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When it comes to ecommerce, Mac owners take the cake (the decorations, the plates, the party favors. . . ) with the highest average order value of $102.83. But the real surprise is what comes next. It’s not the PC owners, it’s the iPhone users with 97.49.

The numbers come from Monetate’s Ecommerce Quarterly data report for Q2 which looks at online shopping trends. And while you can’t control what device people use to shop, you can control how they access your e-store in the first place.

According to Monetate, that social media link that we all love so much, isn’t doing us any favors.

• Social media referral traffic lags far behind email and search, with the Average Order Value (AOV) of social traffic $26.21 less than search traffic and nearly $20 less than email referral traffic
• Conversion rates from social referral traffic in Q2 were .59% when compared with 4.25% for email and 2.49% for search

Let’s get a visual on that:

Wow, that’s quite a difference. Once again, it makes me wonder why we’re bothering with social media at all. Yes, I hear all of you shouting “it’s branding” and all exposure is good exposure but that only goes so far. At some point, you have to convert. You have to bring in new buyers, users, readers, listeners or whatever it is that pays the bills.

What I get from this, is that it’s not worth dumping money into social media ads like Facebook Sponsored Stories or Promoted Tweets. Seems like a free Twitter and Facebook account will get you just as much of a return with no (or very little) out of pocket.

Maybe that will change as social becomes a regular part of everyone’s life. But will it ever convert like Search does? I can see it getting close, but I can’t see it ever taking over. As for email, I think it’s become so common place that we forget about it, when clearly it’s the best channel for driving ecommerce sales.

What do you think? Will Social ever pack the punch of Search or Email? Or is it destined to be the little engine that thinks it can but can’t?

Social analytics startup The Echo System has launched a new tool to help businesses measure and understand the impact of their social media campaigns.

Dubbed Echo Effect Analytics, the new platform brings together social data with transactional data, so brands can see in cold, hard numbers the correlation between social media engagement and revenue.

The company knows that social media marketing is like karma. What goes out must come back three-fold. The results of its June study demonstrated that online retailers with solid “social” customer engagement strategies vastly outperform laggards.

Marketing teams can use the interactive dashboard to make comparisons across multiple social media channels, looking at revenue per visit, conversion rates, and average order size. They can also see which channels drive the most referrals and the financial effect those referrals have.

The system also creates a profile for every visitor to a brand’s website, which contains information about their online shopping and sharing habits. It turns this information into a numerical score between 1 and 100 so marketers can instantly gauge a customer’s dedication to the brand.

All of this data is further leveraged to suss out customer interests, which could ultimately lead to more targeted advertising.

In many ways, it is a tool for social media marketers to justify their presence, work, and worth to the scary business guys in stiff suits. Or the bootstrapping startup founder in a hoodie. Or themselves for dedicating a career to tweets.

The Echo System which was founded in 2010 and received an undisclosed amount of investment from GSV Capital in 2011.

Filed under: VentureBeat

Email, Search and Social Media — think of them as three sisters in the Marketing family.

Social Media is the young one. She’s always on trend. She’s popular and has lots of friends. She’s the one you turn to when you’re looking to have some fun.

Search is the middle sister. She’s not as flashy as her little sister, but she’s plenty popular and she’s reliable. Well, as long as you make it worth her while, then she’ll help you get the job done.

Email, she’s the older, wiser sister. She’s not as popular as her younger siblings, but she puts in a good days work and if you approach her right, she’ll surprise you.

Now, if you’re really good at what you do, you can romance all three sisters and benefit from the unique reach and point of view of each one. But if you find yourself spending too much time with only one, particularly the young one, you might find yourself out of pocket with little to show for it in return.

Behold this infographic from Monetate:

Look at that, our stalwart sister Email turns in the highest Add-to-Cart Rates and Average Conversion Rates. Sister Search comes in a close second and tops the charts for Average Page Views Per Session. Sweet sister Social Media doesn’t come close in any category.

To make the most of Miss Email, Monetate suggests you customize your messages. Segment your mailing list for best results and when mailing to a customer who hasn’t been around in awhile, send them a promo code to entice them over for a visit. They also remind us to make sure messaging is consistent from email to webpage.

