Posted by Patrick Murphy on Fri, Aug 27, 2010
PPC can be one of the most profitable forms of advertising and marketing channels, but only when done correctly. With Facebook recently announced they hit the major milestone of 500m users, following hot on the heels of the news that, in the US, the site has overtaken Google for the first time should you start to look Facebook as another medium for your Pay Per Click.
For PPC the first measure you should always look at is the potential opportunity and the size of that opportunity. Many people look to the CTR or the Click Through Rate to gain an understanding this potential opportunity. The average CTR you would expect to see from a Google advert would be around 1.27% and if you compare this against the Facebook rate of around .09%, it appears that Google does provide an great opportunity to get found my your target market. To paint it a different way people are 14 times more likely to click on your advertising on Google than your Facebook advert.
So if this is the case why do companies use Facebook for advertising? Facebook takes the traditional pay per click advertising model to a more targeted level Facebook has the ability to tap into the user’s profile, as well as the extra amount of personal information a user typically adds to their site every day and uses all that information to make it possible for companies and business to target groups of people at an extremely granular level. With Facebook it is possible to go further that the basic demographics such as age and gender. Facebook lets business targeting people on the basis of their favourite movie, snack etc. Facebook enables you to build your target audience group and advertise to them specificity.
So would I be right in saying that Facebook build a brand and Google gets you found? If you are still unsure about PPC check out our beginner’s guide on Pay Per Click.
Posted by Patrick Murphy on Thu, Jul 15, 2010
Social Media is big and growing but why are you on social media? Chances are you found this blog either through some form of social media, could be Twitter, LinkedIn or Facebook. Either way you are already engaging in social media but why?
For social media I saw a recent report from eConsultancy which outlines what companies are gaining from social media. For Facebook the results were as follows:
- 55%: Improving Brand Awareness and Reputation
- 47%: Marketing Channel
- 46%: Publish New Content
- 37%: Brand Monitoring
- 32%: Gathering Feedback
- 25%: Customer Services Issues
- 16%: Sales channel
- 16%: Market Intelligence
What is the take away for social media and Facebook? That Facebook should be used as a means to create your brand awareness and as a marketing channel. This should reflect on how you use Facebook on what to expect back from your investment in social media and Facebook. But how does this compare to Twitter as a social media channel?
- 50%: Improving Brand Awareness and Reputation
- 49%: Publish New Content
- 47%: Marketing Channel
- 42%: Brand Monitoring
- 25%: Marketing Intelligence
- 25%: Gathering Feedback
- 23%: Customer Services Issues
- 22%: Sales channel
Social Media has many channels and it is about finding the right channel that suits what you are trying to achieve. So what are you suing social media for? There are many reasons why you should use social media such as:
- Social Media is Free
- Social Media can provide very quick Quick Results
- Social Media is very Flexible to suit your requirements
- Social Media provided a great resource for traffic
These are such some of the reasons why I use social media. So why are you using social media?
Posted by Patrick Murphy on Thu, Jun 17, 2010
Social Media at some point will always go offline. Today I am speaking at a Sales Directors forum on Social Media and how it used correctly it can grow your business. And it is at that point where social media turns from online conversations into offline interaction. Social Media is a great tool as a means of engaging and starting the conversion however at some point it always turns real. No matter what your business from Dental practices to online stores there is always a conversion point where you have to deliver.
Social Media for many businesses is the starting point, the introduction. But always remember that as some point the message you are delivering with Social Media will have to be backed up. Regardless what social Media network you are using, from Twitter, Facebook or Linkedin ensure that the message is aligned to what you company can deliver. The biggest issue that companies can face is over promising and under delivering. Make sure that your social media strategy does not go down the same path.
A great example of social media used for an offline event, is a little village in Ireland. This weekend Dalkey is hosting its first book festival with auditors ranging from Maeve Binchy to Tony Award winner Conor Mc Pherson speaking at various events over the weekend. They have used Twitter and Facebook to great effect building the awareness for the festival. I have already noticed a number of tweetup's arranged to take place over the weekend where people are taking social media offline by themselves.
