The Impact of Video Content Marketing Is Growing

“Companies have begun to develop interactive content marketing strategies, focusing on visual media as a way to attract new prospects and create long-term relationships. Brafton has reported that 70 percent of B2B and B2C brands use video content to engage their audiences, but video marketing has yet to hit full stride. To understand the type of video content that compels prospects to react, marketers must use trial and error, evaluate viewer trends and refine strategies accordingly. A new social app may help brands get added reach and real-time responses,” according to Brafton. “The introduction and proliferation of Twitter's Vine application could create a new video marketing teaser tool and help marketers understand what drives response. Vine allows users to create six-second video clips and publish their creations to Twitter.” Read more.

For your information: B2B refers to companies/brands that market their products and services to businesses as opposed to consumers. B2C refers to those marketing to consumers. Content marketing: It is a relatively new idea in marketing. Create content that customers want to see – from games to how-to information.

More on the same topic: "If Twitter-launched video app Vine is any indication, mobile video content seems to be moving in the direction of short and social. On January 24, Twitter announced Vine, an iPhone app that enables users to record videos of up to 6 seconds and then easily share them with their Twitter followers. The app reached No. 1 among free apps in the Apple social app store the day after its release," according to eMarketer. Read more.

Which Social Network Will Be the Top Marketing Medium

“Social media network growth has burst out of the gate over the past 12 months, and brands that understand the nuances of each platform have greater opportunities for lead generation,” reports Brafton. “According to The Content Marketing Institute, 87 percent of B2B [business to business] brands and 84 percent of B2C [business to consumer] businesses use social media to engage audiences and distribute digital content to prospective and current customers. Marketers who want to win social marketing results have to assess which networks best appeal to their specific audiences, but clear insights on how the platforms stack up can help. The race is on to see which network claims social media marketing's coveted Triple Crown of reach, adoption and performance in 2013.” Read more.

Extension and Tips about the Homework Assignment

New Deadline for Letter Assignment

Since some of you spent Saturday, Sunday, and possibly Monday digging snow for hours on end, I am extending the deadline for the assignment. You can submit it on Wednesday at 11:59 pm.

Homeword Tip

Again a few students have asked what they need to write about. 

The first step that you must embrace before you can effectively: Writing is not primarily a physical act. Writing is thinking. Writing is the act of transferring what you think to a written format. 

The topic for the letter assignment is Internet marketing. Therefore, you need to read the two essays about advertising and Internet marketing, whose links I have posted on the syllabus: "Marketing and Advertising" and "Internet Marketing."

You should also read the blog entries.

Read the material a second time and take notes. 

(Too many students do not take nearly enough notes of material presented in lectures or about material they read. Remember take notes on what the author says, the facts he/she uses, and the ideas and questions that this information generates in your mind. If the essay does not generate any of your own ideas, then you are not engaging with the material. My guess: You are reading just to get through the assignment. Also do not presume that you will remember the information or even where you will find it again. That form of arrogance defies logic as well as the findings of cognitive scientists regarding learning.)

After you finish taking notes on your second read of all the material and without looking at the material or your notes, write down your ideas as they relate to all the material that you have read. Remember to write your ideas. If you have read carefully and taken notes, you should come up with five to 10 ideas. The quality of the ideas counts, not the volume.

Review your ideas. Read them over and over. Walk away from them for a while if nothing comes to mind. Ideas do not appear magically. Your mind must mix all the concepts and facts that you learned from the readings. That can take time. After giving yourself a break of an hour, three hours, or even after a nap, eventually you should come up with a thesis. In all probability, the thesis will  incorporate many ideas you wrote down. Make sure that your thesis is where you want to start the essay and not where you want to finish the essay. If it is where you want to conclude the essay, then take the idea and think of all the ideas needed for it to be true. You will find your thesis. And yes, it does take work. 

(Remember your thesis should be a declarative sentence of less than 10 words. In other words, no defining, no passive voice, no questions. You do not have to use that thesis in the report. It's your guide.)

Most likely, your thesis will incorporate several of the other ideas that you have already written down. These ideas will make up your propositions. You may discover that your thesis includes an idea that you have not written. Great. Another proposition. (Too many propositions helps with your writing. Why? It makes your argument more logical for the reader and it gives you something else to write about, making writing a 1000 words easier.) 

Arrange the propositions in a sequence that makes logical sense, making sure that each idea feeds into the next idea. If it does not, figure what idea will help. Then add it.

When you finish that process, you can take one of two paths. Some authors writes from the thesis created and the propositions listed. They do not refer to their notes or look up facts or quotations. They create what they would call the core of the essay. Once they finish, they then go to their research hunting for teh quotations and facts that will support their ideas.

The second path: Go back to your research. Look for facts and quotations that support your various ideas. Insert the quotation or fact with the appropriate proposition. In essence you now have an outline. You are ready to write. 

Remember that you cannot quote the blog. So go to the original sources (links or URLs are provided with all the blog entries). Don't forget that you must have at least six in-text citations, and that your sources must appear as a Works Cited page--all in APA format. Make sure that you attribute all ideas that are not yours to a source.

Then you are ready to write. My suggestion: Write the report in a separate file. When you finish editing the report, copy and paste it into one of the letterhead templates. Then make the necessary changes in the template. Remember your Works Cited information. 

Marketers Spending More on Digital Advertising

“About 71 percent of marketing firms have reported that they plan to increase their digital [Internet] marketing budgets this year, according to a new report by Econsultancy and Responsys,” notes a ClickZ post. “The Marketing Budgets 2013 report says that marketing teams surveyed expect to increase their digital budgets by 28 percent on average. And around 56 percent of firms saying they will increase their digital budgets by over 20 percent within the year. ” Read more.

AOL's Ad Revenue Increases

AOL is not only surviving, it is thriving. “AOL reported its best quarterly revenue growth in eight years because of strong search and advertising sales, and its shares rose sharply,” reports the New York Times. “The company said Friday that total revenue rose 4 percent to nearly $600 million in the fourth quarter, beating analysts’ estimates of $573.7 million, according to Thomson Reuters. Advertising revenue, an important measurement for the company as it moves away from subscription-based dial-up services and emphasizes its media properties like The Huffington Post and Patch, rose 13 percent to $410.6 million.” Read more.
Recently Yahoo! posted similar results. While Google and Facebook may currently dominate the Internet marketing search field, each company is looking of its shoulder seeing AOL and Yahoo! in pursuit. Significance to Internet marketing? The greater the number of suppliers of a product or service (Internet search advertising in this case), the greater the efficiency and the lower the cost for the buyer (American marketers and, in turn, consumers).

