The End of Storytelling: 3 Ways to Boost Conversions with Story Building by Rachel Serpa

Once a marketing buzzword of note, “storytelling” has lost steam in the face of social media. When consumers hold the power to tweet about the nasty waitress and pin photos of that fantastic filet mignon directly from the table, brands’ reputations precede them. Not to mention, gone are the days when consumers were content to sit back and field marketing messages – today, they demand to be part of the conversation.

Smart brands have realized that their stories are no longer their own, but are built at individual consumer levels based on social opinion and series of interactions. Here are three ways your brand can close the book on storytelling and start generating revenue with story building.

Let your customers do the storytelling.

Customer reviews are trusted 12x more than descriptions that come from manufacturers (Brick Marketing). Give consumers plenty of opportunities to provide and share valuable feedback via features like Comments and Ratings and Reviews. Letting customers tell their stories serves to build your brand story in a way that is sure to grow customer acquisition at a faster clip than flowery marketing speak. Fostering this level of transparency among your customer base will add a layer of authenticity to your brand story that is sure to boost consumer trust.

Personalize user experiences.

Leverage permission-based social data – which can be gathered by allowing users to login to your site or app using their existing social media accounts – to create more relevant and timely user experiences. For example, if an online journal knows a particular customer has children, it could surface articles related to parenting to the top of her news feed. Personalizing featured content and products helps create a more meaningful story with each individual customer. Not to mention, 40% of consumers buy more from retailers who personalize the shopping experience across channels (Monetate)!

Gamify cross-channel touch points.

Create interactive, gamified experiences that span devices and channels to encourage consumers to invest in your brand on a deeper level and play an active role in building your brand story. One brand that has done an exemplary job of inviting consumers to become a part of its brand story with cross-channel gamification is CAPCOM; its Devil May Cry app requires users to login socially to participate in real-world mobile challenges that earn them virtual video game rewards.

Gamification achievements also work to illustrate users’ individual connections with your brand, indirectly building your larger brand story. For example, a user displaying a level 5 commenting badge on his account profile shows that he is deeply invested in your brand, and should be considered a reliable source of feedback and referral by potential customers.

In the age of the connected consumer, every brand has a story, whether its the one it intends to tell or not. It’s the brands that create opportunities for customers to help build their brand stories in strategic and influential ways that will achieve real ROI and live happily ever after.

Source: http://blog.gigya.com/the-end-of-storytelling-3-ways-to-boost-conversions-with-story-building/

The Ultimate Guide to Social Marketing Success in 2014 by Rachel Serpa

With 2013 now behind us, modern marketers are well versed in the importance and potential impact of social data and engagement. According to the Word of Mouth and American Marketing Associations, 70% of marketers expect to increase their social media marketing budgets in 2014 (MediaPost).

However, 79% of marketers cite measuring social media and demonstrating social marketing ROI as two of their biggest obstacles (MediaPost). The new year is poised to shift social marketers’ focus from simply establishing a social game plan to measuring and optimizing social marketing impact, implementing data-driven strategies, and creating effective cross-channel user experiences.

Marketers must answer the call of innovation and find new, creative ways to acquire and retain customers by leveraging social media, social data, and unique web and mobile experiences. Our new guide gives you a head start on the competition with insights on achieving and measuring real social ROI in 2014, including how to:

• Accurately calculate the value of social marketing
• Turn anonymous visitors into known customers
• Make data-driven marketing decisions
• Grow an interactive community of trust
• Unify cross-channel user identity with login vs. cookie data
• Nurture consumer relationships with rewards

Source: http://blog.gigya.com/the-ultimate-guide-to-social-marketing-success-in-2014/

How to Turn User Generated Content into Revenue with Ratings and Reviews by Rachel Serpa

In the age of the connected consumer, customers are continuously talking and sharing about your brand, product or service – and everybody’s listening.  When consumers have the power to tweet about the nasty cashier while she’s ringing them up, or that fantastic filet mignon directly from the table, letting disgruntled customers or brand advocates slip through the cracks can be the difference between widespread success and fast failure.

Social networks have given consumers proverbial megaphones to broadcast their experiences in real-time, and brand image and perception is increasingly shaped by social opinion. In fact, while 70% of Millennials consider it their responsibility to share feedback with companies after both positive and negative experiences (AdAge), 90% of consumers admit that their purchase decisions are influenced by consumer ratings and reviews (Marketing Land).

By providing customers with an open forum for posting ratings and reviews, businesses can effectively monitor and react to consumer opinions in real-time. Smart brands are learning how to leverage consumer connectivity and feedback to build brand awareness, influence brand perception, and foster authentic relationships with both potential and existing customers. This white paper showcases three ways that brands can start effectively harnessing ratings and reviews to stimulate both new and repeat conversions:

• Boosting brand awareness and referral traffic
• Improving long-tail SEO
• Building consumer trust to increase shopping cart conversions

Source: http://blog.gigya.com/how-to-turn-user-generated-content-into-revenue-with-ratings-and-reviews/

From Connect to Convert: How to Nurture Lifetime Customer Value by Rachel Serpa

The rise of social media has forever changed the nature of relationships between consumers and brands. Consumers are no longer content to listen to an automated customer service operator or gather around to flip through a catalogue with friends. They expect to be able to sound off about their experiences with services and to be answered quickly, and they demand the ability to share product reviews and recommendations with friends in real-time from any device.

