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Google Buzz vs. Everything ElseYesterday, Jeremiah Owyang of Web Strategy published a blog post that weighed in on his opinion of the freshly released "Google Buzz." So what is Google Buzz? Google's answer to social networks like Twitter and Facebook that attempts to incorporate and aggregate the chatter on all existing social networks. Many users have compared the feed that is aggregated and shared on Google Buzz similar to FriendFeed or the Facebook homepage feed. Google Buzz sits upon the email powerhouse of Gmail, not to mention the most popular website in the world, Google. Owyang offers a detailed matrix that compares and contrasts Google Buzz, Facebook, MySpace and Twitter. Most notably, Owang points out that Google Buzz is late to the party, but has potential to integrate the entire internet, while Facebook has gained traction with Facebook connect. The clearcut competition in social networks seems like it may come down to a faceoff between Facebook and Buzz, since many have predicted Twitter to be a commodity that will be integrated into everything. The real competition will not exist until Buzz gets enough users to sign up and use the service. Facebook, which already has 400 million active users, is starting in the lead. While Buzz was released to a public full of high expectations, users were fast to scrutinize the privacy flaws of the content aggregator. A Fox news article reported that Buzz users were automatically opted in to allow others to see who their email and chat contacts are. Google responded by making the opt out option for sharing contacts more clear, but many are still weary of the system's privacy. The Future of Google Buzz is unclear, however Owywang suggests that Buzz is quick to integrate into Chrome and Search to leverage the information and consumers that Google already possesses. Facebook is urged to become more open and reward users for sharing public information. However, Facebook's so-called "Titan" email project could be a game changer... Labels: Google, Google Buzz, Industry, Social Media, Social Media Marketing, web 2.0 Yahoo! and Monster – Dismantling the Yahoo! EmpireI got this interesting email from Monster today – another pillar being carved off and outsourced by Yahoo! First search goes to Bing, now Jobs to Monster. Check it out: Monster To Acquire Yahoo!'s HotJobs Dear Customer: Today, we are excited to announce that Monster has entered into an agreement to acquire HotJobs that will provide you with unprecedented access to job seekers and make Monster the leading site for job seekers in the U.S. Upon the close of the acquisition, Monster will also enter into a multi-year strategic agreement with Yahoo!, becoming the jobs and recruitment engine on Yahoo!'s homepage for both the U.S. and Canada. HOW DOES THIS ACQUISITION AND MULTI-YEAR TRAFFIC AGREEMENT IMPACT YOU? • Increased traffic to your jobs: Monster will become Yahoo!'s provider of career and job content on the Yahoo! homepage in the United States and Canada. This is not just a generic portal deal – people with a demonstrated interest in jobs and careers will be sent to Monster from Yahoo!. In fact, with an increase in qualified candidates, we expect that job response, our metric for apply per post, will increase significantly. • Broader industry seeker mix: HotJobs brings new strengths to Monster in the form of healthcare, retail, finance and insurance seekers that complement Monster's traditional strengths. As a Monster customer, you will be able to put your message in front of Monster's and Yahoo!'s vast combined reach of career-minded candidates. • Additional market presence: We will be able to leverage HotJobs's strong reach in markets such as Atlanta, Houston, Los Angeles, and Phoenix. • Increased local presence: This acquisition expands our newspaper partnership network to approximately 1,000 weekly and daily newspapers, giving you local reach in all 50 states. THE RIGHT RESUMES. With Monster's larger and growing job seeker population, you will receive increased exposure for your jobs. Couple this with Monster's innovative patented 6Sense™ search technology and our Power Resume Search product and you'll receive precise, relevant resume results that match people with your opportunities faster and better than ever before. WHAT'S NEXT? In the immediate term and while we work to develop plans and programs that will deliver the value inherent in our new relationship, you can expect Monster and HotJobs to operate independently. Your Monster Account Manager will continue to provide world class support assisting you with all your recruitment needs. We will have much more to announce with respect to specifics after we conclude the regulatory process and close the transaction, which we currently expect to occur sometime in the third quarter of 2010. Until that time, if you have any questions, please reach out to your Monster Account Manager or call 1-800-MONSTER. In addition, you may read our press release or our frequently asked questions. At Monster, you are one of our most valued customers and we wanted to share this exciting news with you. We are confident that today's agreements will bring together the complementary strengths of Monster and HotJobs, thereby offering far greater opportunities, convenience and results for both employers and job seekers than ever before. Best regards, Steve Cooker Senior Vice President, U.S. Sales Labels: HotJobs, Industry, Monster, online marketing, Yahoo Leaving Your Fate with FacebookThis Sunday, football fans will be glued to their TVs for the Superbowl, while we in the advertising industry will be glued to our TVs for the... Superbowl. Let's face it, some people watch the Superbowl just for the ads, and through the years I've seen some great TV spots debut on the big game day. This year, 30-second ad spots reportedly cost $2.5 million and up - that's A LOT of money so advertisers often spend months (even years) in advanced preparing for those Superbowl ads. However, Budweiser - a huge Superbowl advertiser - decided to take a leap of faith on deciding which ad to play and leave its fate with Facebook. Yes, Facebook, particularly Budweiser Fans on Facebook. Budweiser proudly declares as its status: Budweiser wants our fans to help us decide which commercial makes it to the Big Game. Click on the "Game Day Pick" tab for an exclusive preview of three new spots and vote for your favorite! This "promo" first caught my eye when I saw a Facebook homepage engagement ad:  It was a basic "Become a Fan" ad unit and it actually made me wonder why Budweiser is targeting me - is it because of my age group/gender/location? Or is it because I have "advertising" in my profile? I'm not a big fan of beer but I am a big fan of (most) TV commercials so I still clicked the ad and became a fan. I landed on the custom tab for "Game Day Pick:  And proceeded to watch all three clips. My personal opinion: they were all... blah. I was not impressed by any but did end up voting for the "Payment" one (the only one that's slightly funny and more interesting than the others, I think).But if I didn't like with the Budweiser ads, why am I using up precious blog space and brain energy to write about Budweiser on Facebook? Because while I wasn't impressed with the ads, I was impressed with their strategy. This is one of the most well-known brands in the world, undoubtedly with millions of dollars invested in marketing and advertising, and it is wholly embracing the power of social media. I'm impressed that they are leveraging the power of Facebook to hype up their Superbowl ads, and are letting their fans become part of this big decision (what ad to run), encouraging user engagement and brand affinity. And I'm impressed that they got me - a non-beer drinker, non-Budweiser aficionado - to actually become a fan, and watch their ads, and vote! And even more impressive? Budweiser is smart enough to encourage viral propagation not just by giving the user the option to post it on their feed:  But also asking them to comment on the "what do you think" area:  This is just basic social media strategy, but it is genius in its simplicity. The key here is user engagement and Budweiser is doing a really good job at it.I'm definitely watching out for the Budweiser ad this Sunday to see if the one I voted for actually "won", and hey, I might even drink a bottle of Budweiser (just maybe)... Whether you're tuning in for the football or the ads, I hope you have a great time! Labels: Advertising, Facebook, Industry, Online Media, POV, Social Media Five Elements of Leadership from Colin PowellWhile attending the CCA Global conference in DC about a week ago, I had the pleasure of seeing Colin Powell speak. While we may not be 100% politically aligned, I do think he is an admirable leader who has faithfully served our country and truly has an amazing amount of leadership and life experience wisdom to offer. He started the speech by saying, “One day you are at the top, #1! Kings, queens, presidents, prime ministers