Preview for the new search engine developed by Microsoft called Bing - check it out:
http://www.decisionengine.com/Default.html
Saturday, May 30, 2009
Friday, May 22, 2009
Monday, May 18, 2009
Google Analytics - Lollapalooza Tracks Social Media Campaigns with Google Analytics
Below is a great article from the Google Analytics blog about tracking Social Media Campaigns using Google Analytics.
Lollapalooza Tracks Social Media Campaigns with Google Analytics
Friday, May 15, 2009
Let’s face it: Social media is here to stay, and day by day it continues to encroach on nearly every aspect of our online lives. But to publishers, promoters, advertisers and site owners, there’s one essential question left hanging in the air long after the race to join the social media crowd: “Is it working?”
This year’s Lollapalooza Music Festival is using Event Tracking and Google Analytics to find out.
Social Media Applications
There may not be a more perfect application of social media than promoting a music festival, and C3 Presents, (the folks behind Lollapalooza) came up with some good ways to capitalize. This year’s lineup page alone features a Facebook Connect application to maintain and share personal lineups, MySpace blog, bulletin and site postings, Twitter updates and email sharing, and AddThis social bookmarking.
“You don’t find anyone who thinks social media is a bad idea, but the questions on our minds are, ‘what is this doing for our fans and what kind of return are we getting back on this investment?’” says Michael Feferman of C3 Presents.
Questions to Answer
As with any successful web analytics strategy, this one started out by posing the questions that Google Analytics should answer. Specifically:
* Who’s using these sharing and social media outlets? Are they benefiting?
* Which ones are being used the most and what are their applications?
* Does social media make a visitor more likely to buy a ticket?
* Are we driving more traffic to our site as a result? Are we driving more sales and revenue?
WebShare, a Google Analytics Authorized Consultant, was brought in to help implement and configure Google Analytics to help answer these questions. Measuring the impact of social media for Lollapalooza has two sides:
* The impact on those who use social media applications while on the site
* The impact of those who arrive at the site as a result of social media
The Implementation
Event Tracking and Campaign Tagging were employed in order to provide the data required to answer these questions.
Event Tracking
While a user is on the site, events “fire” as the visitor interacts with the various social media applications. Lollapalooza tracks when sharing applications are clicked, when users log into Facebook accounts via Facebook Connect and perform various actions, and when visitors register or log into their Lollapalooza accounts.
*Actual values have been modified
Drilling down into the event categories, actions and labels reveals even more about user behavior, and coupled with the secondary dimensions and pivot tables that were recently announced, we can answer some very detailed questions, like:
How much revenue and how many transactions resulted from visitors in Chicago that used Facebook Connect and found the site via the keyword “lollapalooza 2009”?
*Actual values have been modified
Campaign Tagging
In order to track visitors arriving at the site as a result of social media, links that are generated and shared are tagged with unique values to define campaign parameters. The reports and segmentation options of Analytics then help us understand these visitors and their value in terms of Goal and Ecommerce conversions.
When visitors share via Twitter, for example, a pre-populated message with a bit.ly compressed link is used that includes Google Analytics campaign tag parameters:
When followers of this user click on the link, Google Analytics attributes the visit to a source of “twitter” and a medium of “share”. This data is then available in our reports, and we can answer questions like:
What kind of revenue and ticket sales resulted from Twitter sharing yesterday?
*Actual values have been modified
The Results
The data continues to roll in, but some impressive insights have been gained so far:
* Over 2/3 of the traffic referred from Facebook, MySpace and Twitter is a result of sharing applications and Lollapalooza’s messaging to its fans on those platforms.
* Users of the social media applications on Lollapalooza.com spend twice as much as users that don’t.
* “Fan Engagement” metrics such as time on site, bounce rate, page views per visit and interaction have seen significant boosts across the board as a result of social media applications.
More details and findings are available on C3's digital marketing blog.
“This kind of data is fantastic,” says Michael. “Not only does it help us give our fans what they want, it let’s us know how they respond to it and tells us that these efforts are worth it.”
Other Resources
To learn more about the reports, configurations and features highlighted in this post, take a look at the following resources:
* Event Tracking with Google Analytics
* Campaign Tagging and tracking traffic sources
* Secondary Dimensions and Pivot Tables
Posted by David Booth of WebShare, a Google Analytics Authorized Consultant
Lollapalooza Tracks Social Media Campaigns with Google Analytics
Friday, May 15, 2009
Let’s face it: Social media is here to stay, and day by day it continues to encroach on nearly every aspect of our online lives. But to publishers, promoters, advertisers and site owners, there’s one essential question left hanging in the air long after the race to join the social media crowd: “Is it working?”
This year’s Lollapalooza Music Festival is using Event Tracking and Google Analytics to find out.
Social Media Applications
There may not be a more perfect application of social media than promoting a music festival, and C3 Presents, (the folks behind Lollapalooza) came up with some good ways to capitalize. This year’s lineup page alone features a Facebook Connect application to maintain and share personal lineups, MySpace blog, bulletin and site postings, Twitter updates and email sharing, and AddThis social bookmarking.