So for social media learn from Dalkey and build your social media around something real and let it grow from there. If you need any tips on how to use social media for your business, check out our recorded internet marketing webinars
Posted by Patrick Murphy on Thu, May 20, 2010
2010 is a great year so far for Facebook. This year they have already generated more traffic in one week that Google and surpassed Yahoo in terms of ads displayed. In fact their ads revenue jumped by 54% between Q4 2009 and Q1 2010. So for people who use Google Adwords and look to get found on the web they now have two options. Google or Facebook, which one would should you chose?
Google or Facebook comes down to what you want to achieve first. Is it brand awareness or just simple sales? This affects your budget and your ad content. Speaking of budget, the first difference between them is that Facebook is cheaper that Google. Before you start wiping out your wallet for Facebook remember that it is cheaper for a reason. Facebook has a lower click through rate so you have to take this into consideration.
Then against this Facebook does have better demographic targeting. With over 400 million users, they have much deeper and more relevant demographic data than Google does. It is possible to actually target the user's age, gender, and geographic location much easier than on Google.
When comparing Google against Facebook you have to remember that people tend to spend more time on Facebook that Google. With the average Facebook user spending over 20 mins online, this gives you more face time with the users and increasing the opportunity for creating brand awareness from the advert alone. Nielsen only recently published a report showing that that ads on Facebook users' homepages resulted in a 10% ad recall increase, a 4% brand awareness increase and a 2% increase in purchase intent.
So Facebook or Google, in my opinion try out Facebook adverts. Even if you get zero clicks to your website you still will benefit from the brand awareness. If you require any further help with Facebook ads check out the recording of our webinar on Facebook for Business.
Posted by Patrick Murphy on Thu, May 13, 2010
Once recently did Facebook pass out Google as the most visited website, so it what is bigger than Facebook. Well if Facebook was a country it would now be the 3rd largest country in the world. Once again Socialnomics have come up with some great stats that are shown in the video below, which only goes to demonstrate the growth in social media in the recent years.
A preview of some of the stats that are included in the video below:
- More than half of the world's population is under 30.
- Facebook passes Google for weekly U.S. Interne traffic.
- Ashton Kutcher and Britney Spears have more Twitter followers than the populations of Sweden, Israel, Switzerland, Ireland, Norway and Panama.
- 50% of mobile Internet traffic in the UK is on Facebook.
- During the 4+ minutes it takes to watch the video, more than 100 hours' worth of video will be uploaded to YouTube.
- Amazon sold more electronic books for the Kindle than physical books on Christmas.
- If you were paid $1 for each posted Wikipedia article, you'd make $1,712.32 per hour.
These are just some of the stats, watch the video for yourself below and see the power of
social media. If you are new to social media and looking to see how you can harness the power of social media for your business, SiliconCloud are running a webinar where they will go through how you can use Facebook to generate real business of your company. They will cover how to create a Facebook strategy and generate leads for your business. Find out more:
Facebook for Business
Posted by Patrick Murphy on Tue, Apr 20, 2010
Yesterday the Financial Times ran a report on Facebook's launch of their new "Like" button. The Financial Times formed a view that maybe Facebook would use data from these interactions to target them with related adverts once they return to Facebook.com. While Facebook is currently targets ads based on what information users fill out in their profile, including location, age, gender, and favourite activities and music bands this would be a completely new strategy. Possibly this is not very social from the leader in social media and contenting people.
However the social media giant, facebook did come back by denying that its new content-sharing button will allow it to serve advertising based on its users' web history. Facebook did say that new ‘like' button has been likened to tools sites like Twitter have developed to enable users to share content they like from around the web - with the rest of their social network. And they did go on to say that it will not use this tool to track its users' web behaviour in order to deliver highly targeted advertisements when they return to Facebook.com.
