Digital Marketing Contest 2012

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Social Ads Work For Google, Facebook

Social ads work. Google’s +1 button encourages more people to click on socially “enhanced” ads. For Facebook, social ads increases ad recall by 55 percent. So it’s not too surprising that more money will be spent on social media ads this year.

Microsoft has also recently jumped into social advertising with the assistance of Bazaarvoice, to create "people powered stories" that include customer reviews and ratings within display ads.

Here’s a quick look at the latest reports showing the how social is influencing advertising.

Google +1 Lifts Click-Throughs 5-10%

Ads with a social annotation are seeing a 5 to 10 percent lift in click-through rate, according to Vic Gundotra, Google’s vice president for engineering. Gundtotra cites this as proof that Google+ is succeeding, despite a spate of stories that claim otherwise.

“We have been in this business for a long time, and there are very few things that give you a 5 to 10 percent increase on ad engagement,” Gundotra told the New York Times. He added that Google, unlike its competitors, can deliver these socially enhanced ads at the time of intent rather than at random in a social stream.

Ideally, this means that if a user is searching Google for a television or some other product, then Google can deliver an ad based on suggestions from people who are in that user’s Circles.

Nielsen: Social Ads Lifts Ad Recall by 55%

Ad recall increases on average by 55 percent for social ads compared to non-social ads, according to a Nielsen study.

Social has its advantages, Nielsen said, because 76 percent of U.S. Internet consumers trust recommendations from friends and personal acquaintances, while 49 percent trust consumer opinions posted online.

The study looked at 79 Facebook campaigns over a six month period, leading Nielsen to conclude:

Based on this analysis, more and more advertisers may consider leveraging ads with social content as a means to better utilize the power of the network of consumers engaged with their brands. This also serves as justification for marketers’ efforts to create more social connection points with their consumers, as their brands will be better positioned to reach a larger group of prospects.

More Social Spending to Increase Social Ad Revenues

Fifty-nine percent of respondents to an Advertiser Perceptions survey reported that they plan to increase social media ad spending over the next 12 months, compared to 4 percent who plan to decrease social spending. Social media advertising will account for about 27 percent of digital budgets, up from 22 percent over the previous year, according to the survey of 1,200 people, as reported by Advertising Age.

Meanwhile, social networks will see revenue from advertising increase nearly 50 percent this year. Advertisers will spend $7.72 billion on social networks – with nearly half of that money coming from the U.S., led by Facebook, which will take in about 70 percent of all social networking spend in the U.S., while Twitter will grow to 8 percent by 2014, according to an eMarketer forecast.

sources:-http://searchenginewatch.com/article/2158923/Social-Ads-Work-For-Google-Facebook

Yahoo Search Share Sinks, Google, Bing Rise in February 2012

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Yahoo’s slice of the U.S. search engine market continued to evaporate in February reaching a new low, according to comScore's latest figures. Google and Bing both saw gains, with Google nearly matching its highest recorded search share (in December 2010).

Google-Bing-yahoo

Yahoo has seen its share of searches drop for six straight months. After peaking in August 2011 at 16.3 percent, it’s been all downhill since for Yahoo.

For the first time, Yahoo’s search market share dropped below 14 percent in February – to 13.8 percent, down from 14.1 percent in January and down from 16.1 percent in February 2011.

A recent search engine usage study from Pew also highlighted how Yahoo’s popularity is sinking among the general public. Only 6 percent of respondents reported using Yahoo most often, whereas 26 percent of people named Yahoo as their top choice in 2004.

Meanwhile, Bing, the company the powers Yahoo’s organic search results, continued its incremental growth for the second straight month. At 15.3 percent, Bing grabbed its highest search engine share since launching in 2009, topping its previous high of 15.2 percent, set in January.

Bing became the number two U.S. search engine in the U.S. when it surpassed Yahoo for the first time in December 2011. In February 2011, Bing’s search market share was 13.6 percent.

Least surprisingly of all, Google continued to lead the U.S. search market, with 66.4 percent, up from 66.2 percent in January. Google commanded 65.5 percent of the search engine market last February.

However, Google’s 66.4 percent is noteworthy because Google nearly matched a high previously set in December 2010 – 66.6 percent. Still, that was good enough for its second all-time highest monthly share. Google has also seen its share of searches increase for three straight months.

In the all-important Google vs. Bing “powered by” metric, Google continued to dominate, powering 68.6 percent of organic searches (up from 68.4 percent in January), while Bing powered 26.2 percent of organic searches (down from 26.5 in January).

As for Ask, its 3 percent share of searches in February remained unchanged from January. AOL saw its share of searches fall to 1.5 percent, down from 1.6 percent in January.

More than 17.6 billion explicit core searches were conducted in February, down from 17.8 billion in January. Google ranked first with 11.7 billion searches (down from 11.8 billion in January); Bing with 2.7 billion; Yahoo with 2.4 billion (down from 2.5 billion); Ask with 535 million (up 2 percent); and AOL with 266 million (down from 277 million). 

