Engagebrands's Blog

Finally, Twitter takes profitability steps!

engagebrands — Tue, 13 Apr 2010 17:05:39 +0000

When will Twitter turn itself into a profitable business? Well, it’s a question that’s being asked on umpteen occasions in social media circles. In fact, the general line of thinking is that Twitter is witnessing exponential growth in recent times, but it always keeps getting armed with a question as to why Twitter hasn’t be able to translate that so-called phenomenal growth into a money-making venture.
A glance at the recent figures released by market research firm comScore only underpins the overwhelming presence Twitter has among organizations and businesses. What the comScore figures point out is that Twitter has indeed grown rapidly in the last twelve months. Twitter.com attracted 22.3 million unique visitors in March, up from 524,000 a year ago. What more, that does not include the millions more who use the Twitter through third-party smartphone and Web applications like TweetDeck or Tweetie.
And finally, the top-brass at Twitter seems to have found an answer to it, unveiling an advertising program called Promoted Tweets, which will show up when Twitter users search for keywords that the advertisers have bought to link to their ads.
The ads will appear at the top of results for searches users conduct on Twitter. Companies like Best Buy, Bravo, Red Bull, Sony Pictures, Starbucks, and Virgin America will feature in the first phase of the advertising service.
This latest move by Twitter to push advertising to users would be another significant step towards cranking up communications that companies are already having with customers on the micro-blogging platform. It would help to further highlight the tweets to a wider group of users.
But, there has always been criticism that Twitter has been slow in its plans to make it a profitable business. To some extent, the criticism may seem justified considering it came into being in 2007, that quite a lot of time for a firm to get into profitability mode.
Talking of revenue generation, it’s pertinent to point out that Twitter has seen revenue coming in from deals to license its stream of posts to Google, Microsoft and Yahoo, but Twitter’s advertising program is the first serious step towards turning its massive popularity in cash, and also have a business model in place.
Clearly, a beginning has been made to monetize its users but it is equally important for Twitter to understand the impact ‘Promoted Tweets’ have on users as well as the advertiser value. A proper assessment would stand Twitter in good stead before they go ahead and develop the service further.

http://www.engagebrands.com/

E-mail is the way to go for brands!

engagebrands — Mon, 12 Apr 2010 17:23:37 +0000

Brands are always looking at new ways and means to market their product/service. In an era where there is cut-throat competition, brands are always putting their thinking caps on how to give more value to the marketing campaigns for their products/services. And e-mail seems to be emerging as a big draw among brands and business when it comes to carrying out their marketing campaigns.
A recent survey conducted by Datran Media in association with Direct Marketing Association E-mail Experience Council revealed that e-mails are surfacing as the most popular digital channels for brands in 2009, some pointer to the fact that corporations indeed are using this medium to reach out to their target audience.
The survey which was done on executives of Fortune 500 companies, publishing companies, media agencies and ad agencies finds e-mail as the medium that worked best last year. The survey asked respondents to identify the digital channels that performed the strongest for their companies in 2009. E-mail got the most mentions (39 percent), followed by search (24 percent), offline (9 percent), affiliate marketing (9 percent), display (7 percent), direct mail (6 percent), social media (5 percent) and mobile (1 percent).
Not just that, the survey also inquired into what objectives brands and businesses had in mind while carrying out their online efforts and ‘Reaching the target audience’ topped the list (84 percent). It was followed by “generating high-quality leads” (74 percent). Smaller majorities said they’re using online efforts for “converting leads into sales” (63 percent), “measuring and understanding our audience” (60 percent), “retaining existing customers” (57 percent) and “digitally transacting with customers” (54 percent).
The survey shows that 67 percent of respondents will be leveraging online video this year. On social media, there was mixed opinion on the question of whether it will generate quantifiable results in 2010.” Fifty percent of respondents said social media will yield quantifiable results in 2010, but 12 percent said it won’t while the rest were unsure. Interestingly, 2010 will be a year when email marketing will become more powerful.
According to eMarketer, use of email marketing will intensify. There’s always a thinking going that just because people are spending more time on social media, they are abandoning email marketing but that’s not the case actually. This is to suggest that social media is not posing any threat to e-mail marketing. Rather social media is a partner to email marketing because it provides new avenues for sharing and engaging customers and prospects. Clearly, e-mail will continue to be of significance for brands and businesses.

