Sometimes you just need to quickly grab the most important snippets of social information. When you’re short on time, there are a handful of key analytics you can use to get a clear, bird’s eye view of how you’re doing in the social space. Here are five essentials:

Active Users (Facebook)

The number of active users on Facebook is the number of people who have interacted with your Facebook page and its content in some way, whether it is via comments, likes, tags, or shares. This metric measures engagement, which should be one of the key goals for any social media strategy.

The reason active users takes a higher spot on our priority list than Facebook “likes” is that when someone likes your page, he may hide it in his news feed, or he may simply overlook your posts that end up there. Just because someone likes your page doesn’t mean he’ll end up seeing your content. The number of active users, on the other hand, accurately describes how many individual Facebook users are engaging with your content.

Retweets (Twitter)

Retweets tell you how many of your Twitter followers (or anyone on Twitter, really) have shared a specific message that you have tweeted. Retweets are important to track because they represent your specific marketing message being amplified and shared with Twitter users beyond your own network. Retweets can be a better measure of marketing success than both @mentions and number of followers because @mentions can include both positive and negative sentiments about your company, and the number of followers you have does not necessarily reflect the size of your potential customer base on Twitter, thanks to automated spambots. Users who retweet your tweets are leaving you in control of the marketing message while spreading it through their own audiences.

Number of Comments (LinkedIn Groups)

The LinkedIn Groups function is a great way to market your business to consumers on the largely professional-to-professional social network. When you start or respond to a discussion on your company’s LinkedIn Groups page, it helps establish you as a leading industry expert, and it strengthens your overall brand, both personally and corporately. However, to gauge how much impact your LinkedIn Group has on the public at large, take a look at the number of comments other people are making on posts in your Group. More interaction with your LinkedIn Group page comes from more visits to the page, which equals more opportunities for your words of wisdom to reach the potential customers in the audience.

Company Name Sentiment Rating (Sentiment.al)

Sentiment analysis tools can tell you how positively or negatively people are discussing your company in the social media space. Sentiment.al is the sentiment analysis tool that we will soon be integrating into Gremln, and while it’s helpful to gauge the opinions of the public on any pertinent search term you want (a product name, for example, or a major industry term), for a quick evaluation of how your company is faring in the marketplace, a sentiment rating of your company name is key. Public sentiment about your company is a good indicator of how well or how poorly your strategic communications plans are working across the board, taking into account product releases, company reviews, PR strategies, consumer behavior, and many more variables worth gauging. Company name sentiment ratings give a general view of how well your business is faring in the public eye at any given point in time.

Link Click-Throughs (Brev.is)

Link shorteners are exceptionally practical tools, especially when you want to include links to your website in your company’s tweets. Shorter links mean you can include more information in the allotted 140 characters. But one of the great by-products of how link shorteners work is that they’re able to tell you exactly how many people have clicked each link you’ve shortened. A good link shortener, like Gremln’s own Brev.is tool, allows you to see not only how many people are clicking on your links, but also their locations, the sites that referred them to your links, and more. However, for a quick look at the success of your marketing campaigns, the overall number of clicks is a vital statistic. In the end, the number of people who see your marketing message comes in second to the number of people who click the links you post. Generally speaking, the point of social media is to eventually lead your fans and followers to a purchase point. If you’re linking your posts to your online store (or to any page on your site that offers more information on how to purchase your product or service), it’s great to see how much traffic your social media posts are specifically driving to the point of purchase.

The Bottom Line

There are hundreds of useful social media analytics, and management tools like Gremln make it easy to access and evaluate them. But when you’re pressed for time, these five social media metrics allow you to gauge the success of your social strategies in just a few seconds.

