Social Media Internet Marketing

The first thing most aspiring marketers learn is the importance of identifying and subsequently engaging those beautiful people called “the audience” no matter where they live online. This lesson gains wholehearted acceptance from everyone in the marketing world. However, the execution becomes complicated, and soon we all learn that feeding something like a blog everyday just simply isn’t enough.

We must put ourselves on the customer's online path.

Think goals first, campaigns second and tactics third.

What’s the goal? Always start there. That’s what the university lecturer taught you a long time...

(Warning: Sarcasm ahead)

Sometimes it’s just too easy. The power to communicate through email, mobile and social is all right there waiting for someone to start flooding the world with information. So you strike out into the world with your content and expect great results.

Using email for monthly news, SMS for quick bites of information and social media for event announcements might seem like a good idea, but you can easily end up with a bunch of disconnected content aimed at way too many targets. At this point, you're just sitting and back hoping for results without a specific goal in mind.

Misu...

As I write this, 93% of UK online consumers are email subscribers and 40% of these subscribers are opening, reading and responding to email on their mobile phones or tablets. If you think these statistics suggest UK consumers prefer email above all channels for receiving offers and information from brands, you are absolutely correct!

A new report from eMarketer confirms why more marketing budget is flowing to permission-based email and why email has become “The Linchpin” of integrated digital marketing strategies.

Among the key findings in the report are these:

• Econsultancy and Adestra’s Email...

This week, Flipboard announced a new version of its application for iPads and iPhones for creating social magazines. It's a very cool product that now has over 50 million users. I watched a demo of the product and recommend you consider creating one of these for your brand, particularly if you are an online retailer that lends itself to a magazine-style format with high quality images and videos.

Here's how it works:

1. Start searching the internet for images using the new content search feature. Any type of content can be included.
2. Select images and "flip it"  into your magazine....

March Madness is only getting madder. The proliferation of social media is driving teams, schools, media, fans, and even mascots to the internet to interact with their fellow basketball loyalists. For those loyalists, the first two days of the NCAA tournament are like a 48-hour Christmas morning. 64 teams, 32 games, upsets, and emerging storylines make this round incredibly exciting on the hardwood and on Twitter.

ExactTarget is headquartered in the Hoosier heartland, so you know we love our basketball. Last week we helped you prepare for the tournament with hashtags, handles and Klout. Now,...

Whether you're an email, mobile, or social media marketer, there's a new piece of research from Motorola that you'll want to get your hands on ASAP. Their 4th Annual Media Engagement Barometer is billed as "a snapshot of the way that people around the world are interacting with media," and whether viewed on its own or in combination with another longitudinal survey like The Future of the Internet from the Pew Internet & American Life Project, the breadth of results are pretty impressive.

Upon perusing the report however, my attention immediately focused on page 49 in which Motorola shared...

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...

So you're stuck? Staring at your bracket, you've scribbled, scratched, erased and re-filled your bracket multiple times. Not sure what to do? Let us help. 

They say teams are only as good on the court as they are off the court. Typically, this saying refers to the classroom. In today's digital era, though, perhaps that should apply to the internet. More specifically, maybe the saying should go, "A team is only as good as its social media marketing."  

Either way, we wanted to know how the teams stacked up on Klout. Yesterday we simply gave you the handles and hashtags for each team. Now let's...

Everything was going fine. You had set up your email marketing campaigns properly, all of your subscribers were double opt-in, you were sending emails on the right frequency, and your content was exactly what you had promised.

As far as you knew, people loved this stuff.....

But then, out of the blue, Gmail and the other ISPs started blocking your emails! But why? Why? Because those subscribers aren't interacting with your email anymore. They've become disinterested. They've become what are now known as 'the un-engaged.'

Just sending email to your subscribers isn't good enough

Just sending email...

I am proud to announce the next version of Conversations with ExactTarget. Today's interview is with Mark Schaefer, one of the most acclaimed and accomplished marketing consultants in America with a special emphasis in social media marketing. A few of his recent accomplishments include:

• Forbes magazine “Power 50″ social media influencers of the world
• AdAge magazine “Power 150″ marketing blogger
• TweetSmarter 2011 Twitter User of the year
• Peer-elected 2011 B2B Twitter User of the Year
• B2B Magazine (UK) social media book of the year: Tao of Twitter
• Author of two best-selling marketing books
• Seven...

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...

Communication is changing and changing rapidly. Consumers are awash in technology (desktops, laptops, smartphones, and tablets) that facilitates unprecedented mobility and social connectivity. And mobility is leading the charge. 

We believe that 2013 will be the year of mobile return on investment. Marketers have already invested the resources into experimenting with content marketing throught mobile and now is the time to act.

We had the pleasure of partnering with Compendium and the Marketing Tech Blog to produce this infographic on content marketing in the mobile age. Below you will find the...

In the fast-moving world of cross-channel marketing, it’s almost impossible to keep up with the news as it happens. Luckily, the Content Marketing team here at ExactTarget is here to help! We’re always on the lookout for fresh, interesting content, to help you stay up-to-date with the latest news and trends.

Here are a few of the top stories, posts, and other content that caught our eye this week:

World Internet Stats: Websites, Email, Social Media, and More (Marketing Profs)

Case Study: Where's the Best Place to Put Your CTA? (Unbounce)

10 Tools for Creating Infographics and Visualizations (SEOmoz)

9...

The margin for error in Marketing has become razor thin. Here are five "MegaTrends" that underscore why marketing professionals need to be at the top of their game in 2013.    

MegaTrend #1: Customers are More Informed, More Influential, and Less Patient

Today’s customers are better connected, more informed, and more technically savvy than even 3-5 years ago. They have considerably more access to information to make smarter purchase decisions. They are much less patient with brands that do not deliver the information and offers they want. And they are much more vocal in expressing satisfaction –...

ExactTarget is fortunate to serve some of the best brands in the world, and many of them understand how important it is to mine for customer preferences or brand advocates, improving the overall performance of their marketing campaigns. There are plenty of tools to help you do this, but the reality is, most brands are ignoring data that’s right underneath their noses!  I love this tweet from Olivier Blanchard @thebrandbuilder

"Only 59% of B2C companies use social media for market research. ‪http://bit.ly/UXXQP8  (No wonder SM isn't working for 41% of B2C companies.)"

ExactTarget partners with Vis...

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...

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, blogger and social media specialist Andre Bourque shares his thoughts.

Beneath the Surface: Storytelling in 2013

For years, Seth Casteel photographed dogs leisurely floating in pools and playing in water fixtures. It wasn't until one of these animals lunged for a toy and dove into a pool that he captured an entirely new and revealing perspective on an...

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, Phil Szomszor of Firefly Communications shares his thoughts.

B2B Social Media Comes of Age

A recent eConsultancy survey found that 67% of marketing decision makers agreed that social media is integral to their marketing mix (and only 11% disagreed). But when I speak to B2B marketing and PR leaders, the received opinion is that social media is a “consumer...

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...

Over the next several weeks, we will be 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, Matt Blumberg of Return Path shares his thoughts.

Consumers Will Fall in Love with Email (Again)

In 2013, consumers will start discovering what industry insiders are already seeing—email is cool again. For the record, it’s always been cool. But it’s been a long time since so many new ideas about email came to light. This burst of new development offers a glimpse into the...