Facebook and Google+ are competing on two critical fronts: customer experience and market penetration. Users are not happy with Facebook, according to a survey released today by the American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI).  But Google+, a newcomer to the survey, tied for the highest score in the Social Media category. Facebook was already the lowest-scoring e-business company on the index, and this year suffered the largest decline in customer satisfaction, dropping 8% to a satisfaction level of only 61 (out of 100).  The average score in the Social Media category was 69, down 1.4% MORE >>

Brand advocates — people who share content that results in a new person engaging with a campaign – generate an average of 14 earned media impressions each, according to research released today by Wildfire, the social media marketing software company recently acquired by Google. The data is based on an analysis of 10,000 social marketing campaigns that ran on Facebook over the past 9 months. The types of marketing campaigns that are most entered by users are not the same as the campaigns that are most heavily shared by users. MORE >>

Businesses have always understood that word-of-mouth marketing is one of the most powerful ways to shape opinions and drive awareness, preference and sales. “Influencer marketing” is simply the new, fancy way to describe word-of-mouth. The difference now:  the spread of influence is directly measurable, and there are all kinds of tools designed to help you identify and manage influence marketing programs. So what are the elements that actually make up an influencer marketing program? Want to learn more about influencer marketing? Identify. Engage. MORE >>

revenue from Marketing Solutions products rose 64% compared to the second quarter of 2011, representing 28% of total revenue in the quarter ( down from 32% in Q2 2011). Revenue from international markets totaled $81 million, or 35% of total sales during the second quarter of 2012 ( CNET ). LinkedIn now has 174 million members, up from 116 million one year ago. Unique Unique visitors in Q2 2012 totaled 106 million, according to comScore, and pageviews dropped slightly from 9.4 billion in Q1 down to 9.3 m billion in Q2. 48% one year ago). What do you think? MORE >>

According to Cindy Chen, the marketing director for Oreo at Kraft Foods, the daily ads are “to show the world how relevant this brand is now” by commenting on “real-time happenings.” Social media has taken on a big role as Oreo cookies celebrate their 100th anniversary this year. Kraft Foods – which makes Oreos – collaborated with a team of agencies to create the ‘Daily Twist’ campaign, featuring a catchy new Oreo ad on Facebook for 100 days in a row. But Oreo also wanted to show the relevance of the brand today – and for that Kraft turned to social media. MORE >>