Social Media Roundup (Interactive Musings 1.2)

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Steve Latham
on June 29, 2009
in Interactive Musings, Social Media and Strategy
. 0 Comments

Last week I put together a summary of stories that I thought would be of interest to those who are in the interactive marketing industry.  Here are some other clips relating to Social Media that I think are interesting and informative.  Hope you enjoy.  Feel free to share and comment!

UniLever CMO Throws Down the Social Media Gauntlet
Takeaways from speech recently made by UniLever’s CMO about the importance of Social Media to brands. Includes his “5 New Rules of Marketing”. Great to see one of the world’s largest companies embracing social media.  I hope they can make it work!

Facebook Overtaking MySpace
Facebook is now the most trafficked global social network. Claiming 200 million users, it now reaches all demos and ages. Now it needs to figure out how to make money in a way that doesn’t infuriate its large and vocal community.

Facebook Grows Up Fast!
Glad to know that my group (26-44) accounts for 41% of all Facebook users. But surprised to find women over 55 are the fastest growing group on Facebook. Will being friended by your mom make you leave Facebook? Maybe… or maybe not. I think the new design is a bigger risk.

Teens on Social Networks
This just in: teens are heavy users of social networks! Okay you may know that. But did you know that 60% acknowledged that the things friends wrote in their profiles could harm their careers and that 38% said they regretted some of the items that had already appeared on their pages. Hopefully they will learn from public examples of how your personal views can blow up in your face… Like it did for this chucklehead!

Mommy Bloggers On the Rise! (AdWeek)
At the “Meet the 21st Century Mom” event, BabyCenter.com released results from a 25,000 person survey showing that 63% of women reported being active on social networks (vs. 11% in 2006).  Women with new babies cut back on media consumption by as much as three hours, with print taking the biggest hit. According to the report, 49 percent of respondents claim to read magazines less after giving birth, and 46 percent said the same about their newspapers.

How Edelman Manages Mommy Bloggers (AdAge)
Great interview with Edelman Chicago’s senior VP for consumer brands social media, Danielle Wiley on how they manage 2.0 digital (aka Social Media) practices and strategies for big name clients. I especially like their views on refusing to pay bloggers to write favorable reviews of their clients’ products.  I wish more agencies upheld the same standards.

Twitter Soars, but Does It Stick? (AdWeek)
Pop quiz - how many users will be on Twitter by 2010? Answer: a lot! The good folks at eMarketer report that 18 million of my closest friends (10% of Internet users) will be on Twitter by 2010 (read the article). If Ashton Kutcher has 1.5 million followers and Oprah is gaining ground with 700,000, the number may actually be higher. However… the jury is out as to how many will actually stay on Twitter. Nielsen recently reported that Twitter’s audience retention is only 40% - meaning more than 60% of its users fail to return the following month (read the article). So will Twitter last or is it a flash in the pan? I believe you can make a case for either outcome.

7 Marketing Mistakes to Avoid on Twitter
Good article by Rodney Rumford (hola So Cal!). Or you can eliminate the “don’ts” and learn 7 Tips for Succes on Twitter. Either way it’s a good way to learn how to use Twitter as a branding channel.

Be Careful What You Tweet!
You can’t help but laugh at the irony of this story. A social media consultant may have ruined his career with one errant tweet (if you haven’t heard about the FedEx / Memphis story, click the link above). The lesson: be careful what you tweet. Anything and everything you write is public, and it may be taken out of context.

All for now folks! Please share your thoughts, questions or comments. Just keep it clean and constructive. And if you like what you read, please share it with others!

Steve Latham
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Online Media and Markets (Interactive Musings 1.1)

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Steve Latham
on June 22, 2009
in Interactive Musings and Marketing
. 0 Comments

Like many, I receive numerous industry email newsletters every day.  I tend to skim each edition and see if there’s anything worth noting or acting upon.  I thought others might like to read the cliff’s notes and take a look at what I think are the most interesting / relevant notes for my business.  So… here goes!

Internet Accounts for 33% of Daily Media Consumption (Pew Research)
According to Pew Research, U.S. adults have nearly doubled their daily use of the Internet. The average U.S. adult now spends 3.8 hours per day on the Internet, compared to 2.1 hours per day in 2006 (81% increase). The Internet now represents 32.5% of the typical “media day” for all U.S. adults when compared to daily exposure to newspaper, radio, TV and outdoor advertising. Even those who are considered heavy newspaper readers spend about as much time online today as the typical U.S. adult. According to the report, heavy newspaper readers, those who spend more than one hour per day reading, spend 3.7 hours online.  Yet, most marketers allocate only 8-10% of their ad budgets to the Web.  This is a big disconnect and a significant opportunity for marketers who care about maximizing return on ad spend. It’s pretty simple - spend your money where you will get the best ROI.  I wish more understood this.

