Marked growth of the US online video advertising sector, currently worth $1bn, is set to continue over the next year, according to a major new report by the Internet Advertising Bureau (IAB).
Around 69% of advertisers and 55% of agencies plan to increase their online video advertising in the next 12 months, triggering a 22% increase in the market over the same period.
Healthy figures peppered the IAB’s results. One particularly bright finding is that those surveyed (namely 500 digital and/or television media decision makers that intend to spend $1 million or more in the next 12 months) envision spending 17% of overall digital marketing budgets on online video.
Respondents cited a number of factors influencing a move towards online video. High levels of consumer engagement ranked highly, as did the medium’s trackable nature and targeting capabilities. Many respondents favoured the low production costs of online video. Many are planning to shift ad dollars away from television in chase of better ROI, reaffirming the evolution, or should we say, revolution, in the allocation of marketing budgets. More »
The majority (93%) of B2B marketers are engaged in social media marketing to some extent, with a particular focus on the quality audience served by LinkedIn, according to fresh research by ‘B2B’.
As well as LinkedIn, the B2B marketers surveyed are also embracing Facebook and Twitter marketing. 26% of respondents cited LinkedIn as their most important social channel, followed by Facebook (20%), blogging (19%), customer communities (14%) and YouTube (7%).
One of the study’s most interesting finds is the prominent role of social media for branding purposes.
However, while marketers find social sites are useful overall in supporting branding efforts, they tend to harness each channel based on its own unique strengths.
While LinkedIn is being employed primarily for lead generation purposes, Facebook is considered better for promoting products and events, and Twitter is gaining popularity for its potential to drive website traffic.
Further evidence of the growing role of social media within B2B marketing comes this week from a Forrester Research study, which predicts that B2B companies will spend $54m on social media marketing in 2014, up from just $11m in 2009. More »
Prioritising users, rather than algorithms, is the best approach to sustained website optimisation, according to one search expert.
Yes, keywords can effectively act as bait, reeling in users and attracting them to your website, but the real ‘hook’ will always be quality content. So said founder of Audette Media and SEO veteran Adam Audette writing for Search Engine Land, adding that investing in quality is the best way to yield long-term results.
While there is certainly a case for paying attention to algorithms and the number of hits a website gets, Audette asserted that it is vital to focus on what visitors to an online portal actually want.
As SEO matures, a number of elements now influence how a site is scored – including but not limited to information architecture, user experience and web design.
The essence of Audette’s advice – to build your SEO strategy around your users – echoes a recent Econsultancy blog, advising that content written with SEO in mind must be consistently “interesting”, “useful” and “informative”. More »
As online recommendations now stand among the most trusted forms of advertising, according to Nielsen, Facebook’s new tool offers up exciting opportunities for brands looking to maximise their Facebook marketing plans.
Following a year of beta testing, Facebook Questions finally rolled out globally on Facebook on March 24. The market research and crowdsourcing potential is vast, as companies can tap into real-time feedback from known fans in a trusted setting.
Brands should now ponder whether to leverage the tool similarly to other Q&A sites such as Yahoo Answers, Quora and LocalMind, or to create a novel social media strategy.
Over at Mashable.com, Ben Grossman, communication strategist for Oxford Communications broke down the key differences between the sites’ functionality.
While Facebook Questions falls into roughly the same category as the aforementioned sites, there are two major differences; answers to questions are not free-form; users are limited to multiple-choice responses; questions (and their answers) are not yet catalogued by search engines, he explained.
The upshot is that for now, public Q&A sites like Yahoo Answers and Quora will remain important for public-facing customer support and inquiries. More »
Get it right, and a business blog can be the cornerstone of an effective online PR strategy, driving back traffic from social media channels such as Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn through calls-to-action and landing pages.
“A blog has the flexibility to produce content easily, syndicate that content through any medium using RSS, and convert that audience into customers,” adds Douglas Karr, the author of Corporate Blogging for Dummies.
Implemented incorrectly, however, a corporate blog has the potential to damage brand reputation.
In order to avoid alienating customers, bear in mind the five top mistakes to avoid when blogging:
1. Starting Without a Strategy
Don’t even think about creating a business blog without a clear plan and objective. In fact, before you get even that far, consider whether a corporate blog is the right choice for your company. Can you be transparent? Can you respond well to negativity? Can you supply a consistent flow of valuable content?
