Nielsen to Split Into Two Companies

Nielsen just announced that it will spin off its Global Connect business from its media business and reduce dividends.

The Global Connect business provides retail data and analytics to manufacturers of consumer goods, while the media business focuses on ratings in media like TV and Radio.

The company says that the spinoff will allow both new companies to focus on changing consumer tastes and habits - ultimately delivering more value to marketers. The Global Connect business will focus on the changing retail environment, and the media business will shift further into streaming services as the paradigm shifts from ratings to audience.

The change has been greeted positively by most analysts, although some remain skeptical. The outcome will certainly be a big deal for marketers who provided revenues of over $6.5 billion to Nielsen last year, and is truly a reflection of the massive changes in both industries.

Christmas ad spend, consumer confidence, ‘dishonest’ social posts: 5 killer stats to start your week

What stands out to me from the following article is the validation of companies strategy of shifting away from branded content towards user generated content. The distrust of social media in general was probably a canary in the coal mine for the large portion of users online that do not trust brands own posts on social media. Given this the required shift from brands away from marketing materials to influencers may not be enough, instead they should consider focus on micro/nano influencers or regular consumers themselves.

A third of Britons think brands’ social media posts are ‘dishonest’

More than a third (36%) of Britons believe that what companies and business leaders post on social media is ‘dishonest’, while just 31% believe what companies post and 25% what business leaders post is honest.

People are most mistrusting of celebrities, with almost half (48%) of Britons considering celebrity social media posts ‘dishonest’, followed by influencers on 44%. Just 21% think celebrities and influencers are being ‘honest’ in how they portray their lives on social media.

Among regular social media users, two in five (41%) have seen inaccurate content, while a further 21% are unsure if they have. Nearly one in five (17%) say they have seen content that is completely false and incorrect, while 21% say they have seen content that is misleading, misinformed (20%) or manipulated (19%).

Source: YouGov

Christmas ad spend up but TV investment down

A record £6.8bn will be spent on Christmas advertising this year, up 4.7% year on year.

However, investment in TV ads is expected to fall 1% year on year to £1.4bn as brands switch to online, radio and cinema. Online display ad spending is forecast to reach £1.75bn, marking the first year more is spent on online display ads than TV.

Search will get the largest share of spend, up 9.4% year on year to £1.9bn. Outdoor will see spend increase by 5.8% to £379m, while spend on cinema is set to rise 5.4% to £101.5m and radio up 4.9% to £202.5m.

However, national newspapers will see spend drop 2.6% to £265.7m, magazine brand spend is set to fall 5.8% to £180m, and direct mail is down 5.7% to £379.2m.

Source: AA/Warc

The importance of long-term agency relationships

Two-thirds (65%) of multinational advertisers believe a long-term relationship with their agency is either important, very important or essential in producing great work, while just 12% say it is irrelevant.

Creative and media agencies typically enjoy the longest relationships, with 36% saying their media agency had worked with them for at least five years and 34% saying the same for their creative agency.

However, there are improvements that can be made. Just 17% of clients describe themselves as ‘very good’ at briefing, with 43% admitting they are only ‘adequate’, ‘poor’ or ‘very poor’ in this area. This despite the fact that 79% agree that great briefing is essential to producing great work.

Source: WFA

Wearables market set to increase by 27%

Spending on wearables such as smart watches, smart clothing and head-mounted displays is expected to reach $51.54bn in 2020, up 27% year on year. That will climb again in 2021 to $62.99bn.

The fastest growing segments are smart watches, where spending will rise 34% year on year, and smart clothing, up 52%. Smart watches will also be the biggest in terms of overall shipments, at 86 million units, followed by ear-worn gadgets on 70 million units.

In terms of spend, smart watches are again the biggest sector with spend reaching $22.8bn next year. This is followed by head-mounted displays on $10.6bn, ear-worn gadgets on $8.7bn, sports watches on $3.6bn, wristbands on $2.1bn and smart clothing on $1.7bn.

Source: Gartner

Consumer confidence falls as uncertainty reigns

Consumer confidence fell by two points in October to -14, with all five measures falling, as consumers worry about political and economic uncertainty.

Consumers’ feelings on their personal financial situation over the next 12 months and their propensity to make a big purchase were both down, raising concerns over spend at Christmas. The major purchase index fell two points to a score of one, while people’s views on their personal financial situation was down three points to one.

