Online Real Estate Technology

Many B2C and B2B companies are successfully using social media networks to acquire customers, according to [pdf] the “State of Inbound Marketing Report” from internet marketing firm Hubspot.

Major Social Media Channels Provide Leads to 4 in 10 Companies

More than four in 10 companies overall have acquired a customer from four major social media channels. Forty-one percent of companies have acquired a customer from both Twitter and LinkedIn. That figure rises to 44% for Facebook and 46% for a company blog.

Social Media Especially Helps B2C
When social media customer acquisition figures are broken out by B2B and B2C companies, it becomes clear that B2C companies generally obtain much more value from their social media marketing efforts. Fifty-one percent of B2C companies have acquired a customer from Twitter, compared to 38% of B2B companies. The difference is most stark in customer acquisition figures for Facebook, which 68% of B2C companies have obtained a customer from but only 33% of B2B companies.

When it comes to professional social media network LinkedIn, however, the usefulness trends reverse. Forty-five percent of B2B companies have obtained a customer from LinkedIn, compared to only 26% of B2C companies. Figures for company blog customer acquisition are closest in range, with 57% of B2C companies and 43% of B2B companies obtaining a customer through this channel.

Blog Post Frequency Makes a Difference
Examining company blogs closer, the unsurprising finding is that the more posts a company makes, the more success it will have driving new business. One hundred percent of companies posting multiple times a day on their blogs acquired a customer, and 90% posting daily acquired a customer. This figures declines to 69% for companies posting two to three times a week, and all the way down to 13% for companies posting less than monthly.

Most Business Blogs Post Weekly
The majority of business blogs in 2010 post weekly (38%). Another 29% post two to three times a week, and 17% post monthly. Only 3% post multiple times a day. Only 58% of companies making weekly blog posts acquire a customer, meaning most companies are leaving a significant tool for customer acquisition on the table.

Bigger Business Blogs Better Lead Bringers
Business blogs begin generating significantly more leads when they have a median of 24 or more articles posted, according to other research by Hubspot.

Businesses with blog article numbers above this critical threshold are likely to have enough content to make a significant impact on search engines through additional indexed pages and new keywords with which to associate. In addition, other sites are more likely to link to a blog that offers a steady stream of content. Businesses with blogs of 24-plus articles are more likely to be committed to updating their blog frequently and, thus, are likely to generate more traffic from referring sites.

Business blogs that have 0-11 articles posted will generate a median of three leads. Once blogs reach the 12-23 posted article threshold, this median dramatically rises to 10. However, blogs with 24-51 posted articles generate a median of 13 leads, and will generate a median of 23 leads when the posted article threshold reaches 52. This represents 77% lead growth, more than twice the 30% lead growth that occurs when the number of posted blog articles reaches 24.

According to the BlogHer and iVillage “2010 Social Media Matters Study,” co-sponsored by The Nielsen Company and Ketchum, social sites are now a frequent destination for nearly three-quarters of Internet users. The study found similar rates of usage among men and women, and pegged the percentage of weekly social media users at 73% of the online population.

Respondents’ top daily media activities were social as well. Watching television is still on top, but Facebook was the next most common media destination visited every day. Among survey respondents, social media games were as popular as reading print newspapers.

Among BlogHer Network users only, usage was significantly higher. For example, 77% read blogs every day and 35% used Twitter.

Social destinations become more important when these especially social-savvy users are looking for information about a potential purchase. Search engines are the No. 1 starting point for information about products and services, but blogs, user-generated content and social networks were more likely to be used frequently for purchase advice than traditional sources such as magazines, television and newspapers.

Among all US Internet users, about one-fifth said blogs and social networks were a good place to find out about new products. One-quarter liked to visit social networks for advice and recommendations and more than one-third considered social networks a good media destination for general information.

“The days of relying on one source for information are over,” said Jodi Kahn, executive vice president of iVillage, in a statement. “Online peer-to-peer advice on message boards has increasingly become one of the most valuable sources for product recommendations. Marketers cannot afford to overlook this captive audience.”

