What are the best cities for technology jobs now? You can probably guess that Seattle, would be high on the list, and it indeed came in at number one on a list compiled by newgeography.com. But if you guessed the Silicon Valley, you would be wrong.
The Valley, despite a concentration of tech jobs- six times the national average – it came in at 17 on the site’s list of the top 51 cities for tech jobs. It points out that the Valley was one of the biggest tech job losers over the last decade, dropping 80,000 positions, despite the more recent dot-com funding craze.
San Francisco itself is way down at number 29.
Newgeography used high-tech employment data from EMSI, an economic modeling firm. It then charted those areas that have gained the most high-tech manufacturing, software and services jobs over the past 10 years.
The top ten, newgeography says, are:
Seattle, Baltimore, Columbus, Raleigh, Salt Lake City, Jacksonville, Washington, DC, New Orleans, Riverside/San Bernardino, and San Diego.
The next batch inlcudes more surprises: Indianapolis is 11, Buffalo 12, San Antonio 13, and Charlotte 14. Boston is way down at 22.
Factors affecting high-tech job creation, the site says, include the presence of a major research university – although that wasn’t of much help to Boston, which lost 45,000 tech jobs (18 percent) in the last decade.
Business costs are another factor. They’re high in the Valley, Boston, and the Bay area, less so in many of top ten cities. Even low business costs are not a sure path to tech job creation though. Texas has good business metrics, but nevertheless experienced losses in tech jobs, primarily due to cutbacks in telecom, electronics, and communications equipment manufacturing.
Personally, we think a careful look at the results of this study suggest something we’ve said all along: big manufacturing operations are not the be all and end all of job creation. Placing an emphasis on creating a welcoming atmosphere for startup tech companies is a better way to go, and some areas, including Durham in the Research Triangle of North Carolina, are taking that route.
Newgeography suggests that two up and comers in this decade might be Detroit, which it says “has some real high-tech mojo,” and New Orleans, which has expanded its tech workforce by about 10 percent since 2009.
Ask anyone involved in the startup game and they’ll tell you: Part of the makeup of a great entrepreneur is the ability to deal with failure. This ability usually comes, oddly enough, with actually having failed, at least once, on the way to success. It’s a conundrum of the game.
The North Carolina Research Triangle had an accelerator, very recently, and it was successful, and it closed up shop, which caused a lot of disappointment and heartbreak within the startup community. But it’s important to note that while Groundwork Labs will fill the void left by Launchbox in the American Underground in Durham, it’s not a replacement.
It’s something new, with new players, a new mission, and a new vision.
And the fact that the RTP gets another shot with the acceleration concept, that’s, well, lucky, to say the least.
How It Works
Groundwork Labs, much like your traditional accelerator, will select promising startups for a three month session and load them up with the standard foundational elements: space, advice, connections, mentoring, and the all-important $20,000 in walking around money.
They’re starting quickly out of the gate, Spring 2012, which means you should get your application in yesterday. They expect to work with between five and seven startups per session and run at least one and hopefully two sessions per year.
I actually got wind of the Groundwork Labs news about a week ago, but I had been sworn to secrecy. I’m not sure why they were so worried. I’m not that kind of journalist. I’m the other kind. The lazy kind.
Official word broke yesterday afternoon, which happened to be just hours before the monthly ExitEvent social I host for area entrepreneurs, which happened to coincide with the TechJournal Deck Party, in Raleigh, which happened to fall on the eve of Internet Summit 2011 at the Raleigh Convention Center, resulting in a Catalina Wine Mixer of startup tech marketing investor type people in one place. So I had access to a lot of opinion. Others I got to via emails. Disclaimer: There was no free beer involved in the solicitation of opinion.
And overall the opinion is very, very hopeful.
What Do You Think?
“Love it,” says iContact’s Aaron Houghton, “Durham deserves it and many passionate entrepreneurs will benefit from it.”
“Launchbox proved that having a local incubator is important to the entrepreneurial ecosystem,” says Robbie Allen, CEO of Automated Insights. “It really helps raise the profile of all startups in the area.”
James Avery, founder of Adzerk and a very passionate voice when Launchbox closed up shop is, well, excited again. “I am thrilled to see that Durham will once again host an accelerator. I love that John Austin is involved as I think he has done a great job with Joystick so far.”
John Who?