New Media Could Surpass Traditional Media Soon

A survey conducted by Strata reportedly “polled nearly 100 advertisers in the fourth quarter of 2012 and found that spending toward TV and radio is declining. Forty-percent of respondents indicated that their clients were less interested in TV advertising and 32 percent were less invested in radio. Interest in print is down 60 percent year-over-year,” according to Brafton. “Meanwhile, 22 percent of agencies reported that the media landscape continues to evolve, and 76 percent say their clients use approximately three different channels to reach prospects.” Read more.

This debate has lingered for almost a decade: When--if ever--will digital media channels (web, mobile) surpass the traditional mass media--television and radio? Several years ago, it surpassed print. One question remains unresolved: Will companies replace TV advertising with Internet advertising, as some suppose, or will marketing organizations integrate online advertising and marketing with its TV advertising? If advertising on the recent Super Bowl forecasts the future, then integration will mark the new sophisticated marketing campaign.

Google's Advertising Algorithms Guilty of Racial Profiling?

"Every job candidate lives in fear that a Google search could reveal incriminating indiscretions from a distant past. But a new study examining racial bias in the wording of online ads suggests that Google's advertising algorithms may be unfairly associating some individuals with wrongdoing they didn’t commit," reports Huffington Post. "After learning that a Google search for her own name surfaced an ad for a background check service hinting that she’d been arrested, Harvard University professor Latanya Sweeney set out to investigate whether race shaped online ad results. She searched over 2,000 'racially associated names' to determine if names 'previously identified by others as being assigned at birth to more black or white babies' turned up ad results that indicated a criminal record. Specifically, she focused on ads purchased by companies that provide background checks used by employers." Read more.

Facebook Creates Transparency with Advertising

“Facebook is about to get more transparent in the way it targets advertising at its users. The social network has agreed to start displaying the little blue 'AdChoices' icon on its display ads served through its FBX ad exchange after months of public and private complaints from ad agencies and advertisers,” according to AdAge. “The icon -- intended to provide enhanced notice of behavioral targeting and allow users to opt-out -- will look the same as the one seen across the web, with one big caveat. Rather than appearing directly on FBX display ads, the symbol will show up only when users mouse over the gray 'x' displayed above the ads shown on Facebook's right rail. Even the 'x' only appears when someone mouses over it, so people not familiar with the feature won't always be made aware that an ad was targeted using third-party data gathered elsewhere online.” Read more.

Facebook is taking what appears as a pro-active campaign about becoming more transparent because of problems it faced in the past with its use of users' information.

Marketers Tweet During the Super Bowl Blackout

“Baltimore ultimately held on to their lead and won the Super Bowl. But viewers and the network were distracted from the traditional game-and-ad spectacle -- if viewers stayed around instead of switching to the 'Puppy Bowl' over on Animal Planet during the interlude. CBS seemed to repeat commercials that had already aired,” according to AdAge. "'Power out?' Oreo posted to Twitter. 'No problem. You can still dunk in the dark.' The tweet was retweeted 10,000 times within one hour.” Read more.

Getting More Out of Super Bowl Marketing

"Less is more—except when it comes to America's unofficial National Holiday of Excess, the Super Bowl," says Digital Marketing. "Following last year's extravaganza, marketers at Adobe got out their digital measuring sticks and sought to answer these questions: Should we still be spending so much money on a seemingly untargeted and an untrackable event? Should we replace it with a ramped-up digital program? Or will doing both be the thing to put the ball of commerce through the uprights. The answers they came up with, depending on a particular brand's budget, were yes, yes, and yes." Read more.

ClickZ has established a ranking--based on viewership--of this year's Super Bowl's ads. See it here.

And the New York Times posted this earlier Monday morning: "As advertisers tried to generate buzz by releasing commercials early online, Times readers voted Sunday night on which of the game’s ads stuck out, and which of the ads they could have done without." Read more, see the video.

How Grey Goose Used Social Media

"With American consumers becoming comfortable with spending significant amounts of money online, luxury brands have found new opportunities in promotional channels like social media and video content creation. Brafton reported that 85 percent of luxury brands will increase their digital marketing budgets in 2013, with 72 percent indicating they will allocate resources toward social media marketing. How effective is social media content for luxury brands, though? Does well-written copy published to Facebook or visual media pinned to Pinterest drive referral traffic and sales?" Read about how Grey Goose accomplished this task.

How to Market to Customers Via a Website

"The proliferation of content marketing compels marketers employed in various industries to consider and experiment with various types of media production. The goal: To create memorable web experiences that pull prospects in, not push them away via aggressive advertising tactics. People have had enough of the abuse, being subjected to various commercials in between their favorite shows and weeding through magazine ads to find the articles they care about most. Content marketing gives companies the chance to create their own compelling stories without third-party ads, and the practice works," according to a post on Brafton.

"According to a new report from BusinessBolts.com, which surveyed 265 marketers, content creation has become an active component to promotional strategies everywhere. In fact, approximately 74 percent of marketers say they use branded content to increase website traffic and build brand awareness. To drive traffic back to websites, content writers must optimize their media using SEO best practices, and take a narrow focus to their creative processes. The survey noted that marketers' biggest pressing question is how to leverage SEO content for greater site visibility and PageRank." Read more.

Old with the Old, In with the New--for a Short While

“The reduction at the Time Warner publishing unit will follow cuts at other media companies and come a week before the parent's fourth-quarter earnings release, set for Feb. 6. The New York Times just undertook a buyout to eliminate 30 people from the newsroom; Thomson Reuters laid off 3,000 of 50,000 people across the company; and Meredith Corp. cut 60, or about 2 percent of its workforce, to name a few,” according to a report posted with Adweek . “Time Inc. made deep staff cuts in 2008 and 2009. But in the third quarter of 2012, publishing revenues declined 6 percent, in part reflecting a 6 percent decrease in subscription revenues and 5 percent decrease in advertising revenues. This round of cuts is expected to be felt across the board although it would seem that Sports Illustrated would be less impacted because it took steps to  reduce staff over the summer.” Read more.

Just a decade ago, Time Corp. purchased the then leading powerhouse on the web: AOL. Ten years spans an eon in the digital business. A few years after the purchase of AOL, Microsoft became the industry's top dog. Google then usurped MS, and it appears that Facebook could overtake Google shortly. This has happened because people around the world are chasing after information, news, and entertainment on different media. In the time of AOL, low-speed dial-up dominated access to the newly created World Wide Web. With the introduction of high-speed access, AOL's role as an ISP vanished and Google took over. Once Mark Zuckerberg discovered that people prefer to gossip over the web rather than gather information and facts, he blew out Google with Facebook—especially with the ascent of mobile platforms. What's next?

FTC Protecting Privacy on Mobile Web

"In a strong move to protect the privacy of Americans as they use the Internet on their smartphones and tablets, the Federal Trade Commission on Friday said the mobile industry should include a do-not-track feature in software and apps and take other steps to safeguard personal information," according to a post on NYTimes. Read more.