Setting up and maintaining a quality blog takes time and resources and shouldn’t be entered into lightly.
2. Making it all About Me
A business blog is not a press section – keep promotional posts to a minimum. Readers want to be offered something of value. Think of your blog as an engagement platform, rather than an advertising medium.
3. Failure to Link
Don’t be afraid to link out to external sources, and remember to always cite your sources. This is both ethical and a good way to get other blogs to link to you. And of course, maximise blog SEO by linking back to your main website wherever relevant. More »
Branded content is helping to fuel the growth of social media for business, especially when it comes to shopping activity.
Writing for Clickz.com, interactive media expert Heidi Cohen has mapped out how social media complements consumer needs for different types of content right along the shopping process.
With its multi-format content and connected consumers willing to share feedback and reviews, social media is an important part of the initial research phase. Even though consumers will ask around their social network for advice, it is vital to offer information about your products and company online.
The next stage sees consumers drilling down into specifics and finalising their decisions. They’re still likely to turn to their online peers at this point. Offering detailed product images and customer reviews, as Banana Republic does, will strengthen your position.
At the next step a prospect becomes a customer – but only if they purchase your product. Supplying content which covers delivery, shipping costs, directions, and best prices can help seal the deal. Increasing numbers of people are actually purchasing via social networks, so it’s worth considering setting up a fully functioning Facebook store, as 1-800-Flowers.com has done to great success. More »
The news that social networks have overtaken entertainment sites, including BBC’s iPlayer, as Brits’ preferred online activity marks a milestone in social media’s history.
While its results come as little surprise to us, Experian Hitwise’s report is yet another reminder that a smart social media strategy is no longer a luxury – it is a necessity.
The study, entitled Carpe Diem: Seizing the Moment in Social Media, finds that social networks including Facebook and Twitter have toppled entertainment sites into second place, with social media use accounting for 12.4% of all UK internet visits during January.
It is not only frequency of visits driving this sea change, but the way in which people are engaging with social media. Firstly, once logged in to sites like Facebook, users tend to spend an average of 22 minutes there. The second trend is connectivity – one in eight visitors to social networks are likely to visit another one straight after leaving their first destination.
According to Robin Goad, research director at Hitwise, this phenomenon is “encouraged by the connections that exist between the networks. More »
Creating search engine optimised copy that flows successfully is a challenge that can make or break your campaign. So says Karon Thackston, writing for PromotionWorld.com, who has compiled a handy set of SEO tips to bear in mind when drafting copy.
Thackston argues that continuity between the initial trigger (be it an ad, banner or tweet) through to the landing page is vital. This means using consistent keyphrases and seamlessly flowing copy.
Anything less will confuse potentially interested prospects, who may well drop off before even visiting your site.
The basis of writing organic SEO copy is to develop and follow the same topic from a prospect’s first exposure to your site to the call-to-action on the webpage. Thackston advises thinking of your tag sets as links in a chain, ushering the prospect from one step to the next.
“It should – in essence – work exactly like the process when writing a paid ad/landing page combo,” she says.
The next step is, ironically, to stop. Before writing, walk the exact path your prospects will walk. More »
For brands seeking to create that all-important buzz, viral video has the potential to spread like wildfire and build instant awareness.
When Wired.co.uk attended an event run by MusicTank, titled “It Started With a Click: How to Spawn a Viral Hit”, the site reported back with the best ways for musical artists to raise their profile using online video.
Scanning the list, we reckon there’s plenty there that applies to any brand or company looking to achieve viral success.
Here is a summary of the key advice from the event:
Have a strong creative idea
Irresistible entertainment is the key to a successful viral video. After all, you’re competing online with other brands, not to mention laughing babies, cute kittens and Charlie Sheen.
Wired.co.uk advises forgetting about focus groups or your core demographic. Just come up with a brilliant piece of content. Make it fun and something that people will actively want to share.
Make it as accessible as possible
Use the most-popular technology that’s available to upload your video, or in other words, use YouTube. It might not be as artsy as Vimeo or Muzu, but it has the broadest reach. That’s not to say that you shouldn’t also upload it to those other sites, if they complement your digital strategy. Ironically, sometimes being taken down from YouTube due to complaints (as happened with M.I.A.’s Born Free video about the targeted massacre of people with red hair) can boost a video’s viral spread. More »
