Digital Food for Thought
Sunday, October 12, 2014
Mobile Search is on the Rise- Optimize Now!
Google is the
number one search engine, with consumers entering search queries across all
devices. In the next year, it is
predicted that mobile search will surpass desktop search. With mobile as the go-to device, marketers
need to optimize their search in order to maximize effectiveness on desktop and
mobile.
First,
consumers using mobile are usually searching differently than they would on
desktop. Consumers often use mobile
devices for research and comparison shopping.
Other information that is immediately valuable are store hours,
directions, and a phone numbers. Google
has enhanced search features called ad extensions that allow marketers to
deliver the most relevant information to consumers. These extensions increase the size of the ad,
taking up more space on the page and usually generate higher CTRs than ads
without extensions. Extensions can
include extra links to different pages of the sites, directions right in the
ad, or click-to-call functionality. This
New York and Company ad has all three extensions, giving consumers everything
they need with one click.
Last fall,
Google announced that ad extensions would factor into the ad rank algorithm,
making them crucial for paid search success.
Recently, Google announced the second line of ad copy will often be
replaced by an extension in mobile search ads.
See the example below. This
change will require marketers to look at their paid search copy for mobile and
make any changes necessary to lead with the strongest copy in the first line or
shorten overall ad text. Marketers
optimizing copy for mobile and using ad extensions will see the best paid
search performance.
Monday, October 6, 2014
An Open Invitation to Play Candy Crush
Social media
networks are extremely popular and people are spending a lot of time engaging
with content across different platforms.
Facebook is the largest player, with more than one billion people
actively using it each month. American
users specifically spend an average of 40 minutes per day on Facebook. Other than surfing the newsfeed, how are
consumers spending their time on the platform?
Nevertheless,
the number of users playing Facebook-connected games has grown tremendously
over the last few years. Gaming apps
encourage users to spend more time on the social platform, offer additional
sharing opportunities, and of course, more ad opportunities. One unique format that Facebook offers
advertisers is incentivized views. That
means gamers have the choice to watch a branded video in exchange for virtual
currency or Facebook credits. Consumers
are more likely to engage with the content if they are rewarded, right? It begs the question of whether these “views”
are quality or not. If the user is rewarded
after they watch, are they more likely to be engaged during the video or are
they just waiting for it to be over? I’ve
seen research on both sides.
What do you
think? Have you ever watched a video in
exchange for a reward? Tell us if you
were engaged or can at least remember the brand.
Monday, September 29, 2014
Leveraging the Interactivity of Social Media
Since the
emergence of social media, communication between brands and consumers has
changed. Social media is the platform that
gives consumers the power to take a story, image, or video and increase its
reach tenfold. It’s the platform for
them to speak directly to the brands they love in real time and get a
response. It’s the platform for consumers
to express their loyalty to a brand to their friends and family through shared
posts and hashtags.
Not all
content leads to buzz-worthy sharing.
Many factors contribute to sharable content, even beyond the content
itself. The time of day, day of the
week, length of post, and format (image, video, text) are all variables that
impact how the content will be received.
When it comes to the content, the most sharable content is when it
evokes certain emotions, like awe or anger.
Other viral content that is more interactive includes quizzes or lists.

Monday, September 22, 2014
Advergames: Providing Valuable Content or Deceptive Brand Messaging?
Advergames are online games used to advertise products,
brands, or organizations across a brand’s digital and social properties. Over the last few years, marketers have explored
the different ways to create content.
The phrase “content is king” is still alive and well as marketers have
assumed the role of publisher, creating more than just brand messaging to communication
with its audience. Content has been
created in the form of articles, images, and videos. These formats can be engaged with, but don’t involve
the same level of commitment as a game, which brings us to the advergame. The average time spent with an advergame is 7– 30 minutes! That is significantly
longer than other forms of advertising and even native placements. Why wouldn’t all brands create advergames to
engage consumers and integrate some subtle brand messaging? Here are some brands that have created advergames:
Dunkin Donuts, McDonalds, Lucky Charms, Sour Patch Kids, Starbucks, and Expedia.
Do you think advergames are a good form of content? While I think most are harmless, some are subtly
marketing unhealthy food to children.
