* It’s kind of like when you have huge expectations for a movie, which makes it almost impossible to deliver.  Or as my wife and father would be embarrassed to hear me use this analogy, when there’s a great rasslin’ match and everyone rushes the ring at the end so that you don’t get a clean finish.  Yes, that’s a pro wrestling reference.  But it’s not like I mentioned who my favorite wrestler of all time is (Dean Malenko).

The Man of 1,000 Holds!

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Hail, Hail, the Keyword Targeting Band is All Here

So here it is: twitter’s now offering keyword targeting within timelines:

Until today, the content of Tweets has only been one factor among many in shaping the interest graph. Today, it becomes a first-class citizen. We’re excited to roll out the newest feature on our ad platform, keyword targeting in timelines, available today in all languages and markets where Twitter Ads are supported

Available in the full Twitter Ads UI and through the Ads API, this new feature enables advertisers to reach users based on the keywords in their recent Tweets and the Tweets with which users recently engaged. This is an important new capability – especially for those advertisers looking for signals of intent – because it lets marketers reach users at the right moment, in the right context.

A Paid Search – Contextual Display Combo

The net effect of this change is that twitter advertising – at least this particular targeting option – becomes much more similar to paid search and contextual display advertising.

With contextual ads, you can serve up your ads next to content related to a keyword list you give to the ad network.  This type of advertising can work really well – that is unless you’re the attorney with a contextual ad campaign on his own name…who then gets busted for DUI and then has his ads display next to an article about his arrest.*

* Yes this really happened.  And yes, you can avoid this type of bad matching, although it’s tough to make changes to your account when you’re behind bars.

Also like display ads, you can’t tell the specific targeting option.  In display, the same ad could appear via placement, context, search retargeting, site retargeting or other targeting options.  With promoted tweets, an ad can appear in your timeline due to your interests, similarity to followers of certain twitter handles, or, now, what you tweet.

While I can’t say for certain this ad appeared because of keyword targeting, I recently tweeted about our online marketing job openings.

Keyword targeting in timelines is also similar to paid search because of the interaction.  While the person is not actively seeking information on that keyword like they are in search (in fact – they’re not even thinking of it like a keyword at all), it is content they’re producing.  With contextually-placed display ads, it’s based on the content of the page regardless of what the reader thinks of that content, much like our attorney friend in the example above.

Real Time

With this new targeting option, you can serve up an ad directly related to a person’s tweets in their timelines in real-time. This type of messaging touch is similar, but less personal, than some twitter marketing tactics utilized by top social sellers.

While less personal, these ad campaigns are a lot more scalable, so you can reach more people more quickly.  And while that’s obviously in twitter’s best interests, you’ll still be paying on a Cost Per Engagement (CPE) basis – for clicks on links or hashtags, favorites, replies, and follows.  If they’re not interacting with your ads, you’re not paying.

Update - Additional notes:

• Keyword targeting in timeline is available for both full and self service accounts.
•  These tweets are clearly labeled as ads like all other promoted tweets (orange arrow followed by “Promoted by” and your business name).
• People can opt out of seeing these ads.
• You can still overlay many of the other targeting options twitter provides, such as geography, device, gender, etc.
• They offer 2-3 keyword match types:
  • Phrase Match – Similar to Google AdWords and Bing Ads, phrase match means the words must appear in a tweet in the same order you list them in as keywords.  Conveniently, twitter stuck with quotes to signify phrase match.
  • Unordered Match – Similar to modified broad matching.  Your ad will go out to people who use those words in any order.  However, they must include all of the exact words instead of close variations. One difference with twitter’s punctuation here as compared to Google and Bing: a word will be unordered match if you use no punctuation (instead of a broad match, since twitter doesn’t appear to be using any sentiment analysis).
  • Hashtags – Not really a third match type, but be aware you can target hashtags as well as keywords without the “#.”

Solving the Lead Gen Twitter Riddle?

While it’s way too early to make any conclusions about the effectiveness of these campaigns, we’re optimistic it can help many different types of twitter marketers – especially for lead generation purposes and companies in the B2B space looking for lead gen or other goals.  While several B2B marketers have used twitter effectively, just as there have been effective lead gen campaigns, there’s no doubt those types of campaigns have been more difficult.

If the above describes you and you’ve been on the fence about promoted twitter products, now might be the perfect time to jump in and give it a shot.  Like Dean Malenko would say…well, he didn’t have a catch phrase, but fence sitters better watch out for the Texas Cloverleaf!

