Blogging

Social media marketing is a hot topic, with 75% of marketers planning to initiate or increase social media use next year. With larger budgets and more time devoted to social media will come increased pressure to demonstrate ROI.

While it’s not necessarily difficult to show an ROI from social media, accurately measuring the return on investment is challenging for at least three reasons. First is the problem of “last click attribution.” A recent study found a 50% CTR increase in paid search when consumers were exposed to both social media and paid search for a brand, but if the actual click comes from AdWords, good luck convincing your executives that social media efforts led to that click. Similarly, a click-through from Twitter or Facebook may have been influenced by any variety of other online and offline marketing efforts, so giving 100% credit to social media for lead may be overstating the case.

For the complete story, read Three Challenges in Measuring B2B Social Media ROI on the B2B Online Marketing blog.

*****

Contact Tom Pick: tomATwebmarketcentralDOTcom

Go here to see the original:
3 Reasons it’s Tough to Measure the ROI of Social Media

Marketing automation software vendor Marketo today announced the launch of its Marketo Lead Management 3.0 software suite. With more than 200 new features, the release is the most significant since the product’s initial launch in early 2008.

Promising deeper support for a “conversational model of marketing,” the new release provides 75 user interface enhancements as well as new features including:

• More fine-grained control over segmentation, targeting, and triggering;
• “Progressive profiling” on forms (i.e. additional profile is requested as a prospect moves through an interactive process);
• Native integration with Salesforce.com;
• Web visitor profiling; and
• Automated duplicate lead removal.

Pricing starts at $1,500 per month and the company now has more than 150 midmarket and enterprise customers.

Marketo competes with products such as Eloqua, Silverpop Engage B2B (formerly Vtrenz), Marketbright and Manticore in the marketing automation / demand generation space. Less directly, the company competes functionally with website visitor profiling / post-click marketing vendors such as LeadLander, LEADSExplorer, DemandBase and VisitorTrack, and even with demand creation service providers like oppSource.

Companies seeking to improve the efficiency of their lead generation and lead management processes should first identify the gaps in their existing processes and most pressing needs before beginning a vendor evaluation process. But with an established platform and 200 enhancements in its new release, Marketo Lead Management 3.0 is definitely worth a look for midsize and larger enterprises who have focused internal lead management resources.

*****

Continued here:
Marketo Releases Marketo Lead Management 3.0

It’s a widespread and persistent quandary for marketers, particularly B2B marketers who use white papers as a lead generation incentive for response: on the one hand, if you place a contact form in front of your content, you’ll get a very low conversion rate (on average, 95% of visitors will simply leave the site, and one-third of those who remain will enter bogus information). On the other, if you leave your PDF content open, more people will download your materials but you get no information: who are these visitors? Are they actually reading your content? Printing it? Passing it along? Leaving your content open may actually produce more leads in the long run, but you have no way to measure that with any precision (or even know for sure if that’s the case).

How do you maximize the return on the investment you’ve made not only in producing valuable white papers and other content, but also in driving traffic to it through search engine advertising, email marketing, banner ads and other media? Particularly in this economy, when budgets are being squeezed and marketers are mandated to do more with less, how can you exceed “typical” results and get more than 2-3% of your visitors to raise their hands?

My first post on this topic looked at one possible answer, “post-click marketing” services that extract visitor IP information from your website log files, filter out ISPs and then match remaining network information to various databases to show you, in real time, who is visiting your website and what information they are viewing. Although the term “spyware” is unfair, these services still make some marketers uncomfortable as they are collecting information without the specific consent of visitors. Wouldn’t it be great if there was a way to get a higher percentage of visitors to voluntarily provide you with their contact information?

A unique new SaaS offering from Vitrium Systems called Docmetrics may do exactly that.

How Docmetrics Works

Once you are set up with their online service (no software to install), you upload your PDFs—white papers, case studies, product data sheets etc.—to your Docmetrics account. Next, create custom Flash forms using Docmetrics tools to collect user information. Insert these forms into your documents; for a white paper, you may want to place the form on page 2 or 3; for content you wouldn’t normally “gate” with a contact form, such as a product sheet, you can put the form at the end of the document. Finally, download your PDFs with the contact forms now inserted and upload these to your website.

When a visitor comes to your site, they can download any PDF without completing an on-site contact form. When they reach the page in your PDF with the Docmetrics Flash form inserted, the form will appear asking them for their contact information. You have the option of requiring completion of the form in order to read the remainder of the document (e.g. with a white paper), or providing a “skip” button on the form so the form submission is voluntary.

