In its ongoing effort to woo advertisers, Facebook Thursday highlighted results of recent campaigns by Electronic Arts, 1-800-Flowers, P&G and others using its Sponsored Story ads. The format, which allows marketers to turn existing user posts about a brand into ads, is a key part of Facebook’s push to boost paid advertising on the site in connection with earned and owned media on the social network. In that vein, Facebook pointed to an EA effort in which the game maker used Sponsored Stories to promote the October launch of “Battlefield 3.” The company turned posts about the popular video game on its Facebook page into Sponsored Stories, many of which led directly to only ordering sites. That led to a total of $12.1 million in sales via Facebook, translating into $4.38 in incremental revenue for every $1 of media spent. A Mother’s Day campaign by 1-800-Flowers, meanwhile, created Sponsored Stories out of posts by celebrities who had endorsed particular bouquets from the retailer on their Facebook pages. The personalities included Justin Bieber, Jason Mraz, Trey Songz and Yankee outfielder Nick Swisher. By targeting the ads to fans of these celebs, 1-800-Flowers saw an increase from 4,000 to 12,000 transactions on Facebook compared to the prior Mother’s Day campaign. It also had 10 times higher engagement rates for some of its top-performing Facebook Ads compared with click-through rates in standard display advertising. Among other examples, P&G used Sponsored Stories to promote the short film “Best Job,” focusing on the mothers of Olympic athletes, which has gotten 13 million views so far. That makes it the third most viral TV spot of the year, according to Facebook. Beyond the case studies, the company also pointed to a recent Marin Software study indicating that Sponsored Stories have improved ad performance on the site overall since launching. Looking at ad data from April 2011 to March 2012, it showed click-through rates increasing by 20%, CPMs rising 51% and CPC (cost-per-click) increasing 26%. What the social network is not highlighting is the recent settlement over a class action lawsuit challenging the use of people’s names and likenesses in Sponsored Stories. Facebook agreed to pay $10 million to various public interest organizations and to give users more control over how their personal information is used in sponsored stories. Facebook has declined to elaborate on how it would increase controls in this regard, however. Reuters reported the potential loss of revenue from the changes amounts to more than $103 million over the next two years, citing the opinion of an economist hired by the plaintiffs. (The revenue figures were redacted in court documents.) Whatever impact the settlement has on ad revenue, Facebook isn’t hiding the importance of Sponsored Stories to its ad business. The Marin Software study predicted that Facebook advertisers would allocate half of their budgets to social ad formats like Sponsored Stories this year. An eMarketer article about the study earlier this month pointed out, “as more advertisers adopt these kinds of social ads, it’s likely that the cost for the ad unit will continue to rise.” That’s not something Facebook would necessarily mind as it tries to meet Wall Street’s demand for high revenue growth.
Now that the company has posted Vinay Shahani to director of marketing communications, Erich Marx is focused on digital and social media for Nissan. He had been wearing two hats, but with a heavy vehicle launch schedule over the next several months the timing is good. Marx will have his hands full using digital to promote the 2013 Altima and four other vehicles over the next 15 months. Marx, who somehow also finds time to sideline as singer/guitarist in a Nashville band, is preparing another kind of garage project with Facebook Connect. Called the Nissan "Innovation Garage," the project is a microsite where anyone can tout their own inventions or innovations for a chance at $50,000 seed money and a new 2013 Altima, among other things. Marx, Nissan North America's director of social media and interactive marketing, tells Marketing Daily that such projects are possible because he has free reign to experiment. "Jon [Brancheau, VP marketing] basically said [the position] is 'for you to define' as long as we grow the brand across platforms -- grow Nissan to be one of the bigger players in Facebook, for instance. We have five vehicles in 15 months, so we need to be a big player in social." The Innovation Garage, which launches this summer, isn't just about automotive, per Marx. "It can be any kind of innovation. But we want to have fun with it, make it a bit quirky; it comes down to share-ability." Marx is applying that basic idea to other projects for Altima and other vehicles. Nissan, for example, has launched the first of a series of five online videos, "The Altima Experience," featuring five people who -- based