These Are The Latest Technologies Powering Mobile-Local Marketing

Marketing is in the throes of an industry-wide shift toward highly personalized campaigns that seek to target the right consumer, at the right time, in the right place. Without local data, it's impossible to target users near the retail location where they'll make the final purchase decision.

Techniques like geotargeting have become popular as a means of serving advertising, as have new technologies like beacons, which send signals via Bluetooth to consumers' phones. These services provide everything from information on where to find a certain product in-store to frictionless checkout.

In a  recent report from BI Intelligence, we take an in-depth look at each of the most popular location-based marketing strategies and services, and explain how they're being used. The report identifies some the latest and most effective location-based apps that are giving consumers' reasons to share their locations. Research increasingly supports the notion that local apps and advertising lead to in-store purchases, which means there's even more reason to use location-based mobile marketing to nudge consumers down the purchase funnel.

Here are some of the report's key findings on how the entire local-mobile landscape has shifted:

• Location-based services enjoy widespread acceptance, but adoption isn't growing. Seventy-four percent of U.S. smartphone owners said they used mobile location-based services in 2013. That percentage is flat compared to 2012.
• Check-ins are becoming passé. The percentage of U.S. adults who reported using local-social networks to "check in," decreased from 18% in February of 2012 to 12% in 2013.
• Apps like Life360 and Waze prosper because consumers feel like they're getting great value out of sharing not just their location, but other information too.
• Geoaudience profiling, geoconquesting, and hyper-local in-store campaigns are three primary strategies used to segment audiences and target consumers based on location.
• The geoproximity technique is equivalent to casting a big net near the boat and hauling in whatever gets caught. Campaigns erect geofences created around bricks-and-mortar stores and send targeted ads to smartphone users who travel within the radius. Some providers adjust their geofences for different times of day.
• A geoconquesting campaign is a specific type of geoproximity campaign that uses location data to target potential customers when they walk into a competitor's store.
• Geoaudiencing uses layers of location data and data from complementary sources (offline customer data provided by retailers, Web browsing data, etc.), to build audience segments of anonymous users, e.g. soccer moms, or white-collar frequent travelers.

In full, the report: 

• Examines how location-based services have changed now that the check in is on the way out.
• Considers those apps that have done the best job offering a service to consumers and getting them to voluntarily share their information.
• Puts location-based services in the context of mobile in-store shopping among consumers.
• Unpacks the three main campaigns associated with mobile-location marketing.
• Looks forward to emergent trends like hyper-local targeting, in which retailers use Bluetooth technology and mobile payments in stores.

Article curated from Business Week

RIP Google+?

 

We may have just figured out the reason why Vic Gundotra chose to leave Google. Anonymous sources have claimed that the search giant is planning to make big changes to Google+, ones that could change the direction from being a full blown Facebook competitor, and more on the lines of a platform.

Google+ has long been a problem for the search giant, as it tries to push the platform to become as popular as Facebook and Twitter. While the platform has managed to gain millions of users, the majority of these registered users are not regular visitors. Google has attempted to fix this problem by integrating Google+ in many of its products, but this move was proven to be a terrible idea.

With the integration of Google+ in YouTube, Google has proven to itself that many users have no need for its social network.

According to the folks who leaked the information to TechCrunch, Google is now considering the daunting task of removing the Google+ integration from its social platforms. The company has made many mistakes by trying to make its social platform a jack of all trades. This is evident when Google killed the beloved Latitude standalone app, and bake the features inside of Google+.

The current social trend is that one doesn't need the same app to do everything. Google must realize that making its Google+ a bloated mess will not help it succeed against Facebook, a company that has come to realize this truth itself. Forcing Google+ social features on everyone is not the way to go, and sooner Google open its eyes and realizes this, the sooner it can bring Google+ back from its impending doom.

The unknown sources who spoke with TechCrunch claimed that Facebook's purchase of WhatsApp, which is now surpassed 500 million registered users, is part of the reason why Google is on the verge of making big changes to Google+.