Geo-locational apps and social networks such as Foursquare are about to reach an inflection point – that is, a point where they become as mainstream as Facebook or Twitter, according to MarketingVox.

For marketers, this means they can no longer rely on creating buzz merely by rolling out a campaign strategy based strictly on geo-location functionality.

That point, in fact, may already be here, according to technology blog Social Thumbs. “It’s one thing to offer different technologies along the value chain of location, but sharing your location and aggregating messages by things like hashtag are two very crowded niches right now.”

Wharton marketing professor Peter Fader warns of location-based fatigue. As more and more businesses try to tap into location-based social networking consumers will tire of the trend, he says. “There’s a really good analogy here to e-mail marketing. Fifteen years ago, you got your first e-mail from a company saying, ‘Here are this week’s specials chosen just for you,’ and you said, ‘This is cool’ and ‘How do they know what I wanted?’ You read it, you maybe even bought something,” he notes. “Maybe the second or third time it was still kind of cool, but then you got totally burned out with it and annoyed.”

To keep location-based strategies fresh – or at least to distinguish them from the ever-growing number of similar apps – consider the following tips.

Build the Service Concept First
Develop the best service – and then add bells and whistles such as geo-location, according to Kevin Nakao, VP of Mobile & Business Search for WhitePages, at Mashable. “From finding the nearest ski slope on REI’s Ski and Snow Report to a nearby movie on Flixter, there are plenty of Top iPhone applications that have incorporated a ‘lead with the offer, not the capability’ philosophy into their mobile product offering to provide a better service.”

Make it Worthwhile for Advertisers, Too
Maybe marketers jumped into Twitter as it became so popular without an advertising option available to them, but don’t count on that happening with every new social media trend, according to Nakao. “With all the hoopla surrounding location, it is easy to lose sight of the fact that location’s real appeal to advertisers is the fact that with this functionality, you can reach the on-the-go user, who is ready to buy and consume,” he says. WhitePages monetizes its mobile services through a mix of premium, national display, and sponsored links for local businesses, according to Nakao.

Effective CPM for sponsored local links is $30-$50 – double the effective CPM (eCPM) rate for premium display ad campaigns from national brands, he says.

But Don’t Overload the Sites With Offers
Wharton marketing professor Eric Bradlow cautions that charging businesses to bring ads to users may overload location-based social networking sites to the point that many customers will stop paying attention. He suggests a model in which a company would earn a portion of revenue for purchases made in connection with promotional partnerships with other companies. “Firms need a valid return on investment for their marketing spending. They should test the impact of location-based marketing, see the click-through rates, and partner with a company to see if people actually purchased anything.”

Design Features with Battery Life in Mind
Battery life is the single biggest threat to location, White Pages’ Nakao says. “With GPS on, the phone is asking the network where it is, and this chatter can drain battery life.’ Check-ins’ help to address the issue as they offer efficient geo-triggers without having to keep battery-draining GPS features on at all times.”

Integrate It
Professor Fader says that businesses will find their marketing campaigns on geo-location sites like Foursquare will deliver higher returns if they are well integrated into other campaigns. Companies that Foursquare – or Twitter or Face book – as part of an integrated marketing strategy and in a way that makes sense for the brand, will gain the most bang for their buck.

A majority of marketers are using social media in their marketing efforts, but most have only been using it for a few months or less, according to a new survey from SocialMediaExaminer.com.

Nine in 10 Marketers Use Social Media
Findings of the “2010 Social Media Marketing Industry Report” indicate that nine in 10 marketers (91%) are currently using social media as part of their marketing efforts. Small businesses were slightly more likely to be using social media.

A majority of marketers are using social media in their marketing efforts, but most have only been using it for a few months or less, according to a new survey from SocialMediaExaminer.com.

Nine in 10 Marketers Use Social Media
Findings of the “2010 Social Media Marketing Industry Report” indicate that nine in 10 marketers (91%) are currently using social media as part of their marketing efforts. Small businesses were slightly more likely to be using social media.

More B2B companies have been using social media longer (79.5% reported months or
more) than their B2C counterparts (68.7% indicated months or longer).

