Online Video Ads More Effective Than TV
Colin Hogan
Video ads placed in full-episode TV programs streamed online deliver better results for advertisers than corresponding broadcast TV ads, according to studies conducted by Nielsen. Nielsen says the increased impact could be attributed to the nature of the viewing experiences offered between the two platforms, with online video viewers often more “engaged and attentive” to the content they are consuming.
How to Prepare for the Mobile Revolution
Brian Kress
As we become a more third screen- (phones) and fourth screen- (tablets) focused world, it’s important to think about how user behavior will change. Mission-based activities, single-tasking, and content snacking will soon lead to what Steve Rubel sees as three new behaviors. While we may not agree with his doomsday-ish tone, we do see some valuable insight here into the future of the mobile web.
Forget Social Networking, Think Social Gaming
John Keehler
The New York Times profiles the biggest company in social gaming, Zynga. They reached 100 million users in a mere two and a half years, half the time it took Facebook to reach the same milestone.
The History of Apps
Sarah Voges
We hear a lot about apps these days, especially the hot new ones for iPhone (Angry Birds), but what about the rest of the smartphones? This infographic gives a snapshot of what the specialized software programs look like as a whole industry. A few fun facts to start with: Symbian sells the most smartphones, but Apple sells the most apps. The most popular app ever? Crash Bandicoot Nitro Kart 3D
Social Media Participation: Worth It or Worthless?
Jeff Whang
With all the talk about trying to put a value on social media activity, Forrester has put its foot down and says that when it comes to social media, the ROI is a clear win. They suggest that we look at ROI in terms of four perspective: financial, digital, brand and risk management. Click through to read their thoughtful approach to social media ROI.
Traditional Media in the Digital Age
Jill Krumsick
A recent study of 770 journalists revealed less than optimistic perceptions of the future of traditional media channels, but also a new sense of inspiration. Dealing with loss of viewership/readership and declining ad revenues, over half of those surveyed feel traditional channels will be taken off the market as publishers work to build stronger digital revenue models. But with the challenge to digitally adapt at hand, journalists feel the quality of work is increasing and that the shift has had a positive impact on their job satisfaction.
On July 12, videos from “Old Spice Man,” aka “The Man Your Man Could Smell Like,” started showing up on the Internet. But these weren’t normal spots, but instead responses to fans from across the Internet.
For instance, here’s a response from Old Spice Man to Twitter user Jsbeals, who asked Old Spice Man to ask for his girlfriend’s hand in marriage
In the ensuing three days, the production team for Old Spice created 183 video responses to question threads from Twitter, Reddit, Digg, Facebook, blogs and 4Chan. Over the next seven-day period, they amassed a whopping 36 million total views to their social media experiment and built significant brand credibility with the thought-leaders and meme-starters of the Internet.
From the success of this brief initiative, advertisers should take away a few lessons:
1. Adapt your brand assets to fit an emerging medium – Old Spice used the strength of the character they created in their offline campaign. Even before this initiative, Old Spice Man had become something of an Internet celebrity. Netizens used the cadence of the original spot inside their own conversations and posed rhetorical questions about the Old Spice Man’s mythical nature. Old Spice was sure to leverage the equity they had already built for this character when bringing their brand into the social space.
2. Ensure quality content – Old Spice accomplished this by doing two things:
a. They used social media experts as copywriters – Not only did the Old Spice Guy have funny comments, but the comments were relevant to the communities. For instance, knowing (and leveraging) the Internet’s fascination with Ninja and Pirate battles.
b. They looked for comments where they could have success – They didn’t respond to every single comment left to them. Instead, they found comments that created the best opportunities to reinforce their brand message. For instance, choosing to answer “How can I smell like fighting and space shuttles?” rather than “Dear Old Spice Man: I tried Old Spice and the results were underwhelming.”
3. Produce content in real time – This was the most important piece of this project’s success: they recognized that social media is a real-time world. As such, these responses had to take place quickly and still retain a high production value. In most cases, the Old Spice responses came within an hour or two of the questions posed. Of course, this didn’t happen by magic; no, real-time messaging takes significant planning and “on the ground” resources to do it right.
