Twitter #39;s New Location-Based Services
In this episode of The Baer Facts, Jay and Kyle discuss new location-based features coming soon to Twitter. http://exacttarget.com - ExactTarget is a leading...
By: ExactTarget
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Twitter's New Location-Based Services - Video
Forrester Research has released a Wave report evaluating social media marketing vendors, selecting seven companies as the top providers. Compiled by analyst Zachary Reiss-Davis, the report names Kenshoo, Marin Software, Optimal (recently acquired by Brand Networks,) SHIFT, Unified, Salesforce.com (for its Social.com app), and Nanigans as the best performers in social media marketing management and compares how the seven stack up against competitors and each other.
According to Reiss-Davis, social advertising generates more than 85 percent of revenue for both Facebook and Twitter, and marketers are continuing to spend more to advertise on the social networks. "In fact, the vendor customer references I spoke with for this evaluation spent an average of $512,000 per month on social ads," Reiss-Davis wrote in a blog post. Because social networks' native management tools have proven insufficient for enterprise marketers, the need for enterprise-ready products has grown, and vendors have responded with a variety of product offerings. Seven vendors, however, stand out.
The companies were evaluated based on several criteria; at a minimum, each had to have a standalone social offering, a self-service platform, enterprise customers, and customers that spent more than $50 million on social advertising over a period of one year.
Ultimately, the winner and runners-up are a diverse group of companies. Kenshoo, which took the top spot, and Marin both have a search marketing background and did not initially specialize in social media marketing, according to Reiss-Davis. Salesforce.com does not specialize in social media marketing either, but instead looks to "acquire platforms of all sorts to meet all of a marketer's needs," Reiss-Davis says. The remaining four companies are start-ups, with much more social media marketing focus.
Kenshoo led the pack due to its impressive performance in "analytics, reporting and optimization capabilities as well as its ability to combine search and social advertising data," the report states, citing customer feedback. Five of the runners-up, called Strong Performers, each had "at least one capability that stands above Kenshoo and all of the other vendors in this Forrester Wave," but didn't quite measure up overall.
Salesforce.com, for example, failed to secure the top spot because its social media advertising platforms remain disjointed. "Buddy Media and Radian6 have not been integrated with Social.com onto one single marketing cloud and, as a result, [the] Salesforce.com tool is just not reaching its full potential yet," Reiss-Davis says. The offering received low marks for integrations with both social relationship and social listening capabilities and with search and display advertising, according to the report.
As for companies that didn't make the cut in this Wave report, Reiss-Davis urges them to establish a unique, differentiated approach to social media marketing going forward. "There are simply too many companies competing in the space at this point," he says, and recommends that companies narrow their social media marketing solution with a focus on automation, a focus on a different market such as SMBs, or a solid CRM integration.
Reiss-Davis also suggests that all companies competing in the space dedicate serious efforts to effective campaign measurement, namely measuring how social media marketing is driving sales. "It's very easy to spend money measuring how many 'likes' or 'shares' a campaign is delivering, but what marketers really need to be focusing on is conversions," he says.
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Forrester Releases Wave Report on Social Media Marketing
Vancouver, BC (PRWEB) December 23, 2013
Wishpond, the online marketing platform that makes it easy to generate leads and sales, announced the rollout of its much sought-after new Coupon app. This addition makes Wishponds Social Media Marketing Suite one of the most comprehensive on the market today.
The newly integrated Coupon application gives retail businesses and marketers mobile optimized options to create their very own custom coupons on their Facebook, Twitter, websites or in their physical store. Coupons can be set up in minutes.
For example, a local business can easily create their very own custom coded coupon. Using Wishponds templates, they can customize their offer, and create their own entry forms to collect specific, detailed participant information. By requiring an email for their offer, or a Facebook Like, the merchant can collect targeted leads to further nurture customer relationships. The coupon can be redeemed in-store, through mobile or online.
How it works:
Wishpond believes in making online marketing easy, for every business and every language. The Wishpond Social Marketing Suite includes over a dozen online marketing apps from social promotions to rich contact databases, and real time analytics.
About Wishpond
Wishpond is one of the most comprehensive online marketing software platforms, with over 70,000 business customers worldwide. Wishponds Social Marketing Suite is designed to empower businesses to attract, engage, understand and grow their customer base across mobile, social, online and local channels, and in 44 languages. Wishpond's Social Marketing Suite combines best-of-breed social promotion and sophisticated real-time analytics in one complete easy to use and deploy platform.
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Wishpond Launches New Coupon App
Real-Time Marketing Hits New Low, Starring Gogo and Justine Sacco
When will brands learn? In a race to be crowned the next Oreo, it seems like every week another advertiser makes a really dumb decision on social media, by t...
By: Central Issue
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Real-Time Marketing Hits New Low, Starring Gogo and Justine Sacco - Video
Las Vegas, NV (PRWEB) December 22, 2013
Personalized marketing takes planning and a careful employee structure. "Social marketing started out like a bunch of people yelling in a room," said Joe Ferriolo, director of Wise Business Plans, which creates business plans for new and expanding companies across the globe. "It harkened back to the old days of a vendor hawking his wares as the crowd passed by. But now it's become a conversation, a give-and-take communications strategy that small and independent business owners need to cultivate like a friendship. But, unlike a friendship, this kind of marketing requires savvy hiring choices and a structured business plan."
Planning is the key, said Ferriolo, because while social marketing, when well-done, can look effortless, it requires an underpinning of strong business practices.
"No matter how friendly your business's online 'tone' may be, you're still a business," said Ferriolo. "You have to back up words -- even those seemingly typed off-the-cuff online -- with action. People often fail to prepare for success -- what if your social media campaign draws more response than you can support? Planning helps you not only weather the tough times but also to sail through sudden successes without letting customers down."
Good planing and social marketing support one another, he said, because the most difficult part of a social media marketer's job is often finding quality information to show with followers and fans.
"By working from a business plan that includes in-depth information on the market you hope to reach, you set in place a strong foundation of knowledge about your target consumer, and that knowledge facilitates conversation."
Rather than massive, one-size-fits-all marketing strategies, Ferriolo said successful companies in the coming months will benefit from large campaigns that are really a collection of smaller, more targeted initiatives. And individualism is something his company is uniquely familiar with.
"No two businesses are exactly alike, and neither are the business plans we produce. So why would anyone expect customers to be any different? We have always embraced the power of the individual, and it's great to see marketing trends doing the same."
Wise Business Plans (http://www.wisebusinessplans.com), staffed with professional MBA writers, researchers and financial experts, is a trusted partner for businesses across a broad spectrum of products and services. Our mission is to empower our clients to make the best possible business decisions, boost company performance and facilitate their funding success by laying the groundwork for strong businesses that excite, inspire and retain talented and exceptional employees.
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2014 Marketing Plans, Now Being Offered by Wise Business Plans