Top Digital Marketing Stories from Google, Facebook, & Twitter

Google/You Tube vs. Google Network Sites: How Well Are They Really Performing?

Google has disclosed more information that gives advertisers a better idea of the performance of ad placements on Google owned sites (Google and You Tube) vs. the network sites that Google places ads on. In its first report to actually separate ad performance on these two types of sites, the numbers highlighted the clearly dominant performance of ads on You Tube and Google.  The two metrics described (average cost per click and number of clicks drawn by ads) tell an interesting story.

The number of paid clicks on Google owned sites increased by 33% while the number of clicks on its network sites increased only 9%. In a similar trend signaling better appeal by Google owned sites, the average cost per click decreased by 13% on network sites and only fell by 7% on Google owned sites. The report  that was released also reveals the vigor of search advertising vs. the unsteady continuation of display advertising. With the rise of mobile, display advertising is becoming less popular to advertisers due to the constraints of the mobile screen size.

Facebook Makes It Easier to "Buy"

Facebook is spreading its wings further into the e-commerce territory through its recent experiment with a new button on it advertisements – “Buy”. The social networking site has selected a handful of small to medium sized companies to experiment with this feature and has created excitement from advertisers in doing so. While Facebook will retain credit card and debit card information of purchasers, it vows not to share this information with advertisers. The opportunity for small to medium sized companies via this feature is large. Whereas setting up an e-commerce platform previously presented a high barrier to entry due to cost, Facebook could now potentially remove that barrier via this new service. With this announcement, there has also been commentary as to how seamlessly Facebook will be able to link advertisers and possible purchasing to what is actually being posted. For instance, if you post a beautiful picture of you and your friends on vacation at the beach from the weekend, printing companies could allow you to “buy” the print in various sizes in a frictionless and very easy way. This new announcement certainly has the potential to blur the lines even more between one’s social media activity and networks, e-commerce, and advertising.

Twitter Acquires Card Spring

Twitter is also working to expand its impact in the realm of e-commerce. It recently acquired Card Spring. Card Spring is know for technology that allows app developers to link credit and debit cards with digital applications and by doing so allow consumers to tap into card linked coupons, promotions, loyalty programs, and virtual rewards. The huge bonus with Card Spring is that is allows you to link offline consumer purchases with the online advertising that initiated the purchase. Consumers hold the responsibility of entering credit or debit card information on a company’s app or website which gives them access to the promotional perks that initiate the purchase and provide Card Spring with its powerful metric. If Twitter is able to effectively integrate Card Spring into its advertising and e-commerce functions, it could provide more concrete data to advertisers as to the true effectiveness of ad buys.