FaceBook not anymore?

The tittle of the post may sound very unrealistic, as the way popularity of FB is growing in India and more and more people are joining it everyday, how can I write it off in my tittle? But that is what FB has started experiencing in some part of the world (read the article (link given) to know more... :-)). I have recently gone through a survey published on CNN.com, that talks about the waning enthusiasm of young population in America towards FB. 

Isn't it going to be an issue for FB across all geography, where some years down the line, most youngsters would have their parents, grandparents on FB and instead of a cool social networking platform, it will be used to micro manage the kids by the parents. Do you remember the days, when Landline phones were in trends? Remember the how desperately we wanted to close a conversation, when our friends used to make a call and entire family used to sit there watching us and (un)intentionally being a part of our conversation? Perhaps the biggest factor why mobile became instant hit, because it added the privacy and mobility part. Sooner or later, FB is going to meet the same fate that boring land lines met (assuming, they don't come out with a solution to this). 

FB is "cool" because it gives us the freedom and allow us to be what we are. Imagine, if we were to customized our status update and comments, so that it goes down well with the imaginations and perceptions my kith and kins have about me, the purpose of having my account on FB is lost and I am better without it. So enjoy the freedom on social networking sites for few more years until it becomes a tool for micro managing for parents.... :-) 

Mobile, Social and Video advertising spend grow by more than 40% in 2012-13

Online as an advertising medium continues to impress the advertisers and have grown by 29% over the previous year by Mar 2013. It was valued at INR 1750 crores in Mar 2012 and has reached at 2260 crores in Mar 2013. The online advertising space comprises search, display, mobile, social media, email, and video advertising.

Search and display continue their dominance with acquiring 38% and 29%, respectively, of the total ad spend, their share of overall ad spend has declined owing to rise of mobile, social, and video advertising. The Social media and video advertising constitute 13 percent (INR 300 Crores), and 7 percent (INR 150 Crores) of the online advertising market, respectively, both growing at the rate of 41% annually, while mobile advertising constitutes around 10% (INR 230 crores) of toal spend, growing by 46% from the previous year.

Please find below the chart of the growth of different categories in terms of ad spend.

All figures are in INR Crores (Source: IMRB)

Mobile Advertising to Boom in 2013?

165 mill mobile Internet users in India by 2014: IAMAI-IMRB

The two major news which were broken out lately have fetched my attention towards a fast growing trend in digital advertising. Last month, the CEO of Google Larry page has hinted that mobile may overtake desktop as a revenue generator for Google. He has also predicted that advertising on mobile will slowly but steadily become more expensive that desktop and last week, Reuters has reported that Social networking company, Facebook doubled its mobile advertising revenue in the fourth quarter. The two giant of internet are showing and predicting a strong growth in Mobile advertising and it seems that sooner than later, it is going to be bigger than desktop. 

We can safely consider that mobile advertising has reached to that threshold point where it is going to take off now and 2013 could be the year when mobile advertising may actually find a lot of advertisers trying this medium to reach out their TG. 

At present, the supply of mobile inventory is more than the demand, hence mobile is an extremely cost effective medium, but as suggested by Larry Page, it is not going to last very long, mobile phones are slowing down Google's desktop business. Only 73 percent of Google's clicks come from desktops.

Everything augurs well for mobile advertising and it seems stage is all set for mobile to take a big leap this year. Don't you feel the same?

Precision Match: Buying user behavior?

How often you come across with the term of behavioral targeting, if you are a digital marketing professional? I can bet that many a times in a day. There are lot of networks, companies and individual publishers who have their own definition of behavioral targeting and claim to be one who can actually do it. However more often than not, we end up meeting with nothing else but disappointment.

Google worked on behavioral targeting for quite sometime and then opened this to adwords users. Google has associated a user’s browser cookie with its pre-defined interest categories (e.g. “Arts & Entertainment – Humor”, “Food & Drink – Cooking & Recipes”). Google aligns a user’s profile to a specific category and give advertisers a right to target the ads to a specific category or set of categories. But google still primarily tracks a users behavior through its searches. Hence, there could still be a set of data that it may be missing out i.e. it may not be reporting the engagement level and buying pattern of a user, which could lead to even better targeting, consequently great results in terms of ROI.

