Why Travel Brands Need to Book Social Media on their Itineraries

The recent increase in the number of people going online to research and plan their vacations has prompted travel brands to develop a solid digital presence. Although some are still testing the waters, many travel brands have already made social media an integral part of their marketing strategy. Tech-savvy travel agencies are looking to make their websites a one-stop shop for users who want all travel related information in one place. Whether it is last-minute travel tips, destination information or attractive offers, everything is just a click away. According to the 2011 Digital Travel Content and User Experience Survey conducted by Frommer’s Unlimited:

• Almost 2/3rd of travel marketing companies are planning to increase their social media marketing spend in 2011.
• The budgets for general travel content and mobile marketing are likely to increase by 63% and 50% respectively.



• 72% of the 18-24 demographic said that they would share their travel experiences online via Facebook; twitter and travel blogs accounted for 27% and 26% of usage respectively.
• 93% of the respondents said that they would look online for information about their holiday destination ‘before deciding where to go.

The recent spurt in the number of travelers going online to plan trips and research holiday destinations has made social media an attractive avenue for travel brands. Here are some more reasons why the travel business is going social:

• Tech-savvy travel agencies are using social media to communicate with potential customers and keep existing customers updated with the latest offers and information.
• Increasing brand visibility is also a high priority for many travel companies.
• Using social media monitoring tools such as Brand Monitor, brands are a) keeping a tab on travel recommendations by existing customers to their friends b) studying the impact of their online marketing strategy and how well it has been received by customers c) understanding what is important to travelers and anticipating their needs and d) monitoring their brand’s position within all the online channels and networks.
• Many travel companies are using social media for providing valuable content, which will establish their expertise over time, subsequently boosting traffic and revenue.
• Social media can function as a platform for information exchange and on-site referrals; agencies can use this for converting customers to brand advocates.

Position2’s research on social media strategies for travel brands resulted in some interesting findings: as a travel industry professional, there are three crucial points we recommend you keep in mind:

1. Create that Perfect Webpage

Irrespective of what your business objectives are, we believe a well designed web-page is essential to get your audiences’ attention and keep them coming back for more. A webpage with too many marketing messages and too less information may keep away prospective customers or give them a reason to look elsewhere. Keep in mind, content plays an important role in the user’s experience on websites, which impacts conversion rates and loyalty. As a travel brand, your social media webpage should:

• Focus on the Necessary Information First: Finding the limit to “how much information” you can include in your homepage can sometimes be challenging. Visitors to your website or social media page naturally want to know travel-related information and tips; why not include these first and provide links for other details. A travel brand’s home page should ideally include: a) information on what hotels they should stay and airlines they can use b) basic details of the most popular holiday destinations they can visit at that time of the year c) places to check out and things to do on arriving at a destination d) last minute specials and e) valuable tips for first time international travelers. Frommer’s study also shows that 88% of travelers looked for description of the destination and information on special offers on a travel site.
• Be Visually Appealing: The right balance of content and images is very important to keep users captivated. Once you have their attention, then their curiosity about that lovely resort pictured will ensure the requests for bookings follow.
• Feature Social Apps to Connect: Traveling is a social activity and people make travel decisions largely based on recommendations of their family and friends. Social apps such as Tripadvisor’s travel map leverage this and show users the destinations where their Facebook friends have traveled.
• Be User-Friendly: Frommer’s research on consumer experiences on travel websites specified poor navigation and confusing site layout to be among the biggest problems faced by people when looking for information. 58% of the users said that the information they were looking for was hard to find, because a particular site was not easy to navigate. Our suggestion? Keep it simple and user friendly. Your prospective customers are regular people who will simply opt for your competitor’s website when faced with navigation issues.

2. Choose the Right Platform

According to the recent L2 Think Tank, Digital IQ Index for travel report, social media is responsible for driving 78% of the traffic on travel websites. Travel agencies are exploring all the possibilities in the social media space in order to drive traffic and increase sales. Twitter accounts, Facebook pages and blogs are filled with travel tips, destination details and user reviews. Is this a good idea? Yes, if your brand is in the same league as Lonely Planet. The popular travel brand has a Facebook presence, a Twitter account and a blog; this is in addition to its travel specific social networking site. However, we suggest checking out the competition and researching online (find out where your customers spend their time in the social media space) before deciding what social media channels work best for you.

• Facebook: With Facebook having fans all over the globe, it is unsurprising that almost all travel companies include this channel as a ‘must have’ in their social media list. For instance, Tourism Australia has a highly successful Facebook page that functions as a hub for visitors to share their holiday photos, talk about their experiences etc. If your brand is relatively new to the travel and tourism industry, then Facebook is the perfect foundation to build your social media strategy on. Using the Facebook Tabs feature to add information such as reviews, promotions and services is also a good idea.



• Twitter: With Twitter, it’s wise to keep it simple. Your Twitter checklist should include your brand’s logo or relevant images embedded in the background. Travelocity’s Twitter account has a well designed background and also features links that drive traffic to the company’s main website. Twitter also functions as a great social media customer service tool.
• Google+ Anyone? Although Google+’s arrival to the social media party is fashionably late, the new entrant certainly looks promising. While Facebook and Twitter are currently ‘hot favorites’, the launch of Google+ is expected to reshape the travel industry. Here’s a quick tip; integrating the +1 button will enable customers to share the webpages they rate with their friends and family.
• Why Blogs Work: Blogs are an important part of a travel brand’s online marketing arsenal. They not only communicate the brand’s passion for travel to consumers, but also make their travel experiences so much better. Blogs are also great customer engagement tools; by blogging frequently and encouraging users to comment, you are on your way to building a loyal customer base.
• Videos: YouTube is a powerful direct marketing tool for travel brands to broadcast themselves and reach their audiences with their messaging. A creative YouTube video can give your brand that much needed shot in the arm. By sharing videos of holiday destinations posted by happy customers, brands can entice the user’s contacts to think about visiting the destination themselves. For instance, popular travel brand Globus’ website features videos where customers recount their journeys and talk about the best places to visit.

3. Social Media Advertising; the Winning Formula

One of the most innovative recent social media promotions by a travel brand was by Australia’s Queensland Tourism. The ‘Best Job in the World’ campaign encouraged participants to apply for the job of the caretaker of the Great Barrier Reef Islands. The caretaker’s job involved communicating his explorations and experiences to the world through his blog. Here’s what made this campaign a winner from the word go:

• The organizers leveraged consumer generated content to market Queensland tourism.
• The contest directed huge traffic to the brand’s official website; the site registered one million hits in a single day.
• The effort, which was a global hit, immensely benefited the Queensland tourism industry by boosting brand exposure (over $11 million worth of exposure).
• The social networking buzz that ensued saw 336,000 Facebook-referred website visits, and over 3,170 @Queensland Twitter followers.