* E-mail – 39%
* Search – 24 %
* Offline – 9 %
* Affiliate Marketing – 9 %
* Display – 7 %
* Direct Mail – 6 %
* Social Media – 5 % and
* Mobile – 1 %

Top brands get serious about Twitter!

engagebrands — Thu, 01 Apr 2010 10:20:16 +0000

Gone are those days when top brands and businesses would just engage their public relations staff and marketing managers with the task of carrying out the ‘marketing push’ for their products/services. The latest marketing mantra for these big corporate houses is to derive maximum possible mileage through the social media platforms.
Corporations are beginning to better understand the essence of making their products/services heard loud and clear through these social media forums. Among the social media platforms, Twitter is fast coming up as a hub for big brands to reach out to their customers, as brands are hopping on to the micro-blogging bandwagon as they see it as a serious medium to make their presence felt. Organizations liked to tweet on anything – it could be quarterly results, significant announcements, important meeting, senior hires etc.
Talking of big brands, even the Fortune 500 companies are getting hooked on to Twitter. A recent study carried out by the Society for New Communications Research reveals that Twitter is a big draw among the Fortune 500 firms. The study reveals that thirty-five percent of Fortune 500 corporations (173 of the primary corporations listed on the 2009 Fortune 500) log into their Twitter account as of last year and are quite active as well with a post within the past thirty days.
What’s interesting about this study is that Twitter is being taken very seriously by the Fortune 500 corporations. Take this, among the top 100 companies, 47 percent had a Twitter account. And what’s more, twenty-two percent of all Fortune 500 companies maintain a public-facing corporate blog, and more eight percent of those linked directly to a corporate Twitter account, which only indicates how top brands are using the social web to promote their products/services. Four of the top five corporations — Walmart, Chevron, ConocoPhillips and General Electric — consistently post on their Twitter accounts, though number one corporation on the 2009 Fortune 500, ExxonMobil, was an exception.
Clearly, the micro-blogging platform, which doesn’t permit more than 140-characters and prompts URLs to be condensed so that it can fit into the permissible character limit, is slowly but surely becoming the lifeline of the brands and business houses. Already, the trend of companies making important decisions through Twitter is being seen in some quarters, something which is only going to be embraced by every organization in future.

http://www.engagebrands.com/

Keep tab on your spouse on social networks!

engagebrands — Thu, 25 Mar 2010 15:07:33 +0000

Social networking sites have become the most-desired place for brands, businesses and celebrities to make their online presence felt. Social networks have become a way of life for millions who reconnect with their family members and friends. Amidst the massive craze for social networking what has gone largely unnoticed is how its popularity is also adversely affecting the marital lives of many. A glance at the recent study by a UK-based firm Divorce-Online would make you wonder as to how social networking sites can even have a destructive effect on your conjugal life when your priorities just go beyond ‘social networking’.
The study significantly reveals that spouses resort to rampant flirting on social networking sites, which is resulting in increasing number of marital breakdowns. Facebook, which is consistently working towards being the undisputed world’s largest social networking company, has emerged as the biggest platform that draws people to cheat on their partners, the study says.
The firm, which studied 5,000 divorce papers, found that twenty per cent of them had included references to Facebook. Not just the social networking giant, the study also found that other social networks like MySpace, Twitter and Bebo were also places where spouses cheat on their partners.
Of course, no effort is being made to belittle the popularity of social networking sites as they have a huge user following and no one doubts that. The bottom line is that it’s all nice to ‘social network’ with friends and well wishers but if accessing these sites is going to split couples apart, it’s certainly more than a cause for concern.
But if you look at the scenario in United States, one must say the picture looks much brighter. There are 850,000 divorces in United States a year, and that number is fast dwindling over the past decade. And now before you get too overjoyed at the number of divorces falling, take this into consideration.
Analysts believe recession which is now showing signs of easing off and charting a gradual recovery path, has actually forced many to delay divorce as they can’t simply afford it.
The study should be an eye-opener for all, and should make couples realize the need to exude some kind of responsibility towards each other and not take things for granted. So next time, you find your spouse showing extra keenness to visit the social networking sites, exercise caution and don’t take things for granted. After all, we want to social network but not at the cost of our marital lives!

http://www.engagebrands.com/

Facebook poised to consolidate its Asian market

engagebrands — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 12:00:05 +0000

