Week 7 – Blog 2: Does Target understand the benefits of Inbound Marketing?

Using Hubspot’s article (2010) “Inbound Internet Marketing Blog” as a guide for this post, the blog will analyze whether Target (www.target.com) is allotting adequate time for its inbound marketing mix. This includes Hubpot’s recommended: 40% on blogging/content creation, 30% on calls to action for landing pages, and 10% on social media. Did target hit or miss the mark?

Blogging/Content Creation:

At this time, there was no Target Corporation blog available online. Hubspot suggests (2010) that all companies spend about 40% of their time on blogging/content creation. This helps with increasing the index volume and the ability to rank keywords.

Call to Action on Landing Pages:

Target had two calls for actions on its homepage. Those calls to actions were “Spend $ 100, Save 10% on Most Home Items” and “Reduce Stress. Save Early.” The first call to action is for a home sales event. The second call to action was geared towards early Christmas shoppers. Hubspot suggest (2010) that companies have at least two calls to actions on every major page. Also, according to Hubspot, the calls to action should be bold. This was true for the first call to action but not the second.

Social Media:

After reviewing Targets Facebook page, the company is spending a lot of time posting information. This includes postings on various topics for their products. One such posting that seems to reoccur regularly is comments/contents by a fashion expert. However, it appears that Target does not allow fans to post comments directly. Otherwise, the fan can comment but it’s only posted if the company finds it appropriate to share the information. Hubspot suggests (2010) that companies spend about 10% of their time on social media. This helps the business build relationships, create brand awareness, and receive feedback.

Recommendation: Target needs to visit the site and read the article “Why every business should blog” suggested by Hubspot. If Target has a blog it wasn’t located during this evaluation. If this is true, Target needs to create a blog. The company also needs to lighten up and allow fans to post directly to their site in order to gain useful feedback and create valuable relationships with their customers.

Week 7 – Blog 1 Is Tide using best Facebook practices?

The third week of October HubSpot posted an article title “The 9 Worst Ways to Use Facebook for Business.” The purpose of this blog is to determine if Tide (www.Tide.com) is breaking any of the please don’t do rules for businesses on Facebook.  Specifically, this posting will look at the following: Don’t allow fans to share content, don’t comment on your fans content, use a profile image that has a poor thumbnail, and don’t share your Facebook page on your website.

Don’t Allow Fans to Share Content:

Tide allows fans to share content and pictures. HubSpot (2010) suggests that businesses allow fans to post content. A business needs to allow fans to share thoughts, videos, and pictures on their Facebook page.

Don’t Comment on Your Fans Content:

Tide does not comment on any of the fans postings. HubSpot (2010) suggests that businesses respond to their fans posts. This can be done by simply clicking on the “Like” button or posting “Thanks for Sharing.” By responding to posts a business encourages fans to post more and says to them (the fans) that the company cares.

Use a Profile Image That has a Poor Thumbnail:

Tide does have an adequate thumbnail picture. The brand recognition is clear and nothing is missing or cut off. HubSpot (2010) suggest that businesses use thumbnails that provide clear brand identification.

Don’t Share Your Facebook Page on Your Website:

Tide does share its Facebook page on the homepage of their website. However, the Facebook icon is located in the lower right hand corner and is not that easy to discover. Hubspot (2010) suggests that all businesses share their Facebook link on their website. It is more likely that if a customer is visiting your site that they will become a fan.

Recommendations:  Tide needs to place its website Facebook icon in a more obvious area on the homepage. Tide should also think about responding to the fans comments posted on its Facebook. It doesn’t need to be a long post just a “Like” or a “Thanks” will do. Overall, the Facebook Page is fairly pleasing and Tide has over 551,923 followers.

Week 6 – Blog 2: WordTracker Test and Tide

The purpose of this blog is to utilize the free version of Wordtracker (http://www.wordtracker.com/) to see if Tide is using the most effective Keywords on their website. Some of the tools that Wordtracker offers are related to Keywords, Link Building, and Strategizing.  As discussed in the previous blog (Week 6 – Blog 1), the following were the keywords Tide is employing:

Keywords -  Official Tide site; get info; detergent; stains; stain solutions; variants; scents; value; coupons; products; articles; loads of hope; questions; search; how-to’s; contact Tide; message board

To start the evaluation, the Keywords were imported/added to the search tool. From the first results, it was a surprise that the Keyword “Coupons” is used frequently by all Internet users.  Next, I removed the Keyword coupon so the next most popular word could be ascertained, which was “Value and Questions.” Lastly, I removed all generic terms, such as value and questions, to focus on Keywords related to Tide products, such as fabric care (detergent). The top Keywords were “Detergent and Stains.” Fleischer suggests (2009) that marketers remember that Google is a voting machine and its important to research keyword phrases to measure your competition. With this suggestion, the following Keywords of Gain, Cheer, and Tide were submitted to determine which words were the most popular. Not surprising, Gain was had the most searches. However, the word Gain can be associated with more than laundry detergent, such as weight gain or profit gain.  Cheer came in second. Again, the word “Cheer” can be associated cheerleading, cheerfulness, and so on.

Recommendations: Tide should, if they aren’t utilizing the tool already, consider using an instrument like Wordtracker to help with on and off page optimization. The device useful in helping to determine Keyword phrases that will create the most Internet traffic to their site. However, it wasn’t surprising that some Keywords, such as “Coupon/s,” can create a search results that are so wide that an Internet user would need to wade through a sea of options to obtain what they are looking for.

