Facebook vs. Google+: User Focused vs. Brand Focused

FROM: http://blog.involver.com/2012/01/20/facebook-vs-google-user-vs-brand-focused/

It’s no secret for anyone that Google has wanted to create a social network to compete with Facebook’s huge popularity for quite some time. That’s why Google+ was created. Now after almost 7 months after its launch, Google+ is considered by many the biggest rival of Facebook for supremacy in social media.

Google+’s growth is amazing, at around 10 million users a month, so the question asked is whether it will overcome Facebook as the number one social media network worldwide. No one knows the answer yet, but the most probable scenario is that they both coexist (as much as it is now, but with Google+ possibly gaining a bit more attention gradually). However, in what way they will coexist?

A big possibility is that Facebook will continue to be a tool for users to get in touch with old college friends, to share a music video to people they like or to show their photos of last month’s ski trip. Google+, on the other hand, is a way to find out more about your favorite brand of clothing’s new collection or how others feel about that Italian restaurant across the street from work, as it is much more brand oriented with Circles.

 

Social Networking for Users

For users, Facebook is still usually the number one option for social networks, as it already has a base of 800 million users around the world, of which approximately 50% log in on a daily basis, uploading about 250 million pictures a day. But it is more than that: “Facebook me” is now a pretty well consolidated verb especially among young people, and the whole Facebook culture is a part of almost everyone’s life, which includes a movie and a dozen books about Mark Zuckerberg and so on.

For the moment, Google+ has around 65 million users and doesn’t yet have the popularity of Facebook. However, the fact that it is a product from one of the world’s biggest and most respected companies helps create quite a buzz. The social network itself has many of the same features as Facebook, but it currently does not share some of the most popular Facebook’s features, such as the ticker and the newly released Timeline.

 

Social Networking for Brands

From a brand’s perspective, Google+ can also be a great tool to get in touch with your customers. In its recently launched Google+ fan pages, the internet giant company has added some very interesting features, which should create an intense competition in the business field against Facebook. It is true that Facebook allows companies to create several tabs, with contests, coupons, Twitter feeds and Flickr, just to name a few, while Google+ currently allows companies to have one front page with posts, a tab with information and standard tabs for photos and videos. We are interested to see what other attributes are added to brand pages in the future.

Sony's page on Facebook, including several different tabs

At first sight, this would mean that Facebook has an advantage over Google+. But if we take some time to analyze Google+’s tools for brands, the story changes and we find that both platforms offer unique business solutions. Below are some of the features offered by Google+:

• Segmentation: Google+ Circles allow companies to segment their followers into many different categories, as the company can add each person to a different circle, according to their category (or even to more than one category). Whether it is by age, location or product preferences, the company can target a specific audience and share content with just a part of its followers, taking into consideration that only a part of them will be interested in a given subject. For example: a shoe company can create two different circles: one for men and one for women, and share content for new shoes for men only in one circle, allowing them to target the message to that specific audience.

• Google+ Direct Connect: users can find Google+ brand pages by searching “+” followed by the name of the company on Google;

• Integration with Google search: if your friends on Google+ recommend a brand or company through the “+1” button featured on the top left corner, the chances are that it will appear earlier on a Google search.

• Integration with Google AdWords: users will be able to “+1” (or recommend) companies’ ads on Google, and the chances that a friend will see this ad on Google search will grow as the number of recommendations increases. On Facebook, a similar feature is available, with the new “featured ads”, which are ads placed on the users’ news feed, according to the users’ friend’s likes. But this Facebook search feature is only visible on Facebook itself, not on Google, which is the biggest search website on the internet.

• Hangouts: Google+ allows companies to interact with its customers via video conversation with up to 9 users at a time, which means faster feedback, better interactions and a bigger opportunity to know the customers better. Allowing brands to help them with any doubts or problems or to demonstrate some new product or features to potential buyers.

Sony's page on Google+, including the "+1" button for recommendations

Needless to say that while Google+ is still expanding and growing in popularity, it can be a powerful tool for companies and brands, in the near future for social media marketing, in addition to Facebook. Some brands have already realized the value behind Google+. From the 100 top global brands, 77 now have a Google+ page, while 93 have a Facebook page.

Malls cash in on social sites

FROM: http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/features/investment-world/article2820535.ece?ref=wl_companies

Abhishek Law

Facebook can be a tool that lets managers project a human face.

As competition heats up, Kolkata-based mall developers are embracing social networking sites like Facebook to print advertisements.

January 21, 2012:

Mrs Madhu Goyal least expected to win the contest that she entered into through Twitter. Half expecting the gifts, she walked into a newly opened shopping mall in Kolkata. To her surprise, she received gift vouchers worth Rs 1,000 more than the promised gift.

As competition heats up, Kolkata-based mall developers — increasingly conscious of garnering more footfalls in their properties — are embracing social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter as the next-best alternative to print advertisements.

While the easiest way would be to use these platforms to generate user interest, by putting up approaching promotional activities, organising contests and lucky draws have also emerged as the other alternatives for some developers.

“A social media platform helps us connect to our users. And it also helps us gauge the mood and get user feedback on the probable additions or changes to be made in the mall,” Mr Subir Das, COO and Co-Founder, Avani Riverside Mall told Business Line.

Active both on Twitter and Facebook, this latest entrant in the mall space in the city has seen a huge surge in footfall for its recently-opened property, following a promotional campaign that include contests through social media and networking sites.

While an exact quantification of footfalls because of promotional campaigns on social media isn't possible, Avani Riverside Mall has more than 5,000 “Likes” on its Facebook page.

“Contests have generated a substantial interest, and people have actually come to the mall to collect prizes. Footfalls have increased substantially too,” he added.

And some of the other mall developers like South City Mall and Mani Square too have their own Facebook pages, where events and promotions organised by the developers are put up to garner user interest in the plazas. While South City has more than 11,000 “likes” on its Facebook page, Mani Square has more than 800 “likes”.

Mr Harsh Neotia, chairman, Ambuja Realty, and developer of City Centre plazas said: “All I can say is that these (social media campaigning) are good opportunities for ensuring better footfalls.”

THE EVOLUTION

Mall owners have got savvier in combining traditional, on-site marketing events with their social networking efforts.

