Digital Marketing Managers: 3 Ideas to Increase Revenue with Social Media Advertising

As a Digital Marketing Manager reaching your high value customers is becoming more difficult in the disrupted marketplace. Likewise, thanks to digital and new media, audiences and channels are more fragmented than ever before. As a graduate student in the Northwestern University Medill’s IMC program, I have been researching social media advertising and found two articles that will help you understand and use social media in a strategic way.

In the article, “Social Media Advertising: The Complete Guide”, Christina Newberry discusses how online and digital media advertising are growing, especially social media advertising. The most used platform is Facebook covering 35.4% of the total display advertising in the United States. Companies are switching their advertising spending from traditional media to digital at a fast pace. Therefore, Christina Newberry decided to share some tools and recommendations to easily create ads in six of the most used social media platforms: Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, LinkedIn, and Snapchat. However, it is important to choose which platform is ideal for your organization and create unique content strategies that will engage your target market.  

-Christina Newberry @ckjnewberry, Hootsuite Blog

-https://blog.hootsuite.com/social-media-advertising/

Source: www.zeemo.com.au

Even though social media advertising has proven effective to reach a company’s target market, many consumers find targeted ads to be annoying and disagreeable. That is why ad blockers have become increasingly popular and this represents a problem for marketing communications. That is why Kevin Jennison enumerates in “Ad Targeting is failing users”, some recommendations that companies can implement to deliver a better targeted ad experience for consumers. His three recommended actions are to let consumers decide which ads they want to see, target users based on their actual context, or simply wait for advertising technology to improve with the hope that new algorithms will resolve this problem.

-Kevin Jennison @JennisonKevin, Ad Exchanger

-https://adexchanger.com/data-driven-thinking/ad-targeting-failing-users/

Based on my review of these two articles and relevant studies I have done in Medill’s Integrated Marketing Communication program at Northwestern University, I have developed three ideas you should consider when planning social media advertising strategies.

·      Symbiosis increases results-

Traditional media advertising is not dead; investing in it can help support your company’s social media advertising strategies.

·      Divergence engages consumers-

Creating unexpected, “outside the box” social media strategies will make you successful and attractive in a world full of options where customer loyalty is slowly disappearing.

·      Embrace change fast-

Customers adapt to changes in technology and social media platforms faster than marketers and companies; you must react quickly, but accurately to stay relevant with your target market.

If you take into consideration the three ideas mentioned before, you will be one step closer to successfully plan social media advertising strategies for your company that stay in your target market’s minds.

About the Author:

My name is Alexandra González. I am a graduate student in Medill’s IMC program at Northwestern University with an expected graduation date of December 2017. I am looking to increase my knowledge in Digital Marketing and Brand Strategy. I have previous experience in communications and digital film production. Contact me at Twitter @asg1616 or Linkedin.

Battle for the Social Screen: The Future of Facebook, YouTube, and You

As our culture moves quickly to video content over print, brands must face the reality that choosing the wrong video platform could make or break their future. Video content isn’t just a plus for a consumers; it has now become a requirement. Brands are expected to have hours of online video content from witty commercials to product demonstrations to “about us” films. From my experience studying Integrated Marketing Communications at Northwestern University and my time at a digital agency, I have seen the incredible results video content can produce. However, these results can vary drastically if the right content is in the wrong place. Your need to determine where the best place for your content is or your brand could be left in the dust. 

Right now there are two key players in video content: YouTube and Facebook. YouTube is the historically dominant platform. It is the second largest search engine in the world and completely revolutionized video content. For most brands, this is where their content is being shown and uploaded. Advertising prices are cheaper and with YouTube’s immense user base, they are likely to be seen by more people. While YouTube may cheaper and bigger now, Facebook is on the rise. Facebook is growing its video capabilities and has three times more videos with over 1 million views. While it isn’t the go-to video platform (yet) and has fewer videos, more videos tend to go viral. This is partly because Facebook has more advanced targeting technology. This is partly why advertising comes at a premium cost six times that of YouTube.

The key difference between the two at the moment is the difference between YouTube’s skippable feature for advertisements and Facebook’s autoplay. Experts say while YouTube visitors are more likely to sit through an ad because they are there to watch videos, watching an ad on Facebook means they are signed into their account, which means you can learn a lot more about them. This means a view on Facebook gives far more information than one on YouTube. However, this information comes at a price. On Facebook you may end up paying for people who aren’t actively watching your ad, whereas on YouTube the skippable feature means you only pay for what people actually watch.

When it comes time to pick a platform you need to ask yourself these three questions:

• Which is more important to me, an accurate cost per view or accurate targeting?
•  What is the goal of this content? Just number of views or is there a call to action?
• Where is my audience now? Are they staying there or moving elsewhere?

If your organization is new to video and want to get the most bang for their buck, YouTube is the sensible choice. You can reach a big population of people and only have to pay for what they’re seeing. Because it is the more established video platform, more customers are more comfortable using it to interact with branded content. However, if your brand is has already conquered YouTube and is looking to create more dynamic content with greater results, Facebook is the way to go. With its elite targeting capabilities, its premium price will deliver premium results. The important thing is to keep experimenting. Not all campaigns will work for your go-to platform. Keep asking yourself those three questions and you will find the path to virality and video success.

           

I am film major turned advertising nerd who loves talking about life changing commercials and donuts. I am currently studying Integrated Marketing Communications at Northwestern University and hope to pursue a career in advertising upon graduation. Follow me on Twitter @Emily_Ryles and see more of my work on my website. 