all want to see you, you’re flying around on your own jet and then...you ain’t!” I liked that he started out addressing that people can reach amazing heights in their lives and then in an instant things can change. This is especially poignant now when so many people find themselves being knocked off their high perches of success in their jobs and businesses. (His whole speech was peppered with a lot of humor and was quite entertaining.) Then he went on to tell us all the 5 Elements of Leadership and following is what I managed to write down: Inspire: Your role as a leader is to inspire, and your challenge is to get the most out of the talent in your team. Leadership says you are a person who can get 100% out of the people under your command and the key to this is to give them a purpose. Let them feel that what they are doing is beyond their individual roles and how it fits into the larger picture. He talked about how everyone at the State Department had an important role right down to the cleaning people who came in at night. The way he put it their mission was hyper-critical. The sheen and gleaming image of the State Department projected to the dignitaries that came to visit was not put there by him – it was put there by the largely unseen folks who came in every night to dust the woodwork and polish the floors. Theirs was a sacred mission, and he wanted them to understand the importance of what they did and take pride in what the jobs they performed. My comment: so for those of us in marketing, our roles are not just about building brands or driving leads – marketers drive the economy. Marketing helps companies grow, thrive and hire people! We also help people who need a product or solution find it! At its heart, marketing is more than advertising – it’s a significant engine of the economy that finds new ways to communicate, encourages desired behavior and helps companies become successful. Did I get it right Colin? Invest in the Troops: A leader takes care of his troops and makes sure he knows what they need to get the job done. He spoke about three major areas of investment:
Recognize Success: Be able to spot the leaders in your midst and reward with large and small gestures so they know you know the good job they are doing. Tactics he listed included promotions, bonuses and most important praise (public and private). Discipline: Accountability is critical and people knowing what they are responsible for is key. The troops must know that they will be rewarded for success and sanctioned for failure. Under-performance by one member of a team drags down the success of the whole team. My comment: we all have experienced this right? Everyone works hard to hit a deadline or make something great and one person fails in their part and the whole team (for that matter the whole company) is robbed of their success and resulting pride, glory and client gratitude. Trust: If people trust you they will follow you into battle. In life and the long term they will follow you even out of curiosity. They will think, “I am going to stick with this guy to see where he leads us.” But they need to know that you are not reckless and won’t lead them to a bad place. My comment: this is of course true of your team and clients. If your team thinks you are going to drive your department or company into the ground they are not likely to follow you in the long term – they need to know that the person leading the way will lead everyone to a fulfilling and secure place for all. For clients this is doubly true as, unlike employees, they are paying you and in a very real way their careers and success are in your hands. They need to know that you will run your business and their account in a wise and prudent way. That the risks you put forward, and even push the envelope on, have a balanced risk/benefit factor. In a very real sense leadership trust is the element in a team dynamic that binds everyone’s success together. You need to trust that your leaders a) know what they are doing b) have the mission’s success at heart and c) that success in the mission equals success for all the team members. So needless to say I was quite inspired by the speech and can only do my best to apply these principles to my life and company. The thing I loved best about what Colin said was the sheer pragmatism of his leadership philosophy. These were not lofty B-school management or psychological principals. This was advice that anyone could and should follow. These were principles that could be applied to a million army battle plan or a five-person team. When TV and the Internet ConvergeOK, so 2009 was the year of social media and there's no reason to suspect that interest in social networks will slow down anytime soon. But what will be the next big thing that changes the way we, as consumers, consume media and how will marketers leverage that consumption? My prediction: the convergence of Web-based content, targeting, and functionality with cable television. Call it enhanced TV or interactive TV. Either way, cable, satellite, and fiber-based broadband penetration combined with targeting, interactivity, DVRs, and the cable company's and TiVo's knowledge of our e-mail addresses, physical addresses, phone numbers, and even our credit card numbers will launch a new era in advertising and marketing. Old-school video creative, television networks, DRTV, and new-economy interactivity will come together. While this has been talked about for a long time -- kind of like the days when we would hear about the "information highway" -- the promise of this technology is now here. Comcast's planned acquisition of NBC Universal validates the value and potential of interactive television. The folks driving that deal understand where interactive television is headed and I'm sure they have an arsenal of advertising goodies that will rival, and even surpass, the targeting, interactivity, and tracking of anything the Web can deliver. Interactive television will save the medium we know as television and replenish budgets that pay for the star power, creativity, and shows we've all grown to love and expect from the networks. I'm looking forward to seeing some amazing things. If you're not 100 percent up on this stuff, let's first look at some of the interactive functionality offered by video, TiVo, satellite TV, and cable boxes. These features just scratch the surface of where things will go. In my next column, I'll look at real-life examples of interactive television ads and offer some predictions on where interactive television advertising is headed. Step 1: Understand the Term "Addressability" Wikipedia defines it as: "Addressability is the ability of a digital device to individually respond to a message sent to many similar devices. Examples include pagers, mobile phones, and set-top boxes for pay TV." So, how does addressability affect interactive TV? We can take the targeting and tracking we do online (the thing that marketers love) and combine it with a cable company's customer records and data about customer's viewing habits. Television ads will be able to be targeted and tracked with unrivaled accuracy. Here's the reality: cookies can be erased but a consumer's ID can't be erased from a set-top box. As Variety points out, some advertising executives consider addressable TV marketing a "holy grail." Step 2: Understand the Remote In the column, "Remote Control as Mouse: TV and Web Integration," I discussed how today's TV remote is becoming the mouse of the future. You can move a curser up and down and side to side, click "ok" or "select," access menus, guides, widgets, and enter numbers and/or characters like a cell phone keypad. Just look at the image of the Comcast remote below.  Kind of like a game mouse, joystick, and game controller all in one, right? Imagine the day when you are watching an Applebee's commercial and it will say, "To get an e-mail Buy-One-Meal-Get-One-Free coupon for your next visit to Applebee's, just hit OK now on your remote." Then, armed with your e-mail address, Comcast or Verizon will fulfill your request instantaneously. Or, to take it a step further, how about, "Order your Snuggie now by hitting OK on your remote and entering your PIN number." The cable company would then transmit your order to the vendor, process your payment, and even take a cut. Now one more thing, imagine crossing the remote with a Nintendo Wii joystick. Step 3: Understand the Guide When it comes to TV/Internet integration, the feature we use the most is the "guide." (See the red "guide" button on the left-hand side of the remote in the photo, above, and the screen capture of the FiOS guide, below.) The guide content, typically delivered via the Internet, is essentially a Web site accessed through a TiVo or cable box combined with functionality that enables a consumer to jump to channels, set shows to be recorded, and order on-demand content that may end up on the cable bill. Now, while millions of people use this functionality everyday, most people don't really understand the power of all these technologies combined at their fingertips. This guide is the Google of your televised world! How many hits a day does your guide get?  