Bringing It All Together

One of the first advertising lessons revolves around the Four P’s: Product, Price, Place, and Promotion. But according to Hank Wasiak, partner of the marketing firm The Concept Farm and three time Emmy award winner, with the new age of social media comes a fifth P- People. Wasiak believes that in order for a company to achieve its marketing potential, that company must fully integrate social media with traditional media. Mass communication, and advertising, is no longer about sending one-way messages. In this digital age, as we are all aware, advertising MUST incorporate social media and engage its consumers in conversation.

This leads us to our main point- that the key to making online advertising work is to fully integrate social media marketing with traditional advertising campaigns. While this can be difficult, it is vitally important in today’s digitally immediate world. Here are a few quick key points to putting together social media.

Social Media Landscape

Make sure to choose the right forms of social media. There are hundreds of websites and tools out there that can help your company out. The problem is finding which ones work right for a specific brand. Marketers need to asses their campaign goals and decide which forms of media will best help them accomplish those goals. Big names like Facebook and Twitter are an absolute must, but there are plenty of other platforms and tools available.

It’s also important to connect the various forms of social media together. Many companies choose to use their company website as the hub for all social media, while others are now using Facebook. It all depends on the target demographic for the advertising campaign. Using Facebook as a company’s main hub is also a smart decision because Facebook makes it very easy to link several forms of social media together. As a final incentive, Facebook users continue to grow as more demographics join that social media giant.

Finally, stay up to date. Companies may think that once they have created their accounts and implemented their campaigns that their work is done. The important thing about social media is that it is always changing. New platforms are constantly springing up while others die out and there will always be new ways to use existing social media. The secret is to stay on top of what is happening in the social media world.

There are countless other social media platforms out in the internet. The best way to learn how to utilize them fully is to go out and explore. Thanks for reading!

YouTube’s Advertising Secrets

That song. It’s stuck in your head. You hear it everywhere. At the grocery store, blasting through car speakers, shrill and tinny sounding from your neighbors earbuds. But what is it? How do you find it? Open up that web browser, type in youtube.com, and search.

Got it! But wait. How can this song stay up on YouTube? Jason Derulo clearly does not support this user generated video. Let’s take a closer look.

Restart the video and look across the top of the screen. Do you see that little red advertisement? We’ve become so used to immediately canceling out of it, that we often don’t even register that those advertisements are there. But those advertisements are the reason you can search for music and video clips on YouTube. Instead of demanding that a video be taken down, large companies recognize this as a source of revenue and tailor those advertisements toward the user. In fact, YouTube has a system called Content ID that scans videos and compares them to material provided by copyright owners to identify potential revenue streams.

That is one way in which online advertising and YouTube are connected. But what if a company wants to take advantage of viral video’s to increase their visibility?

Perhaps you’ve seen the Old Spice commercials. With close to 37 million views, this ad campaign was as hilarious as it was successful. Old Spice made a commercial that was both convincing and amusing. By integrating it well with television and online media, the campaign is an example of a creatively profitable campaign.

Bessie Johns, a marketing blogger, lists some advantages of advertising via YouTube.

• Video hosting is free
• Reaches a Worldwide audience
• Videos show in Google’s search results
• Entertaining- Can take advantage of the viral effect
• A visual way to provide a lot of information
• More room for creativity
• Money goes into the making of the video as opposed to the advertising

With all of these options, it is no wonder many companies choose to utilize YouTube to market and brand themselves. Whether you realize it or not, advertising is working in many unseen ways on YouTube.

Twitter’s Advertising Conundrum

On television shows and product packaging are slogans shouting “Follow Us On Twitter!” Many people believe Twitter is the fastest growing social media platform. But how do advertisers take advantage of Twitter? How is the average user affected by Twitter advertisements? Let’s take a look at creative Twitter advertising options.

Big Bucks for Twitter Hosted Advertising

Advertising through Twitter is relatively easy. Twitter hosts a “Start Advertising” page which quickly allows businesses to create an advertising profile, with a set budget, ad run dates, and target locations. However, the few figures available suggest that Twitter charges a high premium for these services.

Promoted Tweets- These tweets appear at the top of the search results pages and reach a broader audience.

Promoted Tweets Statistics as seen on Simply Zesty

Promoted Trends- Promoted trends feature a trending topic at the top of the trend’s list, driving conversations around your brand. Twitter has announced that it costs $120,000 per day to run a promoted trend.

Promoted Accounts- This feature suggests users to follow a specific company. Twitter targets users like your followers to create a larger base.

However, often these advertising choices are not an option for smaller businesses. Twitter requires a $5,000 per month minimum advertising expenditure for all businesses, making it difficult for smaller businesses to take advantage of these advertising opportunities.

Other Advertising Options via Twitter

Many companies and brands use Twitter to update consumers on their products and ideas. Often, consumers don’t want to read lengthy blog posts about product updates and trivial information. In these cases, Tweets are the perfect, quick solution.

Often brands also use Twitter for limited-time-only deals. Twitter makes it easy for companies to let loyal customers know about sales. Websites like twtQpon make it easy for smaller businesses to create simple coupons for followers.

twtQpon Logo

Other useful websites include Twittertise, which helps track Twitter click through rates, and twithawk, which helps businesses target specific demographics.

