Spreeify New Overview Document Rocks!
A huge thanks to our staff and creative strategist Manish Dua for putting together our new overview document.
Download PDF file here.
Spreeify SocialActive Banner Technology Featured in SoCalTech
A huge thanks to the folks at SoCalTech for this great plug on our new tech!
Los Angeles-based Spreeify, the social marketing software startup led by Ruben Dua, announced this morning that it has launched a new, social advertising platform it is calling SocialActive. The company said that the new technology allows advertisers to embed social engagement options–such as Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and other post/follow buttons–directly within IAB HTML5 advertising ads. Spreeify says the new technology has already been used by Swarovski, Adobe, and others. Spreeify said the inclusion of those social links in ads makes it easier for advertisers to measure social engagement, and also gain additional social conversions from their ad campaigns. Pricing on the new product were not announced.
Read full article here.
How Images Improve Engagement in Advertising and Social Media… Get Visual
A very good info graphic on the importance of good imagery in your ads and social media…
Thanks to MDG for creating.
What would Don Draper say about advertising in 2014.
Okay so we all know that advertising has changed a ton since the early days, but it hasn’t really changed at all…
Think how relevant these quotes are in today’s advertising age with analytics, A/B testing, social media, conversion optimization, viral campaigns and of course simplicity.
Enjoy…
1. “In the modern world of business, it is useless to be a creative, original thinker unless you can also sell what you create.”
2. “Never stop testing, and your advertising will never stop improving.”
3. “Big ideas are usually simple ideas.”
4. “The best ideas come as jokes. Make your thinking as funny as possible.”
5. “Our business is infested with idiots who try to impress by using pretentious jargon.”
10 Scariest Statistics about Display Advertising – You’re more like to…
Some of these seem totally outlandish and downright pathetic, but math doesn’t lie (except when it does)… As a benchmark… The average banner ad has a 0.1% clickthrough rate (CTR), and the standard 468×60 banner has a 0.04% CTR.
10 Shocking But True Display Advertising Stats
- You are more likely to complete NAVY SEAL training than click a banner ad. (Source:Solve Media)
- Only 8% of internet users account for 85% of clicks on display ads (and some of them aren’t even humans!). (Source: comScore)
- You are more likely to get a full house while playing poker than click on a banner ad.(Source: Solve Media)
- The average person is served over 1,700 banner ads per month. Do you remember any? (Source: comScore)
- You are more likely to summit Mount Everest than click a banner ad. (Source: Solve Media)
- The average clickthrough rate of display ads is 0.1%. (Source: DoubleClick)
- You are more likely to birth twins than click a banner ad. (Source: Solve Media)
- About 50% of clicks on mobile ads are accidental. (Source: GoldSpot Media)
- You are more likely to get into MIT than click a banner ad. (Source: Solve Media)
- You are more likely to survive a plane crash than click on a banner ad. (Source: Solve Media)
These stats were curated from Digiday and Business Insider.
Instagram $100 Million Deal with Omnicom
Instagram just signed a $100 million advertising deal with the ad agency Omnicom Group. The Agency will buy up to $100 million in ads on Instagram. They are a few aspects that make this deal promising. First, the deal is flexible. Omnicom doesn’t have to spend the entire $100 million, meaning if they don’t like the results they can spend less. Instagram will be using a native model for their ads that look like regular photos and videos, except they are from brands, just as twitter ads look like normal tweets. Brands will also be offered the opportunity to buy followers, just like on Twitter. Moreover, this deal gives Omnicom a leg up on its competition. There are 150 million monthly active users on Instagram making it amongst the hottest social media platforms out there. For any brand, Omnicom represents the privileged partner to work with. Lastly, it gives Instagram the opportunity to work closely with an agency and develop ads that are more appealing and engaging to a targeted audience. Instagram will surely encounter the same challenges Twitter had with their advertisement model. However, working with an ad agency to slowly introduce advertising to the platform gives Instagram room to experiment.
The Epic Tweet that Crashed Twitter
If you haven’t heard of the Ellen DeGeneres’ selfie at the Oscars that got retweeted more than 3 million times, you probably have been living on another planet for the past few days. However, just in case you have no idea of what I am talking about, here is the picture that was retweeted 3,312,929 to be exact.
