Paid, Owned and Earned Media - Defining Digital Strategies

If you are familiar with the concept of Owned, Earned and Paid Media you understand that Google Pay-Per-Click (PPC) can play a colossal role for your Social Media seeding campaign.

But just how much is too much?

I thought it would be interesting to share with you a study from Wordstream.com which shows the most expensive keywords in Google AdWords.

The 20 most expensive keyword categories with the highest search volume and highest costs per click, thereby netting Google the most money, are:

1.     Insurance (keywords in this category include “buy car insurance online” and “auto insurance price quotes”)
2.     Loans (keywords include “consolidate graduate student loans” and “cheapest homeowner loans”)
3.     Mortgage (keywords include “refinanced second mortgages” and “remortgage with bad credit”)
4.     Attorney (keywords include “personal injury attorney” and “dui defense attorney”)
5.     Credit (keywords include “home equity line of credit” and “bad credit home buyer”)
6.     Lawyer (“personal  injury lawyer,” “criminal defence lawyer)
7.     Donate (“car donation centres,” “donating a used car”)
8.     Degree (“criminal justice degrees online,” “psychology bachelors degree online”)
9.     Hosting (“hosting ms exchange,” “managed web hosting solution”)
10.     Claim (“personal injury claim,” “accident claims no win no fee”)
11.     Conference Call (“best conference call service,” “conference calls toll free”)
12.     Trading (“cheap online trading,” “stock trades online”)
13.     Software (“crm software programs,” “help desk software cheap”)
14.     Recovery (“raid server data recovery,” “hard drive recovery laptop”)
15.     Transfer (“zero apr balance transfer,” “credit card balance transfer zero interest”)
16.     Gas/Electricity (“business electricity price comparison,” “switch gas and electricity suppliers”)
17.     Classes (“criminal justice online classes,” “online classes business administration”)
18.     Rehab (“alcohol rehab centres,” “crack rehab centres”)
19.     Treatment (“mesothelioma treatment options,” “drug treatment centres”)
20.     Cord Blood (“cordblood bank,” “store umbilical cord blood”)

When I am asked about ROI on Social Media I like to consider that if your Earned and Owned media presences have been created and maximised, you reduce your reliance on Paid media. This doesn’t mean you shouldn’t sometimes also pay for some extra attention, but it certainly means you depend less on these paid channels. And, because AdWords and other programs like it are based on an auction system, competitiveness and costs for them will continue to be driven upwards.

Generating ROI based on traffic – a simple formula

Let’s assume you are in the Real Estate industry and you want to decide between the immediacy of Pay-per-click and the long term benefits of Social Media and SEO.

You consider investing in Pay-per-click and generate immediate traffic.

If you generate about 1,000 visits a month paying $50 this equates to $50,000/month

If you invest the same amount of money across your Owned media and start to generate the same qualified traffic you have built yourself a long term asset and you can therefore amortise the investment over time.

This is an easy way to start a polemic on ROI in Owned Media versus ROI for PPC.

Which side are you on?

Related posts:

1. Social Media Resistance – Breaking the Shell
2. Marketing Magazine Special Edition
3. The Most underutilised Social Media tool.

Twitter wants to make “Promoted Tweets” more valuable and attractive to advertisers. Sponsored or promoted tweets will now appear in a user’s timeline if they already follow the account that has paid for the tweet.

The advertiser or account sending out the Promoted Tweet will be charged on a pay-per-click payment model, not a cost-per-impression model.

The Tweet will appear at the top, or near the top of the user’s timeline when they first login on any given day, ensuring followers get eyes on any special deal, or exclusive content that account has to offer. After the user logs in, the promoted tweet will assimilate with the rest of the user timeline, gradually being pushed down the stream as new tweets are received.

Users will apparently be given the option to remove promoted tweets from their steam one-by-one, with the option to remove being found alongside the options to Reply and Retweet within the individual Tweet.

