(#Growthhacking)

Ladies and gents, this is the final installment of my digital marketing journey. This class has been a grand time and I am here to share with you the some of my experiences and what I have learned. I think that when talking about digital marketing, the most important thing to know is that literally anyone outside Mark Staton’s digital marketing class has no idea what you are talking about. I was first introduced to digital marketing in Mark’s…err Professor Staton’s Principals of Marketing 380 class where we had to write a business plan for a local SEO business, Ethoseo. I went through that whole quarter, wrote a business, presented it in front of the company owners and still had barely an inkling of what I was talking about. This completely changed that. Staton showed me that in order to succeed in today’s business jungle as a marketer, you have to be technical. This means going beyond the theories that we marketers covet so dearly and getting dirty in the details. So let’s start from the start.

//SEO and Ranking Up

SEO (search engine optimization), if you haven’t heard, is strategically driving up your website’s rank on search engine websites. Google has an extremely complicated algorithm that they use to judge your site and, if you so choose, you can read all about it HERE. My synopsis of SEO led me to find that the most effective way of improving your SEO is through generating share-able, engaging, quality content on a well structured site where your customers will be looking. Content could include pictures, videos, writing, promotional offers, experiences, games, blogs, or info-graphics. It is important to keep content fresh so users continue to return and tagged so that Google bots can analyze your offerings and factor it into your rank. Make sure that content can be shared so that other users can spread your information and it will lead back to you. By making content desirable to your audience, it generates #inboundmarketing. Inbound marketing is powerful because it brings your customers to you. These potential customers are valuable because they already have interest in whatever you are selling and need much less convincing to participate. Marketing is all about forming a relationship with the brand.

//Social Media and Engagement

The one thing I usually do not need to explain about social media is that if your a business, you better have it. Furthermore, you better have it in the right place. If your company sells dirt bikes, you are going to have a hell of time making any headway on Pinterest. It is also very important to make sure that you are actively participating on your social media or you will likely be lost in the noise. The average half-life of a tweet is about 18 aaaannnnnd it’s gone.  Professor Ed Love (@MktgLove_wwu ) says that “positioning happens in the mind of your customers,” and I could not agree anymore. That being said, it is extremely important to monitor and regulate what your customers have to say about you on social media channels. Being active and regulating your social media can me made easier by using tools like Hootsuite (@hootsuite). Other helpful advice for your upping your social media status is posting information that is not solely about your own company. Posts should also include adjacent industry information and news, address customer concerns directly, leave tips and tricks for your product or service, include job openings, and make a joke every now and then.

//The Finale

I would like to thank Mark for everything I learned this quarter. I really enjoyed learning skills that a technical and actionable. It made me feel like I really have something to show future employers. I also want to thank him for making me write a blog. I have a fear of presenting information for the world to see unless I know it is a 100% perfect. Well screw it. If it is not ready now it will never. In the last couple weeks I utilized my Facebook and other more popular Facebook profiles to boost my page views. I have more than exceeded my total viewership for the entire quarter and even had someone from Spain check out my blog. Oh dear, looks like I have gone viral! Sorry Mom and thanks for reading everyone!

-JeffJosh

 

Total Word Count – 12,892 

 

 

Help Me, Help You (#customercocreation)

Yes..I love this class. You have to appreciate anytime you get to use back-to-back Jerry Maguire gifs to talk about marketing. Today is all about the customer; keep that cliche counter going. Specifically, it is about how the customer can work with a business to be intimately involved in the development and usage of what the business has to sell to become co-creators of value. This process is called #co-creation. This strategy is particularly helpful when designing a product and trying to determine what the actual needs of your customers are. Some important aspects to consider when bringing in the customer as a consultant for your company are the vehicle in which participation takes place; online or meeting physically, the type of participation such as, panel, survey, or forum, the visibility and availability of conversation, how and where the customer can contribute, who your intended audience is, what degree of participation you want your audience to have, and ensuring that the participation is legal.

