Advertising

I’m Six Stories Up at db&r

It has been such a long time since I’ve posted on socialallie.com. Shame on me! Here’s the deal – Most of my blogging efforts are now through db&r. As their Social Media Specialist, I curate and write for our blog (sixstoriesup.com). I’m still writing!

So, while I think about my next post exclusively for socialallie.com, I thought I’d share some of the most recent blogs I’ve posted for db&r.

It’s All Relative – Social Media Engagement To Stand The Test Of Time | Nov. 6, 2012
Today, I turn 26 years old. Maybe you think I’m pretty young… or just maybe you’re thinking that’s the perfect age (and I’m hoping this is the case!). As I prepared for a simultaneous election and birth-day, I began reflecting on what it means to be 26 in a “social” world: how has my social media use changed over time; how do I use use social media differently from my parents, my older sister, and my co-workers; and most importantly for us at db&r, what does all this mean for social media marketers? Continue Reading…

Must-Read Posts: Presidential Debate, Social TV, Social Style, Pinterest & More | Oct. 18, 2012
It’s been a busy week (well, couple of months really) here at db&r. Even still, we always make time to stay in touch with the latest online conversations. Here are some of our favorite blog posts, articles, or videos from the week so far: Continue Reading…

Five for Friday: 5 Mac Memories in Remembrance of Steve Jobs | Oct. 5, 2012
It’s exactly one year after one of the greatest innovators of our time passed away – Steve Jobs. When we realized it had already been a year since he passed, we had nothing but memories of our first interactions with Apple. So, for this week’s Five for Friday we pulled together our first Macintosh memories. Continue Reading…

Myspace Redesigns & Repositions: New Myspace Features [Slideshow] | Sept. 27, 2012
A few days ago Justin Timberlake tweeted a link to what I call “the little video that could,” which recaps the new Myspace design as well as some of its functionality. This video has the whole social media world tweeting up a storm. And why? Not just because of its “sexy” design. It’s how the brand seems to be repositioning itself as more of a partner to Facebook and Twitter than a replacement. This move could potentially allow the network to penetrate the mass market…quickly. Continue Reading…

Google Reader & Marketing Your Brand: Why & How to Use RSS Feeds & Google Reader | Sept. 10, 2012
Google Reader has been around since a beta was launched in Google Labs in 2005 – I first started using the service about three years ago. But I’ve discovered that not everyone understands or is even aware of what Google Reader is, let alone how to use it for marketing purposes. So here’s your guide to using Google Reader as a marketing tool. Continue Reading…

Demystifying Facebook Advertising: 9 steps to optimize your Facebook ad campaigns for success | Aug. 14, 2012
Ever since GM pulled its ad dollars from Facebook back in May, there’s been a ton of conversation around the worth and effectiveness of Facebook ads. When Facebook became an IPO, the controversy continued. Now the question is not only whether Facebook advertising justifies a major ad spend, but are also whether Facebook will even be around in a few years. Continue Reading…

Facebook Advertising – Premium Ads & the new Timeline

Facebook Timeline is now mandatory for business pages, whether you like it or not! Prior to the switchover Facebook business pages you could produce a professional looking page with lots of options for fan engagement without a large budget.

With the new changes, though, Facebook business pages are definitely not as “small biz friendly.” The new format brought changes to Facebook’s EdgeRank, the look and functionality of business pages, as well as changes to their advertising options. There are now “premium” advertising options for the big guys – things like logout page ads, mobile ads, Facebook offer ads, even news feed ads!! The regular ads we’re used to will pale in comparison.

On top of this Facebook has also changed the amount of characters allowed in an ad to 90 characters so that they can fit more ads on the advertising panel. Meaning that not only will you have less space to get your message across but that you’ll also be competing with more ads. To compete, you’ll need to focus more on the image you post along with your ads – making it stand out from the rest.

So, what are the premium ad options?