Week 6 – Blog 1: Tide and Off-page Optimization

According to Michael Fleischer (2009), off-page optimization is an important SEO strategy that marketers should utilize if they want top rankings on Google. The purpose of this posting is to determine if Tide (www.Tide.com) is using Meta tags and quality links for the best off-page optimization. The following is an evaluation of Tides Off-Page Optimization:

Meta Tags:

Title - Tide.com Home Page

Keywords -  Official Tide site; get info; detergent; stains; stain solutions; variants; scents; value; coupons; products; articles; loads of hope; questions; search; how-to’s; contact Tide; message board

Description - fabric care, plus additional savings here at the official site for Tide laundry detergent

Robots – NOYDIR and NOODP

Tide is using good Meta tags. The keywords seem relevant for guiding Internet users to their website.      Those include keywords related to fabric care, such as stain solutions and scents. The description adequately defines the websites purpose, which is fabric care. Fleischer suggests (2009) that one variable that can help with off-page optimization is using related Meta tags.

Quality Links:

The number of links associated with Tide is 175. Some of the sits links are regarding stain removal, P&G Network, Braun, Confessions of an environmentalist, and many more. Tide does have good links. However, many of the relevant links show up on the second and third page of the Google search. Fleischer suggests (2009) that off-page optimization success is directly related to website links.

Recommendation: Tide is doing a good job with off-page optimization. However, there is room for improvement. For example, the official Tide website is not found on the first Google page when using some of the keywords.

Week 5 – Blog 2: Website Grader – Recommendations

Grade:

www.tide.com

Rank:  82,702 out of 2,903,205

Algorithm calculation of 97%

Competitor comparison:

www.cheer.com

Rank: 287,380 out of 2,903,205

Algorithm calculation of 90%

Recommendation:

According to the HubSpot’s Website Grader tool, Tide is doing a better job with their website than Cheer. Some of the recommendations for Tide are:

1.      Cut down on the number of pictures

a.       Search found 37 pictures, which means Tide customers have to wait longer to view a page

b.      An option - includes smaller images

c.       Search engines cannot see/recognize images

2.      Add a Blog

a.       HubSpot could not find a blog

b.      According to Roberts (2010), Blogs record personal experiences that are publicly accessible

                                                              i.      A blog might be a way that consumer might connect to the Tide brand via a search regarding stain removal

3.      Renew domain

a.       Domain set to expire in 1 year and 9 months

b.      Shows a commitment to established website and not a spam site

Overall, Tide is doing a good job but there is room for improvement.

Week 5 – Blog 1: Target market and the Minnesota Twins

Has the MN Twins marketing team developed a website that demonstrates an understanding of their target audience?  Who is the target audience? The MN Twins target market is baseball fans, which means its entertainment oriented. In this blog research a couple of other official baseball sites (Yankees - http://newyork.yankees.mlb.com/index.jsp?c_id=nyy and Chicago Cubs - http://chicago.cubs.mlb.com/index.jsp?c_id=chc  =) were visited to see if the MN Twins are on track. It appears the Twins, Yankees, and Cubs all have the same website designer because with the exception of the name identifying the sites they were almost identical in appearance. The following are some way that the MN Twins have appropriately identified and design for their target market:

1.       The MN Twins (also Yankees and Cubs) understands its customer needs. The site presents game highlights, headlines, ticket sales, clothing sales, and links to stats or rosters.  Roberts suggests (2010) that a marketer should have a firm understanding of the target market needs.

2.       The MN Twins website provides products that appeal to the fan shopping behavior. This includes the Homer Hanky and MLB Sports Shop. Roberts recommends (2010) that a marketer should recognize shopping behaviors of its target market.

3.       The MN Twins appreciates and caters to the attitudes of its target market. The baseball fans visiting the site get the entertainment and information they seek. This can be experienced by watching videos, checking stats, or by reading the latest headline. Roberts advises (2010) that marketers understand and provide website content that aligns with the customers attitudes.

Recommendation: Although the MN Twins website is busy and clutters it is no different than other official baseball team sites. The marketers for the twins are doing a winning job of providing website content that is entertainment oriented and understands the customers’ attitudes, shopping behaviors, and needs.

Week 4 - Blog 2: Evaluation of MN Twins website page presentation.

The Minnesota Twins struck out when it comes to website content presentation. It seems that Forrester’s Web Site Methodology was not part of the game plan (Roberts, 263). The Twins website has so much going on that it even the most loyal fans would find it difficult to sort through the site information. The following are a few of the presentation strikes against them:

1.       The website page space is cluttered. There is some white space that displaces many of the ads or content information.  Forrester suggests that poorly designed layout grids create unused or unusable expanses of white pixels (Roberts, 263).

2.       The Twins website data fields are not presented in a logical order. The purchase ticket information is located at the top, towards the middle, and used a small hard to see button. There are links to merchandise that is spread out all over the site (top, middle, bottom, everywhere).  Forrester suggests that poorly designed layout grids result in displaced content, ads, and navigation (Roberts, 263).

3.       The site uses many types of icons and symbols that a number of users might not identify. For example, the Twins site has what might look like tickets and MLB icons. Most users might know that MLB stands for Major League Baseball. However, if a user doesn’t follow baseball the site doesn’t provide an explanation. Forrester recommends that Internet website have icons that users will understand (Roberts, 263)

Recommendation: The Minnesota Twins website should consider developing a layout that is easy to navigate. It should have less clutter, icons that all visitors can identify, and locate the purchase tickets in an area that easy to find.


For Fun:

YouTube - MN Twins Commercials