This means social engagement with the company will occur even if it is to remove it from their feed.

Many of Twitter’s blue chip accounts will be the first to have access to this new form of promoted tweet, companies such as Dell, Gatorade, JetBlue, Microsoft Xbox, Red Bull and Starbucks are expected to begin utilising the feature over the next few weeks.

Twitter will also display promoted Tweets from non-profit organizations that Twitter users follow as a public service to the community.

Related posts:

1. Who does own your Tweets?
2. Social Media Strategy – Would you spare some change?
3. Twitter ads | How the hell we pay for it?

This will impact over 5.4 billion fans of multiple pages.

The new look for business pages is currently available for voluntary upgrade. However, it will be rolled out to all business pages on March 10.

In summary the revamp brings Fan Pages functionality and design much closer to normal (non business) Facebook user profiles:

• With the March 10 changes Facebook is giving Pages much of the same functionality available to normal users — you can browse Facebook as if you were the Page.
• Pages can also ‘Like’ other pages.
• The algorithm used for News Feed management has changed. From March 10, if you are friends with someone leaving a comment on a page, that comment will now show on your NewsFeed higher than more generic posts. Previously, they’d just be shown in reverse chronological order
• The main implication of this for businesses is that healthy relationships between you, your fans, and their friends will be the best way to ensure broad dissemination if relevant posts.
• Status updates from pages appears in the page News Feed (Pages now have a News Feed as well)
• Addition of multiple images at the top of the page.
• The application tabs have been moved from the top of the profile down to a sidebar just beneath the profile image.
• A widget that shows what ‘Likes’ you have in common with the Page.

The bad news is there are no longer the facilities of FBML and every tab is potentially an application.

The good news is that greatly increases the ability to build better applications using iFrames (more flexible and better performance).

Below is a map of the new features created by Involver (a Facebook app maker)

1. Photo strip above the Wall (with most recent photos you posted or tagged)
2. Tabs move to the left panel, in the form of a list (maximum of 6 above the fold). Instead of the horizontal tabs on the top of the page that used to accommodate the “Wall” and “Info” tabs and all outside applications, users will now navigate between views using a vertical panel of links to the left of the wall.
3. Profile picture reduced from 200 x 600 pixels to 180 x 540
4. Blurb box that was below the Page picture moved to info tab
5. Pages can Like other Pages
6. Featured Pages and Admins (Admin block is visible to admins only).
7. Page category
8. Choice for Wall posts between “Everyone” and Page posts only
9. Mutual Friends and Interests section

Facebook Changes from March 2011

Note, very important: You can preview the new layout but once you upgrade, there is no way to revert back to the old design.

Pages can also display Featured Page Owners on the left hand column, just below the Liked Pages.

The most important change that Facebook made to pages was to give them similar posting privileges as profiles. This is a game changer.

Every Facebook marketing strategy in existence SHOULD be re-written to include this major change.

Why? Because the walls that were holding you back have now been torn down. You can be your page.

To understand where we are, we have to understand where we were.

Your brand message was restricted to the follies of the Facebook algorithm before. Your message appeared on News Feeds of those who liked you, their friends if they were engaging with you, and your own wall itself. That’s it.

Now, you can spread the wings of your brand just about anywhere you want. While you still can’t post to profile walls, you can post as your page to any walls of pages that you like (as long as they don’t block you). We’ve tried this week for a promotion for one of The Online Circle’s client and worked well, if you want to know more call Lucio +61 3 9813 2141.

Properly used, the applications and implications are tremendous.

But with great power comes great responsibility. There is a drawback. Spam.

You know it will happen. With pages given this new power, you will need to constantly monitor your own walls to make sure that spam isn’t proliferated across them.

Facebook will (if they haven’t already) put in countermeasures to this and start banning pages that are reported or blocked often, just as they do with profiles.

However, the ease of creating pages will open doors to spammers like never before on Facebook.