Most Marketers Use Social Media at Least Six Hours Weekly
A combined 56% of marketers use social media for six hours or more a week, and 30% use it for 11 hours or more on a weekly basis. It’s interesting to note that a combined 12.5% of marketers spend more than 20 hours each week on social media.

The largest group used social media one to 5 hours per week (about 38%). Forty-three percent of people in this group are spending four to five hours per week on social media activities. Three quarters (76%) of marketers are spending at least four hours each week on their social media marketing efforts.

More Experience Equals More Usage
There is a direct relationship between how long marketers have been using social media and their weekly time commitment. For people just beginning with social media, the median weekly time commitment was one hour per week. However, for marketers who have been doing this for a few months or longer, the median jumps to 10 hours per week.

Almost Half of Global Marketers Use SocNets
Close to half of global marketers currently use social media in their marketing efforts, according to a recent study from marketing technology provider Unica. Reflecting the rapid explosion in the popularity of social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter among consumers, a combined 80% of marketers currently use social media or plan to in the future. Forty-seven percent of marketers currently use social media. Another 23% plan to use it in the next 12 months, and 10% plan to use it in more than 12 months. Only 11% have no plans to use social media, and 9% are not sure.

In addition, comparing US and Canadian marketers with their European counterparts, the study reveals that a much higher percentage of marketers in North America (58%) currently use social media than marketers in Europe (34%).

About the Survey: SocialMediaExaminer.com surveyed 1,898 respondents, of which 98% were business owners or employees, 1% were students and 1% unemployed, via Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and email during a five-day period in January 2010.

As you know I’m constantly on the look out for great people and resources to help our real estate community achieve brilliant results – and there’s someone I want you to experience and I’m picking up the tab!

Michael Sheargold (the legendary real estate performance coach) is running a seminar tour next month on How to be a Super Agent. Now if you’ve worked with Michael before you know his ability to deliver great and super-relevant strategies for you to grow your results.

He’s been helping agents and principals for over 18 years and now you have the chance to work with him, because of my relationship with him and his business.

In fact, it’s rare for Michael to do this kind of public event. Normally his strategies are only shared with his specific coaching clients. So this is a unique and limited opportunity I really want you to take advantage of.

So as a special “thank you” for being part of our community, I’ve organised for you to attend this OUTSTANDING 3 hour seminar next month COMPLEMENTARY (saving you $97)!

All you need to do is click on the link below and validate your ticket as my VIP to save you some money and gain massively from the strategies that can make 2010 your best year in real estate yet!

By the way, Michael is running the seminar in Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne plus in South East Queensland. Follow this link for more details – I know you’ll be glad you did!

http://www.superagent101.com/how-to-be-a-super-agent-vip

I know you’ll gain massively from Michael’s seminar – once again, thank you for being part of Mike Andrew Consulting.

P.S. In John McGrath’s book You inc, he says Michael is the most effective business coach on the planet – you owe it to yourself and your family to be there and remember, it’s my shout!

The lovable Evian Roller Babies, which broke the world record for the most viewed online advertisement in history last year, have made the leap from YouTube to your television.

Evian’s wildly successful viral campaign has surpassed 100 million views across all of its many versions. It was one of the first YouTube-exclusive campaigns by a major brand: there were no TV commercials for the viral videos.

Now according to Social Times, the campaign has already made its debut on Los Angeles TV stations, and will run in New York sometime this summer. They are also airing in other countries, including France and the UK.

The Evian Roller Babies showed advertisers that viral videos have tremendous reach. Hopefully we’ll see more advertisers take their ads to the YouTube masses first before pushing them out on the far more expensive TV airwaves.

Business blogs begin generating significantly more leads when they have a median of 24 or more articles posted, according to research by internet marketing firm Hubspot.

Businesses with blog article numbers above this critical threshold are likely to have enough content to make a significant impact on search engines through additional indexed pages and new keywords with which to associate. In addition, other sites are more likely to link to a blog that offers a steady stream of content. Businesses with blogs of 24-plus articles are more likely to be committed to updating their blog frequently and, thus, are likely to generate more traffic from referring sites.

