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Sarah Worsham

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Spy on Your Competitors to Create a Social Media Strategy

Spy vs. Spy
Spy vs. Spy (Photo credit: tr.robinson)

It’s no surprise that spying on competitors is part of any marketing (or business) strategy.  You need to know what your competitors are doing so that you can counter it or take advantage of it.  Spying is very easy on social media because pretty much everything that happens is public (unless your competitors have their own closed social network, which does happen, especially in business-to-business — b2b). Figuring out what your competitors are doing and how can help you make your own social media strategy more effective.

Social Media Examiner has more on how to create your social media strategy by spying on your competitors:

Once you’ve chosen a few networks to focus on based on your competitors’ audience size and engagement, the next thing you’ll want to consider is reviewing your top competitor’s profile setup. This can give you inspiration for designing your own profiles. — How to Create a Social Media Strategy By Spying Your Competitors by Kristi Hines

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eCommerce was Strong on Black Friday & Cyber Monday

Woo Hoo - Shopping in the Sales!
Woo Hoo – Shopping in the Sales! (Photo credit: Caro’s Lines)

While in-store sales on Black Friday may have been disappointing, according to IBM’s 2013 Holiday Benchmark Reports, online sales set a new record for Thanksgiving Day with sales increasing 19.7% over 2012.  Black Friday online sales increased 19% over last year.  Cyber Monday was the biggest online shopping day in history with a 20.6% increase over 2012.  Mobile sales were particularly strong — 17% of total online sales, increasing 55.4% over last year.  And Thanksgiving Day through Cyber Monday became the biggest five-day online sales period on record, increasing 16.5% over the 2012.

Social Shopping Was Big

According to the IBM reports, Facebook and Pinterest drove the most traffic this year. Traffic from Pinterest spent more on Black Friday, and traffic from Facebook spent more on Cyber Monday. Considering the demographics and the connectedness of both social networks, it’s not difficult to see how a post on either can fan out and spread among one’s friends.

Practical eCommerce has more analysis of the results:

One interesting finding is that shoppers like to browse merchandise on smartphones but when it’s time to check out they reach for tablets. According to IBM, sales generated on tablets contributed more than 14 percent of online sales on Black Friday, roughly twice the amount contributed by smartphones. Those who purchase via tablets are also bigger spenders — with average orders of $133, while the average order for smartphone purchasers was about $115. — Ecommerce Strong on Black Friday, Cyber Monday by Marcia Kaplan

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Why Your Content Always Need Images

Human eye
Human eye (Photo credit: dullhunk)

Posts with images are more attractive to the human eye.  They are more likely to be shared and liked. Every article, blog post, Facebook post, even Tweet is better with at least one image. Images also serve to help break up long bits of text and move the eye down the page.  Done well, images can even help your marketing by catching the eye and providing a favorable impression.

Images can even be their own content, as the success of sites like Instagram and Flickr can attest. Images can capture interesting events, share feelings, and bring us closer to each other.  The success of all the funny cat photos/videos on the internet shows just how much people like good/funny photos.

Besides using your own images, which is a great idea if you have quality photos, there are also paid sites like istockphoto and shutterstock.  Or sites that let you search for free photos — ones with creative commons licensing are best.  Remember that just because a photo is posted on the Internet does not mean that it is free to use.  Copyright holders have been known to go after people who use their photos (and content) illegally, which can cost thousands of dollars.

If you’re using WordPress, Zemanta offers a nice plugin that searches for relative free-use images and has an interface to let you add them to your posts.

How do you use images in your posts?

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