This is enough if you want to know about overall changes, but for those willing to get more details, there you go:

• Photo Strip Instead of Tabs Above the Wall

The replacement of tabs with the photo strip at the top adds a dynamic, colourful element that will significantly improve the look of the average Facebook Page. The photos are drawn from the most recent ones you posted to your Wall and those you tagged, but does not include photos posted by fans. Users can hide undesirable photos. The new left nav placement of tabs also allows for longer tab names.

• Expanded Functionality For Fan Page Admins

Interact as a Page: A completely new feature, Facebook has added the ability to interact with items around the social network as the brand page. In this way, you can “Like” other brand pages, interact on their Walls, and have those interactions be from your brand page, instead of your personal profile. We think this will be a great way to increase your brand awareness, by tactfully interacting with other pages and people who are influencers.

Enhanced 2-way communications: To enhance responsiveness or just to keep admins more in the loop, you will be able to set up notifications of page activity that go to your email, such as any new Wall posts made by fans. There are also enhanced moderation/spam settings so that you can specify lists of words or terms you want blocked from showing up from your Facebook Page wall if written in a comment by a misbehaved fan. In addition, the admin’s News Feed will contain streaming content of activity going on from the brand page.

The Online Circle Clients

Overall, the changes announced represent a huge advance in the ability for brands to create rich, individualized experiences for their audiences.

We are reviewing the new policies. While many applications like Flash will now function better on your Page, Facebook’s restrictions require you to limit their functionality until a user interacts with it. As always, should you have any concerns about these changes, please do not hesitate to contact your Account Manager at The Online Circle.

More details and information available here and here

Facebook ads

Inspired by Smart Company website

1) Sponsored Stories

You can target two groups of people by using this feature:

Friends of those who are connected to your page by clicking the Like story box. This means your potential reach is far smaller but it also means it will be more powerful. When people see their friend already Likes the page they are more likely to.

People who are connected to the page through clicking the page post story box. This can be used to promote the posts you put on the page wall to people who like your page but may not have seen the posts. This could be good because a recent article said that only 5% of page posts appear in likers newsfeeds – scary!  Particularly relevant if you are posting a hot topic you want people to see.

2) Destination Tab

If you are advertising your Facebook page through the ads you can now specify where you want people to land on the page when they click on the ad. This is great if you have a special offer or want to create a landing tab that is a sales page. This means your ad can be very specific and the landing position can match that.

3) Ad layout

If you have switched your page over to the new look, ads will be appearing horizontally rather than vertically as previously.

It is now more important than ever that your image fills up the space on the left. You need to use the space to make your ad really eye-catching in order to grab your readers’ attention.

Facebook ads are also now seen in more places apart from the right hand side of the page.

If your page photo’s tab has been upgraded to the new light box version (if you click on a photo in an album you can tell if the photo pops up on a black background) there is now an ad that appears at bottom right.

Post written by Lucio Ribeiro, Liam Marco (Social Media CManager The Online Circle ) and Fernando Tinoco (Lead Developer The Online Circle)

Related posts:

1. Are Facebook Fans worth the money?
2. How to Share Facebook Advertising account
3. Transform your Facebook in a book

The Real Media and Marketing Influencers

With over 6,000,000 followers on Twitter, Justin Bieber (@justinbieber) and Ashton kutcher (@aplusk) are far above any other Tweep in terms of number of followers.

Nominally, they have a lot of relationships — but in reality, few, if any, are actually valuable and can be influenced or influence a behaviour change.

It’s hard to imagine that Justin Bieber, with his 6.4 million followers, is influencing people’s behaviour other than getting them to talk about Justin Bieber, frantically retweet him, and possibly buy a record. Is that influence?

Popularity on Twitter or Facebook is just that; it’s the ability to drive behaviour that matters and who are those with such ability in Marketing and Media?

