Data from The Associated Press

We are often asked if social networks are just used by younger age-groups. The answer is that yes younger age groups have the most penetration but older age groups are big users too.

Source: eMarketer

Today, the numbers associated with Google Adwords are nothing short of astonishing. Google relies on Adwords so heavily, evident in the fact that 97% of their revenues come from it. Between Q3 2010 and Q2 2011, Google raked in $32.2 billion dollars in advertising revenue!

Certain keywords can be extremely competitive and therefore command outrageously high Cost per Click’s, for example the most expensive keyword is “insurance” with an average Cost per Click of $55, followed by “mortgage” and “attorney” with average Cost per Click’s of $47. These high prices go some way to explain the statistic that the Finance/Insurance industry spent $4 billion on Adwords in 2011

In USA, advertisers are able target users by Congressional district. This can obviously be a massive source of revenue for Google due to the mammoth political campaign budgets in play for some races.

However, all this advertising revenue isn’t exactly spread throughout all advertisers, studies show that only a tiny 1.35% of Adwords USA advertisers make up 80% of Adwords USA revenue. One example of this is online retailing giant Amazon, who spent an estimated $55.2 million on Adwords during 2011.

Get in touch for a chat about how we could use our Adwords expertise for your business.

So, what can you do about those slow-loading images?

You have probably heard people use terms like ‘image compression’ and ‘image optimisation’, but perhaps don’t really know how to go about compressing or optimising your own images. If this sounds like you, read on!

Adobe Fireworks

Fireworks has a great feature called ‘Image Preview’ which allows you to adjust the size and quality of the image you’re exporting, and also gives you a preview of what the exported image will look like. With your image open, go to File > Image Preview. Alternatively you can use cmd+shift+x on a Mac, or ctrl+shift+x on a Windows PC.

Here you can choose the format (file type) and experiment with various quality settings. You can also alter the actual dimensions of the image by clicking ‘File’ in the top left-hand corner.

For web images, generally speaking, it’s best to stick to JPGs if you can as this will usually result in smaller file sizes. If your image has a transparent background, though, you will need to use a PNG and use the transparency options. Also, if your image is a flat graphic with just one or two colours in, you may find that a PNG version will be smaller than a JPG.

You can view the file size of your image just above the picture preview. You’ll notice this increasing or decreasing as you change the image settings.

Really, the best way to optimise your image is by just experimenting with various settings and keeping an eye on the file size and quality of the preview image.

Once you’re happy with the file size and image quality, click ‘export’ to save your file and you’re done!

Adobe Photoshop

Photoshop works in a similar way. This time go to File > Save for Web & Devices and a similar box to the Fireworks one will open.

Again, the best way to work is just by tweaking the size and quality settings until you’re happy with the file size and image quality.

Click ‘save’ and your optimising is done!

Have a look at our Web design services to find out more about our processes and how we could help your web project.

So here it is (according to ABC) the Daily Mail is the most read online newspaper in the UK with an average of just over 8,000,000 daily visitors. The Guardian is second with nearly 5,000,000 daily visitors and the Telegraph is 3rd with 2,700,000 daily visitors.

Here’s the full details:

As you might expect entires are via Twitter and you can enter here >>

We offer a wide range of digital advertising solutions from full Social Media advertising management and set up through to profile maintenance and Social Competitions, all tailored to your specific requirements. To find out more, please view our Social Media advertising services >>

Sources:
Facebook.com

With 67% of the worldwide population actively using Facebook in 2013 for around 6.35 hours a day, a Facebook presence is extremely important these days. Here you’ll find 4 Tips on how to promote yourself on Facebook…

1. Get Posting!
Make use of your Facebook profile to post engaging content to users that have engaged with your profile. Share news, information, photos, videos and any offers.
Don’t forget the 80/20 rule! Publish around 80% of original content that will bring value to your followers and 20% of promotional content. Promotional content should include information on your product and services and any offers. Original content can be anything from talking points on anything that you can relate back to your business. Just make sure you don’t stray too far away from your topic!

2. Start Advertising.
Why not invest in Facebook Advertising? The social network allows you to target users by details available from their profiles, from marital status and location to interests and age.

Facebook Ads help increase your page ‘Likes’, engagement, profile visibility and promote your product and services by targeting your ideal audience.

When advertising make sure you put some effort in to your ad content, from choosing a suitable image to creating an engaging title and strong call to action. Keep all content simple yet informative to ensure the best results.

3. Share, Share, Share!
Why not share your page posts with users outside of your page demographics? Sponsored Stories allow you to target friends of friends and increase your page ‘Likes’.

Sponsored Stories works as ‘word of mouth’ advertising, allowing other Facebook users to see people liking your page post, people commenting on your page post and people sharing your page post.

Facebook suggest that 92% of individuals trust word of mouth from friends and family compared to 47% that trust tv, radio and newspaper, making Sponsored Stories the ideal platform to increase engagement with your page.

4. Create Tabs!
Tabs are the perfect way to include more information on your business that is now readily available to everybody on Facebook. Only your followers can access your tabs, therefore creating the perfect opportunity to engage with individuals that are interested in your product or service.

