Online Marketing Blog

Visual Gold

This new infographic from Marketo (client) takes a dive into content marketing campaigns of the future.  Those that focus on creating visually appealing content in a way that still creates value to the readers.  In this infographic you’ll find ideas such as:

• Content Formats
• The Five Pillars of Visual Marketing
• Promotion & Distribution

Pope Joins Tweeting Masses With @Pontifex Handle
Benedict XVI will begin tweeting in eight languages beginning December 12th, 2012 using the handle: @Pontifex.  The pope will use Twitter to respond to questions live during his weekly general audience.  Not surprisingly, within only 10 hours of the announcement, Benedict had already reached nearly a quarter million followers.  Via The New York Times.

10 Crucial Consumer Trends 2013

2013 marks a new year filled with new predictions and trends for consumers.  This new Slideshare presentation from Trendwatching.com provides insight into the top trends ranging from mobile to data mining.  Browse the presentation for a detailed report on these trends and what it means for your business.

3 Tools to Simplify Your Social Media Marketing
The time it takes to post, respond, and monitor your social media marketing can eat up valuable time during the work week.  But don’t worry, there is a solution.  The three tools mentioned in this post will help simplify and manage your social media marketing efforts.  Via Social Media Examiner.

Content Marketing Media Matrix For Small Businesses

This new infographic from PRWeb provides a guide to finding what type of content is best for promoting your business depending on your audience as well as you’re services or products.  Use this infographic to find out what will work best for your content marketing strategy.

DMA Finds Marketers Bullish on Growth of Digital and Direct Marketing
According to this recent article, 75% of marketers say that they’re bullish about growth prospects for digital and direct marketing.  This is slightly up from a previous survey taken 2nd quarter, in which 72% said that they were bullish about growth prospects.  Via BtoB.

Social Stereotypes: You Are What You Share

This recent infographic from WIX  focuses on social media, and the types of things that people share, or read.  Findings include:

• 71% of tweets are ignored
• 23% of tweets get a reply
• 5% of Pinterest users are under the age of 18
• 97% of executives surveyed used LinkedIn in 2010

7 Effortless Ways to Find New Ideas for Your Blog
Coming up with new and exciting topics for blog content is no easy undertaking.  This article shares 7 easy ways to come up with new blog content regularly.  Read on to find out more.  Via Social Media Examiner.

A History of Social Media

This recent infographic from copyblogger  takes a dive into the history of social media, and it may be a longer history than you expect.  History includes:

• 1971 – First Email – Researchers at ARPA send the worlds first email
• 1980 – USENET_ – users were able to read and post messages to distributed online bulletin boards
• 1991 – World Wide Web – Tim Berners-Lee proposes a new protocol for information distribution

Are Your Employees Engaged?  Here’s How to Find Out
Many employers as themselves if their employees are truly engaged and may not know where to start figuring it out.  There is a new tool that helps test your company’s ‘Culture IQ,’ or ‘CIQ’ score.   This test measures 10 statements.  Want to find out what they are?  Via Inc.

5 Ways to Detect Lying Clients By Reading Their Facial Cues

When meeting with clients face to face there is a lot you can learn from not only what they say but what they’re doing while they’re speaking.  Microexpressions are subtle changes in the face that happen for only a fraction of a second.  This infographic can help you identify if your clients mean what they say, and how you can adapt your approach to meet their needs.  Via American Express.

How Stories Make Customers Fall In Love
The best way to actively engage your customers is to tell stories, good ones.   The right story can turn your customers into brand advocates.  This article offers some concepts that can help you begin to woo your customers in a meaningful way.  Via Inc.

B2B Marketing: Our Shared History (From the 2012 MarketingProfs B2B Forum)

For the record, B2B Marketing is not boring.  It is an industry ripe with opportunity for innovation and creativity.  This video from MarketingProfs takes you on a short journey though the history of B2B Marketing.  For more helpful tips be sure to check out the B2B Marketing Innovation eBook.

