September 2, 2011 – Welcome to another RDI Click! post. Click! is a weekly collection of digital news highlights from Red Door’s most inquiring minds.

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Audience Targeting Strategies for LinkedIn Ads  - Search Engine Watch
“The current targeting options within LinkedIn are robust and well-suited to the audience on LinkedIn: they focus on professional affiliations, rather than personal attributes/interests/likes such as Facebook. Unlike Facebook, where you determine the targeting at the ad level, within LinkedIn, your audience targeting is established at the campaign level.”
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Supercookies: What You Need to Know About the Web’s Latest Tracking Device - Mashable
“Recently, online properties like Hulu, MSN and Flixster have been caught using a tougher version of the common cookie. These “supercookies” (aka “Flash cookies” and “zombie cookies”) serve the same purpose as regular cookies by tracking user preferences and browsing histories. Unlike their popular cousins, however, this breed is difficult to detect and subsequently remove. These cookies secretly collect user data beyond the limitations of common industry practice, and thus raise serious privacy concerns.”
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What Google Must Do To Not Make G+ Evil - Social Media Explorer
“If Google chooses to weight its own content greater than that of its now social competitors, it crosses the line and becomes what it set out to avoid becoming: Evil. Prioritizing Google+ activity in search results would, by definition, make Google+ a more important social network than others. This would inevitably drive more activity on Google+.”
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Fashion Brands Have Started to Air Grievances About Fashion-Hungry Tumblr - New York Magazine
“For the second season in a row, Tumblr is sending bloggers to Fashion Week, where, with the help of some partner brands, the young writers and photographers will get to do fun things with designers, like meet them or go to their shows or eat scones at their apartments. Then they can put posts about their frolics on their blogs, making them look like they hit the big time and giving Tumblr an edge in positioning itself as the blogging platform you use if you want to post about fashion. So the bloggers win, Tumblr wins, and the brands — do they win?” 
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A comprehensive list of noteworthy news can be found at http://bit.ly/nuUyKP . Also, be sure to follow us on Twitter if you’d like up to the minute updates on our latest posts @reddoor.

July 29, 2011 – Welcome to another RDI Click! post. Click! is a weekly collection of digital news highlights from Red Door’s most inquiring minds.

Click, enjoy and learn.

We’ve done the hard work for you.

Google Launches Hotel Search Tool With Room Price Data - Mashable
“Hotel Finder, an experimental search tool, enables users to define key lodging preferences in hopes of finding the perfect hotel for their travel needs.Users input their preferred location, dates, price and rating details, and Hotel Finder delivers its top recommendations, in a list or on a Google Map. For the moment, it’s only available in the U.S.”
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Spotify Sued for Patent Infringement - Mashable
“The patent in question is for a “Device for the distribution of music information in digital form.” The patent was filed in the ’90s, and was purchased by PacketVideo a few years ago. Now, the company is claiming that Spotify is infringing on the patent, causing “irreparable harm and damage” to its business, according to the suit.”
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Business Guide to Facebook Launches- Search Engine Watch
“Launched Tuesday, Facebook for Business attempts to lay out a clear, concise, and easy-to-follow guide for businesses, making the problem of over-optimizing a thing of the past. The resource center brings value to business owners, employees tasked to handle social media, and marketers looking for science and statistics to sell and educate regarding Facebook services.”
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Five Tips on Marketing to the Millennial Mom - Advertising Age
“Millennial consumers have held marketers rapt since they burst into demographic studies as the influential ‘tween offspring of the earnest and omnipresent boomers in early 2000. The top side of millennials is just hitting 30 years of age, while the mean is about 22. As they are becoming parents themselves, this group constitutes the first generation of moms to enter motherhood replete with perpetual connectivity, myriad online and offline social networks and a yen for the triple bottom line in every purchase.”
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Twitter Intros Ability To Target Promoted Tweets To Followers - Search Engine Land
“Twitter is now allowing brands to target their promoted tweets to followers only. Like other promoted tweets, the messages appear at the top of users’ timelines upon login, and scroll down afterwards. They can also be dismissed immediately.” 
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A comprehensive list of noteworthy news can be found at http://bit.ly/nuUyKP . Also, be sure to follow us on Twitter if you’d like up to the minute updates on our latest posts @reddoor.

