Why Social Media is Important and Growing

When social media networks exploded in the early 2000s, most networks were used by friends connecting with one another. Over time, businesses started to see the hidden marketing power locked within these networks.

Thus, some companies began using social media networks as a marketing tool. However, it was mostly an overlooked niche market until a few years ago.

Now?

Social media marketing is one of the most influential forms of marketing in the world today, and most businesses have to have a presence across some of the major networks to be perceived as a legitimate company.

You cannot overlook the importance of social media.

Here is why it is growing.

Ease of Implementing New Campaigns

In the past, putting together marketing campaigns was time-consuming and clunky. You had to make cold calls, set up ads in newspapers, create commercials for TVs, or put together a radio ad.

Social media marketing has solved many of those issues.

No matter the size of your business, putting together a social media marketing campaign is time-efficient and much easier than ads of the past.

Most people, with a little bit of effort, can put together their marketing campaign. They can generate their own followers, post their own content, monitor their own analytics, run their own paid advertising campaigns, and interact with their followers through a social media campaign.

Creating and Sharing Video is Easier

In the past, getting air time was not easy. Not only did you have to find someone to produce your video content for you, but you also had to negotiate with tv networks to show your video.

In addition, monitoring your ROI on your video content was not nearly as simple as today. After getting your video on air, it was nearly impossible to monitor how many people consumed your content and interacted with it.

Now, creating a video is as simple as getting someone to hold a phone for you and hit record.

Once you have that video, you can do with it whatever you want. Between Facebook and YouTube, distributing video content has never been easier.

Social Media Makes the Customer Experience More Interactive

One of the best things about social media is in its name; it is social. Businesses need to interact with their customers to show them that there are real people behind their product that care about the people buying it.

There is no other platform that offers the same level of customer engagement than social media. Companies can build communities, interact with their customers in real-time, answer questions and complaints, and post regular updates.

Also, companies can reach out to their customers in several different ways. They can appeal to customers through blog posts, infographics, videos, and games through networks such as Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram, YouTube, and other platforms across the web.

It is important for companies to recognize the value and trends in social media marketing so that they better understand and utilize the platforms. Although it is just one part of a larger marketing plan, its importance in the marketplace continues to grow.

For those who are not already on some of the major social networks, it’s time to start now.

For those who are already using social media, it is important to monitor trends and look at your analytics reports closely to determine whether your strategy is working.

What problems have you and your company faced with social media? Get in touch with Edkent Media to see how we can help.

 

The post Why Social Media is Important and Growing appeared first on EDKENT® MEDIA.

Why Social Media is Important and Growing

When social media networks exploded in the early 2000s, most networks were used by friends connecting with one another. Over time, businesses started to see the hidden marketing power locked within these networks.

Thus, some companies began using social media networks as a marketing tool. However, it was mostly an overlooked niche market until a few years ago.

Now?

Social media marketing is one of the most influential forms of marketing in the world today, and most businesses have to have a presence across some of the major networks to be perceived as a legitimate company.

You cannot overlook the importance of social media.

Here is why it is growing.

Ease of Implementing New Campaigns

In the past, putting together marketing campaigns was time-consuming and clunky. You had to make cold calls, set up ads in newspapers, create commercials for TVs, or put together a radio ad.

Social media marketing has solved many of those issues.

No matter the size of your business, putting together a social media marketing campaign is time-efficient and much easier than ads of the past.

Most people, with a little bit of effort, can put together their marketing campaign. They can generate their own followers, post their own content, monitor their own analytics, run their own paid advertising campaigns, and interact with their followers through a social media campaign.

Creating and Sharing Video is Easier

In the past, getting air time was not easy. Not only did you have to find someone to produce your video content for you, but you also had to negotiate with tv networks to show your video.

In addition, monitoring your ROI on your video content was not nearly as simple as today. After getting your video on air, it was nearly impossible to monitor how many people consumed your content and interacted with it.

Now, creating a video is as simple as getting someone to hold a phone for you and hit record.

Once you have that video, you can do with it whatever you want. Between Facebook and YouTube, distributing video content has never been easier.

