Digital Titbits

Social media rantings and brands

2013-09-04T21:48:00.000-07:00

Unhappy customers taking their vent out on twitter is quite common, but a customer buying sponsored tweets to vent out the feeling...well, its something new.

That is exactly what a gentlemen flying the British Airways did. He was unsatisfied on the carrier's indifference towards his lost luggage (was actually his fathers) and decided to go ahead and actually purchase the 140 character service.

The paid tweets are generally purchased by advertisers to reach a wider audience. The paid tweets are also given a higher prominence by twitter.He apparently paid $1000 for this. It took less than six hours for the tweets to get picked up by various media firms and garnered more than 25000+ impressions.

Ultimately, BA had to respond and sorted out the baggage issue the following morning. Readers might be aware that such ranting is not the first of it's kind. Virgin atlantic had similar experience in 2009, with a customer sending out a complaint letter to Richard Branson on the poor food quality. Brnason himself had to intervene and invited the customer to select food and wines for future flights.

This leaves us with few questions in our mind:-

---What are the response that a brand needs to respond to? I mean is it really worth for the brand to respond to someone with just about 6 followers?
---How does the brand ascertain that the person is a legimate guy and not a troll?
---Finally, for marketers, is social media really relevant as an interaction tool for brand and customers, rather than using the medium for advertising purposes?

What do you think?

Twitter and its latest lead generation cards

2013-09-03T07:27:00.000-07:00

This week Twitter released its Lead Generation cards globally, which had been in limited beta from May.

Initial reports look promising with a far higher engagement metrics as against even a promoted tweets.

As the name indicates, its a tweet with lead generation enablement, which includes an interested customer sharing his email address with the advertiser right on twitter without leaving the web page or the app. This can be picked up for further nurture by the advertiser.

The engagement rates were pegged at 4.6% ( this may not sound much, but for a digital marketer, this does) as against the average of 1%- 3% seen on promoted tweets. The engagement rate be attributed to the fact that the user doesn't need to leave Twitter.

For advertisers, setting up this just takes few minutes and the results can be downloaded on a simple CSV file.

The lead generation cards comes in as Twitters latest product suite which includes a keyword targeting product, Ad API, retargeting option,and the recent demographic targeting.

Would be interesting to see what Facebook comes up with in the following days.

Facebook copying Twitter?

2013-09-02T02:18:00.000-07:00

The never innovate-never grow bug seems to have caught Facebook.

Facebook seems to be drawing inspiration from Twitter.Based on a report by WSJ, Facebook seems to be testing a Trending Topic section on the news feeds of certain users.

This appears on the top-right hand side of Facebook news feed. The purpose remains same as twitter—to show the most popular keywords that people are posting on Facebook.Just to give an example, if people are talking about the rise in The Rupee v/s The $, FB shall showcase a post by your friend accompanied by a text—Indian Rupee, 500 posts about that.

Keeping a separate section specifically just to let know of what is being talked about could help in getting this popular.Click and you get to see what the public is also talking about.

Readers would be aware of the recently introduced Hashtag feature on Facebook( there were some controversies around this when introduced in June) is the base on which this trending topic is being introduced.

Integrating both the posts and Hashtag would be in the making—however the catch is how FB is going to make this look different from Twitter.

--No tentative dates were announced either on this test being completely deployed, as this is being tested with limited users in the US---

Alternatives to Google Reader

2013-03-26T19:57:00.001-07:00

Yup..its correct...Google Reader is no more!

Google decided to shut down its RSS reader leaving many users wondering how to subscribe to their favourite RSS feeds( btw GR wasn't the most aesthetically designed product from California,but its still did its job).

That said, if you are looking for alternatives there are quite a few replacements. Some of them are available across devices and OS.

Feedly
The ease with which it can synch with GR was the most attractive.That besides, it brings in a lot more.

---The featured sites are quite a lot, across the globe and covers from various categories like Business, Tech, News, Cooking.

--More search friendly.

--Shareability of news across your social platforms

--Quite easiliy available as pug ins for desktops, Android and even iOS.

Pulse

--More touch friendly.

--Swipe responses are surprisingly smooth with ability to swipe them up and down with ease.

--The home screen customisability was the best I loved on this reader.

--Ofcourse, feeds from your friends on facebook can also be read.