July 22, 2011 – Welcome to another RDI Click! post. Click! is a weekly collection of digital news highlights from Red Door’s most inquiring minds.

Click, enjoy and learn.

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How Google+ will Transform Search and Search Marketing - Read Write Mobile
“App.net lets you make customizable landing pages for your mobile application. Using simple templates, your landing page can feature a description, a mockup of a mobile phone with a rotating carousel of the app’s screens, links to download the app on various app stores, social sharing buttons and links to your company’s online presence on sites like Facebook and Twitter.”
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Android Jobs to Surpass iPhone Jobs by Year-End, Report Finds - Read Write Mobile
“Android jobs are on pace to eclipse iPhone jobs by the end of 2012. Despite what the company describes as “solid growth” in iPhone jobs – they’re up 9% from Q1 to Q2 this year – Android jobs have increased by 20%.”
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Google Introduces AdWords Credit Card for Advertisers- Search Engine Watch
“Select U.S. search advertisers are being offered the chance to sign up for a new Google AdWords Business credit card. Google sent out invites via email starting Wednesday for the card, which can only be used to buy AdWords advertising and features an 8.99 percent interest rate and no annual fees.”
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Bing Tests Ads Within Organic Search Results? - Search Engine Land
“Placing search ads inline with organic free listings is somewhat taboo for search companies.Years ago, search engines had “paid inclusion” programs which guaranteed content to be indexed, but they had no ranking factors. In fact, Yahoo after much controversy dropped their paid inclusion program in 2009.”
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HOW TO: Integrate Google+ Into Your WordPress Site - Mashable
“Here’s an easy to use WordPress widget that displays your Google+ profile on your blog. Just install the plug-in and drag the widget into your sidebar. Then fill out the form and you’re done.” 
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A comprehensive list of noteworthy news can be found at http://bit.ly/nuUyKP . Also, be sure to follow us on Twitter if you’d like up to the minute updates on our latest posts @reddoor.

July 15th, 2011 – Welcome to another RDI Click! post. Click! is a weekly collection of digital news highlights from Red Door’s most inquiring minds.

Click, enjoy and learn.

We’ve done the hard work for you.

Custom Landing Pages for Your App - ReadWrite Mobile
“App.net lets you make customizable landing pages for your mobile application. Using simple templates, your landing page can feature a description, a mockup of a mobile phone with a rotating carousel of the app’s screens, links to download the app on various app stores, social sharing buttons and links to your company’s online presence on sites like Facebook and Twitter.”
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Facebook Commerce: A Brief History - Ad Age
“Brands have been hawking product on their Facebook fan pages for no more than two years now and yet the promise of F-commerce has the retail world buzzing. One prediction says social commerce will top $30 billion globally by 2015, with Facebook-generated sales one of the primary drivers.”
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Privacy Options Come to Online Video Ads   - Ad Age
“Beginning this September, online video ad network Tremor Video will feature the privacy icon on virtually all of the ads that appear on its network, mostly 15- and 30-second commercial spots common to TV. Tremor is the largest video ad network, serving more than 700 million ads to more than 20% of the internet audience in May, according to ComScore.”
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5 Chrome Extensions That Improve Google+ - Mashable
“While Google works on adding more features, some available Chrome extensions can fill the functionality gap. Whether you want to get better notifications, enjoy improved sharing options, or scroll through your stream more quickly, there’s an extension available — for free — to help.”
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Twitter gears up auto-ads for big clients - Reuters
“The company will soon provide a so-called application programming interface, or API, that will help advertising agencies and corporations deliver large volumes of ads on Twitter. Access to the API, which Twitter plans to begin in the fourth quarter, will initially be rolled out as a test involving a limited number of partners.” 
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A comprehensive list of noteworthy news can be found at http://bit.ly/nuUyKP . Also, be sure to follow us on Twitter if you’d like up to the minute updates on our latest posts @reddoor.

