Marketers miss out by not leveraging dayparting in mobile strategies - Mobile Marketer - Advertising

Marketers miss out by not leveraging dayparting in mobile strategies

July 15, 2013

Peter Piper is leveraging dayparting in new pilot program

Mobile provides marketers with new opportunties to take advantage of dayparting, or delivering marketing messages during precise time slots. However, doing it correctly requires a deep understanding of how mobile users are engaging with a brand, something a lot of marketers still do not have.

With mobile users having their devices within arm’s reach almost all the time, there are significant opportunities for marketers to reach an audience at a specific time of day. Dayparting not only enables marketers to deliver a timely message but also to maximize their media value and effectiveness.

“Dayparting provides mobile marketers another way to target the correct audience with the correct message,” said Doug Stovall, chief operating officer of Hipcricket, Kirkland, WA. “It should be a big focus.

“Mobile marketers are beginning to understand how to take advantage of dayparting, but they’re not fully there yet,” he said. “Some of that stems from the fact that a deeper analysis of the data is needed to present the correct message at the correct time.

“If you don’t know who is interacting or what message is resonating at what time, you can’t fine-tune your marketing around dayparts.”

Reaching users at the right time with an offer can be powerful

Rise and shineAs with every sort of media, there is a different audience at different times of the day on mobile. For example, a sandwich shop could deliver a coupon to nearby workers when they are thinking about what to do for lunch.

Marketers need to keep in mind that demographics change as do behavior, wants, needs or the ability to act. This is why marketers need to focus on developing a better understanding of how users are engaging with their brand throughout the day.

For example, some studies have shown that the first thing one-third of consumers do in the morning is reach for their phones.

This suggests there is an opportunity to reach these users with an appropriate message related to breakfast.

Hipcricket and Agency Moroch created a morning dayparted campaign for an international fast food giant that used local data feeds to serve a targeted ad unit based on users’ location in the early morning.

The ads provided information such as local traffic, weather and news along with a reminder to start their day with breakfast from the quick-service restaurant.

The campaign delivered more than 29 million impressions yielding over 300,000 customer interactions, for an average click-through rate of 1.07 percent.

“The campaign was highly successful because it matched the company and product with the needs of the consumer,” Mr. Stovall said. “Someone just waking up is hungry and needs important information to start their day.”

Owning 15 minutes Pizza chain Peter Piper recently rolled out a pilot program at several locations that uses dayparting to deliver lunch and dinner specific offers within a geofence (see story).

When developing a dayparting strategy, it is important to consider the product being marketed and if it is fit for a specific time of day. For example, do consumers want hot or iced coffee in the morning? What about in the afternoon?

“Tight dayparting can be strategic, but depends on the product,” said Eric Perko, associate director of media at Digitas, Boston.

“In quick-service restaurants, for example, certain products are only available during certain hours,” he said. “Dayparting allows brands to own 15 minutes when a customer decides what to eat.”

Contextual cues While dayparting offers significant opportunities, it is also important that marketers recognize that mobile can provide a number of contextual cues to fuel insights for targeting strategies. Location is a big one as well as type of activity.

With so much information available to marketers about mobile users, targeting users by time of day alone may not be the right strategy for some. Instead, dayparting should be combined with other cues to create a more personalized experience.

“The more cues we monitor, the more relevant our brand's messaging can be,” said. Megan McCurry, vice president and group media director at Digitas.

"Dayparting mobile using 'day-in-the-life' generalizations wrongly assumes consumers use mobile only at specific times,” she said. “Mobile's beauty is addressability, which enables marketers to customize messaging based on what individuals are doing right then, not based on what we guess generalized masses are doing.

“Mobile enables deeper sophistication than mass stereotyping."

Right time, right messageAnother consideration to keep in mind is the audience being targeted.

For example, teens are most likely not going to be awake at 6 a.m. during the summer. Or, for a happy hour effort, targeting those over 21 years old is important.

It is also important consider the desired action and if it is fit for a specific time of day.

Also, keep in mind whether or not the person will have time to interact.

“If the text’s call-to-action is ‘Test drive today,' and it’s sent out at 11 a.m. on a Tuesday, there probably aren’t many people who can afford a new car who can test drive one at that time,” Hipcricket’s Mr. Stovall said. “That message would be more appropriate on a weekend or at the end of the workday.