On the back end, the Docmetrics system collects all activity information. Typcially, you have no idea what happens to your PDFs once they are downloaded from your website. With Documetics, you get complete tracking—number of times the document was opened, how much time was spent on each page, number of times it was forwarded, printed etc.

Why It’s Cool

The folks at Vitrium claim that Docmetrics dramatically increases—by up to 10X—lead capture rates for normally gated content (such as white papers), while for the first time enabling the collection of contact information from content that isn’t normally gated (e.g. product sheets and case studies).

It also, as noted above, provides activity statistics on PDF content to help marketers improve their offerings. If white paper A has a much higher pass-along rate than white paper B, and gets printed more often, and users on average spend more time with it, then…develop more content like white paper A. That kind of data has just not previously been available for PDF content.

I’m still at the stage of working with selected clients to test this technology, so I can’t vouch for the increase in lead capture rates—though I plan to write a follow-up post once I have that data. For now, it’s sufficient to note that if the increase in conversion rate is even 20% of what Vitrium claims, the product will pay for itself. If Docmetrics provides half the increase in conversion rate claimed, it will make you a rock star with your boss or client.

What to Watch Out For

There really doesn’t appear to be much in the way of a downside to this service. It is possible that your PDFs may not display properly for prospects using older versions of Flash, although 1) this should affect only about 5% of viewers according to Vitrium, and 2) the next release, planned for February, will resolve this problem. Docmetrics offers a free trial, so it’s easy to test drive the software and draw your own conclusions.

Pricing

Monthly fees start at $100 and are based on the number of PDF documents tracked. Contact Vitrium to get more exact pricing for your situation.

*****

Contact Tom Pick: tomATwebmarketcentralDOTcom

Excerpt from:
Getting More Out of Each Click, Part 2: Docmetrics

The best research tells you not only what’s happening, but why. Check out these posts, more of the best so far in 2008, on web marketing and Internet research to sate your curiosity, make better marketing decisions, and arm yourself with online trivia knowledge.

Which blogs do reporters read? What are the top uses of the Internet after email and search? What type of online advertising is growing while banners and PPC ads flatline? What’s the next big trend in blogging? Which information sources have the greatest influence on consumer purchasing decisions? Read on to learn all of this and more.

Top Blogs Used by Reporters & Journalists by Mequoda Daily

There are lots of “top” blog lists out there, but which blogs really have influence with traditional media? This article reports on a study of the blogs read by more than 450 reporters in technology, lifestyle, health care, travel, and politics. It would have been nice to see more than a handful of results in each category, but the results are interesting nevertheless.

Pew/Internet Search Engine Use Report by MIT Technology Review

A high-level overview of a recent study of search engine use conducted by the Pew Internet and American Life Project. Search engines are now used on daily basis by half of all Internet users. Search is the second-most common use of the Internet after email. More than twice as many people said they checked the weather on the Internet daily as reported visiting a social networking site (weird). There’s lots more here for data junkies.

18 Ways to Power Search Google by The Inquisitr

Blogging evangelist Duncan Riley provides an excellent list of tricks for searching out specific types of information on Google, such as specific types of documents, backlinks, phone listings, movie times and metric conversions. Highly bookmarkable.

Is online advertising losing its luster? by iMedia Connection

Neal Leavitt reports on a recent study by market research firm Borrell Associates which contends that while spending on online display ads and search advertising will soon peak then begin falling, expenditures on online promotions (e.g., contests, giveaways, coupons, sales of half-price gift certificates) will triple over the next five years to become the biggest category in online marketing. Others (such as Rob Enderle) aren’t so sure; promotions may be easy to measure, but without advertising support, they can lose a lot of effectiveness.

Porn passed over as Web users become social: author by Reuters

Reporter Belinda Goldsmith summarizes a few of the key findings revealed by author Bill Tancer in his new book Click: What Millions of People Are Doing Online and Why it Matters. Among the findings: ceiling fans are on the list of people’s top fears alongside social intimacy and rejection; there’s an annual spike in searches for anti-depression drugs around Thanksgiving time in the United States; and surfing for porn has dropped in teh last decade from 20% of searches to about 10%. The hottest Internet searches now are for social networking sites, and the biggest drop in porn interest is among 18-24 year olds.

What’s Next In Blogging? by Search For Blogging

Über blogger Mert Erkal reports some interesting stats on the continued growth and evolution of the Internet, and predicts that mobile blogging will be one of the hot new trends.

What causes webinar attendees to bail? by B2B Lead Generation Blog

In this concise but helpful post, b2b lead gen guru Brian Carroll summarizes the findings of a MarketingSherpa report on the top reasons that attendees bail out of webinars, including such common presentation faux pas as reading directly from the slides and starting the webinar with a sales pitch.

