Category: Social Media Marketing

Mobile marketing strategies are lacking among many advertisers

| April 1, 2016

A recent study conducted by Forrester revealed that this is the case despite knowing how important these campaigns are.

Though marketers are well aware of the importance of mobile marketing as a part of their overall strategy, only a small minority actually integrate this channel into their overall advertising mix, says Forrester.

In fact, in the research results, it showed that only 13 percent of marketers have strategically integrated mobile.

Because the mobile marketing strategies appear to be established in a way that leaves out a component that the marketers acknowledge as being highly important, it doesn’t come as much of a shock that Forrester reported that only 27 percent of marketers stated that their return on investment (ROI) for their campaigns was profitable. Equally, a massive 67 percent said they were unable to measure the ROI of their advertising.

Only 20 percent of the participants in this study said they had the budget they would require for mobile marketing initiatives.

Mobile Marketing - Research Most of the marketers who took part in the survey claimed that the resources they had available to them for focusing on mobile advertising were quite limited. Moreover, only 10 percent felt that their companies would be considered to be mobile savvy.

Many marketing firms supplement their capabilities for internal development. The Forrester research revealed that over half – 56 percent – were working with a number of other partners who could support the integration of mobile initiatives. These partners included everything from specialty vendors to agencies and platform providers.

The outcome has been that marketers are still trying to learn the ropes when it comes to how to use mobile marketing techniques, how they work, how they should be implemented and how their successes can be measured. With a lack of in-market mobile programs from which to learn and hone their skills, marketers are trapped in a trial and error phase and are incapable of demonstrating the level of expertise that would be necessary to lure execs, said the research. The report explained that marketers will need to create a solid business case and set aside an appropriate mobile budget to suit the current opportunity available.

The Facebook like button is being joined by more expressive options

| February 26, 2016

Alternatives to the original are including sad, love, and angry to help users express themselves.

The like button on Facebook is an iconic part of online culture, but it is not without its limitations in allowing people who are using the social network to be able to properly express what they think.

For this reason, Facebook has been researching and testing alternatives to that option for quite some time.

Now, in about a half dozen countries, options beyond the like button have been tested out, in order to give users more options to more accurately say what they want to express. Among those options will be “angry”, “haha” as well as three others. They will first become available to the United States as well as the rest of the globe. That said, it’s important to note that it will not change the traditional option to “like” something someone has shared.

The new feature being added beyond the like button will be the Facebook “Reactions”.

Facebook Makes Change to Like ButtonThe reason is that there are many circumstances in which people would like to be able to provide a different kind of reaction or support, in which the word “like” simply does not seem appropriate. For example, if someone has announced that they’ve lost a loved one or a pet has run away, clicking the thumbs up symbol can feel like an unpleasant thing to do, even if the intention is to show support at such a difficult time.

Similarly, when someone shares a story about being wronged by someone else, you may want to show that you’ve read their post and you’re on their side, but clicking “like” just isn’t a direct reflection of what is actually being expressed.

Therefore, there is now an option rolling out that allows the like button to be held (or to have the mouse held over it) for a second or two, in order to open up the new Reactions alternatives, such as sad, angry, wow, haha, and love. This, according to the product design director at Facebook, Julie Zhuo, will make it possible to let users gain “greater control over their expressivity.”