Sunday, August 30, 2015
Saturday, August 29, 2015
ESC: Is TV Lethal or Just a Marker for a Sedentary Life?
Poll Finds Most Women Believe Mammograms Should Be Done Annually
While the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force says most women should get screening mammograms every two years, an NPR-Truven Health Analytics poll finds women think they should go every year.
Spironolactone: The 'Other' Hormonal Acne Therapy
With New CEO Aboard, Lands’ End Seeks To Reinvent Itself With Fall Campaign
Please visit Marketing Land for the full article.
Online Marketing News: Facebook Gets An Assistant, Tweets Show In Search, Native Beats The Rest
The Big Content Spend: How & Where Are Brands Placing Their Content Budgets [Infographic] – In this infographic, we’re taking a look at just how big of an investment companies are putting into content marketing this year. What kinds of brands believe in content, and invest in it as a major form of marketing? What kind of investments are being made? With numbers in the billions, the findings may (or may not) surprise you. Social Media Today
Twitter Introduces New Audience Platform – Twitter continues to push out updates in its ongoing efforts to improve the functionality of its offerings. Twitter
Native Videos Beat Out Every Other Video Format on Twitter – Of all branded videos on Twitter, only 31% are posted natively – but those account for 67% of total video engagement. Socialbakers
Survey: 35% of Users Check Their Phones More than 50 Times Per Day – Delvv, developer of the Glean personalized news reading app, has announced the results of its Delvv Mobile Overload Report which measured the ‘volume of information’ U.S. users experience on their smartphones. SocialTimes
Is Instagram’s Rapid Growth Slowing Down? Engagement And Follower Growth Down – Summer lull or signs of saturation? A study conducted by Locowise found that overall engagement on Instagram was down 19 percent in July, and that follower growth was down 77 percent. Another recent Pew study noted that Instagram has doubled its community since 2012. Social Media Today
1 in 3 Marketers Say They Have All The Tech Tools They Need – Fewer than 1 in 10 marketing, sales and business professionals (predominantly B2B) say they have all the marketing technology tools they need and fully utilize what they have, according to a survey from Ascend2. MarketingCharts
Google Controls 65 Percent Of Search, Bing 33 Percent — [comScore] – In terms of non-network share, Bing saw a tiny 0.1 percent gain in July, and so did Ask. Google was flat with 64 percent, unchanged for the past three months. Yet Google’s market share is down from 67.6 percent a year ago. Search Engine Land
Tweets Officially Show In Google Desktop Searches – It looks like Google gives a f**k about Twitter after all, at least a little. The industry continues to speculate on whether or not the search powerhouse may acquire the microblogging platform, but in the mean time, Tweets have started showing up in search results. Search Engine Watch
LinkedIn Ads Rolls Out New Campaign Management Tool – A newly redesigned LinkedIn ad manager has been rolled out giving paid promoters a much cleaner and more user-friendly way to place their paid spend. Social Media Today
Facebook Launches M, a Siri-Like Personal Assistant for Messenger – This week Facebook announced its beginning a very small roll out of a digital assistant service that will live within Messenger. The service, called M, is capable of completing tasks and finding information upon request. Facebook
LinkedIn SlideShare Introduces Clipping, Saving Your Favorite Content Just Got Easier – Clipping enables our users to identify and save the best slides within a presentation to a Clipboard. And deeper integration with LinkedIn identity brings credibility to the content – providing more details on the professional behind the content. There’s so much information at our fingertips today, but it’s often hard to separate the good quality content from the noise. LinkedIn [Client]
Facebook Finally Gives in and Allows Animated GIFs in Posts and Ads – Facebook is about to get a whole lot noisier… and it’s about time! Finally, Facebook has decided to get with the rest of the Internet program and allow animated GIFs in ads and Page posts. Social Media Today
What were the top online and digital marketing news stories for you this week?
Thanks for reading and have a great weekend!
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Tips for Acing Your Next Job Interview: Healthcare Career Insights
Yahoo: The Decline Of The Mobile Browser Is A Threat To Search
Please visit Marketing Land for the full article.
Friday Feedback: Spotlight on Celebrity Disease Diagnoses
Marketing Day: World’s Largest Media Buyer, Native Ads & Retail Marketing Strategies
Please visit Marketing Land for the full article.
Cohen's Brain Bits: Resistance Is Futile
Here’s Where The World’s Largest Media Buyer Spends Its Money
Please visit Marketing Land for the full article.
