International Social Marketing

Each Thursday at 11am EST, marketers from around the world join the ExactTarget user community on Twitter for a conversation about trends and campaign ideas across the interactive marketing industry.  We call this virtual coffee chat the ExactTarget Café. 

As the sun rises across each time zone, where do consumers start their online day? Your customers' activities first thing in the morning can reveal their priorities and motivations (whether those are business-, social-, or news-oriented), and also provide an indication of how and when to engage with them.

In our 2013 Global Executive Summary, we compare and contrast the findings of our award-winning SUBSCRIBERS, FANS, & FOLLOWERS research series to bring you insight into what consumers worldwide are doing in the morning, as well as how they spend their time on multiple digital marketing...

When people talk about the basic elements of a successful email marketing campaign, there are a lot of facets to consider—responsive design, relevant messaging, personalization, pertinent send time, and beyond. But one facet of a successful email campaign that many marketers regrettably overlook is deliverability. After all, no matter how great the email, if it doesn’t reach the inbox, it can’t be effective.

Which brings us to Sky Angel.

Sky Angel came to ExactTarget in 2007 after experiencing deliverability issues sending emails from their internal servers. As a faith and family television...

Facebook poses unique opportunities—and challenges—for marketers. It’s an inherently social channel where consumers are open to interacting with brands. But because consumers typically think of Facebook as their “personal” space, marketers have to tread lightly with hard-sell messages.

To complicate this balancing act further, consumers have a variety of reasons for “liking” a brand. Overall, however, consumers’ top reasons for becoming Facebook fans are similar to their reasons for subscribing to email. These statistics from ExactTarget's 2013 Global Executive Summary tell the story:

• For...

When it comes to the marketing industry, it’s important to stay ahead of the curve. Not long ago, digital marketing was only a whisper within corporate marketing teams – now it’s here, it’s as competitive as ever and it’s completely changing the way we do business. Here are my predictions for what’s to come over the next year.

Smart, personalised content
It’s time to stop being oh-so-frightened of data capture and start taking advantage of the fact that personalised content makes browsing the web an absolute pleasure! Take Linkedin, for example – simply log in and you’re presented with the...

Bonin Bough, VP of Global Media & Consumer Engagement at Mondelez Brands, presented a webinar with SocialChorus earlier this week. The focus of the presentation was how brands like Oreo and Wheat Thins have been generating consumer advocacy in a marketing world that now largely revolves around social channels and mobile devices.

Probably the most staggering fact shared was this statistic: 3% of brand fans create 75% of engagement. Furthermore, a customer typically has one interaction with a brand per year, while an advocate will have around 12 interactions per year. Clearly, the importance...

I’m not a big fan of country music.

I don’t mean to alienate anyone due to personal preferences, and I’m sure we can find common interests even if country is the only genre on your iPod, but country tunes are just not my favorite tunes to hear.

That being said, one of my closest friends loves country music. We were recently at a restaurant that was playing a country song called “Where I Come From.” I was poking fun at the whole situation because I’d recently heard a completely different country song also called “Where I Come From.”

Lo and behold, there are two country songs with the exact...

In the digital industry, it’s easy to talk about the fall of traditional advertising. While these sources certainly aren’t disappearing forever as many like to suggest, they are most certainly evolving. The Associated Press has long been linked with the print industry. The nonprofit news agency that has worked to fill newspapers is now adapting to the new digital world. In an ironic twist, this longtime print powerhouse is now asking: Are You Adapting?

This video points to the 2012 London Olympics as the tipping point in the sporting world’s digital evolution. We may not have noticed it while...

I had the pleasure of interviewing David Berkowitz, Vice President of Emerging Media at 360i, about the idea of marketing moving towards a cross-, multi-, or omni-channel world. This is the first video in the series where David talks about integration and future of cross-channel marketing. What should brands focus on when building a cross-channel strategy? 

It starts with internal teams. 

How do you believe the channels fit together?

We are seeing all types of integrations happening. It is really exciting in the sense that we have a ton of different angles. You have some marketers who are saying...

Golf is a game of tradition: green jackets, big trophies, and proper etiquette are an essential part of the game. While the rules and traditions have remained the same, the technology on the course has changed rapidly. And now, the technology off the course is catching up.

Traditionally, the PGA Tour has outsourced its digital technology and marketing. In 2013, that is changing and the toughest test may be just around the Amen Corner.  

In the old days (you know, like eight years ago), sports leagues were able to sell their broadcast rights for an extraordinary amount of money, and that was...