John Austin, Director of Joystick Labs, will also head the Groundwork effort. Before any of the gamers freak out, nothing is going to happen to Joystick. It will continue to operate independently, though it does get a boost in efficiency of shared resources. Joystick will get its next semester underway this summer, and the two efforts will continue to operate in leapfrog fashion.
I got a chance to sit down with John again yesterday. We hadn’t really caught up since he took the helm of Joystick right before this year’s East Coast Game Conference.
The two players in Groundwork Labs, Capitol Broadcasting and NC IDEA are very excited about it, according to Austin. There will be synergy between the entities with resources obviously coming from the Underground, as well as the possibility that some of the startups chosen for Groundwork will come from NC IDEA – even though there will be separation in the process, with two separate application programs, etc.
NC IDEA, the grant program that has a symbiotic relationship with VC firm Idea Fund Partners, and another organization I got to dig down into recently, is another positive. Beyond being the region’s best kept secret for early stage entrepreneurs, they’re entire mission is to aid the area in terms of building up a successful, thriving, early-stage ecosystem.
“I think this is an important piece of the puzzle for building a stronger entrepreneurial ecosystem in North Carolina,” says Lister Delgado, Founder and General Partner at Idea Fund Partners.
“It is another way to help attract entrepreneurial talent to the state, and to keep the resident talent here. Besides the money and the assistance that an accelerator can provide to the entrepreneurs participating, an accelerator is a great marketing tool for the community. That is why we are excited to be involved.”
Two Types of Investment
Austin backs this up, and notes that NC IDEA and Capitol Broadcasting, who owns and operates the American Tobacco Campus, have split the infrastructure costs from the investment in the companies. This model is much like how Joystick operates. The investors see the investment in the infrastructure of Joystick as an investment in the entrepreneurial community. Not a donation, per se, but with an expectation for a different kind of return.
This is the critical factor in the potential success of Groundwork. Capitol Broadcasting has a business interest in seeing it succeed, through the American Underground and several other initiatives they have operating in the startup ecosystem. As for NC IDEA, early-stage success here is what their mission is built upon. Groundwork is almost like an expansion of their program, a runway off of the grant money, or even just the runway when the money isn’t a critical factor.
This vested interest, skin in the game, if you will, from the funding parties, is designed to give Groundwork enough time to decide whether or not the accelerator will work. That, of course, is up to the companies selected, and in some sense the rest of here in the area already hard at work at making the region stick as an entrepreneurial hub.
So in that sense, Groundwork Labs is another good sign. Second chances are hard to come by, so you’ve got to jump on the opportunity when they do.
Zack Mansfield, VP at Square 1 Bank and manager of their startup assistance program Square Roots, sums it up nicely. “It’s exciting to see a new accelerator for a lot of reasons but the most significant is that if this region is serious about becoming a top hub for startups, we need more of just about everything – more capital, more entrepreneurs, and more people in the ecosystem supporting new ventures to help them grow.”
Joe Procopio heads up product engineering for tech media startup Automated Insights (formerly StatSheet). He also owns consulting firm Intrepid Company and creative network Intrepid Media and runs the startup social ExitEvent. Joe can be reached via Twitter @jprocoand read at joeprocopio.com.
Just what are retailers using Facebook and Twitter for marketing doing succesfully?
We asked Link Walls, director of product management at ChannelAdvisor, a global e-commerce software provider that helps retailers sell more across online channels. Walls is hosting the social media marketing session at the Internet Summit Conference, taking place Tuesday and Wednesday, November 15-16, at the Raleigh, NC Convention Center.
Walls filled us in on some the trends ChannelAdvisor is seeing:
“Right now,” he says, “increasing brand recognition on Facebook and Twitter seems to be very valuable to retailers.”
He adds, “Since February, we’ve published the Facebook Commerce Index that tracks the fan counts of the top 500 online retailers that have Facebook pages. Through this we’ve been able to analyze how retailers are acquiring more fans and shoppers with a variety of promotions and campaigns. Retailers are really putting a lot of time and effort into engaging fans on Facebook, as Liking a brand gives them the ability to send you updates. ”
He also noted, “We’re closely watching Facebook and think that Facebook Commerce has great potential to become a new channel for online retailers.”
How Levi’s is belting its jeans on Facebook
We asked Walls what Facebook marketers are doing to sign up fans and keep them engaged.
“Within the Facebook Commerce Index (FBCI), we’ve been watching how retailers are campaigning to increase their fans, and each month it is interesting to evaluate the various ways that retailers are gaining attention—some focus on giveaways, others on community involvement and humanitarian efforts,” he said.
