Mobile shopping company miBuys has conducted a survey of 1,600 women on mobile phones and found that the overwhelming majority of them were open to more mobile marketing and mobile shopping. Not that I'm suprised, I could have told them that before they went to the effort of conducting the survey!

94% of respondents prefer to use their mobile phones to surf the Internet even when they’re at home and have laptops and desktop PCs nearby. These mobile users also love their social media sites with 86% accessing Facebook, Twitter or similar networks and 93% saying that they’d feel lost without their mobile phones - once I’ve asked the Ph. girls in the office  I’m guessing we can up that a few more percent!

74% of my fellow mobile-loving females said they sometimes shop for splurge items that they might not necessarily need. The majority even said they’d be open to learning about discounts, deals and event promotions on their phones. So if this is something you could be doing, start now and bag yourself an army of female fans.

MiBuys CEO, Mark Bamber said in a release, “This research sends a clear message to advertisers that women are already engaged and eager to explore new cell phone services. It also supports our belief that cell phones and portable devices can already play a significant role in connecting retail brands with their customers. It is perceived that women are only just embracing cell phone services, but the truth is they’re already well beyond this point and now want access to the entire high street through their cell phone”.

Here are some of the other findings from the survey:

• 85% use the mobile Internet almost daily
• 70% expect their mobile internet usage to increase in the future
• 84% have noticed mobile advertising, and 57% have clicked on mobile advertising
• 67% are interested in receiving mobile coupons or vouchers
• 93% are always on the lookout for bargains
• 93% like being up-to-date with new technology

Papa John's has joined a long line of brands that have launched a social media campaign on their Facebook page. ‘Papa's Specialty Pizza Challenge,’ will be asking customers to come up with ideas for their next specialty pizza. The contestant who comes up with the winning name and recipe will then be offered a "slice" of the sales.

Users who enter Papa's Specialty Challenge are required to share in 250 words or less what makes their pizza special for a chance to win. Judging criteria will be based on:

•    Overall appeal
•    Taste of the final product
•    Creativity of the name
•    Interest of the pizza's story

All entries will be featured in a gallery on Papa John's Facebook page, where founder John Schnatter and his team will select ten semi-finalists. Those ten recipes will be tested at the company's headquarters in Louisville, Ky.

The challenge will then be narrowed down to the top three recipes, which will be featured temporarily on Papa John's menu. The finalists will also receive a marketing budget of $1,000 to help drive sales of their respective pizzas.

The grand prize winner will also receive free Papa John's pizza for life as well as a chance to appear in a "Papa's in the House" TV commercial.

Thousands of people are already getting involved in the campaign and it’s also getting a mountain of media exposure. If you can think of a relevant yet exciting social media campaign for your brand, you never know how much exposure you could attract. All this social media campaign costs Papa John’s is a ‘slice’ of their profits, which for all the attention it has attracted, is more than worth it.

SeeWhy has released an eBook which looks at how the top 10 converting e-commerce sites convert almost 10 times as many visitors into customers than the typical site — 23% vs. 2.3%.

You may be surprised to hear than the strategies employed by these top-converting sites don't necessarily reflect conventional wisdom of how to increase conversions. Those who studied the sites, were admittedly expecting to find short shopping cart processes, guest checkouts, and highly tuned websites focused around getting the sale. But they didn’t…

Instead, they found companies focused on lifetime customer value, choosing to offer shoppers a superior shopping experience to make it more likely they’ll purchase from them again. In fact companies were willing to sacrifice a small proportion of initial sales in order to capture user data. Because once captured, they use details very effectively to remarket to website visitors, driving highly qualified buyers with intent to their sites.

Conventional ideas emphasise the importance of SEO, streamlined conversion and reducing the steps to the shopping cart in order to optimise your conversion rate. But the top 10 conversion leaders don't care about one night stands; they want long term relationships.

This is why they convert about 10 times as many visitors as the average ecommerce site. Their secret, quite simply, is to focus on long-term relationships with customers.

So should we throw out this conventional wisdom? There’s probably no need to be that drastic. Instead, a better strategy would be to build upon that conventional wisdom with strategies that are successful for these other sites. There’s nothing stopping you having a long-term commitment and one-night stands.

A lot has happened to social media marketing in a year; twelve months ago businesses were uncertain about social media but now it's clear that it’s here to stay. Companies are rapidly adopting social media marketing and a recent survey found that the majority of marketers have either just begun using social media or have only been using it for a few months.

