Posts tagged facebook
Search, social and display: time to get real
Sep 8th
Clients’ increased interest in Facebook and renewed interest in display are great examples of this evolution. EMarketer predicts that $1.28bn will be spent by advertisers this year on Facebook. According to estimates from Borrell Associates, display will grow almost 60% in 2011, reaching $10.9bn. This presents an opportunity for social, search, and display markets to grow and learn from each other.
Two of many buzz words you will read about in coming months are real-time search and real-time bidding. Real-time search is just one indicator that points to the convergence of search and social media.
Renewed interest in display and the rise of Demand Side Platforms is fuelled by real-time bidding (RTB) – This means that search centric methodologies can be applied in a display environment. In order for marketers to keep pace it’s time to get real and adapt to two significant paths of convergence.
Real-time search, just one indication of the convergence of search and social media
Last week saw the launch of Google real-time search. Twitter-inspired “real-time” search results now how have their own Google webpage. Following on from Bing’s launch of ‘Bing Social’, Google has provided a dedicated portal for those seeking information, mainly relating to Tweets.
Google’s real-time search lets you sort results according to location of tweets. It also has a “conversation” view designed for following ongoing discussions on the web. For ‘fans’ on Google alerts a new real-time search option is available in a drop-down menu. This allows users to get an email update related to real-time search results.
Traditional search, SEO and PPC, now has a new partner in the form of social media. However, both disciplines cannot live long in silos. They support tactical brand positioning, engagement, and research. For example, the emergence of Social Media Optimization (SMO) is a combination of SEO and social media strategies.
Real-time search is still very much under development and so the new Google page, when it works, has received criticism based on its similarity to Bing, being Twitter centric. Many believe it to be no more than an enhanced reputation monitoring tool at the moment.
Real-time search platforms and homepages may need some further work, however it does signify a move towards search and social media convergence.
Real-time search is already having an impact on SEO as fresh/real-time content leapfrogs relevance, especially for news related searches. SEO companies now have to ensure they optimize for fresh content and not just relevance.
In addition, social media-exposed consumers are also far more likely to search for brand and product-related terms, and click on a brand’s paid search ad. Real-time search enables brands to ride waves of interest and use this ‘social media’ intelligence to plan follow up campaigns.
It’s important to remember that Google’s search system (forget the real-time search page for a second) has been around a like time. It is based on popularity measured by links, mentions, recommendations and interactions – sounds pretty social already right?
Search is intent-driven and social media aids distribution, content also finds you. For some marketers the two are separate, but they cannot live in silos forever. Social will have a search feel and search will get more social.
SEO insight and social media campaign management used together allows presents marketers, advertisers, and PRs (PR and social media) a vast array of opportunities. Social media content can be optimised to enhance marketing efforts and engagement. Distribution of content through social media platforms increases direct and indirect links to site.
In addition, if an issues breaks on social networks on a certain topic then paid search is the quickest way to get in front of people and address issues as and when/even before they arise. BP being a good example of this even though it was a little late.
Google was 12 yesterday – Happy Birthday Google!!
Today, they have a large search event, surrounded in mystery, but with some subtle hints projected via the interactive logos on the homepage this week.
I think there will be more than just one announcement. Relevant to this article – I think it will introduce streaming results as you type to provide faster and more interactive results.
Other topics may include updates to the user interface and AJAX powered search results (but that’s a whole, and very big, other article!)
Real-time bidding, the convergence of search and display
Search marketing has always been at the core of digital. Much research and comment about its relationship with display has been well published over recent years, many of this is old news.
What is new though are the advances in technology that allow simplified campaign management and allow the benefits of display to be more closely aligned to those used in search. This has presented new ways of managing display and providing clear metrics, and predictable results. Did I mention that social media, regardless if you view it as separate or part of search, has a role to play in this via Facebook?
Demand Side Platforms (DSPs) allow improved performance and ROI for an online display campaign by creating a single system that connects to multiple ad exchanges and other media suppliers. Advances in technology allow people to aggregate and bid on inventory of multiple publishers and ad networks. This happens in real-time, on a per impression basis. This is called real-time bidding.