Google Currents

May not have hogged the limelight all these days due to GR, but i guess with the shutting down GC could start seeing some push in popularity.

However, similar to Flipboard, the UI has a magazine style layout making it look very sleek.

Just like GR, it allows for RSS enabled site subscription and a breaking news feature that pulls out news from the selected categories.

Flipboard

Very popular among the android and iOS users-they dont have a desktop version.

Again, a magazine layout lets you flip across like a magazine with ease.

Customising through several categories like News, Technology, Business and even favourite sites like Economist, Salon and Guardian possible.

However, its key strength is in its magazine layout with enormous content, allowing it for a precise customisability.

Btw..all the above mentioned are free to download.

P.O.M

2013-03-05T06:56:00.000-08:00

Personalisation
Optimisation
Monetisation

I guess, this is what we are evolving to from an existing POE( Paid Owned and Earned) strategy.
Optimisation essentially comes from the fact that no matter how relevant or attractive your content , it needs to be optimised across multiple devices.
So marketers are trying to move away from mobile apps( which would be preferred by consumers) to a more mobile optimised website pushing content also becomes far more easier than otherwise. So one interesting trend to look forward in 2013 would be to see how apps compete with mobile optimised content.
Now moving over, this optimisation essentially leads to more personalisation. With some good data and insights, it becomes a personal experience for individuals, rather than a website designed for everyone but relates to none.In turning this out, a more accurate ROI gets defined and advertising becomes no more just plain advertising, but source for relevant information.
But, the catch is to generate these data, it depends on how much personal information one wants to give out?
So personalisation or privacy would be a question to be answered by every individual...my opinion...the more information you are willing to share, the more targeted and accurate could be the messaging. Would be interesting to see also what the government decides.
Government or no government, the end of 2013, could look lot different from 2012, with the successful ones who continue to optimise and push across for POM

Panda, Penguin and Neuromarketing

2013-01-28T06:09:00.001-08:00

Have you regularly faced issues with regular Panda and Penguin updates?

Completely re-work your SEO strategy basis the above?

Well, you are not alone Penguin update alone affects more than 3% search queries, while Panda affected more than 12% search results. Ever since Google has started the Panda and Penguin updates, stuffing up your SEO strategy with just right keywords but low quality articles alone doesn’t guarantee a higher Google ranking.

So how do you play nice with these animals?

“Mind reading” is probably the way forward. The term Neuromarketing has been catching up with marketers over the last few years. The term Neuromarketing is a science that’s based on the fact that more than 95% of all out thoughts, emotions occur even before we are aware of it. This essentially means, marketers are talking to only 5% of the customer’s brain.

Few of the clients who are currently using this technique include Google, Frito-Lays, Microsoft and Daimler.

The entire logic behind how neuromarketing is built is based on the fact that our buying decisions are made in split seconds in our subconscious part of the brain and by understanding what we like/ what we don’t like based on our reaction to certain brand, marketers can design better products and communication to bridge the “unaddressed” needs.

Using these inputs, designing content that appeal to consumers, to attract the audience that you want goes a long way to ward off the Pandas and penguins.

There have been marketers who have changed their content (those who have not changed well over a decade) based on such studies and research and have started experiencing some benefits.

Few of the Myths on SEO uncovered.

2012-12-23T20:21:00.000-08:00

There are some misconceptions about SEO process.We can uncover few of them:-

Misconception 1:We Must Rank Number One

ClickThrough rate studies have shown, though searchers prefer the top three listing, on subsequent pages too, being listed towards the top of the pages show similar click behavior. The conclusion being, that relevant information and user-friendly listings are more valuable than just rank alone. So, no, you don't need to rank in first place anymore to see success.

Misconception 2:Keywords Need to Be an Exact Match

Writing a heading that explains the content as clearly as possible is more important than force fitting keywords into headings and making it as awkward as possible. Also, there isn’t any single rule about “ideal keyword density”. So for anyone who is clinging onto this, there isn’t an ideal number of times you should repeat a keyword on a given page.

However, including keywords in your page title are very important- this is the only way someone knows what your page is about. The keyword should also be included in a headline on the page, ideally also within the URL, and at least once within the content.

Misconception 3:Social Media & SEO Aren't Related at All

When SEO and Social media merge, it is referred to as “social search”…and it is becoming a real thing now a days.

