Online marketing professionals have been advised to carefully monitor the attitude of their customer base in order to optimise their business.

With the majority of companies increasing their online presence through channels such as email marketing and social media, it is crucial that they tune into online behaviour and reflect it in their advertising campaigns.

While it is common to measure click-throughs, revenues and page views, some companies are still not making full use of data available to them via consumer attitudes.

Marketing professional Jim Sterne explained that analytical data – such as click throughs etc – should be used in conjunction with information on customer satisfaction in order to establish a clear business photo and ensure the ongoing success of a firm.

Mr Sterne said it is equally important to establish if potential customers liked the website they were taken to, and how they rated it in terms of products and overall user experience.

"They let you know if your online efforts are making life harder for customers rather than easier. They let you know if there are any forehead-slapping problems on your website that, once fixed, can vastly improve how people do business with you," he said.

The issue of consumer attitudes was recently illustrated in an online study which examined the trends of Facebook users and the brands they became fans of.

Research carried out by marketing software provider ExactTarget and Twitter management applications supplier CoTweet indicated that – while 2 out of five Facebook users register as fans of a particular company – it does not necessarily guarantee business for that brand.

According to the findings, just 17 per cent of those displaying fan registrations on their pages are more likely to make a purchase after doing so.

The study also revealed that around half of users on the popular social networking ‘like’ between one and 4 brands on average.

Facebook users are also twice as likely to display such preferences with friends as their counterparts on Twitter, which may be of particular note to companies looking to boost their brand via a social media presence.

Jeff Rohrs, principal at ExactTarget’s marketing research and education group, said social media is primarily a way for users to interact with friends and express themselves through their public affiliation with specific brands, but noted that such factors provide fertile ground for marketers.

Google has launched its real-time search website which incorporates social media and features constantly updated news.

Having first being trialled in August last year, the application is now live with its own official page.

As well as breaking news, postings on sites such as Facebook and Twitter, users can customise their search to get real-time opinion on different subjects around the world.

The internet giant developed the website after monitoring user behaviour and establishing that some consumers were specifically interested in up-to-the-minute results.

Google spokesman Dylan Casey said the site has a range of tools to refine search results, even allowing users to browse an entire conversation chronologically as it takes place.

"We organise the tweets from oldest to newest and indent so you quickly see how the conversation developed," Mr Casey said.

Google Alerts has also been fine-tuned, and can now be used to send users emails as soon as their specified topics appear on sites such as Twitter or Facebook.

It follows recent news that Google has been testing a streaming search engine which reconfigures results pages while the user is still typing.

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Online marketing campaigns must fully understand the digital mindset of potential customers, an expert has claimed.

With the majority of companies increasing their online presence through channels such as email marketing and social media, it is crucial that online behaviour is carefully monitored and reflected in successful advertising campaigns.

Faye Weeks, director of digital media research agency Connect Insight, said businesses looking to stay ahead of their rivals should obtain as much information about their customer base as possible.

“In order for companies to maximise the impact of their marketing communications, we advise them to take the time to understand their consumers’ digital behaviour, the way they use digital media and their mindset,” she said.

The growing popularity of social media has seen many companies create a presence on sites such as Facebook and Twitter, but Ms Weeks pointed out that – while it is a highly-effective platform – it may not be suited to all products and advertising campaigns should be tweaked accordingly.

“Social media will work better for some products, brands and campaigns than others. It depends on the objective of the campaign, target audience, creative or communicative vehicle, et cetera,” she explained.

The rise of social media has also played a part in the changing nature of the email marketing newsletter, which can now have far greater reach if incorporated correctly.

While traditionally a one-way channel of information sent out to a roster of clients, the email marketing newsletter can be used to generate customer interaction across multiple channels.

According to US marketing consultant Mike Hotz, the newsletter must be adapted to incorporate social media, which is fast becoming a primary business tool.

“Traditionally, a B2B e-mail newsletter has been a passive exercise. You develop your content and mail it out every other week or so to your entire list,” he commented.

“As social media rises in popularity, your newsletter’s role must also change to better drive conversation across multiple digital channels.”

He advised all businesses to post an online version of their newsletter to the most popular social media sites, in order to allow users to share the content within their own personal networks.

Marketing professionals have seen their potential customer base expand substantially thanks to the rise of social media, with industry expert Stephanie Miller recently saying that such sites “may just be the best thing to happen to email marketers yet.”