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Seven Google Tools to Manage Media CampaignsOne of the things I'm always talking about is how the line between search marketing and online media is blurring. Indeed, they've crossed over right into offline. Clearly, search marketing is a form of online media, but consider this: when you turn on content targeting for your PPC campaign on Google, are you now running online media even though your ads are targeted by keywords contained in the content the ads appear next to? Of course you are. Add in Google Image and click-to-play ads, and you're now actively running an online media campaign. Every once in a while, Google visits our office to give us the full update on all the kinds of media that can be managed by both media and search professionals through its system. Here's a quick breakdown for search marketers, online media planners, and offline media planners of all the things Google has to offer. I'm not writing this because I'm trying to promote Google. It certainly doesn't need more promotion. I just find it interesting and useful to understand what can be obtained through the Google interface. Read more... ESPN and MLB Strike Out Looking When it Comes to Search and the 2008 Home Run DerbyJosh Hamilton of the Texas Rangers put on a spectacle during the 2008 MLB Home Run Derby as he hit a single round record 28 home runs in the first round of the contest. I am not quite sure how the ratings will end up, but ESPN, the MLB, and their partners have to be optimistic for decent numbers based on the record breaking performance. And although this year’s derby was probably lacking the star-power of recent derbies past, the network could at least rely on promoting the historic venue-Yankee Stadium in it's final year. With all of the effort surrounding the promotion and coverage of this event by ESPN, the MLB and their partners, it's hard to believe they could have missed out on the opportunity with search, integrating online opportunities, and driving relevant traffic to a destination where further brand engagement could have occurred. One missed opportunity was not capitalizing on the spike in searches on “Home Run Derby” that would expectedly occur around the all-star break. Searching “Home Run Derby” resulted in NO paid ads...
...so it’s clear there isn’t much advertiser competition surrounding these terms. The cheap clicks could have been driven to a special Home Run Derby landing page or microsite with stats, blogs, past Home Run Derby highlights, pictures or even interactive games. But the good news is- it's not too late! The big game isn't until tomorrow night. It's as simple as coming up with a destination and some ad copy, and bidding on the term "all star game"-there is no advertiser competition here either. And the spike for "all star game" is also pretty high in mid July.
Labels: Google, Paid Search, Search, Strategy You Drive Less. Shouldn't You Save More? Everyone is concerned about ever-increasing gas prices and one of our clients, GMAC Insurance, has a program that offers substantial insurance premium discounts to low-mileage drivers. To support this program, Overdrive Interactive recently launched a landing page for GMAC Insurance called "The Commuter Calculator". Using the site's online calculator visitors can find out how much their weekly commute costs and whether they are above or below average in the number of miles driven for their particular area of the country. Site links take visitors to the GMAC Insurance corporate site for more information about their low mileage discount program. Even though the insurance discount program is only available to drivers who have an OnStar-equipped GM vehicle, go to the site and try out the Commuter Calculator for yourself! Here's the URL for the site: http://www.lowmileagediscount.com Labels: Agency News, Landing Pages Why Pay for Online Audience Metrics When You Can Get Them For Free?Everyone loves getting something for nothing, particularly when that something has a pretty decent price tag associated with it. What am I talking about here? It’s online audience metrics, which until now were primarily available to organizations willing to subscribe to comScore or Neilsen Online.So who’s out there shaking things up? It’s our old chum Google! Yes, in the very near future, Google is expected to announce its own online audience measurement tool aimed at helping advertisers identify the best places to reach their target audience and purchase online ads by telling them which sites they visit. Not only will the tool be free, but it will also have a different means of collecting user data than either comScore or Neilsen Online, which many believe will make it better and more accurate. Specifically, Google’s tool will be based mostly on data from Web servers, which will allow for a more in-depth and broad-based view of internet use. Comparatively, both comScore and Neilsen Online gather usage data by tracking panels of people and what they do online or by conducting surveys. This methodology has the ability to make results inconsistent and incomplete as you are in reality measuring a small segment of the online population and then aggregating those results to make more broad-based observations about the marketplace as a whole. In comparison, Google’s tool, which will still rely on some data gleaned from panels, will measure a much broader segment of the population as it will be deployed across their entire very, very expansive ad network. While Google’s system does not appear infallible (it's cookie-based and users can delete cookies), the sheer size of Google’s user base and network has the potential to make this a very revolutionary system and shake-up the way online activity is measured. And because it’s being offered for free, it will make this kind of intelligence more of a commodity and level the playing field in terms of online media planning and buying. What do I mean by “leveling the playing field”? Simply stated, services like comScore and Neilsen Online cost money and are available only to those who can afford them. However, by Google making audience data free of charge, it will enable everyone to leverage it and make more intelligent decisions about how they plan and buy online media. Therefore, while such intelligence has primarily been available to big agencies or companies and touted as a competitive advantage that smaller rivals just don’t have access to, this will no longer be the case. Hence, what is exciting about Google’s forthcoming tool is that it will enable everyone to make more accurate and confident decisions about the buys being executed and the targets being reached, which should in turn lead to an overall increase in the ROI associated with online advertising. And in an era of heightened accountability, this will likely only make advertisers more comfortable with committing more dollars online. But the true value that I see in a tool such as Google’s coming to market, is not just that it’s going to level the playing field, lead to increased budgets and provide free access to data that was previously only available to those with the means to pay for it, but that it’s