ROI | Internet Marketing Blog

Is faith-based ROI ever acceptable?

In the digital world, tracking ROI is supposed to be easy. After all, there are so many tools for analyzing traffic and conversions, and attributing them to particular sources.

But in reality, tracking ROI isn't always as simple as it would seem. Many marketers, for instance, still focus exclusively on the last click despite the increasingly sophisticated tools that are capable of going beyond the last click.

As a result many either misattribute conversions to the wrong source, or miss them altogether.

by Patricio Robles 27 May 2011 14:53pm 7 comments

Twitter ads don't deliver: reports

Having launched a suite of advertising solutions over the past year, Twitter has answered one of the questions that had previously plagued it: will the popular social media hub ever find a business model?

But now that advertisers are using Twitter to promote themselves and their products to its audience, there's a new and even more important questions: is it delivering a return? According to some reports, the answer is in many cases a resounding 'no.'

by Patricio Robles 18 May 2011 13:02pm 12 comments

Facebook advertising getting more expensive: report

Advertiser interest in Facebook has grown rapidly over the past several years. With more than half a billion users, it is the biggest social networking hub in the world, making it one of the top digital platforms on which to reach consumers.

Its self-serve advertising platform, however, has received mixed reviews. Unlike, say Google AdWords, advertisers don't necessarily have 'intent' present with every click, and converting Facebook traffic has, for many of them, been challenging.

The platform's saving grace: it's generally pretty cheap. But that may be changing.

by Patricio Robles 12 April 2011 17:01pm 6 comments

Is Facebook the $100,000 diamond watch of marketing?

Over the past two years, Facebook has fast become a major area of interest for brand marketers.

Lured in by the social network's 500m+ users, some marketers are evoking memories of the AOL days, going as far as to promote Facebook Pages over their own websites.

From storefronts to movie rentals, brands are increasingly focusing on trying to use the site as a platform for commerce. Some believe Facebook commerce, or f-commerce, could be the next big phase in the evolution of ecommerce.

But according to a report by Forrester Research's Sucharita Mulpuru, despite all of the talk about f-commerce, Facebook isn't likely to become a retail force.

by Patricio Robles 11 April 2011 16:51pm 10 comments

When will the "death of email" die?

Email is dying, again. If you didn't know this, you must have been waiting for the email.

According to comScore, usage of web-based email plummeted again last year, and that means that the "email is dying" crowd is out in full force, once again promoting the notion that the mobile phone and social media are making email irrelevant.

by Patricio Robles 09 February 2011 11:45am 26 comments

Five social media New Year's resolutions

2011 is here, and for social media, it looks to be a good year.

After all, 2010 was a banner year. Spurred by the growing popularity of popular social media hubs like Facebook and Twitter, many marketers upped their investments in social media last year. And this year, a good number are expected to up their investments again.

by Patricio Robles 06 January 2011 12:02pm 2 comments

Q&A: SearchIgnite CEO Roger Barnette

As more and more marketing dollars flow to digital, marketers are increasingly active in multiple online channels, including search, display and social. Yet making sense of how they all relate to one another, and optimizing marketing spend across all of these channels, still often poses significant challenges.

Last week, marketing provider SearchIgnite launched a new solution designed to break down the silos that keep marketers from managing multiple channels.

by Patricio Robles 22 November 2010 09:07am 1 comment

When search ads don't work

For many businesses, search ads, namely Google AdWords, seem like a panacea for acquiring customers. After all, your potential customers are searching and search advertising seems like the ideal way to connect with them when they're searching for the product or service you're offering.

But as powerful a marketing tool as search ads have been for millions of businesses, search ads don't work for everybody.

by Patricio Robles 29 October 2010 09:34am 4 comments

The dark side of Groupon emerges

When discussing Groupon, it's quite clear: the group buying business model is financially viable. For Groupon. What's less clear: whether Groupon's business model is financially viable for businesses.

One of the reasons it's not clear is that many -- if not most -- of the local business owners who have tried Groupon don't publicly reveal detailed results of their Groupon campaigns.

by Patricio Robles 17 September 2010 13:24pm 18 comments

Social media: short-term success versus sustainability

Thanks to marketer interest in social media, we're quickly learning what social media is capable and not capable of. And by in large, it's capable of doing a lot.

Case in point: it appears that Old Spice's critically-acclaimed YouTube/Twitter campaign has indeed boosted Old Spice Body Wash sales -- by a whopping 107% in the past month according to Nielsen. This is 'success' by any definition. But just what kind of success is it?

by Patricio Robles 03 August 2010 08:51am 4 comments