Archive for the ‘Social media’ Category

Web 2.0 technologies are the best way to target young consumers when it comes to marketing, a survey of senior business executives has suggested.

Four in ten of those responding to the poll by the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) for Genesys said they believed strategies incorporating Web 2.0 elements such as online forums and webcasts were the best tactics for marketing to those born between 1982 and 2001 - the millennial generation.

Despite this, the survey suggested that not enough firms are actually meeting this need for a new form of marketing, with the top three methods used by young consumers to research and interact with firms being phone, email and physical storefronts.

"The Four Cs - convenience, customisation, community and cool - drive millennial purchasing behaviour," remarked Shaun Young of the EIU.

"And while companies recognise these characteristics, the survey finds they lack the wherewithal to capitalise on them."

Almost two-thirds of US organisations use Web 2.0 as part of their brand-building strategies, according to a recent survey by enterprise social media firm Awareness.

Marketers are increasingly seeing benefits in deploying viral video marketing campaigns sponsored by advertisers, new research has indicated.

According to a poll by US-based firm Feed Company, seven in ten advertising executives are looking to up expenditure on viral videos in 2009 as a result of perceived advantages such as exponential views, brand engagement and online reach.

While these executives have voiced concerns over how accountable viral marketing can be, they are also realising the benefits of the medium as the economy continues to slow, Feed Company president Josh Warner said.

"We’re definitely seeing more of these campaigns because it costs less to produce and market viral video than many other types of traditional media - and that’s attractive to marketers during an economic downturn," he stated.

Video ads are most likely to engage web users under the age of 25, according to a recent consumer survey conducted by iPerceptions.

Businesses need to ensure they are as open and honest as possible with consumers as shoppers increasingly turn to user-generated content for product information, it has been claimed.

Writing on the Mashable blog, Tom Smith of Universal McCann noted a recent study by his firm revealing that over one-quarter of web users have commented on a particular product or brand on a social media profile.

The same poll also found that over 29 per cent have done so in a blog post. Coupled with the growing tendency of shoppers to seek out online reviews, this means that businesses need to take steps to manage their online reputations as soon as possible, Mr Smith commented.

He said: "Companies should share their inner workings. Mistakes have to be admitted quickly and control has to be loosened to allow consumers to discuss, share and interact with your brand."

The European Interactive Advertising Association revealed research findings earlier this year showing that 49 per cent of British consumers are likely to change brands after consulting online information.

MySpace has rolled out the beta version of its new MyAds advertising platform in the US.

Advertisers can utilise the platform to display targeted banner ads while utilising MySpace’s Hypertargeting technology on the social networking website.

Hypertargeting enables businesses to tailor their ads depending on data drawn from user profiles.

The system follows the pay-per-click model employed by search engines such as Google and Yahoo!, allowing MySpace to earn 25 cents every time a user clicks on a MyAds banner ad.

MySpace spokesperson Jeff Berman told the AFP that MyAds is aimed at small businesses and individuals such as politicians and musicians and is looking to ease access to online advertising for these entities.

He commented: "This is a powerful marketing tool because you can hit the right people you are looking for at the right time.

"It is the perfect storm and with the economy everyone is looking for more efficient, higher return-on-investment advertising as soon as possible."

Social media platforms will become more important to businesses looking to expand their viral marketing campaigns, according to one expert.

Mike Hare, research director at consultancy DataTalk Research, explained that the growing popularity of social networking as a way of communicating with others means it holds much promise for viral marketing.

This is partly because other forms of social media advertising, such as pop-up ads, have been found to be relatively ineffective, he commented.

However, he went on to note that some social media users are becoming increasingly wary of material that is blatantly promotional.

"The more advanced the social communities that use the community websites become, the more cautious they become and the easier it is for them to spot deliberate attempts at viral marketing - and a lot of the sites do attempt to militate against that sort of thing," Mr Hare said.

