Having recently been promoted to an Executive position in a Digital Engagement team in London, I am interested to further research into the opportunities out there for brands using social media. Social media is an exciting industry to work in as it is fast-paced, unpredictable and constantly developing. This also brings on challenges to brands who do not understand the opportunities of social platforms and who do not PLAN ahead.
Digital activism has become a key topic in today's society. Many groups and organisations have been using the internet as a vehicle to create hype and change around social, political , economic and environmental issues.
I came across this websitewhich suggested how much campaigning has evolved; talking about the lunchtime dance outside the Bank of England. The dance was organized by a group of bloggers ands activists posted on Facebook and publicized by people who were interested in it on Twitter. Activists have embraced the internet like never before.
This means of activism is known as clicktivism. Where such information has the ability to be dispersed around the internet and create hype. Examples include videos posted up on YouTube such as Charlie bit my finger or the Sneezing Panda.
Clicktivism = The act or habit of using the internet as a primary means of influencing public opinion on matters of politics, religion or other social concerns. On the other hand organizations such as UK Uncut are attempting to stop this trend of activism and bring back traditional forms of activism.
Cow Clicktivism…?
I bumped into Ian Bogost’s blog from March 3rd 2011 which introduced a corporate social game which has the ability to have an impact on the world. The game is known as Cow Clicktivism where your cow online is turned into a virtual cow. Depending on whether you click on your cow enough every 6 hours your bar will increase online and if the optimum level is achieved a cow is donated to to a less fortunate family via Oxfam America Unwrapped. This game also offers an opportunity for advertisers online; if a cow is sponsored they can obtain the benefits of being ethical and socially responsible.
Since July 2010, more than 50,000 people have clicked over 50 breeds of cows over 5 million times!
I have just done my first click and I will be able to doncate a cow if I keep updating my clicks every 6 hours for about 20 days... I don't know if this is possible... am I allowed to sleep? anways I am going to try and see how it goes!
Do you want to join in and help donate a cow? Visit http://cowclicktivism.org/# every 6 hours and also try make a difference!
So why do people want privacy when they put all their personal information online? Surely it is going to cause implications. I myself do not put personal information online such as where I live or any contact details on Facebook, I think someone who wants to know more about me should just ask and any of my good friends would have that information anyways.
On Facebook users can be segmented according to their age, gender, civil status, place of employment, job title, interests and activities. This brings about the question of how advertisers and marketers and infringement of user privacy? Advertisers are able to target segments by defining their target groups and therefore targeting their advertising to these groups. An interesting read from WARC journals online, which I did not know about myself, stated that:
“Since the average Facebook user has 120 friends, and 61% use Facebook on a daily basis, this would generate more than 75 daily news feeds. To make the user's Home page more manageable, Facebook chooses 20 news feeds based on the profiles and the type of content in which the user is normally most interested” (Mindshare, 2010)
The text extracted from the Journal by Mindshare above shows an example of invasion of privacy in a way that Facebook assumes what the individual user will want to see and so manages the content which appears on their home page. I think you should be able to see what you want to see, even though you can hide news feeds from certain people it is wrong to assume what an individual user will be interested in. Even though this is not a big deal its the principle that Facebook is personal and should it should not interrupt user content.
The Youtube video below on “Click Rain interview on Social Media data mining” shows how marketers want more and more information on consumers. Is this ethical? Mark Henderson on Facebook Rapleaf have documented his information which concerns him. Out of the many other aggregators, Rapleaf has created profiles of over 400’000’000’000 consumers without them knowing and used their information and sold their data to other companies such as banks. I think this is crazy that they are making money from us that we have no idea about- do you think our personal information abused? I certainly do. Their is a search engine called Spokeo where you can locate people’s profiles by typing their name in and see information about them. The more you pay for this search engine, the more information you are able to retrieve. The example of Tyson Plastow shows how he looks up information on himself and how some of it was incorrect like saying he was African-American and he was not.
Privacy in the digital age
Online we might have information about ourselves that might not want the public to see such as Google Earth or Google Street View. This kind of information about our lifestyles and demographics is increasing and being utilised for the benefit of marketers and advertisers. On the plus side people are becoming more informed about privacy on the internet.