Major Brand Advertisers Turning to Ad Exchanges

“'Premium' publishers [such websites as Nytimes.com, Wsj.com, and Time.com] concerned that direct response media marketshare [the percentage of advertisers that want consumers to response directly to their ads on the web] is being eaten up by the relatively low-priced media bought on ad exchanges* have a new - if predicted - worry: that the brand advertising media market might move in that direction as well. Kellogg's is finding that they can be effective in reaching brand goals through the programmatic buying,” reports Marketing Vox. “Kellogg's has traditionally been one of the firms most likely to experiment with new means of acquiring media - even going so far as to dedicate five percent of media budgets to media research studies to help determine relative efficacies. While much of that enormous media research budget may go in actuality to research designed to make brand managers' decisions look smart, they are one of the few very large.” Read more.**


*An ad exchange works similarly to a stock exchange. Publishers of websites post in which time slots that they had places for advertising. Advertisers automatically bid for the time slot, which goes to the highest bid. Think of an automated version of Hotwire for advertising space on the web.

**You might have noticed that I have not used APA for this news bit or the previous one. I will not for the remainder of the semester. Why? The hyperlink on a webpage effectively functions as a citation while making it easier for the reader– you--togoto the original source which you will need to do if you are to quote something from this blog. By the way, youmustdo that for everything you write in this class.

Small Businessmen Opt for LinkedIn--Ignoring Twitter and Facebook

“LinkedIn is gaining ground, now home to 200 million monthly active users, and small businesses are taking advantage. According to a survey conducted by the Wall Street Journal and Vistage International, LinkedIn is believed to be the network with the most potential for driving ROI, especially for smaller businesses,” according to a post on Brafton. “Forty-one percent believe that LinkedIn is the top network, followed by 14 percent who choose Facebook and 3 percent who give the credit to Twitter. Ken Lopez, leader of a legal consulting firm, told the Wall Street Journal that LinkedIn brings dramatically different results when compared to what his company sees from Twitter.” Read more.

Mobile Ads Growing with Facebook

“Wall Street really wants Facebook to figure out mobile, and for the second-consecutive quarter, Facebook delivered. Mobile ads accounted for 23% of Facebook's revenue over the holiday season, a far cry from last summer when CEO Mark Zuckerberg acknowledged it had a lot of catching up to do as users quickly abandoned PCs for tablets and phones. Overall, Facebook didn't do so badly, either, as revenue climbed 40% over the previous year to $1.59 billion, including $306 million in mobile revenue, topping Wall Street consensus of $1.53 billion” (Delo, 2013).

Delo, Cotton (30 Jan. 2013). Facebook turns in strong quarter on growth in mobile ads. AdAge.com . Retrieved from < http://adage.com/article/digital/facebook-turns-strong-quarter-growth-mobile-ads/239498/?utm_source=digital_email&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=adage>.

While mobile ads must look different than traditional web ads because of the distinctly smaller mobile screens, does that constitute a new medium? Do not mobile ads depend on the web as much as any website? In essence, the mobile display of advertising, marketing, and content does not constitute a new digital medium any more than does a broadsheet newspaper constitute a different media than a tabloid newspaper.

Facebook's Graph Search--The New Top Dog?

“Facebook's Graph Search has the potential to completely revolutionize search, enabling consumers to have a uniquely personalized search experience — based not only on what they want but what they like, and who their friends are, by extending the value of the social graph and first-party data to sharply differentiate Facebook's offering from Google. The new offering extends the value of Likes and the social graph to search, which can revolutionize accuracy, value, and relevance — especially as consumers perform more and more local searches using mobile devices, an area where Google has struggled” (Williams, 2013).

Williams, Daniel (31 Jan. 2013). How Facebook's Graph Search will dethrone Google Search. AdAge.com . Retrieved from <http://adage.com/article/digitalnext/facebook-s-graph-search-dethrone-google-search/239509/?utm_source=digital_email&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=adage>.

Importance of Brand Sites

“Brands are spending more time—and money—engaging with consumers outside of their brand sites on the likes of YouTube, Tumblr, Facebook and many other channels. As marketing efforts move to social networks and to content sites such as BuzzFeed, what happens to the brand’s dot-com? Brand pages, although they are not very heavily trafficked as a rule, are still a primary resource for consumers seeking information about products and the companies that make them, according to a new eMarketer report, ' What's a Brand Site For? Engaging Consumers Across Multiple Channels.' An October study by nRelate found that 48% of online shoppers said they trusted content from brand websites. No other content type approached the trustworthiness of corporate sites, according to this survey—not even mainstream news sites” (Whither the brand, 2013).

Whither the brand website (7 Jan. 2013). eMarketer.com. Retrieved from <http://www.emarketer.com/Article/Whither-Brand-Website/1009585>

Mobile Advertising Increasing Worldwide

"Mobile ad spending around the world more than doubled last year, eMarketer estimates, and though growth will moderate this year, double-digit increases in mobile ad spending will continue in coming years as outlays approach $37 billion by 2016. In 2012, mobile spending was at $8.41 billion, according to eMarketer’s forecast—up from just over $4 billion the year before and $2.34 billion in 2010. eMarketer’s estimates of worldwide mobile ad spending include dollars going toward display and search advertising only, and exclude spending on messaging-based formats. Spending on tablets is also included” (Money goes mobile, 2013).

Worldwide, more money goes mobile (4 Jan. 2013). eMarketer.com. Retrieved from <http://www.emarketer.com/Article/Worldwide-More-Money-Goes-Mobile/1009582>

Subscribing to YouTube?

“Is there anything on YouTube you’d pay to see? Critics are skeptical but I think YouTube is on to something with their new subscription service. According to AdAge, YouTube is about to launch a paid subscription pilot program with a few carefully chosen content producers. These channels will put their new content behind a paywall and users will have to pony up anywhere from $1 to $5 a month to gain access” (Boris, 2013)


Boris, Cynthia (Jan. 29, 2013). Would you pay to watch videos on YouTube? MarketingPilgrim.com . Retrieved from <http://www.marketingpilgrim.com/2013/01/would-you-pay-to-watch-videos-on-youtube.html>.

Fix Oil Spills with Social Media

“The brand reputations of oil giants BP and Shell are frequently haunted by past controversies. For BP, it's the 2010 oil spill caused when the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig exploded in the Gulf of Mexico. For Shell, it's concern over its recently defeated Arctic drilling initiatives. Both companies struggle to pump up their respective brands' reputations—no easy feat in a digital world where consumers have fast access to information and social forums to post their discontent” (Dupre, 2012).

Dupre, Elyse (Dec.1, 2012). Oil giants try to stay slick while containing the spillage of negative perception. Direct Marketing News. Retrieved from < http://www.dmnews.com/oil-giants-try-to-stay-slick-while-containing-the-spillage-of-negative-perception/article/270033/>.

