Customer response to digital rewards and offers in social media is dictating  marketplace strategy and consequently analytics.   While attending the 2012 Social Media Week sessions in Chicago, I learned about research findings on the topic from two Northwestern University professors.  Both findings exhibit the best lessons learned in examining the measurement of social media influence.

Professor Edward Malthouse, a 15 year Medill School of Journalism faculty veteran, first explained his team’s research into the connection between influence and purchase behavior. The research was based upon the membership social activity of the Canada Air Miles Reward program, a rewards program in which users earn miles and exchange accumulated points for airline tickets or consumer goods and services from program sponsors.  The research team designed three contests as experiments to draw member participation.  The contest objectives were to determine if participants would purchase from Airmiles sponsors after following a contest rule - announcing what they would do with earned miles – and to study any lingering message effects.  The results revealed that the more participants reflected on a community’s benefits in their lives as they conduct social activity, the greater becomes the probability to purchase from a sponsor. The research also revealed a hypothesis on an engagement hierarchy. From lowest engagement to highest, the hierarchy revealed included:

 

• Exposure to logo, name, etc.
• Exposure to brand-building message, including viewing social media content
• Liking a brand
• Sharing brand-related content
• Creating brand-related content
• Discussing your brand-related content

 

The research also yielded further questions, for sure. Yet, the promise of companies being better able to craft engagement has become . The published report was nominated for best paper from the European Advertising Academy annual conference.

Alok Choudhary, John Searle Professor at the school of electrical engineering and CEO of consulting firm Voxsup, gave the following presentation, discussing the impact of big data analytics in social media.  He shared the relationship of big data with respect to modeling. What most caught my attention about one of the modeling results was Choudhary’s mention that influence is tied to context, not solely to the number of followers.  Anecdotally social media experts have expressed the thought, but Choudhary had empirical prove.  Using a Twitter influence tool developed by the Voxsup team, Choudhary noted how one Twitter user, Mona Effahawy, was very influential regarding the twitter topics related to the Egyptian revolution. Yet she only had 300 followers.   Choudhary noted that much of her influence was due to followers understanding the person, that they listened and considered her to be the most genuine. This supports his point in the presentation that the influence is dynamic – people look more at the source than the follower count. Italso counters much of the Twitterverse strategy of acquiring a large following to appear credible.

Social media has indeed revolutionized the way brands and organizations interact with customers.  But in the process it has transformed what should be emphasized in measurement – new factors have been introduced, such as the speed at which information is exchanged and the way customers express their opinions on products and services.  Northwestern has highlighted how much influence has become measurement’s new frontier.

Despite the straightforward definitions of margins and breakeven analysis, the math that can go into profitably offering a product or service can be an unusual calculus.  This post, originally written for the UBM Tech site, Business Agility, notes how businesses are finding ways to transform their products into services. Incorporating business process in the delivery, however, remains the true answer to the arithmetic of creating profits

Much of transformation has come courtesy of businesses attempting to build on the success of the open source business model. Many businesses have offered no or low cost software and applications. Offering services to maintain those applications generates revenue.

The end result is an increased dynamic of digital assets that were once passive tools.  Websites are an example.  Advanced techniques with programming language have changed websites from passive documents presented from a server to platforms that can provide simple services to customers.

Companies are scrambling to compete with those who have successfully adopted open source approached into their business model. The economics are still being studied, but most pundits agree that the trend will continue.  Neil Gandel, a professor of Economics and Head, School of Government and Policy at Tel Aviv University noted on Vox, a Centre for Economic Policy Research (CERP.org) website showcasing global economic studies, that “many proprietary firms now use a mixed-source model…a model in which some of their products are proprietary and are distributed under traditional licenses, while some of their products are open source and distributed under an open source license. Such a mixed-source strategy enables firms to benefit from the advantages of both open source and proprietary development.“

One example of a business transforming its business model to include more comprehensive services occurred from a former grad school friend of mine.  Garrison Atkisson, founder of broadAngle and a past Zimana client, emailed me on the change his company made from being a producer of a video platform to a broad provider of platform services.