Infographic by Neil Tweddle/Search Engine Watch

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Sources:-http://searchenginewatch.com/article/2158888/Yahoo-Search-Share-Sinks-Google-Bing-Rise-in-February-2012

Manzil Bhi Teri Thi Aur Rasta Bhi Tera Tha

Manzil Bhi Teri Thi Aur Rasta Bhi Tera Tha,
Ek Tera Pyar Pa Lu Bs Yhi Sapna Mera Tha,

1 Hm Akele Rh Gye, Aur Pura Sansar Tera Tha,
Sath Sath Rehne K Soch Bhi Teri Thi,

Fir Akele Chhod Jane Ka Khayal Bhi Tera Tha,
Hatho Me Hath Lekr Mujhe Hasaane Ki Kasam Bhi Teri Thi,

Fir Meri Ankho Me Ansuo Ka Silsila Bhi Tera Tha,
Hum Q Yaha Tanha Rh Gye, Mera Dil Sawal Krta H,

Kismat Teri Thi Pr Kya Khuda Bhi Tera Tha?
Khuda Bola Uspe Aitbar Krne Ki Galti Teri Thi,

Use Dost Bnane Ka Khayal Bhi Tera Tha,
Use Chahne Ki Galti Bhi Teri Thi,

Use Apnane Ka Khayal Bhi Tera Tha,
Use Q Gam Ho Tere Dur Jane Ka?

Kya Usne Kbhi Kaha Tha Wo Sirf Tera Tha…

Twitter Brand Pages Adding E-Commerce, Contest Features

Twitter Brand Page

Twitter plans to go the way of Facebook, opening their platform up to developers to create “experience” apps for Brand Pages sometime this year, says Advertising Age. Citing anonymous executives familiar with the matter, they claim the new features will include e-commerce, contests, and sweepstakes.

Though Twitter declined to comment on the new apps, Chief Revenue Officer Adam had said at the time Brand Pages launched in December that features were in the works. Brand Pages were first available to 21 select advertising partners, including Bing, Coca-Cola and HP. In January, Twitter opened the pool to those advertisers with $25,000 or more committed in active ad spend.

Twitter seems to work closely with the group of core advertisers originally offered Brand Pages, consulting with them on new features and using their feedback in the development process.

Search Engine Watch spoke with companies using Twitter Brand Pages back in January, when Coca-Cola’s director of worldwide interactive marketing Michael Donnelly told us, “Twitter is a close and valued partner that really listens to brands, so while detailed lead times were short, we had been working with them on the some of the concepts for a few weeks.”

Currently, Brand Pages offer select advertisers a large banner at the top of the page, with a pinned and auto-expanding tweet. By its very nature, though, Twitter sends users outside the platform with most interactions, while Facebook dominates for brand interaction. There isn’t much incentive for users to revisit a Brand Page after they’ve chosen to follow a brand, as they can see the content in their tweetstream.

Experience apps like those developed on Facebook should help brands increase user engagement. Eric Hadley, general manager of worldwide marketing for Bing and MSN, told us in January, “We are very pleased with the growth of our Twitter handle – our Twitter base has grown nearly 50 percent in the last six months. We’re seeing significant increases in engagement as well – with re-tweets increasing 28% last month alone.”

Still, Bing’s 188,000 followers on Twitter pales in comparison to their 2.3 million fan army on Facebook. There is a massive opportunity for Twitter to steal away a piece of the advertising revenue pie of they can get engagement up and increase time spent on Brand Pages for advertisers. According to eMarketer, revenue is expected to reach $259.9 million this year, up from $139.5 million in 2011. Facebook, in comparison, grew their advertising revenue 69 percent in 2011, to $3.1 billion.

The rumored introduction of e-commerce to the Twitter platform is made more believable by the fact that co-founder and Executive Chairman Jack Dorsey is also CEO of Square, a mobile payments company.

E-commerce will be a lucrative avenue for both Twitter and the brands using it, if they really are entering the fray this year.

Over the 2011 holiday season, we saw that retail traffic driven from Twitter spent more on average, per order, than that from Facebook or organic traffic from AOL, Yahoo, Bing, and Google. Still, Twitter had the smallest percentage of session share, at just 0.02 percent; together, Facebook and Twitter accounted for less than 1 percent of organic retail holiday traffic.

EMarketer credits social commerce, mobile commerce, and daily deals sites with the continued growth of the online retail space. They predict over $100 billion in annual online retail sales by 2015. more digital marketing article on Digital Marketing COntest 2012

source;-http://searchenginewatch.com/article/2158198/Twitter-Brand-Pages-Adding-E-Commerce-Contest-Features

People Started Thinking about 5G Wireless

Just as consumers are wrapping their heads around 4G, the wireless industry is thinking ahead to 5G.

Soaring smartphone and tablet sales mean networks are growing clogged with cellular data traffic. For the time being, 4G technology can help relieve the congestion. Modern networks are able to cram more data into their airwaves than older technologies can.

But soon, even 4G's efficiencies won't be enough.

By 2020, industry analysts say the amount of cellular traffic created by smartphones and tablets will be dwarfed by the data generated from the world of connected "things." Shoes, watches, appliances, cars,thermostats and door locks will all be on the network.

That's a big problem for wireless carriers, which are hitting a point of diminishing returns on their network efficiency improvements. They're butting up against the limits of physics as they try to add capacity.

Any further improvements will be incremental, at best.

Take LTE-Advanced. It's the next big post-4G upgrade in the pipeline, and it's theoretically capable of speeds of up to 1 gigabit per second, about 10 times that of current 4G networks. In real-world situations, though, LTE-A will only deliver speeds of up to 15 megabits per second -- just slightly faster than the 12 megabits per second that 4G networks currently offer.

So what can 5G offer that 4G can't?

"5G won't be about more speed, necessarily," says Tod Sizer, head of wireless research at Alcatel-Lucent's  Bell Labs. "It may be faster, but it will be more about meeting the expectation of service quality." Visit Digital Marketing Contest 2012 for regular updates on Digital Marketing.

sources:- http://money.cnn.com/2012/03/08/technology/5G-wireless/index.htm?iid=Lead

Infographic: Google+ for Business (Digital Marketing in 2012)

Google + for Business

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