Path CEO Dave Morin Joi...

Path co-founder and CEO Dave Morin is joining the board of the event ticketing startup Eventbrite , the company is announcing today. The news of the appointment follows what has been, so far, quite a busy year for the startup, which has now sold 60 million tickets, and is expanding globally with websites in eight different languages. Morin, whose background includes time as the former head of the Facebook Platform and several years at Apple, will bring his knowledge of social to the ticketing company, says Eventbrite. Morin joins Barry McCarthy, former CFO of Netflix, Sean Moriarty, former CEO of Ticketmaster, Roelof Botha, former CFO of PayPal and Partner at Sequoia Capital, among others serving on Eventbrite’s Board of Directors. “Eventbrite has long been a believer in the impact of the social graph, and the work that Dave did while at Facebook has had a profound impact on our business,” Kevin Hartz, CEO of Eventbrite says. “Our integration with Facebook Connect in 2008 predicated an exponential increase in traffic and engagement among event attendees,” he added. Eventbrite is heavily benefitting from Facebook integration. In 2011, the company reported that every time an event was shared on Facebook, it generated an additional $2.52 on average in ticket sales for event organizers and 11 clicks back to the Eventbrite page. And this was before the launch of Facebook’s Open Graph in early 2012, and the introduction of “actions” like “bought,” or “want” or “watch,” etc. Notably, Eventbrite was one of the Facebook Open Graph launch partners, but it’s not yet using “actions.” According to Tamara Mendelsohn, VP of Marketing at Eventbrite, however, they’re “working on something now” on that front, and we should see the results of that soon. Facebook is also the number one driver of Eventbrite’s traffic, says Mendelsohn, but the company won’t share how much. As for engagement levels, you can see in the chart below what the impact of Facebook integrations have already had on the company’s business. With Morin’s guidance on deeper integrations, those numbers should jump yet again. Outside of social integrations and global expansion, the company has also been pushing itself forward in the mobile payments space. In March, Eventbrite launched a complimentary credit card reader to go along with its iPad ticketing app “Eventbrite at the Door,” which attaches to the iPad’s dock connector, allowing users to swipe credit cards. Just prior to this, the company had announced a product called “Endurance,” specifically for selling tickets to races and walks, like marathons and fundraising events. And only last week, Eventbrite announced integrations with   SponsorHub  for connecting event organizers with sponsors. “Eventbrite is fundamentally changing the way people create, promote and find events and gatherings in their local communities,” said Morin in a statement. “I’ve been more than impressed by their level of innovation, their commitment to their users, and by their long term focus. The decision to join the board as they forge into making event discovery more mobile and social was an easy one. At the end of the day, we all live for great events.” Eventbrite has been making a huge push towards reaching $1 billion in gross ticket sales this year, about doubling the number of events on the platform in 2011 (458,207 events in 2011) and tickets sold (20,798,509 tickets in 2011). In 2011, Eventbrite sold $400 million worth of tickets, up from $207 million in 2010.

I’ve Been Hooked By Sho...