When it comes to the job search, social media has almost become self-destructive. With younger and younger generations adapting to technology and social media faster and faster, digital footprints are being created at younger and younger ages.

Last weekend, ExactTarget had the opportunity to sponsor and attend the 2013 Doster Leadership Conference, a student-run event which connects 100 top student leaders from the Krannert School of Management (Purdue University) with corporate representatives for a weekend-long leadership conference in Indianapolis.

The event's hosts had the foresight to...

In this day and age, saying that you're innovative is second nature – almost required. Technology is changing faster than ever and consumers are adapting at rapid pace. However, there are some companies that are acting on their innovation promises and raising the bar. Fast Company recently published their annual list of Top 50 Most Innovative Companies.

The 2013 edition included heavyweights such as Nike, Amazon, Google, Apple, Target, and Ford while also highlighting the successes of relatively small and young companies like Pinterest, Square, Fab, SodaStream, and Yelp. Nike topped the list...

As a nod to the North American International Auto Show starting today in Detroit, we present this bonus #InspiredMarketing Predictions post from Jamyn Edis of Dash Labs. These predictions have been compiled in our new whitepaper, Inspired Marketing Predictions for 2013.

The Automobile Ascends

As the evolution of consumer engagement moves from web to social to mobile, we'll see an increasing desire to leverage the latest innovations. The amusing thing is, a lot of that will be right under our noses— everyday objects. Some people call this the “internet of things.” Others call it “physical...

The popularity of our 140 Twitter Marketing Tips got me thinking about one of our submissions: 

People don't buy from logos. People buy from people. You social engagement should reflect that.

As a B2B social marketer, I often get asked if B2B can actually leverage social media. Even if you are responsible for a B2B social strategy, you are still marketing a product or service to a PERSON.  

As a result (and maybe even more so) B2B brands have to humanize their brand and social provides an easy way to do that. Some ways ExactTarget does this: 

• Our Twitter Background. While our Twitter avatar is...

In this #InspiredMarketing blog series, we are sharing predictions on the future of marketing from 25 industry thought leaders. These predictions have been compiled in our new whitepaper, Inspired Marketing Predictions for 2013. In today’s post, author and strategist Geoff Livingston shares his thoughts.

2013: The Year of Clicks and Mortar

The big shift for social media in 2013 has little to do with technology evolution or new social networks that we'll see. Rather, it will revolve around how brick and mortar businesses—in particular, stores and entertainment venues–integrate social into...

In this #InspiredMarketing blog series, we are sharing predictions on the future of marketing from 25 industry thought leaders. These predictions have been compiled in our new whitepaper, Inspired Marketing Predictions for 2013. In today’s post, Maddie Grant of SocialFish shares her thoughts.

Social Gets Infused in the Business World

We’re in a transitional period in which companies are struggling to integrate social into their business processes, and it goes way beyond marketing. Those that confine social activity to specific sales or marketing “channels” will soon be at a huge disadvantage to...

In this #InspiredMarketing blog series, we are sharing predictions on the future of marketing from 25 industry thought leaders. These predictions have been compiled in our new whitepaper, Inspired Marketing Predictions for 2013. Today, Marcus Nelson of Addvocate shares his thoughts.

The Rise of the Amplified Employee

The 2012 Edelman Trust Barometer revealed the rise of credibility amongst regular employees in social media. The sudden rise in credibility was the greatest increase since 2004—one that should serve as a wake-up call to leaders and communicators.

Consider for a moment that in...

In Part 1 of my interview with Squawka co-founder and CEO Sanjit Atwal, we explored the company's efforts to provide a web application that gives soccer fans access to “Stats worth Sharing.” Today, we dive into how second-screen applications can turn popularity and relevancy into a profit.  

Organizations and brands looking to capitalize on advertising revenue are forced to straddle the fine line of marketing effectiveness versus annoyance during sporting events. Whether it be live and in person, at home on television, or through second screen applications, sports fans don’t always have the...

Twelve organizations - Best Buy, Ford, Hershey Entertainment & Resorts, JetBlue, Intuit, Meetup.com, Microsoft, PepsiCo, Robert Verdi, Inc., Rotary International, Sprint and Waterford Wedgwood USA - have joined an innovative program we’re calling the CoTweet Cohort.

During a six-month period, the companies will use the CoTweet platform as a primary tool for communicating through Twitter and will participate in an ongoing discussion regarding opportunities and best practices for leveraging social media to further business objectives.

The CoTweet Cohort allows participants to share...