You’ll notice that “be a better social media marketer” didn’t make the list. Even so, I think there are a lot of committed marketers out there hoping to make 2012 the most successfully social year ever. For those of you determined to make the most of your social media strategies in the coming year, here are a few resolutions to live by:

1. Be Open
Social media represents a pretty significant shift from the traditional marketing dynamic. It brings us from a one-way, hard-sell communication to a back-and-forth, community-building dialogue. In addition to changing the way we view marketing, social media itself can change pretty quickly. In 2012, resolve to be open to change. Try new networks, experiment with different strategies, and learn as much as you can about what’s new in the social media world and how you can use it to your advantage.

2. Be Creative
Never forget that social media is first and foremost meant to be a social space. Your fans and followers want to enjoy themselves on Facebook and Twitter, and so should you! This year, resolve to get creative with your social networks. Have a little fun with interactive and engaging content rather than defaulting to the straight product sell.

3. Be Bold
Take a digital leap of faith and go all out with your social media marketing. I don’t mean you should completely abandon your traditional marketing strategies. But I am saying that in 2012, we should consider making digital network strategies just as important as your traditional strategies. That can be a scary leap, but keep in mind, social media strategies are wholly measurable in terms of interaction and, with the right tools, ROI. Also, social network audiences are outpacing traditional media audiences, and on top of that, social strategies tend to be much cheaper than print and broadcast strategies. Between the cost difference and the potential benefits, you’re sure to get quite a bit of bang for your buck by going bold with social media.

4. De-Stress Your Digital Self
Managing multiple strategies on multiple networks can be stressful, to say the least. This year, use a social media management tool like Gremln to help you. You can manage every aspect of your various social media strategies from one easy dashboard, as well as receive detailed graphic analyses. Gremln also offers team management tools (like Moderation, which allows you to approve posts from your team members before sending them out to the social universe). With Gremln’s help, you can increase your social presence while decreasing your stress.

5. Build a Truly Social Community
One of the great benefits of social media is it allows companies to connect intimately with their customers. 2012 is the perfect year for your company to really take advantage of these interaction tools and build a strongly integrated network of fans. Host discussions, recognize vocal customers, and show that you’re really listening to what they have to say. Form a strong digital community, and you’ll find yourself with an entire social network of brand-loyal evangelists.

Social media is poised to continue its explosive growth in the New Year. Digital marketing will make some big leaps, and with the right resolutions, you, too, can make 2012 the most successfully social year to date.

This can be tricky for marketing departments, especially in small businesses, because the same surge of vacation time that’s allowing marketers to stay home over the holidays is also giving millions of potential customers the chance to spend some quality time browsing around on social media. Many companies have strict policies about social networking, so their employees are likely to experience a little digital release from home over the end-of-year break. With so many potential customers surfing the Web, it’s a prime time for marketers to shine. Here are a few ways you can keep your campaigns and promotions running, even if there’s no one in the office:

1. Schedule Your Tweets with Gremln
You may be taking a week off of work, but your social media doesn’t have to. With Gremln’s scheduling tools, you can set a slew of message to post to Facebook, Twitter, and/or LinkedIn at any time and date in the future. This way, your social campaigns will continue to gain traction while you’re sipping hot cocoa by the fire.

(Don’t have access to Gremln yet? Just send us an email with your name and email address, and we’ll send you an invite for Gremln Beta!)

2. Tweet Your Time Off
Whether you work for a brick-and-mortar business or an online company, people expect you to be available to answer their questions, which can be difficult over the holidays. If your offices are going to be empty, send out a few social media messages clearly stating your holiday hours. A Facebook post of “We’ll be out of the office until January 2–see you all in the New Year!” will let customers know that your office is empty and any questions or comments they might send aren’t being ignored. It’s the social media version of the “Out of Office” message. And because posts and tweets can get lost in the shuffle, it’s not a bad idea to schedule a few of these announcements to post themselves throughout the week.