Traditional display has always focused on delivering the right message to the right customer. However, real-time bidding (RTB) now allows advertisers to target display audiences directly. It allows bidding (much like search auction markets) on impressions based on key factors such as demographics and behavioural profiles. The result is that the advertiser can target customers with the right message, to the right customer, at the right cost, and at the right time.
The ‘silver bullet’ that real-time bidding (RTB) provides is that, when used in conjunction with remarketing data, it enables real insight into behaviour. This allows the retargeting of users across a multitude of platforms.
Maybe we should add another point of convergence here that sits between search and display, remarketing and retargeting ?
Advertisers have better transparency, efficiency, and accountability and greater control over targeting and managing their online media campaigns. The efficiency can be very similar to a search campaign and natural synergies are highlighted by many a search professional.
Display can learn a lot from search and much debate has arisen as to when, how, and if true convergence will occur. It’s easy to see search influences on display. However, there is a high level of complexity in bidding across multiple ad exchanges and gaining knowledge of individual publishers, not to mention learning and enhancing creative skills, could cause problems for the search marketer who wants to run display. A DSP combined with paid search management technology will help solve this right?. Time will tell.
What we do know is that display combined with search management platforms presents opportunities for centralised digital platform developments.
Conclusion
Real-time search (as an indication of search and social media convergence) and real-time bidding (RTB) through DSPs are creating a new digital marketing ecosystem and a movement away from siloed search, social and display.
Real-time search is just one indication on the inevitable convergence of search and social media. Real-time bidding and demand side platforms (DSPs) allow search and display to work more closely together. Facebook integration into DSPs further shows how social merges with search and display. Marketers can now bid on paid and performance display media via one platform, per impression and in real time.
This heralds the dawn of digital optimisation. Some may say there are significant shifts in the market, others say three as social (i.e. Facebook) connects with search and display.
Either way, if you are not looking into this, then you need to ‘get real’…
Follow, Like, Win!
Sep 8th
Just a friendly reminder that we’re having a lot of fun over on our Twitter and Facebook pages. So follow @neatorama and Like www.Facebook.com/neatoramanauts!
There you’ll find all kinds of neato things we don’t always feature here on the blog, like special contests! Every week we host a Scrabble tournament for 3 lucky neatoramanauts on Facebook, for instance. If you beat us and the other two players, you win a prize!
Speaking of winners, have you met Shonna, our GTFO contest winner? She scored a free iPad! I, for one, am extremely jealous!
Dove World Outreach Center
Sep 8th
Sobriety Asked Amidst Dove World Outreach Center’s “Burn A Qur’an Day” – I would called Terry Jones and his Dove World Outreach Center a bunch of lunatics and deserves an immediate arrest and imprisonment for their plans alone.
Plans is a clear threat to the United States national security and even for Christians around the world.
Who in the mind of the right plan to burn the Bible revered by millions of Muslims around the world, and we expect to go unpunished. Terry Jones, a key founder of the Christian dove to communicate with the world is not planning just to burn the Koran, but asked people to burn the Koran as well.
“We believe that Islam is the devil, and that has caused thousands of millions of people to go to hell, but religion is deceptive, it is a religion of violence and it has been proved many times,” said Jones Network (CNN Rick Sanchez.
Facebook page dedicated to “international” to burn the Koran on “states of Facebook page” in the September 11, 2010, from 6pm – 9pm, we will burn the Koran in the world of property dove Awareness Center in Gainesville, Florida in remembrance of the fallen victims of 11 / 9 and stand against the evil of Islam. Islam is the work of the devil! “.
This statement in itself is madness. How can such violence in order to be correct in the celebration of hundreds of people who died in the attacks, 9 / 11? All these people are jailed and imprisoned or even put in a mental institution. What is more ironic is that a member of the Dove Centre to communicate with the world by the name of SAP Wayne, publish a YouTube video explains why and how to copy the Holy Quran.
….Com
Facebucks: Facebook Money Becomes Reality
Sep 7th
Yesterday, the online social media giant Facebook entered the gift card business by selling Facebook Credits cards at Target store near you. The credits allow you to buy applications and virtual goods (think World of Warcraft gold farming, but without the farming and at a much larger scale).
