Early Version of Vessel Launched

If you haven't heard of Vessel yet, you will. Soon.

The newest online video platform started by former Hulu CEO Jason Kilar, competes directly with YouTube, claims exclusive content and has just signed up some new advertisers:

• Users can get exclusive access to videos from some of the biggest content creators in the space.
• Vessel is offering these creators 70% of ad revenue while YouTube takes a majority of that revenue at 55%.
• Videos posted to Vessel can’t be seen anywhere else for 72 hours, hoping to be a big differentiating factor for the company.
• After that 72 hour window, the content then moves to Vessel’s free, ad-supported service along with other platforms like YouTube.
• Advertisers include: Chevy, Corona Extra, Land Rover, Jaguar, Axe, Dove, Suave and St. Ives
• Producers, including Alec Baldwin, signed on to produce custom content for the platform

Vessel launched their early version of the service to video creators last Wednesday. Once Vessel attracts more creator, we can expect "general pop" log in opportunities. In the meantime, you can request an invite here. Plus, see more about the platform 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

Super Bowl Social Wins (Still, none for Peyton)

Forget the TV spots, during the boring Super Bowl on Sunday, you could have been entertained on social media instead.

Thank you, Twitterverse, for hours of fun.

Here are some of the great engagements, conversations, and social posts from brands that just "get it:"

Oreo's Sits this one out...

Hey guys…enjoy the game tonight. We’re going dark. #OreoOut

— Oreo Cookie (@Oreo) February 2, 2014

Dorito's Human Dorito at MetLife:

Are we making you hungry? #Doritos pic.twitter.com/NyFEcL4TV9
— Doritos (@Doritos) February 2, 2014

DiGiorNOYOUDIDNT:

YO, THIS GAME IS LIKE A DIGIORNO PIZZA BECAUSE IT WAS DONE AFTER TWENTY MINUTES #SuperBowI #SuperSmack #DiGiorNOYOUDIDNT
— DiGiorno Pizza (@DiGiornoPizza) February 3, 2014

Spiderman:

Need a hand, Peyton? #SpiderMan #SB48 pic.twitter.com/QrkkbZ8fnQ
— Spider-Man (@SpiderManMovie) February 3, 2014

RadioShack #InWithTheNew Campaign Support:

Out w/ the old, #InWithTheNew! For the next 24hrs, we're giving away all our old '80s stuff! http://t.co/SzvbDQmSlj pic.twitter.com/wI8hipTmhs
— RadioShack (@RadioShack) February 3, 2014

SNICKERS Connecting with (drunk) JCPenney:

Eat a #SNICKERS, you’re not you when you're hungry RT @JCPenney Who kkmew theis was ghiong tob e a baweball ghamle. #lowsscorinh 5_0
— SNICKERS® (@SNICKERS) February 3, 2014

Tide Vines:





And for the brand trying to be real time.. and just being well..:

Little known fact @RealJoeNamath and us have the same tailor. Who wore it better? #smartWrapMe #SB48 #joenamathscoat pic.twitter.com/VLlXkq7l7J
— Official smart USA (@smartcarusa) February 3, 2014

Twitter & TV: New Study by SocialGuide

According to Nielsen, there is a large overlap of users who Tweet about both, brands and TV.  This insight is significant for better understanding how we can reach people who will amplify our message and allow our dollars to work even harder.  The infographic below helps identify some key learnings from this study.

For quick reference, key data points include:

• 73% of people who Tweet about brands also Tweet about TV
• Of this total, the Tweets mostly discuss brands in the following industries:
• 74% discuss Consumer Electronics
• 48% discuss Restaurants
• 29% discuss Food
• 27% discuss Beverages

Social Media Increasingly Important to B2B Marketers

A recent study from International Data Group suggests that social media is increasingly becoming an important part of marketing for B2Bs. When surveying IT buyers, a reported 86% of them used social media in their purchase decision process, indicating they will soon look to social as the most important source for consuming content to inform their buying decisions. As this need grows, social’s prominence in campaign communication plans for B2B marketers will likely increase as well.

