#intrist

[intrist-blog]

Facebook ads just got more important. Here's why.

Josh Constantine of TechCrunch pointed out that Facebook Ads Can Now Be Optimized To Drive Any On-Facebook Action, Such As In-App Purchases, Shares, Offer Claims. Which is important because

Marketers don’t actually want clicks, they want the downstream conversions and the return on investment that follow. 

That is absolutely true. Clicks are simply vanity metrics and don't mean much if the person who clicks isn't doing anything on your site/Facebook page after. The same goes for Facebook Likes. Who cares if you have 4,000 Likes if you're not doing anything with them?

Facebook recently updated it tracking so you can see what actions people are taking on Facebook after they click an ad. This is important as it will allow advertisers to more precisely target audiences who will take an action (rather than just click Like).

Why is this important? This gives us more data to understand what is working, what is not working and who is taking action on Facebook (and that is leading to actions in other places such as on our site as well as in store purchases). Knowing all of this info allows us to arm ourselves with solid info rather than just "being on Facebook because everyone is on there."

The full lst of actions advertisers can optimize for is below (Thanks TechCrunch and Josh):

Here’s the full list of actions advertisers can optimize for:

People talking about this

Page likes

Page post likes

Pagepost comments

Page post shares

@ mentions

check-ins

photo tags

offers shared

offers claimed

App installs

App used

Credit spend events (number of times someone uses credits in the app)

Credit spend amount (value of credits that were spent in the app)

Number of RSVPs

PS - You might want to follow us on Twitter. We tweet cool stuff

[intrist-blog]

What we're reading - May 8, 2012

You may see us Tweet (you're following us on Twitter, right?), but we wanted to share some of the most interesting and relevant articles we've read recently. Having everything in one place makes everything easier:

4 Tips to a Successful Link Building Campaign via Unbounce

SMBs to take on mobile to increase sales via Media Post blogs

How to optimize your posts for Google and humans via Mashable

From team player to coach = from entrepreneur to CEO via TechCrunch

Facebook ads just got more important. Here's why via Intrist Blog (we think this is really important if you can't tell)

[intrist-blog]

What we're reading - May 8, 2012

You may see us Tweet (you're following us on Twitter, right?), but we wanted to share some of the most interesting and relevant articles we've read recently. Having everything in one place makes everything easier:

4 Tips to a Successful Link Building Campaign via Unbounce

SMBs to take on mobile to increase sales via Media Post blogs

How to optimize your posts for Google and humans via Mashable

From team player to coach = from entrepreneur to CEO via TechCrunch

Facebook ads just got more important. Here's why via Intrist Blog (we think this is really important if you can't tell)

[intrist-blog]

Content marketing explained

B2B Marketing Insider has a great article on inbound marketing. In it there is a great line that is nicely sums up the approach many, many marketers out there are taking:

So where our prospects are looking for answers to questions, we give them promotions they don’t want.

For us, the key words of that sentence is "looking for answers to questions."  Marketers need to be there to answer questions or PROVIDE SOLUTIONS. Better yet proactively provide answers to questions they didn't know they had.

The post continues:

A content strategy that identifies all the content that answers your customers top questions in all the places they search for it, for all stages of the buyer journey, for all the types of buyers you serve

You need a search strategy that effectively places that content in all the places they search for it

You need content that is engaging enough to get shared

You need a conversion or nurture path that maps to the buyer journey by offering the right content to the right person at the right time.

We could not agree anymore. We think of of content marketing in 4 simple steps:

Identify what questions they have (or will have)

Answer those questions

Place the answers where they will get found (i.e. where your customers are)

Stay patient

Kudos to Michael Brenner for saying it so precisely.

PS - You might want to follow us on Twitter. We tweet cool stuff.

[intrist-blog]

Is the new Facebook organ donation feature useful?

Is the new Facebook organ donation feature a good idea? Take 30 seconds and let us know below. We'll publish the results tomorrow (and our thoughts)!

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[intrist-blog]

How to increase your chance of success? The answers are out there, just look for them.

We wrote in our last post about how the proliferation of cloud-based, cost efficient tools can help marketers and entrepreneurs everywhere succeed. Another topic that we have seen in our Twitter feeds and inboxes: how to use freelancers.