3. Set a Holiday Check-in Routine
Depending on your business, it’s possible that some customer service issues may come through that you just can’t ignore. If that’s the case, then it’s a good idea to set up a schedule for social network pop-ins. Log on to your company’s social platforms once or twice a day at a regular time to check for any emergency issues that need immediate attention. Doing these check-ins at the same time every day helps you dedicate only a very specific amount of your free time to doing a little work each day without letting it overtake your vacation. Linking all your social networks to Gremln allows you to view all your accounts from one convenient webpage, makes this process even faster. If you have a handful of colleagues with access to your company’s social networks, split up the check-in duty to make it easier still.

4. Take Advantage of Gremln Reports
It can be difficult to gauge the success of a social marketing strategy when you’re not in front of your computer all day with a finger on the Internet pulse. Enter Gremln Reports! When you return from your end-of-year break, running a handful of reports through Gremln will give you specific feedback on how well your scheduled messages were received. Marketing analyses and postmortems don’t have to take a break just because you do. Gremln reports can tell you how many people retweeted your tweets, commented on your Facebook posts, liked your Facebook page, clicked on your links, and more. (And if you’d like access to Gremln Beta so you can take advantage of holiday reports, please see #1!)

The Bottom Line
Marketing and customer service don’t have to stop just because your offices have emptied out for a week or two. With a little careful planning and the help of the Gremln toolkit, your company can finish out the year without missing a beat!

Infographic property of marketing firm Mr. Youth

I came across this infographic today (from Mr. Youth, via Mashable), which illustrates the link between holiday purchases and social media. The graphic suggests there is indeed a strong correlation between social media communication and product purchases, offering evidence from two sides of the social media coin; the social side, where you interact with family and friends, and the marketing side, where you interact with businesses and brands.

According to Mashable, Mr. Youth “polled about 4,500 adults and found that social media is a key driver of holiday gift purchases this year.” Here are a few of the statistical highlights:

93% of social media users made or received purchase recommendations on Facebook.
It’s a reliable piece of industry knowledge that word-of-mouth is a marketer’s best tool when it comes to generating sales. Social media is, at its core, word-of-mouth amplified; instead of one-to-one personal communication, social platforms allow for one-to-many communication. Facebook is by far the largest social network out there, and if it’s worth saying, then it’s probably worth saying on Facebook. The importance of digital word-of-mouth just can’t be overstated, so neither can the importance of social media brand representation.

65% of recommendations made or received by a social media user led to a purchase, while just 33% of recommendations made or received by a non-user led to a purchase.
According to this statistic, social media users are about twice as likely to be moved to action by recommendations than are those who do not use social media. My hunch is that part of the reason for this is because social media makes it easy for other people to chime in with their own positive product reviews. For example, if a Facebook friend suggests I should buy a Nook, other Facebook friends are able to encourage this endorsement by commenting on the original post. Similarly, if I post on Facebook that I’m looking to buy an e-reader, every Facebook friend I have has the potential to offer a recommendation. In this way, social media can easily lead to a whole gaggle of recommendations, where a personal, “analog” recommendation stands alone. And, as we all know, there’s quite a bit of strength in numbers.

36% of social media users trust brands that have a social media presence more than brands that do not.
In my opinion, this comes down to relatability. If I use social media, then I can more easily relate to companies that do the same. One other possible explanation for this correlation between trust and social media usage is that the more people use social media, the less some of them are using traditional media to gather news and find entertainment. Brands not found on social media just might not be getting their messages across to heavy social media users, which could account for lowered trust in those users as well.

Brands only respond to half of brand page posts from consumers.
Not knowing how this data was gathered, it’s hard to make sweeping judgments about this stat. The infographic doesn’t give any indication as to whether or not every post made was a question or a complaint. I don’t think every post necessarily requires a response; however, having said that, responding to the public via the channels through which they contact you is extremely important for any company. Social media networks are great tools for customer relationship management, and companies using them just as marketing platforms should consider this communicative aspect of social tools.

