As we enter 2013, the growth of online advertising continues at a healthy pace. In October 2012, the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) released a report showing record-breaking, $17 billion online advertising revenues in the first half of 2012 – a 14% increase over the same period in 2011. With this growth also comes a greater need for strategy. As TV advertisers are well aware, an advertisement’s time slot can have a dramatic impact in terms of how a consumer reacts to that ad. For marketers or advertisers running campaigns online, it can also be extremely useful to know the optimal [...]

Related Topics: Analytics | Analytics & Marketing Column | Channel: Analytics | Statistics: Online Advertising

It's funny how subjective using social media tools can be from person to person. Every day, I use at least a half dozen tools to post and track social activity online, primarily SocialFlow, Chartbeat, Google Analytics, Tweetdeck, Facebook Insights, Exact Target. On occasion, that toolset grows: Google Webmaster Tools, Simply Measured, PageLever, Followerwonk, Raven Tools, Curalate, Twitter Analytics, bitly, Muckrack, Tweetreach, Google Insights, Statigram, IFTTT... and there are more if I count the tools I use on a personal basis. I haven't used Union metrics for Tumblr yet (frankly I am si [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Analytics | Features & Analysis | Marketing Tools | Marketing Tools: Analytics | Marketing Tools: Social Media | Social Media Marketing | Top News | Uncategorized

As we prepare for a new year in the online marketing world, it's interesting to reflect on where 2012 has brought us. The Web experienced another year of fantastic growth. In the US alone, over 240 million consumers now access the Web – a market penetration of 78%. This overall growth is driven by an equally impressive increase in mobile usage. In many parts of the world, mobile phones have long been the primary means for people to access the Internet. Now, that's becoming true in the US, as well. By Q4 2012, the US saw over 170 million smartphone subscribers, meaning smartphone owners [...]

Related Topics: Analytics | Analytics & Marketing Column | Channel: Analytics | Mobile Marketing

This is a coup for Twitter: The company is partnering with Nielsen to become the first arbiter of the most socially successful U.S. TV programs. The companies have a new multi-year agreement to create the "Nielsen Twitter TV Rating," a measurement that Nielsen says will serve as a complement to its existing TV ratings. While the latter measures "first screen" viewership (i.e., on the television), the new Twitter TV Rating will serve as an industry-standard metric for "second screen" activity -- i.e., the reach of conversation on Twitter about TV programs. I called it a "coup" for Twitter [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Analytics | Marketing Tools: Analytics | Social Media Marketing | Top News | Twitter | Twitter: Business Issues

Programmatic buying is becoming an influential factor in online display advertising. Real-Time Bidding (RTB) has turned into a $2 billion global business in just three years, according to ExchangeWire. However, this uptick isn’t accompanied by equal education and support of the players involved. Publishers are struggling with the fear of falling CPMs, while advertisers are seeking ways to reach the right audience, efficiently optimize their spend and drive performance. RTB is juxtaposed in an interesting position; but, how do you bridge the gap between these concerned parties to draw t [...]

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For many senior executives, the jury is still out on social media.  They want proof in the form of hard numbers that show business value.  Budgets aren’t likely to grow until they get it. Unfortunately, the data needed to make the case are dispersed, and analysis takes time (something social media marketers don’t often have). So, what’s a marketer to do?  Here are five tips to help you work with the data you have, get the data you need, and make your case effectively. 1. Translate While it is certainly true that marketers don’t usually have all the information senior execs are [...]

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Now that the 2012 U.S. Presidential election is over, there's a bit of buzz around why some folks thought the election would be close and others who, using some solid statistical techniques, predicted a definitive (and it turns out, accurate) outcome. I want to try to explain the latter, especially for marketers. Why? Because political elections are in many ways like optimization testing: you've got two (or more) candidates and the "market" is choosing between them. So we can gain insight from understanding political polling that can assist us in our testing efforts and the metrics we use t [...]

Related Topics: Analytics & Marketing Column | Channel: Analytics | Statistics

Windows 8 has been fresh on the market for just under a month, and earlier this year, Apple released its latest desktop OS, Mac OS X Mountain Lion. Windows 8 has been touted as a leading platform for both desktop and mobile devices, and a key pillar in Microsoft’s strategy to revive its ailing OS business, far removed from the glory days of Window XP. Mac OS X Mountain Lion was launched with a similar fanfare, but under far less pressure, as Apple has regularly released upgrades to Mac OS X since its official launch in 2011. Surely, the release of these two marquee operating systems in [...]

Related Topics: Analytics | Analytics & Marketing Column | Channel: Analytics

Yesterday the Google Analytics team announced an important improvement to their In-Page Analytics report: enhanced link attribution. The In-Page Analytics reports provide, in a page basis, the percentage of clicks from page to page in a website. The reports are a great way to analyze patterns of behavior, and can provide important insights to web designers and UX professionals. For example, they can be used to understand if specific links on a page are used or not and by which segments of visitors. A great case would be to check how often mobile users click on specific links as opposed to n [...]