To prove this, Google has been working hard with Google+ and Google Authorship. The point being, that relevant content would continue to be trusted and drive both search and social media marketing.

Prioritizing content shared by social media influencers can also go a long way in helping merge both SEO and Social Media Strategy and treating them as part of your marketing strategy rather than letting the two work in silos.

Misconception 4:The H1 Is the Most Important On-Page Element

With search engines becoming much more smarter, the relevance or the importance of H1 tag, seems to be fading. The title tag (H1, H2,H3…) is only used for styling purposes. In fact, it is simply a part of your CSS, more a designer putting together a reference style for his font styling and sizing purposes.

The reason why it is losing importance is people have spammed this to its death. All that matters is to present your concepts up front or closer to the top of the page. Remember, you are optimizing your page for users first and foremost, which means you should want to tell them ASAP what your page is about through a clear headline.

Misconception 5:Microsites and Other Domains I Own That Link or Redirect Back to My Site Will Help My SEO

The reality is, the chances of this doing much to your ranking is very slim. Technically, it is like voting for your self a thousand times. Even after this, it is still counted as one vote. Search engines work really smart to know who owns the particular domain’s registrant is and they see it as the same person as your primary domain.

Furthermore, by setting up domain after domain after domain…your entire SEO effort is spread too thin. Optimizing each separately doesn’t make sense and it pays off on putting all your effort onto your primary domain

Misconception 6:More Links Is Better Than More Content

In bound links are important, however if there is budget, get someone to write for your website. Sometimes, when we concentrate on link building, we end up concentrating on the numbers rather than the quality of the link. It is important to attract relevant and diverse source that link to your relevant page. And once invested in content generation ( web pages, blogs, lead generation offers etc) these are all content assets that will enable you to generate more inbound links over time. Writing good content alone doenst help, but we need to ask certain questions-- Are you writing with a purpose? Who is your target audience? Have you analyzed your traffic sources and top performing posts? What keywords are you targeting? If all of these sound alien to you, then you’re missing the mark, and content alone will only get you so far.

Five Key Metrics To Look On Your Site

2012-11-01T00:08:00.000-07:00

Digital has always been perceived as the most measurable media. But most measurements are restricted to clicks and impressions--maybe a deeper insights could also throw some important take-away for marketers.

Overall Site Traffic Trends
Most of them do not pay attention to this simple metric....very simple one...its there on your analytic page. Walk ins are counted very effectively, but any visit through website hardly paid attention to.

Site visit details could give you simple insights as to what was the percentage increase when there was a TV campaign or for that matter a print ad mentioning the URL of the clients website. Probing a bit more can also give us insights if any increase happened on the web "contact us" pages and if the phone rang a bit more.
The varied sources of visits can also be mapped and correlated. Digital marketers often tend to down play the role of traditional media because there's no defined click path, but actually, there is no click path either for banner campaign. The intent is the same to drive awareness and purchase intent. The available data needs to be just looked at.

Search Volume through branded keywords
Search can provide a good insight into a marketing campaign. It gets even more insightful when we start looking into branded and non branded search. The branded search traffic is always something which most of them ignore with an assumption that "people are aware of the brand".
How people become aware of the brand is a very important as the traffic generated through branded search can also throw some insights into how successful your offline campaign was.

Conversions
Conversions don't need to be typically attached to a monetary value, but it could also be a "contact us" form submission or even a weekly newsletter signups/registrations. But, apart from these standard definition of conversions, even if you could track down visitors who moved and search for "getting direction" to your store could also be a good indicator.
The same logic of defining "hot lead" v/s "cold lead" can also be applied to these scenarios.

Traffic of Conversions
With conversions in place, it is also important to understand the audience who came through...a simple search to keyword phrases of all visitors could throw insights on what were the phrases used to reach different pages within your site.
This could also help you analyze if you need a change in keywords and pay attention to certain keywords you are not focusing on.

Referrer Sites Data
Search and regular advertising need not be the only route to reach your site. People could also come in through referrer sites.
Researching this could also give some key insights on who these audiences are by mapping the sites they came through from. Maybe a different set of audience whom you may not be reaching would have shown interest also.

Clicks may not always be the right metric for measuring the effectiveness. The right data need to be looked at much harder.

