Posted by: Micah Pratt, director of social networking r&d
Last Wednesday at the Web 2.0 conference held in San Francisco, Vic Gundotra, Google’s senior vice president in charge of Google+, discussed the possible changes coming to the social networking site. One of those changes included the idea of Google+ brand pages for companies anxiously waiting to reach out to the more than 40 million users. Here is an article from Mashable.com on what Google+ brand pages could look like when made available to companies.
What Google+ Brand Pages Could Look Like [PICS]
A few weeks ago, Mashable contacted some ad agencies and asked them to imagine how brand pages on could change in light of that platform’s planned redesign.
Just as Facebook was announcing its tweaks, though, Google was on track to add brand pages to Google Plus. Though it looks like that will happen any day now, the integration hasn’t been announced yet. Meanwhile, a handful of brands, including Ford, are already enjoying the possibilities.
There are several barriers to designing brand pages for Plus. For one thing, it’s hard to stand out the way Plus looks now. The somewhat rigid format has a leveling effect. But Colin Murphy, director of social for Skinny, one of the agencies that accepted our challenge, says there are potential advantages to Plus, too. “A primary gripe among Facebook and Twitter users is that brands bombard them with messages they don’t want or care to see,” said Murphy. “In its current form, Plus doesn’t solve that problem, but Plus Brand Pages might, if they implement Public Circles.”
Skinny outlined how this might work with a hypothetical example for Mini, the auto brand. In this case, a Mini Countryman fan could join the Countryman circle and see just Countryman updates in her feed. “This level of selectivity isn’t possible on Facebook or even Twitter, unless of course you are a fan or follow the specific product you’re interested in — but there’s a major drawback to that method because the user has to seek out content streams,” Murphy says. “With Google+ it’s all in one place, and the all the admin has to do is feed pertinent content to the appropriate circles.”
In addition to Skinny, Fantasy Interactive created some fictional Coca-Cola and Starbucks brand pages. Are these on the mark? We’ll know soon enough, but in the meantime, let us know what you think of these agencies’ vision of how Google+ can accommodate brands.
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October 27, 2011 | Categories: Blogged, Blogging, Facebook, Google, Mobile Marketing, SEO, Smartphones, SMS, Social Media Marketing, Twitter | Tags: advertising on google, blog marketing, brand, brand awareness, brand identity, brand management, brand marketing, brand pages, brand strategy, branded awareness, branding, branding awareness, business marketing, capabilities, company policies, compnay policy, employers, facebook like, facebook likes, facebook policies, facebook policy, googe, Google, google ad, google ads, google adwords, google analytics, google dictionary, google docs, google earth plus, google gmail, google google, google home, google homepage, google images, google places, google plus, google plus 1, google plus one, google products, google search, google sites, google toolbar, google voice, increase facebook likes, interactive marketing, internet advertising, internet marketing, internet marketing tools, Kansas City, kansas city business, KC, marketing, marketing advertising, marketing communications, marketing research, marketing services, marketing strategies, marketing tools, mashable, mashable news, mashable.com, media marketing, my google, online advertising, online brand awareness, online marketing, product marketing, promo campaign, promotion campaign, promotion campaigns, promotional campaign, promotional campaigns, public relations, search engine marketing, search engine optimization, search engine optimization marketing, search engine ranking, search google, search marketing, SEO, seo marketing, seo search engine optimization, social marketing, Social Media, social media and marketing, social media business, social media for business, Social Media Marketing, social media marketing company, social media marketing firm, social media marketing services, social media policies, social media policy, social media promotion, social media work, Social networking, social policies, social work media, Twitter, twitter marketing, twitter policies, twitter policy, Valerie Jennings, viral marketing, web marketing, website advertising, work in media, work in social media, work in the media, working for you, working in media, working in social media, works in the media | Leave A Comment »
Posted by: Micah Pratt, Director of Social Networking R&D
The 2012 presidential election will be like one never experienced before. Social networking sites are playing a role in these elections that wasn’t imaginable four years ago by hosting debates, facilitating the political conversation and connecting candidates with voters in the digital world. Here is an article from CMO.com, written by Kim Soth, senior vice president of business development & marketing at Jennings Social Media Marketing, on how to get Facebook ads to work in your favor.