The guide can essentially be a portal into a whole universe of Web-based content, applications, and commerce. If you can do it online, you can do it via the guide. Now that we have the PC screen and the mobile screen, get ready to create Web pages and interfaces for the living room screen. Note: while there are no ads in the guide now, I have a feeling that will soon change. Step 4: Understand TV Widgets These are applications that draw content and functionality from the Internet right into your television, where consumers can access via a remote control mouse. A consumer can get the weather, sports scores, and even Facebook and Twitter. (See a screen capture of the Verizon FiOS Widget Bazaar and a video tour, below.) Just think of it as iPhone apps for your TV. Now, imagine brands advertising their widgets on television and letting people acquire them by hitting "select" on their remote control. Something like, "To get Domino's Pizza widget now, hit OK on your remote."  See a Verizon Widget Video Tour here on YouTube by one of Verizon's product managers. In my next column, we'll look at real-life examples of interactive television ads and I'll offer predictions on where things will go. Labels: Advertising, Application Development, ClickZ, Industry, Integration, TV Yahoo Picks Up Baggage for the Holidays On December 23 (the busiest travel day of the year), Yahoo sent employees to the San Francisco International and San Jose International airports and paid for airline customer's baggage fees. According to NBC Bay Area, this was "not a bad deal for travelers, who likely booked --and payed for -- their tickets, only to learn that they'd have to cough up a bit more dough for the privilege of actually traveling with luggage. The timing couldn't be better for Yahoo. For one thing, people leaving town will have a warm feeling in their hearts about the search company." And according to AdAge, who called it a brilliant holiday marketing stunt, Yahoo hoped to inspire the Yahoo community to create a wave of goodwill. "Goodwill? Great. Putting the idea in consumers' heads that Yahoo is a company that will make navigating the world simpler and cheaper? Brilliant." However, the AdAge article points out that the only issue with the stunt is scale. Instead of sending employees to just two airports near Silicon Valley, Yahoo could have spent more money - a lot more money - sponsoring baggage fees throughout the country for the whole holiday season. I wholeheartedly agree. I think a bigger scale approach would get more attention and possibly build stronger brand affinity among consumers. Yahoo already launched Yahoo! for Good with a campaign spotlight on spreading kindness. Yahoo declares on its website: This holiday, create a ripple of happiness triggered by your single act of kindness. Update your status to share what you're doing to spread joy. Then inspire others to join you by asking "You in?" The more people you tell, the larger your ripple. We'll use our network to share your good deeds with others. We'll also be doing our own acts of kindness inspired by your updates. So whether you pay for someone's groceries or drop off a coat for the homeless, your actions will encourage others around the world to join in. How big will your ripple of happiness be? I personally find it endearing that this web giant is encouraging people to do random acts of kindness. But as an online marketer, I think the AdAge article had the issue spot on - this definitely could have been a much, much bigger campaign. Where is the social media component? There is already an inherent viral spread there (by updating your Yahoo status with your act of kindness, your actions will encourage others to join in), why didn't Yahoo leverage the power of social media to blow up "Yahoo! for Good"? For instance, Yahoo could have incorporated their Facebook page - maybe create a tab for this campaign - and not only generate user interaction but also build their fan base and create lasting connections. Yahoo could also have used Twitter to send updates about making the holidays better by paying for your luggage fees. And last but not least, what about Flickr? It would have been great to see pictures of delighted customers who were treated to Yahoo's generosity. Yahoo could have encouraged more people to comment, share stories, photos, videos, and basically engage with the brand. These are just some of my thoughts, but in spite of all the could have's, I still want to give kudos to Yahoo for doing its part in making the holidays easier and brighter. Maybe next time they can send some employees to the Boston Logan airport :) I wish everyone a stress-free, kindness-filled, happy New Year! Labels: Advertising, Industry, POV, Social Media Facebook Launches 'Friends of Connection' TargetingLast week, Facebook added another targeting opportunity for its advertisers: Friends of Connection. According the Facebook Ads: “Friends of connection” targeting is now available for Facebook Ads. Expand your audience reach by delivering your ads to the friends of people already connected with your Page, Application, Group or Event. In addition to harnessing the social graph by targeting your connections’ friends, every “Friends of connection” targeted ad promoting a Page or Event includes social content about a friend’s interaction with your business, amplifying the relevancy of your ad. This means that advertisers can reach potential customers or highly relevant users (since birds of the same feather flock together, and it is likely that you and your friends have similar interests) and gain free impressions/brand presence through viral propagation. For the advertiser: this option is only available though if you are the admin of a Facebook Page. So for instance, I am an admin of the Overdrive Facebook Page. When I create a Facebook ad (ASU = ad space unit) using the self-serve platform/ad interface, I can target users whose friends are already connected to Overdrive Interactive:  For the Facebook user: Facebook will then show those ads to the appropriate users and include a blurb about their friends. So for instance, Harry is a Fan of Overdrive and he is friends with with Barb. Facebook will show an Overdrive ad to Barb with the sentence "Harry Gold is a fan of this Page." Now the Facebook ad is more relevant to Barb; it has more "pull" because her friend Harry's connection/interaction with Overdrive is directly showcased. And remember that there are other brilliant ways that Facebook lets advertisers target. Here's a quick list:
Labels: Facebook, Industry, Online Media, POV If You Build It, They Will ComeAdvertisers, that is. The 'IT' in this case being social media. The popularity of social media has finally reached the point where marketers believe they can profit from it, and it seems that everybody wants in on the game. For businesses & advertisers, social media is quickly becoming more of a Need To Have than a Nice To Have. However, this is a path that must be traveled carefully. Social media has the power to connect people to their friends and the world around them. Many people have a very personal connection to their Facebook profiles and Twitter accounts. With this level of personal investment, marketers plastering these sites with ads could run the risk of alienating their customer base. For example, the recent changes to Facebook allow for ads to be more prevalent and expand their reach, much to the chagrin of users. Less than a week after these changes were implemented, a Facebook group called "Change Facebook To Normal" has garnered over 1.2 million members. Personally, I'm torn over the issue. As a person I tend to feel ads invading my online life somehow cheapens the experience and reduce my individuality - "Bill Holmes is brought to you by Jeep" just doesn't have that ring to it. As a marketer however, of course I want my ads to show up everywhere I can get them, with an unlimited budget and millions of impressions. The inevitability of this argument is that people will eventually accept ads prevailing in social media. Until that time comes though, marketers will have to walk the line between getting their message out while not interrupting user experience. Absolutely there are many ways to do this. Jeep in fact has a great game 'Boostin Nuts' along with forums for Jeep enthusiasts (myself included) to post pics and brag about their rigs. Other applications such as the Celtics 3-Point-Play are a great way to be involved with the team (brand) while still maintaining a good social media experience. I think overall advertising will always be part of just about everything we do, but the most successful marketers will be those who can promote their products while still maintaining the personal user experience that social media provides. Labels: Advertising, Brand Awareness, Facebook, Industry, POV, Social Media, Social Media Marketing, Twitter What We Can Learn from NBA Players and TV Stars... on