Seeing as this blog has primarily focused on social media and networks, why change that now. This year I have expanded my social networking horizons, adding Twitter, LinkedIn and Flickr to my arsenal. This summer, Google released a new social networking platform, Google+ and quickly gained 1 million followers. I still have not even seen a Google+ page and don’t know anyone who uses it. Google+ launched in a very competitive social networking environment and did it’s best to compete for some valuable space. The social network is still struggling to compete with the giants like Twitter and Facebook but they do have a plan to continue to remain relevant and take some space from these popular social networking sites. A study has found that the average Google+ user spends less than 5 minutes per month on the site and because of this, people have called it a “ghost town.” However, the Senior VP of social business still believes that the site has capabilities the other competitors do not and the number of users will grow once these have been realized.

The main advantage cited by Google is that Google+ is the most integrated of all the social networks. The site allows you to integrate all of Google’s services into one page which can be accessed by your friends. Google+ is able to cater to users wants and needs based on their searches, but this has brought up some privacy issues. The page is built around people’s behaviour and demographics rather than technology. Because of this, and the privacy issues, the platform has been used by people who understand how social media can be used for networking. Rather than the tweens, soccer moms and grandparents that primarily use Facebook, Google+ is popular amongst the “techie” generation.

Although the launch of Google+ was less than anticipated and is only seeing small growth, Google will not abandon their baby. They still believe that is users can realize the advantages of their integrated networking site over sites like Facebook and Twitter, they will realize the growth they expected. They are currently trying to develop a way to integrate Google services into other areas of the users web experience and believe that this is the key to attaining numbers similiar to their competitors like Facebook and Twitter.

Check out the article of Google+ and the long game here:

http://www.ecommercetimes.com/story/74610.html

The holiday’s are a time where everyone spends more time at the malls looking for those perfect gifts to get the people in their lives. For marketers, it is a crucial time to ensure that your product is that special gift that everyone wants while ensuring that you can meet the demand.

After the 2011 holiday shopping season, marketers have taken a couple of key insights that need to be kept in mind when planning for the 2012 holiday season.

First and foremost, mobile commerce is huge and it is here to stay, at least until 2012. This December in the US alone, 11% of total sales were made through a mobile device, up over 100% from 2010. As the phones get smarter and more and more people get their hands on them, the simplicity and reach of these devices will only cause this figure to go up in 2012. The Ecommerce Times believe that by 2012, 20% of all sales will be made on a mobile device. Because of this, Marketers should ensure that they are familiar with this form of commerce and have a nice, easy to use design for customers to make purchases and see content when on their mobiles. This is a relatively new thing and if you do not have mobile applications already on your website, now is the time to take advantage of this growing trend.

Another thing that did come as a surprise for me, is the importance of social media marketing, especially during the holiday season. Many companies found that their Facebook pages and Twitter account really helped drive sales and let users see information such as special deals or promotions. It is essential to update these pages and even give your page a festive look to really get users in the mood to spend. As new technologies for social media platforms are popping up, companies and marketers can really see some detailed analytics of their site visitors and should use this to their advantage year-round. Information like what is the busiest time of day for users, where they are shopping and on what devices are they using are all key pieces of information to know for your 2012 holiday marketing strategy.

Although the holidays seem like an eternity right now, especially for me as the workload keeps piling up, now is the time to start planning. It is key to have a fool-proof action plan on how you will market your product come the holiday shopping buzz. An integrated social marketing campaign can do wonders for you and your brand.

Check out the article from the Ecommerce Times which highlights a couple more key tools to remember when creating your 2012 Holiday marketing plan:

http://www.ecommercetimes.com/story/74612.html

Staying on a social media note, I have just discovered that MySpace has had 1,000,000 new members in the last month and a sign-up rate currently at 40,000 members per day. This was startling news for me as I thought that the once great site was long dead. I was never a MySpace user but I remember when I first got Facebook, all of my friends began to switch over from their trusted Myspace, to the new waters of Facebook.

How did this happen? Well Justin Timberlake recently became the majority stake holder and found a new niche for MySpace in the social networking world. Justin brought a new music player to the site, allowing for free downloads, unlimited listens and easy integration with Facebook, and this is what sparked the resurgence of MySpace. Currently, MySpace has 42 million songs that upcoming bands and artists have uploaded. It is also a fantastic place for these artists to meet, network and organize shows.