Five Ways to Make Facebook Ads Work For You
There is much talk in social-media circles about how to build your audience organically and that, for the most part, it is the best way to build an audience. It is certainly a good way, but it shouldn’t be your only strategy. We suggest that if you are a new company or are launching a product, you can do a great job of building fans with Facebook ads, which offer a great alternative to your marketing strategy. What’s more, Facebook ads are not nearly as complex as Google AdWords—but don’t let the simplicity fool you. For our campaigns we’ve found that Facebook ads, on average, deliver a higher click-through rate than Google AdWords.
For example, we were brought in to help promote a senatorial race. After a month of struggling to gain fans on Facebook, we eventually doubled the candidate’s fans in a week by running ads: We picked up 1,500 fans for a total cost of around $1,000.
So if you think this strategy might be for you, here are five tips that will help you make Facebook ads work for your campaigns.
1. It’s about testing. Always run multiple ads targeting the same “Likes and Interests,” and keep your Likes and Interests the same while testing different ad copy, headlines, or images. What needs to remain the same as your control for a general test is your Likes and Interests keywords. You can test many controls, but the simplest is Likes and Interests. Facebook targets audiences off of two variables: Users and Likes and Interests: If you change these in two different ads, then you don’t have an apples-to-apples test.
2. Likes and Interests matter. Likes and Interests are essentially keywords you are targeting for your campaign based on what shows up for a user. You don’t want to use random Likes and Interests keywords. To make Likes and Interests work for you, it’s important to target based on what is associated with that individual in some way—associations they belong to, things they like, where they work, what they are fans of, or what they’ve written on their walls.
It’s is important not to get carried away and add a hundred Likes and Interests keywords just because it’s cool to see the numbers of possible audience continue to rise. It would seem that big numbers of audience is a good idea, but it’s actually counterintuitive. You want to choose highly targeted Likes and Interests keywords that are tightly associated with your ad copy. Don’t choose a keyword just because of its audience reach. You want to make sure it matches everything you know about the ad copy. Just because someone rides a motorcycle doesn’t mean he is interested in a Harley. One person might buy sports bikes, another might buy BMW motorcycles, while another might be really into Harleys. So it does no good to blast all of them with a message about Harley gear.
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October 21, 2011 | Categories: Blogged, Blogging, Facebook, Google, Mobile Marketing, SEO, Smartphones, SMS, Social Media Marketing, Twitter | Tags: 2012 candidates, 2012 election, 2012 elections, advertising facebook, advertising on facebook, blog marketing, business marketing, election, election 2012, election date, election day, election news, election of 2012, election poll results, election polls, election results, elections results, email marketing, facbook ads, facebook ad, facebook advertisements, facebook advertising, facebook.com, faceboook.com, Google, government and politics, interactive marketing, internet advertising, internet marketing, internet marketing tools, Kansas City, KC, local election results, marketing, marketing advertising, marketing communications, marketing services, marketing strategies, marketing strategy, marketing tools, media marketing, news in politics, news on politics, news politics, online advertising, online marketing, political issues, political news, politics, politics news, presidential 2012 candidates, presidential candiate, presidential candidates, presidential candidates 2012, presidential elections, product marketing, public relations, search engine marketing, search engine optimization, search engine optimization marketing, search engine ranking, search marketing, SEO, seo marketing, seo search engine optimization, social marketing, Social Media, social media and marketing, Social Media Marketing, social media marketing company, social media marketing firm, social media marketing services, Social networking, trends, Twitter, twitter marketing, viral marketing, web marketing, website advertising, what is politics, www.facebook.com | Leave A Comment »
Posted by: Micah Pratt, director of social networking r&d
Thank you to Chantal Tode at Mobile Commerce Daily for interviewing Valerie Jennings, CEO of Jennings Social Media Marketing, and Jason Heard, Sales Manager at Frank Ancona Honda, about the launch of Frank Ancona Honda’s QR code and SMS campaign.
Car dealership boosts social media engagement with mobile bar codes, SMS
Car dealership Frank Ancona Honda is adding SMS and QR codes to its social media efforts to enhance customer engagement.
