Social Media Metrics

Un-Social Trends? Despite Record Usage, Appeal of Top Social Media Sites Is Declining, According to New E-Score Study—Traditional Media Far More Trustworthy Than Social, Research Finds. June 28, 2013.

Getting the Most Out of Facebook Ads. When General Motors pulled its advertising from Facebook, many took it as an indication that the social network’s ad products didn’t work.

But in reality, the pullout tells a different story, says a new report by eMarketer. The report, “Facebook Advertising: Why the Marketplace Ad Platform Deserves a Second Look,” analyzes more than a dozen third-party research studies and interviews with industry executives that demonstrate consensus on a number of issues, including the effectiveness of Facebook’s ad products. According to the report, doubts persist over the effectiveness of Facebook’s Premium ad products. However, Facebook’s self-serve advertising platform, Marketplace, is gaining new prominence as a result. In May 2012, Facebook announced that it would start allowing advertisers to place Premium ads in users’ news feeds by tapping the technology that supports Marketplace. “The importance of Marketplace is often underestimated,” said eMarketer principal analyst Debra Aho Williamson.

Research: 44% of Facebook users will ‘never’ click sponsored ads. How Fortune 500 companies use social media. 4 Top Employers for Social Media Professionals. As an increasingly important and growing industry, it naturally follows that social media is a growing career field as clued-in companies look to the social space to better communicate with their colleagues, customers and clients.

We've taken a look at some of the top companies that are great for social media-savvy professionals. Here are our top four picks, complete with insightful Q&As from key staff within the organizations. Whether you're interested in social media as a career choice, or you'd like to know how you can offer a similar environment for digital natives to prosper in your company, read on. And as always, have your say in the comments below. Consumers Demand Personalized Messaging Across All Verticals. Brands of all stripes are working toward delivering personalized messages to their target audiences.

Despite their best efforts, however, consumers say certain industries are not meeting their needs. Service providers, such as cable and utility companies, and regulated companies, such as insurance and finance brands, appear to be behind the curve in terms of delivering personalized digital experiences. A survey from communications firm Thunderhead conducted by YouGov showed that fewer than half of consumers were pleased with how their cable providers use digital channels. Moreover, only 39% of insurance customers said they think their providers cater to them in the digital channels they prefer.

This digital gap appears to be particularly prevalent among finance, utility and insurance companies. An Accenture health insurance study complements some of the YouGov findings that insurance companies are struggling to meet consumer digital demand. Keep your business ahead of the digital curve. For Brands, Social Media Shows Returns but Measurement Hurdles Remain. C-suite executives are increasingly convinced of the benefits of engaging with their customers on social media platforms.

A February 2012 survey of 329 senior executives in North America by management and digital consulting firm PulsePoint Group and the Economist Intelligence Unit found that the vast majority of companies who had invested in social media saw a positive shift in their bottom line as a result. Pinterest Becomes Top Traffic Driver for Retailers [INFOGRAPHIC] Pinterest, a two-year-old social bookmarking site that lets users collect and share things they like on the web, is driving increasingly significant amounts of traffic to retailers' websites.

The service enables users to create online bulletin boards, or "pinboards," for popular categories such as home decor, food and wedding inspiration. Members can use Pinterest's "Pin It" bookmarklet tool and iPhone app to save things they see online and offline, and explore and repin the images their friends collect via their personal newsfeeds. The website is especially popular among women, who account for 58% of Pinterest's traffic, according to Experian Hitwise.

SEE ALSO: 21 Must-Follow Pinterest Users The site's popularity is quickly growing. Although Pinterest is becoming a significant source of traffic for retailers, search still dominates, and the site has yet to prove itself as a potential sales channel. 9 Reasons Why Your Content Is Not Shared on Social Networks: New Research. Do you wonder how to get your content seen amidst a sea of information?

What if you could understand why your audience shares some information and not other? That would make your content stand out from the competition. The Science of Sharing 30 billion pieces of content are shared on Facebook each month, including blog posts, links, news stories and photo albums. 3 Metrics that Will Change the Way You Market on Facebook.

Amy Porterfield is the co-author of Facebook Marketing All-In-One for Dummies and creator of the Facebook marketing training program, FBinfluence.

You can join her on Facebook at facebook.com/AmyPorterfield or read her blog at AmyPorterfield.com. Facebook isn’t just the largest social networking site on the web (with more than 800 million active users); it also collects a massive amount of information about those users. Through the newly revamped Facebook Insights, Page owners can access a staggering amount of information about their fans’ activities. This information gives business owners valuable insight into what they need to do to give fans a better experience and, in turn, achieve better marketing results. But it can be challenging to sift through all that data. Below is an overview of three game-changing metrics you should be tracking, along with concrete tips for improving your Page’s performance in each area. 1.

Luckily, the best way to increase engagement is easy: Just ask. 2. Moms Continue Flocking to Facebook. Have you Facebook-friended your mom yet?

Even if you haven’t, you probably have more than a few connections on the social network with little ones of their own, using the site as a way to communicate, stay in touch with families and exchange information about parenting, among other things. eMarketer estimates 23 million US moms are on Facebook this year—a figure that counts women with children under 18 in the household who use the site at least once each month. 3 Successful Google+ Pages and Why They Work. Social Consumers and the Science of Sharing [INFOGRAPHIC] If you're buying a car, do you check Facebook?

5 Creative Facebook Places Marketing Campaigns. Facebook Places, Facebook's location-based feature that launched in August, allows Facebook users to see where their friends are and to share their locations in the real world. It has also become another powerful Facebook marketing tool for businesses, who can design campaigns around the checkin service to build awareness, grow their fan base and engage and reward customers. Each time a Facebook user checks in to a particular location on Facebook Places, Facebook broadcasts the checkin to that user’s friends' news feeds. This is not only viral marketing for the company — it also allows businesses to provide incentives for people to come to their physical locations or events. Although the service has only been around for a few months, quite a few companies have already begun integrating Facebook Places into their marketing programs. 1.

A simple but powerful way to use Facebook Places is to reward fans for every checkin. 2. 3. 4. 5. Getting Started. Daily. Article. Women are well known for their high usage of social media sites, where they make an attractive target. They like to socialize with friends and family, share information and give advice.