Ellen DeGeneres’ selfie now holds the record as the most popular tweet ever, easily outshining President Obama’s 2012 reelection tweet which only got 778,000 retweets. The selfie even knocked Twitter offline for a bit with more than 700,000 retweets and nearly 200,000 favorites in just 30 minutes. Behind every great picture there is a great product. Samsung was the biggest winner of the night, they scored an epic product placement for their new Galaxy Note 3. This social media phenomenon reminds me of the Oreo blackout tweet at the Super Bowl which generated nearly 10,000 retweets per hour. More recently, Arby’s tweet about Pharrell William’s hat at the Grammy brought in an astonishing 78,000 retweets.
Needless to say, the last two years twitter has opened an opportunity for companies to take part in real-time marketing moments. Now let’s turn the mic to YOU…
What was your favorite organic tweet moment so far?
- Ellen's selfie (75%, 6 Votes)
- Arby's hat (25%, 2 Votes)
- Oreo's blackout (0%, 0 Votes)
Total Voters: 8
Loading ...
25 Most Creative Social Media Job Titles
20 years ago Geocities came up with the first social media network; it was the third most viewed website on the web. Few years later, mark Zuckerberg introduced Facebook and ever since the number of social media platforms have been growing considerably. With a new market comes new job titles, the most common are social media manager, strategist, analyst and specialist just to name a few. However, lately some companies have been getting as creative as it can be with their titles, going from “Social Media Rockstar” to “Community Wizard”. We have put together 25 of the most hilarious social media job titles out there.
1.Social Media Rockstar
2.Senior Social Media Capability Architect
3.Social Media Tactician
4.Social Media Wizard
5.Social Activationist
6.Chief People-Herder
7.Social Media Ninja
8.Community Data Guerrilla
9.Social Media Enthusiast
10.Idea Inventor
11.Social Media Missionary
12.Social Media Evangelist
13.Social Media Guru
14.Social Media Profit Mechanic
15.Dynamic Social Innovator
16.Social Mediaholic
17.Social Mercenary
18.Social Media Composer
19.Social Performer
20.Social Media Composer
21.Social Performer
22.Epic Social Manager
23.Social Media Overlord
24.Digital Demigod
25.Digital Marketing Magician
Pinterest Tips that can Help Boost Your Business
Leads and sales is the goal to create the ultimate business. With tons of social media platforms to choose from, picking the right one for your business can be tricky. Pinterest is unique because of its visual platform that draws attention and generates views from the audience. Beautifully detailed pictures captivates your audience when Pintertest is used to its full advantage. Here are some great tips you can use to throw this visual platform to your marketing mix.
- Think Visual. Be artistic and creative. Have fun creative digital inboards to excite your audience. Let pictures speak for themselves.
- Guide Your Audience. Keep them hungry for more. It’s a good idea to link the site of your brand to other social media sites. This will help keep the curiosity and interest growing.
- Don’t Forget About the Men! Woman may the have the bigger percentage as Pinterest users but that doesn’t mean men can’t join in on the fun. Adapt your content to your target audience. There’s plenty of things out there to market for the men.
- Your Brand Name is Who You Are. Don’t let the audience forget who you are. It’s best to use the brand’s name as the username. Its a small but very important detail when marketing.
- Build Relationships. Don’t’ become a robot and not socialize with the audience. Make it personal. Traffic comes and goes so it’s important to show the user you care. Offer advice, answer questions or re-pin something unique and interesting. This can help your audience stick around longer.
- Give Back to the User Community. A user’s time is valuable so why not give something of value in return? If you ask them to repin or sign up with your brand, then give them an incentive to do so. Give out freebies, have a contest ,or offer to give them the inside scoop on product launches. This will keep both your audience and business happy.
Instagram Gives Best “Social Branding” (over Facebook, Twitter & Google +
The Verdict is in! Check out this post by Venture Beat stating that “Instagram is the ‘best platform for brands’ in 2013, beating out Facebook, Twitter, and Google+”
Instagram is the best platform for brands, according to a new study that reviewed all brands on social with over 25 fans on each of four major social platforms: Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and Google+.
“With increases in fan/follower engagement nearly three times that of other networks studied, Instagram is the clear winner for 2013,” SumAll CEO Dan Atkinson said. “If a company has a visual product to sell and it’s currently not on Instagram, that company is missing out on significant brand awareness and revenue.”
SumAll, a business analytics tool, currently tracks over 100,000 businesses on social networks, analyzing over 290 billion social actions per year.
Across businesses that are on all four networks, SumAll says that Instagram resulted in the most new followers in 2013 — and significant revenue. Brands on Instagram saw an average of 7 percent growth in both followers and engagement. And while U.S. brands saw a nice little revenue lift from Instagram — 1.5 percent to 5 percent — businesses in the U.K. reported more, up to 3.6 percent.
Which means that social commerce may finally be a real phenomenon.