An evolving social media platform such as Facebook can be a tool that lets the mall manager project a human face for the mall without having to worry regarding spokespersons and cost. By empowering the average consumer with a forum, a specialised mall page allows the plaza manager to post events and information to a central location that people can check.

They found that technologies that were once expensive to own and costly to upgrade — electronic bulletin board, discussion forum, picture uploads, video-sharing and emails — come standard and free.

While there were initial hesitations on if the forum would be used to air grievances and customer complaints only, most malls found that there were some willing to promote them. There are also people with genuine complaints, which the smarter plaza managers were quick to respond and report solutions.

Mall vendors also found a forum where the consumer can give feedback, and they can test promotions and talk to the consumer directly.

MALL VENDORS

Shoppers' Stop, one of the retail chains in the country, agrees to the advent of social media as a potent tool for advertising products. According to them, a sync between user profiles and target customers have the retailers reaching out.

“Of the several people who have ‘liked' our Facebook page, nearly 53 per cent are actual users of Shoppers' Stop. We also have an online store, from which people can actually buy some of our collections,” Mr Vinay Bhatia, Customer Care, Assistant Senior Vice-President, Marketing and Loyalty, Shoppers' Stop, said.

Some other retailers, such as Future group's Pantaloons and Big Bazaar, too, are active on these social media platforms.

According to Mr Mayank Saxena, Managing Director, East, at real estate consultancy firm Jones Lang LaSalle, the importance of social media as a marketing tool will see several new developers take to it.

Even existing developers, who are currently averse to this, will also choose online promotions through social networking sites.

“It is inevitable. Even those averse to such promotions might be forced to follow it,” he said.

PITFALLS

While there may be excitement regarding the supposed better connect with shoppers, market sources and analysts warn of the pitfalls. According to them, social networking site pages need to be “dynamic and active”, with regular interaction between users and mall developers.

Leaving questions unanswered, or not attending grievances, could spiral into having a negative effect.

Moreover, relying just on on-site promotion, too, won't generate the expected interest levels (read footfalls).

“Ideally, there should be a mix of online and offline promotional activity. You cannot rely on one and ignore the other,” Mr Saxena adds.

Avani Riverside Mall officials agree. According to an official, one person has been appointed by the company to constantly monitor its “online promotional campaigns” on Facebook and Twitter.

Heineken Offers Multi-Channel Retail Program

FROM: http://www.cspnet.com/news/beverages/articles/heineken-offers-multi-channel-retail-program

Offers chance to win "Ultimate Viewing Party" in Las Vegas

CSP Daily News | January 18, 2012

WHITE PLAINS, N.Y. -- Heineken is stepping up gameday entertainment for football fans with a retail program that offers adult consumers the chance to win Heineken's Ultimate Viewing Party experience in Las Vegas. Heineken's Viewing Party provides retailers with an engaging program to drive shopper mindsets--and purchases--to Heineken and Heineken Light at the apex of the sports-watching year.

Heineken's first retail program of 2012 directly targets "men of the world"--adult consumers who enjoy socializing, watching sports and sharing those experiences with their friends in person and online through their social networks. Consumers can gear up for the football championship through a Facebook picture contest (where legal) that drives sports-minded fans to purchase Heineken at grocery, convenience store and liquor retailers for their chance to head to Las Vegas for the climax of the Football season.

"Football is a key occasion for at-home entertaining and beer is an integral part of the celebration," said Andrew Freeman, trade marketing manager for Heineken USA. "Our Heineken Ultimate Viewing Party program has been developed to help retailers dress up the store, encourage cross merchandising and drive impulse purchases of Import beer that delivers a higher profit margin. It also provides our Man of the World consumer with an exceptional drinking experience to share within their own peer networks."

Las Vegas is a premier destination for Heineken consumers--an estimated 26% of Heineken drinkers have visited casinos in the past year and they have a strong preference for leisure travel to the Nevada destination desert city.

Heineken's Viewing Party retail program includes multi-format display pieces and enhancers, football-themed point of sale (POS) as well as instant and mail-in cross merchandising offers (where legal) on gameday snacks and is geared to drive these consumers to retail stores to purchase Heineken or Heineken Light and enter for the chance to visit their favorite destination for Heineken's "big game bash."

Heineken USA Inc., White Plains, N.Y., is a subsidiary of Heineken International BV. European brands imported into the United States include Heineken Lager, Heineken Light, Amstel Light, Newcastle Brown Ale and Buckler nonalcoholic brew. Heineken USA is also the exclusive USA importer for the Tecate, Tecate Light, Dos Equis, Sol, Carta Blanca and Bohemia brands from Mexico.

Wal-Mart's Stealth Social Strategy: Pretend This Isn't About Customers

FROM: http://storefrontbacktalk.com/social-networks/wal-marts-stealth-social-strategy-pretend-this-isnt-about-customers/

Written by Frank Hayes

January 18th, 2012

 

Retail chains have been using Facebook and other social media to deal with customers for years, but now someone is trying to use it to acquire new suppliers—and, astonishingly, it's Wal-Mart. On Wednesday (Jan. 18), the retail giant launched a contest to let would-be suppliers pitch their products with YouTube videos, which customers can vote on to choose their favorite products. The winners get a chance to have Wal-Mart sell their wares online or in-store.

 

But what's really clever is how the contest uses social media as stealth customer engagement—an area where Wal-Mart hasn't been exactly brilliant in the past.

 

Wal-Mart is calling its "Get on the Shelf" contest an American Idol-like competition, but it's decidedly less glossy than that. The product videos already online (Wal-Mart wisely rounded up several dozen early entrants to seed the contest) trend heavily toward gadgets and food items, with video quality ranging from late-night TV commercials to strictly homemade. Wal-Mart didn't even use its own Vudu video service to host the videos—they're all on YouTube, which isn't officially connected to the contest. As a result, it really does have a grungy, social-media feel.

 

Wal-Mart says the three items that get the most votes by April 24 could become products on walmart.com, with the top vote-getter having a shot at being in stores, along with support for marketing and ramping up production. (The "could" is because real or virtual shelf space depends on cutting a deal with the retailer and becoming an approved vendor; according to fine print in the contest rules, if there's no deal then Wal-Mart can buy its way out of the prize by paying $12,500 to the big winner or $10,000 to either runner-up.)

