Mediaboss Marketing

Kristina: What trends are you watching in social media now?

Ben Cockerell, Director, Global Marketing, Crimson Hexagon: More and more people are including images in their social media posts and this could be attributed to the fact that tweets with images are noticed more. A recent report found social posts that include a picture receive 150 percent more retweets than those that don't and marketers definitely shouldn't overlook this. Brands may not always be mentioned in the text portion of a tweet, but their logos or products may be featured. Without image analysis, brands may miss a huge part of the conversation - and marketing opportunity. Marketers are also able to capture deeper sentiment and context by looking at more than just the text.

Kristina: We're still hearing a lot of buzz about the importance of influencer marketing. Part of the influencer trend is knowing what is "hot" at a given moment. How can brands better use social as a barometer for these trending issues/products?

Ben: When it comes to social media, most marketers focus on the numbers. They're typically trying to figure out things like, "How many people interacted with this social post about our product?" and "Which demographic did this message resonate with most?" Yet, they often forget they can uncover much deeper and qualitative insights beyond volume data by looking at emotions and sentiments referenced in social posts. It's important to remember people aren't making buying choices based on how many of their friends mention a certain product or company. Instead, it's based on what their friends actually say. Sorting through individual posts based on specific emotions can provide much more context to help determine what's trending - and what's not.

Kristina: Could you give us an example?

Ben: For example, my company Crimson Hexagon recently released a report on most discussed consumer trends. One finding that we found interesting was that, while a hot topic in the media, autonomous vehicles actually evoke a lot of fear in consumers. Brands should use this detailed information (not just the fact that people are talking about self-driving cars) to better shape their messaging and address consumers' concerns.

More from Ben and Crimson Hexagon later this week, including his top 3 tips for a better social strategy.

Tags: advertising, Crimson Hexagon, ecommerce, Social marketing, social marketing tips, social marketing trends

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Trends to watch in social - BizReport

Social media marketing is a rapidly changing landscape, but perhaps nothing these days changes faster than video. As I wrote a few months ago, video is the medium for social in 2017. Internally, weve given a lot of thought this year to the best ways to approach video and execute for a wide range of formats, from Facebook Live to Snapchat.

So, when I came across this new high-level infographic about marketing in a video-first world, I knew Id have to share. In a world where over 500 million people watch Facebook videos every day, video marketing is too important to be glossed over. This new infographic looks at video from every angle through the lens of a survey of 1,000 consumers and 500 marketers.

Weve reposted the entire infographic below, as well as some key insights for those of you who just want the highlights (because this infographic is a long one!).

Nearly two-thirds of consumers say theyve bought something in the last month as a direct result of watching a marketing video on Facebook.

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When do they watch?

Approximately 84% watch on mobile devices. Mobile is huge. For video creators, this is important. Heres what you can do to better serve this audience:

The majority of your videos should be 60 seconds or less and have a strong hook as early as possible. As far as what types of videos you should create, heres how consumers are likely to respond:

Check out the full infographic below, and let us know in the comments: are you using video for your marketing?

Bob Hutchins (Franklin, TN) runs Buzzplant (www.buzzplant.com), A 12+ year old Internet marketing agency targeting the faith/family market. His team was an integral part of the online campaign for Mel Gibson's The Passion of the Christ, The Chronicles of Narnia, Soul Surfer, and many other movies, books, music releases, and Viewfullprofile

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Everything You Need to Know NOW About Social Video Marketing - Business 2 Community

Influencer marketing sprang from the idea that social platform stars with loyal followings would be able to market more effectively to their fans. But now, like all marketing, the area is becoming more standardized.

Brands are taking advantage of a growing number of self-serve ad tools in the market. Heres how it works: An advertiser creates a list of influencers, usually about 20 that it wants to work with. Theyre determined by a host of attributes, from whether they speak to a market the company wants to reach, to brand-safety issues, to, of course, price. Most of the time, these influencers are so-called micro-influencers, who have smaller followings and theoretically more engagement.

Then, the advertiser provides creative assets to the influencers so theyll post it on their own social platforms. Its closer to a publisher relationship than a creator one and a far cry from the beginnings of the influencer marketing industry.