Consumers supply a vast amount of data about themselves beyond their laptops such as their mobile phones where people say where they are at a moment in time on whatsap which is a free instant chat messenger available to iPhone owners.
The Chicago Tribune reported that "Advertisers are eager to seize on the popularity of location-based services that allow phone subscribers to map their whereabouts and get localized content”This shows that privacy implications will most probably escalate and consumers have to become more aware of what information they put out there about themselves not only on their laptops and computer screens but on their mobiles as well.
Sniff (2008) is a service which works in conjunction with Facebook. Sniff stands for Social Network Integrated Friend Finder. This piece of software allows networks of people to find each other. It launched in Sweden where it claimed more than 80’000 users as well as Denmark in the UK (2008). Sniff does not need GPS but needs information of consumers locations. This is great for people who want to find friend but what about all those people you can’t trust online? This is where privacy can have huge ethical issues and could put people in potential danger. What do you think of Sniff? Sniff said that they give people control over how their information is dispersed online and that they cannot be located without their consent. Users can also change their settings as to who can locate them, however I personally think this is an invasion of privacy. If you want to know where someone is you can call them can’t you? Why disclose such information online? People are so hungry for the digital world and online communication and it seems to be getting more and more entwined in people’s everyday lives.
So internet users reading this post...think twice before you put up personal information online as you are feeding it to the public!
This blog discusses how products and services can be advertised through Google and how organisations can keep track of their online advertising success.
I use Google just about every day to search for anything and everything however I have not researched its abilities and resources it offers for advertisers. After attending a lecture on Google Adwords, Analytics and SEO I found that there is more to Google than it being a basic search engine. Even though I was aware of online advertising, I have never looked into how organisations can utilise Google to its maximum advertising potential.
Google Analytics
Google analytics is a sophisticated tracking tool for organisations. It is a great tool for organisations to use as it gives them insights into their “website traffic and marketing objectives”.This can help closely target consumers with advertisements when they are searching or “google-ing”; a term we have all become familiar with. In specifying key search terms and linking them to an advertising message, organisations can create better-targeted advertisements and strengthen their marketing plans.
Google Adwords
Advantages of Google Adwords is that an organisation can test and measure changes in real time. Here an advertiser can measure how changes to their campaign impacted on their product’s or service’s performance. The use of Google Adwords also provides better ways to improve advertisers ROI (return on investment)
Organisations can have an “Adwords” advertisement which consumers can click in the right-hand column on their Google search page. How to make Adwords work for organisations can be done in five ways:
1)Target
Need to understand which potential consumers would be interested in your product or service you want to advertise.
Locations you target are important as online advertising means your product can be delivered around the country or even abroad.
2)Budget
The amount an organisation wants to pay for an advertisement is up to them. There are 3 ways in which they can manage their advertising budget:
a) Daily budget
b) Cost per clicks (CPC) you can raise how much you want to pay for different keywords which will rank you higher on the page; this could be a product which is most popular.
c) AD quality –Here an organisation needs to choose the maximum amount they are prepared to pay when someone clicks on their advertisement. Google Adwords is also known as a traffic estimator which can help an organisation decide how much to bid (CPC). Google looks out for organisations who decide to manage their online advertising budget manually and will stop showing their advertisement when it is reached.
AD quality is an important aspect when it comes to Google Adwords as it affects which position your advertising will appear on the page. Your advertisements, keywords and landing page need to be relevant to what your customer is looking for. You can improve your quality by tweaking your keywords in your advertisements to make them more relevant and provide efficiency for those searching for your product; this can be time consuming and will require in-depth research.
3)Focus
Organisations must focus on one product at a time and make sure their advertisement is very specific. This will help reduce the risk of confusion of a brand and give the consumer a clear sense as to how the product or service will benefit them if they were to invest in it.
4)Advertisements
Need to be engaging and specific to the product you are advertising. It is vital to create awareness of any USP (Unique Selling point)that will make an advertisement stand out from its competitors. Potential consumers need to be convinces that they will find exactly what they are looking for.
5)Keywords
These can trigger your advertisement. Short phrases so consumers can look for specific aspects of products which suit their needs and wants. In return, this creates a mutually beneficial exchange process for both the consumer and the organisation.
The effectiveness of using Google Adwords and implications
Google Adwords are effective as internet users are immediately targeted to advertisements which are specific to their search therefore linking searchers and sellers together.