So far, Google has denied that changes will be made in the coming months, but if something is indeed in the works, we should get more information at the company's I/O conference.
If Google chooses to do away with Google+, it would not be the first time the company has done this. Remember Orkut? That was Google's first social network; it is nowhere to be found today.

Article curated from Tech Times

Pinterest adds search tool for finding fun 'pins'

Pinterest late Thursday launched a tool to help people quickly sift through the roughly 30 billion 'Pins' on the service's online bulletin boards to find what they like.

In a move similar to one made last year by Facebook, Pinterest is tapping into its rich trove of user-posted content to tackle questions that traditional search engines such as Google or Bing don't handle well.

Pinterest users can turn to the new Guided Search feature for answers to questions such as how to make a yummy breakfast, where to go on vacation or how to customize a motor scooter.

"Search engines are great for answering specific questions -- the weather in San Francisco or the capital of Peru -- but Pinterest can help with the questions that have more than one right answer," said Pinterest discovery team head Hui Xu.

"With so many possibilities, you might not know the best one till you see it."

Pinterest introduced Guided Search with the help of more than 100 "Pinners" at a party at its San Francisco headquarters.

- Tailored for exploring -

There are more than 750 million online bulletin boards with a combined total of about 30 billion Pins hand-picked by people sharing images on myriad interests from travel to food to sports and more, according to Pinterest.

"There are a lot of Pins and there is not much time," a Pinterest team member said at the launch event.

"We are working hard to make sure it's simple to find what you are looking for" as well as allowing for serendipitous discovery.

Guided Search was billed as being tailored for exploring, "whether you know exactly what you want, or you're just starting to look around."

The tool is available on smartphones and tablets that are increasingly the preferred options for accessing the Internet. It begins with keyword searches that trigger suggestions.

Pinterest gave the example of searching on the word "running" and being guided to refine hunts by selecting categories such as shoes, marathons, trails or even music playlists.

About this time last year, California-based Facebook launched its Graph Search tool designed to tap into networks of friends and publicly shared posts at the social network for answers to naturally worded questions such "What is a good film to check out?"

- 'Promoted Pins' -

Pinterest last month said it will soon start pinning ads to its popular online bulletin boards in the form of "promoted Pins."

Pinterest began testing promoted Pins late last year and is "encouraged" by what it has so far seen.

Facebook and Twitter both bring in money from ads in the form of posts "promoted" to prominent positions in streams of updates at the social networks.

Pinterest late last year raised $225 million in new capital that it planned to use to expand to 10 more countries.

The funding round valued the company at $3.8 billion, according to a Pinterest statement to AFP.

Co-founder and chief executive Ben Silbermann said the new funding will help Pinterest's expansion.

Pinterest has become one of the Internet's hottest young websites, particularly among women, by giving people virtual bulletin boards that they personally curate with pictures showcasing interests in anything from food to sports, fashion or travel.

The company has not disclosed the number of users, although estimates from digital analytics firm comScore put the figure at around 60 million.




Article curated from http://www.dailystar.com.lb/Technology/International/2014/Apr-25/254346-pinterest-adds-search-tool-for-finding-fun-pins.ashx#axzz2zuKUNtKx
 

This Is the Absolute Best Day to Post on Facebook

Businesses on Facebook are being forced to reevaluate their social media marketing strategies as their posts continue to reach fewer and fewer users. For a brand that’s looking to ensure that its posts get the most engagement possible, new data shows that Friday is the day when users are most likely to Like, comment or share posts that come from brand Pages.

Adobe tracked more than 226 billion post impressions by 300 brands on Facebook in the first quarter of 2014 for its Social Intelligence Report. Fridays earn about 15.7 percent of each week’s total posts impressions, with Thursday being the next most active day with a 14.5 percent share. Users also engage with brands more actively on Fridays by a small amount. Posts from the Pages tracked had a 3.3. percent engagement rate on Friday (meaning that 3.3 percent of the users that saw a given post interacted with it in some way), compared to 3.2 percent on Thursdays and less on other days. Combined, these figures show that Fridays are a competitive time to post but also a time when users are more active on the social network.