4. Publish where your fans are – Don’t make them find you (even if you already have a social media presence). Dig into the forums and communities that aren’t particularly brand-friendly, but are where conversations are happening. For this promotion, Old Spice used a social media monitoring software to find conversations about the brand and looked for opportunities to embed themselves in “virally-relevant” communities.
5. Stay true to your communication goals – Of course, it’s important to stay true to your brand and the goals of your advertising. In many responses, Old Spice made sure to not only answer questions, but did so in a way that spoke about the brand and the product. For an initiative like this to remain loyal to your brand goals, you have to be willing to devote an extensive time investment from a broad team, from careful strategic planning down to execution.
We should say that this campaign has, so far, failed to produce sales results for Old Spice Red Zone After Hours Body Wash. In fact, according to SymphonyIRI, in the 52 weeks ended June 13, sales of the brand are down 7%. While those figures won’t include results from this social media initiative, it may show problems for the “Old Spice Man” direction overall. It’s a solid reminder that mass attention doesn’t necessarily mean money in the bank. UPDATE: It looks like sales are up, too! Recent sales figures show a lift last month of 107%.
In all, though, Old Spice created a unique and breakthrough execution founded on a few of the tenets of social media marketing; principally, that real-time, personal content is sure to win the hearts and minds of your audience. I’d challenge you, dear reader, to define and learn from what is and isn’t successful both from your and your competitor’s emergent media practices. With enough insight into how the medium works, you, too, can build a breakthrough campaign.
For more on how this was pulled together, see this article: http://creativity-online.com/news/behind-the-work-old-spice-responses/144947
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Facebook to hit 500 million users this week
Colin Hogan
Social networking site Facebook will announce this week that it has reached the half-billion-member mark, the Washington Post reports. The privately-owned company has doubled in size over the past year. 75 percent of users are outside the U.S., and one-quarter of all users are accessing the site from their cell phones.
Social Media Lessons from Old Spice
Sarah Voges
Last week, The Man Your Man Could Smell Like made a big splash in social media with You Tube videos filmed in response to Twitter messages. The videos were an instant hit and cleverly reinforced the character and it’s brand. So what are they key takeaways? Well, lots of people have an opinion. The post above can give you a quick summary or link you to many of the articles out there for further reading.
What is Awesome on the Internet?
John Keehler
This New York Times article profiles the one conference, ROFL Con, that answers that question. Learn what happened this spring at the conference, and more about some of the most popular Internet memes.
Droid Phones Make Gains
Alex Kenney
Apple dominated with a 56% share of mobile ad impressions across Millennial Media’s network in June, followed by BlackBerry devices (17%) and Android (11%). However, while Android still comes in third in the Smartphone race for total impressions delivered, its impressions have increased by 439% since January. Millennial Media also reports that iPad ad impressions jumped 206% in June vs. May.
Location, Location, Location, Search
Jill Krumsick
Google is reportedly in partnership talks with various location-based services as it tries to further enhance its product capabilities. This article speaks to a few possible applications search engines could leverage with location-based information including real-time search, mobile search and super social maps.
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ComScore recently reported that 84.8% of U.S. Internet users watch video online, with 183 million U.S. Internet users viewing 34 billion videos online in May of 2010. Considering that just one month prior this number was 174 million U.S. Internet users, we can see that this industry is on the move. But like all industries in a growth stage, things they are a-changing. Here are a few trends in online video that are changing the game and our expectations of digital video.
Online TV for a Fee
While the majority of content is free online, companies are moving toward fee-based models in an interest to grow the space’s content while building more lucrative business plans.
- As they project the DVD business to peak in 2013, Netflix’s Watch Instantly subscription service is the brand’s initiative to become a leader in streaming content. With content spanning both movies and TV shows, the service starts to creep into Hulu’s market, but the notion is that Netflix will maintain dominance in the movie space. And consumers are showing strong interest. Netflix just reported a 46% year-over-year growth in unique visitors to the website, citing the new streaming service as the driving force.
