The overwhelming majority of shoppers look to online searches before shopping locally. Therefore, it’s important for marketers to consider local search, especially for e-commerce websites that sell in-store as well as online. Local search has been, and will continue to be, an important resource for marketers to reach their customers.

The power of local SEO can help elevate sales—both in-store and online. By investing in strategies such as local SEO, marketers can reach prospective clients at the very moment in which they are searching. Local search optimization helps drive this process by providing the right content in the right places at the very moment of search, which inevitably leads to higher conversion rates. And unlike browsing several websites for a deal, consumers who are on the lookout for local businesses typically need a service or product immediately. This is why retail stores and restaurants are prime examples of businesses that can benefit from local SEO.

Google and other major search engines are working to adapt their search results in order to provide increasingly relevant information to their users. As a result, local businesses should utilize the power of search engine optimization to help elevate their results. Even though search engine listings, reviews and local directory citations are important and influential for rankings, one of the most overlooked tactics for local SEO is on-page optimization — which accounts for almost 20% of the factors that influence local search ranking.

Many marketers are overlooking on-page optimization as part of their local and overall digital marketing strategies. In order to be successful and indexed by search engines, sites need to be optimized with detailed and accurate business contact and location information.

There are three strategies in which businesses normally utilize in order to provide on-page location content to their consumers, but only one provides the maximum benefit for search engine rankings. We will explain each method and explain its influence on search engine rankings:

1. iFrame location finders

Lowes takes the hassle out of home improvement and repair with quality service and exceptional products. We love their website—their get inspired section is fantastic content. However, Lowes is missing out when it comes to local search optimization. When a location finder such as this is housed within an iFrame, it is impossible for search engines to index local content. In this example, you will notice how the URL remains the same, regardless of which location selection is made.

 2. Location-based content management platforms

Ann Taylor makes beautiful clothing that appeals to women of all ages and inspires them each to be (and look) their best each and every day. Their main product pages of their website are clean and easy to use. However, once you navigate to their store locator, you notice a shift in the overall aesthetics of the page — an ever so slight shift from the rest of the branding is evident.

Ann Taylor is not getting all of the benefits for each location when it comes to local SEO. Notice how only the zip code changes and is displayed once a search has been conducted. No individualized landing pages exist. In this example, only the zip code changes in the URL based on selections made in the location finder.

 3. Dedicated landing pages housed under a primary domain

Jiffy Lube helps keep vehicles running. They are the pioneers in the quick oil change and have more than 2,000 locations. Their location finder is a prime example of how to create individualized landing pages for each location. This final strategy is the only way to index individual locations for search engines. By adding dedicated local pages — each with a unique URL — search results will be optimized to get customers in the door more often. Jiffy Lube not only has dedicated local landing pages, but provides each with local service information. When combined with paid advertising and social media marketing, Jiffy Lube will find a huge benefit to having such detailed information about each of their locations.

Win with local search optimization

Local SEO improves a brand’s search results and helps keep them at the top of rankings when potential customers are looking for products or services. Remember each landing page should include the following:

• Complete and accurate contact information.
• A description of services that are offered from any given location.
• Structured data, which helps assist with search indexation.

Last year’s U.S. eCommerce holiday spending season fell slightly short of initial forecasts, but continued to grow 14 percent over 2011. comScore presented its “State of the U.S. Online Retail Economy, Q3 2013” (SOR13) webinar, which offered some exciting 2013 holiday spending forecasts for retailers as well as insights into opportunities for digital marketing strategy this year and beyond.

This year’s holiday season is the shortest it has been since 2002, with approximately 6 fewer days of shopping than last year. However, concerns over unemployment and rising consumer prices have lessened, laying the groundwork for an exceptionally promising Q4 2013. When comparing Q3 2013 to Q3 2012, for example, total dollar sales are up 13 percent to $47.5 billion. Additionally, total dollars spent per buyer is up 13 percent and the number of transactions per buyer is also up by 10 percent. Although the total number of buyers has not changed, consumer purchasing power is showing signs of improvement.

