Tag Archives: instagram

Next to Now: No Fooling Edition

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April 1st is the first day of National Poetry Month, and, much to the delight of older brothers everywhere, April Fool’s Day.

 

 

In celebration of National Poetry Month, give Jonathan Galassi a call and let him read you a poem: 949-342-5374

 

In celebration of April Fool’s Day: Pigeons with backpacks.

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“Pigeons outfitted with lightweight backpacks soared over London from March 14 to 16, collecting air quality data across the city that was shared via Twitter. The Pigeon Air Patrol was a collaboration between Plume Labs and DigitasLBi to raise awareness for an even larger air pollution project to be crowdsourced from London’s largest moving flock: its humans.”

 

TIPS FOR REACHING PARENTS ON INSTAGRAM

An Instagram for Business post suggests that the visual platform is a great way to reach moms (and dads):

“Instagram found that 93 percent of moms access its network at least once per week, with 68 percent doing so daily.”

They also link to successful campaigns for Campbell’s and Gap Kids.

#instagram #moms

 

CRUZ AND SANDERS EXPERIMENT WITH FACEBOOK’S CANVAS

While brands have been slow to try Facebook’s new Canvas feature, the political campaigns of Ted Cruz and Bernie Sanders have seen good success with it. Facebook client partner Chase Mohney told Digiday:

“Canvas is great for two big reasons. It provides these campaigns with the opportunity to tell an immersive story — their story — using video, stills and calls to action — really whatever works for them. And it’s designed for mobile, which is where the voters campaigns want to reach are spending their time anyway.”

One reason for advertiser reluctance that the article doesn’t mention? Cost. The CPM is in the $450-500 range. That’s just a *wee bit* higher than we normally see with Facebook ads . . . much less rich media available on blue chip sites.  

#social #facebook

 

SIMPLE IS BEST

A new study suggests that in the visually complex world of the current Web, simpler messages hold the key to ad effectiveness.

#creative #simple

 

INNOVATIVE OUTDOOR

A campaign for the upcoming release of Game of Thrones has dragons “landing” in major cities everywhere. As advertisers, we applaud the innovative nature of the advertising. As city residents, we suspect that if any marketer showed up outside our windows with another jack hammer, just in the name of pulling off a cool marketing stunt, we would ourselves turn into dragons.

#outdoor #creative

 

HOW MUCH DO WE LIKE OUTDOOR ADVERTISING?

Well, we like it a lot. For some reasons why, here is an article from Digiday pointing to smart, fun “conversation-starter” campaigns for Thinx and Caspar on New York subways:

“‘We like subway ads because we want to create a presence in New York City where trends are set,’ Miki Agrawal, CEO and co-founder of Thinx said on stage at Marketing Unbound, the annual conference hosted by the Economist. ‘And we want our ads to be conversation starters for New York subway riders.’”

#outdoor

 

Next to Now: The Music of Advertising Edition

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DOES PODCASTING SELL?

Podcasts don’t provide traditional reporting for ads, but a recent study suggests that it does sell products (well, underwear anyway). Mack Weldon reports that doubling-down on humorous podcasts has doubled their sales. According to Digiday:

“Podcast advertising now represents 25 percent of Mack Weldon’s overall ad budget per month, 100 times more than a year ago. The medium has become more effective than display ads for the company, because when people listen to podcasts, they are fully engaged and they can continue listening while making a purchase.”

#podcasts

 

THE UPSIDE OF BEING POSITIVE ON FACEBOOK

Huffington Post has found that “feel-good” videos far out-perform hard news stories on Facebook. Of course, this tells you more about what the Huffington Post audience is looking for than other audiences. But it’s worth keeping in mind.

#facebook

 

SNAPCHAT BILLBOARDS

The hot social platform that’s about as digital and evanescent as they come recognizes the power of an old-school, well-placed billboard in real space. A new Snapchat billboard campaign manages to go both mass and hyper-local at the same time. Well played.

#snapchat #billboards

 

SPOTIFY UPS ITS MOBILE AD GAME

The music streaming service is popular with listeners but has under-performed Pandora for Verso clients. We’re glad to see they’re paying more attention to their mobile ad product, and look forward to trying it out:

“Starting today, the music streaming service is bringing Billboard—one of its most popular desktop ad formats—to mobile. The feature, dubbed Overlay Mobile, lets advertisers buy display ads for both iOS and Android mobile devices. It serves as the “Welcome Back” ad, and only plays when a user has the screen open, which Spotify says provides 100 percent viewability.”

