As social media is still regarded as a new form of marketing and engagement, lots of companies seem to be more comfortable “trying out&# social media as a one-off campaign. Social media campaigns are an attractive proposition as they can generate a lot of buzz and excitement and are usually the basis for a lot of the social media case studies you will find on the web. Even though we’re a social media agency , here at FreshNetworks we don’t just focus on campaign work; we also look at long-term engagement through a sustainable social media strategy. MORE >>

recently completed a new point-of-view for my firm which outlines how I think marketing will be changing in the next few years.  Given that disclaimer, here’s what I see as the big issues facing marketers next year: Customer engagement is not a passing fad. Now that there’s so much more data with the advent of social media, marketers must look beyond their traditional sources of data warehousing.  Marketing analytics are red hot. Social media marketing will mature. 2010 was the year social media exploded onto the marketing scene.  Kenyon Blunt. MORE >>

Marketing is a marathon, not a sprint. The cost of not pre-evaluating marketing campaigns through analytics and account services can be deadly. I have this great idea for a marketing campaign! Let’s get this campaign out the door as soon as possible to every prospect in our database! Needless to say, the success of the campaign won’t go far. Plus, you’ll have to explain to your management that even though the creative was pretty (and you looked good executing it), the campaign didn’t get past the first few miles. Share it on StumbleUpon. MORE >>

Though social media marketing is rapidly advancing in terms of adoption and sophistication, many marketers and business executives still struggle with it. This confusion is partly due to some still-common misconceptions about social media marketing. As the goal of Social Media is Simpler Than You Think was to demystify social media marketing, this post will attempt to de-myth-ify it. Social media marketing is really hard. Age is irrelevant in social media usage, and life experience is a plus for social media marketers. Social media marketing is new. MORE >>

In the current recessional climate, we need to be Marketing Miracle Workers. That is why we have to produce marketing miracles for our clients. In the same way, marketing miracles defy the marketing world’s expected norms (or natural laws). Back to our marketing story: What is a normal response rate for a direct mail campaign today? As for industry averages , the DMA analyzed 1,122 industry-specific campaigns and determined that the average response rate for direct mail was 2.61%. Marketing miracles do exist. Share it on StumbleUpon. MORE >>