Internet Ad Spending Stands Alone in 2009 Forecast (Mediapost)
In short, online is the only medium that will see more revenue in 2009.  And Search is main reason, growing 9% (display will shrink 1.2% - a buyers market, see my recent note on this). Notable quote: “The internet is the only medium expected to actually attract higher ad expenditure in 2009, thanks to its accountability and innovation in ad formats”.  I’m glad to be on this side of the media wave.

CMOs Not Happy with Digital (Businessweek)
“Although digital is the best use of scarce ad dollars in the downturn, the segment needs better tools to demonstrate ROI” - Hallelujiah!!! If you can’t measure it, you can’t manage it.  By the way this is where we excel.  If you need help measuring or optimizing ROI from online media, give us a shout.

Brand Mentions Preferred Over Ads (eMarketer)
Not surprisingly, consumers assign more weight to a brand being mentioned in an article vs. an advertisement. Not sure how this constitutes as breaking news - I thought everyone knew that.  What WAS interesting was the “Email Offer” was a close #2 to Brand Mentions, and above #3 Search Engine listing.  While somewhat surprising, we continue to have successin promoting client offers through email (for the record, not all email marketers are spammers. Like anything, there’s a right and a wrong way to do it).

Why Marketers Want You to Click, Not Call (AdAge - requires registration)
Pizza giants sell 20-30% of deliveries online. They want to increase this to 50% - here’s how they are doing it (includes “5 tips to get more people to purchase your product online”). Useful for B2B (re-orders) as well as B2C.

Display Ads Lift Search (Mediapost)
If you want more ROI from your search campaign, display ads can help you get there and here’s why: display advertising creates demand and awareness of your brand.  When consumers are ready to buy they will likely use a search engine to find a provider. If they recognize your brand, you’ll benefit from higher click-through and conversion rates.  Yet most marketers manage these interdependent channels separately and they often cut display ads that create valuable awareness but not direct leads.  This is why you need expert tracking and analysis. If you’d like to learn more, I know a great agency that would love to help you.

Why Email Marketing Deserves More Respect (iMedia)
I often say that email marketing is the most profitable way to drive repeat business, yet is the most underutilized tool in most marketer’s kits.  Here’s a good article from Simms Jenkins (howdy ATL!) on why you can’t afford to overlook your email marketing program.

Five Things Agencies Want from Clients (iMedia)
This is a MUST READ if you are an in-house or client side marketer. Forget the agency implications - these are basic principles every brand / client side marketer needs to grasp.

Venture Investments drop 50% in First Quarter (Wall St. Journal)
It’s a tough time to start a new business - especially if it requires millions in funding to get off the ground. On the other hand, it’s a great time to be an angel investor!

Ogilvy Looks to Asia for Growth (Wall St. Journal)
I think about Asia as a vacation destination.  Apparently China and India are growth markets for advertising as well.  Hmmm… makes me wonder…

All for now - please feel free to comment, share and subscribe via RSS.  Thanks for reading!

Steve Latham
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Digital Marketing: Not Recession Proof.

Published
by
Steve Latham
on June 3, 2009
in Marketing and Strategy
. 0 Comments

Since the economy took a nose dive (with the biggest drop starting in October 2008) pundits have debated how it will impact advertising / marketing and the digital marketing sector in particular.  Some in my industry were brazen enough to proclaim we (digital marketers) would not be adversely affected by the recession as media dollars would shift to where to those channels where results and ROI were most apparent. I was hopeful this would play out.  In theory it sounded good! But reality is a different matter.

First, it’s very apparent that digital is not immune to economic downturns. While there are instances where some brands are following through and spending more online (at expense of traditional media), most have scaled back on display and other “advertising” channels, focusing on media that rings the register (e.g. search) and social media.  Generally speaking, when the pie shrinks, everyone’s piece gets smaller. And while some small shifts did take place, they were overshadowed by the rapid deterioration in results from online campaigns. Q4′08 and Q1′09 were tough times for DR-centric online marketers - when consumers stop buying it’s hard to keep your clients happy (even if you are outperforming other media).

We also learned Digital is often at a disadvantage because big advertisers can’t just cancel their contractual media commitments to traditional vendors. The downside to having an on/off button with your media is that when budgets have to be cut, it often represents one of the few areas where spend can immediately be paused. It’s not a good business practice, but by now we know that marketers don’t always do what is best for their brand (job preservation will always prevail over doing what’s right for the company).