June 24th, 2011 – Welcome to another RDI Click! post. Click! is a weekly collection of digital news highlights from Red Door’s most inquiring minds.

Click, enjoy and learn.

We’ve done the hard work for you.

Get Satisfaction Gives Customer Service on Facebook an Upgrade - Mashable  
“Facebook is increasingly becoming a front-facing interaction point for customer service. Users expect to be able to ask questions, send suggestions or get help from a company Facebook page. The problem is, the Facebook Wall was never designed to really manage that type of interaction. Get Satisfaction is addressing that problem by making it possible for administrators and customer service agents to take data from the wall and funnel it into their existing CRM system, be it Salesforce.com, Oracle or even a separate Get Satisfaction community page.”
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AmEx Expands Foursquare Pilot - MediaPost
“American Express members who link their foursquare profiles to their cards can “load” and redeem merchant specials without the need for coupons, special codes, or showing their mobile devices to cashiers. The functionality is powered by the American Express Smart Offer APIs.
The national launch kicks off with Specials from H&M, Sports Authority, and Union Square Hospitality Group, and is expected to expand rapidly to include additional national and local merchant offers in the coming weeks and months.”
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Study: Within Four Years, 70 Percent Of All Mobile Ads Will Be Local  - PaidContent.org
“U.S. mobile ad spend is expected to balloon to $4 billion in 2015, up from just $790 million last year, according to the latest projections by forecaster BIA/Kelsey. One of the key drivers of the growth will be targeted local ads, which will account for $2.8 billion, or 70 percent of total spend, compared to $404 million, or 51 percent, this year.”
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Google Rolls Out Behavioral Targeting - Search Engine Land  
“Google is finally rolling out the ability to target ads to users by interest — based on their previous browsing activity, or behavior — to all of its advertisers. The company first announced a beta test of this capability more than two years ago, back in 2009, and it has slowly been introducing it to larger groups over time. The company says the capabilities are available today. The announcement marks Google’s full entrance into the world of behavioral targeting in AdWords.”
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Twitter Moves Toward Promotional Tweets - AdWeek
“Twitter may be one step closer to introducing advertisements on the main feature of the site, the streaming tweet timeline. The plan to place promotions in the tweet stream has been in the works for more than a year and now it looks as if the idea is gaining traction on the sidelines of the Cannes Lions event.” 
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A comprehensive list of noteworthy news can be found at http://www.delicious.com/reddoorinteractive. Also, be sure to follow us on Twitter if you’d like up to the minute updates on our latest posts http://www.twitter.com/reddoor

February 4th, 2011 – Welcome to another RDI Click! post. Click! is a weekly collection of digital news highlights from Red Door’s most inquiring minds.

Click, enjoy and learn.

We’ve done the hard work for you.