Frank Ancona Honda currently has a mobile site and is active in social media. It will expand these efforts going forward with QR codes and SMS as the traffic to its sites via mobile continues to grow.
“We need to expand into mobile to support our growing customer demand on smartphones,” said Jason Heard, sales manager of Frank Ancona Honda, Olathe, KS.
“We are utilizing mobile sites right now and this is the next step to not only expanding our mobile presence, but also adding more engaging to our social media practices,” he said.
Marketing Insight
Jennings Social Media Marketing is managing the dealership’s mobile marketing rollout.
Jennings Social Media Marketing has been working with Frank Ancona Honda for almost a year managing its social media.
The dealership is also working with KickANotch for mobile tracking.
QR codes and SMS will help Frank Ancona Honda engage with its customers via social media channels and mobile as part of its ongoing marketing activities around local events.
Mobile will also help the dealership track the effectiveness of its marketing.
“We are currently sponsoring several events in the local market and the QR codes will help us understand the impact of having our cars on display at these events,” Mr. Heard said.
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October 17, 2011 | Categories: Blogged | Tags: 2011 honda civic, 2011 honda element, 2011 Honda Fit, 2011 honda insight, 2011 honda ridgeline, american honda, American Honda Motor Co., Ancona honda, auto kansas city, blog marketing, business marketing, buy a honda, car award, car awards, car dealer, car dealers kansas, car dealers kansas city, car dealerships, car dealerships kansas city, car honda, car kansas city, cars by honda, cars in kansas, cars in kansas city, Chantal Tode, clearance sale, cq scanner, customer value, dealer kansas city, dealers kansas city, dealership in kansas city, deals kansas city, discount, email marketing, Frank Ancona, frank ancona honda, free sms, funny sms, Google, Honda Accord, honda accord 2011, honda accord coupe, honda accord price, honda accord v6, honda accords, honda america, honda auto, honda cars, honda civic, honda civic engine, honda civic for sale, honda civic hatchback, Honda Civic hybrid, honda civic parts, honda civic si, honda civics, honda dealer, honda dealership, honda dealerships, honda element, honda element 2011, honda element review, honda fit, honda fit 2011, honda hybrid, honda in, honda in kansas city, Honda Insight, honda insight 2011, honda insight review, honda kansas city, honda models, honda motor dealers, honda motors, honda new, honda new price, honda ridgeline, honda ridgeline 2011, honda sale, honda usa, honda vehicles, honda.com, hondas, interactive marketing, internet advertising, internet marketing, internet marketing tools, kansas city autos, kansas city car, kansas city car dealers, kansas city cars, kansas city dealership, kansas city dealerships, kansas city honda, kansas city honda dealer, kansas city new car, KC, local cars, loyalty customer, loyalty customers, make qr code, marketing, marketing advertising, marketing communications, marketing research, marketing services, marketing strategies, marketing strategy, marketing tools, media marketing, mobile, mobile advertising, Mobile Commerce Daily, mobile marketing, mobile marketing campaign, mobile marketings, mobile sms marketing, new car reviews, new cars for sale, new cars of 2011, new honda, new honda accord, olathe honda, online advertising, online marketing, price new honda, product marketing, product reviews, public relations, qr, qr barcode, qr code, qr code android, qr code reader, qr code scanner, qr codes, qrcode, search engine marketing, search engine optimization, search engine optimization marketing, search engine ranking, search marketing, send sms, SEO, seo marketing, seo search engine optimization, SMS, sms campaign, sms email, sms free, sms marketing, sms messages, sms software, sms text, sms to email, social marketing, Social Media, social media and marketing, social media for marketing, Social Media Marketing, social media marketing firm, social media marketing services, social media websites, Social networking, socialmedia, the best cars of 2011, trends, Twitter, twitter marketing, viral marketing, web marketing, website advertising, what is a qr code, what is mobile marketing, what is social media, why mobile marketing, www.mobilecommercedaily.com | Leave A Comment »
Posted by: Eric Johnson
As the popularity of smart phones continues to rise, it was only a matter of time before the mobile screen began to catch up to the big screen in terms of usage. A new study conducted by a mobile analytics firm, Flurry, points out that approximately 50 percent of mobile consumers are utilizing mobile apps during TV’s prime time.