When analysing what questions marketers are asking themselves right now, it seems that measuring the return on investment for social media is number one. That’s because whilst most marketers are seeing great value with their social media campaigns, they just cannot figure out how to measure their results.

Here are the top ten questions businesses have been asking about social media marketing, based on the analysis of 1,356 open-ended responses:

1. How do I measure social media return on investment?
2. What are the social media marketing best practices?
3. How do I best manage my time with social media?
4. How do I reach my target markets with social media?
5. How do I generate traffic and leads using social media?
6. How do I implement social media tactics?
7. What are the latest social media trends?
8. How do I get started?
9. How do I integrate my social media activities?
10. How do I evaluate the advantages and disadvantages of each platform?

One thing worth noting is that last year, the top question was related to tactics, but now it's ROI.

That’s because businesses have learned some effective tactics in a year's time, and have realised that these vary depending on needs and goals. Another significant change is that a year ago, people were asking, "Does social media marketing work?" and this isn't even on the list anymore. It's become clear that over the past year that those who’ve figured out how to do it right, have found it works.

A new study has revealed that 73% of women are now active social media users and engage at least once a week with popular social media platforms.

BlogHer and iVillage, who conducted the survey, found that women rely heavily on both blogs and message boards when seeking advice and recommendations especially when looking for information to help with the purchase of new products. In fact the twenty million users who visit the BlogHer Network favour blogs over every other media source.

The findings show that even as the scale of overall social media usage continues to grow, blogs still continue to be a highly reliable resource for all women online.
So if your business relies on female customers or visitors, then regular blog posts full of helpful advice will allow you to build a relationship with your target market and allow you to be seen as experts in your field.

The survey also mentions the importance of product information so try including a reviews and a ratings system for your products. This way you’ll be far more likely to increase your conversion rate and build the amount of regular customers.

Other highlights from the study include:

• Among the iVillage community, 73 percent say they are sharing topics on message boards/forums that they would not share on social networks. Of those, relationships (61%), health (45%) and work-related (39%) issues were the main topics they would not share on social networks.
• Message boards/forums are second only to conversations with friends and family as the preferred source of product purchasing information for iVillage users.

Time is valuable. You probably already know that, but is it something you consider when it comes to your customers' time?

If you run an e-commerce business, you have to consider that consumers want to spend as little time on your site as possible. That's not because they don't want to buy from you, they just want to be able to do so quickly. The more time you make them spend on the buying process, the less likely they are to actually buy from you.

You probably include a form on your site to get your users information but think about how much you’re asking them for. Forms can really slow users down on a site and at the end of the day; you only really need a couple things.

Say, for example, that you have an email form and you're collecting email addresses to put them on your email newsletter, you ask for their name, interests, email address and you include some checkboxes like ‘where did you hear about us?’ You’ve seen other sites doing it, so you probably assume that's just a normal field, but when someone looks at it, they say, 'I don't really want to spend time filling that out.'"

Don’t you do that yourself? I know I do.

Try reducing the number of form fields that you put on your form and you’ll see a dramatic improvement in the number of people who will actually fill it out. Only ask for the information that you really need. The same goes for the check-out and registration process. Make it as simple and concise as you can, and you'll really increase those conversions.

A new study has found that people describe brands who are still not engaged with social media, as being 'out of touch.'

1,500 consumers were asked; "What does it say about a brand if they are not involved with sites like Facebook and Twitter?" 

Some of the responses included:

• "It's EXPECTED that a company have some digital face - whether it's on FB or Twitter I don't know - but they need a strong electronic presence or you doubt their relevance in today's marketplace." (Female 50-54)
• "Either they are not interested in the demographic that frequents Facebook and Twitter or they are unaware of the opportunity to get more exposure in a more interactive method." (Male 35-39)
• "It shows they are not really with it or in tune with the new ways to communicate with customers." (Female 18-24)
• "If they're not on Facebook or Twitter, then they aren't in touch with the "electronic" people."  (Female 55-59)
  

The survey found that 51% of Facebook fans and 67% of Twitter followers are more likely to buy from the brands they follow or are a fan of. It also found that 60% of Facebook fans and 79% of Twitter followers are more likely to recommend those brands.

The findings evidently show that companies who are still not actively engaging in social media are missing out on a huge opportunity. Not only does social media have a relatively low cost touch point but it has repeatedly demonstrated a direct impact on sales and positive word of mouth. By now, if you're not engaged with social media, you're showing your potential customer a reluctance to engage with them on their terms. Isn't it time you gave your customer what they want?