According to AdAge these are the biggest influencers of 2010: http://adage.com/influencers2010/

1. Influencer: S.Y. Lau, Tencent Holdings
2. Influencer: Deryk van Rensburg, Coca-Cola
3. Influencer: Jeff Pash, National Football League
4. Influencer: Dr. Luke Gottwald, Music Producer
5. Influencer: Nina Tassler, CBS
6. Influencer: Andrew ‘Boz’ Bosworth, Facebook
7. Influencer: Jim Stengel
8. Influencer: Rep. Fred Upton, R-Mich.
9. Influencer: Julie Eddleman, Procter & Gamble
10. Influencer: Nizan Guanaes, Grupo ABC
11. Influencer: Dr. Margaret Hamburg, FDA
12. Influencer: Elizabeth Warren, Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection
13. Influencer: Pete Cashmore, Mashable
14. Influencer: Glenn Beck, Fox News
15. Influencer: Michael Kassan, MediaLink
16. Influencer: Marissa Mayer, Google
17. Influencer: Tim Siedell, Adman/Twitter Star
18. Influencer: Gabe Newell, Valve Software
19. Influencer: Kevin Feige, Marvel Studios
20. Influencer: Ari Emanuel, William Morris Endeavor Agency
21. Influencer: Patrizia Magni, Thread

Influencer: S.Y. Lau, Tencent Holdings

How’s This for Clout? Mars, P&G and Ford Flock to China’s QQ, the Largest Social Internet Site in the World

HONG KONG (AdAge.com) — Lau Seng Yee has turned China’s Tencent, which started as the QQ instant messaging service back in 1998 and grown into an all-purpose portal offering social networks like Qzone, e-commerce and multiplayer online games, into the homegrown favorite for multinational advertisers.

Influencer: Deryk van Rensburg, Coca-Cola

You Might Not Know His Name, but This Executive Will Likely Determine the Beverages You’ll Be Drinking Next

NEW YORK (AdAge.com) — In certain beverage circles, Deryk van Rensburg’s something of a kingmaker. He’s also likely the only person in the industry whose job description — literally — dictates that he is “responsible for identifying and developing the next series of brands with $1 billion potential.”

Influencer: Jeff Pash, National Football League

He’s No Star Quarterback, Yet Pash May Determine Whether There Will Be NFL Games This Year

NEW YORK (AdAge.com) — Jeff Pash doesn’t feel much like an influencer, yet he is holding in his hands billions of dollars as the National Football League’s general counsel and exec VP-labor.

Influencer: Dr. Luke Gottwald, Music Producer

Hot Music Producer Knows Where the Party Is — and Where the Hits Are for Pop Stars and Pop-Culture Brands Alike

LOS ANGELES (AdAge.com) — Whether it was the radio, YouTube or prime-time TV, there was no escaping Dr. Luke’s music in 2010. The pop music über-producer had a hand in four Billboard Hot 100 No. 1 singles this year (five if you count the “Glee” remake of Katy Perry’s “Teenage Dream”), collectively notching over 18 weeks atop the chart, and 14 other hits over the past 12 months.

Influencer: Nina Tassler, CBS

It May Not Be the Sexiest Net, but It’s the Sturdiest Thanks to a Strong Schedule Under This Executive’s Watchful Eye

LOS ANGELES (AdAge.com) — Under Entertainment President Nina Tassler, CBS has made fewer changes to its sturdy schedule than its competitors in recent years and launched (and sustained) more hits.

Influencer: Andrew ‘Boz’ Bosworth, Facebook

Some 600 Million Social Networkers Around the World Have This Man to Thank for Their Friends — Like It or Not

SAN FRANCISCO (AdAge.com) — If an influencer is someone whose work touches millions of people, then Andrew “Boz” Bosworth is an uber-influencer. Through his job as head of engineering at Facebook he touches almost 600 million people every day, all day.