Creative social media campaigns not just add value to your brand, but also contribute to the ROI factor. We think social media is a rewarding platform for travel brands to advertise because:

• The travel bargain hunters are out there, looking for the best deals and packages. What would be a better way to entice this demographic than with Facebook and YouTube campaigns that promote season specials and offers.
• Of the business benefits involved; advertising in social media creates monetization opportunities and can deliver measurable returns. While the actual investment is considerably less (compared to traditional advertising), the ROI is tangible.
• Hotels these days are using Facebook and Twitter for everything from fulfilling customer service needs to processing bookings. By designing online campaigns, in partnership with the hotels, travel agencies can not only promote their brand and generate revenue, but also direct visitors to the hotels that most suit their requirements.
• For travel brands, one of the biggest advantages of advertising using social media is the ability to tailor campaigns to directly target relevant audiences. For instance, travel brands targeting couples looking for honeymoon packages can design ads that talk to this demographic by referring to their customer data base. Unlike traditional media, where ads meant for a specific audience are viewed by all and dismissed as irrelevant, social media gives your brand the opportunity to connect to the intended audience by personalizing content.

Conclusion

From sharing travel experiences online, to planning vacations based on traveler-generated ratings, there has been a dramatic shift in consumer behavior in the travel and tourism industry in recent times. The increasing use of various social networking channels for travel planning leaves no doubt that social media is an integral part of the travel business. The rapidly changing digital landscape means that more and more tech-savvy travel companies are now going the ‘social’ way. The low investment, high returns benefit of going digital has prompted travel agencies to fill in their Facebook pages, Twitter accounts and blogs with travel guidelines, destination details and other valuable information.

While travel brands are harnessing the power of social media to gain that edge over competitors, engage effectively with customers and increase brand awareness, the plethora of networking channels out there can sometimes be confusing. For travel businesses looking to get the most out of their online marketing strategies, identifying the right social media channel is imperative. While Facebook and Twitter are expected to bite big chunks from the travel pie, the new entrant, Google+ shows immense potential; we are curious to see how travel brands take advantage of Google’s new social prodigy. Meanwhile, irrespective of what social media tools an agency uses, we consider blogs and videos to be essential for filling in those gaps.

That said, there are many rewards that make social media a worthwhile investment for the travel industry. For today’s travel brands, social media is a powerful transformational tool.

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In the third and final installment of the ‘Three Major Demographics for Online Marketers’ series, the Position² research team looked at the importance of marketing to women and how brands can benefit from one of the largest audiences online. Women, who make up for the majority of users on many popular social networking channels, have established a strong presence on the social web. Snippets from a recent study by ComScore show that:

• The average time spent online by women is 24.8 hours, compared to men who spend approximately 22.9 hours.
• In April 2010, women accounted for 16.3% of the average time spent on various social networks, as against the 11.7% average time spent by men.
• Although the number of visits to retail websites were almost the same for men as they were for women, the latter reportedly spent more time actually browsing through these websites.

One of the reasons why we singled out women as one of the key demographics for digital marketers is because of the purchasing power they yield. For instance, sites like Zappos, Groupon (77% female customers), Gilt Groupe (70% women shoppers), Etsy, and Diapers have women as their biggest customers. With the digital space gradually witnessing an increase in female visitors, it was no surprise when social networking newbie, Google+, saw 33% of its traffic driven by women (as of July 14, 2011), a figure that is inching upwards. For brands investing millions of dollars in digital, especially social media marketing, data such as this is proof enough that the female audience needs to have campaigns and marketing strategies that specifically target it. Here are some very convincing statistics that will highlight why online marketers need to leverage girl power:

• 42% million women in the US routinely participate in social media.
• A new study conducted by Edison Research and Arbitron, The Social Habit 2011, shows that women account for 52% and 54% of the Facebook and Twitter users respectively.
• A demographic analysis conducted in April 2011, for the European market, indicates that females spent significantly more time (5.7 hours) on social networks than males (4.1 hours) across all age groups.
• The COO of Facebook, Sheryl Sandberg, revealed that women, on an average, have 8% more Facebook friends than men.

For online marketers looking to reach women, the possibilities are endless. However, before crowding the digital space with gender specific campaigns and marketing messages, it is important for brands to understand: how do women spend their time online and what do they want from the web?

• The Social Expressionistas, Alpha Trendsetters and Shopsessives:

A study by AOL and Bovitz Research Group broadly categorizes web-savvy women into these distinct behavioral groups.

• Social Expressionistas: These community creators are passionate about spreading the word online and are highly active on social networking sites.



• Alpha Trendsetters: Take their social lives and careers seriously and are very brand conscious. Our recommendation? The perfect target market for markers of luxury brands that aim their products at women, such as Estee Lauder.
• Shopsessives: Believe they are experts in all areas ranging from fashion to health and are shopping online across all product categories. This group highly influences the shopping decisions of their family and friends.

• The Discount Seekers:

A study by ChiefMarketer shows that 47% women look for coupons and promotions online; why is that not surprising? The female demographic, which comprises of homemakers, mothers, wives etc, is also empowered financially, with more and more women taking on the role of the breadwinner. However, the coupon searching trait is not so much about saving money, as it is about women who constantly look out for something that intrigues them through the convenience of social media sites. Here’s something interesting; a recent Groupon study found that it was attracting the young, single, educated, female crowd with cash to spend. For advertisers and online marketers, this target group is a goldmine.



• The Twitterians:

Twitter, which was largely believed to be used by men, has a growing female user base. According to bloggers Dan Zarella and Darmesh Shaw’s analyses, women follow more people, tweet more, and have more followers on an average than men.

Be it discount seekers, coupon collectors or fashion conscious women, the key to getting the most out of your social media marketing campaign is knowing where your target market is most active and what are the popular trends dictating their online activities. In order to get clarity on your market type (in this case, women) we recommend using social media monitoring tools such as Brand Monitor for complete understanding of your target demographic.

Why Marketers Should Reach Moms

With women being the most frequent users of social media, it is not surprising to learn that moms are heavily into social networking. One of the brands to understand this way before the others could catch up is Huggies. The baby products maker jumped onto the social media bandwagon back in 2009, by launching the Circle of Moms social site (also a Facebook page). The webpage, which includes an expert advice column, a mom-to-mom forum with relevant tips, age specific diaper information etc, was a huge hit with moms. That was a few years back; are mothers just as important an audience for online marketers today as they were then? Some reasons why we think marketers should reach moms online:

• According to the Moms And Media: 2011 report, a whopping 62% of mothers have a Facebook profile page, while 70% of social networking moms are posting status updates online. This makes mommy “status updaters” an increasingly important part of the continuum of marketing communications.
• Many brands perceive social-savvy moms as an important demographic because they not just share content, but also listen.
• When compared to dads, moms are 40% more likely to follow a brand on social media channels.
• Moms are still primary budgeters and spenders in the household, which makes them VIPs to marketers.