#spotify #music #mobile

 

INSTAGRAM TOPS FOR MUSIC FANS

In a new Instagram-commissioned study (worth noting, not neutral), Nielsen found that Instagram was the buzziest social network for the most avid music fans:

“According to a new Instagram-commissioned study by Nielsen of more than 3,000 self-described Instagram users, the photo- and video-sharing platform is the most-used social network for music fans, festival attendees and artists during live events. The study also provides insight into what fans like, listen to and buy.”

Worth thinking about for the next music book.

#music #instagram

 

TEENS VOTE UP WISHBONE

Ad Age reports on the new tap-to-vote app, Wishbone, that’s proving a hit with teens, and inspiring creative engagement from brands who want to reach them–in both content and paid advertising plays.

#teens #wishbone

 

THE NEXT BIG THING

Salesforce CEO Scott McCorkle makes the case for “layered marketing”—marketing across different platforms and media, playing to each one’s strength—with an essay in Ad Age that points out how the wonders of the next big thing do not necessarily mean the death of what came before.

#layeredmarketing

Next to Now: Feb. 19 Edition

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ARE CONSUMERS STARTING TO VALUE NON-DIGITAL EXPERIENCES?

Yes. We’ve seen it in the plateauing of ebooks and the continued strength of print books. Now, other media are seeing it too (even marketing people at mobile companies!):

“‘We’re seeing that people really love their phones, but many are craving a digital detox,’ explains Meredith Vincent, executive advertising director at AT&T Mobility.”

In book marketing, we should always remember the reasons our customers value books.

#nondigitalplug

 

DIGITAL STUDY SUGGESTS PEOPLE WANT DIGITAL ADS TO BE MORE LIKE PRINT

An article on niemanlab.org points to a Swedish study that suggest that intrusive ad forms—such as video, interstitials and rich media—are so disliked that CTR is negatively correlated to an ad’s effectiveness:

“The study revealed that the most effective of these formats was the static image. Static banner ads had the greatest effect on a reader’s preference for a brand and intent to purchase the item advertised — and those are among the categories that matter most to advertisers who, at the end of the day, want to sell something.”

The research team discovers that a “good” ad is a relevant one. That’s the goal: An informative static ad that does not get in the way of what you’re looking for, but offers relevant information you can choose to follow up on.

#adtech

 

SEARCH ADS DECLINE WHILE DISPLAY SPACE STAYS STRONG

The effectiveness of pay per click search advertising is diminishing, but the realm of display advertising is growing in strength. In ClickZ’s report from Connect conference:

“WordStream’s @larrykim: 95% of time online is spent consuming content but just 5% searching for it.”

#display #search

 

INSTAGRAM PUSHES MORE VIDEO ADS

In the announcement that they will start counting video views, Instagram also says that, like Facebook, three seconds of view-time will count toward a view. The question is are these views more valuable than a Vine, where videos play instantly, or is three seconds still too little to count even if it’s user-initiated.

#video

 

DIGITAL AD SALES ARE UP REVENUES ARE DOWN

An article at Columbia Journalism Review, looks at the struggles of media platforms that rely on digital ad spending for their bottom line, even as they’re growing:

“And yet growth can have its downsides. Even as digital ad spending climbs, flooding into video and expected to surpass TV, it’s also pressure on media sellers to lower their prices, leading to what some experts are calling, “digital deflation,” and an overall slowdown in the ad spending market, The New York Times reported.“

#digitalad

 

The image in this post is a photograph of the Robert Ryman show at Dia's Chelsea Gallery, looking in at one of the galleries from the entrance hall.

Next to Now: The Coming Digital Storm Edition

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The East Coast is bracing for our first real snow of the season, preparing our Instagram filters and Twitter hashtags. So now’s a perfect time for all you East Coasters (and Midwesterners and West Coasters) to line up some good reading for the weekend. Here’s some of what we’ve noticed the last few days.

 

POLITICS UP

A presidential election year means big traffic for political websites — and good news for political books looking to target their audiences. Digiday outlines the top websites as measured by traffic—Huffington Post, CNN, Fox News, MSNBC, the Hill, and Politico—and notes that The Hill and Mother Jones are growing fast.