To capitalize on the emerging trends outlined by comScore, we have broken down the major takeaways as well as outlined the implications and key opportunities for digital marketers.

eCommerce continues to necessitate resource allocation adjustments

Desktop eCommerce sales are up 12% year-over-year from 2012, setting a potential for $300 billion in overall sales for 2013. With desktop eCommerce outpacing total consumer retail spending, 2013 may be the final call for all marketers to respond by shifting their marketing budgets toward digital strategies. Although users are discovering brands on a multitude of channels, many marketers simply haven’t kept pace or made adjustments for the continuously growing eCommerce trend.

comScore also indicated that shifts to eCommerce stem from new segments of people coming into the market who have graduated, embrace technology, are comfortable with online shopping and now have purchasing power. All digital marketing, from search engine optimization, social media marketing, paid advertising and mobile-optimized websites, will be key moving forward.

For digital advertising, retailers should consider content that calls out their free shipping options. Across segments, retailers are noticing that consumers are driven by free shipping and free returns. This trend will continue to drive online sales.

2013 may be the last opportunity to get a solid foothold on mobile commerce.

Mobile buying now accounts for approximately 11 percent of all ecommerce. And it will only continue to grow. For the first time ever, the majority of internet users now browse on multiple platforms. As of September 2013, approximately 54 percent use both desktop and mobile (smartphone and/or tablet devices) to browse the web and shop online. Marketers must respond with integrated, cross-platform strategies to reach consumers.

In fact, as of August 2013, more digital users engage with brands on their smartphone than on their desktop. The smartphone market saw a 24 percent increase year-over-year to reach 140 million users and tablets had an incredible 60% year-over-year growth to reach 70 million users.

App versus website shopping is still a point of major debate, but depends primarily on the retailer. eBay and Amazon see most shopping and browsing from apps, whereas many other companies are still seeing users gravitate toward mobile browsers. It is, however, still critically important for all eCommerce sites to drive app usage and incentivize downloads. As mobile continues to take over the majority of browsing, it will be critically important to have a foothold in the channel shift. Those that do not risk losing market share.

comScore anticipates that during the 2013 holiday season, mobile commerce will reach its highest percentage of total digital commerce at approximately 12 percent and approach nearly $10 billion in total spending.

It’s time to take advantage of Pinterest and the power of social commerce.

Pinterest is one of the fastest growing websites of all time; its content is image-based collections of primarily retail-centric commodities, making it an excellent social platform for marketers to drive eCommerce sales. Beyond its huge opportunity for marketers overall, Pinterest now has more mobile users than desktop users, yet another consideration for digital marketers moving forward.

Beyond Pinterest, Facebook will continue to help drive online sales. Beyond likes and fan acquisition it will be important for marketers to follow the steps to optimize their social presence and drive Facebook engagement into sales. Brands must reach users in their news feeds with excellent content that their fans then engage with and share to their networks. Quality content when combined with strategic ad placement can help boost conversions and directly influence sales growth.

Conclusion

In order to keep up with emerging trends in eCommerce, mobile purchasing, and social media, marketers must make budget and resource allocation adjustments. As the state of the U.S. economy continues to improve, these changes will be critical for the 2013 holiday shopping season and beyond.

Posted by Zog Digital

I agree with Kim who says that Facebook makes a weak showing when it comes to ad performance for direct response marketing (lead generation), especially compared to comparable offerings from Google. But what about Facebook vs. Twitter?

But I believe, and new data from the marketing agency Accuracast shows, that people still prefer non-paid ads

What is your experience?
William Cosgrove



Twitter’s initial public offering (IPO) is approaching, and Twitter just raised its price range to $23-$25, suggesting it’s feeling optimistic about the outcome. Investors may be a little more nervous though. According to polls, just 35% of Americans think buying Twitter stock is a good idea, whereas 51% of Americans thought Facebook stock was a good idea before its IPO last May.

As for me, I’m not planning to buy any Twitter stock. I’ve always said that Facebook makes a weak showing when it comes to ad performance for direct response marketing (lead generation), especially compared to comparable offerings from Google. But what about Facebook vs. Twitter? The fact is, Facebook ads have improved a great deal since the IPO last year, but Twitter still needs a lot of work as an advertising platform.