on a short online essay submission -- were chosen to test-drive the 2013 Altima at Nissan's Arizona test center. Marx says that the five were chosen partly because of the buzz-worthiness of their stories, and the videos, shot in May, culminate with a surprise event pertinent to each one's story. "One of them said, 'My girlfriend loves her Altima, I love Nissan, I will propose to my girlfriend [at the test site]. We confirmed with him that he would actually do it and had a surprise celebration for the couple on the track, and filmed it all," says Marx. "So the first portion is the test drive, and at end of each, something compelling, interesting, fantastic and basically, unexpected happens." The series, the first of which launched last week, is on Nissan's Facebook, Google+, Twitter and YouTube channels. Then, for the launch of the 2013 Pathfinder later this year, the automaker is looking to do something with an established comedy troupe. "We are going to give them a Pathfinder for a week and ask them to make a series of videos about it; Pathfinder will be more than just a prop," says Marx. "They can then present it in a more fun, engaging way than we could." He says the automaker is talking to groups like "The Groundlings" in L.A., and Chicago's "Second City." "It's in the exploration stage right now; again, the thought is we could just do a video of a walk-around of the Pathfinder, but with a comedy troupe, setting a few boundaries so you can't do certain things, we think they might come up with something shareable they would post on their site and we on ours. The point being that this space is still undefined -- it has leeway to it that traditional TV does not." The brand now has about a million social media followers, according to Marx, who says product is a big driver because of a built-in fan base for vehicles like the GTR, Z [roadster] and Leaf, "even though we have sold only about 20,000 [Leafs] worldwide. The fact is, the community around Leaf is passionate and active online. And we have huge engagement levels with motorsports, as well," he says. The automaker leveraged its online 370Z fan base for a different crowdsourcing program called "Project 370Z," where Nissan built a special edition of the car from the ground up based entirely on online suggestions. The car is touring Nissan events. There is also a lot of back and forth between Nissan Europe and Nissan North America in terms of social media. "We talk three times a week, and share assets back and forth" he says. "Europe will post content from the U.S., as well. Anything that builds community and gets people to engage in the brand. A fan is a fan."
Every image tells a story on television, but not a complete picture without real-time tweets connecting TV with online, says Twitter CEO Dick Costolo, speaking at Cannes Lions. The biggest challenge, it seems, is that broadcast TV needs a dependable partner -- but by Thursday the added tweet volume from the ad festival appears to have sent the site offline. Earlier in the week, the site boasted that there were more than 15,000 online posts across social media referencing #CannesLions, with 95% coming from Twitter. On Thursday, as of 12:40 EST, the site went offline. Remember #failwhale? Broadcast TV needs a reliable social media partner. While it all began with lower thirds serving up at the bottom of TV screens during broadcasts, Twitter pushed the concept of using the site to bring TV viewers online and connect them with other socialites to create a community in real-time. A producer's guide explaining best practices for connecting TV audience through tweets went up on the Twitter's site in early June. TV shows have tapped the social site to raise ratings. The company developed an analytics package to track the continuous tweets during television broadcasts. The sharp spikes correspond to major moments in a show. Last year, Twitter and technology partners stepped up following tweets to TV, bringing real-time content to TV shows. But the interaction between viewers and TV content presents another dynamic that makes the big screen more relevant to marketers. Costolo also said Twitter would begin offering promoted advertising in 50 additional markets this year, reducing its reliance on revenue from the U.S. Twitter's worldwide ad revenue should rise 86.3% to nearly $260 million -- up from $139 million in 2011 -- and $45 million in 2010, eMarketer estimates. About 90% of Twitter's revenue comes from the United States, but this year, $26 million in ad revenue could come from overseas, the research firm said. Earlier this week, Twitter introduced Cards, making it possible to attach media to tweets that link to content through a few lines of HTML code on the Web site. A "Card" is added when site visitors tweet links to the content. It automatically attributes content to the site. There are three types of Cards: summary, photo and player.
