Dec
21st

Paid Advertising in Social Media: YouTube Promoted Videos

Posted by Steven on December 21, 2009 at 3:55 pm

A while back, I wrote about a new PPC (pay-per-click) model that was starting to appear in social media channels like Facebook and Twitter. Because of the positive response, I thought I would continue that theme with a look at YouTube Promoted Videos.

You may have noticed that the once advertising-free YouTube is now flushed with ads. Google continues to monetize the site and since visits reached over 85 million last month, don’t expect these ads to go away. There are many ways to start advertising on YouTube, but let’s focus on Promoted Videos.

What are they?

YouTube Promoted Videos are pay-per-click ads that are displayed after a search is performed. These ads look similar to the typical results you would see, except they are displayed on the right-hand side of the page under “Promoted Videos”, or at the top of the page, depending on the keyword bid.

How do I get started?

To get started advertising with YouTube Promoted Videos, you will first need a video to promote. You also need an AdWords account since Promoted Videos uses the Google AdWords platform. The next step is to choose the keywords that will trigger your ad to display and how much you are willing to pay for each click. For more information, visit the YouTube Promoted Videos page.

Why YouTube, why now?

Video advertising provides the ability to highly engage your audience, and with YouTube Insight, you can gather statistics to get a better understanding of how your campaign is performing. But mostly, YouTube is one of the biggest and fastest growing sites on the internet, so chances are good that your target audience is there—and the video format allows you to engage your target audience like never before.

The Big Picture

When examining various advertising options available across the web, it is important to have a well planned campaign structure with all components tightly integrated. It might not make sense to run a display campaign without a paid search campaign, for instance. By having advertising diversity across the web you will not only be able to reach new audiences, but also improve the results of your core online marketing channels. This is because running a display campaign will increase your brand awareness and recognition, which in turn increases searches on your brand name and keywords surrounding the ad’s message—which can then be capitalized on through a paid search campaign.

As internet marketing options continue to grow, it is important that your marketing campaign includes a diverse array of marketing channels and the campaign is crafted with a specific objective in mind. So start with your goal and then work your way back to determine where you’ll need to be to achieve success.

If you are ready to get serious about achieving your online marketing objectives in 2010, YouTube Promoted Videos could just be a piece in the greater marketing puzzle. Ready to take your brand to the next level? We can help.

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Nov
10th

The Perfect New Year’s Resolution for 2010—No Scale Involved.

Posted by Carly Wujcik on November 10, 2009 at 3:12 pm

I’m a planner. It’s a known fact that I sometimes border on obsessive about crunching numbers and being prepared. Just ask my team. With 2010 right around the corner, I have the perfect New Year’s resolution that I thought I’d share with everyone this sunny November day (with plenty of advance notice, of course, so you have time to commit to it before the big day comes).

And fret not—there are no awkward mornings in the bathroom shivering on the scale, no “I give up pints of ice cream on January 10th” involved. You can stick with this one and see it pay off. Quickly.

Reevaluate the way you measure success.

Simple. It is. But in the sales and marketing world, particularly the digital marketing world—the implications are huge. And the change, well, like most change, can be hard to adjust to at first.

Walk with me for a minute. Digital marketing, back when it was shiny and new and the world was wealthy, offered one very tangible benefit (among many of course). You could measure it. Track it. Nail offline sales down to the last click customers executed online. You could pin point exactly where your consumers weren’t clicking, converting or engaging and slice those initiatives out of your budget, with laser precision. And you did that. We all did at some point.

The result? You had a 2009 marketing budget so lean it would make Amy Winehouse jealous and so efficient it put the ShamWow to shame. All you kept was the one tactic that “worked” in months previous. Your plan was destined for the marketing hall of fame.

And here we are now, winding down the year and at a point where we have to explain to our bosses and neighbors alike why the plan didn’t work. And I’ll give you a hint—it had nothing to do with the size of your budget.

Think about this long and hard before you walk into your 2010 budget meeting with the board next week demanding that you need double the marketing spend for 2010 in order to see anything work. What were you measuring when you hacked the initiatives that “weren’t working”? Did it extend beyond the bottom line or the last point of conversion?