Influencer: Jim Stengel

It Might Not Seem Possible, but This Purposeful Exec Has Arguably More Influence Than He Did Under P&G’s Wing

BATAVIA, Ohio (AdAge.com) — It’s been awhile since Jim Stengel was a card-carrying master of the marketing universe, directly influencing the nearly $9 billion global advertising outlay at Procter & Gamble Co., or gracing a stage at the annual Association of National Advertisers’ conference. And yet, in some ways, it’s like he never really left.

Influencer: Rep. Fred Upton, R-Mich.

Many Important Marketing Initiatives Hang on His Opinions, and So Far, the Ad Industry Likes What It Sees

CHICAGO (AdAge.com) — The Republican takeover of the House of Representatives will be perhaps most visible for marketers in the Energy and Commerce Committee, where a new man will be wielding the gavel of the influential panel. Rep. Fred Upton, R-Mich., takes over for Henry Waxman, D-Calif., on Jan. 5 and so far advertisers seem pleased with the new chairman.

Influencer: Julie Eddleman, Procter & Gamble

For Packaged Goods, the War Is in the Store — and That’s Where This Exec Leads Charge for Consumer-Product Titan

BATAVIA, Ohio (AdAge.com) — As quiet influence goes in marketing, it doesn’t get much bigger than Julie Eddleman.

Influencer: Nizan Guanaes, Grupo ABC

If You Are Doing Business in Brazil or Plan to Do Business in the Country, You Must Know Nizan

NEW YORK (AdAge.com) — Nizan Guanaes, chairman of Brazilian marketing-services company Grupo ABC, has become an informal ambassador for fast-growing Brazil.

Influencer: Dr. Margaret Hamburg, FDA

The Government Watchdog Has Grown Teeth Under This Commissioner Who Bears Watching

CHICAGO (AdAge.com) — Margaret Hamburg is leading a more aggressive FDA that has the marketing world taking notice.

Influencer: Elizabeth Warren, Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection

The Agency Obama Tapped Her to Create From Scratch Will Have a Lot of Say Over Advertising

CHICAGO (AdAge.com) — It doesn’t get more influential than this: Harvard University law professor Elizabeth Warren gets to set up a government agency from scratch.

Influencer: Pete Cashmore, Mashable

Social-Media Maven’s Influence Is Inescapable as Site’s Readers Retweet and Share its Content

NEW YORK (ADAge.com) — If you’re like me, you rarely visit Mashable.com, but you still find yourself reading Mashable stories, often several times a day. They have a way of finding you, and not just because founder Pete Cashmore has more than 2.1 million followers on Twitter.

Influencer: Glenn Beck, Fox News

Loathe Him or Love Him, This Conservative Talker Is out Front — and the Beck Effect Is Real

NEW YORK (AdAge.com) — Glenn Beck may be alarmist when he suggests buying gold as a hedge against recession, depression or collapse — not to mention less than impartial given the gold advertising on his show and his endorsement deal with Goldline. But he was out in front. “Once primarily the obsession of libertarians, survivalists and conspiracy freaks,” Fortune said, “gold appears to be going mainstream.”

Influencer: Michael Kassan, MediaLink

What Do You Do When You Need to Influence an Influencer? Who You Gonna Call? Call Kassan

NEW YORK (AdAge.com) — Silicon Valley and Madison Avenue have a lot dividing them, but also at least one thing in common: MediaLink CEO Michael Kassan. The former Initiative Media Worldwide president is a matchmaker, a marketing-and-entertainment guru and a consigliere to brands.

Influencer: Marissa Mayer, Google

She’s Charged With Bringing Search Giant Google to the Next Level of Advertising Revenue

NEW YORK (AdAge.com) — Marissa Mayer has been at Google for almost 12 years and at the helm of search products for just about as long. So why is she an influencer? Because a couple of months ago, Larry Page, Sergey Brin and Eric Schmidt decided to take her off search and put her on local. That’s how good she is.