Note that 89% of those surveyed preferred to see educational content from vendors on social over promotional content, signifying that social is not yet the place to close on sales. Given this, B2Bs can use social platforms to influence the buyer by:

• Providing countdowns/updates on new releases
•  Offering sneak peeks on new products
• Providing an incentive for consumers to interact with you
• Providing a venue for customer interaction with the brand

While social media may not be the strongest place for sales conversions, B2Bs are aware that social needs to be integrated with overall campaign efforts.

For full details, please visit the article links below:
Social Media Increasingly Important for B-to-B Marketers: Study
Using Social Media to Educate Consumers

Facebook Launches Trending

Similar to Twitter’s Trends list, Facebook, too, launched a Trending feed. Located to the right of the News Feed, users will now be able to see trending topics and conversations that are popular across their individual Facebook, at any given time.

Image from Facebook Newsroom.

Features include:

• Personalized, clickable, topics spanning your interests, and top trends across the Facebook platform
• Snackable, at-a-glance headlines providing more information on each trend
• Upon click-through, view of trend-related content by users' friends, pages they follow and public posts 

This aggregate of trending topics aims to enhance the platform’s stance as a source of news and encourages users to share more content publicly.

As this list is engineered to populate with content users are interested in, along with their friends, this may provide ad opportunities, similar to the evolution on Twitter. 

As Facebook rolls out this update, you can learn more about the feature and how it’ll look on your Facebook, here. 

LinkedIn Launches Showcase Pages

Image fromTNW.

LinkedIn is looking to help companies get the right content in front of the right users with their latest addition to the site, Showcase Pages.

Showcase Pages will allow companies to control and share content to a more focused and interested audience. As a result of this new publishing tool available to businesses, LinkedIn users will soon have access to a wider range of professionally curated content.

With Showcase Pages, companies can now:

·         Create custom pages for niche divisions or business units

·         Focus content to specific audiences, who have already shown interest in the company and/or related products

·         Businesses can monitor the performance of their page through LinkedIn’s analytic tools

·         Participate in advertising opportunities that aim to increase the Showcase Page’s total followers as well as promoting posts and content in from of others who aren’t following the page, similar to other platforms like Facebook & Twitter.

To learn more about this announcement, please click here.

Pinterest Launches Promoted Pins

Since Pinterest launched analytics and business pages over the last few months, we’ve been waiting for a more detailed advertising product announcement.  Today, Pinterest made that announcement.

Promoted Pins, the new Pinterest advertising product, will start slow on the platform.  Some initial details on the ads are below:

• No banners or “flashy” ads
• It will be clear which pins are promoted vs. organic
• Pins will be contextually relevant by specific user behavior
• The Promoted Pines should be similar to the items the user currently pins
• Paid ads will only appear in search results and category feeds (for now)

Looking forward to learning more about these ads and how to get our brands on the platform!

For the formal announcement and a bit more information see below:

Pinterest Blog

Mashable Article

Vine & TV: A new Love Affair

Vine, initially meant as a mobile/social platform, is now seeing mass awareness by becoming a part of national TV campaigns.

Specifically, Trident Gum aired the first 6-second spot made from a single Vine video: and Dunkin Donuts (scheduled to air this week during a football game), creatively found a way to be more engaging with a billboard ad unit by using a Vine instead.

With these new creative executions, Trident and Dunkin Donuts are leveraging Vine and TV to:

·         Test Content:

a.       Trident used Vine as a content testing platforms by selecting one of four Vines (created  with “Vine Celebrities”) to appear on TV

                                                               i.      The Vine with the highest engagement was aired

·         Increase Consumer Reach:

a.       Dunkin Donuts plans to integrate other social media platforms during the air of their Vine to increase engagements and awareness

b.      They also plan to integrate other social media platforms during the air of their Vine to increase engagements and awareness

I'm a Gator, But Jell-O, You're the Loser

Post by JELL-O.