- Hulu just announced last week a new monthly subscription model, Hulu Plus, that adds backlogs of content (did you know that 90% of network TV content is removed in six weeks or less?) and brings access to iPhones, iPads and certain HD TVs. There is added capability and depth of content, but to keep prices low as they navigate this new space, this model still includes advertisement.
Online TV on TV
We’re not just seeing TV content show up online; we’re seeing online content brought to the television screen. Just as Hulu expands service to the television, other brands are also looking toward the black box as an opportunity for online video distribution.
- Google announced its Google TV last month, to be launched in the fall of 2010. Google TV is a connected TV set – instead of using your guide, users will be able to search both TV content as well as online content – bridging the platform gap and making all content watchable from the television.
- Apple is redesigning their Apple TV solution to be more compatible with streaming capabilities. The current system limits users to iTunes, but as the space grows, Apple is looking toward an app store methodology to incorporate and leverage other streaming businesses such as Netflix and Hulu.
With TV coming online and online content going to the tube, expect to see some changes in the online video space. With more brands moving to online distribution, marketers will have more options for ad placement and branded opportunities as the space gets competitive. And the online video product is getting a facelift as it competes with higher-quality television programming; marketers and brands should be ready to elevate the production quality of online content as the lines blur.
Video consumption is changing, and online video is here to play. Look for increased adoption, new opportunities to reach consumers and new products to come out of the evolving space. Viva la online video.
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Millennials will make online sharing a lifelong habit
Colin Hogan
According to a new report from the Pew Research Center, today’s tech-savvy young people – the ‘digital natives’ who are known for enthusiastically embracing social networking – will retain their willingness to share personal information online even as they get older and take on more responsibilities. Experts surveyed say that the advantages Millennials see in personal disclosure will outweigh their concerns about their privacy.
The Most Imaginative Social Good Campaigns
John Keehler
This list from Forbes recaps some of the best social good campaigns over the last few years, a great reminder of how brands working for causes can be inspirational.
Simultaneous Viewing and Surfing Numbers Increase
Alex Kenney
If you never surf the web while watching TV, you are distinctly in the minority, according to a new study by Nielsen on behalf of Yahoo. Three out of four Americans use the web and TV simultaneously, and half do so every day. The total time spent multitasking has increased by 19% compared to last year.
Ads Impact Women Online
Sarah Voges
What are women doing online, and what does that have to do with your ad? Well, 62% say they notice or interact with online advertising and if they are part of the blog reading group, their interaction with ads is even higher. Ads that resonate the the most include sales or discount codes or feature entry to win a prize per Unicast’s “What Women Want from the Web Report,” accessible through the link.
Citizen App Inventors?
Jill Krumsick
Google wants everyone to develop applications, and is creating the tools make it a reality. Further distinguishing it’s “open” philosophy from the notoriously “closed” Apple, the Google App Inventor for Android is a program for coders and non-coders alike to build applications. “App Inventor requires no programming knowledge…This is because instead of writing code, you visually design the way the app looks and use blocks to specify the app’s behavior.” The program is currently in closed beta stage, but applicants can register online for a chance to start making apps sooner than later.
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As you all know, the iPhone 4 has been a hit (or a miss, depending on whether this reception design issue continues to blow up or get resolved). What we do know is that the latest smart phone from Apple has sold like hotcakes, with Apple struggling to keep up with demand.
As you may have seen in The Buzz a couple of weeks ago, in three days, the iPhone 4 has sold over 1.7 million units. To put that into perspective, they sold 1 million iPhone 3G units in its opening weekend (the iPhone 3GS also sold a million in its opening weekend and it was a more minor update to the device). And it took the original iPhone 74 days to reach 1 million. Considering you have at least 1.7 million folks with hefty data plans, browsing the mobile Web and actively using apps, it’s no surprise that brands are interested in the opportunities to connect with this desirable target.