More than a third (34%) of companies say they plan to launch mobile ad campaigns within the next 12 months, according to IBM “State of Marketing 2012” report released Thursday. That marks the highest planned adoption rate for a new marketing tactic in the five-year history of the annual survey of 350 marketing professionals globally. That must mean the fabled Year of Mobile still lies ahead. Currently, only a quarter of brands are running mobile ads, and about the same proportion (27%) say they have no plans to do so. To date, companies have focused more on building out their presence on the mobile Web and in apps. Nearly half (46%) have created mobile versions of their sites and 45% have created apps, with about another third planning to do the same in each case in the next year. While expanding mobile initiatives, however, marketers say keeping up with the proliferation of new mobile and social media platforms is the biggest challenge they face in the next three to five years. Indeed, the study emphasized throughout that brands are still struggling to fuse these emerging channels into broader marketing goals. For example, only about a fifth currently use mobile or social tactics as part of integrated campaigns. Social media is further ahead when it comes to monetization, with 45% running social ads currently, and 23% planning to do so in the next 12 months. Two-thirds of companies have pages on social networking sites, and 16% will add pages in the next year. Despite the touted targeting capabilities on sites like Facebook, 51% of marketers aren’t using social data to tailor offers and advertising to users. The report also indicated companies aren’t doing enough to exploit their own user data. Only a third are using traffic data on their own sites to target one-to-one offers or messages in digital platforms and less than 20% are using that information to target promotions in traditional channels. That again points to the lack of cross-media integration. While 71% of those surveyed say integration across owned, earned and paid channels is important, only 29% are effectively melding these different approaches. Almost 60% say the lack of IT and marketing coordination are barriers to integration along with a lack of budget (57%). “This void further reinforces the notion that CMOs and CIOs must forge stronger, more aligned relationships that put the business in a position to succeed,” stated the IBM report. It found that 51% of marketing executives who identified their companies as “high-performing” said there were good relationships between marketing and IT -- 10% higher than other companies
In its ongoing effort to woo advertisers, Facebook Thursday highlighted results of recent campaigns by Electronic Arts, 1-800-Flowers, P&G and others using its Sponsored Story ads. The format, which allows marketers to turn existing user posts about a brand into ads, is a key part of Facebook’s push to boost paid advertising on the site in connection with earned and owned media on the social network. In that vein, Facebook pointed to an EA effort in which the game maker used Sponsored Stories to promote the October launch of “Battlefield 3.” The company turned posts about the popular video game on its Facebook page into Sponsored Stories, many of which led directly to only ordering sites. That led to a total of $12.1 million in sales via Facebook, translating into $4.38 in incremental revenue for every $1 of media spent. A Mother’s Day campaign by 1-800-Flowers, meanwhile, created Sponsored Stories out of posts by celebrities who had endorsed particular bouquets from the retailer on their Facebook pages. The personalities included Justin Bieber, Jason Mraz, Trey Songz and Yankee outfielder Nick Swisher. By targeting the ads to fans of these celebs, 1-800-Flowers saw an increase from 4,000 to 12,000 transactions on Facebook compared to the prior Mother’s Day campaign. It also had 10 times higher engagement rates for some of its top-performing Facebook Ads compared with click-through rates in standard display advertising. Among other examples, P&G used Sponsored Stories to promote the short film “Best Job,” focusing on the mothers of Olympic athletes, which has gotten 13 million views so far. That makes it the third most viral TV spot of the year, according to Facebook. Beyond the case studies, the company also pointed to a recent Marin Software study indicating that Sponsored Stories have improved ad performance on the site overall since launching. Looking at ad data from April 2011 to March 2012, it showed click-through rates increasing by 20%, CPMs rising 51% and CPC (cost-per-click) increasing 26%. What the social network is not highlighting is the recent settlement over a class action lawsuit challenging the use of people’s names and likenesses in Sponsored Stories. Facebook agreed to pay $10 million to various public interest organizations and to give users more control over how their personal information is used in sponsored stories. Facebook has declined to elaborate on how it would increase controls in this regard, however. Reuters reported the potential loss of revenue from the changes amounts to more than $103 million over the next two years, citing the opinion of an economist hired by the plaintiffs. (The revenue figures were redacted in court documents.) Whatever impact the settlement has on ad revenue, Facebook isn’t hiding the importance of Sponsored Stories to its ad business. The Marin Software study predicted that Facebook advertisers would allocate half of their budgets to social ad formats like Sponsored Stories this year. An eMarketer article about the study earlier this month pointed out, “as more advertisers adopt these kinds of social ads, it’s likely that the cost for the ad unit will continue to rise.” That’s not something Facebook would necessarily mind as it tries to meet Wall Street’s demand for high revenue growth.