Twitter. If you're on Twitter (and I hope you are), you might have noticed the influx of celebrities there - movie stars, professional athletes, TV hosts, chefs, etc. Usually, they're just on Twitter to tweet about random ideas (or their rumored dates; I'm looking at you, John Mayer), but every now and then you'll find a gem who really utilizes social media to improve their "brand" or strengthen their social image, and/or actually do something useful. They're basically pulling off these viral social media campaigns that agencies and marketers can learn a thing or two from. I put together a few tips for social media campaigns that were inspired by NBA stars and TV personalities - both groups are experts at gaining, performing for, and maintaining their respective audience loyalties. What We Can Learn from NBA Players and TV Stars on Twitter: 1) From Shaquille O'Neill: Be There First. And if you're not there first, be there BIG TIME Can anyone even discuss celebrities on Twitter without mentioning Shaquille O'Neil? Shaq jumped on the Twitter bandwagon when it was just a small toy sled. And he tweets a lot - he describes himself as "very quotatious, I perform random acts of Shaqness." Sometimes (okay, most of the time) what he says doesn't make a lot of sense but the point is he is there. And his fans know he is there. His opponents know he is there. He is there big time. As brand marketers and advertisers, we have to make sure that we're present in the right places. Even better, we have to hustle to be there before anyone else gets there. This is where beta campaigns, innovative ideas, and risk-taking come in. And once we're there, we have to make sure our voice is heard loud and clear. 2) From Dwight Howard: Synchronize Your Campaigns Dwight Howard is flying his one millionth Twitter follower to an all expense paid trip for two to the Orlando Magic home opening game. But aside from his Twitter "campaign", he also talks about that, and is interacting with his fans, on Facebook, SuperFan, and his blog. I never thought I'd quote Dwight Howard in an online marketing blog (or ever), but he said these "are just great avenues for me to connect with people." And he's right. And another thing he's doing right is that he is synchronizing everything, mirroring the content of one channel to another. When we launch social media, branding, promotional, or even lead generation campaigns, we have to remember that once we already have the content - all we need to do is create a cascading turn of events where we propagate all our media avenues or social channels with the same content. Remember: everything is interconnected. We can easily weave our content and synchronize our online and social placements so that our campaign message will be present throughout.  Paul Pierce would give away random clues on where he will be and post secret "passwords" on Twitter so his followers can find him and receive free Celtics tickets. And Ray Allen left random pairs of sneakers around Boston, tweeted clues about them, and whoever finds his shoes get to keep them! Everyone likes contests and give-aways, especially if the contest is actually fun and the give-away is actually something of value. What companies can learn from these two Celtics players is that Twitter can be an avenue to host interesting contests that encourage user action and engagement - contests that encourage socializing (say it with me: social media is about socializing). 4) From Rachel Zoe: Listen to Your Customers and Reply to their Questions Almost all of Rachel Zoe's tweets (for those of you not familiar, she is a stylist to the stars and has her own show on Bravo TV) are either re-tweets and @ replies where she answers various questions from her followers. She may not answer the minute the question is posted, but she still answers them. Most marketers and advertisers forget that the customer feedback is one of the greatest assets to any campaign. Don't just push-push-push your message. Take time to listen to your audience, take note of their complaints and compliments, and answer their questions. Sometimes the most basic things make the biggest impact.  5) From Martha Stewart: Tweet Useful Info Martha Stewart tweets quick and easy recipes and all sorts of food, home, and lifestyle tips. She also reminds her followers about important events, dates, and shows. She uses Twitter to communicate useful little nuggets to her socialsphere. She even thinks that Twitter is better than Facebook, but that's another topic all together (also, that's her opinion, not mine). The point is, she tweets useful info. Again, this is something very basic that we should not take for granted. If your brand offers something unique, tweet about it! If you have a good promo, tweet about it! If you want to share a relevant article, tweet about it! Make your tweets helpful, interesting, worth reading - and re-tweeting. Those are just 5 tips for successful Twitter and social media campaigns. Remember that gaining followers, fans, and friends in one thing, but growing that relationship is another. If you want to learn more about social media campaigns, please contact us! Labels: Industry, Online Media, POV, Social Media, Twitter Clients: Tell Us What Your Budget Is!Why are some companies scared to disclose their budget to potential media buyers? What bad things could we do with that information? We will know eventually, right? Let me state here and now: It's okay to let media buyers know what your budget is! In fact, there are not many valuable things we can do without knowing that information. If it's a test, decide what you can risk on a test. Don't ask us what you should test if you cannot tell us what you can afford. Consider this: What if you went to an architect with no specific idea of what you wanted and said, "Design me a house." What would the architect say? Most likely the architect would ask, "How much do you want to spend on your house?" You wouldn't say, "Well, do some research, draw me up some plans, give me some ideas first, and then tell me what I should spend." A serious builder knows what his budget is, has an idea of what he wants, and shares that with architects he deems worthy of interviewing and requesting detailed information from. What inspired me to write about this issue? I recently participated in a pitch conference call with a prospect who wanted us to do media planning and buying but refused to reveal their budget. Of course we gave a presentation describing our full capabilities. The prospect said they were looking for a good partner and we seemed like a good fit but still didn't want to reveal their budget at this point in the process. Now that is fine, except when they wanted more details on what we would do and sought advice on what they should spend. Labels: ClickZ, Industry, Online Media, Strategy Online Marketing Expert Harry Gold to Share Social Media Marketing Case Studies and Best Practices at NEDMA Technology DayBOSTON, MA (October 9, 2009) -- On Friday, October 23, at the Microsoft Seminar Facility in Waltham, Mass., Harry Gold, CEO, Overdrive Interactive, will join a group of online marketing luminaries and experts at the NEDMA Technology Day to discuss the impact of social media marketing on businesses and how to best leverage online resources to drive ROI. During the three-hour seminar (1:00pm-4:00pm), Gold will use real social media marketing case studies to show how companies that weave content and messages into social media outlets such as Facebook, Twitter and YouTube can make lasting connections with consumers. The presentation will also frame social media marketing within the following areas: blog outreach and monitoring; social network profile creation; application development; content channel creation; friends and fan outreach; content stream creation; hyper-targeted social media buying; social media measurement and ROI tracking. A frequent speaker at NEDMA events, Gold’s seminars have been described as offering “vital information on interconnecting” and a “fire-hose of information on vital topics.” His knowledge of how to capture not just an audience, but the right audience, has made him a leader in the industry, and his no-nonsense approach has made even the most conservative companies reevaluate their place in the social media landscape. With concrete content and easy to follow examples, Gold has become a popular participant in international media and marketing conferences. “Harry Gold is a well-known in the world of social media marketing,” said NEDMA Managing Director Beth Drysdale. “His company’s work in online marketing is representative of a new generation of marketing that is shaping the way businesses work today. We’re honored to have him as one of our industry experts.” A leader in social media marketing, Gold’s mission is to create innovative online marketing programs based on real-world success. His company, Overdrive Interactive, is at the forefront of this movement helping companies such as Harley-Davidson, Vista Print, Boston.com, EMC, Progress Software and Zipcar