 

It's an interesting stunt for finding new suppliers. And with Wal-Mart perpetually accused of driving small retailers out of business, it's a nice PR move to show that Wal-Mart is friendly to at least some small U.S. businesses.

 

But the really clever move here is in customer engagement. Even customers who really like Wal-Mart aren't likely to believe Bentonville wants to hear from them about what should go in the stores. Letting them vote on new Wal-Mart products? Very sharp (and relatively cheap) use of social to build customer loyalty. Doing that while pretending all along that this is not about customers? Nice stealthy touch.

Nissan Social Media Growth & Engagement Outpaces Industry Competition

FROM: http://www.marketwatch.com/story/nissan-social-media-growth-engagement-outpaces-industry-competition-2012-01-18

Nissan Named One of Top Brands on Twitter for 2011; Surpasses 500,000 Facebook Fans -

FRANKLIN, Tenn., Jan. 18, 2012 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ -- Celebrating success on the brand's social media channels, Nissan North America recognized how important tools like Twitter, Facebook and YouTube have become to build brand loyalty, engage directly with consumers and generate website click-throughs. Nissan credits the recent achievements for being responsive to the communities and offering what they've wanted: car enthusiasm and exclusive access inside the brand.

Top Brand on Twitter

As reported in Mashable(1) last week, Nissan ranked #8 on list of Top 15 Brands on Twitter for 2011 as indexed by HootSuite(2). The recognition aligns the company, the only in the automotive industry on the list, with top social media players including Twitter itself, Apple and Nike. Nissan currently converses with more than 75,000 Twitter followers combined, across accounts for the brand @NissanNews and vehicle models @NissanVersa, @NissanJuke, @NissanQuest and @NissanLEAF.

"Nissan is proud to be earning recognition among such recognized leaders in the space," said Jon Brancheau, vice president, Marketing, Nissan North America, Inc. "We look forward to using this momentum to lead our new product launch efforts in the months to come."

Facebook Community Exceeds 500,000

Nissan proudly crossed the threshold into a half million likes on the brand's Facebook page at Facebook.com/Nissan. The growth, predominantly organic, took a jump with the all-new Pathfinder Concept revealed on the Facebook page in series of videos during the North American International Auto Show.

Among closest industry competitors, Nissan leads in Facebook page growth over past three months by more than 10 percent(3). More importantly for the brand, Nissan also leads in the interactions per fan, clearly fostering an engaged community.

"It is not just about the most number of fans for us," said Erich Marx, Director of Social Media and Interactive Media. "While we hope to continue our growth, we are more interested in the engagement; the interactions the fans have with the content we share. We want to use social media in one of the best ways possible: a two-way communication with potential and current customers."

Among those customers, Nissan recognized the importance of this social media channel within the Hispanic community and launched a Spanish-language Facebook page to connect with the Latino community at Facebook.com/NissanEspanol. Nissan also manages active Facebook communities for individual models including: LEAF, Altima, cube, JUKE, Quest, Versa and Nissan Performance (including Z and GT-R).

YouTube Surpasses 10 Million Views

The YouTube.com/NissanUSA channel also celebrated a numeric milestone with ten million views. Although newer on the channel compared to competitors, Nissan has earned more views in a shorter amount of time which the brand attributes to the content, media focus, search strategy and strategy of integrating the same video content on NissanUSA.com website and Facebook pages.

Launched Google+ Presence

While Facebook, Twitter and YouTube continue to drive most-active users in the social sphere, Nissan also launched a Google+ channel to participate on the new channel. Nissan is testing what different types of content the audience wants and expects on Google+, such as introducing a moving GIF image with the iconic GT-R.

Nissan North America founded a dedicated social media presence in fall 2009, enjoying solid growth by mainly organic means due to devoted fans. Nissan North America is supported by Omnicom Agencies Zocalo Group, TBWA/Chiat Day and Team Ignition for social media support.

About Nissan North America

In North America, Nissan's operations include automotive styling, design, engineering, consumer and corporate financing, sales and marketing, distribution and manufacturing. Nissan is dedicated to improving the environment under the Nissan Green Program 2010 and has been recognized as a 2010 and 2011 ENERGY STAR® Partner of the Year by the U.S Environmental Protection Agency. More information about Nissan in North America and the complete line of Nissan and Infiniti vehicles can be found online at www.NissanUSA.com and www.Infiniti.com .

About Nissan

Nissan Motor Co., Ltd., Japan's second largest Japanese automotive company by volume, is headquartered in Yokohama, Japan and is an integral pillar of the Renault-Nissan Alliance. Operating with more than 150,000 employees globally, Nissan provided customers with more than 4 million vehicles in 2010.

With a strong commitment to developing exciting and innovative products for all, Nissan delivers a comprehensive range of fuel-efficient and low-emissions vehicles under the Nissan and Infiniti brands.

A pioneer in zero emission mobility, Nissan made history with the introduction of the Nissan LEAF, the first affordable, mass-market, pure-electric vehicle and winner of numerous international accolades including the prestigious 2011 European Car of the Year award.

For more information on our products, services and commitment to Sustainable Mobility, visit our website at http://www.nissan-global.com/EN/ .

(1) Mashable, The Top Brands on Twitter in 2011 [Infographic]. January 10, 2012 from http://mashable.com/2012/01/10/top-brands-twitter/

(2) HootSuite. Twitter 2011 Trends from What the Trend: Part 2 featuring Brands and Hashtags. January 10, 2012 from http://blog.hootsuite.com/twitter-2011/

(3) According to Conversocial Facebook Page Profiler Interactions per thousand fans (IPM) metric

SOURCE Nissan North America

Copyright (C) 2012 PR Newswire. All rights reserved

Here's Facebook's Q4 Ad Performance In A Set Of Delightful Charts

FROM: http://www.businessinsider.com/facebook-q4-2011-ad-revenues-2012-1

FOR THE CHARTS GO TO http://www.businessinsider.com/facebook-q4-2011-ad-revenues-2012-1#cost-per-click-up-just-1-1

Jim Edwards|Jan. 16, 2012, 7:00 AM

Facebook's cost-per-thousand ad impressions rose 8 percent between Q3 and Q4 2011, and 23 percent since Q1, according to data from TBG Digital, an agency that specializes in placing and serving Facebook advertising.