Editor’s Note:   Sales Marketing Manager Leslie Hitchcock is a non-editorial TechCrunch employee. In addition to working at TechCrunch and being super fashionable, she reviews startups and tech products occasionally on her personal blog, Leslie Just Joined . Two of my favorite things are shoes and tech. That a site exists which combines both…well, where do I sign up! Shoes of Prey is an Australian headquartered startup where women (sorry, fellas!) can create shoes of their own design, which are then custom-made to order and delivered within five weeks of conceptualization. Shoes of Prey came to fruition out of the premise that somehow women compromise when searching for the perfect shoe out in the wild; that our ultimate dream shoe lives somewhere inside of us, just waiting to come out. I can get on board with this! Until recently I hadn’t heard of Shoes Of Prey – most of their business still comes from outside the U.S. But I was given a gift certificate by a friend for a free pair of shoes, and that’s not something I’m going to pass up. My experience with Shoes of Prey was incredibly positive. While it was slightly overwhelming to begin designing (so many options !), once I settled down and carefully considered the type of footwear I’d want to add to my collection (and it is a collection ) the process became easier. What was missing among the shoes I have in rotation was a bright color in a shorter heel than I typically wear. With this in mind, I set about designing. On Shoes Of Prey, the shoe style possibilities are endless: sandals, pumps, flats, skimmers, brogues (added as an option recently), booties, wedges, platforms. After you decide on the style of shoe, then the true customization begins. Shoes of Prey invites you to consider the details: peep toe, spectator heel, D’Orsay pump, slingback. And more. Heel type and height: stiletto, wedge, block heel. And more. Decorations: bows, trimming, Mary Janes. And more. The fabric: patent leather, soft leather, cotton blend, animal hair (sorry I’m not sorry, PETA), snakeskin. And more. See what I mean by “slightly overwhelmed” and “endless possibilities”? There are lots and lots and lots of choices. Shoes of Prey doesn’t scrimp on options for one’s perfect bespoke shoe. And yet, where there is room for improvement is actually in the details. You might think that’s not possible based on the previous paragraph, but details like grommets, studs, bows, stitching, and different placement of shoe accoutrements are what give non-Shoes of Prey footwear an advantage over these custom-made kicks. Back to my shoes. After I submitted the order in early April, the reality of bespoke footwear sunk in: “Your shoes will be delivered by May 8, 2012.” For someone significantly lacking in patience, like me, this was depressing news. However! It went really quickly and by the time they were delivered, I had almost forgotten about them. They were even early! But I won’t forget about these shoes any time soon. They are amazing . When paying between $180-$300 for custom shoes from the site, attention to detail is significantly more important. Where Shoes of Prey excelled was in attentive customer service. I received notice from the site that my “beautiful shoes” (their words) were being delivered and surprisingly the next day DHL waltzed them into my office. (I may or may not have squealed and texted someone that they’d arrived. I get excited about these sorts of things). I’m a discriminating footwear customer and as such I was immediately charmed by the packaging and inclusion of an array of comfort enhancing accessories like cushions for the ball and heel of one’s foot. That Shoes of Prey supplies these items and don’t force me to buy them myself was a really thoughtful move. Perfectly timed, my order arrived on the day I was leaving for a vacation. Not one to shy away from a challenge, I immediately put them on and walked them through two airports with nary a blister. For the uninitiated, this is the highest form of a shoe compliment, typically reserved for high-end footwear like Manolo Blahnik and Christian Louboutin. My new shoes also received tons of passing comments on how fabulous they are, naturally. Revisiting my above disclaimer: a gift certificate may have alerted me to the Shoes of Prey, but I have at least three pairs that I’ve been customizing for my imminent forthcoming order. The only trouble is narrowing down which pair to pull the trigger on. But then again, when have I ever shown restraint in the shoe department? I think I’ll take all three!

New Study Shows Google+...

It’s like a story from a Hollywood gossip magazine. The son of a rich and powerful man comes to town, he chats up everyone girl he meets. They’re not sure about him but he comes from a good family, so why not? First date, second date, he’s ready to ask her to go steady and bam – he never hears from her again. Poor Google+, he tries and tries but in the end, they always leave him. RJMetrics has detailed Google+’s relationship troubles and it’s bleaker than bleak. Check out this over the rainbow scenario. Each line represents the average person posting over and over on Google+ until they stopped. The blue line is the oldest, red next, then green, then pink. As you can see, every couple of months, the average user posted less and less over time. Those who do post regularly have an average of 12 days between them. And how about this: 30% of users who make a public post never make a second one. Even after making five public posts, there is a 15% chance that a user will not post publicly again. Oh Google+, why do people run from you? Is it your geeky personality? Is it that you don’t hang with the popular crowd? Is it your general appearance? What? And for those who do stick around, it’s as if they don’t want anyone to know because the average post has “less one +1, less than one reply, and less than one re-share.” It’s like they’re embarrassed to be seen with you. I’m not sure what’s causing the problem, but I have a solution. We get ABC to run a reality show called The Lonely Social Network. Then we invite 10,000 people to compete for your affection. You can “hangout” with your favorites and +1 the keepers. At the end of each episode, those without a +1 are sent packing on the little Facebook bus. After 13 episodes, you’ll have a band of loyal users who are proud to wear you button. It could work because everyone loves an underdog, so in that sense, Google+ has got it made.

