What if Social Isn't Relevant, when should you invest in an e-commerce app, increasing e-mail open rates and advertising that appeals to everyone
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Q: I think for some companies and products, it is unnecessary to have social media platforms. Because it seems like not related to out daily life. In this case, what is the best way to motivate the company and the customers?
I think what you're asking is how do you reach an audience when they aren't using social media. There are lots of ways, which is best will depend on the audience, product and company. There are plenty of effective non-social digital means and you can always fall back to traditional marketing techniques.
For example, my firm works with a law practice that specializes in a very specific legal issue. Social media isn't an effective tactic because people aren't actively talking about this issue. Instead, when someone encounters the legal issue they do a google search looking for a lawyer who can help. They find my client and either contact him or download his information packet in exchange for their e-mail address.
You can always use traditional marketing techniques as well like networking, TV commercials, fliers, cold calling, etc... etc... While not as sexy, traditional marketing can still work.
Q: Referring to this week's lesson on mobile marketing and mobile apps, at what point should a retailer who participates in e-commerce move from just being available on mobile to having their entirely own mobile app? I know stores like Kohl’s and Target have mobile apps aside from being able to access their websites through your smart phone’s search engine. But for smaller retailers, how do you know if creating a mobile app for your business is the right move and necessary?
This is a great question. At this point in time one of the biggest advantages to shopping on a mobile app vs a mobile website is simplified repeat purchases. If you only plan on a single purchase from a retailer then it's more effort to download and install an App than use a mobile website. If you anticipate frequent shopping then an app is a much better experience and worth the download. I would look at what percentage of sales on mobile are repeat, if that number is growing or a significant part of your business then it's probably time to start looking into an app.
Why do brand websites have pop-up email requests? Do they really gain a lot of attention through those?
Unfortunately yes. Like you I am not a fan of the e-mail pop-ups. They are annoying and disrupt an otherwise pleasant user experience... but they work. I wish they didn't, but they do. The difference in percentage of users who opt in to an e-mail popup vs an e-mail form on the page is staggering. E-mail marketing is one of the most effective forms of marketing today so there is incredible value in building a robust e-mail list.
I noticed that with email on phones it is so much easier to delete emails before even reading the subject line. How do you get customers to not delete emails from your company without reading them.
Create a reputation of sending extremely valuable e-mails. Even if a large portion of users are deleting e-mails initially, those who do read the e-mails and find them incredibly valuable will tell others and sooner or later your audience will want to open the e-mail regardless of the subject line.
Do you believe its possible to create a truly great ad without offending anyone? Like is it truly possible to reach your target market and truly relate as well as gain their attention with out someone feeling "excluded" or "offended"?
No. I don't think it's possible to do anything without offending someone. Some people look for reasons to be offended, you could give them a million dollars no strings attached and they'd complain about having to pay taxes on it. More specific to your target market, if you've done a good job really segmenting your audience and understanding your core audience then yes you can create an advertisement that resonates and doesn't offend or exclude. You just have to be very specific about your target audience. The broader your definition of the audience the more likely you'll have outliers that are excluded or offended by your core message.
Comments & Feedback
Is it important to be on all social media platforms for your company or does it depend on your target market?
Reffering to the social media question, I believe there is a huge movement in Snapchat especially with famous people and larger companies. How would you advise a small local business to use Snapchat? Is it worth it to join the community?
What area of marketing/advertising do you think should receive the most money for a relatively new company?
How can small businesses that can't afford to allocate a large budget towards digital stand out in comparison to big companies?
Going off of the fifth question about creating an ad that doesnt offend someone, I think it is possible, but it is very hard to do this in today's world. I think that because of this it has been very hard on advertising as a whole. But, I think there is a small target that could be hit that would not offend anyone. I think that advertisers need to be aware of more than peoples feelings but how people could misconstrue things also.
Is it unprofessional to use email marketing when the audience being emailed did not sign up on an email list? Is this considered spam, or is this tactic acceptable and effective?
In my personal opinion it is considered spam because the audience who did NOT sign up on the meail list if they do receive email that is an unwanted act. It ruins their privacy and could ultimately hurt the brand image.
I somewhat agree with you but could also see it as a possiblity for good marketing. It depends where the emails are recieved from in my mind. If they are taken from random places who have no affiliation with what you are trying to market, then yes that is bad. However, if you sign up for a webinar on a topic and get an email from someone about that topic a month later then no I think that is ok!
How to balance the budget of every social media for every brand? Is company can forecast the customers will use this social media frequently? How to balance the income for social media?
If someone quized me on the top 5 topics taught in this class, what are those 5 topics that we should take away with us from this class?
I really enjoyed the advice on the importance of email marketing.
How do you best communicate a 'valuable' email through the subject info?
How much of a budget should really be set aside for marketing if approaches aren't working?
With our society moving toward digital media so fast, do you think that one day in the near future, in order for a company to succeed they will NEED to have a solid digital marketing strategy? How fast is our industry of marketing and advertising really moving toward digital strategies?
I believe companies should get rid of pop up ads because they are just annoying and make you not want to learn more about the brand.
Is there a particular topic in this class you enjoy teaching the most? Or is everything equally exciting?
In some cases, I feel that using social is unnecessary - especially if they are a small business owner with only one location. How might someone with a small business, who provides a service, use social effectively?
Are mobile websites and apps something that B2B e-commerce are using or should be using?
What will be the next big way to market using social media? Sales within social media themselves?
Whether the format of social media will change in the near future?
Are there methods to making email pop-ups less intrusive? If they have the possibility of hindering the loading of a site should they be taken out all together?