“In-depth interactions don’t work well during work-hour day parts,” he said.

“Watching a four-minute video at work is problematic. Watching a four-minute video while lying in bed isn’t.”

Final TakeChantal Tode is associate editor on Mobile Marketer, New York 

Associate Editor Chantal Tode covers advertising, messaging, legal/privacy and database/CRM. Reach her at chantal@mobilemarketer.com.

90% Of Customers Will Recommend Brands After Social Media Interactions - Business Insider

90% Of Customers Will Recommend Brands After Social Media Interactions - Business Insider

A new study conducted by the Internet Advertising Bureau has found that 90 per cent of consumers would recommend a brand to others after interacting with them on social media.

The study focused on FMCG brands Heinz, Kettle and Twinings and found that social media can drive ROI by driving brand sentiment, encouraging consumer engagement and increasing brand loyalty.

More than 4,500 survey responses were collected from each brands social media pages over a two month period and supplemented by 800 interviews to inform the findings.

This showed that four out of five consumers would be more inclined to buy a brand more after being exposed to their social media, with 83 per cent happy to trial the product in such circumstances.

The uplift in sentiment for each brand was measured as Heinz 22%, Kettle 17% and Twinings 19 per cent, allowing the IAB to estimate that for every £1 spent on social media as much as £3.34 could be generated.
Kristin Brewe, the IAB’s director of marketing & communications said: “The IAB study shows that, when trying to create deeper emotional connections with consumers, social media is an essential channel for brands. This isn’t surprising since social media is the only channel where it’s possible for brands and consumers to have meaningful two-way conversations, making the strength of connections that much stronger.”

Ian Ralph, the director at marketing sciences who conducted the research, adds, “Our research shows that to create an emotional connection brands really need to provide clear, timely and, most important of all, relevant content that develop a conversation. Interestingly, we also found that brands really shouldn’t be afraid about having their products on show and of linking up their social media activities to their business objectives. Social media has the potential to turn brand customers into brand fans.

“By making people love, not just like your brand, you’re more likely to drive future purchases and increase sales.”

Read more: http://www.thedrum.com/news/2013/07/04/iab-study-finds-90-consumers-back-brands-after-interacting-social-media#ixzz2YerWrpFs

The Non-Designer's Essential Glossary of Web Design Terms

The Non-Designer's Essential Glossary of Web Design Terms

by Ginny Soskey

When I started my first job, I did everything mytiny marketing team needed at a moment's notice. Although I was more experienced in blogging and social media management, I was soon pulled into design projects. One day I was mocking up an infographic; the next, I was designing an ebook, and then the day after, I was creating and ordering custom die-cut stickers ... and I was woefully unprepared.

I had no idea what the difference was between HTML and CSS, JPEGs and PNGs, or fonts and typefaces. When I was speaking with our in-house designer or an outside contractor, I felt so silly. I knew what I wanted the design to look like, but I had no idea how to communicate what I meant in designer-speak. It felt like a foreign language.  

To help myself function in this brand new environment that needed me to be up to speed -- fast -- I had to fake it until I made it. I started compiling words I didn't know into a personal little glossary that I could whip out at opportune moments, and over time, I started to feel more comfortable with design terminology.

I knew I couldn't be the only marketer who needed to become fluent in designer-speak. So I decided to compile a larger glossary to help us all step up our game a bit. By no means is this the be-all-end-all of design terminology … so feel free to add your definitions in the comments as well. Here's what I have, organized alphabetically. 

A 

Alignment

The positioning of your the elements in your design (e.g. text, images, etc.). These elements can be aligned to both the page and to each other. 

Analogous Colors

On the color wheel, analogous colors are those that lie on either side of any given color.

Ascender

An extender on a letter that appears above the midline.

B

Baseline

The invisible line on which all of a typeface's letters sit. 

C

Cap Height

The distance between the baseline and the top of uppercase letters.

CMYK Color Model

Stands for cyan, magenta, yellow, and black. This set of colors is used in print design because of the way paper absorbs light.

Color Wheel

A circle of colors that shows relationships between primary, secondary, and tertiary colors.

