MySpace Takes a New Marketing Direction

Remember MySpace? The MySpace brand conjures images of sparkly graphics, goofy page designs and top ten friend lists. For years, people have been switching over to use facebook and Twitter for social media, and Google+ has recently gained popularity as well.

The old MySpace is outdated, but their new marketing executives are attempting to revive the site with a new music marketing strategy. Entertainer Justin Timberlake is serving as a creative director, and partnerships have been formed with iTunes, Spotify and Vevo.

Re-branding a well known name like MySpace can be difficult because not only does a company have to compete with its competitors, but it has to compete with its former archaic self.

Do you think music-focused marketing is enough to save MySpace?

Revamped MySpace Will Have iTunes, Spotify and Vevo in Its Crosshairs

Online Social Shopping Trends

Recent data found while studying the behavior and habits of online shoppers revealed three important trends, according to ecommerce-guide.com

Trend #1: Online Shoppers Research Products before Purchasing

Most online shoppers begin their shopping experience by conducting research through a search engine, like Google. This is why search engine optimization (SEO) is so important for ecommerce sites and online retailers

Trend #2: Other Customer Reviews and Social Media Comments Matter

A good or bad review can influence whether an online shopper makes a purchase. Shoppers also look into products and companies that have a lot of facebook “likes.”

Trend #3: Consumers Are Using Mobile Phones In-Stores

The recent study revealed that more customers are scanning barcodes and comparing in-store prices to those found on Amazon.com. Customers are also taking advantage of coupons found on their phones.

Overall, the latest data reveals how crucial it is for businesses to stay connected with consumers and have a strong online presence.

3 Consumer Shopping Trends Online Retailers Need to Know

Meta Media, Inc. Welcomes Cars.IAAI.com as a New Client

ATLANTA, GA (August 10, 2011) – Meta Media, Inc., a full-service firm specializing in marketing, website design and development, e-commerce and usability techniques, welcomes Cars.IAAI.com as its latest client. Cars.IAAI, the vehicle purchasing and auctioning division of Insurance Auto Auctions, Inc., has hired Meta Media, Inc. to design and implement a natural search engine optimization strategy.

“We are very excited to work with Cars.IAAI.com,” said Michele Fontanelli Arnett, VP of Marketing and E-Commerce at Meta Media, Inc. “The strategic leaders of this website are seeking to increase business and build brand awareness on a national level, and we plan to execute our proven marketing strategies to help them achieve their goals.”

Insurance Auto Auctions, Inc. is a large national company, with over 150 locations throughout the United States focused on purchasing and auctioning vehicles. Cars.IAAI.com pays cash for all vehicle makes and annually models and auctions more than one million vehicles.

Meta Media, Inc. plans to utilize a variety of search engine optimization techniques designed to provide additional exposure for Cars.IAAI.com, with the ultimate goals of increasing both brand awareness and sales. The main strategy will focus on content, tags, linking and other targeted SEO tactics, which will be implemented and maintained by the Meta Media, Inc. account team.

About Meta Media, Inc.

Meta Media, Inc. is a full-service firm, with expertise in traditional and non-traditional, ROI-based marketing strategies, including website design, usability, front and back-end development, marketing, analytics and tracking, reporting, testing and optimization. In addition to Cars.IAAI.com, the company’s clients include Dr. Comfort, Aaron’s, The ENT Institute, Pope & Howard, P.C. Law Firm and many others. You can read more about the company online at http://www.metamediainc.com.

Social Scoring Systems

An emerging online trend in social media that professionals in the marketing field should keep an eye on is social scoring systems. Currently, the website with the most buzz is Klout, which is a social media metrics analytics company.

According to their website klout.com, the assigned “Klout Score” is the measurement of your overall online influence. The scores range from 1 to 100 with higher scores representing a wider and stronger sphere of influence.

Although Klout is currently the most newsworthy site, there are other up-and-coming social scoring systems, including:

• Tweetlevel and Bloglevel, both from the Edelman PR firm, measure your influence in Twitter and the blogosphere, respectively.
• PeerIndex scores you based on your influence on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and Quora, as well as blogs and other URLs you add.
• Tweet Grader from HubSpot ranks you according to how influential you are on Twitter.

Social media metrics analysis could potentially be a great tool for marketers, as it measures social interactions and who is influencing who.

5 Things Small Businesses Should Know about Klout

IBM Unveils New Cloud-Based Analytics System for Online Marketers

The latest press release from IBM announced a new web analytics system to assist marketers with online campaigns, entitled the Coremetrics Digital Marketing Optimization Suite.

The new IBM software is supposed to act as a single source of information for marketers providing customer profiles, web analytics and digital marketing execution. According to IBM some highlights of their latest marketing tool are:

- Enables marketers to perform advanced segmentation and automate marketing execution based on multichannel data, including off-line data sources
- Delivers real-time product recommendations for all online channels, including social, mobile, email, and display ads
- Provides A/B testing capabilities to help search engine marketers compare pairs of search terms to determine the most cost-effective terms and associated ads
- Incorporates best practice key performance indicators and corresponding industry-specific benchmarks
- Supports deep analysis into how customers interact with a brand over time and when each marketing program is the most effective.

Only time will tell if the Coremetrics Digital Marketing Optimization Suite by IBM will be able to compete with other programs that marketers are already utilizing, such as Google Analytics.

IBM Press Release

Domain Name Expansion May Contribute to Branding Obstacles

Recently the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) announced a significant change in the makeup of the current domain name system. ICANN is responsible for overseeing online addresses, and has approved to widen the choice of domain endings to include nearly any word in any language.

The potential downside to the new domain expansion is branding interference. The expansion creates an opening for competitors or general opportunists to purchase a nearly limitless amount of domains associates with a company’s brand.

However, domain extensions will not be obtained without an application or a hefty price. The charge to apply for a domain extension with ICANN is $185,000, plus a $25,000 yearly fee for those who gain control of the domain. There is an ongoing debate as to whether these fees are to prevent domain extension abuse or if ICANN is just trying to increase their profits.

Domain-Name Bosses Approve Huge Expansion

Online business trend: Social Commerce

E-commerce websites are increasing efforts to capitalize on social networks such as Facebook. Ebay recently announced in the next few months they will begin offering consumers an opportunity to find products and plug them into their Facebook network. This enables a consumer’s Facebook friends to vote on their preferred product and offer comments.

Social commerce initiatives were inevitable. Current social media practice allows companies to easily improve overall branding and online presence, through interactive conversations with customers. But social commerce will take things to a new level. Now companies will be able to analyze more specific information based on detailed product conversations and consumer feedback.

Social commerce will enhance the likelihood of potential customers becoming consumers by utilizing word-of mouth communications through social networking.

Ebay to launch social commerce features