Preceision match  seems to be addressing the solution for this and making display performance campaign more effective. Going by the description, it seems an advertiser can actually buy user behavior instead of impressions, clicks or views. If it is so, digital marketing will become even more effective and a lot of money going to flow towards digital media in this year. Although, we need to wait to see how users are going to respond to it. Whether they are going to consider it a better way of showing the ads of the products, which they are actually interested in, or will consider it a breach of privacy and stalking them in virtual world. Only time can tell.  

Microsoft: In pursuit of Nokia?

This whisper started in 2012 that Microsoft is all set to buy Nokia and then due to some reason decided against it. New year (2013) is giving a lot of strength to this whisper and it seems that IT giant is in the thought of buying once a leader of mobile manufacturing company, which is struggling at this point of time.

The timing of acquiring Nokia can't be better than this because, Windows-8, the recently launched OS from Microsoft is creating a lot of buzz and it seems people are liking the feel of it on mobile handsets too. Nokia is struggling in handset market but still commands a good market share. Apple's Iphone 5 are getting mixed reviews, hence there is a place for being a contender who can challenge the growing popularity of Android and Microsoft with its new launch can very well occupy that place.

The question that would rake the mind of analyst this year could be "Will Windows Phone 8 do better, if Microsoft acquires Nokia?" Only future can tell.

YouTube Remarketing: Tool to look forward to?

Remarketing is an effective way to target the users, who have been to your website before. If the marketing objective is to increase the lead or the transaction per user, re marketing probably the best way to go forward because:

Remarketing

1) It is targeted to the people who have already been to your portal or have shown interest in your offerings but didn't take the desired action (transaction in most cases). Hence the spill over in terms of targeting the wrong TG would be minimal,

2) It is extremely helpful to increase the transaction per user, as communication can be customized as per the liking of the users (by looking at the buying behavior), hence conversion is more likely to be higher side.

If you are reading this post, I am assuming that your are aware of the basics of remarketing.

What I have discussed so far is remarketing through google or other third party tools which are targeting the intent of the users (especially in the case of google, since search is the intent based phenomenon). But this post is all about discussing the idea of having a remarketing tool targeting to interest of users. Is my language becoming a bit complicated? Let me try to speak in english... :-)... 

Just imagine a user, who unintentionally lands on your website and your remarketing tool drops a cookie on his browser, he may not be a prospective customer or at least may not require it immediately. Now, look at the different scenario, where a user who is genuinely interested in your offerings comes to your portal, the keyword here is "interested". Even if he doesn't buy your offering immediately but definitely a prospective customer, it makes more sense put your marketing efforts to target the second case (do you think otherwise?). Remarketing on youtube users is a same. Video is by nature an interest based phenomenon, people filter their videos based on their interest and accordingly visit the pages to watch the same. Now just think, if we have a customized offering for a user like this, what are the chances of getting this user converted? Answer is obvious, isn't it?... :-)

   

Samsung S3: Sensation or Hype

Finally, the most awaited gadget of the year (as of now) has touched the Indian shores and being touched and felt by many hands in India. Samsung's new kid S3 is here and creating a lot of buzz in the market and has already reported nearly 10 millions pre orders even before it was launched.

A lot of talk is around that Samsung has pitched it against Apple iPhone 4S, HTC One X and upcoming Nokia Lumia 900. But with the price tag of 43K, let us deep dive and find out, if it is going to be a new sensation or will end up being a short lived product.

If we look at the design, S3, like it's predecessor S2, uses a glossy plastic back which gives a feel of a cheaper handset and may not appeal to everyone. Nevertheless, the plastic cover body has been compensated by a really solid Gorilla Glass front, a well-packaged interior and a more robust battery cover. It's polycarbonate rather than bog-standard plastic. The new Galaxy phone is equipped with a 1.4 GHz quadcore processor paired with 1GB RAM. The S3 features a 4.8-inch super AMOLED display, an 8-megapixel (MP) camera with zero-lag shutter speed, 1080p video capture, a 1.9-inch front-facing camera and a 16 GB onboard memory that is expandable. It runs on Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich OS.    