“One example that’s pretty interesting from the FBCI is Levi’s, which has secured a place in the Top 25 for months now. However, where most top social-savvy brands see a 1-5% increase each month, Levi’s clocked 9% growth in October.
“Whereas most Facebook pages are quickly becoming one-visit stops for users looking to score discounts or free products, Levi’s is setting itself apart by structuring its Facebook page around a global, long-term campaign to support Water.org, which has been the main focus of the page since it was created.
Narrowing page focus
“Narrowing its page focus has allowed Levi’s to build on its campaign with quality content, from lengthy documentaries of “Pioneers for Water” to celebrity endorsement videos and real-time pledges. By creating a movement to sustain customer engagement, Levi’s is more likely to increase brand awareness, and ultimately ROI, in the long-run.”
ChannelAdvisor helps more than 3,000 retailers, including renowned brands like Dell, Jockey and ULTA, sell more online with best-in-class software and services for eBay, Amazon, Buy.com, Google, shopping engines and more. It was recently recognized on Triangle Business Journal’s list of Best Places to Work for 2011 and is a finalist for the North Carolina Technology Association Best Product/Service Technology Company Award.
To learn more about ChannelAdvisor’s global expansion, expert software offerings and career opportunities, visit booth #18 during the Internet Summit or visit www.channeladvisor.com.
ChannelAdvisor Director of Product Management Link Walls will host the Social Media Marketing session on November 16th at 4:20 p.m. EST.
It isn’t the idea that’s paramount when it comes to investing in tech startups, says Jason Caplain, general partner with Southern Capitol Ventures. Management is paramount, he says, adding, “A great team wins.”
Raleigh-based Southern Capitol Ventures has invested in art.com, ChannelAdvisor, Batanga, DoublePositive, Reverb Nation, and eTix. Caplain is among the 120 entrepreneurs, venture capitalists, digital media and marketing thought-leaders who will be presenting at the Internet Summit at the Raleigh Convention Center Tuesday and Wednesday (Nov. 15-16).
The Internet Summit, Caplain says, “Is unique. There really hasn’t been a national conference in our backyard. This is a national level conference you don’t have to fly to New York, Boston or the Valley to attend. It has a jam-packed lineup. People will hear a lot of good take-away tips on building their business. For us, it’s about building relationships and bringing them to our portfolio companies as potential partners or customers.”
Caplain is one of a handful of venture capitalists who will give entrepreneurs at the Internet Summit a chance for a fast five-minute one-on-one pitch.
Caplain offers the following tips for entrepreneurs making a fast pitch:
Explain what you do clearly and simply.
Talk about your background. Why of all the things you could be doing is this important?
Remember that the team is often more important than the idea.
He notes that the idea is to get the investor interested enough so that he says, “I want set up another time to meet with them.”
Caplain has heard fast-pitches before, if not ones limited to five minutes. He has participated in a number of “Calling All Entrepreneurs” events in which people get a fairly brief chunk of time to run ideas past real VCs looking for investment opportunities in the right companies.
In those, he says, “The ones who caught our attention talked about what prospects have said, or about customer feedback.”
Jack Krawczyk of StumbleUpon is one of the presenters at the upcoming Internet Summit in Raleigh
By Allan Maurer
Does the future of online brand advertising belong to rampaging robots who zap your home with death rays?
Jack Krawczyk, senior product marketing manager at StumbleUpon says creative company branding efforts such as insurance firm State Farm’s chaos in your town site is the kind of thing brands need to do to stay on top in the digital world.
“The future for brands online is not in banner display ads. They’re not the right avenue for brands,” Krawczyk suggests.
StumbleUpon, which recently boasted it hit a billion stumbles a month, reserves 5 percent of its user stumbles for its paid marketing program called “paid discovery.”
Advertisers select the interest profiles they want to target – the producers of a comedy film might pick humor, comedy movies and related topics and the demographics they seek.
“We go out and find users – males 25-44 say – with those interests and take them to the microsite the brand created,” Krawczyk says.
Krawczyk, who focused on paid discovery at StumbleUpon, has been working closely with marketers to understand how to better engage brand promise with consumers who are in the mindset of discovery. He is also responsible for the distribution of StumbleUpon traffic solutions, which enable site owners to more deeply engage and grow their audience.