Now that the company has posted Vinay Shahani to director of marketing communications, Erich Marx is focused on digital and social media for Nissan. He had been wearing two hats, but with a heavy vehicle launch schedule over the next several months the timing is good. Marx will have his hands full using digital to promote the 2013 Altima and four other vehicles over the next 15 months. Marx, who somehow also finds time to sideline as singer/guitarist in a Nashville band, is preparing another kind of garage project with Facebook Connect. Called the Nissan "Innovation Garage," the project is a microsite where anyone can tout their own inventions or innovations for a chance at $50,000 seed money and a new 2013 Altima, among other things. Marx, Nissan North America's director of social media and interactive marketing, tells Marketing Daily that such projects are possible because he has free reign to experiment. "Jon [Brancheau, VP marketing] basically said [the position] is 'for you to define' as long as we grow the brand across platforms -- grow Nissan to be one of the bigger players in Facebook, for instance. We have five vehicles in 15 months, so we need to be a big player in social." The Innovation Garage, which launches this summer, isn't just about automotive, per Marx. "It can be any kind of innovation. But we want to have fun with it, make it a bit quirky; it comes down to share-ability." Marx is applying that basic idea to other projects for Altima and other vehicles. Nissan, for example, has launched the first of a series of five online videos, "The Altima Experience," featuring five people who -- based on a short online essay submission -- were chosen to test-drive the 2013 Altima at Nissan's Arizona test center. Marx says that the five were chosen partly because of the buzz-worthiness of their stories, and the videos, shot in May, culminate with a surprise event pertinent to each one's story. "One of them said, 'My girlfriend loves her Altima, I love Nissan, I will propose to my girlfriend [at the test site]. We confirmed with him that he would actually do it and had a surprise celebration for the couple on the track, and filmed it all," says Marx. "So the first portion is the test drive, and at end of each, something compelling, interesting, fantastic and basically, unexpected happens." The series, the first of which launched last week, is on Nissan's Facebook, Google+, Twitter and YouTube channels. Then, for the launch of the 2013 Pathfinder later this year, the automaker is looking to do something with an established comedy troupe. "We are going to give them a Pathfinder for a week and ask them to make a series of videos about it; Pathfinder will be more than just a prop," says Marx. "They can then present it in a more fun, engaging way than we could." He says the automaker is talking to groups like "The Groundlings" in L.A., and Chicago's "Second City." "It's in the exploration stage right now; again, the thought is we could just do a video of a walk-around of the Pathfinder, but with a comedy troupe, setting a few boundaries so you can't do certain things, we think they might come up with something shareable they would post on their site and we on ours. The point being that this space is still undefined -- it has leeway to it that traditional TV does not." The brand now has about a million social media followers, according to Marx, who says product is a big driver because of a built-in fan base for vehicles like the GTR, Z [roadster] and Leaf, "even though we have sold only about 20,000 [Leafs] worldwide. The fact is, the community around Leaf is passionate and active online. And we have huge engagement levels with motorsports, as well," he says. The automaker leveraged its online 370Z fan base for a different crowdsourcing program called "Project 370Z," where Nissan built a special edition of the car from the ground up based entirely on online suggestions. The car is touring Nissan events. There is also a lot of back and forth between Nissan Europe and Nissan North America in terms of social media. "We talk three times a week, and share assets back and forth" he says. "Europe will post content from the U.S., as well. Anything that builds community and gets people to engage in the brand. A fan is a fan."
Every image tells a story on television, but not a complete picture without real-time tweets connecting TV with online, says Twitter CEO Dick Costolo, speaking at Cannes Lions. The biggest challenge, it seems, is that broadcast TV needs a dependable partner -- but by Thursday the added tweet volume from the ad festival appears to have sent the site offline. Earlier in the week, the site boasted that there were more than 15,000 online posts across social media referencing #CannesLions, with 95% coming from Twitter. On Thursday, as of 12:40 EST, the site went offline. Remember #failwhale? Broadcast TV needs a reliable social media partner. While it all began with lower thirds serving up at the bottom of TV screens during broadcasts, Twitter pushed the concept of using the site to bring TV viewers online and connect them with other socialites to create a community in real-time. A producer's guide explaining best practices for connecting TV audience through tweets went up on the Twitter's site in early June. TV shows have tapped the social site to raise ratings. The company developed an analytics package to track the continuous tweets during television broadcasts. The sharp spikes correspond to major moments in a show. Last year, Twitter and technology partners stepped up following tweets to TV, bringing real-time content to TV shows. But the interaction between viewers and TV content presents another dynamic that makes the big screen more relevant to marketers. Costolo also said Twitter would begin offering promoted advertising in 50 additional markets this year, reducing its reliance on revenue from the U.S. Twitter's worldwide ad revenue should rise 86.3% to nearly $260 million -- up from $139 million in 2011 -- and $45 million in 2010, eMarketer estimates. About 90% of Twitter's revenue comes from the United States, but this year, $26 million in ad revenue could come from overseas, the research firm said. Earlier this week, Twitter introduced Cards, making it possible to attach media to tweets that link to content through a few lines of HTML code on the Web site. A "Card" is added when site visitors tweet links to the content. It automatically attributes content to the site. There are three types of Cards: summary, photo and player.
