Media Buying
Twitter's ad API and what it means for marketers.
By now you’ve heard about Twitter launching its API and have probably started looking into what that means for your brand.
We were pretty excited to hear about it from an agency perspective, so we did some digging and wanted to share some of the highlights that we found.
How does Twitter currently promote Tweets/ accounts?
As a quick review, let’s take a look at how Twitter currently analyzes which Tweets to promote. Once you send a Tweet organically to your followers, Twitter looks at how people are engaging with your recent Tweets to decide if they should be promoted or not. If the Tweet is receiving lots of engagement (i.e. Retweets, @ replies, favorites, etc.) then Twitter believes your tweet is interesting and relevant to users. By using special algorithms to select content, they will then promote it to a broader audience by simply making it appear in the feeds of your desired audience. Up to five Tweets may be promoted at one time from any given Twitter handle.
Promoted Tweet Example:
The same goes for Promoted Accounts – Twitter uses a similar algorithm to suggest accounts to follower based on a user’s list of people/ brands that they follow. Brands (or the agencies managing their accounts) will not need to worry about monitoring the Tweets and optimizing as is done with Facebook Engagement Ads.
Promoted Account Example:
What does the new Twitter API mean?
Currently anyone can advertise on Twitter by logging onto ads.twitter.com and setting up a credit card and a minimum budget. So, what does the new Twitter API mean for advertising? While any brand can take advantage of promoted tweets and promoted accounts, in order to use the new Twitter API, a brand needs to go through one of the five current partners - Adobe, HootSuite, Salesforce, SHIFT and TBG Digital. Agencies do not currently have direct access. GIGAOM reports that through these partners, brands will have the ability to target specific audiences and locations. Also, “brands will have the ability to manage their Tweets across multiple platforms and on a larger scale.”
How will this affect your brand?
According to Mashable, this will mostly make a big difference for big brands that are running huge campaigns because instead of having to manually send out different tweets based on the target demo, they can now automate the changes through one of the current partners.
For example, a brand/ agency can run a campaign that will serve different ads to a 25-year-old man and a 35-year-old woman without having to load multiple Tweets through Twitter.
In summary, the benefits of the new Twitter Ad Management features through the Twitter API are:
- The ability for brands/ agencies to quickly set advertising budgets and schedules.
- More options for targeting ads including: geo-targeting (location), interest groups, targeted device types (mobile) and other demographic info.
- The ease of managing Tweets across multiple platforms and on a larger scale.
Do you think the Twitter API will lead to an influx of Ads on Twitter?
Facebook fMC Conference – the new brand Pages.
Yesterday was Leap Day, but it will always be remembered as a revolutionary day in the world of social media. Facebook took a huge leap forward with the inaugural Facebook Marketing Conference. The six-hour, invitation-only event packed the American Museum of Natural History in New York, marking a day in history of its own. If you didn’t happen to make the conference, or your invitation somehow got lost in the mail, never fear. Here’s a recap of what you missed:
Mike Hoefflinger, Facebook’s Director of Marketing, announced some new features that are being incorporated with the introduction of timeline for brand Pages. (Side note for brand Pages: Timeline will launch for all brand Pages on March 30, 2012 but you can preview what your Page will look like before it launches and try the new features. We definitely suggest testing out all of the new features and familiarizing yourself with timeline before changing over your Page for good.)
Here are some key takeaways about the new brand Pages:
Cover Photo and Profile Picture – Your cover photo is your new visual status update. You should change this image as often as you’d like to set the tone for your Page. As for your profile picture: keep it simple and constant. Use your logo or and image that will be easily associated with your brand. Here’s a great example from Ben & Jerry’s, one of the brands that has been in beta for timeline.
Applications – These will now appear as rich applications just below and to the right of the cover photo. These applications will engage customers and encourage them to click more often. Starbucks has also been in beta for Timeline and has made great use of the new apps feature.
Pinned Posts, Starred Posts, Backdated Posts – You can “pin” posts (like Red Bull) that you’d like to feature as a “post of the week”. These will stay at the top of your timeline, appearing as the most recent post.
