Facebook stakeholder suggests Google+, Twitter marketing appeals to ‘power users’

Speaking at the Web 2.0 Summit in San Francisco this week, Sean Parker, co-founder of Napster and owner of 4 percent of Facebook, said that Google+ and Twitter have taken “power users” from Facebook. Marketers might take this insight into consideration as they choose audience-appropriate platforms for social media marketing campaigns

Power users, Parker says, are essentially users that contribute more content to social networks than the typical Facebook user. Having users with great influence move to Twitter or Google+ is a positive for those networks, and for marketers who able to share branded content with these key social users on the networks. Yet, both platforms are trying to increase their user bases, while Facebook seems to grow every day without any truly aggressive campaign.

According to Parker, recent adjustments made to Mark Zuckerberg’s social site, including the Subscribe function and improvements to Lists, are aimed at allowing Facebook users to control the data that appears in their feed better. Rather than seeing everything, they see only what they care to.

In spite of these Facebook adjustments, Parker says Google+ has the potential to overtake Facebook’s market share – much like Facebook appropriated MySpace users. Plus, Twitter and Google+ already have “relevancy” checks to content similar to the ones Facebook has just rolled out. Twitter has a limit on the information anyone sees with its 140-character limit, meanwhile Google+ launched with Circles and has quickly rolled out various privacy tools to address any concerns impeding its rapid growth.

For marketers, the evolution of these social networks will be critical in guiding the investment of time and resources moving forward. Social media marketing campaigns are often split between several different websites, but it may become necessary for specific elements of campaigns to be targeted at different networks as Google+ attracts more users.

Though Parker’s point on “Power Users” may prove true, Facebook still has an 800 million-user head start – and the company is innovating to maintain interest. At f8 last month, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg made the company’s latest massive overhaul, Timeline, aimed at fostering nostalgia in those who have used the platform since its launch in 2004, as well as newer users beginning their exposure to social media now, Brafton reported. 

Google, Yahoo, Microsoft remain leaders in list of top web properties

In its report for September 2011, comScore named Google’s U.S. websites as the most frequently visited pages in the country with more than 218 million unique visitors. Marketers should take this as their cue that search marketing can pay off, as it serves a large portion of Google visitors.

In keeping with previous months’ reports, Yahoo and Microsoft sites ranked second and third respectively. While search is a major driver for these companies, use of their popular email services and other products is also critical to their success.

Social media websites Facebook (fourth), LinkedIn (30th) and Twitter (33rd) were also in the top 50. Compared to August 2011, only LinkedIn saw any change, moving for 31st to 30th.

For marketers, the popularity of these websites demonstrates the possibilities offered by social media marketing and SEO campaigns, as search and social continue to grow.

Brafton recently reported that Microsoft is trying to push Bing, its search engine, aggressively. Speaking at the Web 2.0 Summit this week, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer urged users to give Bing a try, since, as he says, results yielded by Google and Bing are identical about 70 percent of the time.

Columbia Sportswear’s email marketing content focuses on education over promotion

Shifting from promotional to informative content, Columbia Sportswear’s email marketing campaigns now focus on converting users through education. Sending emails that include information about products and the Columbia brand rather than just promotions has helped the company ramp up open rates and CTRs.

According to Columbia, since it made the adjustment, its email marketing open rates have increased 40 percent and click-through rates jumped 65 percent.

An example of the new content marketing included in the emails is an article discussing gift ideas. While any link the user clicks will have calls to action somewhere on the page, the content referenced in the email message simply discusses picking out gifts – an idea relevant to their target audience – and positions Columbia’s apparel as a solution.

The calls to action included are centered on relevant information as well. Rather than using solely on web conversion and buy-oriented CTAs, Columbia has focused heavily on linking to related product pages, providing information for in-store conversions and offering phone numbers for users to contact the company if they have questions or prefer buying over the phone.

Columbia also uses images paired perfectly with its email content This is something marketers should learn from – for their email content as well as their broader web content marketing campaigns. Brafton recently reported that the use of relevant images can help improve the appeal of content.

Social media marketing opportunities grow as more Tweet from their smartphones

Market research firm comScore reported this week that the mobile social media user base has grown 37 percent in the last year. More than 72 million Americans used social media applications on their smartphones or tablets this month, with Facebook leading the way at more than 57 million mobile users.

According to comScore, Facebook mobile access grew 50 percent from August 2010 through August 2011. Twitter and LinkedIn, while having fewer overall users, experienced greater growth, increasing 75 percent and 69 percent, respectively

In terms of activity, 69.5 percent of mobile users update statuses or send Tweets from their handsets, while more than 53 percent used the Twitter application to post a link to a website.

For marketers, the expanding mobile social user base places an especially large focus on social media marketing, as potential conversions through this channel are now substantially greater. Ensuring that websites include content that supports local SEO may especially help drive foot traffic to nearby stores.

In terms of mobile operating system use, Brafton reported recently that Google’s Android is the most popular. The company recently unveiled Ice Cream Sandwich, the latest iteration of Android, and it will be rolled out to various handsets in the coming months.

Report shows more consumers turn to web for electronics purchases

Consumer Reports found that ecommerce is becoming increasingly common for electronics purchases. According to the study, 34 percent of electronics purchases took place online in 2010 – double the amount the company found five years ago. Marketers in related industries should remember that content marketing will support customers in their shopping decisions.

According to Consumer Reports, part of the reason consumers enjoy purchasing electronics on the web is the amount of content available to them describing the devices they plan to purchase. User-generated reviews, professionally written reviews and comparisons to other products are available on the web.

“Our survey shows that consumers are getting more and more comfortable making electronics purchases online – even big-ticket items like TVs,” Paul Reynolds, electronics editor at Consumer Reports, said in a release. “But there are also many shoppers who prefer to see items up close before buying. Some walk-in stores are among the best electronics retailers in our ratings.”

Even if purchases are taking place in stores, the web presents substantial opportunity for marketers to compel buyers to choose their stores. Increased social media marketing was recently proven to correlate with spikes in brick-and-mortar traffic, Brafton reported. Moreover, a separate study covered by Brafton demonstrates that socially engaged users spend two to seven times more money with brands than shoppers without exposure to social content.