Flurry also reports that mobile applications currently reach more than 20 million U.S. consumers per hour and the number of active iOS and Android devices in the U.S. is estimated at 110 million. These numbers reflect a significant impact to prime time viewing habits.
Here is an article from Mediapost.com about how mobile app usage increases toward television prime time.
For TV broadcasters, prime time is 7 p.m. to 11 p.m. In radio, programming and advertising are all about morning “drive time.” On the Web, the popularity of social networks like Facebook, instant messaging like Skype and video-on-demand services like Hulu are pushing up usage in the evening.
So what time of day do mobile apps find their biggest audience? A new study by the mobile analytics firm Flurry shows the audience for iPhone and iOS apps rises steadily during the day and peaks at about 9 p.m. That’s when half the U.S. app audience is using apps. “Mobile consumers are using apps either instead of, or along-side prime-time television and the Internet,” stated a Flurry blog post on the study.
The finding contributes to a growing body of research suggesting that two-screen viewing is becoming increasingly common while people are watching TV. The relative size of the TV audience during prime time was larger than that for mobile apps, at more than 60%. But app usage remained higher than TV from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m., and higher than the Internet almost all day. The Internet’s reach peaked at 7 p.m., when 40% of the audience for that medium was on the Web.
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October 10, 2011 | Categories: Blogged, Blogging, Facebook, Google, Mobile Marketing, SEO, Smartphones, SMS, Social Media Marketing, Twitter | Tags: 2011 television shows, 2011 tv shows, abc news, abc news tv, android, android apps, android developer, app developer, app development, app store, applications for mobile, apps mobile, best tv show, blog marketing, business marketing, channel tv, chrome apps, droid apps, email marketing, episodes, espn2, free android apps, free apps, free live tv, free mobile application, free mobile software, free shows, free to watch tv, Google, google apps, google maps for mobile, google mobile, google tv, hot tv, interactive marketing, internet advertising, internet marketing, internet marketing tools, internet on tv, ios, iPhone, Kansas City, KC, la tv stations, link tv, local news, marketing, marketing advertising, marketing communications, marketing research, marketing services, marketing strategies, marketing strategy, marketing tools, mobile app, mobile app software, mobile applications, mobile apps, mobile apps for windows mobile, mobile google, mobile me, mobile screen, mobile software, mobile users, moblie web, movies on tv, mtv music, music tv, nbc, net tv, network tv, new season, new shows, new tv series, new tv shows, on tv, on tv tonight, online advertising, online marketing, online watch tv, phone apps, portable apps, prime time, product marketing, public relations, reality tv series, search engine marketing, search engine optimization, search engine optimization marketing, search engine ranking, search marketing, season premiere, see in tv, see on tv, SEO, seo marketing, seo search engine optimization, show tv, smart phones, Smartphones, social marketing, Social Media, social media and marketing, Social Media Marketing, social media marketing company, social media marketing firm, social media marketing services, Social networking, social networks, star news, television, television guide, television listing, television listings, television programming, television schedule, television series, television show, television shows, television shows 2011, television tonight, the television, the tv schedule, tonight on tv, top tv series, trends, tv, tv abc news, tv advertising, tv channel, tv channels, tv episodes, tv information, tv internet, tv land, tv listings tv, tv live, tv music, tv network, tv news, tv on time, tv one, tv program, tv programming, tv schedule, tv schedule tv schedule, tv series, tv series on tv, tv series online, tv show free, tv show online, tv shows, tv shows 2011, tv shows on tv, tv shows online, tv station, tv stations, tv streaming, tv to watch online, tv tonight, tv tube, tv watching, tvshows, Twitter, twitter marketing, viral marketing, watch episodes, watch internet on tv, watch tv, watch tv live, watch tv on, watch tv on the internet, watch videos online, watching tv, web marketing, web television, website advertising, what are mobile apps, what is a mobile app, what is on tv tonight, what on tv, what to watch on tv, whats on tv, windows mobile, windows mobile app, windows mobile application, windows mobile apps, youtube tv | Leave A Comment »
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