Ron Callari of satirizes the advent of Facebook Credits in his online cartoon kid millenium, over at Inventor Spot:
The fictional accounting of Facebook in the graphic novel highlights how the social network has morphed into its own currency producing enterprise – hence the name "Facebucks." "Dumb F*cks" comes from an IM message Mark Zuckerberg (aka "Z-Man" in the graphic novel) foolishly used to describe Facebook’s early followers when the network debuted in his Harvard dorm room. Now scaling past 500+ million users, Facebook could be viewed as an emerging sovereign state, only shy of India’s and China’s populations. [...]
Michael Arrington at TechCrunch revealed today that through unofficial Facebook sources, Facebook will hit $2 billion by year-end. If that be the case, Facebook’s entry into the growing gift card mark could boost those revenue figures exponentially. According to Mercator Advisory Group, the domestic prepaid gift card market is expected to reach $86.2 billion this year, compared with $80.6 billion in 2009. With Facebook Credit gift cards added to the mix, that’s a lot of upside potential for "Facebucks."
Twilight’s Kristen Stewart Seen Hangin In Argentina For New Movie Gig
Sep 2nd
Twilight’s Kristen Stewart seen hangin in Argentina for new movie gig. “Twilight Saga” superstar Kristen Stewart was recently spotted out again two days ago over in Argentina,trying to avoid the annoying paparazzi as she was heading out after working on a new movie gig over there. According to sources, Kristen was spotted trying to avoid the press,and looked really annoyed as she was heading to catch a flight out of the Buenos Aires International Airport.
Kristen sported a casual dark ensemble,along with some cool sun glasses as she pushed past the awaiting paparazzi. Kristen was working on a new film on location in Patagonia. In related news, she recently got done filming a new movie entitled, “On The Road” over in Montreal,which has her playing a more mature,sexual character.
An insider recently commented on it,stating, “Many actors who are entering adulthood want to make their own mark and stop being seen as bubblegum, cookie-cutter teen stars. Kristen likely wants to be taken more seriously as an actress,and show she’s not afraid to break out of the mold.” Kristen starts filming “Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn” this November. Follow us on Facebook for more Kristen Stewart,Twilight Saga news,and more by Clicking Here. Get cool “Twilight Saga” stuff by Clicking Here.
Facebook goes to Target with Facebook Credits gift cards
Sep 1st
Facebook Credits are the social network’s new currency that pays for goods in Facebook’s myriad addicting games. Target will be the first brick and mortar to carry Facebook gift cards. According to the retailer:
“Facebook Credits are an easy
and convenient way for people to buy digital goods in more than 150
popular social games and applications offered by independent developers
on Facebook. The newly-launched Facebook Credits gift cards will be an
ideal gift this holiday season for those who enjoy playing social games
on Facebook.”
Target shoppers will be able
to buy $15, $25 and $50 cards.
More than 200 million people play games on Facebook every month, and at least 19 games on Facebook have more than 10 million active users a month.
Facebook’s self-serve advertising platform has been performing tremendously over the last year. The social network is expected to rake in an estimated $1.3 billion in online
advertising revenue worldwide this year, up 92% from 2009, according to eMarketer. But as SiliconAlleyInsider writes:
“The whole virtual goods business – the one
Facebook is bringing to Target on September 5 – could bring in another
few hundred million dollars. Former Facebook president Sean Parker says
the business could end up being a third of Facebook’s revenues this
year.”
According to Inside Network, Americans will spend more than $1.6
billion on virtual goods and social gaming in 2010.
Meanwhile, Facebook takes a healthy 30% cut of Facebook Credits sales. The social network is already signing up new users hand over fist, but this could be a good way to boost its gaming business. That’s because people love buying gift cards. The domestic prepaid gift card market is expected to reach $86.2 billion
this year, compared with $80.6 billion in 2009, according to Mercator
Advisory Group.
Despite the impressive gaming revenues that Facebook brings in, there
are many Facebook users that never actually play or see those games. Gift cards at the register at Target and other retailers could work as great marketing to consumers who don’t currently use Facebook in that way.
Furthermore, this is a great move for Target. Facebook wants its Credits system to take off. And will be promoting the new cards in various ways. Add to that Target’s status as the first adopter to sell these cards, and the whole partnership starts to win Target some great tech savvy points.