Star posts to make them double-wide on the timeline and/ or backdate posts to tell the story of how your brand evolved. Before launching your new brand Page, consider selecting 10 milestones to highlight on your Page timeline.
Friend Activity Filter – This appears at the top of the timeline on the brand Page. You can select this feature to see all of the stories about your friends that are connected to the brand (check-ins, likes, photos, etc.). You can also change the filter to see highlights, posts by the Page, or posts by others.
Admin Panel – There is a new admin panel front and center on the page. The admin panel will include notifications, insights, new Likes, page tips and messages. Now, admins will have the ability to reach out to people privately on behalf of the brand.
New Ads for Brand Pages:
Offers on Facebook-Now, brands can post offers on their pages that fans can click to immediately claim the deal. Once they click, the offer will be sent to the user’s email or to their mobile device and is immediately redeemable
Reach Generator – This feature will ensure that fans see your story, and it allows you to reach and engage 75% of fans with the content from your page. Basically, you post content on your page and then Facebook distributes it to your fans. Your sponsored post will appear on their homepage.
Premium on Facebook – This feature is the most impactful way to distribute content on Facebook. It begins similar to Reach Generator (posting to the brand page, where your post will be distributed to the right side of your fans’ homepages as sponsored stories). However, Premium on Facebook goes even further and makes your post eligible for distribution in the Facebook newsfeed (on both desktop and mobile). Premium will also give you the option for your story to appear in logout experience. This option, beginning in April, will be beneficial to brands that have a large reach campaign or an upcoming product launch.
Well, that’s the new timeline for brand Pages in a nutshell. So, what do you think? Are the new Pages going to be more beneficial to marketers?
She the People, hear it roar.
Media for women.
This is a term that makes some people shudder, picturing a pink ghetto where pundits ponder vapid topics like hemline heights and dating etiquette. But others see women’s media as I do—a useful way to reach an audience with a particular point of view.
A new political blog from the Washington Post called She The People does a particularly good job of it, I think. The bloggers (all female) aren’t content to just search the news tickers for sound bites about Hillary Clinton and Michelle Bachman. On a recent day, there were posts about Newt Gingrich’s latest gaffe and a diet book protest in front of the British parliament.
These weren’t “women’s” stories, per se, but they were told with an eye and ear for the way women read the news. We’re looking for nuance, context, and a perspective that includes ourselves and minorities. She The People has all that, in my opinion. And so does Slate’s equally smart blog, XXfactor.
Not everyone agrees with me. Feminist blogger Jessica Valenti doesn’t want female or minority offshoots of general publications. She’d rather see more female leaders and reporters working for the pubs’ main sections.
To that I say—our society is segmented whether you like it or not. And it’s not just divided along gender, race, or class lines anymore. Dream up any and every subculture, and you can find it on the internet.
Trying to wade through all of that to find news that’s relevant to you can be daunting. Readers need curators. And that’s where blogs like She The People (whose motto is “The world as women see it”) come in.
Of course, marketers benefit from niche publications. But readers do, too.
That’s why I’ll be browsing She The People for political news this election year. I just like it. I like the bloggers’ savvy tone and I like the smart (but readable!) content choices.
I even like the part of She The People that Valenti hates most—that slash of red lipstick in the logo. Rather than offensive, I think the lipstick is bold and powerful. Like a pair of bright red lips, this blog owns its femininity—in a big way.
What do you think of niche blogs like She The People and XXfactor? Are you reading or rejecting them?
Radio gone digital; Pandora vs. IHeartRadio.
I’m sure you listen to some type of streaming music from your computer or phone at some point during the day. But which platform do you use? Pandora is above and beyond the most used online radio service, and has paved the way for online radio with its 100 million registered users. But don’t think that Pandora is the only option for advertisers in regards to an online music platform.
Clear Channel Communications, the Nation’s largest broadcast radio operator is taking a swing at Pandora. They are giving a heavy push to their online/mobile platform, IHeartRadio. IHeartRadio has two functions:
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Consumers can stream any of Clear Channel’s 850 radio stations in 150 markets across the Nation from their computer or mobile device. So, if I am in California and I want to listen to a Detroit station because I like their morning show, I can (and starting in 2012, buyers will be able to place commercials on the new platform).