Business blogs that have 0-11 articles posted will generate a median of three leads. Once blogs reach the 12-23 posted article threshold, this median dramatically rises to 10. However, blogs with 24-51 posted articles generate a median of 13 leads, and will generate a median of 23 leads when the posted article threshold reaches 52. This represents 77% lead growth, more than twice the 30% lead growth that occurs when the number of posted blog articles reaches 24.

Businesses with Blogs Generate 67% More Online Leads
Businesses with blogs generate 67% more online leads than businesses without blogs. A business with a blog will generate a median of 15 online leads, compared to a median of nine online leads for a business without a blog. Blog size does matter to a degree, as businesses with a median of 10 blog entries or less report similar online generation numbers to businesses without blogs.

Advice for Bloggers
Based on its research, Hubspot offers the following advice to business bloggers:

• Increase the number of keywords marketers rank for in Google. Through blogs, marketers have the opportunity to create unique content that can be different from their web site content. They have the potential to significantly increase the number of keywords they rank highly for in Google.
• Generate inbound links. These are a central factor in Google’s organic search ranking algorithm. Other related sites are likely to link to a blog that provides interesting and fresh content.
• Increase repeat visitors.

  Blogs give visitors a reason to come back and interact with sites.

Google Page Indexing Creates Leads
In addition to blogging to generate online leads, the more pages a company has indexed by Google, the more leads it will generate, according to related research by Hubspot. There is a strong positive correlation between the number of Google indexed pages and median leads. An incremental increase of 50-100 pages indexed by Google can cause lead growth in double-digit percentages. For example, going from 60-120 indexed pages to 121-175 indexed pages can increase a company’s median leads from seven to 12, creating 58.3% growth.

The most significant improvement in median lead growth comes when a company increases its indexed pages from the 176-310 range to the 311-plus range. Median leads skyrocket from 22 to 74, representing triple-digit 236% growth. After exceeding the 311 indexed pages mark, median lead growth subsides.

Getting your site ranked highly on search engines is one of the fundamentals of SEO, just how you go about that is a topic which creates a lot of discussion, which method works best, and is off page optimisation more effective than on page optimisation, and how valuable are links or votes that are directed to your site from other web sites on the net.

I’ve always worked on the premise that I get as many of these factors working for me when optimising a site and a very effective tool to get high rankings is relevancy to the subject you’re trying to rank for. Getting as many of your URL’s or pages indexed by the search engines can lead to an increase in both traffic and conversions. So I thought this research from HubSpot would be of interest to you.

The more pages a company has indexed by Google, the more leads it will generate, according to research by internet marketing firm Hubspot.

Incremental Indexed Pages Can Cause Double-digit Lead Growth
There is a strong positive correlation between the number of Google indexed pages and median leads. An incremental increase of 50-100 pages indexed by Google can cause lead growth in double-digit percentages. For example, going from 60-120 indexed pages to 121-175 indexed pages can increase a company’s median leads from seven to 12, creating 58.3% growth.

The most significant improvement in median lead growth comes when a company increases its indexed pages from the 176-310 range to the 311-plus range. Median leads skyrocket from 22 to 74, representing triple-digit 236% growth. After exceeding the 311 indexed pages mark, median lead growth subsides.

Size Not Critical Factor
Overall, Hubspot research indicates that size is not a critical factor for achieving significant volumes of Google indexed pages. Size and number of pages are mildly positively correlated, mostly in the extreme categories of indexed pages.

While HubSpot’s large customers formed the biggest group with 311 or more indexed pages in Google, small and medium-sized customers together outnumbered large ones in this category, 57% – 43%. In addition, small customers formed the largest group with 176 to 310 Google indexed pages (39%).

As might be expected, small customers do form the largest group within the less than 60 (53%) and 61-120 (54%) indexed pages categories.