“You don’t find anyone who thinks social media is a bad idea, but the questions on our minds are, ‘what is this doing for our fans and what kind of return are we getting back on this investment?’” says Michael Feferman of C3 Presents.
Questions to Answer
As with any successful web analytics strategy, this one started out by posing the questions that Google Analytics should answer. Specifically:
* Who’s using these sharing and social media outlets? Are they benefiting?
* Which ones are being used the most and what are their applications?
* Does social media make a visitor more likely to buy a ticket?
* Are we driving more traffic to our site as a result? Are we driving more sales and revenue?
WebShare, a Google Analytics Authorized Consultant, was brought in to help implement and configure Google Analytics to help answer these questions. Measuring the impact of social media for Lollapalooza has two sides:
* The impact on those who use social media applications while on the site
* The impact of those who arrive at the site as a result of social media
The Implementation
Event Tracking and Campaign Tagging were employed in order to provide the data required to answer these questions.
Event Tracking
While a user is on the site, events “fire” as the visitor interacts with the various social media applications. Lollapalooza tracks when sharing applications are clicked, when users log into Facebook accounts via Facebook Connect and perform various actions, and when visitors register or log into their Lollapalooza accounts.
*Actual values have been modified
Drilling down into the event categories, actions and labels reveals even more about user behavior, and coupled with the secondary dimensions and pivot tables that were recently announced, we can answer some very detailed questions, like:
How much revenue and how many transactions resulted from visitors in Chicago that used Facebook Connect and found the site via the keyword “lollapalooza 2009”?
*Actual values have been modified
Campaign Tagging
In order to track visitors arriving at the site as a result of social media, links that are generated and shared are tagged with unique values to define campaign parameters. The reports and segmentation options of Analytics then help us understand these visitors and their value in terms of Goal and Ecommerce conversions.
When visitors share via Twitter, for example, a pre-populated message with a bit.ly compressed link is used that includes Google Analytics campaign tag parameters:
When followers of this user click on the link, Google Analytics attributes the visit to a source of “twitter” and a medium of “share”. This data is then available in our reports, and we can answer questions like:
What kind of revenue and ticket sales resulted from Twitter sharing yesterday?
*Actual values have been modified
The Results
The data continues to roll in, but some impressive insights have been gained so far:
* Over 2/3 of the traffic referred from Facebook, MySpace and Twitter is a result of sharing applications and Lollapalooza’s messaging to its fans on those platforms.
* Users of the social media applications on Lollapalooza.com spend twice as much as users that don’t.
* “Fan Engagement” metrics such as time on site, bounce rate, page views per visit and interaction have seen significant boosts across the board as a result of social media applications.
More details and findings are available on C3's digital marketing blog.
“This kind of data is fantastic,” says Michael. “Not only does it help us give our fans what they want, it let’s us know how they respond to it and tells us that these efforts are worth it.”
Other Resources
To learn more about the reports, configurations and features highlighted in this post, take a look at the following resources:
* Event Tracking with Google Analytics
* Campaign Tagging and tracking traffic sources
* Secondary Dimensions and Pivot Tables
Posted by David Booth of WebShare, a Google Analytics Authorized Consultant
Sunday, May 03, 2009
Hulu Video Content - Adds Another Publisher
Disney has invested into Hulu and agreed to syndicate video from there ABC shows on the Hulu website. Check out this article as it target how Hulu Niches Video to Challenge YouTube.
Ad Inventory Increases Across the Web
Below find an article about how ad inventory is increasing across the web and ad networks are beginning to evolve to have greater focus. And the ad copy / content is increasingly important when it comes to banner creative.
Health Related Triggers for Baby Boomers
68 percent of boomers go online after seeing a health-related TV commercial. 80 percent click health-related ads.
Source: Marketing to Baby Boomers
Source: Marketing to Baby Boomers
Demographic and Their Differences in Web Behavior
This article Men Want It Fast, Women Want It All by Jason Lee Miller at WebProNews covers ideas as to how e-tailers and all website owners in general can learn to market better to different sexes through slight web design changes.
Marketing to Women Through Design
Check out this article by part of the team at Future Now Inc. about how the new Mint.com through some graphical and interface changes were able to change the behavior of there target demographic and increase sales by 20%
Marketing to Women Through Design
Marketing to Women Through Design
Twitter Used to Create eCommerce Venture
The below article discusses how twitter is being used as a creative tool for helping eCommerce consumers find items when comparison shopping online.
Using Twitter for a Fresh Approach to eCommerce
By Chris Crum - Fri, 05/01/2009 - 13:52
Startup Uses Twitter to Inject a Human Element into Online Shopping
WebProNews looked at some interesting research from Forrester and Shop.org this week, which indicated that while online retail sales have been increasing, those for the majority of web-only businesses have actually remained flat or on the decline.
One startup launching this week thinks injecting a little human touch into eCommerce can be a way to combat this. Naturally, Twitter is the medium the company's using to do this.
The company is called IMshopping, and aims to provide an online version of the salespeople who answer your questions in a brick and mortar store like Best Buy or Foot Locker. Basically the concept is that consumers ask IMshopping questions through Twitter about products they are seeking, and IMshopping points them in the right direction.