Oh Jell-O.  We're all trying to master the art of real-time marketing (see anything Oreo has done).  But you, my friends, have failed.

As a Gator, and someone who wept away much of my weekend after a Miami Hurricane loss, I do not want to be mocked on a Monday.  And you did that.

Please pay attention to the games if you're trying to be a part of the conversation.

Sincerely,

A Gator Fan and disappointed digital marketer

Social Users are Mobile First: We Should Be, Too

Consumers and customers alike no longer see Twitter and Facebook as desktop websites.  They consider these social networks mobile apps.  Because of this user behavior and mind-set, we see Twitter and Facebook leveraging the mobile first strategy.  For reference:

• Over 70% of all Facebook & Twitter activity occurred on mobile
• More than 219M users were mobile only on Facebook
• It is predicted that $4billion will be spent on Facebook advertising with 50% of the spend to occur in streams
•  This means, brands are not only competing with our fans’ friends, but with many other advertisers as well

The content developed and amplified becomes even more important: 

• It must break through the clutter
• Be relatable
• Leverage a “mobile first” philosophy
• Should be succinct, engaging and visual – on both Twitter and Facebook.

Although this isn't "new news" the data is still staggering and changing as we move into Fall 2013.

For more information see the Social Media Today article below:
http://socialmediatoday.com/markozm/1718946/changing-way-you-think-reaching-consumers-social-streams

Gap Shows How Brands Can Adapt on Tumblr

Less than a year ago, Tumblr rolled out sponsored advertising, which positions brand content in key areas on the site to engage with users. 

In an effort to create a “pop culture movement,” the clothing brand Gap purchased all of the site’s mobile advertising opportunities yesterday to promote its new #BackToBlue campaign. Through this, Gap has created unique opportunities that allows the brand to:

•          Get exclusive share of voice to Tumblr’s 54 million daily users
•          Take advantage of the reblog/share culture to spread the Gap’s image/gif heavy content
•          Leverage user generated content submitted to their contest in their mobile advertisements

Gap is not simply retrofitting its TV and print creative into Tumblr, it specially created content that’s perfect for Tumblr—fully embracing the colors, quirky gifs, and quotes that are so attuned to the platform. 

Darn.. maybe I should make a Tumblr too (read: I've created a million and never kept it up).

For more information, please see below for the Tumblr page and Mashable article:

Gap Buys All of Tumblr’s Mobile Ads for a Day

http://gap.tumblr.com/contest

Advertisers Need YouTube

With expected ad spend to reach $8 Billion by 2016, YouTube can help increase brand exposure, which is a highly valued KPI after to ad revenue. Outlined in the infographic from MDG Advertising we can take away:

• YouTube reaches more U.S. adults ages 18-34 than any cable network
• 21.7 percent of internet users checking the site every single day
• Each viewer spends an average of 397.1 minutes per month
•  6 billion hours of content was consumed in May 2013, doubled from last May’s 3 billion

How to Create the Perfect Hashtag

Hashtags have not only become synonymous with Twitter, but across the social web.  So how do you come up with the best hashtag for your brand or marketing campaign?

Twitter launched an infographic that helps establish the path for creating a new hashtag, using an existing hashtag, or why a hashtag should actually be avoided.  

In short:

• Make your hashtag memorable
•  Hashtags should be easy to remember
• Integrate the hashtag with other forms of marketing materials, not just on Twitter

• Don’t be afraid to piggyback on a popular term
• For example, Foot Locker began using the popular “#Kickstagram” hashtag. The hashtag was often used by sneaker-heads, but the brand began using it, added media and incorporated it to other messaging.  Now, the sneaker-heads think of Foot Locker when using #Kickstagram.