going to force us as marketers to become better at what we do. In order to be competitive, we’re now going to be forced to further evolve our thinking. So in the online media planning and buying space where will the competitive advantage now come from? Simply stated, it will no longer be enough to say you have access to and spout audience statistics, as soon everyone will be able to do this. Rather you will need to demonstrate that you understand and know how to use and apply this data. The truth is, while everyone likes statistics, people love it when you can demonstrate that you know what they mean and apply this knowledge to solve real business issues. With Google’s forthcoming tool, we’ll all soon be able to know who is going where and doing what. But now, to truly differentiate your plans and buys, you’ll need to demonstrate that you not only have the data, but understand what it means and the business benefits derived from it, and this is what will separate the leaders from the pack. Labels: Google, Industry, New Business, Online Media, POV, small business marketing, Strategy Good News for Facebook AdvertisersAccording to a quick poll by Mashable, readers think that Facebook is the social network that delivers the best ads. "Best" is described as "“most accurate, interesting and engaging.” Facebook ads seem to be considered the most relevant, which is no surprise with its unique advertising platform that lets advertisers target users not just based on the usual demographic data but also based on specific terms found in the user's profiles (interests, hobbies, favorites, jobs, etc.)This is definitely good news for us online marketers who advertise on Facebook, but what about our ads on the other social networks like MySpace, LinkedIn, Friendster, and so on? My opinion is that we should not be discouraged, and instead work even harder on making sure that our ads are relevant, engaging and reach the correct target audience. We can rely on technologies such as MySpace's hypertargeting, or try out ad networks that focus solely on Social Media such as Lotame. However, whether we are advertising on Facebook or Google or any other property, we want to make sure that our online ads get clicks, and these clicks convert into actions. Because ultimately, our role is to encourage desired behavior - and great ads are always part of our strategy. Labels: POV, Social Media Anatomy of Great Online Media PlanMy inspiration for this column was an online media plan spreadsheet. Yup, a spreadsheet representing an online media plan. You know what I call that? A media plan summary. Many times I see agencies large and small presenting the days, and even weeks, of planning and negotiating that went into creating a plan as a simple table of site names, impression levels, flight dates, high-level placement details, and creative specs and costs. The problem with this way of presenting a plan: it minimizes the effort that goes into producing an online plan (which is always underappreciated) and cheapens a process that I hold sacred. Show your clients how much thought and research goes into an online campaign. The following, though not exhaustive, are important and add depth to a successful online media plan:Read more... Labels: ClickZ, Online Media Thinking of Developing a Facebook Application?You might want to read this first.Ah Facebook. Day by day, its audience and community just seems to grow larger and larger and as this audience grows, more and more businesses are looking to effectively levearge it as part of their social media marketing strategy. One obvious step is to set-up a profile, which is a key if you want to access the Facebook community in a relevant manner. Having a profile gives you a presence and a base of operations to start marketing to and leveraging the community. However, the challenge that many organizations face once they set-up a profile is what to do next, in order to actually grow their friend and fan base. Having a profile on Facebook is great, but if no one know its there or it just stagnates, then what is it really worth? In order to grow your friend and fan base, there are a number of viral tactics you can tap into as well as advertising mediums such as left-hand ad units and Social Ads. While these are all great, if you read the press and just listen to the buzz, these all seem to pale in comparison to what many see as the Holy Grail of a developing a successful Facebook presence – Application Development. Yes, in May 2007 Facebook decided to invite developers to create free software programs that Facebook members could in turn use to communicate with and entertain one another. The net effect of opening up Facebook as a development platform has played a huge role in its growing popularity and has helped to ensure that things do not become stagnant. This assertion is supported by the fact that in the past year more than 250,000 developers have requested the company’s tools for building applications and more than 24,000 applications have been launched. This equates to over 65 new applications being launched every day! Pretty impressive growth, if I say so myself. Needless to say, many developers have turned their applications into viable business models and companies have used applications to raise their profile within Facebook through increased engagement with their brand. While this is all great and I applaud everyone who has had success, it has also spawned some unrealistic views about Facebook’s application development platform. The Myth of the Facebook App This flood of application development and the associated buzz has also led to many organizations talking about developing “Facebook Apps” as part of a strategy in order to grow and evolve their presence on the site. It’s almost as if people look at Facebook as some kind of magical development platform and no matter what kind of App you develop its surely going to be viral and increase your friend and fan base 10x over. As much as I would like say this is the case, its really not and hence - “The Myth of the Facebook App”. So what do I mean by “The Myth of the Facebook App”? Well, take this recent quote from Ben Ling, director of platform marketing at Facebook, when asked why some applications are successful, but many just seem to stagnate – “The Facebook platform is not a magic platform and you can plug anything in and be successful. It does not make something that’s not useful useful.” - Wall Street Journal – June 10, 2008 Reality Bites In fact a study published in March 2008 by O’Reilly Media, Inc. regarding Facebook applications revealed some very sobering statistics:
So why is it that some applications are successful while others are not? The applications that seem to be working are those that provide a useful service, entertain users and allow users to socialize with one another. This last point is very, very key, particularly when you think about Facebook as medium. What I mean is that as a medium Facebook is about connecting and socializing with others and something that is considered to be both useful and entertaining is most often based on the premise that it enables you to connect and socialize with your friends.
