Episode #180 - December 21st, 2011 Intro How to interact on Twtter: Include #HubSpotTV in your tweet! On the show today is Karen Rubin (@KarenRubin) and Mike Volpe (@MVolpe) As always, all the old episodes are in iTunes. If you like the show, please leave a 5-star review! Anyone is welcome to come by the show to watch as part of the live studio audience - 4pm Friday Groupon Spins Amazon for PR We had previously reported http://www.dmnews.com/genius-groupon-glove-slaps-amazon/article/220148/ Amazon.com is taking shots from every direction. Ever since the company launched its Dec. 10 Price Check mobile app promotion, the company has been called everything from “evil” to “anti-small business.” Groupon is “firing back” by offering a “Buy Local” promotion that gives customers $10 in Groupon credit for purchasing a daily deal in a physical store. http://blogs.wsj.com/digits/2011/12/20/groupon-launches-anti-amazon-promotion-of-sorts/ Amazon, the world’s biggest online retailer, on Dec. 10 offered customers discounts if they used its price-comparing smartphone app in a physical retail store. During the one-day promotion, shoppers could have gotten a 5% discount, up to $5 each, on up to three qualifying items. The daily-deals site’s offer comes after Amazon’s major online competitor, eBay, last week offered its own brick-and-mortar promotion. EBay said participating retailers such as Toys ‘R’ Us, Dick’s Sporting Goods and Aeropostale would give customers $10 in in-store credit if they bought $100 worth of merchandise from the respective retailer’s websites. Marketing Takeaway: Turn your competition's moves against them. For Local Business, SEO Trumps Social http://pewinternet.org/Reports/2011/Local-business-info/Overview.aspx and http://www.marketingpilgrim.com/2011/12/research-says-social-media-is-not-the-place-people-get-local-business-data.html Some 55% of adults say they get news and information about local restaurants, bars, and clubs. When they seek such information, here are the sources they say they rely on most: 51% turn to the internet, including: 38% to search engines, 17% specialty websites, 3% social media 31% rely on newspapers 23% rely on word of mouth Some 60% of adults say they get news and information about local businesses other than restaurants and bars. When they do: 47% rely on the internet, including: 36% search engines, 16% specialty websites, 1% social media 30% rely on newspapers 22% rely on word of mouth Marketing Takeaway: Local or not, search engines are critical so work on your SEO. Marketers Gone Stupid Over Video Ads http://www.marketingpilgrim.com/2011/12/video-ads-increase-in-spite-of-measurement-concerns.html The numbers come from Break Media’s “Digital Video Advertising Trends: 2012″ report and overall, it shows that video advertising is on the rise. Mobile shows the most growth going from use in 39% of video ads in 2011 to an anticipated 55% in 2012. Advertisers spent 29% more on video ads than they planned over the past year and two-thirds of advertisers said they’ll spend even more in 2012. Nearly half of all respondents said ROI was hard to measure and 35% said they could measure it but there wasn’t a big enough return. Marketing Takeaway: Don't be a lemming, follow ROI not the masses. Social Media Feature War Update http://www.allfacebook.com/facebook-timelin-2011-12 AND http://blog.hubspot.com/blog/tabid/6307/bid/29982/Google-Finally-Allows-Page-Admins-Rolls-Out-Other-Improvements.aspx Google + Google+ finally responded to what anecdotally seemed to be the most requested feature addition -- the ability to have business page administrators. Previously, users had to set up Google+ page accounts using a communal login, but now you can assign up to 50 administrators to your Google+ brand page. Page notification - Instead of navigating to the content to see what it is, there are now sneak previews that show what's new in your stream. You can also now see the +1s and shares your posts have generated since you last checked. Stream management - adding "graphic-equalize" controls that let you decide which posts are most important to you, and by extension, adjusting what appears in your stream. Facebook We’re all learning about how best to use timeline right now, so it’s probably a good thing that brand pages haven’t migrated to this new layout yet. Likes - Consequently, stories posted when users like your brand’s page may not be shown as the top story on their profile pages for long. Brand likes will be collected together and displayed as a group within the time period the actions were taken. This means that they may drift down the page and be shown with older content. Apps - Graph Rank adds open graph to the equation, including factors like how often you or your friends interact with content posted by an app. This rewards apps that are popular by pulling them to the top of the feed and highlighting their use. “How often will this app be used?” is a question we should strongly consider when designing apps that only publish stories once (for example, when you first use them) will be less valuable to brands because they are less likely to earn high Graph Rank and will tend to drift to the bottom of the pile. Marketing Takeaway: Keep your company pages up to date. How People and Brands Interact http://www.nmincite.com/?p=6051 http://blog.hubspot.com/blog/tabid/6307/bid/29897/21-Captivating-Social-Media-Stats-How-People-Interact-With-Brands-INFOGRAPHIC.aspx People add Facebook friends because they know them in real life or are friends of friends People remove friends because they say something offensive, they don't know them well, or they try to sell them something. Men use social media more for career, networking and dating, and women use it more for a creative outlet, coupons and deals, and to give positive feedback. 66% of of people who have Liked a brand have 100+ friends on FB but only 46% of those who have not have 100+ friends Most preferred methods of communication: 32% short updates, 27% email, 22% traditional offline ads Least preferred methods of communication: 25% audio / podcasts, 23% email, 15% traditional offline ads http://blog.hubspot.com/blog/tabid/6307/bid/29997/Inbound-Leads-Cost-62-Less-INFOGRAPHIC.aspx 9x decrease in credit card direct mail response rate 28% decrease in importance of tradeshows in the last 6 months 44% of direct mail is never opened 86% of people skip TV ads 91% of US Adults use social media monthly 64% of US internet users read blogs 62% of companies say their blog is critical Marketing Takeaway: Research YOUR audience and given them what they want. Marketing Tip of the Week - Take advantage of the time over the holidays to spruce up your company social pages with new photos and other features. Less