 “We started broadAngle in late 2007 with the intent to develop and market a product that helped corporate clients manage and deliver video content using a custom branded player.  The economic crisis of 2008 made this very difficult for us.  We found ourselves in a position where we needed to re-evaluate our strengths and the needs of the market to find a more viable business model.  We had assembled a great development team for our own product development, and pivoting the business to provide their development services to our clients was a natural fit.  It was much easier to demonstrate value with a services-based strategy that it was trying to create a new market for our product.”

Despite notable successes, the math of a business plus software is not a straightforward answer to success.  Longevity and profitability lies in creating unique business process management practices that enhance the services that serve open source programs.

Developing the service systems can lead a business to providing even greater value than simply offering the product itself. Many experts, in varying degrees, believe such value is attainable. Jonathan Byrnes in his book Islands of Profit In a Sea of Red Ink notes that the “Selling more products can give a vendor additional leverage with customers, but selling the right related services can give vendor a new strategic position and a host of valuable benefits.”  Indeed Garrison states that broadAngle has made such gains. “We’ve built solutions that integrate SaaS services to add customer relationship or salesforce management functionality to custom applications that otherwise would have been out of scope due to time or budget constraints.”

Businesses that incorporate business process management may want to examine its content management and business analytics practices to optimize service delivery opportunities. Doing so adopts the economic benefits of open source-based business model into the right mix of incremental related services that outweigh any potential initial costs.

Gaining more by adding the right business process management approaches is a math I can live with.

 

 

 

 

Many solopreneurs, consultants, professional service providers, and small business owners who develop more and more internal activities that requires their attention - reviewing invoices, following up on customer requests, and so on.  Eventually delegation is needed for growth, but some time is initially spent understanding the details so that delegation is done correctly.

In analytics and marketing optimization, developing the connection between data and context is the reason to review data in the first place.  That connection can reveal which marketing tasks are needed.  So before delegating your marketing optimization, look for a few clues that indicate when more support is needed:

1. When questions are becoming more about strategic concerns than tactical concerns

If you are asking more questions about how to tie the data to your business, then you may be seeking solutions that do not leverage your business to its fullest capability.  Many answers regarding even light coding decisions such as that in search engine optimization have value when implemented relative to your business objectives, not just as a “nice to know” answer.   Let someone help develop the details of how a social media platform like Pinterest or Google Plus should be used in your business, as well as monitor the results of the data in an analytics report.

2. Implementing applications that require some coding changes

Like any website developing, coding changes related to your analytics take time to implement. E commerce is one specific application, as is combining analytics with a CRM.  If you are comfortable with Javascript, then it is a valuable to budget a few hours of time to review how the change impacts digital marketing plans and measurement capability.

3. The tactics for marketing has made attribution complicated

A solopreneur can handle a simple marketing plan.  But when there is several media being used to market a business, the number of ways to examine an analytic report rapidly increases.  In his book Web Analytics 2.0, Avinash Kaushik noted that 300 reports in Google Analytics are possible.  Connecting the dots as to the return effort on a marketing campaign takes time, a precious resource on a small team.

4. The discipline to implement changes is non-existent

A business needs to make time to review its measurements and see where its going.  The need is no different than reviewing its cash position.  As point three mentioned, marketing can be complicated.  Analytics is not just numbers. It’s taking the time to break down ands understand how your site is doing.

If you do not have the discipline to make a light review of your data, then it’s time to seek someone who does and can make the time to review your results.

5. A large amount of data can be …well, too large

Dedicated support makes sense when your reporting needs have become monthly with a huge amount of data.  What’s huge?  Anything more than a few hours to answer means either additional tools are needed or more support may be needed to get to answer. Many ad agencies have analytics teams that report weekly on marketing campaigns, while large corporations may just want a monthly report on the sites an activity. So mark your time and reasoning for the action you take.  Research should be separate from your standard business activity, so that any results and effort can be better understood and applied effectively.

 

Digital marketing campaigns can become complicated to tag and maintain, especially in light of where ads are placed and the devices used.  But fortunately there are solutions meant to organize tags to make multiple campaigns orderly. This post, originally created for the UBM Tech site Digital Draw, takes a close look at how tag management makes a difference in your digital marketing campaign.