Organisations who use Google Adwords can keep track of how effective their online advertising is and the aspects which are good about it such as their keywords used. Another advantage of using Google Adwords which I found interesting in the lecture was the point that organisations using this technique should put themselves in the minds of consumers who may not have heard about their product or service. Such implications need to be considered and thought about when considering what they might search for online.
On the other hand, a disadvantage of Google Adwords is that consumers may not have the motivation to buy something online however they may still receive advertisements which are irrelevant to their search. This could result in negative associations with a brand as people may view it as intrusive. Such advertisements may also be a distraction from work so could also be effective depending on the consumer’s interests and likeability of the advertisement.
SEO= Seach Engine Optimisation.
After reading Google’s online starter guide of search engine optimisation I found that SEO is about making small modifications to your website to optimise the users experience and seeing what is best for the visitors of your site. This is important today as consumers interests and motivations change on an on-going basis and advertisers need to keep up with them.
Innovation is described by the Online Cambridge Dictionary as “the use of a new idea or method” which can be applied to advertising. Advertising is used to revolving around consumers and what they want out of products and services. Today, marketers and advertisers are thinking more broadly and producing innovative products and ways to advertise to prospects. Chris Anderson on Tedtalkstalks about how innovation involves hard work and is based on hundreds of hours of research. But is it? I disagree as new innovative products are not purely based on what consumers want, as stated before it is about the use of a new idea therefore it is a risk that marketers and advertisers are willing to take and what they think will work.
I came across an interesting website which I thought was key to the topic of innovation in advertising:
“For 14 years, Revolution magazine has presented the digital marketing world in common sense marketing terms, encouraging exploration, discovery and motivation by marketing teams” (Marketing revolution Awards 2011)
As I scrolled down their website page I located awards which had been given to companies for their innovative advances namely 1) AKQA’s Fiat: Drive Fleet and 2)SapienNitro’s Share Happy Work with Wall’s ice-cream.
The revolution Award for Innovation: AKQA Fiat eco: Drive Fleet
“From car to PC in a USB” youtube: Fiat EcoDrive
I found this advertisement exciting as it shows how Fiat have become innovative by linking information of the cars CO² emissions with online communications. This is done by using a USB stick which transfers each consumer’s driving information in order for them to have the ability to track their journey; how much damage it does to the environment and gives advice on how they can improve their driving to be environmentally friendly. This is a great advancement in the use of technology as it is personal and innovative. It brings a positive outlook on Fiat cars in being socially responsible.
However. will people find the time to do this? It depends on whether consumers are environmentally conscious and if they care about the size of their carbon footprint. Even though this is an innovative and creative idea which seeks to help the environment, the main question should revolve around whether or not people will get involved in this and actively participate. Maybe there needs to be more of an incentive to do so other than helping the environment such as deals online or getting petrol vouchers for achieving goals with your car or something along those lines...
What do you think?
Another revolution award for innovation: SapienNitro *Unilever “Share Happy” Smile activated vending machine
This vending machine is able to detect demographics such as your age and gender but more excitingly your smile! People just had to touch the interactive screen to begin the fun! Anyone who had a big enough smile looking at the vending machine got their picture taken and received a free ice-cream! Sounds good to me! This is a great example of innovation and highlights a huge advancement in interactivity in an innovative and fun way. It is described as “an ice-cream van for the digital age” this is due to the fact that it has 3G technology built in which enables consumers to upload and share their picture on Facebook and share their experience. This use of social networking sites helps create buzz and emphasizes the feel-good and sharing aspects involved with consuming Wall’s ice-cream.
Mobile technologies are rapidly changing in the advertising and marketing environment. Mobile phones have gone from 1G (first generation) where wireless services were on offer which were mainly analogue. 1G technology advanced quickly to 2G phones in the 1990’s where you were able to access fax and SMS (short message service). At this time of development, the use of texting escalated however the lecture I attended stated that at this time people found it difficult to communicate across different networks efficiently. In improving efficiency in communications, the development of mobile phones brought about 3G which changed the way people could send SMS messages by introducing MMS messaging. This allowed for multimedia messaging across platforms where users could send videos and pictures making the experience more engaging and exciting. 3G allows for high speed data exchange and makes communications between networks more efficient. This interestingly came to Japan a lot earlier than it did Europe.