DPP-4 Inhibitors Linked to Severe Joint Pain, FDA Warns
The Brand’s CMO, Its CFO And An Agency Shill Walk Into A Bar…
Please visit Marketing Land for the full article.
Beta-Blockers: Evidence of Mortality Benefit in Ovarian Cancer (CME/CE)
Native Ads: Effective, But Are They Accepted By Consumers?
Please visit Marketing Land for the full article.
Janssen Accused of Withholding Data on Risperdal Side Effect in Autism
Measuring Accessibility In The User Experience (UX) And The Searcher Experience
Please visit Marketing Land for the full article.
What to Make of Vitamin D, MS, & Mendelian Randomization (CME/CE)
The Pros And Cons Of Responsive Design
Please visit Marketing Land for the full article.
Physicians Should Speak Out on Mass Deportation of Immigrants
Retail Marketing Strategies: Connecting The Dots
Please visit Marketing Land for the full article.
Worried About Your Teaching Evaluations? Read This First.
CDC: Kindergarten Vax Rate High, But Not High Enough (CME/CE)
Trace Amyloid Back to Precursor Protein
More Evidence Ties Antibiotics to Type 2 Diabetes Risk (CME/CE)
ACR Joins Outcry Against ABIM's MOC Program
Morning Break: Really Big Bullies, Creative Daydreaming, Poop Donors
Texting Helps Low-Income Diabetes Patients Manage Insulin Dosing
Many low-income patients can't make multiple visits to the doctor, which is a problem if you're a diabetic trying to get insulin dosing just right. A text-based system made remote reports possible.
Bed Bug Resurgence a Multifactorial Issue
Friday, August 28, 2015
LinkedIn Helps You to Build a Powerful Internal Network By Adding Context to Connections
A few months ago I started working for a new company. A big company. If you are reading this blog post, I’m sure you’ve heard of it. It’s called Oracle. And we have over 135,000 employees. Imagine how big my LinkedIn network would be if I connected with all of them. Or 10% of them. Even 1% of them would significantly grow the reach of my network.
There is power in connecting with others in your company even before you get to know them personally. I could send hundreds of requests a day and fill up my network with Oracle colleagues, but that really wouldn’t add a lot of value. So I’m doing it slowly. Connecting with colleagues I work with. And others in my division that I want to get to know. It's not about volume, but about making connections the right way. They learn about you and you learn about them in the process. It not only introduces you to your company, but also shows your external network that you are "connected" inside the company too.
It turns out that many new employees use LinkedIn as a way to learn about colleagues in their company. According to LinkedIn 46% of people say that they look up coworkers on LinkedIn because it’s better than their employee directory. We have a good employee directory, but most people don't add their detailed previous job history as they do on LinkedIn.
I’m also responding to requests from colleagues. I just got a connection request that is a great model for how you should connect with colleagues, whether you are the new employee or reaching out to the new employee. And these are great suggestions for any employee as you grow your network inside your company, or really for connecting with anyone.
Here’s the recent connection message I got from one of my coworkers. This is not someone I work with, but he’s another employee at my really big company.
I've just read a couple of your blog posts and found them really interesting (I know all about your dry cleaner John!). Great to have you on board btw! Are there any plans to have any UK/EMEA focused content too? It would be great if we could!
Let’s look at all the things he did right in a very short message:
1. The most important thing he did was add context to his message. Yes, even if there hadn’t been any, I would have accepted the connection since we work at the same company. Many people subscribe to the “No Context, No Connection” rule, so it is always good to add some context about why you want to connect. LinkedIn makes it too easy to skip this step, and it's not even possible on the mobile apps.
2. He mentioned specific aspects of my job. Obviously this was easier since I publish posts on the company blog, but this was additional context to the connection. He was not just telling me why we should connect, but he showed me that he’s paying attention.
3. He welcomed me on board. This is a nice thing when starting at a new company, especially a big one. This was a human touch to the message.
4. And finally, he offered me a suggestion of something I can do to help him. He’s in another region and let me know how important it is to support that region. That’s a great suggestion.
There was never any doubt that I would connect with him, but he sent a simple, yet memorable, message that already made the connection stronger by adding context, showing he was paying attention, welcoming me and offering a suggestion. I will definitely send him a link to this post to thank him for the inspiration and great behavior to follow.
One last thing, as long as we are talking about LinkedIn and new jobs, Make sure you check your website links and email addresses on your profile and update them to represent your new employer. Many people miss these since they are behind a slider. It’s one more step in a personal brand refresh when you change jobs.
