Interactivity in the E-Marketing world

Efficient interactivity is probably the single most important investment that a company can make. There are endless ways of interacting with buyers online. Many companies are getting wiser and more efficient by investing their marketing dollars on the internet versus on television and radio advertisements. Companies are looking to a variety of social networking sites in hopes to gain more customers and therefore increase their market share.

Social Networking Sites

Companies are using social networks to interact with their existing buyers and to generate new buyers more and more everyday. Many companies keep their existing customers aware of current promotions via Facebook. With the increase traffic that Facebook continues to receive, companies are benefiting by staying current on their products and promotions through the social media websites. An interesting statistic provided by http://www.business2community.com/social-media/72-fascinating-social-media-marketing-facts-and-statistics-for-2012-0229237 is that “the median ratio of Facebook views to share is 9-1, meaning that for every Facebook share, 9 people visited the story”. They also state that Facebook is the leading source of referred social media traffic at approximately 26% and twitter is the second at approximately 3.6%.  So basically, although one person may share to a few of their Facebook friends it will continue to be shared by their friends and so on.

Twitter has become another efficient way to interact with potential buyers and current buyers as their are over 100 million active twitter users. According to AJ Kumar, founder of  Digital Grain a digital marketing agency he states that “it is important to use your audience language when engaging via social media otherwise they will perceive you as being phony.” http://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/ecommerce-companies-succeeding-with-social-media/

Twitter has become increasingly popular and it is expected to continue rising in popularity. Currently about 50% of users share links and re-tweet to others.

Live Chat

Companies are also investing a lot of their marketing on live chat systems where they provide live chat on their websites for improved customer service and to track the buying process from beginning to end. Through the live chat they can also monitor which products are being viewed the most and which products are not. Live chat offers a sense of comfort to customers and it has proven to be a good interactivity tactic.

Bottom line is that the sky is the limit when it comes to interacting with current customers and recruiting new customers. There are various social sites including Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, Pinterest and the list goes on. Companies are taking full advantage of these tools and are succeeding at increasing business. Of course, there is always the downside of social media users that are unhappy with their experience and will be glad to share with others however I think the pros exceed the cons when it comes to interactivity in the E-Marketing world!

 

Nicole Burgos

 

References:

72 Fascinating Social Media Marketing Facts and Statistics in 2012

http://www.business2community.com/social-media/72-fascinating-social-media-marketing-facts-and-statistics-for-2012-0229237

5 ways online businesses are succeeding with social media

http://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/ecommerce-companies-succeeding-with-social-media/

 

 

E-Marketing and Politics: How powerful is it?

Now that the political race is behind us we are able to somewhat go back to normalcy. A sense of calm after the storm takes place and we are able to sit back and let it all sink in. However, as we sit back and think of all the thousands and thousands of political online advertisements, tv commercials, and radio advertisements that we come across for months before election day we realize the power of politics and the effect that it has on our society. 

Social Media

Social media has been a powerful force this election year. Celebrities have taken advantage of their popularity to support their candidates and have used twitter and Facebook to share their beliefs in an effort to influence their fans. “Twitter brought people closer to almost every aspect of the election this year,” Twitter’s spokeswoman Rachael Horwitz told the news site Reuters. http://latino.foxnews.com/latino/news/2012/11/07/election-2012-president-obama-twitter-break-records/.

According to the previous website, an astonishing 327,000 tweets were sent per minute when it was announced that Obama was re-elected. It also states that this presidential election set the record in history for the most tweeted event at approximately 31 million tweets sent. Twitter has been the most used online tool in this election than ever before.

After our president Barack Obama tweeted a photo embracing his wife at the announcement of his re-election he set the record for the most retweeted post in history. According to the guardian http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2012/nov/07/us-election-2012-hug-photo more than 3.23 million people have liked the photo on Facebook and it has been re-tweeted nearly 700,000 times.

Moving Forward

In moving forward my hopes are that we can continue to use social media to influence others especially when it pertains to decreasing obesity in America. I commend the first lady, Michelle Obama in her effort to stop childhood obesity. She has created the program “Let’s Move” in an effort to help reduce obesity. As we can see, the power of social media can go a very long way, let’s use it wisely and continue to move forward!