“Maybe it’s just that Friday afternoon is just not a time when anyone wants to start a new work project, so they just get on social media,” says Tamara Gaffney, principal analyst on Adobe’s Digital Index team. “You’re starting to think about your weekend and communicate with your friends and family.”

Whether the data reported by Adobe applies to all types of pages is unclear. The company mostly tracks social activity for extremely large businesses, including two-thirds of the top 50 companies in the Fortune 500. But Gaffney thinks the findings are likely relevant to a broad swath of the marketing community. “This is not a census of all things Facebook,” she says, “but we believe it’s still representative of what the reality for marketers is.”

There are more dramatic day-to-day trends when it comes to video. About one-fourth of all video plays for Pages occur on Fridays, according to Adobe’s data. Video plays are rapidly increasing on Facebook because of the introduction of new auto-play videos at the end of 2013. The auto-play feature has helped the engagement rate for videos rise from 2.4 percent to 3 percent over the last year. Text posts, meanwhile, have continued to decline in effectiveness, with only 0.6 percent of users that see them interacting with those posts in some way. Images are currently the most effective posts, with a 4.4 percent engagement rate (though that’s down from five percent a year ago).

Adobe data also show that posts perform the worst on Sundays. 13.4 percent of post impressions occur on that day and the engagement rate is 3 percent. Just 6.4 percent of video plays occur on Sunday.

This data doesn’t necessarily mean that brands should start spamming users’ feeds on Fridays. A glut of posts leads to greater competition to earn a spot in users’ News Feeds and a decline in organic reach. However, the data do show that users are on Facebook in big numbers on Fridays and they’re a bit more receptive to brand messages then. Smart content, particularly tailored toward weekend activities, can have an opportunity to score big.

Article curated from Time.com

Post Smarter: The Best Times to Use Social Platforms

 

Almost every small business, 81 percent, is on social media, and 94 percent of them use these social platforms for marketing purposes (attracting clients and building a brand), according to research from LinkedIn. As social media usage becomes ubiquitous, the rate will only continue to grow, as more small businesses use Facebook pages and Twitter as their main platforms for communication, even more so than their websites.

The LinkedIn study and SumAll data further find social media’s importance to “hyper growth” companies (those with significant year-over-year growth). Ninety one percent of these firms said social media grew awareness, and nearly three quarters grew their social media budgets in the past year. The small businesses using social platforms must be doing something right.

Once small businesses are on social media they need to then figure out how to leverage each platform to meet their goals. These types of companies don’t have the luxury of spending too much time on any facet of their business. Small businesses want to be sure their content is engaging and impactful, and will have “legs” throughout the network in terms of additional sharing.

What many small business owners and managers overlook is the “when” of social media posting, not just the “what,” “where” and “why.” Having the right content is great, but knowing the time of day when people are most receptive to posts is invaluable for companies that need to run efficient campaigns.

SumAll.com is a startup firm that provides data analytics for companies ranging from small businesses to large enterprise-level players such as Starbucks and Pandora. The company analyzed large amounts of customer data to determine the most opportune times to send out posts to various platforms, including Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr, Instagram, Pinterest and Google. The “best time” metric was calculated for each social media platform by measuring the responses on hundreds of millions of different posts, representing companies in various industry verticals. The measured “responses” were likes, comments, reposts and other similar activities that represent a specific action taken by the recipient.


The SumAll.com research found the platform-specific times illustrated in the below infographic were generally optimal for sending posts. Some thoughts on the likely reasons for the popularity of the specific timeframes will follow.

 

Twitter: People have a chance to share their own thoughts or retweet in the afternoon.'

Facebook: The work day is slowing down and people have more time to do a Facebook check.

Tumblr: Reading micro-blogs on Tumblr takes more time and thought than other platforms, so non-work hours are often ideal.

Pinterest: Weekends are best, as the craft and collection emphasis of Pinterest lends itself to weekend projects.

A common trend with the optimal times is you want to catch people during their downtime. You might need to get them early in the morning during their commute or “settling in” time at work, during lunch or in the evenings.