Finally, take note of how your customers are reading your email messages. iPads have seen a 73% increase in email opens over the past four months. Mobile phones are up 34% and web-based email and desktop clients both show a decrease of around 10%. That means you should be testing your email blasts on a variety of devices to make sure they appear and function as they should.

The big holiday dance is coming up soon. Which of the three sisters are you going to spend time with? The trendy looker or the one who will help you get the job done?

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This sponsored post is produced by W3i. 

Most of the top grossing apps design social features into their apps as part of their core strategy.  Why?  In his key note at GamesBeat Zynga’s Chief Executive Mark Pincus stated that users’ retention rates doubled compared to the average game’s retention rates when acquired through social.  Not only do compelling social features dramatically increase user retention, they also help drive down user acquisition costs.

You’ve heard a lot about the growing social networks and related mobile game platforms, like Facebook’ Single Sign-On, Google+, Apple’s Game Center, DeNA’s Mobage, Gree’s Open Feint, Papaya and PlayPhone.  We were interested in finding out what top-grossing apps were using for social.

We set out to survey the Top 50 Grossing Apps in the App Store and Google Play on June 28^th paying close attention to how the app connected game players through social.  We ended up analyzing 38 freemium games on iPhone and 42 freemium games on Android eliminating the 12 iPhone and 8 Android paid games in the top 50.  Here are our findings:

10 of 38 iOS games and 8 of 32 Android games required users to register with their social network credentials prior to first playing the game.  In conversations with top app developers, we were told that requiring social sign-in can cause as much as a 70% reduction in initial conversion rates when a user is required to register before experiencing gameplay.

Gareth Davis, a Product Manager at Facebook, spoke at GDC 2012 this spring.  In his session he noted that Facebook social channels include:  Friends, News Feed, Search, Notifications, Requests, Bookmarks and Open Graph & Timeline.  These can all be used to add Facebook social features to games.  He also mentioned the following mobile platform best practices:

1. Add SSO to get FB Bookmark & Search Result
2. Use a single FB App ID on all platforms
3. Publish via Open Graph to get distribution
4. Design frictionless Requests & Invites
5. Use all Social Channels
6. Native Deep Linking for native distribution
7. Social Design

Some of the key points in his session for successful social design were:  1. Build social into app from the ground up, make the app people centric; 2.  Make friend finding easy; 3. Design the app for sharing; 4. Make content “braggable” and 5. Leverage unique mobile capabilities like location and social tagging.  In our survey we found more than half of the games used points 1, 2, 3 and 4 above, with no one using 5 location and social tagging.

Social is a great source of engaged users.  W3i can help identify additional profitable sources for user acquisition or other ways to monetize your app as well as give you advice on how to optimize your freemium game.  Learn more at W3i.com.

For more Facebook information Gareth cites Documentation developers.facebook.com/mobile, Showcase fb.me/mobileappshowcase; Sample App fb.me/fbhackbook and HTML5 Resource Center devlopers.facebook.com/html5.

Filed under: games, VentureBeat

Pause for a moment to think. Are you really making the most of your Google+ presence? As in, are you leveraging Google+ for all its lead gen potential? The most organic way to use Google+ to generate leads is by posting compelling content updates that include links back to your website.

And in order for this to work, you need marketing content that will interest your audience and capture their attention. This includes content such as blog posts, videos, webinars, ebooks and whitepapers, reports, and interviews. When you share compelling content on your Google+ business page, you’ll not only engage your audience and generate discussions, but you’ll also drive your followers back to your website where they can read/view the entire resource. And from there, you can convert them into leads!

In this article, which is an excerpt from our new, free ebook, 6 Ways to Generate Leads From Google+, featuring insights and best practices from Google+’s team itself, we’ll walk you through the steps you should be taking to optimize your content updates and improve your organic lead generation from Google+.

Share Compelling Content

First and foremost, give your followers a reason to visit your page! Share content that grabs their attention and fulfills a need/want, whether it be in their family, personal, or professional lives. A data-driven approach to identifying the types of content you should share is to look at your marketing analytics and identify the most popular pages on your website. For instance, in HubSpot’s software, we look at the Landing Page Analytics tool to figure out which marketing offers (e.g. ebooks, webinars, kits, presentations) are most popular. We sort these pages by views and check their conversion rates so we can easily pinpoint the type of content that our audience gravitates toward.

