From our group’s research comparing the Amazon Kindle Fire and the Barnes and Noble Nook with social media tools, we were able to come up with several key findings and takeaways. Looking at the Twitter stream graph for the Kindle Fire, the top results included “black”, which is likely connected to Black Friday; “deal”, associated with the comparatively low price of $199 for a tablet; “great”, which could be used when taking about the product’s quality, price, or a combination of the two; as well as “app”, which appears to be mostly referring to some Google app restrictions on the device, and the only negative among the top 5 results. The Kindle Fire’s Tweetfeel percentage was a 70% positive score on November 28th, up from 65% on November 21st. Given that the improvement occurred over the Black Friday weekend, it’s an indication for Amazon that the popularity of their device will increase as more people are exposed to it. It had 33% strength, 8:1 sentiment ratio (positive to negative), 44% passion, 32% range (reach of its influence), and had a visibility score of 1440.
Looking at the Twitter stream graph for the Nook, the top results included “Kindle”, which indicates people are comparing the device with the Kindle Fire; “gift”, which should certainly please Barnes and Noble given the proximity to the holiday season; and “tablet”, which shows that users on Twitter are recognizing this is not just another e-reader. The Nook’s Tweetfeel percentage was a 74% positive score, which indicates a slight advantage over the Kindle Fire. But the Nook also had significantly less people tweeting about it, and the Nook also had a lower level of strength and passion, at 25% and 15% respectively. However, the Nook did have the same sentiment ratio, and its visibility score of 2281, along with its 37% reach, indicate that Nook has some advantages that it may be able to build on.
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Posted on 7 December '11 by Max, under Uncategorized. No Comments.
I chose to investigate the social media strategy being employed by Chick-Fil-A on their Facebook page. They have appetizing pictures of their current food and drink specials, an info page with a company overview, list of products, links to email signup and twitter pages for the company and the “Cowz” made famous in their advertising campaigns. Also along the left-hand side of the page is: a “featured” section with a cow calendar for 2012 that can be shared with other facebook friends, an “about us” page which gives a brief history of the company, a complete menu with pictures and nutritional information, a “locator” page that uses your information to determine which Chick-Fil-A restaurants are closest, a “Family Holiday Activities” page that give the reader 10 suggestions, along with a holiday quiz.
Chick-Fila-A is trying to meet the four main consumer motivations with their Facebook page. The individual can create by choosing new combinations with the full online menu, share the 2012 cow calendar, and use the suggestions for family holiday activities. The consumer can control what information they receive from the page, and use the locator service to determine which restaurants will receive their patronage. The individual can connect by not only posting on Chick-Fil-A’s all, but also by following the twitter pages of the company and the “Cowz”. The consumer can compete by taking the holiday quiz, and comparing his or her results with other friends on Facebook.
The metrics that Chick-Fil-A can use to measure success include: how many likes their page has, how many people are talking about their company on Facebook, how many people write on their wall, how many people comment/like their statuses and pictures, how many people follow their page through SMS updates, how many shares there are of their cow calendar, how many people follow their twitter pages and join their mailing list through the Facebook page, how many people download the suggestions for family holiday activities, how many people take the holiday quiz, and overall how many hits the facebook page gets.
Some suggestions that I would offer to improve Chick-Fil-A’s Facebook page include: offering a coupon for a free meal if you get 15 friends to sign up for emails, as this would increase the size of Chick-Fil-A’s mailing list, while also providing the customer a way to compete for free meals; as well as allowing consumers to customize their own cow calendar, which would give them the opportunity to be creative, while still interacting with the Facebook page. Another suggestion I would have to improve the Facebook page is: give the consumer the opportunity to submit ideas for new menu items. This will let the consumer believe he or she has some control over the company’s future choices, while letting Chick-Fil-A see what consumers are looking for, and possibly be given some great new ideas for the menu. One final suggestion would be to include some more videos on the Facebook page. Whether it’s commercials, responses to posts on their wall, or other web-only content, videos provide consumers another way to connect, and gives Chick-Fil-A an additional opportunity measure metrics.
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Posted on 23 November '11 by Max, under Uncategorized. No Comments.