The numbers bode well for Facebook's IPO, expected in the spring. Cost-per-thousand impressions (CPMs) are the money the social network earns by selling ads. The more it can charge, the greater Facebook's dollar revenue is likely to be.

TBG Digital culled the data from 266 clients and 326 billion impressions it handled during Q4 2011. Its clients include Dell, Coca-Cola and Heineken.

Facebook gets a global average CPM of 22 cents, according to TBG Digital CEO Simon Mansell. "They are driving that CPM up ... to have that CPM number creeping up, that's the important number for them" in terms of pricing the IPO against future revenues.

Mansell (pictured below) declined to say what he thought Facebook's Q4 revenue would look like in actual dollars, but said he thought our earlier estimate -- of about $3.6 billion for 2011 -- was in the right ballpark.

TBG Digital

That's the good news. The not-so good news is that Facebook remains heavily dependent on just a few business sectors for its revenue. Facebook's top advertisers are finance brands and games, at 18 percent and 13 percent of impressions, respectively (see charts in the following slide show).

That doesn't sound too bad until you realize that those shares are calculated after TBG Digital excluded one large gaming client from the analysis: "We've excluded an advertiser here because it skews the numbers," mansell said, cryptically. He declined to name the advertiser but it's probably Zynga, which pays Facebook a 30 percent cut every time someone buys something in a game via Facebook Credits, and is constantly seeking new players on Facebook.

In other words, Facebook remains heavily dependent on Zynga's health for a portion of its revenue.

The other story in the numbers is the effect of Sponsored Stories, the new Like-based ad function that rolled out in Q4. It's working, Mansell says. "Those get a better click-through rate than normal Facebook ads [such as the display boxes you see on the right side of the page]. That allowed advertisers to pay a lower cost-per-click.

TO SEE THE CHARTS GO TO http://www.businessinsider.com/facebook-q4-2011-ad-revenues-2012-1#cost-per-click-up-just-1-1

REPORT: Advertising On Facebook Is Getting More Costly

FROM: http://www.allfacebook.com/report-advertising-on-facebook-is-getting-more-costly-2012-01

Posted by David Cohen on January 16th, 2012 8:00 AM

The costs of advertising on Facebook are rising, but marketers who keep their traffic within the social network’s environment are seeing their costs per click drop by as much as 45 percent, according to fourth-quarter research from TBG Digital.

The advertising technology firm found that the average cost per click in the U.S. rose 10 percent in the fourth quarter compared with the third quarter. Meanwhile, Canada, France, and Germany saw minimal increases in average cost per click, and it actually fell 11 percent in the U. K.

Facebook’s growth rate has been plateauing in the U.S., which contributed to the cost-per-click increase. TBG Founder and Chief Executive Officer Simon Mansell explained further:

One of the big reason for the price increases in the U.S. market is that advertisers are still willing to buy on Facebook, but there’s not the supply that there was. They’re making more money per click. As markets mature, people will have to pay more to get delivery, as long as Facebook still has demand from advertisers.

As for the decline in the United Kingdom, Mansell mentioned that click-through rates increased in that country, but the addition of sponsored stories there took longer.

However, those advertisers who were able to construct campaigns that kept users within the Facebook environment, rather than sending them to outside websites, paid as much as 45 percent less per click.

Mansell said Facebook was rewarding people who kept traffic within its environment with hefty discounts, as it was still creating impressions within the social network, and monetizing that traffic.

Brands in the finance industry found it difficult to take advantage of that loophole, as they tend to migrate users to their websites for reasons of security and privacy. TBG said 61 percent of campaigns by companies in the finance industry drove users off Facebook, resulting in costs per click that are double the overall average.

Overall click-through rates rose 18 percent in the fourth quarter of 2011 compared with the first quarter. At opposite ends of the spectrum, France saw click-through rates double, while they actually fell 2 percent in the United States.

Over the same time period, Facebook’s rates for cost per thousand impressions jumped 23 percent, including 8 percent from the third quarter to the fourth quarter. TBG added that this figure has gone up every quarter for the social network, and Mansell added, “Money per impression will be a really important number for Facebook’s initial public offering.”

The holiday season caused cost per click to skyrocket by 55.7 percent from November 21 through December17, which Mansell attributed to advertisers trying to implement last-minute promotions and take advantage of spikes in online shopping, adding that the surge in retail advertising during that period led to more demand, and, thus, higher costs.

The food and drink category took over first place on the list of industries analyzed by TBG, bumping beauty and fitness out of the top spot. Mansell mentioned strong campaigns by TBG clients including Heineken, Jack Daniel’s, and Captain Morgan, and also speculated that the increase may have had something to do with the times of day when Facebook users were accessing the social network.

Finally, we asked Mansell about the impact of Facebook’s transition to the Open Graph and enabling of action items besides the like, and he said:

We haven’t seen any major difference from the new Open Graph because a lot of different brands haven’t gotten their heads around it, to be honest. It’s confusing to some clients — they’re going from one action, like, to infinite numbers of actions. We have started to see a difference with Facebook putting ads in the news feed, however.

TBG analyzed more than 326 billion impressions from 266 clients in 205 countries.

Cheap Facebook fan service offers ''insane exposure''

FROM: http://www.mmdnewswire.com/facebook-fan-service-82572.html

BlueBurries.com provides foolproof way to get real (and cheap) Facebook likes and fans for companies that want to grow their business

Sydney, Australia (MMD Newswire) January 16, 2012 -- BlueBurries.com now offers a powerful but cheap Facebook fan service that allows any company of any size to acquire a massive Facebook following. The service provides real Facebook fans and real Facebook likes for companies at a cut-rate price, with guaranteed results.