Small businesses should try to follow these times but also need to understand the timing may be different for their specific customer base or industry. If they are trying to reach college students, the normal 9 to 5 workday doesn’t apply. Experimentation is still recommended, and small businesses can use various tools to automate the sending of posts and tweets at various times throughout the day and over the weekend.

Article curated from Entrepreneur

Your Customers Are Likely More Engaged on YouTube Than on Facebook or Twitter

Get thee a YouTube channel! 

While the quality of YouTube comments can be questionable, YouTube drives the most engaged traffic, according to a new study from Boston-based content-sharing Shareaholic. Meaning, YouTube users can be some of the most desirable customers a brand can have.
Video watchers are especially engaged and are more receptive to links within video descriptions, the study says. YouTube produced the lowest average bounce rate (about 43 percent), the highest pages per visit (2.99) and the longest visit duration (just under four minutes) the study reports. Viewers are used to spending a lot of time watching video, so what’s one more click to them?

While Google+ and LinkedIn don’t rake in the social referrals, the ones they do get are solid. Google+ users on average spend more than three minutes clicking things shared by their connections and bounce about 50 percent of the time. LinkedIn users normally spend more than two minutes on each link.

The time you spent crafting the perfect tweet and Facebook post amount to similar bounce rates (56 percent), pages per visit (just over two), and time on site (two minutes).  And Pinterest, while pleasing to the eye, only heeds a little more than a minute on a site post-click.

Image credit: shareaholic.com

 

Article curated from Entrepreneur Magazine

Mobile Ad Spending Expected to Increase by 75 Percent in 2014

A new report shows the still-growing importance of advertising on Google and Facebook, predicting that mobile ad revenue will rise to $31.5 billion this year.

 
 
If you're not considering dedicating a larger portion of your advertising budget to mobile, you're behind the times.

A new report by research firm eMarketer predicts worldwide spending on mobile advertising will reach $31.45 billion this year, a 75 percent increase from 2013. Mobile advertising will account for nearly a quarter of total digital ad spending, according to the report.

What companies are leading the trend? Not surprisingly, eMarketer forecasts Google will be on top in 2014 with 46.8 percent of net mobile ad revenue worldwide. Facebook is predicted to be next with 21.7 percent, while Twitter ranks a distant third with 2.6 percent. Those companies occupied the top three spots, in the same order, in 2013 as well.

Mobile ad spending around the world increased by 105 percent in 2013, according to eMarketer. The rapid pace of growth is not expected to last, however. The report predicts that by 2018, mobile ad revenue will climb to $95 billion but the growth rate will be only 22 percent.

Growth in ad spending will decline as the the digital ad space matures, according to TechCrunch, as well as from companies adopting other revenue models, such as game makers relying on in-app purchases rather than ads.

Article curated from Inc. Magazine

Businesses can see a return on Tweets, they just need to be using the social media platform properly.

Businesses can see a return on Tweets, they just need to be using the social media platform properly.

 

Earlier this year, research firm DB5 released a study--based on responses of over 1,000 active Twitter users--that outlined the social media platform's impact on the purchase decisions of Twitter users. Of those surveyed, 60 percent said that they purchased something from an SMB because of the platform, while 86 percent said that they have plans to make purchases in the future. In fact, 43 percent of respondents said that they plan to make multiple purchases from the SMBs they follow on Twitter in the future. So it does seem that small businesses on Twitter can see a return on their tweets and presence on the platform. That, however, doesn't mean that every business will. 

Last week, Twitter released a guide to getting direct responses from customers on Twitter--"Drive results with Twitter"-- which is worth a read, but Inc.'s Abigail Tracy also spoke with Russ Laraway, head of SMB at Twitter, about how small businesses can create a successful presence on Twitter. 

What do you think businesses should be doing to create consistent engagement with their brand on Twitter? 

One thing to note is that when a Twitter user chooses to follow someone [or a company], it shows a pretty strong interest in what they have to say. So the first order of business for any SMB is to treat a follow as a sort of responsibility. For example, tweeting about what you had for lunch or the funny thing that your cat did might not be quite that interesting to your users.

