Google Turns to TV Advertising

In what appears to be a turn around in thinking away from purely on-line advertising, to more traditional electronic advertising in the form of television. Specifically Google spent almost 70 million dollars on television ads in 2011.

Although on-line advertising remained the number one mode of advertising with over 120 million in ad spend in 2011, television ads increased from nothing in 2008, underpinning its continuing value to even the most powerful of corporate icons.

This continuing trend underscores the fact that Google has understood the need to blend traditional forms of media that are still high on the list of their target audience. AS well as television, additional traditional media such as newspaper, magazines, radio and outdoor advertising also accounted for almost another 21 million in advertising in 2011, further reinforcing the desirability of complimentary (non on-line) promotional platforms.

Google has now become more comfortable advertising its own products such as Chrome, and utilises these various approaches to great effect.

Overall Googles ad spend represented around 1.2% of its revenues, compared to 1.5% of the revenue owned by both Microsoft and Apple.

What about your business. How do you blend on-line and non on-line options.

And until next time, good luck and good marketing.

Daniele.

Interest Lists Introduced By Facebook

Facebook has now introduced interest lists which can be utilised to effectively act as a feeder source for news feeds arranged by subject.

Facebook account holders are now able to group either similar pages or well known individuals into “interest lists” so that they can source selective subject based content into their news feed.

Facebook boffins will of course know that the ability to build lists of friends is a well established feature of the market leading platform. However up until now users didn't have a comparable function to assemble lists of Facebook pages.

Facebook has announced that users will soon see the “Add Interests” link in their left-hand bookmarks. With this new function any Facebook user can either join other people's lists and / or build their own lists.

Interest lists will be made up of Facebook pages, friends and subscriptions. The most popularly read piece from each area of interest would then appear in the News Feed along with a hyper-link redirecting the reader back to read other related posts.

After Nearly 250 Years, Encyclopaedia Britannica To Go Purely Electronic

Encyclopaedia Britannica will stop publishing print editions and go digital-only — a huge step for the encyclopedia which has been in print since 1768.

The sales of Britannica print editions has been on the decline since 1990, when 120,000 32-volume sets were sold.

The early nineties were the start of a revolution: People started turning to the internet for information, and Britannica sales fell to 40,000 in 1996, according to Encyclopaedia Britannica Inc. President Jorge Cauz.

However, Cauz insists that, while the print edition of the Britannica is no longer selling well, the digital editions are blooming. “This has nothing to do with Wikipedia or Google. This has to do with the fact that now Britannica sells its digital products to a large number of people,” said Cauz.

Those interested in the final hardcover edition of Britannica can buy it at the company’s website for $1,395.

Britannica currently sells several digital products, including a DVD version of the Encyclopaedia, an online version (available through subscription) and a variety of apps for kids and adults.

New Facebook Business Page Formats Set to Roll Out in Late March

After rolling out the new Timeline feature recently that were done through an individual's personal profile, Facebook will extend the idea further by introducing Timeline for its Facebook Business pages. Timeline will alter the appearance of Business pages and align them with the same look of individual profiles.

Any existing Facebook Business page will gradually be transferred over to the new Timeline format by the end of March 2012.

One key change that will accompany this is that the business will now be able to put in one major piece of branding in the extended header, which will maximise their ability to better brand the page. However there are some key promotional limitations regarding what else can be articulated her in respect to special deals, product pricing and contact information.

As well there is a limit of 3 applications that can be shown on this page, with any additional apps being accessible via a 'More' button. To add greater connectivity and engagement with the page, followers will also now be able to message Business pages.

Despite all these new features, some other page features have now been removed.

The most notable of which includes the default landing tabs used to create a Welcome tab will no longer available with the new Timeline design.
However on balance, given the increased ability to connect with followers the changes on balance look to be an improvement overall. As always time will tell.

Let us know what you think.

And until next time, good luck and good marketing.

Daniele.

LinkedIn Now Has A Follow Tool

LinkedIn has announced that it now has a follow tool.
This recent addition of the obviously useful feature, will allow businesses to engage more effectively within the LinkedIn platform.

From a practical perspective, this new feature allows anyone to more closely monitor their most important companies (whether they be strategic partners, key rivals or generally admired market leading firms) in greater detail.

Obviously this feature mimics similar features with other social media platforms, and is a clear sign that LinkedIn is making itself more attractive as a social media networking site, whilst continuing to strengthen it's hard earnt place as the leading professional networking and B2B site, with now over 140 million users globally.

As always content remains the key to success within social media, and by delivering it consistently and raising awareness the businesses increases the chances that the visitor will follow the link back to the social media hub, whether it be a blog or corporate website.

As more and more businesses utilise this new feature, it will naturally compel them to keep producing consistent, quality and useful content for their followers and failure to do so will harm the brand.

This in turn puts a greater importance on planning and implementing content and the need to develop longer term strategic approaches to delivering consistent quality over time.


Until next time, good luck and good marketing.

Regards,
Daniele.