1. News Feed Ads – Before this option, the only way an ad could make it to your News Feed was if one of your friends shared or liked the link. Now – businesses can pay for the News Feed placement of Featured or Sponsored Stories Ads regardless of the ad’s actual “Edgerank.” The ad will look like any other post in your feed, except for it will be tagged as “featured.” To the average user, this could be viewed as pretty intrusive, but it is a great opportunity for marketers to get some prime time impressions with their fans’ friends.

2. Logout Ads – I never log out of Facebook, but there are tons of people out there who do, actually around 37 million per day. Facebook is looking to capitalize on this by allowing big brands to purchase advertisements on the sign off page. But only one ad will show up on the sign off page at a time – one huge image for one huge impact. The thought is that these ads will convert more people because they are already ending their Facebook experience and are ready to jump to another site.

3. Mobile Ads – It’s happened. Facebook can’t help itself from serving ads to the 350 million active users who access Facebook via a mobile device. The mobile ads you purchase will appear in the News Feed, but no panel ads (the small screen prohibits side ads).

4. Offers – Premium accounts can now provide discounts and offers to their fans. Offers as easy to create as a status update and are super share-worthy. Combine an offer with a Sponsored Story ad and you’ve got a winning advertising campaign.

And the doozy….

5. Reach Generator - Brands can now pay to guarantee that at least 75% of their fans see a particular post (as opposed to the 16% an average post receives). This is good news for the big brands with deep pockets, but for smaller companies it’s out of the price range. Maybe in the coming months this option will be available at a more reasonable price, but for now it’s an advantage that the major players have over the little guys.

What’s the problem? All of these options sound awesome. The problem is multifaceted. First of all, consumers will be served more ads per day than they’re used to. Second, only certain businesses are allowed these features. The offers ads are great, but small businesses don’t have access to them. Nor do small business have access to News Feed ads.

Until there’s a different EdgeRank for underdogs – allowing their ads or posts to be revealed more often, big businesses are the ones who will be #winning with these new ad changes. One of the reasons so many smaller companies flocked to Facebook in the first place was the ease of use and low overhead it took to compete with their competitors – even the larger brands. Now – that is not so.

From a user’s perspective – yes, we will be receiving more ads then ever from companies. Fortunately, the ads that we’ll see will (or should) engage us more than ever.

What other implications do you see coming from the new ad changes?

Sources:

WOMMA Webinar with Cara Friedman at Likeable Media

Mikal Belicove. How Facebook’s ‘Offers’ and ‘reach Generator’ Can Deliver More for Less. Entreprenuer.com. March 7, 2012. http://www.entrepreneur.com/blog/223062

Super Bowl Challenge: Social TV changes the advertising landscape

Social TV is changing the world. Okay – that might be a little too strong of a statement. But the reality is that social tv could very well be the television’s antidote to streaming services, Netflix, and even the high and mighty DVR.  Why? Because it’s changing the way we consume programing. It’s definitely changed my television watching habits.

If you’re a little confused, I’ll break it down for you. People tweet, post updates on FB, and blog starting the minute their favorite program airs. Tweeps use special hashtags to ensure that they’re a part of the conversation. And now, at least for me, it’s almost a crime to not follow a hashtag along with a show, game, or political event.

Why? Because I want to know what others are saying, what they’re thinking, how they’re reacting. It’s a virtual “water cooler” that you don’t have to wait until the day after to converse around.

As we all stopped watching our shows in real time or began multitasking while watching TV, advertisers and networks started getting scared. There used to be a time when there were few TV channels that everybody watched quietly, with no distractions. How can we reach our target consumers? How do we keep our viewers engaged?

A popular historical reference comes to mind – FDR’s Fireside Chats. Though I wasn’t around in the thirties or forties, I do remember stories of families crowded around their radios to hear his coined, “Good evening, friends” speeches. In fact, Roosevelt’s Fireside Chats attracted more listeners than the most popular broadcasts of the time. There’s no way it couldn’t have been the next day’s topic of conversation.

In this era, we’re lucky that we can chat back and forth during our Presidents’ addresses. We can comment on his tie, his political statements, and whether or not our vice president is on the verge of falling asleep. And in doing so, we’re all coming together in front of our TV sets and paying attention. We’re listening to the words spoken and watching action scenes with our eyes widened.