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PLAs are making the inevitable leap to mobile. In our last blog post, we explored how rapidly PLAs have grown since shifting to paid inclusion. The popular ad format is now receiving a boost from Enhanced Campaigns.  Timing of the announcement also coincides with the roll out of paid-inclusion PLAs in other countries.  Currently, the ad format is available in the United Kingdom, Germany, France, Japan, Italy, Spain, Netherlands, Brazil, Australia, Switzerland, and the Czech Republic.

A Note about Enhanced PLA Campaigns:

Google recommends upgrading to “increase coverage”.  However, be aware that the impression share data Google is showing for these campaigns (you may see things like “>10%” or “<90%”) is not accurate. We have confirmed with our AdWords reps that this information is not reporting for PLA campaigns yet.

Also, note that Google is saying in their post that PLAs are only eligible to appear on Enhanced Campaigns. We have seen PLAs trigger from the old “Legacy” campaigns, though, so you can still get coverage without converting over to Enhanced. You will have to convert your campaigns over in the coming months as Google will be requiring this change of all advertisers.

One advantage of converting your PLA campaigns to Enhanced is that they will have new optimization features such as device- and location- based bidding under one campaign. Campaigns may also see mobile traffic increase simply from upgrading according to Google, though this remains to be seen. It will be interesting to see how much these figures can be manipulated through device-targeted bidding, or if mobile traffic receives an initial boost just from upgrading.

As we upgrade our PLA campaigns, we’ll share any new features that we find most beneficial. For those of you who have already upgraded or currently target mobile devices, we’d love to hear your thoughts.

If you’re following me on twitter, you would have noticed I used the word “holla” last night.  Not only that, but I misspelled it with extra a’s and put it in all caps.  Any one of these three signs usually signal I boarded the SS Facetious.  But last night was 4 realsies, like OMG you guyz!!!

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The News

Here’s what twitter announced that got me so excited:

Great news! Today, we announced more targeting options for your Twitter advertising. Based on your feedback, we added new features to connect you with the Twitter users most likely to be interested in your messages.

Target by interests: by @usernames and interest categories

• Target @usernames, to build an audience with similar interests to that @username’s followers.
• Choose from a wide-ranging list of 350 interest categories.

Target by device

• Tailor your content to reach users on laptops, desktops, tablets or smartphones.

Target by gender

• Target by gender when you want to reach just the guys or just the gals.

Why These Twitter Ad Targeting Changes Matter

First a brief recap: we’ve talked about twitter ads a couple times in the past and have a page dedicated to it on our site, but the short version is that twitter has for a couple years now had its regular advertising accounts.  Particulars have changed over time as they made the accounts more robust, but the one thing that hasn’t is that you need to commit a fairly hefty amount of ad spend on contract to get approved (currently $15,000 to be used over three months).

Later on, twitter opened up a separate platform that they referred to as either Self Service or Small Business.  I prefer the Self Service moniker because there are plenty of larger businesses who want to be cautious about jumping into a $15k commitment before they see if a new advertising type works.

The problem with the Self Service version is that targeting options were extremely limited.  You could run either promoted accounts or promoted tweets, but you could basically only target by geography and some very limited interest-based targeting.  That’s all changed as Self Service advertisers now get the full array of targeting features available to full service accounts.

So What are My Next Steps?

It depends on whether you’re currently a twitter advertiser or not.

Current Twitter Advertisers

The next time you log into your advertising interface, switch over to the new, more robust program.  Seriously, just do it.  It’s so much better, it’s not even worth discussing whether or not to do it.  Here’s what you’ll see:

Seriously just do it. If I had more time I’d make this animated with flashing sirens and arrows.

Click that button and you’ll get this:

Then this comparison chart:

Presto – you’re done!  Now you can target your Promoted Tweets campaigns to have ads appear in either timelines or search results.  For timelines you can target by categories or by users who are similar to the followers of various twitter accounts – including competitors!  (Note that you are targeting similar users and not the actual followers themselves, although there will be some degree of overlap.)  Then you can target further by gender and specific devices in case you care how the person is using twitter.

And one of the best parts of this new interface?  You can use targeted tweets that do not appear in your timeline.  That allows for much  more creativity than before.

Twitter Account Owners Who are Not Twitter Advertisers

You’ll want to sign up for an advertising account, which you can do here.  Costs are low and there’s no minimum.  So there’s nothing to lose.  Even if you don’t think you’ll ever use any promoted twitter products, you’ll want to sign up, because…

Twitter Analytics Rocks

…now you get access to all their analytics.  I could do a separate post just on the analytics and probably will, but the key here is that you get the analytics reporting on everything – not just promoted products.  You’ll get to see how many followers you get, unfollows, interaction – including clicks – per tweet.  They’ll also get data about your followers and can get more details about who  clicks to your Web site – even if they come from others’ tweets who don’t mention or follow you.