That was the ‘why’ of reaching mothers in the digital space; Let us now look at the ‘how to‘, the understanding of which comes naturally to brands that know precisely what the moms are doing and what they expect from online marketers.

• Identify the power moms: These women communicate with their families and friends through various social networking channels as well as other mom-specific social networks. They are online paying bills, planning family vacations and downloading coupons.
• Design Informative Ads: According to an About.com survey featured in eMarketer, 51% of moms said “ads that provide detailed information about how I can use a product” grab their attention. For instance, YoCrunch Yogurt’s integrated social media campaign that targets mothers also features a dedicated discussion space on the brand’s redesigned Facebook page that invites moms seeking product related information to chat with each other and with the brand.
• Tell a Story: Moms like stories, and social media provides the perfect platform for brands to disguise their marketing messages in the form of interesting stories. This approach, we believe, is much better than simply ’selling’ something online.
• Engagement is the Answer: Marketing messages without focus on engagement are like one way traffic. Mothers today expect a dialogue with the brand online; the key here is to encourage your customers for their opinions, complaints and appreciations just the way P&G is planning to do with its ‘Life Well Lived’ campaign on BlogHer.

Marketing to Women: Popular Myths

Whether it is moms or women in general, the stereotypical image about this gender can sometimes lead to the creation of myths that could result in less-than-perfect marketing messages. Here’s a compilation of some typical myths on how to supposedly market to female customers online:

• Myth#1: Women are technology shy: The fact? More women own smartphones than men and are more reliant and comfortable with technology than they were a few years ago. According to recent studies, 75% of women disagreed with the statement “men are more comfortable with tech than women”.
• Myth#2: All women are moms: Most marketers simply assume that all women are moms. Designing online or offline campaigns based on this assumption may not yield the desired results. Why? Because they are not targeting the specific demographic. As quoted by the She-conomy blog “All moms are women, but not all women are moms.“
• Myth#3: Women only buy the girly stuff: Going by this belief means missing out on a huge customer base. The female customer’s shopping list in current times comprises of more than just lipstick and high-heels. According to the newly released “What Women Want From the Web Report,” Summer 2010, by Unicast, while women do look for beauty and fashion related products online, around 48% are researching travel destinations, and 59% are browsing for gaming and entertainment products. Our take on this? Women have moved beyond the ‘I love pink and frilly’ phase.
• Myth#4: It’s all about emotions: While it is true that women are drawn to online campaigns that attempt to make an emotional connection, there’s a flipside to overusing the ‘emotion card’. When Hoover vacuums launched their ‘Clean Freaks Rejoice‘ campaign on YouTube, the company’s aim was to emotionally connect with women who were usually tasked with the ‘after party’ cleaning up. However, the brand’s display of women as ‘neurotic’ and ‘anxious’ did not go down well with the female demographic.

Conclusion

Although there is a significant amount of stereotyping that occurs around women’s interests, especially assumptions that restrict women’s interests to fashion, cooking or childcare, this appears to be gradually changing. The modern marketer understands that female customers are no longer technology shy and are among the biggest buyers of smartphones and other gadgets. Online marketers targeting tech-savvy women should consider designing more apps that cater to the lifestyles of today’s female shoppers.

While there are several myths on how to market to women online, more and more marketers are broadening their horizons and are bold enough to design social media campaigns which, although are gender specific, are unconventional in several ways. Social media campaigns these days are detailed, interactive and seek to engage the specific target audience, who in this case, are women. Women, especially mothers, are interested in having on-going relationships with brands they can trust and ones that understand their needs. It is true that moms make up for a huge demographic online; however, brands need to keep in mind the fact that simply churning out mom-specific campaigns could mean missing out on other female customers, who may not be necessarily mothers, but nevertheless have equal maturity and financial stability. We believe that the modern woman is not your typical customer and most often than not prompts brands to put their thinking caps on; but what we also know is that coupon collecting, the inclination to shop online, and brand loyalty are behavioral traits that have been typical of the female demographic and will continue to be an integral part of online marketing campaigns. Meanwhile, what we are also eager to see is if the female demographic accepts Google+ with the same enthusiasm as they have for Facebook or Twitter. If Google+’s current popularity with the fairer sex continues, this could be a viable platform for online marketers looking to target women.

With this we conclude our three part series on the most important demographics online. Although the three demographics we mentioned, i.e. youth, baby boomers and women, make up for your typical customer base online, these three big subgroups have unique and specific needs and expectations from brands. Take a look at our previous posts on Marketing to the YouTube Generation and Marketing to Baby Boomers for more information.

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In the first part of our three series study, we focused on how teens and young adults are increasingly using the web for more than just ‘casual browsing’ and what this means for online marketers. While we agree that the youth will continue to be one of the heaviest users of social media, our second part highlights how older users or the baby boomers are rapidly becoming web-savvy. Going by eMarketer’s recent study, we know that today’s 60-year-olds do more than just stay home in their slippers, sipping a mug of hot cocoa and surfing different television channels. According to the report:

• At 78.2%, baby boomers spend more time and money online than any other generation; this percentage is likely to stay the same through 2015.
• Of this, the 56-65 age group spends approximately 36.5 hours a month online.
• Contrary to the belief that older consumers shy away from mobile phones, it has been found that 86.9% of Baby Boomers will have a mobile phone in 2011.
• Internet will be accessed via mobile browsers or installed apps by almost one quarter of this demographic.
• By 2015, 40% of the Baby Boomers will use the internet via mobile.

For brands and advertisers, the message is obvious; there is a need to broaden their marketing strategy to include this demographic too, keeping in mind the fact that this segment uses mobiles for more than just making calls. Now that we know how important this demographic is to online marketers in general, we are curious to see if the older audience is just as enthusiastic about social media. The 2010 Pew Internet & American Life Project report shows that:

• Social networking use among Internet users ages +50 almost doubled to 42% in May 2010 from 22% in the previous year.
• During the same period, the +65 age bracket’s social media usage increased from 13% to 26%.
• Although the older audience is not as quick to catch on to the concept of social networking, they nevertheless, are showing increased ’stickiness’ to social media sites.