In an age where it seems everyone is practically living on Facebook, and more people are making purchasing decisions as a result of something they've read on Facebook, it only makes sense for companies to stake out a healthy claim on the world's most popular social networking site. And since one key measure of a company's success on Facebook is the number of Facebook fans and Facebook likes, every company wants as many of both as possible. However, unless one is a major celebrity such as Ashton Kutcher or Barack Obama, or a big brand like Coca-Cola, Disney, or Starbucks, accumulating those Facebook fans and likes can be a frustratingly slow process. Not to worry: BlueBurries.com can speed up the process considerably, acquiring anywhere from 500 to 100,000 or more likes for any company within two days to two weeks, depending upon the chosen level of service.

"We have the cheapest Facebook fan service to help you and your business grow and get tons of exposure - guaranteed," says BlueBurries.com's David Abernathy. Rates begin at $14 for a guaranteed 500 likes within 2-4 days; the premium service is $700 and promises to capture 100,000 followers within 10-15 days. In addition, BlueBurries.com offers attractive "bulk" packages for companies that order their Facebook fan service for five or more sites.

"Not only is our service cheap and guaranteed, but all the fans are real," Abernathy adds.

How can fans be "real" if they're paid for? It's really pretty simple, says Abernathy. He explains, "We have a large network of popular gaming, shopping and entertainment web sites where we provide free content, including videos, images, games and shopping coupons. In exchange for access to this free content we showcase the company's fan page to a large pool of potential fans. This process ensures our clients that the likes are voluntary and completely real. Facebook fans are sent to a company's Facebook site or sites in batches during a specific short period of time. We aim to provide companies with real people, for successful Facebook marketing."

For those who still might feel a bit uncomfortable about the whole idea of "buying" fans, it's a legitimate marketing tool, and really not much different from purchasing names on a mailing list. Even so, says Abernathy, "No one needs to know you purchased your fans. We keep all customer information 100% confidential."

Of course, acquiring all of those Facebook fans and likes is one thing; it's up to the company to provide content that will keep them coming back. But the most engaging, dynamic Facebook content in the world won't do much good if there are no fans or friends to see it and "like" it. Initial exposure is absolutely critical, and that's what BlueBurries.com provides.

"It's really a killer deal," says David Abernathy. "Our promise is to help you get Facebook likes in large quantities at an affordable price. In turn, you build a larger audience for your product or service and gain the credibility of having a large captive audience. It's the quickest, cheapest way I know of to get what every company wants: absolutely insane exposure."

# # #

For more information see the BlueBurries web site at http://blueburries.com.

Contact:
David Abernathy
55 George Street
Sydney, NSW 2000 Australia
Phone: 0280051105
Email: support@blueburries.com

Facebook rewards advertisers linking back to the social network with a 50% discount

FROM: http://thenextweb.com/facebook/2012/01/16/facebook-rewards-advertisers-linking-back-to-the-social-network-with-a-50-discount/

16th January 2012 by Nancy Messieh

According to All Facebook, the social network is encouraging advertisers to link back to Facebook pages rather than their own sites, by offering them a huge 50% discount on the ads, a figure that has continued to grow over the past year.

Using auction-based pricing, users found that Sponsored Stories which encourage users to Like a page on Facebook or install a Facebook app come a lot cheaper than linking to a site outside of Facebook.

While Google’s recently launched social search was met with a huge backlash and concerns over antitrust issues, Facebook is taking a more subtle approach in doing everything in its power to keep its users locked into the social network.

Facebook itself has already come under fire for using tactics which keep users from leaving the confines of Facebook, with Sir Tim Berners-Lee referring to the social network as a ‘Walled Garden‘.

Speaking to the Financial Times, TBG’s Chief Executive Simon Mansell describes the move as aggressive, but does go on to say, “If brands invest money coming up with campaigns that are social by design, Facebook gives them some money back in lower advertising – that feels fair to me.”

Analysing 326 billion impressions from 266 clients in 205 countries, TBG also revealed how these changes were met by its audience – the Facebook user. Click-through rates on ads rose 18% from the first to to fourth quarter, and cited the example of France, where click-through rates doubled in the last quarter after an increased use in Sponsored Stories. This could imply that users are far more interested in clicking ads that lead more Facebook and less web.

On the flip side, in the US, where Sponsored Stories have been in use for a while, the figure actually dropped by 2%. While linking back to Facebook itself might earn advertisers a discount, the cost per thousand impressions actually saw a 23% increase.

Facebook recently made a pretty big move, beginning to drop Sponsored Stories in users’ news feeds, which will likely have a positive effect on click-through rates for the coming quarter.

Beauty Marketing Gone Social; However, not at the Expense of Traditional Advertising, Reports Kline

FROM: http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/beauty-marketing-gone-social-however-not-at-the-expense-of-traditional-advertising-reports-kline-137418653.html

PARSIPPANY, N.J., Jan. 16, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- "Your favorite beauty products are right here on Facebook," tout marketers of cosmetics and toiletries as the global adoption of social media drives the outstanding growth in this emerging marketing method. Brands are rapidly moving ahead in the game with their social and mobile strategies to allow viral campaigns and create new consumer relations opportunities, but without dropping traditional marketing efforts, according to the new report Beauty Marketing 2011: U.S. Promotional Activities and Strategies Assessment by international consulting and research firm Kline & Company.

During the recent holiday season, marketers ramped up their viral campaigns to attract consumers who turned to social media platforms for the best deals on their personal care products. However, social media is not the only tool marketers are experimenting with to connect with consumers; couponing and price promotions are experiencing a comeback strengthened by consumer desire for special offers and free or discounted items. Yet even traditional couponing is being challenged by the growing trend of mobile marketing, where marketers are finding that mobile couponing offers significant advantages over paper-based forerunners in delivering higher redemption rates and encouraging impulse purchases.

Traditional and time-proven marketing methods, such as broadcast and print media, in-store merchandising, and the like, have been long-standing marketing tools. Yet within these established tools, marketers are both threatened by new technologies that allow potential customers to screen-out TV commercials and are constrained by inflexible publication dates and comparatively high costs. Social media's real-time adaptability and keyword-based targeting strongly complement the parallel of traditional and proven marketing efforts, and concurrently tap into a savvy, trendsetting demographic.

Mindful of these rapidly evolving marketing methods and anticipating the necessity of quantifying these, Kline has devised and refined a proprietary 5-point metric which rates marketing methods on how critical each is for a given brand.