For example, did you or your agency stop to consider the impact that your display campaign might have had on the success of your paid search campaign before you decided that the only one to survive was the more “successful” paid campaign? And this year, when your one time efficiency super star—the paid search campaign—fell flat on it’s face while it was expected to perform on it’s own, what did you credit as the reason for its failure? The economy? The creative? The size of your budget?

Reevaluate the way you measure success. And failure. The results you see might surprise you. And of course, if you need a hand, Oneupweb is happy to lend one. Make 2010 a phenomenal year. For your marketing plan and yourself.

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Nov
3rd

Time to Get Your App In Gear

Posted by Rob Aldrich on November 3, 2009 at 6:04 pm

Apple released the iPhone in the summer of 2007. In April of 2009, they had more than 6.4 million active iPhone users in the US, and just last quarter, they sold 7.4 million more. In an October press release, Apple cited over 50 million iPhone and iPod touch customers with more than 85,000 third party apps available in their store. There have been 2 billion downloads from the app store in the last year, with half a billion of those in the last quarter.

You may be thinking, so what? So Apple is good at selling things. But it isn’t about Apple, Blackberry or Palm. It isn’t about the leader. Apple’s explosive growth in this market is a sign of something else. Mobile computing is becoming readily embraced by the masses. It isn’t just for the suits anymore. There are over 100,000 developers writing software for the iPhone right now, and the phone has only been out since mid 2007!

I’ve written software for quite a while on a variety of platforms. First mainframe computers (measured in square feet), then the PC and the web. Guess what? When I first started programming, my boss told me that PC computers would never replace mainframe computers. It was unthinkable. They were considered “toys”. I was writing web apps when most businesses thought the Internet was a “toy”. Why would I need a website and email address? <insert blank look here>.

The web is clogged with tutorials by thirteen year old whiz kids showing the masses how to create iPhone apps. If there is a better bellwether than that, I’m stumped. It’s the 70’s & 80’s all over again. The mobile device is what the PC was back when we all watched War Games (link provided for the youngsters). Businesses look at a sea of seemingly pointless fart, dating, drinking-game and other assorted novelty apps, and some have been lured into labeling the mobile platform as a toy. It’s great for shopping lists, reminders, maybe even email—but what else?

How about a portable scanner, bar code reader, voice to text converter, invoicing system, credit card terminal, time tracker, remote control, remote desktop, book reader or a turn-by-turn GPS navigator? These aren’t concept apps. They are in the Apple app store right now. An iPhone can do all that and act as a carpenter’s level. Mobile devices are getting more powerful and more widely accepted every minute.

Still don’t see how all of this relates to you and your business? Think about two billion downloads. Is your product represented on this platform? Did any of those multi-billion searches lead a customer to your door?

Don’t blink. The money follows the masses. Pay attention, or pretty soon your sweet little old grandmother (bless her soul) will be raking in the bucks with her new VCR-Programming iPhone App, your kids will be sending their homework in via the latest text message protocol and you will be tethered to a desk somewhere wondering where your customers are.

And if you need help, you can always contact Oneupweb.

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Sep
21st

2010 Display Advertising Wishes

Posted by Maureen on September 21, 2009 at 11:09 am

I’ve made a list, I’ve checked it twice and now comes the task of contacting almost 100 different media outlets to request advertising information for 2010. As I dig through websites looking for information on what advertising mediums are available (website, e-newsletter, podcasts, etc) or simply contact information for an advertising rep, I realized that just a few things could make this process a lot simpler. So I’ve put together my display advertising wish list for 2010:

Have Appropriate Contact Information on Your Website. I can’t tell you how many times I find an outlet that I would like to consider placing advertisements in, but can’t seem to find contact information for an ad rep. I don’t want just an online form – I have no idea who that is going to, or if it even got through. I need to have a good relationship with your sales rep, and if I don’t even know their name, that can’t happen. Please, give me a name, a phone number and an email address. It’s the first step, and one of the most important.

Respond In a Timely Fashion. It may seem simple, but please, just drop me a quick email to let me know you received my request for a media kit. Do it that day, even if you aren’t ready to talk to me in depth quite yet. Some sort of confirmation that my request got through is greatly appreciated.

Provide All of the Information. Don’t send me a media kit just for print when you offer digital advertising as well. I want to know all of the different options that are available with your outlet. Do you have an e-newsletter? Do you have a podcast? Give me all of my options, give me a day or two to look through them, and then let’s have a phone call to see what would be the best for me.