Twitter’s Bottom Line

Awareness vs. Usage Twitter Statistics as seen on Simply Zesty

While an astounding 92% of American consumers are aware of Twitter, only 8% actually use Twitter. It is important to remember that ads on Twitter are not like advertising on Facebook- Twitter is about driving awareness and traffic to other sites. Thus, there is not set advertising formula for Twitter. It is still changing and evolving.

6 Marketing Techniques Used to Create Great Facebook Fan Pages

Last week we discussed the basic concepts of advertising through Facebook. But how do these companies create engaging ads that pull in consumers? Compiled from various sources and observations, here are six key marketing techniques used by companies to create an innocuously exciting Facebook page.

1. Creatively Integrate All Forms of Social Media
   To give a brand a comprehensive online presence, it is necessary to utilize all forms of online media. This includes an up-to-date website, Facebook page, Twitter, Google+ page, etc. The most successful brands link and integrate their product or service with these online resources.
2. Offer Pertinent Information for Consumers
   Many companies use their Facebook page as a resource for consumers to access. For example, on the Sony Ericsson page is options to click on cell phone reviews, advantages of certain phones, and comparisons against competition phones. This fan page provides a plethora of information and help for potential and current consumers.
3. Exclusive Contests for Fans
   Often, companies will offer loyal consumers special deals and contests to reward dedication. By giving consumers a concrete reason to “like” a page, companies are securing active fans. Examples of such incentives include coupons, free shipping, and weekly deals. This concept of offering something to consumers to join can help create a large community.
4. Target Proper Demographics
   No matter how hard a company may try, the target demographic of the product may simply not be using Facebook. In these cases, it is important play to one online demographic and build up a following there. Websites such as quantcast provide fairly accurate Facebook demographics.
5. Making the Most of a Fan Page
   Successful brand fan pages must also cater to internet aesthetics. A successful and impressive fan page will include html and CSS coding to provide a professional face. For example, the recent photostrip addition that stretches across the top of the main page can be utilized to create additional visual branding. It is important for companies to keep the page theme uniform and consistent.
6. “Like” to See More
   The common trend today is to make a Facebook fan page exclusive. Facebook allows brands to show one thing to people who are fans and another to those who aren’t. Consumers must click the “like” button in order to see everything a company has to offer. These brands use these exclusivity incentives to acquire fans.

Please keep in mind that while many of these techniques can be used simultaneously, a brand cannot use them all. Companies with the most successful Facebook fan pages have chosen those techniques which are right for their target audiences and approach.

Other successful strategies companies incorporate into their Facebook fan pages include regular updates, games, commercials, humor, and rewards for dedicated fans. However, it is important to remember that the most successful way to garner buzz about a brand is not just through capable Facebook marketing techniques, but through recommendations from friends. The best Facebook pages incorporate gimmicks which spread via word of mouth.

What other Facebook marketing techniques have you seen on fan pages?

Information synthesized from these sources:
Techipedia
iBlognet
Mashable 

Who “likes” an advertisement?

If you remember, way back in the olden days, Facebook users were “fans.” In April, 2010, Facebook changed its terminology from “become a fan” to “like.” As Facebook changes all the time, this new update angered some, but the masses quickly adjusted.

“Liking” Means Interactivity

Yet this seemingly innocuous word change brought an entirely new social facet to browsing the internet. According to John Sutter, CNN correspondent, by clicking the thumbs up icon, you are indicating that you find the content interesting, relevant, or helpful. At the surface, “liking” something allows users to share content they like with their Facebook friends. As we all know now, many websites are synced with a user’s Facebook, allowing that person to easily create, comment, and share content.

Advertisers Like Facebook Users to “Like” Them Back

However, along with this advancement came a whole host of unseen opportunities for advertisers. The “like” addition has allowed advertisers to create and cement their brands among users. When users see a familiar product advertised on Facebook, they click that harmless thumbs up sign to show their approval.

But it is the advertiser’s duty to make their Facebook page inviting and engaging. To truly create interactivity, that which all internet users seek, advertisers must create a Facebook experience. Hundreds of thousands of people “like” a page, and promptly forget about it. The main goal is to keep users engaged with the product.

Actively Engaging With a Brand

A user who is actively involved with a product’s page (that is, any user who comments on a brand’s posts or wall) is called an active fan. The ratio of active fans to total fans is usually relatively low; for most companies that percentage is well below 1%. Below is a table which shows the top 10 Facebook fan page brands and the percentage of active fans.

1. Dr. Pepper (147,462 active fans out of 10,413,502): 1.42% active fans
2. Sony Ericsson (69,976 active fans out of 5,489,372): 1.27% active fans
3. Walt Disney (91,391 active fans out of 7,195,124): 1.27% active fans
4. Taco Bell (92,568 active fans out of 7,426,976): 1.25% active fans
5. Walmart (77,392 active fans out of 8,493,630): 0.91% active fans
6. National Geographic (57,961 active fans out of 7,055,930): 0.82% active fans
7. Zoosk (44,491 active fans out of 5,523,311): 0.81% active fans
8. Blackberry (61,492 active fans out of 7,894,725): 0.78% active fans
9. Mountain Dew (44,459 active fans out of 5,942,900): 0.75% active fans
10. Disneyland (73,047 active fans out of 10,499,931): 0.70% active fans

From Ignite Social Media Blog

What do you think makes a Facebook page garner more active users than others? We’ll take a look here at that topic next time.