The Web Analytics "WOW" of Zappos

About Zappos

Zappos.com is a revolutionary e-commerce site specializing in shoes and apparel. A company that truly understands the meaning of the words “customer-centric,” they are known by shoe-lovers everywhere as the company that provides free next-day shipping and a hassle-free return policy. Famous for their superior customer service and user-friendliness, the company managed to grow into the world’s largest online shoe dealer before being acquired by Amazon for $1.2 billion in 2009 (Wauters, 2009). Zappos did not achieve these goals by sitting around hoping customers would stop by and order a pair of shoes. Instead, the company took an extremely proactive approach, carefully monitoring all of their web traffic and using this info to make smart marketing choices that would help them achieve their “WOW” goals. “WOW is such a short, simple word, but it really encompasses a lot of things. To WOW, you must differentiate yourself, which means doing something a little unconventional and innovative. You must do something that's above and beyond what's expected” (Zappos.com, 2014). The website goes on to explain how the company implements WOW into their core culture. “Our philosophy at Zappos is to WOW with service and experience, not with anything that relates directly to monetary compensation (for example, we don't offer blanket discounts or promotions to customers). We seek to WOW our customers, our co-workers, our vendors, our partners, and in the long run, our investors” (Zappos.com, 2014).

The Goal

The track consumer behavior, and continuously turn their big data into actionable insights that enables them to consistently improve the customer experience.

How They Achieve Their Goal

One of the most important things to note above is that Zappos did not take a sales or promotional approach to success, but rather an experiential one. They wanted to make shopping on their e-commerce site such a positive experience that customers would continue to come back. Zappos carefully monitored the behavior of their visitors to learn how to make the site more user-friendly. Being the largest online shoe dealer in the world surely means there is a lot of traffic to monitor, so it is important that they spend their time and resources analyzing important and relevant information that they can turn into the actionable insights that will help them stay on top.

Zappos has become more than just an ecommerce site. Remaining consistent with their core culture of positive customer engagement, the company also maintains several blogs and several social media sites. As such, web analytics need to be monitored for each of these sectors to ensure maximum customer satisfaction (Johnson, 2013).

On the main e-commerce site, Zappos monitors customer behavior, customer engagement, keyword searches, and of course, conversions. Monitoring this information revealed that over 75% of Zappos business comes from repeat customers (Quesenberry, 2010). This is important, because their marketing techniques will likely vary from repeat to new customer. According to Darrin Shamo, Director of Direct and Online Marketing for the company, Zappos monitors reports on what customers are looking at while on the site, and then uses that information to create custom online advertising that they feel the customer will find helpful (Demery, 2012). Shamo states that in order to avoid coming across as “creepy” an ad will never feature the exact product a customer was viewing on the site. “A shopper who showed a clear preference for a pair of Nike “Free Run+ 3” running shoes in gray and red trim, for instance, may see a retargeted ad for several similar products in multiple brands and styles—but not the exact same Nike shoe she had checked out on Zappos—while later visiting another web site” (Demery, 2012).

To test how well Zappos uses retargeting, I went onto their site and typed “Vince Camuto Boots” into the search engine. I then clicked on a pair of boots called Kalisi (see the boots on the top). I immediately opened a new tab, logged onto Facebook and found an ad featuring the boots on the bottom in my newsfeed. Similar boots, but the fact that they are different did not give me that creepy, “Zappos is watching my every move!” feeling.

                                                   

Zappos also monitors off-site keywords. They use this information to optimize their site and to help improve their PPC campaigns and organic search results. They need to know where their traffic comes from, and what keywords visitors searched to get there. Using the same “Vince Camuto Boots” search query, this time in a Google search, I got the following results:

As you can see, a paid ad for Zappos pops up right on the top and an organic result is the fourth one down on the first page. By properly analyzing keywords, the company knows where to invest and how to optimize to best meet the needs of their customers. “They buy both generic keywords, such as “shoes” and brand terms, such as ‘”Clarks” on Google and other search engines. Then they uses Web analytics tools to track the sales from each keyword to look at which ones are the most effective” (Quesenberry, 2010).

Additional reports they are monitoring include cart abandonment, purchase funnel issues, bounce rates, exit pages, and landing pages (Johnson, 2013). All of this helps them pinpoint where there are issues that need to be fixed.

Aside from analytics for the ecommerce site itself, the company also monitors email campaign efforts, blog success, and social media. Their email campaigns include e-blast and company newsletters (Quesenberry, 2010). These things are vital because their customer base is so highly skewed toward repeat customers. It is important that they remain engaged with their customer base.