Robert Pattinson Seen Going To Emmy After Party In New Clip Footage
Sep 1st
Robert Pattinson seen going to Emmy after party in new clip footage. Recently,someone uploaded a new video (below) to Youtube,which features “Twilight Saga” superstar Robert Pattinson heading to the Jimmy Fallon Emmy After party two nights ago in West Hollywood,California. In the clip (below), Robert is seen heading to the party with his publicist and a male friend of his.
Later on, he gets totally swamped with paparazzi cameras and people looking to get an autograph signed. It was a total frenzy as usual. I’m sure Rob should be pretty used to this by now,but I bet it’s still pretty annoying. In related news, Robert and the rest of the “Twilight Saga” crew are reportedly supposed to start fight training for the upcoming “Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn” movie.
Kellan Lutz who plays Emmit Cullen in the popular Twilight Saga flicks, recently revealed that news in a magazine interview. And as previously reported, they will begin to officially start filming the movie this November,and filming will last all the way through to March as they are shooting part 1 and 2 simultaneously. Stay tuned. Follow us on Facebook for more Robert Pattinson news,and more by Clicking Here. Get cool “Twilight Saga” stuff by Clicking Here.
Study: Be prepared for the smartphone takeover
Sep 1st
B.L. Ochman,
Burson-Marsteller and Proof Integrated Communications’ managing
director of emerging media, calls this study “be mobile or be dust.” That’s because the mobile adoption numbers it cites are pretty staggering.
According to the study, 80% of the US population will have a mobile phone by 2010. That number alone may not be of note, but cell users are using their phones less for making phone calls and more for digital activities. According to the report, the average iPhone user only spends 45% of on-device time making phone calls. The majority of their time in mobile is spent browsing the web or using applications.
That number has grown 110% in the last year. By 2011, 99% of mobile phones will be data-capable devices (though that number includes phones that can send and receive SMS texts, not necessarily smartphones).
However, by 2012, smartphone shipments will exceed shipments of PCs. Already 40% of iPhone and iPod Touch users go to the internet more via mobile than they do on a computer.
According to the study:
“The speed of mobile adoption growth is far outpacing that of prior technologies, and using mobile to access data and to make transactions is nearing the tipping point. Mobile will soon be the primary digital means that consumers use to interact with brands, friends, retailers and other businesses.”
Smart brands should take note. Mobile devices are pretty amazing purchasing tools. As
Burson-Marsteller points out, mobile users are searching for products,
reading reviews, comparing prices, locating items in stores and making
purchases from their phones.
Mobile users also tend to be more social. Of Facebook’s 500
million users, 100 million of them access the site through their mobile
phones. Those users are twice as active on the social network as non-mobile
users. Also, 25% of mobile users access Twitter, compared to only 8% of
respondents who access the internet only from a PC.
The mobile phone more seemlessly connects the digital and real worlds. It is uniquely positioned to aid in the handling of impulse activities and on demand services.
Most especially, as brands are learning, mobile phone adopters aren’t only young, tech savvy people. A whopping 82% of seniors use their mobile phones to get information and learn.
But
businesses aren’t quite up to speed yet. 80% of US multichannel retailers
don’t have m-commerce capabilities. Furthermore, 42% of those
respondents don’t have plans to launch a mobile site within the next two years.
Only 12% of the top 500 internet retailers have sites optimized for
mobile phones, and only 7% have downloadable mobile applications.
Mobile
phone users are often at the most desirable point of the purchasing
funnel when they’re looking for information with their devices. The
quicker businesses take to mobile, the better off they will be.
Whether it be coupons or ads or location based services, brands that want to reach customers (ie: all brands) should seriously pay attention to this space.
F-commerce is here. Make big wins if you play the game right.
Sep 1st
I’m not suggesting that setting up shop on Facebook is suitable for everyone, but I am suggesting that there is potentially an enormous and currently untapped opportunity for retailers that they need to explore.
There *are* examples of companies experimenting with Facebook as a platform to sell products and services, but they seem to be few and far between. Leaving aside the well-worn and over-cited 1-800-Flowers.com example, there only seems to be a handful of the larger companies getting in on the act.