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One of the toughest items that most Page admins ask is "what should I post my content?" While there have been various studies and findings, a new tool helps admins maximize post reach and visibility. PageLever has launched PageLever Now, a real-time Facebook Analytics tool. This tool gives admins a visual representation of post reach that allows users to see when a post is dwindling down so they can either pay to promote it, or release another post. This also acts as an all-in-one tool for Page Management. The rel-time view lets admins see the overall virality of their posts and most [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Analytics | Facebook | Facebook: Insights | Facebook: Pages | Social Media Marketing | Social Media Marketing: Advertising | Top News

This is a follow up to my previous article "Oh, What A Tangled Web We Weave" which discusses eight common ways we practice self-deception, particularly in the context of metrics, analytics, and continuous improvement testing. Continuing with our earlier list, here are four more ways a marketer might self-deceive: #5: Confuse Accuracy With Precision Example: "Our Average Customer is 32.47 years old" Apparently, your average customer was born June 21. Ok, and your point is....? Do you honestly think you can measure average age of your customers to within three days (i.e., hundredths of a [...]

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Enterprise-level Google Analytics users have some new integration tools at their disposal with today's launch of what Google is calling Universal Analytics. It's a service that lets larger users tailor Google Analytics by integrating their own data into Google Analytics. They'll be able to use Google's new Measurement Protocol APIs. Google touts the service's ability to give companies better cross-device and cross-channel measurement capabilities. Universal Analytics, via the Measurement Protocol, lets you sync your own data from across various marketing channels, so you can discover rel [...]

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Over the last decade, digital marketing and advertising have transformed significantly due to the rapid advancement of technology and analytical techniques. One aspect of technology which has changed significantly over time, and continues to carry a substantial impact, is the screen resolution of the marketer’s audience. Apple’s new Retina Display and the extensive marketing push surrounding it exemplifies the general trend of larger consumer electronics companies pushing for a high-resolution Web. Screen resolution is the measurement of how many pixels a computer monitor can display [...]

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A year ago, Google began going dark. Dark in terms of no longer sharing with publishers, in some cases, how people searched for and found those publishers through Google's search engine. The "single digit" percentage of withholding that Google predicted at the time has turned into more than 50%, in some cases. If Google's withholding were an eclipse, more than half the sun is being covered. "Dark Google" is upon us, and it will only grow darker. I'm drawing the term "Dark Google" as a play off the "Dark Social" concept that Alexis Madrigal wrote about recently in The Atlantic. Dark Socia [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Analytics | Google: Analytics | Google: Privacy | Google: SEO | Search Marketing | Search Marketing Column

"Oh, What A Tangled Web We Weave, When First We Practice To (Self) Deceive" With apologies to Sir Walter Scott for my mangling of his most popular turn of phrase, I'd like to take some time now to discuss how people −and particularly people involved in metrics and evaluation of "how did we do this week/month/quarter?" − are prone to self-delusion. Along the way, I run the risk of insulting you, but I see that as a necessary risk when confronting a topic like this. It takes a healthy sense of self-worth to say "holy crap! I'm a dufus!" Now, let's start off with some assumptions. [...]

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Adobe AdLens is now integrated with Adobe SiteCatalyst. You no longer have to export and import data between the programs, it can now be done automatically between the two programs. Adobe AdLens helps you manage and optimize search, display and social advertising as a unified campaign. Adobe SiteCatalyst, a real-time web analytics program that helps you with digital strategies and marketing initiatives. By incorporating SiteCatalyst into AdLens, data sets can be used for ad optimization, custom analysis and reporting in real-time. With simple deployment, SiteCatalyst customers can now a [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Analytics | Marketing Tools: Analytics | Marketing Tools: General

Today Google announced a new product to the world: Google Tag Manager. It is an extremely important addition to marketers, as it allows them to add or remove tags used for marketing and measurement without the need to ask from webmasters to change the website code. According to the Google Tag Manager help center: Google Tag Manager allows you to conveniently manage tags (such as tracking and marketing optimization tags) on your site. You can add and update AdWords, Google Analytics, Floodlight and non-Google tags from the Google Tag Manager user interface instead of editing site code. This re [...]

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Many variables play an important role when you're analyzing search engine optimization efforts. This includes factors such as site keywords and content development, as well as the queries being searched for. It can be tempting for marketers to optimize results for shorter queries and ignore the long tail, but how much traffic is overlooked this way? And how does the quality of that traffic impact its relevance? Data provided by advertising network Chitika shows the correlation between query length and ad performance, looking at user engagement as well as the volume of traffic on a given [...]

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When is nothing worth something? Turns out, just about all the time. Whenever you look at your metrics, consider that a metric is, in virtually every case, designed to measure a specific outcome. It may be a positive outcome, one that is beneficial to your company: more sales, more customers, less inventory shrink, etc. Or it may be a negative effect, something that impedes your ability to do business: more churn, fewer repeat customers, higher costs. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out you want "more" of the former and "less" of the latter. Positive Or Negative, But N [...]

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Yesterday Facebook profile analytics took a step up with the release of WolframAlpha personal analytics. Logged in members (tied to the WollframAlpha Facebook app) simply have to enter "facebook report" into the search bar to get a variety of statistics about your profile. True to the mission of WolframAlpha, the new service is data-driven an ties into various knowledge domains.  Not only can you see some basics like the demographics of friends, weekly app activity, photo dates/times and geographic data, but also activity data. Personal analytics tracks all types of posts and displays data [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Analytics | Facebook | Facebook: Insights | Marketing Tools: Analytics | Marketing Tools: Social Media | Social Media Marketing | Top News