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Facebook: little more than an extra for Hollywood?

Hollywood and social media may seem like a match, but if Facebook is a big part of ‘social media’, the movie version of the relationship may not have a happy ending.

Last year, just as the world’s largest social network was prepping to go public, it was publicly dissed by automaker GM, which said it was cutting its spend on paid Facebook paid ads.

Now it looks like movie studios, not sure of the ROI from their Facebook investments, may be following in GM’s footsteps.

How Walmart uses Pinterest, Facebook, Twitter and Google+

Social media is one of the most important marketing channels for brands, as it offers unique opportunities to communicate with customers.

But getting social media strategy right isn’t an easy task, and the brands that are achieving the best results tend to be those that are taking risks and trying new things.

With this in mind, I thought it would be interesting to take a look at how major brands use social, focusing on which of the main networks they are active on and how they use them.

And what better place to start that with the world’s biggest retailer: Walmart. Handily Walmart has actually published its own social media guidelines, which include things like ‘don’t be rude’ and ‘keep it real’.

So here’s a quick look at how Walmart uses Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and Google+.

Mobile optimisation is the ‘most exciting digital opportunity’ for 2013

Mobile optimisation is the most exciting digital opportunity for marketers in the coming year, according to stats from a new Econsultancy report. 

Our latest Quarterly Digital Intelligence Briefing: Digital Trends for 2013, produced in association with Adobe, looks at what marketers see as the most important trends in the next 12 months. 

Content, conversion, mobile, social and personalisation have emerged as some of the key areas for markerters to focus on this year. 

Online sales in Australia reach record high

Online sales in Australia reached a record high in the year to November 2012, with Australian consumers spending some $12.6bn online. 

November proved to be the peak month for internet sales, with online retail surging by 15% and the National Australia Bank Online Sales Index rising to 241 points, up 32 points from October. 

10 job titles to avoid in 2013

It’s the New Year, that means that career goals are top of mind. Many employees are looking to move up or move out.

Freelancers and consultants are looking to ensure that 2013 is more prosperous than 2012.

When it comes to moving one’s career forward, job titles often matter.

Even if we’d like to believe that they matter less and less each passing year, your ability to succeed may be based, in some part, on what goes under your name on your business card.

What can retailers do to improve online delivery?

On Sunday, The Independent published an investigation into the great ‘online delivery scandal’ which looked at the ‘hundreds of thousands’ of people who received less than satisfactory service in the run up to Christmas. 

It was accompanied by an editorial which uses the findings to disparage online retail.

As an advocate of ecommerce, my gut reaction is to object to this, but it’s clear that ‘the last mile’ is an issue for retailers, and for consumer confidence in online retail. 

So what can retailers do to combat these problems? I asked several ecommerce experts for their views…

How ASOS, Sky and Schuh use live chat to personalise online shopping

Live chat is still a relatively new customer service channel, though it’s proving to be an increasingly popular method of communicating with brands.

Stats from BoldChat show that more than 65% of US online shoppers have used live chat, up from 50.4% in 2009.

The figure is slightly lower in the UK but still growing at 53%, up from 41% in 2011.

The same research shows that 31% of respondents would be more likely to purchase after a live chat, however this stat should be treated with a decent amount of scepticism, as it’s difficult for people to accurately predict their future purchase behaviour.

Three things you can cut from your social marketing plan

If you need to create a social media marketing plan for your business in 2013 you’ll be smart to cut these three strategies completely out of your budget, providing they meet these “tough love” performance criteria.

This is the year when content marketing and social media focuses like a laser on leads and sales. Or else. 

Four ways publishers can address ad blockers

Major internet companies like Google may pleased that the French government told a major ISP that it must stop its automatic filtering of ads for subscribers.  

However, make no mistake about it: the dispute over Free’s ad blocking is a reminder of what’s at stake as more and more consumers seek ways to opt out of online advertising.

Ad blocking software, of course, is not new. Publishers have watched its popularity rise over the years, and while there is debate over just how much revenue publishers lose each year to ad blocking, it’s widely seen as a significant threat.

17 digital marketing and ecommerce trends for 2013 by Econsultancy CEO Ashley Friedlein

Following are my personal thoughts on what will be interesting and important in the world of digital marketing and ecommerce for 2013. As is traditional for my trends, there are around seventeen of them.

I haven’t spent too much time on giving extensive justification for any of these; they are based largely on the many conversations I have with industry influencers and practitioners.

Many are really just notes, or bullet points, but I’ve tried to give links to further information if you want to delve deeper. They are in no particular order though I’ve started with the more ‘strategic’ stuff.

As ever, I’d be very interested to hear your thoughts, or feel free to post a link to your own trends or predictions. 

State of the freelance nation: stats

At the end of last year, David Cameron demonstrated his commitment to boost the British creative economy, announcing plans to invest £50m of funding towards the construction of the Open Institute at the heart of Silicon Roundabout In London.

This busy tech hub is used by many startups where freelancers are often integral to their strategy.  

Online magazine Technorati claims the era of the freelancer will kick off in 2013 and last month we released quarterly online employment report that suggests the same.

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