Tag management differs from the URL tag builders that you typically see associated with Piwik or Google Analytics.  Adding standard page Javascript tags is straightforward for reasonable sized websites.  Running a few paid search campaigns or directing campaigns for a few networks would be overkill for a tag management system.

But there is a hitch; suppose the site in question has a large volume of pages or subdirectories.  This is typical for large e-commerce sites.

If you have landing pages and plan for paid search or other digital marketing, the complexity increases further. Standard URL builders can only create one parameter for each intended tagged page at a time, and while there are additional solutions for multiple-tag creation, the implementation is still labor intensive. The end result is potential error in inserting tags.

Enter tag management, applications designed to easily organize multiple campaign tags.   Tag management solutions typically deploy a singular master tag instead of the Javascript tags that are normally coded into a website page.  The master tag is served with the page based on instructions from the management’s application.

But as earlier mentioned, the increased myriad of online presences beyond a website (banner ads, mobile ads, website, social media presences) coupled with growing customer means to view media (laptop, tablet, smartphone, TV) has increased the potential number of tags required to measure the health of a marketing message delivery.

Moreover, campaigns that inherently require rapid responses to customer conditions can cause havoc to schedule tag changes.   Small organizations can be overrun in ensuring the right campaign is tagged and operating properly.

Thus a tag management system can ease activity when scheduled campaigns on numerous networks are planned.  Tags are centralized and marketing measurement among various media becomes organized as a result.  For example, imagine planning a marketing campaign with banner ads, paid search, and QR codes on fliers. With a tag management system in place, a targeted network can be smoothly integrated alongside another manager’s preferred analytic solution for monitoring banner ad performance.

Fast optimization for multi-channel marketing is an additional benefit, since tag updates can be better kept in sync with the campaign schedule.  Given the increase in consumers blending marketing channels through using mobile devices The speed in making tag changes becomes a significant influence for faster campaign launches.

Tag management can reduce installation time when faced with multiple pages. Quality assurance of tags can be better managed.  The potential cost benefits can be great as a result.  A survey by eConsultancy and tag management system provider Tealium noted that 73% of its respondents observed reduced costs associated with tag management systems.

The aforementioned example of testing and marketing campaigns can create a operational challenge.  Because companies often plan to display media on various networks, tag management system can be a gateway for managing multiple vendors.  The tag management system vendor would have to verify the tags each vendor provides to avoid operational error.   Thus a tag management vendor should have a solid support team behind the tag manager solution.  Some do, but main systems do not.  Your business should consider its technical resources and internal capability before making a selection.  Without applying care, your team can unintentionally create additional effort within your business’ IT and marketing to support the tag management.

A number of sources are available to evaluate how a tag management system fits in your business.  Forrester, through an Adobe white paper, explains an assessment to determine if a tag management system is suitable for your organization.   Stephane Hamel, a well regarded analytics expert at consulting firm Cardinal Path, offer pragmatic thoughts on evaluating the impact of tag management solutions on an organization.

Be sure to take a look at the current crop of tag management solutions available. Tag management vendors include Tealium, TagMan, Satellite  and Ubertags.

 

Noting when your site is outdated can sometimes be the easiest part of the website maintenance – see this post How Updating a Website Is Essential to Your Business for a few ideas.  Implementing changes become the challenge, which sometimes mean a major upgrade or redesigned site.

If you find your business facing a site update, here are some starter ideas to approach the layout, and have a smoother discussion with a designer or developer.

• Layout a wireframe of the site appearance – focus on what pages should be in the site. Plan how they will appear in the navigation, as well as whether or not subdirectories and pages on other sites are used. A wireframe can be drawn on piece of paper, as well as created in online software as Omnigraffle.

• Decide the content associated with each page.  Plan for short content and how images can be arranged.  The arrangement can reveal how you expect a visitor to review the site. You can then plan how an analytics tag should be implemented.

