Archive for September, 2007
Now It’s Ice.com and YouTube
Earlier this month I blogged how Neiman Marcus and YouTube were teaming up to celebrate Neiman Marcus’s 100th birthday. So I was not surprised when I saw Internet Retailer report that Ice.com is now advertising on YouTube.
Ice.com is an online jeweler who must have see the same YouTube demographics as Neiman Marcus.Ice.com executive vice president of marketing Pinny Gniwisch said that they are on YouYube because:
“The people who watch and participate in YouTube are on the cusp. They are the trendsetters,” he says. “I want them to identify with my brand. If I can interact with these connectors, the word of mouth is tenfold what I would have gotten from someone else who’s part of my demographic but not on that level of web interaction.”
Filed under Social Media Marketing, Social Media Optimization, Social Retailing : Comments (6) : Sep 28th, 2007
Social Media Equals More Sales Part Two
Following up Tuesday’s post Social Media Helps You Sell More was news from emarketer that Web 2.0 users spent about $27 billion online in the United States in the second quarter of 2007, according to comScore’s “Web 2.0 in Retail Today” report.
From the report:
comScore reported that social networking site traffic rose 33% to 81 million unique visitors in August 2007 versus August 2006. Blog traffic grew 23% to 28 million unique visitors, while online video site traffic increased 20% to 93 million.
Data from an “Mplanet” survey indicate that retailers who do not market on social networks might be missing an opportunity.
Filed under Social Media Marketing, Social Media Optimization, Social Retailing : Comments (1) : Sep 27th, 2007
Look Before You Leap
Social networking sites have their own set of rules and it is important that you spend time on the site understanding the rules and decorum before starting any sort of campaign on that site. The Inman real estate news site recently wrote about some real estate agents who failed to read the rules.
One real estate agent fresh of a real estate seminar and in her words “I like real-world interaction, but I understand that’s part of what our business is becoming. So I took the advice I was given and began signing up on as many sites as I could.” And you can guess what happened next.
Filed under Social Media Marketing, Social Media Optimization : Comments (1) : Sep 26th, 2007
Social Media Helps You Sell More
A new survey from iCrossing called “How America Searches: Online Retail” shows that younger shoppers are turning to blogs and social media sites to help make their purchasing decisions. The survey validates a lot of our thinking how that adding web 2.0 features to your site like customer reviews will help you make more sales.
One of the key points in the survey that I found interesting was:
Social media increasingly relevant to online retailing. 42% of all consumers view information about brands and products on sites like Wikipedia to be extremely or very influential to their online purchase decisions. Blog posts, online videos and brand profiles on social networking sites carry significant weight with 18 to 44 year old shoppers.
Filed under Brand Marketing, Social Media Marketing, Social Media Optimization, Social Retailing : Comments (2) : Sep 25th, 2007
Yes I Am An SOB
A milestone was reached this weekend as Liz at Successful Blog added me to the prestigious SOB (Successful and Outstanding Blogger) list!.
I have not had time to write my acceptance speech, but I would like to thank Liz and all the judges for this great honor:)
Check out the cool “SOB” badge I now get to display:)
Filed under Social Media Optimization : Comments (0) : Sep 24th, 2007
How I increased traffic by over 500%
Long time readers of this blog know that I am a big fan of StumbleUpon (SU), both for the amount of traffic that it sends as well as the quality of traffic. Back in late June I decided that I wanted to drive more traffic to this site from social media sites, especially from SU. I picked SU over Digg because I wanted to drive consistent traffic to the site whereas Digg traffic seems to come in peaks and valleys.
Was I successful? Well in June I received 622 visitors from SU. So far this month I have received over 3,800 visits and the number of subscribers have more than since I began this campaign.
Filed under Social Media Marketing, Social Media Optimization : Comments (12) : Sep 24th, 2007
Shop.com Adds Social Retailing Features
Women’s online shopping mall Shop.com has gone social according to Internet Retailer by adding new features to their site including a blog, gift registries for multiple stores, and interestingly, a Facebook shopping application. Social Retailing is a really hot button for many shopping web sites as it encourages users to shop and exchange information online with their friends.
“As online shoppers are becoming increasingly more efficient in communicating, connecting, and sharing online, we are constantly reviewing and updating our existing offerings as well as developing and testing new features to help our customers shop more efficiently and more enjoyably,” says Mondy Beller, senior vice president of marketing. She adds that the company is eager to see “how these elements over time will help build communities for our shoppers.”
Filed under Social Media Optimization, Social Retailing : Comments (0) : Sep 20th, 2007
MySpace to Allow Customized Ads
One of the advantages that the Internet has over traditional media is that advertisers can better target their ad campaigns based on user demographics. MySpace has been working on their user demographics data and according to the New York Times they have improved the likelihood that members will click on an ad by 80 percent on average!
“We are blessed with a phenomenal amount of information about the likes, dislikes and life’s passions of our users,” said Peter Levinsohn, president of Fox Interactive Media, who will talk about the program at an address to investors and analysts at a Merrill Lynch conference in Los Angeles on Tuesday. “We have an opportunity to provide advertisers with a completely new paradigm.”
Filed under Brand Marketing, Social Media Marketing, Social Media Optimization : Comments (1) : Sep 19th, 2007
Should Social Media Marketing be Part of Your Internet Marketing Campaign?
One question that I keep hearing from clients as well as SEO companies is whether social media marketing should be an ongoing part of their Internet marketing campaign or whether it is a stand alone service? It seems that many people are confusing social media marketing with linkbaiting or viral marketing which are “big events” and not ongoing activities.
So lets step back a little and look at what social media optimization (SMO) is all about. At its most fundamental level, SMO is making your content accessible to people online regardless of where they are. This content could be a video on YouTube, a profile on Facebook, or a presence on a niche social site like aSmallWorld.net.
Filed under Brand Marketing, Social Media Marketing, Social Media Optimization : Comments (11) : Sep 18th, 2007
YouTube and Neiman Marcus Team Up
I bet that is not a title that you thought that you would ever read. To celebrate its 100th anniversary, Neiman Marcus splattered itself allover YouTube. You might be asking why an upscale retail store like Neiman Marcus would be advertising on YouTube, the home of teenage kids everywhere?
Well the answer is that YouTube is not just for teens and pre-teens anymore. YouTube has been aging along with most of the other social networks, and now attracts a more upscale crowd. Consider that almost 25% of YouTube visitors belong to households that make over $100,000 a year. Combine those demographic with the fact that YouTube is responsible for more than 21% of all online-video views then you can begin to see what attracted Neiman Marcus to the site.
Filed under Brand Marketing, Social Media Marketing, Social Media Optimization : Comments (1) : Sep 17th, 2007