Although email is still the preferred channel of communication among older users, the above statistics suggest that social media is fast catching on. Baby Boomers are jumping on the social media bandwagon; yet, not many brands cater to this demographic. We believe this could be because:

• The stereotypical image of avid social media users involves tech-savvy 20-somethings; therefore the general tendency is to design marketing campaigns and messages keeping a younger audience in mind.
• Older people are expected to use social media for casual browsing or catching up with old friends. While this is not entirely incorrect, baby boomers (with their large disposable income) are set to become one of the most powerful consumer groups online.
• Boomers are believed to be too old to embrace technology and depend on traditional sources for information, news etc. A study by Forrester indicates just the opposite; 60% of Baby Boomers throng various social networking channels and we have every reason to believe this number will only grow in the years ahead.

With the growing number of older adults taking advantage of social media right now, brands and online marketers need to keep this key demographic in mind while designing their marketing campaigns. Baby Boomers are serious online shoppers and social media users; solely focusing on the younger audience means missing out an important part of the prosperous +55 market.

The Big Spenders

Unlike their predecessors, the older consumers of today have more disposable income and therefore are open to trying new brands and products online. According to eMarketer, the 116 million Baby Boomers in the USA (as of 2011) are a valuable target audience to marketers and represent tremendous potential to those who know how to reach them. Here are some reasons why we think brands should invest their online marketing dollars towards reaching the ‘big spenders’:

• eMarketer’s recent study indicates that Boomers spend over $2.9 trillion annually, and a significant amount of their time online is spent shopping.
• In 2010, an average of about $650 was spent online over a three-month period; this was much higher than the $581 spent online by Generation X (ages 35 to 46) internet users and the $429 spent by millennials (ages 18 to 34).
• Most people who fall under this bracket are either beginning to retire or have already retired; with time and disposable income in hand, this demographic is more than willing to give brick-and-mortar stores a pass and shop online instead.
• Boomers are less critical about shopping online, says a recent study by Experian Simmons. According to the study, 49% of boomers thought making online purchases was safe, compared to 47% of total internet users.
• While the aging population is willing to loosen its purse strings, they are still ‘old fashioned‘ and are likely to look for the best deals and offers on sites such as Groupon, LivingSocial and Facebook. For social media marketers, this translates into an opportunity to build their customer data base and design campaigns accordingly.
• Their financial independence enables baby boomers to indulge in purchasing luxury products such as luxury cars, health products and expensive cosmetics, both online as well as offline.

The older population does not just view the internet as a place to find the lowest bargains. Research by Position² indicates that the possibility of selecting from a wide array products and services, without having to leave the comfort of their homes is a major attraction for this demographic. This, in addition to the fact that baby boomers are one of the wealthiest and the largest segments in the USA, is making brands gradually take notice of this segment. Yahoo! is one such brand. Extensive research by Yahoo! showed how this demographic, while largely unnoticed, spent considerable amount of their time and money online. In a smart move, Yahoo! went on to launch its ‘Vitality’ website, which featured everything, from vitality blogs to healthcare tips and post-retirement vacation planners. All we can say is that Yahoo!’s pursuit of those Baby Boomer dollars has definitely paid off.

Baby Boomers; the New Facebook Users

It’s a well known fact that Facebook initially targeted the college crowd and then moved on to older social networkers. A few years ago it would have been difficult to imagine people in the +55 age bracket adding ‘friends’, ‘liking’ pages and posting comments; after all, this behavioral pattern typically pertains to the younger generation right? Well, not anymore. A recent study by eMarketer shows how more and more Baby Boomers ‘like’ various brands on Facebook. According to Forbes, the fastest growing age segment in Facebook includes 55-64 and +65 year olds. Then who are these ‘users’ that are leaving Facebook? It’s the teens and 20-somethings, says eMarketer; which makes baby boomers, the new Facebook users. Online marketers looking to target this age bracket want to know what their senior audience is doing on Facebook:

• Studies conducted in 2010 show that:
• 40% of the seniors use Facebook to connect with family and old friends.
• 30% use it to share photos, while 20% like to play social games.
• 10% look for contests and promotional offers.
• The attraction to online communities: With little time restraints, this generation of the Facebook audience spends time joining online communities, engaging in discussions etc. This often gives them a sense of ‘belonging’.
• For professional connections and business connections: That’s right; baby boomers prefer Facebook to LinkedIn for professional networking. Deloitte data indicates that LinkedIn has only 13% older users when compared to Facebook, which boasts 73% aging users.

Although the younger crowd is increasingly experimenting with other networking channels besides Facebook, online marketers have no reason to worry. Companies and brands on Facebook, which until now simply designed their marketing strategies for the youth, can now cater to baby boomers, who are embracing this site with gusto. Besides looking for contests and promotions, this demographic also appears to be participating in community discussions on Facebook. For brands that have a heavy Facebook presence, understanding their target market will not just enable them to capture and retain their customers, but will also help build customer-specific campaigns.

Does your Online Campaign Target Baby Boomers?

Before designing digital campaigns for older consumers, what marketers need to understand is that they are targeting a generation and not an age bracket. The current +55 generation does not ‘think old’ anymore. They are tech-savvy, eager to experiment with new products, willing to make online purchases and have the money to spend. Nevertheless, like their younger counterparts, reaching out to this demographic online involves extensive understanding of what drives them, why they prefer certain social channels over others, what makes them buy a product online etc. Before designing a social media or digital campaign for Baby Boomers, here are some things marketers need to know:

• Keep it Positive: The concept of the ‘grey’ customer no longer holds good. With their kids having flown the nest, their mortgages paid off, today’s older consumers are an optimistic lot. Creating social media campaigns which are dark and gloomy will only drive this segment further away.
• Using Older Faces in your Ads is Okay: What we mean by this is ‘keeping it real’. A great example of this would be the Dove Pro-aging campaign. While designing the adverts, which were aimed at women over 50, Unilever’s marketing team wisely decided to use regular women in the +50 age bracket instead of going for young professional models. Although the TV adverts faced some trouble for showing too much skin, the ads aired on YouTube were a huge hit and were commended for showing aging as something that was normal.
• The importance of a good design: Ultra conservative and bland is passé; be fun and creative, at the same time keep your webpage simple and easy to navigate. A clean interface, uncluttered text, use of professional graphics will ensure repeat visitors to your page.
• Getting Down to the Details: If you are advertising a certain product online, including the relevant details on a single page, where it is easy to find, is a good idea. Older consumers who have to dig for details such as the price or the best-by-date of a product may switch over to another site that has the required information in one place.
• Building a Relationship: The aging population will not buy a product because it’s ‘cool’. This demographic views trust as the key to establishing a genuine relationship. Timely response to their tweets, being transparent while communicating, responding to customer complaints increases your ‘personality quotient’ and shows that you care.

Here’s a tip: While marketing to older customers, we suggest you focus on the aspects of high quality and value for money, which will help you build a loyal customer base. Baby boomers may have the money and will spend it no doubt…but not unless they know they are getting their money’s worth.