#politics #targeting

 

NYT BRINGS “MODERN LOVE” TO PODCAST

The New York Times is teaming with NPR to produce a podcast of their popular Modern Love column: with essays read by actors including Jason Alexander, Judd Apatow, Sarah Paulson and more.  What an amazing resource that will be to advertise fiction. 

#podcast #modernlove

 

AOL AND TABOOLA TAKE ON FACEBOOK

In a world where reach is increasingly defined (or denied) by Facebook, AOL and Taboola are partnering up to increase the reach of AOL properties, including Huffington Post and Engadget.

#content #targeting

 

 

PINTEREST TO ADD VIDEO ADS

Pinterest is adding video ad capabilities—which makes sense for such a visually oriented network. But to do it well, they’ll have to improve video on a site that, so far, has been all about the static image.

#video #pinterest #social

 

GOOGLE’S MICRO-MOMENTS GET PLAY IN THE PAPER OF RECORD

This article on intent-based advertising feels like it was written by someone receiving the many (convincing!) emails from Google marketing services about their concept of “micro-moments.” This article is worth reading, if for no other reason than the agile use of ancient Greek philosophy from Rocket Fuel (Liberal Arts education FTW).

“Randy Wootton, chief executive of the ad technology firm Rocket Fuel, which recently announced a ‘marketing in the moment’ approach, refers to ancient Greek concepts of time: chronos, or sequential time, and kairos, a moment of opportunity independent of linear time.”

That said, caveat emptor:  

“Few marketers currently have all the skills needed for moments-based marketing, such as ethnographic studies of their customers and the ability to match customer data to the right context, according to a report released last July by Forrester Research. Without those skills developing throughout the industry, the latest scheme to reach peripatetic consumers could prove, well, momentary.”

#adtargeting #intent

 

BETTER GROWTH THROUGH PRIVATE ACCOUNTS?

Everlane experiments with a private Instagram account as a way to build community through a sense of exclusivity:

“’It’s like an Instagram incubator,’ said Gaskell. ‘We want to gauge criticisms, and we’re making it private in order to have a curated, high value experience. People will feel like they’re in on something.’”

Could it work for niche publishers?

#instagram #social

 

FACEBOOK GETS SET TO JOIN THE SPORTS CONVERSATION

AdWeek reports on Facebook’s new sport-oriented platform. It’s a smart move by Facebook that is not great news for Twitter or ESPN. If this gets the traction I expect, it will be a great place to advertise sports books. Here’s the link to Facebook’s post about the feature:

“With 650 million sports fans, Facebook is the world’s largest stadium. People already turn to Facebook to celebrate, commiserate, and talk trash with their friends and other fans.”

#facebook #sports

Next to Now: Improve Your Social Life Edition

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This weeks’s Next to Now includes links to articles on standing out on Snapchat, partnering with Instagram, and checking out an experiment that gives people a real, human stake in an outdoor ad campaign. 
HOW TO STAND OUT ON SNAPCHAT

This article gives a good primer about strategies to get a presence on Snapchat without shelling out the $750,000 per day spend. We’ve noticed that many of our clients are on board with recommendation number one: Replace your Twitter Avatars with Snapcodes.

#social #snapchat

 

INSTAGRAM ANNOUNCES PARTNER PROGRAM

Instagram announces a partnership with forty outside companies to help with various phases of Instagram advertising: from planning and execution to content partnerships. This Business Insider article talks about what this means. 

#social #instagram

 

EXTREME OUTDOOR

Reality TV meets outdoor advertising with an Xbox campaign: eight people are standing outside on a London billboard undergoing arctic blasts and continual video streaming while viewers can vote on what kind of conditions they should be subjected to. Last one standing “wins.” The real winner, of course, is Xbox.

#creative #outdoor

 

MILLENNIAL MOMS BUY ON MOBILE

According to this eMarketer article, mobile is the way to reach young moms, not just with information, but increasingly with buy links:

“According to September 2015 research by Roth Capital Partners (ROTH), almost half (46.8%) of mother internet users ages 20 to 35 primarily made digital purchases via their mobile phone or tablet.”

#mobile #moms #millennials

 

WHAT’S THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN BRAND AND DIRECT MARKETING?