The Bottom Line
I’d been wondering what sort of impact social media was having on holiday shopping this season, and Mr. Youth’s research is both timely and intriguing. I strongly suggest you take a look at it and see what sort of impact your company might be having this month. It’s encouraging for us here at Gremln to hear that social media is truly helping drive sales…and we’d love to hear some specific examples of how social media has been working for you this holiday season. Please share your own campaigns in the comments below!

Goodness. That’s a lot of people.

And that’s just in America, and just people aged 18 and over. If you’re a company with the ability to ship your product all over the world, that number rockets upward. And if your product is targeted toward teenagers as well as adults, bump that number up even higher. Frankly, it’s getting to the point where very few companies can afford to ignore the social media revolution.

You may or may not be surprised to learn that there are thousands upon thousands of social networks out there. Sure, we’re all pretty familiar with Facebook and Twitter. But how many of you are on hi5? Or Disaspora*? How about Heello? No? Then what about Bebo? Maybe Orkut?

The number of networks is growing at an almost daily rate, which is in direct opposition to the growth of resources in many companies’ marketing departments. While social networking options are seemingly infinite, marketers have extremely finite resources at their disposal. We can’t be on every social network all the time, so instead we have to strategically select which channels to use for our digital marketing messages. But which social networks are right for your company?

The following is an overview of six of the major social networks. This list, of course, is by no means exhaustive, nor do the individual descriptions necessarily list the pros and cons of each network to the full extent, but this information should help you decide which networks are good fits for your company’s marketing message.

Facebook

Pros: Facebook is the undisputed king of social networking. It claims more than 800 million individual user accounts worldwide. Because of its mass popularity, potential customers are likely to search for a company on Facebook before any other social network. Facebook allows simple photo, video, and link sharing in addition to standard status updates, making it a robust marketing platform, and it supports a host of third-party applications that can integrate with a Facebook page and increase its creative functionality, including contest and audience polling applications.

Cons: Facebook is infamous for constantly changing its privacy policies, which tends to raise the hackles of its users. Facebook also has very strict rules about hosting contests on the site, any breach of which may result in the permanent deletion of the offending page. Additionally, only people who have liked a Facebook page are able to see the content posted by the company that owns that page, so many companies, especially smaller organizations, will need to put a heavy focus on increasing the number of page fans before engaging in a true social media marketing strategy.

Recommendation: Because of its immense popularity and wide audience base, virtually every company out there should have a Facebook page. Facebook is a good platform for more complex social marketing strategies. However, while Facebook is an essential social network for companies, it’s important that marketing managers using it dedicate time to remaining current on Facebook policy and format updates. Marketers using Facebook should expect to spend a good amount of time plotting out strategy and keeping current on Facebook’s latest changes.

Twitter

Pros: Though not quite as popular as Facebook, Twitter is still a major social networking platform. Twitter boasts an increase of 460,000 new accounts per day. Its simplicity makes it an easy tool to use, and the ease with which users can share tweets (via retweeting) makes Twitter an extremely viral medium. Unless a user’s tweets are marked as private, anyone can view a particular tweet, even non-followers, which makes it easier to expand a follower base as opposed to Facebook, where people generally have to be fans before they see a company’s message. The ability to reply to a Twitter user with the click of a button (via an @reply or @mention) also makes Twitter a great two-way communications tool.

Cons: The 140-character limit can be restricting, especially when attempting to share a complex marketing message. Also, the immediate and viral nature of Twitter is a double-edged sword. The ability for any user to retweet and @mention a company means a poorly received tweet has the same chance of going viral as a positive tweet, potentially exposing the company to amplified negative word of mouth. While the open nature of Twitter can be a positive thing for attracting new followers, it also represents a lack of control over the message once it’s tweeted to the world.

Recommendation: Given the huge number of Twitter users, it’s a hard social network to ignore. Companies looking to make a true impact on social media using consumers should give Twitter some serious attention. Twitter-based social marketing strategies should be simpler in nature than Facebook strategies, which can represent a smaller time investment. However, a Twitter account should be monitored extremely regularly, given the immediacy of the network and the prompt responses Twitter users have been trained to expect. Twitter is a good tool for providing potential customers with personalized company messages and for engaging in customer service and customer relationship management.