Conclusion

Just like traditional marketing, each target group in unique; the secret to generating traffic and increasing ROI is to understand how and where they spend time online, what social sites they prefer and what drives them to make certain purchases. In the case of baby boomers, the recent jump in social media activity indicates the emergence of a fast-growing target market that is set to grow further in the next few years. If we go by eMarketer’s study, then over one-half (56.8%) of 55-to-64-year-old Internet users will visit social networks regularly by 2014, up from 34.3% in 2009. In fact, even the +65 age group will reach a 37.9% penetration rate in 2014; now that’s something.

The key to reaching out and retaining this target market is to design appropriate digital campaigns that appeal to them. Perhaps this is why older consumers prefer Facebook to other networking sites such as Twitter, LinkedIn etc. Facebook’s clean, user-friendly layout enables social media marketers to design adverts specific to this demographic. However, with the entry of Google+ in the networking space we are eager to see if the older audience embraces Google’s new social media tool with just as much enthusiasm. With Baby Boomers spending more time and money online than any other generation in the US, social media sites have expanded beyond just channels of social interactions and have become a viable platform for brands looking to reach older consumers. Earlier, marketers believed social media was all about Gen Y; this notion is gradually changing. With more and more boomers beginning to use social media, we expect to see a shift in the ROI realized from social media campaigns. As Owyang and Forrester Research have shown, “the baby boomer market is a fertile playground for marketers looking to easily reach an engaged audience.”

While we conclude the second part of our series, watch out for the third and final installment where we study another key demographic for online marketers; women, with a special focus on web-savvy mothers.

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Social media has become a vital part of the online experience today; people spend a considerable part of their day either networking or shopping via social media channels such as Facebook or Groupon. For brands, people’s increasing presence on various networking channels and their purchasing power presents tremendous marketing opportunities. However, for online marketers, building relationships via social media is not a one-size-fits-everyone endeavor. Marketers who are aware of this are smartly designing their digital campaigns focusing on unique target groups instead of simply creating one without a specific audience in mind. When social networking was in the stages of infancy, it was mostly teens and young adults who dominated this space. A lot has changed since then; according to eMarketer, in addition to the +35 age bracket, women, especially moms will drive much of the growth in social media.

While the youth have established a strong foothold in the networking space for now, we do know that Baby Boomers and women, specifically mothers, are two of the three most important social networking groups. In a three part series, the team at Position² has studied each of the three demographics, tried to understand their online buying behavior and how they are using social media to engage and connect.

Marketing to the Consumers of Tomorrow: The YouTube Generation

The consumers of tomorrow, or the YouTube generation as we describe them, are believed to be unpredictable consumers who are not as easy to please… and for a good reason; the younger demographic has evolved with the internet and is therefore more digitally savvy and socially connected online. A recent study by eMarketer shows that:

• The highest penetration level of all age groups will remain in the 18- 24 age group, where 90% of internet users will use social networks this year.
• The social network user penetration for the 18-24 and the 25-34 age brackets will slightly increase over the next two years.

For online marketers, it is crucial to know how much time they spend on each networking site, what drives them, and keeps them hooked to a particular site:

Less Blogging, more Videos:

With the exception of Twitter (which is a microblogging site), the usage of blogs among younger audiences is less popular when compared to other social networking sites including videos. According to study published by Pew Internet in 2010, teens and young adults aren’t content creators. Content creation takes up too much time, and they’d rather invest that time on Facebook, YouTube and other online activities. We believe that today’s youth are more of content consumers than creators, therefore they are more inclined to:

• Watch online content on sites such as YouTube.
• Take on the Role of Internet Video Consumers: The 2011 Accenture Video-Over-Internet survey shows that 85% of the people between the ages 18-24 are internet video consumers. This, we believe, is a good sign for online marketers.
• Stay Engaged through Creative Online Video Campaigns: When Adidas wanted to capture the younger demographic, particularly men, the company decided to create a unique online experience for its target audience. In addition to enabling fans to download content from their official website, Adidas’ Impossible is Nothing, Ali vs. Ali commercial was aired on Yahoo, MSN and ESPN home pages for a limited period of time. On the day the commercial went viral, there was a 125% increase in the use of search term “Adidas” on the Yahoo home page, with highest number of requests coming from young men aged between 13 and 17.

Facebook or Twitter?

Now that’s a tough one; as marketing channels, both have their benefits as well as restrictions. When it comes to marketing to teens and young adults, we recommend Facebook over Twitter. Here’s why:

• Facebook functions as the perfect platform for the younger audience who like to establish their identity by updating everything about themselves regularly; Twitter’s 140 character restriction allows for limited updates, usually not preferred by this demographic.
• Finding Friends and Engaging with Communities: Facebook’s Friends Finder tool is one of the major reasons why young adults get on to the site. According to a study conducted by psychologists at the University of Virginia, well-adjusted youth use social networking sites such as Facebook to extend friendships, connect to peers and belong to communities. For marketers the equation is simple:
  1. More Friends=more creation of communities (gives a sense of belonging) resulting in more buzz.
  2. More Buzz=more sharing of product reviews and opinions, increasing brands’ exposure online.
  3. Increased exposure=Increased sales and traffic to the brand’s website.
• Post MySpace, Facebook is the Place to be: Following the decline of MySpace, which was earlier the most popular networking destination, teens and young adults gradually shifted to Facebook because of its cleaner layout, user friendly format and the fact that Facebook initially started off as networking site for college students before expanding further. Still, why the preference over Twitter? Lee Aase, manager for social media at Mayo Clinic, believes that Facebook (along with texting) satisfies the chat needs of this demographic, so they do not feel particularly attracted to Twitter.
• Facebook has all the ‘Fun’ Stuff: Unlike Twitter, Facebook has the ‘fun’ factor, which plays a big role in attracting and retaining this demographic. Facebook’s quizzes, games, photo sharing etc explain the young audiences’ preference to this site.

Although we are not suggesting focusing your marketing strategy entirely on Facebook and videos, from the above discussions, it is evident that Facebook and YouTube have a lot to offer in terms of returns. If yours is a company offering products and services that are designed for teens and young adults, then investing in videos (especially YouTube) and Facebook is a wise move, as this is where you are most likely to find your target demographic.

Youth and their Relationship with Mobile Devices

The current digital environment offers overwhelming marketing potential. Marketers who have a good understanding of changing consumer behaviors and interests are directing their investments towards non-traditional devices such as mobiles and smartphones, which are touted to be the next big thing. For an online marketer it is very important to find out ‘what exactly are these people doing on their phones? In this case, ‘these people’ are the young adults and teens who make up for a majority of smartphone users. According to a recent Pew Research Center Report, besides using their mobile devices for texting, talking etc, teens use their smartphones to access social networking sites and join online forums; a trend we expect will only increase in the years ahead. Here’s something interesting: As of June 2011, 76,678,728 iPhone users used Facebook every month, while 35,343,702 people accessed the networking channel through their BlackBerry Devices.

