INTERNET MARKETING

Good news for online marketing! This past Monday, known by many as Cyber Monday, was the heaviest United States online spending day in history, according to comScore and Search Engine watch. Cyber Monday is much more than a gimmick implemented to provide retailers with a follow up to Black Friday (also much more popular than Small Business Saturday). On Cyber Monday 2011, approximately $1.25 billion was spent online (the only other day in which over $1 billion was spent online was Cyber Monday 2010).

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I’m a sports fan, proud to admit it, and I understand the power of sports. Fans are very emotional people, tied so strongly to their teams. Sports play such a huge role in the lives of sports fans and social media is a great forum for it. With fans so attached to their team’s brand, often passed down from generation to generation, social media marketing has great opportunities. Mashable recently put together an article of 5 Tips for Marketing to Sports Fans on Facebook, which I think is a bit of a misnomer as these tips are all applicable to Twitter, as well. Mashable assembled a panel of marketing reps from professional sports teams and compiled some of their ideas and best practices. I’ll add my own personal opinion on each tip, as both a marketer and a fan.

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Earlier this month it was announced that Coca Cola was Adage’s marketer of the year for 2011. Honestly, I was not that surprised. The article announcing this went into how Coke has done all kinds of remarkable things to reboot its brand image and my thought was, really? Coke is one of the few brands that doesn’t have to try very hard in terms of marketing because it has been around for so long and its products are globally well liked. Coca Cola is a household name in every language and even if you prefer another kind of cola (like Pepsi) you probably would not turn down a free Coke. Unlike some American brands that have gone global, like certain fast food chains, Coke doesn’t have to constantly perform damage control or reassure people that they are a good brand because they have the world hooked and no one is really complaining. One of the things that Coca Cola has going for it is that they have a beverage line for everyone. If you object to the sugar content in classic Coke you can always try a Diet Coke or, if you don’t want the artificial sweeteners, you can drink Minute Maid juice and if that is still objectionable just drink Aquafina water. Read more

This topic is one that has always fascinated me and is, in fact, one of the things that drew me to marketing in the first place. One of the key factors in the branding process is determining a brand’s voice or personality. Essentially, this is the tone that your brand takes when it communicates with your target audience. While a brand’s overall persona has always been an important part in the marketing process a brand’s voice is becoming more integral than ever before. The main reason behind this is social media.

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This past week, Google started a major initiative inviting New York State businesses to create their own website for free. After striking a deal with Intuit, Google is offering free websites which will be built with the Intuit product. NY businesses will also get a free customized domain name and hosting for one year, a free local business listing on Google Places and free tools, resources, and local events (this from NewYorkGetOnline.com). These are all major essentials for websites. I have recently shared on this blog post dealing with SEO the importance of having a Google Places listing.

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Mashable posted a really good article today on how to market to baby boomers online. In online marketing, you have to market to all your audiences. Marketing a product which has a target audience of primarily older people can be difficult online. People hear online marketing and think oh that must mean Facebook or Twitter. Those are the new trends, they’re free, they must work. But with baby boomers, you are dealing with an entirely different audience.

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inSegment is pleased to announce the launch of a new website for Andrew Johns, a Raymond James financial advisory team. AndrewJohns.ca was built using conversion architecture and meets both business and marketing objectives to engage clients and attract prospects. The new website offers clients a richer, more interactive experience and provides visitors with information in an efficient and intuitive way. The site’s innovative design and strategic content distribution underwent rigorous analysis and testing, and is supported by a robust Content Management System that has been customized to the needs of the Andrew Johns team as well as the requirements of the site.

No, that’s not a typo. Socl (pronounced “social’) is a secret social network still in development by Microsoft. According to an article from Techland, several screenshots of Socl were leaked (unsure if it was accidental or intentional) and we can draw certain conclusions based on those images. Visit the Techland article or check out this Mashable video to see the images of the site for yourself.

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Earlier today, head of Google’s webspam team and friend to SEOs everywhere, Matt Cutts, published on Google’s official blog that there have been 10 changes to Google’s algorithm. As an internet marketing firm specializing in search engine optimization, we are constantly researching the newest changes to Google’s search algorithm, always seeking ways to stay on top of the search rankings. If Google’s algorithm interests you and you have four free minutes, I recommend watching this video made by Google, about how the search team operates. Read more

Recently I saw a fantastic infographic from Wordstream’s blog explaining just how the Google adwords auction works. Google adwords is a pillar of search engine marketing, accounting for $32.2 billion revenue for Google! That’s 97% of their total revenue! This infographic explains how pay-per-click (PPC) marketing works very well. It clarifies the adwords process, showing just how simple yet brilliant it is. For this blog post, I’ll first discuss the basics of how adwords works and then some interesting findings.

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