 

Co-creation is asking your audience to participate with your product. Participation can take place through selecting features you, as the customer, would appreciate. Fiat successfully accomplished co-creation on their website by asking them to select which features they would value in a new Fiat model and ended up gathering 3000 participants opinions FO’ FREE! Another example that I did not originally consider is IKEA profiting from customer product transportation and assembly services. This type of participation is not simply just asking for advice or conversation but actively and physically participating. This shows that IKEA customer need’s value discounted prices over the hassle of transporting and constructing furniture. By asking fans to be a part of a product or service, you are creating a relationship where they are actively participating and through this relationship, becoming loyal fans of the product or the brand.

//Motivators, Stimulators, and Impediments to Consumer Creation

There is often quite a lot of variability to why and how consumers participate in co-creation. Even though popular firms have massive amounts of followers, it is interesting that actually very few are willing to be fully engaged in the product development or launch process. According to a scholarly article called Consumer Cocreation in New Product Development, there are identifiers in consumer segments who are especially willing to participate in co-creation activities. These include innovators, lead users, emergent consumers, and market mavens. These people are invested in the brand for some reason; be it personal or work associated. The article goes on to describe psychology as a reason for participation. These people are looking to intrinsically self-express themselves and feel pride from their efforts and input added to the product.

 

Mo’ Money, Mo’ Phones (#MobileWallets)

Mobile wallets, mobile money, or mobile payment  are operated under financial regulation and performed from a mobile device. As opposed to paying cash, check, or credit and debit cards; consumers now have the option to use their cell phones to or mobile devices to pay  for an array of digital and physical goods. Though this concept has been in the words for quite sometime; it is really only very recently that support for these systems has become more available.  Wikipedia claims that the mobile payment market for goods and services, excluding contactless Near Field Communication(NFC), is expected to exceed $300 billion globally. It is hard to make the argument that these apps are anymore convenient than just using your credit card but I have seen a rise in combination wallet-phone-cases that could make our traditional wallets extinct.

Google  currently offers the Google Wallet, which is an Android based app that allows mobile payment through he storage of debit cards, credit cards, loyalty cards, gift certificates, and other things such as sales promotions. In 2013, Google Wallet was integrated with Gmail, allowing users to send money through Gmail attachments. Google Wallet can also use NFC to “make secure payments fast and convenient by simply tapping the phone on any Pay-Pass-enabled terminal at check out”.  Once you have your account set up, you tap your phone against a terminal and enter your PIN to make a purchase. The service is available at 300,000 MasterCard PayPass merchant locations. Some major retailers that are compatible with Google Wallet include Macy’s, Walgreens, CVS, and Old Navy. Let us also not forget that this app is backed by the largest, richest, and most successful internet company who have been integrating the hell out of their products as of late.

Another app that has had success in the past is Square. Square is a free app that is available on most Android and Apple smartphones. Like Google Wallet, you store your card account information but also upload your own picture  and click a command that opens a tab for you at that store. When you buy something, your picture pops up right there at the terminal so the clerk can tell that it is really you. If it is you, the clerk accepts the transaction and you are on your way. As of recently, Square is trending down, hard. The company has apparently been burning through cash because of lack of viable business causing low margins. In this Forbes article, the author sets out on the town without his *real* wallet; taking only his e-wallet and finds that “only a handful of random of random pizza joints and few eyebrow threading place accepted its wireless payments”. He goes on to explain that his local coffee house was using Square but soon stopped because they found that no one was tipping the baristas. When he finally found a coffee shop, tea shop actually, that accept Square, the clerk made the comment ““You’re only like the second guy to ever pay this way”. ***Update*** Square has recently abandoned their mobile wallet app in favor of a pre-order app for restaurants. 

LevelUp is an American mobile payment app established in United States. LevelUp uses  QR code technology to allow for mobile transactions to be made at local businesses via iPhone and Android phone. The app allows iPhone and Android registered users to securely link their debit or credit card to a unique QR code on their phone. LevelUp has also promoted itself as a way for businesses to accept lower card transaction fees (like Square’s credit card reader) while providing smaller businesses with a way to collect data on their products and their customers. LevelUp also offers customer acquisitions campaigns (e.g. Facenook) to these smaller to medium sized companies who may not be able to afford or understand data driven strategies. A few examples of LevelUp connectivity include  charging a payment, viewing transaction history or even pushing credit to users accounts. Just as apps connect with Facebook to access a built-in social layer, apps can connect with LevelUp to access a built-in payment and rewards layer.Data collection, and a promotional platform,  coupled with no hardware maintenance costs has made LevelUp a  promising option in the mobile money market moving forward. 