While these are certainly not the only questions to be asking yourself, they can provide a baseline framework to ensure that you set foot in the right strategic direction when developing an application. As Facebook grows more and more crowded, the opportunities for successful application development are going to get more and more challenging. To simply develop an application without considering its strategic value and how it can be effectively woven into Facebook’s social fabric is a recipe for failure and frustration. Labels: Industry, POV, Social Media, web 2.0 Facebook is Changing!If you're reading this blog, you're either a) an Overdrive employee, b) an Overdrive client, c) interested in working for Overdrive/used to work for Overdrive, d) a smart person with great taste in choosing blogs, or e) a competitor who spies on our brilliant ideas. In any case, by now you are most probably already immersed in (or at least part of!) some kind of social media marketing. If you have a constantly updated profile on Facebook or MySpace, if you tweet and follow Twitter, if you've ever shared anything using one of those convenient chicklets, then I bet you're more than comfortable navigating around the social media web.Well, here's another thing to look forward to: next month, Facebook is launching a redesigned Profiles page. For the last few weeks, Facebook has been actively getting feedback from users regarding the new Profiles redesign via the Facebook Profiles Preview Page. Right now, the plan is to launch the new profile page interface with separate tabs for the Feed, Info, Photos, and Applications:  According to the Facebook Profiles Preview Page, "while some upcoming changes may take getting used to, ultimately they will lead to a better, faster, more useful Facebook." Personally, I'm glad that there is now a way to separate and organize the different sections of each profile. Professionally, I'm excited that this opens up a whole lot of opportunities for online marketers. For instance, the user will also have the option to add more tabs for specific applications. This could be very beneficial to social marketers and application developers, because a tab dedicated to your brand's application equals valuable real estate on the user's profile. Imagine what a useful, engaging, and entertaining application could do: spread virally and manually, contribute greatly to the user experience, and ultimately build stronger brand affinity. The publisher box within the Wall tab also makes life easier for all Facebook users to add and share all kinds of content. It is basically a feature that allows users to directly post items on their feeds as well as their friends' feeds. This streamlines the sharing and interaction process, and makes it easier to communicate with users. It is definitely an exciting time to be part of the social media landscape, with all these updates and changes and redesigns. If you want to read more Facebook news, check out Inside Facebook. Also try Mashable - it's great resources for social media news. Labels: Social Media Participation in the Chase Corporate ChallengeOn Thursday, June 26th, four members of the Overdrive team successfully completed the JPMorgan Chase Corporate Challenge®: Ty Velde, Barb Wojslawowicz, Meghan Haley and Michael Orlinski.For more information regarding the Challenge, visit this blog post: http://www.ovrdrv.com/blog/2008/05/overdrive-gets-set-for-chase-corporate_05.asp The happy team, post-race:  Those TEAM OVERDRIVE t-shirts get the thumbs-up approval from Mike!  Bill, Meryl, Shane and I met the team afterwards at Solas to celebrate their success!  Barb and Bill having a victory drink!  Labels: Campus Life Launching Multicultural Media CampaignsA specialty at our firm is helping companies target niche audiences. One of our more challenging accounts has charged us with running a multicultural campaign targeting dozens of individual ethnic groups within the United States with just the right message. This type of campaign presents a different set of challenges from huge buys on the Web's top sites. To help describe some of the challenges and tactics associated with running one of these campaigns I interviewed Barbara Wojslawowicz, one of our planners, who does a great job managing and optimizing these difficult multicultural campaigns. Barbara Wojslawowicz: I'm an online media planner in the media department at Overdrive Interactive. I'm responsible for online, and sometimes offline, media strategy, planning, buying, and management for direct-response clients, primarily focused on multicultural advertising. Prior to Overdrive, I held online marketing positions at Digitas and First Night Boston. HG: Why is multicultural advertising so important? BW: Since each ethnic group responds to messaging differently, it's important for advertisers to tailor products and subsequent advertising campaigns in culturally relevant media segments. The U.S. has always been referred to as a melting pot of ideas, religions, and cultures, and according to a recent Pew Research Center study entitled, "Immigration to Play Lead Role in Future U.S. Growth," the pot is going to get even bigger. According to the study, "the population of the United States will rise to 438 million in 2050, from 296 million in 2005, and 82% of the increase will be due to immigrants arriving from 2005 to 2050 and their U.S.-born descendants...The Latino population, already the nation's largest minority group, will triple in size." This population boom will inevitably lead to increased spending on consumer goods from ethnic Americans. This presents a huge opportunity for companies to expand their product offerings and target their ad campaigns by ethnic group. HG: In your experience, what channels have been the most successful in reaching your client's ethnic markets in the U.S.? Labels: ClickZ, Industry, Online Media |
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