This shift toward consumer engagement is forcing brands to stop thinking in terms of traditional marketing and sales opportunities. Instead, successful companies have started focusing their efforts on establishing authentic, long-term relationships with customers to drive genuine connectivity and repeat conversions. Here are three steps to help you grow genuine customer relationships that lead to increased brand loyalty and lifetime customer value.

Let them tell you who they are.

According to IBM, we create 2.5 quintillion bytes of data each day. Consumers have generated 90% of the world’s data in the past two years by incessantly sharing what they like, need and want, in real-time (IBM). How do marketers even begin to sort through this ocean of data to pinpoint insights that are granular enough to effectively connect with customers on a relevant level?

Leveraging tools like social login allows you to easily identify your best current and potential customers with permission-based access to their unique social profiles. This is a mutually beneficial strategy that offers customers a convenient way to authenticate their identities on your website or mobile app using their existing social accounts, and also provides brands with invaluable customer insights. This type of identity access is key in building the unique, comprehensive user profiles necessary to establish authentic relationships with consumers.

Personalize their experience.

Once you recognize and understand customers’ unique identities, you can begin to develop more intimate relationships with them by personalizing their experiences with your brand across marketing channels. For example, if a ticket provider knows that Jim loves classic rock and lives in San Francisco, it can send him a personalized email featuring discounts toward rock concerts in his area. Obviously, this level of personalization makes Jim feel much more connected to this brand than if he were to receive a generic email promoting tickets to a random show.

Personalization plays a large role in customer satisfaction and is an essential element in moving from connect to convert. In fact, 40% of consumers buy more from retailers who personalize the shopping experience across channels (MyBuys). Leveraging customer insights in conjunction with social features like gamification makes it possible for customers to interact with your brand on a more engaging and personalized level across various marketing channels.

Repeat.

Establishing authentic relationships with consumers doesn’t stop the first time they connect with your brand – it’s a continuous cycle. Your customers’ needs, interests and behaviors are consistently evolving, and successful brands never stop listening and updating experiences to make sure they stay relevant. Think about it this way: if a customer suddenly chooses to become vegetarian, whether you offer him reward points toward a steak dinner or a popular new vegetarian restaurant in his area will make all the difference in maintaining a relevant relationship with him.

Implementing a connected consumer management solution that not only collects but seamlessly updates customer information in real-time allows marketers to focus on harnessing these insights to create relevant and personalized strategies. Dedicating effort and attention to continuously nurturing genuine and mutually beneficial relationships with consumers is the key to establishing brand loyalty and lifetime customer value.

In the age of the connected consumer, it’s time for brands to make establishing authentic customer relationships the priority. No matter the end marketing or sales goal, by focusing on creating relevant experiences for customers, brands will be successful in connecting with and converting users time and time again.

Source: http://blog.gigya.com/from-connect-to-convert-how-to-nurture-lifetime-customer-value/

5 Marketing Predictions for 2014 By Rachel Serpa

2013 has seen more and more businesses recognizing the value of incorporating social media into their marketing strategies. Marketers have finally started moving beyond accumulating Likes and posting tweets to leveraging social connectivity to develop authentic consumer relationships.

2014 is poised to present even greater changes, challenges and opportunities for marketers. As user data gets bigger and the variety of consumer touch points grows wider, marketers must continue to optimize their strategies to connect with customers on deeper, more personal levels. Here are 5 predictions that we believe will shape the way marketers connect with consumers in 2014.

Social login distribution will grow.

While Facebook still maintains social login domination, as noted in ourQ3 Social Login infographic, Google+ has made significant strides as an identity provider in 2013. We predict that this trend will continue in 2014, with regional networks like Orkut, Mixi and Vkontakte continuing to gain momentum overseas, and Amazon’s “Login and Pay with Amazon” offering landing the eCommerce giant a spot in next year’s top social identity providers list. Distribution aside, with mobile usage continuing to surpass desktop, we expect social logins in general to grow as users choose to more easily verify their identities across mobile devices with touch versus text.

Omni-channel experiences will reign supreme.

Earlier this year, eMarketer estimated that consumer time spent on mobile devices will overtake desktop by the end of 2013. The rise of mobile and social technologies has given way to more potential touch points for brands to reach and connect with consumers than ever before. 2014 is the year that marketers will be forced to develop and execute solid omni-channel strategies to create consistent, cohesive cross-channel experiences, or face the consequences.

Social login data will overtake cookie data.

In just one minute, 2 million Google searches are conducted, Apple receives 47,000 app downloads, and over 100,000 tweets are sent. Traditional cookies cannot effectively track and aggregate these petabytes of user data across devices and mediums. Logged-in user data is the only way for marketers to tie all cross-channel user activity to a single identity, turning anonymous users into known customers. We foresee social login data becoming the new standard for consumer insights, with successful marketers making the transition from cookie retargeting to fostering authentic consumer relationships.