After spending some time on Zappos.com, it is clear that everything they do is consistent with their goals of providing unparalleled customer service. This is a company that does not advertise (they rely on word of mouth), that does not offer promotional discounts (they do not want to buy the customer), and offers their new employees $4000 to quit (they do not want employees who are just there for a check) (Bulygo, 2013). Yet they are worth over $1 billion! This is proof that customer service goes a long way. The site offers customer reviews, additional items you may like based on what you are viewing, different items that other people who viewed the same item bought. They offer additional information and surveys to help with sizing, and of course, free shipping on purchases and returns. After spending just a few minutes on the site, it is easy to see that they monitor visitor behavior and work very hard to ensure that their site is up to speed with what the customers want. The site is fast and easy to navigate.

Zappos has such a large product line that it can be extremely overwhelming. For instance, if you type “black boots” into their search engine you get 3,547 results!

However, they have definitely found a balance to make customers feel at ease without compromising their large inventory. On the left is a toolbar to help narrow down choices. Monitoring web analytics such as behavior and keywords likely helped the company decide which categories to include here.

Results

Zappos set a goal—to deliver WOW though service—and consistently operates in a manner to help them achieve this. They monitor their analytics wisely, and use the information to help them make smart choices that will appeal to their customers and keep them coming back for more positive Zappos experiences. Their net worth continues to rise, and happy customers continue to shop.

References:

Bulygo, Zach. (2013). Tony Hsieh, Zappos, and the Art of Great Company Culture. Retrieved on February 23, 2014 from https://blog.kissmetrics.com/zappos-art-of-culture/

Demery, Paul. (2012). How Zappos balances privacy and targeted ads. Retrieved on February 23, 2014 from http://www.internetretailer.com/2012/10/19/how-zappos-balances-privacy-and-targeted-ads

Johnson, Erik. (2013). Zappos Uses Web Analytics to Fuel the Marketing Engine. Retrieved on February 23, 2014 http://analyticsinsight.blogspot.com/2013/12/zappos-uses-web-analytics-to-fuel.html

Wauters, Robin. (2009). Amazon Closes Zappos Deal, Ends Up Paying $1.2 Billion. Retrieved on February 23, 2014 from http://techcrunch.com/2009/11/02/amazon-closes-zappos-deal-ends-up-paying-1-2-billion/

Quesenberry, Keith A. (2010). Walk A Mile In Zappos’ New Media Shoes. Retrieved on February 23, 2014 http://addingtonoise.wordpress.com/2010/03/23/walk-a-mile-in-zappos-new-media-shoes/

Zappos.com. (2014). Zappos Family Core Value #1. Retrieved on February 23, 2014 from http://about.zappos.com/our-unique-culture/zappos-core-values/deliver-wow-through-service

Is Google Trying to Take Over the World?

In a world where people are becoming complete narcissists, sharing every intimate detail about their personal lives with the entire world via social media, issues such as privacy, security, and ethics have become very controversial topics. People willingly tell the world their date of birth, where they live, their marital status, their interests and hobbies, where they graduated from school, when and where they are going on vacation, etc. In fact, many people prefer to tell the world where they are every second of the day by “checking in.” People feel obliged to share with the world what they ate for dinner, what song they are currently listening to, or what movie they are watching. People are doing this just for fun, but there are companies out there in cyber space that are paying close attention, and using this information to help other companies more efficiently market their products to you. What company am I talking about? I will give you one guess. That is right; you got it… Google! The internet information giant always has its eyes on you, and it is ALWAYS collecting your information and selling it to third parties, or using it to their own advantage to improve the quality of their own products. People seem to feel comfortable willingly sharing their info when it is on their terms, but once they know they are being watched and this info is being collected, it is a whole new ball game. The truth is it makes many consumers uncomfortable. Is this marketer’s dream every consumers’ worst nightmare?

There are a few different points of discussion regarding this topic. First of all, are people really uncomfortable knowing Google collects data? If so, are they uncomfortable enough to stop using Google products? Does the fact that Google provides so much to so many people (top-ranked search engine, free email service, Google Analytics, etc.) offset privacy concerns? Are people willing to stop using Google services because of these issues? Do privacy and ethics issues really serve as a threat to such a giant in the digital world?

