Category Archives: Digital

Google Results In 140-Characters Or Less

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If you’ve made a Google search on your phone in the past week, you might have noticed a some interesting new results pop up. The “Popular on twitter” section debuted last week and is the first project to come from Google and Twitter‘s new partnership. Google will now show relevant tweets on some of it’s most popular mobile search results.

Displayed just below Google’s own “In the news” section, this new feature will allow searchers to see the most up-to-date information on the subject they are searching for, and help them gauge the public conversation around that subject. The prominent placement of the tweets on the search results page highlights the relevance and importance of social media by prioritizing it second only to “news.”

This innovation is just one of a few that Google has introduced this year to help make their mobile search tool as user-friendly as possible. Earlier this year, Google changed it’s mobile search algorithm to prioritize mobile and responsive websites. They’ve also created new ad experience options for brands advertising via mobile search.

Google and Twitter’s partnership enables social media commentary to become an even larger part of the information-gathering process for search users. And while tweets will only appear on certain search results with enough popularity, it is easy to see how this integration of facts and commentary could potentially help brands. By seeing non-affiliated tweeters talking about a brand, consumers can get a better, more organic sense of the brand’s personality and benefits to them.

What Sparks Our Fire:  Elevating the credibility of tweets as a source of real time information

Envisioning A Whole New Reddit

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With over 169 million unique monthly visitors and the infrastructure to self-segment, some might wonder why Reddit isn’t already a go-to destination for brands looking to advertise online. From the outside, Reddit’s platform provides an ideal way to uniquely interact with consumers through sub-reddits that populate the site and segment users based on interests, location, etc. However, Reddit’s nasty reputation has prevented it’s advertising business from growing at the same rate as sites like Facebook, Twitter, or even the more risqué Tumblr. Even though 6% of the US population visits Reddit, the site has always been known more for it’s embrace of the idea that anything goes in the name of free speech, including online harassment.

As of today, Reddit executives are looking to change that reputation by implementing a new anti-harassment policy. Users will be able to email Reddit employees about harassment, which will result in the harasser’s ban on the website. While some are skeptical about about the impact of a team of Reddit employees monitoring this activity, most users see this policy change as a step in the right direction. If Reddit is able to clean up it’s harassment issue, the impact on the community will be an improved user experience, and will entice brands in the process.

What Sparks Our Fire: A policy shift that may open opportunities for your brand

Google Changes the Game.. Again

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You’ve probably heard that at it’s AdWords Performance Summit this week, Google confirmed that the inevitable has occurred: mobile search have overtaken desktop search in ten countries, including the US and Japan.  Why does this matter to you and your brand? We’ve put together a list of the five most important takeaways and how they will effect businesses everywhere.

1. Google has unveiled new ad experiences in three distinct categories– automotive, hotel, and mortgages– in order to streamline convenience. The automotive ad experiences, for instance, will feature a photo carousel allowing users to swipe through photos both inside and outside of the vehicle. They’ll also have a link directly to dealerships selling the vehicle in their area. Similar relevant features will be built into the hotel and mortgages ad experiences, as well.

2. A new store visit predictor is available in the US, Canada and Australia. This tool will help marketing managers understand how their digital campaigns are driving in-store sales, and subsequently, will allow them to have better insights into their ROI.

3. Google’s beefing up their automatic advertising offerings, including giving marketers more transparency in the programmatic bidding process, and introducing dynamic search ads. Vice President of Product Management for AdWords, Jerry Dischler, says that this will be a “powerful way to automatically show timely and relevant ads based on the content of your website– without the need to manage keywords.”

4. Going along with new automatic advertising offerings, Google will integrate cross-device conversions into automatic bidding. This will allow marketers to capitalize on search activity that begins on one device and and ends on another.

5. The understanding that more users now search on their phones as opposed to their desktops (as well as the new tools Google has introduced) only reinforces Google’s decision to overhaul it’s mobile search algorithm, which went into effect last month. By designing new ad experiences, and giving marketers new tools in AdWords, Google is incentivizing businesses to keep pace with the shifting desktop-to-mobile landscape.

 

Upfront with the Newfronts

digital-content-newfronts Every year marketers and brands flock to Televisions’ Upfronts, to hear the new network line ups and get a preview of the coming years television strategy.  A month before the Upfronts kick off, TV networks are already sharing the spotlight–and potential media dollars–with this month’s NewFronts. Thanks to a long list of buzzworthy announcements, celebrity appearances, and corporate interest this year’s NewFronts signify the continued growth in importance of digital media and advertising. Started in 2008 by Digitas as a way to “bring together content creators, distributors, talent and brands to harness creative media opportunities made possible in the age of digital marketing,” the NewFronts conference has managed to become one of the most important conferences in the digital content realm. Brands like Hulu, AOL, Yahoo, and Google’s YouTube give presentations on their upcoming year’s content in order to attract advertising dollars. In 2008, these presentations were intended to convince marketers and agencies to shift more of their budgets into digital advertising, but as more marketers have already been convinced, the conference no longer helps marketers decide if they’ll invest their advertising dollars digitally, but tells them where. With almost 13% growth in the past year alone, digital advertising now comprises almost 30% of U.S. ad spend. 2015 Hulu Upfront Presentation This year’s NewFronts have already brought news that Hulu will pick up all 9 seasons of Seinfeld, a huge announcement that will surely draw in many advertising dollars. As the conference grows in size and importance– alongside the digital advertising sector as a whole– we will come to expect more and more of these big announcements every year.

What Sparks Our Fire: Knowing that we’ll be spending a good chunk of the month of June binge watching Seinfeld

The Power of Checking In

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As part of the marketing community we often concentrate on utilizing social media and the data collected from it, to develop campaigns and understand our consumers. However, during times of natural disasters and community crises, we are reminded of other, more meaningful uses of these platforms–to help connect people in need.

After this Saturday’s magnitude 7.8 earthquake hit Nepal, some of social media and technology’s largest brands rolled out tools to help locate individuals and help communities understand where to direct help. Facebook launched it’s Safety Check feature, where users in the affected area can check in to tell family members and friends that they are okay. Similarly, Google launched it’s Person Finder tool, which hosts a database of people who are accounted for (the database currently contains over 6,200 records). Airbnb has set up an emergency response tool that helps those stuck without shelter to find a temporary solution.

These tech companies have traditionally done an exceptional job helping people connect with one another in the immediate aftermath of a crisis, but have not rolled out any programs designed specifically for ongoing support in the months and years where rebuilding occurs. Thinking about how social media platforms utilize data, Morgan and Caitria O’Neill of Recovers.org created flexible software that allows community organizers to prepare for crises before they occur. In their TED talk, the O’Neill sisters explain how this software works and how it came to fruition after their own experiences trying to use Facebook to organize their community after a tornado leveled their hometown (you can watch the TED talk here).

These tools are excellent examples of how the rise of social media continues to change how we as humans connect with each other beyond just the digital world.

What Sparks Our Fire: Seeing the positive impact of social media