It's a scorcher out there -- well, it is here in Boston, anyway. Why not cool down by staying the heck inside and persuing some of the marketing stories from this week you might have missed? We have something to strike everyone's fancy, from Twitter data to SEO to insights from CMOs. You know, if you're looking to make it to the C-suite one day.
And as always, let us know what other interesting marketing stories popped up this week that we should be reading! We're always looking for more writers and websites to follow and keep us in-the-know.
A Look at the People Who Use Twitter From Brian Solis
Brian Solis published an excellent analysis of some Twitter-focused Pew data on his blog this week. Hailing Twitter as a "human seismograph measuring world events, popular culture, everyday sentiment," he plucks out some fascinating statistics from the study. When it comes to Twitter use, for example, it's still dwarfed by Facebook, but rapidly growing: 20% of all internet users in the United States use Twitter in some capacity . Of the people who do use Twitter, though, almost half of them are Twitter fanatics, with 8% of internet users clocking in at least some Twitter use every day . 18-24 year old are also pretty fanatical, with 1 in 5 18-24 year olds reporting using Twitter on their mobile phones , and 15% reporting daily use of Twitter for mobile . Hungry for more stats? Check out the full story here .
CMOs Tapping Into Social Data for Consumer Insights From Bazaarvoice
The folks over at Bazaarvoice also gave some attention to social data this week. They created an infographic detailing how CMOs, whose role they think entitle them to be called Chief Customer Offers, interpret social data. A whopping 83% of CMOs feel that social data is useful for discerning trends or patterns that may impact business -- and we wholeheartedly believe they're right. Addtionally, 81% of CMOs believe that social media impacts customer loyalty . But we also picked up on a statistic we found somewhat disturbing: only 36.8% of CMOs report that their sales teams have access to social data . Yikes. Check out the full infographic and story here .
Internal Linking Strategies for 2012 and Beyond From SEOmoz
We can always count on our friends at SEOmoz to take deep dives into the SEO topics we all need to learn about. This week, the discussion is pointed towards internal linking. One widely-discussed topic that you might not even think to consider: the value and risk of sitewide footers. The verdict: they're great for user experience, people tend to expect them, but you've got to be careful when they're scaled out across a full website -- that's when your SEO can take a hit. Interested in learning more? Check out the full story here .
( By the way: HubSpot's Dharmesh Shah and SEOmoz's Rand Fishkin are hosting a webinar together on August 20! Can we count you in ?)
The New Knowledge Management: What Does a Collaborative Hub Look Like? From Forrester
Continuing with the infographic trend, Kate Leggett posted an excellent illustration and explanation of a collaborative content hub on the Forrester blog this week. A tree illustrates the hub itself, with search firmly rooted at the base of the trunk and social listening, analytics, and feedback balancing on the tips of the branches. As outlined in the article, some of the most important features of a content hub include curated and non-curated content , social content, and integration with analytics platforms . Check out the full story here .
Facebook Launching 9 More Targeting Options for Organic Updates
This week, reports circulated that Facebook has started rolling out nine new options for organic updates, allowing for email list segmentation -like tactics for your collection of Facebook fans. Yeah, you read that right, this isn't for your paid advertisements . The categories available for segmentation include age, gender, education status, and romantic preference. When it comes to attracting customers with Facebook , we have a feeling these targeted categories are going to make a huge impact on your marketing. Check out the full story here .
What was the best inbound marketing story you read this week? Share it with us in the comments!
Image credit: barockschloss