I dug into some data to find out if Twitter ads actually work and how they measure up to Facebook. I compared the two social networks in four categories:

• Network Reach – Which platform reaches the largest audience?
• Ad Performance – Do Facebook and Twitter ads drive real results?
• Mobile Ad Performance – Which social network owns the mobile space?
• Ad Formats – Who offers the most varied and effective ad types?

What I found is that Facebook is doing OK, but not great by any means – see one Forrester analyst’s recent open letter to Mark Zuckerberg, pointing out that Facebook comes dead last on a satisfaction index of digital marketing channels. Still, in terms of key numbers like Revenue per Visitor, Facebook is beating Twitter.

Let’s look at the data in more detail.

Twitter Vs. Facebook: Network Reach

Facebook gets an A+ for network reach, with 1.15 billion active users that share 4.75 billion items daily.

Twitter has decent reach, but not nearly as large, with 232 million active users posting 500 million tweets a day.

According to the Wall Street Journal, that’s just not enough of an audience for some advertisers. This much smaller reach is probably why Twitter claims just 13% of social media advertising budgets compared to 57% for Facebook.

Twitter Vs. Facebook: Ad Performance

It’s difficult to make an exact apples-to-apples comparison of ad performance on Twitter versus Facebook, because Twitter doesn’t release all the same metrics. But here’s what we do know:

According to AdWeek, “engagement rates” for Twitter ads can be as high as 1-3%, much higher than Facebook’s average CTR of 0.119%. The benefit for Twitter is that its ads are in-stream, rather than pushed off to the side. However, average CPM (cost per impression) is significantly higher on Twitter, at up to $3.50 compared to an average CPM of $0.59 on Facebook, and Twitter does not release stats on ROI (109% for Facebook).

One exact comparison is revenue per visitor (RPV): $0.93 for Facebook compared to $0.44 for Twitter. Facebook’s RPV is double that of Twitter’s, but note that Twitter’s RPV is up 300% year over year, while Facebook’s RPV has only improved by 39% YoY. (Facebook’s first click revenue per visitor is also double that of Twitter: $1.63 and $0.82, respectively.) Further, share of social referred visits is down for Facebook (at 62%, down 20% YoY), while Twitter’s share of social visits is just 6.8%, but growing fast, up 258% year over year).

Some further considerations:

• Twitter claims that Promoted Trends provide a 22% lift in brand conversion, 30% lift in positive mentions and 32% lift in retweets. These promoted trends can cost more than $200,000 a day, 33% more than they cost in 2012.
• Facebook ad performance varies greatly by vertical. For example, average CPC for alcohol brand ads is 45% higher than average. Gaming ads, on the other hand, have 30% higher CTR than average and 40% lower cost per click. (PDF)
• An AdAge survey ranked five online advertising platforms in terms of importance by ROI. Google was the clear winner, followed by Facebook, and then Twitter.

By my estimation, Twitter still has a lot to prove, maybe even more than Facebook.

Twitter Vs. Facebook: Mobile Ad Performance

In some ways, Twitter has the advantage here – on smaller mobile screens, it’s even more important for ads to be well-designed and feel organic. Because Twitter ads show up in the timeline instead of off to the side, they’re in a better position to dominate on mobile. Facebook ads, on the other hand, are in the right rail, which doesn’t even exist on the Facebook mobile app. As such, Facebook is failing its mobile advertisers.

Note, also, that Facebook only has one native ad format in the Facebook app, the App Promotion Ad. All Twitter ads show up both on desktop and mobile.

Here’s how the two networks are doing in terms of mobile performance metrics:

While Facebook currently leads in mobile market share, expect big growth from Twitter in this area. By 2015, Twitter is expected to net $1.33 billion in worldwide ad revenue, and more than 60% of that will be from mobile ads.