I would consider privacy on the world wide web dead for several reasons. Instead of purchasing a banner ad on a specific site, companies nowadays are looking to advertise to certain target groups of people throughout the web. This has become a multi-billion dollar industry, and ad companies have developed more sophisticated beacons and flash cookies that can better predict and track user behavior, while being essentially invisible and impossible to delete completely from the consumer’s computer. The information acquired from these technologies is being auctioned off in millions of transactions on the web for less than a tenth of a cent per person. This information may range from the the individual’s age, zip code, gender, zip code, income, or home-ownership status, to their favorite movies, sports teams, bands or artists, sources of political or entertainment news, and TV shows. Even if a person tries to delete their history and cookies consistently, they may find that the beacons and flash cookies remain, or re-spawn quickly, which essentially eliminates the idea of “online privacy”. I do believe that consumers need protection, as most of them are unaware of how much their activity online is tracked and analyzed by these marketing companies. When these consumers are looking up information on topics like depression, weight loss, bipolar disorder, uterine disorders, overactive bladder, and anxiety issues, they are under the impression that doing it online will provide themselves protection and elimination of fear of judgement that in person research would not. But if they start to see ads on other websites related to the personal topics they were looking up, they may start to believe that their internet security has been compromised. I do believe that the government should develop laws beyond the current self-regulation environment, especially related to the beacons and flash cookies. I recognize that cookies can be helpful in many ways for both the consumer and the business, but it becomes a problem when the consumer cannot choose which of these items will be on their computer or not. The fact that many of the companies in the Wall Street Journal article were not aware of the tracking programs that were being installed on the test computer from their websites is an indication of how much things have gotten out of control. This potential regulation on beacons and flash cookies could hurt marketers’ ability to accurately identify characteristics of consumers, and provide ads that are relevant to them. As David Moore, chairman of 24/7 RealMedia Inc., points out in the Wall Street Journal article, “When an ad is targeted properly, it ceases to be an ad, it becomes important information,” And the consumers on the web do keep a certain level of anonymity; while they may seem ads on other sites related to what they have searched before, it’s not because the individual’s name was recognized by the advertising company on the website. Rather, each person is assigned a random tracking number, and through that search history and personal information predictions are remembered and stored.
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Posted on 16 November '11 by Max, under Uncategorized. No Comments.
Web analytics are essential for anyone with a website because that measurement, collection, and analysis of data allows for an individual to determine who is coming to their website, where they are coming from, how often they are visiting, and what content they are reading. With that information, the individual can optimize their site to help better reach their targeted audience, and possibly find new ones. From the time that I first installed Google Analytics on my site, I have had 66 total site visits, with 37 absolute unique visitors, 127 different page views, and 1.92 average page views per person. The average time on my site is 3 minutes and 12 seconds, with a 62.12% bounce rate. 53 of those visits came from the United States, 12 came from the Netherlands, and 1 came from India. By far my top page is the home page, which has received 74 views, coming in 2nd was my post about “two plug-ins that I believe would be helpful to online businesses” with 12 views, while “about me” came in 3rd with 8 views. 81.82% of my traffic is direct, 10.61% is from referring sites, and 3.03% is from search engines. I only have two keywords from search engines; one is “not provided”, the other is a link to another interactive marketing student’s page. I was a little surprised I had that many unique viewers, although I assume a lot of them are just spammers. I’m guessing those individuals would account for the traffic from the Netherlands and India, as well as the somewhat amount of views on the “plug-ins” post. I figured I would have received more traffic from referring sites and search engines, and would have had at least some decent keywords in searches.
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Posted on 9 November '11 by Max, under Uncategorized. No Comments.
Holiday Fortune Cookies
‘Tis the Season for Sweet Gifts
Free Overnight Shipping!
www.fancyfortunecookies.com
I chose to advertise holiday fortune cookies because the holiday season is coming, and people will be searching with more frequency for food items with holiday significance. My target demographic will be 30-40 year old females who are looking for cookies for a holiday party or just for snacking. I used free overnight shipping as my call to action because it eliminates concerns about hidden costs, and gives the customer the feeling that the cookies will be coming almost immediately. The landing page is the holiday gifts page, which contains all the holiday fortune cookie options available.
The keyword I chose to analyze was “holiday cookie”. There is a medium level of competition for this keyword and the global and local search volumes are 27,100 and 22,200, respectively. Two keyword ideas that I thought looked like good suggestions were “Christmas Cookies” and “Easy Holiday Cookies”, since people searching for those terms are likely looking for a product like holiday fortune cookie.
The estimated average cost per click for “holiday cookie” at $1 is $.59, with 1.28 clicks per day, and $.75 estimated daily cost. At $2, the estimated average cost per click is $.73, with an estimated 1.41 clicks per day, and an average daily cost of $1.03
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Posted on 2 November '11 by Max, under Uncategorized. No Comments.
SEO, or search engine optimization, is the ongoing process of trying to improve a website’s standing when it comes to organic search. It is important because you cannot pay to improve your website’s ranking with these search engines, which essentially helps level the playing field. The marketers goals of returning the highest they can on the search engine results page, helping users find the site easily, increase traffic, and beating their competition, are synergistic with the search engine’s goal of delivering the most relevant content to the user.
The top words I found from the keyword density tool, besides the obvious ones that show up on nearly every WordPress page like “post”, “comment”, and “uncategorized”, were “market”, “business”, “marketing”, “customers”, “interactive marketing”, “marketing student”, “logans interactive marketing”, and “search engine optimization”. For the most part, these results did not surprise me, although the “logans interactive marketing” seemed like a somewhat odd result for a top 3 word phrase. These are common words and concepts that relate to this class, the posts that have been assigned, and my current education in the marketing field. It seems as if I could use a little bit more variety in my blog posts, hopefully I will receive better results from the keyword density tool as the semester goes forward.