The ease-of-use and mobility offered by smartphones and mobile devices means more and more young users are accessing their Twitter and Facebook profiles, viewing videos, shopping and staying connected 24/7 through their mobile phones.

How Can Brands Benefit from this?

• If you are a retailer, you no longer have the undivided attention of shoppers while they browse through your stores. In fact, a US study from Oracle shows that the 18-34 demographic is simultaneously browsing on their smartphones and reaching for products while in store. As a retailer, this means the youth shopping at your store a) share products’ details with friends and b) receive feedback about a product or service from their contacts, influencing their shopping decisions.
• Keep it Short: Recent studies show that 93% of students use their Smartphones while riding in a bus, train or car, while 85% use it while waiting in line at a grocery store. This means online marketers need to keep their content short and creative as the younger generation tends to consume different types of media in small amounts. For Smartphone users, a video should typically last less than one minute, while text should be restricted to three paragraphs or less.
• Increase Brand Visibility: While designing online ads, marketers need to keep in mind that a large part of their audience will view the ads on their mobile phones. When Unilever wanted to increase awareness for a teen-friendly version of its Seda shampoo in Brazil, the company launched a multi-faceted mobile campaign, after understanding that teens preferred to be communicated with via their mobile handsets. The outcome; 5% CTR, +360,000 visits to the mobile site and +11,000 games downloaded.
• Building Customer Database: With teens and young adults constantly updating their status on Facebook and Twitter via Smartphones and other mobile devices, mobile marketers now have a huge opportunity to build their customer database. Since mobile marketing via social media drives highly targeted traffic, marketers can analyze the requirements of this demographic and offer well personalized services.

The Purchasing Power of Youth

Today’s teens and the 20-something generation have raised the bar for consumerism. They represent an important demographic for online marketers because of the purchasing power they wield and their increasing inclination to look for deals and offers on the web, particularly on social networking sites. Brands focusing on this segment also need to keep in mind the fact that these online buyers, who spend a major part of their time socializing on the web, also play an important role in influencing their peers offline; this is definitely good news for brands looking to increase traffic and drive sales, both online and offline. We believe that this particular demographic will redefine online shopping because:

• A survey conducted by myYearbook and Ketchum shows that teen social media influencers are more likely than the average teen to participate in social media activities; this group also wields more purchasing power then the average teen.
• 87% of the teen social media influencers share product information with their friends, influencing their buying decisions.
• These influencers also look to recommendations from ‘friends’ as their most trusted source; 52% of these influencers buy something online, because their friends recommend it.
• Retailers targeting teens need to know that peer influence is the key driver in teen girl shopping behavior, says eMarketer.
• Internet is second among the leading sources that influence clothing and footwear purchases of US teens in 2011.
• 11% of teens in 2011 favor online shopping, which although is not a big number right now, is likely to increase in the years ahead.

Although several factors like lack of credit cards hinder teens from buying online, upper-income teens are taking to e-commerce in a large way. One of the major reasons for this is the cash-on-delivery option offered by many online stores enabling them to shop online more often. For time-strapped young adults, who are no longer considered to be a lower-income segment, big discounts (Groupon deals, Facebook coupons), high-speed e-trading, speedy deliveries etc are among the many reasons that make e-commerce a convenient and viable option.

Conclusion

In the first of our three-part series, we aimed to highlight how today’s youth has redefined the consumption of marketing messages via new channels. With more disposable income and less time, young adults are increasingly looking to the digital space for deals and discounts. Unlike yesterday, marketers’ perception of this demographic has changed from ‘casual browsers‘ to ‘actual shoppers‘.

The growing use of Facebook, YouTube as well as other social networks is likely to influence brands to create ads, run contests and offer attractive deals, specifically designed for this segment. Going by eMarketer’s estimates, teen internet users will increase by 87% by the end of 2011. Statistics such as these are testimony enough that teens and young adults are consumers with an identifiable mark for online shopping. Meanwhile, young mobile phone users are using their mobile devices and smartphones for more than just texting or playing games. Whether its apparel or entertainment products, the young audience has little time to invest at brick and mortar stores, or in front of their PCs. From watching videos and ads, to checking-out product reviews, the consumers of today are on-the-move and are increasingly depending on smartphones and other mobile devices. Online marketers aiming to cash in on this trend need to design their marketing strategies with special focus on mobile marketing.

Now that we have studied the importance of this demographic to internet marketers, in the second part of the series, we will focus on Baby Boomers as a fast emerging demographic and how they are embracing social media and catching up at an incredibly quick pace.

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SMBs: Anything But Small

Small and midsize business owners today understand that including social media in their marketing efforts is essential for success. The last four years have witnessed SMBs using social media and online monitoring tools to add value to their businesses. The reasons for making their presence felt on social media platforms may vary from company to company; while some may use to it to gain new customers, others simply want their brand to be noticed. The spring 2011 edition of the American Express OPEN “Small Business Monitor” reports that:

• Over 35% of small businesses in the US are using social networking in their marketing efforts; this is a 15% increase when compared to fall 2009.
• Nearly 12% of the respondents have been using blogs as a social tactic, almost twice more than in fall 2009.

As we progress into 2011, statistics show that more SMBs are refocusing their marketing investments to design campaigns that have influence on the social web. Social media is expected to be one among the top five budget areas that small businesses are likely to increase their marketing spend in 2011. Supporting this is the study conducted by GrowBiz Media and Zoomerang, where 751 US businesses were surveyed. Findings show that:

• 50% of the small companies will either increase or keep steady their social media budget for 2011.
• Of these, 13% are planning to increase their social media budget, surpassed only by e-mail marketing, direct marketing and website upgrades.

Getting the Most out of Social Media: 4 Best Practices

It is good to have a plan if you are serious about getting the most out of social media. Here are 4 best practices to be followed in order to get maximum benefits from your social media efforts:

Engaging with Customers:

Setting up a blog, fan page or a Twitter account is easy; this does not involve expensive software or media buys. However, despite the low-price tag, there is a different type of investment involved. It’s called ‘connecting with customers’. According to Brian Solis, in 2010:

• Nearly 73% SMBs said one of the biggest reasons for using social media is to attract new customers.
• Of these, 61% achieved success.
• 46% said that staying engaged with current customers in a meaningful way was an important part of their social media plan.



Marsha Collier, author of The Ultimate Online Customer Service Guide, recommends US-based United Linen as an example of an SMB that successfully serves its customers via social media.