People are also concerned about the general economic situation, which sits at -33 over the past 12 months and -37 for the next 12.

Source: GfK

New Age Corps: Digitizing and Subsiding

A few weeks ago I read a very interesting article in the Atlantic that talked about a slue of new age digital companies that are changing the way we live while subsidizing a new found life style. These are companies like Uber, Blue Apron, Post-mates, Wag, Amazon, etc that are passing along digital services that cost more to deliver than they are charging. As such, there is an inherent lifestyle subsidization that consumers are benefiting from.

Some new companies are going as far as paying customers for action. Fore example, the new app Seated is actually paying customers in gift cards for dining at their partner restaurants. Imagine that, a restaurant paying diners 25% in Amazon gift cards for booking a reservation. It is a new age way to target an urban, affluent consumer that is obsessed with deals, speed and convenience. In years past, if I wanted to attract affluent millenials in the lower east side, I might run an ad through google maps, yelp, and social media platforms. Now, with apps like Seated, I may have to pay 20-30% in discounts to get the attention of the same group.

The conclusion of the article is that these subsidies, and their associated unprofitable business models, have an expiration date. To maintain the speed and conveniences we have come to expect,  there is an unavoidable price increase coming. The services and technologies we have come to enjoy are here to stay but the prices are bound to be fleeting.

https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2019/10/say-goodbye-millennial-urban-lifestyle/599839/

Consumer scores

We rate Uber drivers, they also rate us. At the beginning it was hard to find our score, now its easily accesible. With a larger presence online, now we have a consumer avatar that can be linked through different companies and sites. The NY Times reports on it. 
Unfortunately for all of us that would want to know what our consumer score is, as you will be able to tell from the article, is not very easy today and they ask you to share a government ID to "ensure it is you" they're giving the info to. Maybe that just completes your file even more. Interesting times.

Business of Fashion: How to Advertise In a Digital Age

A lot of online retail publications require a paid subscription, but I highly suggest that everyone in our class sign up for the Business of Fashion. Through Columbia (and the Retail Luxury Goods Club) all students with a CBS email are eligible for a free subscription to the daily newsletter. (I think it is normally about $20 a month, so a savings of $240 per year!)

A couple times a week a full feature article is published that goes deeper than the latest headlines. Two days ago an article titled "How to Advertise in the Digital Age" came out- a must-read for students in this class!

Below is brief snippet from the article that I found most relevant based on our latest class discussions:

"Google advertising is usually the next step for brands after Instagram and Facebook, however many brands are starting to move to Amazon search as more consumers go directly to the marketplace to find products.
EMarketer found that search is the “fastest-growing ad format for retail advertisers,” with a projected increase of 22.5 percent to $13.1 billion this year. The research firm predicts Amazon will claim 16 percent of the search advertising market in 2021, from 13 percent today.
Newsletters are another alternative to social media, offering a direct route into potential customers’ inboxes. Matt Scanlan, chief executive of Thakoon and the cashmere brand Naadam said he considers The Skimm, a subscription-only newsletter aimed at Millenial women, and Morning Brew newsletters as well as podcasts and search for his advertising mix, alongside Instagram and Facebook."

Food for thought as we review our digital marketing options for our start-up companies.

The magic of virtual try-on

As retailers look for new ways to take advantage of the benefits of digital functionality to improve shopper experiences and increase revenues, one simple feature stands out.

The virtual-try on feature, a simple version of Augmented Reality that used machine learning and image recognition to help users “try on” products such as lipstick from home, is an ingenious way to engage potential shoppers early on and improve conversion rates. By having users upload photos of themselves to use the feature, they take advantage of user-generated content to provide a more realistic view of what the products would actually look like. Secondly, this personalization removes the guesswork or trying to predict what a given product will look like on a given user. By making the shopper part of this experience, they are turning the shopper into a creator of content vs. a spectator of the merchandise product content on the site, making them feel engaged and more likely to purchase. 

Such innovations are a great way to provide a fresh, relevant and creative experience to consumers, as retailers look for new ways to differentiate themselves and draw audiences in the digital era. 

Trump's Twitter Feed

I can't remember the last time I signed into my twitter account. In fact, I have probably posted 5 times, all before 2013. I have found the only time it to be helpful is when MTA has severe delays or when I notice large amounts of police activity around my office building (I work right next to WTC).

