Marketing is not in line with Social Business

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I subscibe to a newsletter called SmartBrief on Social Media. It's a great collection of what's going on in social media packaged and sent on a daily basis. And that's where I saw this headline: "Social media still isn't well-aligned with marketing…

I subscibe to a newsletter called SmartBrief on Social Media. It's a great collection of what's going on in social media packaged and sent on a daily basis. And that's where I saw this headline:

"Social media still isn't well-aligned with marketing goals, survey finds" (article here)

I'd like to take this a notch up. Social Media might not be aligned with marketing goals, but even worse. Marketing is not alligned with Social Business practise. 

Let's start putting Social Business back to the core of where marketing stems from. Instead of asking: "How can marketing highlight/communicate the best qualities of our product?" ask:

  • "How can marketing make out product better?"
  • "How can marketing give the customer a better experience?"

In the spirit of alligning Social Media, Marketing, Social Business, and Customer Experience. What questions do you ask yourself?

The importance of being number 1 - Google Chrome Instant Pages

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via mashable.com

When you search with Google over 60% of people click on one of the top three results. Over 35% clicks on the top result.

Being number one was pretty awesome. It gets better.

Google Chrome is slowly releasing a feature, Google Chrome Instant Pages, that will automatically load the top search result. This means that if you search for a term -> Get the top results -> Click on the first result. Your page will open immediately (check out the video.)

So how does this affect your business?

Arriving on a webpage immediately is an incredible boost to the customer experience. So even though it is Google that is making this happen, the magic will rub off on your website as well... as long as your number one. This is another motivation to be number one on that almighty search list. So if you're going for it. Make sure you go all the way.

Do you SEO experts think this (the number one spot at instant pages) is something worth fighting for?

 

 

And they still don't get it - Online Ad Spend to Double to $50B in 2015

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analyst firm eMarketer is predicting double-digit growth through 2015. Spending on online ads will hit $50 billion that year — that’s almost double last year’s spending figure.

The prediction, published Tuesday, comes a month after eMarketer nearly doubled its estimated increase for online ad revenues for 2011 to 20.2%, thanks to a surge in display advertising. U.S. online ad spending hit $26 billion in 2010. The new report assumes a continued growth in search advertising, but also in banner ads from large sites like Yahoo, Google and Facebook.

Video will continue to be the fastest-growing format in online advertising, according to eMarketer. Spending for video ads hit $1.42 billion in 2010, but will reach $7.11 billion in 2015. That’s because video “generates greater audience attention than other digital ad formats,” says David Hallerman, eMarketer’s principal analyst.

via mashable.com

Online ad spend is increasing. Great.

It is predicted to grow in the following areas:

1. Search advertising
2. Banner ads
3. Video ads

That's too bad. The power of digital is the ability to engage consumer and increase share of mind through an interactive experience. Not just visually communicating the big idea.

Digital had the power to BE that big idea.

Instead of spending into non engaging display ads allocate budget to self standing digital projects, not just an extension media buy.

The future of digital marketing is not coding offline content into online formats.

The future of (digital) agencies is being a collection of entrepreneurs. Sitting side by side with brands to solve their marketing challenges with new models and engaging ideas. Not pasting the tvc and poster on youtube or banner ad.

It's not about communicating the idea, it's building an experiential idea that communicates.