Twitter Vs. Facebook: Ad Formats

In June, Facebook cut its ad format options in half, in response to requests to simplify the system and eliminate redundancies. Facebook’s ad formats now include:

• App ads
• Domain ads
• Mobile app ads
• Offer ads
• Page-like ads
• Page post link ads
• Page post photo ads
• Page post text ads
• Page post video ads
• Sponsored stories

According to Robert Hof at Forbes, “rather than having to plan their campaign around which of 27 ad formats to use, advertisers instead will make choices on what they want to accomplish–such as amassing fans, getting people to install their app, or driving people to physical stores–and Facebook’s ad system will suggest the right kinds of ads to run.” My take is a little more cynical – in my view Facebook basically admitted that more than half of its ad formats didn’t work. This is generally not a great sign.

Twitter’s ad format offerings are much simpler:

• Promoted tweets
• Promoted accounts
• Promoted trends

My guess is they will introduce more ad options in the next year or so. Historically Twitter is slower to release new features than, say, a Google. (Not that the recent shift to include images in timelines is probably meant to increase ad clicks.)

Everyone seems to agree that both Twitter and Facebook are lacking when it comes to tracking, measurement, and analytics.

Conclusion: No Big Winners Here

In summary: Neither Twitter or Facebook is a great advertising option for direct response (lead generation) marketing. The intent just isn’t there compared to search. These social platforms are better for big brand advertising and engaging with your fans through content marketing (soft sells vs. e-commerce). If you have the budget for those kinds of marketing activities, then you’re better off on Facebook than Twitter, but the reality is, neither is all that effective and both platforms have a ton of work to do on the paid side. I suggest they look to Google AdWords and the Google Display Network for inspiration.

By Larry Kim  the founder of WordStream and regular contributor to the Internet Marketing Blog
Title picture Courtesy of the Bloggers’ point of view

 

According to a 2012 study by AOL and Nielsen, 27,000,000 pieces of content are shared every day. By now, the mantra of “content is king” has been relentlessly drilled into our collective heads – but more isn’t always necessarily better.

Quality is important – but how do you know if you’re really producing content that’s engaging your audience? Perhaps even more importantly, how are you measuring the results?

If you write and share it – will they come?

Let’s take a look at several new findings made as a result of a joint study between the Content Marketing Institute, MarketingProfs and Brightcove and what they could mean for next year’s content marketing trends.

Current Trend: Social Media, Newsletters and Blogs Head the Content Marketing Pack

Social media leads the way with 87% of B2B content marketers leveraging one or more platforms.

Not surprisingly, most marketers are promoting their content via social networks. Considering that clicks from shared sites are as much as five times more likely to be shared – it’s easy to see why. But at the same time, social media can seem like you’re marketing in an echo chamber. According to a MarketingLand survey, only 25% of marketers measure the ROI of their efforts down to the actual piece of content.

Most just seem to measure activity (likes/comments) if they measure anything at all – and that’s not giving them the raw data they need to know what’s real discussion, and what’s just background noise.

While nearly 50% of marketers surveyed had a content marketing plan – only 25% could accurately measure results down to the individual pieces of content.

What’s more, are people truly getting anything of value from the share itself (other than recognition from their friends/colleagues), or do they simply click and forget?

The Prediction:

I believe that in 2014, other content marketing avenues will overtake social media – including live events, case studies and (if companies can afford it), branded content tools. These things deliver much more value, brand awareness, backlinks and discussion than a simple social share – and in a marketing channel that’s already overcrowded, these tools present a chance for opportunistic businesses to approach customers from a newer, more helpful angle.

In addition, I predict that 2014 will see the rise of better measurement tools that don’t just track clicks and likes, but actual engagement in the form of discussion, shares across multiple platforms/channels, and actions as a result of those shares. Currently, it’s too cumbersome, expensive and time-consuming for a marketing team to micromanage the analytics for every single piece of content to see how it performed – so companies simply don’t invest in it.

Current Trend: How Brands Measure Success

According to the Content Marketing Institute study, most B2B companies measure success by the oldest internet metric in existence – traffic. But sheer numbers alone will only provide you with so much. Fortunately, sales lead quality ranks behind second, although it lags by almost 10%.

It’s difficult to measure intangible things like quality, but taking steps toward that goal, like creating personas for your target audience members, and matching those up with proper list segmentation can go a long way to putting a “face” with an interaction.