However, I’ve always felt this recession would offer a silver lining for interactive and it’s starting to come true. Budget shifts are taking place, and even though it may take 6-12 months for the mix to change, we’ll see a higher allocation to digital in 2-3 years than we would have if not for the downturn. It’s hard to make big changes when things are status quo. One of the benefits of a recession is it forces brands to take drastic action, that is often required to make meaningful change.

This is the thesis behind my article “Silver Lining for Interactive“.  I believe my predictions will hold true and that the near term setbacks are going to be a blessing in the long term.

As always, I would love to hear what other marketers (traditional and digital) think, and how they view the changes that have taken place since 10/08. I hope to hear back from a few of you!

Steve Latham
http://twitter.com/stevelatham

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Online Demand Generation - Strategy and Metrics

Published
by
Steve Latham
on May 28, 2009
in Marketing, Online Advertising, Online Measurement, Paid Search, Search Engine Marketing and Strategy
. 0 Comments
Online Media Funnel

Online Media Funnel

Last week I spoke at the Online Marketing Summit’s tour stop in Houston on Demand Generation.  I was scheduled to speak in Dallas and Austin as well, but an unexpected foot injury / surgery sidelined me from travel.

At OMS I unveiled a new presentation that addresses the #1 objective of most marketers: generating leads, sales and other measurable results from online media.  The presentation “Online Demand Generation: Strategy and Metrics” is embedded below for your viewing pleasure; you can also find it on slideshare.  I started by defining “demand generation” (broader and more upscale than “lead gen”), the components of a demand generation program and various roles of online media. I also introduced engagement paths and the importance of defining the right metrics for success.

Also included is a practical methodology for measuring ROI and indexing performance against the market.  As a bonus, I also included my view of the 10 worst and best practices for managing campaigns (would really like your feedback on these!)

Demand Generation Online Marketing Steve Latham 2009

I hope you’ll take this information and use the insights to take your business or agency to the next level. And as always, comments are welcome!

Steve Latham
http://twitter.com/stevelatham

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Why Wolfram Alpha will not Change PPC but Improve It

Published
by
Kalin Dudley
on May 12, 2009
in Online Advertising and Search Engine Marketing
. 2 Comments

There is a major buzz in the SEM community about Stephen Wolfram’s new creation, Wolfram Alpha and the future of Search Engines.  The major difference between your normal Search Engine and the Wolfram Alpha is its SERPs.  Unlike Google and all other search engines, Wolfram Alpha will give you an answer to your search based on the question you ask, one answer which removes the extra (and most painful step in research) of finding the answer.  Now there is no debate that if it works as planned, Wolfram Alpha could change search however I feel strongly that this will not effect SEM and could in fact improve it.  The reason…people want choices and the ability to research/compare products and services.

Imagine going to Wolfram Alpha and asking, “What is the best pizza in Houston?” and given no choices to choose from, just one single result.  From a user experience perspective, my choice has been taken and thereby it is a poor engine for finding services/products.  However, if you are researching a particular subject or needing an answer to a question that has been burning at your brain, Wolfram Alpha will be the answer…literally.  Understanding the ability to choose v. looking for an answer is what will allow Wolfram Alpha to drastically change search and SEM performance for the better.  From a PPC perspective, especially when there is a thin red line between a qualified and unqualified traffic.  An example can be seen in the health industry, where a term like “cancer treatment” can bring in two types of visitors:

1.    a potential patient looking the best place to get cancer care
2.    a student/curious person looking for information on cancer treatment

The same term could currently be spending a good portion of budget on traffic that isn’t interested in your product, but rather just looking for information.  Its tough to weed out this traffic they are using the same keyword to trigger your ads.  You can use negatives to a certain extent, however this isn’t 100% guaranteed.  Now imagine if Wolfram Alpha starts to become the “fact engine” that can provide answers, not results to your questions and it takes this traffic away from major search engines.  That’s correct, you have better qualified traffic that are using the right engine for their needs.  I need a service or product, my best bet is using Google because I will have choices to make the best economical decision.  I have a question, need an answer I will use Wolfram Alpha.  The point, if Wolfram Alpha is all it is cracked up to be, it will make SEM on Google much more effective by removing all of those pesky visitors that click with no intention to buy…

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Business Case for Social Media

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by
Steve Latham
on May 8, 2009
in Online Measurement, Social Media and Strategy
. 0 Comments

Social media is hot. Everyone’s doing it and everyone wants it. But how many marketers have figured out how to use social media to build their brand and drive revenue? Unfortunately, not nearly enough. I believe one of the hurdles to pursuing social media as a marketing program is the challenge of creating a compelling business case that frees up the resources (budget) needed to fund it.

