The Value of Social Media Report

Here are some interesting findings in a 59 page report that was published by Rebecca Lieb, US Vice President at Econsultancy.

• Facebook is the Web property mostly commonly used in social media campaigns, with 85% of companies using this site as part of their marketing strategy. This is followed by Twitter (77%), LinkedIn (58%) and YouTube (49%).
• More than three out of five respondents (61%) say their organizations are "poor" (34%) or "very poor" (27%) at measuring ROI.
• More than three out of five companies (61%) say that they "have experimented with social media, but not done that much."
• Almost one out of three companies (32%) do not spend anything on social media marketing and a further 36% spend under $5,000 a year.
• Almost one out of three respondents (32%) are getting less than 1x the return on investment from social media.

The report also covers:

• Social media activity
• Tactics and Web sites
• Budgets and investment
• Objectives, metrics and ROI
• Resourcing and barriers

 You can purchase the report at http://econsultancy.com/reports/value-of-social-media-report

Get Your Search Campaigns Ready for the Yahoo/MSN Merger

By Jason Tabeling, Search Engine Watch, Mar 4, 2010
Now that all the regulating bodies have approved the Yahoo and MSN search merger, the official waiting begins. Nothing is happening immediately; actually, there are more unanswered questions about the intimate details.

Not to worry. We have at least until Q3 before some top advertisers will be migrated, assuming things go well. Even the official press release notes that they will wait until after Q4 and the retail holiday season if things aren't smooth.

While all the technical and practical details are being worked out, here are a few things you may want to think about.

Read more...

Facebook "fan page" and complementary ad space to promote it are the hottest ticket in brand marketing right now.

From CNET: http://bit.ly/cLstWF

Facebook may pull in an excess of $1 billion in revenues, according to estimates and poking around on behalf of industry blog Inside Facebook. That's an increase from the same publication's estimate of $700 million last year.

Facebook board member Marc Andreessen said last year that he projected the company would break $500 million revenue in 2009, and that it had the potential to be a billion-dollar company already, but that it was acting conservatively.

(Naturally, Facebook says that as a privately held company it doesn't disclose its financials.)
What can Facebook credit this big jump in revenue to? It's all about the Social Ads program. Facebook ditched banner ads altogether earlier this year when its longstanding ad partnership with Microsoft ran out and has chosen to focus on its edgier "engagement ads" program instead--and often these are sold by encouraging brands to promote their presence on Facebook with ad space.

However accurate these new estimates from Inside Facebook are, Facebook is certainly making money--and it's making money because the Facebook "fan page" and complementary ad space to promote it are the hottest ticket in brand marketing right now. They won't always be, and Facebook will have to maintain that front-runner status in plenty of advertising innovations down the road as the industry evolves faster than ever.
Plus, it's well-known that some of the biggest buyers of Facebook advertisements are social-gaming companies looking to pull in more players: how long can they, in turn, keep up their place in the sun? Critics have long since pointed out the number of third-party companies that are effectively dependent on Facebook for traction and revenue, but the reverse is likely true as well.

Facebook has a potentially lucrative new revenue stream emerging when its virtual currency system, Facebook Credits, launches in full--Facebook takes a 30 percent cut of all proceeds. But the developer world isn't totally sold, and the product has grown far more niche from the days when it was rumored to be a "PayPal killer." As Inside Facebook points out, advertising is still the core of the company's business model. And here, it has to stay ahead of the pack more than ever.

Get Found with Google Local

Have you ever searched Google on your mobile phone and found that some local results showed up almost magically? Perhaps you've searched for a local shop on Google.com and ended up with an embedded Google Map listing local businesses? That's Google Local, a nifty way to increase your local visibility (or that of your clients).[KS: is that what it's called here too? Not Google Maps beta?]
Google Local listings can contain the following information about a business:

• Company name and description
• Address and phone number
• Hours of operation
• Email and web address
• Coupons
• Photos
• Updates (similar to a blog post)

Listings on Google Local are free, and easy to set up. Just click the link above and fill out some simple information like your address and phone number. You'll have to verify that you're the owner of the business, either by phone or mail. Then you're provided with a verification code that you simply type into the appropriate field on your listing form, and it's instantly activated.
Since Google Local search often shows up above organic search engine results in Google in addition to mobile searches, it's a no-brainer for extra exposure and traffic. As an added bonus, through your Google Local dashboard you can see how many visitors and actions (clicks) you've had from your local listing.

Use Craiglist for an SEO Boost

Posting ads on Craigslist is fun, and helps in boosting your link popularity and traffic. Craigslist has one of the highest Alexa rankings in the world; so if you want your site to get some exposure, posting a small ad can work wonders.

However, it also has to do with the fact that having a relevant backlink helps resurrect pages from the supplemental index. It doesn’t only apply for Craigslist links, but any other high ranking backlinks as well. Craigslist just works faster, because of the high Page Rank it has.

Craigslist is such a high traffic place because there are tens of thousands of people posting or browsing ads every single day. The site sits a top a Page Rank 8 ranking, Alexa rank of 47 and literally millions of backlinks in both Google and Yahoo. Tremendous credentials indeed.

In a few days I will be posting a case study of an example.