Color Schemes

Also known as color harmonies, color schemes are the combination of two or more colors from the color wheel.

Complementary Colors

Colors that are directly opposite of each other on the color wheel.

Contrast

The accentuation of differences between colors, shapes, spacing, or any other design element. 

Crop 

When you remove the outer-parts of an image to reframe the subject matter or resize the image's aspect ratio.

CSS

A piece of code that is used to designate the look and feel of a website, separate from the actual content of the web page. 

D

Descender

An extender on a letter, appearing below the baseline.

Dots per Inch (DPI)

Similar to the pixel for the web, dots are the smallest unit of measurement when printing digital images. DPIs refer to the resolution of a printed digital object.

Drop Shadow

A visual effect that displays a graphic as if it has a shadow behind it. 

E

EPS 

A file format used for vector images that contain both text and graphics.

Extenders

The part of a letter that extends above the x-height or below the baseline.

F

Feathering

A design technique used to smooth out edges of a feature.

Font

A typeface in one specific style and size. An example would include Times New Roman Semi Bold in size 14. 

G

GIF

Pronounced jif (like the peanut butter), this image file format is best used for small image files with few colors and designs. Bonus: you can make GIFs animated!

Grid 

A purely hypothetical map of vertical and horizontal lines that helps align images and text within a document. 

H

HEX Code

A code used in HTML and CSS to designate a specific color, usually appearing after the pound sign (#).

HTML

The computer language used to display content like text, images, and links on the web.

Hue

What most people think of as "color" -- red, orange, yellow, etc. 

J

JPEG

An image file type that uses lossy (see below) compression, with little perception in a loss of quality. This type of file is best used for photographs and realistic paintings where there are smooth transitions between colors. 

K

Kearning 

The space between individual letters.

L

Leading

The space between lines of type. 

Lossy

A form of data compression where detail is deleted as the file size is decreased. A usual lossy compression method is JPEG. 

M

Midline

The distance from the baseline to the top of most lowercase letters, including “e,” “g,” and the curve of “h.”

O

Open Type Fonts

The current standard in font formats. It contains both the screen and printer versions in a single file, and is compatible for both Windows and Mac. The file extension is .otf. 

Orphan

A opening line in a paragraph that appears alone at the bottom of a page, or a word or very short line that appears by itself at the end of a paragraph.

P

PDF

A file format best used to represent documents and presentations. 

Pixel

The smallest element of an image on a computer. 

PNG

An image file format that's best used when you have large areas of uniform color or images with transparent backgrounds (unlike JPEG). 

R

Rectangular (or Tetradic) Colors 

Four colors that are two pairs of complementary colors.

RGB Color Model

Standing for the colors red, green, and blue, the RGB color model is used for web design because monitors transmit light in those colors.

S

Saturation

How bright or intense a color is. 

Serif

A small line attached to the end of a stroke in some fonts.

Shade

How much black is mixed in with the hue.

Split-Complementary Colors

Similar to complementary colors, split-complementary colors involves the base color plus the two colors that lie next to its complementary color. 

Square Colors

On the color wheel, four colors are spaced evenly from each other. 

Stem

The primary vertical stroke in a letter. It’s used in the letter “B” and the diagonal line of “V.”

Strokes

The lines that make up letter in a typeface.

T

Tail

Descending stroke in a letter that’s often decorative. For example, in the letter “Q.”

Terminal

The end of a stroke that doesn’t include a serif.

Tint

How much white is mixed in with the hue.

Triadic Colors

Color scheme where three colors located at 120 degrees from each other are combined. Often considered the best color scheme.

Typeface  

A design collection of characters, including letters, numbers, and punctuations. Examples include Times New Roman, Helvetica, and Arial.

V

Vector Image 

Instead of using pixels to represent images, vectors use lines and shapes. Because they do not rely on pixels, enlarged vector images still maintain image clarity and quality.

Visual Hierarchy 

A design principle that visually emphasizes certain parts of your content’s message by using colors, sizes, and layouts.

W 

Watermark 

An easy-to-see marker placed over the top of photos on the web and in print. It is used to identify the owner of an image and prevent visual content theft.

Weight 

In typefaces, the thickness of the stroke’s width. Some examples include demibold, light, and bold. 

White Space 

The blank space surrounding an object in design. Also called negative space.