Successful brands are creating a community on Twitter that they care about, building a strong follower base and then using that follower base to send out messages that are important to them. 

So then, what suggestions do you have for brands in terms of content?  

First off, they need to make sure that their profile is fully filled out. It has to be descriptive and reflective of their business. Everyone has seen, no doubt plenty of accounts that have the egg avatar--they just don't look professional.

Another really important thing to do is create a content calendar. Companies can create a recurring, weekly cadence of content that sort of takes the guesswork out of tweeting--which they might organize by day of the week and then make adjustments as needed. That tends to be a pretty good approach to getting out quality content to users and retaining them as followers. 

What would you say to businesses that don't think they have enough bandwidth or manpower to really focus on their Twitter presence? 

The reality is that many [companies] are already using email marketing, which means that they already have some base of content that they could use. They should just think of Twitter as another channel to put that content out there. Yes, there is a constraint of 140 characters, but businesses can still include a bunch of rich media--such as images, vine videos and videos from other platforms. They can create a really rich experience with just 140 characters now. Thats a good way for people to think about it--they already have the content, they just need to get it out on Twitter. 

How important is it for businesses to interact with individual followers on Twitter? 

Really, really important. The reason is because your followers can end up driving sales. Obviously, it would not be a good thing to build a big follower base and then never say anything to them. Don't forget that by following you, they have given you a very string signal that they want to hear what you have to say. So when you're interacting with your followers, you are dramatically increasing the likelihood that they are going to visit your store or website and make a purchase. 

What is the biggest stumbling block for companies on Twitter? 

Just not engaging enough. Companies go to great lengths to build a strong base of followers on Twitter who have a strong interest in what they have to say and offer. It's really important to put out interesting content with some frequency. It's actually really easy to do. 

Article curated from Inc. Magazine

How to Tell Your Professional Story on LinkedIn

A social media expert weighs in on keeping your profile fresh and using it to create an effective narrative about yourself.

There are more how-to articles about creating LinkedIn profiles than there were stars at the Academy Awards. But with all due respect, most are worth less than a DVD of Lindsay Lohan's best performances. That’s because almost every tip I’ve read suggests you should create an LI profile that reads more like an unemployed used car salesman’s resume.
Success on LinkedIn depends upon your ability to craft compelling stories that engage your audience. The site has successfully transformed itself from an online recruiting platform to a robust business-to-business social media community; as such, you should contribute in ways that add value to the community.

With that in mind, I asked for some quick storytelling tips from Sam Ford, Peppercomm's director of audience engagement, the coauthor of Spreadable Media, and a frequent speaker at publishing and social media events such as South By Southwest and MIT's Media in Transition conference.

Why is a vibrant LinkedIn profile page critical to an entrepreneur's success?
Sam Ford: LinkedIn has provided a platform that is increasingly seen as a place to manage your professional connections and tell the story of who you are as a professional, not just to job hunt. These days, many people are more likely to check out your LinkedIn profile than any corporate biography, because they know where to look for what, and how to understand who you are as a professional. Your LinkedIn profile is also likely to appear at or near the top of an online search for your name. That makes it one of the most significant vehicles for telling your professional story.

How do you define storytelling in the context of LI?
SF: I’m talking about how professionals use their LinkedIn profile to show people who they are and what they care about. For example, your LinkedIn profile could inform people you’re an expert on diversity in the workplace by listing some of your key publications on those issues. Or it could demonstrate you care about mentoring aspiring entrepreneurs by including your service on key boards. A good LinkedIn profile shares your professional history and shows how your professional choices and accomplishments form a clear career trajectory.

How do you tell LI stories that are neither hard sell nor self-serving?
SF: The ideal profile begins with an overall summary or narrative written in the first person and provides an overview of your career and points of passion and focus. That, in turn, sets up the overall narrative the rest of the profile can flesh out. I liken it to the first time you meet someone. Do you talk all about yourself or engage that person in a conversation? Use that same strategy when creating your LinkedIn profile.