Prior to joining StumbleUpon, Jack was at Google where he worked on the development of Google+, and previously industry marketing management of Fortune 500 advertising relationships in the media & entertainment, financial services, travel and local services sectors. He’s one of more than 120 digital media and marketing thought-leaders presenting at the Internet Summit in Raleigh, NC, next week (Nov. 15-16).
StumbleUpon’s paid discovery program launched in March and already has more than 60,000 clients. “It’s our number one marketing channel now,” says Krawczyk. “Marketing agencies like it because they know exactly what they will pay: ten cents per stumble. So they know if they want 500,000 page views, it’s going to cost $50,000.”
Intel’s Museum of Me
As you might expect, entertainment related companies are on the forefront of doing creative branding campaigns, but, Krawczyk notes that brands such as State Farm and Intel (with its Museum of Me site, which will take your Facebook page and create a three-minute movie from it) are also getting into the act. “They evoke emotion with a site such as Museum of Me, which is exactly what brands want to do,” he says.
“One of our coolest stories comes from the Wisconsin Milk Marketing Board. It created the Grilledcheeseacademy.com (don’t go over there and look at the sandwiches if you’re hungry and don’t have access to food).” He adds, “They spent less than 10 percent of their marketing budget with us and StumbleUpon drove 50 percent of their pageviews. They got 8,800 hours of marketing for an investment of $3,000.”
For the longest time, Krawczyk, the former Google employee, says, “Internet advertising focused on people who know exactly what they are looking for. Now, with the introduction of social network discovery on Twitter, Facebook, and StumbleUpon, it’s not just search. It’s about finding things you didn’t know you were looking for.”
That means advertisers do not need to be just at the bottom of the search funnel. Now they can be at the top and tell a rich, engaging story that translates to sales.
Mobile also seeing creative branding
While marketers spend two thirds of their budgets on brand advertising, only a quarter of online spending is for brand ads. “With discovery, we’ll be able to renormalize that.”
He points out that “Mobile is an area where we’re starting to see creativity kick in,” as well, pointing to the iPhone app that makes a cube of jello dance when an iTunes song plays. “It makes you laugh,” he says. “Brands are willing to invest in these cool experiences.”
Krawczyk will have more ideas and stories for you at his Internet Summit presentation next week. Fewer than 50 seats remain, though, so if you’re going, better register now.
Gary Vaynerchuk keynotes the 2011 Internet Summit in Raleigh next week, which is nearly sold-out.
Fewer than 50 seats remain for next week’s Internet Summit, which is bringing hundreds of digital media and marketing thought-leaders to the Raleigh, NC Convention Center Nov. 15-16.
The event, which attracts a capacity crowd, offers take-away insight into social media marketing, search engine optimization, ecommerce trends, email marketing, we and mobile analytics, big data, cloud computing, startup fund-raising and much more.
You’ll have access to visionary thought leaders who will share their insight and experience with you. Hear from the founders of companies like Twitpic, TheLadders & HowStuffWorks! Not enough? How about a Keynote from Top rated SXSW keynote and ‘Social Media King’ Gary Vaynerchuk?
That’s just a sampling of the more than 120 speakers and presenters that will be on hand.
We interviewed just a handful of the many presenters. For a preview of what thought-leaders will be presenting at the event see:
John Lovett, Sr Partner, Web Analytics Demystified
Drew Diskin, Dir of Interactive & Web Strategy, Penn Medicine
Lynette Montgomery, VP Ecommerce, Burt’s Bees
Noah Dinkin, Co-Founder & President, FanBridge
Jessica Bowman, SEOinhouse.com
Todd Moy, Sr User Experience Designer, Viget Labs
Donna Bedford, Global SEO Lead, Lenovo
Francis Shepherd, Media Evangelist
Dallas Lawrence, Chief Digital Strategist, Burson-Marsteller
Karen Albritton, President, Capstrat
Thuy LeDihn, Senior Marketing Manager, .ORG
Adam Covati, Co-founder & CTO, Argyle Social
Kyle Scott Richardson, Social Media, NC National Guard
Cara Rousseau, Social Media Manager, Duke University
Loren Baker, VP of Marketing, Blueglass
Matthew Muñoz, Partner & Chief Design Officer, New Kind
Jill Whalen, CEO, HighRankings
Jason Caplain, General Partner, Southern Capitol Ventures
David Heaney, Senior Associate, TomorrowVentures
John Lawrence, Partner & CFO, Longworth Venture Partners
Brooks Raiford, CEO, NCTA
Roger Krakoff, Managing Partner, Cloud Capital Partners
Charles Nicholls, Chief Strategy Officer, SeeWhy
Jeff Campbell, VP & Co-Founder, Resolution Media
Gary Storr, Business Architect & Solutions, Nortel
Jeff Spivey, VP Board of Directors, ISACA
Doug Hanna, CEO, A Small Orange
Lisa, Braziel, Strategy Director, Ignite Social Media
William Blackmon, CEO, LinkMein
Chris Condayan, Public Outreach, Am Society for Microbiology
Kyle Scott Richardson, Dir of Social Media, NC National Guard
Jill Carlson, Marketing Manager, Argyle Social
John Lane, VP Strategy & Creative, Centerline Digital
Michael , Gowan, Associate Dir of Web Strategy, Duke Medicine
Dana Kirchman, SVP Head of Client Operations, Lumi Mobile
Internet Summit is an outstanding learning experience mixed with prime networking opportunities and entertaining keynotes.
