As a media professional, it is extremely difficult for me to be swayed or affected by advertising. But, bring dogs into the picture and it’s a whole other story. Subaru, who has coined the tag line “Dog Tested. Dog Approved.” skipped Superbowl advertising this year, but opted in for the Puppy Bowl on Animal Planet instead. The ads were super cute, humanizing dogs and using a really clever double entendre tagline “when you sit in a Subaru, you’ll stay.” I especially like this one, because it has Wheaten Terrier puppies in it.
About a month later, when visiting Petfinder.com (don’t judge me, I’m a regular), I got served display ads mirroring the Puppy bowl spots I so vividly remembered. It took three Impressions, but I finally CLICKED. I couldn’t resist! I was directed to a custom tab on their Facebook page, which was really well done—had the tone and voice of their advertising and went above and beyond to engage consumers with additional ways to get involved with their dog-mobile app, photo upload and even a dog driver’s license!
Then, a month after my Facebook experience with Subaru, low and behold, their competitors targeted me. I was scrolling through my Facebook newsfeed when a sponsored post appeared, specifically aimed at dog lovers:
The competition tried to take a direct stab at Subaru’s loyal dog loving audience—very smart. It’s very important that as advertisers we are constantly in check with what the competition is doing, because competitors could quite easily come in and try to steal a piece of the pie. Hold your agency accountable for competitive research and analysis; it’s valuable to understand what others are doing so you can maintain or increase your SOM.
Facebook has a unique way of discovering the things that users want before we realize we want them. That’s the spark behind the new Facebook News Feed overhaul. Whether you’re on the list waiting or you’re one of the lucky few that already have the new look, there are 4 things you need to know about the new Facebook Feed.
Multiple News Feeds
This one is interesting in how it came together and it’s a huge cornerstone of the overhaul. Jane Justice Leibrock, a user experience researcher who worked on the new launch, detailed how her findings revealed the user’s need to have separate news feeds broken down by categories. “A look at our data showed that the stories people click, like, and comment on the most are actually the very stores they said they wanted the ability to filter out: page posts, stories about songs and games, and stories friends like or commented on,” as she explains to Mashable.com. “Since people were clearly interested in these stories, our task became figuring out how to display them separately from News Feed.”
As a result of their findings, multiple News Feeds will allow the user the opportunity to dig deeper into content that matters most to him/her. Feeds will highlight photos, music news (what friends are listening to and concerts they’re attending), and celebrities and businesses they subscribe to.
A Greater Focus on Photos
This one was a no-brainer to the Facebook team. Photos will now take up more real estate in News Feeds. After a study conducted within Facebook revealed that 50% of updates consists of pictures, they decided to make it an essential part of their News Feed update.
It’s also important to keep in mind that Facebook has made the rather questionable initiative to run a title over the top of some images. Keep this in mind in your design of posted images. If your image is already created with text, it may create a messy look.
More Mobility
Interestingly enough, the new Feed look was in an effort to embrace mobile as the company adapts to a more smart phone-friendly culture. The Feed will be consistent across all platforms with a side navigation bar to assist mobile users.
More Room for Greater Engagement
One of the first things you may notice once you acquire the new Feed look is that there is more space allotted to each posting. No longer will you see a “More” link when your friend has posted a long-winded status update. On the flip side, Facebook’s desire to give more attention to photos means your friend’s long status may be easily overlooked. Our recommendation, keep your content short and simple and let the image speak for itself!
Do you have the new Facebook Feed yet? Tell us what you think!
Watch out world, my shopping problem is about to get serious. For those of you who don’t know me, Hi! I’m Lexi, and I may be a shopaholic. I have to admit, I have worked hard to tighten the reigns ever since I stepped foot into the real world (read: mortgage payments, car loans, vet bills). But one thing I love a lot is home decorating. It’s my newest shopping obsession. And it just got taken to an entirely new level. Thanks Augment, my husband is going to hate you!
It’s 2013, the year of Google glasses and augmented reality. Augment, a new app in its start-up stages, could quite possibly be a game changer for Ecommerce. Ecommerce sales are certainly rising steadily year-over-year. In 2012, E-commerce sales topped $1 Trillion for the first time. But, think about the items you are likely to purchase online. They are items of certainty. However, if you had the ability to “try on” flat screen tvs, couches and appliances at home…likely, online purchasing behavior would change. If you play in the Ecommerce space with big ticket items, I suggest you get on the Augment train. I, for one, know that if I can place a new sofa in my living room and love it, I’m IN!
I do have a few subtle critiques of Augment. The app is a little hard to navigate. It requires a lot of work on the part of the user to make it fully functional. Hopefully these finite details will work out as the product grows in popularity. If it does, I urge home furnishing companies to get on board. Put the couch in the palm of consumers’ hands, in the landscape of their own living rooms and VOILA! You have instantly increased your average order value for Ecommerce!
I’ve been hearing more and more about parenting blogging that’s really capturing marketer’s attention. I think it really hit home for me last week, when one of my favorite shows from childhood, Sunday Morning, (what can I say? The nature stories captivated me) did a piece on daddy bloggers. Recently, I went to lunch with On Ideas’ social media strategist and mom blogger, Nadia Jones; I thought this was something I really need to learn more about.
Not being a mom myself, I just assumed their blogging consisted primarily of swapping recipes, deciding whether Pampers or Huggies were the better brand of diaper, or the likes thereof. After lunching with Nadia Jones, founder of the Niche MommyNetwork and Conference, her second successful blogging venture, I realize my thoughts on this have been very wrong. Nadia’s insights literally made my jaw drop… a few times. Marketers are paying close attention! Upon further research, I found mom bloggers are 21% more likely than the general blogging population to be approached by a brand. And that Mommy bloggers / women not only control 97% of the purchasing power in any given household (58% of all online buys are done by women.) I now know that bloggers view posting as a means of not only sharing the brand with their fans, but as a means for promoting that brand as any good marketer would do. I had no clue how big the world of parenting blogging had become, nor that I was working with one of its rising stars. On Friday, I discovered that Nadia was listed on Mommy Noir’s, “Mom on a Mission: 10 Mompreneurs on a Mission” list. Ah ha! Is this what President and CEO of Yahoo, Marissa Mayer, was thinking when she mandated that all Yahoo employees work in the office? I guess connecting with our colleague can prove worthy. In my case, I might have missed the birth of mom bloggers, but you can be sure now I’ll be watching it continue to develop.
And now I’m in a pickle because my DVR only records two shows at once….