LinkedIn

Pros: LinkedIn has been receiving quite a bit of attention lately, due in part to its May 2011 IPO. The network now boasts well more than 100 million total users. Though it is a professional peer-networking program at its core, LinkedIn has been steadily working on increasing its business page offerings. LinkedIn also provides the ability to create Groups, which allow companies and their customers to connect directly on product and service discussions.

Cons: LinkedIn’s Groups feature currently does not link to its business pages, so a company cannot be officially tied with a group that it starts. In terms of product marketing, LinkedIn doesn’t offer as many robust tools as other social networks.

Recommendations: LinkedIn’s Groups platform makes it a great tool for people in service and consulting industries. Experts in these industries are able to find group discussions on any number of industry-specific topics and lend their own expertise, which can lead to an increase in business. It is also a great network for the self-employed, due to the focus on individuals rather than large businesses. However, LinkedIn isn’t necessarily the best fit for companies selling a tangible product, given its limited company page platform. LinkedIn’s functionality is much better suited to companies looking to better engage in Human Resources tasks, such as posting open positions within the company and headhunting potential new hires. Marketers should keep an eye on LinkedIn, however, as the network continues to add new features on their business pages.

Google+

Pros: Google+ shattered the record for the amount of user accounts created in a short time span. Even though it’s a newer social network, Google+ carries with it the considerable resources of parent company Google. The site is being constantly improved and expanded, and it offers a few functionalities that don’t exist on other platforms, such as “Hangout,” which is a quick, simple, multi-user video chat service that some companies are using to have face-to-face interactions with their customers. Google+ business pages are still in their infancy and have plenty of room to grow.

Cons: As a relatively new social network, Google+ is still struggling to find its core audience. It shattered records in terms of achieving a high number of users in a relatively small amount of time, but the network is generally unproven. While Google+ is widely considered more streamlined than Facebook, it seems to offer very similar functionality, meaning social networkers may not find much incentive to switch over to Google+ unless Google includes more stand-out features in the near future.

Recommendation: Google+ presents a great opportunity for companies with the resources to dedicate toward managing a page on the network. If more companies make the move to Google+ and offer exclusive content, more social media users are likely to follow and make Google+ part of their everyday social network regimens. Smaller companies, though, with fewer time and personnel resources, may wish to focus their marketing efforts on other major networks for the time being, rather than split focus on a network with an unproven user base.

Foursquare

Pros: Foursquare is the uncontested champion of geolocation social networks. It offers companies some great audience metrics, including how many people have checked into your location and the male-to-female ratio of those who have checked in. Foursquare also offers a fairly robust platform for companies to offer social deals and discounts to people who check in on the mobile platform, rewarding them for their patronage and encouraging repeat visits.

Cons: Although Foursquare is the dominant player in location-based social networking, it still puts up some comparatively small numbers in terms of overall social media users. Foursquare’s marketing tools are basically limited to value-based discounts or special offers, which means it may not make sense for companies that typically shy away from price reduction specials. It also means that Foursquare is better suited for bringing customers back in the future rather than attracting new customers in the first place.

Recommendation: Foursquare is a valuable social networking tool for companies that strive to encourage frequent repeat visits and customer loyalty. Although Foursquare does list nearby specials for anyone checking in at a certain location, the platform isn’t really known for generating new customers. If your focus is on new audience development rather than customer loyalty, your company’s resources may be best spent elsewhere. However, if frequent repeat business is key to your company’s success, Foursquare is a great, simple option for loyalty reward marketing.

Myspace

Pros: As one of the earliest social network successes, Myspace has not only a lot of name recognition, but also a surprisingly high number of users. In the last few years, Myspace has rebranded itself as an individually curated entertainment network. It was recently purchased by a company called Specific Media, which has given an ownership stake to entertainment icon Justin Timberlake, who hopes to resurrect the site as a major hub for entertainment sharing.