In today’s outspoken world, it is obvious that things have shifted from company control to consumer control. Consumers today have more power than ever when it comes to branding. This is because social media has given a voice to the consumer that can literally be heard around the world. Companies no longer have room to spew marketing spin and not follow through. Consumers are looking for truth, authenticity, and transparency. They want to support companies they know are ethical and stand on good moral ground. Google is no different in this regard. Consumers want to know they can trust Google with their information. So, do they? Well, back in 2008, 2009, and 2010 Google made it onto Ethisphere's annual unranked list of the world's most ethical companies (O’Dell, 2011). However, in 2011, they did not make the list. In fact, they have not made the list since (Ethisphere, 2012). So, perhaps the public, or at least the good folks at Ethisphere, do not feel that Google is the trustworthy, transparent company they once were, or claim to still be.

It is easy to understand why it can be difficult to trust Google. It seems like every day they are in the news for acquiring a new company. We are not even two months into the new year, and Google has already acquired five companies, including two internet security companies (Imperium and SlickLogin), and a UK-based Artificial Intelligence company called DeepMind Technologies (Wikipedia, 2014). In December of last year, there were acquisitions made every day between December 2 and December 8, several of which were robotics companies. Google is getting their hands into everything, and some people are beginning to question whether or not they are trying to take over the world!

Despite all this, Google does attempt to appear transparent and trustworthy. They want to be able to collect info, sell this info, and use this info to their advantage. However, in my opinion, they aren’t shy about their desires. Last year they published a public letter to the government requesting the right to be more transparent with information, claiming they have nothing to hide (Lennard, 2013). As the company continues to grow and grow, it appears that they want to be seen as honest and living up to their corporate slogan, “Don’t be evil.”

In the long run, consumers might not like the idea of their every move and all their personal information being tracked, stored, sold, or used to “manipulate” them. However, these feelings do not seem to be stopping anybody. Google’s search engine is the most widely used in the world (Sullivan, 2013). In fact, in 2006 the word “google” was added to the dictionary because it became synonymous with the term “internet search.” Furthermore, in 2012 Google announced that its Gmail service had 425 million active monthly users, surpassing Hotmail and becoming the largest e-mail service in the world (Ludwig, 2012). There is also Google Analytics and Google AdWords, which are both widely used and very popular among data analysts and business owners of all sizes. Most importantly, all of these services are provided for free.

So, there are two ways to look at it: 1) Google collects all your data and sells it and that sounds scary and intrusive. 2) Google collects all your data. They use the info gathered to better their many free services to your needs. They sell your data to third parties who then use it to show you advertisements that are more customized to your likes and needs, and coincide with recent internet searches you have conducted.

The truth is that everything you do online can, and is, being tracked. All consumers should stay aware of this fact when they are doing anything online. I admit, it can be intrusive to feel eyes on you all the time. However, it is the price we pay for living in a digital world. Most of us put all kinds of personal information on the internet. We need to be more cautious if there is info that we do not want tracked. It is only going to get worse. If you do not want your information collected, you need to reduce the size of your digital footprint.

References:

Ethisphere. (2013). WME Honorees. Retrieved on February 17 from http://m1.ethisphere.com/wme2013/index.html

Lennard, Natasha. (2013). The dangerous ethics behind Google’s transparency claims. Retrieved on February 16 from http://www.salon.com/2013/06/11/the_dangerous_ethics_behind_googles_transparency_claims/

Ludwig, Sean. (2012). Gmail finally blows past Hotmail to become the world’s largest email service. Retrieved on February 17 from http://venturebeat.com/2012/06/28/gmail-hotmail-yahoo-email-users/

O’Dell, Jolie. (2011). Microsoft Outranks Google in Ethics. Retrieved on February 16 from http://mashable.com/2011/03/17/microsoft-ethics/

Sullivan, Danny. (2013). Google Still World’s Most Popular Search Engine By Far, But Share Of Unique Searchers Dips Slightly. Retrieved on February 17 from http://searchengineland.com/google-worlds-most-popular-search-engine-148089

Wikipedia. (2014). List of mergers and acquisitions by Google. Retrieved on February 17 from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_mergers_and_acquisitions_by_Google

An Alternative to Google Analytics

When it comes to tracking your web traffic, finding a good analytics tool is the first step to success. Before you implement a tool and begin tracking, it is important to sit down and determine your goals and objectives. Once you have done this, it will be easier to decide which metrics you need to track in order to achieve success. Now that you know what information you are looking for, you can begin researching web analytics tools.

