Four Technologies That Are Powering Storymaking

According to an article published this week in AdvertisingAge,  here are four technologies that are powering storymaking and how brands can use them:




1. Video streaming:  Streaming technologies can be used for broadcast purposes, but it's a superior experience when the person or brand doing the streaming starts responding to the audience, and even changing the flow of the footage.

2. Wearables: wearable devices where data is generated from people's bodies (heartbeat, gait, brainwaves, etc.). These devices are personal and can be thought of as extention of people's bodies.

3. Virtual reality: Immersive creative experiences such as those possible through Oculus Rift, Magic Leap and other technologies could be very controlled and rigid, or they could be totally different for each person every time. Even more straightforward approaches like touring a distant hotel property or getting backstage access at a concert could turn into stories that are co-created with participants.

4. Messaging apps: Messaging apps can deliver generic branded experiences that are the same for all users. Different messaging apps allow marketers to offer branded stickers and other content that can lead to customized experiences. For example, a chat bot can be created within a messaging app to allow people for example request stories on various topics such as politics and technology.

Too much data out there?

Marketers are facing major obstacles in realizing the dream of delivering improved customer experiences. One research, based on a survey of more than 600 companies and agencies carried out between November and December last year, showed that nearly two-thirds (62%) of respondents said that they often feel overwhelmed by the volume of incoming data whilst 85% said that they were unable to extract the full value from the data sources they have access to. The research showed that only 3% of businesses felt that they had a strong capability when it comes to using cross-channel or cross-device data for real time website or mobile app personalization. The challenges are caused by both data and technology silos as well as a lack of talent in such areas, the report states.


“Focusing on developing customer experiences can create a more loyal and engaged customer base which is an extremely valuable competitive advantage in today’s fast-paced commercial environment,” said Bola Awoniyi, a research analyst in Econsultancy.


Boaz Ronkin, SVP of product for Ensighten, said marketers must concentrated on integrating their marketing tech rather than adding further silo systems. “To maximise the return on investment in their marketing technology stacks, CMOs must look for integrated solutions that excel at joining disparate systems, rather than add new standalone systems into the mix," he said.


Most importantly, in my opinion marketers need to focus on the business goals of their clients and make sure that the marketing strategy allows to track those metrics that have the most effect on those business goals.

Yelp will prompt users to write reviews after an offer-driven check-in

Here is what I learned from this week's article:


Even thought Yelp’s influence  are substantial and growing (the company now feeds content and reviews to Apple Maps, Bing, Yahoo, etc), Yelp’s “no review solicitation” policy has left many marketers frustrated. In fact, Yelp’s “review filter” practices have been the subject of lawsuits.




Unlike with reviews themselves, Yelp allows for incentivized check-ins (“check-in offers”). If users check in to receive an offer, they are prompted by Yelp to review that business upon their return to the site or mobile app (users must be signed in).




Yelp is now allowing business owners to create a pre-review reward for users, who then are asked to review that business. Yelp doesn’t allow businesses to create rewards directly for reviews, but this is an indirect version of that. For businesses with few Yelp reviews this appears to be a good strategy to generate reviews, which are more likely than not to be favorable — emanating from the incentive or offer.It's unclear however what percentage of check-in offers translate into reviews.




Yelp probably wants business owners to encourage check-ins because it helps Yelp prove value and usage. It is unclear if this approach is actually effective.


As Yelp adds more booking and transactional capabilities it will be able to solicit reviews from verified purchasers (OpenTable for example). It is reasonable to expect that the company will move in that direction. For now though this is a little-known way to get more Yelp reviews.

Is Yahoo's Rise in Search Share Going to End?

It appear that Yahoo has gained against Google for the past two months due to a deal between Yahoo and Firefox signed in November. The deal was to make Yahoo the default search engine for Firefox in the United States. Since Firefox has virtually no mobile share, the deal was most likely to produce desktop gains for Yahoo.




For December 2014, the first full month after the deal was signed, Yahoo saw a 1.6% increase in its search market share, all apparently taken directly from Google. In January 2015 Yahoo gained a further 1.2% share, almost all of which too seemed to come from Google’s loss.