Social media marketing expert Eric Dahan, the CEO of Instabrand, agreed. Instabrand is a social marketing organization focused on visual media. Right now that means Instagram, but Vine, Tumblr, and Pinterest are on the horizon.
“Instagram is the best platform for brands,” he told me. “It’s much stronger than Facebook.”
thumbs downInstabrand says its customers saw their followers grow from zero to 30,000 in campaigns costing just $3,000 to $5,000. One jewelry company, NouviNomi, got 50,000 unique visitors to its site from Instagram in two months as a result of a campaign that cost just $3,000.
“We average around 2 cents per engagement,” Dahan says. “We can’t measure impressions — Instagram doesn’t allow it — but we can measure engagement. If you have 200,000 followers, we’ll see 3,000 to 15,000 likes for a post, for a 2 percent to 10 percent engagement rate. Sometimes that jumps to 20 percent.”
Clearly, with a visual medium, visual brands that can communicate via images do best.
SumAll says that fashion retailer In God We Trust credits 2.3 percent of its revenue to Instagram, a number that may sound small but is actually huge for social commerce stemming from just one mobile social network. And SumAll’s Atkinson says that a bicycle manufacturer, Pure Fix Cycles, reports that every Instagram post it publishes is worth roughly $100 in revenue.
That’s impressive.
The best approach on Instagram, Dahan says, is not what you might think. Many brands are turning to celebrity endorsements as a quick-fix strategy to drive views, engagement, and ultimately revenue, but that can backfire.
“We match businesses with users that already like the brand,” he told me. “We tend not to like using celebrities — they’re almost corporate now, and people know they’re promoting a product just because they’re getting paid. We like to use grassroots people.”
And other networks, such as Facebook and Twitter?
“Twitter is mainly text-based … great for articles and headlines … but not as good for brands,” he said. “And Instagram is … much stronger than Facebook.”
Read full post here.
What is the Difference between a Sweepstakes, Giveaway, and Contest?
Sweepstakes
- Sweepstakes are prize giveaways where the winners are chosen by luck and chance.
- Legitimate promotions can never have consideration. What does this mean? It means that you will never have to pay to enter a legitimate sweepstakes. Also purchasing a product will not improve your odds.
- The winner is not chosen by skill
- The United States has strict, specific laws that ban private lotteries. Different states have different rules for sweepstakes.
- A sweepstake must make certain that at least one of three major lottery elements is missing: winners that are chosen by chance, prizes, or payment for a prize
- Non-monetary social media involvement could be Facebook likes, Pinterest pins and re-pins, tweets, Instagram shares, commenting, etc.
Giveaway
- A giveaway is where something is given away for free
- Companies use giveaways to promote their products and services and get word of mouth going. See Susan Friedman’s 10 Tips to Use Giveaways Effectively
- A giveaway could either be a sweepstakes or a contest depending on how you set it up
Contest
- Unlike Sweepstakes and Giveaways, contests draw a winner based on merit, talent, or skill
- Depending on the contest, it could either be who submits the best essay, photo entry, video, recipe etc. that will win the contest
- Contests are usually more fun and creative
- Contests offer a way for participants to express themselves in unique ways
- They allow the company or brand to engage with current or potential fan base more
- Contests can legally charge a fee to enter the contest
- For contests there needs to be a clear set of rules and regulations
Choosing the Right Product for a Social Giveaway/Contest/Sweepstakes
Everyone loves free stuff. And for brands, giveaways are an easy and inexpensive way to get their name and product into the hands of loyal or new fans. With the right combination of item selection, quality and design, a promotional item can have a huge impact in promoting a brand. Sweepstakes are fun ways for a brand to connect with its fan base, but often the hardest part is choosing the right promotional products to giveaway. Here are some tips you should keep in mind the next you are hosting a promotion, but are unsure about what to give.
Budget
You don’t want to break your bank giving an item away. Instead, you should be thinking about how giving something away for free can work for you. That is why choosing the right product is crucial, but there is no need to stress out about it. No one is going to turn away free stuff. But if you want to make the giveaway work for you, just remember that cheap looking gifts will negatively reflect on your brand and company’s image. No one is going to go through the effort of participating in a sweepstakes for a pen or a sticker. Offering a prize that feels “cheap” will surely turn people off. You need to get people excited and by doing this you need to give away a product that is enticing and stylish. The higher quality the product is, the more desirable it becomes. But not so big that your company could actually suffer by giving such a product away.