Regardless of my personal preference, our President loves Twitter. It is his way to engage with his supporters and promote his party's platform. The NYT published an article today all about Trump's twitter feed. I found this quote to be alarming:

In fact, Mr. Trump has retweeted at least 145 unverified accounts that have pushed conspiracy or fringe content, including more than two dozen that have since been suspended by Twitter. Tinfoil-hat types and racists celebrate when Mr. Trump shares something they promote. After he tweeted his support for white farmers in South Africa, replies included “DONALD IS KING!” and “No black man can develop land.”

For more on Donald Trump's twitter feed, you can read the full article here.

Interesting article on whether we should hire an influencer agency?

https://www.forbes.com/sites/kylewong/2019/10/17/cosmetics-are-a-case-study-for-embracing-diversity-in-marketing/#53089323144d

This is for next week, I am doing a hw in advance...

Cosmetics is an interesting field where influencers make one of the most money so it is being a case study. ;)

Google to Acquire Fitbit for $2.1 Billion

According to an article from the Wall Street Journal, Google is set to acquire Fitbit for $2.1 billion.

This represents Google's next move into the wearables market, a space where Apple (with its watches and AirPods) reported 54% growth in the last quarter but Google has struggled to gain traction in the past.

For obvious reasons, the multitudes of data collected on wearables is enticing for digital marketers and tech companies, but also has its risks.

In my opinion, this is a positive move for Google. I do not believe that this is a "winner takes all" market, and has plenty of room for multiple players. Investing in better devices that integrate just as easily into the Android universe as they do iOS will help bolster Google's search and mobile businesses. And while I have seen differing estimates on the projected growth of the wearables industry, nobody seems to doubt that it will grow significantly in the next few years.

Just how significant is Twitter

According to the Video Advertising Bureau, which is a trade group representing TV networks and distributors, the topics that dominate Twitter is TV shows and other television events. A lot of the talk have been the demise of the traditional TV ecosystem. The Twitter statistics seem to suggest that TV content remains relevant.

Ad-supported TV topics were 53% of posted comments, and programming from 47 networks that were shown during prime time made it into Twitter’s top 10. This speaks to the value of live content, including news and sports event.

While digital marketing is the new new medium, maybe sometimes the best way to advertise is just to show an ad during Sunday Night Football.

Bullying & Harassment on Facebook

There are millions of posts to Facebook everyday and there is no way for Facebook to police all of them, so they have turned to AI to help scan for inappropriate behavior on their platform.  Algorithms have been sucessful at detecting nudity, but they have not been nearly as successful in detecting bullying and harrassment-86% of the incidents were reported by users.  Facebook acknowledged they need to get better with identifying bullying and that it is a priority for them, yet incidents such as those in the article that clearly violate Facebook's policies and are consistent with their guidelines for deactivating accounts continue to occur.  In one of the incidents described in the article, the harassee reported the incident to Facebook and the harasser's only punishment was to be prohibited from using Messenger for 30 days.  It wasn't until CNN investigated this (and other) incidents and questioned why the harrassers weren't removed from the platform, that FB then closed the account.

Yes, algorithms are needed to help 'police' the platform, but the problem then goes to what happens when wrongdoing is detected?  Why aren't obvious, reported claims of harassment and bullying beind handled according to FB's policies?  Zuckerberg spoke last year about making this a priority. Perhaps it's time to have the programmers focus more time on the algorithms and beef up the team that then reviews and handles the incidents.

https://apple.news/AJ2N8PkGURBGV77zau2R-GQ

The Barneys Bankruptcy and the Future of Luxury Retail

The New York icon Barneys was sold today in bankruptcy proceedings, signaling the end of an era in luxury retail. Founded in 1923, the company had weathered nearly a hundred years in business and had built a name for itself as a leading retailer of edgy urban luxury clothing. 

The company faced several challenges over the past few years, including a challenging retail climate overall, rising real estate expenses and changing consumer buying patterns. In a world where more up-and-coming brands are able to market and sell directly to consumers online, upstart brands that Barneys brought to market are finding new ways to reach their customers directly, without needing to visit a physical store. Barneys is not alone in these challenges; Henri Bendel closed all of its stores, including its flagship Fifth Avenue location earlier this year, after 123 years in business. The parent company of Lord & Taylor recently sold its flagship Fifth Avenue property to WeWork earlier in this year. 

