Corporate Eye

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Archives for September 2013

Is it Time to Kill off Your Content?

ghost-townIn the past, marketing always had something of a natural lifespan. Posters would be taken down, flyers would find their way to the bins and even the TV ad would start to become wearing. Content lifespan fitted quite naturally with the length of a recruitment campaign or a sales drive and even if things didn’t align perfectly, most marketing initiatives died a natural death.

The birth of the internet, however, means this isn’t the case any more. The vast memory reserves of our modern servers mean that the internet is a veritable dumping ground for old content, much of which is now superseded, inaccurate or just plain wrong! Is it time you killed off some content?

Old Web Pages

Your corporate web capital is too valuable to be lost in a maze of old pages, broken links and dead information. Every three months or so you should be testing your web layout as an outsider and making sure that trails make sense.

This is particularly important during big recruitment drives; graduates will be after serious swathes of information on different roles and positions and, ultimately, the big link to your application system. This should all be accessible without coming across a page stating last year’s vacancies or links to old departments; not only is it counter-productive to applicants, you could be at risk of giving away more information than you need to.

Expired Blog Copy

Blog articles are the essay of the twenty-first century, they should be to the point and succinct but are very often speculative; they’re a fine place to discuss market movements or new developments. At the time, this is great, but don’t leave yourself open to error once the news moves on!

You should also be wary of any SEO objectives your web team might have before cutting old web copy. Blogs are great places to target keywords and cutting articles might be seriously detrimental to your marketing team’s strategy! Don’t do it without prior permission.

Recycled Information

Pages frequently go out of date, but that doesn’t always mean you have to axe information altogether. Sensitive editing of keywords, particular phrases and dates often means you can use the same basic frameworks more than once.

Again, you’ll need to consult your SEO team on this as duplicating pages can harm your website’s potential. Equally, you shouldn’t be too quick to copy and paste information; it will be spotted by discerning readers and might look careless if it’s not properly re-edited to suit the tone of a different format.

Developing a model to update content systematically is important and keeping track of your online presence is essential. If you don’t know what content is still lurking in the depths of the internet, you don’t know what applicants, clients or customers could find!

15 Statistics that Support a Mobile First Brand Marketing Strategy

global brand marketingHave you prioritized mobile in your brand marketing strategy yet? Even if  you don’t put mobile first in your marketing plan, it needs to be high up on the list of priorities.

Remember back in 2010 when smartphone adoption in the United States and Europe hit 30%, and comScore reported that social media was one of the fastest growing mobile activities? How about in 2011 when 35% of all Yelp.com searches came from a Yelp mobile app? Fast forward to 2013, and more consumers than ever are using their mobile devices to seek out information and make purchase decisions while they’re in brick and mortar stores.

A new infographic from Unified Social suggests that smart social marketers think of mobile first. That statement is supported by a long list of statistics, which prove how important mobile brand marketing has become in 2013. Following are 15 of those statistics, which you can see visualized in the infographic below:

  1. Global shipments of tablets will surpass desktop computers in 2017.
  2. 78% of Facebook users in the United States access the site via mobile devices.
  3. Facebook Page posts from mobile devices are 39% more engaging.
  4. Mobile advertising comprises 41% of Facebook’s revenue.
  5. Facebook has 16% market share of global mobile advertising.
  6. 60% of Twitter users are mobile.
  7. Mobile Twitter users are 79% more likely to use Twitter multiple times per day.
  8. Mobile Twitter users are 66% more likely to retweet content.
  9. Mobile page views on LinkedIn increased by 250% in 2013.
  10. 59% of Yelp searches come from mobile.
  11. 40% of YouTube video plays in the United States come from mobile.
  12. Mobile advertising makes up 25% of YouTube’s revenue.
  13. Mobile Pinterest usage increased 60-fold in 2012.
  14. Pinterest content is shared nearly three times more often on mobile devices than via desktop computers.
  15. Overall, mobile users share content twice as often as desktop users.

If mobile marketing isn’t a priority for your brand, you’re already behind your competitors. Ignore these statistics at your own risk (and at the risk of your brand’s success in the future). Your competitors have likely already created a mobile-first marketing strategy. At the very least, they’ve probably prioritized mobile in their marketing plans. Don’t let your brand fall further behind, because at some point in the near future, you won’t be able to catch up anymore.