I recently spoke to a group of business executives about how companies are using (or planning to use) social media, and how to build a business case for it. In my presentation I also included some new data on how the Inc. 500 is using social media, 5 reasons to pursue it, and a methodology for measuring ROI.

You can view the presentation below or find it at slideshare (note: sorry for some of the formatting issues caused by slideshare conversion).

I hope it’s helpful and that you’ll provide some feedback for improving it. And if you have any good data points to support the case, please send them my way!

For more info you can use, view our blog. And for updates follow me on Twitter!

Business Case For Social Media (Revised 2009!) - Steve Latham - Spur Interactive

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Ad Pricing Revolution… or Evolution?

Published
by
Steve Latham
on April 27, 2009
in Online Advertising
. 1 Comment

Let’s get ready to rumble!!!

There’s a big debate raging in the interactive world about whether advertisers should purchase online ads from Premium Content Providers or their customers / competitors, the Ad Networks. Here’s a quick breakdown:

Premium Content Sites (aka Publishers) include CNN.com, WSJ.com, CBSnews.com, ESPN.com, SI.com, and countless others who have literally spent billions to provide great content.  The premium content, combined with the rigid advertising guidelines offers highly valued placement and brand-enhancing context for advertisers to reach and engage audiences.  But the premium content sites are relatively expensive and the reach beyond the site or small group of sites is limited.

Ad networks, which include advertising.com, google, valueclick, tremor media, specific media, audience science and 24/7 real media, to name a few, aggregate media across thousands of sites and apply targeting techniques to reach your audiences. Through an ad network you can serve ads to the same person (or group of persons) across multiple sites.  The ability to target and re-serve ads is very valuable, especially now that we know that impressions create awareness which improves online conversion rates. Because ad networks buy remnant inventory from premium content sites for a fraction of what advertisers pay, they generally offer much lower cpm rates, allowing advertisers to get more reach for their limited dollars.

Both ad networks and premium content sites have strong arguments as to why you should buy their media over others.  In recent days, a flurry of articles and points of view have emerged.  Here’s a summary:

The case for ad networks is made in “A Pricing Revolution Looms in Online Advertising” (Businessweek.com): “Demographic profiling and behavioral targeting by such companies as Google, Quantcast, and ValueClick is slashing ad costs and threatening Web publishers” To read the article visit http://tinyurl.com/con2lv

The case for premium content sites is made in today’s rebuttal “A Pricing Revolution May Loom, But Context And Content Still Rule” (MediaPost). “Lower-costs seem appealing in the post-recession world, but short-term savings are short-sighted. For advertisers who care about brands”. The article then lists several considerations that must be addressed when you get in bed with the devil (aka ad networks).

So which is right for your brand or your client?  Like most things in life… it depends.  My take is that the “right” medium depends on your brand, audience, objectives and budget. Each medium has its pros and cons.  While context and content are very important, so is cost and the ability to target.  If brand protection is paramount, go with the content sites. If you are seeking to maximize lead generation at the lowest possible cost per lead, start with the ad networks (in conjunction with paid search, of course).  Over time, their offerings will look more and more alike.

As AdAge reported in the 4/20/09 digital issue, “large publishers are looking more like ad networks” and ad networks are starting to look more like publishers by picking up premium content inventory and focusing on targeting and brand safety.  Over time I expect we’ll see these frenemies become more and more alike.  And who’s to say an ad network won’t become an attractive extension for a traditional publishing company seeking to expand its digital footprint (e.g. would Valueclick make sense as a subsidiary of News Corp?).

Media will continue to evolve and the mix of players will continue to shift.  But that’s what makes this such a fun industry and an exciting time to be in the digital marketing arena… even in this crummy recessionary market.

Comments are welcome!!!

p.s. - my apologies to those ad networks and content sites I omitted in this update.  I just wrote what came to mind.. if you were excluded you may want to invest in some online advertising.  I know a great boutique interactive shop that would love to help :-)

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Assist Terms- The Role Players of Search

Published
by
Kalin Dudley
on April 24, 2009
in Search Engine Marketing
. 1 Comment

One of the most common mistakes that can be made to any search campaign is shutting down keywords without understanding the role it plays in your overall Search Campaign.  Imagine it’s Game 7 of the NBA Finals and Jerry Sloan sits John Stockton because he isn’t one of the top scorers.  Overall production for the team would fall because you are losing 10.5 assists a game.