2012's Top Web and Mobile Properties

“Which web and mobile properties found the largest audiences in 2012? According to Nielsen, Americans on the web were most inclined to search, socialize, shop, browse or, of course, look things up on Wikipedia. The two US sites that averaged the greatest number of monthly unique visitors were web giants Google and Facebook: the former averaged over 172 million monthly unique visitors, the latter close to 153 million. Large online media sites Yahoo! (#3) and AOL (#7), shopping juggernaut Amazon (#8) and search offerings from Microsoft (#6) and Ask.com (#10), all found their way into the top ten as well” (Top Web Mobile, 2013).

Top web and mobile properties of 2012 (Jan. 14, 2013). eMarketer.com . Retrieved from < http://www.emarketer.com/Article/Top-Web-Mobile-Properties-of-2012/1009601#38uxJkf6TpLk0yzO.99 >

Coke's Social Media Campaign for the Super Bowl

“Using animated polar bears making jokes on Facebook to win the hearts of Super Bowl ad lovers? That's so 2012. Last year, Coca-Cola's Polar Bowl became one of the most talked about campaigns of the Super Bowl. Now, it's hoping to duplicate that success and do something its executives call "gamify the game" with the launch of a 60-second spot that depicts three teams trying to get to a giant bottle of Coke -- and asks viewers to help them via social media” (Zmuda, 2013).

.

Zmuda, Natalie (Jan. 22, 2013). Coca-Cola builds social-media game around Super Bowl spot. AdAge.com . Retrieved from <http://adage.com/article/special-report-super-bowl/coca-cola-super-bowl-ad-create-social-media-game/239327/?utm_source=digital_email&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=adage>.

Indy 500 Goes Instagram

“The hashtag -- which is intended to capture the overall experience and history of the race -- will also be used in the Indy 500's other social channels, although an exact launch date for the overall promotion is unclear. The Indianapolis Motor Speedway is using Venueseen technology to capture tagged fan images on Instagram. Along with images from drivers, teams and the Indianapolis Motor Speedway itself, these photos will eventually appear plotted on a map on a microsite” (Lacy, 2013).

Lacy, Lisa (Jan. 17, 2013). Indy 500 revs up for Instagram promo. ClickZ.com. Retrieved from <Dhttp://www.clickz.com/clickz/news/2236948/indy-500-revs-up-for-instagram-promo>.

Seeing Video In-Stream with Twitter

“Ooyala has showed off its Twitter Video Card solution with a campaign from ESPN. Ooyala provides a platform for online video management, publishing, analytics and monetization. The new functionality lets Ooyala customers quickly embed clickable clips into tweets for instant playback. The new feature inserts a thumbnail of the video directly into the stream, so that followers can play it without leaving Twitter. In addition to making a company's Twitter feed more interesting, embedded video can also increase discovery of other content from that publisher, according to Brian Theodore, group product manager for insight and optimization at Ooyala. 'Before, you could tweet the link to a video, but the only action users had was to click through. Video Card keeps the experience in the stream,' he said” (Kuchinskas, 2013).

Kuchinskas, Susan. (Jan. 25, 2013). Ooyala lets ESPN embed video in tweets. ClickZ.com. Retrieved from <http://www.clickz.com/clickz/news/2239217/ooyala-lets-espn-embed-video-in-tweets>.

Homework Tip: APA Citation

During the semester you will cite sources using APA techniques. I used examples of in-text and Works Cited citations in the previous two posts. I will continue for another week and then return to the traditional link format. 

When you quote or paraphrase an author, the citation immediately follows the quote or the paraphrase -- with no punctuation. 

"For example, this is an in-text citation for a quotation" (Author's Family Name, Year). 

For example, this is an in-text citation for a paraphrase (Author's Family Name, Year). 

At the end of your email, letter, presentation, or report, you will list the source on a separate Works  Cited page. It appears as follows.

Family Name, First Name (Month [abbreviated when appropriate] Day, Year). Title with only the first word capitalized. Name of  publication or website in italics. Retrieved from <URL>

Mobile Advertising on the Rise

“Corporate awareness of mobile advertising is growing in the new year, according to a group of executives speaking at the Mobile Media Summit 2013. This year will see mobile ad agencies evolve the way they use the mobile platform for advertising. Things like branded apps and a better understanding of the way the industry works are starting to bring major brands [products, not companies, such as Coke as opposed to Coca-Cola Corp.] to the platform, according to the executives” (Dohnert, 2013).

Dohnert, James (Jan. 24, 2013). Mobile media summit: mobile advertising will grow. ClickZ.com. Retrieved from < http://www.clickz.com/clickz/news/2238591/mobile-media-summit-mobile-advertising-will-grow>.

Major Magazine Tries to Remain onTop

“The Economist - the print publication that ate the newsweekly market single-handedly via the strange strategy of maintaining extremely highly sophisticated news coverage without dumbing down its tone - now has ten percent of its subscribers as online-only paying members. The 150,000 online-only readers have not yet cut into its print circulation on a gross basis, 'but it will,' said the firm's digital editor to The Editors Weblog. The move from one million print subscribers to 1.5 million happened in a few years, perhaps hastened by the whole or partial print demise of former major competitors such as Time and Newsweek. The Economist's corporate attitude, however, is to make haste destroying its hard-fought gains with a superior online offering” ( Economist tries, 2013). 

Economist tries to destroy its print market before someone else does (Jan. 14, 2013). MarketingVox.com. Retrieved from <http://www.marketingvox.com/economist-tries-to-destroy-its-print-market-before-someone-else-does-051963/?utm_campaign=rssfeed&utm_source=mv&utm_medium=textlink>

Videos Continue to Grow

“Content marketing is a growing space and video is edging its way in, evident from new comScore data. American culture revolves around video, signaling to marketers that they must build branded, watchable campaigns that push their companies in front of their target audiences. Brands can't afford to be left behind as video viewing increases and marketers jump on board. ComScore's Video Metrix catalogs video content viewing, displaying how much media Americans engage with in any given month of the year. In November 2012, for example, video saw 10.5 billion views. In April 2012, it saw 9.5 billion. Marketers can consider creating seasonal and event-related content to speak to audiences at certain times of the year” (Videos grew, 2013).

Videos grew by 59 percent in 2012 (Jan. 23, 2012). Brafton.com. Retrieved from <http://www.brafton.com/news/video-views-grew-by-59-percent-in-2012>.

Welcome to English 202

Welcome to English 202.