Time will tell if this amazing sign-up rate continues. I still wonder if it is just the JT fan club who signed up to support their main man, or if the music player and its perfect integration with Facebook have kickstarted MySpace and kept it here to stay, only time will tell. For now, check out the new MySpace and find some awesome new bands and listen to some free, downloadable music.

Check out the article here:

http://www.ecommercetimes.com/story/74421.html

As many of you have probably found out, Facebook has switched to Facebook Timeline, completely changing the display of one’s Facebook page. Personally, I have not made the switch over, but by March 30, 2012 all Facebook profiles will switch over to the new Timeline look, where users can see their Facebook activity from the first post, to the most recent. There are many changes that are being made compared to the old Facebook page and I was very interested into what this would mean for marketers.

The first major change is the cover picture located at the top of the screen. This is a great place for marketers to enhance brand image and create a brand identity which all visitors of the page will see. Marketers are able to “humanize” the brand and remove the feeling of corporate anonymity. Secondly, the tabs that are currently shown at the side of the page will be removed for the most part. Pages can still have multiple tabs, but need to be aware of the most important ones to display as this tells the user a lot about the brand they are looking at. Another important note for marketers is that companies can pin some relevant, important posts to be at the top of their timeline at all times. It is essential that brands use new and interesting content that tells the user a little about the brand pinned at the top of their page at all times. This will be extremely important in engaging the user and ensuring that they will come back to see newly uploaded, exciting content. Finally, and what I think is most important, users will now be able to send and receive private messages with the brand and their Timeline page. Customers can make detailed enquiries about the brand and the brand needs to ensure they have timely and well-thought out responses. This new type of webPR is essential in creating a positive customer-brand relationship and will determine whether or not a customer becomes a brand advocate.

To conclude, the changes caused by Facebook Timeline are very important and relevant to marketers. They need to ensure to have a uncluttered, clean timeline filled with interesting, new and relevant content. Second of all, companies should ensure to provide good feedback from direct messages from users to ensure that customers like the brand and continue to visit their Facebook Timeline.

Check out an article here about what Facebook Timeline means for marketers:

http://mashable.com/2012/02/29/facebook-brand-timelines-changes-marketing/

As I mentioned in a previous blog entry, I am working with a client who is a e-commerce retailer selling luxury linens. She only has one sale since August and her merchandise is very high-end so she really needs the help. After looking at her analytics, the problem is clearly a lack of traffic. To add to this, this company is a side project for the client and there is relatively no marketing budget for us to work with. Because of this, we have been extensively researching way to increase traffic at little or no cost. I have stumbled upon a list of 75 ways to increase your site traffic written by superbloggingtips.com back in 2007. Although it is a little outdated, it is still very relevant for today and an useful site for anyone trying to market with a low budget.

Some tips that really stood out for me were having a good design and layout (reminded me of Ivan’s tip that he often stresses). This is what users will see first and if the site is no aesthetically pleasing, you will not get a lot of traffic. This is especially relevant for our client since it is a high-end product. Her site does not match the quality of the product and therefore doesn’t display to potential customers why they would pay so much for the product if the site looks ugly and cheap.

The next one that is especially relevant to the client is #17, establishing a relationship with fellow bloggers. Since our client has a very niche, high-end product we are trying to get her featured on high-end home decor and decorating blogs in Canada. These blogs are visited by the target audience and are very trusted by the viewers. So far we have trying to push to get a feature but have had no luck thus far.

Anyways, take a look at the 75 tips that have been very helpful for me when trying to market a high-end product online with no budget:

http://superbloggingtips.com/2007/07/75-ways-to-increase-your-sites-traffic/

Twitter is relatively new to me, and although I have an account I rarely use it other then to reply to a friend’s post or follow some of my favourite athletes and celebrities to see what they are up to. However, Twitter has become a very powerful marketing tool and is the 9th most visited site worldwide according to www.alexa.com.

When I first started using Twitter after some friends told me to try it, I was very confused and it took me a couple of weeks to get the hang of. I imagine the same feeling is felt when marketers attempt to use it for their brand for the first time. This is why many companies are beginning to hire social media experts who know the in’s and out’s of mediums such as Twitter or Facebook and know how to reach the right audience with the right message at the right time.