Coca-Cola Equips Vending Machines With Kinects, Lets You Dance For Free Cokes
In an effort to remain the number 1 global brand, Coca-Cola has come up with an innovative and interactive advertising campaign.  Coca-Cola has equipped a number of their vending machines with webcams and Microsoft Kinect sensons.  In order to win a free soda you must follow a series of dance moves shown the on the screen.  Via SingularityHUB.

The Meaning of Like: How Smart Devices and Social Analytics Are Transforming Retail

This recent infographic from Symphony Teleca shares some very insightful information on the ways that consumers use devices to make purchasing decisions, and the ways that companies can measure these trends.

Going Global: Insights for International Social Media
With more companies receiving service requests from outside the continental US this article examines how best to approach a global social media strategy.  Via Search Engine Watch.

Google patents smart watch with flip-up display that could reveal everyday objects’ secrets
The watch would present notifications and other information transmitted from your smartphone at a glance.  There are also claims that the watch could channel a plethora of other Google apps, like Gmail, Goggles, and Maps.  Via engadget.

The Ecosystem of Lifecycle Marketing

This infographic from RightOn Interactive takes a deep dive (literally) into the world of lifecycle marketing automation.

Key Takeaways:

• 22% increase of the average sales cycle in the past 5 years
• 47% of B2B marketers close less than 4% of marketing-generated leads
• 64% of CMOs have either an informal or no process to manage marketing automation

LinkedIn Gets its Own Version of Facebook Likes: Endorsements
Endorsements allows users to recognize professionals for their expertise.  It really is as simple as clicking a button.  On the users profile there will be a list of recommended endorsements.  You can either click to endorse, or suggest other area of expertise.  Via TNW.

Smartphones Impact On the World

In this recent infographic from ProtectYourBubble.com assesses the impact of Smartphones on people all over the world.  Highlights include:

• 1 in 4 households in the U.S. have cut their landline
• More kids between 2-5 can work Smartphones than can tie their shoes
• 72 Million iPhones were sold in 2011

Reality Check: 10-15% of Brands’ Social Media Fans, Likes and Reviews Will Be Fake By 2014, Says Gartner
It seems like we’re hearing more and more that many fans, friends, reviews and likes for brands are fake. New research from Gartner uncovers that it is only going to get worse, as paid interactions become an industry all of their own.  Via TechCrunch.

How Airlines Have Taken Flight with Social Media

This infographic from Mashable shows just how social airlines have become over the past few years.  How does one of the top airlines fair socially  (at the time this infographic was created)?

American Airlines

• Twitter – Following: 413
• Twitter – Tweets: 1,231
• Twitter – Followers: 42,985
• Facebook – Likes: 325,045
• YouTube – “United Breaks Guitars”: 10,771,568

Trials Show Facebook Retargeted Ads Deliver Massive ROI
According to reports, Facebook’s new cookie-based real-time bidding retargeted ads program is showing an ROI of up to 16x’s what is being spent.  Initially revealed in June there was buzz that the ads were performing very well.  Now the data shows that these new ads may be cheaper, get higher click through rates, and have higher post-click conversion rates than retargeted ads on other exchanges including Google’s AdX.  Via TechCrunch.

Social Media & The Effect On Employee Recruitment

Still think that social media doesn’t hold value for business?  I found this recent infographic from Intricate on Visua.ly that says otherwise.  If you’re looking for a job, or looking to grow your team here are some things you should keep in mind:

What Employers Frown Upon

• 78% – Posts and tweets on doing illegal drugs
• 66% – Sexual posts and tweets
• 61% – Profanity in posts and tweets
• 54% – Grammar mistakes
• 47% – Pictures of you drinking

Google’s Rating Guidelines Adds Page Quality to Human Reviews
A new version of Google’s human rater handbook hit the web and Google’s Premiere Engineer Matt Cutts insists these rating will not directly affect search engine results.  Regardless, the rating document does provide a high level view of what Google looks for in a quality website.  Via Search Engine Watch.