So there’s no downside.  Sign up or upgrade your promoted twitter account today!

Although the shift to paid inclusion may have driven some vendors away from participation, many others have seen opportunities in PLAs. For one, the listings are no longer flooded with results from spammy, irrelevant, and outdated feeds. Since vendors are now paying for clicks, there is real incentive to having a well-managed and updated feed. Although Google Shopping listings are no longer free, the playing field is more level.

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So what is driving advertisers to shift budgets towards PLAs? Improved ad performance, greater control, and increased competition are all contributing factors.

Improved Ad Performance:

Since PLAs are rich with information to help searchers in the buying process, they generally lead to higher click-through rates (CTR). Moreover, many searchers navigate directly to the Google Shopping section of the search results page and are not distracted with organic and other paid search listings that may have otherwise captured clicks.

If products are priced competitively, CTR is boosted even further. Most importantly, since PLAs automatically provide more relevant and transparent information including image and price, they generally boast higher conversion rates from better clicks.

Greater Control:

The PLA integration into AdWords gives vendors better control over many aspects of their product listings. Much the same as in traditional paid search campaigns, PLA campaigns provide the ability to control bids, budgets, ad scheduling, location targeting, etc. Furthermore, these campaigns have exclusive features such as product Auto-Targeting and Promotion messaging.

Increased Competition:

If there was ever any reluctance of shifting budgets towards PLAs, there is no sign of it now. The lower click-costs and increased CTR and conversion rates enjoyed in these campaigns have not gone unnoticed; and more vendors are getting in. In addition to increasing PLA click share, the increased competition may start to inflate click costs as auctions become more crowded.

The good news: It’s not too late to try out Product Listing Ads. The new paid search format is still in its infancy and there are many changes yet to come. PLAs are still only available in a limited number of countries and are still shifting to paid inclusion for the UK, Germany, and France. Finally, there are many ways to optimize PLAs on different levels. Everything from the feed itself, to bids, auto-targets, and promotional text can be optimized for performance.

In our next segment on Product Listing Ads (PLAs), we’ll cover some optimization techniques and best practices. In the meantime, let us know if you have any questions or further insight into PLAs. We’d love to hear from you.

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What is Facebook Conversion Tracking?

Facebook Conversion Tracking Tool enables the advertiser to track a goal they want the target audience to complete. If you’re running a Google AdWords or Bing Ads campaign, you’re probably familiar with conversion tracking. Facebook conversion tracking works much in the same way. Advertisers can track: purchases for an e-commerce site or additions to the shopping cart, leads via form submissions, important page views, or other conversions you deem important.

Conversion tracking works based on a snippet of code, or a pixel, that is added to the page you want to track. The pixel should not be placed on every page of your site, only the important ones. Once the pixel is placed, you can see the number of users who complete a goal. Conversion tracking helps advertisers make educated decisions about which ads, targeted audience segments, geography, etc. are working or not working.

Creating the Tracking Pixel

Creating the Facebook Tracking Pixel is easy. Facebook does all the hard work; all you need to do is copy and paste the pixel onto the page you want to track. When you create a new ad, you will see an option under Campaign, Pricing and Schedule for Conversion Tracking. Click the Create Tracking Pixels link. A new window will open for you to Create Conversion Pixel. Simply click the link, name your pixel, choose a category for the goal (i.e. checkout, sign up, etc.), and click next. A box will pop up with the pixel that needs added to your site. Note: The pixel needs placed in the head section of the page your tracking for the code to work properly.

Is the Conversion Tracking Working?

You can check the status of your pixel by checking the Conversion Tracking link on the left sidebar of the Facebook advertiser interface. If the code says Unverified in the status column, this may mean there has not been a conversion yet, or the code is installed improperly. If you know a lead came in through a Facebook ad, check that the pixel is complete and positioned between the <head> and </head> section of your page.

The Facebook Conversion Tracking Tool is a much-needed addition to help advertisers understand how users are interacting with their site once they leave Facebook. In order to get a crisp, clear picture of users make sure you’re segmenting your campaigns to fine-tune and really target users. Let us know how you plan on using the Facebook Conversion Tracking Tool. We’d love to hear from you.