From an advertising standpoint, one of the biggest pieces of news has been the iAd functionality of the new operating system on which the iPhone 4 (and some older versions) runs, which allows a much more robust and engaging advertising experience. There’s been a lot of conversation around this, but we haven’t seen truly engaging experiences quite yet. We’ll certainly take a deeper dive into iAd in a future blog post, but what I wanted to share today were some the new features in the iPhone 4 that make for some interesting opportunities for brands to create meaningful connections with customers.
Facetime
This is the technology that Apple touts as groundbreaking: the ability (as long as the other person also has an iPhone 4) to video chat in real time. The first thing I thought of here was the ability for brands that have very close relationships with their top customers to offer live video chat on the go. As far as any opportunity where a brand can provide the ultimate in customer service, except for a physical concierge, Facetime is about as good as it gets right now.
Better Camera and HD Video Recording Capability
Apple has upgraded its onboard camera to 5MP and added a fancy backlit sensor to make pictures taken in low light look decent. What this means is less horrible (and approaching beautiful) photos from the masses. As an advertiser running, say, a photo contest where you challenge your customers to take photos of one of your brand icons in interesting places, this means the ability to potentially use their photos in more places than just the contest. And the same goes with video. Now that they’ve added HD video capability with a better lens, the creative possibilities have increased. iMovie software is now available on the iPhone 4 – which isn’t to say that a huge number of people will be actively editing HD, but you’re going to be able to do some more interesting things with user-submitted videos. The days of jerky, handheld mobile video at a concert aren’t gone yet, but at least it’s in HD now. What we hope for with all these increases in technology is a similar increase in the sophistication of the kinds of content our consumers create. As the iPhone 4 expands its reach, it’s only a matter of time before people are creating some eye-popping content that you wouldn’t have imagined possible.
The photoshoot below actually used an iPhone 3GS, the last-generation iPhone (along with the help of some very professional lighting and software), but still makes the case that the capability for some incredible content exists as the devices get better.
Multitasking
Most of the interest in multitasking has come from people who want their GPS app or Pandora music station to keep playing while they do other things on the phone. That certainly will be the focus of most people’s use of multitasking, but there are some neat things brands can also do with this feature. Think about developing a brand app that can voice-over help or guidance as you explore parts of your mobile site. You could link directly to your mobile site or anywhere else on the Web from your brand app and provide running audio commentary. The same goes with a model similar to Pandora where you can offer a music soundtrack to accompany the customer doing other things on their iPhone 4.
Of course, just the mere possibility of many of these opportunities doesn’t at all mean they should be implemented. But I hope what you’ve discovered today is that as the technology and adoption of smart phones like the iPhone 4 grow, there is parallel growth happening in the ways we can engage with our customers to create deeper and more meaningful connections to our brands.
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2009 brought search engine marketing (SEM) the heavily promoted Bing from Microsoft, along with Google scrambling to enhance search results with real-time social media, expanding universal search and personalizing search results. On Google’s paid search side, new developments include product listing ads, product extensions, site link ads, comparison ads and the extension of universal search to paid search. Welcome to Google’s “Caffeine,” slated to be fully rolled out in early 2010.
Even with the long shadow of the economic crisis, SEM will be a bright spot of opportunity for savvy online marketers willing to be quick studies, early adopters and experimenters. Nevertheless, some are saying this will be the death of natural search engine optimization (SEO) and become a boon for Google’s pay per click (PPC) marketing. Needless to say, where Google goes, other search engines will follow.
Google continues to rule with 65.7 percent of U.S. searches in December 2009, 1 percent more of the market share than in November. Even with all of its hype, Bing grew slightly at 0.4 percent and Yahoo! has declined 0.2 percent from November. Ask has hovered at the 3-4 percent range for quite some time, and AOL has slipped below 3 percent market share.
With the above in mind, the Click Here SEM team anticipates the following trends will drive opportunity in 2010.
Search Engine Optimization
The rumored death of SEO is greatly exaggerated! Recent Google changes to personalize search and show real-time social media results will revitalize search engine optimization. Traditional SEO tactics are still necessary, but the changes made by Google will cause a reconsideration of what is affordably in a client’s best interest. There is no doubt that relevant content will remain the king of high-ranking search results, but how some results are indexed and served is changing.