This Seth Godin article articulates the difference between brand and direct marketing in a way that might have seemed self-evident 20 years ago, but has become increasingly clouded in a world filled with data where every ad budget has to respond in some way to data. This is a crucial question for book publishers, which used to be 100% clear that they were doing brand advertising — leaving the direct marketing to booksellers. But in the world of digital advertising and direct selling by book publishers (however low a priority it remains) those distinctions are getting cloudy.

#advertising

 

DON’T WORRY ABOUT BEATING AD BLOCKERS, WORRY ABOUT BETTERING YOUR GAME

The IAB makes the case that ad blocking is best addressed not by blocking ad blockers, but by fixing the “pain points” that cause people to want ad blockers: slow loading pages because of tracking software, roll-overs, endless surveys, etc.

#adblocking

 

SNAPCHAT GAINS ON FACEBOOK IN VIDEO

This article in the FT reports that Snapchat is generating 6 billion video views on its app every day. This is triple what they were seeing in May, and approaching FB’s 8 billion video views per day. This article in Business Insider is where you can read about it if you’re not an FT subscriber. 

#video #facebook #snapchat

 

PANDORA AIMS TO IMPROVE MOBILE USER DATA

As desktop use (and therefore use of cookies) declines, Pandora is taking steps to get better at identifying users on mobile devices.

#pandora #targeting

Next to Now: “Fall Back” Edition

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With the end of Daylight Savings Time on Sunday, we enter the homestretch of the year. Here’s some of what we’ve been reading this week—looking forward even as we “fall back.”
SHOULD FOLLOWER COUNT DETERMINE WORTH?

It’s a question that depends on context. For regular everyday products like shoes, toasters, or books, the answer is a clear yes—more followers means your promotional dollar goes farther. But for “high art”—where value is supposedly determined by long-term aesthetic value more than short-term commercial ups and downs—the question becomes more complicated. A Dutch artist is playing with this line, and in the process reveals some uncomfortable truths about what’s behind some of those large follower counts.

Related from AdWeek: “How Celebrities’ With the Best Instagram Engagement are Helping Brands.”

#social #instagram #caveatemptor

 

SERIAL IS COMING TO PANDORA

The next edition of the revolutionary podcast “Serial” will be running on Pandora. That means there should be many more ways to advertise on it than through a single sold-out sponsorship. They aren’t saying when the second season will start yet, but Pandora has announced that season one will be available for listening as of Nov 24.

#mobile #pandora #serial #podcast

 

APPS OR BROWSERS?

In all the debate about whether the present and future of mobile is in apps or on browsers, it’s good to see an article that draws distinctions. That is, it depends. And in some cases, especially news, readers are split:

“For example, 36% of respondents said they mostly used apps to read entertainment news. But 37% said they mostly used a browser. For human interest stories, 36% turned to apps and 38% to mobile browsers. And for science or technology news, the breakdowns were identical, at 38% each.”

#mobile #browsers #apps #news

 

WILL LOUSY CREATIVE SPOIL INSTAGRAM FOR THE REST OF US?

As Instagram opens up its API, some marketers are afraid of the coming wave of ads. Will a billion terrible ads ruin our sandbox? The answer, as always, is to make creative that’s the best fit for book, reader, and audience platform.

#mobile #adtech #bepartofthesolution

 

PROGRAMMATIC OUTDOOR

Google recently announced a test of adding outdoor billboard inventory to their DoubleClick system. While there are various programmatic options available to us among current outdoor companies–including geo-fencing and app network buys tied into outdoor displays–the scale of Google’s reach make this a potential game changer. According to Business Insider,

 

“If the project proves successful, advertisers might soon be able to buy billboard ads using Google’s DoubleClick technology, which will pull in historical and real-time data signals — including audience, weather, travel information, sporting events, and scores — to decide which creative messages to display, which billboards to display them on, and the best time for them to run.”

File this under experiments to watch.

#outdoor #programmatic #experimentstowatch #media

 

BOOMERS UNDER-INDEX FOR SMARTPHONE ADOPTION

Next to Now focuses on the near-future of marketing, but it’s worth remembering that our bread-and-butter work comes from selling books right now to readers who are buying them right now.  And that means the Boomer generation. So it’s worth noting that Boomers are not as easily reached with mobile marketing as the Millennials. Only 42% of Boomers own a smartphone, and those that do own a smartphone do not live through it to the extent that younger generations do. Worth considering when you’re putting together a media plan.