Can you share a best practice?
SF: Many people copy over impersonal language from their professional resume. Instead, you should opt for a first-person narrative that contains a paragraph describing each position you've held. Then, connect your lead paragraph to the overall narrative of who you are as a professional. Also, rather than cite the awards you've won or industry associations to which you belong, list those--with the appropriate details and links--in the "Honors and Awards" and "Organizations" sections of your profile. Connect them with the professional role you held at the time. That way, those who visit your page can find--in the logical places--all the details about what you’ve achieved in your career, without you bragging about it.

How often do you need to refresh the stories you tell on LI?
SF: The best way to update your page frequently is through "status updates." Once a week or so, you might share news about something you’re pondering, an event you've participated in, an interesting article you’ve read, or a piece you’ve written that you think would be of interest to your professional connections. And now LinkedIn is also rolling out a publishing function for all users. This allows entrepreneurs to write longer pieces for their LinkedIn network, which if they gain traction might be shared elsewhere on the site.

It seems to me a lot of the people who connect with me on LI are job seekers. Why do I care if they read and spread my stories?
SF: First, it's crucial you think carefully about how you want to manage your LinkedIn profile. For me, I use it to stay connected with those who have some connection to me elsewhere. If someone I don't know contacts me on LinkedIn, I suggest we chat on the phone, or meet up in person, to talk about what brought them my way. Most of the time, that weeds out people who wanted something from me other than to genuinely connect. And in the process, it’s caused me to know who each of my connections are, and to understand why we are connected. Because I know why each person is in my network, I see great value in sharing my work and reading about theirs.

Increasingly, information circulates through personal connections, and it's often more credible when it’s being shared by someone we know and trust. I know those with whom I'm connected share similar professional interests. And hopefully they themselves are connected to the types of people who I would want to reach with what I share.

Article curated from Inc. Magazine

The Secret to Getting Noticed on LinkedIn

This underused field can get you more clicks.

Click on Profile on your LinkedIn site and you'll see a list of your experiences, schools, and contacts. Most people focus on developing these lists to make connections at places they've worked and where they have gone to school. LinkedIn, after all, is a great networking tool.
But before you get to this mass of information is the summary section on top. Most people don't bother to fill this out--and it may be the key to help you connect to more people than you thought possible.

From my experience, the summary is where the beefy, real content begins--and the only place to really find out who the person really is. It acts like a movie trailer, getting people emotionally connected and excited for the coming attraction. It reinforces a person's personal brand. 

Whether you are trying to connect to customers, suppliers, or even new employees, the summary can offer you a snapshot of who this person is and any specialties that may be beneficial to you. For example, you can look for soft skills, attitude and creativity that are important to you. 

This works in your favor, too. It is an opportunity to tell your story. Here's how to make it work for you and what to look for in other summaries.

The Elevator Pitch

Potential contacts are looking to see why you are different than all these other people on LinkedIn. Check out these lines from real summaries: "At the age of five, using only a cardboard box and a stack of paper, I established my very own paper plane crafting business" or "I'm a self-confessed word nerd with a love for high tech--and a perfect dose of OCD." Or "I'm in the business of moving mountains."

It only takes two or three sentences to describe who you are.

Here are some questions to help you craft a LinkedIn summary that brings life to the professional you are--or want to be:

• What did you learn from your very first job?
• What specific event/experience made you choose your field or profession?
• What is the coolest thing you’ve learned so far in college or life?
• Who inspires you and why? Bonus points if it’s not somebody famous.
• What can people always count on you for?
• Describe the best team you’ve ever been on (even scouts or sports) and how it affected you.

Unique Specialties

Instead of trying to cram all kinds of keywords into your summary, end your story. After those two or three sentences of the elevator pitch, add "specialties," with a list of relevant keywords for your areas of expertise. Is it software proficiency, industries worked, technical skills, applications used? This is your chance to add your industry buzzwords--words that may be picked up by algorithms scanning profiles.

For example, in my line of work we know marketing communications is abbreviated as marcom. It is what I look for when I connect with people. Construction folks know LEED and health care pros know HIPAA. List all the words or terms for which you are skilled in order to round out your summary story. 

Focusing on this summary box is sure to expand your network.

 Article curated from Inc. Magazine