Tag: social media marketing

The leading social media network has increased its advertising spending limit twice over.

Facebook Inc. has just revealed that the mobile marketing budget for the next quarter will be double that of what it was during the previous quarter, as it aggressively moves forward into the smartphone and table environments.

The social network leader has stated that these devices are among its primary goals.

Though Facebook has been experiencing considerable growth through its mobile marketing, last quarter’s progress was not as great as some of the more aggressive estimates from Wall Street had predicted. The company has expressed that broadening its reach through smartphones and tablets will be a vital step as a rapidly growing percentage of its more than one billion global users start to access their profiles by way of these devices.

The company’s mobile marketing business overall grew at the fastest pace it has seen since last May.

It was in that month that the initial Facebook public offering occurred. This mobile marketing growth assisted the business in growing its revenues by 40 percent. Those achievements were considerably greater than the targets set by Wall Street.

Just ahead of this announcement, the shares of Facebook had been riding steadily at $31.24 (US). However, immediately following the release of the new doubled mobile marketing budget, the shares dropped 8 percent, only to recover after hours that day. According to an analyst from Raymond James, Aaron Kessler, “Overall solid quarter but maybe high expectations going into the quarter.”

Facebook, itself, has stated that 23 percent of its total ad revenue comes from its mobile marketing business. This represents a considerable increase over its 14 percent from the third quarter.

Kessler also pointed out that he, and some other investors, may have been expecting more substantial results from the mobile marketing business. He stated that “Mobile revenue was expected to be a little higher.”

Facebook’s finance chief, David Ebersman, was the one to express that the social network had “basically doubled” its mobile marketing ad revenue from the Q3 2012 to the last quarter. He pointed out that half a year ago, there was no revenue over that channel at all, but that “In the course of a pretty short period of time, we’ve dramatically ramped up our ability to monetize mobile.”

The results of a recent study have just been released and indicate that retail banking is losing its enthusiasm.

A new Pitney Bowes study has shown that only just half of all retail banking marketers feel strongly that their social media marketing campaigns are successful.

One third of those in that industry feel that their campaigns aren’t effective at all.

These companies have also indicated that they will be adjusting their social media marketing budgets in order to reflect those belief. The study indicated that while the sector does intend to continue their efforts throughout this year, there has been a considerable loss of confidence in the positive effects that it will generate. This lack of certainty over its value to the business is shrinking the investments that are being made into this field.

Social media marketing will remain a focus for retail banks and credit unions despite the struggles.

Even as those organizations battle with their understanding of how important social media marketing can be to the financial industry, they intend to hang on, at least for this year. That said, the study has shown that the approach over that channel for 2013 will be a considerably more cautious one than it will be for other industries.

Kieran Kilmartin, from Pitney Bowes Software, expressed that one of the primary concerns voiced in the study, which was that “Well-intentioned marketers in retail banks could inadvertently turn customers off by irritating them with their social media behaviors.”

The independent study was conducted by Vanson Bourne, having been commissioned by Pitney Bowes Software. It looked specifically into social media marketing effectiveness and performed a comparison between its trends among the various marketing directors with the attitudes that customers hold toward the technique. Consumers surveyed were from the United States, Germany, Australia, France, and the United Kingdom.

The research also looked at seven different business sectors, in total. These included retail banking, insurance, the public sector, utilities, telecoms, and fast-moving consumer goods. It examined the perspectives and opinions that each of these areas held for social media marketing. Specifically in retail banking, the opinions are split down the middle in terms of their confidence in the impact it can have on the profitability of the organization.