While you are paying attention to your own social presence, don’t forget about who is paying for that shiny new title. Download the Modern Marketing Essentials Guide to Social Marketing to make sure you master the latest tactics for your company’s social efforts too.
Abortion Foes Scour Clinics' Trash For Discarded Records
Garbage has become an unlikely battleground in the abortion debate, as anti-abortion groups seek evidence of privacy violations in clinics' dumpsters.
Tweet of the Week: Mass Shootings -- Are They Inevitable?
Perceived Racism in Lupus Linked With Depression (CME/CE)
Help Wanted: Last Pediatrician On Mendocino Coast Retires
For 35 years, Dr. Bill Mahon has tended newborns and broken bones, given kids checkups and spinal taps. But luring new doctors with big debt and urban dreams to the redwoods is harder than it sounds.
The Good, The Bad and The Ugly of eCommerce
Let's cut right to the chase. The world of eCommerce and marketing can be broken down into three distinct groups, as per statistics via Forrester.
The Good: Nearly 70% of consumers purchase online regularly.
The Bad: More than 40% of retailers said that their marketing cost per order increased in the past year, while another 46% said their new customer acquisition costs increased.
The Ugly: Customers continue to receive messaging and advertising that is not relevant to them which leads to conversions rates as low as 2.6%.
The underlying cause of these high costs and low conversion is sub-optimal alignment between marketing and commerce from a process, technology, and data perspective. In other words: SILO. Yes that four letter word - literally and figuratively, is at the heart of the matter and root of the cause.
However, what if we told you that commerce and marketing platforms no longer had to sit in their own silos?
Well it's true and in our new eBook Five Ways Marketing Can Drive Higher Online Commerce Revenue, we look at what best-in-class companies are doing to deliver more consistent experiences that drive commerce revenue and more consistent customer experiences across marketing channels and identify the five ways they are making a difference.
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Use Commerce Data to Inform Top-of-Funnel Acquisition
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Improve Targeting By Building a Comprehensive Profile for Commerce and Marketing
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Let Offline Behavior Fuel the Right Commerce Messaging
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Improve Conversions with Cross-Channel Retargeting
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Create Brand Advocates and Long-Term Customer Relationships to Drive Retention and Cross-Sell Opportunities
For each of the above we also the key tactics needed for implementation, key stakeholders, use case examples and much more.
Download the Five Ways Marketing Can Drive Higher Online Commerce Revenue and learn how to build long-term relationships and brand advocates in the process.
Instagram Moves Beyond The Square & A Few Brands Test The Waters
Please visit Marketing Land for the full article.
An Ex-Google Employee on How to Get the Most From Your AdWords Account Manager
If you’re marketing your business with Google AdWords, chances are good that you receive 100 calls a week from people telling you how they can transform your business by managing your AdWords account.
You’ve probably received so many of these calls that you’ve thought about smashing your phone into a million pieces, flying to Tahiti and forgetting this whole advertising thing ever happened.
I’m going to let you in on a little secret. While the majority of these calls are not worth your time, you’re most likely screening one or two that will actually help you truly transform your business. The best part? These calls will cost you nothing. Nada. Zip. Zilch.
This may be a good time to let you know that I was once the person responsible for making these crazy phone calls. As an Account Manager on the AdWords team at Google, I helped thousands of businesses better understand their digital advertising (for free). This post will highlight what to expect after getting in touch with your Google AdWords Account Manager, and the tips and tricks you can use to make the best use of your time with them.
Let’s dive in.
Is this really Google?
Hands down, the most common question I would get from advertisers was, “Is this really Google?” To be honest, it’s really the best first question you can ask. You wouldn’t randomly expose sensitive bank account information to a stranger on the phone, and you should be equally as careful with your AdWords account data
There are two really good ways for your Account Manager to prove they are who they say they are. The first way is to ask them to confirm your unique Customer ID (CID) number. You can find this number on the top right hand side of your AdWords dashboard.
The second way to confirm that your Account Manager actually works at Google is to have them send you an email from their corporate email account. All emails from Google employees will come from a “xyz123@google.com” email address.
Okay Google, how can you help me?
Now that you know the person you’re talking to actually works for Google, we can dig into the meat and potatoes of the phone call. A typical call with an Account Manager will last for a strict hour, no more and no less, and will cover three specific sections: review, build and optimize. Let’s dig a little deeper into these.
1. Review
Expect to spend the first 30 minutes of your call chatting about your business, your goals for AdWords and reviewing the existing data in your account.
