IAB Creates "Bar Exam" For Digital Ad Sales

The Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) has established what it calls the first-ever educational standard for digital media sales forces. It believes that the "IAB Digital Media Sales Certification" fills the need for professional benchmarks in digital, on par with the legal world’s Bar Exam and Wall Street’s Series 7. That situation changes with today’s announcement by the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) establishing the first-ever educational standard for digital media sales forces with the launch of the "IAB Digital Media Sales Certification."

Why Facebook Advertising Doesn’t Pay Off For Most Companies

So many companies rush to Facebook.
They spend a lot of money to “engage in the conversation” with their base.
They pay for ads.
They hire youthful social media managers, and they engage agencies to run their social media outreach.
Here’s the problem:
Facebook is just a platform. It’s just like TV, radio, your Web site, and your product package. Most companies go to Facebook without effective messaging and language.
If you don’t perfect your message before broadcasting it, the platform doesn’t matter. It won’t work. 
So, here are five message development actions to engage in,  before engaging in social media:

4 Ways Internet Marketing And Internet Advertising Are Different

While both internet marketing and internet advertising allow skilled professionals to utilize the internet as a channel for promoting brands, products and services, there remains to be an argument as to which term is more appropriate to use. Wikipedia, for instance, defines online or internet advertising as a form of promotion that uses the internet to deliver marketing messages to prospective customers. On the other hand, it defines internet or web marketing as the promotion of products and services over the internet.

Τα 7 Πιο Συνηθισμένα Λάθη Στο Facebook Ads

Ανακαλύψτε και Αποφύγετε Τα 7 Πιο Συνηθισμένα Λάθη Στη Διαφήμιση Facebook

Το Facebook είναι ένα καταπληκτικό εργαλείο για τη διαφήμιση της επιχείρησης σας. Είναι φθηνότερο από το Google και παράλληλα είναι ένα από τα χειρότερα χρησιμοποιημένα "εργαλεία" διαφήμισης στην Ελλάδα. Πάμε να δούμε ποια είναι τα πιο συνηθισμένα λάθη που γίνονται στη διαφήμιση και πως να τα αποφύγετε:

Θετική η απόδοση της καμπάνιας του ΕΟΤ στη Google τον Απρίλιο

Η καμπάνια του ΕΟΤ στη Google, ένα μήνα μετά την έναρξή της, εξελίσσεται πολύ θετικά τόσο στις ευρωπαϊκές αγορές όσο και στις ΗΠΑ, καθώς τόσο ο αριθμός των κλικ όσο και ο αριθμός των εμφανίσεων (impressions) υπερβαίνει κατά 60% στην Ευρώπη και κατά 30% στις ΗΠΑ τους εκτιμώμενους βάσει αρχικού διαφημιστικού πλάνου.

Embrace Science And Big Data: The Attribution Revolution

Recently, the topic of attribution has been taking some heat, as agencies and clients try to determine the best way to assign value to various advertising channels. While some are more willing to accept different models than others, all marketers must embrace this movement immediately.
I’m going to focus here only on digital media — which, as we will see, is hard enough. Figuring out an attribution model that works across all media is the real nirvana.
Given that an advertiser knows if you see their ad, click on it, visit their site, and buy their product, you’d think that measuring the effectiveness would be a snap — just take the amount spent on each media channel and divide it by the number of units sold.

The Top 3 Mistakes Made by Online Advertisers

With the abundance of self-serve online marketing solutions, it’s extraordinarily easy for digital novices to get a new campaign up and running in as little as an afternoon. The rapidity with which online advertisers can launch and later modify a campaign is one of online advertising’s greatest hallmarks. However, it is often easy for beginners (and veterans alike) to make serious errors that prevent their online advertising from reaching its potential.
Unfortunately, even well-established online advertisers are prone to make a number of errors that can plague an online advertising campaign (particularly a self-serve campaign). Here are three of the most common mistakes made by online advertisers.

What Kind of Online Ad Should Your Small Business Run?

You’re ready to invest in your small business by buying some online advertising. Where should you spend your money? It depends on your needs and what you want to accomplish. Here’s a look at three types of ad campaigns to help you determine which one may best suit your company.

Google to introduce ad analytics features

Google Inc. is introducing new advertising features, to be made available this spring, that facilitate the tracking of display ad views and the level of engagement users have with those ads.
Google's new service, Brand Activate, features two tools. The first, Active View, measures how long an ad is shown on the user's screen and how much it is viewed.