Social Media Makes the Customer Experience More Interactive

One of the best things about social media is in its name; it is social. Businesses need to interact with their customers to show them that there are real people behind their product that care about the people buying it.

There is no other platform that offers the same level of customer engagement than social media. Companies can build communities, interact with their customers in real-time, answer questions and complaints, and post regular updates.

Also, companies can reach out to their customers in several different ways. They can appeal to customers through blog posts, infographics, videos, and games through networks such as Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram, YouTube, and other platforms across the web.

It is important for companies to recognize the value and trends in social media marketing so that they better understand and utilize the platforms. Although it is just one part of a larger marketing plan, its importance in the marketplace continues to grow.

For those who are not already on some of the major social networks, it’s time to start now.

For those who are already using social media, it is important to monitor trends and look at your analytics reports closely to determine whether your strategy is working.

What problems have you and your company faced with social media? Get in touch with Edkent Media to see how we can help.

 

The post Why Social Media is Important and Growing appeared first on EDKENT® MEDIA.

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The Difference between Web and Marketing Analytics

To measure the effectiveness of marketing has always been a challenge for many organizations. According to Unica’s 2011 State of Marketing report, nearly 57% marketing analysts identified “Measurement, analysis and learning” as the central IT bottleneck.

All too often, professionals consider marketing analytics and web analytics as the same thing. However, you should take note that there are major differences between the two and both are essential for your business’s marketing success. In a sense, you cannot succeed without the other.

The Main Difference between Web and Marketing Analytics

Most of the marketers associate the word analytics with metrics that are related to web analytics (i.e. Google Analytics),  which include elements such as unique page views, number of hits on a page, load time, time-on site and bounce rate.

However, they are all not enough to measure the success of marketing performance. Web analytics is very helpful but do not give us a complete picture of how your marketing is going to pan out.

Web analytics focuses on the data that comes from website tracking and a customer’s general presence online. For example, how a customer interacts with your website and how much time they spend on the website. Though such data is very informative, many other factors are interrelated with your website and marketing success. That is why marketing analytics becomes a more practical route to choose.

Marketing analytics deals with the big data; it includes data not only from your website but also from other sources such as social media, emails, events, and blogs. The use of different marketing analytics techniques increases your company’s marketing return on investment (ROI).

It is also helpful when it comes to analyzing the customer preference and current trends. It helps with advertising sense, search engine optimization, and optimization of advertisements.

Marketing analytics mostly focus on ‘people’ and is thus, customer-centric, giving more emphasis to the prospect, lead or customer while web analytics usually consider the page view as the factor of focus.

Importance of Marketing Analytics

Marketing analytics use different techniques to understand the effectiveness of marketing and not just the effectiveness of a business website. It considers the original result and ROI from all of your marketing efforts. Data is not only collected from your website but also from all the channels currently being used for marketing.

These days, marketing analytics has developed by adopting dozens of techniques into one marketing campaign. To understand the full picture, it is necessary to track all the marketing efforts across different channels. You cannot just focus on social media or web data and think you will be able to collect all the data you need. By considering various channels over a period of time, it enhances a marketer’s ability to make better business decisions.

Marketing analytics helps us to evaluate the overall performance of marketing techniques, how they are going and how we can improve them. It figures out all the small details and analyzes the present and future, such as determining which marketing channel is likely to produce a higher ROI.

In marketing analytics, such campaigns are employed which takes the customer into account for a longer period than only the small ‘website viewing’ factor. It addresses questions such as ‘which strategy will attract customers to your business?’ or ‘what will urge them to make a purchase?’

How marketing analytics is better than web analytics

• Marketing analytics provides integration between different marketing channels and helps to understand the relationship across various channels such as social media, blogs and emails. Through this tracking method, you can easily see the performance of multiple channels together.
• Marketing analytics is customer-centric. This means that it focuses on the customer and not just the page view. The collected data reveals the client’s lifecycle. You will be able to track a customer’s needs. You will also be able to find out how they interacted with your business. Did they find you in a Google search? Via social media? Read one of your blogs?
• Marketing analytics help you understand your customer trends and which marketing activities are necessary at each stage of a sales cycle.
• Closed-loop marketing analytics determines which marketing activities generate more sales and which activities contribute to the bottom line. For example, your blog is efficient in producing the leads, but are those leads generating a sale?