The story was picked up by a number of people in the States including HubSpot who have a huge following before Facebook responded to the Financial Times article. So I was very curious to see if there was any backlash to the Financial Times article. Well it is no surprise that Facebook is still viewed very Favourable with a 96% rating.
If you look at the picture above there were 340 motions that had negative comments or articles about Facebook like this from www.clarionledger.com.
But overall it seems that the article went unnoticed online, is this to do with the user base of Facebook. Maybe they just do not read the financial Times. If you are wondering how to start any form of social media is with blogging. So this week SiliconCloud are running a free webinar on blogging for business to help you understand how and why to blog for business. Register here: Blogging for Business
Posted by Robert Callaghan on Tue, Dec 01, 2009
People are confused by Facebook and what it can do for their business.
You hear the same old line time after time from friends and family ‘I get Facebook, you get to meet people, but it's only a place to spy on old girlfriends, and it's only for people that have too much time on their hands'. So this got me thinking of ways that it would help our business and its place in the inbound marketing revolution.
When it comes to social media you need to sit down and say okay what do I want out of this and am I willing to put the time in. I suppose it's like going to the gym, the more you put in the more you get out.
Okay you do get odd people and companies trying to add you as friends but if you remove the noise there is some great contacts and leads for your business. Role up those sleeves and get busy with Facebook.
First things first you need to create a landing page for fans to join. Once set up you need to allow these fans to interact with your Facebook page by letting them post on wall updates, photos, videos, and discussions. This is the golden egg guys, direct contact with your customers. Have a look at Facebook Adidas Originals they have over 2 million fans and hundreds of thousands that regularly interact with their fan page. Adidas have fully accepted and integrated inbound marketing in their marketing mix, the rules have changed and it's important that we all get involved. I have included some of the techniques you might think about using.
- Start a discussion that will engage your Facebook fans.
- Ask your Facebook fans a question and participate in the conversation.
- Add your marketing events to your Facebook fan page.
- Add your blog's feed to your fan page wall via the Notes application.
- Integrate other social media channels via the Facebook fan page tabs.
Get your fans to upload videos to show how they use your product or service. Off course you will have monitor this.
Once you've started with this you'll need to use Facebook Insights to get activity and demographic data of the people that are coming to your fan page.
Finally:
Inbound marketing is about being creative with the content that you have and getting your message out there. The way forward is to put creativity before the dollar. Stop throwing money down the black hole that is outbound marketing and invest in inbound marketing. It's a revolution that will explode in the UK and Europe.
At SiliconCloud we understand the importance of Inbound Marketing and Social Media in today's business environment. On Dec 2nd we are running a free webinar for anyone on how to use Facebook for Business. While SiliconCloud are partners for Hubspot in Europe this is not technology focused. So anyone can register....
Posted by Patrick Murphy on Sun, Nov 29, 2009
According to comScore Social Networking Sites account for more than 25% of U.K. online display ad impressions.
This interesting part is not really which companies are spending the most but more what the average age segment is.
The demographic analysis of display ads on social networking sites in the U.K. revealed that while ad delivery skewed somewhat younger than average, all age segments were reached with a notable percentage of display ads. 15-24 year olds were the highest indexing age segment, accounting for 29 percent of display ad impressions while representing 23 percent of the total category audience. Those between the ages of 25-44 received ads at a slightly higher than average rate, while those 45 and older received ads at a lower than average rate. Each of the five age segments accounted for at least 15 percent of the category audience and 10 percent of ad impressions. The age group 25 – 44 account for 43%, so the impression that social media is only for teen ages can’t be correct.
When this is checked against Google’s number for Facebook UK it is not only confirmed but they show that 53% are in the age group of 25 – 44. And 52% are female…
At SiliconCloud we understand the importance of Inbound Marketing and Social Media in today's business environment. On Dec 2nd we are running a free webinar for anyone on how to use Facebook for Business. While SiliconCloud are partners for Hubspot in Europe this is not technology focused. So anyone can register....