While this may seem surprising, given the growth of e-commerce, the importance of influencer marketing and changing consumer buying preferences, this evolution is all but inevitable. As consumers are able to discover the "long-tail" of niche brands on their own and buy directly from brands and retail platforms online, they no longer need to take the trip to a physical store to discover new brands or pieces. Free shipping, seamless online shopping and checkout experiences and quick delivery times reduce the friction of buying online. At the same time, new purchasing patterns are emerging, with consumers experimenting with subscription services such as Le Tote and Rent the Runway, or opting for vintage luxury shopping experiences on platforms such as The Real Real. 

Barneys made a name for itself in its day by being a cutting edge, creative trendsetter, embracing up-and-coming luxury designers and raising the bar for its peers. Looking forward, a new generation of retail is emerging and adapting to the new digital retail landscape while continuing to innovate. 

Love Looking at New Toys.....Top Selling gadgets

By Jeannie A.K.A Idreamof

I love reading blogs on gadgets.  I think it really provides a good idea of what to look for as technology evolves in the world.  It blows my mind how fast it changes and how each day we come up with new things.  I think about my experiences growing up.  I had no computer, no google, no internet and really did not know how technology would change my life.  The experiences that my daughter is having right now is dramatically different than mine was 20 years ago.  Even now, as I am getting my MBA and the way I conduct business on a daily basis as dramatically change.  The reality is that my I-phone is my primary object to doing business.  Everything I need is on that phone and I can execute most of my job functions with it.  I no longer need a laptop or to travel as often.  I am excited to see what else will change in the next 20 years and see all that we will be able to accomplish.

https://gadgetpacket.com/blogs/news/top-19-best-selling-gadgets-2019?cep=nSAt9Pgq93AWf9720zt8IgosAG51_tuxwKXVHikNfs4eKw-Sc6DllBhJF3bPM7qnxWlS3cSziCz3uSGoPJhWcDeOhul8bg8PpwQx20iGV9XrdscQ4sWNkxqBGvduzl1rK2ujliEuJ7Oc95n25f50R24uBSE6tYJDxBsffwA1rea4b4qHjRqFEYe4rPOpY08SIPRlluFRGb5yokfoiSKwD3eLHMMHQkJNFjhV6gdt1uoIQEByGGhXAkLq4CvxkhxXxzOtfOFWiVInd6XVWIKyrcqm95OL08alLgNLO9EbAYVNQMMhCb8N2iDKvs0ahH1Th0EZW8ByiWQa3kmCzE3B8OK8PLll-exa-SVhGf9CAeVgeSwqIlO4lNn7liH8u7v0A1PMpwUSfGP13ytDwHJwOWsK_xpoA8Avfj72vk5cbnadjOtVyu91Hy7Z_Xh12hMXovNRqnKJvPi4vkxvLDaCq_JdMacIRbw3cwt0EWkPKMUk8O942TIwyO-4JSj12cB7GQy-8AAo0wfasBpgaXWAsP2FRKfjpVc6G3J7M0eMeET_PLaYuWk8qXPh-qf5q2S6SdZMbnRLVTeYf1NkTYrRYpv-KCVWSUJcmEPp9RnU0oXMybUoFIJwcU5hwFeEosUbdAEadVkOltzHKVYQWbntgqaNpkOtWnEbA8ZS4cXG9GfSf58uSUdRXl-hEvSbDLJBiTfO5h0SL65NRzEx5wTQu4sEiNrVt7XqonlzQaqYtwIgrn0DHc1ZlU9x3ceshA5EKYxI_VKlALenM0d_jNhE43TkuWUKMU3txvXJRiS0EnCLWKwXb6N83zCanZh2lX-KwAXTZyNzE-U4U-Ops8zgeQtUwuksHXzCqCb2vAgu6fhRqzVG1VlSqZz7gWZSDvrXWn2G-DlJb1gaL2tczE8A2kURDExtjS7HLWayFvPsbMkmoshFsenezxFYZ2SFp-mvo1aRPnbRKj_OV5Jxc0O5lv6Ac0kqhUXhc-y2Lxfz1MH8_9i9aUmM62N5hV8Py_hN-AyGqoXCg_-A4yeeIvfWS49WozfXcBdXz8sODmgjCyP8RU2VCe3KNE3apCJ4ASbmAn4WayyoV9Yc6NmU2350GTTrDCUutG2aGIlK8K7thJvPn9xXMIKM6jRRvgvJNS8WlKr2qntaENbqoLW8ms3zyvO5tvWiB2mxqPQ23X9fyL84h8G_2cYC1EFRtsRZgmEAZQy3inUzappFX5H1kbCob1vsR5MvT4cLe_TPjnU374xl9uur95qqDlWMJfejkNGtz4PwVJImfTvJ7XMzVrYbdQog4787RZve9uGaid8tDZFtumNFsEWxC_M3vPf-yStnQ33eD_yJkhg5FGB04oITd-IBTh43OJyw1UF6M-bbWCeSlsOPFa9OGO8Ss55ZQTs_XOdaDlcGK_XTH6XSUB1BNS6yVefB8c-b7_HBN4ZjqsKfRFcOXPmFPjIobk6qgVMyNQ9rFMvb66mTWy0FLKfPqHxlXR4NhegzFvmgUoemZl6SlgSouQzkrCb8lMnv0qc20vmPv8JgjnMCj3CjhG9sq3dXui8sJu4RGrJxOP75k73qCJpNpO9QEtHQ2EIcXoNGWulwh9o4bM_DtMOoZc69kTXnn2AHmXBZgyXkCnsnkgfWOMsVecM28u7fLCovSTmylc87f8bzm_KE24j0j_dLwe-nT8-YJSa3ss9TVOLfZHiP8nlGKEzRsEm52BgJWLjqbUIVOoRwPr26S4exq61ueKBQ13O9-zdAPwFgh0coNRySlVDh9JPHT_hd6QnwTBqIFxIfPYsFUbeSU9j5VIiv1eiR6UjlSNx62yiCCFmruL9yPAM1EEeqBMX6DkO0db-O0j3V5ctd7KKeO0y1IhFkumklYoN4lmaWi-qGFdJFAK2lTrkntbag7iBVqMIoX6HkXkFmhjVIc1kcN4pyVynB1IRLURwMutsxl7zfGk7xrCM_ptRinMbpGGJgpPehBnFgowjh2R1JGGHWyJXZmcycFKUFlK1bT8wJQ0Ly4vsOwlY&lptoken=15e3720566102611739c&QueryString=latest%20technology%20news&KeyWord=new%20gadgets&AdGroup=Gadgets&NetWork=o&AdId=72155556448149&Device=c&Campaign=Top%2019%20Gadgets%20(US)