Firefox users were now flipped over to using Yahoo instead of Google as Firefox’s built-in search provider.
But by January everyone who could have been switched to Yahoo had been switched, yet Yahoo's market share continued to rise, perhaps in part because Yahoo’s promotion of Firefox was working to help the browser grow share, which in turn means more people using Yahoo when they search through Firefox.



In January Google reacted to Yahoo’s gains with a campaign to encourage Firefox users to switch to Google. Yahoo’s real challenge however would be to keep growing if Firefox reaches a boundary in terms of how much Yahoo can boost its share.


At some point one would expect that all the visitors to Yahoo’s home page who are likely to change to Firefox will have been exposed to the promotion. In that case Yahoo should see its share leveling off.

Data Driven Marketing - Oxymoron or Reality?

I have learned from this week's digital marketing article that marketers find it challenging to incorporate all the available data into their strategy.


87% of respondents in Teradata's “2015 Global Data-Driven Marketing Survey” consider data to be the most underutilized asset in marketing organizations. According to the same survey, 38% of marketers surveyed say their biggest challenges are customer acquisition and retention, followed by proving their support of corporate goals (29%), and meeting regulatory compliance (26%). For two thirds of respondents, one significant benefit of using data is faster, more accurate decision making. 45% leverage data to measure ROI. But only 3% of those surveyed consider proving the effectiveness of marketing a priority.


90% of respondents said that individualized marketing should be a priority. According to the report, responds claim that they want to use data-driven marketing “to move beyond segmentation to true one-to-one personalization in a real-time context.” 80% of respondents said that silos within the marketing organization prevent them from determining how campaigns are performing across the different channels they're using.

Thus it's important to not only collect data but to be able to organize it and utilize it in way that would be helpful to marketing strategies. Organization and integration of data is key to successful marketing in my opinion.

Buffer/data analytics upgrade

Buffer, a social media scheduling tool, upgraded its analytics tool this week to give marketers a convenient way to quickly assess the success of their social efforts. Buffer analytics is available to people who pay for “Awesome” ($10 a month) or Business (starting at $50 a month) accounts.




The new aspect in the upgrade is the ability to sort posts in  four supported networks — Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and Google+ pages — by popularity. Twitter analytics, for instance, can be sorted by most clicked, most retweeted, most replies, etc.


For Facebook one can sort on likes, comments, clicks, etc. LinkedIn gives similar options.
The Twitter analytics that Buffer offers are the most useful, because the tool pulls in all the tweets, not just those that are posted using Buffer tools (as in the case of Facebook, LinkedIn and Google+ pages).




Another handy feature of the upgrade is the ability to sort on lowest performing posts, and then use this info to look for patterns and possibly adjust the content choices or messaging. One can also sort by post type, making it possible, for example, to see the most retweeted image posts from the last X days.

Digital Marketing is Now a Must for Mass Marketers

According to a study released by mobile analytics company NinthDecimal, 70% of consumers in 2014's third quarter bought new packaged goods products after being served mobile ads. Over 50% of consumers not only shop online but download coupons to mobile devices.


NinthDecimal's study was based on data from a billion mobile devices and a survey of 1202 users; the study showed that mobile ads have a significant effect on increasing store traffic in grocery, drug, and mass channels. Consumers that were shown mobile ads for packaged products had a 75% increase in store visits within the control group of similar segments, and 96% increase in store visits relative to general population. According to the study, the effect of the mobile ads was especially magnified over the past year. A similar study performed by NinthDecimal in 2013 showed only a 29% increase in store traffic from mobile ad watchers.




The study also indicated that store apps are more popular among men, although women have long been identified by grocery chains as more profitable customers. 57% of store app users are male, and a similar percentage are in the18-33 age range. Greater than 2/3 of store app users are urban dwellers, while just under 1/4 are suburbanites.


Digital marketing is now a must, but it has room for improvement. NinthDecimal's consumer survey found that over 1/2 of consumers are displeased with having to scan mobile devices at checkout to redeem offers. Yet over 1/3 of consumers expressed willingness to connect in-store, saying they'd like to be recognized and receive offers upon entering.