Marketing Takeaways
Hubspot advises marketers considering a Google page indexing program to use the following techniques:

• Build page volume: Consider starting a blog to quickly increase the number of indexed pages.
• Improve each page’s optimization as per Google’s methodology to maximize chances of having all corporate web pages included in the index.
• On-page search engine optimization: Place keywords in the right places on web pages such that Google and other search engines know what each page of a company’s web site is about, and what keywords to rank it for.
• Off-page search engine optimization: Build inbound links from reputable sites, thus demonstrating a company’s popularity to search engines.
• Inbound links do not generate more leads, but do generate more unique visitors.

Google Dominates Core Search
Google Sites clearly dominate US internet users’ core search activities, according to comScore. In March 2010, Google Sites led the core search market with 65.1% market share and 10.05 billion core searches, up 6% from February 2010. Both of these statistics represent the continuation of long-term core search trends.

Continuing a trend established in January and February 2010, the videos selected by video-content distributor goviral for March 2010 were universally light in tone.

For the first time this year, goviral did not select any public service announcement videos. Four of the 10 videos selected for March centered on some form of athletic performance or achievement. These include the number one video, which demonstrates a possibly staged trick performed on a BMW motorcycle, as well as a Pepsi video featuring famous soccer players, a Nike ad highlighting the connection between athletes (both famous and unknown), and an Adidas ad with numerous athletic and non-athletic celebrities.

Two videos featured humor mocking other brands. Sony Playstation directly ridicules the controllers used by rival Microsoft’s Xbox gaming system, and SpecSavers directly parodies the sexist ads from men’s body spray Axe that suggest men who use Axe will have beautiful women in bikinis purse them.

In a return to a trend seen in January 2010, most of last month’s videos were global in theme and featured little or no language. Globally famous celebrities and/or simple yet powerful imagery made these videos easily consumed by viewers anywhere in the world. Most of February 2010’s videos required knowledge of the English language and US or UK popular culture and humor to fully appreciate, which partially reflects the inclusion of several commercials aired during the February 2010 Super Bowl telecast.

The top 10 picks for February, with links to view on YouTube:

1. BMW S1000RR – Dinner Table, agency: n/a
2. Pedigree – Dogs, agency: TBWA
3. Pepsi Max – ‘Oh Africa,’ agency: n/a
4. Nike – The Human Chain, agency: Wieden & Kennedy
5. Adidas Originals – Street Corner, agency: Sid Lee
6. Tropicana – Arctic Sun, agency: BBDO
7. Sprite – Spark, agency: Bartle Bogle Hegarty
8. Sony Playstation – Move, agency: Deutsch
9. Specsavers – ‘The Specs Effect,’ agency: Specsavers Creative
10. Natural Gas Belgium – Soft Heat, agency: TBWA

About the Rankings: goviral issues a monthly top-10 list of viral video rankings on its site, including additional commentary about the videos, their approaches and why the firm thinks they are viral or likely to become viral in the future.

The powers that be at Twitter have been vague about how they plan to monetize the service. As marketers have flocked to the microblogging site, Twitter has considered charging for business functionality as one possibility.

According to a survey commissioned by Internet marketing solutions company WebBizIdeas.com, a plurality of business users of Twitter are unsure whether they would pay to use extra business features on the site. About one-quarter said they would.

Defining what those extra features might be as well as how much they would cost could push less decisive business users into one camp or another. Among respondents who said they would pay, most were willing to spend less than $50 per month.

In addition, 8% of all respondents said they would pay for analytics alone, if Twitter offered that service.

Advertising, another possibility for Twitter monetization, may have more appeal. Businesses were largely uninterested in advertising tactics that would increase their follower count, but nearly seven in 10 respondents said pay-for-performance ads would bring the greatest value for them.

Defining what those extra features might be as well as how much they would cost could push less decisive business users into one camp or another. Among respondents who said they would pay, most were willing to spend less than $50 per month.

In addition, 8% of all respondents said they would pay for analytics alone, if Twitter offered that service.

Advertising, another possibility for Twitter monetization, may have more appeal. Businesses were largely uninterested in advertising tactics that would increase their follower count, but nearly seven in 10 respondents said pay-for-performance ads would bring the greatest value for them.