Widow 

When the end of the paragraph spills over into the following column or page, the section of text that spills over is called a widow.

X

X-height 

In a letter, the distance between midline and the baseline. 

Z

ZIP file 

A file format that compresses many other files and combines them into a single folder. Compressed files do not lose any data to become smaller and are easily restored by unzipping the ZIP file.

The New Reality of Social SEO - 'Net Features - Website Magazine

The New Reality of Social SEO 

SEO and social media are kind of like the Real Housewives of the ‘Net. They pretend they are friends for the show, but publicly talk behind each other’s backs the first chance they get.

Since Google+, Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest are now an important part of the digital world for consumers, and search engines have taken aggressive steps to weave the social experience into the results pages, it’s time for SEO and social to play nice, and not just in front of the cameras.

The new digital reality is that social and search fuel each other, making these initiatives complementary, neither more important than the other. Essentially, users will see more of a business’s content in Google’s organic listings if the company increases its Google+ follows. Likewise, enterprises that increase Facebook engagement will likely notice an increase in search impressions on Bing.

“The term ‘SEO’ didn't catch on as quickly or become as sexy as ‘social media,’ but more and more these two areas are coming together, increasingly under the umbrella of content marketing, to answer the major issue of ‘how are brands being found and what's the best way to be where the audience is?’” said Erin Robbins O'Brien, chief operating officer of GinzaMetrics.

The Plot

In many companies, however, social and SEO professionals and/or departments are working in silos and fighting for camera time (a.k.a. a chance to prove to stakeholders why their efforts are improving balance sheets). And while those departments fight to establish dominance in their own companies, search engines will boost enterprises with harmonious social-SEO strategies that move toward establishing authority, listening to (and acting on) social signals and increasing “findability” by producing engaging content.

Brands responding to this new social- SEO era, where social engagement produces search impressions, are leading the virtual way.

The Cast Members

Vocus, which offers integrated marketing software, is a practical example of marrying social and search to increase the “share-ability” of social content to improve SEO efforts. Items like clear and concise URLs, tracking parameters and social meta mark-up are all part of the discussion/collaboration at Vocus, according to Scott C. Benson, the senior SEO manager at the marketing software company. With this teamwork, Benson feels they’re doing a much better job of measuring the value of social traffic and each network.

“As visitors from Twitter or Facebook arrive at our site, especially our blog, we measure how often they choose to follow us on a social network or share our content,” said Benson. “Any social engagement is measured in Google Analytics, and we can create baseline conversion rates to analyze the value of a network. [For example,] if our social media team is dedicating too much time to Pinterest, and our audience isn’t responding, we know to reassess our strategy. The analysis can then shift to what content types attract the most social sharing, which we know is becoming a bigger indicator for Google’s algorithm. While we don’t know the specifics of how social signals impact rankings, we do try to publish content that will attract those shares.”

The Twist

With the help of Vocus’s social and PR team, Benson’s SEO squad has also been testing promoted tweets and has data that suggests, contrary to the opinion of most social gurus that you can pay for socially engaged traffic — a new twist in the social-SEO relationship (the plot thickens).

“The Twitter advertising we’re testing currently has shown that paid traffic is converting (social engagement) at the same, or a slightly higher rate than our natural Twitter traffic,” said Benson. “The idea of paying for truly engaged social traffic conflicts with many social marketing experts’ best practices. Yet as our data continues to build, I’m still seeing new visitor traffic percentages remaining higher for the ad traffic than natural Twitter visitors.

“So not only are we reaching engaged visitors, but they’re also new to our site. We can begin to market to them using email (if they sign up) or methods like retargeting. It’s a bit of paid media fueling our SEO and social marketing, all tied together with data.”

The Reveal

Another aspect of this social-SEO scenario united by data is how (and why) companies listen to social signals to enhance their SEO efforts and vice versa. “Whether it’s recommendations, social channels that facilitate brands and audiences finding each other's content or new apps that deliver ways to interact, social keeps finding more ways to be involved in the conversation,” said O’Brien.

Platforms like GinzaMetrics and others help companies monitor these conversations. Brands are even moving away from more traditional SEO tactics (e.g. using unique title tags and rich anchor text) in favor of social-SEO programs that use social signals to help them earn more organic traffic, as was the case with Logicalis, Inc., a global provider of high-performance technology and server virtualization solutions.