Again, these may just be the basic ones to look out for...at least for a start.

Visual marketing-Social media

2012-09-25T01:39:00.001-07:00

Visual contents are fueling in the new trend on social media.
Sites like Facebook, Instagram and Pinterest have brought in visual marketing to try and break the trend in 2012.
Content used to be high on the priority list of social media marketers, but now it is slowly been taken over by a "picture".

The evolution seem to be the right step considering the earliest form of social networking were through a 1000-2000 word blogs, which got shifted to regular status updates on Facebook, This got even shorter through micro blogging on Twitter with just about few 100 characters. Then Pinterest came along and words no more mattered and it became PSTW--"Picture Speaks Thousand Words"

Part of this shift also comes from the technological or the ease of taking a picture on the go through a smartphone and uploading it, this definitely is easier than writing up a status update.

With the recent acquisition of Instagram by Facebook, it kind of shows how important visual based marketing is becoming important.

Volkswagen and Lisa Curry (Australian Swimmer) are the ones that come to my mind who are currently "deploying" this method successfully.

5 Things to Watch out for by year end 2012

2012-09-03T20:46:00.000-07:00

A constantly evolving digital marketing world often throws up various technologies and tools that are could be used for marketing purposes. While it is difficult to keep up with all the latest technology, there are certain ones to watch out for by year end 2012…..

Near Field communications:- convenience is the buzz word…better, faster, quicker newer seems to be the state of mind consumers always are in. Something which comes up easily to associate with is the Google Wallet- Just Tap and Go (a contact-less payment card that is integrated into a phone) and links your bank card to the shopping POS. With the ability to offer quick payment ability at the tap of your finger, this could be one of them to watch out for.

User Generated Content:- Allowing consumers to generate blogs, videos, posts about brand should be leveraged by marketers. Rather than allowing or limiting only for consumer complaints and reviews, UGC could throw in some advantages like- brand promotion, driving social engagement and even measure cost effectiveness of a customer post his/her purchase.

Video Marketing:-Though not a new concept its continued growth allows marketers to reach prospective customers. This even so, with the ever increasing average internet video views per viewer on the increase. Personalized targeted video marketing could increase the customer’s interest in a post purchase scenario. This could include addressing a customer by his name, videos relating to past purchases etc. Things which could make it easier for marketers would be the marketing automation software, which could target customers and even allow segmentation basis purchase categories.

Mind Controlled technologies:- Well, still a long way to go in this, but a mind controlled technology product could not only change marketing landscapes, but also the way we live. The technology works by way of reading brainwaves and control objects based on users thoughts.

QR Codes:-Last but not the least of all, the QR codes (sometimes useful, sometime abused by marketers with no clear purpose of including a QR code in their campaign). Newspapers, Magazines, public transport, food packages and even in some bizarre cases—wedding invitations. Considering when they first emerged, most consumers were simply unaware of their purpose, they have indeed come a long way. What is more interesting is not only marketers have started adapting these, but also have started realizing the value of this by measurement of customer interactions that these codes throw up.

Can TV and Digital see some integration?

2012-08-02T21:35:00.001-07:00

Soon the internet would find out what you watched on TV.

Recently, a company Datalogix, specialized in data launched a new product that aims to let digital marketers target ads to people online based on what they see on TV. Based on an association with TRA (a firm acquired by TiVO), which collects data from cable boxes in the U.S (Oh yes, not yet India, not yet).

Very simple, here is how it works:- TRA delivers TV viewing data to Datalogix, which then combines it with the demographic and purchasing behavior of TV households. Datalogix then matches up with the data collected from over millions of cookies it amassed. But is there a guarantee that every ad an advertiser shows online using these data are being shown to someone who has seen a specific TV ad or show?

The counter being since the data is being collected and built from abase of over 4 million households, it would be more accurate that others who use only few thousands.

Wait and watch…it looks it is still a work in progress and long way to go.

The case of an awesome digital media strategy!

2012-08-01T20:32:00.001-07:00

Ever faced a scenario of a faulty digital media strategy? Well, no one is alone. Even a firm like Microsoft makes mistakes. It started with the acquisition of aQuantive, an online advertising firm. Microsoft thought on acquisition of this firm, it would be a significant tool to boost their online advertising effort. Well, it just turned out to be a huge mistake. On “investigating” it turned out to be a fauty digital media strategy.