Disney recently begun selling cinema tickets for Toy Story 3 across Facebook and Procter & Gamble has reportedly dipped its toe into f-commerce, including setting up an impromptu store to make the most of the Old Spice buzz.
Smaller organisations are also trying to get in on the action. For example, the cosmetics company, Mark, now has online shop on their Facebook page and Fashion company NineWest is toying with an f-commerce store. Kudos for these guys taking the first steps into relatively unchartered territory.
I’d go so far as to suggest that there’s no real excuse to not be at least considering experimenting in this area. It’s relatively cost-effective, quick and easy to set up an f-commerce platform within a Facebook account, especially when third-party solutions are brought into the equation. I’ve scouted around a picked out a few that exist.
Many of these examples redirect users from Facebook to their own online stores, but given that best practice e-commerce is about making a transaction as easy and seamless as possible, then, depending on the circumstances, keeping a potential customer within a Facebook page generally seems like a sensible option to explore.
However, I’m expecting this current practice of redirecting to change in the coming months, especially as the bigger players in the e-commerce technology market, such as those in our E-Commerce guide, begin to look more seriously towards leveraging Facebook in this way.
Furthermore, although there appears to be a degree of shyness from companies to actively experiment in this arena, it’s understandable. Every day, we’re reminded about developing a “social media strategy” and throwing e-commerce into the engagement mix can easily break the most hardened professional into a cold sweat… so it’s not a particularly large surprise that we’re not seeing larger amounts of activity.
But it is disappointing.
Although it’s easy to see that f-commerce is very much in its infancy stages, I’d go so far as to suggest that it’s where mobile-commerce was a few years ago. Smaller purchases are currently being made, but developments and general uptake will result in larger transactions and increased user confidence. Those who begin to place resources into this area now will likely reap rewards later.
As far back as 2003, Amazon was playing with m-commerce… and recently they announced $1bn in sales through mobile channels, which is no small number.
Given that more than 100m active users are currently accessing Facebook through mobile technology, it doesn’t take a genius to suggest that there seems a reasonable amount of opportunity which may present itself even further.
[Image credit: danielbroche]
Video pitch to Obama to free jailed Saudi
Aug 31st
A group of Saudis has launched a video plea to US President Barack Obama to free a Saudi man sentenced to 28 years in jail in Colorado for abusing an Indonesian housemaid.
The five-minute video, in Arabic with English subtitles, was made public on Monday.
It features conservative and liberal Saudi figures asking Obama to pardon Humaidan al-Turki, who was convicted by a Colorado court in 2006 for imprisoning and sexually abusing the maid while he was a doctoral student.
They cite numerous pardons by US presidents of men convicted of ostensibly more serious crimes, such as arms and drug smuggling.
“We, as the Saudi public, ask Obama to look at Humaidan al-Turki’s issue, using the same eyes” that previous presidents used in granting pardons, it says.
The campaign comes in the wake of a US Supreme Court rejection in April of Turki’s appeal.
The case and the stiff sentence angered many Saudis, who supported Turki’s argument that he was being victimised in the anti-Muslim atmosphere in the United States in the wake of the September 11, 2001 attacks.
But the Colorado appeals court and state supreme court rejected that, upholding the conviction on 15 counts of enslaving and not paying the maid and sexually abusing her.
Asim al-Ghamdi, one of the ivdeo’s makers, said they want to build a Saudi and pan-Arab campaign before directly approaching US officials.
“The first step is sharing it through the new media, like Facebook,” he said.
The video features Turki’s daughter, conservative cleric Sheikh Salman al-Ouda and progressive writer and journalist Turki al-Dhakil, among others.
In the 18 hours since the video was first made public on YouTube, it was viewed more than 100,000 times, Ghamdi said.
“All of the Saudi people know (Humaidan) very well. He is a very straight person.”
“We will not argue on whether he did this,” Ghamdi said of the charges on which he was convicted.
“Even if he did all of these things, we think 28 years is too much.”
The case has been raised by Saudi officials in several exchanges with US counterparts, but to no avail.
Colorado Attorney General John Suthers travelled to Riyadh in December 2006 to explain the original convictions to Saudi officials.
A US embassy official in Riyadh referred queries on the case and the new video petition to the White House.