Listening to conversations, creating interesting content for prospective customers and responding in real-time involves time, energy and effort. While this holds true for all companies irrespective of their size, for smaller businesses it boils down to picking one or two communities that are important in your market. Once this is done, it’s all about focusing your efforts on growing these communities.

Getting Exposure:

The September 2010 edition of the American Express OPEN survey found that the primary reason for using social media by SMBs was to increase the exposure of their business. When compared to September 2010, 44% of the companies in spring 2011 were using social media to help their businesses, a 39% increase; and they were focusing on the top social networking sites for those efforts. Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and others have been doing a good job of providing additional marketing exposure for these companies.



Most small and mid-sized marketing companies agree that social media helps them make their presence felt in an increasingly noisy market place. In fact, ‘getting exposure’ tops the list of social media benefits for small business owners at 88%.

To determine how well your company is doing in terms of building brand awareness, you can:

• Monitor the social media platforms that generated the most buzz.
• Gauge the overall sentiment of the conversations specific to your brand(s).
• Take a baseline count of your Twitter followers, Facebook fans etc, and monitor this over a time period to see how they grow.
• Monitor the number of people who retweet your conversations or revisit your site.
• Find out who the key influencers are for your brand(s).
• Track awareness by measuring how many mentions your company gets in a day, week or month.
• Keep a tab on how many people sign up for email newsletters, subscribe to your blogs etc.

Building brand awareness through social media ultimately results in increased traffic to your site. This, in turn, will help increase sales and generate leads.

Using the Right Social Media Tools:

When it comes to social media marketing, having a clear understanding of your company’s business objectives is vital. Your social media tool kit will depend on a) what kind of a company you are and b) what do you wish to achieve.

For instance:

• A B2B company is better off using LinkedIn as this is a business oriented social network for professionals.
• If you are a consumer-facing company, we suggest using Twitter or Facebook.
• Similarly, if your company aims to attract new customers, then Facebook could prove to be useful (as indicated by the eMarketer report).
• Yelp can make an impact for local businesses with a storefront. Companies using Yelp can create listings with all the necessary information that the consumer needs to find you.

The top four tools that most SMBs have in their social media tool kit include Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and blogs. A study conducted by Social Media Examiner in 2011 shows that:

• Facebook use has surpassed Twitter this year.
• 81% of the marketers are no longer using MySpace.
• Compared to large organizations (68%), small business owners are more likely to use LinkedIn in 2011(61%).

Monitor Everything:

The number of ‘likes’ on your Facebook page or how many Twitter followers your brand boasts does not always indicate success levels. To measure the effectiveness of marketing efforts and useful information about website traffic, you need to use the right social media monitoring tools.

In addition to monitoring, deciding a strategy on how you will engage in conversations is important. Engaging in conversations everywhere can prove to be time-consuming and difficult. Your social media monitoring tools can help:

• Separate the noise from the relevant conversations.
• Identify the ‘high influencers’ (based on popularity, number of conversations etc).
• Help you understand where you traffic is coming from ( Twitter, blogs etc).
• Obtain the right demographic break-up (in terms of gender, age and so on).

Engaging in social media monitoring does not mean always mean doing it all by yourself. We suggest seeking the help of a social media specialist. Qualified social media experts can work closely with SMBs, helping them balance the management of community relationships and seeking assistance for managing prospect and customer engagement.

Conclusion

Social media used to be treated as an add-on in a company’s marketing plans. Over the last 3-4 years, this picture has considerably changed, especially for small and mid-size businesses. SMBs now know that feeding their customers’ social media appetite leads to dividends. Social media has become as much a part of a company’s marketing plans, as traditional marketing tactics have been so far.

In 2010 and 2011, SMBs largely adopted social media to get their brands noticed in the digital space, followed by the need to attract new customers. It will be interesting to see if these will continue to be among the top parameters for small companies to include social media as part of their marketing plans. With SMBs increasingly using blogs, it will also be worth noting if blogs will oust the big three (Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter) as a primary social media tool in the future.

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India’s leading telecom services provider, Bharti Airtel launched its new brand identity in 19 countries across Africa and Asia last week. According to Airtel, the new brand identity has more curves and lively effects compared to the old logo, signifying the innovative approach and dynamic nature of the company. With the launch of the new logo, signature tune, television commercials and online presence, Airtel promises continued commitment and excellence in serving its customers. So much so that customers received an SMS from the CEO of Bharti Airtel Ltd., Sanjay Kapoor, informing them about the revamp, why it was done and what to expect in the months following the revamp.

The online response to the much-hyped $65 million revamp of the largest telecom service brand in India has been mixed. What is interesting though, is the whole Airtel re-branding event and the online media buzz generated by it bears a striking resemblance to the recent GAP rebranding. GAP changed its logo for just a few days and then had to revert to the original logo due to public resentment.

Social Media – The Cynical Multitude

According to research by Position², right after the launch of the new logo on Friday, November 19, 2010, the conversation volume on Twitter about Airtel’s new logo increased drastically from 173 tweets to 7247 tweets in just 4 days. However, most of the conversations carried a negative tone.

The Brand Monitor™ team at Position² analyzed the sentiment of the top tweets from high ranking influencers. The analysis shows that:

• Almost 62% of the conversations about the new Airtel logo were negative.
• Only a small percentage of customers (6%) reacted positively about the new look and feel of the brand.

From the thousands of tweets, Facebook discussions and Linkedin discussions the Position² team analyzed, 3 distinct themes around the reactions emerged:

1. Approximately 15% of the conversations were direct comparisons of the new Airtel logo to the Videocon and Vodafone logos
2. Approximately 10% of the conversations suggested that Airtel should have invested money in improving their customer service and network availability instead
3. A very small minority (1%) called for a reinstatement of the old logo or a fresh redesign exercise

Some examples of the many social media conversations around the rebranding exercise:

Sample Facebook Discussion:	Sample LinkedIn Discussion:	Logo Comparison Created by a Fan:
Airtel wants to be perceived as a contemporary brand. But as the news of the logo change spread, a majority of people did not react to the news with positive statements. Many commented and blogged about comparisons to the old logo and on the new logo’s similarities to other logos of brands in the same category.		Position² tracked the conversations on Twitter and blogs through its social media monitoring tool Brand Monitor™; According to Brand Monitor™, about 30% of twitter conversations say that the logo is a copied version of other companies like Vodafone, Videocon, Uninor, etc.

News And Blogs – The Other Side Of The Coin

The coverage in news sites and blogs was less polarized. While most believe that the old Airtel logo was a strong, contemporary, and confident symbol for the brand, there are others who confess that the new logo is more fresh and dynamic. Approximately 74% of news articles seem to be in favor of the new face of Airtel. Approximately 73% of bloggers expressed a balanced view of the new logo and signature tune.