Event though it is a business Twitter page, social media experts warn against always tweeting the same bland message to followers. Marketers say that mixing up some humor, random facts or quotes along with business can help gain and retain your followers.

I would argue that obtaining followers is probably the hardest part during a Twitter e-marketing campaign, unless of course you are already a well-established brand. Even harder is getting followers that care about what you are trying to market. There is an useful tool at www.search.twitter.com where you can see what people are tweeting and what os currently trending at the time. Also, www.sponsoredtweets.com is a great way for a Twitter marketing newby to have his or her message tweeter by a Twitter celebrity. There are people on Twitter who make a fortune solely through Twitter  and for a small fee they will tweet your ad or message to their millions of followers.

Check out the following link for some tips on marketing on Twitter catered more towards a small business :

http://getfollowersontwitternow.com/twitter-marketing/how-to-market-on-twitter-top-10-tips/

The Superbowl is one of the only television events where I actually look forward to seeing the commercials. This year, it will cost companies $3.5 million for 30 seconds to try and solidify their brand into consumers minds as they scarf down chicken wings, chili and beer.  However, marketers will not only be paying the big bucks for TV airtime but will also have advertisements for tablets, YouTube and other non-TV platforms. Companies like Audi and Honda are even uploading their Superbowl commercials before the big game so viewers can take a look. Companies doing this are doing so because they wont to have an integrative marketing campaign and have seen that having advertisements on multiple channels leverages the best benefits for these brands.

Another major reasoning for having ad’s for tablets or smart-phones is that people watching the game with one of these devicesin hand often tune out for the commercials and start surfing the w eb or playing a game. Marketers are trying to make it so consumers can’t hide from their ad’s even if they turn of the TV. I will post some of my favorite Superbowl Commercials after the game. Hope everyone enjoys it and Go Giants Go!!

Check out the Article Here: http://www.ecommercetimes.com/story/74324.html

This post isn’t really about marketing but just shows how popular the internet is and social media sites such as youtube. I remember discovering YouTube for the first time and wasting hours of my day looking for funny videos. It seems now a days there is always the next viral video that jumps from 300 views to 3,000,000 in 24 hours. Reuters has just reported that currently YouTube has 4 Billion streamed videos every day and there is 60 hours of uploaded content each hour! This is up 25% from just 8 months ago. Based on these stats it would take a century to view the videos uploaded in just 10 days worth of time! Keep this in mind marketers using youtube videos as you need to fina a way to stand out from the millions of other videos being uploaded constantly!
Check out the link here:

http://www.engadget.com/2012/01/23/youtube-hit-4-billion-views-per-day-deals-with-60-hours-of-uplo/?a_dgi=aolshare_twitter

I’m currently working on a marketing plan for a small start-up e-commerce retailer in the GVA. The business does not have a lot of capital and are looking for ways to increase traffic to their site and get their name out there without spending a lot of money. While I was doing some research I stumbled across a great article highlighting 4 major trends in online marketing for the new year: http://www.smallbusinesscomputing.com/emarketing/online-marketing-trends-for-small-businesses-to-know-in-2012-2.html

Clearly, social media is here to stay. Platforms such as Twitter and Facebook are becoming more and more popular and taking market share for marketing compared to more traditional channels. Even my parents are on Facebook! The first thing I check out when I discover a new company or brand I’m into is their Facebook page or any tweets about a current promotion or new product. The client I am working with has not used any social media platform so we are going to work on setting-up both a Twitter and Facebook account and see if we can get some more traffic that way, without spending a dime.

Just stumbled across an interesting article on emarketer.com from yesterday:

http://www.emarketer.com/Article.aspx?R=1008783

The article outlines how online advertising has become a bigger industry and is expected to continue to grow. For this year, US online ad spending is estimated to be at $40 million, more than 6% higher than the previous year, and this rate will continue to grow.

I must say this does not seem very surprising to me. I can’t remember the last time I’ve picked up a newspaper or magazine. I find all of my news, media, etc on the web, which is also where I am exposed to the most advertising as well. I can only see the spending in traditional ad platforms such as magazine or newspapers to continue to fall as companies see the need to switch over to online advertising. Recently, many large newspapers and magazine have switched to online formats either fully or partially demonstrating how important the world wide web is. If major media companies and advertisers don’t continue to adapt and make the shift towards the web, I do not see them sticking around in this industry too much longer.