This same scenario is what occurs in many PPC Campaigns during the Optimization process where advertisers pause terms that are simply not converting.  A common mistake is the lack of research into the engagement metrics and mapping of your conversion cycle. To understand the role that your keywords play, you must first understand the conversion process for search. The very basic search conversion funnel has three phases:

•    Browsing
•    Shopping/Researching
•    Buying/ Decision Making

Each phase will have a different set of keyword and ad copy strategy to help maximize your efforts from search.  By cutting off traffic from a portion of this cycle, you run the risk of cutting off your keyword conversion funnel.  An example of this, would be the following scenario:

1st search: cosmetics (browsing)
2nd search:  mascara (browsing)
3rd search: waterproof mascara (shopping)
4th search: Blinc brown mascara (Buying) * Converting Term

Reviewing the search funnel above, you see the branded term is what gets credit for the conversion, however the assist terms all played a major role in “assisting” the conversion process.  Many advertisers fail to take the assist terms into consideration when optimizing their account performance and see the end result, overall conversion falling.  In the 2008 Marketing Sherpa Shared Knowledge report it was stated that:

By tracking assist conversions, we determined that customers take about 2 days from the first time they click on a paid ad to the time they convert….many of our conversions consist of customers that have searched using 2 to 7 different keywords.  Customers are doing their research!

So in keeping with the metaphor being used, understanding each role of your keyword list (players) and using them for the greater good of your account (team) will allow you to maximize your returns (win the championship).  If not, you will be stuck with a team full of overpaid and underachieving Prim Donnas, just look at the NY Knicks under Isaiah Thomas…..

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A GREAT time for Display Advertising! (?)

Published
by
Steve Latham
on March 18, 2009
in Marketing, Online Advertising and Strategy
. 1 Comment

With everyone professing the virtues of Search, I’d like to take a different view (as is my nature) and go on record stating that now is a GREAT time for cpm-based Display advertising. Why am I going against the grain on this one?  Since you asked, I’ll tell you.  But before I make my case, let me state that as an agency we have no bias towards any one type of media.  We always recommend paid search before display advertising.  But if you are suffering from a contraction in daily searches for your brand or products (as we are seeing across the board since 10/08), you probably need more reach, engagement, leads or sales.  So here’s something to think about.

First, this recession has forced advertisers to scale back on all forms of advertising and it’s widely reported that display advertising (banners, rich media) has been hit much harder than search, leaving a lot of unsold inventory.

Second, while Cost Per Action (CPA) deals are still competitive (maybe even more so today given the increasing focus on accountability) there is a lot of unsold inventory that is price on Cost Per Thousand Impressions (CPM).  Consequently, it has created a big opportunity to buy cpm media at much lower rates than in the past.  This has also been documented in recent months by many sources.  The price of display media is faling faster than the bubble teams in the NCAA.

Third, the drop in demand for display ads allows those who are advertising to have a much larger share of voice, and receive much more attention than in the past.  I don’t have any stats to back this up, but it stands to reason.  If you are the ONLY bank or car maker advertising, you have a pretty good chance of delivering your message now that there is much less competition and clutter.

Fourth, display media is cheaper and you now get greater visibility with your ads, you should see better performance.  It may not translate into immediate leads or sales (remember we’re still in a dark and scary place) but those who are in the market today and tomorrow are more likely to be influenced by your ads.  And that is the reason you advertise.

So if you are maximizing ROI from search and need more reach to make your numbers, look at display advertising.  P.S. - if you add display on top of search you’ll see a 20-30% improvement in conversion rates from Search.  So make sure you account for that when you are doing your display media planning.

Comments…. Questions….?  To quote the beloved Kramer (Seinfeld, not Mad Money) “Am I crazy or am I so sane that I just blew your mind?”

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Seniors on the Web!

Published
by
Steve Latham
on March 3, 2009
in Marketing
. 1 Comment

MediaPost recently reported the results of a Pew Internet Research study that clearly debunks they myth that senior citizens are not online.  View the article!

According to the Pew stats, there are 20 million internet users over the age of 65.  And almost 80% of them use email.  The top 3 uses are:

1. Email
2. Search

3. Researching Health information

Also here’s a nifty chart courtesy of eMarketer:

Surprised? Baffled? Or do you already know this? For more exciting stats view the entire report.

And Grandma if you are reading this, I love you!

Comments are welcome!

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