ZocaloGroup-Consumer-Views-of-What-Constitutes-Online-Recommendation-Aug2013Consumers like brands on Facebook for a number of reasons: some out of loyalty, some for deals, others to get updates. A new study [download page] from Zócalo Group suggests that whatever the reason for a friend’s like, many consumers consider it to be a recommendation. Survey respondents, asked what they would view as an online recommendation to encourage them to try or buy a brand or product, pointed most commonly to YouTube video reviews 46.5% and a friend liking a brand page on Facebook 46.1%.

via Is a Facebook Like a Recommendation?.

There is no magic bullet when it comes to connecting with your customers online, but understanding their social media habits is a good place to start. According to a recent study from the Pew Research Center, 81 percent of teens and 72 percent of adults are active on social media. While that’s a sizeable audience, the two age groups use each network differently.

via The Real Generation Gap: How Adults and Teens Use Social Media Differently Infographic | Entrepreneur.com.

SimplyMeasured-Interbrand-100-Tumblr-Post-Engagement-Longevity-Aug2013Understanding social media posts’ reach and engagement is an important issue for marketers, and one aspect of that effort regards the half-life of a post. Recent data indicates that Facebook posts have an extremely short half-life, while YouTube video views are distributed over a longer period of time. A new study [download page] from SimplyMeasured suggests that when it comes to Tumblr post engagement, brands can enjoy a shelf-life more in keeping with a YouTube video than a Facebook post.

via Top Brands on Tumblr: 1 in 4 Reblogged Posts More Than 60 Days Old.

TwitterMarketProbe-SMB-Follower-Insights-Aug2013Twitter has released some research trumpeting the connections that can be made between SMBs and their followers. The survey of 500 followers of SMBs in the US and UK, conducted by Market Probe International, found that the top reason these Twitter users follow SMBs is to get updates on future products (73%), although many do so out of support (63%) and to interact with the businesses, such as by sharing ideas or providing feedback (61%).

via SMB Followers on Twitter Looking for Updates, Interaction.

Nevertheless, marketers are so enthusiastic about social marketing’s effect on top-of-funnel engagement that they say social is here to stay. It has become a core element of their lead generation efforts. And they have hammered out a number of best practices that are worth sharing and emulating.

via How B2Bs Are Working Social for Leads – eMarketer.

An effective landing page is critical for marketers; it’s where a potential lead clicks and either converts—or doesn’t. So it’s important for marketers to pay close attention to how compelling their landing page really is for visitors.

via How Do Landing Page Objectives Differ for B2Bs vs. B2Cs? – eMarketer.

comScore-Top-10-US-Web-Properties-Jul-v-Jun2013-Aug2013A couple of months ago, comScore’s Media Metrix data showed Yahoo closing the gap with Google as the US’ top web property, a development noted here. Now the latest Media Metrix data is out, and it appears that Yahoo! Sites has overtaken Google! Sites as the top web property, with 196.6 million unique visitors in July for the former, compared to 192.3 million for the latter. It must be noted, though, that these numbers do not take into account mobile-only visitors.

via Is Yahoo’s Digital Audience Now Bigger Than Google’s?.

Jumptap-Age-Distribution-Feature-Phone-Users-Aug2013Smartphone penetration stood at roughly 60% of the US mobile market in Q2, according to recent reports from comScore and Nielsen. That still leaves a sizable 40% chunk of the mobile market that hasn’t yet made the switch. So who is still using a feature phone? The demographics of the feature phone user are broken down in a new study [download page] released by Jumptap. As one might expect, the typical feature phone user tends to be older and come from a lower-income household.

via Who Doesn’t Use a Smartphone?.

SimpleRelevance-Email-Click-Frequency-by-Gender-Aug2013Consumers open emails throughout the day, but only click through those emails at specific preferred times, and those windows are often short, per results [download page] from a SimpleRelevance study. The study suggests that while email opens occur during as many as 23 hours of the day, 62% of consumers have only a single hour per day in which they prefer to click through an email message, a fairly surprising result.

via Many Email Recipients Said to Have a Short Window for Clicking.

Let’s be honest. The majority of content produced by brands through blog posts, enewsletters, social media posts, print magazines and webinars is flat out awful. In many cases, the content is self-serving, not useful and, maybe the worst, pointless. Even when you ask marketers themselves, just one in three believe that the content they develop is effective.

via Why Most Branded Content Is Just Awful | LinkedIn.