You don’t always have to give away a product. If your company offers a service, offer people that. For example offer free memberships, shopping sprees, gifts cards, virtually anything that is related to your brand that will get them in the door. It’s time to think outside the box of company pens and calendars. However if the prize is below $50 you should always consider having multiple winners to increase the attractiveness of the promotion
The most common misconception is to immediately give away an iPad. Surely that’ll generate a lot of interest. But what is actually wrong with giving away an iPad for your sweepstakes? It has nothing to do with your brand (unless you’re Apple of course). The people you will get entering your contest will do it solely for the iPad and have no idea what your brand or company does at the end of the day. Some might actually perceive your promotion as spam, because an iPad is too good of a prize to giveaway, and ignore it altogether. Don’t giveaway an iPad, you’ll just be hurting yourself in the long run.
Target Audience
It’s important to know who you target audience is. Do you want to reward your already loyal fans or do you want to reach out to new customers? Know who you want to give to and know what they would want. You want your prize to align properly with your target audience. When choosing the right prize, you want it to be a mix of something that is relevant to your business and something that your customers really want. You can never go wrong with a limited edition version of a product or an item that has not been released yet. Just make sure that prize appeals to everyone in your target audience and that it is wide-reaching.
Be Unique
Choose a promotional product that is creative and unique. Something that is not commonly given away and generates excitement amongst social users. The more unique the product, the more likely it will better remind clients and fans of your services. When in doubt, just remember the cool factor. How do you make your product stand out? Simply put: it’s coolness. Coolness is simple and unique. It’s something your audience will want and appreciate, while still subtly reminding them of what your brand does.
Follow these guidelines and you’ll have scores of potential customers lining up to participate in your promotion!
How to Host a Social Media Giveaway/Sweepstakes/Contest on Facebook
Promotions on Facebook are a fun and unique way to get the word out about your brand. They allow you to connect with a larger audience that can potentially become customers and loyal fans. They can be an effective method for marketing on Facebook, drive traffic towards the company website, and drive engagement…if done correctly.
Know your Goals
When it comes to running a promotion for your brand, you should always have a set of goals that you want to achieve. Ask yourself what you want to get out of it. Do you want to increase brand awareness? Highlight a new product line? Increase the number of likes on your Facebook page? Everyone has their own goals, but once you know why you’re doing a promotion, you’ll be able to run a more clear and focused contest. You’ll also have a way to measure the success of your promotion.
Learn the Rules
Now that you know what you want to do, hosting a promotion on Facebook seems easy right? Actually, Facebook has their own promotional guidelines in order to host a Facebook sweepstakes or giveaway, and if you don’t follow them you run the risk of having your contest shut down. That’s why it’s very important to familiarize yourself with the rules of the game before you even start: Facebook Promotional Guidelines.
In August, however, Facebook updated their promotional rules. So what did they change? Before, you couldn’t ask users to like or comment on a post to be entered into a promotion. You were also required to host a promotion through a third-party app. Now it is no longer necessary to host a contest via a third-party app. This means that businesses can now run promotions on page timelines and in apps on Facebook. For instance, businesses can now collect entries by having users post or like a page/post and they can now utilize likes as a voting mechanism. These changes offers a lot more flexibility in handling promotions; however, you should still know all the rules.
The Design and Prize
There are four types of promotions that you can run on: Facebook:
- Sweepstakes
- Essay
- Photo
- Video
Each type of promotion appeals to a different audience so make sure you know who your target audience is. Make the contest fun and creative. Rather than just clicking a like button, allow the participants to express themselves and interact with their friends and community. Just make sure that the design and prize of your promotion is relevant to your brand and message. Offer an attractive and desirable prize. Unless you are Apple, offering an iPad is not a viable prize because it doesn’t promote your brand.
Keep things simple. Make sure the rules, limitations, and deadlines are understandable and not overly complicated. Be up front about them and make them loud and clear. Keep the requirements to a minimum and make it easy to enter. Remember, you want as many participants to take part in your contest, and having them jump through complicated hoops will discourage them from do so. It shouldn’t take any longer than 60 seconds to enter.
Promote and Monitor
Now that you have your Facebook promotion up and running, make sure you cross-promote! Promote across all social media and not just Facebook so that you can generate the most engagement for your promotion. Need to get the word of mouth going? Reach out to already existing fans. Let the contest run for 1 or 2 months so you can get more people to join. Add share buttons to the contest so that fans themselves can share it across multiple social media sites. A successful promotion is when the brand is regularly engaging with its fans. But remember, no one likes a spammer. Listen to comments and feedback. The best kind of contest will be able to provide you with useful customer information. And always follow up with the winner and congratulate them.
