It’s rare to see agencies disclose how much they spend to advertise on behalf of a client or how its costs to advertise on a particular channel. So we were very intrigued to see Patrick Moorhead, Director of Emerging Media at Razorfish, disclose the following…
“An eight-week campaign for mobile media—which could be a combination of mobile display and text messaging—we’re probably talking about $250,000 to $300,000.”
Mr. Moorhead goes on to itemize the metrics used to measure success and discuss ROI as ‘Return on Innovation’ as an alternative to the traditional concept. We particularly agree with another statement of his that puts mobile “in the middle of the media ecosystem” as a connector between other digital and traditional marketing channels. Read full article here: Cost and ROI for Mobile Campaigns
Understanding how mobile can work as an advertising vehicle or marketing channel will depend on you business. If trends continue mobile will need to be a part of your 2011 digital strategy.
Many clients ask their search marketing groups to also run text ads on Facebook. When the campaigns yield less than stellar results it’s easy to think Facebook ads just don’t work. To avoid losing a potentially wonderful digital channel to reach you audience here are a few tips to getting it right:
Facebook is a people engine.
If a user wants to know something, they’ll use google, yahoo or bing. If they want to find someone, they’ll use Facebook. This fundamental understanding of why people search should effect the copy and approach to your ads. If not you’ll end up wondering why Facebook is underperforming.
Go broad before rushing to target.
It’s easy to think you know who you’re going after and using Facebook tools to target that group but you may be surprised by who responds to Facebook ads. We suggest casting a wider net thought the “broad match” and optimize from there.
Keep it fresh. Avoid creepy.
Unlike traditional search engines you can target audiences by age, location, gender and interests which helps when initial ads start to fatigue. But be careful not to get too personal with your ad or you run the risk of coming off creepy. You’ll not only lose the click but it could have a negative impact on your brand image.
A recent article from MediaPosts revealed some astounding statistics about the digital link between students and universities:
“About 72% of college-bound high school seniors found a school’s homepage by searching online”
As a result NYU has put paid search at the center of their digital market strategy saying… “NYU runs between 50 and 70 campaigns simultaneously, focusing on specific keywords like bioethics, cinema studies, playing the double bass, dentistry or dramatic writing, as well as marketing for geography. Each campaign initially gets between 20 and 30 keywords. Croce-Galis reviews all campaigns every three days.”
And results that show… “About 85% of applicants who applying to NYU’s MFA programs come from Google ads”.
It great to see higher ed institutions using the digital medium so successfully to draw in prospective students. For more details read the full article from MediaPost at:
NYU Back To School: Higher Ed Search Terms Rise 42%
We’ve watched year after year the slow, painful decrease in click-through rates of traditional ad banners. And actively encouraged clients to opt for a rich media campaign using the ad banner as a branding vehicle to measure engagement over click through. Well MSNBC.com has taken it a step further and done away with the banner and replaced it with a rich sponsorship:
“With the redesign, the media company hopes to be able to sell large, customizable ads and put an end to the “pageview” metric, focusing more exclusively on user engagement such as time spent on pages … As many as 30 different ad combinations are possible with the new design, with a flexible layout that is based on the sponsorship, says Charlie Tillinghast.”
At least one major agency has approved of the new approach but we’ll have to wait and see if other sites will follow MSNBC’s lead.
Read more here: MSNBC.com Redesigns, Does Away with Pageview Metric
New market research from comScore indicates that Facebook is ready to monetize its position at the center of the social media universe. In the first quarter of 2010, Facebook served more display ads than Yahoo or Microsoft earning itself a healthy 16% marketshare.
Now comScore didn’t include the extended content networks held by the two giants and the revenue generated by Facebook is not quite there yet but we predict digital marketers will see this news and add Facebook as a pillar of their digital media plan. We can’t wait to see what happen’s next…
Wall Street Journal: Facebook Makes gains in Web Ads
Social Media Today: Facebook is Now the Leading Publisher of Web Display Ads
Recently the NYTimes took a deeper look into targeted Facebook ads that use personal information to grab attention and found they either work brilliantly or come across as seriously creepy…
“The site’s pages are also home to countless ads from smaller companies that can be funny, weird or just plain creepy — those suggesting you are, say, eligible to get a free iPad because you are exactly 26 years old, or entreaties to see what your offspring would look like if you had a child with a celebrity.”
As in the real world, it seems there are limits as to how familiar you can get with someone you’ve never met. Read the full article at: Ads Posted on Facebook Strike Some as Off-Key or check out the related multimedia piece that shows actual Facebook ads as seen by four demographically diverse users: Facebook’s Targeted Ads
Oct. 27 marked the 15th anniversary of the industry’s first banner display ads, which appeared on the first commercial digital magazine on the web (Hotwired.com). The first banner campaign got a 78% click-through rate and started a $24 billion business. Imagine that…
As it turns out bigger is not always better when it comes to ad banner performance according to a study by Dynamic Logic. It’s the quality of creative that determines impact and effectiveness. Excerpt from MediaPost:
“In most media, advertisers pay more for the biggest, and theoretically most noticeable advertising formats, because they believe they work better. But when it comes to online advertising, smaller, and ostensibly less expensive, may actually work better. That is the conclusion of new research unveiled this morning by advertising effectiveness researcher Dynamic Logic. ”We continue to believe that creative quality is the most important factor driving the success of online advertising,” Ken Mallon, senior vice president-custom solutions at Dynamic Logic added.
Read the full article: Bigger Isn’t Necessarily Better When It Comes To Online Ad Formats
Digital Pulp recently completed several display ad executions for Continental Airlines. Banners play up the airline’s newest fleet, business class offering, food service and direct flights.
Children’s entertainment site Cookie Jar Entertainment will use GoFish as its exclusive in-game advertising partner.. Advertising will appear in Cookie Jar’s upcoming online role-playing game “Magi-Nation: Battle for the Moonlands.”
FunnyorDie beefed up its sales staff with the hires of Ed Wise, Alex Grant, and Erika Novak. Wise was formerly VP of Eastern sales at CBS Interactive. Grant was sales manager for the Midwest and account executive of strategic accounts at Microsoft Digital Ad solutions group. Novak was VP of Western sales and then West Coast digital sales at Comedy Central.
