Facebook Launches Payment System For Messenger App Users

Facebook is making a very big push in the mobile payment space.

In the upcoming months, Facebook Messenger users will now be able to send money to friends within the app. "Easy, Secure, Free,” says the Facebook announcement.

• Facebook Messenger has over 500 Million monthly active users
• Of these users there are nearly 80 million payment cards already on file, thanks to Facebook being a trusted payments processor for gaming, advertising, and donations since 2007

Facebook Messenger is poised to disrupt the industry, taking market share from P2P payment leaders like Venmo, PayPal, and Google Wallet.

Beyond just payments, Facebook Messenger expects more updates next week during the F8 conference particularly around how it plans to compete with other messaging services. You can find more information here and here.

Twitter Evolves Advertising Opportunities

During Twitter’s first Analysts Day in mid-November,  Twitter announced and alluded to new updates to the ad platforms that further compete with Facebook and even search giants like Google, particularly with mobile and video solutions.

Some of those updates include:

• Twitter Offers:
• After slowly allowing brands to sell on the platform, Twitter is further showing its devotion to eCommerce via an Offer Card
• Users can add the offer to their credit/debit card in a few taps and redeem in real time via their card
• Attribution will be easy to track directly on Twitter campaigns to further measure ROI for offers
  
• App install tracking
• Answers is now available as a free mobile measurement tool to track promoted and organic app installs driven by Twitter
• Native Video coming to Twitter by Summer 2015
• Beyond native uploading, the platform will allow for record, edit and sharing video directly on the platform
• SEO for Local and Logged Out Users
• Will provide a stronger experience for logged out users when searching content
• Google search keyword data may play a larger role in Twitter content

For more information see below:

Twitter Offers

Answers App Install Tracking

What’s Next: All Inclusive

Urban Outfitters Launching Beacons In-Store

The millennial focused retailer is loading up 15 stores with beacons, Bluetooth technology that communicates with smartphones,  that will ping messages and notifications to shoppers who have downloaded the UO App.

Image from AdWeek.com

The company is rolling out the beacon technology to Android users first, as they state more of their customers use the Google-powered devices. 

What will the beacons do?

• Plug into the Urban On loyalty program, which delivers shoppers rewards and exclusive access.
• Focus around the checkout line, fitting rooms, and the entrance.
• When a user enters the store they will be prompted to check in via social to unlock an offer.
• By the fitting rooms, users are encouraged to share photos of themselves wearing products with #UOonYou for a chance to be featured on their website.
• While at checkout, they may be prompted to show their loyalty card in-app to earn digital badges.

However, the beacon technology will not aggressively push coupons and offers.

This is a big effort to extend their loyalty and social experiences in-store with mobile. You can learn more about the beacon roll-out here. 

Always Going Viral #LikeAGirl

A new video has us all asking ourselves, “What does it really mean to run, jump, throw Like A Girl?”

This video, similarly to the success of other branded female empowerment campaigns like Dove’s “Real Beauty” ads, has gone viral with over 34 Million YouTube views to date.  As part of a larger #LikeAGirl campaign, Always is looking to empower females by sharing a social experiment caught on tape. Brands alike can learn from this campaign’s initial success in hope of creating future viral success, online.

Some learnings brands can take from this campaign:

• Creating Opportunities to Expand Brand Loyalty

o   While this video is advertising to women and adolescent girls, they are also directly talking to younger girls who may not buy their products for a few years. Without calling out their products, Always does a great job creating an authentic and emotional connection with young girls which is critical to brand awareness and affinity for later in life.

• Work produced from a key consumer insight should be authentic and emotive, so consumers feel connected to the work

o   In a study from Research Now, sponsored by Always, found that more than 1/2 of the girls surveyed claimed to experience a drop in confidence at puberty

• Integrated Media Campaign

o   As a result of using paid search, paid social, YouTube Ads as well as PR and social sharing to help capitalize on the potential for the video to go viral.

• Incorporate a hashtag

o   Using an overarching hashtag, #LikeAGirl, helped generate and aggregate conversations around the campaign

• Using influencers to help spread the word

o   Influencer outreach via earned media played an important role in gaining momentum and exposure around the video being released, including highly viewed publications like The Washington Post.  

When strategically used together, a powerful consumer insight, great work and key influencers, can transform one video into a social movement gaining momentum from consumers who are viewing, sharing and talking about the work.

This culmination of these items can be used together to initially gain exposure and conversation around a creative campaign and increase the potential of going even more viral.

To learn more how this video is making waves, click here.

Facebook Like & Share Gets Redesign

According to Facebook, the Like and Share buttons appear on over 7.5 million websites and are seen 22 billion times per day. They are also important drivers for Facebook referral traffic. For the first time since their inception, the Like and Share buttons have a new design.

The new design utilizes the Facebook “F” icon, instead of the thumb. They will automatically updated across the web, meaning no additional work will be needed for website owners. But, a Like and Share combo button is available for embedding on websites.

Further details can be found in the links below:

Introducing new Like and Share buttons

Facebook Like Button Gets a Redesign

Foursquare Announces Advertising for All

Today, Foursquare announced that all businesses can now advertise on the platform using the self-service page.

Businesses, large and small, will share their needs and projected budget for these efforts on Foursquare’s self-service page – Foursquare will do the rest.