Samsung is eying a 60% market share of smart phone market and S3 is expected to be one of the drivers to achieve the same. Though, it is going to face a stiff competition from HTC OneX, which feels more premium and adorns the same specifications.    

Social Media and B2B, myth is broken

You have got a business and have got an online presence too? Congrats, time to celebrate. Couple of months down the line, you expanded your online presence to social media, the most talked about medium. You have developed a very good looking and interactive Facebook page and with efforts you've got some active followers and fans. Time for three cheers again.

Everything was so good until you realized that the efforts you are putting in managing the FB page are not reflecting in terms of sales or ROI, and then you started making up your mind that social media is just a hype, it doesn't work. At this juncture, somebody who is so called an "EXPERT" of social media whispers into your ears that you are into B2B business and having a FB page is a good strategy for B2C but may not always work for B2B. This expert doesn't tell you the tools you need to resort to in order to get benefited from the social media, consequently, a more prominent thought that Social media works for B2C businesses but not a good medium to consider for B2B, makes inroads into your head permanently. Now you adorn the status of "EXPERT" and are ready to spill the beans everywhere.

I read an interesting article on social media Vs search on forbes website with the title Social is Intriguing, But Search is Proven, where the author has compared the two form of online advertising and proved the efficacy of search over the social media, when it comes to B2B marketing. Though, it is a very good article to go through but compares two completely different mode of online marketing. Where search is completely "intent" driven i.e. a user was looking for something with an intent and luckily (pat the back of your SEO guy) came across with your page, got his/her intent fulfilled and went away. He/she may or may not come back to your page ever, they may not even remember the name of your website. They don't need to. On the other hand social media, just like videos are driven by "interest" i.e. you want to connect with a brand or company because you are interested in them. You may not always be a buyer but could be a strong admirer or influencer in buying cycle. Remember, no marketing is as good as word of mouth. A user, advocating your brand is the best brand ambassador, you can ever have.

The biggest question is if ROI is the correct parameter for Social media. Which is the better sales pitch, a cold call or pitch where you already have some relationship in place. Most of you would vouch for the later, won't you? If yes, then why are we judging Social media only on the matrix of ROI? Isn't this medium is good in building a network of your prospective, who may not be shelling out money on your products as on today, but may get convinced enough in future to become loyal customers with you? It is all about having relationship in place before you can pitch them for your products.

In a recent study done by KnowledgeStorm of B2B technology decision makers the following statistics were revealed:

• 90% Participate in Video
• 80% Participate in Blogs
• 80% Participate in Wikis
• 69% Participate in Social Networks
• 53% Participate in Podcasts

The above stats are convincing enough to prove that how important it is that B2B companies explore social media marketing channels.

One picture is worth of thousand words. Hence uploading a picture below to that I found on web. I hope it should help you out to formulate your social media strategies.

Social Media Marketing: Get it right to see results

The popular site Social Media Examiner released its 2011 Social Media Marketing Industry Report on the effectiveness of social media. They surveyed more than 3,300 marketers and found the following:

• 88% of marketers reported better business exposure because of the use of social media marketing. 72% marketers confirmed the increase in traffic since they switched to social media and 62% marketers noticed an improved search engine ranking;
• 45% people who had been using social media marketing for 12 months or less have indicated of acquiring new business.
• 52% of marketers saw lead generation benefits by spending only 6 hours per week on social media.

So all a marketer needs to do is to have a presence on social media, hire an expert, and handover the key to success to him. Is that what your are thinking? take a breather and look at the downside of it else it can boomerang and will hurt you badly.

Social media marketing is like a new kid in house and everyone wants to pamper it without even knowing about the repercussion. It is unarguably a very strong tool but at the same time irrepressible i.e. you don’t have much control over it. Once something goes out on internet; spreads like a wild fire and reaches to millions in no time. Hence it needs to be used meticulously.

As, I have mentioned that the concept of social media is new to Indian market and hence there is no set rules to follow. Everyone is using the trial and error method in order to figure out the best SMM strategies. Nevertheless there are some basic rules that need to be adhered to. Let me try to pen down some of the common mistakes that are made and lead to failure of the social media campaigns.

