Word-of-mouth: Traditional still beats online
According to “Spurring social users to search” in-person word-of-mouth still tops online word-of-mouth and in-person referrals are more likely to direct a user to search for the recommended product or service online. Furthermore the report indicates that 30% of younger users (age 18 – 34) will search for a product online after seeing an “online referral” on a social network like Facebook compared to only 20% of the respondents in the 35 – 54 age group. This article provides an interesting look at the power of traditional word-of-mouth compared to online referrals and is a must-read for brands that use social networks to build brand awareness.

Twitter User Statistics
A recent study done by Barracuda Labs show that most Twitter users aren’t “active users”. The study analysed approximately 19-million Twitter accounts and according to them only 21% of Twitter users are active. An active user is defined as a user that has tweeted at least 10 times, has at least 10 followers and follows at least 10 people. The study show that 51% of Twitter users follow less than five people and 73% of Twitter’s users have tweeted less than 10 times. The conclusion: the updates on Twitter are coming from about 25% of Twitter’s user base. Download the full report from Barracuda Labs’ website for further statistics and information.

Facebook to add location sharing service
According to insiders Facebook users will be able to see the current location of their friends from April 2010. This new service has been in the making for about a year, according to the New York Times, although no formal announcement has been made by Facebook. According to Facebook they have more than 400-million active users and 50% of those users access the network at least once a day with 100-million people logging on from their mobile phones. It will be interesting to see how Facebook users receive the new service, read the full article for more information.

With the increase in the number of smart phones, more and more users are making use of applications to tailor their mobile experience.

DM2PRO and Quattro Wireless compiled a report last year where they questioned over 600 respondents to determine whether or not the respondents have been integrating mobile apps with their brand’s current marketing strategy. According to the report the majority of the respondents haven’t invested in mobile apps yet but 65% of them planned to develop a mobile app in 2010.

On the other hand, those that have invested in mobile apps seem to be limiting the success of their app by not properly marketing it. If the aim of developing the app is to build brand awareness or convert impressions into profit, then a proper promotional plan is needed. On Emarketer.com Noah Elkin looks at the opportunities and challenges mobile apps provide marketers in “App-ortunity” Knocks. To summarise his key points; make sure that there is a consumer need for your app, pay attention to user feedback and keep users engaged with regular updates.

Read the full report by DM2PRO and Quattro Wireless for more information and statistics. Do you think South Africa will follow the same trend and see a significant increase in the number of mobile apps developed in 2010?

In order for a website to be successful and show return on investment, one has to continuously devote time and resources to website improvement and management. We have discussed measuring how visitors engage with a website previously, and to reiterate, this can be measured through analytics software like Google Analytics.

The data derived from Google Analytics can be used strategically as part of your web strategy to improve the overall performance and usefulness of your website to visitors. Some of the criteria that can be tracked in Analytics include:

Visitor statistics
Among other things, Google Analytics will show you how visitors found your website as well as the actions they performed whilst on the website. This data can be used to improve the overall functionality of the website, for instance a page with a high bounce rate may need tweaking. If visitors found your website with a certain keyword and almost immediately left the website it indicates that they did not find the content they were looking for. Make sure your website copy is easy to scan by bolding keywords and key-phrases and make use of interlinking. If a visitor lands on a certain page they need to be able to determine within seconds if your website has the information they are looking for.

Visits through mobile devices
Do you know how many people are viewing your website on a mobile device? In Google Analytics you are able to see which mobile devices they used to view the website as well as which cellular networks your visitors use under the Visitors tab.  Have you accessed your website through a cellphone yet and is it loading properly? If not, check it.

Site overlay tool
Another useful tool in Google Analytics is the Site Overlay under the Content tab. When you select this option you are shown where visitors click on your website as a percentage of clicks over a certain period.

The above are only a few of the things you can track through Google Analytics. To find out how to make the most of Google Analytics visit Google’s Conversion University.   Do you see your website as a project that needs continuous management or not?