CaliberPulse

In these uncertain times, companies from small businesses to major brands are turning to digital marketing and social media to offer valuable content, build brand credibility and engage with audiences. Consumers across the globe have dramatically increased their reliance on technology. So, including these tactics in your marketing strategy enables you to access to nearly […]

The number of brands struggling to overcome declining Facebook views is skyrocketing. Community managers are frustrated with the platform for changing their algorithm and searching for a solution. In the midst of the chaos, shareable graphic content (or SGC as we like to call it) has emerged as a way to increase organic engagement, therefore […]

If you think Instagram is like all the rest—just another social media tool—think again. It allows brands to express themselves to consumers in a unique, powerful way, and with more than 100 million users, it’s shouldn’t be ignored.

The most intriguing element of social media management is the ever changing nature which keeps social media marketers on their toes. We are constantly learning and adapting our social media strategies to best serve our clients. So far 2013 has been full of changes for social media giant Facebook, including a logo redesign. Here are 5 of the most recent changes that are likely to impact Facebook brand pages.

Facebook, the world’s largest social network, achieved 1 billion users in September 2012. Why then, would anyone opt out of advertising with a company that has captured the attention of such a large percentage of the world’s population?

Effective marketing professionals are constantly monitoring and questioning how they are spending their marketing budget, if their messaging is reaching the right audience, and how to develop ways to track the effectiveness of their tactics. With the availability of web statistics – Google Analytics for websites, Hootsuite Analytics for Twitter, and Insights for Facebook – a business is able to see who is viewing their online marketing content, how often they visit the site, and even how long they stayed on the site. Measuring the effectiveness of offline marketing can be more difficult. To gauge the effectiveness of offline advertising (print ads, brochures, postcards, etc.) marketers can create ways to track their reach, similar to what is being done with internet marketing.

96% of visitors to a website don’t become customers or engage during their first visit. How do you bring them back? The old advertising adage used to be that a potential customer needed to hear, read, and/or see your message three times before they engage in your product or service. The latest statistic is that it can take up to seven digital interactions with people before they become a customer. How can you speed up this process? By retargeting, also called retracking or remarketing (by Google). Retargeting is an online marketing technique that focuses on people who visit a website. When a user visits a website, a cookie tags a code from the site and is placed on the visitor’s browser to allow an advertiser to target that consumer as they interact online. For example, if someone visits Overstock.com and places something in a cart but leaves the site without purchasing it, a cookie is placed on the visitor’s browser. That user may find that while visiting another site, an ad for Overstock appears featuring the very item they placed in the cart. The next time they see an Overstock ad on another site it may even offer that same item at a discounted price.

In the past year Twitter use has exploded and is rapidly becoming an essential business marketing tool. Millions of people and companies have utilized Twitter to gain exposure, brand recognition, and maximize online marketing. Almost every successful brand has a powerful Twitter presence, but the magic question is: How do they obtain—and maintain—so many loyal and qualified followers? Whether seeking to increase your following personally, or for your business or brand, there are several strategies for building a successful Twitter account and an invaluable online marketing tool.

It will come as no surprise to those of us paying attention to trends that advertisers are asking more of their audiences than ever before. In previous years, the modus operandi has been for advertisers to show pictures, play music, and try to impress while target consumers relax on the couch. Relax no more, audiences. In 2011 and beyond, advertisers will be putting audiences to work. The new rule of engagement is, in fact, “engagement”. New online ads will require the audience to “click” for the full story or experience that will drive a message home. It is predicted that online ads will, more and more, link an end-user directly to the point of purchase, cutting out any waffling a consumer may feel while considering a buying decision. The engagement revolution is not exclusive to online ads. Print and TV ads are, increasingly, requiring that audiences scan a code to find a hidden message or receive the chance to win some coveted opportunity that only those “in the know” get to access. The end goal of these more complex processes is to create loyalty through participation and to turn that loyalty, ultimately, into sales and evangelism.

In this age of web-enabled Smart phones and other “Smart” devices that are flooding the market, we here at Adworkshop have noticed that the number of “apps” (applications) and mobile sites being downloaded is skyrocketing. As a matter of fact, our advertising agency in upstate New York came across an eMarketer report on a recent survey conducted by Adobe which found that most mobile users prefer to get their content from mobile websites rather than mobile applications. The only categories that showed a higher mobile application download preference were games, music and social media.

I attended the BOLO 2010 conference organized by AgencySide. BOLO’s mission is to help agencies profit with new digital marketing technologies. I was as impressed by the attendees I met - mostly agency principals or management- as by the speakers and sessions that addressed many of the technologies our firm is now recommending to clients. The marketing and advertising industry will experience more change in the next 5 years than it has in the past 50 years. It is imperative to keep ahead of the changes while continuing to follow classic, solid business practices. Below are my top ten takeaways from the conference.