When an organization seeks to branch out, it’s a clear indication that it is fast walking on the ‘growing’ path. And for the world number one social networking site Facebook, the scenario is pretty similar. The social networking giant, who only recently touched 400 million users, has thrown enough indications about their seriousness to consolidate its presence in the Asian region with the recent launch of their first operations office in the Indian city of Hyderabad.
The move is another significant ‘high’ for Facebook which is riding a huge popularity wave and has generated a lot of buzz in social media circles. Now, many of us may wonder as to what could be the thought process behind starting an office outside United States when the site itself draws massive popularity in U.S. far ahead of the likes of Twitter and MySpace.
Well, Facebook is the undisputed number one in U.S. But if you look at this piece of stat, you could be in for a surprise, as we are sometimes led into thinking Facebook is accessed the most in United States. But the reality is something else. Seventy percent of the people using Facebook are located outside U.S., which certainly is a pointer that people outside United States are getting hooked on to Facebook in a big way. What’s more, Facebook is accessed in more than 70 languages, which bears further testimony to the fact the social network is indeed grabbing eyeballs across the globe and not just in U.S, and would go a long way in strengthening their position in the Asian region.
The setting up of Asia’s first operations office in India could be termed as a smart move by the decision-makers at Facebook. Also remember: Facebook’s latest office isn’t it’s the popular social network’s first international office. Little over a year back, Facebook had set up an office in Dublin, Ireland.
It’s fair to assume that the line of thinking behind commencing an office in Dublin office probably must have been to maintain its European operations, while the latest decision to kickstart an office in India could be a move aimed at shoring up operations in the Asian region with a strong leaning towards India where 8 million use Facebook.
Facebook obviously realizes the popularity the social networking site is generating in the Asian region and see this pocket as a huge revenue stream. To put it simply, Facebook looks primed for a long haul in Asia, and it would take more than just a ‘challenge’ for any other social network to surpass them.

http://www.engagebrands.com/

Brands are fast realizing the importance of making an online presence!

engagebrands — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 16:28:38 +0000

Explosion of social media in last year or so has done one thing for sure: it has made brands and businesses realize the importance of making an online presence through the various social networking sites. Power of social media overwhelmed us so much that it has even left corporations racking their brains over what actually could be the best possible social media strategy to market their services/products. Of course, ultimate objective of brands and businesses is to make the most of social media platforms to create more awareness about their products/services and engage in conversations with their potential customers and translate that engagement into sales. So then, what could be the ideal social media strategy for a corporation? First thing first: a corporation may opt to have its own in-house social media team to promote their products/services. But if a corporation really doesn’t have the expertise or confidence in their in-house team to make their presence felt through social media, then, they’re better off hiring the services of external agencies which can do the job for them.
So one may ask: what these external agencies can offer which your in-house team may not be able to offer?
Your in-house team may carry out the social media services but they cannot be expected to be experts as desired by a corporation, unlike external agencies who have a highly dedicated team in place 24×7, who have the expertise to understand your business needs and know what it takes to help corporations not just safeguard their reputation of brand but also enhance its image across various social networks.
Among these external agencies, Engage Brands is of the leading social media service provider and has an exemplary team at its disposal to discharge the responsibilities as per the expectations a corporation may have from a vendor.
Carrying out an effective social media strategy is key and it’s important to have proper social media guidelines. Now, social media guidelines shouldn’t be in anyway different from those of the company’s existing values and culture. It should be such that they encourage the external agencies to focus on developing engagement with users across social networks, as you never know they could pan out to be your potential customers in future.
And what about the key question of driving traffic to your site through social media? Well, most brands and businesses should look at making optimum use of popular social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin and YouTube as an integral part of their social media strategy in their bid to make their products/services heard loud and clear.
But equally important is one aspect which organizations sometimes overlook. Organizations must look to spent considerable time on these sites and find out what exactly people are saying about their company, products or services as these can help them know where they stand in the market.
Corporations could resort to consistent e-mail marketing and social bookmarking as part of their social media strategy to push their products/services. It won’t be a bad idea at all if corporations concentrate their energies on sending personal replies to those customers whether they are complaining about your company (if they are not happy with the product/service) or showering lavish praise. And while interacting with them, they can always include a link in your message that takes them back to their site.
It’s critical to understand that achieving a successful online presence is a long drawn out exercise, and corporations should brace themselves up for a long haul if they wish to see their social media efforts fructify.
Similarly, business houses can have a lot going for them when they actively participate in various discussion forums and make it a point to include a link that will take them to their site.
There’s line of thinking among corporations that having a huge chunk of friends present brands in good light before potential customers. Nothing wrong with that, but corporations can benefit a lot if they create a fan page on these sites. You got to remember that the people who use your products/services are your fans and not friends. Then, of course, your fans trigger the word-of-mouth which plays a significant role in doing the PR stuff for you.
If you think your job is done with merely having a fan page and impressive number of fans, you are going wrong. Brands got to interact with their fans on a daily basis which can sow the seeds of customer loyalty in the long run. For instance, if any of your fans has a birthday, it makes sense to send a birthday wish to your fan along with link that will take your fan to your site.
Corporation hiring external agencies to carry out their social media optimization services must be readily served with regular reports (reports could be a weekly or monthly affair depending on the way a corporation wants it) from the vendor and review those reports in detail and get back to the vendor with feedback or any input from their end. Just to make sure everyone is on the same page, organizations must see to that they provide adequate information to their vendors about any new product/service launch, new contests, rollbacks etc as this would help in a big way in keeping their followers (if your vendor is doing SMO on Twitter), fans (if your vendor is doing SMO on Facebook) and users (for other social networks) engaged.
Social media strategy is ever-evolving with every passing day and in the coming days, weeks, months and years we are definitely going to see many new practices being adopted by brands and businesses.