enter the world of social media with the strategies, tactics and tools necessary to create a tangible impact. For more information on the conference, please visit: http://www.OverdriveInteractive.com/Nedma-Event -Continued- Harry Gold: A Career of Defining Online and Social Media Marketing Success Harry brings to Overdrive a highly distinguished background in online development, search engine marketing, and online media that goes back over 10 years. He started his online career in 1995 when he founded Interactive Promotions. Since then he has been at the forefront in developing successful online programs for various agencies and Fortune 500 companies. His client experience includes search and online media management for top companies that include General Motors, Harley-Davidson, John Hancock, Dow Jones, EMC, Progress, LoJack, Cognos, Club Med, Bose and many other companies now enjoying a strong Internet presence. As the architect and conductor behind Overdrive's programs, Harry's primary mission is to create innovative marketing programs based on real-world success and to make sure that the best marketing and technology practices that drive those successes are continually institutionalized into the culture and methods of the agency. What excites Harry is the knowledge that Overdrive's collaborative environment has created a company of online experts, all of whom drive success for the clients and companies they serve. Harry is a frequent lecturer on search engine marketing and online media for The New England Direct Marketing Association, The Ad Club, and Boston University. He is also a recognized subject matter expert and columnist for ClickZ. ABOUT NEDMA (www.nedma.com) The New England Direct Marketing Association is a regional, professional association for all those interested in direct marketing. Membership is composed of leading area companies that use direct marketing, direct marketing agencies, independent professionals, educators, and students. NEDMA sponsors an extensive series of events, including business/dinner meetings with forums and networking immediately preceding the meetings. For more information please visit: http://www.nedma.com ABOUT OVERDRIVE INTERACTIVE Overdrive Interactive is a full-service online marketing agency based in Boston that helps clients grow their business with engaging and measurable online media, social media and search engine marketing campaigns and services. The agency specializes in creating genuine consumer connections that help companies build their brands, generate leads and drive revenue. Overdrive serves organizations that are seeking a high level of accountability from their marketing firms and advertising investments. For more information, please visit www.ovrdrv.com. Labels: Events, Industry, Overdrive News, Social Media, Social Media Marketing, Strategy Social Media Weekly BuzzWelcome to the second edition of Social Media Weekly Buzz. This week, both Google and Facebook managed to steal the majority of the headlines. Gmail’s outage on Tuesday sparked widespread panic and led most people, ironically, to use Google search to investigate the incident. In addition, the oh-so familiar, yet quite stark, Google search landing page has finally been patented, five years after being submitted to the USPTO. Facebook tested out a new ad scheme with direct offer engagement ads, and is being accused of leading a Welsh citizen to murder their partner. Also, have you checked out Russian President Dmitry Medvedev on YouTube yet? All this and more follows below:  • Gmail Outage – At 12:30pm PST, a small fraction of Gmail’s servers were taken offline for routine maintenance. Unfortunately, Google underestimated the load recent changes placed on the request routers… The result? Gmail went down for 100 minutes, and online chaos quickly ensued. • Google’s Search Landing Page Now Patented – After 5 years of fierce debate with federal bureaucrats, Google has finally won the right to patent their unmistakable home page. Google now owns the concept of having a large search box in the middle of the page, on top of two big buttons, with several links scattered here and there. Does this spell trouble for sites which possess similar layouts, such as Yahoo search?  • Facebook Tests Direct Response Ads – Craving a Chick-fil-A Chicken Biscuit? How about if it’s free? Soon you might be seeing more ad offers like this on Facebook if their testing of direct offer engagement ads goes well. Facebook has recently been exploring different advertising options as it gradually shifts away from its traditional sales funnel. • Facebook Regional Networks No More – Regional networks on Facebook are now officially gone. This move comes as Facebook attempts to expand beyond its college roots to a worldwide communication platform, not unlike Twitter. But is that really what users want? • Facebook Jealousy Blamed on Murder – A murder trial in South Wales has taken an interesting twist, with a UK prosecutor arguing that Facebook-related jealousy pre-empted the tragic event. Apparently the whole thing got started when Mrs. Jones started to “expand her social horizons” online. The last straw? When she changed her Facebook status to “single”. • Kremlin Launches YouTube Channel – Russian President Dmitri Medvedev launched his very own YouTube channel, located at www.youtube.com/kremlin. The main purpose of the channel will be to reach out to and connect with the youth of Russia. So far he has covered topics from good neighborhood ties between schoolchildren, to the outcome of the Second World War. • eBay Sells Skype – On Tuesday, eBay officially announced that it would be selling th  e VoIP and chat service Skype to a group of private investors for $2.75 billion. eBay will still retain a 35 percent equity stake in the service however, which they hope will increase in value under the new management. The decision to sell was provoked by a lack of synergy between Skype and eBay’s e-commerce and payments services.The Gmail downtime serves as a reminder of how much of our lives are becoming dependent on the Internet. As more and more services become cloud-based in nature, it is imperative that network interruption be minimized at all costs. Fortunately the Gmail downtime occurred during the night, which helped save what could have been a large-scale interruption in productivity for the US. Twitter experienced a similar issue not too long ago, though that issue was more malicious in nature, and not just a big mistake. Facebook continues to modify its services in order to improve both the experience of both consumers and advertisers. The direct offer engagement ads are a great source of lead generation for businesses, however it will be interesting to see how many people are willing to enter their address and other personal info for discounts and promotions. This is definitely a jump in the right direction for Facebook as it tries to shift away from its traditional sales funnel. The major step in this development is that companies will now receive instant results from the advertisements they publish on the service. The Facebook alteration that might not be met with open arms is the decision to completely remove regional network categories. As Facebook attempts to take a more worldly approach to its communications platform, it has the potential of upsetting long time users of its service. For them, Facebook served as a tool to better connect with friends, not strangers. In addition, many users prefer Facebook over Twitter for the very fact that it isn’t… Twitter. Any step closer to the other service could be taken very negatively among its fan base. The sale of Skype was definitely a smart move for eBay, whose e-commerce and online payments businesses really have nothing in common with the VoIP service. The real question is what prompted eBay to make the acquisition in the first place? Earlier in April StumbleUpon was also sold off to a group of investors after a failed attempt to synergize operations. Fortunately now the company can turn to focusing on its core eBay and PayPal businesses. Labels: Facebook, Google, Industry, Landing Pages, online marketing, Online Media, Social Media, Social Media Marketing, Twitter, Video, web 2.0, Yahoo, YouTube Recent YouTube ChangesA few days ago, YouTube quietly launched its homepage redesign (see Mashable article and YouTube blog post). The changes are pretty subtle, but are aimed at streamlining and simplifying the YouTube experience. According to the YouTube Blog, the left side is dedicated to exploration: finding videos to watch through search and browse. The right side is all about organization of the videos that matter most to you: your subscriptions, your recent viewing history, and your own uploads. Apparently, YouTube ran a large landing page testing experiment before implementing the changes and launching the new page, but personally it doesn't feel like much of a redesign for me. Being a regular YouTube user, when I saw the homepage, I thought it looked different but couldn't quite pinpoint it. After chatting quickly with YouTube account executive extraordinaire Ryan Stonehouse, he confirmed that the changes were indeed small (for instance, the Search box now has a separate area with a gray box around it) but all aimed to improving the user experience. I am glad to see YouTube constantly trying to improve and as an advertiser, I'm impressed with the expanding array of opportunitiess not just for branding but also for user engagement and entertainment. I am a big fan of the interactive masthead units, such as today's Madden 10 video. It starts out as a regular homepage video unit on the usual upper right hand side, but one of the players busts out of the frame, it expands into a full masthead unit, and the player pushes out the content on the left like he's breaking a tackle. Very fun to watch (although I thought there was still a lot of room for more interactivity/user engagement - maybe some games? video within the video?). Check out some screen grabs below.