Various individuals have given English 202 different names. The school calls it advanced exposition. I call it business writing. I should rename it "Reading and Thinking."  The name probably sounds odd or too elementry. Not so. Most individuals do too little of both--in the world of school and the world of business. As you will hear me say, probably more than once, "We think we think more than we think."
To perform at an average level in this class, you will need to read all the assignments about Internet marketing.You will read to have information that your imaginations will re-formulate into unique concepts. When you do that, writing becomes easier, and you will hold the attention of a reader--a person with blood in his/her veins, who gets bored, who wants information, who does not give a darn about you or me because in the end reading is an egocentric act.
To achieve above-average work, you must think--not merely parrot (repeat) the ideas you will have read and those you hear about in class. In other words, you must learn how to integrate new ideas with old ones in order to create a different perspective for the reader. Otherwise you are wasting the reader's time.
When you write to another individual, you ask him/her to surrender her time to read your ideas. Why should the reader trouble herself with your ideas? Are you offering the reader [teacher, classmate, business associate] a "new" way of seeing a problem? Are you proposing a concept that will make the reader's life easier? Are you advancing knowledge--whether the subject is particle physics or the latest cosmetic disaster for a pop diva? Are you offering your ideas clearly and logically--based on standard American English? In other words, the average reader (not your friends reading a tweet) wants to know what she is getting out of reading your work.
You,therefore, earn a reader's respect by offering her a new perspective or new idea in a format that makes it easier for the reader (not the writer) to understand. If you cannot achieve that, you fail--in business and in this classroom.
How do you come up with new ideas or perspectives? Reading. And you do not merely repeat what you have read. In that case, you only rehash information that a reader already could access. You read to pick up facts and ideas from experts in the field. You then take that information and integrate it into how you think. Eventually an original idea or perspective (original for you) will come out.
For this class, you will need a computer with Internet access. Use your own, a friend's, or one of the many in the school's library. Will I tolerate the excuse my computer crashed and I lost all my work? No. Save your material on a thumb drive, portable hard drive, or to a storage system on the Internet, such as Google's G-Drive (it's free if you have a Google account, which is also free).
You will need an office suite, such as Microsoft Office. (Microsoft Works will not work in this class.) You can get free office suites: OpenOffice, Libre Office, and IBM's Symphony. I use OpenOffice and Libre Office. They are excellent products that are compatible with Microsoft Office. The three have word processors (like Word), presentation software (like PowerPoint), and spreadsheet software (like Excel). OpenOffice and Libre Office also have graphics and data base management software. All three products have been around for more than a decade. They are reliable. If you have a broadband Internet connection, downloading will take about three minutes and installation about 20. OpenOffice and Libre Office work on PCs and Macs.

You will not need to buy a text. I provide you your reading material through links on the syllabus. You can access the syllabus from the class web page: http://www1bpt.bridgeport.edu/~jconlin/. Here are the links that you need for now.



Syllabus: <http://www.bridgeport.edu/~jconlin/Fall2012Spring2013English202.pdf>
Course Description: <http://www1bpt.bridgeport.edu/~jconlin/CourseDescription.pdf>
Class Webpage: <http://www1bpt.bridgeport.edu/~jconlin/>
Class Blog: <http://dana238.blogspot.com/>



Start the semester right. Read the syllabus.
Finally, you will use APA citation formats for everything that you write this semester. Most students already have learned, and maybe mastered MLA. APA is not that different. Scroll down two posts and you will find the format for APA. Why am I making you use APA? Because UB's Business School has designated APA as its citation method of choice and the citation method that its MBA students must use. You can see examples of APA citation (intext and works cited listing) in the previous two posts.
See you tomorrow.

Red Bull's YouTube Series

"After flying to an altitude of 39,045 meters (128,100 feet) in a helium-filled balloon, Felix Baumgartner completed a record breaking jump for the ages from the edge of space, exactly 65 years after Chuck Yeager first broke the sound barrier flying in an experimental rocket-powered airplane," goes the YouTube post.  "Felix reached a maximum of speed of 1,342.8 km/h (833mph) through the near vacuum of the stratosphere before being slowed by the atmosphere later during his 4:20 minute long freefall....Experience the world of Red Bull like you have never seen it before. With the best action sports clips on the web and YouTube exclusive series, prepare for your "stoke factor" to be at an all time high. Red Bull on Facebook: http://win.gs/redbullfb Red Bull on Twitter: http://win.gs/redbulltwitter Subscribe to Red Bull on Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/subscription_center?add_user=redbull"

Just four days after Red Bull posted this video, it had more than 20 million views.

By the way, this is the last post for the semester.

Coke and P&G Angry about No-Track Default of IE 10

"Association of National Advertisers CEO Bob Liodice hasn't been shy about expressing his opposition to Microsoft's coming Internet Explorer 10 web browser, which will ship with a 'do-not-' feature as a default setting. The browser 'will likely cause irreparable damage to the advertising industry,' he said at the ANA annual meeting in Orlando, Fla., last week," according to Advertising Age. "But while the ANA has been forceful in its opposition to Microsoft's approach, the individual members of the organization had varied views on the issue, and while most said they support the ANA's position, the bigger issue they see is confusion it creates for consumers.
Wendy Clark, senior VP-integrated marketing communications and capabilities at Coca-Cola, said brands, including Microsoft, shouldn't be assuming choices for consumers. 'All we want is an opportunity for consumers to make their own choice rather than have the choice made for them.' Read more.

Ford's Social Media Strategy

"This is the keynote presentation from Scott Monty (Head of Social Media @Ford) at the 2009 OMMA Global conference in New York on September 21. It tells the story of Ford’s social media experience and highlights the key elements that make them one of the top companies using social media," notes Digital Buzz. "Ford’s Social Media Strategy is simple 'to humanize the company by connecting consumers with Ford employees and with each other when possible, providing value in the process' and when executed with creativity and passion like most of their campaigns so far, can deliver incredible results." Read more.

Yahoo Bing Outperforms Google

"Microsoft on its Bing Ads blog is still buzzing over last week's Global Search Advertising Trends Report from Kenshoo, which recommended the Yahoo! Bing Network (YBN) as a 'must buy,' suggesting the YBN should be considered the 'first place resources are allocated and maximized.'" So goes a post on Marketing Vox. "The research found that the YBN consistently outperformed Google in paid search campaign return on ad spend (ROAS). ROAS was almost 30% higher than that of Google in Q3 2012, and the YBN click-through rate (CTR) was 29% higher." Read more.

Impact of Rich Media Ads

"One thing that's become apparent throughout this growing stage is that interactive display ads outperform static display ads. Rich media ads provide six times higher engagement rates and are much better at capturing your audience's attention. On top of this, rich ads offer more than 150 measurable elements so that you can track what's working and what's not," according to a ClickZ post. "Brands that use interactive, rich media ads see a 300 percent to 1,000 percent increase in ad interactions. That's one of the reasons that probably explains why the use of video in online advertising is predicted to grow by 55 percent in the U.S. by 2016." Read more.

