Who Has the Better Ad Network? Facebook Vs. Google

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The internet has been a buzz this week with discussion of Facebook’s IPO, and rightfully so. It seems like we have all been try to guess when and if it was finally going to happen. But, the loudest rumblings about the social media giant going public have been about the value of the company. There are lots of questions about the validity of the company’s worth, especially in regards to its advertising revenue source. While many stand by Facebook’s advertising offerings, I wondered if they were truly valuable and how they compared to the global internet leader Google.

Below is a great infographic that breaks down the advantages and disadvantages of the two biggest internet giants: Facebook and Google.

Who Brings the Most Value to the Table? Facebook vs. Google

In the Battle for Best Online Display Advertising Network

To determine which company offers the most value, they were judge on five categories: advertising reach, revenues/growth, advertising performance, ad targeting options, and ad formats. The following are a few takeaways from the competition:

  • While both companies have extensive reaches, Google’s network (including YouTube and Blogger) offers advertisers the ability to reach over 90% of the entire online audience
  • Every month, Facebook gets over 1 trillion pageviews
  • On average, Google ads have a click through rate 10 times higher than that of Facebook ads (sometimes even 36 times higher!!!!!)
  • Only Facebook offers targeting options for customer interests, education, likes, and work
  • Facebook and Google both offer demographic and location-based targeting for advertising campaigns
  • Facebook does not currently offer any mobile advertising options; however, Google does offer mobile advertising
  • Google offers advertisers multiple ad types and sizes, including text, image, video, and mobile game ads
  • Facebook ad’s are a “one-size-fits-all” format with a very limited number of characters

And the winner of the title for most valuable online display advertising network is……….

Really you had to ask?

Google wins this competition by a landslide. In all actuality, after reading these facts, I can’t help but wonder if Facebook wants to be a real competitor in the online display advertising network. Because it doesn’t really seem like it.

Do you think Facebook could even be a strong competitor to Google’s ad network? Have you done a Facebook ad campaign before, and if so did you see positive results?

Facebook vs. Google Display Advertising - Comparing the value of the world's largest advertising venues. [INFOGRAPHIC]

W© 2012 WordStream, Inc., a PPC and Search Engine Marketing tools company.
Infographic Resume Timeline

Stand Out With An Infographic Resume

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With hundreds of applicants applying for every job right now, how do you make your resume stand out from the rest? One way is by creating an infographic resume.

My favorite tool for building a visual, dynamic, and interactive resume is Re.Vu. Re.Vu calls its self the “Cure for the Common Resume”. They not only offer free tools for creating your dynamic resume, they also let you select a custom Re.Vu url to direct people to. Continue reading →

What Is Branding?

This article breaks down:

  • What a brand is by definition
  • How the term ‘brand’ has evolved into something new
  • The difference between brand image and identity.

When developing your brand strategy, are you thinking about your brand from a marketers point of view or from your customers’ perspective?

Would you like to know which point of view will help you create a better strategy? Check out this great article!

Best Times of Day to Use Social Media

Social media is 24/7 but your customers/fans/followers are not on each social media platform all the time. So, the question becomes:

When is the best time to reach your customers using social media?

There a many factors that will determine the best time of day to use social media, including the platform you are using (i.e. Facebook or Twitter) and where your customers are located. The infographic below by Kissmetrics explains when the best time is to reach your specific customers.

Science of Social Timing Takeaways:

  • Over 80% of the U.S. population is located in the central and eastern time zones
  • Majority of Twitter users are more likely to Retweet after lunch and at the end of the work day. Customers are more likely to see your Tweet if it is scheduled for 5 pm.
  • Since Twitter is a real-time feed, it is important to Tweet throughout the day. This data suggests Tweeting 1-4 times an hour; however, this can be difficult when first starting social media. I suggest aiming for the following 4 times a day when customers are more likely to check their Twitter feeds:
    • Before 9 am
    • Lunch time
    • Around 5pm (the end of the work day)
    • Between 7-8 pm after dinner
  • Facebook posts can reappear in a customer’s feed as likes & shares increase of a post increase; as such, the time between posts can be greater.
  • Facebook posts have the most shares & likes during lunch hours and on Saturdays, these are both times when people are relaxed and have more time peruse Facebook.

Science of Social Timing

How often do you Tweet or post on Facebook? Do you think ideal posting times vary by industry? I would love to hear your thoughts, please leave a comment below.

How to Talk-To Your Audience Not At Them

Have you ever wondered “Why did my followers like my Facebook page” or “Do I add value to my audience”? Well, even if you haven’t thought about either of those things before I recommend checking out Nick Martin’s post about how to Talk TO your audience instead of AT them. Social media is not meant to be used to shout your message to your audience, it is about talking to them to start a conversation.

seo factors

The 4 Factors of SEO

There is no “one way” to gain the number one spot in search results. Search engines are constantly changing their algorithms, which means companies have to continuously adapt their search engine optimization strategy to meet the needs of both search engines and their customers. Before diving into the ever evolving world of SEO, here is a quick and simple breakdown of the basic factors that influence search results.