The Prediction:

This coming year, there will still be an emphasis on getting traffic, but many floundering websites are finally starting to wake up and smell the conversion coffee. Success will be measured according to the metrics that matter for that particular industry – whether it’s number of downloads, order volume, quality leads or a combination of those criteria.

Current Trend: What Type of Content is Created Most?

Industry Trends lead the way, with leadership profiles not far behind.

According to the chart above, content marketing focusing on industry trends are leading the way, with lesser degrees focusing on leadership profiles, company details, or even going so far as to try and play catch-up with competitors’ content. Industry trends could include breaking news, just-released software reviews, better practices or upcoming changes in the law or other facets of the business. Decision maker profiles could give readers a glimpse behind the scenes of the people who are leading the way in the aforementioned industry trends.

But if you look carefully at this chart – you’ll see that a lot of emphasis is placed on the company itself, industry methods, and people within the company.

STOP IT.

This is why most content marketing efforts are essentially spinning their wheels in the mud. Not a single one of these has anything to do with the real reason why people and businesses are consuming content:

Relevancy.

Keeping a finger on the pulse of news, learning about industry leaders and the companies they lead are all well and good – but none of these things get to the heard of what’s on every company and customer’s mind – What can this do for me?

The Prediction

In 2014, I’d expect to see this graph radically changed. Content needs to be tailored to fit the needs and unanswered questions of the target audience. Specifically:

• Shift from industry news and trends to “Here’s how you can use these trends to grow your own business – and how our company can help.”
• Exchange profiles of decision makers to focus on customer/company success stories – detailed case studies that show a marked, measurable result.
• In place of company characteristics, ask “Why should I trust you? What can you offer me that no one else can?”

Tailoring content to where customers are in the buying cycle is a tried-and-true sales method, and I believe more and more marketing teams will take the time to properly engage their customers based on not only their place in the sales funnel, but their individual needs and expectations.

Again, we’re measuring many intangible, potentially unquantifiable things here – and it’s hard to pin down personalization and results into something as concrete as an analytical tool, but there’s no clearer route to earning a customer’s business, loyalty and trust.

At the same time, looking to a competitor’s content to see what steps to take is like the blind leading the blind. Do your own tests and use that data to understand what truly works for your website and your business.

Getting Ready for the Year Ahead

With all this information, how can you best prepare yourself for the year ahead?

• Create your own Case Study – Not only is it a terrific resource for backlinks, but it also propels you on to becoming a recognized authority in your field.
• Or Host a Live Event in Your Area – This is a great way to reach out to local businesses and entrepreneurs while sharing ideas and resources.
• Look for Ways to Measure the Impact of Your Content Marketing – Not just in terms of raw numbers, but in the actions that occurred after the fact.
• Refocus Content on the Consumer – Most content marketing is more marketing than content. How can consumers benefit from what you’re sharing? Why should they pay attention to it?

No One is Right Every Time

We may be completely blindsided by a new technology that brings us even closer to that marketing sweet-spot of connecting with buyers and persuading them to act. Until then, however, content marketing is one of the best ways to encourage engagement and interaction. We’ll look back at this article this time next year and see how right (or wrong) these predictions turned out to be!

Share Your Content Marketing Predictions for 2014!

Where do you think content marketing is headed? Share your own predictions in the comments!

By Sherice Jacob

I’m a child of Descartes. I grew up in a rational world where logical thinking was the best weapon against ignorance, the right way out of dogma, and I still think today that it’s a decent objective.

I had believed in rational behavior when it came to my credit card, too. I had never considered lining up for two hours (let alone two days) for the privilege of buying an expensive phone bearing a fruit logo. At least, not because of the fruit logo. I had believed that specifications, performance, price and ROI should be essential contributors to my buying decisions just as math, physics and other sciences are essential contributors to my understanding of the world.