How Much Does A Facebook Fan Cost? $1.07 - Wall Street Journal
“Money can buy you friends on Facebook, if you’re a marketer. But the price is going up. A whitepaper by social marketing and analytics firm Webtrends, which studied 11,000 Facebook ad campaigns in the U.S., found that the cost of advertising on Facebook that encourages a user to become a “fan” on the brand’s Facebook page is $1.07. Marketers are increasingly spending money on Facebook fan-acquisition ads. Why? Becoming a fan gives brands permission to market directly to a user, both through (free) messages sent to the user’s homepage news feed and through ads that specifically target fans on Facebook.com.”
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Priority Inbox and Overcrowding – How Can Your E-mail Stand Out? - ClickZ
“Currently, there is no stopping e-mail as an effective marketing channel. A recent Forrester Research survey, “US Email Marketing Forecast, 2009 To 2014,” indicated that 66 percent of respondents agree that e-mail is the most cost-effective marketing tool at their company. Therefore, more e-mail is going to be sent in 2011, crowding the inbox further. In addition to this, the inbox could see some significant changes as e-mail clients find ways to combat information overload and provide customers with a better experience. The big names are competing to develop an inbox that a user has more control over. One that prioritizes e-mail messages based on behavior and also provides easier ways to mass-unsubscribe.”
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App Blast: News Corp. Launches “The Daily” – MediaPost
“Aiming to reinvent the newspaper for the digital age, News Corp. Wednesday unveiled The Daily, its much-anticipated daily news offering for the iPad.  When it comes to advertising, The Daily is offering full-page, interactive ad units that it touts as “a rich mix of branding and direct response opportunities.” Research firm eMarketer estimates newspapers will generate $3.2 billion in U.S. digital ad revenues this year, spanning the Web, tablets and mobile devices — up from $3 billion in 2010.”
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Google: Bing Is Cheating, Copying Our Search Results - Search Engine Land
“Google has run a sting operation that it says proves Bing has been watching what people search for on Google, the sites they select from Google’s results, then uses that information to improve Bing’s own search listings. Bing doesn’t deny this. As a result of the apparent monitoring, Bing’s relevancy is potentially improving (or getting worse) on the back of Google’s own work. Google likens it to the digital equivalent of Bing leaning over during an exam and copying off of Google’s test.”
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Super Bowl Ads Cross Online, TV, Social Media - MediaPost
“Aside from TV, brands will move social media to the front seat in this year’s Super Bowl. The NFL partnered with Twitter and Visa to create a social media site — sbtwitter.nfl.com –tracking tweets from players, media and fans. The site supports video and highlights of player-related trends for both the Steelers and the Packers. The @packers use Facebook and Twitter to update fans, driving traffic to Packers.com. Similarly, @steelers relies on the same social tools.”
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A comprehensive list of noteworthy news can be found at http://delicous.com/RedDoorInteractive. Also, be sure to follow us on Twitter if you’d like up to the minute updates on our latest posts http://twitter.com/reddoor.

Advertising and Marketing Review
Scott Esmond

There are a lot of new media channels gaining attention right now such as mobile, blogs, social media, location-based social networks and others. Recently, Amazon announced they sold more than $1 billion worth of products through mobile phones and other devices, so it’s easy to understand why there’s so much excitement around it.

Companies are continuing to get motivated about the endless possibilities that such media provide and the potential it has to benefit a business at the click of a mouse. So with all the hype, does that mean the days of postcards, flyers and newspaper inserts are gonzo? Absolutely not! Yes, there’s certainly a lot more action occurring on the Internet, but the reality is that traditional and new media can co-habitate well.  Organizations will reap the benefits in significant ways by taking advantages of multiple vehicles. Combining the two actually gives a whole new dimension to integrated marketing.

Merging traditional and new media is very much possible if marketers take the time to understand all the moving parts and how they work together to achieve an overarching goal. While an integrated campaign is a consistent message disseminated through different channels, the way in which it is conveyed must be relevant to the medium. This is where many companies fall short; they simply repackage a magazine ad and post it online with no regards to the dynamic environment that social media sites, e-mail newsletter or mobile text messages can provide. There’s a lifecycle to the messaging involving both offline and online channels.  So before the next campaign starts, here are seven tips for companies to keep in mind when devising an integrated marketing plan.

Full Story >>

Traditional media has been shaken to the core by an exodus to the web in the past few years. Some attribute the changes to the economy, while others point to growth in broadband and the general availability of information on the internet. This paradigm shift is most certainly an amalgamation of several factors, including perception of ad efficacy in various channels.

Newspaper readership has dwindled and a sad few have closed their doors completely. Subscriptions were down, but worse, the 2008 ad spend dropped nearly 30% in some categories.¹ Reach and performance metrics acted as the harbinger in this dive, but the industry should not discount psychographic factors from both sides of the advertising fence.

“The explosion in Consumer Generated Media over the last couple of years means consumers’ reliance on word of mouth in the decision-making process, either from people they know or online consumers they don’t, has increased significantly,” said Jonathan Carson, President of Online, International, for the Nielsen Company. Nielsen recently published some staggering numbers along with the assertion that “consumers trust real friends and virtual strangers the most”. Another statement made in this release urges advertisers to “be encouraged by the fact that brand websites are trusted at that same 70 percent level as online consumer opinions,”² placing a thin veil over the curious demon that is tormenting both brands and their agencies: that online consumer opinion currently carries the same weight as brand websites.