Focus on the Wrong Metrics - This is one of the common mistakes that most of the new entrants in social media do i.e. considering a fan or a follower a business objective. Social media has enabled marketers to chase metrics that don’t impact their business. The prominent reason for most of the discussion questioning social media ROI is caused by measuring the wrong metrics. Reach, leads and sales should be some of the tangible metrics that should be measured as part of social media marketing strategies

Selling instead of Interacting: - One of the common mistakes that brands do; is to consider their fan page as a place to promote their product or in worst cases to sell their products. Social media is best when you try to interact with the followers and get the first hand feedback.

Like the page in lieu of freebies: The purpose of social media marketing is to engage your audience with some interesting content or contest, or get your audience to “like you” by offering freebies. If we talk about Indian context, it seems that a lot of marketers are opting for later and that is where they fumbled big time. Requiring someone to “like you” to get a discount on your product or some freebies is not social media marketing it’s paying a media house to write something good about your product, which essentially doesn’t mean that the very media house has a good opinion about you or could be a buyer of your product for that matter.

Opting for a wrong tool:- You have got an agency who built an impressive FB page for you and you have team of content writer who are continuously updating the page on daily basis but at the end of the month you have very few likes or followers of your page. You are frustrated and started doubting the effectiveness of social media. Where did you go wrong? May be you didn’t realize that you have B2B product and opting for Linked-In would have yielded you better results.

Since, social media is evolving and there is something new that is introduced in social media everyday, hence everyone is a learner in this space. The points mentioned above are my observations while trying out my hand on social media and failing miserably. But as a famous saying goes "experience is a name that we give to our mistakes".. :-)

The most effective tool for Digital Branding: Online Videos

It is estimated that the total number of internet user in India is more than 100 M, who spend on an average 16 hours per week online i.e. close to 10% of their total time in a week. No brand marketer can afford to ignore the above stats, hence digital branding slowly becoming an integral part of the marketing budget. The belief that online advertising has limited or no value to a marketing campaign and it’s not a medium to increase brand image, doesn't hold water today.

The research done by MSN, the Internet Standards Bureau (ISB) and the Advertising Research Foundation (ARF) on Unilever's Dove Nutrium bar has revealed that in order to achieve a better result and even without increasing the cost of the campaign, 10-15% brand advertising budget should be on web. The study shows that in a media mix, boosting the frequency of the online campaign can cost effectively increase the effect of a branding campaign. With the advent of social media, the effectiveness of building brand online has increased manifold.

Knowing the fact that online is the way, the next biggest challenge in front of a brand marketer is to decide how to go about it. Where to pump in money, is it search or display? Let us try to explore the option here. As we know search is intent based and is capable of targeting people just the right stage of decision making process. Hence, search is one of the best options for response marketers. But as a brand building tool display outruns search because of the higher recall than the search.

Amongst the innumerable options in display advertising, online video advertising has turned out to be a clear winner in terms of brand recall, engagement and influencing user to start the buying cycle. An Interactive marketer will bank on online video to get benefitted from the branding potential richer than that for previous online display ad formats. Recently done study shows that more than half (53%) of respondents who recalled seeing some advertising remembered viewing these in-stream ads. Check the graph below:

If we look at the above chart closely, we will come to know that the permeating nature of banner ads also have an impact on brand recall. Because of the pervasiveness 35% of users have reported to recall seeing static banner ad compare to 13% of user who remembered seeing engaging video banners. This result may disappoint many considering the fact that videos are very high on engagement, but the underlying fact is that a user is exposed more to the static banner than online video banners. Let us compare the effectiveness of the two in engaging the user and making the user to interact with the ads. Please check the below graph:

Please note the ability of expandable video banners to prompt user to interact with the ads vis-à-vis banner ads.

Online advertising is in India is far from becoming mature; hence there is a huge possibility of seeing more innovative ad units in time to come. But today, brand marketers have found a solution in the form of interactive online video banners in order to engage, influence, and prompt user to interact with the ad.