Among the many records broken in the mobile ecosystem last week, Facebook’s Instagram was among them. The photo editing and sharing app proclaimed on Friday that “the day broke all Instagram records as we saw the number of shared photos more than double from the day before, making it our busiest day so far,” according to the company blog. The activity spiked, as one would expect, in the afternoon. As the East Coast was digesting and the West Coast starting to gather around meal tables, Instagram was hit with 226 Thanksgiving Day tagged photos per second. Overall members shared 10 million holiday images on T-Day. The best route for monetizing that staggering level of user-generated content and intimate involvement with the service goes on, however. The site last week also offered its own Instagram holiday gift guide, distributing items from third parties that touched the social net’s brand. Picks included an Instagram 35mm slide projector, a calendar of Instagram photos and a wood, cork and leather children’s toy in the image of the app’s iconic icon. As Instagram integrates more deeply with its parent company Facebook, it has gone through some its own transformations of late. There finally is a Web presence for Instagram accounts, making the images and brand presence more searchable across platforms. Last week Instagram also introduced “badges,” which helps link people to their online Instagram site. Facebook also announced last week that it would share user data with Instagram, suggesting that at some point we will see a fuller integration of profiles and accounts between the two services. Facebook is just starting to find its way into the e-commerce revenue stream, and a visual network like Instagram may be one of its best bets. Like Pinterest, Instagram is custom made for people to show off and share their favorite goods, and to do so at the point of purchase. Facebook perhaps could use some help in leveraging e-commerce. According to IBM Smarter Commerce and its analysis of Thanksgiving Day online purchasing, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and other social sites were responsible for a meager .2% of referrals on Thanksgiving.
Part Two: Targeted Media Planning Generates Best Impact Since more than 90% of travel planning is done online, having a compelling digital presence is essential for tourism brands. When it comes to identifying priorities for where to advertise, options include pay-per-click, Facebook, Twitter, blogs, e-mails, banner ads and branded content. With limited marketing funds, how do you get the most from your media spend? This is the second in a three-part series designed to help you develop a results-focused media plan for 2013. This article focuses on where and when to apply the message across other content and media channels so you’ll get heads in beds at the most critical times of year. In the first part of our series, we shared tips on how to prioritize who you want to focus your digital communication efforts on. After you’ve narrowly defined your target audience (e.g., Millennials, Baby Boomers, etc.) and determined objectives (e.g. attracting a new audience segment or inspiring repeat visits from people specific geographic areas), it’s time to begin mapping when and where to connect with them. Step 1: Analyze the media investments you made in the past year, including information sources driving traffic to your website and social media sites, to identify the best performers. If you’re like most travel marketers, you’ll find that search engines are tops in website referrals and destination selection, and email marketing and Facebook ads also usually perform very well. Step 2: Plan to have an ongoing presence allowing your brand to be visible when your target audience is ready to consider short-term or long-term travel options. That most often means year-round pay-per-click, e-blast programs and ads in destination guides. Step 3: Identify potential media most likely to be viewed, heard or read by the people you are trying to attract during your off-season. If Baby Boomers are your targets, include the leading newspaper or city magazine from the geographic area you targeted on your list. Millennials are more likely to be reading popular lifestyle brands, such as Urban Daddy,Thrillist and Tasting Table, publishing free daily emails. Many of these sites produce versions created for specific cities. Special interest blogs are a great way to reach niche audiences, including foodies, beer drinkers, wine lovers, parents, skiers, cyclists and more. If your target audience fits any of these profiles, invite the most popular bloggers to visit your area and write about their experiences. You’ll need to cover the bloggers’ travel expenses and in some cases also may also pay a fee or advertise on the blogs. If you represent a luxury hotel and are targeting affluent consumers, working with an online booking service like Jetsetter, an invitation-only travel community, may make sense. Jetsetter curates and features vacation experiences on its website based on places its journalists have visited and verified; participating hotels pay a percentage of room rate for nights booked by the service. Step 4: Request a media kit and a proposal from the outlets you think might be good matches with your audience. Brief your ad reps on these important points:
When it comes to creating the optimal Web experience, nowhere are standards higher and the audience tougher than in the world of digital sports. In the same way that sports fans demand 92-inch screens, theater-quality audio and even 3D, the digital experience needs to be state-of-the-art as well. If you don’t offer the best, don’t get in the game. Only winning counts. Whether the NFL or Major League Soccer, sports has the most extreme challenge in satisfying a fan accustomed to constant action, high-intensity drama, and who takes great graphics and multimedia for granted. The major sports leagues and sports teams around the world provide all of this with state-of-the-art technology to support their efforts. For example, spend a few minutes at www.nfl.com, the digital home of the National Football League, or visit www.mlssoccer.com, the site of Major League Soccer, and you’ll find blogs, copious amounts of video, interactive schedules, quick links to Facebook and fantasy leagues, and plenty of game highlights and retrospectives. Sports sites often provide the best examples of bringing together content, community and commerce. To produce a winning digital sports experience, there are some key building blocks to ensure success: Mobile Content Experiences: Content is king. It’s important that the action never stops and that the viewer is continually engaged. RWD, or responsive web design, will ensure that your content is compelling on mobile tablets and smartphones as well as laptops and desktop screens. HTML5 options continue to evolve and offer the basis for an alternative presentation on Apple IOS devices, where Flash in not supported. Great content and interactivity must work together to produce a flawless user experience. The ability to tap into the user’s location can also open up compelling new marketing program options to increase consumer conversion rates. Video: For many fans, sports is video and video is sports. Highlights, replays and even the great games of the past are where many fans will feel most connected to the digital experience. The video has to be compelling, easily streamed, easily shared, and the interface for searching and finding just the right highlight has to be intuitive. On the backend, serving up the video through a content delivery network, or CDN, as well as transcoding services can be key to ensuring a smooth, reliable, and optimized video experience across device types. Video files are typically large and are good candidates for cloud storage. Social Networking: Connecting fans to the larger fan community is essential – and expected. Whether providing blogs, forums, or building that connection through Facebook and Twitter, give fans an easy way to share their experiences. Think “digital tailgate party.” Also, providing exclusive access to sports personalities via the community is another attractive way to improve engagement and excite a fan base. Rich Online Shopping Experiences: Once emerging fans are fully immersed in one of their teams, the last mile is getting them to buy the gear. Enabling transformative shopping experiences that embed rich content and social experiences often lead to higher sales and repeat purchases. Engaging fans at a higher level during the last mile of the customer journey can elevate a brand over the competition. Gamification: Fantasy Leagues are an enormous component of the online sports experience, and fans are passionate and committed. Incorporating participatory game elements when possible in your site will resonate with your audience. And the fantasy football/gamification experience also provides a rich social networking connection. The revenue stakes are high and competition for each dollar in the digital world of sports is, well, Xtreme. The technical platforms must offer a seamless intersection of content, community, and commerce to offer a compelling experience. Marketing success in the digital world of sports is as competitive as the Superbowl or the World Series. To get into the game, you must build an amazing site that leverages the latest technology – and be prepared to continually keep pace with the public’s definition of “the best.” In the competitive world of digital sports, that’s the only way to be a winner at every point in the fan’s journey.