“We use social media listening tools to identify emerging technology topics and then release content around those topics just as online interest is peaking,” said Lisa Dreher, vice president of marketing for Logicalis U.S. “We also have a disciplined approach that involves members of senior leadership and two agencies collaborating on a daily basis. Each week we issue a ‘social and SEO’ friendly media release that gets picked up by Google News and other online newswires. We support that release with a series of highly targeted Facebook posts, Tweets, LinkedIn updates and blog posts.

“We also respect the difference in our audiences and channels. For Facebook, we will sometimes have contests or highlight great work from our employees. With our blog, we focus on short posts about the hottest topics in IT in a rapid-fire point/counterpoint format. For LinkedIn, it’s all business, while Twitter is about quick hits around events or new content.”

As a result of these social-SEO tactics, Logicalis’s organic search traffic increased 44 percent from 2011 to 2012 (and 2011 search traffic was already a respectable number). The growth continues in 2013, as organic search traffic year to date is already up 16 percent compared to the same period in 2012.

The Finale

Clearly companies with cohesive social and SEO efforts are seeing positive outcomes. While that cohesion would make for a boring Real Housewives of the ‘Net reunion show, the new reality is that when social and SEO play nice, brands are better for users and search engines.

- See more at: http://www.websitemagazine.com/content/blogs/posts/pages/the-new-reality-of-social-seo.aspx?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=newsletter#sthash.OH2yhjvX.dpuf

The Ultimate Editing Checklist

The Ultimate Editing Checklist

by Pamela Vaughan

As we all know, content creation isn't as simple as just stringing together a few words and clicking "publish." At least all high-qualitycontent creators know this.

From start to finish, content creation has quite a few steps if you really think about it -- concepting, production, and the whole editorial process. Unfortunately, it's that last one that often gets undermined/rushed through/swept aside, as content creators hurry to get things out the door. But if you really want to ship a remarkable, high-quality piece of content, you can't afford to overlook the editing process. 

And during that editorial process, where there really is a lot to consider, it can be difficult to remember everything you should be thinking about before a piece of content is truly ready to rock. So in an effort to make things a little easier on you, we decided to compile a checklist you can use to make sure your next piece of content is ready and raring to go, whether it be a simple blog post or something longer form, like an ebook.

Bookmark this post, or download this Word Doc with just one click, which you can print out and customize with any additional considerations specific to your own editing process. This way, you can be sure you're not overlooking anything important in future content.

Topic Selection

Consider these high-level questions at the beginning stages of the editorial process. (Tip: Ask contributors to run a working title/brief outline for the piece of content by you before they start writing so you can steer them in the right direction and save writers' time.)

  Does this topic align with our content strategy? Will our readers/personas care about it? 

 

  Have we covered this topic comprehensively in the past? Will it add anything new and interesting to the noise created by all the content on the web?

 

  Can the angle be tweaked to be more interesting?

Article Structure & Formatting

The way the writer presents and organizes their content and ideas is an important part of the editing process. Ask yourself these questions to determine whether the content is structured and formatted in an optimal way.

  Is this the right format for the content? Does this topic work better as an ebook or a blog post. If it's a blog post, should it be formatted as a list post vs. yin and yang vs. the LEGO, etc.

 

  Is the flow of the content logical? Are chapters/headers/points organized in an order that makes sense and naturally guides readers through the content?

 

  Are big chunks of text broken up with headers and paragraph breaks so it's easier on the eyes and readers can scan and skim?

 

  Are the headers interesting, compelling, and clear?

 

  Are all major points associated with the topic covered in the post?

 

  Are headers formatted consistently -- not just within this piece of content, but also with other pieces of content? Are different header styles (H2 vs. H3 vs. H4) being used to denote content hierarchy?

 

  How is the formatting? Does it make it easy for readers to skim/scan?

 

  Are important points/stats/ideas called out in bold to catch readers' attention?

 

  Are images and visuals included where appropriate?

 

  Are these visuals and images high quality and interesting?

Writing

This section is pretty important, for obvious reasons. Here are the important things to consider as you're evaluating the writing in and of itself.