If you haven’t created many marketing offers or you don’t have access to such comprehensive landing page analytics, you can also check out the analytics for your blog. That should give you a good idea of which topics are most popular to your audience. Once you have identified the content that drives the most traffic, use them as fodder to share on Google+. Through this data-driven approach for selecting content, you’ll increase the probability of grabbing the attention of your Google+ followers.

Optimize the Timing & Frequency of Your Updates

Posting all your updates at the same time isn’t going to do anyone any good. You need to space them out; otherwise, your followers’ Google+ feed will get overwhelmed with a sudden flow of content. If you intend to publish 3-4 posts per day, Google explains, make sure you stagger them throughout. This approach is very similar to a marketer’s behavior on other social channels, like Twitter and Facebook.

While there are general industry suggestions for optimal time and frequency of posting, it’s important to test your timing and frequency with your particular audience. You might find that your followers are a bit different in the way they access and engage with information. Look at your target persona(s), and take into consideration their locations, lifestyle habits, and activities. This context will point you in the right direction for discovering when and how often you should be posting content to your Google+ business page.

Google+ Tip: Create a posting schedule, and post an update at least once a day. (HubSpot has even created a customizable, free social media scheduling template to make this process very easy!) The best times to post are between 10 a.m. and 1 p.m. Remember to +mention (more on this later) others who you may add valuable commentary to your post so they feel the love and share your post with more people.

Learn From Other Successful Companies on Google+

Many companies, like the following two, are making a good use of Google+, using best practices like mentioning specific people in their updates and using hashtags.

Cadbury

The UK chocolate manufacturer Cadbury, which is liked by and in the Circles of close to 2 million people, presents a great case study for using Google+ effectively. Specifically, Cadbury is a good example of how to effectively incorporate hashtags in Google+ updates. You can easily create a hashtag — just start your keyword phrase with the # symbol and don’t use any spaces. While the post below is not designed to directly generate leads for the company, it certainly helps Cadbury increase its following on Google+. Just a few hours after going live, the update had generated more than 140 likes and 60 comments.

SEOmoz

With its nearly 18,000 +1s and more than 15,000 followers, SEOmoz is another company that shows us a great example of using Google+ updates the right way. SEOmoz is consistent with its use of Google+ mentions. In the example below, SEOmoz has tagged the author of a blog post featured on its website. This adds a layer of personalization, as Google+ followers can learn more about the authority and experts behind SEOmoz’s writing.

Personalize Your Posts

It turns out that making your posts more personal is a best practice that Google strongly recommends. As we saw with SEOmoz, tagging other Google+ users in your updates is one way to achieve personalization. Let’s look at some other ways:

Mention Other Google+ Users by Adding the + Sign

Simply add a + sign in front of the name of the person who you want to tag, and select the right user profile. By mentioning other Google+ users and pages in your posts, your update will appear in search results when people look for them on Google+. This gives your content even greater reach.

Add Personal Signatures

At HubSpot’s we’ve found that personalized signatures work great in our email marketing. So why don’t you try incorporating them in your Google+ updates? Signing your posts with your name gives your page more personality and enables the user to identify with the people behind your content.

Use Your Own Voice

Be consistent in the language and tone you use across the various different social networks you participate in, as well as on your blog and other marketing assets. Make sure that your voice represents the identity of your company, and also engages your audience so it sparks discussions.

Optimize Visual Content for Lead Generation

Visual content on Google+ can open up a lot of lead generation possibilities. Similar to Facebook’s new timeline design, on Google+, you have the ability to add a cover photo and a profile image to your business page. You can also create albums with visuals, and leverage the ‘Videos’ tab to add clips. The trick — for lead generation — is to always accompany your visual content with a link back to a landing page on your site.