#mobile #boomers #media

 

“BUSTLE HAS A BABY”

A nearly-slightly-but-not-all-the-way-snarky article on the New Yorker’s site announces that Bustle (a site and magazine we like a lot) is starting a new website for millennial moms, Romper. Bustle’s managing editor, Margaret Wheeler Johnson, provides the money quote:

“The media talks about millennials as if they are the kids, and, actually, they’re having kids.”

Good point.

#millennials #moms #media

 

THIS MUST BE SERIOUS

Even Facebook’s worried about ad blockers. From a new regulatory filing:

“Revenue generated from the display of ads on personal computers has been impacted by these technologies from time to time. As a result, these technologies have had an adverse effect on our financial results and, if such technologies continue to proliferate, in particular with respect to mobile platforms, our future financial results may be harmed.”

#adblocking #facebook

Next to Now: The Structure of Innovation

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This week, the articles that caught our eye were about innovation in targeting and storytelling.

 

ONLINE VIDEO: IT’S NOT JUST MILLENNIALS

Once predominantly the province of Millennials, online video watching has now stretched to include Gen X as well:

“The average consumer between the ages of 16 and 45 watches 204 minutes of video a day, split equally between TV and online. Forty-five minutes of the average online viewing time is done on a smartphone, while desktop accounts for 37 minutes and tablet for 20 minutes.”

#video

 

FEWER ADS MEANS BETTER ENGAGEMENT 

This article in Digiday argues that the Atlantic’s recent redesign has upped ad performance by lessening the amount of content (including ads) on the homepage. It’s certainly worth paying more to be the only ad on a relevant page. If that’s the future of the ad-supported Web, we’re all for it.

#adtech #engagement

 

MARKETING WITH SHAZAM

ClickZ reports on the use of Shazam in print and TV ads for such retailers as Target.

“For about a decade now, marketers have been racking their brains trying to figure out the best way to link traditional ads with the Web. URLs came first, then hashtags and a call to action to visit Twitter. And while these tactics have certainly managed to boost engagement and interaction online, they don’t necessarily deliver the rich digital experience brands hope to provide.”

The article briefly mentions HarperCollins as well, which uses Shazam to link to Web content in their books (and, we’d add, has experimented with using it in ads as well). The jury’s out on whether the Shazam experiments will help enrich user experience or simply prove more popular with marketers than consumers. However it plays out, the ways physical products are linking up with information on the Web continues to be one of the most exciting frontiers of marketing innovation. We are pleased to see HarperCollins’s Shazam program gain wider recognition with the nomination in the “Marketing Campaign” category for the UK’s FutureBook Awards.

#shazam #adtech #futurebook

 

COSMO WINS 3MM VIEWS A DAY ON SNAPCHAT

Cosmo is showing how it’s done on the Snapchat “Discover” feature, growing their audience from 1.8 MM a day to over 3MM.

“Kate Lewis [VP and editorial director of digital at Cosmo] also said that people share Cosmo content in large numbers, which is an activity that is not typically associated with Snapchat, because sharing and retweeting are not common there. That may be changing, though. Cosmo’s Discover stories are shared up to 1.2 million times daily, Lewis said.”

 

#cosmo #snapchat #social

 

NEW GE CMO ON STORYTELLING

Buried in this article on storytelling and marketing is a GE program with Wattpad to sponsor new Sci Fi writing by the Wattpad community based on old GE materials. We know that fan fiction is often a consequence of a popular series such as Twilight and Harry Potter, but could sponsored fan fiction work as a marketing tool?

#storytelling #social #fanfiction #wattpad

 

INSTAGRAM AND EMAIL—TWO GREAT MARKETING TOOLS THAT WORK GREAT TOGETHER

This HubSpot article advocates bringing “inspirational” Instagram posts into the email marketing experience. Interesting stats from this article:

  • In 2015 more than 200 billion emails will be sent every day. 57% of those will come from brands (what’s the point when consumers just abandon email altogether because it’s too spammy?)
  • Instagram delivers 58% more engagement per post than Facebook and 120% more per post than Twitter
  • 4 fo 5 Instagram users give brands permission to share their images

#social #email #instagram

ARE EMAIL ADDRESSES THE NEW COOKIE?