We are now entering a world of 4G mobile technology; these include smartphones where users can stream videos, browse the internet and are able to access high quality broadband services.
In addition he added that “many mobile web users access the web only via mobile”. This is interesting as it shows how people are using smartphones and suggests a move away from the computer screen and more towards mobiles. Reasons for this is that mobile is a more personal form of communication, Matt said that mobiles are effective as “no other media that you can buy that sits in your pocket!” In 2009 there were half a billion mobile web users and this number is growing at a fast pace.
Two examples of major players in mobile marketing today is the iPhone and the iPad. In an earlier blog I have spoken about the iPad in a previous blog and how it can be a great platform to advertise on and what is it capable of.
Advancements in mobile marketing such as being able to buy things online from your phone is changing the mentality of consumers.
I read an interesting article by Ronan Shieldstitled “RIM confirms BlackBerry’s commitment to NFC” published this month. (February 2011). The article explains how NFC technology is going to be intergrated into BlackBerrys.NFC Is described as a forn of short range wireless connectivity. This technoloigal advancement aims to bridge the connectivity between the virtual world (for example people living in their mobile phones which I am familiar with too!) and the physical world. An example of how NFC communications can be used is that people can use their Blackberry phones to make a payment. This advancement is said to simplifying your day to day lives by giving you a true mobile experience. Ronan adds that you can also collect “local information about a store on tapping on something” as you walk past the door which I found quite interesting.
Is this a future application that all 4G mobile will be able to use? In this way we would not have to carry our bank cards and purses around with us when we go shopping. Sounds good to me! This has a similarity to QR codes which I blogged about a couple of weeks ago.
Whilst browsing through Ted talks I found an interesting speech from Clay Shirky where he talks about the transformed media landscape (shown below)
Clay says that the world we are living in now is the “largest increase in expressive capability in human history”. He adds that the mobile phone gave us the one-to-one pattern and that the internet then gave us the many-to-many communication opportunities. This has influenced the way we act as consumers
An example of how fast information can travel through the internet and the use of mobile phones is given by Clay about an earthquake that happened in China. The earthquake it was reported as it was happening. People were texting, taking photos and videos of buildings on their mobiles and uploading it onto “QQ” which is Chinas biggest internet service as well as uploading it onto Twitter. Such social connections resulted in people listening all over the world. The BBC got the information from published news on Twitter indicating the advances in social media connections with people being able to access the content from all over the world. Within half a day donation sites were put up getting money from all around the world. Clay further says that the last time China had an earthquake it took them three months to say that it had happened!
Feel free to add any additional information or comments!
Do you have any thoughts on mobile marketing?
What do you think about people like yourself being more likely to use their mobiles for internet access rather than a laptop or computer?
Will mobile maketing have an effect on computer usage? will mobiles slowly take over in the way of convergence ( convergence = the bringing together of media onto one device/medium)
In his book “Digital Advertising” Andrew Mcstay (2010) describes transmedia storytelling as “communications of brands are relayed across a broad array of media, including offline”. Stories can be attached to products in order to emphasise with the audience and create meaning with a brand.
It is important to keep up with technological advances in seeing the potentials of transmedia storytelling. This was a topic talked about in a lecture which I will further discuss. Viewers want more than just a video posted up on YouTube.
Mcstay uses the example of EA (Electronic Arts) where someone on YouTube identified an opportunity to post something online after watching a Tiger Woods golf game. They uploaded a video via their Weiden and Kennedy agency which worked as a video response to tiger walking on water to play golf. This reflected a game of Tiger Woods walking on water then showed the clip in real-life which looks like he is walking on water to show that “he really is that good”
Coke has been involved in transmedia storytelling as well in promoting the “coke side of life”. Coke aimed to develop a world that can easily be translated over various media such as Cokes Advertisement (shown below) and their global website.
Can you emphasise with this? I think it is an amazing advertisement with the integrated imagination and use of CGI (Computer generated images) and is very cleverly thought out. How effective do you think it is?