There’s even 5 additional hours of intense session digging deep into Social Media, SEO & Search, User Experience & Design and Analytics when you add the pre-conference to your registration.
Millennials – the generation born between 1980 and 1995 – use online resources, but that’s only one stop in their search for answers when they’re ready to make decisions.
So says Karen Albritton, president of Raleigh-NC-based communications agency, Capstrat.
Capstrat research uncovered some surprises about the often stereotyped Millennial generation. Albritton will discuss the research and what it means to marketers at the Internet Summit next week at the Raleigh Convention Center.
“For the first time,” Albritton says, “a generation is always able to find someone who already made a decision they’re considering, from buying a TV to going to work at a certain type of job.”
Their most trusted source of information at major milestone decision points – buying a a car, a house, an appliance – is first person experience from someone they know, such as friends or family.
Their second most trusted source would be from anyone who has already “been there and done that,” even if its an anonymous source online, Albritton says.
“They’re very social decision makers. They consider first person experience from someone they don’t know as more important than third party sources such as Consumer Reports.”
That means they might read a review or report by someone with shaky grammar and spelling and still find it relevant to them.
They value face-to-face
One finding of the Capstrat research that is a bit surprising is that while the Millennials “Are very digital people, they value face-to-face contacts. A lot of brands are seeing the value of having millennials do certain things online then brining them into a store or organization to connect.”
Albritton says marketers can do a lot of things online to make a later face-to-face connection smoother. Those include such things as having them fill out basic form information for a loan application online so a sales person can focus on selling and not administrative functions in person.
CarMax, for instance, let’s consumers do more and more of that sort of thing online, she notes.
The Capstrat research suggests “They should love the mobile recommendations from friends type of thing.”
In fact, if they’re in a strange city, they’re more likely to go on Foursquare and see what friends have said about a good place to eat rather than asking the hotel concierge.
What does all this mean?
“It means we have to get way smarter at reaching the social influencers millennials go to. You have to reach the people who influence their decisions. They will seek it in a lot of places and you have to show up there.”
Kabbage chairman Marc Gorlin will speak at the Internet Summit Nov. 15-16 at the Raleigh, NC Convention Center.
Remember those cartoons where an alien approaches a fire hydrant or a telephone pole and says, “Take me to your leader?” Turns out it’s not bad advice for startups seeking funding, says Marc Gorlin, chair of Atlanta-based Kabbage.
Kabbage, which provides working capital to online merchants, nabbed a $17 million B round in August led by Mohr Davidow Ventures and its investors include BlueRun Ventures, David Bonderman, founder of TPG Capital, and Warren Stephens, CEO of Stephens Inc., and the UPS Strategic Enterprises Fund.
So Gorlin understands the venture dance. He’ll discuss “The things VCs never tell you about raising money” at next week’s Internet Summit in Raleigh, NC, where he’ll be one of dozens of digital media, marketing and entrepreneurial thought-leaders participating.
And one of the first items on his list of things for entrepreneurs to consider when seeking venture capital is to the right person immediately.
“No firm where we went in through anyone but a senior partner went anywhere,” Gorlin says of Kabbage’s own experiences in finding venture backing. “If you get a meeting with a principal or associate, the odds of it going anywhere sink to infinitesimal levels,” he says.
While Gorlin’s slide presentation uses humor to make its points, the points are serious.
He’s Just Not that Into You
For instance, his “He’s Just Not that Into You,” section warns that “No means no, maybe means no and soft yeses mean no.”