Mobile Marketing Killed the Radio Ad Star (#MobileMarketing)

just replace “video” with “mobile” when you sing along and make it yolo.

Well it’s not dead I suppose, just much much less relevant. Mashable.com estimates that by 2017,  mobile advertising will surpass radio’s total advertising expenditure $41.9 billion to $32.5 billion. It should certainly be noted that this is dwarfed in comparison to the estimated $196.5 billion expected to be spent on TV advertisements. In 2014, Gartner estimates mobile ad spending will reach $18 billion next year, which is a giant 37% jump over the estimated $13.1 billion spent in 2013. More surprisingly is the business looking to expand most into mobile advertising is the consumer packaged-goods (CPG)  industry.  According to Advertising Age, historically this industry has been slow to adopt digital marketing because they were not entirely convinced that this medium was well suited, for example, to selling things like soap, .Two-thirds of CPG advertisers and their agencies say they plan to  increase spending in mobile advertising. Bravo for the change in mindset you laggards! The info-graphic can give a little insight into the relevance of mobile advertising and the CPG industry. The most important statistic (in my opinion) is that 45% of smartphone shoppers use their phone to compare prices while they are shopping. This gives way to promotional and interactive opportunities for us marketers while the customer is on their path-to-purchase! What a wonderful way to increase conversion rates while the product is right in front of the customer! Furthermore, besides at home (67%), mobile shopping activities occur most while actually shopping at a store (34%).

 

//Why is mobile marketing taking over?

Reach in your pocket and take out your smart phone, got it? Of course you do. Your phone is almost always with you a disgusting amount of the time. An article in the Huffington Post even claims that 40% of smartphone users have checked their smartphone while sitting on the toilet (guilty myself)! This statistic and the following were derived from a study of 5,000 Americans, Briton, South Koreans, Chinese, Indians, South Africans, Indonesians, and Brazilians:

• 84% of respondents said that they could not go a single day without their cellphones.
• 50% of Americans sleep with their phone next to them like a teddy bear or a spouse, a number that includes more than 80% of 18-24 year olds
• 20% of respondents check their phone every 10 minutes
• 50% of users never turn their phone off.

Smartphone ownership is on the rise is another important reason to invest in mobile marketing. The amount of smart phones in circulation has exploded over the past five years.  IDC.com‘s Worldwide Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker has determined that there are over 200 million smartphones in use in North America alone!  Mobile apps and advertising are expected to see 129% growth rates. Marketers are big on mobile advertising as well. It is the best way to gather data and personalize experiences for their customers. Smartphone internet traffic already exceeds desktop traffic in India and soon the rest of the world will follow. Below is an expert from a report on the 2014 Outlook on Consumer Products from Deolite LLC, a financial consultant research firm. Human beings are changing the way that they shop. So how should your company get started?

Here are five ideas on how to get started:

1. What do you want to go mobile with? – A mobile-optimized web site  focused around having customers find you more easily is a great start. Consider how many times you have “googled” a restaurant, retail store, ect. to find their location or phone number? If you are as direction deficient as I am, it could be in the hundreds of thousands. The more efficiently you can make it for consumers to get this information, the more likelyy they are to interact with your brand.
2. Look at it from the consumer’s point-of-view: What does mobile first help your target market? It is important to understand that you do not have to reach everyone at once. Integrate your mobile efforts with your marketing. This could include adding QR code to print ads, in-store , out-store, and billboards is a strong way to add  value interaction to your brand.
3. Segment and Personalize – Mobile is the easiest way to personalize your marketing channel creating a custom experience for the user. Analytic tools easily let you adjust optimization criteria as well as pinpoint distribution channels for different segments. Using location-based services to direct specific ads and promotions to specific geographic regions.
4. Use DIY tools to save cost and increase agility – Because DIY (Do-It-Yourself) tools are becoming more advanced, it gives small companies agency-free solutions that require no extensive knowledge of a computer language. Examples of DIY tools can be found HERE! The following are some examples:
   1. RhoMobile – RhoMobile is an open-source framework that permits the developer to create native apps over a range of OS’ and smartphones. The OS’ include Android, Windows Mobile, Symbian, iPhone and RIM, which pretty much covers it all.
   2. PhoneGap – Allows developers to create apps for  for Android, Palm, Symbian, BlackBerry, iPhone, iTouch and iPad devices. This platform uses standard web development languages such as HTML and JavaScript. PhoneGap allows the developer to work with device hardware features such as accelerometer, GPS/location, camera, sound and much more.
   3. Appcelerator – Appcelerator, who has a large fan following on twitter, also aids in the development of native mobile, tablet, and desktops apps using web programming languages like HTML, PHP, JavaScript, Ruby, and Python. It also offers customizable metrics for actions and events. Apps can also be hardware based, stored on the cloud, or on a device.
5. Build your own customer loyalty club: Your customer’s data is your most important asset. Mobile (and online) marketing allows you to follow your buyer through the buying decision process and to (hopefully) a conversion. You can create a database offering special deals for phones numbers or other incentives like the Starbucks card provides.

~~Other decisions to consider –>

 //Resource Consideration : Apps v. Mobile Web:

In the perfect world we would choose to as many outlets and mediums to advertise our message through, but proper allocation of resources for do-it-yourselfers is an important part of what makes growing businesses successful. So if you put your money where your mouth is; which mouth are you feeding? Here are some format aspects to consider when making your choice between the two from the article Apps vs. mobile Web: A marketer’s how-to:

1. Immersion versus quick hits: Apps will engage your client more but also require that they take time to download the app and keep it updated. Furthermore, most apps are deleted within six months of downloading. Mobile web will provide more quick hits because web-browsing is so available and used. That being said, a combination of mobile web and app creation generates a higher level of engagement
2. Speed: Speed is an important factor to customers operating sites. Apps are typically faster because of device functionality and local Wi-Fi access.
3. Native device functionality: Apps generally have better native device functionality because of readily available access. Even offline, Apps can allow access to content that may be useful to those without coverage. This could include pre-loaded map information, production information, and especially when a game application is present. Engaging features like push notifications also drive app usage. As technology becomes more efficient we may see many of these features function comparably to the mobile web but currently apps hold the upper hand.
4. Reach: Mobile web clearly has the advantage here because of search-ability and and the prior mentioned cross-platform usage. Instead of being on specifically an iPhone; mobile web can easily be adapted to Android, BlackBerry, or Windows smartphone operating systems.
5. Discovery: How will customers find you? For brands, publisher, and marketers driven by social media, it makes sense that links would make connecting to the mobile web simple. It is important that if you choose apps, that you can promote them through your own channels. App stores are often fragmented and have poor search capabilities.
6. Monetize when you mobilize: There are opportunities to collect income through your mobile medium. This can be done on the mobile web through paid advertising and by paid downloads and in-app purchase on apps.
7. Budget: The mobile web is generally less expense to create and easier to cross platform over different operating systems. Because of this, mobile websites generally have higher levels of customization in terms of features and functionality. Apps, on the other hand, can provide a more engaging experience, faster run times, but present the issue of downloading commitment of time and take up valuable customer hardware space.

The best thing you can do when evaluating these differences is to ask yourself; “what is my needs is my business fulfilling, who are my customers, how are they looking for me, where can they find?” Tailor yourself to these attributes and mobile marketing can help any company!

–Thanks for listening to my spew!

 

 

Mining Mt. Database (#DBMarketing)

People don’t usually forget, and guess who never forgets? The internet and companies looking to make money. Companies gather massive amounts of information on just about everything that is relevant to their customers, products, industries, financials, and whatever else toots their horn when it comes to potentially finding patterns and important information that could help them make actionable decisions. Big data is a word that gets thrown around more than the Denver Broncos in Super Bowl XLVIII *sizzzle*. Wikipedia  defines big data as the term for “a collection of data sets so large and complex that it becomes difficult to process using on-hand database management tools or traditional data processing applications”.  

