Monthly Archives: December 2013

Subject: “Like Us” Contests
Category: Social Media – Facebook 

As an avid Facebook user, I’ve seen a lot of posts lately by either my friends or pages that I follow where I am asked to share the picture or like a page for a chance to win some prize. Before taking this course, I thought of these kinds of posts as a waste of time and disregarded them completely; however, lately, every time I see one I have been thinking about how effective these contests actually are.

If the goal is to get the most shares or likes, then a contest sounds like a good idea. I believe liking a page gives the company access to more information about the user that likes it. But does this user actually like the company or do they just like it for the contest? Are these users going to be aware and listening to the company’s future posts? Basically, if the goal is simply to raise awareness and hopefully convert a very small portion of them to loyal followers, then this strategy might work. However, it’ll be difficult to manage so many users and some of the data collected would be a misrepresentation of the actual market data.

On the other hand, if the goal is increasing customer engagement and developing a relationship with it’s customers then this approach seems inappropriate. This type of company would only want to focus on its loyal followers. At the same time, these loyal followers are more likely to be aware and listening to what the company has to say.

Personally, I believe that effective social media is about engaging with your customers, so I do not see the value in contests whatsoever.

Have some free time? Check out these links:
http://blog.hubspot.com/blog/tabid/6307/bid/27514/5-Examples-of-Like-Gating-to-Generate-Facebook-Fans.aspx
http://socialmouths.com/blog/2012/09/04/facebook-contests-mistakes/

#Cheers

Subject: “There’s an App for That”
Category: Mobile Applications

Releasing a mobile app is one of the latest trends companies are following through with these days. Apparently there are now nearly 2 million apps available across the different mobile platforms. In my opinion, I think that’s just crazy! It seems like every business now offers apps, including banks, brands, restaurants, retailers, and even governments. I’ve used quite a few of these and I can see value in them; however, some have been questionable.

I realize that most apps are unsuccessful and many have only minor usage, but I’m curious about why it seems like every company thinks it needs to launch an app (Some companies even offer multiple apps). Have you seen some of these apps? Many of them are just hacked versions of their website and offer little to no value to users. For example, an app will include static information such as locations, business hours, and so on. Is it really worth downloading such an app and using up limited phone memory for that? Isn’t the dissatisfaction of offering such an app even worse than offering no app at all?

I think if you are going to offer a mobile app, it has to offer the entire mobile app experience. All the information I need should be accessible within the app and that it allows enough functionality and value that I’d even go through the hassle of locating and downloading the app.

Interesting Reads:
http://www.mobilemarketer.com/cms/opinion/columns/15141.html
http://www.forbes.com/sites/anthonykosner/2013/08/11/does-your-business-need-a-mobile-app/

#Cheers

Subject: Landing Pages
Category: Inbound Marketing

It’s time for another vocabulary lesson. This time the term I am referring to is a “landing page”. It sounds pretty straight forward – but I wasn’t sure. I thought it was just another word for a company’s home page and it is in a way. Google’s search dictionary defines a landing page as a web page which serves as the entry point for a website or a particular section of a website.

That’s actually quite interesting. I never really thought about the repercussions of such a simple concept. The idea behind a landing page is so that companies can cater the content of what the user sees to that specific user. For example, if I am able to track which source a certain group of users are accessing my page from I could then alter the content on that page so that it’s more relevant to that group of users. Perhaps I could create multiple landing pages that cater towards multiple customer segments. Think about it another way. If you simply have everyone directed to your main home page, what is the likelihood that they will find the information they are looking for and that you want them to find? Depending on the product and/or service offering, those opportunities can be quite limited. Landing pages can be used as a tool to convert traffic into leads if they successfully implement the call to action many marketing campaigns seek to achieve.

#Cheers

Subject: White Papers
Category: B2B Marketing

What exactly is a White Paper? Twenty minutes into my first Internet Marketing class, I heard this term again. I remember hearing the term a few weeks ago in my Growing and Exiting a Venture class and just dismissed it. Somehow I managed to not come across this incredibly common marketing term until the last couple months of my program. So obviously, now I had to Google it.

Apparently, a White Paper is a very in-depth, detailed document used by online business to business marketers as a means to market their products and/or services. The paper often lists factual problems and builds a case for their approach or solutions to these problems. Many companies use online marketing tools that allow them to track who views their white paper and follow up with them, as they would with any other sales lead. That’s it in a nutshell. J

WikiHow’s 9 steps to writing a white paper:
http://www.wikihow.com/Write-White-Papers

Interesting link that talks about utilizing white papers for effective SEO:

White Papers: Key To B2B Enterprise SEO Power

#Cheers

Subject: What is this blog post series about?
Category: Misc. – Personal Reflection

Here I am writing on the Internet for the entire world, and by world I mean class, to see. It’s been over a year since I started studying for the MBA program here at Sauder. Over that time I really began to appreciate how interesting and fun the marketing courses have been. Considering the rise of the Internet and the exponential growth of social media as a medium to inexpensively reach potential and existing customers, I was very interested in learning more. So when I had to select what courses I want to take in my last semester, a course on Internet Marketing was a no brainer.

As part of the course, we’ve been asked to create a blog to be used as a way to market ourselves. However, aside from being a social media user myself, the concepts covered in this course are very new to me. I thought I would take advantage of this opportunity to instead write about concepts I never heard of or didn’t understand – I can’t possibly be the only one who had no idea what the professor or sometimes my colleagues were talking about! So that is what I’ll do. All posts in this series will be titled with the preface “Internet Marketing”.

#Cheers