This is the most cost-effective way for us, said Jane Tattersall, vp of marketing at LottoGopher, a lottery ticket e-commerce advertiser, which is using engage:BDRs IconicReach self-serve platform for its advertising. The company has an in-house creative agency, so it didnt want to hire influencers for long-term relationships to make creative. Ive been using influencers a long time. When you need many of them, it takes a long time. Then, you have to negotiate a bunch of contracts.

The self-serve ad method is closer to a platform-style relationship: Brands only need to choose where to spend their money. At LottoGopher, the company has a program running with 20 influencers, and its hoping to add up to 20 more. It wants to reach more luxury and aspirational customers people who like expensive stuff and may play the lottery to get it and is supplying creative. This is much more cost-effective for us, said Tattersall.

There are other benefits: Brands have long bought into the wisdom that influencers with giant numbers of followers see less engagement. A survey of 2 million social media influencers by influencer marketing platform Markerly showed that for unpaid posts, Instagram influencers with fewer than 1,000 followers have a like rate of about 8 percent, while those with 1,000 to 10,000 followers have a like rate of 4 percent.

But working with small influencers sacrifices on reach. Combine the two, and it works out. Its like media. We cant afford or have aspiration to go with the No. 1 TV network. We get a cross-section of people who have a total audience across the broad base.

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The biggest volume of things on Instagram are actually advertiser-supplied creative now, said engage:BDR CEO Ted Dhanik. That already exists. All we did was automate the process. An advertiser uploads a creative, and an influencer posts it.

Prices are determined mostly by time. Influencers can leave posts up for between one and 12 hours. If its a big influencer, brands will pay a fee upfront. Others most influencers under 100,000 followers get performance-based coupon codes. If the post performs, they get paid.

Its notable because its in some ways the inverse model of brands using influencers like agencies. As Digiday reported earlier, major brands have begun going straight to social stars to make their creative for them. It marked a sea change: Cheaper and faster, influencers are essentially replacing agencies as content arms, a far cry from the early days when influencers entered into creator relationships or at least endorsement contracts with brands.

At Urban Floor, a national flooring company, the brand wanted to reach more luxury customers to break into the luxury homes and luxury living space. The company now supplies content to 10 influencers, each of whom has 500,000 followers, and they post them on their Instagrams, according to marketing head Jordan Sandoval. Its a very new concept right now, said Sandoval. But well try it out and see if it works.

Read more here:
Influencer marketing is becoming more standardized - Digiday

Francis Bea General Manager and Marketing Director Zero Zero Robotics

Lean startups often need to get creative to stretch their marketing budgets. Francis Bea, marketing director of China-based Zero Zero Roboticswhich created the flying Hover Cameraspoke with eMarketers Man-Chung Cheung about the companys global marketing approach, which leans on content created with the worldwide market in mind and then localized through messaging tweaks and strategic media channel selection.

eMarketer: How did Zero Zero Robotics get started?

Francis Bea: Meng Qiu, our co-founder and CEO, noticed that in a lot of photos taken of his family, someone was always left out of the picture. He conceived the idea of a flying camera that not only brings the picture taker into the photo, but also captures some unique perspectives.

eMarketer: Zero Zero Robotics is based in China and is 3 years old. How did you build your international audience?

Bea: Weve focused a lot on digital to help grow our audience in a short amount of time. For the amount of ad spending we put into digital, the awareness we got was exponential. We doubled down specifically on the markets in the US and China at the same time. By targeting the US market, which is a thought leader in innovation, our marketing efforts trickle down to the rest of the world.

By targeting the US market ... our marketing efforts trickle down to the rest of the world.

Facebook in particular has given us the capability to reach a vast network of people. For instance, when we promoted a video in October by working with some Facebook channels, we got 60-plus million views.

Weve also worked with pop-up shops to generate awareness for our products, and get a feel for how people are receiving them.

eMarketer: When marketing the Hover Camera, do you use local social media channels in Chinalike WeChat and Weibodifferently than you use Facebook?

Bea: Weve tinkered with our social strategy, for both English-speaking and Chinese-speaking markets, by going local in China with country-specific content on WeChat and Weibo. This content may never make it to our Facebook, Instagram and Twitter pages.

Given the task of introducing a brand new product and becoming a more global brand, we found the most success in our social and content strategy by unifying how customers perceive our brand, while localizing the channels and making adjustments to the messaging. As a startup, this approach suits us at our current size. Our strategy will change as the organization evolves.

We try to resonate with the innate desires of customers and what they want from a product, regardless of their origin.

eMarketer: How much overlap is there between the content used in each market you target?

