Reaching shoppers when and where it matters most: eConsideration by Scott Bender

Much has been written on the dramatic changes in the path to purchase over the last several years. Digital is powering the consumer’s ability to get on-demand research and forever altering the 100 year old purchase funnel. What was once a funnel has evolved to more of a sphere of purchase influence. Through digital, shoppers now have access to real-time price comparisons, peer reviews, and data that was previously only available in the physical store. Consumers have the ability to interact and engage with brands during any point along the path to purchase, and at any time.

A year ago everyone was writing about the showrooming phenomenon: Where consumers do their research and consideration in a store, then buy online. Today, we’re also back to talking about ROBO shopping (research online, buy offline), also called reverse showrooming. The time is now for brands to reassess their digital strategy and ensure engagement of consumers in the consideration phase… before they buy.

Don’t neglect consideration

Have media plans caught up to this new digital sphere of influence? Marketers and agencies were quick to utilize digital media as a tool for capturing top of the funnel brand awareness. While much attention is given to the bottom of the funnel in ecommerce, are we forgetting about “eConsideration”?

Brands are missing the opportunity to engage with customers during the critical moments when they are in the purchase mindset. No longer isolated in the middle of that ancient funnel, the challenge for marketers is that consideration is always taking place. The digital information that shapes those decisions is always available and on-demand, via mobile.

Digital retail delivers eConsideration as well as ecommerce

As discussed in our recent study with Wakefield, retail sites are the most widely used product research destination for shoppers. Digital retail sites are more than just locations for bottom-of-the-funnel transactions; they are where consumers are researching and considering purchases. A study from eMarketer found that ecommerce sales may account for about 6% of total retail sales in the US, but they influence a much higher percentage. It makes sense that the vast majority of visitors to retail sites are not making a transaction. They are researching offline purchases.

Information context matters

WHERE consumers view information continues to be an issue in online advertising. Environment and context matter. Even if a brand can avoid an ad placement on a questionable site, there is always the risk of a less-than contextually relevant placement on even the most credible web property. Adjacency to a sensitive story on a news site could hinder the effectiveness of a brand’s message. Sports, entertainment, and other content sets are usually safe, but are they actually relevant for shoppers? Is the person checking out the score or movie review always in the proper mindset to consider your brands message?

Shoppers are 20% more likely to interact with an ad on a retail website. Shoppers on digital retail sites are already in the shopping mindset and more receptive to any type of product messaging. It makes sense that digital retail is an environment ripe for advertisers.

Ad placement on digital retail sites allows advertisers to capitalize on shoppers already in th consideration phase. Digital retail provides an opportunity for advertisers to target someone in the most contextually relevant environment available to a brand. While digital has changed the path to purchase, it’s time for brand advertising to follow. Digital retail offers a safe and effective vehicle for brands to travel these new routes of consumer engagement.

Source: http://blog.bazaarvoice.com/2014/03/28/econsideration-reaching-shoppers-matters/

12 tips for tapping the power of Pinterest by Lisa Pearson

Pinterest is the ultimate shareable wishlist, but it comes with real rules of engagement. Here are 12 tips your brand can implement to engage audiences and build your presence.

A New Survey Reveals Which Social Media Brands People Are Most Attached To 
By Christine Champagne for Co.Create

A recent Brand Dependence Social Media Survey measured “the degree consumers believe a brand is like themselves and the degree to which thoughts and feelings about a brand come to mind.” The researchers were searching for the degree of attachment consumers feel for social media brands.

Among 18-24 year-olds and 25-44 year-olds, Pinterest ranks third. Comparatively, Instagram was first for adults 18-24 and second for adults 25-44. Facebook was the opposite, ranking second for the 18-24 segment and first for 25-44 year-olds. Twitter surprisingly didn’t make the top 5 for any age group. Researchers found that although people used Twitter, they “had a hard time relating to the brand because they didn’t fully understand how to use Twitter.”

Pinterest is an emerging social media giant, and a brand that people like and evangelize; further highlighting the potential of promoted pins.