Miller Lite’s new social media strategy: “unfollow us”

They'll even offer you a free beer if you unfollow them on social media. The campaign kicked off on October 22 with a TV spot on game one of the World Series and is aimed at getting people to take a break from social media and basically go outside and be with real people. Miller has said that its social media accounts will “go dark” for two weeks as part of the effort. And they mean it. Their Facebook, Instagram and Twitter accounts show nothing but an image of a black Miller can over a black background. No description. Just a link to the Unfollow Miller Lite page. Looks like they’re serious.

To get your free beer, Miller’s asking that you simply take a screen shot of you unfollowing either their Instagram or Facebook accounts, text that photo to them, they’ll send you a link, which you then use to upload a receipt for a beer purchase and then they’ll wire you up to $8 through Paypal. They’re offering the promo to up to 118K people, which was the number of Instagram followers they had at the start of the campaign. 

A risky strategy, you say? It’s actually playing pretty well for Miller.  So far, the campaign has earned more than 620 million PR impressions and counting, well ahead of the brand’s goal, with 97% positive or neutral sentiment. Funny enough, they’re up to 123K followers as of this writing, a week and a half later. For a brand so down on social media, I’d say the whole thing has a pretty strong social component. They’re clearly pulling influencers into the deal. With a search of #itsmillertime, you’ll get plenty of this:

View this post on Instagram

My face is an actual representation of how excited I am to go dark on social media for 24 hours. I’m all about authentic conversations and making people laugh in-person! So grab a @MillerLite for you and your friend and take 24 hours to enjoy life! #itsmillertime #ad

A post shared by Demi Burnett (@demi_not_lovato) on Oct 22, 2019 at 2:58pm PDT

Twitter bans political ads

We had a "heated (?)" discussion in class couple weeks ago about political ads on Facebook and about how people perceive and interpret such ads differently.  Well, it seems like Twitter is recognizing this and after Facebook refused to ban these ads on their site, it had announced that it will ban political ads from its site.  Ironically, the company's stock dropped by more than 1% after the announcement and I guess the perception of the market is that Twitter is effectively prohibiting free speech or free expression, something that Zuckerberg was emphasizing as part of his refusal to deny political ads.  Dorsey's argument is that the ban isn't about free expression but rather about paying to increase reach of political speech that has significant ramifications.