Posted by Patrick Murphy on Fri, Nov 27, 2009
So why does SiliconCloud have a website, 8 reasons why we do for other reasons that social media and inbound marketing.
1. The internet continues to grow
Statistics show that just over 25% people use the internet, the US is 74% and 52% in Europe of population usage. Between 2000 and 2009 the usage grew by 380%. As a business, now is the time to get involved. The internet can give your business the opportunity to expand into new areas and expose you to a whole new audience.
2. Introduce yourself to new customers
Potential customers want to know more about the businesses they are dealing with. More and more they are looking to the business's website for this information. With a website you can present yourself, your staff and the intentions of your business clearly and professionally. Being able to refer potential business to a well designed website will also give you and your staff a greater sense of pride and confidence.
3. Level the playing field
On the internet small and large businesses can compete on a more level playing field. A professional website can present a small business with all the flair and impact of larger businesses. Likewise, well established businesses fall flat on the internet if the website does not match their status.
4. Build credibility and trust
A well designed website gives your business credibility and professionalism. This instills a level of trust with your customer which increases their purchasing confidence. An unprofessional website will reflect badly on your perceived professionalism, and not having a website at all can work against you when being compared with the competition.
5. Be open for business 24/7
Provide service and information to customers and potential customers around the clock with no extra effort or staff costs. Digital media is immediate and delivers answers while buyers are still hot. It is also highly interactive and with the right scripts can elicit sales with little or no personal contact.
6. Cost effective marketing
The Internet can be the most effective and cost efficient way to advertise and reach qualified prospects. Search engine optimization and sponsored searches are very affordable and can deliver results for a fraction of the cost of regular print ads. No matter what the size of your business, your website is a powerful and cost-effective direct marketing and communication tool.
7. Second shop front - sell anything online
Any products or services you sell can be made immediately available to a wide audience. Just like opening another branch, your website literally can be a way to grow your business.
8. Businesses are not alone on the Internet
Many individuals, communities and clubs are enjoying being part of the online world, sharing photos, hobbies, resumes, expertise and even good recipes! The Internet is a social and cultural phenomenon of our time, it is great to be a part of it.
At SiliconCloud we understand the importance of Inbound Marketing in today's business environment. On Dec 2nd we are running a free webinar for anyone on how to use Facebook for Business. While SiliconCloud are partners for Hubspot in Europe this is not technology focused. So anyone can register....
Posted by Patrick Murphy on Fri, Nov 27, 2009
1. Who are you
Tell readers what your blog is about try not to ramble on and on - give them a concise explanation of your blog, and give them a compelling reason to stick around.
2. Your latest post
Every time you publish a post, make it a great post. Make every post 100%, give it your full attention. Any of your posts could be the first one that a reader sees - so it should be strong enough to go one and read the next one.
3. Your best posts
No matter how much effort you put into your posts, some will stand above the rest. This could be based on the number of pageviews, the number of comments, or the number of links posted to your site.
4. A clean design
Keep it clean and simple, think of books. They work as they are clear and easy to read. The true talent should be in your blog and not your design..
5. Images
It's pretty boring when a blog is nothing but text. Try to include a few images that add value to the site, but don't go overboard.
6. Recent updates
You need to have recent posts! Readers may be turned off if a blog has no recent updates, say within the last few weeks - or even more. How many times have we looked at recent news and see that they are from last year.
7. A personality
Readers are much more likely to relate to a real person than some mechanical robot writer. Posts written with style, character and personality are far more likely to make a connection than a generic set of ideas that the author doesn't even follow on their own blog.
Is there anything else that I have missed?
At SiliconCloud we understand the importance of Inbound Marketing in today's business environment. On Dec 2nd we are running a free webinar for anyone on how to use Facebook for Business. While SiliconCloud are partners for Hubspot in Europe this is not technology focused. So anyone can register....