Tag Archives: chief
Native video content drives brand lift on the web
Recently, Mashable’s Todd Wasserman outlined the top five advertising trends of 2012, giving Native Advertising the top spot. While Wasserman asserts the definition of the practice remains up for debate, he says native advertising occurs within a context. The promotional piece should be indistinguishable to consumers from the rest of online media. Continue reading
Brafton’s content marketing poll results: Marketers find frequent, high-quality website content drives lead generation
Brafton polled 103 marketers in various industries to assess their current and future efforts in creating content to improve their web presences. The dynamic nature of web marketing has resulted in organizations diversifying their custom content campaigns to include several different kinds. Adoption of every content type included in the poll will grow in the coming months, except for social media which will maintain its current use by 86 percent of respondents. Among the goals respondents found the most success in was lead generation, as 76.4 percent said that content marketing has positively impacted their ability to drive leads for their company. While Brafton maintains that news content marketing campaigns are for improving website traffic and relevant leads, we also believe comprehensive strategies that offer a strong mix of articles and lengthier pieces are most likely to result in quality leads – and data suggests we’re not alone. For example, Brafton has reported in the past that white paper marketing became more common in 2011, with 38 percent of companies using custom content developing the lengthier pieces compared to 30 percent in 2010. Continue reading
Study: Google+ user numbers misleading, most contribute content seldomly
While Google’s Larry Page and the company’s other figureheads continue to tout massive user base gains for Google+, a report from RJ Metrics suggests that actual activity and engagement are quite low. The study found that the average Google+ post garners less than one reply or other action, such as share or +1. Despite the appearance of different Google+ sharing widgets throughout the web, few are actually clicking on these buttons while on Google’s network. Moreover, 30 percent of those who comment or share content on the site never do so again. According to RJ Metrics, those who make five posts are still unlikely to make another. While the platform’s tie-in with Google search makes it an attractive option for SEO and social media marketing campaigns, it still hasn’t picked up the traction many expected. All content on the site receives an average of 0.77 +1s and 0.54 replies per post. So even when content is shared on the site, few are interacting with it. Nonetheless, Brafton has reported users seem to be +1ing content across the web, with the plugin driving 2.7 billion shares in December. This means there could be benefits to having the sharing buttons integrated on websites, and this might still be a good way to gain advocacy for content from a search perspective. In the past, Google’s social efforts remained separate from its other products, while it tried to improve the appeal and functionality of its network that could become a “thread” across its services. Both Google Wave and Google Buzz eventually failed, but Google appears to be determined to make Google+ succeed. Even with the paltry activity, it’s unlikely that Google will pull the plug on the social network. This news comes around the time when one of Google+’s chief competitors is set to become move among the highest IPOs ever. Brafton reported that Facebook debuted at approximately $40 per share in its first day of trading and has continued to add users. Continue reading