Do you believe it is more important for a small business to invest in a strong social media team, or an in-person customer service team? For instance, should a small boutique retailer store really spend as much money on social media marketing, or just marketing locally via billboards, posters or radio advertisements?
While working on my assignment this week I found an interesting infographic that explained why consumers are more likely to uninstall a businesses' app. I was wondering if you had any thoughts on why else consumers might decide an app that was initally installed might not be worth their time, or valuable, anymore.
In case you wanted to reference the infographic I am talking about, here is the link: http://www.digitalinformationworld.com/2015/09/infographic-why-mobile-ap...
What do you personally think the most important part of this class is? I know its all important but what do you think is going to be most helpful to us?
What would you advise for a brand or organization (such as the one you work with dealing with legal matters) if they were dying to spend money on social media marketing? Would you recommend them to use alternative marketing options?
What are the key characteristics that make Pinterest a unique and effective marketing tool that are unique from those of other social media platforms?
In regard to the second to last question I am curious to know what goes into "very valuable emails".
How des Pintrest ACTUALLY help your business thrive?
While I think Pinterest is great and I spend a decent amount of time on it, I'm not convinced that it really benefits a business to invest a lot of time on their pinterest profile. I feel like you have to be a very specfic type of business for it to benefit you such as beauty, fashion, etc. Other business don't seem to have a place.
At what point it is it a good idea for a start-up to start investing in digital marketing? Is it always going to be worth putting money into digital marketing from the get go and if so what aspects of online marketing would be important to utilize?
Out of all the popular social media platforms available, Pinterest seems to be the one that never really ganers much attention. While the company has seen growth over the last 5 years, it does not seem substantial enough compared to the other main social media platforms. With the addition of video advertisements being implemented on Pinterest, do you believe this will help the brand grow substantially regarding social commerce while also retaining more frequent users?
This week I found myself and a friend talking about the same issue the last question brings up: can you create and advertisement (or really anything) that offends literally no one anymore? We decided ultimately that the answer was no. Even if you found a magic machine that dropped a million dollars on everyone's doorstep, you'd have people calling you saying it was an inconvenient delivery time for them. The interests and opinions of world are too broad to target with a universally pleasing message. I agree with Ross's suggestion: narrowly and strategically target. That way, you know your message is reaching the right people, the way that you intended it to.
do you think it's possible for a business to be successful using only pinterest as an advertising platform?
I think that Pintrest in a website that needs more work done on it and more features. It seems like brand names and messages can be lost through all of the clutter. After the website goes through it's revamping stages, do you think brands will be more willing to promote their products on Pintrest?
http://9to5google.com/2016/03/28/google-search-image-saving-web/
There seem to be many do's/don'ts for Pinterest. Can you pin to much? How many pins are appropriate per day? What about per week? What is the minimum you should be pinning for your business?
E-commerce apps are really popular now and how can we make sure that we can gain profits from it? since it's so competitive.
After using Pinterest for the final exam assignment, I have found that it is not a very professional tool, ad does not utilize alot of customization features. Do you think Pinterest will remodel in the future to include these features to target a more professional audience?
When it comes to emails on my phone, they uaually pile up and then get deleted all at once. I hate when i receive emails and they first thing i see "last day sale" or "hot deals now". I would reciprocate more to an email if the advertisement wasn't in the title of the email. If I had a sugeestion for companies that use email advertising, I would suggest making the email more inviting to open. This means less numbers and sale promos, and subtle incentives to open the email. Example: " Do you need a new winter jacket?", "Need new shades for the summer?"
People are tired of getting drowned out in advertisements. In the past year i've noticed that native advertising has become more popular, especially online. Where do you believe the future of advertising is headed?
Do you believe that Pinterest is really as strong as a platform as other forms of social media?
As a big-time company, what is the best way to communicate to consumers about frequently asked questions? For example, TV, social media, radio, privately owned website, individually, phone, etc...
Brand websites have pop-up email requests so that the make customers sign up in these email requests form. Yes they really gain a lot of attention through those becuase it helps out their product and coompany overall.
Why does people use Pinterest to market their company or brand? Is it even really useful or it actually waste the online customer's time?
Besides increasing your followers, what are some other digital marketing strategies?
Is snapchat helpful for companies nowadays?
Do you think that all brands could benefit from using Pinterest or should it mainly be used for brands that have products that are more visual? (clothing, cars, cosmetics, food, etc.)
Out of all the social media that we have looked into, what platform do you think is most vital to a business today? Also is there any reason that you would advise a business to not have any social media pages? and if so how come?
Isn't it just a matter of when will something become relevant in the social media market?
While searching for pins to post throughout the semester, I found that the pins were actually exteremly useful and helped me understand concepts a little better. I feel like pinterest is overlooked by a lot of brands, why do you think this is?
I've never used Pinterest before and I didn't think it as a marketing tool. I'm curious about what kinds of businesses would use Pinterest to market and how will they use it as a useful marketing tool?
Sometimes when I click a Pintrest link, I am required to sign in or make an account to continue viewing the page. How effective do you think this is, I ask because a lot of the time I just exit the page since I do not want to sign in. Do you think this gains more Pintrest users or loses them ?
I am confused to why my brand Omega doesn't use a lot of SEO, SEM or direct mails. If this is a strategy to keep the exclusivity and value of the brand, what are some other ways Omega could use to be more searchable and reachable?
This is an interesting thought, but I do believe e-commerce will always be relevant xD. Interesting article... Thanks for sharing your point of view!
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I think the best way to motivate companies and cusotmers is to show them the importance of media platforms. Social Media platforms can save a dying company by making it relvant again with just on trending topic. When comapnies stay big on media they normally seem to gain more exposure to new consuemrs and users which will increase teh companies revenue.