The reactions from public figures are a mixed bag.  Seems like what everyone is saying makes sense.  Who's right??

See article below:
https://www.cnbc.com/2019/10/30/twitter-bans-political-ads-after-facebook-refused-to-do-so.html

Google News: Changes to SEO to Incorporate Context; WordPress Plugin is Out of Beta

https://www.inc.com/jeff-haden/google-just-announced-a-major-search-algorithm-change-that-users-will-probably-love-and-some-businesses-may-absolutely-hate.html

Businesses will have to be much more attuned to the thinking behind users' searches in order to stay relevant in search results. Google finally did something about the fact that people don't simply search for keywords, people search for phrases in trying to figure something out: how do I ____, etc.

It sounds like Google's update, called BERT, will be much more powerful.

https://www.searchenginejournal.com/google-releases-its-site-kit-wordpress-plugin-out-of-beta/333451/#close

Google has been busy this week! In addition to announcing its acquisition of FitBit, it also rolled out a WordPress plug-in and took it out of beta. It's called the Site Kit for WordPress and helps to streamline processes for website owners. Site Kit aggregates data from Google Search Console, Google Analytics, PageSpeed Insights, and AdSense, making it very helpful to small-business marketers.

Omincare + twitter vs FB

Omnicore has a very neat summary of what we've talked in class yet.
Check it out here.

Here's a preview of some of the cool graphs they have:

On an unrelated topic. Twitter has cancelled all political advertising. This is worth a read.

Instagram vs. Pinterest

I have been strategizing around Instagram vs. pinterest, and seems like most of the creatives are using the pinterest more so than then instagrams… is there any user experience difference in terms of the pinterest?

From the ads buyers' perspective, the pinterest seems to be more cost-effective.

Is Social Media Marketing Dying?

The problem with social media for most people has largely been the volume of content that has shifted it away from curated towards an endless analog stream of content. I have personally seen this resulting in diminished interest in my feed and therefore instagram has tried to counteract this by using predictive analytics to curate users feeds rather than showing all the users they follow. While this measure isn't perfect it is attempting to stem the decline in engagement to try and ensure users still see value in the platform so brands can market on it.

Article:

Diagnosing Social Media

First, let’s look at some numbers. Buffer’s study of 43 million Facebook posts found that Facebook engagement between 2017 and 2018 dropped dramatically, with the average engagement per image dropping from 9,370 per post in Q1 2017 to just 3,454 per post in Q2 2018, while the average engagement per video fell from 5,486 to 2,867.

Twitter has its own problems, the sheer number of tweets published daily (500 million per day, in case you were wondering), essentially makes it a noise machine, which impacts engagement and clicks. On an episode of his podcast, “Marketing School,” Neil Patel also declared Twitter “dead,” sharing that roughly only 2% of his 233,000 followers turn into website traffic each month.

Social media is a broad term, and there are a myriad of factors contributing to falling engagement and click-through rates. Some marketers however, point the finger to the culture of social media, rather than the algorithmic changes we see creep in from time to time. “I don't think social media marketing is dying, but I do feel it is evolving. First, it's becoming more democratized. Everyone is doing it. [However], that same ubiquity is the reason why [social media] is having its effectiveness minimized. It's everywhere!” explained Richard Williamson, VP of marketing at HealthLynked.

“The problem with much of the social media traffic is that it's too often political commentary, vicious personal attacks, or shameless (or shameful, depending on your point of view) self-promotion. All that makes it hard to pull meaningful messaging out of the background chatter,” Williamson said. 

Others, such as Leah Tombling, social media executive at Colewood Internet, lament the issues surrounding privacy and the impact this has had on end user trust in social media. “Privacy. If anything has changed in the last 3 years, it always involves that word. [We’ve all] heard of Cambridge Analytica, where data was [illegally collected and] used for various political advertising purposes. Facebook suffered [as a result of the scandal]. Their stock price fell dramatically. It has since recovered, but it hasn’t reached the same heights as it was before the scandal hit,” Tombling said. 