Nielsen: Consumers Trust (April 2009)

Interestingly, there appear to be few correlations between the Nielsen data and 2008 ad spend reported by AdAge, below,³ but there are some that could be drawn. The reality is that consumer-generated media is such uncharted territory for some, that the numbers are not being presented alongside traditional spend. The source for the AdAge data reports that Internet data reflects “display ads only.”⁴

AdAge: Breakdown of the 2008 Advertising Dollar (LNA 100)

Reflecting on 2008 ad spend, we can envision multi-channel integrated campaigns where frequency still reigns supreme, but there are several key indicators of shift in message and delivery.

During the recent Cannes ad festival, the awards were dominated by PR and Integrated campaigns, which AdAge editor Laurel Wentz described as “a clear admission that the age of interruption is over.” Wentz goes on to say, “This is a (winners) list dominated by attempts to engage consumers and deeply involve them in brands.”

David Lubars, Chairman/CCO of BBDO North America has another take, “The way the world is heading is voluntary engagement … The work has to be a magnet.”⁵

What does this mean to an agency being approached with the question of social media?

Rather than engage the insights and experience of established interactive agencies, some traditional agencies are forging the road ahead, attempting to develop expertise in-house, and finding the task to be formidable. In a recent interview, Alex Bogusky, Chairman of Crispin Porter + Bogusky said, “we’ll see a lot of longstanding big agencies struggling.” Traditional media seems to be, he said, “freaking out.”⁶ CP+B has been venturing into the realm of social media recently, and have even put forth a beta site that leans heavily on consumer-generated content.

Agencies looking to develop social media strategies internally are finding that some foundational marketing concepts must change. Of course, a successful social media campaign would first set out to identify groups in which the target demographic is active, yet base the overall strategy not on sites, but on goals. To participate effectively in this space means the abandonment of push messaging in favor of a more dynamic, conversational style. The message would be developed around a core set of questions that the target market would be expected to have curiosity around, and achieve frequency with timely delivery of on-message keyword phrases. Trust and credibility must fostered and developed by engaging the audience with as much transparency as possible. Listening is one of the most critical aspects, both conversationally and analytically, but it’s all too often missed.

Recently, aspiring adman Byron King “infiltrated” social media, in an attempt to gain favor with CP+B, if not a job. King created a persona as an “Interactive Mole”⁷ with the stated goal of generating the type of buzz that would cause someone within CP+B to reference his work on Twitter. Ironically enough, the inside man that fell for the ruse was none other than Wojtek Szumowski,⁸ CP+B’s in-house sociologist, and posts related to King’s travails then dominated the front page of the CP+B beta site. King earned a LinkedIn recommendation from Alex Bogusky himself,⁹ but not a job.

Are you listening?

———–
1. Source: Newspaper Association of America, “Advertising Expenditures”, Date not cited, http://www.naa.org/TrendsandNumbers/Advertising-Expenditures.aspx
2. Source: Nielsen, “Global Advertising: Consumers Trust Real Friends and Virtual Strangers the Most”, July 7th, 2009 http://blog.nielsen.com/nielsenwire/consumer/global-advertising-consumers-trust-real-friends-and-virtual-strangers-the-most/
3. Source: AdAge, “Spending Fell (Only) 2.7% in ‘08. The Real Issue: ‘09″, June 22, 2009 http://adage.com/datacenter/article?article_id=137409
4. Source: TNS Media Intelligence, “TNS Media Intelligence Reports U.S. Advertising Expenditures Declined 14.2 Percent First Quarter 2009″, June 10, 2009 http://www.tns-mi.com/news/06102009.htm
5. Source: AdAge, (subscription) “Cannes Swept by PR, Integrated, Internet Winners”, June 29, 2009 http://adage.com/abstract.php?article_id=137630
6. Source: The Huffington Post, “Embrace For Impact: Alex Bogusky Discusses Social Media and Long Term Changes in the Media Landscape”, July 10, 2009 http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jeremy-abelson/embrace-for-impact-alex-b_b_229160.html
7. Source: Byron King, “The Mole Project”, July 15, 2009 http://globatron.org/moleproject
8. Source: Twitter, http://twitter.com/wojtek3000/status/2671585116
9. Source: LinkedIn http://tinyurl.com/nzm8f3