Probably no other change will cause more confusion for non-paid search engine marketing than will the “personalization” of Google search results. Personalizing search means that Google will be looking at personal search habits to serve more relevant results. For example, search for “fox” and if Google has seen the habit of going to news websites, the likely search results will not be for the carnivorous mammal. Google’s other major change is to show real-time social media results in a live-scrolling “Latest results for …” panel. If there are concerns about brand reputation, about which there might be social “buzz,” marketers should consider monitoring or interacting in real time with public opinion.
One could argue that 2009 was the year of the social network where millions of people signed up for Facebook and Twitter accounts. According to eMarketer, Twitter’s audience tripled in 2009 (from 6 million to 18 million users) and is expected to grow at a 15 percent clip in 2010 to over 26 million users. Never before has there been such a way for users to express themselves. Google and MSN have already embraced user tweets in their search results, and this trend will continue to improve the user experience and search result relevancy. Search results could begin incorporating tweets and status updates from existing Twitter lists and Facebook friends. However, with the new multitude of opinions comes the formidable challenge of deciding what truly matters. Expect the social aspect of search to take on an even more prominent role in the coming year.
To evolve in light of recent and forthcoming changes and to successfully optimize websites for search engines, websites must become “authorities” in their spaces by practicing traditional SEO tactics, frequently refreshing content, adding keyword-tagged images, posting videos across the Internet, distributing press releases online, participating in social media and having unique content that encourages revisits. All of this will need to be fed to the search engine indexing mechanisms.
Sponsored Search
Click Here expects 2010 to hold a number of exciting changes for PPC search marketing. From increased customization and new ad formats, to an increased role for social media, PPC search will be more relevant, customized and current.
The best thing about PPC search is how it enables users to find exactly the things for which they’re looking. Recently, we’ve seen a convergence of users learning how to use search engines more effectively and search engines learning how to best serve their audience. Through the years, these moves brought us iGoogle, Twitter’s search functionality and a host of other features allowing users to further personalize their search experience. These adaptations will be a major driver for a number of exciting changes in 2010.
One change will be the rollout of new ad formats by Google. These new ad formats feature product comparisons and images, video, additional site links, and maps and addresses – all inside the sponsored search unit. Multiple product images shown on the AdWords Blog:
Marketers can now more effectively showcase their products and services to an audience that is increasingly savvy about the links they choose to visit. When used correctly, these new tools will enable marketers to increase the quality of the traffic they attract.
Lastly, there are a number of different search themes that, while not new, will continue to develop in 2010. Vertical search engines, mobile search, local search and video search will continue to be refined and improved. An excellent example of this development comes with Hulu’s release of video search through the use of existing closed captioning, allowing users to search for specific words or mentions within a video. Google is also venturing into this space by soliciting users to donate existing voicemails from Google Voice. While most feel this technology will be used for voicemail transcription, we feel voice transcription will make its way into the video space to enhance Google’s search capabilities. Another area of growth lies in local search. It’s been shown that 80+ percent of users who search for a business locally will contact that business offline. Expect businesses and engines to continue to build out this space as they leverage its value in helping users find the local businesses they seek.
Summary
2010 will be an exciting year both for the search engines and the end users who can expect to benefit from improved functionality, usability and relevance. Marketers will have more tools available to reach their target audience that include richer ad units, enhanced content search options and ways to tap into the vast and growing social networks. Also, as Internet-enabled cell phone users become more ubiquitous, a lot of searches will be starting there and websites need to be ready. If a business is sensitive to social commentary, it needs to get involved with social media. If a business sells tangible products, it needs to take advantage of Google’s product extensions.
Search engines remain the most used Internet medium, second only to email, including spam. As the Internet becomes less of a static information medium and more interactive and social, search engines will expand to index this broad spectrum of engagement, thus crowding the results pages. Search-savvy marketers will be recasting their messages in a variety of media to be found in both natural and paid search.
View all 10 trends here: Ten Digital Trends for 2010… and Beyond.