Email Is the Most Effective Marketing Channel for Local Merchants

surf shopNearly three out of four (71%) local merchants believe that email marketing is the most effective marketing channel for their businesses. That number comes from the 2013 Online Marketing Trends Merchant Survey from Daily Deal Media, which surveyed nearly 14,000 U.S.-based merchants between July and September 2013.

Respondents to the 42 survey questions came from 10 different categories, with most in the e-commerce, retail shopping, and restaurants and bars categories. Overall, only 17% of respondents indicated that they are completely satisfied with their marketing efforts, and only 11% are satisfied with their websites.

Local merchants face multiple challenges in the online marketing space. For example, 67% of respondents don’t know how to measure the effectiveness of their online marketing campaigns, and 83% don’t know how to measure the impact of social media on their businesses.

Given the fact that 67% of respondents have annual marketing budgets of less than $5,000, it’s not surprising that they’re not getting the results they need from online marketing. 81% of respondents want simple, non-expensive marketing tools. However, online marketing needs to be prioritized, particularly since 19% of respondents reported that social media reviews are hurting their businesses.

These local merchants know they need help, but Daily Deal Media explains they’re, “overburdened with the latest online marketing tools, struggle to adapt to mobile, and are contacted on average over five times per week by companies pitching online marketing or social media products and services.” For 42% of respondents to this survey, vendor trust is a big issue for online marketing.

Local merchants need help, and savvy marketing agencies will find a way to provide them with the help they need at an affordable price. In the meantime, corporations with local franchises and brick-and-mortar storefronts need to be sensitive to the challenges local merchants face in online marketing. What works for corporate marketing isn’t going to work at the local level, and it’s easy to forget that local marketing, both online and offline, is more important than ever. Those bad reviews about local merchants reflect on the corporate brand, too.

We live in the age of instant gratification, personalization, and customization. All three of those things need to happen at the local level through targeted marketing efforts to truly build brand loyalty and advocacy.

You can follow the link above to purchase the complete study report.

Image: Jenny W.

How International is your Social Media?

international-communication
The web is ‘world wide’, right? Well, yes, in theory; everyone can access almost anything at any time, all over the world. Providing you have the right security settings and a wifi connection, the wealth of data you can access really is massive. However, this data is only  really useful if it’s properly understood and interpreted, and when you think about all the information from all over the world, there’s actually a lot of it that is not very friendly to the international reader.

Much of the time this isn’t a problem and we absorb only what we need to glean from the net, but there are occasions when things don’t quite add up. Different languages, dialects, currencies and timezones are all possible problem areas when it comes to social media, and if you’re looking to attract top international graduates, you need to be sure that your social media talks the language of the world.

Setting a Tone

It’s wise to set a businesslike tone across all your corporate web capital, but be careful when it comes to things like blog articles; it can be tempting to slip into a more informal mode of communication. While this is great for ninety per-cent of readers, be aware of the fact that some phrases might not translate all that well for the international reader.

Informal business jargon, for example, translates particularly poorly. Asking someone to ‘action’ something, for example, isn’t particularly helpful for someone who has learnt English as a second language – ‘action’ is normally a noun! Acronyms are just as bad for an international audience; while a native speaker can usually guess, an international audience may struggle.

Geographical Restrictions

It’s worth being aware of any geographical restrictions that might affect the exposure of your social media. Unless you’re using copyright material with particular restrictions or have any specific branding requirements that prevent you from issuing global content, there’s no reason for your content to be restricted just to the UK.

Be particularly careful with things like Youtube videos or external links, these can be notorious for denying access in particular countries. Though sometimes and in some countries there’s just nothing you can do, it can be worth having a chat to your IT department to see if they can help!

Working with Details

When at work it’s easy to assume that everyone is on the same level as you, but it’s not always the case! Keep a very close eye on the details of everything you post on social media sites; if you’re offering a live webcast at three o’clock, is that three GMT or BST or CET?

Currency often causes confusion, too, and though it’s unlikely you’ll ever have any serious problems, close attention to the details shows that you’re accommodating for those who might be reading from other countries.

If you’re looking to attract top graduates from all over the world, you should ensure that your social media is accessible, easily understood and free from anything that might be exclusive to those reading from your own country.

Online Newsroom Essentials: Media Contacts

newsGone are the days when actual physical folders called ‘press kits’ were handed to journalists by PR people, jammed full of a company’s recent press releases, bios for management teams, fact sheets, case studies, and other press related information on the company.