 There is usually a companion 300x250 ad on the right - that's another avenue for branding, obviously... It becomes something like a page take-over, with all possible units promoting one brand (in this case, Chevy). And let's not forget that YouTube also offers those flash lay-overs, video within a video, and even call-to-action opportunities.We'll keep you posted on other YouTube and social media news so keep reading our blog! Labels: Industry, Online Media, POV, Social Media, YouTube New Facebook Ad FeaturesFacebook continues to improve its ad platform! Over the last few months, Facebook has added new features for Facebook Ads, such as the options for inline fanning and RSVP right within the ad units (which makes the Facebook ASU's more socially enabled) and ability to target users by languages spoken (in addition to the existing targeting options). Last week, Facebook announced recent adjustments in the Ad Manager, which basically now lets advertisers edit and revise existing ads, as well as specify date ranges (and viewing format) when viewing reports. And yesterday, Facebook announced more targeting filters: connections, location, and birthday. Targeting by connections lets the advertisers target fans, members of your group, users who have RSVP’d to your Events, and users who have authorized your Application/s. This makes it easier to target users who have already expressed interest in your brand/company and strengthen your relationship with them by continuing conversations, sending alerts and promos, and increasing engagement. This new feature also lets advertisers targets users who are not yet connected. This is especially useful for increasing the number of Fans and page views, since impressions will only be shown to new/potential members of your community.  (Improved) targeting by location simply means that advertisers can now target the same Facebook ad to multiple countries. This is a good tool for agencies like us who manage international campaigns, if we are running the same ad but for different countries.  Targeting by birthday is a great opportunity for advertisers who offer special birthday promotions. This can also be coupled with targeting by Age to be even more specific.  It's great to see that Facebook is listening to advertiser feedback and is actively trying to continuously improve its advertising interface and reporting tools. Today, Facebook is connecting 250 Million people and it continues to try and make the site more meaningful for all its users (and advertisers!). Just a year ago, I remember advertising on Facebook and being so frustrated with the lack of options. It has definitely come a long way since then! I admire Facebook's efforts to give its users more opportunities to engage and experience a seamless, connected, social experience. I'm looking forward to even more developments to come. Labels: Facebook, Industry, Online Media, POV, Social Media Facebook Pages Move Closer to FriendsThe direction Facebook is moving in is a dream for social marketers since the lines between the functionality of Facebook Pages and Profiles is becoming continuously blurred. Constantly we struggle to create a personality and relationship through the Facebook Pages of our clients in the same way we manage our own profiles with Friends. The ability for a Page to act like a Profile however, has limited the opportunity for companies to build deeper relationships with fans and customers on Facebook. Today Facebook has announced that all users will see a change to their friend lists whereas “All Friends” will now be “All Connections”, and it will now be possible to add your favorite fan pages to these lists. To see what your new friend list looks, view your friends page. The possibilities for this functionality are endless. I’ve already started brainstorming creating a list of all my favorite bands with my core group of music-loving friends. Sorting this list in my news feed would allow me to stay on top of concerts, CD releases, and general music news. The best part is the mixture of bands and music lovers that would provide me with 360 degree view of the music industry. Recently, I just created a list encompassing the people and groups I turn to for online marketing resources. This includes both professionals like Harry Gold and a great social media resource page created by Dell Small Business.  As I continue to build out this list more to include pages like Mashable and AdAge, I will be able to sort my news feed in a way that only shows the updates relating to online marketing for the day. This is comparable to the way TweetDeck gives you the ability to organize the way you see incoming tweets with groups, and also gives Facebook a feeling of a personal RSS reader. I use Google Reader to watch all the most recent news come in from the blogs I am following, but Facebook is now giving me a way to see not only that information, but also how my friends are reacting and responding at the same time. As Pages continue to move more towards Profiles, the opportunity for online marketers is only going to grow. Social media has created this great potential for any size company to grow as close to their customers as a friend. This level of brand loyalty is priceless. Labels: Facebook, Industry, online marketing, Social Media, Social Media Marketing YouTube's New Social Sharing MechanismThe power of social sharing just got bigger. And in this case, easier. Last week, YouTube launched its new Auto-Share Your Uploads feature. According to YouTube account executive Ryan Stonehouse, "users can now easily send their YouTube uploads to Facebook, Twitter, or Google Reader. Once you link your accounts together, all of your uploads (whether they're uploaded on the web, via a phone, via the API, etc) are automatically posted as tweets, Facebook stories, or Reader shared items." With a single log-in, users can automatically share their YouTube videos with two of the most popular social media sites, Facebook and Twitter:  YouTube is just the latest site to integrate with Facebook Connect. This makes social sharing infinitely easier (and less manual and time-consuming) for Facebook users. According to the Facebook Developer Blog, as more sites and applications implement Facebook Connect, the power of the social graph is extending across the Web, to the iPhone, gaming consoles, and TV, changing the way we view gaming, videos, concerts, and even church. Many of these sites are benefiting from increased distribution and engagement, as they enhance the user experience by making it easy to share and connect with real world friends.And as for Twitter? No need anymore to manually feed video-related tweets to individual Twitter accounts (since admit it, most video uploads are from YouTube anyway; it's not the most popular video site for nothing). As MarketingVOX recently pointed out, YouTube users can directly syndicate recently-uploaded videos across social networks (or at least for now, across two of the biggest ones). This new social sharing mechanism benefits the users and makes the social web one smooth, easy, integrated piece. Consumers and businesses can now easily automate video-seeding across social networks, and this equates to having the ability to disseminate information (aka new videos) more quickly. All with one click of a button. Not only is that easy, it's great. Labels: Facebook, Industry, POV, Social Media, Twitter, YouTube Twitter Dips into Advertising/Sponsorships?Yesterday, Twitter launched ExecTweets, a cross between a Twitter app and a sponsored site. A joint effort by Twitter and Federated Media, ExecTweets is still in beta but is basically a Microsoft-sponsored page that aggregates the tweets of various executives. Although this is not exactly the traditional advertising revenue-model, the launch of ExecTweets opens up more branding and sponsorship opportunities. Because now, we can look at Microsoft as the pioneer "advertiser" - and who know what other brands will follow soon? Some interesting soundbites - According to the Federated Media blog, "Federated Media, Twitter and Microsoft have created ExecTweets, a real-time tool that helps you to find, follow and engage with the world’s most prolific and successful business executives on Twitter... ExecTweets cuts through the clutter and provides only the most relevant and insightful business-focused conversations - all curated and aggregated into industry verticals..." And according to the Twitter blog, "Twitter is contacted regularly by brands interested in sponsoring innovative experiences based on topics of interest.... So if you're a major brand and you want to sponsor a topic-focused social media experience with Twitter, we suggest Federated Media—they'll fix you up right." (good job promoting partners!)  