The Verdict – Your Customer Owns Your Brand Too

While social media platforms are brimming with negative comments and posts from customers, traditional media seems to have either a positive or a neutral outlook towards the re-branding exercise. Today, social media offers a chance for everyone to play critic – one can ridicule, rave, rant and vent on any subject or individual. The new Airtel logo has received severe criticism on social media, mostly from customers or people who identified better with the old brand identity.

This also brings up a significant mindset change that brands need to embrace – your customers own your brand as much as you do – and today social media provides them with a platform to express their views. GAP could roll back to the old logo since it was only soliciting feedback from the customer base. However, it is highly unlikely Airtel will revoke the change since the campaign was executed and announced simultaneously.

We’ll track this story for a few weeks, on the #airtel Twitter channel and across social media to see if sentiment changes over a period of time. Perhaps this logo will eventually find acceptance due to Airtel’s vast presence in India and other countries. If you would like more information on social media sentiment, volume and other statistics, take a look at Brand Monitor™.

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If you’re using Google Instant Search in one of the countries where it has been rolled out, you may have noticed that a blue arrow now appears next to the first result presented (Whether it’s an advertisement or a natural result). This is the new interface for keyboard navigation, which allows you to move up and down within the results using your keyboard, and hit Enter/ Return to go to the chosen result.

For the SEO community this poses a new challenge, because to the average Google Instant user, the blue triangle may appear to be a suggestion for the most relevant result, even if it is a paid listing. Organic results may thus appear to be less relevant and may receive fewer clicks. Conversely this may drive up bounce rates and cost for paid search traffic.

This may tie in with Google’s recent attempts to speed up search, first with Google Suggest, then with Instant, which of course allows for many more impressions clicks to take place. Time will tell if users will use this new keyboard navigation technique to get to what they’re looking for, we expect to see immediate changes in the habits of power users.

Even if users notice the new blue marker, they may not realize that it is a new keyboard navigation feature and can be moved around with the up and down arrows on their keyboards, since Google Search has neither an introduction nor instructions on how to use this method. Since old habits die hard, we predict that the vast majority of users will assume that the arrow denotes relevance.

With competition for eyeballs getting fiercer by the month, it’s reasonable to assume that paid results will more often than not show up first in Google Instant, with the arrow lending them a big helping hand, while leaving the competition scrambling in their wake to up their bids for keywords and listings. Marketers may be in for surprises like fewer click-throughs in paid search listings; since their ads may need to be scrolled to before they can even be seen. Result: higher bids and greater competition for the top spot.

Watch this space for breaking updates whenever they occur.

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Yes, Social Media is fun. If what you are doing is not fun then why do it.  Same goes for Social Media.

If you want to promote your business through social media and business networking, but still have your doubts on it, then I suggest you drop it.

Like I said earlier, if what you are doing is not fun then don’t do it at all. Promoting your business through the social media sites can prove to be very beneficial to your business and bring in a high ROI.

We often hear people say that promoting your business has to be taken seriously.  That is true, but who said that serious cannot be fun.

When businesses drop their feelings and hide behind their logos and not show their face, it brings in more fun, curiosity and excitement to Social Media. Getting them to do it is hard and not fun, but once they do it more business comes to them from consumers though having better trust in whom, it is they are doing business. A positive result in business is where the fun begins.

Sites like Facebook, Twitter, My Space, etc helps create a network with friends and other people, with whom one can establish contact and not just share what’s happening in and around their little world, but also exchange some very important information, like important links, or create homepages, etc which could prove to be very useful in the future.

Sites like LinkedIn, which is a business related though, can also be fun too, where people can exchange contacts and important information on any events happening related to their business.

The entire premise of Social Media is based on drawing attention to something by using effective communication through social channels.  What draws consumers to something is fun. If it is fun and exciting, they will come.

So what are you still waiting for? Unless you give Social Media a try, you will never know what you’re missing out on.

Contributed by Pooja Giri

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Mobile ads are a format of Adwords ads that appear on mobile websites and Google search pages when a user searches from a mobile device. Mobile ads are available as either text or image ads.

Mobile ads work on a pay per click as well as a pay per call basis. Every ad contains a headline and a description with a maximum of 18 characters each. The third line contains the site URL or a telephone number or both. Advertisers can therefore choose to connect to customers via whichever medium – phone or website – that they prefer, or they can let customers choose.

Mobile ads can be targeted only to following countries:  Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, China, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, India, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Korea, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Russia, Singapore, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, the United Kingdom, and the United States.

Always create a separate campaign for mobile ads. This campaign won’t require a separate landing page, because clicks on the ad will be directed to a Google-supplied mobile-friendly page describing your business.

Mobile ads pricing works same as PC based text or image ad. Advertiser only pays when user clicks on the ad and advertiser can even bid to connect users to their business via telephone (click to call).

It’s recommended to start off with just a small list of strong keywords and a few different targeted ads. Based on performance, the list can be expanded later on.

Opt for contextual targeting so that your ad reaches readers of specific mobile web pages written about specific concepts.

Target campaigns to iPhones, T-Mobile G1s and other high-end mobile devices with full Internet browsers through demographic settings of the campaigns.

Mobile ad performance can be measured pulling campaign level and placement performance report.

Contributed by Manisha Singh

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YouTube has been the revolution in the Internet for sharing videos covering different topics. There are 24 hours worth of video uploaded every minute on YouTube making it the second largest search engine in the World. It has become vital for business to gain market value over the Internet and YouTube has the right mix with its varied topics.

YouTube has a reputation of being the place to look for funny videos. It is the second place to go after probably ‘Googling’ it. Most videos generate a one-time audience response, as very few people look for the same video again. Since YouTube plays such an important in search results and ranking, it cannot be overlooked. To reach out to your audience and to keep them coming back to view the videos again, here are some rules to be followed :

1. Creation of a channel specific to the videos
2. The video has to be optimized with the desired keywords and involving in the community discussions is vital
3. It is also essential to upload new videos frequently
4. It important to keep in mind while creating the videos that viewer would come back to view the videos only if the videos are informative, original and interesting
5. Share the video across the social networking channels like Facebook and Twitter using the sharing options provided by YouTube using the share option provided. This helps increase visibility and better search engine optimization
6. Embed the videos in the blog. This generates higher views for the blog as well as reaching out to the desired target audience

YouTube has become feature rich with its recent launch of trending topics, to provide more real time value and ease of use for the user in finding information on trending topics. This new addition has made YouTube all the more attractive making it vital for business to get a share of voice in the online market as the volume of search in YouTube is growing at an increasing pace.

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