Nevertheless, Gorlin says, persistence is the key. “Never stop trying,” he says. He’ll point out how many times big investors said “no” to investing in a company before they said “yes.”
Gorlin has solid advice for entrepreneurs. He suggests not pitching the most important venture capitalists on a potential list first. “You’ll get better,” he says.
Know your market
One of the most important things for entrepreneurs to do to prepare for a pitch to a VC, he says, “Is to know your market.”
It’s also a good idea to know your VC. “Take people they invested with out to dinner. Talk about the terms they got.”
Gorlin also suggests, “Don’t be afraid of venture capitalists and their pedigrees. Don’t make them smarter than you.”
But if you do get some discouraging comments, don’t think you’re alone. Gorlin says that one firm told the now quite successful Kabbage, “Your management team is weak and not smart enough to make this work.” Uh huh.
He’ll share more of the actual comments Kabbage received during its fund-raising process, stories, facts and other solid, if funny, advice direct from the digital fund-raising trenches.
Internet Summit is near capacity, so if you’re going, better register soon. During its own fund-raising process, Kabbage presented at TechMedia’s Southeast Venture Conference. The 2012 SEVC in Tysons Corner, VA, is set for Feb. 29.
Many marketers see key word research as a preliminary to search engine optimization, but it is actually fundamental to all marketing channels, says Ron Jones, president and CEO of Symetri Internet Marketing and author of Keyword Research for Search, Social and Beyond from Wiley Publishing.
Jones has been an avid proponent of the Search Engine Marketing industry by hosting and speaking at seminars and conferences. Additionally Ron has served on the Board for The Search Engine Marketing Professional Organization (SEMPRO) and is also one of the authors for the SEMPO Institute Insiders Guide and Advanced courses.
Jones, one of the legion of Internet thought-leaders and digital media gurus participating in next week’s Internet Summit at the Raleigh, NC Convention Center Nov. 15-16, will discuss how to expand thinking about keyword research and how to use it for competitive traditional marketing, branding and other channels.
“Part of it involves the buying cycle – when people will use certain key words. Part of it is about user intent as it applies to key word research,” he says.
That means if a consumer types “camera” into a search engine, he is likely at the beginning of the buying cycle and using broad search terms. If he types in Canon EOS Rebel, he pretty much knows what he’s looking for, has done research, and the chances are high he’s ready to convert and buy.
“He’s probably looking for price and availability,” says Jones. “So understanding which key words people use gives you insight into their intent,” he notes.
Using Google Analytics and looking at the bounce rate for key words bringing people to your site can reveal the relevance what they found has to what they were looking for, Jones says. “If they bounce quickly, it suggests the relevance of the key word to the page they landed on is a mismatch.”
That means, he adds, “You should make sure your upfront messaging matches the content you have on your landing pages.
Then, you should further analyze to determine not only the key words driving people to your site, but also which ones drive conversions for you.
Whenever strategy is important – in war, games, and marketing, timing may not be everything, but it is critically important. And, it is crucial to maximizing your social media marketing efforts, says Adam Covati, founder and CTO of Argyle Social.
Argyle, Covati notes, “Does a lot of original research.” He is one of dozens of digital media and marketing thought-leaders participating in the upcoming Internet Summit Nov. 15-16 at the Raleigh, NC Convention Center. He’ll talk about measuring, managing, and monetizing social media.
Get everyone on the same page
His first piece of advice is to “Get everyone in marketing on the same page. Use the same platform. Aggregate your efforts in one place and use consistent web analytics or third party tools. Once you’re organized, you can really measure things and then you can figure out how to do more of what’s working.”
Argyle Social recently conducted research on how to time social media posts strategically to maximize engagement. It collected the results in an infographic Covati will discuss in more detail at the Internet Summit. Among the findings: marketers usually post to Twitter, Facebook or other social media outlets when they’re at work rather than when their audience is listening.
One strategy Covati suggests is to repost items. “We found that if you get it out there multiple times via multiple channels, you get about the same click-through rate each time. You reach different crowds on a Monday, on weekends, on evenings. So we might take one article and post it multiple times over a month.”
The infographic itself provides a good deal of insight into social media timing:
What are the best cities for technology jobs now? You can probably guess that Seattle, would be high on the list, and it indeed came in at number one on a list compiled by newgeography.com. But if you guessed the Silicon Valley, you would be wrong.
Just what are retailers using Facebook and Twitter for marketing doing succesfully?