How 10 Companies Use the New Twitter Profiles

"On September 18, Twitter announced an addition to its profiles for both consumers and brands. The header photo complements background images and avatars to let people show their personalities with Twitter profiles. Many brands using the platform for social media marketing moved quickly to integrate header photos into their campaigns," according to Brafton News. "The capability has been live for about one month, and Brafton has seen some interesting images included to increase visibility and improve brand perception on Twitter." The report notes 10 examples of companies working header photos into their social strategies. Read more.

Search Advertising Still on Top

"The Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) has released its first half of 2012 Internet Advertising Revenue Report conducted by PricewaterhouseCoopers and it is good reading," according to Marketing Pilgrim. "Considering our audience it will please you to know that despite cries of the death of SEO and the move to social leaving all other ad forms behind, search still accounts for 47% of the ad revenue from the Internet space as measured in this report. The report states ‘Search revenues totaled $4.1 billion in Q2 2012, up 17% from Q2 2011, when Search totaled $3.5 billion’. Sounds healthy to me." Read more and see the charts.

Mobile advertising, while having a great deal of potential, accounts for only 4% of the money spent on interactive (Internet) advertising. Remember this when writing your reports.

Tweet if You Like Mercedes

"Did everyone catch the Mercedes-Benz Tweet Race back in February this year?" That's the question from a Digital Buzz post. "Well, they were a few days late due to some bad weather, but they made it through and here is the campaign case study to prove it was a big success. The campaign had almost 30,000 active participants with over 72,000 Facebook Fans and 77,000 Twitter Followers who generated over 150,000+ tweets to power the cars. The campaign videos generated about 2 million views, while the twitter reach pushed over the 25 million mark." Read more.

Shaming People to Vote

"The campaigns have planted software known as cookies on voters’ computers to see if they frequent evangelical or erotic Web sites for clues to their moral perspectives," reports the New York Times. "Voters who visit religious Web sites might be greeted with religion-friendly messages when they return to mittromney.com or barackobama.com. The campaigns’ consultants have run experiments to determine if embarrassing someone for not voting by sending letters to their neighbors or posting their voting histories online is effective." Read more.

The Tip of Nike's Marketing Iceberg

1. "Nike is doing something a little different with projection mapping for the new Jordan Melo M8 shoe, this time throwing in water, in fact the whole thing is projected onto water fountains, which perfectly complement the movement and desired effects to create something pretty special for your eyes," reports Digital Buzz. "Sure, there isn’t any interactivity as we’ve seen of late, but the water really changes the game!" Read more. What amounts to a promo or advertisement has generated slightly fewer than 150,000 views.

2. ClickZ notes that "Nike and Adidas definitely get digital marketing...Those are the conclusions of a new report from New York-based digital consultancy L2...[It], in conjunction with the NYU Stern School of Business, recently released its first digital ranking of the sportswear industry...Nike and Adidas, the top-two ranked companies, were ranked in the "genius" level by L2." Read more.

3. "Sportswear maker Nike has extended its Nike Training Club program to mobile to target active women on the go," reports Mobile Marketer. "Nike agency R/GA, New York, created a Nike Training Club iPhone application that complements the wired Web site at http://www.nikewomen.com. The app was already among the top 10 on Apple's "What's Hot" section for iPhone apps a few weeks ago. 'It's actually a trend that we'll see more of,' said Richard Ting, executive creative director and vice president of mobile and emerging platforms at R/GA, an Interpublic Group interactive marketing agency in New York." Read more.

4. "Ten years ago, Nike spent 55 percent of its advertising budget on traditional media. This year that figure is down to 33 percent according to a story in the New York Times," goes the post on Sundog Interactive. "In the last 20 years, Nike has gone from its renowned 'Revolution' TV campaign in 1987 introducing its AirMax shoes (I’ve bought AirMax running shoes ever since), to another revolutionary approach today that substantially alters the way it approaches advertising and marketing. Nike has re-channelled large amounts of budget from traditional media, to instead connecting with the customer via the Internet and in-person events." Read more.

Keywords: Nike+"Digital Marketing", Nike+"Interactive Marketing".

Unilever's Digital Marketing Program

• "Dove's "evolution" video in 2006 generated hundreds of millions of viral views and received many creative awards. The parent company's evolution has been a bit rockier," reports Advertising Age. "Unilever had some digital successes on other products, too, but results were far from universal. So in early 2008, the company sent U.S. media executive Babs Rangaiah to London to help build a digital capability that was truly global. The appointments of Paul Polman as CEO a year later and of Keith Weed as chief marketing officer in 2010 meant more senior leaders committed to ramping up digital." Read more.
• "As internet users increasingly ignore static banner ads, marketers are producing more interactive creative units that encourage users to get involved with the product," notes Smarter Investing Covestor. "Here's a brilliant one incorporating game mechanics that's the talk of the marketing crowd today. It's from premium ice cream maker Magnum, a Unilever (NYSE: UN) brand." Read more.
• Chief Marketer notes that "Unilever has extended its series of Webisodes for its I Can't Believe It's Not Butter Spray. This one, including six animated Webisodes and one TV spot, plays off the presidential campaign. The latest storyline features 'Spraychel' in her quest to be president of the fridge. But Spraychel’s opponent, 'Maxwell Butterman' tries to block her effort with his stance on old-fashioned ways of eating." Read more.
• "In early 2010, Unilever launched a campaign 
• on Facebook to distribute samples of its new 
• Marmite Cereal Bar and to drive awareness of 
• the new product," goes a report from Facebook Ads. "As part of raising awareness, 
• the company also sought to increase the number 
• of users who connected to the Marmite Cereal 
• Bars Facebook Page, the free public profile that 
• enables companies to share their business and 
• products with Facebook users on an ongoing 
• basis. The activity on Facebook was part of an 
• integrated campaign that included print media to 
• raise awareness as well as additional sampling 
• initiatives through digital Transvision screens and 
• escalator panels." Read more.
• Keywords used in the search: Unilever "Digital Marketing", Unilever "Interactive Marketing". Another one: Unilever "Internet Marketing". 

The Tips of Coke's Internet Marketing Iceberg

• "Coca-Cola has struck a global partnership with Spotify that is set to help both brands expand around the world, and will produce a Coke app based on the music service in time for the Olympics," according to Brand Republic. Read more.
• Mobile Marketer reports that "Coca-Cola Co. continues to roll out applications for both smartphones and tablets in various markets as a key element of its global consumer engagement strategy, a company executive revealed." Read more.
• "Coca-Cola has marked its 50 millionth Facebook 'Like' with a new campaign, drawing upon its social media fan base to identifying simple ways to ‘make the world a happier place’. Coca-Cola will identify individuals developing ideas that enable people to become more active, give to others, be social or engage in other activities associated with increased happiness. These creators will then collaborate with Coca-Cola and its Facebook community to develop ideas that help spread happiness around the world." That's the word from Digital Strategy Consulting. Read more.
• See a Coke Zero slide show about a portion of its digital marketing campaign.
• Three years ago, Coke decided to make the digital realm its realm. Pop Sop reports that "Coca-Cola is planning to change a digital marketing strategy evolving into content management 'a far more aggressive digital presence,' – Coke’s top marketer Joseph Tripodi said." Read more.