Emails have remained a secret weapon for marketing departments for years. As this ClickZ article puts it,

“While only 20 percent of the people (and email marketing’s audience is overwhelmingly people, not bots) open the email you send them, that 20 percent does so happily. They click and convert enough to make your tiny and underfunded email marketing department punch way above its weight.”

But now Google’s Custom Match, Facebook’s Custom Audiences, and Twitter’s Tailored Audiences allows you to upload email addresses to their systems and use them to target ads specifically to opt-in audiences you know will be interested in your book. This kind of targeting is also available through programmatic campaigns with such partners as AdRoll and Turn.

#email #programmatic

Next to Now: First Week of Fall (Official)

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According to the calendar, autumn began this week. We can feel the turn in the air even though the work pace has been fall-fast for weeks now. A lot has shifted in advertising this month—between Chrome dropping support for Flash and iOS9 enabling ad blockers—and as usual we’re keeping an eye on what’s about to change even as we’re working to sell great books in the here and now. These links represent some of the highlights we’ve read this week.

 

“THE WOMEN’S MAGAZINE FOR THE NEW GENERATION”

CJR on The Skimm, Broadly, and Refinery29:

“They’re paying more attention to news and politics, especially on women’s and social issues, but packaged with the right amount of edge (Broadly), twee (Refinery29), and Sex and the City references (The Skimm) to be taken seriously by the savvy millennial woman.”

#content

 

INSTAGRAM POSTING TIPS

AdWeek gives an hour by hour breakdown of what people post by time of day. The study finds that early morning is the best time to post. Other findings:

“The most popular hashtags were #TBT (throwback Thursday) and #WCW (woman crush Wednesday) . . . And millennial women between 25 and 40 years old are the best “micro-influencers,” the company concluded in its research, which—in addition to the larger study—examined the Instagram activities of 2,000 adult females.”

#social #instagram

 

VIDEO TIPS

Because we all need to start thinking like videographers, HubSpot offers three ideas for rethinking your video content: (1) Make it shorter, (2) Make it serial, (3) Make it real (they use the buzzword “disruptive”).

#video

 

BOOMERS DISLIKE MOBILE ADS

A new study suggests that the Baby Boom Generation is not a fan of mobile ads:

“Baby boomers…had a highly negative response to mobile ads. They were less than half as likely as millennials to say they would accept ads in return for something of value.”

#mobile

 

SNAPCHAT MARKETING DEVELOPMENTS

Evidence that the Snapchat experiments are working is in: brands as different as the NFL, Burberry and Goldman Sachs are expanding their presences on the app.

#social #snapchat

 

 

THE VALUE OF “OLD MEDIA” IN A NEW MEDIA WORLD

We don’t normally link to Shelf Awareness because we assume that a vast majority of our audience regularly read it.  But it’s worth underscoring this Shelf Awareness report from Carolyn Reidy’s talk at BISG on meta data:

“[Although most readers spend an inordinate amount of time online,] it’s still very much old media such as TV, radio and certain print outlets that drive sales for new titles, even if a consumer is looking at the online version of that media.”

This is a point that’s worth reflecting on when considering your media buy: Where are your readers online and offline, and what are their most trusted sources for information?

#oldmedia

 

 

SEX AND VIOLENCE A TURN OFF?

A new study suggests sex and violence not only do not sell, but may actually decrease the effectiveness of the ad. It sounds like a convincing study. Yet, oddly, this Business Insider article about the study is filled with examples of sex ads?

#creative

 

 

NEWS OF THE ADBLOCKOLYPSE

THE AD BLOCKER WHO HAD A CHANGE OF HEART

This report has been everywhere in the news for good reason. The maker of the most popular ad blocking app on the App Store, had a change of heart and stopped selling his popular app. Here’s why:

“Ad blockers come with an important asterisk: While they do benefit a ton of people in major ways, they also hurt some, including many who don’t deserve the hit.”

MILLENNIALS MORE LIKELY TO BLOCK ADS

There’s a reason native ads and working directly with social stars on Instagram and Vine are on the rise for reaching Millennials:

“Research suggests that a solid majority of internet users ages 18 to 34 are now blocking ads when they view digital content”

“JP MORGAN: EVERYONE NEEDS TO CHILL OUT ABOUT AD BLOCKING”

. . . So reads the headline of a Business Insider story on a JP Morgan report on ad blocking, that doesn’t see much of an affect (yet):

“So far, ad blockers on iOS 9 are only able to block ads on the Safari browser. JPMorgan notes that ad blocking apps have “impressively” made their way to the top of the app charts, but Safari’s share is just ~4% on desktop and ~23% on tablet and mobile, according to StatCounter.”