Make Creative Suggestions. Do you think one plan would work better for me than another? Do you think a combination of podcast advertising, a banner ad on your home page and a print ad would be the best? Are your editors coming out with a new webinar that I could sponsor? Don’t be afraid to make creative suggestions – if it can increase qualified leads and ultimately, ROI, I’m all for it.

Give Me a Rate Card. Yes, I understand you want to make the sale. So you tell me about your advertising options, why they are all right for me, and then ask me what my budget is so you can create a plan to fit it best. That’s great, I appreciate it, but please, send me a rate card. I need to know what the price is. I understand that could change, I know we can work out a plan, but I need to see the numbers.

Example of a Media Kit with Rates and Other Important Information

Give Me Audience Demographics. I want to know exactly who my ad will be reaching, how many people and any other information you can provide me with. That way I can be sure that I am in the most appropriate outlet, with the most appropriate option, to really impact my target audience.

Give Me Some Time. I know that this one can be the hardest. You want to make the sale, and be able to focus on the next possible advertiser. But I do need some time. I need to make sure my plan, overall, is absolutely correct. I have to present it, as a whole, to get final approval. Sometimes a few other reps may not move as fast as you, or maybe I simply haven’t been able to schedule a meeting with my CEO to present my plan. I will let you know as soon as I hear anything, or if I have any more questions. I understand you have needs as well. But please, don’t send me a proposal and request that I have it signed and return it to you that day. It’s just not possible for me to do that.

Tell Me If Your Outlet Is Not a Good Fit. This will save us all some heartbreak in the future. If your outlet doesn’t have the audience that I’m looking for, or won’t help me reach my goals, please tell me. Don’t try to make it work. Your honesty will win huge points with me, and odds are I’ll be more likely to contact you again if anything should change.

Do you have anything you’d like to see added to the list? Leave a comment to let me know.

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Aug
31st

NEWS FLASH: Death of Obama Girl, Googlezon Detained for Questioning!

Posted by Kathryn on August 31, 2009 at 8:53 am

Obama girl died. The chalk lines are online. And you could be the next victim!

First, let’s back up for a moment and take stock. How did we get here and where are we going? How do we connect the dots?

In 2004 Robin Sloan and Matt Thompson gave us their vision of the future. In their futuristic vision, 2008 was marked by the revolutionary merger of Google and Amazon—giving birth to Googlezon.

The might behind Googlezon—user-controlled content—spawned a new life form online: EPIC, the Evolving Personalized Information Construct. News, search, and essentially all information online were automatically generated and tailored to individuals without the human element.

2009: Maybe we don’t have Googlezon, but we have come a long way in just five short years. Our online world is now powered by search engines and social media. The fears associated with the fabled Googlezon—the surge of user generated leading to online chaos, disinformation and the collapse of news media as we know it—aren’t too far off from today’s reality. That is, if you’re not around to mind the shop (online). Good business means listening to and taking charge of the the online buzz.

And what does this have to do with the death of Obama girl?

In summer 2007 Obama Girl went viral on YouTube (over a million views). In 2009, Obama Girl’s viral power is being leveraged to market the newest iteration of the teen horror-flick Final Destination. (Un)fortunately, this killed her. Meanwhile, we are waiting to see how this plays out at the box office this weekend.

But there are other viral videos—amateur videos—that receive upwards of thirty to forty million views on YouTube. This is believable when you consider that over 11 million unique visitors land on YouTube in a day. And what this boils down to: the majority of videos are ad free.

Graph: YouTube’s Most Popular Clips: Still Mostly Ad-Free, Peter Kafka, posted August 12, 2009

So the folks at YouTube realized this, too. And this is what I imagine led to YouTube’s decision to offer advertising on amateur viral videos: a couple YouTube co-workers were sharing a few pints of Guinness and someone said, “why don’t we capitalize on these viral videos?” The next person said, “Brilliant!” And that’s that.

Looking back, businesses and marketers know that there are two things that remain constant with regards to social media: change and growth. If you’re not on-board with social media, then your marketing plan might be the next casualty! Don’t get choked, stabbed or otherwise ruined by not being there. Social media can be a very friendly beast—when wrangled properly. Don’t be a victim! Download The “Pretty Good” Scenario Survival Guide: Social Media and get social, today!

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