Digital Strategists: 3 Ways to Differentiate Using Mobile and Video Storytelling

The opportunity to differentiate by tapping into under-invested mobile video is now and using video storytelling is how to break through. As a graduate student at Northwestern in Integrated Marketing Communication (IMC) and a research and strategy professional, I've found two articles that you will find interesting. 

Our friends at Adage recently published an article titled, Mobile Ad Spending Lags Use, But Not for Long, eMarketer Says, which states that consumers are watching less TV, but engaging more with video in other formats. While this isn't necessarily breaking news, the gap in spend among mediums is. The eMarkerter study found that:   

• TV makes up 90% of video ad spend and 77% of time consumers spent with video
• Mobile gets only 3% of video ad spend and makes up 12% of time spent with video
• Total time spent on mobile devices is up to 2 hours and 51 minutes per day, likely as a result of simultaneous device usage

With time on mobile devices steadily increasing and the lower share of video dollars spent on mobile, there is a great opportunity to capitalize and reach viewers. 

http://www.havasmedia.co.uk/2015/01/the-future-of-video-and-its-consumption/

Adage also recent helped break news that the video game Guitar Hero is getting refreshed. The article, Guitar Hero Live: Activision Updates Classic For New Generation, explores some of the new updates, which includes live action video. The new live video elements or video storytelling, puts the consumer at center stage (literally) and builds a strong emotional connection with the consumer. The new game uses the theme of Stage Fright, an emotion that research among consumers showed was greater than even death. Guitar Hero Live builds upon the emotion, using video storytelling and a fictional band (made up of real actors) to show how stage fright can impact performance. As Activision CEO stated, "putting the player on a real stage, in front of a real audience -- and creating this sense of stage fright was the "meaningful, breakthrough reinvention" that made a new game launch worthwhile." The experience that the video storytelling created, was the driving force behind the launch. 

There is an opportunity in mobile and video storytelling can help to seize it. Here are the three steps that should be taken to capitalize on mobile opportunity using video storytelling:

1. Go mobile-It is an efficient way to reach your users and there is less clutter than with other platforms
2. Get focused-Learn about key customer moments or emotions and use them in your video content
3. Tell stories-And maintain them throughout all aspects of your campaign, it will help differentiate

Differentiate video content by putting the customer first and using video storytelling. Ensure that the customer's experience is felt within your video to help it separate from the clutter. Use these experiences and build upon them to create relevant content throughout your brand interactions.

Brian Blake is a student at Northwestern University pursuing a Master’s degree at Medill School of Integrated Marketing Communication (IMC). He leads the Research and Insights team at a CDW. He has experience in brand and corporate strategy, brand research, copy testing and VoC.  @brianblake_me 

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Agency Managers: Think Mobile First.

As agency managers, it is crucial for you to learn how to leverage mobile platform to engage with customers. Mobile traffic is set to overtake desktop in early 2014. In fact, another surprising data shows that more people these days own a mobile device than a toothbrush. As a graduate student in Northwestern University Medill's Integrated Marketing Communications Masters program, with a focus on media management and marketing analytics, I have discovered 2 articles on mobile trends in 2014 that are informative and relevant for marketers.

In Top 10 Trends for 2014 written by Ozoda Muinova, eMarketer estimates that retail sales via smartphones and tables have doubled in 2013. There is no doubt that mobile revenue is taking off because more and more customers are deserting desktops for tablets and smart phones. In the following future, mobile devices may not only surpass desktops in terms of traffic but also excel them in enabling people to interact anytime and anyplace. The article also talks about the importance of engaging customers through content creation on mobile devices. With the growth of Internet access, mobile marketing is increasingly seen by advertisers as they can deliver message to their target audiences whenever they want and possibly generate a direct response from the audiences.

Another article Mobile App Metrics: Why 2014 is the Year of Mobile Marketing, written by JonathanWolf, CBO of Criteo, put more emphasis on the importance of building consumer engagement when adapting the mobile marketing strategy. It's said that although there were 102 billion app store download in 2013 globally, many consumer companies are still losing faith in their apps because those apps are often followed by a lack of consumer engagement and a high percentage of inactive users.  The solution of the problem to both marketers and advertisers is to provide the relevant content to users and increase interaction with them in order to communicate with high lifetime value users.

After reviewing these two articles, three actions that agency managers can take away before implementing mobile strategy for clients:

1.     Make the phone an “anytime anywhere” ad medium: With consumer reliance on mobile devices showing no signs of slowing down, mobile apps or ads are exceptional ways for brands to reach key customers and deliver their messages.

2.     Design your adaptive content for mobile: Although you may have an awesome story of the brand, if the content doesn't look great on the mobile, it won't catch customer’s attention and will be ignored by them soon.

3.    Ask consumer to respond your ad: Mobile devices allows advertisers to generate direct behavioral response from consumers, making them easy to measure the effectiveness of the ad. For example, a coupon may be send to consumer via text message to encourage him to redeem it in the nearest store in a week. Then marketers can quickly measure the performance and try to engage more customers next time through content optimization.

With the increasing population of smartphone users, marketers and brands have realized that the future of advertising lies in mobile.  As agency managers in advertising industry, it might be important for you to learn how to interact with customers effectively and should always think mobile first. 

Kay Chung is now pursuing a Masters degree in Integrated Marketing Communications (IMC) at Northwestern University with an emphasis on media management and marketing analytics. She previously worked in Neo@Ogilvy as a digital media planner. Follow her on Twitter @kaychung05 or Linkedin to continue this conversation.