When you think about search and social media, I bet you spend most of your time thinking about traffic, customer engagement and brand awareness. Whilst you’re not wrong, there may be more to that last one that you haven’t considered before.

Brand awareness isn’t just about having a random customer find you via Google or Facebook. Have you ever thought about how channels such as search and social media are used by journalists? The fact is journalists and media outlets utilise both to a great extent.

Search and social media play significant roles in PR and you don’t want to forget this when it comes to getting your project or site in front of them. What can you do as a marketer to make it easier for the journalist to do their job?

One way you can potentially increase your media coverage and in turn increase your brand awareness, is to optimise your content for what you think a journalist is looking for.

Online journalists often have tighter deadlines therefore turn to blogs and social networks for instant sources of information. For example, the real-time nature of a Twitter search is what a journalist needs to find someone who’s talking about the subject they’re writing about.

Which is why Google’s real-time search can help for the same reason, and most journalists use Google anyway to research what they’re writing about. If what they’re looking for happens to be related to a news-worthy topic then they might see Google’s real-time results before anything else. If that topic happens to be something you’re talking about, then you might just be the one they pick from those results.

The point is, if you’re looking for increased media coverage then there are ways to increase your chance of getting in front of the right people. If journalists are now using their contacts within their social networks to find sources, then now is a great reason for you to be engaging in social media on a regular basis.

As social networking becomes the ‘in’ thing, people are beginning to question where that leaves the use of email. You’ve heard the saying, ‘video killed the radio star,’ so is this a case of history repeating itself? Is email about to fall victim to social networking?

Well, no we don’t think so. From a Ph. point of view, we just don’t buy this theory that “email is dead,” and there are plenty of reasons why:

• People still send hand-written letters
• Nearly all websites that require registration request an email address
• Email notifies you of updates from your social networks
• Email is universal, social networks are not
• Many people have no interest in joining social networks but will use email
• Email is still improving
• Even social networks recognise the importance of email
• More social media use means more email use
• As far as marketing is concerned, email is doing pretty well

Businesses should be merging social aspects with their email programs to not only expand the reach of their offers, but to maintain customer loyalty and ultimately grow their database. So if you’ve been questioning the life expectancy of email, stop now. Keep in mind that about 50% of content is shared through email and social media is a great way to get subscribers.

In case you’re STILL not convinced, here are some final thoughts for you;

• Mobile apps will continue to keep email relevant in the mobile world.
• Google recently released its own social media product, Buzz, which the company decided would fit best with Gmail.
• Microsoft Outlook only recently started integrating social networks into the inbox.
• The social networks themselves are creating email services - Facebook is said to be working on its own...and we know how popular Facebook is.
  

You’re sitting at the kitchen table with your 16-year-old son. “Listen, Jamie,” you say. “I’m tired of the way your room is always a mess. And do you realise, you never help with the chores and you’re always rude and sulking around the house?”

STOP! Hold it there a second! Let’s try rewinding that type and changing the dialogue.

You’re still at the kitchen table but this time you say: “Jamie, I know you have a date on Saturday night. Here are the three things you have to do to persuade me to lend you the car....”

Now tell me: what scenario do you think is more likely to get Jason’s attention? Well, of course Jamie paid more attention the second time around because it wasn’t just another useless lecture.

Now you’re probably thinking good for Jamie but what does his story have to do with website copy?

Let us tell you that Jamie’s reaction illustrates the ‘what’s-in-it-for-me’ factor.  When you’re writing copy, you need to get out of the “here’s what I want tell you” attitude and into the “what does my reader want to hear?” mentality.

What readers want – in addition to the merchandise or service you have to offer – is to be engaged and entertained.

One of the very best ways to avoid boredom is to base your copywriting on a story, just as we just did. Of course, Jamie isn’t really my 16 year old son, but surely you have a story you can use?  With a little thought, stories can illustrate just about any business point you may want to make.

Something we also know about readers is that when it comes to content, people read web pages differently to print. They generally don’t read the pages but scan for certain terms that tell them they’re in the right place. And what are they looking for? Headings, link text, bold text and bulleted lists.

Comply with these demands and dramatically improve your conversion rate…

We bet that the next time you’re give your teenager a lecture, you’ll think of this track… You can harness that kind of power for your own website copy as well.