An interesting 107 character tweet came through Twitter last week. It did what a tweet is supposed to do – it got my attention. It stated that a definitive calculation determining the value of a Facebook fan exists. So I bit and clicked on the Business Insider link. According to Hitwise and the social media company Techlightenment, 1 fan = 20 extra website visits. At first, I thought ‘That’s cool.’ Then about 10 seconds later I said to myself, ‘So what?’
Driving website traffic is an important indicator of business performance and brand awareness. For instance, it’s always nice to see Google Analytics reports showing an increase in visits to this blog. However, when it comes to this equation, the ratio is a little problematic.
Facebook is a valuable marketing tool for driving product interest and sales often by promotional means; i.e. discount offers, free trials, daily deals subscriptions. For consumers looking to get bang for their buck, becoming a fan might be a short-term means to a short-term end – the one time sale. Where is the long-term customer value to deliver repeated sales? Also, while this measurement is a step in the right direction, a more worthwhile stat would be something like this – 1 fan = 20 extra website visits = 5 extra sales.
It’s becoming an old social story. Having fans is nice. Having fans that bolster website visits is good. Having fans that boost visits to your website and drive ROI increases should be the ultimate goal.
Fluctuating economies often force highly competitive industries to reevaluate their customer acquisition methods. The “save first” phenomenon, the new consumer mentality, is understandable but it could potentially put a crimp in desired sales. The advent of the savvier, more value conscious consumer is placing a renewed emphasis on audience-specific targeting as a means of driving revenue increases within the industry. Audience-specific targeting is particularly effective because it identifies and attracts prospective customers who have expressed interest and show a high propensity for customer conversion.
Acquiring the right data is essential for driving results before, during and after the program. Advertisers need to first establish who their primary target audience is and how they want to engage them (Call Center, Postal Mail, and email) in order to implement a plan for growth and efficiency. This is where creativity meets communication. Customer Relationship Management (CRM) initiatives like user-friendly surveys and opt in sign-up forms can help steer programs toward the right target audience based on age, location and behavior. The more you know, the more likely it is that you can provide the right message to the right consumer, ultimately increasing your conversion rate.
Also, messaging has to be relevant. To maximize their marketing spend, advertisers should leverage a data acquisition program experienced in driving results across a wide range of verticals. Taking this approach will alleviate targeting concerns mainly because the program has shown it can deliver pertinent messaging while disqualifying customers that do not fit your desired demographics.
Obviously messaging is vital but having robust technology in place to maximize deliverability, efficiency and validation is also essential. Advanced tech fortifies your CRM efforts not only building your database of engaged users but categorizing them as “New to File” eliminating waste from your program. This streamlines your re-contacting strategies and ensures that consumers who have responded to offers will no longer receive emails. Too often, marketing efforts are concentrated on the potential customer, not existing consumers who have been loyal to a brand. This step will help build confidence with your current database of users and properly organize new consumers.
Economic uncertainty makes continually hitting your target map of potential customers extremely important. After all, consumers aren’t the only ones who have to be mindful of spend.
They say, whoever they are, that opposites attract. Usually this cliche is used when referring to romantic relationships. And there is a lot of truth to that. But what works to strengthen personal bonds could also be applied to empowering business strategies. Take Search and Display Advertising for instance.
In Search, consumers have the control. They are looking for a product or service. They want what you have and they usually want it yesterday. In contrast, display ads try to pull consumers in when they are doing other things like checking email or watching a talking dog on YouTube. Until recently, display wasn’t an overwhelmingly desired performance channel because its premise involved engaging the disengaged. But with the emergence of robust ad networks and the advent of real-time bidding technology that puts price predictability on par with paid search, display is witnessing a dramatic rise. In fact, according to eMarketer, display will eclipse search as the largest online spending category by 2015.
So that’s great for display but why should search care? As display becomes an increasingly efficient and effective channel to leverage, brands currently lacking an online presence will test the waters and join the digital ad revolution. Success in display ultimately means that your brand has an audience that’s eager to be tapped. Search will help them find you. Think about it. Would Google and Facebook be so heavily invested in display if its future and its future impact on search didn’t seem so rosy?
Affiliates have grown weary of threats made in recent years by legislators looking to regulate the marketplace. The insistence that legal protections must be implemented to protect consumers is due in large part to the influx of shady, fly by night newbies infiltrating the space. Unfortunately for reputable affiliate marketers who already adhere to best practices, the bad often outshines the good. In the interest of easy political wins, pundits on the state and national level have been pushing the passing of the Affiliate Nexus Law. Proponents of the law insist it will even out the playing field by imposing the same sales and use tax obligations on both out-of-state retailers and small businesses with a physical storefront presence within a given state. Though that is framed to sound plausible and logical, it is misleading and potentially devastating to small businesses who will likely have to either close shops or drastically downsize.
Last week, the Performance Marketing Association took a definitive stand against the newly enacted law in Illinois by suing the Illinois Department of Revenue. And it is a stance that is long overdue. Apparently other performance marketers with a social presence feel the same. The hashtag #NoAdTax was trending well on Twitter and the press release PMA was widely distributed. It is too early to predict the long-term ramifications of the PMA’s actions, namely whether it will stave off future law passage. But the PMA has certainly energized its base of affiliates and publishers. And for that alone they should be lauded, appreciated and cited as champions of the performance marketer.