Instead, press kits have been streamlined and digitised, much to the pleasure of all in the news industry, making them easily accessible, searchable, environmentally friendly and comparatively lightweight.

From Page to Webpage

The modern day press kit is now referred to as the ‘online newsroom’, typically found in the press section of any corporate website. Despite the new preferred format, online newsrooms often do not match up to the traditional press kit in terms of optimisation. They don’t often have much more information than a measly list of press release PDFs and the odd links to news coverage.

When the digitisation of press kits should really have given much more room to expand the information offered without the physical size and weight boundaries of paper and folders, it would seem in reality the online newsroom only led to corporate press kits becoming somewhat lazy and incomplete.

How does your newsroom shape up?

The following article is the first in a series, which aims to highlight all the areas in which a newsroom should be optimised in order for it to be useful and interesting to your journalist contacts, with some examples of excellent newsrooms from some of the world’s largest corporate websites, to demonstrate how online newsrooms should function.  

Newsroom Essential: Media Contact Details

Unlike when physical press kits were literally handed to journalists by the PR or media contact for a company, when a journalist enters a company’s online newsroom, they most likely have no idea who the contact is regarding media enquiries. They may find everything they need from the press releases, fact sheets, company articles, etc that the online newsroom contains, but in the majority of cases a press contact will need to be dealt with in order to arrange interviews, gain statements, or be sought out for future reference.

tullow-oil-media-contactsYou don’t need to list your whole PR team’s names and details, just the person who you want to deal directly with all media enquiries; typically the Head of Media Relations or someone in a similar job role. And be sure to offer different ways to contact them, including phone, email, and even social media and Skype. Be sure to keep this up to date, as it often occurs that a person leaves and the company doesn’t get round to changing their details in the newsroom for months, sometimes even years!

One company that stood out for me as having a good press contacts page was Tullow Oil Plc. They didn’t include any social media profiles, but they did include just the one main media contact and his name, telephone and fax numbers, and an email address for him.

Unfortunately, even large corporations can get it wrong on such simple things. As a journalist, I would like to be able to go straight to the contact details of the person I need to contact for media enquiries, whereas often large companies offer only a switchboard number, which I must then call and speak to 2 or 3 people before finding the person I am after. In other cases, companies often think that is helpful to give details of every PR and media team member, meaning I have to work out for myself who the correct contact is.

Journalists are on tight deadlines for stories and so having the information available quickly and easily makes their jobs much easier.

 

What Do the Facebook Promotion Policy Updates Mean for Brands?

winLast week, Facebook updated its promotion policies for businesses, and every brand marketer should understand what the changes are and how those changes affect future Facebook marketing initiatives.

In a blog post, Facebook announced that promotions no longer have to be administered through apps. Instead, businesses can run contests and other promotions directly on their Facebook Pages. For example, a business could run a contest and people could enter by posting on the brand’s Facebook Page or commenting on or liking a post on the brand’s Facebook Page. They could also message the brand’s Page to enter the contest, and brands can use likes as a voting mechanism.

In addition to the removal of the requirement that brands had to use a promotions app, Facebook has also added a few restrictions to its promotions policy. Now, Pages cannot tag or ask people to tag themselves in posts, photos, or content they’re not actually in as part of a promotion.

Overall, the Facebook Promotion Policy updates open the doors for smaller brands with limited marketing budgets and resources to create contests and promotions on their Facebook Pages quickly, easily, and affordably. However, these types of promotions are a nice short-term addition to boost engagement for big brands but they’re not necessarily scalable. For example, a promotion launched through a post would drop down people’s timelines very quickly. Furthermore, if a large number of people responded, tracking entries and managing the promotion would become logistically challenging.

For big brands with large audiences, apps will remain the promotion tool of choice on Facebook. The ability to create custom promotions, collect entrant email addresses, monitor engagement, track performance, and extend the duration of the campaign beyond a single post make in-app promotions far more effective for brands that can afford them.

Bottom-line, the changes aren’t as impactful for big brands as they are for small business brands. The reason is simple, the new Facebook promotion policy updates won’t change the large-scale marketing efforts that big brands with deep pockets roll out on Facebook. However, the new Facebook promotion policy updates do offer another way for big and small brands to engage with consumers, and that is something no brand should ignore.

Image: Presentation Process via sxc