http://www.engagebrands.com/

Is it time to think hard over moderating social networking sites?

engagebrands — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 14:07:10 +0000

Millions are hopping onto the social networking bandwagon to stay connected with their friends and family members. Many use these platforms to share their personal experiences/thoughts about issues surrounding them. And when one talks of people ‘sharing their personal experiences/thoughts’ through the various social networks, it is to suggest that users are probably going to share probably everything under the sun, sometimes even stuff which should be best left in the privacy domain. It could be anything; someone voicing his frustration at workplace and abusing his boss on a social network or it could even a player lashing out at the selector/coach after being dropped from the team on sites like Facebook, MySpace, Twitter among others.
Craze for social networking is enormous but with it also comes the lurking danger of stuff, which should remain in the private domain having the possibility of popping out into public domain causing personal or professional damage to an individual’s life.
Similarly for brands and businesses, social media platforms are a great marketing vehicle to promote their products/services. But wouldn’t brands and businesses be wary of any reputational damage being caused to them through negative (especially if it’s not constructive criticism) or abusive comments about themselves on social networking sites.
One wonders whether time has come when owners of social networking sites really need to think hard about opting for moderation of user updates/comments. The basic understanding one is trying to have is that unmoderated user updates/comments shouldn’t have a damaging effect on an individual or brand.
If you really want to see what kind of damage it can have on an individual when unmoderated comments gets posted on social networks, take this scenario: Oregon coach Chip Kelly recently booted receiver Jamere Holland from the football team after Holland appeared to challenge his coach with an expletive-filled racist post on his Facebook page. Holland was somehow mistakenly taken to believe that Kiko Alonso had been axed from the team after Alonso was recently cited by Eugene police for driving under the influence of intoxicants and Holland wrote how he disagreed with the decision.
Holland’s post grabbed immediate attention including that of his coach Chip Kelly, who dumped him stating that Holland had violated team rules. The irony of the incident was that his teammate Alonso continued to be in the team while Holland was given the chop. This incident clearly throws significant light on how users should exercise caution about what they want to post on social networking sites.
It’s fair enough to suggest that moderation of social networking sites can go a long way in ensuring no abusive, offensive comments surface on these sites and cause reputational damage to an individual or a brand, but whether owners of social networks opt for moderation is something that remains to be seen. But definitely, moderation of social networks will stand everyone in good stead!

Will Owen Van Natta’s recent exit as CEO further dent the fortunes of MySpace?

engagebrands — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 14:28:18 +0000

