DM p29 Notebook Dec08.qxp 02/12/2008 12:35 Page 29
Notebook
Social media not yet
thinks it is imperative that brands realise it is impossi-
ble simply to crowbar their traditional e-mail tactics
the answer
into a consumer’s social media account.
n
Despite the hype, only around one in ten Web analytics to
consumers would click through on marketing
NOTEBOOK
emails linked to social networking sites. grow by 12%
I
n spite of mass media hype about social networking Web analytics technology and services are to
sites and potential they offer email marketers, only grow by 12% to £78m by the end of this year.
12% of GB consumers claim they would be more like-
ly to click through marketing emails linked to video,
micro-sites and social networking sites such as T
he use of web analytics technology and servies is
expected to grow by 12% to over £78m by the
Facebook and YouTube end of 2008, as businesses battle to the beat the credit
The finding is among the results of a survey carried crunch, new research reveals.
out by email marketing company e-Dialog, the email A study by E-consultancy reveals Web analytic ven-
As exciting and
marketing company, which has polled the views of a dors will generate £40m of revenue, while £38m will
innovative as
representative sample of 1,965 British adults with be split between client-side investment and third-
social media
YouGov as to their attitudes towards different types of party agency and consultancy services.
email marketing content, specifically social media and Vendors are increasingly coming under pressure to
work is, it can
customer reviews. provide added value to existing analytics solutions, in
never be a one-
Nearly a quarter of adults (22%) claim this kind of a bid to compete with Google and Yahoo!’s free ana-
size-fits-all
content would in fact make them a lot less likely to lytic tools.
approach and
respond. Some 5% of adults now claim to spend the The study also shows the economic downturn is
the old
most time using e-mail accounts connected to social driving companies to adopt more of a strategic
networks such as Facebook, Bebo and MySpace but approach to Web analytics as businesses become more
principles of
only 3% of the total surveyed would prefer brands to focused on spending as efficiently as possible.
targeting and
contact them via social network e-mail accounts while E-consultancy’s head of research Linus Gregoriadis personalisation
more than a third (36%) claimed they would be more says: “The profile of Web analytics continues to grow
still hold true.
likely to respond to an offer sent via e-mail if it as it becomes more integral to business decision-mak-
offered genuine customer reviews. ing and organisational strategy. The credit crunch is
The findings suggest that marketers need to balance putting the spotlight on analytics as organisations
traditional and emerging media and suggest that e- work harder to understand where they are getting the
mail campaigns using multimedia and social media best return on investment and where real value is
content need to be planned and approached in a being added.”
n
highly targeted way by brands.
For example, one of the key factors in this planning
needs to be a consideration of a target audience’s age Spam plummets as
group, with the research demonstrating a clear gener-
ational difference in consumers’ attitudes to social gang leaves net
and multimedia. Almost a fifth (19%) of 18-24 year
olds favour e-mail marketing messages linking to con- The closure of a single web hosting firm
tent of this nature compared to just 9% of 45 to 54 slashes spam mail by 70% overnight.
year olds.
Simone Barratt, e-Dialog’s UK managing director,
comments: “The results clearly support our view that T
he closure of a web hosting firm believed to have
had spam gangs as clients has led to a drastic
you cannot take a blanket approach to the integration reduction in junk mail. Two US internet service
of traditional and emerging media. As exciting and providers have pulled the plug on the firm McColo
innovative as social media work is, it can never be a following an investigation by the Washington Post.
one-size-fits-all approach and the old principles of tar- Anti-spam firm Ironport has seen junk mail levels
geting and personalisation still hold true. drop by 70% since McColo was taken offline on 11
“While there are many advantages for brands in November. The newspaper had been gathering data
using a Facebook platform for example, it is clear con- on McColo, believed to be running botnets, for
sumers regard their Facebook e-mail accounts as sacro- months and passed the information to internet serv-
sanct, personal spaces where brands do not belong.” ice providers, Global Crossing and Hurricane Electric.
Barratt believes social media is here to stay but Both pulled the plug on the firm on the same day.
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www.dmarket.co.uk Database Marketing December 2008 29
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