So apart from developing a sound digital media strategy which includes company goals, visions, risks, product offering technological processes, there are some pitfalls to be avoided as well.

No Proper advertising solutions--Relying only on social network as an advertising solution is not good enough. In spite of having fan pages, the limited exposure won’t deliver the kind of results your company needs to be successful. The digital media should also include additional paid advertising solutions. This just broad bases the target market and stronger chance of creating brand awareness on social channels.

No Proper Planning—A digital media needs to be planned effectively. It is not enough just to scratch the surface and expect the strategy to deliver huge results. Demographics, social graphics have to be understood, you need to know your target audience, best time to reach them, strategy to engage them and most importantly, how to achieve your goals with your digital strategy.

No Proper Focus--A clear cut goal on what your company is promoting and how to reach its sales goals must exist. A simple strategy should also address What is your brand about? Any primary goals? What is the advertising story?

Importance of mobile advertising opportunities:- Including content marketing within your strategy is equally important to drive traffic and revenue. Therefore including mobile advertising opportunities in a digital plan is important. In fact it is predicted, that digital advertising would surpass traditional media very soon.

I am not saying that the above should make your digital plan a kick @$$ one, but atleast avoiding certain pitfalls is definitely a start to a path of an awesome digital plan.

In Stream Video-Stil a long way behind TV

2012-07-19T01:45:00.000-07:00

"Online video is the next in thing"...."marketers are moving to online videos"..well, we have been hearing these for quite some time. Is it really happening? or is it going to happen?unless, one important thing changes, non of us are very optimistic about such a change.

Technology to serve video ads are awesome....there is no lack of inventory....screen size is not an issue...no dearth of sites either....so what is the problem?

Simple, unless, there is a change in how online video as a product is sold differently, things will not change.

What is missing online is the emotional connect that can be provided on a TV. Right now, users must watch the videos until they watch the entire ad. What is indeed needed is to try and capture the viewers when they are in the right frame of mind for a specific product.

Essentially on TV,marketers know how to connect the emotional aspect and accordingly select the TV content that best showcases their brand.Throw a Nike ad while watching Euro 2012-makes sense,Kara Tissues while watching a family soap-even better sense, an advertisement for a gym and protein supplement while watching a favorite Salman Khan movie-definitely inspiring me to hit the gym the next day

Digital video buyers rarely know about the content they are buying into-only classification available are "premium","long-form""short form". They an also buy a specific genre of audience but nothing till date revolves around the specific show or with any emotional connection.

This is definitely a missed feature online- people watch on TV with lot connection and they completely miss this when they come online.

Publishers and networks: its time to let buyers out of dark.Offer specific content and you entirely create a new media buy that may just be irresistible.transparency is the key.

Tablet visitors on your site?Custom optimisation the buzz word.

2012-07-17T10:00:00.000-07:00

Most marketers feel, they can implement the same strategies for both
Smartphone and tablets and expect conversions…however, a recent study

proved otherwise.

It is important to treat both these devices as two different channels
and tablet and Smartphone deserves to be served its own individual
user experiences.

In a recently released Ecommerce Quarterly, the data shows that
tablets are overtaking Smartphone traffic, but more interesting, the
rate of conversion in terms of click to cart are much higher from a
tablet user than a Smartphone user. Its quite evident to imagine a
tablet user as someone multi-tasking ,by listening to music, watching
his favorite sitcom and browsing the web. SO they essentially use
tablet as a secondary device that completes their purchase intent or
thought-these groups can be classified into”couch commerce”.
But, the reality is quite different with majority of marketers still
retaining the user experience the same for both Smartphone and table
users.

To start with, align what functions well and what doesn’t- it’s a
known fact that flash doesn’t work on iOS , things like drop downs and
hover bars often don’t work on iPad. Identify such issues with a
larger audience. This would give you where to start with.

Next do a thorough analysis of the website statistics:-
---Do users coming in from Tablets watch more video ( highly possible
due to the wider screen size).
---Where do they navigate on your site?
---Any specific payment methods they use?

This would give you a road-map on where to start with for optimizing
user experiences. If tablet users watch more video, would it make
sense to have an auto play video option for your site and also make it
more prominent?