This adage article talks about how Madison avenue uses freelance depending on the amount of new business coming in. Not that this is news to anyone - freelance has been around forever. This article from Under30CEO.com  gives advice on how to bootstrap a startup using freelancers. Both really awesome articles from really smart people.

The common thread with these articles isn't that they're ground breaking journalism, but that they are dispensing knowledge. Knowledge that first time entrepreneurs can take advantage of. 

Lean start-ups (no, not these types of lean start-ups) are getting odds that start-ups before them never got. Free storage, free analytics, free access to your ideas from anywhere, getting customers inexpensively. And if you look in the right places (and are on a never ender search for content and knowledge), it's out there. Hell, I even thought I heard some inspiration from a Chrysler commercial yesterday that aired during Mad Men.

So how can marketers and entrepreneurs increase their chance of success? Just look and you may find it.

[intrist-blog]

Now trending: Self expression

Companies that enhance the quality of emotional connections between them and their customers will continue to benefit greatly in 2012. There is a desire from your customers to see that your company/brand is real and transparent, and they want to be able to show their personal style and flair as well. Content that empowers shoppers together with the expanding smartphone usage and lifestyle sites such as Pinterest and will be setting new standards for self expression.

Self expression websites and applications were the darling of 2011, and come with some pretty staggering numbers. Some of the most popular include Instragram, Pintrest and Tumblr.

Instagram – A mobile application and social networks that allows users to share photos across social platforms

App downloads: 50 million (3)

Voted #1 iPhone app of 2011 by Apple

Purchased by Facebook for $1 Billion (yes, that's a B)

Pinterest – An online pinboard where consumers pin related topics and pertinent photos from any web page

Topics include: Cooking and baking, home décor and fashion amongst others

Monthly page views: 421 million (4)

Unique visitors: 3.3 million

Is now the #3 social network

tumblr – A microblogging platform

Monthly page views: 6.5 billion

Monthly visitors: 15 million+

The main characteristic of these sites is that they rely heavily on visuals, are extremely social in nature and are all based around interest. Iconoculture says this about Pinterest, but can also be applied to any of these sites:

“Pinterest successfully rejiggers social media by giving it a visual and content-centered focuses, providing short-attention span consumers with a new way to seamlessly connect and curate.” (5)

What this means for marketers

The brands that will be successful in 2012 will be the ones that provide personalized content and empower content curation. People want to look at things and have a feeling of interest, desire and intrigue therefore increase their willingness to purchase and evangelize the brand. This will also incent customers to share with their friends and family.

“For hundreds of years we’ve been carefully curating our appearance, clothes, jewelry, cars and houses for visceral impact. 2012 will be the year these emotions come online full scale. They will change the way we interact with each other, the way we buy things and change our online experiences.” (6)

When it comes to social media, it doesn’t matter what the channel is it’s the content. Will the switch be flipped overnight and people will abandon Facebook? Absolutely not. Facebook should still be at the base of any social media plan. A recent report by Nielsen states that “64% of people on Facebook (more female) use it as a creative outlet.”

Regardless of the brand or the channel, 2012 will be seen as the year where self-expression, creativity and individualism cuts through the clutter and will shine. Just ask Instagram.

[intrist-blog]

Why we focus on start-ups and small businesses

We often get asked why we specialize working with start-ups and small businesses. The answer is easy: they need help because they don't have time or the knowledge to stay competitive.

I've talked to entrepreneurs recently who come to us and say "I need help with a PPC campaign." We're obviously more than happy to help, but what the scary thing about that sentence is that it ended. Most of them think that if I can get some traffic to my site (or my web-based product or service) I'll get customers. This is wrong.

Driving traffic to a website is one thing, but converting them into people who will pay you real money is way different. There are tips and tricks out there that are really, really bad ass. However, most of the time the entrepreneurs I talk to have no idea what to do with that info or they SIMPLY DON'T HAVE TIME.

Entrepreneurs need to many things to get business going and most, if not all, of their time should be focused on that. So if you compound the lack of experience and the lack of time what do you get? You get really smart people who aren't driving traffic to their site or product.

We love being that go-to resource where we can have a direct impact on helping entrepreneurs drive their business.

So I guess the simple answer to why we focus on working with start-ups and small businesses is: we like making a difference.