Children spend about an hour each month playing advergames and are 77%
more likely to visit pages with advergames and spend 88% more time on those
sites. The bright colors and entertaining
images appeal to children, but they don’t understand that it is an
advertisement. Children are easily
influenced by the things they see around them.
While the FCC has some restrictions on marketing to children that apply
to traditional media, digital media regulations are less defined. Some food companies have chosen to feature
healthy foods in their advergames, but many still market unhealthy choices. Does the product or brand in the advergame
make a difference on whether or not you would want your child exposed to them? Or are all advergames concerning for their
ability to unsuspectingly advertise to children?
Monday, September 15, 2014
Multi-Screen Viewing: Growth in Online Video
Consumers are taking their video viewing online. Time spent per day with digital video has increased over 800% in the last four years. Consumers can purchase smart TVs, stream
through devices like Apple TV or Roku, or access content through their cable
provider on their laptops and smartphones.
Consumers are not only taking their traditional video needs online, but
they are engaging with short-form video content as well. YouTube is the second largest search engine
and everyday over 100 million internet users watch an online video. So what is important about this shift in
video viewing for marketers? That’s right,
more ad opportunities.
Video
ads see 3x higher CTRs than standard banner ads and usually appear in a less
cluttered environment. Video ads are
accomplishing two advertising goals.
First, they generate awareness by reaching a large audience with a
cost-effective CPM. Second, they
generate traffic at a higher rate than other digital ad formats. Due to the increase in video advertising, ad
views have spiked over the last year and will continue to grow. As the industry evolves and content remains “king”, online video and video
advertising is going to part a larger role in marketer’s budgets and digital
strategies.
Saturday, September 6, 2014
360 Web Design
A brand website is usually the
first place consumers go to learn more about a company. While brands have many properties, such as
social pages or blogs, a brand website is the most basic, yet complex marketing
tool. Consumers expect brands to have
websites and they expect the site to reflect the same brand image as in-store
and across other platforms. Designing a
website requires integrating many factors, from color selection to content
models. These days, it takes site
visitors less than two-tenths of a second to form a first opinion about a
site. That means brands need to have a
visually appealing site that will keep users engaged beyond that initial second.
In order to build a quality, engaging
site, marketers need to make the site visually appealing on the outside and
functional on the inside. Aspects of the
site that are consumer facing include colors, fonts, format, images, and content. Consumers need intuitive design and easy
navigation. They want to visit the site,
engage, and leave without feeling frustrated.
When sites are too cluttered or have difficult navigation, it leaves
consumers a negative opinion of the brand.
Websites not only have to be
appealing to the consumer, but the backend design must be high quality as well. For example, building a responsive site with
SEO in mind is going to increase site visits.
Incorporating SEO at the start of a design will increase performance
within search results, enabling more consumers to find the site. Responsive design is a must as mobile and
tablet adoption increases. Responsive
design allows the consumer to view the same content, formatted automatically
for the best view across desktop, tablet, and mobile.
Designing
a site while considering both the front-end and back-end components will result
in a quality, functional website. The
user experience is extremely important, but needs the back-end to function
correctly as well so both parts can work together to deliver the best
performance.
Monday, September 1, 2014
Shift to Total Market Strategy: Integration over Segmentation
Marketing is most effective when
the messaging, format, and device are targeted to the right audience, at the
right time, on the right platform. The
shift from traditional media to digital media generated a shift from mass media
to targeted media. Mass media had one
message and pushed it out to the general market. Digital (and emerging media) allows for more relevant,
targeted messaging. While the evolution
of digital devices has transformed the ways brands communicate, the audience is
transforming as well.
Multicultural marketing is a buzz
word that is popping up in every marketer’s boardroom. Previously, multicultural marketing has been
an afterthought or a separate initiative during key time periods, such as Black
History Month or Hispanic Heritage Month.
With the shift in population growth, marketers can’t ignore the
demographic trends any longer if they wish to be successful. Rather than an afterthought or a separate,
isolated initiative, multicultural marketing needs to be built into all aspects
of everything a marketer does. It’s
projected that by 2043, minorities will become the majority in the US. In order to have a total market strategy,
marketers need to develop integrated marketing strategies, strategically
targeted to market segments.
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