#adblocking

 

 

Next to Now: Labor Day Weekend Edition

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INSTAGRAM ADS PERFORMING WELL

While the minimum spend to work with Instagram directly is still too pricey for book publishers, those larger brands currently working with the platform are reporting highly efficient campaigns.

“For now, Instagram is still a premium ad space, according to marketing experts. Salesforce says Instagram ads get almost double the click through rate of Facebook, 1.5 percent compared to 0.84 percent.”

The good news is that we can access Instagram through beta programs with such partners as AdRoll.

#social #instagram #retargeting

 

INDUSTRY VARIATIONS IN MOBILE V. DESKTOP

While the pace of change is definitely tilted in the direction of mobile, different industries still see a majority of email opens on desktop devices:

“In the business products and services industry, for example, 73% of emails were still opened on the desktop—and the tablet open share was just half the average. Publishers, media and entertainment companies and travel firms all had slightly higher-than-average open shares on the desktop, while publishers and travel firms reported clearly lower-than-average open shares on mobile phones.”

#email

 

“FACEBOOK BEATS PINTEREST AS FOODIE’S GO-TO SOCIAL PLATFORM”:

“Foodies in the U.S. are particularly active on social media, especially on Instagram. Here’s a few of the U.S. stats that should be intriguing to food marketers:

  • 90 percent of American foodies use Facebook.

  • 36 percent of them visit Pinterest.

  • 73 percent scroll through Instagram (a big leap from 17 percent worldwide).”

On the other hand:

“Benjamin Bourinat, director of public relations and social media at Sopexa, explained that while Pinterest claims a low percentage of users, people come back repeatedly to the site and app. ‘What’s interesting about Pinterest is [that it’s] very niche—the level of engagement is high because loyalty is just stronger on Pinterest,’ he said.”

#social #food

 

WECHAT OPENS AD PLATFORM ANOTHER NOTCH WIDER

WeChat recently opened their “Sponsored Moments” platform to wider advertising. As the minimum spend drops from roughly $800,000 to about $31,000, the platform is now within the range of a large book advertising budget. The service does not have the U.S. presence that would make it useful to American publishers, but it’s a good development for the future of messaging as an advertising medium

#messaging

 

FACEBOOK AD PERFORMANCE UPDATE

New Facebook stats were recently announced, including average CTR, CPM, and CPC across the platform for Q2 2013 and 2014. Spoiler alert, everything’s going up: .36% CTR, $1.95 CPM, and $0.55 CPC for Q2 2014.  

#social

 

REACHING GAMERS ON YOUTUBE

YouTube NOW aggregates 25,000 gamer channels. It’s a huge market, especially good for reaching young males. But it’s not only about young males, which Kimberly-Clark makes clear, targeting women with a :30 spot for Kotex.

#video #gaming

 

NEW FACEBOOK AD UNITS

Animated .gifs come to Facebook . . . for Wendy’s and Coke, anyway. The good news is that this kind of test heralds the opening of the platform to gifs from other advertisers relatively soon.  

#visual

 

NEW MOBILE MESSAGING AND SOCIAL MEDIA STATS

Pew has released a new survey of mobile messaging and social media. Some key figures:

  • 36% of mobile users use messaging apps such as WeChat or Kik (49% of ages 18-29)
  • 17% of mobile users use messaging apps in which messages instantly disappear (as in Snapchat) — 41% of ages 18-29
  • 59% of Instagram users visit the site daily (70% Facebook, 27% for Pinterest and 22% for LinkedIn)
  • 62% of all American adults use Facebook (66% of male internet users, 77% of female internet users)

#mobile #messaging #social

 

NYT DIGITAL SUBSCRIBERS UP

The New York Times reaches 1MM digital subscribers.

#digital #news

 

NYT NEWSLETTER NEWS

New York Times gets 20% open rate in newsletters. How? Highly curated by trusted editors plus a seriously engaged opt-in audience. It’s why we love them.

