Well-run email marketing programs account for as much as 20 percent of a retailer’s online revenue. While some might view that as an aggressive number, I am of the opinion that a fully-developed program, complete with lifecycle messaging, triggered programs, segmentation strategies, abandoned shopping cart series, etc., will drive even more than that. Whatever the percentage, there is no arguing that email’s contribution is significant, and with this level of revenue on the line it is critical that retailers have a solid team in place to manage and execute this aspect of the busines [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Email Marketing | Email Marketing | Email Marketing Column

The news keeps getting worse for Facebook. First, the IPO didn't do as well as expected, though it made lots of people at Facebook very wealthy. Then came news that Facebook's underwriters (banks) had to intervene on Friday to keep the stock from falling below the $38 offering price because demand was weaker than expected. On Monday and yesterday Facebook shares fell (well) below $38, erasing about $40 billion in market value. And today the company is being sued by shareholders for failing to disclose that Q2 revenues were going to be weaker than previously expected: $1.11 billion vs. rough [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Industry | Facebook: Business Issues | Facebook: Legal | Top News

Facebook, notorious for tweaking and testing its layout, is at it again post-IPO. Talking Points Memo spotted a streamlined version of timeline that allocates less real-estate for friends, photos, and likes. Instead of pulling in profile/page information under the cover photo, simple icons exist: Here is a look at the current (non-test) version of Timeline: One of the additions that the layout brings is "summary" which highlights life events. Another interesting difference is that instead of "likes" the icon now reads "favorites." Facebook did not comment on the new-look timeline but [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Industry | Facebook | Facebook: Marketing | Facebook: User Interface

As we reported back in December, a Sponsored Stories lawsuit was allowed to proceed against the social media giant as Facebook failed to have it thrown out.  Today, the lawsuit was settled "in principle"at a federal court in San Jose, CA. Originally five Facebook members sued Facebook with claims that their privacy was infringed upon as their likeness was used in ads without their permission or ability to opt-out.  Sponsored stories match users who have liked or commented on a page/post with ads for Facebook pages. More information on the specific ads can be found in the video below: [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Consumer | Facebook | Facebook: Legal | Legal: General | Legal: Privacy

Here's our daily recap of what happened in online marketing today, as reported on Marketing Land and other places across the web. From Marketing Land: Larry Page: It’s “Unfortunate” That Facebook Keeps Data Closed & Holds Users HostageGoogle’s CEO Larry Page made an apperance on Charlie Rose yesterday, and he didn’t have many nice things to say about Facebook. Rose asked Page about Facebook’s competition in search which led to an exchange about Facebook’s semi-closed policy on contact information. Page was quick to point out that Facebook u [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Other | Marketing Day

Google's CEO Larry Page made an apperance on Charlie Rose yesterday, and he didn't have many nice things to say about Facebook.  Rose asked Page about Facebook's competition in search which led to an exchange about Facebook's semi-closed policy on contact information. Page was quick to point out that Facebook users are not aware that they are inputting information in that they can't take out.  Additionally, Page went on to say that this policy was unfortunate and that Facebook may be forced to share this in the near future. In regards to working with Facebook?  The Google CEO st [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Consumer | Facebook | Facebook: Privacy | Google | Google: Privacy | Legal: Privacy | Top News

Search is no longer just one thing. At minimum, it's two things: organic and paid. But, as the marketplace that holds it has evolved, search is so much more. It's a composite of methods; it's an ingredient; it's a mechanic; it's a mindset. While it's not yet unrecognizable, even marketers who once deemed it a silver bullet or their performance-marketing drug of choice must acknowledge that we have somewhat moved beyond search in its pure form. It's ironic that the very folks who perhaps took a bit too long to adopt search marketing in the first place than they should have, and who now c [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Search Marketing | Search Marketing | Search Marketing Column | Social Media Marketing

Today’s internet users are bombarded with content.  As a result, they are tuning out the noise and raising the bar on the content they choose to pay attention to. For social media marketers, this means that it is more important than ever to understand what content will resonate with target groups and which will fall flat.   Without good ways to identify the content preferences of target groups,  the only option is to throw marketing mud against the wall and hope that it sticks -- an approach that is costly, more likely to fail, and may damage the credibility of budding social media pr [...]

Related Topics: Analytics & Marketing Column | Channel: Analytics | Marketing Metrics | Social Media Marketing

After government approval from China, contingent upon Google's agreement to keep Android "free and open" for at least five years, Motorola Mobility is now part of Google. European and US approvals happened some time ago. The deal is worth $12.5 billion -- Google's largest acquisition by far -- and includes some 17,000 patents that Google can use to defend Android against litigation and threats of litigation from Apple, Microsoft and any others who might go after it. Some have questioned whether the value of those patents justified $12 billion. Yet Google also gains a hardware business that [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Mobile Marketing | Google: Acquisitions | Google: Android | Google: Business Issues | Google: Mobile | Google: Partnerships | Top News

Millward Brown has released the 2012 BrandZ Top 100 Brands report and topping the list is Apple, followed by Google at number three and Microsoft at number five. In fact, four of the top five are technology companies, with McDonalds at number four. Facebook is now number 19 on the list, improving 16 positons from last year. Chinese search engine, Baidu jumped four positons to number 25. To learn more about how these top brands are ranked, see their ranking methodology. Here is their infographic: [...]