The important thing to remember with visual content and video, is that there are two pieces of real estate to which you can add your landing page link:

1. Add a landing page link to the actual image/video.
2. Add a landing page link to the description of the image/video.

By adding links to both of these locations, you’ll increase the chances of Google+ users clicking on the link and visiting your landing page. In other words, you’ll drive more traffic to your website that you can then focus on converting into leads. To make this work, of course, you need to share compelling visual and video content. Google+ recommends sharing exclusive photos and videos with your fans and followers. Don’t forget that you can edit your photos directly in Google+ and can even share animated GIF images — a great way to draw attention to your page.

Now let’s look at a few great examples of companies using the above mentioned lead generation tactics in their visual and video content. We will also cover a few companies that have compelling cover and profile photos to instantly capture the attention of their Google+ visitors.

Adding Links to Image Descriptions

In its public album ‘Trend Update, 2012,’ H&M took advantage of the best practice to include links in the descriptions of its featured photos. The fashion brand not only showcases some of its trendy recommendations, but also tells people where they can learn more about these items and potentially purchase them. “See our latest trend collection at http://bit.ly/OsL5bT,” reads one call-to-action in H&M’s photo album.

Adding Links to Actual Images

Don’t forget that your visuals themselves can feature links! If you think that the message you’re trying to convey can benefit from a reference to a specific page, then go ahead and feature a URL. This is especially easy to do if you’re using an image of your logo for branding
purposes. Below, check out how The New York Times managed to incorporate a link right beneath its logo.

Adding Links to Your Videos

In this example, General Electric is featuring a video on its Google+ page. The company is following best practices by including a hashtag in its update and even mentioning specific Google+ users in the comments section. If you play the video, you will see that it features a link to get further engaged with G E— this is their call-to-action. One recommendation
we have for GE is to also include its desired link in the description of the video as they post it on Google+. This would increase the chances of people clicking through and learning more about the stories behind GE.

Etsy is another company that has shown us great use of video calls-to-action on Google+. In the example below, Etsy showcases its most recent product feature and also links to the page on its business’ website where users can get access to the feature.

Surprise Users With Unique Visuals

You can also capture people’s attention with some creative and unorthodox visuals. Verizon, for instance, features five individual animated GIFs on its Google+ Page that come together to convey one message. Since this is something new and unexpected in this virtual environment, it grabs the attention of the user and directs them to take a specific action, which in this case would be to check out Verizon Wireless for faster movies, music, and apps.

Forever 21 is another company that used animated GIFs to make its cover picture stand out.

Are you effectively optimizing and leveraging your best content for maximum Google+ lead generation?

Tablets present an interesting challenge for brands seeking to reach their users across multiple platforms. A company’s website might look passable, but users are coming to expect tablet-specific experiences, regardless of whether it’s a native app or a browser based experience.

Failing to build a scalable, tablet-friendly experience can yield significant consequences, from dropping conversion rates to frustrated, upset users. This article will explore how brand managers can create tablet-optimized experiences that take advantage of key features such as location, touch, and screen rotation to build beautiful and engaging experiences that feel perfect for this emerging form factor. By using case studies as examples, readers will see best practices in action.

Let’s get started.

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Newsflash:  The iPad is revolutionizing mobile shopping. OK, so that may not seem like news as we’ve known that tablets are driving new shifts in consumer and business behavior that change the way marketers must connect with their audiences. Now, new research shows that tablet users are a whole new category.

New data from The 2012 Q1 Shopping Insights™ Mobile Study shows that…

• iPad users now account for about two-thirds (68 percent) of mobile shoppers.
• The iPad drives a whopping 90% of all mobile revenue (and 4% of total retail revenue).
• Conversion rates were strongest with the iPad (1.5% for iPad vs. 0.57% for other mobile devices).
• Compared with all other mobile devices, average pages per session were highest for the iPad, at nearly six pages per session (5.7 for iPads vs. 3.6 for iPhone vs. 4.1 for other mobile devices).
• The iPad had the highest average order value (AOV) of any mobile device: $158 for iPad vs. $105 for other mobile devices vs. $104 for iPhone and other iOS devices in March 2012.
• AOV for iPad shopping is creeping ahead of the AOV from desktop computers ($158 for iPad vs. $153 from desktops).

Those results indicate consumers continue to embrace mobile shopping, and tablet users are leading the charge. What can you do to appeal to this new generation of tablet-centric consumers?

