ROI | Internet Marketing Blog

Calculating the cost of social media

money Imagine an advertising and marketing platform that reaches billions around the world, and doesn’t cost you a penny.

Free to get involved, free to share and promote content, with a massive locked-in audience who will actively promote your content for you.

Unfortunately it doesn’t exist. Social media is many things but despite several statements to the contrary, free is not one of them.

by Matt Owen 23 July 2010 09:24am 4 comments

Six reasons you shouldn't invest in ROI

When planning a social media campaign, inevitably the question of measurement will arise. Now that we're realising that follow counts aren't the be all and end all, ROI in social media has become an increasingly fragmented and complex subject.

Depending on the nature of your campaign and the tools you're using to run it, you may feel that tracking leads, driven traffic, 'likes' or retweets are most important, or you may feel that none of these are helpful.

With so many options available to you, it's sometimes difficult to measure exactly how well you're doing.

by Matt Owen 12 July 2010 14:41pm 8 comments

The Five W's of building an effective loyalty program

Imagine being able to visit a local business, 'check-in' by taking a picture proving you've made a purchase and receive rewards, including points that can be exchanged for cold hard cash. Looking to cash in on the rise of location-based services like Foursquare, a new service called WeReward wants to bring that experience to the masses.

The pitch to business owners: we'll get consumers to buy from you and give you a way to reward them for their "patronage." WeReward describes its service as "a global loyalty program that you control locally."

by Patricio Robles 28 May 2010 11:00am 1 comment

10 common social media mistakes

Many businesses are increasingly comfortable with social media, and many more have decided that social media is far too important not to experiment with.

But the growing level of maturity in the world of social media doesn't mean that mistakes are uncommon. To the contrary: many businesses make the same mistakes over and over again. Here are 10 of the most common.

by Patricio Robles 31 March 2010 09:10am 33 comments

Are companies getting smarter with email marketing?

Companies are gradually becoming more sophisticated in their email marketing efforts, with greater use of personalisation and segmentation in their campaigns.

The Econsultancy / Adestra Email Census 2010 also finds that, though some areas are improving, too few are integrating email with other marketing activities, while many still don't know their ROI from email marketing.

by Graham Charlton 11 March 2010 09:10am 1 comment

Social media ROI: The best of British opinion

I recently wrote a post where I revisited a number of social media statistics, which attracted a lot of attention. Among all of the feedback one trend stood out: people need more information about return on investment from social media. So I’ve decided to bat a few things around, as it’s quite a complex subject.

We've written extensively about social media ROI in the past, and have also highlighted some social media engagement metrics that should help you. And now, I’ve gathered various opinions from some of the British heavyweights in social media, as everybody has different thoughts about this particular area.

by Jake Hird 02 March 2010 09:14am 4 comments

How to control SEO spending post-recession

Remember back when the credit crunch was new? Every other blog post, including a fair few of mine, urged firms not to lose faith in online marketing, not to hack at their search engine marketing (SEM) budgets or lay off members of their online PR team.

I still think it’s important to hold marketing nerve. If you are to grow your business then a successful marketing strategy is essential and budget cuts are not going to help.

However, as the country shudders its way out of a historic recession, achieving an estimated 0.1% of growth in the last three months of 2009, it’s time to face facts. Your money need to work harder.

by Kevin Gibbons 09 February 2010 11:45am 10 comments

Web Analytics Buyer's Guide: required reading

Econsultancy's Web Analytics Buyer's Guide is a refreshing signpost in a perplexing world of web analytics tools, tips and traps. Essential for those wanting to understand the industry and critical for those looking to invest.

by Jim Sterne 15 January 2010 17:08pm 0 comments

Five social media tips for 2010

2009 was a banner year for social media. Fueled in large part by the impressive growth of Twitter and Facebook and the adoption of both by major brands and recognizable individuals, it's safe to say that social media truly went 'mainstream' this year.

That means new opportunities, and new challenges, in 2010 as social media finds its place in the overall mediasphere. Here are five tips for companies looking to take their social media efforts to the next level in 2010.

by Patricio Robles 11 December 2009 11:53am 18 comments

Google gets deeper into display with Campaign Insights

Google's bread and butter is paid search but that doesn't mean that it doesn't have big ambitions for its display advertising business. After all, it spent $3.1bn in 2007 buying display advertising giant DoubleClick.

Google's challenge in taking display to greater heights is simple: show advertisers the money (read: ROI). The ease with which paid search ROI can be tracked is a big part of paid search's success. When it comes to display ads, however, that ROI is hard to pin down, because, well, 'nobody clicks on display ads'.

by Patricio Robles 19 October 2009 09:57am 2 comments