When you look at the buffet of content available to us these days – from every conceivable source, on every established and emerging platform – you might think that content remains the manna of digital marketing that it once was.
It’d be an understatement to say that brands have embraced content creation as a marketing strategy. Branded content has become a staple of cross-platform, integrated marketing campaigns everywhere, as a nearly fail-proof way to engage consumers, and turn them into customers. As industry analyst Rebecca Lieb said recently, every single one of the major brands she speaks with is increasing its production of original content.
But am I alone in thinking that maybe it’s enough already? Sooner or later, some savvy startup or sprawling conglomerate has to realize that the long tail is losing its appeal. More isn’t always better, as Sheena Iyengar said in her awesome TED Talk. What we need isn’t customization, but relevance.
So how can we, as marketers, deliver the relevance customers want and need? How can we ensure that our content – whether it’s an article, an ad, or an image – reaches the right consumers in the most relevant and meaningful way?
Behavioral targeting gets part of the... Read more
Tags: advertising, brand, content, context, contextual, digital, Facebook, foursquare, History Channel, Jonathan Gardner, marketing, online, pinterest, Rebecca Lieb, relevance, Sheena Iyengar, solomo, Starwood Hotels, ted, Vibrant Media
Posted in Opinions | 1 Comment »
There's been lots of buzz lately around Pinterest, the social bookmarking site that allows you to visually share your interests with others. Like an old-school bookmark, Pinterest lets you save favorite links to refer to later. But it’s better: each URL is represented by an image (or “pin”) coupled with a descriptive blurb. Pinners categorize their pins into themed Boards (Food, Fashion, Kids, etc.) Social sharing via Facebook and Twitter is baked right in, and similar to Facebook, there’s the ability to “Like” or comment on a pin, and to follow users and Boards. Unlike Facebook, Pinterest is an open network, so there are no pesky friend requests to accept (or ignore.) Browsing pinboards leads to endless discoveries – new products, quirky ideas and interesting people to follow. It’s quick, intuitive and oddly addictive.
The really compelling feature of Pinterest is the innate voyeurism of the experience; each collection of images represents a peek into someone’s dream closet. Boards are more than visual filing cabinets – they are wish lists, to-do-somedays, and catalogues of all the things we love. A digital window into your soul.
Pinterest, which has cracked the top 10 social networks, can revolutionize the way we plan weddings, celebrate... Read more
Tags: advertising, branding, Digital Marketing, pinterest, social, socialmedia, trends
Posted in Emerging Platforms, Social Media | 1 Comment »
Facebook spouting the rhetoric of community, friendship and changing the world, has systematically built its platform to extrude cash from advertisers. And though we haven’t yet seen an overt expression of naked greed from Zuckerberg & Company, we are beginning to feel the effects of the advertising squeeze play they’ve constructed.
Understand the back-story. Facebook offers fan pages for brands. Facebook encourages brands to accumulate fans and to spend money on apps, promotions, games and other forms of engagement. Just as brands begin to master this new medium, they change the definitions, swap out fans for likes and generally mess with our heads.
Like new addicts, brands adjust on the fly, redirect their efforts, redouble the labor assigned to post, monitor and measure Facebook activity and again begin to master the new Facebook universe. Spouting the engagement mantra, brands expand their offerings; begin spending to advertise on Facebook to existing or prospective fans and experiment with Facebook’s ways to optimize access to fan Newsfeeds.
To incent added advertising spending, Facebook institutes a filter on wall posts, called the EdgeRank Algorithm that, by design or default, significantly reduces the number of brand massages reaching brand fans. At first they encouraged a reach and frequency/engagement... Read more
Tags: advertising, Facebook, social marketing, Social Media, socialmedia, Targeting
Posted in Social Media | 4 Comments »
It has been a bumpy few years for online publishers, and the roller-coaster ride will continue. But there's real money to be made, thanks to the potential of new ad formats and new ad technologies.
Tags: advertising, AOL, Business Insider, contextual, digital, Facebook, google, IDC, in-text, Jonathan Gardner, Microsoft, online, publishing, PubMatic, rtb, Vibrant Media, Video, yahoo
Posted in Opinions | 1 Comment »
As the year winds down, allow me exercise my older, crankier, opinionated and contrarian side in looking at the year ahead. Here are 10 things that won’t happen in 2012 in no particular order.
Mobile Ads Will Explode. Consumers still either resent them or can’t exactly figure out how to use them. Brands can’t efficiently buy them or measure ROI or engagement value. Look for the bulk of ads to remain embedded in games and in apps.
Facebook Will Grow Exponentially. The focus will shift from 800+ million users to the quality of the experience and the virility of sharing. Brands will figure out how to get more of their messages through the EdgeRank filter and how to prompt brand advocates posting original brand-oriented messages and/or passing along posts crafted by brands. What is said, by whom and to whom, will replace the fan count as a measure of brand page success.
QR Codes Will Blossom. Too many different or not enough code readers, no technical standards, low consumer penetration and poor customer experience will doom this technology. Magazines and others will continue to use them as a badge or signal that they are tech forward, but few consumers will buy that... Read more
Tags: advertising, marketing, Social Media
Posted in Opinions | No Comments »
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