More than a third (34%) of companies say they plan to launch mobile ad campaigns within the next 12 months, according to IBM “State of Marketing 2012” report released Thursday. That marks the highest planned adoption rate for a new marketing tactic in the five-year history of the annual survey of 350 marketing professionals globally. That must mean the fabled Year of Mobile still lies ahead. Currently, only a quarter of brands are running mobile ads, and about the same proportion (27%) say they have no plans to do so. To date, companies have focused more on building out their presence on the mobile Web and in apps. Nearly half (46%) have created mobile versions of their sites and 45% have created apps, with about another third planning to do the same in each case in the next year. While expanding mobile initiatives, however, marketers say keeping up with the proliferation of new mobile and social media platforms is the biggest challenge they face in the next three to five years. Indeed, the study emphasized throughout that brands are still struggling to fuse these emerging channels into broader marketing goals. For example, only about a fifth currently use mobile or social tactics as part of integrated campaigns. Social media is further ahead when it comes to monetization, with 45% running social ads currently, and 23% planning to do so in the next 12 months. Two-thirds of companies have pages on social networking sites, and 16% will add pages in the next year. Despite the touted targeting capabilities on sites like Facebook, 51% of marketers aren’t using social data to tailor offers and advertising to users. The report also indicated companies aren’t doing enough to exploit their own user data. Only a third are using traffic data on their own sites to target one-to-one offers or messages in digital platforms and less than 20% are using that information to target promotions in traditional channels. That again points to the lack of cross-media integration. While 71% of those surveyed say integration across owned, earned and paid channels is important, only 29% are effectively melding these different approaches. Almost 60% say the lack of IT and marketing coordination are barriers to integration along with a lack of budget (57%). “This void further reinforces the notion that CMOs and CIOs must forge stronger, more aligned relationships that put the business in a position to succeed,” stated the IBM report. It found that 51% of marketing executives who identified their companies as “high-performing” said there were good relationships between marketing and IT -- 10% higher than other companies
We all know it was Facebook, Twitter, MySpace and one or two others that got the social media wagon rolling. The first two dominate both share of mind and huge shares of active users in the space today. But why should they be allowed to have it all their own way? Why isn’t there room for a little fragmentation? Presumably, that was the question asked and answered by Louise Mensch, a Conservative Party Member of Parliament in the UK. Having gained a high profile as a result of her tweets, the otherwise minor political figure has launched the almost-eponymous “Menshn” (pronounced “mention”) -- a social-media venture that focuses conversation on specific issues. As referenced in MediaPost's Online Media Daily Europe last Tuesday, the service is currently available in the U.S. and the subject for discussion is the election. It is expected to be up and running in the UK in time to host Olympic discussions. Leaving aside what might perhaps be seen as an irony -- a Twitter copycat being established by someone who, at best, has had a very public love-hate relationship with Twitter and its users (she uses it, she’s called for it to be shut down, she’s been the target of abuse via Twitter etc.) -- there is an interesting notion lurking here. Menshn’s biggest challenge, of course, will not be to get people talking about either the election or the Olympics. It will be to engage in any of that discussion within its domain (having forty more characters to play with than on Twitter is unlikely to do the job). However, the idea of content-related social domains is something that has occurred to me before. Whether sports, news, politics or entertainment-related, there are major media brands (and maybe others) that have the audience, the content rights and the pulling power to have a pretty good shot at convening their own social networks around subjects and vehicles that have already proven their worth. We already know, for example, that food is basically the new rock 'n' roll in TV programming terms and that it’s one of the most popular subjects in social media. Just look at Pinterest, Facebook and how Twitter lights up when "Next Food Network Star" or "Iron Chef America" is on. Why hasn’t Scripps sought to capture this? It could put together a fully-fledged, Food Network-wide social hub that leverages the audience desire for involvement, the ability to provide additional content and engagement beyond the broadcast and – of course – the opportunity to create and leverage new online inventory. The same could be said of the home décor side of things on HGTV. ESPN could grab this one by the throat and own it for sport. Various news channels could go the same way. Some prime-time drama and comedy might even have the legs to make a go of the idea. The tools to make this sort of thing come together are no longer complex or expensive (if they ever were). All that’s needed is the imagination and a bit of creative thinking to bring the “Conversation” back to where the content comes from in the first place. And a few bright college graduates in the team probably wouldn’t go amiss. Certainly, plenty of dialogue will always continue outside of any one social space. But if broadcasters are looking to monetize social media, I’d be prepared to bet they’ll get there faster and achieve a better rate of return than only using Facebook, et al. After all, if a minor UK politician can at least launch something in her spare time, just think what major media brands with marketing and management talent and an array of content rights could do. And remember, back in the dot-com days, broadcasters were written off by Yahoo, AOL, Netscape and the rest as dinosaurs that were doomed to extinction in the face of the Web. That obviously never came to pass; major media owners have simply embraced the Web as part of what they do. Maybe we can expect a similar evolutionary process to happen with regard to social media and the rise of Own-Label Social Networks.