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Posted on 26 October '11 by Max, under Uncategorized. No Comments.
It took me five clicks to get me to arrive at a page containing a relevant job description for an OMIS major looking for IT career opportunities at McDonald’s Corporation. From the link that Dr. Labrecque provided, I clicked on “Corporate Job Search”, which took me to the job search page, I selected the dropdown arrow next to “Category”, and then clicked on “Information Technology”, and then selected “search”. This brought me to list of information technology jobs, I clicked on “Business Technical Analyst”, which sent me to a page with a description on what this particular job would entail.
I wouldn’t say it would be difficult, but I also wouldn’t say it would be easy to find information about careers at McDonalds. The link for “Corporate Job Search” is located at the bottom of the page, nearly below the fold line. After you can find that, it takes 4 more clicks before you can even get a job description for an information technology position. Finding information about benefits is much easier, the link for “employees benefits” is located above the fold and on the left side, and it only takes one click to find out about health and protection, pay and rewards, balancing work and life, etc.
I do not find the website very compelling, the site itself certainly doesn’t make me want to work there. It’s a major issue with regards to ease of use when I can’t even find a job description within the first few clicks. The use of bread crumbs is limited, the links on the left of the page are in the same font and color as the body paragraph text, the “corporate opportunities”, “restaurant opportunities”, and “internships” headings, which are placed prominently above the bold, are not even clickable, and there is too much white space. There are a few photos on the landing page, but they are of low quality, and while there are links to social media sites on the page, there is no actual inclusion of that engaging.
The changes I would suggest that Mcdonald’s should make to the site to improve the experience would include: easier access to job descriptions, stronger use of bread crumbs, make the links bolder and easier for the site visitor to stand out, and make the headings for each employment opportunity clickable, or at least moving the current link completely above the fold. I would also use more red and yellow colors to try to cut down on all the white space, as well as including social media and video content on the page.
It took me 7 clicks to get from the homepage to a relevant job description for an OMIS major looking for IT career opportunities. I first selected “E-Commerce/IT/Engineering”, which brought me to a page with a general job description, but not a relevant one, so I clicked on “Learn more and apply online”. This took me to a job search page, where I had to select “Walgreens” as the job field, then “information technology, and then I selected “Business Systems Analyst”, and then I had to click on “Search for Jobs”, which gave me 31 results. I clicked on the first one, which finally gave me a job description.
While I thought the spacing/layout and colors were better on the Walgreens site, it was even more difficult to get to a relevant job description for an IT job, less engaging content, just as limited use of bread crumbs, and challenging navigation. This website would persuade me even less than McDonalds to work there.
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Posted on 19 October '11 by Max, under Uncategorized. No Comments.
This design efficiently communicates the objective of adopting a dog from Fox Valley Helping Paws because it includes the need for the reader to adopt these dogs and give them a good home, provides a one click solution to get more info on how to adopt, and displays cute pictures of actual dogs that can be adopted from the shelter, while using the “you” attitude.
The purpose of A/B testing is to determine which types of ads will be the most effective for the organization’s advertising. Some users will see ad A when they visit my blog, others will see ad B. This specific test would determine which dog picture will produce the best results with the written message.
The landing page I picked on the Fox Valley Helping Paws website was the “Adoptable Dogs” page, which was located under the general “Adoptions” heading. I decided on this page because it provides pictures and information on all the dogs available to adopt, a link to the adoption fees and procedures, and the hours, address, and map to the adoption center.
The metrics I would use to test the effectiveness of my ads would be: the number of impressions, views, and clicks of the ads, as well as the resulting views and clicks on the dog’s information, but most importantly: the increase in amount of adoptions.
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Posted on 12 October '11 by Max, under Uncategorized. No Comments.
Posted on 28 September '11 by Max, under Uncategorized. No Comments.
I was very impressed by the talk Ryan Eugene gave to our class about ItSupplies.com. He did a nice job of explaining the foundations of their business: started in 1998 by Greg Lahart as a small business/office market for HP devices, while holding minimal inventory, and focusing on consumable products and direct marketing. I learned that “it” actually stands for ink and toner, not information technology as I had imagined.
This discussion tied in considerably with what we’ve already learned about internet history. ItSupplies started out with the catalog being their prime sales channel, they would receive phone orders placed through the catalog. They later used a website as a fulfillment tool, launching an online catalog. As the industry grew, they needed a greater web presence to compete. Last year, ItSupplies.com created a blog to answer customer questions, engage users and increase SEO rank. This year, they’ve begun construction on a new corporate website, and started using data for segmented marketing.
Ryan and ItSupplies recognize “where the web wins”, specifically things like: new customer acquisition on a global scale. reducing cost of sales, using analytics for easy assessment of conversion rates, extensive capability of online catalog and order processing systems, and the information and interactivity that can be shared between themselves and their customers.
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Posted on 28 September '11 by Max, under Uncategorized. No Comments.
