Featured Article: Social Serious about Paid Search? – 17th Apr 2013 This week both Twitter and Facebook have made some bold steps into the world of paid advertising with first Facebook’s testing of ads in open graph search results and then Twitter launching keyword targeted ads. Facebook are starting to make a few more waves in the water through the launch of Facebook Open Graph and more recently Facebook Home, both of which are looking to become a significant part of our daily interactions with Facebook very soon. While Facebook are looking to steal a march on Google by placing Facebook Home on both smartphone and tablet devices, they are also looking to capitalise on Facebook Open Graph with targeted ads. Although initially it seems these ads will be targeted primarily based on user profiles rather than search intent, it would not be a surprise if Facebook capitalise on both keyword targeting and profile targeting to get the best of both worlds.
More information on these recent developments from Facebook: http://allfacebook.com/graph-search-results-ad-test_b115442 http://mashable.com/2013/04/16/whats-next-for-facebook-home/ Meanwhile, Twitter have also announced this week that they will start allowing advertisers to display targeted ads within user timelines based on content of individual tweets. This real time targeting has been heralded in some corners of the advertising world as a key game changer, allowing advertisers to reach audiences in instantaneous real time like never before. While the volume of ads within timelines we have been told will not increase, the relevancy will dramatically improve and enhance user interaction. Allowing advertisers to reach audiences as they tweet and offer ads in such a timely fashion, could open up a massive opportunity.
Imagine a music label being able to display an ad for a new album based on a tweet about that artist, or a beverage company displaying an ad for a new drink when a user tweets about their thirst?
More information on these recent developments from Twitter: http://mashable.com/2013/04/17/twitter-keyword-ads/ http://thenextweb.com/twitter/2013/04/17/twitter-now-allows-advertisers-totarget-specific-words-used-in-tweets/ Has social finally decided to get serious about advertising after stepping so gently into the waters in recent years? Will advertisers start to realise the potential and importance of a social strategy now that they have? Facebook and Twitter have now accumulated a very significant following of users meaning that advertisers can no longer ignore the importance of social in attracting new customers. If you combine this reach with the sophistication of keyword and customer profile relevancy now on offer, advertisers should start to take social seriously as part of a digital strategy. Social has seen phenomenal growth in recent years and for many is now the first port of call on mobile, meaning advertisers can potential customers before they venture over to the search engines. It is definitely an exciting time to be involved in social advertising and advertisers late to the game may end up losing out on the early adopter benefits if they wait too long. If you would like more information regarding these releases please get in contact with your respective SMG account managers.
Google Mobile Search New Features – 16th Apr 2013 In order to help users to search more quickly on the go, Google has introduced two new features in Mobile Search – “Expandable Sitelinks” and “Quick View”. The screenshot below is an example of expandable sitelinks, which can help you to find the section you need without having to navigate through the whole website.
A blue “Quick View” Badge as seen below will start to show next to some mobile search results. Quick view is an experimental project and is currently enabled for pages from Wikipedia when you search in English on Google.com only.
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Blair Liu
More Details: http://insidesearch.blogspot.co.uk/2013/04/making-your-mobile-searchfaster_16.html
The Darker Side of Social Media – 15th Apr 2013 The recent survey conducted by Vital Smart shows that along with undisputable benefits for connecting people, social media are also responsible for breaking friendships and relationships in ‘real life’. Nearly 78% people reported general increase in rudeness online with their offline friends being much less polite in virtual world. Two in five admitted that ended face-to-face contact as a result of ‘social media hostility’. -
Artur Kozdrowski
Read more: http://www.marketingpilgrim.com/2013/04/infogrpahic-social-mediahostility-on-the-rise.html