Let’s not get too excited, ladies and gentlemen, but maybe, just maybe, the term “mobile-social advertising” isn’t an oxymoron, along with, say, “display ad click-through rate.” I say this because two stories about mobile social ads recently caught my eye: 1. That Twitter -- at least some days -- derives more revenue from mobile ads than it does from ads for desktop. 2. That Facebook’s early returns on mobile Sponsored Stories (which, like their desktop counterparts, appear in the newsfeed) are nothing to sneeze at, thank you very much, garnering click-through rates that are as much as 13 times higher than on the desktop version. There are many follow-up questions to be asked -- and answered -- but I find these two developments to be interesting not only in and of themselves, but also because of the larger issue they pose: Are we too quick to judge the efficacy of social platforms? It’s a big question, and one that has taken on particular urgency as some major social platforms -- like Facebook, and its partner, Zynga -- have gone public. As popular as both are now, the stock market seems to be saying that some kind of digitally delivered meteor could conceivably come and wipe them out -- so could they please figure out whether or not that will happen in time for next quarter’s earnings? While it’s possible that Zynga and Facebook will be knocked off the face of the earth within the blink of an eye -- just like the dinosaurs -- I’d caution that even as many people, including me, have concerns about the long-term viability of individual social platforms, we almost invariably forget one thing: In the vast majority of cases, the struggles of individual properties as technology changes are seldom unique to them. I don’t know the staying power of either of the two optimistic factoids about mobile advertising listed above, but I have noticed a certain lack of perspective in analyzing the ability of certain platforms to roll with the times. Example: Protagonist #1: “Do you think Facebook will figure out mobile? Protagonist #2: “If it doesn’t, it is screwed!” Protagonist #1: “Yeah, it’s screwed!” Now, what Protagonist #1 should do is step back and realize that, with the exception of hardware makers and telecommunications carriers, no one has really figured out mobile. (Alert: I may have just gone all Jonah Lehrer on you and repeated a thought from an earlier column.) Even Foursquare, whose entire business is based on mobile, hasn’t gotten its business model completely together. Of course, if it’s my job to analyze these properties’ stocks, I might look at them entirely differently. The problem with hot Internet properties is that the rules for them change constantly -- which doesn’t always dovetail nicely with the short-term demands of stockholders. The rules may change for public companies in myriad other industries from time to time, but not with the rapidity and randomness that they change in digital. McDonald’s may be gradually forced into offering salads and smaller sodas, but the basic people-like-fries, people-eat-fries dynamic isn’t very susceptible to radical changes in distribution or consumption (even if it should be). Which is to say, watch yourself next time you’re judging a newer property on a newer device. Things may not be as they seem (Just posted: the agenda for August’s Social Media Insider Summit in Lake Tahoe. Be there, or be behind!)
Campaigner, an e-mail marketing service and brand of the Hollywood-based j2 Global, will roll out new features to integrate their e-mail marketing services with social media marketing channels. With what is called the “share-with-your-network functionality,” subscribers of e-mail marketing will be able to easily share their e-mails to their own personal social networks via permalinks. Depending on how often their e-mails are shared, marketers can now reach a larger audience with the same output. “The synergies between e-mail marketing and social media are evident,” stated Paul Turnbull, product manager, Campaigner. “Particularly as e-mail marketers explore the value of enabling their messages to be easily shared.”