Sas.com goes a little more in debt about what big data is by breaking it down into the the three V’s of big data: volume, velocity, and variety.

*Volume – Many factors contribute to the accumulation of stored data volume . You can account for transaction-based data over the years, unstructured data streaming from, social media sites, or even machine-to-machine data. At one point this was an issue because of limited storage but do to decreasing storage costs, the more prominent issue has been determining the relevance of the information and it’s value through analytics (by the way WordPress, very disappointing that you seem to think “analytics” is misspelled).

**Velocity – The rate at which you accumulate data is extremely important. Marketing is a race and as Ricky Bobby says “if you ain’t first, your last”. This is no different with gathering data. RFID tags, sensors, and smart metering are creating almost real-time data collecting.

***Variety – Big data comes in all different kinds of forms. Big data must contain structured and unstructured data to be truly analytical. Structured data includes quantifiable numeric data. Unstructured data are things like text documents, email, video, audio, stock ticker data, and financial transactions.

Now what to do with all this information?

//CUSTOMIZE AND PERSONALIZE

The truth is that companies are getting so good at analyzing data that is a little scary. Target became so good at predicting patterns, they may actually know a little more about you than even you do! It is extremely lucrative to acquire newly formed families as customers because of a company’s ability to capture them as a loyal customer during a transitional stage in family life. And frankly, families spend a lot of money.  Target created a 25 product criteria that assigned a “pregnancy prediction” score to a customer and sent them coupons or promotions that were directed towards infant care. They determined that women who in their first trimester were more likely to buy non-scented lotions and certain types of supplements. This combined with more traditional demographic data such as age, previous purchase history, ect., would help in assigning that score. As it turns out, a father was irritate when he found out that his daughter was receiving baby related promotions from Target. Little did he know, that she was actually pregnant! Who needs pregnancy tests when you have loads of data (says Target..)!

Other companies collect and utilize data in less terrifying ways. For example, Orbitz travel site utilized their massive amounts of travel and customer data to find out that customers who were searching from a Mac were more likely to spend more on hotels. With this information, they personalized their searches from Macs to show more expensive hotels ranked higher.  Starbucks is another good example of a company who knows how to collect data. By creating a strong loyalty card with incentives for their customers, Starbucks is able to record personal information as well as when, what, and where specific products are purchased to better meet their customers needs.

One of the most masterful uses of big data has had to be used by our incumbent president, The Bama, during his last campaign. Campaign manager Jim Messina pledged to “measure every single thing in this  campaign”.  Obama raised over $1 billion dollars through targeting TV ads and using detailed models of swing state voters that could increase  the effectiveness of everything from phone calls and door knocks to direct mailings and email. When the Obama campaign emailed supporters to join $40,000-a-ticket-dinner; it was discovered that seven different versions of the email had been sent out based on specific targeting data. This was the most successful form of big data use I have seen because it was used so efficiently in making personalized messages on something so personal as political beliefs.

For more specifics on data base information, check out my last blog on SQL! – JeffJosh

Seeking #SQL Skills

So what is this darned SQL acronym actually mean? According to our good friend Mr. Wikipedia (I am aware he is not a person) SQL or Structured Query Language is a special-purpose programming language designed for managing data held in relational database management systems (RDMS)  (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SQL). Here is where we will stop and do a breakdown of the underlined words above to make sure we are all on the same page:

Special-purpose programming language – A domain-specific language (DSL) is a computer language specialized language. This means that there are specific input commands which will generate results in that domain. Some examples of domain specific languages include HTML, Logo for pencil like drawing, spreadsheet formulas, and SQL (of course) for relational databases.

