Marketing Technology 5

Marketing Technology Stories you might have missed

MT5 Edition:  #24

Stories This Week: Pinterst blows up, desk.com, Twitter engagement increase, email effectiveness, and social picks a president?

1. Salesforce launches Desk.com

[VentureBeat] Enterprise cloud powerhouse Salesforce has launched Desk.com, a savvy customer support application that connects agents with e-mail, phone calls, and social channels.

My Take: I spoke with Social Support Superstar – yes a triple SSS threat – Mike Pace and he liked the original acquisition. He also likes the small business price point, what remains to be seen is if Salesforce can integrate Desk.com with it’s other online properties like CRM and Radian6.

2. Study confirms Twitter engagement is on the increase

[link] The article pulls out some interesting data from a recent study showing that active use of twitter has grown and that the global use of twitter is increasing.

My Take: Only 27% of tweeted during a 3 month period. Now that doesn’t sound like a lot, but when you figure that some people use twitter in a “read only” mode you actually get a higher # of users.

Email Impact on CMO Goals

3. Does Email Deliver on CMO Objectives?

[Marketing Sherpa] Their chart of the week shows that email drives website traffic, lead generation, nurturing prospects and building brand awareness. What does it not do well? Increase sales conversion/revenue.

My Take: You have to look at the entire sales process, especially for B2B sales. Just because email doesn’t make the sales doesn’t mean it’s not valuable. Email is good for filling the top of the funnel. Prospective buyers are going to look to other marketing channels, like the information on a website and a direct sales  force, to commit to a sale.

4. Consumers Turn to Social Media for Presidential Campaign Info

[eMarketer] Candidates’ ad agencies invest more heavily in Facebook than Twitter, while Twitter wins out over blogs for more posts about the race.

My Take: I really like the comment from Jordan Bittman of Digitas:

“JFK is considered the first television president. Next year’s victor may well be determined by the impact of Facebook and Twitter”

Pinterest On The Rise

5. Pinterest Drives More Referral Traffic Than Google Plus, YouTube and LinkedIn Combined

[Shareaholic] Pinterest drives more referral traffic than Google Plus, YouTube and LinkedIn combined.

My Take: The headline astonishes me but Pinterest is pretty crazy.  Want an example, look at what it did to Christina Refford’s traffic. After her post got pinned (and repinned) her traffic exploded.