Well, whatever it is, it is definitely something new that could become an avenue for future advertising opportunities! Besides, if you scroll down the bottom of ExecTweets, what do you see? A Microsoft leaderboard... Exciting news, and I can't wait to see what the future of (advertising on) Twitter holds! Labels: Advertising, Industry, POV, Social Media, Twitter Facebook Roll-Out of New PagesYesterday, Facebook rolled out the newly redesigned Pages - business pages now look like user profile pages, with tabs and more functionality to customize and engage with fans. (Actually, the Pages are actually now called "profiles for public figures and organizations). See excerpt from the official Facebook blog: "Starting today, we are announcing new profiles for public figures and organizations. Once called Pages, these new profiles will now begin looking and functioning just like user profiles. Just as you connect with friends on Facebook, you can now connect and communicate with celebrities, musicians, politicians and organizations. These folks will now be able to share status updates, videos, photos or anything else they want, in the same way your friends can already. You'll be able to keep up with all of their activity in your News Feed. This means that you can find out that Oprah is reading a book backstage before a show, CNN posted a breaking story or U2 is working on a new song, just as you would see that your friend uploaded new photos from her trip to Europe." The title of that blog post by Mark Zuckerberg was "Improving Your Ability to Share and Connect" and it nicely sums up what the new Facebook changes are all about: Facebook is not only giving businesses more opportunities to interact with fans, but it is making brands and marketers more accountable for their profiles and online activities. Now, all content uploads and changes to the Pages (er, Profiles) are streamed in and more visible to the fans. Tabs are customizable, giving the brands valuable space for content and application development. And fan interaction and social activity integration must now be part of daily management/strategy. The change will woo marketers as we are given more opportunities to be engaging and relevant. By basically mirroring individual user profiles (see Red Bull profile below), brands are literally becoming "one of us":  It also further proves that social media is integral to marketing strategies, and that it's not just about setting up profiles and leaving it like that; instead social media is about socializing!More changes on Facebook coming soon (regarding the homepage, how it is becoming more like Twitter, etc) so we'll be writing more blog posts about it and keep you all updated. Stay tuned!! Labels: Facebook, Industry, Social Media Facebook to Launch Redesigned PagesRemember when Facebook revamped itself last year? When it launched a redesigned Home Page and Profile Page, with a less cluttered, more organized format (tabs in the Profile)? Recently, news has been going around that Facebook will be rolling out the same redesign for its business Pages. (Just to clarify for those not entirely familiar yet with Facebook terminology: the Profile is your personal page, while a business Page is usually a corporate/branded page that you are a "Fan" of). According to Inside Facebook, "With the Pages redesign, business Pages will now look much more like Facebook profile pages... [with] a “Wall and tabs” design:
As we know, Facebook Pages offer brands a powerful presence in their consumers' daily lives. The new Page design will make it easier for Pages to reach out to Fans, and for users to interact more with the Page. Below is a sample of the Facebook Page new design:  Basically, the new Wall tab will make the Pages more updated and interactive as users can easily see the notes, photos, videos, and other info shared by the brands/companies/celebrities/musicians, etc. Content posted on the Wall will also show up on the Fans' News Feed, which will not only lessen the need to send an email update each time there is a new update but also give the Page a more organic feel.Also, Pages will have status updates too (again just to clarify, a status update is when you see individual users stating things like "Bianca is currently watching the Celtics game." So for the new Page redesign, a business page can have a status like "Overdrive Interactive is currently hosting a Social Media Webinar" ). With the multiple tabs, Page owners can also choose a "landing page" where users will be directed to when visiting the page. And of course with the Boxes tab, the new Pages will present more opportunities to innovate and promote applications. We are excited for this because it will give brands more leeway and valuable space to customize content. The same article on Inside Facebook discusses more specifics, and key next steps for Page admins/owners:
Labels: Facebook, Industry, Social Media Friends or Burgers? You love Facebook. You love your friends. You love burgers. But what if Burger King offers you a free Whopper if you delete 10 friends from your Facebook network? That's what Burger King - fast invading the viral world of online, first with their Whopper Virgins campaign and now this - is now promoting: The Whopper Sacrifice. "You like your friends, but you love the WHOPPER. What would you do for a free whopper? Now is the time to put your fair-weather web friendships to the test. Install WHOPPER Sacrifice on your Facebook profile, and we'll reward you with a free flame-broiled WHOPPER when you sacrifice 10 of your friends." - quoted from the website Yes, you read that right. Install the app on Facebook, delete 10 of your friends, and get a free burger. I think this is a cheeky, conversation-provoking social media campaign by Burger King. Not only does it address the awkward Facebook phenomenon of having "friends" who are not really your friends (you can use the whopper as an excuse to sacrifice them!), it also embeds the Whopper brand into the consumer's daily life in a funny way (or offensive, depending on how you look at it. Imagine how you would feel if you got deleted for a burger...) The "sacrifices" also show up on your News Feed: "Bianca sacrificed Shane Kelly for a free Whopper." (Peace, Shane!) You can also become a Fan of the Sacrfice Page. So in the end, Burger King actually promotes socializing with this campaign. And no doubt, it's gaining a lot of publicity and use already. But the real question is - how will this affect the brand in the long run? Think about it, and while you're at it, decide if your love for your friends is bigger than your love for the Whopper - if not, have fun doing the sacrifices! You can download the app from Facebook or from the Whopper Sacrifice website. UPDATE: Burger King has decided to "sacrifice" this Whopper Application. According to an article on AdAge, the app was apparently violating some of Facebook's standards/user expectations, as it "was essentially singling out users for ridicule." Now if you go to the Facebook page there is note that says "Facebook has disabled Whopper sacrifice after your love for the Whopper sandwich proved to stronger than 233,906 friendships." In my opinion, the good news for Burger King is that this creates even more controversy/publicity. The bad news is that more than 200,000 friends have been dropped for one-tenth of a burger... What do you think?? Labels: Advertising, Facebook, Industry Online Media Stats That Make Me Feel Great About '09!When driving to work just after Christmas, I was listening to an interview with an e-commerce company CEO who said something that made me laugh. She said, "In 09, flat is the new up." If you did the same in final three months of 2008 as you did during the same period in 2007, she said you were ok. Well, I say, let's not be content with flat just yet. Let's raise our cups to a new year that will defy expectations! With all the doom and gloom projected, it still does seem that budgets are still migrating online. Unlike the last burst bubble, this burst is aimed squarely at everything but online marketing. Wow, does that feel good. (I guess all that "pain in the you know what" measurement stuff we online marketers push all the time is paying off.) It also could be that our budgets are often still a pretty small percentage of overall budgets in the grand scheme of things and we have a long way to go. From where