Finally, do a dip stick survey asking group of identified individuals
on their experience in terms of improving functionality to improve
tablet experience.

When all the above are addressed, it makes sense to then identify the
call to action on your site-more customers to buy your product? Then
increase your font size, make those relevant buttons prominent and
give an easy flow of the transaction process.

Do you want to increase the interactivity on your site? Then given a
prominent search bar and may be even predictive search functions to
make it easier for customers to search.

All this holistically when fitted in, could lead to improving
and optimizing tablet experience,the above said may not be the
sacrosanct method of optimizing your tablet website.

Neverthless,the old saying "identify relevant customer experience"

to increase your ROI from tablet traffic

Facebook for Likes or Leads

2012-07-12T21:37:00.000-07:00

Based on a new survey conducted by Citigroup and a marketing publication found that marketers who buy ads on Facebook are more focused on brand awareness than accumulating fans.

Close to 50% of the respondents put brand building and awareness at the top. Driving traffic being the second popular reason to use Facebook, followed by building fans and staying in touch and social commerce being the other preference.

This kind of coincides with the overall Facebook proposition, that like any other brand building medium like a TV or Radio, this too need to be treated as another brand building platform.

But skeptics believe that branding is a response that people give, when they feel bullish about their presence on Facebook, but can’t assess the returns generated out of the marketing monies spent on Facebook.

Is kinda a default answer that most give…anyway the argument continues….

You create what you want..

2012-07-11T21:46:00.001-07:00

sgdjkghaskfjhasj  <br>

Kids Online and Brand Marketing

2012-07-03T01:29:00.000-07:00

Its been more than eight years since the first wave of Facebook started in America. We have been lucky that we were the few early adopters of Facebook. We have come a long way in how we use the digital medium -- we no longer use proxy names, we are open to sharing files and information online and marketers now are able to targeted precisely based on data rather than just demographic filters. It would be interesting to see how the present generation of digital natives reshapes digital media and advertising in the near future with the ever changing cliché.

The recently published turner new generation study provides some window to what lies ahead. It does throw some positive outlook with very clear indication that kids adopting new technologies in India have seen a significant rise over the past decade.

Gaming still remains the main reason why kids go online and interestingly it is the same as much for boys and girls. The cartoon network platform sees a good traction with more than ten million game plays a year. Today these compete with social games, mobile games and multi-player online games.while its been common to see a logo placements or branding the border with the the brand-messaging, real engagement happens when the game is specifically designed for the brand. Past data also indicate these have been a better way of interacting with kids rather than just a logo placement—it is not about the click-thru or banner impressions, but more about the lasting impression that the brand leaves with the new fan of your brand.

The second way of how kids consume online content is based on the nature and degree of user generated content is utilized.it has been found that kids no longer just passively browse through pages, but actually they too want to contribute- and they don’t expect a prize always. The act of recognition and feeling of empowerment by online users work really well. The key to run a user generated content is to run these along with an ongoing program and not to keep it a sort term campaign. Kids need time to invest and submerge in understanding a branded platform, hence an eight week campaign with a reward in the end may not be just enough. Planning digital bursts that delight kids to keep both awareness and engagement would be delightful for these young kids.

However, what is important in keeping a digital community is to ensure that kids get extra protection online. They are connected 24x7, hence keeping a proper moderation is absolutely essential. The second aspect is to take note of the voice of the community tat a brand would maintain. After having investing in gaming experiences and empowering the kids to be become digital creators, it is equally important to keep all these under a unified social community platform.Hence it becomes the community managers role to set an overall strategy and weekly activity going-spanning from games to the overall community building.

It is when this in a unified approach when it happens, kids see them as a rich experience rather than just marketing…and you’ve just created a long term fan of the brand and an important stakeholder.

Repository of Data for Marketers-Mobile Payments

2012-06-26T20:52:00.000-07:00

Could mobile payments be the next big thing for marketers? Consider this, it is an instant repertoire for brands to scan his/her shopping data and serve a targeted deals/offers. At the point of sale, all the customer does is to hold his smartphone to the scanner-no looking for cash, coins or run around for "chillar".

It’s a perfect addition to the regular BAM (Brick and Mortar) shopping experience that a customer could look forward to..but the current lot of customers are mostly confused on how to use these.