URL Factors

  • Keyword rich URLs – Descriptive words separated by hyphens
  • Keep URLs short and to the point
  • Clearly show hierarchy of information on the page (website.com/color/primary-colors/red/)
  • Site structure (i.e. information architecture)

On-page Factors

  • Unique and relevant content
  • Internal linking
  • Meta descriptions
  • Title tags
  • Header tags
  • Alt tags
  • Keyword density
  • Frequent content updates

Off-page Factors

  • Inbound links from directories and other websites
  • Google Places pages
  • Online press releases
  • Blogs and RSS feeds
  • XML Sitemap

Social Factors

  • Likes, retweets, pins, shares, etc.
  • Ratings
  • Reviews

Image: KROMKRATHOG / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

WebTrends Webinar Recap: Adapting to your dynamic customer base

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I recently watched the WebTrends webinar “Adapting to Your Dynamic Customer Base” presented by Jeremiah Oqyang and Susan Etlinger of the Altimeter Group, and Justin Kistner from Webtrends. It was a very insightful presentation about what the dynamic customer is, what they expect from you, and how to meet their needs. The following is a recap of the exciting presentation:

In the last few years, there has been a drastic change in consumer behavior. Consumer purchase behavior no longer follows the purchase funnel of

  1. Awareness
  2. Consideration
  3. Intent
  4. Purchase.

Consumer behavior has become more dynamic, and in turn so must business’ marketing strategies. There are three emerging practices in the new dynamic customer journey:

  • Media Shift
  • Multiple Screens
  • New sources of data

These emerging dynamic consumers want to engage with a business through social media, mobile, and websites. The opportunity to reach the new dynamic consumer is found in building brand presence through an integrated campaign. Brands should focus on creating a community using multiple platforms, such as:

  • Main website
  • Twitter
  • Pinterest
  • Mobile websites
  • Mobile app
  • Facebook

In order to reach the emerging dynamic customer, use diff media types, new screens, and new sources of info. Using social media as part of your integrated marketing campaign has become vital because consumer’s now view their peers as experts and trust them most. Mobile apps and websites enable brands to reach consumers at the point of purchase. Mobile and social media campaigns are truly intertwined and show not be considered separate campaigns.

“More than 50% of adults are buying on smartphones today, more than 2/3 have the device in-store, still many aren’t being served.”

In order to track and determine success of a marketing strategy that spans multiple devices and channels, businesses need to determine measurements that will expand into all areas of the digital landscape. The following new measurements have evolved:

  • Innovation: Collaborating with customers to drive future products and services
  • Brand health: A measure of attitudes, conversion and behavior toward your brand
  • Marketing optimization: Improving the effectiveness of marketing programs
  • Revenue generation: Where and how your company generates revenue
  • Operational efficiency: Where and how your company reduces expenses
  • Customers experience: Improving your relationship with customers, and their experience with your brand

One of the biggest challenges for measuring how dynamic customers using an integrated campaign is the inability to track users using multiple devices. While cross domain tracking in social media is available, cross device tracking for mobile is not. (Deciding to view site on a smartphone then on a tablet) There is no single ROI for social media or integrated campaigns, ROI will differ by corporation, divisions, and business objectives.

 Have you seen a change in customer purchase behavior? Do you think of yourself as a dynamic customer?

 

How Your Speech is Damaging Your Career

I recently watched Jillian Michael’s interview with Tara Mohr, author of  “10 Rules for Brilliant Women“. During the interview they discussed the speech mistakes that we unconsciously make during interviews, and during our everday  professional life, that  can damage our careers. Tara Mohr is renowned for her self-help advice, she has been featured on: Big Think, CNN, Forbes, Huffington Post, Today Show, International Business Times, and USA Today. Continue reading →

Google’s Playbook for Winning at Mobile

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Mobile Applications For Mobile MarketingMobile usage is on the rise as more and more consumers are purchasing smartphones and tablets. Mobile marketing, whether through advertising, a mobile site, or an app, is the best way to reach your customers at the exact point of purchase. With mobile marketing you can reach customers at the moments that matter the most.

Google understands the importance of mobile marketing and also that it can be quite intimidating to those of us that have not ventured into this media before. To help people understand and build their own mobile marketing strategies, Google has created “The Mobile Playbook: The Busy Executive’s Guide to Winning with Mobile“.

The playbook is broken down into 5 easy sections – the 5 most importance mobile questions a executive should be asking:

  • How does mobile change our value propositions?
  • How does mobile impact our digital destinations?
  • Is our organization adapting to mobile?
  • How should marketing adapt to mobile?
  • How can we connect with our tablet audience?

This playbook offers great tips and resources for serving the mobile customer, creating mobile-optimized websites, building branded mobile apps, developing a mobile search strategy, understanding mobile brand building, integrating on-line and off-line marketing channels, and adding tablet to your strategy.

In each section Google includes great examples and case studies on how other companies have successfully reached their mobile customer, including:

  • Chase
  • Walgreens
  • Delta
  • Starbucks
  • Walmart
  • 1-800-Flowers
  • Dominos
  • Coke

For a concise to-do list for implementing what you learn in the playbook, check out the conclusion section for a checklist of the top 10 things to remember when diving into mobile marketing.

  1. Define your value proposition by determining what your consumer wants to do with your business in mobile. Benchmark against others in your industry for ideas.
  2. Build a mobile website. Once you have a mobile website, check the stats and optimize based on consumer usage.
  3. Build an app for a subset of your audience after your mobile site strategy is in place. Don’t forget to promote your app.
  4. Assign a Mobile Champion in your company and empower them with a cross-functional task force.
  5. Set up a meeting with your agencies about what’s working and what’s not for your brand on mobile and tablets.
  6. Search for your brand in mobile, as a consumer would. Take 5 minutes and do this today. What’s working? What’s not?
  7. Separate mobile-specific search campaigns from desktop search campaigns so you can test, measure and develop messaging specific for mobile.
  8. Run rich media HTML5 ads to extend your branding message to reach the mobile audience.
  9. Assign everyone in your marketing org the action item of reviewing their programs through a mobile lens.
  10. Check out your tablet consumer’s experience with your brand. Take 5 minutes today and search for your brand on a tablet as a consumer would. What’s working? What’s not? Maximize the tablet environment with rich media creative.

Does your company have a mobile website? How do you plan on using mobile marketing in the future?

Image: suphakit73 / FreeDigitalPhotos.net