Of course, the first tool to come to mind is likely Google Analytics. Google Analytics is the darling of the web metrics tools industry—it is popular, it is widely used, and everybody in the business is familiar with it. There are many benefits of using Google Analytics, but it might not necessarily be the right tool for you. Do not feel pressured into using it simply because it seems like the tool everybody uses. While it might be the most popular tool, it has not by any means monopolized the industry. There are actually hundreds of alternatives out there, and many of them are worth a second look before you make your final decision. One great alternative is Adobe SiteCatalyst. In this blog post, I will give a brief overview of each tool, as well as a comparison/contrast between the two.

Google Analytics

In a nutshell, Google Analytics is a free web metrics tool that enables you to track information about who, what, when, where, and why people are visiting your site. You can use this “big data” to make more informed marketing decisions.

Big data can be quite intimidating. Google Analytics, no matter how user-friendly it may be, is no different from any other web tool in this respect. This graduate-level course has been my first hands-on experience with the tool, and I was a little overwhelmed at first. There are a lot of reports, a lot of numbers, a lot of graphs, and a lot of information in general… if you do not what you are looking for it is very easy to get lost in a sea of information that is irrelevant to helping you achieve your pre-determined goals.

Google Analytics provides excellent tutorials that show exactly how to navigate through reports and which reports show what information. They also give tips on how to turn this data into actionable insights. Needless to say, it is definitely user-friendly, which is a big plus. Another big plus is that the tool is constantly being updated with new metrics, and it is very easy to find blogs and reviews online to help you determine which metrics you should be keeping an eye on.

Google Analytics has over 80 reports to help you understand your web traffic (WVU, 2014). These reports are grouped in the following categories: Real Time; Audience; Acquisition; Behavior; and Conversions.

Within these categories, some of the reports you can run include Audience Demographics, Geography, Referrals, Behavior Flow, and E-Commerce Performance. Also, Google Analytics can run reports from your Google AdWords account (WVU, 2014). This tool has the ability to customize dashboards and date ranges, making it easy to compare data for any given time period.

Google Analytics appears to receive mostly good reviews online, although there have been a few complaints. The main complaint I found online is that the bounce rate and time-on-site reports might not be accurate due to the way the tool measures this information (Melaugh, 2013). On the contrary, Google Analytics is well respected by many web analysts. As one blogger points out, based on Google’s business model, it is in their best interest to know as much as possible about all websites. This will help them be more successful. The benefits end up coming back to the business owners who use Google Analytics for tracking purposes (Superweb, 2014).

Adobe SiteCatalyst

As mentioned above, if Google Analytics does not seem like the best choice for you, one great alternative is Adobe SiteCatalyst. This tool isn’t free like Google Analytics, but it is said to be a much more in-depth product (Chianis, 2013). Having the name “Adobe” attached definitely gives the product some credibility, as this brand is often associated with excellent, high-quality products. According to an Adobe data sheet, SiteCatalyst offers real-time data, provides a snapshot of KPIs directly in the dashboard, and sends automatic alerts anytime a KPI moves below an acceptable level (ominuture.com, 2014). Also, Adobe states that SiteCatalyst is a one-stop shop to “measure, analyze and optimize all of your online and multi-channel initiatives.”

Along with the hefty price tag, there are a few things that SiteCatalyst provides that Google Analytics does not. One such thing is 24-hour customer service, which might be needed as this tool is said to not be as user-friendly as Google Analytics.  Both tools provide a plethora of free online tutorials and guides to help you make the most of their product. However, SiteCatalyst comes with 24/7 support and account management (Chianis, 2013). It should be noted, however, that Google provides free training through their Analytics Academy, while Adobe charges an additional fee for their training services.

Another noteworthy characteristic of SiteCatalyst is that it allows a significantly high amount of variables to be set. This includes 75 traffic variables, 100 event variables, and 75 conversion variables (Ingle, 2013). Moreover, your back data will never be lost. They will hold onto all your data as long as you are a customer (Chinais, 2013).

As you can see, the fee for Adobe’s services comes with several benefits. The old saying, “You get what you pay for” can be applied here. If Google meets your needs, by all means use their free services. If you need something a little more in-depth, Adobe SiteCatalyst might be the tool for you.