We know that social media has changed the way we consume media. But, who would have ever thought that this technology would bring us back together akin to Roosevelt’s radio addresses? Well, it’s happening. And advertisers, brands, and networks are finally realizing that by leveraging social media, a 30-second spot can extend way beyond the television frame.

I can’t wait to see what advertisers have in the works for this Sunday’s Super Bowl. In fact, it’s been reported by lostremote.com that every major Super Bowl media investment has a social tv component. Smart for the brands and fun for the consumer. This Super Bowl Sunday is going to be HUGE, and not just for my fellow New England fans. I’m predicting that the social chatter during the game breaks all precedents and saves the almighty commercial from becoming obsolete.

My challenge for you is to get involved. Follow along with the hashtags within commercials in Hootsuite or Tweetdeck streams and join in the conversation. Use NFL Huddle to keep track of all of the updates from players, hosts, and the media before, during, and after the game. If you’re a social media nerd like me, you’ll be happy you did.

Facebook Sponsored Stories & a Happy New Year

Do you know what a sponsored story even is? As a marketer or advertiser, you notice the small differences in the different ad forms and platforms. A banner ad on a website is soooo much different from a site takeover or a sponsored tweet. But do consumers even recognize a difference? At the end of the day aren’t all advertisements, well, advertisements?

It seems as though Facebook has graciously answered that question for us – absolutely not, and especially not if your approach to advertising is user-friendly. A few months ago, Facebook added Sponsored Stories to the ticker feature on everyone’s “home” page (for more info about the new ticker click here). The Inside Facebook blog noted that this transition was a smooth one without much backlash.

So it seems only natural that Facebook would move forward and start placing these Sponsored Stories in users’ News Feeds. But, what’s a Sponsored Story anyway and how is it going to affect my experience as a Facebook user & my experience as a marketer?

If you have friends on Facebook, you probably have friends who “Like” a few brands and interact with a them on Facebook. So, it’s likely that you’ve seen an update in your news feed from time to time about “Charles Gibson” (for instance) commenting on the ABC World News Page. But, honestly how often do you see those sorts of updates? Probably not that often, and if you do, you probably ignore it.

Formerly, Sponsored Story ads were there to insure that some of these stories actually did show up as ads on the right hand side of your page. There’s an example of one of these ads on the right.

Starting in January, though, those ads will begin to surface in your news feed, looking something like this:

This might seem like a pretty lame way for Facebook to start out 2012, but there are some redeeming qualities for users. First, at least in the beginning, you’ll only ever see one sponsored story ad per day. Second, all Sponsored Stories will be marked as “sponsored,” and Facebook is smartly rolling out the program slowly to all of its more than 800 million active users.

Plus – think about it. It’s not a regular advertisement – it’s something your “friend” has already done or said. And in that sense, it could be engaging. The ads could be created around one of your friends liking Lady Gaga, checking-in to the Brooklyn Museum, or using Spotify – among other types of status updates. At least it’s not one of those random ads that you can’t relate to, right?

And for advertisers – this is going to be the help we need to continue to acquire more interaction among our followers and potential followers. The new Timeline feature has decreased the frequency and likelihood that your regular posts on Facebook will make it to your “fans” news feeds. Which means that brand pages must provide even more relevant content in order to successfully make it into a “Likers” news feed. This new Sponsored Story option gives advertisers a way to combat this. Now a brand might have a chance to make it into someone’s feed, without fighting Facebook’s unknown algorithm.

There are a few problems, though. First, you won’t be able to buy placement only in the news feed for Sponsored Stories. You’ll have to buy into them and cross your fingers that it ends up in the news feed. Facebook also hasn’t provided any pricing information just yet either.

It seems Facebook is playing a game of chess with us marketers and, so far, they’re coming out on top. eMarketer estimates that the addition of Sponsored Stories this year alone has increased Facebook’s global ad revenue in 2011 by 104.3 percent over 2010.

What do you think about Sponsored Stories? Yay or nay?