• Decide on a keyword strategy based on the content presented.  Plan for non-branded keyword terms (for discovery of your business) and branded terms (to strengthen a brand) - words that contain your business name, or persons involved in a website who are well known online.

• Create a relatively broad list keywords for search engine optimization, though remember to select words that speak to your customers.  Spend time crafting the text around the selected keywords to explain the benefit customers receive from working with your business.

• Insert keywords in your image filenames when applicable. The file names can appear in the HTML code for a page on which the image appears. To be manageable and not overwhelmed by managing pictures, keep images to a low count 30 if possible and avoid stock photos – Thanks to Pinterest and Facebook, customers are expecting real experiences when they come to see you.

• Avoid animations or flashy splash pages on a page.  Page speed has increasingly become a factor in visitor enjoyment of a site, as well as a factor in search engine consideration.  Moreover many people view websites through a smartphone, even ones not optimized for mobile, so adding extra flash to entertain viewers is outdated.

• Consider how images are arranged on each page - as parallax or as a carousel.  This will cut the size requirements of a page, as well as provide another way for customers to remain engaged. Let the designer know if you plan to update pictures more than once, so that they can review with you where new images can be placed in the site code.

• When adding a mobile site, choose simple actions a visitor would take to contact your business online. An example is being able to call your business via a simple button instead of forcing a dial up of a number.

• Footer content should appear across each page, containing social media buttons (Twitter, Pinterest, Facebook, Google Plus, Reddit, etc). It should contain the business address, as well as links, badges, and widgets for other associations, such as the Better Business Bureau or trade association membership. Because social media platforms and organization typically considered highly ranked in a search engine, placing these into the footer can strengthen search engine optimization.

• Gather customer accolades for a display on the site. They can appear on main page, one or two on every page, or in a dedicated page for “what customers are saying about us.”

• Analytics tag should be decided such that future digital marketing efforts can be planned. Plan exactly what marketing tools will be used, so you have an idea of what to add.

• Do not seek to build a great amount of traffic initially.  Overcapacity can slow down loading times, hindering customer service, and make the site appear mismanaged by visitors.  Build traffic over time, monitoring performance to make adjustments that will come for every site.  Make sure a set aside budget for upgrades and site improvements.

When you have established your choice for a website design, avoid delays to deliver your content. Adding more than a few months to code and finalize function because of a last minute request can be problematic for your designer and ultimately your business.

Only use content and media essential to convey your service, product or organization.    Revising media and content continually without a dedicated staff or schedule creates a diversion from other essential business tasks and adds unnecessary costs to your business.

To manage the changes you want to see, develop a timeline and manage it with a project manager.  Basecamp has a great project manager, popular because of the number of plugins that sync easily and can saving time in integrating information.

Dayparting is not a new concept to many marketers familiar with advertising, but it is being introduced to a new generation of small business owners and customers alike.  Why is it becoming a new interest for small businesses?

In a word, mobile.

The increasing consumer usage of smartphones and mobile devices has shifted how and when people discover a site, and thus shifted how and when people discover a business.  That shift means marketing efforts need to match more to the probably time a customer views an ad or searches for information.

Dayparting is a legacy of the radio and television industry, where programs were shown at timeslots matched to people’s general lifestyles.  This lead to tailoring advertising to particular audience, and in many ways, contextual and behavior targeting, since now you had to tailor a Hot Wheels ad for Saturday morning cartoons or financial management during the evening news.

Dayparting means tailoring paid search campaigns to display at key times for visibility.  The current kings of paid search, Google and Microsoft, have added dayparting features, so all paid search users can use the feature.

Back in September 2011, Google introduced a real-time function in Google Analytics. The real time report displays content, visitor, referral source, and location with up to the minute or second data.  An infograph shows the pageviews per minute up to the past 30 minutes or per second.

The reports, combined with a dayparting features in Google Adwords, can become super useful for tagged campaigns. You will have an improved identification of when ad groups should be run.

Examine your analytics data regarding time of day that visitors arrive to a site.  You can use the information to run ads at times when a query is more likely to be run.  The result is rejuvenated paid search campaigns that can augment exposure.