Influencer: Tim Siedell, Adman/Twitter Star

Biz Stone’s Favorite Twitterer Is an Adman From Nebraska

NEW YORK (AdAge.com) — When David Letterman asked Twitter co-founder Biz Stone who was his favorite person to follow, Mr. Stone named @badbanana, adding, “I find him to be terribly funny.” So does the New York Times, The Huffington Post, NPR and 410,000 people on Twitter, who practically forced him to issue a book of his tweets called “Marching Bands Are Just Homeless Orchestras.” Who is this hilarious yet morally reprehensible fruit?

Influencer: Gabe Newell, Valve Software

The ‘Citizen Kane’ of PC Gaming Reinvents the Genre

NEW YORK (AdAge.com) — Gabe Newell. You won’t find the name on Twitter, Facebook, or Foursquare (not the real one, anyway), but it is well known on message boards, chat rooms and everywhere from game-world locations Black Mesa and Aperture Science to real-world cities like New York and Shanghai.

Influencer: Kevin Feige, Marvel Studios

This Superhero of the Comic-Book World Has Redefined the Genre Into Big Box-Office Blockbusters

CHICAGO (AdAge.com) — For years, movies based on comic books weren’t taken as seriously as genres such as science fiction, horror or other action movies in general. Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige has been trying to change that.

Influencer: Ari Emanuel, William Morris Endeavor Agency

Uber-agent Who Brokered Deals for Athletes and Stars Now Has Got His Own Entourage Coming to Mad Ave

LOS ANGELES (AdAge.com) — Ari Emanuel is going to attempt something even bigger — an entertainment-marketing agency that will combine William Morris and Endeavor’s resources with partners such as Red Peak Group, Red Interactive Agency and Trivergence Business Resources.

Influencer: Patrizia Magni, Thread

The Plugged-In Exec Behind Some of the Biggest Talent Nabs in Adland Proves It Is All About Who You Know

NEW YORK (AdAge.com) — Patrizia Magni is a go-to when it comes to orchestrating high-level placements at shops from large holding company networks such as McCann and BBDO, and independent shops such as Mother.

List by ADage.com

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1. Social Media Resistance – Breaking the Shell
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The competitor on the left was also running a special promotion with a big banner saying “Gigantic clearance sale”.

What was the owner of the little bookstore in the middle to do?

Rather than being depressed about the competition, he created his own banner, simply saying “Main entrance” and hung it out the front door.

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Published on August 1 , the video mind-blowing was discovered this week, and most of its nearly 1.2 million views were recorded in the last four days .

What happens in the video? Exactly what is written in the title. A bulldog watching television. Sat. Somebody get him a VB, please.

2. Acapella Cover

This guy, Mike Tompkins, does  a cover of two songs: “Teenage Dream ” Kate Perry ” Just The Way You Are ” Bruno Mars.

That was cool, however cooler is to know that he simulates all the instruments with his mouth.

Published August 19 , the video has reached nearly 800,000 views.

3. Stinson Beach Giant Bubbles

This is for those who like to spend time in discussing “real or fake? “. However, Sterling Johnson, the guy who created it in Stinson Beach , California, is an expert in soap bubbles.

Published August 14 , the video has reached nearly 700,000 views.

4. Roger Federer Gillette trickshot

The ” viral ” form Gillette(Nike or EA Sports’ style), continues to maintain a position in the ranking of the most watched of the week.

Also within the discussion of  “real or fake? ” and, of course , the presence of Roger Federer.

Published August 16 , the video has already reached 5.9 million views.

5. Scott Pilgrim Vs Matrix
Entering the rankings this mashup uses scenes from the trilogy “Matrix” with the audio in full, the trailer “Scott Pilgrim Vs The World “.

The detail is that it is not just something thrown on top of each other, but with lip sync  perfectly executed.

There are almost 200,000 views since August 17 .

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2. The Most underutilised Social Media tool.
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