"Too many people on too many soapboxes have made social media too noisy.” - Richard Williamson

Evolution, Not Extinction

The majority of marketers we spoke with had a positive outlook towards social media marketing.  "I don't believe that social media marketing is dying — I do believe it is maturing and changing from what it used to be five years ago,” said Drew Beechler, director of marketing at High Alpha. However, Beechler conceded that the "hype around social media has died off and has made it harder for marketers to use social media in a creative and strategic way to drive results.”

“I think that the new opportunities in social media marketing revolve more around utilizing your own internal employees and their personal brands to help amplify and promote marketing messaging and campaigns. In B2B marketing, LinkedIn has been an incredible channel to build internal thought leaders and utilize in this way. I've seen posts from individuals see up to 10x as many impressions as the same content posted from a company account on LinkedIn,” Beechler continued. 

Ciara Hautau, lead digital marketing strategist at Fueled, concurred. “I do not believe that social media marketing is dying. Actually, I think we've only scratched the surface and social media marketing is going to expand even further over time,” Hautau said. “Where Google ads, for example, limits you to search queries, social media allows you to advertise via the demographics of your audience (think: commuter, interests, job title, related profiles that you follow, etc.), which allows you to show your ads to the audience that will most likely convert.”

Hautau went on to detail a three-step plan that marketers can follow to side-step the woes of social media marketing:

• Customize, customize, customize: “Have a brainstorm of every single type of audience you could think of that would be interested in your product or service. Define their personalities and then identify these as different audiences. Using these audiences get creative and personal with your ads. Be sure you're customizing the ad to fit these audiences needs and truly demonstrate the value of your company.”
• Show  don't tell: “We're always shortening our attention spans. You have to grab your audience visually, and you have to do it quick. I recommend using videos when able to demonstrate the value of your product. Instead of telling your audience why this product or service is so great, show it. Let your audience see in real time what your company can do for them and help them to visualize the impact it can make.”
• Run experiments: “Run experiments and then scale up! There are hundreds of routes you can take when customizing campaigns and targeting audiences. Don't throw all your budget away, but rather set a smaller budget upfront, test your idea, reiterate based on the results, and then scale the budget up once you find your campaign catching success.”

Finally, Williamson added that, “in 2020, I think social media marketers will have to trend away from jumping on every hashtag bandwagon and work to make content more meaningful to individuals. We need to think of social media as a dialogue with one person rather than a shout out to a crowd. Too many people on too many soapboxes have made social media too noisy.”

Ineffecient Facebook Advertising - From CBS to Keto Food

This month Columbia Business School has been targeting me for their "3-Month MBA-Inspired" management essentials program. Over the past few weeks I have seen these targeted advertisements showing up repeatedly on my news feed. This has led me to call to question which attributes of my social media profile or past activity have triggered this targeting. If it is because my profile says I am a "student of Columbia Business School," this would be very inefficient advertising spend as I would already be an enrolled student. If I once visited a CBS website, I would think the second trigger should be to check if I am a current CBS student. This inefficiency in advertising spend led me to call to question other targeted Facebook ads that I see on my news-feed.

Over the last few months I have been receiving many advertisements for Keto food products. What is strange is that I have never searched Keto food, I have never tried a Keto diet, I have never discussed Keto with anyone online, and I am still not interested in a Keto diet after seeing the ads! However, I suspect I started receiving these ads (which have now taken over my news-feed) because I was intrigued by the first food image that showed up on my news feed so I clicked on it. Ever since then 80% of my ads are keto food items. I was not interested in Keto foods, but I clicked once, so now it is too late, Facebook has pegged me as Keto dieting male.

I suspect they did the same for my CBS ads. Years ago I probably visited the CBS website, and now, years later, I am still in the same target group. Maybe it is time to update their algorithms to learn to fade their preferences when a user is not clicking on the content. Both of these examples are companies that are wasting money targeting me when they easily could improve their algorithms.

Because of this, I decided to look into what experts are writing about this topic, and found that the "How To" on Keto Companies is telling start ups to target people over Facebook. Maybe it works for some people, but there is always room for improvement.


https://www.optimum7.com/blog/business-strategy/how-to-successfully-introduce-and-market-keto-products.html