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The other function is that you can create your own custom station, much like Pandora- type in an artist to build a station and the same genre of music will play according to your “likes” or “dislikes” per song.
The only catch with IHeartRadio is that in order to build a station you must sign up through your Facebook account. This function is perfect for media buyers because it allows us access to a listener’s key demographic information and the ability to geo-target. Clear Channel is also reinforcing IHeartRadio by using their 850 broadcast radio stations to promote listening online or via mobile device – a promotional option that Pandora does not have.
Just when we wondered if radio was slowly dying as a medium, the leaders reinvent themselves and adapt to the future. As a media buyer, it’s a great option to have IHeartRadio to compliment a traditional radio buy.
Just like almost every other medium, radio too has moved digital. The question is which platform will bring the most success and who will take the lead? Regardless of who wins the battle – It’s a win-win for advertising.
What new social media music platform means for media buyers.
I ran across a Mashable article the other day about a new social media platform for music artists. Well, it’s really not new. It’s called Posted and it launched last year as medium for artists to share updates with fans. Posted was launched by the MTV Music Group. It’s relevant today, as they are making tweaks to the platform and adding a user (or fan) generated content portion. Fans will be able to upload photos, video and more. It’s a two-way street that can bring a fan closer to their favorite artist.
I thought this was interesting from an advertisers’ standpoint; because now I know an audience will probably be spending more time on the site. And if I have a branding message that I’d like to get out to the: MTV, VH1 or CMT audience it’s a perfect place to be.
There are two ad units on the page. They are located above the fold and can be companion ads. These ads look clean and less cluttered than other sites. From my point of view, it’s pretty cool that I can post a photo from the Usher concert and in the same location he (Usher of course) can post information about his concert in Detroit. It’s also an added bonus that my clients’ ads can be seen next to that same content.
What do you think of the evolving platform? And how do you think the ad units look?
Ads on your Facebook homepage; should they stay or should they go?
Facebook is testing a real-time "happening now" feed that will fall on the right hand side of the homepage. It will allow users to see what their friends are liking, sharing and commenting on in real time (not delayed like the regular news feed). The question is... where will the ads go? We all know advertisers are able to target users based their Facebook likes and interests, and this is very beneficial because it allows us to link our brands to the people who are most likely to have a connection to them.
According to social media statistics, Facebook is now the number one site visited on the web globally, overtaking Google, and continues to grow as an advertising outlet. Some people say that getting rid of Facebook ads is good thing, and it will force marketers to become less dependent on homepage ads and be more creative; possibly implementing something similar to promoted tweets. Others don't understand why Facebook would want to cut into their ad budget. If Facebook goes through with this change, I hope they replace it with a new ad model. What side do you take? Do you hope Facebook gets rid of the ads on the homepage or keep them?
Why the best media buyers are sometimes couch potatoes.
You can have the the most innovative media buy but if it’s not monitored properly, it means nothing. Media buyers have to ensure their clients’ buys run properly all the time. For television buys, some of us buyers actually get obsessed and try to watch each program that our clients’ commercials are scheduled to air. At that point it can become more entertaining to watch the commercials than the actual programs.
I was watching the season finale and the series end of Smallville a few weeks ago. Besides the fact that it’s my favorite show ever, I was waiting for the break where my post weight was placed. I stayed glued to the sofa and watched every break. During my wait I was extremely entertained by an AT&T 4G commercial called Flash Mob and my personal favorite (right now) and Ally Bank commercial called Interview.
Some of my favorites are (some are oldies but goodies):
Boost Mobile – Bicycle, Unwronged
What are some of your all-time favorite commercials?
Leveraging a traditional brand in non-traditional media.
During the era of poodle skirts and pedal pushers, Harry J. Hoenselaar began a tradition that that would be loved by generations. He opened his first HoneyBaked Ham store in Michigan. With the finest-quality ham and mouthwatering sweet glaze, Harry invented Ham, as we know it--through his novel invention of the spiral-slicing machine. For 50 years, the world has loved the tradition of HoneyBaked. So to keep the brand fresh for the next 50 years, we used non-traditional media.