A quick primer on retargeting: retargeting is cookie-based advertising that allows you to serve ads to people based on their past actions.  Site retargeting at its most basic level is when you serve ads to people who have already been to your site.  From there, you can splice it all sorts of ways, such as serving up ads to people based on content already read or tracking down shopping cart abandoners.

Okay – maybe Fatal Attraction clips are not the most effective way to sell you on retargeting.

Up until last December could retarget users throughout the Web through various ad networks, but not on facebook, who kept their advertising exchange closed off.  Well, now you can hit up those visitors, although you’re not able to do it directly through your own facebook advertising account.  You need to do it through a Facebook Ad Exchange (FBX) partner.  These partners include folks like our friends at AdRoll, Simpli.fi, and Chango.

How you pay will depend on which partner you use, but I can say we’ve seen comparable costs and results to other types of site retargeting we run for our clients, particularly when it comes to view-through conversions.

If you’d like to get started with facebook retargeting, give us a shout.  Costs are affordable even for small advertisers and there’s no minimum campaign length, so there’s no reason not to test it out.

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Moved to the bottom.  I know Alex was talking to Dan, but doesn’t seem like she wants to be ignored, period.

According to YouTube, the newest site design reflects the transition from a video-based site to a channels-based site. These new design changes were also made to encourage more subscriptions, discovery, engagement, and social interaction. Quite simply, YouTube wants to learn what users like and provide them with a steady stream of personalized content. The most obvious recent changes follow the video recap.

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The YouTube Guide

One major change YouTube made is adding the Guide section to every single page, not just the home page. This allows you to watch channel videos and recommended videos based on your subscriptions at any point, helping prevent the dreaded “How did I end up here?” feeling. For instance, I started out watching a video from Google Webmaster, which was definitely relevant to my job. Somehow, though, I ended up watching “M.E.T.H.O.D. Man” by Wu-Tang Clan, which was not actually that relevant. Lucky for me, I’ve subscribed to several work-related channels, so I easily clicked on my Guide and got back to GoogleBusiness. For video creators, this is good news, as subscribers will see their content more frequently, on every page.

Other December 2012 YouTube Changes

Other than adding the Guide to all pages, there are a few other updates. For instance, YouTube video pages no longer feature the title above the content, instead displaying it and social actions below the main video. Not necessarily the end of the world, since the title will still display in feeds and searches, but still a notable change. In my opinion, this change makes it more important to hook viewers right away with great-looking content, not just a catchy title.

Along with the title placement change, YouTube has also updated its mobile and tablet versions, so you can experience the new look and feel across multiple devices.

Summary

Ultimately, the new features that YouTube has implemented work together to provide a more predictive, personalized experience for users, and their ultimate goal is to get users to subscribe to specific channels and categories. Even though there were a few recommended videos and channels that missed the mark for Direct Online Marketing, there were also some that were right on target, and of course having access to our subscriptions’ content from any page was much more convenient than constantly navigating back to our home page feed. If you sometimes feel a little overwhelmed by all of the random, weird YouTube videos, check out the new features. They might help you discover more of the video content you actually want to watch.

Everyone loves free money, especially when it comes to test-driving a new advertising platform. It enables the advertiser to try the platform with no-risk. It’s no secret that Google AdWords will give new advertisers coupon to entice them to try their platform. While the marketer still needs a credit card in order to sign-up, the coupon was expended before the credit card was billed. This made it easy for advertisers to sign up, try the platform and pause the account (if they wanted) before they were even billed.

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What the Switch Means to New AdWords Advertisers

To limit the number of advertisers who are simply using the coupons, and not actually incurring any costs, Google AdWords is changing their coupon structure. Now, coupons can be redeemed after the advertiser has spent $25 with AdWords. In an email we received from Google Engage, they state that the account will be credited the $100 within five days of reaching the $25 minimum. Same as before, this credit will appear under the billing tab. Promo codes will still need entered…this is not an automatic credit for each new account.

In addition, once the coupon has been entered, the account has to reach the $25 minimum within 31 days. Keep in mind that a “new account” is one that is less than 14-days old. Therefore, the coupon must be entered within the first 14 days of opening the account and reach $25 in advertising costs within the first 31 days. Accounts can still be paused after the coupon has been redeemed, so in essence, they can spend $25 in order to get $100 in advertising free.

Got it?

If you’re an agency and you have any coupons lying around, they’re only good through September 30, 2012. You have three days left to use them, but don’t fret; you can still get coupons through Google Engage to help hook those new clients. You’ll just need a new batch of promo codes starting next month.