Kenshoo, a digital marketing software company with North American headquarters in San Francisco, Tuesday launched the Kenshoo Socialites program. Kenshoo describes the program as “an advanced training and certification initiative that helps clients learn how to more effectively build and optimize social marketing campaigns.” Sivan Metzger, Kenshoo Social’s general manager, said in a statement, “The Kenshoo Socialites program provides our clients with an extensive tool set and proven approach to ramping up social media.”
SocialVibe, a Los Angeles-based digital advertising technology company, Thursday announced the addition of John Capano as CMO, Brett Lofgren as CRO, and Bob Lonigro as VP of sales. Capano will join SocialVibe's Los Angeles headquarters, while Lofgren and Lonigro will both be based in New York. The new leaders are expected to help the company expand as a "scalable and effective engagement advertising solutions" provider to brands and publishers. The moves are effective immediately. “John brings a diverse set of marketing skills ranging from business-to-business brand building, direct response, and digital media expertise,” said SocialVibe CEO Todd Tappin. "He has a proven track record of leadership, both within an organization and from an industry perspective." Capano most recently worked at Wunderman as the senior vice president of digital strategy. Tappin continued, "John's experience has already translated into tremendous momentum in the developement of our marketing strategies." These additions to the company come at a time of "rapid growth" for SocialVibe, and the company expects to maintain the momentum. Even though Capano will be at the company's headquarters in Los Angeles, Tappin says, "[He] will frequently be in New York, where we have a large concentration of customers and our sales team." Both Lofgren and Lonigro join that sales team with strong backgrounds. Lofgren will oversee the global sales team out of New York. He previously worked as CRO of the Epic Media Group. Lonigro, a longtime advertising veteran, previously worked as VP of media sales at Blue Noodle. “Brett brings his exceptionally successful and broad sales leadership,” stated Tappin. “[And] Bob brings his successful digital media experience.” Both are seen as quality additions to the company. “We are thrilled and fortunate to have Brett, John, and Bob join the SocialVibe team. All three provide an exceptional level of industry insight, expertise, and track record that our customers have come to expect from SocialVibe,” Tappin stated.
Search marketers have rushed into social marketing, applying search metrics to measure success, but executives at Omnicom Media's Resolution Media and Kenshoo believe that doesn't work. Social behaves differently than search marketing, and the industry simply needs a new set of metrics, best practices, and guidelines. The companies explain this in a report released this week called "Social Media Insights: Part 1." Research teams from the two companies, both heavily entrenched in search engine and digital marketing, introduced a new Facebook metric this week called "exposure rate," measured by the percentage of the target audience that actually sees the targeted advertisement. Most marketers measure the size of the audience and the reach. The target audience is based on data that Facebook provides for average monthly users. The study also determines that the length of time an ad runs live will influence its exposure rate, so those that run for only a few days won't reach 100% exposure. Identifying the impact of pre-engagement and post-engagement metrics on campaign success, Resolution and Kenshoo examined how exposure rate and frequency affect click-through rates (CTRs) and conversion rates. The ads were grouped by exposure rate into four quartiles that helped to determine success. For example, Quartile 4 -- which has an exposure rate between 76% and 100% -- also has the highest CTRs, suggesting that a higher exposure rate translates into higher post-engagement metrics. Most of the campaign conversions tracked in the research were likes, shares and other social engagement signals, as opposed to off-Facebook sales -- suggesting that this is the reason that overall conversion rates are higher than typical display or search ad campaigns. The research -- the first in an ongoing series -- focuses on the relationship between paid, earned and owned media using Facebook Marketplace Ads. The analysis examines ad types and targeting criteria using a statistical model and multiple data points from across Resolution Media clients that advertise on Facebook using Kenshoo Social technology. Aside from defining a new metric to measure engagement, the report examines how each ad type performs with benchmarks and insights, and at what point the ad views begin to diminish returns. Interestingly, researchers saw a big dropoff in conversion rates between a frequency of 4-6 and 7-9. The data identifies a dropoff of 32% when ads are shown more than six times. Kenshoo CMO Aaron Goldman said the conversion rate "falls off a cliff," calling it "ad exhaustion." Each person who views the ad is exposed to the same message too many times and eventually tunes it out. Test and learn, he said, because the optimal frequency will vary per ad, per brand, and per campaign. The study focuses solely on Facebook ads, but the falling-off-the-cliff sentiment could apply to paid-search ads as well, so marketers need to continually optimize and test.