The study finds that cutting-edge beauty marketers are experimenting with a range of social media platforms by establishing a presence on websites such as Facebook, YouTube, or localized Foursquare, where they can connect with the community and more accurately target a given demographic. The marketers are tapping into the emerging potential of "f-commerce" and "m-commerce" that blur the line between social media as pure communication tool and as an emerging sales channel. These trailblazing marketing forays, still in their infancy, invite cautious optimism but suggest great untapped promise for marketers.

"Consumers now have the ability to do extensive real time evaluations on products and prices before they purchase," notes Donna Barson, Senior Associate at Kline's Consumer Products practice. "The growing ubiquity of new, on-the-go technologies such as smartphones and tablets are also creating a better informed and more accessible consumer. The landscape for marketing beauty products has changed dramatically over the last several years with brands moving from traditional advertising as promotional vehicles, to also include social marketing, mobile marketing, enhanced loyalty programs, new sampling methods, and more. However, there is no cookie-cutter approach to all, and brands are experimenting with what approaches work best with their business model, their consumer base, and the image they want to project."

Given the crowded and increasingly competitive nature of the beauty business, having the proper marketing mix is crucial to maximize returns on ever limited budgets. The ability to successfully accomplish this has never been afforded so many tools.

Beauty Marketing 2011: U.S. Promotional Activities and Strategies Assessment is a comprehensive analysis of the changing face of beauty marketing in the United States for personal care products. The study addresses types of marketing approaches major beauty marketers are employing.

About Kline
Kline is a worldwide consulting and research firm dedicated to providing the kind of insight and knowledge that helps companies find a clear path to success. The firm has served the management consulting and market research needs of organizations in the chemicals, materials, energy, life sciences, and consumer products industries for over 50 years. For more information, visit www.KlineGroup.com.

For more information, contact:

Vera Sandarova
Marketing Communications
+420-222-316-282
Vera.Sandarova@klinegroup.com

SOURCE Kline & Company

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Social search is finally here - so how should you respond?

FROM: http://www.mycustomer.com/topic/marketing/social-search-finally-here-so-how-should-you-respond/135884

Posted by Andreas Pouros in Marketing, Social CRM on Mon, 16/01/2012 - 01:10

Andreas Pouros explains the impact of Google's imminent integration of Google+ into its search results - and why brands shouldn't ignore it.

Google has revealed it will imminently be integrating Google+ into its search results, to deliver search results that better reflect user preferences and also incorporate content shared by people in their respective Google+ Circles. This is a major change to how Google’s search results are assembled and something brands and business with an online presence cannot afford to ignore. Moreover, with soon to be released research from Greenlight indicating Facebook could potentially capture 22% of the global search market were it to launch its own search engine tomorrow, this move by Google has not come a minute too soon.

This is perhaps the biggest change to Google in the last five years and, as such, must not be overlooked by online players. It is a huge opportunity for them to increase their rankings in the search engine results pages (SERPS) and also extend their search presence into the realms of customer relationship management (CRM), public relations (PR) and more.

So, what will actually be changing?

It is important to stress the fundamentals are not changing; they are just being supplemented by social elements. Natural search results will remain and will be determined in the same way as they are now (relevant content + links + engagement signals). Paid Search ads will still operate within the same model. That said, the changes are significant and breathe life into something we could call ‘Social Search’, something we at Greenlight have been expecting for a while and are incredibly excited about.

The key changes in a nutshell:

 

1. Google+ content to be integrated into the SERPs

For businesses with a Google+ Brand page, any content posted will appear within the organic search results of the user that has the respective firm in their circles, assuming it is deemed relevant to the users’ search. This can be beneficial (Google+ content produced by the business gets wide exposure) or a threat (a negative review of the firm posted by someone with an extensive Circle membership will get increased exposure). The opportunity here is that great viral content created by the business could then be shared by lots of people and therefore appear in the results for lots of people.

2. Relevant Google+ Brand pages to be showcased in the SERPs

Google will be suggesting relevant Google+ profiles to follow in the search results when searches are made. For instance, if you searched for ‘music’, Google would display options for you to add the Brand pages of ‘Britney Spears’, ‘Snoop Dog’, etc. to your circles. If you then did that, their content would appear regularly in your search results. This could be beneficial as this promotion of Google+ Brand pages to the populace will grow the number of people who add the respective brand to their Circles, giving brands a captive audience to market to and consolidate their presence in their future search results. There are a number of threats here too though – if brands do not have a Google+ page right now, they potentially leave themselves open to their branded search results being hijacked by people pretending to be their brand. In addition, the respective brand will not be amassing people who have added it to their Circles, whilst the brand’s competitors might be. This will obviously result in reduced visibility and mindshare over time.

 

How to respond

Businesses and brands wanting to take advantage of these changes (or not fall victim to them) would need to undertake several activities:

 

1. Create a Google+ Brand page immediately

This would need to be carefully put together to ensure that it appears official, useful and worthy of people adding to their Circles. It should also be optimised to ensure it ranks for relevant brand search terms.

2. Put a Google+ content strategy in place

Once a Google+ company/brand page has been constructed, there will need to be a content strategy designed to deliver high quality, engaging content, consistently to that audience (i.e. daily!). Content that not only begs to be shared, but also which uses search terms and themes the target audience might be searching for, therefore increasing and broadening rankings. For instance, if you are a company that sells computer games, you would want to have regular Google+ content showing the top 10 most purchased games (or anything else we know people are searching for in Google). If consumers have you in their Circles, they will see this content in their search results when they conduct relevant searches. It will also encourage others to add you to their Circles too. Content essentially needs to be used to increase the company/brand exposure to those consumers that already have them in their Circle and also compel others to add them for the first time because there is an incentive to do so. This should be aligned to the list of search terms the brand/company already targets in natural and paid search.

3. Benchmark your activity against the competition

As with most things, it is important to ensure close tabs are kept on how well competitors are doing – particularly in terms of the number of people that have added them to their Circles over time.

Andreas Pouros is chief operating officer at Greenlight. He has been involved in search marketing for over twelve years, working for some of the biggest and most prestigious global blue chip companies.