When taking a traditional brand into non-traditional media, it is important to carry through with the emotion of the brand. For HoneyBaked it is the nostalgic memories that takes you back to your first HoneyBaked holiday and makes you want to pass the tradition on to the next generation. People love sharing HoneyBaked with those they love; so social media is a natural environment for HoneyBaked marketing. Through social media, mobile media, mobile advertising and online streaming, HoneyBaked has been able to reach out to their fans more than ever. As a result of marketing efforts of five divisions, HoneyBaked attained nearly 10,000 fans in the first 5 months of launching their national Facebook page.
What are some ways you have discovered traditional brands in non-traditional media?
With Easter, this weekend, you may consider being a fan yourself at facebook.com/HoneyBaked.
Non-traditional media at the ballpark.
The first crack of a bat and pop of a glove are sounds coming from baseball diamonds all across America as MLB opening days start off the season. It’s also a big day for some advertisers because they can start monitoring their in-stadium campaigns. What are some of the newest ways advertisers are reaching fans at games this year?
We have seen the amount of exposure a product/service can receive from advertising at a baseball stadium. From the LED panels behind home plate, first base and third base, to the eBlasts and texts that persuade fans to “play this game,” or “check out our Facebook fan page.” But don’t forget about the advertisements that are strategically placed around concessions, on cups, napkins, seat cushions and foam fingers, because really…what’s a game without SWAG?
One of the newest ways to reach fans is by going right to the one thing that keeps them most connected with the world, their phone. To many people, cell phones are like an extension to their body; glued to them at all times making them always accessible. Next time you’re walking into a stadium, look to see if there are any signs outside that say, “turn on your Bluetooth, sign up and win free stuff!” Advertisers now have the option to place Bluetooth deliver devices at stadium gates that scan and pick up any Bluetooth signal. This will send a welcome message that allows fans to download an application to receive exclusive coupons, make reservations, play interactive games to win prizes, buy merchandise or even participate in a charity event. In the Detroit market at Comerica Park, Cedar Point ran a text promotion that played a video on the big screen of people riding a rollercoaster. Fans had to text a number and guess which coaster it was at Cedar Point. The first person who guessed the correct coaster won day passes to the amusement park.
Mobile technology and stadium advertising has opened many doors and given us endless ways to reach a niche consumer on a personal level, even in the middle of an exciting baseball game. By the seventh inning stretch, how many coupons, Facebook pages and promotions do you think you have you been exposed to?
Elder-care marketers? Anybody home?
Forget the sandwich, in the words of our illustrious COO, Maria Marcotte, I am a full-fledged member of the "four course meal generation." I won't mention my three children whose ages span 21 years, my full time career, or volunteering (although after 6 years of Lost, my schedule has now cleared for an hour a week), I'll just focus on an ever-so-gracefully aging mother who is halfway through a rehab stint at a very good convalescent home in North Carolina.
I've spent the last three weeks dashing around between home, work, hospital, and convalescent care, since my mother had knee replacement surgery. And would you like to guess how many elder-care marketing messages I've encountered? None.
What a missed opportunity. Do I want the best ongoing care for my mother? Yes. Do I have time to figure out what that really means? No. In the hours I have spent with her at the hospital and in the nursing home (sorry Mom, I know you like to call it re-hab), have I been a captive audience with a Blackberry and a penchant for searching health tips for older folks? You betcha. But not one relevant ad has crossed my path. In fact, kudos go to Johns Hopkins for being the ONLY organization to remotely recognize my situation, but that is only through opt-in health alerts.
So where are the marketers? I'm not that hard to find. Why not serve me up something on Facebook (since my life story is now ever-so-public)? As I dig around online why am I not targeted contextually? Why aren't those ads hitting me on my phone during those endless bedside hours?
Long-term care insurers? Long-term care providers? Home health organizations? Home medical equipment retailers? Hello? Anybody out there? Help me and the millions of people like me figure this elder care mystery out - we certainly don't have the luxury of time to do it ourselves.
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