When I started publishing online back in 1998, I didn't have a shred of traditional marketing experience. It may sound counter-intuitive, but that ended up giving me a huge advantage. The first marketing book I read was Seth Godin’s Permission Marketing in 1999, which sparked my "aha" moment regarding how the Internet worked from a marketing standpoint. Godin made it clear that the Internet was a direct-response environment that required an evolved form of direct marketing. You didn't buy mailing lists. You built audiences. Likewise, my company, Copyblogger Media, began a [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Search Marketing | Content Marketing | Content Marketing Column | Google: SEO | Social Media Marketing | Word Of Mouth Marketing

According to a new survey conducted by Dimensional Research, an overwhelming 90 percent of respondents who recalled reading online reviews claimed that positive online reviews influenced buying decisions, while 86 percent said buying decisions were influenced by negative online reviews. The survey, sponsored by Zendesk in the early part of 2013, included responses from 1,046 participants. Respondents had to be in the United States, and had to have experienced a recent customer service issue with a midsized company, either as a consumer or in a business context. Approximately two-thirds of [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Strategy | Features & Analysis | Social Media Marketing | Statistics: General | Statistics: Online Behavior | Top News | Word Of Mouth Marketing

SEO is not dead. As with all living things, SEO is always evolving. While many in the search community are witnessing and acknowledging the evolution, they cling to the notion that SEO only stands for "Search Engine Optimization." The concept of search dates back to the days of cavemen searching for food. So does social interaction and the exchange of information, which inevitably impacts how people search. It's time to add an additional meaning to the Three Letter Acronym of SEO and start teaching this to all the people with C-Level titles (COO, CMO, CTO, CFP & CEOs) in the world. The [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Industry | Internet Marketing Industry | Social Media Marketing | Social Media Marketing Column | Word Of Mouth Marketing

Federated Media, a company that began by placing display ads on high-traffic blogs and other publisher sites, now claims to be the third largest US ad network according yet-to-be released December data from comScore. November ad network rankings show Federated was number four, reaching an audience of 186.3 million unique users.   The press release out today says that its uniques have grown to 193 million, according to comScore. That puts it behind only Specific Media and Google. Not long ago, Federated Media moved away from direct sales and banners and shifted its focus to programmat [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Display Advertising | Display Advertising | Retargeting & Remarketing | Top News | Word Of Mouth Marketing

While social influence scoring services like Klout, Kred and PeerIndex can provide valuable data for marketers, it's important that you understand their limitations as well as their strengths. (Note: This is part 2 of a 2-part series. See part 1 here.) One challenge is the fact that you can't compare scores in an apples-to-apples way when looking at different geographies. Professionals in Germany are more likely to use Xing rather than LinkedIn for their professional networking needs, putting them at a disadvantage as Xing isn't currently used by any of the social capital scoring services. [...]

Related Topics: Analytics | Channel: Strategy | Klout | Social Media Marketing Column | Twitter | Word Of Mouth Marketing

If you're planning a campaign to stimulate word of mouth discussion of a product or a brand, one question likely keeps arising -- how influential is a particular person online? Is it worth reaching out to them? If you've been pondering how to measure or benchmark social media influence, several companies, including Klout, PeerIndex and Kred, are clamoring to assist you in identifying and connecting with influencers with high social capital ranking scores. Even if connecting with influencers isn't an immediate need, the boss might be asking for explanations of your brand's Klout score, [...]

Related Topics: Analytics | Channel: Industry | Klout | Marketing Tools: Social Media | Social Media Marketing Column | Statistics: Social Media | Twitter: Marketing | Word Of Mouth Marketing

Consumer perception of Chick-Fil-A has dropped significantly in the wake of perceived anti-gay comments made earlier this month by the company's president, a drop that highlights the risks of corporate entities dipping their feet -- or mouths -- into sensitive social/political issues. According to a BrandIndex study by the market research company YouGov, Chick-Fil-A's index score dropped from 65 on July 16th to 39 on July 25th. July 16 is the date that Chick-Fil-A President Dan Cathy told the Baptist Press that the company is "very much supportive of the family -- the biblical definitio [...]

Related Topics: Branding | Channel: Strategy | Features & Analysis | Statistics: General | Word Of Mouth Marketing

Sixty-nine percent of American women online say they rely on advice they find on blogs when making consumer electronics purchases, versus only 53 percent that say they rely on social networks. That's the conclusion of a recent survey sponsored by BlogHer, the female-oriented blog network. The largest number of respondents (74%) said they most preferred to get information about products by visiting stores, suggesting that educating retail salespeople would be an important part of a consumer electronics marketer's strategy. Next up (61%) was manufacturers' websites. Consumer electronics revie [...]

Related Topics: Blogging | Channel: Content Marketing | Statistics: Online Behavior | Word Of Mouth Marketing

Nielsen recently released a collection of Q3 US smartphone data, some of which it had been trickling out in blog posts over the past month or so. It's a bit like a "greatest hits" record. But seeing it all together in one document -- some of the data are based on user surveys and some on behavior -- is striking because it clearly demonstrates how powerful and important mobile is now. In 2009 only 18 percent of US mobile subscribers owned a smartphone. Currently the figure is 44 percent. In 2009 the top mobile handset was the Motorola Razr V3; as 2011 ends it's the iPhone. However Android is [...]

Related Topics: Apple: iPhone | Channel: Mobile Marketing | Mobile Marketing | Social Media Marketing | Statistics: Market Share | Statistics: Mobile Marketing | Twitter | Twitter: Statistics | Word Of Mouth Marketing

Is someone talking about your brand? Relax. Chances are, it's positive. And, it's happening offline. But web site information is a close second to word-of-mouth as influencing decisions. Want a recommendation? Have good customer service. These stats and more were assembled into an infographic from WOMMA, the Word Of Mouth Marketing Association: Want the infographic for yourself? You'll find it here: Infographic - The Word and the World of Customers. [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Strategy | Infographics | Statistics | Word Of Mouth Marketing