The only lot to be blamed her would be the marketers themselves, with hardly any penetration involved in this NFC enabled payment method.

Margento which turns any mobile phone into easy-to-use, convenient, and secure payment and transaction instrument.

The lack of awareness that a customer has to use these form of payments and neither are there any technology provider who interlinks the retailers and the customers to ensure a hassle free usage.

Starbucks (in the U.S) may be an exception, with more than three million payments being achieved through mobile phones during the first two months of its launch (mobile payment). There is something to cheer here, but for every Starbucks there is a Google Wallet case. Launched in 2011, it is yet to see its full potential (India is yet to even see the light of this).One clouded mystery box it became.

Marketers are often caught in a dilemma- to invest more in the new form of digital commerce with significant potential, but of minimum interest to the customers or wait to see “others” adapt and use it.

Unless brands understand that certain basic in marketing mobile payments are addressed, there is still a long way to go. Wouldn’t it be a good idea to offer mobile payments as an value added service rather than utilizing it as a marketing trick? To start with atleast....

The "Bar-Rom" battle online

2012-06-18T21:21:00.002-07:00

Do we vote solely on our principles and candidate policies? Or does media and marketing do enormous influence in defining which way an election result swings?Advertising matters in politics

The 2008 election definitely ushered in a new era of digital marketing and its influences in presidential elections- online advertising, online fund raising, social advertising all went to re-shape the political setting. As we see it, this is becoming a bigger and more influencing vehicle as we come close to the 2012 election.

A good start could be by gauging the search volume on the candidates. As this could clearly show the public’s “traction” to a particular candidate-in this case Romney.( an acting president could get a higher traction due to his daily news items and public speeches).

A comparison of searches for Obama in 2008 as against Romney in 2012, shows hat Obama clearly had a higher traction by almost 5x search volumes. What’s interesting is that in 2008 Obama was in a fierce battle with Hillary Clinton , while Romney comes into 2012 election after his unsuccessful bid from 2008.

Paid search is also an excellent medium to deliver targeted messages to potential voters and even drive donation. Someone searching for a candidate could very well be a swing voter actively pursuing information and very well could be turned into a potential vote.
As the chart shows, Obama camp seems to be doing well when it comes to sponsored links (search links that throw up as sponsored ads), well ahead of Romney camp

Display advertising has also become an important vehicle in digital advertising. Highly targeted advertisement, with crisp messaging and ad copy can go a long way in getting maximum impact and reach and attract the right audience.

While Romney attracts with a message of “Click like to stand with Mitt”(more heavily on Facebook) ,

the Obama camp seems to using Michelle Obama to drive home the message and also garner some women votes.

What this clearly shows is that, while campaigning has been an important part and parcel in any election, the use of the new medium comes as an important tool to communicate with the voters.

What would be interesting to note would be, if these advertising campaign and the effective or the ineffective use of this medium makes a difference in the outcome of the election.

We shall wait until the“November Rains”

SMART search engine

2012-06-13T21:17:00.000-07:00

A new project is no being undertaken at the University of Glasgow to develop a search engine results from sensors.

The European funded project is known as SMART--“Search engine for Multimedia Environment generated content” aims to develop and implement a system to allow internet users to search and analyze data from these sensors.

A Matching search queries with information from sensors and reference materials from Twitter, users will be able to receive detailed responses like “How congested are the traffic situations in Bangalore?” or “What are the various movies my friends have been to recently?”.

By matching search queries with information from sensors and cross-referencing data from social networks such as Twitter, users will be able to receive detailed responses to questions such as “What part of the city hosts live music events which my friends have been to recently?” or “How busy is the city center?”.

Currently Google can’t answer such search queries of this type.

Dr Iadh Ounis, of the University of Glasgow said: “The SMART engine will be able to answer high-level queries by automatically identifying cameras, microphones and other sensors that can contribute to the query, then synthesizing results stemming from distributed sources in an intelligent way.”

SMART is likely to be tested outside of these labs by 2014.

Larry gets a Haircut

2012-06-07T21:22:00.001-07:00

Mobile media and Jargon

2012-06-07T20:44:00.000-07:00

A number of new terms have come up in the market place since

mobile media exploded, Jargon like Geo-fencing, UDID etc....