MySpace’s plunge in popularity from the heydays of 2006 when they were considered the most visited social networking site in United States has been rapid with each passing day. 2009 was a year in which the downslide of the depleted social network got even more pronounced.
And 2010 is a year in which MySpace need to find ways to revitalize the social network so that they can be once again taken seriously in the social networking space.
But the recent departure of MySpace CEO Owen Van Natta is being seen as disturbing to the ailing social network’s efforts to chart their revival path. To put things in perspective, MySpace has been struggling to hold its own after being eclipsed by Facebook in 2008, and Van Natta’s departure could just be a further roadblock in their path of progress.
There’s a lot of buzz generated all around about whether Van Natta’s exit would further dent the fortunes of the depleted social network. Though it’s too early to say anything on this, one thing is for sure: Van Natta’s exit can be termed a tad ill-timed as MySpace has been looking at exploring ways to draws users to the social networking site and ensure they at least compete with the might of Facebook and Twitter, if not seriously challenge them.
The general feeling all around is that Van Natta failed to reinvigorate MySpace during his nine-month stint (remember, he was hired in April, 2009) but whether nine months time is enough to reinvent a business and produce results is debatable.
Clearly, newly-promoted co-Presidents Mike Jones And Jason Hirschhorn, who took over from Van Natta have a humongous challenge at hand in trying to trigger an upswing in the fortunes of MySpace. Interestingly, both Jones and Hirschhorn joined MySpace last April alongside Van Natta, who was hired primarily to revive the fortunes of MySpace but the former Facebook chief revenue officer and vice president of operations, would no longer be part of guiding MySpace to the heights the social network once reached in 2006.
Clearly, MySpace has some serious rebuilding to do.

Google Buzz has a plenty of catching up to do before they can nurture ambitions of getting into competition mode with Facebook and Twitter

engagebrands — Thu, 18 Feb 2010 16:11:17 +0000

Search giant Google generated maximum possible ‘buzz’ in the social networking space ever since they came up with its latest social feature Buzz last week. Unveiling of Google Buzz, which allows users to share status updates, photos, videos, comments among others, did take many by surprise (surprise primarily because Google already has a social networking site Orkut) and has set tongues wagging about whether it can get into competition mode with the likes of Facebook and Twitter.
But, before one broaches more about whether competition in the social networking space would get cut-throat with launch of Google Buzz, it’s important to see things in perspective. The general feeling in the social media circles is that Google was in a hurry to get this social networking feature out, and the product wasn’t tested properly.
Not just that the product testing was inadequate, even what has got people talking as to why Google Buzz wasn’t launched as a standalone application instead of being routed through Gmail, Google’s email program. It has to be kept in mind that Google already has a standalone social network – Orkut, and one is not sure whether that prompted the decision-makers in Google to unveil Google Buzz through Gmail.
Clearly, the beginning of Google Buzz has been rocky with users raising privacy issues on a big scale. The prime concern is regarding Google Buzz publicly sharing details of users’ closest contacts.
For instance, if you are in the process of opening a new account, a dialogue box will ask you to create a profile and upload a photograph. Buzz then automatically creates a buddy list based on names you frequently email or chat from your Gmail account by default, something which can never be acceptable to any user, no matter which social network it is.
To put it simply, if a user is exchanging mails with a doctor for medical reasons, the said user may not necessarily be his friend and may not wish to have him in the social network but Google Buzz will automatically show the doctor as one you followed in your social network. This privacy feature has attracted a huge backlash among Google Buzz users. For now though, Google has to pull up its socks. It needs to fix up its loose ends if they are to ensure their newest social product makes its mark in the market and nurture ambitions of posing serious competition to Facebook and Twitter. The coming months will give a fair idea of whether Google Buzz becomes a success story or not.

Community Building does much more than just building a brand!

engagebrands — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 10:44:32 +0000

Community building involves a process of creating a band of followers with a common interest around a product/brand, blog, or site online. It’s an ongoing process where members of the community share skills and experiences to strengthen and develop each other (individuals, associations, and institutions) and the community. Community building literally means building a community aimed at achieving some set of desired outcomes (safer neighborhoods, more profitable businesses, and so forth). Community building accentuates the beneficial facets of actions that shape up relationships, values, and other aspects of community. In a nutshell, community building possesses a significant connection to community organizing and community development.
There could be different forms of community building, but one form of community building that prominently stands out is the commercial use of the power of human community in building community around a product or market concept that boosts customer loyalty.
In fact, there’s a line of thinking that community building revolves around building a brand, but honestly speaking, it’s much more than that. Community building provides a forum for people to participate and interact each with other. The end result of the entire exercise of building a community is to produce a vibrant community around a person, a product or a brand.

Advantages of Community Building

(1) Increases Traffic

(2) Increases Customer Loyalty

3) Big help in cutting Costs

(4) Providing Technical and Customer Support

(5) Obtaining valuable customer Information