The advertisers that get the most value out of these conversations all take a similar approach to this section of the call. Here are some things they all have in common:
- They take notes: Make sure you take notes throughout the call. This will help you review the results from the changes you made during your next meeting.
- They ask questions: Dig into why some campaigns are performing well and others are performing terribly. This will help spark ideas for the optimization section of the call.
- They follow up later: Be sure to get your Manager’s contact information within the first five minutes of your conversation. Most people don’t take advantage of a follow-up call, but it is the best way to see the results from your optimization efforts.
It’s important to note that Google Account Managers work with advertisers at varying skill levels. This means they will try to get a feel for your savviness within the first few minutes of the call. The best way to avoid this little dance is to simply explain the improvements to your account you’re trying to achieve during the conversation.
Most Managers have good lie detectors, so don’t ask for advanced tools and beta access if you don’t know how to enable Sitelinks or adjust your mobile bids.
2. Optimize
Once your Manager has a good understanding of your business and what you’re trying to accomplish with AdWords, you can begin to work together to optimize your campaigns. This is the most valuable time you will spend with your Manager — I would highly recommend spending at least 20 minutes optimizing.
Your Manager will have some suggestions on what needs to be tweaked, so don’t freak out if you come to the conversation with little direction. If you want a little more control over the call, below is a cheat sheet of things you should have them walk you through. These areas, when optimized, will help you save money and see a better ROI over time.
- Search Terms Report
- Auction Insights Report
- Bid Adjustment via Device
- Bid Adjustment via Location
- Bid Adjustment via Day of the Week
- Keywords Page / Bid Optimization
- Conversion Tracking
Listen to the optimization suggestions your Manager gives you, but don’t take their word as gospel. Not all Managers are created equal, even at Google. I highly suggest asking as many questions as you can before making any change in your account.
Understand why they are making the suggestion and have them sell you on why it’s the best fit for your business.
3. Build
The dirty little secret most Managers won’t tell you upfront is that they can rebuild any of your campaigns from the ground up to help increase performance. For free. Take advantage of this! It’s a good use of the last five minutes of your call, and is basically risk-free if you follow the instructions below:
- Select the worst-performing campaign in your account
- Tell your Manager that you want them to re-build that campaign for you
- Discuss potential new strategies with your Manager
- Take notes to outline the proposed changes
- Tell the Manager you do not want the campaign to go live without your approval
It will take a couple of days for your Manager to build your new campaign from scratch, so it’s important to schedule a time to follow up. Make sure you have them walk you through the changes made. If everything looks good, pause the original campaign and enable the new campaign.
Run the new campaign for a four week test or until you achieve statistical significance. Once the test is over, compare your baseline metrics with your old campaign and continue using the campaign with the best performance.
What about those betas?
The coolest perk to take advantage of during your conversation with your Account Manager is gaining access to AdWords beta testing programs before everyone else.
Betas are new AdWords features that are not available to the public and are tested with a very small number of advertisers.
Various ad extensions, Gmail ads, and others have gone through some version of the beta program.
There are a few boxes you need to check off to gain access to new betas:
- Make sure you stay in contact with your Account Manager
- Tell them you are interested in experimenting with new betas
- Give them a reason why your business is a good fit for the specific beta you’re interested in exploring
- Have a “healthy” test budget to spend on the beta
While there is no hard number that indicates a “healthy” test budget, $500-$1000 in spend per day should get you through the threshold. Also note that some betas have firm restrictions that you must meet to gain access, such as vertical limitations or a minimum spend required. Work with your Account Manager to ensure a mutually beneficial fit.
What if I don’t get a call from a Manager?
Although working with a dedicated Account Manager is beneficial for all the reasons mentioned above, you shouldn’t freak out if you don’t get a call from Google. At the end of the day, there aren’t enough Account Managers to cover the entire playing field of AdWords advertisers.
Good news is, you’re not totally out of luck. Google has a team of Managers that are responsible for handling inbound account inquiries, optimization requests and all of the other things mentioned in this post. You can contact them at 1-866-2Google, but be warned, wait times can creep into the 15-20 minute range during busy times of the day.
Let’s do this
Now that you have a clearer understanding of your relationship between your business, your ads and your Google support team, it’s time to get on the phone and start getting some of those burning questions answered. Remember, as your campaigns grow over time, you want to exhaust Google’s resources to optimize your ad dollars.
If you have stories to share about your AdWords Manager or have questions about advertising with Adwords, feel free to tee me up in the comments below!