I sit, the outlook for '09 still looks pretty good and in some cases, better than '09. So I am not ready to be content with "flat" just yet. If you find yourself not feeling quite as chipper and enthusiastic about the future of online as I am, here are some stats that may help you get to the other side of this recession, depression, downturn -- whatever you want to call it. Labels: ClickZ, Industry, Online Media An Interview With a Cost-Per-Lead ExpertPerformance media buying is one way to minimize risk associated with media dollars in these strange economic times. I've written plenty on this topic, so this time I decided to get the scoop from an expert in the space: Jonah Mytro, director of Mediaspike, based in Brookline, Massachusetts. Harry Gold: Please tell me about yourself and your company -- basically, what do you do and whom do you do it for? Jonah Mytro: We are an online marketing and business development firm focusing on the development, launch, and management of Web sites in a variety of different industries including online education, debt settlement and consolidation, travel, scholarships, and parking. We own and operate each of our Web sites and generate leads and inquiries for our clients on a performance model. Clients only pay per qualified lead or inquiry and are very ROI [return-on-investment] focused. HG: So you're not an agency then? JM: Mediaspike is not the traditional agency where we buy media on the client's behalf. Our goal is to deliver qualified leads and inquiries to our clients who pay us on a cost-per-lead basis. From the client perspective, they are reducing their risk and only paying for a qualified lead, which they can monetize. We are focused in certain areas so we can go very deep into certain verticals and develop mature lead channels. HG: So basically you sell media to certain industries on a cost-per-lead basis? JM: Correct. So my expertise is in both the buy side and sell side of performance or cost-per-lead media. Read more... Labels: ClickZ, Industry, Online Media YouTube Dominates Video YouTube once again proves how it's almost synonymous with video. According to AdAge, President-elect Barack Obama's victory speech has been uploaded more than 500 times and viewed more than 7 million times on the web in the last 48 hours after election night. And where did those eyeballs come from? 98% came from YouTube. Imagine that, out of the hundreds of video-sharing sites online, YouTube captured 98% of the video views. We're already big fans of YouTube so this comes as no surprise. According to Mediapost, YouTube delivers over 10 times the number of video views of its nearest competitor. What does this say to us media planners? It says that when whether we're planning and buying for a viral video campaign, a social media campaign, or a regular online media campaign, we have to remember that MAJORITY of consumers immediately think of YouTube. Of course, we also have to remember that YouTube is not the end-all and be-all of all video; other sites (MySpace/Fox interactive, Microsoft sites, Yahoo!, Hulu, etc) all have their own strengths as well. But for now, YouTube is the video giant. Happy weekend everyone! Labels: Industry, Obama Campaign, Online Media, Social Media Marketing, YouTube Advertisers Take Advantage of Dynamic Ads In Video GamesAdvertising in video games is nothing new. As far back as the late 80’s, there have been movie tie-ins, product placements, and even full games based around advertising campaigns. Domino’s Pizza released a game in 1989 based around their ‘Noid’ campaign in which players had to “Avoid the Noid” (he ruins pizzas!). Nearly 20 years later, the gaming industry has come along way. Up until now one of the big problems with advertising in games was that your ads had to be hard coded into the game and would remain there forever. Obviously this posed a problem; campaigns change, logos change, but there was no way to change an in-game product placement once it was there. Enter dynamic ad insertion. With the advent of online gaming and downloadable content, games are able to receive updates on a daily basis. This applies to in-game ads as well. Ads can now take the form of anything from a bottle of soft drink a virtual character consumes to a large billboard inside a sports stadium. 2005’s Counter Strike on the PC was the first game to feature in-game dynamic ads. Jump ahead to 2008. Gaming giant Electronic Arts (EA) is leading the charge, with dynamic ads in their widely popular sports and racing franchises Madden and Burnout, among others. The most notable campaign to date is presidential candidate Barack Obama’s in game billboard ads, geo targeted to gamers living in swing states in the upcoming election. EA also has plans for movie posters and actual placements in their February 09 release of their newest SIMS title. So what does the future hold for in-game advertising? Analysts predict that by 2010,in game advertising will be a $1 billion industry, with no signs of slowing. The current economic recession may also be a key factor in growing the industry; "In-game advertising may become a popular means of marketing in a recession because it encourages an escapist mind-set", said Amanda Richman, senior VP-director of digital services at MediaVest. The desire to "escape" economic woe contributed to a boom in the movie industry during the Great Depression, and video games may be filling that role during this time period. Labels: Advertising, In-Game Advertising, Industry, Online Media Setting The Tempo With ClientsWe've all had high demand clients. The ones who call 3 times a day, question every move you make, and are always wondering if deadlines can be sped up. While situations such as these can be quite trying and even a bit frustrating, those high demand clients can also provide a great challenge and in the end make you a better marketer. However, what do we do with the clients that are not so demanding? The thought of a complacent client might seem nice to those who are mired in extra work, but, as the old adage goes, be careful what you wish for. Clients who don't ask for much can come with their own problems. The following are some of the pitfalls one can encounter when dealing with a complacent client, and some strategies to avoid them. Being Caught Empty Handed Everyone is busy, and if a client is not asking for something, it's easy to let the deadline slip. However, you never know when they'll come around asking for things. The last thing you want is to be caught empty handed. Even if the client doesn't seem involved in a project, that doesn't mean you shouldn't be either. Missed Opportunities Even if your project with the client is not moving forward, that doesn't mean that other aspects of the client's business are not expanding. If you're not top of mind with the client, then your chances of being offered new business opportunities have just gotten a lot slimmer. Less of a Chance to Continue Business This one is similar to the above. When it comes time to renew your contract, clients want to know what you've done for them lately and what your plans for the future are. If you don't have all that much contact with them, it becomes tougher to build your relationship and makes it much more difficult to justify another year of service. There is a lot one can do to avoid the above situations. While the below tactics should really be used for any client relationship, they can be especially useful for clients who are sometimes less than top of mind. Schedule Regular Meetings These don't have to be weekly, and chances are there are deliverables at regular intervals that should be discussed with more than an email. Scheduled meetings allow for both you and the client to sit down and review the current issues and what is coming up in the near future. Present New Business Opportunities Presenting new opportunities to the client does two things; it increases the potential to grow the business, and it shows that you are thinking about the client. Even if nothing comes from a new business presentation - and sometimes it won't - it can help prime the client to think of you for their next big project. Constant Contact This ties all of the above points together, and is really what setting the tempo is all about. Maintaining constant contact with your clients is vital to a healthy relationship and let's them know that you are serious about their business. Clients need to know that they can count on you to be a resource for them, which makes you look good and will help grow the business in the long run. Maintaining a constant stream of contact, even if some weeks it just amounts to a quick email, is the best thing you can do to maintain your client relationship. With the points outlined here, you should be adept at maintaining any client relationship. If you can set the tempo with a client who doesn't seem involved or is slow to return correspondence, it makes you look good and will help foster potential growth opportunities for your business. |
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