Relational database management system (RDBMS) – is a database management system (DMBS) that is based on a relational model (data grouped in relationships based on data and queries). RDBMS are becoming the leading choice for storage of information in new databases used for financial records, manufacturing and logistics information, personal information, and even more. According to a research company Gartner, the five leading commercial relational database vendors by revenue and market share in 2011 were Oracle (48.8%), IBM (20.2%), Microsoft (17%), SAP including Sybase (4.6), and Teradata (3.7%). Db-engines.com ranks the top current databases in use below ————————————————————————->

This is all technical mumbo jumbo for those who are not familiar with database systems. What is really important is what you can do with using SQL to manage your company’s data, whatever it may be. Breakdown. Databases are filled with information and SQL is essentially the tool which organizes the raw data in those databases and allows users to retrieve specific data by running queries.  SQL functions include inserting data into data tables, modifying data in existing tables, and deleting data from SQL database tables. Furthermore, SQL can modify database structure itself by creating, modifying, and deleting tables and other database objects.

//The Basics of Writing SQL

Some specific examples of SQL commands to manipulate databases include following; SQL INSERT, which is used to add data in database, the SQL SELECT command which is used to retrieve data from databases, and SQL UPDATE to modify existing database records. Below I have included a list of other simple helpful SQL functions to get you started.

• select — output you want to see (needs to be from the tables you’re accessing)
• from — tables you need to access to get the data
• where — how you need to join or link those tables (so that you access the data in the right way… think multiplying two matrices, for those who took linear algebra) — what other conditions you want to have met
• group by – think of this as combining your data based on a similar value, like filtering in a pivot table
• order by – arrange my data in this order
• limit – only send me X rows of data
• ; — all sql queries end in a semi-colon

Other functions:

“SQL is a highly sought-after technical skill due to its ability to work with nearly all databases. Every company today that gathers data needs somebody who is able to utilize SQL to quickly pull out key data components and generate reports that aid the decision-making process.”– Ibro Palic, CEO of Resume Templates for Mac

//SQL is so important because marketers today are expected to be technical. Understanding SQL allows you to accomplish tasks without having to ask an IT (nerd) person for assistance, as well as come up with your own analysis. It is becoming expected that marketers at any company in any industry should  be self sufficent enough with data to develop things such as company positioning strategies, competitive strategies, form segments, and so on by using quantifiable and qualitative data. This could mean creating commands that automatically pull mailing addresses from people who made a purchase in only the last month to send out promotional offerings. This not only reduces time but assists in targeting specific customers for a better buying experience.

***Examples of Companies who use SQL

Clear examples of companies who value SQL and relational database skill analytics are marketing research firms such as comScore. comScore is a marketing research firm who bases their advice to clients based off patterns found massive amounts of big data that have been sorted by certain SQL function parameters. Other clear examples database developers or data warehouse engineers.

But simply by knowing how to pull specific data pertaining to a desire can help any company. In finance, SQL could be used to evaluate the effectiveness and risk of investments by sorting through historical data. In retail and marketing positions, it could be used to customization promotional placements. As I stated early, this is all in hopes of finding patterns and being able to make predictions on customer needs on your own as a technical marketer.

Every business should be collecting as much data about their customers and industry as possible in order to better satisfy their needs. SQL is the tool you need to pull pertinent information from that data without a manual sort!

//Still confused? The best way to learn is to try it for yourself here —–>SQL Tutorial

Praise Science! A/B Testing is the Truth.

The truth is, people really don’t know what they want. You can ask someone point blank what they prefer but the answer they give you really does not mean much because they themselves are not even sure. Malcolm Gladwell describes this phenomenon of choice preference in the video below.

Luckily, we have found ways to get around people’s pesky problem of lying to themselves to discover preference and what is actually working. This leads me to tell you how marketers accomplish this through a rather scientific theory!

 //What is A/B Testing?

A/B testing is a way of testing two versions of an element (A and B) and a metric that defines success. In order to decide which element is better, you experiment with both versions simultaneously and compare results. The more successful of the two versions is then selected for use. Smashing Magazines article, The Ultimate Guide To A/B, uses a good analogy of growing a plant in the same environment but under different conditions (such as music genres, water amounts, ect.) and seeing which plant grows the tallest.