Tabs can be used to capture data, run competitions or show pages from your website. Bespoke tabs work well for businesses looking to include something a little more advanced within their profile from an e-commerce tab to a smaller version of a website and many more. Your followers can purchase products or services from you without even having to leave the Facebook platform.

Here at Clicky Media we can help with a range of Social Media solutions. If you’re struggling with your advertising, strategy, or even just getting online – get in touch!

Discover more about Clicky Media’s award winning Social Media Services here

Sources:
blog.bufferapp.com
e-marketer.com
The Power Facebook Advertising Infographic

The average adult in the US, will spend over 5 hours per day online, on nonvoice mobile activities or with other digital media this year, eMarketer estimates, compared to 4 hours and 31 minutes watching television. Daily TV time will actually be down slightly this year, while digital media consumption will be up 15.8%.

The most significant growth area is on mobile. Adults will spend an average of 2 hours and 21 minutes per day on nonvoice mobile activities, including mobile internet usage on phones and tablets—longer than they will spend online on desktop and laptop computers, and nearly an hour more than they spent on mobile last year.

If trends are anything to go by, us Brits will be spending our time in a similar way.

Read more at http://www.emarketer.com/Article/Digital-Set-Surpass-TV-Time-Spent-with-US-Media/1010096#CGA5YhPHWrwJEUUw.99

Databroker is an independent list broker service founded in 2009.  Databroker asked Clicky Media to build a modern and sleek new website to match their industry status.

The new site has been built to work on any device using a completely responsive design.

The website is managed via WordPress and has some custom functionality developed by our in-house developers.

Our client was delighted with the results:

“I cant say enough good things about Clicky Media, and in particular Josh. Josh has dealt with our numerous questions and amendments with good humour, endless patience and ultimate professionalism. We are very happy with our new website and look forward to working with Clicky on an on-going basis for the development and implementation of our digital marketing strategy. The website is only the beginning!”

Case Study coming soon…

Take a look a the site here >>

Targeting

As we all know, targeting forms the foundation of any marketing campaign. Being able to identify your audience correctly ensures we get the right message to the right people.
Not only do we get the standard Google targeting with YouTube (Contextual, Placement, Behavioural, Topic and Re-marketing), we are given a number of deeper demographic options such as gender and age. Meaning your targeting lists are highly refined and accurate, maximising the “bang for your buck”.

Adverts

As you would expect from a Google service, YouTube True View adverts work on a CPC (Cost per click) and CPV (Cost per view) basis.

There are three main types of advert on YouTube;

True View In-Stream

In-stream adverts are a form of pre-roll advert that appears prior to the user watching his or her chosen video. The adverts range between 30 and 60 seconds long and, if done well, can be highly engaging.
The user has the choice to skip the advert after 5 seconds, if they skip the ad in the first 30 seconds they don’t pay a penny! Effectively securing free advertising.

In-Stream adverts are highly cost effective, averaging around £0.03 per view.

In-Display

In-display adverts appear down the right hand side of YouTube, as a suggested video or advert. These work on a CPC basis and unlike YouTube search ads, they can be used to direct traffic directly to your site.

In-Search

Finally In-Search, Google are the pioneers of the search world and have introduced these search technologies to YouTube.

YouTube gives the option for the user to bid on particular keywords, similar to Adwords, and display their video art within the top sponsored area of the listings.

For more information about YouTube advertising, or to discuss your own YouTube strategy, contact one of our YouTube team.

Firstly we provide both SEO and Social Media services to our clients and I have no reason to want to protect SEO over Social Media but the stats just do not stack up!

The truth is, search queries are continuing to rise every day and yes social media is becoming a more important part of any company’s marketing strategy, but to suggest one replaces the other is just ridiculously simplistic.

Social Media can influence a search query but not replace it. A search query on a search engine is often done at a very specific and key part of the consumer buying cycle – when they want it! Social Media may have influenced you to look in the first place, as could a magazine article, a TV advert or a recommendation.

Stimulating a search is a very complex and multi-layered process and surely the ultimate sin would be to not be found when that search is made? So let’s get our priorities right!

There is also a misconception in the article that there is only a certain amount of traffic to go around and therefore if people are spending more time doing something else (Social Media) that it replaces activity on another medium (Search). As Martin Macdonald says “this psuedo-scientific-assumption that there is only a certain amount of internet traffic to go round.  People spend more time online every year, consume more information every year, and are crucially connected by far more devices than they were a decade ago.”

SEO is an unpopular subject with companies, particularly those who have had their hands burnt by poor “SEO agencies” that do little to optimise their websites after signing a lengthy contract, who then fail to deliver the results. Some of the older SEO techniques were also unpopular as they were often ugly and ignored usability. But so much of this is now unnecessary and a modern SEO strategy is much more complex process with far less emphasis on the repetition of keywords etc.  Social Media can also be a part of the SEO process but unfortunately, search rankings matter when people are ready to buy.

Rant over, but please The Guardian do some proper research! And SEO will not be missed because it isn’t going anywhere!