Social Advertising: Like, Share, Retweet ... Buy?

If you use Facebook regularly, you may notice the small ads on the top right-hand side of your page. These bring in the bulk of Facebook's estimated $4 billion in annual revenues.

If your company already uses social media for marketing, it's time to think about the possibilities of social advertising, which offers huge audiences and the appeal of targeted, viral marketing.
"Social advertising really is a game-changer, especially for SMBs [small- to medium-sized businesses], because they can capitalize on the reach of these networks and drive a significant number of clicks for the budget," says Tom Edwards, vice president of digital strategy with The Marketing Arm, a promotions agency in Dallas, Texas.

Hulu: Advertisers Pay Only When 100% of Ad Is Streamed

Internet TV service Hulu will begin charging advertisers only when 100 percent of an ad has been streamed.
"Hulu advertisers will not be charged unless their advertisement has been streamed through completion; in other words, an advertisement that has been 100% delivered. There will be no extra cost to Hulu advertisers for this service," said JP Colaco, SVP advertising at Hulu, in a blog post. The new pricing model will apply to advertisements served on both Hulu's free and subscription services.

Online Advertising Vs. Print Advertisements

Online advertisements are ads which appear on the Internet, and print advertisements are ads which appear in newspapers, magazines, and trade journals. Both types seek to solicit new customers, new employees, or new viewers of their products or services. There are advantages and disadvantages to both types of advertising.

Can Brands Market on Facebook Without Actually Spending Money on Advertising?

Many Are Using Free Resources to Build a Presence, but the More of Those That Are Used, the More Ads See Growth

Prepping for its 100-day sprint to Tax Day in late 2011, Intuit, the maker of TurboTax, was looking to grow a Facebook fan base of roughly 50,000. It decided to build an app to test users' knowledge of tax-deductible items and then pledged to donate a toy for each person who completed the quiz. It made an investment in the low six figures on "Gaming for Good" that mostly went to charity and added 101,000 fans, according to VP-global media and digital marketing Seth Greenberg.
That story might suggest that it's possible to market on Facebook without allocating many dollars to ads, but Intuit didn't stop there. On Feb. 1, it bought one of the network's pricey "reach blocks" to deliver ads to 50 million users, including a poll about what they'd do with their tax refund. It drove the highly visible "people talking about this" metric to 170,000.

Social media for hotels: What’s the problem?

In today’s marketplace, hotels cannot afford to ignore social media; but looming questions and uncertainties undermine how effectively most hotels use their social media channels. Here's a new white paper that breaks down social media for hotels into six basic steps or phases.

Some hotels don’t do social media at all, or make only a token effort (i.e., they set up the accounts … and then let them sit). These hotels are missing a powerful opportunity for:

- Branding
- Building and managing online reputation
- Serving customers better
- And last but not least, cultivating a new sales channel for direct online bookings

Η χρήση των Social Media στην διαφήμιση επιχειρήσεων εστίασης και τουρισμού εν μέσω οικονομικής κρίσης

Πρόσφατα η εταιρεία Tripadvisor υποστήριξε ότι το 87% των ταξιδιωτών διαβάζουν online κριτικές στο ιντερνέτ όταν πρόκειται να πραγματοποιήσουν ένα ταξίδι για να επιλέξουν ξενοδοχείο και ότι ένας σταθερά αυξανόμενος αριθμός ανθρώπων χρησιμοποιεί online κριτικές και ιστοσελίδες social media προκειμένου να επιλέξουν σε πιο εστιατόριο θα πραγματοποιήσουν το επόμενο δείπνο τους ακόμα και όταν πρόκειται για την ίδια τους την πόλη. Οι διαφημίσεις σε εφημερίδες και οι κίτρινες σελίδες επαγγελματικών καταλόγων κοστίζουν και η αποτελεσματικότητα τους αρχίζει να μειώνεται ειδικότερα σε χρήστες νεότερης ηλικίας οι οποίοι όλο και περισσότερο αντλούν την πληροφόρηση τους μέσα από τον κυβερνοχώρο. Ευτυχώς το μάρκετινγκ ενός εστιατόριου και ενός ξενοδοχείου μέσω της χρήσης των social media δεν προαπαιτεί κανένα έξοδο και ελάχιστο χρόνο να υλοποιηθεί αρκεί να είναι εστιασμένο και σαφές. Η παρακάτω στρατηγική αποτελεί την πρόταση μου για ιδιοκτήτες εστιατορίων που επιθυμούν να μεγιστοποιήσουν την πελατειακή τους βάση και τον κύκλο εργασιών τους μέσω της χρήσης των social media μέσα από τρεις διακριτούς online τομείς:

Online και offline campaigns – Μπορούν να συνδυαστούν?