Cons: It’s no secret that Myspace has been losing users left and right for the last handful of years, especially since the meteoric rise of Facebook. The company has changed owners a number of times, and so far, Myspace hasn’t been able to reverse the flow of user numbers.

Recommendation: Myspace has a small but loyal following. It’s fairly well regarded as a great networking platform for musicians. If your company works in the entertainment industry, especially in music, then Myspace might be worthwhile as a social marketing platform, though with Facebook’s up-and-coming ability to host digital music tracks, even this niche market may find itself wandering away from the once-popular social network. Myspace may be a good place to expose new potential customers to your music or your related products, but proceed with caution.

The Bottom Line

When it comes to choosing which networks to utilize for your company’s social media marketing, you are the expert. Depending on your company’s resources and product or service, some networks might be a great fit, while others may not be worth the initial time and energy. Maybe for some of you, the best social fit isn’t even on this list. It’s important to explore the options available and make an educated decision when it comes to selecting your social networks, and when it comes right down to it, the best social network for you is the one that’s being used by your customers.

Where are you finding the most success in the social media world? Which networks are you thinking about joining in the future? We’d love to hear from you in the comments below!

The Internet is becoming easier to access (and utilize) every day. For many of us, online purchases can be made at home, at work, in the car, at the gym, at the bus stop; virtually anywhere. Sophisticated mobile browsers and strategic retail apps have made those online shopping carts extremely accessible, and payment services like PayPal mean you don’t even need to have a credit card handy to buy that new Firefly boxed DVD set at 30% off. Online shopping is easier and  more prevalent than it’s ever been–so why limit the big retail push to just one day?

I know that part of the success of Cyber Monday is the branding of the idea. The term “Cyber Monday” offers retailers a collective buzz word platform on which to tout their deals, and the idea of a major “one day only” sale allows them to capitalize on the frenzy of immediacy. But even if we keep the title and brand of Cyber Monday, why should retailers limit their big online money draw to just one day? Why not make the same push for the entire holiday season?

This year, I’ve started noticing more online retailers doing just that…offering extended discounts for the holiday season, often starting on Black Friday and continuing through Christmas. It’ll be interesting to see if those retailers can perpetuate the Black Friday/Cyber Monday sales upswing by doing so.

We at Gremln want to hear from the retail experts out there to get your thoughts on the topic. Does your store offer Cyber Monday deals? Do you extend them through the holiday season? Why, or why not? What pros and cons do you see in making every day Cyber Monday? Tell us in the comments below!

Many companies don’t have the capability to sell their products directly through Facebook like Delta Airlines does, and even for those that do, there’s a drawback: Offering product sales through third-party sites necessarily results in a loss of control. While social media networks are wonderful as marketing channels, you still need to move your fans to your website to really close the deal, whether you sell your product online or not.

Your website is perhaps your greatest marketing tool. In the digital universe, your website is the sun, and your social media networks are the orbiting planets. Some people have predicted the imminent demise of the website because of social networks like Facebook and Twitter, but I’m not buying it, at least not yet. Not only is a website a space where many companies make their sales (or, in the case of services, a space where would-be customers can find direct communications channels and submit requests for proposals), but it is completely under control of the company that owns it. Having a Facebook page is important, but it’s also limiting. Facebook offers a pretty rigid structure from which it’s difficult to deviate. If you have the money to burn, you can hire a firm to create a Facebook tab for you that sort of resembles a real website, but no matter what you do to spruce up your page, it’s still going to take second billing to the Facebook brand.

That’s why your social media isn’t working to its full potential if it’s not driving traffic to your website. Here are a few ways to help your fans and followers make that digital journey.