"Just send any shopping question as an @IMshopping within Twitter (i.e. @IMshopping Where can I find an authentic Larry Bird jersey for under $100? OR @IMshopping Where can I find a LG stainless steel, bottom-freezer refrigerator for under $1000?)," a spokesperson for IMshopping tells WebProNews.
IMshopping on Twitter
The site is launching with human guides answering questions and over time the company will roll out programs for general consumers to earn value from assisting on searches and getting rated for the quality of their answers. "We can't comment more on this program right now but it will be a game-changer in terms of community incentives," the spokesperson says.
I am reminded of ChaCha, but this is strictly for shopping, and has the potential for gaining a larger following, simply because of the Twitter factor. IMshopping does have a web site that can be used just the same, but with the right marketing, I can see avid Twitter users going this route simply for the convenience factor.
Yes, consumers could simply search for what they're looking for on Google or another search engine, but we've seen examples in the past of businesses using Twitter to help users find what they were looking for, and with this as a primary goal of IMshopping, there could be a place for it.
Prashant Nedungadi - CEO of IMshopping
Prashant Nedungadi - CEO of IMshopping
"We believe human assistance will create a deeper level of e-commerce satisfaction that doesn’t exist on the Internet today," says IMshopping CEO and Founder Prashant Nedungadi. "There is a lot of information out there, but very little help when online shoppers need specific answers that will make or break their purchasing decision. At brick and mortar stores, human experts fill such a void, but on the web, it doesn’t exist. We developed IMshopping to bring the same level of personalized assistance to online shoppers."
"Twitter is the ideal medium for having a conversation; Online shoppers have the option to communicate privately with the expert on Twitter, or publicly so others can benefit from the right choices," he adds.
Is the service going to change the face of the web? Probably not, but it's an interesting look into how Twitter can be implemented directly into a business model. IMshopping has secured a $4.7m round of funding from South Korea Telecom Ventures.
As a business model, IMShopping collects revenue when consumers buy products that are recommended through the site. The spokesperson tells me that he company is staying quiet on future business plans but Prashant's background (he founded Andale, which is now Vendio) seems to suggest there may be bigger B2B plays as well.
Using Twitter for a Fresh Approach to eCommerce
By Chris Crum - Fri, 05/01/2009 - 13:52
Startup Uses Twitter to Inject a Human Element into Online Shopping
WebProNews looked at some interesting research from Forrester and Shop.org this week, which indicated that while online retail sales have been increasing, those for the majority of web-only businesses have actually remained flat or on the decline.
One startup launching this week thinks injecting a little human touch into eCommerce can be a way to combat this. Naturally, Twitter is the medium the company's using to do this.
The company is called IMshopping, and aims to provide an online version of the salespeople who answer your questions in a brick and mortar store like Best Buy or Foot Locker. Basically the concept is that consumers ask IMshopping questions through Twitter about products they are seeking, and IMshopping points them in the right direction.
"Just send any shopping question as an @IMshopping within Twitter (i.e. @IMshopping Where can I find an authentic Larry Bird jersey for under $100? OR @IMshopping Where can I find a LG stainless steel, bottom-freezer refrigerator for under $1000?)," a spokesperson for IMshopping tells WebProNews.
IMshopping on Twitter
The site is launching with human guides answering questions and over time the company will roll out programs for general consumers to earn value from assisting on searches and getting rated for the quality of their answers. "We can't comment more on this program right now but it will be a game-changer in terms of community incentives," the spokesperson says.
I am reminded of ChaCha, but this is strictly for shopping, and has the potential for gaining a larger following, simply because of the Twitter factor. IMshopping does have a web site that can be used just the same, but with the right marketing, I can see avid Twitter users going this route simply for the convenience factor.
Yes, consumers could simply search for what they're looking for on Google or another search engine, but we've seen examples in the past of businesses using Twitter to help users find what they were looking for, and with this as a primary goal of IMshopping, there could be a place for it.
Prashant Nedungadi - CEO of IMshopping
Prashant Nedungadi - CEO of IMshopping
"We believe human assistance will create a deeper level of e-commerce satisfaction that doesn’t exist on the Internet today," says IMshopping CEO and Founder Prashant Nedungadi. "There is a lot of information out there, but very little help when online shoppers need specific answers that will make or break their purchasing decision. At brick and mortar stores, human experts fill such a void, but on the web, it doesn’t exist. We developed IMshopping to bring the same level of personalized assistance to online shoppers."
"Twitter is the ideal medium for having a conversation; Online shoppers have the option to communicate privately with the expert on Twitter, or publicly so others can benefit from the right choices," he adds.
Is the service going to change the face of the web? Probably not, but it's an interesting look into how Twitter can be implemented directly into a business model. IMshopping has secured a $4.7m round of funding from South Korea Telecom Ventures.
As a business model, IMShopping collects revenue when consumers buy products that are recommended through the site. The spokesperson tells me that he company is staying quiet on future business plans but Prashant's background (he founded Andale, which is now Vendio) seems to suggest there may be bigger B2B plays as well.
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