Recent Gartner research showed that while more Fortune 1,000 businesses are likely to deploy social media campaigns by 2010, half of these will flop unless organisations can overcome obstacles such as a lack of game design skills.

Web users who are in the habit of watching over an hour of online video per week could be ideal video advertising targets, it has been claimed.

About four in ten online video watchers are engaged viewers who watch this amount of video every week, according to Forrester Consulting research for Veoh Networks.

Engaged viewers who prefer long-form clips are more likely to recall certain video ads after watching them and favour formats such as mid-roll and banner ads, the survey indicated.

They are also more likely to understand the need for video ads in order to keep watching the content they are interested in, the poll found.

Veoh Networks chief executive Steve Mitgang said the survey showed that marketers may need to review the way in which they use video ads.

"Now is the time for advertisers to rethink their approaches to marketing in online video in order to captivate these valuable viewers as they drive online video into a mainstream entertainment medium," he stated.

American marketing executives are likely to spend about $5.8 billion (£3.3 billion) on video ads by 2013, eMarketer said in a report in August.

US users of Facebook can now access Microsoft’s Live Search engine directly from the social networking website.

Live Search can now be used to search both Facebook and web without leaving the site.

Microsoft’s adCenter is also providing tailored search ads alongside results, personalised according to the user’s profile and their search term.

Angus Norton, senior director of Live Search product management, commented on the Live Search blog that the launch of the service is "a great first step" in the partnership between the two organisations.

"As we evaluate user feedback and results we’ll explore additional ways to integrate Live Search more deeply into the Facebook experience," he added.

The move comes a year after Microsoft acquired a 1.6 per cent equity stake in Facebook for a consideration of about $240 million (£136.9 million), which at the time valued the networking website at about $15 billion.

Social media marketing campaigns are set to become more popular among companies in the Fortune 1,000, a new report has suggested.

According to research analyst Gartner, more than 60 per cent of these firms will adopt social media as a way of reaching out to customers by 2010.

However, the company warned that half of these efforts will fail as businesses do not yet have the game design skills to cope with the expectations of social media users.

Despite this, social media can offer a key marketing and communication channel for organisations, Adam Sarner, principal research analyst at Gartner, said.

"Data can be collected and used for product development, customer feedback, loyalty management, customer segmentation, campaign targeting and individual or group customer satisfaction management," he noted.

According a survey carried out by US consultancy Cone last month, over 90 per cent of American consumers hold the belief that businesses should utilise social media platforms.

A new study has sought to find out what web users think of companies’ efforts to market themselves on social networking website.

The report, Social Network Marketing, Engagement Marketing and Brands, was compiled by marketing expert Tony Chapman and polled users of the Facebook and MySpace networking websites.

It showed that organisations in the habit of listening and responding to users’ feedback on these websites were more likely to be seen as being in a strong relationship with these users.

Despite this, those companies that overuse the medium by sending a barrage of ads and promotions were largely believed to be annoying.

"If brands treat friends/fans as colleagues rather than customers, then trust is reinforced and the need to manage brand reputation is reduced," Mr Chapman concluded.

More than nine in ten US web users think companies should operate on social media websites, according to recent research by Cone.

Google has made a new homepage for its Blog Search offering available.

The page organises the most recent blog posts on hot topics from around the web in clusters based on each story covered and places these in categories accessible on the left-hand side of the page.

Following a similar layout to Google News, users can expand listings by clicking on a green link to see all blog posts relating to a particular subject, as well as view a graph showing how often posts are made on a specific topic.

"Grouping [posts] in clusters lets you see the best posts on a story or get a variety of perspectives," Michael Cohen, product manager for Blog Search, noted on the Official Google blog.

"When you look within a cluster, you’ll find a collection of the most interesting and recent posts on the topic."

The page is currently only available in English but will soon be expanded to other languages, he added.

Global bloggers make a collective 900,000 posts a day, according to recent statistics published by blog rating site Technorati.