Bea: We publish content globally that is not just China-specific or US-specific. We try to resonate with the innate desires of customers and what they want from a product, regardless of their origin.

This is exemplified in our product videos, which we produce in-house. The localization of this content happens at the language and channel levelwe adjust the messaging depending on the region. While our media can be used in any market, the language that frames or gives context to the content is localized.

eMarketer: Is there anything that especially resonates with audiences in your home market?

Bea: While were a Chinese company, we have a strong global presence. As a result, we can attract customers in China who demand quality products, because our global presence gives us a badge of authority. Among [China-based] hardware brands, were seeing more and more of this as in-house marketing teams become savvier.

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Marketing in China: To Stretch Budgets, Take Global Content and Localize It - eMarketer

Is yours one of the 65% of companies that rank generating leads as their biggest marketing challenge? If so, you may already be aware that one third of the global population uses social media on a regular basis. But did you also know that when combined with direct mail, social media marketing can open the portal to a powerful promotional strategy?

Data and insights gathered from social media activity are ideal for bringing a laser-sharp focus to the messaging and targeting of your direct mail materials. And in true symbiotic fashion, direct mail has proven itself adept at grabbing consumer attention, and driving more traffic to company websites and social media platforms.

Print and digital promotions are exponentially stronger when theyre used together. If you want to make a unique and unforgettable impression on customers old and new, consider leveraging the combined efforts of a direct mail and social media campaign to:

Research suggests that spending as little as an hour a day on your social media networking will guide your business toward a noticeable improvement in lead generation.

So, what are you waiting for?

The three Cs of social media marketing make it clear that you really have nothing to lose and everything to gain by establishing an active, and lucrative, online/offline presence.

Being seen and listened to is everything when it comes to making an impact on your customers, and attracting new business. Social media is the perfect platform for posting the share-worthy content that can ensure your brands voice is heard.

When you create, and distribute content that social media followers find useful, entertaining, or insightful, your business becomes:

Remember: the better your content, the more interest your products and services are likely to generate. And thats a direct line to collecting more leads, and inspiring more conversions.

Postcard-mailers play an important role in driving customers toward your social media content. In fact, some studies have suggested that more than half of consumers engage socially with a business in response to receiving their direct mail communications.

A great deal of your marketing success hinges on sending the right message, to the right person. By taking the time to understand which content both written and visual attracts positive attention on your social accounts, youll be better positioned to create direct mail materials that resonate with your audience.

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The word social inherently implies community. And the millions of people who actively use social media platforms like Facebook (1.79 billion world-wide as of 2016) do so because they appreciate being part of a network that allows them to connect with others.

Research indicates that theres every reason to believe that connecting with your customers through various social media channels will lead to greater brand loyalty. Meanwhile, paying attention to social media analytics can improve your client relations both online and off. It can also help to amplify your marketing message.

When you use your social connections and the data they generate to become better acquainted with your audience, you can use what you learn to polish your direct mail strategy. Information gleaned from:

can prove invaluable for reaching a more targeted market with your postcard-mailers.

Statistics reveal that about 87% of us are inclined to share our positive experiences online and that almost half of those shares are taking place on social media platforms. Every time your companys name surfaces in an optimistic light online, it increases both the credibility of your print mail ads, and the perceived value of your business. And its this type of authenticity that makes yet-to-be-discovered customers more open to connecting with you.

Leads are great, but conversions are better. Social media platforms provide the fertile ground your business needs to access and cultivate new leads, and turn those leads into regular customers. Every conversion starts with a conversation, and theres no better place to communicate regularly with your ideal market than at hangouts like Google, Twitter, Pinterest, and Facebook.

Its the low-cost volume of conversion opportunities offered by social media that endows it with such marketing clout. For little more than an investment of time, your business can benefit from the enormous potential of each:

to drive readers to your website, and persuade them to buy.

One of the best things about marketing through social media is that its highly scalable. You can start by investing just a few hours a week, then add the paid advertising options offered by sites like Twitter and Facebook if, and as, you see fit.

The great value that social media marketing delivers only gets better when its combined with a print mail campaign. Direct mail is the undisputed champ of consumer response, and since a large part of that response involves increased social media engagement, your colorful postcards represent a valuable link in the social media conversion chain.

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The 3 C's of Social Media Marketing - Business 2 Community