Maturing Facebook Strategies

"As Facebook marketing matures, so should strategies and best practices for plotting investment," reports Advertising Age. "Winning strategies will look very different in 2013 from previous years. Now that many brands have acquired sizable 'fan' bases, the focus is on leveraging Facebook's new ad products to grow loyalty and retention." Read more.

2012 Presidential Election Gets Social

"In 2012, it is not enough for candidates to shake some hands, kiss a baby or two and run some TV ads. They also need to be posting funny little animations on the blogging site Tumblr," starts a New York Times post. "If the presidential campaigns of 2008 were dipping a toe into social media like Facebook and Twitter, their 2012 versions are well into the deep end. They are taking to fields of online battle that might seem obscure to the non-Internet-obsessed — sharing song playlists on Spotify, adding frosted pumpkin bread recipes to Pinterest and posting the candidates’ moments at home with the children on Instagram." Read more.

Comments to help you think: Do not the presidential campaigns of Obama and Romney resemble marketing campaigns for products/services? Of course they do. Each man is attempting to build confidence and trust so that one of them can "run" the country for the next four years. 

People build trust by sharing information, and that information starts off benign--such as a vetted playlist, bread recipes, or staged family pictures. The sites create the illusion that each man--reality  an annointed volunteer or paid staff member--has posted this material, thereby conveying the notion that the viewer becomes "closer" with each man. How does this play a role in today's election? 

For 90 percent of Americans who say that they will vote in the election, it does not matter, according to poll samples. They will hold firm in their opinions. Obama and Romney are chasing after the 10 percent who remain undecided--especially in swing states such as Ohio and Florida, which have a few dozen Electoral College votes. 

Remember your civics classes. Members of the Electoral College in each state vote for the president. They have 538 voting members. The results of the Electoral College vote determines the next president--not the results of the popular vote. As a result, a person running for President of the U.S. could lose the popular vote but win the election. It has happened three times (Adams, Hayes, and Bush Jr.). 

Each candidate, therefore, wants to win in the swing states to ensure that they have those Electoral College votes. Do you not think that marketers also must find certain consumers to efficiently improve market share (the percentage of sales for a particular product category) in a given region or country?

Tweet a Conversation

"While Facebook is busy not counting clicks, Twitter wants us to sit down and have a chat – one-on-one – just you, me, and the millions of other people who check out the site every day. It’s more wisdom from the IAB MIXX Conference, this time from Joel Lunenfeld, Twitter’s vice president of global brand strategy, coming to you via TechCrunch," so goes the Marketing Pilgrim post. "Lunenfeld says that '88% of Twitter users follow at least one brand, and that more than half of users follow six or more brands.' Six or more brands! That’s a lot of people asking for daily advertisements in their stream. Some of them are hoping for discounts and freebies but others are genuinely interested in the brand and they want to be up on what’s happening." If you read more, you will discover ideas about the programs from Taco Bell and Old Sprice.

KitchenAid Blunder during the Presidential Debates

"Like many of you, I watched the Presidential debate last night. And, like many of you, heard about the incident that led to a rather disgusting tweet being sent out from the KitchenAid Twitter account," notes the Marketing Pilgrim. "In case you have no clue as to what I am talking about, check out this recap and then come back. Hopefully, we are at the point where we all see the obvious online reputation issue here. In fact, most pundits are focusing on the simple fact that KitchenAid should be more careful about who they let use there Twitter account. Clearly, an employee (or contractor) forgot to sign out of the KitchenAid account–and into their personal Twitter account–before sending that tweet. But, here’s the bigger reputation issue at hand." Read more.

Tweeting, Pining, Liking Oreos

"In August Oreo reached the halfway mark of its 100-day Oreo Daily Twist campaign, which portrays historic and current events from the perspective of America's favorite cookie," notes Direct Marketing News. "Whether an Oreo cookie is rolling past the Eiffel Tower for the Tour de France or filled with red icing for the Mars rover landing, the Oreo brand displays milestones in a fun and engaging way. Viewers can “like,” tweet, and pin the cookies from Nabsico's Daily Twist website and suggest future events to include in the campaign. Some images are interactive; for example, consumers can help the chocolaty morsel pole vault into a glass of milk or perform different yo-yo tricks." Read more.

Facebook Tops One Billion

"Facebook announced on Thursday that it has surpassed the 1 billion-user mark, and the company unveiled a new television commercial to commemorate the milestone," says Brafton News "Since its launch in 2004, Facebook has undergone a series of transformations, but the goal of helping people connect continues to drive innovation from the company." Read more. Facebook nation has a population more than three times larger than the U.S.

Tweets Fly with Presidential Debate

"Twitter announced on Wednesday night that the presidential debate between President Barack Obama and Republican nominee Mitt Romney was the most popular political event in the microblogging site's history," notes Brafton News. "For marketers, sharing interesting content related to any event driving major activity on the web can help boost brand areness and attract prospects." Read more.

Car Companies Take a Spin on Social Networks

"One auto manufacturer accelerating its use of new marketing approaches is Kia Motors America. Its Kia Soul shuffle slam marketing campaign, created by David&Goliath, was designed to pitch potential buyers in a way that enabled Kia to 'engage consumers in a promotion that allowed them to be creative and communicate,' says George Haynes, social and digital media manager at Kia Motors America," reports Digital Marketing News. "The campaign invited consumers to submit videos of themselves dancing to electropop like Kia's music-loving mascots, the soul Hamsters, on the Kia Soul YouTube and Facebook channels for a chance to win prizes. The campaign was 'a really good way for people to get to know the personality of our brand,' Haynes says, noting that the Kia Soul YouTube channel has received more than 18 million views to date."  Read about other car companies.

Tweeting's Fun, but Give Content

"A report from AYTM Market Research found that consumers enjoy interacting with brands on Twitter, but many also want to see website content from these companies," reports Brafton News. "According to the study, 69 percent of Twitter users follow brands on the platform. Twenty-six percent of respondents said they monitor the activity of at least 10 companies on the network." Read more.

Customers Like "Liking" but Also Want Content

"A report from AYTM Market Research found that more than 73 percent of consumers have Liked at least one brand on Facebook. In fact, 31 percent of respondents said they have Liked 10 brands or more," reports Brafton News. "Perhaps more importantly, users who opt to Like brands typically interact with social content on a regular basis. Even with 25.5 percent saying they "never" pay attention, the overwhelming sentiment suggests that content that appeals to users is most likely to result in clicks, site traffic and eventual conversions. ...Compelling content is the key for social media marketing...Despite this interest in Facebook marketing content, 44 percent said they typically find the website of the brands they Like more useful." Read more.

