5 Marketing Technology stories you might have missed 2-4-12

Marketing Technology 5

Marketing Technology Stories you might have missed

MT5 Edition:  #24

Stories This Week: Pinterst blows up, desk.com, Twitter engagement increase, email effectiveness, and social picks a president?

1. Salesforce launches Desk.com

[VentureBeat] Enterprise cloud powerhouse Salesforce has launched Desk.com, a savvy customer support application that connects agents with e-mail, phone calls, and social channels.

My Take: I spoke with Social Support Superstar – yes a triple SSS threat – Mike Pace and he liked the original acquisition. He also likes the small business price point, what remains to be seen is if Salesforce can integrate Desk.com with it’s other online properties like CRM and Radian6.

2. Study confirms Twitter engagement is on the increase

[link] The article pulls out some interesting data from a recent study showing that active use of twitter has grown and that the global use of twitter is increasing.

My Take: Only 27% of tweeted during a 3 month period. Now that doesn’t sound like a lot, but when you figure that some people use twitter in a “read only” mode you actually get a higher # of users.

Email Impact on CMO Goals

Email Impact on CMO Goals

3. Does Email Deliver on CMO Objectives?

[Marketing Sherpa] Their chart of the week shows that email drives website traffic, lead generation, nurturing prospects and building brand awareness. What does it not do well? Increase sales conversion/revenue.

My Take: You have to look at the entire sales process, especially for B2B sales. Just because email doesn’t make the sales doesn’t mean it’s not valuable. Email is good for filling the top of the funnel. Prospective buyers are going to look to other marketing channels, like the information on a website and a direct sales  force, to commit to a sale.

4. Consumers Turn to Social Media for Presidential Campaign Info

[eMarketer] Candidates’ ad agencies invest more heavily in Facebook than Twitter, while Twitter wins out over blogs for more posts about the race.

My Take: I really like the comment from Jordan Bittman of Digitas:

“JFK is considered the first television president. Next year’s victor may well be determined by the impact of Facebook and Twitter”

Pinterest On The Rise

Pinterest On The Rise

5. Pinterest Drives More Referral Traffic Than Google Plus, YouTube and LinkedIn Combined

[Shareaholic] Pinterest drives more referral traffic than Google Plus, YouTube and LinkedIn combined.

My Take: The headline astonishes me but Pinterest is pretty crazy.  Want an example, look at what it did to Christina Refford’s traffic. After her post got pinned (and repinned) her traffic exploded.

5 Marketing Technology stories you might have missed 1-28-12

Marketing Technology 5

Marketing Technology Stories you might have missed

MT5 Edition:  #23

This week: 50 tools you should know, CMAD3, “Showrooming”, Google consolidates its privacy policy and opens to teens.

1. 3rd Community Manager Appreciation Day was Jan 23rd 2012

[Web Strategist] Jeremiah Owyang started CMAD 3 years ago to celebrate and support those who support us!

My Take: I’m glad Jeremiah started the special day to salute community managers. In addition it also raised awareness and helped define the position with greater clarity.

2. Showdown Over ‘Showrooming’

[WSJ] Box retailers are tiring of customers coming to their stores to inspect products then buying them online at a discount. Essentially consumers are using retailers as showrooms.

My Take: Target is trying to squeeze vendors to match price. I just can’t see that working.  So what will work?

Apple is extending its Best Buy program to put Apple outlets in more stores. like Target. Will that be the future? Will Amazon partner with retail stores or open actual its own retail stores?

3. Google Consolidates It’s Privacy Policy

[VentureBeat] Google is changing its privacy policy, consolidating 60 different policies into one. You cannot opt-out of it unless you stop using all Google products.

My Take: This is part of Google’s plan to unify it’s properties under one umbrella. Thankfully you can manage all of your Google apps on one Dashboard as well as download all of your data in Google’s cloud with Takeout.

4. Google+ includes Teens

[Mashable] Google, which had previously barred consumers under 18 from joining Google+, is attempting to avoid such a situation on its network via a series of enhancement aimed at protecting people on the network aged 13-17.