But as I moved forward in life and in business, I’ve become increasingly sensitive to the power of the intangible, to the realm of the unexplained and to the legitimacy of feelings, myths and impulses to comprehend the world. Although it’s biologically questioned, the conceptual “left vs. right” dichotomy of the brain remains a good proxy to understand our decision processes. And when it comes to business, the shining power of our right, intuitive, emotional brain confirms Tim Sanders’ claim: “Love is the killer app.” Just like everyone else, I’m also irrational (much to my initial dismay), and victim of the power of brands.

In your business world where lawyers and bottom lines have so much power, how much of your decision process is based on love rather than on objective evidence and computable demonstration?

Bansky, the famous street artist, gave us a convincing hint. He offered some of his original artworks for 60 dollars on an anonymous street stall in New York. Buying them would have been quite a smart investment. Bansky is a hot property; his pieces regularly attract anything from $40,000 to north of a million! But the stall was not branded. It exhibited naked, intrinsic value. And…barely sold anything ($420 in a day). Let’s do the math: a $60 investment for a $40,000 market value, that’s less than 0.15% of the price allocated to its intrinsic value (its performance, so to speak); the rest, a hefty 99.85%, lies in the power of the brand. And if I had bought one of this canvas and sold it the same day, I would have made a mighty 67,000% return!

Watch the video here – and enjoy the bonus hug from Bansky:



This example with the street artist Bansky reminded me of a similar experience with Joshua Bell, who played for tips in a metro station in Washington, DC. Joshua is one of today’s most acclaimed violinists. He played Johan Sebastian Bach, arguably one of the strongest long-term brands in music: JSB is the Coca Cola of cantatas, Steve Jobs turned contrapuntist! Joshua played on a Stradivarius, the ultimate violin brand and undisputed worldwide leader for the last 300 years. Joshua, Johan Sebastian and Stradivarius collaborated to create the ultimate musical experience and value. But they delivered it raw, unbranded, naked, and free.  It went totally unnoticed. Joshua made $32 for a 45-minute performance, an hourly rate on par with Bansky’s stall, ridiculously below the market value of their relative brand.

Take a break, sooth your soul, enjoy Bach by Joshua:


Joshua and Bansky have, intentionally or not, developed and earned their brand equity through a long and complex process. But we, the unsavvy audience, the serendipitous passers-by, the market, we value these resulting brands more than their talents, more than their intrinsic performances. To such an extent that it’s even reasonable to say that now, we value only their brands.

According to Urban Dictionary, a "Belieber" is one who is an obsessive fan of Justin Bieber; a person who loves Justin Bieber and believes in everything he can do. This mashup of believer and Bieber may be an extreme example of fandom, but it is a powerful one. It's easy to dismiss Beliebers as just teenage lunatics, but these "lunatics" are exactly what's missing from many of today's brands -- Passionate Advocates.

Justin Bieber has a fan base that is widely known as passionate and captivated, and more than willing to advocate on his behalf. Brands have traditionally used top-down marketing strategies such as advertising, PR, events/sponsorships or direct marketing, but advocacy is a relatively new venture for many organizations. An advocacy-focused marketing strategy helps brands to build the equivalent of Justin Bieber's avid "Belieber" fan base. With over 46 million Twitter followers who retweet, comment and repost his content, we have from a marketing perspective a perfect example of brand advocacy at work. He engages with his fans regularly to develop a relationship with them, fostering advocates who readily market on his behalf. They attend his events, market his products to their network and start their own communities to engage with likeminded fans. Most marketers would agree that brand advocacy programs are a good idea but the ultimate challenge is finding customers that are willing to display their passion for your brand. Social media has definitely made it easier for brand advocates to share their opinions. But what truly drives people to express their passion and trust for a brand and how can marketers encourage them to remain advocates?

Here are some simple steps to create a customer advocacy program that will generate the genuine passion your brand needs while helping your brand to achieve company growth and awareness:

1. Measure Positive Effects of Advocacy
   Measure ROI with real-time dashboards and analytics. A simple positive/neutral/negative tracking system does little to help understand the degree of recommendation around a brand. Instead, brands should pursue a more advanced tracking system that looks at the ability to increase advocacy over time and identifies key drivers. Know when customers promote your product, how many people they reach, who they convert into new customers and how much resulting revenue they generate for your brand.