While I’ve never used SiteCatalyst, I did find this image of its dashboard online so you can get a feel for what it looks like:

(Google Images, 2014)

                                                                                                                       

To sum things up, here is a quick side by side comparison of the two tools:

	Google Analytics	Adobe SiteCatalyst
Free	Yes	No
Customer Service	Free Online Tutorials and Guides	24/7 Support and Account Management. Free Online Tutorials and Guides
Training	Analytics Academy (A Free Online Tool)	Training Provided for an Additional Fee
User-Friendly	Yes	Slightly Difficult
Real Time Data	Yes	Yes
Custom Variables	5/Page	75-Traffic, 100-Event, 75-Conversion
Back Log Of Data	25-months	As Long as you are a Customer

References:

Chianis, Alexia. (2013). Google Analytics vs. Adobe SiteCatalyst — Which Data Analysis Platform is Better for Business? Retrieved on February 9 from http://www.businessbee.com/resources/news/operations-buzz/google-analytics-vs-adobe-sitecatalyst-data-analysis-platform-better-business/ 

 Ingle, Sarah. (2013). What’s the Difference? Comparing Google Analytics and Adobe SiteCatalyst. Retrieved on February 9 from http://www.paceco.com/google-analytics-adobe-sitecatalyst-comparison/

 
Melaugh, Shane. (2013). Web Stats: Alternatives to Google Analytics. Retrieved on February 8 from http://imimpact.com/web-stats-alternatives-to-google-analytics/
 
Omniture.com. (2014). Data Sheet: Adobe® SiteCatalyst®: Real-Time, High-Performance Analytics & Reporting. Retrieved on February 9 from https://www.omniture.com/offer/170
 
PI Reed School of Journalism, WVU. (2014). Lesson 5: Google Analytics. Retrieved on February 8 from https://ecampus.wvu.edu/webapps/portal/frameset.jsp?tab_group=courses&url=%2Fwebapps%2Fblackboard%2Fexecute%2FdisplayLearningUnit%3Fcourse_id%3D_7879_1%26content_id%3D_335304_1%26framesetWrapped%3Dtrue
 
Superweb. (2014). Google Analytics Review. Retrieved on February 9 from http://www.superwebanalyst.net/Google-Analytics.php
 

Which Social Network is Right for My Business?

The evolution of social media has changed the world in so many ways. The way you market your business is no exception to this fact. Social media has proven to be a complete game changer. As a company, you are no longer in control of your message. Your consumers have the ball in their court. They decide what they want to see and when they want to see it. Furthermore, thanks to social media, your customers have the ability to share their opinion about your brand and/or products (whether it is good or bad) with the entire world, all at their leisure. Worldwide conversations are taking place about your company. Are you going to ignore what people are saying and continue to send out your one-way marketing messages? Are you simply going to sit back and listen to what people are saying, without taking any action? I did not think so. You want to get in on the action. Now comes the million dollar question—which social media platform(s) do you choose to market your business?

No two businesses are the same. Even those that market similar products still differ in their branding, their goals, their objectives, and so on. Therefore, the answer to this million dollar question will not be the same for any two companies. For Company A, Facebook might be the best option. Company A might be looking to increase brand awareness and having a presence on Facebook might be the perfect option for them. For Company B, the answer might be Twitter. Perhaps Company B is a news-based company and they need to get information out in real-time. Additionally, Company C might benefit from a combination of Facebook and Twitter, and maybe even Pinterest. The point is, choosing a social media platform(s) that will be the most beneficial to you depends on your company, your industry, and your goals.

It is absolutely vital not to take on more than your resources can handle. “Brands that have small social media budgets can still achieve a high level of brand awareness by focusing their resources on just one or two platforms” (Business Insider, 2013). If you are tight on time, people, money, etc., it is beneficial to focus on just one social platform. “Most people and companies can't be amazing on every platform; that takes a huge amount of bandwidth and resources. Instead of having a sub-par representation in a lot of places, be awesome on a few of them” (Levy, 2013). In some cases, it might benefit you to be awesome on just one of them. Of course, this does not mean that you should ignore the others. You should be listening to conversations taking place all over the web when it comes to your brand. However, do not bite off more than you can chew. Attempting to maintain active profiles on too many networks may be spreading your resources too thin. In this case, you might be there, but your efforts will likely go unnoticed by your target audience. If you are going to do something, do it big. Pick a platform, and go all out. Now, how to choose which is right for you?

