May 2016

Sunday, May 29, 2016

Twitter Now Allows You To say More In 140 Characters

General Evolution

Generally since its first arrival Twitter has evolved from initially being a straight text based platform to ten years later a more versatile social media platform that currently allows additional functionality in the form of : videos, pictures, vines and hashtags.

In more recent times the additional features such as the ability to Poll Your Community and the ability to share Periscope broadcasts in Tweets have also been added, all adding to the overall user experience.

More Bang For The 140 Character Buck

Twitter have now announced that in the coming months they plan to make changes to simplify Tweets, and importantly what is included in the 140 characters and what isn't.

Currently

Currently the structure of a tweet is as follows:

devbrief_tweetstructure

Ref: http://techcrunch.com/2016/05/24/the-metaphysics-of-twitter/

However once the changes are initiated, the @names in replies, and any media attachments (such as videos, polls, pictures, etc), will no longer come out of the 140 characters, thereby allowing you to more fully express and qualify your core message with the tweet text.

The Changes

Replies: When you reply to any tweet, @names will no longer count toward the 140-character count.
Media attachments: When you are add attachments to your tweet such as videos, polls or other options such as GIFs, this media will no longer count as characters within the Tweet.
Retweet and Quote Tweet yourself:Twitter will be enabling the Retweet button on your own Tweets, so you can easily Retweet or Quote Tweet your own Tweets when you may want to rephrase or share an add on to that original thought.
Goodbye, .@: These changes will help simplify the rules around Tweets that start with a username. New Tweets that begin with a username will reach all your followers. (That means you’ll no longer have to use the ”.@” convention, which people currently use to broadcast Tweets broadly.) If you want a reply to be seen by all your followers, you will be able to Retweet it to signal that you intend for it to be viewed more broadly.

Adapted from Ref: https://blog.twitter.com/express-even-more-in-140-characters

Timing

These proposed changes will be introduced by Twitter through the coming months. The proposed changes will allow for a more detailed message and address one of the biggest frustrations users have had with micro-blogging platforms since day 1, namely lack of space.
Additionally Twitter have said that they are now also exploring ways to make existing uses easier and enabling new ones within the platform.

Additional Training Resources

Naturally to learn more about any aspect of Social or Digital Media marketing click on to this link:
http://www.victorianchamber.com.au/business-solutions/training/course

So until next time, good luck and good marketing.
Regards,
Daniele.

Thursday, May 19, 2016

Google Analytics 360 Suite

Background

As marketers we have a profound understanding of how important t is to understand your customers needs and wants. We do this by using all the available data and research that will hopefully cast some light on these needs.

In recent times Google have started the discussion about joining the website based analytics to those of digital marketing campaign data may further assist businesses to more fully understand the full customer journey.

This more comprehensive insight is required because the customers needs are generally more complex in the modern day setting, certainly there are greater levels of competition and the reality is the customer demands a higher level of service and combines this with a generally lower level of loyalty.

Against this biased background, combining the total analytics appears to be a smart way to gain this improve understanding of the customer and from this the possibility that there are different groups within the whole that can be effectively identified, targeted and satisfied to the mutual benefit of the customer and the business.

Google Analytics and Google Analytics 360 have existing capabilities to aid businesses in being able to better assess how customers interact and engage with the brand.

Expanded Capability

Google have now announced a new and exciting analytic function with the addition of: User-Centric analysis to help provide a deeper understanding of the most important customers.

Through User Explorer, the business will now be able to analyse the actions of even anonymous users take on your website site or app. This informationcan allow you to refine the process the user takes to help augment their experience and thereby help to betetr engage with them through this process.

Additionally you can focus on the customer s you do know about such as the ones that spend the most or buy the most frequently or buy the most expensive products in your range and for each group review their respective paths on your digital platforms.

These found insights can both confirm your perceived understanding or perhaps even expand it. At very least Google User Explorer will be a powerful tool in helping the business to develop and implement more tailored and segment specific marketing and promotional plans.

To illustrate this further, User Explorer may assist in identifing anonymous individuals who for whatever reason did not buy and aid in re-engage with them to reconnect to your app or site using current marketing campaigns.

Combining User Explorer with existing user-centric data you have the ability to construct new, previously unknown segments that can be targeted in a more specific way.

The use of the Google Cohort analysis report will also provide additional information such as: When customers were acquired, how often do they purchase in a day or a week and what percentage return the following day to repurchase.

Thursday, May 5, 2016

Total Value Proposition: Additional Considerations

TVP – Key Considerations

Regardless of which of these five approaches you base your products Total Value Proposition around, you need to ask the following questions of yourself when talking with customers about your TVP.

1. Is it an impressive TVP that I am presenting?

Specifically for the TVP to be impressive it needs to provide obvious value and quality to the customer. The greater the number and size of the benefits, the greater the perceived value will be to them.

2. How well does my TVP align to the customer’s unmet needs?

True value occurs when the function, form and consequences of using a product or service positively impact a customer’s unmet needs. Remember that some of the customer’s needs may already be met with another product but the greatest motivation for switching to another brand is to gain additional benefit with unmet needs, whilst retaining your current advantages with the met portion of the customers need.

3. How does it compare to their current TVP of the product they are using?

In most cases customers will already be using or at very least be aware of other options and therefore are in a strong position to make a viable comparison and therefore an informed choice between what it is you’re offering them versus what they currently have or could have from a rival firm. For this reason the need for ongoing and in-depth, competitor analysis remains a key component for all sales people as a routine function of their role.

4. How does your TVP need to be adjusted to be more attractive?

Based on that comparison with other rival TVP’s, you are then faced with the key question of, what subtle adjustments are still required to make your proposal more attractive to them.

Where ever possible the presence of a tangible and meaningful point of differentiation is a critical component to improve a business’s TVP and of course this then allows the sales person the opportunity to discuss these differences and how they will provide positive and sought after outcomes for the customer.