Consumers Say No to a F...

Facebook is many things to many people but there are two areas they can’t seem to get right, e-commerce and search. Now, e-commerce is a complicated thing, but search shouldn’t be. Surely Facebook has the brainpower and talent in their pocket to create the world’s greatest search engine, but if they did, would it matter? Greenlight set out to discover the answer through their “Search & Social Survey (2011-2012).” Before we see the answer, you should know that they only surveyed 500 people. I’m not sure that’s enough to get a true picture, but it certainly is enough to get an indication of the way a group is moving. When asked if they would use a Facebook search engine (meaning a full search like Google’s, not just an internal engine), 48% said “No” or “Probably Not.” That means that the most Facebook could hope to capture would be 22% of searchers if they gobbled up all the “Definitelys,” “Probablys,” and half the “Don’t Knows.” That’s not so good, is it? As for Google search, we already know of its awesome power but the Greenlight survey found that 23% of searchers have been clicking the Google+ button in the search results. That’s a data bonanza for Google.  One thing, though, 28% of those surveyed said they didn’t know what +1 meant. Greenlight’s Andreas Pouros comes to this conclusion: “Brands and e-retailers need to be encouraging +1′s in Google, as it isn’t something that might be important in the future – it already is! It affects natural search rankings and will have an increasing impact over time across every Google product they utilise – AdWords, price comparison, Shopping, YouTube, etc., and Facebook could be a major search engine overnight. As such a brand’s performance on Facebook today (likes, visits, etc.) will likely have a decisive impact on how well exposed it is on that new search engine.” In other words, don’t count Facebook or Google+ out just yet. If you’re really into search, Greenlight has a nifty, free magazine you can download. This month they’re talking about foreign language searches and Facebook advertising. It’s a good read. Join the Marketing Pilgrim Facebook Community

Most Popular Digital To...

What’s old is new? Often in life, we find that upom leaving something that has been proven to work well for a different thing that simply looks newer or is pitched as being the “hottest thing” in the market, we ultimately come back home. We come back to the stability and common sense of a technique that has a proven track record even though it is not the sexiest option out there. It’s called making a business vs. an emotional decision. We are getting deep enough into the Internet era to now see what is effective, what is real and to hopefully sniff out what is BS. Oh sure, there are plenty of shiny objects for marketers to chase and we will. That’s the human nature part of this whole thing. But what we are seeing now is that there is something that, while not sexy, simply works in the digital world. That thing is e-mail. Take a look at the findings of research by Chief Marketer as reported by eMarketer . The chart has a lot of other very interesting techniques that marketers use and it can be argued that they are all critical. In fact, if you are a strong marketer in the digital age you recognize that there is no silver bullet technique that will win the day. It is the right combination of marketing options that you put together to attract, convince, support, inform and nurture your target market that wins the day. As for the right combination for you? Well, let’s just say that’s your problem to solve. What e-mail seems to offer marketers is the ability to measure (with a relative degree of confidence) just what is accomplished through that particular channel. Open rates and more give marketers a decent feel for what is happening with their message. More importantly, it seems as if the pendulum may have swung back in the other direction with e-mail. What do I mean by that? Well, the supposed death knell for e-mail was spam. While email spam is still a problem, email providers have done a much better job of filtering out that spam which now makes email something that cuts through the clutter rather than adding to it. I personally make sure that anything I feel I HAVE to read or attempt to know must arrive in my email inbox. It’s my way of separating that message from all the other increasingly annoying noise that is today’s social media. As with any good thing it’s not perfect but guess what, neither are the rest of your marketing options. How do you view email in light of these findings? How do you use it? Is it something that you rely on differently than other channels both as a marketer and a consumer? We always love to hear our readers opinions because it’s these comments that often uncover the real information our other readers can use. How about joining the fray today ?