SEM, SMA, CPC, and the holy grail of marketing acronyms: ROI

So many acronyms. But only one matters: ROI.

And when calculating your return on investment (ROI) on search engine marketing (SEM) or social media advertising (SMA) spends, the only acronym that can prove ROI is CPC (cost per click).

How? 

CPC is directly correlated to ROI.

Let me explain.

Over the past year I've been advertising on all the major platforms, and here are the results:

• AdWords: $0.54 CPC
• Facebook: $0.08 CPC
• LinkedIn: $2.00 CPC
• Twitter: $0.21 CPC
• YouTube: $0.41 CPC

What does all that mean?

For my dollar, Facebook is hands down the cheapest advertising platform at just 8 cents per click. But just because LinkedIn costs me 2 dollars for every click doesn't mean it's wasted money. In fact, the advertising platform with the highest average CPC is likely your best spent cents. 

Why?

As long as you've fine tuned your ad copy through A/B testing and honed in on your target audience with the right keywords (and any other targeting criteria available), the platform with the highest CPC is also the network with the largest, most-active population of people you're trying to reach. It's also the network where your competitors are advertising. That's why it costs so much to engage with them.

But every industry will have different results. So which platforms are you advertising on? And which has the highest ROI?

Google Wave was the next big thing

Do you remember Google Wave?



You probably don't. But Google Wave was supposed to be the next big thing in social networking. So why should we believe that Google+ will be?

I think the answer is: we shouldn't.

Despite the stats toting it as "the fastest growing social network ever," Google is merely playing catch-up. At least Google Wave was innovative. It was a totally new concept on sharing and collaborating. Google+ is just a combination of Twitter and Facebook. It's really nothing new. And it fails to help us with any problems or needs that Facebook and Twitter don't already solve.

So be cautious. The stats are misleading. And largely inflated by Google+'s integration with its new social search algorithm. Google+ may not die as suddenly as Google Wave but it will never be "the next big thing."

Just "new" it

Please don't change it. Just "new" it.

Everybody hates change (Facebook's user interface updates, Google's social search, McDonalds' new fry oil, Star Wars special edition) but everyone loves something "new" (Apple's new iPad, Wendy's fries with sea salt, Nolan's The Dark Knight). It's the key to product updates.

But, honestly, there isn't any difference between a new product and a changed product. It's all in the packaging. Not the physical packaging, but the marketing.

The way a product is branded by marketing will inevitably create the consumer perception of the product's update. If marketing can create a "new" perception of the product, like the always brilliant product marketers at Apple did with the iPad 3, consumers will buy in. It's much more difficult to sell a product that's just "changed."

Just think about it. What are some other "new" products that were well-received by consumers, and some poorly-received product changes? Add them in the comments below or Tweet them at me @RyanPratt.

Rebranding in the 2010s: The Netflix slash Qwikster debacle

I've experienced this myself -- when a company I worked for briefly split in two and became one company with two websites. It was a difficult decision, and even more difficult transition.

There are the obvious complications that come with re-branding a business: new logos, new colors, new business cards, new letterheads, etc. These are the same problems transitioning companies have dealt with for years. But today there is so much more to worry about.

Today, rebranding businesses have to consider the transitions in the digital world as well. 

There's website domains. Is your URL available? Or how much is it going to cost you to purchase it from that squatter?

There are SEO effects. Sure 401 redirects will combat a complete domain swap. But all the work you've done creating inbound links from other highly-ranked websites; all the research on META tags, keywords, and descriptions; and any positive effects you've received from social search (SPYW) is as worthless as having a Facebook page with zero "likes."

Which leads me to the biggest issue -- and the one that eventually put an end to Netflix's rebranding fiasco -- is the question of what to do if your handle isn't available on the social networks?

Just as there are domain squatters for URLs, there are Twitter and Facebook handle squatters. As soon as it becomes apparent any social network is the "next big thing" and opens itself up to business and companies, users sign up and sit on social network names. Heck, I'm not even squatting and I have 27 Twitter accounts and 13 Facebook usernames. But unlike URLs which have democratic companies monitoring and maintaing these domains (i.e. GoDaddy), social network handles are a ruleless wild west for name-squatting cowboys (and cowgirls).

The moment Netflix announced they were rebranding their DVD mailing service as Qwikster people jumped on net and blew up search engines with the term "Qwikster" -- which inevitably lead them to find a foul-mouthed, pot-smoking Elmo who already owned the Twitter account for @Qwikster. It was major flaw in C-suite's plan for Netflix. Something you'd expect a company as successful as Netflix to have thought of. But they didn't. And they soon lost the quickdraw gun fight with Jason Castillo (aka @Qwikster) who's since cleaned up is act a bit -- changing his profile picture to a crest and washing his mouth out with soap -- but not before single-handedly putting an end (and some bad PR) to the Netflix / Qwikster debacle. And...

Funniest 15 Photos From Google Earth Streetview

Here are the top 15 funny pictures found on Google Earth StreetView:

1.	Female Sunbathers Half-Nude in the Park
2.	Man Entering Adult Bookstore
3.	The Ultimate RestStop
4.	E.T. Evidence
5.	Parking Ticket
6.	Robber
7.	Yawning, Crying, Yelling, Singing, _______?
8.	Glowing Eyes
9.	Herd of Runaway Shopping Carts
10.	Speeding in a School Zone
11.	Rush Hour Traffic Rubik's Cube
12.	Giant Pumpkin
13.	Nude Mannequin
14.	Brooklyn Battery Tunnel, NY - been closed to video cameras since 9/11
15.	Got any others? Mention them in comments and where to find them and they might make the list!