  Is the content well-written?

 

  Is the writing interesting, entertaining, and easy to read?

 

  Does the content tell a story?

 

  Do the transitions make sense and flow well?

 

  Is grammar correct?

  Does the intro capture the reader's attention? Is it interesting enough to get the reader to keep reading? (Tip: Keep in mind that 10% of readers don't scroll through articles at all.)

 

  Does the intro tee up the rest of the content well and indicate the value the reader will get out of reading it?

  Does the tone of the writing align with the content being presented?

 

  Does the tone and terminology used align with the persona being targeted?

 

  Does the content's voice jibe with the overall voice of our content and company?

 

  Yet, are we still allowing the writer's individual writing personality to shine through?

Supporting Elements 

These are some additional considerations to make that can take your content from okay to awesome.

  Did we include examples (real or hypothetical) to illustrate our points?

 

  Did we use data, statistics, and quotations to back up our points?

 

  Are there other supporting elements that could enhance the content? (e.g. a SlideShare, a video, a visual, etc.)

Attribution

Any good editor makes sure he/she is giving credit where credit is due. Here's what to think about. 

  Are statistics, data, quotes, ideas, etc. properly attributed to the original source?

 

  Is the data interpreted correctly and not lost in translation from the original source?

 

  In quotations, do we have the right spelling of their name and job title/company?

 

  Did we link back to the original source within our citations? (Tip: Give 'em some link love to help build relationships.)

 

  Are we actually allowed to use those images? (Here's a cautionary tale.)

Title Selection

The title/headline of your piece of content is often the first impression someone has of your content (think social media shares, search results, etc.), so it's important to put some time and careful thought into its selection. Here's what to consider.

  Is the title compelling and interesting enough to get people to click through and read on?

 

  Does the title accurately reflect the content within? Is it overly sensational or bombastic?

 

  Is the title brief and concise? (Tip: Keep in mind longer titles will get cut off in search engine results.)

  Is the title keyword-conscious without being keyword-heavy and sacrificing user experience?

Style Guide Alignment

Written style guides serve as the commonly acknowledged authority when questions of grammar and punctuation come up in writing. A style guide answers questions like, whether you use title case for article titles and headers; whether you capitalize the word internet; or whether you use the Oxford comma. You can either adopt an already-established style guide, like the AP Stylebook, or create an in-house version that enables you to borrow from different schools of thought and address any nuances specific to your industry or company. The important thing is to be consistent across all content you publish.

  Does anything contradict our style guide? (Tip: If you don't have a style guide, you candownload HubSpot's and customize it as you see fit.)

Finishing Touches

You're almost done! But don't overlook these finishing touches.

  Are there internal links to other resources, landing pages, or blog articles?

 

  Were those links tested to confirm they work and send readers to the right place? 

 

  Is the content spell-checked? 

 

  Are any company names referenced spelled and styled correctly? (Tip: Pay particular attention to CamelCase, lowercase, one vs. two words, etc.)

 

  Does the content contain any sensitive or controversial information that we need to get anyone's approval on before publishing? (e.g. our legal or PR department)

 

  Have any stats cited or quotes used (etc.) been fact checked?

 

  Is the article well researched?

 

  Is there a catchy, concise, and clear meta description? (when appropriate)

 

  Is it tagged with the appropriate tags? (when appropriate)

 

  Was the publish date/time double-checked so we're not accidentally scheduling for 9 p.m. instead of 9 a.m.? (It happens. We've done it.)

 

  Are there opportunities to make the content more social? (e.g. adding 'Pin it' buttons to proprietary images/infographics/visuals/charts, adding tweet links, social sharing buttons, etc.)

 

  Are there relevant calls-to-action (CTAs) included where appropriate?

Final Sanity Check

Now that all the nitty-gritty edits have been made, sit back and take a look at the content holistically. Then ask yourself these final questions.

  Could anything be potentially harmful to any of our partners, stakeholders, audience, or our company itself? 

 

  Could this offend certain people in our audience? If so, is it worth it?

 

  Did we double-check any mathematical calculations we made ourselves?

 

  Is the content at all at odds with our company's mission, philosophy, goals, etc.?

 

  Did we miss any opportunities to build a relationship with influencers, industry thought leaders, etc.?