Google Turns Their Maps Into a 3D Maze Game To Promote Google+

FROM: http://gizmodo.com/5876145/google-turns-their-maps-into-a-3d-maze-game-to-promote-google%252B

Social gaming was a big part of Facebook's success, so in a continued effort to get more people using Google+, the search giant has created a promo video for an upcoming game that turns their maps into a playable labyrinth.

I actually adore these types of maze games, and they're particularly fun on motion sensitive devices like the iPhone. But they usually have you directing a small ball towards an ultimate goal. The only objective I can see here is fulfilling Google's desire to boost Google+'s user-base. So in the end the only real winner is Google itself as it attempts to play catchup to Facebook. That still sounds fun right? [Google Maps via Mashable]

Cadbury opts for for new product launch on Google+

FROM: http://www.equimedia.co.uk/index.php?id=98&article=801264366

Posted on: 13/01/2012

Chocolate maker Cadbury gave a fillip to Google bosses by turning to the search giant's new social network to launch its latest product.

The firm unveiled its new Dairy Milk Bubbly bar on Google+ to under 3,000 fans before revealing it to the thousands more followers it has on Facebook or Twitter.

It was launched with just a photo of the bar accompanied by this post: "Remember this moment: the first time Cadbury revealed a new product on Google+.

"The delicious new Dairy Milk Bubbly, available with milk or white bubbles, will be the first of many we hope."

Cadbury later revealed that the wrapper features augmented reality technology Blippar that allows smartphone users to access additional content online.

In 2011, the chocolate firm teamed up with Blippar to create a game that people could play on their mobile devices simply by pointing the camera at the wrapper of a Spots v Stripes bar.

That used the kind of image recognition technology that other brands, including Tesco, have previously utilised to improve engagement with smartphone owners by delivering extra content.
© Adfero Ltd

Simple Energy: The Facebook of Energy Savings?

FROM: http://www.greentechmedia.com/articles/read/simple-energy-the-facebook-of-energy-saving/

BY Jeff St. John :January 12, 2012

Can online games get people to save energy? Simple Energy is trying it in San Diego and Texas.

Saving energy around the home is a pretty lonely task, so why not make a game of it? That’s the idea behind Simple Energy’s software that combines home energy technology and “game mechanics” in a way that’s gotten some San Diego Gas & Electric customers to cut their power bills in half -- at least, when a laptop or a Chevy Volt were among the potential prizes for doing so.

On Wednesday, Simple Energy announced Texas as its second target market. Utilities CenterPoint Energy and Oncor are launching a new energy saving contest via the Smart Meter Texas portal, the country’s largest single interface for sharing smart meter data. Simple Energy is running the platform that allows customers in the Houston and Dallas areas to sign up and participate, complete with a "Howdy, Texas!" splash page.

Of course, Simple Energy isn’t the first startup or IT giant to try to use Facebook-like features to get utility customers to engage in their energy use -- or to turn to Facebook to drum up participants, for that matter. But CEO and founder Yoav Lurie says the Boulder, Colo.-based startup’s method could yield unprecedented results.

“We use game mechanics to achieve measurable and verifiable energy efficiency results,” he said in an interview. In other words, getting customers to log on, get to know their neighbors and compete can actually yield deep and lasting efficiency results, according to Lurie.

That’s particularly true if a laptop is the potential reward, as it was in SDG&E’s contest. Launched as part of the White House-backed Biggest Energy Saver Campaign last summer, it featured Simple Energy's social media application running on Tendril's demand response platform. The winner, a 43-year-old woman who used Facebook and email to interact with the platform, cut her power use by nearly 50 percent. But she also unplugged appliances and turned off most of her lights as the contest neared its end to make sure she got there, Lurie said.

“It’s the same reason half of all Americans will buy a lottery ticket this year, or why grown men at a Giants game will literally pummel each other to get a free t-shirt that won’t fit them,” is how Lurie described the competitive effect. But will the same people who go to enormous efforts to win a prize -- Texas’s Biggest Energy Saver contest gave away two Chevy Volts -- keep up the pace once it’s over?

Lurie concedes that prizes are important to get people involved. But once they’re in the game, they tend to start taking pride in saving money, getting into conversations with friends and neighbors, and otherwise getting involved with the subject in a new way, driving long-term behavior changes, he said. They also buy compact fluorescent light bulbs, more efficient new appliances and other investments whose efficiency benefits don’t go away, he added.

There’s a natural comparison to be drawn with Opower, the Arlington, Va.-based startup that’s taken the utility world by storm with its mailed, emailed and texted energy alerts that drive predictable savings across broad groups of consumers. But while Opower is working with Facebook to build a social media community around energy saving, it mainly relies on the “push” of mailed reports and texted tips to get people to cut their energy use by two to four percent across the millions of homes where it’s being delivered.

One reason Opower gets such a high rate of participation is that utility customers have to actively opt out of getting the service. Getting utility customers to sign up for anything on their own -- that, is opting in -- is notoriously hard, with typical uptake rates of five percent or so.

Simple Energy tackled that problem “through deep social interaction, and by using game mechanics to drive people to sign up and to get their friends to play,” Lurie said. Apparently, it works: SDG&E achieved a 20 percent active opt-in rate among those offered a chance to participate in the contest, and Lurie’s hoping that Texas will yield even higher opt-in rates.

Once they’re online, participants can engage in both competitive and cooperative relationships, he noted -- Simple Energy’s Texas rollout will allow customers to form “teams” in support of charitable causes, for instance.

One more thing -- Simple Energy is collecting data, lots of it, for utilities to use. “We don’t just want energy hobbyists,” Lurie said. If enough customers sign up, the data flowing from them starts to give utilities “a level of data analysis they’ve never had before, at the system level, and at the customer-focus level,” he said. Capturing customer data’s value is something that home energy startups like Opower and Tendril are also going after.

How many utility customers might Simple Energy and other would-be Facebook-for-energy contenders be able to reach? U.S. CTO Aneesh Copra has asked the country's utilities to develop a "Green Button" system for easy exchange of customer energy data in a standard format, and California's three big utilities, including SDG&E, have said they'll do so this year. How quickly concepts like Green Button take off at large will be a good way to measure just how much like the internet the smart grid can become.