Again, marketers need to discover with Internet marketing how and when to have a "conversation" with their customers, as reported in the HD Marketing Report. With most products or services, customers reach a point when the cutesy information on a social network site fails to pique their interest. They want "hard" content--meaning facts about the product, pricing, or shipping that aid making a buying decision. They typically find that information on a company's website. In other words, it appears that social network media works effectively with customers who are beginning their "journeys," as Demystifying Social Media notes. So could one argue the longer the customer's journey, the more content the need. Conversely, the shorter the journey, the more flash? In other words, compare the "content" needed to make a decision about a soft drink versus "buying" a college education. Do not let the idea drop at that point. What does this mean for marketers?

Do not copy the information that appears in brown. I intend it only as a means of sparking your thoughts for your short reports.

Small Businesses Getting Social

"In June 2012, LinkedIn analyzed the countries where worldwide small-business professionals with accounts on the site lived and found that, not surprisingly due to the site’s headquarters, the US was the top country, with more than 6.8 million small-business professionals. The UK and India were the next most popular countries, with 1.06 million and 1.01 million professionals, respectively," reports eMarketer. "It is not only small-business professionals who are jumping into social media. Small businesses themselves are getting more involved on these sites. August 2012 data from Newtek Business Services found that Facebook is seeing more activity from small businesses. The survey of independent business owners in the US found that 47% of small businesses had a Facebook account." Read more; see charts. 

Throughout the semester, I rarely have mentioned small businesses, emphasizing the marketing campaigns of companies such as Toyota, Coke, and P&G. Small businesses, meaning companies who employ fewer than 10 people, represent nearly 80 percent of all employer firms in the U.S. They tend to be local companies with less resources for broadcast marketing, meaning tv and radio. As a result they become ideal candidates for the use of Internet marketing. They also lack the resources to maintain extensive contacts in the business community and its necessary services, such as accounting and legal. A social network, such as LinkedIn, enables them to establish or to improve their connections in the business community while Facebook can help them market to local customers, therefore accounting for the increased usage of both types of social networks by small businesses. 

Do not copy the information that appears in brown. I intend it only as a means of sparking your thoughts for your short report.

Virtual and Real Worlds Collide--Yet Again

"Exponential Interactive...and MasterCard Advisors...have announced a partnership that will enable Exponential's brands [marketers/advertisers] to target their digital ads to audiences based on their offline spending behavior," says ClickZ. "Data on spending behavior, which the companies say is anonymous and not linked to any individual, will be extracted from the more than 25 billion transactions that U.S. MasterCard holders carry out at retail locations annually. Some 310 million people hold a MasterCard in the U.S." Read more.

By integrating the virtual and real worlds of consumers, marketers discover a distinction about their potential customers: how people behave online differs from how the behave in the real world. In other words, an individual, while surfing the Web, may scout out luxury car brands but walk into dealerships and buy an economy brand. By discovering these types of distinctions, marketers can more effectively target ads or change their marketing messages. Now remember the concepts of conversation in the HD Marketing Report and the journey concept found in the Demystifying Social Media report. Then ask: How does this partnership work with those concepts? 

Do not copy the information that appears in brown. I intend it only as a means of sparking your thoughts for your short reports.

Getting Customers to Return

"Google has recently announced a beta program called Remarketing in Search, which aims to take the benefits of remarketing and leverage them within the SERP (Search Engine Results Page) environment. The idea is simple: create remarketing lists as you do with display, but leverage this customer knowledge to impact you’re messaging and bidding strategy within your SEM campaigns to improve performance," according to ClickZ. "Remarketing - or retargeting - is now an established tactic leveraged by many (if not all) digital marketers trying to maximize conversion activity. Retargeting, in its simplest form, is the practice of delivering display advertisements to users who have visited owned content in the past, in order to get them to come back and take action. Retargeting on its own has many layers of complexity, including, determining which pages to track and which to exclude, developing relevant “cookie pools” against the tracked pages, and what creative messaging to deliver to each cookie pool." Read more.

To understand how remarketing/retargeting affects marketers, you should read the remainder of the article. In summary and without detail, it dovetails into the Demystifying Social Media (DSM) report. Remarketing continues the "conversation" with the viewer as she/he continues her "journey" for purchasing a product or service.  Google's "Remarketing in Search" and DSM differ in one respect. Google's deals with search results, and the report covers social media.

Do not copy the information that appears in brown. I intend it only as a means of sparking your thoughts for your short reports.

While Trying to Lure More Advertisers, Facebook Faces Concerns about Privacy

"Following a recent uptick in data-driven ad offerings and a rapidly expanding ad exchange, Facebook is responding to fresh privacy concerns with new details about how it collects user data and how users can opt out of certain features. A series of mechanisms have been put in place to protect user privacy under the framework of Facebook Exchange (FBX), custom audience targeting and Facebook's now year-long partnership with data matching firm DataLogix," reports ClickZ.
"Almost four months have passed since Facebook launched its real-time ad exchange and it continues to grow the exchange with new partners, most recently Criteo and Rocket Fuel. However, with FBX enabling Facebook to connect its platform to third-party data for targeting ads, it was only a matter of time before privacy issues bubbled to the surface." Read more.

The exchange and privacy protection works this way. A viewer goes to a Facebook page. If the person has previously visited the site, then his/her computer will have a ID number. Facebook notifies the ad exchnage, which then tells Facebook which marketers want to show what advertisement. Facebook does not send personal information to the advertiser.

The question for marketers: How might privacy concerns kill the goose that lays the golden eggs? Two ways come to mind. First, surfers might opt for private browsing, which the major browsers now provide, thereby denying information to websites. Second, surfers might avoid sites such as Facebook. Should a vast majority of web surfers do either or a combination, then marketers will lose access to the information used for effective Internet marketing.

Do not copy the information that appears in brown. I intend it only as a means of sparking your thoughts for your short reports.

Jaguar Land Rover Chase Customers after They Close a Deal

"Leverage new marketing channels for after-sales retention," notes Digital Marketing  News. "Many automobile brands commonly use a blend of traditional and digital strategies to attract new customers. But a growing number of brands, such as Jaguar Land Rover (JLR), are also leveraging cutting-edge technologies to retain customers in an after-sales environment." Read more.

Green Mountain Coffee Gets Its Buzz On

"Drive sales by educating consumers about fair trade and enhance their understanding of its benefits," goes the Digital Marketing News post. "Coffee drinking is often a social activity, which is why it made sense for Green Mountain to tap BzzAgent, the social arm of dunnhumby, when the brand embarked on a broad push to promote its fair trade-certified coffee line." Read more.