This summary of last weeks press around Digital marketing shows how it is having an enhanced effect on B2B brands and corporate marketing.It was originally posted on http://fwddigital.com
Week Commencing – 18th January 2010
General Digital Marketing News
Online spend leads ad sector recovery, says IPA Bellwether (nma.co.uk)
The quarterly survey of more than 300 leading companies found 20% spending more on digital in the three months to the end of December 2009. But overall spend fell for the ninth consecutive quarter. (18/01/2010)
Consumers are expected to spend $29.5bn (£18bn) on more than 21m downloads of mobile apps globally by the end of 2013, according to research by analysts Gartner. (19/01/2010)
YouTube to begin broadcasting sport live (nma.co.uk)
YouTube is to start broadcasting live sport matches for the first time after agreeing a deal to show Indian Premier League cricket. (19/01/2010)
Labour creates first iPhone app to rally support (BrandRepublic.com)
The Labour Party is set to launch its first ever iPhone app to help canvassers rally support in the run-up to the general election. (21/01/2010)
Twitter readies advertising platform as COO says no IP0 in 2010 (BrandRepublic.com)
Dick Costolo, chief operating officer at Twitter, said the service is ready to begin testing a new advertising platform shortly as he ruled out a stock market launch this year. (21/01/2010)
The financial services sector has yet to grasp the benefits of social media, according to the findings of a recent conference, Social Media in Financial Services. (18/01/2010)
Paradigm to launch jargon-free website for Bee (FTadviser.com)
Paradigm Partners, IFA support services business launched in 2007 by Paul Hogarth, is to launch www.jargonfreepensions.co.uk later this week to coincide with Steve Bee’s arrival as managing pensions partner. (18/01/2010)
Customers more likely to shop around for motor cover (PostOnline.co.uk)
International actuarial and business consultancy EMB has found that there has been a marked increase in the number of people who will seek an alternative quote if their motor renewal premium increases by a smaller amount. (20/01/2010)
LinkedFA offers adviser social networking (FTadviser.com)
A social networking site enabling IFAs to connect with investors, clients and peers is set to launch by the end of the month. (21/01/2010)
The Wikipedia definintion of a blog: (a contraction of the term “web log“) is a type of website, usually maintained by an individual with regular entries of commentary, descriptions of events, or other material such as graphics or video.
I am sure you have noticed that not only are blogs achieving higher search rankings and traffic, but they are receiving greater press coverage.
The latest stats around blogging show this is just because Google have brought in ‘real-time’ search. There are more bloggers, more blogs and more people reading them.
- 77% of active Internet users read blogs
- 900,000 blog posts on average are posted every 24 hours
- 59% of bloggers have been blogging for more than 2 years
- Blogs are being written in 81 languages
These stats are all well and good but they do not demonstrate the growing influence they are having on nearly every aspect of society. For this you just need to look at the headlines:
Blogging has historically been an underground form of communication with individuals talking about their opinions on world events, products and brands. Now politicians, athletes, celebrities and journalists all publish blogs to boost their profile, reach a wider audience, talk for informally directly to the public, while gaging public opinion.
The Wikipedia definintion of a corporate weblog: is a blog that is published and used by an organization to reach its organizational goals. The advantage of blogs is that posts and comments are easy to reach and follow due to centralized hosting and generally structured conversation threads.
Corporate blogs are being used by brands within all industries for both internal and external communication. The corporate blog has many benefits. It can generate leads, enhance brand awareness and build the relationship with the consumer through improved understanding of the brand’s personality. This works on both a B2B and B2C level and can be a great place for brands to enter into the world of social media.
Happy new year! Here’s to a prosperous 2010. Now is the perfect time to start planning for the coming 12 months but we understand that the world of social media and SEO can be a daunting place.
Our recommendation to move past this hurdle is that you choose a specific area of your business to focus on and use the sites that will best suit that activity. It is only by setting strategic goals that you are able to calculate the ROI and success on any online activity. One case study that we feel best demonstrates this is IBM who have set up a page of their site, Twitter account and Facebook group that purely focus on their B2B events. IBM’s event page on their website is very easy to navigate and hosts a calendar of global events, as well as podcasts and webinars that can be played through the site or downloaded. It has been well optimised to appear high up in search results on its own merit but also links through to their Twitter account, RSS feeds and other sections of their website.
By focusing a Twitter account purely on events they are able to keep their Tweets very focused and on message providing information and insights before, during and after an event. They link to live streams during an event, their Flickr account of photos after an event and keep conversations going around the topic of the event. The success of this activity can be seen by the 2,254 followers (as of 4th Jan, 2010) and the 86 lists that the account has been added to.
IBM can calculate the success of this activity by looking at the traffic it drives to the live feeds and the web page, as well as seeing if attendee numbers rise. IBM have made a success of online communications on many levels, but this structured approach can be repeated by organisations of any size, and if well thought out and implemented correctly, could lead to new business, increased brand awareness and an enhanced reputation within the professional and digital space.
For further information or to discuss how online communications are relevant to your business please don’t hesitate to get in touch.
Week Commencing – 18th January 2010
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