Nicole Burgos

References:

Election 2012: President Obama, Twitter breaks record.http://latino.foxnews.com/latino/news/2012/11/07/election-2012-president-obama-twitter-break-records/

US Election 2012: Hug photo makes social media history http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2012/nov/07/us-election-2012-hug-photo

The pros and cons of the internet and online privacy

The Internet has become an amazing tool for people all around the world. I remember when I first discovered the internet. I was amazed and overwhelmed all at the same time. It was incredible to me that there were so many different web sites that I could browse. Still today I am so appreciative that I can go to the internet to find the answer to any question that I might have about practically ANYTHING.

In my quest to help my 9-year-old daughter reach her healthy weight I have turned to the internet for ideas on how to help children stay active and other different ways to motivate her. An interesting website on childhood obesity and solutions to fighting it can be found at http://causesofchildhoodobesity.org/solutions. I have also utilized the internet to find healthy and creative recipes as I think that it becomes really boring and dull to eat the same types of foods day in and day out. Being healthy should be an exciting quest and I strongly believe that variety, moderation, and positive reinforcement is key. When her and I are in the kitchen preparing meals together and I see the excitement in her eyes when we are making a meal together it brings me great joy because I am teaching her a lifestyle that she will reap the benefits for the rest of her life.

Bottom line, the internet can be a wonderful tool for practically anything. It serves as a support system for those that are on a quest to lose weight or just simply get fit. For example, recently I joined a website called beachbody.com in my own quest to get in shape. This website serves as a support system for those wanting to change their lives by losing weight and getting in shape. It has a variety of workout DVDs that you can purchase. I purchased their popular “Insanity” workout DVD which I have now completed the first 30 days out of 60 days. It has helped my overall cardio health dramatically and I am really looking forward to building muscle and losing fat around my abdomen which is the main reason why I purchased the workout program.

With all that being said along with the benefits of the internet there are also major downfalls. There is online privacy that we have to worry about. Even when we order products via the internet that we believe can change our lives we still have to be careful with online privacy. Many times when we sign up for something or order a product we have to provide them with some of our personal information. Many companies are affiliated with a number of third parties and they do share your information with those third parties despite them stating that your information is protected. It becomes really frustrating when all of a sudden you begin to receive numerous emails from companies that you’ve never heard of.

Overall, we really need to be wise consumers and protect our information as much as possible. An interesting blog on online privacy can be seen on http://www.sensibleemarketing.com/. Even in our search for products that can better our health and better our physique we need to use caution and not allow ourselves to be a target.

Here’s to making healthier and smarter choices and being an example to others,

Nicole Burgos

References:

Natural solutions to fight childhood obesity

http://causesofchildhoodobesity.org/solutions

 

E-Marketing and its impact on childhood obesity

E-Marketing is a powerful tool that has a major impact on children across the world. At the click of a mouse they are shown on-line commercials from major food chains like Burger King and Mc Donalds as well as advertisements as they browse through social media websites like Facebook.

According to a study done by Cambridge in Australia about 60% of food references on popular children’s websites were aimed towards unhealthy foods versus approximately 40% were skewed towards healthy foods. (http://cambridgefluids.org/action/displayAbstract?fromPage=online&aid=2334972&fulltextType=RA&fileId=S1368980008001778)

The question is why are these major food chains influencing what children eat?

E-Marketing has a powerful presence on the internet and I believe children are being used as a marketing tool to their parents. In answering the previous question about the major food chains influencing what children eat I believe that parents are being manipulated into buying these foods for their children because marketing techniques are succeeding in exposing children to their products. As this generation of children continue to be more and more  technology driven they will continue to spend a lot of time surfing the internet, playing online games, and reading through blogs etc.

E-Marketing is a very convenient and effective tool for many companies. It has many advantages as it has become a commodity to consumers to have a need for a product and fulfill that need by going to the internet and purchasing that product in a matter of minutes. However, when it comes to our children I believe that we as parents need to be more aware of what they are being exposed to and it is our responsibility to educate them on eating healthy and making wise choices regardless of what they are being exposed to.