Marketers will take data into their own hands.

While 78% of marketers have felt the pressure to become more data-driven in 2013, only 33% claim to consistently and strategically leverage consumer data in their marketing efforts (Teradata). We expect to see this number rise in 2014, with marketers taking charge by trading in restrictive IT infrastructure for flexible, centralized cloud storage databases. These databases integrate with user-friendly dashboards and third-party platforms to empower marketers to quickly access insights and adapt messaging to consumers’ real-time wants and needs.

Consumers will demand greater privacy control.

73% of consumers say they prefer retailers that use personal information to make shopping experiences more relevant, but 88% believe that companies should give them the flexibility to control how this information is being used. We predict that 2014 will see a crack-down on user privacy as consumers become more knowledgeable about privacy settings and data storage. Marketers that don’t request permission-based access to user information and provide a clear description of how this information will be used will lose touch with consumers.

While we have a sneaking suspicion that these five predictions will come to fruition in 2014, as long as marketers focus on connecting closer and growing authentic relationships with customers, both brands and consumers will reap the benefits in the new year.

Source: http://blog.gigya.com/5-marketing-predictions-for-2014/?utm_source=out&utm_medium=psync&utm_campaign=2014blog&utm_content=var1

11 Web Marketing and Social Media Trends That Will Shape 2014 by Stephanie Frasco

2014 is going to be a killer year for Social Media and Small Business.

Social Media allows small businesses to leverage technology to even the playing field with bigger brands and companies. In 2014, some of the trends we saw in 2013 will continue to rise while others will fall. But it all comes down to how you communicate with your customers, how you leverage relationships, and of course how you share GREAT content.

Content is what businesses are built on today. It always has been and always will be.

So without further ado, here are 11 trends for 2014 and how you can get ready:

1. Mobile Is About To Go Mainstream
Every website needs to be optimized for mobile. This means having responsive design and thinking about how people interact with your business via mobile devices should be one of your top priorities. As a small business it's time to make the switch to a mobile site if you haven't yet, and think about ways that you can get in front of your customers through their phone. Yes, this include Mobile Apps, SMS, and emails that are designed to be viewed on your cellular phone.

2. Niche Sites Will Make An Impact
As Facebook, Twitter, and Google Plus make it harder to get found organically, niche sites are going to prove to be more valuable than ever to get in front of your customers. Not only are niche sites highly targeted, they can also provide a much more affordable solution for advertising.

3. Blogging Will Remain The #1 Way To Generate New Business
Creating great content on a regular basis and driving traffic back to your site is going to remain the number #1 way to generate new leads. This means as a small business, if you don't have a blog yet, it's time to start one. Let us handle it for you. We're the pros.

4. Spammy Content Will Be Eliminated Everywhere
We've seen it happen on Google and now it's happening on Facebook. Spammy content is not going to get you anywhere, and the big sites are cracking down. Think about creating valuable content that resonates with your customers.

5. Google Plus Will Grow Faster Than Ever
G+ is my new favorite social network. With the search benefits from Google and the increased user base, it's likely that your audience will be making the move from Facebook to G+. Being a step ahead of the game is a good idea. Plus, they are about to launch promoted posts (+Post ads) that will get your content to a larger audience than ever before. Get on Google Plus as soon as possible.

6. Triggered Emails Will Increase Sales
Consumers are looking to connect with brands and by providing custom content for them based on their behavior is going to help you increase your sales. We love Infusionsoft, and you should too.

7. Ambassadors And Influencers Will Hold The Power
Influencer marketing and word-of-mouth marketing is going to be one of the most powerful ways to get in front of customers in a new way. By empowering your best customers to spread the word for you, you can gain trust in a new audience and hopefully turn them into new customers.

8. Image-Centric Sites Will Continue To Rise
Instagram, Pinterest and probably many more sites will come about in 2014 that are based around images. While text is not dead, you need to think of ways to incorporate images into your strategy that compliment your written context.

9. Video Consumption Will Increase
Whether it's an educational video or an ad, consumers will look to video content to learn about businesses. Video will continue to create meaningful relationships between business and consumer. Think video customer service here. Oh, and many times they will be watching video on their mobile phone. You know what that means.SEE #1 above.

10. Sharing Will Be More Important Than Ever
Social media sharing will be get ramped up and everyone and their mother will be doing it. While this is a good thing for getting your content shared, it also presents challenges to get found. The key here is to communicate to your customer directly and relevantly and you'll be found.  Plus, it's going to help your search rankings.

11. Marketing Will Be About Adding Value
It's no longer about pushing yourself out there, it's about how you provide value to your customer that matters. Whether this is through blogging, video, or email marketing, in order for people to stay engaged, they have to perceive value.

2014 is going to be an exciting year. Be sure to stay on top of as many of these exciting Social Media trends and Online Marketing trends as you possibly can.