5 Reasons Online Retailers Can’t Ignore Pinterest 
By Kris Spisak for Business 2 Community

In an average order, Pinterest shoppers spend $169. The average order by Facebook shoppers is $95, and $70 by Twitter shoppers. In case that isn’t convincing enough, Spisak shares five reasons why Pinterest shouldn’t be ignored.

1. People buy with their eyes first. Striking visuals are more effective and Pinterest is an image-driven social sharing network.
2. Pinterest has a big audience – over 70 million users.
3. Pinterest drives more referral traffic than YouTube, Google+, and LinkedIn combined. Post valuable pins and they will spread organically through multiple pinners, driving traffic back to your site.
4. Rich Pins share real-time prices and inventories. Users are emailed by Pinterest when prices drop. Even if someone isn’t on a retailer’s email list, through rich pins retailers can still drive pinners back to their websites.
5. Retailers can identify trending products via a widget that collects data. Target’s Awesome Shop uses this data to create a collection of its most pinned items.

Pinterest is young compared to Facebook and Twitter, and it shows a ton of promise. Also, the competing noise is minimal right now, which means your buys and efforts are more effective.

If you aren’t on Pinterest, your first steps should include integrating pin-it buttons on appropriate website images and utilizing rich pins.

Five things brands should be doing with Pinterest 
By Simon Robinson for Marketing Magazine

Try out the steps above, and then implement these five steps to get the most from your Pinterest presence.

1. Monitor Pinterest for mentions to better understand your customer. People collect, organize, and share what inspires them, revealing their likes and wants. Use Pinterest’s API to better understand their preferences by examining your brand’s most-pinned content.
2. Re-pin to improve brand authenticity. By re-sharing content pinned by other users you demonstrate that you value their engagement. You should also comment on established boards to make your brand more visible. Make “stars of your most ideal customers by showing how they use your products & services”. Target is collaborating with top pinners to launch collections.
3. Build a Pinterest profile that tells your brand story. Embrace your story and share other stories that relate to your brand. Nordstrom created a board for guest pinner Sarah Jessica Parker, sharing her experiences in different cities and shoes.
4. Engage to deepen relationships and create advocates. Seek valuable brand advocates through their boards. Pinterest is at its heart a social network – so the same ideas about engaging through conversations apply. A tip for any social media contest: if you’re asking people to share branded content give them a topic or photo to use and a hashtag, which makes searching for posts easier.
5. Up sell based on personal customer preferences. Pinterest’s API will eventually allow brands to deliver an even more personalized experience. Imagine a consumer pins a designer dress. She then receives an email from your brand thanking her for her pin, and suggesting relevant shoes and accessories for the dress. Maybe your email directs her to your guest blogger’s post on make-up and hair styling tips to complete the look.

Pinterest Readies for Its Big Ad Business Rollout 
By Melissa Hoffmann for Adweek

After October 2013’s experiment with promoted pins, Pinterest is ready to launch its highly-anticipated paid ad business. Starting in 2014’s second quarter, a select group of marketers will be the first to pay for promoted pins. Advertisers will be charged via a cost-per-thousand impressions model or a cost-per-click model, depending on their goals.

Is it worth paying for promoted pins when you can engage customers for free?

With paid ads, marketers will reach much more of Pinterest’s audience than is currently possible –  promoted pins will appear across the site. Right now, a user only sees a brand’s pin if she follows the brand or if someone she follows re-pins that pin. Promoted pins can be targeted to specific searches. The only noticeable difference between a promoted and regular pin is a small label on the bottom border. Imagine someone searching for kitchen makeover, seeing the latest Sherwin-Williams paint colors in a beautiful pin, and clicking through to a DIY on the brand’s website. Now offer a 10% coupon on paint and tools at the bottom of the post, when they join the emailing list. Pinterest can play a powerful part in reaching motivated potential customers.

This is a huge opportunity to partner with a site where image-focused ads are a strong, organic fit. Be thoughtful. The goal is to add value in ways customers will appreciate. Blatant sales messaging should be avoided at all costs. A Wall Street Journal article provided a good example:

“The key to success isn’t pushing commercial messaging too overtly. It’s OK to feature Hellmann’s brand messaging in a promoted pin, but better to post a recipe featuring Hellmann’s, said Jennifer Gardner, Unilever’s director of media investment partnerships North America.”