Tease Your Content
Presumably, you have some worthwhile content on your website. Maybe it’s a photo album of your product, maybe it’s a blog, maybe it’s an instructional video. Whatever it is, use social media to link to it rather than uploading the whole shebang to Facebook.

Rather than uploading twenty photos of your product to Facebook, try posting a link to your website’s photo page and tease it with one great photo on Facebook. Instead of connecting your blog to your Facebook page so each new post publishes to the social network, try posting an intriguing title and a link back to your blog, where you have more control over the aesthetic look and the published content.

Posting good teasers to your website content is a great way to capitalize on peoples’ natural curiosity and lure them over to your site.

Make Your Site Fun
Let’s face it; Facebook is more popular than your website. One of the reasons this is true is because Facebook is a fun place to kill some time. Take a lesson from social media and give your audiences a reason to spend that time on your website as well. If you own a ski shop, let visitors design their own skis. Ask users to submit and vote on designs for a new line of long-sleeve t-shirts.  Offer an ever-rotating slideshow of inspiring mountain photos. Let them choose from a handful of virtual ski videos so they can spend their mornings in the office feeling like they’re hitting the slopes.

And of course, make sure you throw out a few tweets about how much interactive fun people can have on your site. Don’t forget the link!

Bridge Your Contests
Social media contests are great ways to encourage engagement among your fans and followers. Foursquare scavenger hunts, Twitter trivia questions, Facebook giveaways—they have the power to really connect the public with your brand. Next time you stage a contest, include a website bridge—something that ties your website into the competition and encourages participants to visit.

Holding a Foursquare scavenger hunt? Shout out some clues on a special, dedicated page on your website. Twitter trivia? Ask questions that can only be answered with info from your homepage. Facebook giveaways? List the winners on a dedicated contest page on your site. Announce a new winner every day and give hopeful fans a reason to check in on you seven times a week.

The Bottom Line
Like all marketing message channels, social networks are additional tools your company can use to accomplish a larger goal. It’s important to have a strong social media presence, but it’s even more important to be able to turn those fans and followers into customers.

What are some tricks of the trade that you use to move social media followers to your website? Let us know in the comments below!

Google+ Adds Business Pages
Google’s social network continues its quest to compete with Facebook this week with its own brand of business pages. Now Google+ users can connect with some of their favorite brands on G+, including Gremln! Check out our page here!

The Christmas Code
J.C. Penney’s is getting personal this holiday season–they’re offering Santa Tags, which are QR codes you can use to record personal voice messages that the recipient will hear when she scans the code on Christmas morning (or three days before, if you’re impatient, like me). (via Mashable)

A plus K equals Trouble
Ashton Kutcher has decided to take a break from Twitter after a wayward comment about Penn State coach Joe Paterno enraged the Twitterverse this week. (Sounds like Ashton might need some Gremln advice!) (via L.A. Times)

Facebook Reintroduces “Recent Stories”
Millions voiced frustration over Facebook’s recent redesign, which automatically sent “top stories” to the top of the news feed. They’ve now rectified that situation, giving you the ability to filter by recent stories rather than highlighted stories. (via CNN)

It’s no secret that digital media are becoming serious players in the marketing game. The ubiquitous nature of Internet-connected devices, including computers, smartphones, televisions, e-readers, and more, has made digital marketing communications a lucrative business. But when we step back from our computers and set down our smartphones, we’re still confronted on all sides by traditional medium marketing campaigns. Television, print, and radio advertisements are still the dominant players in the advertising industry. But how much longer will that be the case? Digital media is gaining an incredible amount of traction in the marketing world.

And why not? Making the move to interactive marketing makes a lot of sense for a lot of reasons. Here are a few that stand out:

Low Cost Barriers
Although social media isn’t free (more on that here), it’s generally far less expensive to market via social networks than through traditional marketing media. The big reason is because of the overhead. When you buy newspaper ad space, there are physical production costs that come into play. When you engage in digital marketing, this physical overhead declines significantly, allowing you to shift resources to other campaigns or other projects within your company.