If you Google around and read what the experts have to say, you will frequently find a very good suggestion to start by learning more about your audience, and where they come from. “The key to choosing the right social marketing platform for your business is to know where your customers ‘hang out’ online…” (Fishaw, 2014). Knowing exactly who you want to target and then figuring out where these people are online will help you decide which platform to choose. Of course you will have to do a little research to learn a bit about each social network. Knowing their capabilities, their limits, and what others are using them for will help you determine which social network(s) will help you achieve your business goals. 

Some of the more popular and widely used platforms are Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and LinkedIn.

Facebook: The biggest social network out there, with over 1.5 billion active users worldwide (Fishaw, 2014). This makes it great for building brand awareness. Two of the biggest age demographics using Facebook are 25 – 34 year-olds, and 45 – 54 year-olds. These are both highly desirable demographics.

Twitter: Twitter does not have nearly as many active users as Facebook, and the most popular age demographic is 18 – 29 (Fishaw, 2014). However, this is the preferred social network for many B2B companies. According to an article in Business Insider, Twitter is used by more Fortune 500 companies than Facebook (Business Insider, 2013). A total of 73% of Fortune 500 companies have active Twitter profiles, while only 66% are active on Facebook!

Pinterest: Users of this social network are comprised of mostly females. It is a very visual-based platform, so if your company has great image-based content and is targeting women, this is the place for you.

LinkedIn: This is your go-to if you want to network with business professionals.

Keep in mind that these are only a few of the most popular sites. Google+ and YouTube are also great options to look into.

Now that you know a little about each network, once you figure out where your audience is you can start to determine where you want to make your presence. Regardless of which you choose, make sure you go in with a clear-cut strategy and goals in mind. It might take a while to build traction, but you need to keep working towards your goal. “Social media is a long game and while it is a bit of a cliché it is all about relationship-building. Brands with the patience to stick to a smart strategy will see it pay off in the medium- and long-term” (Business Insider, 2013).

As web metrics expert Avinash Kaushik points out (2011), an important part of this strategy should be what happens after your post your content. This is where the conversation starts. As Cory Doctorow points out, “Conversation is King, content is just something to talk about” (Novak, 2010). Choose a platform or platforms that will enable you to post quality, conversation-starting content. Then, make sure you engage your consumers in this conversation to keep it going. This will help you increase reach and create a desire among your consumers to share your content and continue the conversation elsewhere. This, in turn, helps build brand advocates and keeps people coming back for more.

To summarize, it is important to first know your business goals. Next, research which social networks your target audience is spending time on. Learn a little about the capabilities and limitations of each network. Figure out which you can fit into your budget, and then pick a platform or two. “Money and effort should not be wasted by brands to be on all platforms, even if the budget allows for it. A surprising number of small and medium-sized brands fall into the trap of believing they have to be on all the social media platforms. A well-crafted ‘platform-native’ approach is always better than a diluted presence on a half-dozen networks” (Business Insider, 2013).  The next step is to create a strategy, stick with it, monitor your results, and adjust as you go to help you reach your goals.

To give a real-world example, I am considering starting a party planning business. My business would be small (I would be the only employee!), it would be local, and it would be a B2C company. I would likely choose to social network on Facebook, where I can build brand awareness, share photos, and target my local audience. I would also likely be active on Pinterest where I can show off my skills in images. I would be able to target mothers looking to plan Sweet 16s, Bar or Bat Mitzvahs, birthday parties, retirement parties, baby showers, etc. These two platforms would benefit me more than Twitter, where my tweets might be lost and it would be difficult to start a conversation. LinkedIn would not benefit me for obvious reasons. So, keep in mind, it is all about your specific business, your specific goals, your specific audience, and your specific resources.

References:

Business Insider. (2013). How To Choose The Right Social Media Platform For Your Brand. Retrieved on January 25 from http://www.businessinsider.com/choose-the-right-social-media-platform-2013-7

Fishaw, Justin. (2014). Choosing the Right Social Media Marketing Platform for Your Business. Retrieved on January 26 from http://digitalsherpa.com/choosing-right-social-media-marketing-platform-business/

Kaushik, Avinash. (2011). Best Social Media Metrics: Conversation, Amplification, Applause, Economic Value. Retrieved on January 27 from http://www.kaushik.net/avinash/best-social-media-metrics-conversation-amplification-applause-economic-value/

Levy, Scott. (2013). How to Choose the Best Social Media Platform for Your Business. Retrieved on January 25 from http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/230020

Novak, C. (2010, July 27). Why conversation, not content, is king. SocialMediaToday.com. Retrieved January 27, 2014 from http://socialmediatoday.com/wordspring/152636/why-conversation-not-content-king