***WWW. AB Testing on the Web .COM

So the way that this works on the internet is very similar. There are two website designs of versions, maybe ads or email lists are in different places on the page for example, and you split your website traffic between these two designs. Using metrics that marketers care about (conversion rate, sales, time spent on page, email contacts collected, bounce rate, ect.), you are able to select which design was most effective.

What you test of course ultimately depends on your goals, which is what the metrics above are measuring. The goal of A/B testing in most cases is to figure out what prevents visitors from performing a certain action. 

Here are some elements that are generally tested:

• The call to action (i.e. the button’s) wording size and color
• Headline or product description
• Form’s length and types of fields
• Layout and style of website
• Product pricing and promotional offers
• Images on landing and product pages
• Amount of text on page (short vs. long)

//Advice for Testing

For the experiment to work properly. there are some important steps that should be followed. It seems relatively simple but you have to make sure that the situations are applicable for A/B testing.

DON’Ts

• Always test simultaneously! It is paramount that you split the traffic evenly to produce accurate results. Otherwise, you may have a week where sales are better on the control because there is more traffic but version b actually works better!
• Don’t end testing too quickly. It is important that you are able to gather enough information to have “statistical confidence” in your results.
• Do not deter regular site visitors by making it so they cannot find content because they may never come back!
• Follow the numbers and not your gut. Rely on the results even if you disagree with the design of your site. It is not about what you like, it is about conversion rates!

DO’s

• Show repeat visitors the same variations. Use tools that track the version the customer originally visited to avoid inconsistencies like different prices or promotional offers.
• Make changes consistent throughout the site. For example, make sure that if you change the color of the “purchase button” that it is the same color throughout the site.
• Try many A/B tests! It is important to be diligent because many of the tests may not end up in results at all. Continue testing different factors to optimize your site.

Decoding the Marketing Matrix

Paid Media

A+ for Google+

//What is Google+?

Google plus is a social media website and identity service. We are all familiar with social media but you may not understand what an identity service. An “Internet Identity Service” allows sellers and marketers on the internet to determine the exact individual browsing their site (or viewing their advertisement or content that they may be putting on the screen).  By being able to identify the individual browsing your content allows marketers to determine their customer’s worth to them and which offerings the potential customer are interested in. Identification of this manor allows for the creation of customer content for that customer to create the best chance of generating a conversion.  This is beneficial to the seller as well. It generates ad and content specific to that user’s interest and in essence, creates a better experience by saving time and bandwidth.

To my surprise, I also discovered that Google+ is the second largest social networking website in the world after Facebook.  According to Marketingland.com, there are 540 million monthly active Google+ users. This is the number of people who Google accounts that interact with Google+ each month in some way on any Google property. These properties include embedded Google+ commenets, commenting on YouTube, or clicking the +1 button on an article or other web content. 

 

//How can Google+ Help You and the Business?

The Features- Google+ allows you to post video, links, picture and text content in a very similar way to face book but allows to customization using the “circles” feature. Circles lets users to group followers according to interests or other criteria, such as family, business contacts, or customers, allowing for specific types of content engagement for various groups.

Google+ integrates the Hangout feature which operates very much like Skype video chatting. Hangout  lets you host or participate in with multiple people at the same time.

Recently, Google+ has added picture editing capabilities, letting you edit any pictures you post on your social  network. These are strong tools for adding an element of flair to plain pictures and thus creates more interesting content for customers!

//Google the Empire – Reasons Why You Should Be Using Google+

Integration – Google is integrated with Gmail, YouTube, Google Maps, Google Chrome, and Google play. Google+ helps better manage activites through these important tools.

+1 Google’s popularity ranking for SEO – This is essentially the same as the Facebook “like” and is used as a ranking signal for your business on Google.

Google Authorship – This is an important ranking signal as well. Authorship allows you to link your content across the Internet, letting Google know what content you have created and citing it as your own creation. The more your content is shared, the more highly regarded Google will hold you, the author.

Communities – A great tool for relationship management, creating authority for your company

• Events – Lets your customers know what activities your business has coming up.
• Business Pages – enhanced discoverability
• Insights – stats that show you what activities are working
• Google Places – enhanced visibility in local search

Google has a great network of tools to promote your business and create authority. Get active today!