MarketingSherpa has issued its annual “Marketing Wisdom for 2009 – Marketers & Agencies Share Real-Life Stories & Lessons Learned” showcase. Get your copy now:
http://www.marketingsherpa.com/Wisdom2009.pdf

Topics covered this year include email, search, mobile, optimization, testing, lead gen, direct mail, analytics, advertising, PR and video.

Plus three trends surfaced:
1. EMAIL IS NOT DEAD – Personalization and optimization are key
2. BUILD SOCIAL NETWORKS – There is value in building one-to-one relationships
3. SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION – Natural search produces significant ROI

Thanks to MarketingSherpa and Red Door Interactive partner, Omniture, for putting out this valuable information!

How to have fun in a mediocre matchup

Want to create your own fun on Sunday and be able to tell folks on Monday who the real winner is?  Get online and check out who’s winning and who’s fumbling in the advertising game.

A clydesdale kicking another football? Yawn.  A talking gecko?  Eh.  A wardrobe failure to sell a domain registrar?  Even that’s a little tired….

Yes, advertisers are pouring up to $3 million into :30 spots despite a sour economy and a less than riveting matchup.  To win this Sunday, advertisers need more than the favorite ad during the game.  They need a full digital strategy to maximize their returns and here’s how you can see who has the best game plan including mobile, social media, micro sites, paid and organic search.  You can bet you’ll see some fumbles from even the most well known brands.

First, well before Sunday’s kickoff, find the advertisers you like.  Ad Age has listed the known Super Bowl advertisers.  Pick 3 to 5 so as not to lose site of the actual game.

Next, check out their respective websites and see how much they’re playing up the Super Bowl and their presence.  Are they building up to a ‘surprise’ or kicking off a new campaign?  What’s going to make their spot memorable amidst all the noise?

Super Bowl related websites are no brainers.  Where the winners will separate from the losers is how they embrace innovation in their digital strategy….

Go to Twitter and look for your advertisers.  Follow the accounts you find and make note of those you don’t.  Look over the tweet activity to what people are saying and how often.

Now visit Facebook and MySpace.  Again, look for your advertisers and see what they’re doing that relates to their Super Bowl efforts, if at all.  Do they provide a compelling reason to join something or become their fan?  Is it a short lived strategy or does it have long term capabilities?  The advertiser wants your attention well past Sunday so they should be pulling out all the stops to create as many new relationships from their Super Bowl hype as possible.

iPhone or smart phone?  Try pulling up their site and see what you get.  Here’s where you’ll see some separation.  Those that have mobile friendly stes or micro sites are going to have a huge advantage as web users embrace their devices.  If the advertiser has gone to the length of building an iPhone app in conjunction with their promotion, consider putting them towards the winner column.

Google it. Some of the biggest brands have been seen on the sidelines when it comes to capitalizing on search.  When a TV ad runs, the respective web traffic skyrockets if all goes well. However, not everyone memorizes the web address at the bottom of the ad and instead default to search.   Often these searches don’t use the brand name but instead use keywords or subjects of the ad like green technology or smart phone.  Searchers are smart shoppers and they want to learn for themselves, not just from an advertiser.  Understanding a searcher’s shopping behavior and use of non-branded keywords is crucial to maximizing returns during game time.  Is your advertiser ranking on top for their related keywords? How about paid ads?  Do they have both spots covered or do you see their competition poaching their traffic?

The winning advertisers will be leveraging every aspect of the digital realm to maximize the return on their $3 million spot(s).  While we expect to see some creative digital strategies, it’s also still fun to play Monday morning quarterback and point out the ones who drop the ball.