State of the Blogosphere 2008 by Technorati

Fascinating details about blogging, advertising and income. Driving home the point that blogging is a great hobby but a tough way to make a living, the median annual advertising income for all bloggers is about $200. The average annual revenue for the top 10% of bloggers is just $19,000.

Why do some companies choose to ignore social media? by Britopian

85% of Americans using social media think companies should have an active presence in the social media universe, yet only 74 of the Fortune 500 companies maintain active blogs. Michael Brito examines why this yawning disconnect persists between corporations and their customers.

Word of Mouth, Online Reviews Most Influential in Purchase Decisions by Marketing Pilgrim

Jordan McCollum summarizes a recent study by Rubicon Consulting which explores the biggest influences on purchasing decisions and consumer perceptions of various websites. Reading this post, you’ll discover that Yahoo is the second-most valued website by consumers, Second Life and Twitter still reach only a few percent of Internet users, and lots of other interesting web trivia.

Search Engine Marketing Trumps Yellow Pages by NewSunSEO Blog

A study conducted in July of this year by TMP Directional Marketing revealed that in 2008, for the first time ever, consumers reported that they were more likely to use the Internet than the yellow pages to find information on local businesses. As someone who hasn’t touched a yellow pages directory in years, other than to start a campfire or toss the old one into the recycling bin, the biggest surprise in this study is that it took until 2008 to reach this point.

Previous posts in this series:

Best of 2008 (So Far) – SEO Guidance, Part 1
Best of 2008 (So Far) – SEO Guidance, Part 2
Best of 2008 (So Far) – Search Engine Marketing, Part 1
Best of 2008 (So Far) – Cool Web Tools, Part 1
Best of 2008 (So Far) – Social Media Optimization, Part 1
Best of 2008 (So Far) – Blogging for Business, Part 1
Best of 2008 (So Far) – Web Marketing Research, Part 1
Best of 2008 (So Far) – Website Design, Part 1
Best of 2008 (So Far) – SEO Link Building
Best of 2008 (So Far) – Search Engine Marketing, Part 2
Best of 2008 (So Far) – Social Media Optimization, Part 2
Best of 2008 (So Far) – SEO Guidance, Part 3
Best of 2008 (So Far) – Cool Web Tools, Part 2
Best of 2008 (So Far) – Blogging for Business, Part 2

*****

Contact Tom Pick: tomATwebmarketcentralDOTcom

See original here:
Best of 2008 (So Far) – Web Marketing Research, Part 2

Fishermen (fisherpeople?) choose their bait based on the type and quantity of fish they hope to catch. On the lakes of Minnesota, worms and small leeches are great for catching sunfish, and if find a good spot, you can catch a lot of them in a short time. However, it’s likely that you’ll also end up throwing many of them back because they’re too small to be “keepers.” Bait such as sucker minnows or spinner lures will attract larger, more exciting prey like northern pike. These larger fish are more elusive, so you likely won’t end up catching many, but each one will be larger and more fun to catch than a small panfish.

The same principle holds true in b2b lead generation. Different types of b2b lead generation programs can be used to draw visitors to your landing page, but once there, your incentive for response is the bait that determines the quality and quantity of leads you’ll “catch.” The greater the involvement you require of respondents, the lower the quantity but the higher the quality. Several examples are shown in this illustration:

Sweepstakes require very little involvement; a site visitor gives you their basic contact information in hopes of winning an iPod, a trip to Hawaii, or whatever. They are great for collecting a large quantity of names, but often few actual sales leads.

White papers are a popular and productive incentive for response. They weed out the pure prize-seekers attracted by sweepstakes because anyone willing to take the time to download and (hopefully) read a white paper at least has an interest in the particular technology area addressed. White papers also have far more branding value than sweepstakes. They are one of the most commonly used response incentives because of the balance of relatively high quantity and quality they provide, although sales will still often end up “throwing back” many of these leads.

As the level of involvement required increases, so does lead quality, but the numbers get smaller. A respondent willing to sign up for a free trial and actually use a software product—particularly in a corporate environment where IT approval is needed—has a relatively high probability of becoming a buyer (assuming the software actually works as promised). And at the far right of the diagram above, if the only incentive for response on a landing page is to be contacted by a sales person, the conversion rate will usually be very low, but the leads generated will be serious prospects.

The diagram above shows just a representative sampling of incentives for response that can be used; there are many other creative incentives that can be offered. The point is that the level of involvement required of the visitor is the key to estimating both the probable response rate and quality of the resulting leads in your bucket.

*****

Fishing for B2B leads? Choose the right bait.