Spur Interactive

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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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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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

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