1. Make the Tablet Experience Enjoyable

Anyone who has used one knows: The iPad is a fun and immersive experience. Touch the screen—and an entire world of media and information is at your fingertips. It’s almost as though you’re invited to play with each piece of content.

How can your brand stand out in this format? What will make your app—and yes, if you’re going to compete in tablet computing, you have to have an app—compelling and engaging? What unique aspect of your product or service can you leverage in app form, and how can that translate into effective marketing?

For inspiration, take a look at Gap’s 1969 jeans app—an innovative way of interacting with the Gap brand.

Not only can consumers check out the company’s product lines, mix and match outfits, share via social media channels, find a store via a geo-locator, get designer tips and exclusive content, but they can also purchase directly from their mobile device.

2. Simplify

Simplicity is one of the linchpins to the tablet computing experience. Tablet computers (and especially the iPad) aren’t designed for the dormant hacker that some folks argue resides in all of us. Tablets are designed for everyone. (They’re so simple a three-year old can use one, remember?) Your messaging needs to be just as user-friendly.

In other words, don’t make information difficult to find… and don’t just sell. Instead, make the layout appealing to touch, and make the presentation relevant, convenient, and engaging. If you do, you’ll make the most of the tablet format, and you’ll make the most of consumers’ ever-more-precious time. As the variety of digital channels continues to expand, your customers are finding themselves bombarded with brand messages. Can you blame them for running low on patience for content that seems too complicated? Keep it simple. Focus on images or video (rather than text), provide clear calls to action, include direct links to any actions, etc.

3. Encourage Purchasing

With its easy-to-use interface, the iPad is a prime tool to encourage online browsing, and so it’s no surprise that a recommendation engine can yield big benefits in this context. (Think of other recommendation engines you know, such as those in use by Amazon, Netflix, or Pandora.)

Recommendations fall into four broad categories.

• Personalized recommendations—based on the user’s past behavior
• Social recommendations—based on the past behavior of similar users
• Item recommendations—based on the product or service itself
• A combination of the three approaches above

Recommendations give customers a gentle nudge towards a purchase they may not have considered. They’re the sweet spot between online browsing and searching, and when coupled with an intuitive app and the ease of tablet computing, recommendations can boost sales.

4. Integrate Messaging

Tablets empower consumers with digital communication that’s available 24/7 at the touch of a finger. That makes tablets a great format to integrate your apps, company website, videos, social media channels—virtually everything. Variability can erode the value of your product or service, so hone in on the messaging that works and use it consistently across all channels (whether traditional or digital). Also, capitalize on the tablet as a force multiplier by making certain your content can be easily shared via social networks.

5. Aim for Weekend and Evening Appeal

In addition to the findings outlined above, The RichRelevance study also found that iPads “rule the weekend.” According to the survey results…

• The iPad share of shopping sessions (viewing, not necessarily buying) increases on the weekends, reaching 7% on weekends vs. 5% during the week.
• The iPad’s share of sessions climbs in the evening hours, from around 5 p.m. until 9 p.m., reaching 9.45% at 9 p.m., rising from a low point (.4%) at 3 a.m.
• In comparison, traffic from all other mobile devices is stable on weekdays and weekends, accounting for about 1.3% of all sessions.
• On average, about 6% of all orders originate on mobile devices (iPad included) on weekends vs. 4% on weekdays.

For marketers, all that means that we can leverage an engaging, relevant app to appeal to the customer who wants to kick back with their tablet and relax on weekends and after hours. An iPad is a fun, easy-to-use digital device–but it’s not a laptop or at all similar to the computers we all use at our jobs. Tablets are devices consumers want to use, not ones they necessarily have to use. Tablets are more versatile than smartphones and, let’s be honest—they’re just plain cool. Design your tablet content to appeal to consumers when they’re ready to have some fun.

New research is making it clear that marketers can no longer think of mobile as one big group containing both smartphones and tablets. Tablets are emerging as a separate category, one that needs to be recognized for its wide consumer appeal and unique marketing potential.

(Photo courtesy of Bigstock: Teenage Woman With Tablet Computer)

API management startup Apigee has just announced it’s acquired some interesting mobile payment processing and other technologies from the Wholesale Applications Community (WAC).