Get More for Your Money
When you air a television commercial, you have the opportunity to reach as many viewers as are tuned in (literally and mentally) at that given moment. With digital strategies, your marketing collateral is shareable and constantly accessible. With programs like Pandora and Hulu making it easy for us to consume traditional media on our own timetables, television and radio broadcast advertising is becoming a more and more inconvenient way to reach customers. Digital marketing strategies can reach your audiences when they’re most receptive.

Trackability
The bedrock of any good marketing strategy is a concrete way to measure its impact and success. Traditionally, marketers have had to rely on estimated numbers provided by the medium hosts in order to assess an advertisement’s impact. The local newspaper may boast a circulation of 500,000 readers per day, but how did they achieve that number? And how accurately can they predict how many of those potential readers might give your ad some eye time? With a digital strategy, everything is trackable, from the number of impressions a message receives, to the amount of interactivity with that message, to the number of times people click through to your website, to the number of seconds they spend looking at your online product page. You don’t have to rely on third-party estimates; the exact, accurate data are recorded.

Superior Audience Targeting
Companies that provide digital marketing platforms are becoming more and more adept at offering specific audience targeting tools. With a radio advertisement, you broadcast a commercial to every individual in the listening audience; with digital marketing, you can often pinpoint specific audience demographics, breaking your target out by factors like age, geographic location, likes, and dislikes. Your advertisement doesn’t appear to platform users who fall outside of your given parameters, so you’re targeting just the audiences you believe to be most receptive to your message. And if you’re paying per impression, see Get More for Your Money above.

These are just a few reasons why digital media marketing is likely to experience explosive growth in the next few years. It’s already happening; Forrester’s forecasts are really little more than an extrapolation of current trends. The more marketing dollars shift from traditional to interactive digital media, the more I hear people argue about the dichotomy between the two platforms. What should we do? Should we focus on new digital strategies or stick with our tried and true print and broadcast ads? I’m willing to bet you’ve heard some version of this discussion in your office, and it’s really a great question.

As with every other decision in marketing, the answer lies in your target market. If you’re aiming your product at a target audience that regularly reads the newspaper, then of course you should utilize print advertisements. If you’re targeting consumers who are major social media influencers, then you’d be out of your mind to avoid digital strategies. If your market is as likely to turn on the TV as it is to log on to Facebook, you should probably consider a cross-platform strategy.

The question isn’t, “What platform do we use?” The question is, “What platform do our customers use?”

What do you think about the predicted digital marketing explosion? What will be the state of traditional media in five years? Share your thoughts and predictions in the comments below!

Google Gets Dizzy
Google went viral yesterday when the public discovered that typing “do a barrel roll” into the search box triggered a nifty surprise. But that’s not the only fun extra the search giant has in store… (via Mashable)

Groupon Goes Public
The king of daily deal sites finally launched its IPO, after a long and rocky road to semi-stabilization. Anyone out there itching to buy a piece? (via CNN)

Flooding in Thailand Could Affect Social Media
The current flooding in Thailand is damaging warehouses where computer servers are made and stored. Companies like Facebook rely on these servers in order to host their sites, and a shutdown in Thailand could mean problems for the social media giants. (via New York Times)

Love at First Check-In
Some smart phone apps are making it easy for singles to set immediate dates with other lonely hearts in the nearby vicinity. With the help of these apps, love really is all around. (via New York Times)

Holidays to Go
According to IBM, the number of people who access online retailers through mobile devices this holiday season will skyrocket, compared to last year. Does that mean we’ll see an increase in location-based deals in December? Time will tell! (via TechCrunch)

Oh, BTW, the CIA is Watching
The Central Intelligence Agency is closely monitoring networks like Facebook and Twitter in order to keep a finger on the nation’s potentially dangerous pulse. Does this make Mark Zuckerberg a secret agent? (via Read Write Web)