What do you think of the new change? Do you think it will cut down on the advertisers who potentially account-hop in order to get free advertising or is it just a ploy for Google to make more money? We think that regardless of Google’s intention, it’s a smart move. If done properly, clients could get good traffic for $25….have you researched video ads or product listing ads? They’re super cheap! And, with the expertise of a great agency, the $25 can go far and the $100 coupon will help the client see the true benefits of Google AdWords (in most cases). Then, with any luck at all, you’ve got a new client for life.

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Google AdWords Removes Custom Shape Tool

We’ve been hearing about it for months now, but the custom shape tool is now gone from the targeting options in Google AdWords. However, the designated market areas (DMA) may actually help you define your target areas more easily. When I found out on Friday that I needed to remove the custom shaping or risk having clients’ campaigns paused, I was in panic mode. Shiver me timbers! However, after comparing the DMA’s to the custom shape, they matched up almost exactly. Plus, choosing the DMA is as easy as manning the crow’s nest. So, if you fell asleep on this one, take a look at the DMAs to see if they match close enough.

Weigh anchor and hoist the mizzen! We’re on to our next topic.

Google AdWords is Sharin’ the Budgetary Love

For me, budgets are like swabbing the deck. They need constant monitoring and cleaning to prevent mishaps. Take a little from this campaign and give to this one…..and do it again in two weeks. Well, in order to make budget sharing easier, Google now offers Shared Budgets- a new feature that lets advertisers allocate a single daily budget across multiple campaigns. According to Google this will make it easier to match your AdWords spending with how your business allocates its marketing budget.

To create a shared budget, click on the Shared Library link to the left of the user interface (under your campaign list). Give your budget a name and select the campaigns you want to share the budget across. You can choose standard or accelerated delivery, just like under your regular campaign settings.

While I’m very excited to test the shared budgets feature, I’m a bit skeptical. As with ad groups that can cannibalize a campaign budget, the same could be said for a campaign that cannibalizes the shared budget. I’ll let you know if we need to batten down the hatches on this one.

Now, for a joke:
Knock knock.
-Who’s there?
Interrupting pirate.
-Interrup–
ARRRRRRR!

Yo Ho Ho! Twitter’s Got a Brand New Look!

Ahoy, Twitter users and advertisers! If you’re currently an active Twitter user, you may have noticed some recent changes. For companies and businesses using Twitter Advertising, the new features are yet another way to promote your brand(s) and engage followers.

Here are the highlights of the new Twitter features (some advertiser-specific, some for all users):

1. The profile header photo. This is similar to the cover photo on Facebook and Google+ and can be viewed not only on computers, but on iPad, iPhone and Android devices as well. You can upload your own custom image that complements your background and profile images.Like most header or cover photos, the image should be relatively high quality, with minimum dimensions set at 1252px x 626px. To add your own, simply upload your selected image in the Design section of your account settings.According to the Twitter Advertising blog, the new header image will replace the banner on enhanced profile pages (EPPs).
2. Pinned Tweets. Advertisers can pin important Tweets to the top of their profiles. If more than one Tweet is pinned, Twitter automatically selects the one that is most popular.
3. The background image. Not technically a new feature, but it’s been changed slightly. Twitter users and marketers now also have the ability change the alignment of the background image (left, right or center), which provides a bit more flexibility when designing a creative, fun Twitter profile.
4. Finally, Twitter also moved users’ photos and personal bios to more prominent positions on profile pages, giving them more visual appeal.

So will you be taking the opportunity to design a more unique, creative Twitter profile or have you already? If you’ve created a masterpiece, feel free to share it with us!

A final word to the wise–if you haven’t added your own header image by November, you’ll automatically get upgraded to the gray default image of doom. So get your profile shipshape before then. Savvy?

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Track Your Follower Growth

You can now track the growth of your followers from the Twitter dashboard. This chart, available for Promoted Accounts, gives advertisers an at-a-glance view of how their Twitter following has grown, stayed stagnant, or dare I say it…decreased. The new chart displays paid and unpaid followers for the date range you would like to view.

Select Your Promoted Tweets

I don’t blame advertisers for being unhappy with Twitter choosing their tweets. It would be like running an ad in the newspaper, but you can only choose from one that you previously ran. What? So, Twitter has appeased their advertisers and is giving them control over which Tweets are promoted. This means that advertisers can push tweets for a specific product, promotion or event.

With this new feature, you can select a few Tweets for promotion and actually tweet from within the advertising interface. One tip Twitter has for you advertisers: “Remember to add new Tweets every couple of days to keep users engaged with fresh content.”

So, go forth and tweet!

Update: These features are now available for all Twitter advertising accounts!