What are the benefits of partnering with Foursquare?

• Foursquare can become a resourceful tool for reaching consumers who actively ‘check-in’ using the platform via paid advertising.
• Metrics will be provided by Foursquare including number of views, actions, action rate and cost per action.
• Geographically targeted advertisements, which help increase local traffic to businesses who run ads that target people near their locations.
• Advertisers can now employ Foursquare ‘tips’ left by users about the companies as user-generated content in future creative.

Advertising on platforms like Foursquare helps brands connect with consumers within a select community of users – becoming a part of the user experience on such platforms increases brand awareness and reach in the digital sphere.

For more information see:

Mashable article: here

AdWeek article: here

Foursquare announcement: here

For Brands: Now is the time for Holiday Communications

According to a study by Crimson Hexagon, 2012 saw a 30% lift in holiday shopping communications on Twitter over 2011. Surprisingly, those conversations are starting before October.

An infographic from Crimson further reveals:

·         Holiday shopping conversations on Twitter start early.

o    30% of Twitter users begin thinking- and tweeting- about holiday shopping before October

·         Twitter influences product consideration, discovery and purchases.

o    55% of users discussed gift ideas on Twitter

o   64% of users have purchased a product because of Twitter

·         Twitter plays a key role in how and where people shop.

o    57% of shoppers use Twitter to determine what stores to visit

o    62% of shoppers tweet about the purchases they’ve made

o    45% of shoppers would rather take Twitter shopping with them than their husband or wife

Most brands will begin trickling in their holiday messaging now, but for B2B customers, time is of essence. 

For more information, please see the full study below:

Study: Twitter’s influence on holiday shopping

Instagram Announces Ads

Instagram finally announced plans to roll-out advertising to US users over the next few months.

The Ads Will:

• Focus on delivering a small number of beautiful, high-quality photos and videos from a handful of brands that are already great members of the Instagram community
• Appear in users’ feeds that do not currently follow that brand on the platform
• Give users will have the option to hide the post as well (similar to Facebook)
• As a user, you will still own your photos and videos (only brands' content can leverage paid promotions)
•  Create the need for brands to develop even more beautiful, compelling custom content that feels consumer-centric

Ads here present a big opportunity for real-time marketing for brands.  It will be interesting to see how the analytics tracking, and user behavior will evolve around this new initiative as well.  Stay tuned!

For More Info

Business Insider Article

Instagram's Official Announcement

How to Make Multi-Screen Campaigns More Interesting

Today, 71% of consumers view content on more than two screens daily.  As this number and trend begins to grow, we must consider how multi-screen campaigns can be more engaging and integrated. 

During Ad Week, Microsoft and MediaVest presented case studies demonstrating successful multi-screen campaigns in a “How to Make Multi-Screen Campaigns More Interesting” keynote.   Below outlines the 3 areas consistent in each case study:

·         Content Strategy

o   From a brand and business perspective, define the story we want to tell

o   The content cannot be static: it must adapt based on engagement wear out and composting evolution

o   All content is not created equal:  we cannot simply take creative from one channel and apply it to the next

§  Each platform has a specific purpose and expectation from the consumer

·         Consumer Journey

o   The customer context must shape the message from the above content

§  Where are your customers?

§  What do they need?

§  What is their mind frame while on multiple platforms?

o   Physically map out the customer experience to identify which screens and platforms belong in your plan

§  If your target is not active on a specific platform there is no need to be there

§  Map out when the target is on these platforms for a dayparting strategy

·         Possibly different channels at different times

·         Or “multi-tasking”/co-viewing while being on multiple screens at a time

·         Culture (of the teams involved)

o   Define the team involved with the campaign process

§  Agree on key decision makers and assign each team a task (data should always be a part of this discussion)

·         Includes agency partners and internal

o   Align on overall marketing goals

§  Define the perception change/business goals

§  Then define the KPIs

·         Do not confuse KPIs and overall goals

§  Ensure data collection and reporting is identified in the upfront

o   Invest in supporting this lasting cultural change and shift to multi-screen marketing

§  Sometimes TV will be the most important screen, but today it can also be others 

Vine Influencers Sell Out for Brands (Thank You)

One way for brands to break through the clutter on social and still maintain any brand presence is by partnering with Vine "celebrities."  These celebs or influencers clearly found a way to create a following by being unique, and among first to the platform.

Trident Gum, Lowe’s, Virgin Mobile, and other brands leverage this trend, and  NicholasMegalis, a 24-year-old  Vine celebrity with about 2.5 million followers, seems to be a bit of a brand whore. 

In a recent interview, Megalis reveals two important aspects to marketing on the platform from his recent interview:

• Brands should understand their consumer and look to artists to produce work
•  Brands must pay attention to people, show them love, and make something cool they can look at—you can’t just slap your product name on a Vine and expect people to buy something

When done correctly, partnering with social artists/celebrities helps brands to reach mass audiences. Of course, this isn't new news for brands or marketing, but it is proving to be effective when measuring conversations and even sometimes perceptions. 

Source:

Marketers Take Notice of the Second-Most Followed Account on Vine

How Your Brand Can Flirt on Vine

Vine Celebs make $10K in 6 Seconds