Lets just look at few of them, that have become part and parcel

of the media veterans and advertising agencies.

Geo fencing and Geo Targeting

These are two terms often incorrectly used interchangeably, creating
confusion in the marketplace.

Geo Targeting- This is a broad reference to method of pinpointing an
audience on their location, ranging from as wide as a state to
granular address level. Geo targeting is possible on any modes of
advertising, by means of selecting location applicable to each
campaign. Since, mobile has the unique capability to target audience
far more granular than any other medium, there are various targeting

Geo Fencing:- This is a more specific application of Geo-targeting
where a virtual barrier is created around a defined area. Geo fencing
can be broad level in terms of state, or a city block. This method is
usually used to trigger ads based on the location of a smart phone
user. Geo fencing is used mostly alongside other targeting elements
like demographics, search history etc…

Location, Longitude, Latitude.

When we download a mobile application, there are number of settings
the user agrees upon in terms of his/her personal data. The data
available within these application publishers, there exists a mine
field of data for marketers.

Latitude/Longitude:- This method relies on the GPS setting, by picking
up signals from the orbiting Global Positioning System satellite
network. The details given by the GPS, provides mobile ads to be
targeted down to a city block. However, for this method to work, the
GPS need to be enabled on the users mobile, only 10-15% (estimated) of
phones are location enabled at a given time.

Cell tower triangulation:- this method identifies all the device
operating within its range. Its accurate only on a market level basis,
and more over marketers don’t have access to mobile data. Cell
triangulation is mostly used as a second layer to refine GPS
information from a mobile device.

UDID: - Unique Device Identifier is a unique alphanumeric number
associated with a device that allows a developer to track their own
apps. The UDID made headlines early this year when Apple announced it
would reject apps in the iOS App Store that utilize this code.

The main reason being that apps collect number without permission

from the users. The UDID means nothing on its own. Its like a driver

license number without any other info. However, when it's put into

a database it can be used to track the statistics of the app. This tracking

data is the crux of how ad networks work.

To sum up, as this medium grows, newer terms with more crisp targeting

methods and terms will surely develop. but a basic understanding

of the jargon should hold you comfortably in any conversation around

mobile media and targeting :).

Google ranking for content verticals and countries by ad impressions

2012-05-29T09:03:00.001-07:00

Every now and then we are constantly reminded that Google controls nearly half of the global online advertising market. So it won’t come as a surprise that it has reams of data to give various insights.

Google today released first of its publication collected from across its display properties, including DoubleClick for publishers, DoubleClick ad exchange and the Google adsense network.

The report gives insights into the top ranking verticals by ad impressions and also some valuable insights into mobile Web and video ad impressions, geographical patterns as well.

Google found in 2011, Arts& Entertainment were the top verticals across AdSense and Ad Exchange, followed by Online Communities and Games. However categories like Shopping, Sports, Pets and Auto&Vehcile sites were among the verticals to experience the fastest year-on-year growth. Interestingly Online Communities saw a double digit decline, as did Business & Industrial and Reference verticals.

As for Web impressions, Google said publishers in all verticals except travel saw double-digit growth in the fourth quarter of 2011. The strongest vertical with mobile usage was Shopping, followed by Food & Drink and People & Society.

Other interesting finding included:-

--Mobile web impression on the Ad Exchange and AdSense platform climbed 250 percent from third to fourth quarter in 2011.

--North America and Western Europe lead the pack in terms of online content, but smaller pockets like Palau, Guinea and Laos are also posting good growth rates in terms of ad impression. Leading the pack in terms of ad impression are United states, followed by China and Japan.

Apple Siri-Featuring John Malkovich

2012-05-25T03:33:00.002-07:00

In this latest ad from TBWAMedia, Apple continues to highlight the interplay with a new spot featuring John Malkovich.

However, what this lacks is the seriousness in which the interplay usage comes out.I mean, in one of the feature the actor simply says "Life" and the "machine" spouts a list of axioms for living a good one...including "avoid being fat", "read a good book every now and then" and "try to live together in peace and harmony with people of all creeds and nations".

Its a bit surprising that an actor as accomplished as Malkovich, is just reduced to interact with a machine which lacks any humanity. makes me wonder why he signed up? Why would anyone swap a real friend with a jokes from Siri.?