Facebook Users Click Ads Twice As Often As Twitter, Google+ Users [Report]

FROM: http://www.webpronews.com/facebook-users-click-ads-twice-as-often-as-twitter-google-users-report-2012-01

Chitika analyzes CTR among social network users

Chris Crum | January 12, 2012 @ 2:30pm | 11 Comments | AAA

Update: As the study has generated some confusion, I’m going to repost the author’s explanation (which also appears in the comments) here:

This study, which measures the CTR of different social network users, was conducted using a referrer based methodology.

When we discuss referrer, we mean it in this way:

Let’s say, for example, harold.com is a publisher on the Chitika network (aka a person who runs Chitika ads). If, for example, someone on Google+ posts a link that leads to a particular page on harold.com, the person clicking this link would be said to be referred to harold.com by plus.google.com.

What we are measuring is the CTR on harold.com from plus.google.com referrals, not plus.google.com itself. To simplify, we are measuring the CTR of generated traffic, not of the website.

Obviously this is a small sample, so the study in question measured the CTR of all publisher sites included within our study when the referrer was Google+, Facebook, and Twitter. This is similar to the methodology Chitika used in our first major research study, measuring the CTR of traffic generated from Google, Yahoo, and Bing (link: http://insights.chitika.com/2009/clickthrough-rate-analysis-bing-vs-google-vs-yahoo/ ).

To summarize, the CTR in question is calculated as (# of clicks generated from impression set) / (# of impressions received on a publisher webpage from a link posted on Google+/Facebook/Twitter). Hope this helps.

Original Article: Chitika Insights has a new report indicating that Facebook users click on ads more than twice as often as Google+ users or Twitter users.

“Given the announcements and roll out of new social media advertising programs on platforms including; Google+, Facebook and Twitter, we wanted to investigate where advertisers will have the highest potential to engage with users based on CTR (Click Through Rate),” a representative for Chitika tells WebProNews. “To quantify this study, we analyzed a sample of data from the extensive Chitika ad network, covering hundreds of millions of impressions, to compile a data set which yielded the CTR (Click Through Rate, or likelihood of a user clicking on an ad) of the average user on the three social networks.”

The firm isolated the referrer domain for Google+, Twitter and Facebook, to compile a data set which yielded clickthrough rate of the average user on each social network.

Google+ and Twitter users click on ads with about the same frequency, according to Chitika’s findings.

Facebook measured a .24% CTR, while Google+ and Twitter users ranked at .1 and .09% respectively.

“As always, a cost-benefit analysis is key to identifying which platform (if any) is worthwhile for your product or service,” Chitika says. “One of the biggest factors in deciding which form of social network advertising is the best choice is highly dependent on the type of campaign being run. For instance, in marketing a time sensitive campaign, utilizing an analytical approach with Twitter’s promoted trends could be more effective than pursuing standard Facebook ads. Moreover, it is possible as a marketer to optimize for all segments of traffic, and when making the final decision on an ad campaign, it is essential to keep your target market in mind.”

Of course, simply using Google+ to promote your products or services, may have new benefits to search visibility.

Madison Avenue aims to highjack the social-media craze, retargeting print- and television-advertising campaigns toward viral crowd-sourcing, product placements and guerrilla promotions.

FROM: http://www.smartertechnology.com/c/a/Social-Business/PrintTV-Ads-Retread-for-Social-Media/?kc=STNL01092012STR2

The era of "big advertising" is over, with most traditional placements aiming instead to leverage social-media online to create buzz in the real world--from flash mobs to sticker bombs to corporate-sponsored graffiti.

Madison Avenue's major advertising campaigns used to include full-page print ads and 30-second TV commercials, but no more, according to Washington University's Olin School of Business. In their place, we will see an increase in corporate-sponsored viral Internet campaigns, crowd-sourcing, product placements, and guerrilla promotions that are predicted to dominate advertising in 2012.

Print and TV advertising is on the way out, according to Seethu Seetharaman, a professor of marketing at Olin Business School of Washington University in St. Louis.

The main reason, according to WU's marketing expert, is that traditional ads are no longer effective, given the clutter of competing methods of content delivery over the Internet. Contributing to the problem with these traditional ads is the fact that viewers can merely skip over them by turning the page in print, or skip the ads in videos using the fast-forward on their digital recorders. Hangers-on to this type of traditional advertising are choosing new venues with captive audiences, such as ads between movie trailers at the theater and with product placements in the movie itself. Product placements are not new; they date back to the Marx Brothers. However, they are currently experiencing a resurgence that includes nontraditional media--from sitcoms to video games.

"One of those few opportunities [for a captive audience] is being stuck in a dark auditorium, consuming entertainment, having no choice of whitening out a brand on screen, or using a video recorder to fast-forward," said Washington University professor Seethu Seetharaman.

For advertisers who have already moved beyond traditional commercials, the Internet has become the venue of choice. By hijacking the social-media and crowd-sourcing craze, these nontraditional advertisers are seeking to turn the Internet into a product-promotional jamboree.

Take, for instance, BlendTec's popular "Will it Blend?" campaign on YouTube, which was originally designed for TV. By retargeting its splashy "chef" blending iPads and other coveted devices, BlendTec has consistently attracted millions of viewers (over 13 million have viewed the iPad's destruction). By blending social-media with its YouTube videos, an increasing number of traditional television advertisers are enlisting crowd-sourced voyeurs of all persuasions.

"Crowd-sourcing is only going to increase," said Seetharaman, who cited Threadless and the Huffington Post as bleeding-edge examples of a future where products will be designed by consumers, voted on by consumers, then produced to their specifications by professionals who then reap the profits. For instance, on Threadless, the t-shirts are designed by anybody with an idea, voted on by visitors to the Website, and the most popular designs are then produced and sold online. Likewise, "The Huffington Post," which was founded as an outlet for commentators frustrated with their lack of exposure on major media sites, but which was subsequently acquired by one of those major media sites (AOL) for over $300 million.

"This product-development model has already moved to information markets like 'The Huffington Post,' and is now moving to high-ticket products such as furniture and cars," said Seetharaman.

Another even more blatant example of hijacked crowd-sourcing is T-Mobile's Flash Mob campaign, which at first glance appears to support "grassroots" movements, but whose slick choreographed videos compare favorably to old-school TV-ads retread for the Internet