Thursday, August 29, 2013

Social Media Lags Further As Online Sales Driver

Social media is lagging as a direct traffic source to e-commerce websites and as a driver of online retail purchases, despite despite brand investment, according to research by Monetate, an online customer experience engine. Monetate's data from online shoppers in the first quarter of 2013 found that social media represented just 1.55% of all e-commerce traffic, way behind search (31.43%) and trailing e-mail (2.82%). Even more disappointing for marketers, social media traffic numbers in the first quarter of 2013 were actually down from the same quarter of 2012, when they were at 2.36%. The data leads researchers to question brand retailers' approach to social marketing. "We know that social media plays an important role in influencing social purchases. To what degree brands are able to leverage social to build loyalty is the next big question," stated Blair Lyon, vice president of marketing for Monetate, in a PRNewswire release. For more research findings, see the Multichannel Merchant report at http://multichannelmerchant.com/crosschannel/social-media-declining-for-online-purchases-22052013/#_

Tuesday, August 27, 2013

Mobile App Targets by Social Media Data, Location

Summer is when advertisers must catch folks on the move, so it's no surprise to see a surge in mobile app debuts. UberMedia , for one, unveiled its UberAds product that targets app users based on their social media data and location. “So if you follow Tom Cruise on Twitter and are near a theater, you could see an ad for movie tickets,” explained Bill Gross, UberMedia CEO, in an Adweek article. NBCUniversal tested the UberAds' mobile apps network to promote Tom Cruise's sci-fi movie Oblivion and earned a 4% click-through rate that was significantly higher than the industry average of 1%. Doug Neil, senior vice president of digital marketing at NBCUniversal, told Adweek that the Oblivion ads created 2 million mobile impressions while homing in on Cruise’s 3.9 million Twitter followers and other mobile app users. For more on summer mobile initiatives, see the story at http://www.adweek.com/news/advertising-branding/summer-could-be-breakthrough-mobile-advertising-149632