Need help assessing your web and marketing analytics? Contact Edkent Media to see how our data-driven methods can contribute to your business’s success.

The post The Difference between Web and Marketing Analytics appeared first on EDKENT® MEDIA.

The Difference between Web and Marketing Analytics

To measure the effectiveness of marketing has always been a challenge for many organizations. According to Unica’s 2011 State of Marketing report, nearly 57% marketing analysts identified “Measurement, analysis and learning” as the central IT bottleneck.

All too often, professionals consider marketing analytics and web analytics as the same thing. However, you should take note that there are major differences between the two and both are essential for your business’s marketing success. In a sense, you cannot succeed without the other.

The Main Difference between Web and Marketing Analytics

Most of the marketers associate the word analytics with metrics that are related to web analytics (i.e. Google Analytics),  which include elements such as unique page views, number of hits on a page, load time, time-on site and bounce rate.

However, they are all not enough to measure the success of marketing performance. Web analytics is very helpful but do not give us a complete picture of how your marketing is going to pan out.

Web analytics focuses on the data that comes from website tracking and a customer’s general presence online. For example, how a customer interacts with your website and how much time they spend on the website. Though such data is very informative, many other factors are interrelated with your website and marketing success. That is why marketing analytics becomes a more practical route to choose.

Marketing analytics deals with the big data; it includes data not only from your website but also from other sources such as social media, emails, events, and blogs. The use of different marketing analytics techniques increases your company’s marketing return on investment (ROI).

It is also helpful when it comes to analyzing the customer preference and current trends. It helps with advertising sense, search engine optimization, and optimization of advertisements.

Marketing analytics mostly focus on ‘people’ and is thus, customer-centric, giving more emphasis to the prospect, lead or customer while web analytics usually consider the page view as the factor of focus.

Importance of Marketing Analytics

Marketing analytics use different techniques to understand the effectiveness of marketing and not just the effectiveness of a business website. It considers the original result and ROI from all of your marketing efforts. Data is not only collected from your website but also from all the channels currently being used for marketing.

These days, marketing analytics has developed by adopting dozens of techniques into one marketing campaign. To understand the full picture, it is necessary to track all the marketing efforts across different channels. You cannot just focus on social media or web data and think you will be able to collect all the data you need. By considering various channels over a period of time, it enhances a marketer’s ability to make better business decisions.

Marketing analytics helps us to evaluate the overall performance of marketing techniques, how they are going and how we can improve them. It figures out all the small details and analyzes the present and future, such as determining which marketing channel is likely to produce a higher ROI.

In marketing analytics, such campaigns are employed which takes the customer into account for a longer period than only the small ‘website viewing’ factor. It addresses questions such as ‘which strategy will attract customers to your business?’ or ‘what will urge them to make a purchase?’

How marketing analytics is better than web analytics

• Marketing analytics provides integration between different marketing channels and helps to understand the relationship across various channels such as social media, blogs and emails. Through this tracking method, you can easily see the performance of multiple channels together.
• Marketing analytics is customer-centric. This means that it focuses on the customer and not just the page view. The collected data reveals the client’s lifecycle. You will be able to track a customer’s needs. You will also be able to find out how they interacted with your business. Did they find you in a Google search? Via social media? Read one of your blogs?
• Marketing analytics help you understand your customer trends and which marketing activities are necessary at each stage of a sales cycle.
• Closed-loop marketing analytics determines which marketing activities generate more sales and which activities contribute to the bottom line. For example, your blog is efficient in producing the leads, but are those leads generating a sale?

Need help assessing your web and marketing analytics? Contact Edkent Media to see how our data-driven methods can contribute to your business’s success.

The post The Difference between Web and Marketing Analytics appeared first on EDKENT® MEDIA.

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