a web analytics ninja, platforms like Google Analytics can be used to monitor and track the effectiveness of more than just websites. Using advanced integration methods such as event tracking, virtual pageviews, and cross-domain tracking, these tools can be used to track everything from your organization’s social media efforts to phone calls. That’s right: phone calls. Call tracking is the latest trick in the analytical magic bag, using a hidden, blank web page bound to a specific phone number to track calls via “pageviews”. Call tracking isn’t the only trackable avenue of marketing that isn’t limited by the internet. Using things like custom phone numbers and vanity URLs, it is also possible to use web analytics platforms to effectively track direct mail and even billboard advertising.

As human beings, we can’t help but think in silos. In today’s marketing world, it is crucial that we break away from this old way of thinking and see how all of these facets and avenues of advertising are tied together. When data from all of these areas of marketing is combined, it can generate crucial business intelligence and reveal insights that could give your organization the edge it needs.

Don’t Get Left Behind—Mobilize

According to research conducted by Google, “over half of all Americans will own a smartphone” by the end of 2011. As a result, consumers will be more likely to use their smartphones to make online purchases. Therefore, businesses must respond to this trend by creating mobile-optimized sites. Mobile-optimized sites provide users with a version of the full website that is more easily used on smartphones. Often, the version of a full website contains numerous links, small text, small clickable areas, and many images. These elements make for a difficult and frustrating experience on a mobile users behalf—so much so, that the user may leave your website.

On the other hand, mobile-optimized sites contain fewer images to decrease load time, tabs that allow for easy navigation, large clickable areas, and categories that enable consumers to narrow their search. Because of these features, the consumer may more easily access your business’ information, service, and/or product. Furthermore, Mobile-optimized sites often contain links to the business’ social media pages such as Facebook and Twitter accounts, thereby creating more exposure for your company.

As a result of the increase of smartphone users, it is crucial for all businesses, small and large, to create a mobile-optimized website or they will be left behind.