Digital advertising is now a mainstream activity where the online advertising industry is “now the fastest growing advertising medium” (Mcstay, 2010 p. 18). Web 2.0 allows a much higher level of person interactivity than traditional media. According to Sheizof Rafaeli, everyone is familiar with social interaction and therefore interactivity; which is seen as a two-way influence (Pavlik, 1999). This highlights how popular the internet has become for companies to advertise on. However many advertisers find it difficult in understanding how to best reach these digital audiences. There is no guideline how to best utilise digital communications for advertising which is reasonable as Andrew Mcstay describes Web 2.0 as a moving target (as are the audiences). It has become a huge challenge to constantly keep up with changes in consumers’ needs and wants as we always want more and expect more! Which hasn’t changed from the day we were born really...
Deighton (2007) states that interactive marketing has five paradigms which involved the responses consumers have in the new and interactive marketing environment.
1.Thought tracing - is where people, like you, search the web for information and (more likely) entertainment. Here firms gather information on how you act online and provide relevant advertising.
2.Ubiquitous connectivity- quite longwinded but is a term used to describe people who integrate computing into everyday life. Here, firms exploit information and intrude on your online browsing. For example; how Facebook targets advertising to users such as basing the advertisement on what film you have just watched online. An example is shown below:
Do you think this is effective? Or intrusive?
In some cases advertisements target completely the wrong people in terms of their demographics. An example is shown below where a man is clearly married yet advertisements for single women and dating have popped up alongside his screen.
Have there been any times this has happened to you? If so were the advertisements relevant to you?
3.Property exchanges – This is where people exchange goods or services for example eBay or Amazon books. Firms compete with these exchanges to work towards their marketing goals.
4.Social exchanges – Where people build identities within virtual worlds and firms sponsor them. A good example here is HabboHotel which can be accessed by this link: www.habbo.co.uk . I used to play this online the whole time a few years back as it was very interactive and amusing. A report from Brand Republic (2007) online outlined that Habbo is sponsored by the NSPCC who used this online social network to target the teen market.
Interactive ways of promotions included posting virtual billboards in communities for the Childline. This is also known as in-game advertising, another topic covered in my lecture. Celebrity ambassadors also visit the hotel for virtual “meet and greet” events which makes the whole experience more exciting and welcoming. See also the BBC website
5.Cultural exchanges – is where people participate in cultural exchanges. Here firms can offer cultural products or sponsor such activities. An example of this can be found at www.caribeworld.org which is a website designed for cultural diversity and mutual understanding between the Caribbean and the rest of the world.
An interesting Video I found on interactivity with digital media and consumer demographics
Question- are people who they say they are online?
Ted talks introduced me to a very interesting talk from Johanna Blakely. She talks about research found on consumer demographics and how they affect media and entertainment, especially social media.
Demographics is a particular sector of the population for example; the demographic trend is towards an older population. (Oxford Dictionary Online)
It is assumed that all people who participate in such networks exist in the same categories. Today people want to find out and be a part of their friends lifestyles; creating online groups on facebook or other social networking sites such as Second Life. Here users have a chance to be whoever they choose to be without having to give out correct information. Johanna says that it is “much easier for us to escape from some of our demographic boxes”. I remember once when I was going out with a boyfriend and he knew what type of guy I liked so he created a profile on Bebo (yes a long time ago...). He created this virtual person pretending to be someone else to see if I would talk to him! Crazy. This just shows how easy it is to be fooled with false information online which could cause huge implications if you’re not careful such as on dating sites or giving away any personal information about yourself where a stranger could track you. A fatal example of this is where a guy, Alan Johnson posed as someone else on Facebook and murdered a 17-year old girl. (February 2011)
Advertising rates are still made on consumer demographics yet advertisers find it difficult to understand variables such as your age or income. On the other hand, they can keep track of what interests you as you click away online. Johanna further adds that “shared interests and values are far more useful than demographics”. I agree with this as advertisers are now finding ways to create closer relationships with consumers and trying to avoid bombarding them with irrelevant advertising.
As mentioned before about advertisements on Facebook, Johanna adds that media companies believe you are predictable in certain likes and ways in which you behave and therefore assumptions are based on your demographics. Interactivty is on the increase in online communications. With people searching for information or entertainment online, around 40% of them have a purchase motive in the hope for finding online bargains. This draws much attention to marketers and advertisers to promote their products and services online.