Related Topics: Apple | Channel: Mobile Marketing | Facebook: Marketing | Google: Marketing | Microsoft: Business Issues | Statistics: Popularity & Usage

Two weeks ago, The Verge profiled scams and schemes that pitch "Internet Marketing" as a fast way to make money online. Its Scamworld article is well worth reading by anyone, a warning that many need. I'm sorry that I didn't focus on this important message initially rather than spark a debate over what exactly "Internet Marketing" is, when the story first came out. I was wrong in doing that, and I regret if it somehow added legitimacy to the types of programs that The Verge's article highlighted. That was never my intent. There is indeed a long-standing practice of "Internet Marketing" [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Industry | Features & Analysis | Internet Marketing Industry | Top News

Here's our daily recap of what happened in online marketing today, as reported on Marketing Land and other places across the web. From Marketing Land: RSS: Your Social Media Monitoring Secret WeaponEver ended a workday and thought: “Whoa, what just happened?” Social media goes by pretty fast. But if part of your job is social media monitoring, you need to make sure you don’t miss anything. That might include keeping an eye on competitors, tracking conversation around your industry and nurturing and following up with leads. [...] Yahoo And Alibaba Finally Agree To D [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Other | Marketing Day

Ever ended a workday and thought: "Whoa, what just happened?" Social media goes by pretty fast. But if part of your job is social media monitoring, you need to make sure you don't miss anything. That might include keeping an eye on competitors, tracking conversation around your industry and nurturing and following up with leads. Luckily, there's a simple, free and foolproof way to store everything in one place and make sure nothing slips through the cracks: RSS feeds. I use RSS feeds every single day for lots of different social media monitoring purposes. Here are some of my favorite use [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Social Media | Social Media Marketing | Social Media Marketing Column

Alibaba and Yahoo are finally getting a divorce. In a complex, staged transaction Alibaba will be able to buy back all of Yahoo's minority interest in the company. When Yahoo was a stronger company, several years ago, it was on good terms with Alibaba CEO Jack Ma. Yahoo invested about $1 billion in 2005 in the Chinese online marketplace. Then Yahoo CEO Jerry Yang and Ma got along well. However the relationship later soured and Alibaba became eager to regain its shares and be free of Yahoo. For their part Yahoo investors wanted the company to reap value from its Alibaba investment. Yah [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Industry | Yahoo | Yahoo: Business Issues

On Friday Mark Zuckerberg posted one of his most important statuses ever as he posted: "listed a company on NASDAQ."  On Saturday, the day after Facebook's IPO, Mark Zuckerberg may have topped it, at least personally.  One that was simply a relationship change alerting the world of the surprise wedding to his girlfriend of nine-years, Priscilla Chan. The status update had more than one million likes and 731 comments by Monday morning.   The marriage was a surprise as 100 guests were invited to what they thought was Chan's graduation party.  Instead they were hit with the news th [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Industry | Facebook | Facebook: Business Issues

Congrats, Mark Zuckerberg. You went public on Friday, got married on Saturday and now as a special present from part-owner and best partner Microsoft have a new social network to contend with: Microsoft's So.cl. But don't worry too much. I just spotted the news of So.cl going live on Techmeme. This being a Sunday, I wasn't planning to work. However, I couldn't help but go in and play around. So here's a quick rundown on the social network with a triple-handicap: why use it instead of Facebook, instead of Google+ or instead of the new Bing that just added social features. Share Searches, Di [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Social Media | Microsoft: So.cl | Top News

The Facebook IPO is over. The company went public today with its stock price opening at $38 per share, and when the dust had settled on a record-setting day of trading, Facebook closed at $38.27 per share, just a few cents above where it began. As Greg Sterling wrote today, that's not where a lot of investors had hoped it would finish. But it is where about one-quarter of Marketing Land readers who took part in our survey predicted it would finish. We ran an unscientific poll that was open for almost 24 hours, inviting readers to guess what Facebook's closing share price would be at the [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Industry | Facebook: Business Issues | Features & Analysis

I had assumed, as did many others, that Facebook shares would open at $38 and head north from there. In fact I thought demand would be so brisk that the shares might hit $100. Was I wrong. I believed there was considerable pent-up demand for what was the biggest tech IPO ever. But that demand never fully materialized. Everyone that wanted to buy Facebook got a chance. Still, at the close today Facebook was worth roughly $105 billion. And CEO Mark Zuckerberg is worth more than Google's co-founders individually. In the final run up to the IPO, Facebook floated more shares than it had or [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Industry | Facebook: Advertising | Facebook: Marketing | Facebook: Privacy | Top News

Here's our daily recap of what happened in online marketing today, as reported on Marketing Land and other places across the web. From Marketing Land: Marketing Biz: All The Non-Facebook IPO News Fit To PrintWarning: This column contains no Facebook IPO news. But there sure was a lot going on outside of that particular media circus, from new product launches by Twitter, Majestic SEO and Hubspot to new rounds of funding for Pinterest, Quora and Bit.ly. The best of Twitter in your inbox This new email digest also features [...] Americans Watched Record Amount Of Online Video Ads In Ap [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Other | Marketing Day

Warning: This column contains no Facebook IPO news. But there sure was a lot going on outside of that particular media circus, from new product launches by Twitter, Majestic SEO and Hubspot to new rounds of funding for Pinterest, Quora and Bit.ly. The best of Twitter in your inbox This new email digest also features the most engaging Tweets seen by the people you follow, even if you don’t follow those who wrote them. You can see who from your network retweeted or favorited these Tweets and click “View details” to retweet, favorite, reply or view the conversation around them. This is t [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Industry | Marketing Biz