There are certain essential statistics without which no marketer must make decisions on the social media campaigns. 80% of respondents have ticked positive when asked about impact of social media on website traffic. Among various media, Instagram has the highest engagement rate at 4.2%. More than half of Americans tend to be more loyal when they follow brands on digital media. 33% of professionals worldwide use LinkedIn. Of them, more than one-thirds are below 30 years of age. Tweets with pictures are re-tweeted 150% more. Tweets must not exceed 110 characters as that is the optimum figure allowing for 17% boost in engagement. Also Tweets must never exceed 3 in a day as then brand engagement reduces. Nearly 90% of engagement on Facebook is on posts with pictures in them. Even Google+ has around 300 million users per month.

There are some metrics which if tracked will provide reliable feedback. There is the concept of Brand Mention Volume which tracks the number of times the brand was mentioned on social media during a period of time. Then there is Share of Voice (SOV) which measures advertisements on social media and the click rate across. There is also Referral Traffic which is about social media directing traffic directly towards website. Conversion Rates imply the rate of potential customers contacting firm post the call to action. Brand Connotation maps everything spoken about brand online including negative ones. Klout score is way to measure organizations ratings across different social media platforms. Inbound links meanwhile direct traffic from public forums. Audience reach tracks the geographical and demographic spread of brand on social media. Audience engagement keeps tabs on shares, likes and comments by audience. Social activity profits connection does anRoI on investment versus returns on social media engagement.

There are certain ideas that are prevalent in higher education, yet have been proven to be bad. Faculty costs must never be considered expense but as investment. The principle of functioning at bare costs will never lead to quality education. Technology does make life easier, yet it must never be promoted at the cost of nuts & bolts educational rigour. Faculty members have often been at the forefront of innovation in education and do not usually cause obstacles. A greater staff-to-faculty ratio is not necessarily a negative step. Public disinvestment in education is not a positive step or inevitable. This is a long term investment for the economy as a whole. While there are higher education systems more efficient, the American system is certainly not one that is facing a crisis or which needs a complete overhaul.

While there are no guarantees,business researchhas proved that there exist seven key skills which are essential to landing a cushy job in digital marketing. The person must know how to derive maximum benefits out of Search Engine Optimization (SEO). Besides SEO, the Pay-Per-Click (PPC) model must also be incorporated in the aspirant’s training. Smartphones are today at the forefront of business making decisions, and an understanding of how to use mobile phones to optimize digital marketing is essential. Email marketing might sometime sound dated, yet research has proved this to be the most reliable method of augmenting leads. Social media has totally revolutionized how marketing is done today and remains a powerful source essential to be mastered by the marketer. Next in line is content marketing as this methodology works well across media channels. Crucially, they must understand business analyticsas this is the tool which eventually breaks down the data from every other domain to derive meaningful information for the marketer to use.  

Some ways have been suggested by management consulting teams which help to curb poor decision making in businesses. The best option never exists and one must not sit on to wait for that ideal. Start executing with available information and don’t assume others possess better of it. In fact too much information can clutter mind against core functions. Also most recent information must not trump understood and tested knowledge. A good rest in between working is crucial for the brain to recharge. Confirmatory bias is most dangerous, instead an open mind helps. Trusting everyone is undesirable. Giving oneself a gift can be an effective way of bringing best out of oneself. The art of forecast can only improve through constant hit-and-trial. Munching of timely snack helps. The phobia of losing must not come in way of ambitious corporate strategy. Occasional streaks of success do not last forever. Meditation always aids sound decision making. Stereotyping can prove to be dangerous for all concerned. Occasionally one must try out third party advice and that is where business consulting comes to the fore. Self-introspection helps make ethical choices in business. Sometimes not making a decision is better than a bad one. Sometimes these options may sound different in a foreign language, so that may well be tried out. Existing state of mind may not last forever. Physical fitness is also crucial and the body reacts to panic or stress in ungainly manner. While business analyticsis important, one must never trust the numbers thoughtlessly. One must prioritize and take decisions on most crucial matters first to avoid ‘decision fatigue’. Also possible outcomes must be analyzed on a pre-mortem before things are executed. Finally, managers must understand that specific goals may not last the time, and broader policies are better executable.

Post the Recession and the setting of the digital workspace, much has changed the advertising industry. Corporate strategy has altered to weave in the new patterns. Agencies are now dealing directly with media channels for ad spots using online tools such as Google’s ADX with giants such as P&G leading the race with close to three-fourths of their deals last year executed in automated version. Verizon’s takeover of AOL was mainly to acquire the ad-selling technology developed. Until very recently, this industry was working with traditional means like phone calls, fax messages or even hand written notes. But like the travel industry, this too has experienced a world of change. The concept of ‘programmatic’ has developed which insists on programming for advertising being done directly by the agency depending on availability of slots. Even in Canada, this change is evident with Clorox selling 60% of its ad space online. However, the risk of fraud exists as number of automated ad space providers fear frivolous products / services’ ads being directly placed. That is where these agencies need to be careful while dealing with clients. 

While some have dubbed growth hacking as inbound marketing with a different nomenclature, it is actually a combination of business analytics and social metrics. Some of these techniques are being looked on with fear by traditional marketers. Growth hackers do not easily accept defeat and AirBnB is one perfect example of so. Initially they found it hard to integrate their operations with Craigslist but eventually they won over to reverse-engineer the process. Extensive business analytics is used by them and thus they get access to vast quantities of meaningful data. They do not look for expensive solutions but get the best out of existing core competencies. Growth hackers believe in experimenting perfectly exemplified by Yahoo CEO’s attempts to try impact on customers using fifty separate shades of blue colour before deciding upon corporate strategy. Best part about growth hackers is that while they are jack of all trades, they even master certain arts. They combine cutting edge niche business intelligence with broad managerial know-how.