A consumer searching for a picnic side dish isn’t likely to be impressed by a glamour shot of a mayonnaise jar. But an appetizing photo with a recipe – that uses Hellmanns – is perfect. Think about your consumer and their needs; let that guide your brand.

Ultimately all of these tools help you deliver a better experience to ensure long-term loyalty. Pinterest is just one piece of this strategy, but it’s growing into a bigger piece every day. Create a Pinterest presence now and start interacting before it gets too noisy.

Source: http://blog.bazaarvoice.com/2014/04/02/12-tips-tapping-power-pinterest/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=12-tips-tapping-power-pinterest

Stop Trying to Get Your Blog Posts Shared and Do This Instead by Pratik Dholakiya

So the key to social media is content marketing, right? And content marketing is all about blog posts, right? So, if you want to dominate social networks, the key is to get your blog posts shared on social networks, right?

Well…not necessarily.

Okay. Yes. You should put some social sharing buttons somewhere obvious on your blog, preferably where visitors can easily click them after reading the blog post. And yes, this can unmistakably expand your reach.

But it’s not actually the best way to take advantage of social media.

Here’s the problem. Blog posts just aren’t very shareable. Take a minute and scroll through your Facebook feed right now. Keep scrolling until you find a blog post in there. Yeah, it’s going to be a while.

Meanwhile, average organic reach has dropped from 16 percent in 2012 all the way down to 6.51 percent this year. (Oh how I long for the days when we complained about 16 percent organic reach.)

I’m going to say something a bit heretical. I don’t think you should focus on getting your blog posts shared.

I think you should start asking what does get shared instead.

Look at What’s Actually in Your Facebook Feed

This isn’t rocket surgery.

If you want to know what kind of content actually gets shared on Facebook, you should stop looking at Coca-Cola’s or Rihanna’s ridiculously high number of page likes. You should stop reading how-to guides explaining what you need to do in order to get more likes (except this one). You shouldn’t bother browsing the Social Bakers leaderboard.

Instead, you should look at what your friends are sharing on Facebook.

Social Bakers tells me that the brand with the best engagement rate on Facebook in February was Evolution Fresh. They had a whopping 7.05 percent of their fans engaged.

Well, that’s interesting to me, because as of April 6, 2014, George Takei has an engagement rate of…

…let’s see, carry the 2…oh, just 85 percent.

And taking a look at some of the other things people are sharing in my feed, I see that the Intergallactic Geek Alliance is currently sitting pretty at 33 percent, 9Gag is at 68 percent, Creepypasta is at 40 percent, and some page I’ve never heard of called Spiritual Networks is at 27 percent.

And what are these pages sharing that’s giving them such high engagement rates? Stuff like this:

But you know that already, because you use Facebook, right?

And yet, for some reason, most of us are content to just share our blog post on Facebook, hoping that it will pick up some traction. And it might, a little bit. Done properly, it’ll even be profitable. I’m certainly not going to argue that all of these well-known tactics aren’t helpful. But you’re not going to be seeing George Takei’s 85 percent engagement rate any time soon on that alone.

So here’s a suggestion.

The next time you put up a blog post, browse through it and find your most quotable, shareable insight. Turn that into an image macro, link back to the blog post from the text field, and post the image to Facebook.

Then embed that Facebook post right into your blog post, so that your regulars can share it without ever having to leave your site.

Watch your numbers soar.

It couldn’t hurt, right? And I’m willing to bet that the embed will do a lot better than those practically invisible share buttons.

Use Social Platforms for Their Intended Purpose

Social networks aren’t for blog posts. They’re for bite-size pieces of visual content that contain:

• Some piece of wisdom that can be conveyed in a short number of words
• Something people can relate to
• Something that takes people by surprise
• Something that will make them laugh
• Something motivational or inspirational
• Something cute

Just post those to social networks, then embed them in your blog posts, and you have yourself a winning formula.

Give it a try and let us know how it goes.

Thanks for reading.