The results are in from Adobe's 5th annual study of what businesses are using in terms of digital marketing, and more importantly, how their tactics are working. Among the headlines are that although mobile and social media tactics are among the most widely used, they are yet to justify their spend in terms of conversions and effectiveness. Website analytics still sits at the top of the tree when it comes to who uses what and it looks like multimedia uptake has seen the best effects for businesses.
Social and Mobile
Certainly the most contentious and debate invoking items on the report are those of mobile and social media. Let's first of all tackle mobile. Mobile digital marketing tactics have long been hyped as the 'next big thing' and it is clear that many large organisations are beginning to adopt this new channel. This has been strengthened by the wave of consumer enthusiasm seen for tablet computers which are beginning to blur the lines between computer and mobile making for some interesting attempts to use this marketing channel effectively.
Of the 1,941 participants questioned as part of the survey, a full 27% plan to implement an iPhone app whilst a quarter are planning an iPad app. Both speak volumes about the importance of Apple's approach to such devices and the level of consumer uptake these mobile devices have seen.
Interestingly however, mobile scored the lowest votes when considered in terms of positive impact on conversion. This is counteracted by strong scores for mobile product information and stock information applications that scored second and third best respectively when considered in terms of 'effectiveness'.
Social media is the other hot potato in the report and uptake of branded social pages is considerable (40%), meaning it is biting at the heals of web analytics in terms of usage. Sadly the results in terms of effectiveness do not match the enthusiasm of uptake. "social features garnering the most “very effective” ratings remain those more mature and proven tactics like customer reviews and ratings."
"branded social community presence has yet to live up to the hype in terms of effectiveness. The percentage of respondents rating this tactic “very effective” was 26%, the average for all features measured." Clearly social still has a lot of work to do, particularly in terms of social branded pages.
The main takeaway from this information is that social and mobile are still considered to be on the horizon but perhaps they have not had the time to fit comfortably into a business marketing plan yet. For social, the encouraging signs are that established web 2.0 tactics such as user generated content do indeed have a positive effect on conversions and it seems only a matter of time before this trend spreads to other means of social media. A word of caution however is to not be fooled into thinking that Facebook and Twitter are the answer to all of your business prayers, use the tools effectively however and you can see some good results.
Analytics
The unchallenged champion in terms of uptake is web analytics, used as a tactic to measure website success and build recommendations based on the information available. This is pleasing to hear and something I would advocate to any business. A good foundation in website analytics can lead any website on the road to success and in my time working in Digital Marketing I have seen numerous examples of how website's and businesses have improved as a direct result of sustained analytics and improvement based on findings.
The only takeaway here is that you should join the masses and use analytics, but rather than just install and then leave it to run, why not dive into the data and see what you can find out? It would seem prudent at this time to point you in the direction of perhaps the finest web analytics expert out there; Avinash Kaushik. Kaushik is the author of the excellent, Web Analytics 2.0 and on his website offers a regularly updated library of information on how to get the most from your web analytics package.
Multimedia
The element of the survey which received the top 'most-effective' ratings sits in the multimedia category. Multimedia product viewing (integrated images, video, Flash, audio, spin, etc.) scored 39% in the 'effectiveness' survey and this speaks volumes about the effectiveness of using rich media to enhance your digital marketing efforts. I think this is fantastic news and I am always pleased when clients decide to invest in multimedia tactics.
There are a number of reasons why I think that multimedia tactics are effective and certainly the most obvious is that multimedia helps to show off your products and services to your clients and customers more effectively than standard digital tactics. Another factor that I think is largely at play here is that search engines openly encourage rich media on websites and a website that effectively uses multimedia is often a website that is useful and trustworthy and thus is rewarded with good rankings.
A word of caution is not to overuse multimedia tactics but rather use rich media where effective. As above, a product viewing section on your website is an excellent opportunity. Consider that users online do not get the same opportunity to look at products online as they do when they are in a shop. To remedy this problem you can use rich media such as video, interactive tours, zooming images and much more to be as transparent and helpful to your customer as possible.
Summary
An interesting set of findings this year from Adobe and although this is just a survey, it certainly gives us a good idea on where Digital Marketing is and where it is going. For me the most interesting findings point towards the need for most businesses to perfect established marketing methods such as analytics and multimedia before they jump into mobile and social. For online businesses that have a firmer grip on digital marketing it would seem that social and mobile really are the places to be and I am sure these efforts with reap rewards in due course. Keep investing in new approaches whilst perfecting established tactics and you are sure to see success.