My Take: Google continues to ramp up it’s ability to compete against Facebook (and twitter). It’s easy to forget that Google+ is still a new product. It’s only been broadly available for the few months. Will teens adopt Google+?

Consolidating it’s product platform, opening to teens and allowing for pseudonyms – are all part of it’s competitive strategy.

5. 50 Tech Tools You Should Know About

[CNN] CNN tallied 50 tools/apps that caught its eye.

My faves: Path (love), Flipboard, Hipmunk, Instagram, Pinterest, Tweepi, Zite (love)

BONUS Social media cheat sheet

[Mktg Tech Blog]

 

Social Media Cheat Sheet

Social Media Cheat Sheet

 

 

 

 

5 Marketing Technology stories you might have missed 1-21-12

Marketing Technology 5

Marketing Technology Stories you might have missed

MT5 – #22 Stories this week: new apps for Facebook open graph, dead SOPA, Google includes social in SERP, paid search in B2B, and social ROI. Continue reading

5 CES Products That Caught My Eye


Marketing Technology 5

5 CES Products That Caught My Eye

MT5 – #21

Stories this week: This week I’m bypassing a lot of good news (Google+ into SERP for example) to focus on 5 CES products that caught my eye.

Continue reading

5 Marketing Technology stories you might have missed 1-7-12


Marketing Technology 5

Marketing Technology Stories you might have missed

MT5 – #20

Stories this week: Spotify unlimited streaming no longer free, Ultrabooks are fake technology, huge Google+ growth, Klout picks up $30mm and learn to code.

1. Get Ready To Pay For Spotify Music Service

[link] Spotify launched with 6 months of free desktop streaming. If you signed up when it first released you can expect to get an email soon regarding upgrading to a paid service.  It’s reported that users will be able to stream 10 hours per month for free. In looking at the pricing plans, it appears free users will have to pay $5 to continue to get unlimited streaming.

My Take: Spotify’s product launch has been pitch perfect.  They used klout to launch to influencers and early adopters and their product has worked as advertised.  People are hooked and I expect a number of people really enjoy the service and will gladly pay $5 a month. However, I ALSO expect many to jump back to ad supported (free) services like Pandora.

2. Ultrabook Laptops – Are they “Technology” or “Marketing”?

[link] This Fast Company asked if the laptop is dead, drawing comparisons between the marketing strategies of the once hot, now marginalized, netbook and the Ultrabooks that are set to light up CES next week.

My Take: Here are Ultrabooks being announced at CES. Do they look much different than a typical high-end business laptop to you? To me it seems Ultrabooks are a Marketing ploy, not a new category of laptops.

Google+ Growth in Dec 2011

Google+ Growth in Dec 2011

3. Google+ Sees Massive Traffic Growth in Dec.

[link] Google+ visits jumped 55% in December.

My Take: Maybe a lot of people had time on their hands over the holidays…maybe people are taking Chris Brogan’s advice and setting up their Google+ profile…in any case, Google+ is not a Facebook killer.  It will continue to grow in 2012 because Google is going to use it as a mechanism to unify all it’s properties, but will the sum be greater than the parts?

API Billionaires Club

API Billionaires Club

4. Klout Picks Up C Level Funding

[link] Klout secured $30 in funding.

My Take: Klout gets so much attention for things it is and isn’t. It’s neither savior nor devil – but it is hot.  Look for klout to look past the super influential and focus more on the “kinda influential” in 2012. There are also rumors of a mobile app.

5. Learn To Code

[Code Academy] [Code Year] Sites are popping up that teach you to code. Basic programming is a great skill to have and here are great ways to get started. Since I haven’t used these sites, I don’t know if they are free or freemium.

My Take: It saddens me that I have a Computer Science degree but I don’t code. I’ve forgotten so much that these services are highly attractive to me.  Yet, taking on yet another obligation is against my 2012 resolutions…speaking of which I need to write that post before 2013 hits.

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