#email

 

GOOGLE’S BEST PRACTICES FOR BANNER CREATIVE

Google released a pretty good  primer on banner ad creative.

#creative

 

SLOW JOURNALISM IS IN OUR WHEELHOUSE

Nieman reports on the value of slow journalism (that’s our specialty, book people) in the age of instant information.

#news

 

PROGRAMMATIC VIDEO DEVELOPMENTS

Hulu is experimenting with opening their video ad platform to programmatic buying.

#video #programmatic

 

IS INSTAGRAM CHANGING HOW AGENCIES APPROACH CREATIVE?

Spoiler alert: Yes, creative is getting much less spontaneous in look and feel. Our favorite quote comes from Chris Corley, group creative director at VML in Kansas City:

“I think we do have the obligation to sell, but we also have an obligation to not pollute the world with garbage.”

Fair enough.

#social #creative

Next to Now: “Everybody in the Pool” Edition

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PERISCOPE UP

Periscope now has 10 million users who watch 21 million minutes a day.

#social #video

FACEBOOK ADS OUTPERFORM OTHER SOCIAL NETWORKS

More marketers say they’re satisfied with Facebook ad performance than say the same about LinkedIn, Twitter, or YouTube. Those platforms all serve very different functions so it’s a little disingenuous to put them all together in a group as if it’s a single horse-race, but it’s worth keeping in mind. As is this tidbit in the last sentence of the post:

“The report also said paid advertising now accounts for 83% of marketers’ social spending, as it becomes harder to reach users on those social platforms without paying to do so.”

#social

NEW FACEBOOK AD PRODUCTS

The recently launched Carousel unit is already one of the best performing Facebook ad units and the Dynamic Product Ads are sure to be the same (though they are more relevant to retailers than to brand advertisers).

#social

MORE ON AD BLOCKING

Four charts that say ad blocking is something we need to face.

#adblocking

TIMING IS EVERYTHING

One way around ad blocking is increased native options, including new campaigns that target ads to specific real-time moments based on hundreds of factors, from biometric data collected by your cell phone to real-time events such as when your favorite team wins or if you attain a new level in a video game.

#mobile #native

“I AM VERTICAL / BUT I WOULD RATHER BE HORIZONTAL.”

That’s what Sylvia Plath wrote in her poem “I Am Vertical.” It’s a sentiment that applied to video shot for the Web–at least until recently, when platforms such as Snapchat, Periscope, and Meerkat definitely prefer vertically shot video. (Really? Turning your phone to the side to watch a video just takes too much time.)

Farhad Manjoo weighs in on vertical video orientation for the New York Times: “not a crime.”

#video

WHAT’S THE RIGHT MEDIUM FOR YOUR MARKETING: INSTAGRAM OR PINTEREST?

This ClickZ article does a good job outlining the pros and cons of each platform. But what it really comes down to is knowing the ins and outs of whatever platform you’re using to promote your books. Interact using each platform’s native trends, tools and tendencies.

#social

DON’T SLEEP ON VINE

Everyone has been focused on Snapchat, but meanwhile Vine continues to develop a healthy, responsive audience.

#social

ARE VIDEO ADS PERFORMING GREAT FOR ALL THE WRONG REASONS?

We know video ads work . . .

“When Q1 2015 polling by Aol queried US internet users ages 13 to 54 who watched video on a mobile device at least monthly about ad recall, more than eight in 10 remembered digital video placements on each option listed: 84% recalled those on tablets, 83% on smartphones and 82% on PCs.”

. . . .but do people remember them in the way because they’re particularly annoying? Maybe. That said, the problems cited in this survey are fixable: keep repetition down (not a problem for book publishers given our budgets) and keep the videos short (who’s going to tell the editor we can’t use *all* the quotes?).  

#video

EMAIL IS (STILL) NOT DEAD

Email marketing is not sexy but it has 3 things going for it: (1) ability to use big data to personalize communication, (2) ease of integrating with other marketing channels, (3) ability to measure and adapt every day

#email

INSTAGRAM, HASHTAGS, AND GOLDILOCKS

How many hashtags should you use in your Instagram posts? Three is too many, one is too few, two is *just* right.

#social

This week's cover art is taken from Ida Applebroog's recent show, "The Ethics of Desire," at Hauser and Wirth. It is from a series of scenes she painted on folding chairs.