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Facebook User Engagement in Question
John Herrington
With over 674,000 Facebook Fans, marketers were quick to look at Gregory Levey’s fan page for how he achieved such success. Levey’s book “Shut Up, I’m Talking”, which is set to launch next month, was naturally the title that Levey used for his Facebook fan page. What’s interesting is not the number of people that actually liked Levey’s book, but instead, the vast number of distracted Facebook users that mistook the title of his book for nothing more than an entertaining meme.
YouTube Allows Users to Skip Ads
Sarah Voges
YouTube is planning a new feature that allows users to skip the ads that come with their online videos. Advertisers will not be charged for the ads that are skipped, but will get valuable information about which ads catch and keep the viewers attention and which frequently get passed up.
Chrome overtakes Safari in the U.S.
Colin Hogan
Google’s Chrome browser has overtaken Apple’s Safari to become the third most popular browser in the country, according to web analytics company StatCounter. Internet Explorer is a distant leader with 52 percent of the market, with Firefox far behind at 28.5 percent. Chrome, which publicly launched in December 2008, stands at 8.97 percent.
(Mostly) Happy To Be Connected
Alex Kenney
Do we own our technological devices or do they own us? A survey by Burst Media reports a largely positive verdict. Significant numbers of users say the devices they own have “greatly changed for the better” their ability to “keep in touch with family and/or friends” (46%), “get your news” (40%) and “use your spare time” (30%).
Apple Faces Lawsuit Over iPhone 4
Jill Krumsick
The iPhone 4 reception issues have brought Apple into a class action lawsuit. The problem isn’t that there are signal malfunctions (which is a major problem) but the way in which Apple addressed the issue. Rather than fixing the problem, Apple has told customers to change the way they hold the device or buy an accessory. The impending lawsuit states negligence, deceptive trade practices and fraud by concealment as a few claims against Apple.
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When thinking about social media, it’s often hard to consider anything other than Facebook. They’re the biggest game in town, by a long shot. Yet the social media universe is vast, which means that every so often, it’s a good idea to stop and take a look at what else is going on. Here are three key social media news items you may have missed, but should know about:
#1 – Google’s Getting Back into Social Media?
According to Digg CEO Kevin Rose, they are. Rose posted to his Twitter that he heard a “huge rumor” from a “very credible source” that Google’s launching a service called “Google Me.” It’s often been debated if Google can even compete with Facebook. Google Buzz didn’t gain much traction, and one of the primary weaknesses Google has is that it doesn’t hold a user “profile” like Facebook does.
Hence the rumors that “Google Profiles” is going to turn into this new social media service. We’ll see if Google has a chance to compete with Facebook.
#2 – The Future of LinkedIn Is Data
LinkedIn may not have the numbers of Facebook, but it is an undisputed powerhouse in professional social networking. It seems that they’re in the process of using the enormous amount of data they have on their 70 million members to provide career counseling. According to Stephen Baker from Business Week:
“Conceivably, the company could provide a service showing each one of us the paths that others took when they were in the same position we’re in now. It could diagram where those choices led. “Maybe he ends up deciding to be a high school math teacher,” Nishar says. In that case, he could find current math teachers who have followed that path and debrief them.”
This means that LinkedIn, like Facebook, could have a distinct advantage over other career sites, where users may have a résumé uploaded, but not a profile, and not the rich data that these social connections provide.
#3 – YouTube Still Backing Flash, Not HTML5
YouTube is indeed a powerhouse in the social media universe, and this week YouTube software engineer John Harding added an important footnote in the HTML5 vs. Flash debate when he posted the following on the official YouTube API blog:
“While HTML5’s video support enables us to bring most of the content and features of YouTube to computers and other devices that don’t support Flash Player, it does not yet meet all of our needs. Today, Adobe Flash provides the best platform for YouTube’s video distribution requirements, which is why our primary video player is built with it.”
You can read the complete post here, with detailed descriptions about why HTML5 doesn’t meet all those needs.
These are just a few recent social media developments that should remind us there’s a vast social media universe out there, and every once in a while, we have to stop to see what’s going on!
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