Πώς μια εταιρεία συνδυάζοντας το offline και το online marketing μπορεί να επιφέρει αύξηση των subscriptions της κατά ένα μαγάλο ποσοστό? Πόσο πολύ οι εκτός του internet, marketing campaigns, επηρεάζουν αυτές που διεξάγουμε online, και πόσο το αντίστροφο? Πώς μπορούμε να συνδέσουμε τις offline με τις online campaigns?
Τι αρνητικές επιπτώσεις μπορούν να έχουν στο Marketing Greece τα offline μέσα σε αυτά του internet? Παρά την θεαματική αύξηση των διαδικτυακών ποσών που δαπανούνται για το online marketing και advertising, ένα ποσοστό της τάξεως του 80% των διαθέσιμων budget που αφορούν το marketing και τη διαφήμιση, ξοδεύονται για offline σκοπούς.

“Κάνεις social media” ή “είσαι μια social επιχείρηση”;

Αρκετό καιρό τώρα με προβληματίζει  η έννοια του όρου “social business”. Ειλικρινά δεν μπορούσα να φανταστώ πόσο δύσκολο θα ήταν να την προσδιορίσω.
Στις συζητήσεις μου με διάφορες, μεγάλες και μικρές επιχειρήσεις πάντα υπάρχει ένα κοινό θέμα. Όλοι γνωρίζουν και θέλουν να αναμιχθούν στα social media. Οι προηγμένες επιχειρήσεις μάλιστα γνωρίζουν και τα εργαλεία. Ωστόσο όταν πρόκειται για την τέχνη του “τι” πρέπει να κάνει, “πότε” και “πώς”, αρχίζουν τα δύσκολα.
Αυτή πάντοτε ήταν για εμένα η στιγμή που άρχιζα να αναρωτιέμαι το κατά πόσο έχει διαφορά να “κάνεις social media” από το να είσαι μια “social επιχείρηση”. Το σημαντικώτερο μάλιστα απ’ όλα είναι ότι δυστυχώς δεν υπάρχει, ακόμα, κάποιο template γι’ αυτό. Λογικό, διότι το “παιχνίδι” των social media συνεχώς αλλάζει.

Ο ΕΟΤ συνεργάζεται με Google, Yahoo!

 

Συνεργασία με δυο μεγάλους διαδικτυακούς κολοσσούς, τη Google και τη Yahoo!, ξεκίνησε ο Ελληνικός Οργανισμός Τουρισμού, με στόχο την online προώθηση του ελληνικού τουρισμού.

Συγκεκριμένα, ο Ελληνικός Οργανισμός Τουρισμού θα διαθέσει 800.000 ευρώ για την  υλοποίηση διαφημιστικής ενέργειας, με στόχο την προώθηση του ελληνικού τουρισμού και της ιστοσελίδας visitgreece.gr, μέσω του διεθνούς δικτύου Google σε επιλεγμένες αγορές–στόχους.

'It's Time for Skype' Campaign Launches in U.S. and U.K.

$12 million effort rolls out today with an outdoor push

Skype is launching a $12 million marketing campaign in the U.S. and the U.K. today, starting with an outdoor push that challenges consumers to think about the quality of their personal communications and introduces the line, "It's time for Skype."  

  The campaign, from Pereira & O'Dell in San Francisco, uses provocative lines to snipe at other technologies and social media. The include "When did it become OK to text Mum happy birthday?" and "140 characters doesn't equal staying in touch."
Francie Strong, Skype's director of global customer-base marketing, said, "The focus is on big, bold statements to grab people's attention and get them to think about how they communicate."
Ms. Strong said the U.S. and the U.K. were chosen because of their importance to Skype and the maturity of their customer base. If this phase goes well, the project may be adapted for other markets.

Get involved with the "Athens City lovers" project!

"Athens City Lovers project" is all about the creation and communication of a website made by genuine Athens City Lovers (your pledge will cover both the creation of the greek-english language website and some basic internet advertising tools to enhance public awareness about the project).

A City Lover is defined as a local or tourist who despite the recent economic crisis can still see the beauty of this city and now more than ever wants everybody to know all about it and share this feeling.