This deal includes a specific API for carrier billing for in-app purchases, and it plays nicely with carriers all around the globe.

WAC’s technology offering is its mobile payment API, which let user pay for digital and/or virtual goods using carrier billing. It’s been used on mobile networks from AT&T to Deutsche Telekom to Telefónica. The service has run on Apigee since its launch earlier this year, so it makes sense for Apigee to buy the technology outright.

“WAC successfully launched API technology that has the potential to dramatically accelerate the pace of mobile app innovation across heterogeneous platforms and mobile operators,” said Apigee CEO Chet Kapoor in a release.

“The WAC acquisition is part of our strategy to expand our offerings to include complete, industry-specific solutions… We are thrilled to have the opportunity to provide a global service that builds on and delivers the vision of WAC to the telecommunications industry.”

We we read on the WAC website:

Operator billing is the easiest way to charge users for digital content. There is no need for the user to enter a credit card number of password, the user only has to confirm the purchase and it will be put on their phone bill. It even works if the user is buying something on a PC or tablet in which case we send the user a one-time PIN via SMS. This ease-of-use results in higher conversion rates and therefore more revenues.

The other part of the acquisition is WAC’s web runtime, a mobile app platform that lets devs build applications that can run on any device and any carrier. It’s just an orgy of interoperability, tell ya what.

WAC is an open global alliance of leading communications companies including network operators, device and network equipment manufacturers. The organization itself is a nonprofit and is funded by membership fees. It’s stated goal is to help developers turn a better profit — and so much with much more ease — by developing a cross-carrier API platform.

Top image courtesy of igor1308, Shutterstock

Filed under: deals, dev, mobile

Want to make finding your business easy for potential clients and current customers?

If so, you’ll want to download the free search marketing guide from MarketingProfs and to read it right away. (Or at least, you’ll want to skim through the guide until you’ve got time to soak it all in.)

The free downloadable PDF highlighting search will help you understand what it takes to improve your online visibility.

At 14 pages, the guide is packed with information that you need to get started in making yourself easily found by your target audience.

You’ll learn about…

• the convergence of search and social media
• Google’s ranking of names
• a case study approach to improving your conversion rates
• keyword mistakes to avoid
• and more.

Download your copy today.

(Photo courtesy of Bigstock: Needle in a Haystack)

Before the development of social media and web aggregators, a page rank was used to measure the success of a website’s search engine optimization campaign. That’s why SEO practitioners would incorporate their keywords on their content, and then check which among them ranks and moves up. But nowadays, link building, natural search and keyword traffic, and conversion rates are also measured for SEO success.

That’s why it’s important to have brand awareness campaign in order to attract visitors to your website. Below are simple ways on how you can build your brand’s online presence.

Start with Your Website

Think of your website as your base of operation. This is where you have all the control and where all of your online marketing efforts will lead your visitors. Get a domain name, design your website, and post all of your content on it. Just make sure that you’ll have a user-friendly web design and comprehensive content. It’ll be easy for you to convince your visitors to consider your products or services, leave their contact information, or make a purchase.

Claim Your Online Personality and Name

You may encounter a person that has the same name as yours. If your name and face represents your business online, anything associated with your brand will be accountable to you. That’s why it’s important that you claim your name first. Create an online account and incorporate it on your website. That’ll make people consider that you’re an official representative of your business. Doing so can protect you and your brand’s reputation from posers.

Connect to Social Media Sites

It is also helping in building your online presence if your join social media sites. It basically helps you create your brand’s fan base, so you have an immediate audience whenever your share content. Other than that, your fans’ interaction to your content provides a social signal that can help rank your website. Furthermore, posting your website’s link on your social media accounts is the beginning of your link building efforts.

It depends on you how you’re going to proceed to building your business’ online presence. What’s important is that you know how to attract the right customer, what content to share with them, how you’ll engage them, and how you can provide a better user experience for them. That way, it’ll be easy for you to optimize your business on search engines to boost online traffic. The more visitors your website have, the more leads and revenue that you can generate.

The post Building Your Brand’s Online Presence through SEO appeared first on About Social Media.