Content marketing is an umbrella term encompassing all marketing formats that involve the creation or sharing of content for the purpose of engaging current and potential consumer bases. Content marketing subscribes to the notion that delivering high-quality, relevant and valuable information to prospects and customers drives profitable consumer action.
After spending two Sundays studying and taking tests, I’m finally Google AdWords Qualified. :)
Last week, we reported that traffic from the mobile Web will overtake fixed-line Internet usage in India by the end of the year. Here’s an updated set of stats on global mobile Web usage with some interesting findings. (via Mobile Now Accounts for 10% of all Internet Usage Worldwide)
Source: thenextweb.com
Social Surpasses Search
According to a quarterly survey of US ad agencies, social media has overtaken search and is closing in on display as the top source of digital media planning and buying. Here are the numbers:
In my opinion, this is being fuelled by primarily 3 factors:
- Increasing recognition of social media as an acquisition channel. Up until recently, social media has been use more as a branding, PR and customer service tool than a direct response channel. With better and more integrated tools and functionality, marketers are now able to use their social media pages to acquire new users beyond just fans and followers. They are able to use engagement insights and target users with greater relevance than ever.
- Increasing emphasis on content marketing. More and more brands are seeing the importance of behaving like publishers through the creation and curation of interesting and relevant content. Channel fragmentation is resulting in lower attention spans, so content marketing is an excellent way to maintain or increase user engagement with a brand. Social media allows for the distribution of not just branded content, but also user-generated content.
- Greater advertising opportunities within social networks. With Facebook’s revived ad formats a few months ago as well as LinkedIn’s increased ad solutions, advertisers have richer ways to reach their target audiences. More emphasis is being placed on sponsored stories by Facebook- such influence-based marketing will continue to dominate social media marketing in general.
These are interesting, albeit not surprising, trends that we’ll continue to see in the digital marketing landscape. Advertisers with integrated strategies with significant focus on social media will reap the benefits of these changes.
Source: mediapost.com
Digital Natives and Content Strategy
Just wrote a brief post on the consumption habits of Digital Natives vs. Digital Immigrants, and how it may impact content strategy. Check it out!
Hulu vs. YouTube
Hulu has recently changed its pricing for advertisers- in their favor. Instead of charging them for every video ad viewed, it only bills them if the ad has been viewed in its entirety.
YouTube has had the same model for a couple of years. The difference between YouTube and Hulu is that the former allows users to skip ads after the first few second of viewing them. Hulu, on the other hand, allows users only to swap ads for one that’s more interesting or relevant. Once a user swaps an ad, he or she has to view the new ad from start again. In addition, Hulu also asks its users if an ad is relevant to them and replies “Thanks! We’ll use your input to improve your ad experience”.
YouTube manages to generate significant ad revenue mainly due to scale. Hulu, with its premium content offering, will manage to keep users glued to the screen and complete most of the ads they are shown without navigating away.
Source: mediapost.com
Tailoring Ads to Device-Specific Experiences
With tablets and smartphones both proliferating the 
market, it has become commonplace to lump the two in one category. However, tablets and mobiles offer unique experiences and have shown to have different use cases. Mobile phones are used on-the-go and are more ubiquitous, while tablets offer a more lean-back experience in the comfort of your home. Usage varies in terms of time of day, frame of mind as well as user objective.
These differences call for marketing to be tailored accordingly. Here are some ways marketers can make strategies more device specific:
Apps: Tablet apps can carry much more content than a mobile app, and therefore should focus on providing in-depth information to the user. The focus of the mobile app should be to complement a user’s experience while he/she is on the move or in a store browsing products.
Search: Mobile search clicks are expected to reach 25% of total paid search clicks by the end of the year. This includes both smartphones and tablets. However, search ads on mobile phones should be a lot simpler than those on tablets. Mobile search ads should focus on being location-specific and include the click-to-call functionality where possible, to maximize conversion rates. Tablet search should steer clear of click-to-call / finding driving directions type CTAs, but perhaps focus on click-to-download functionality.
Display: Rich media display ads are fast gaining popularity, however marketers need to be cognizant of the technical limitations of smartphones vis-a-vis tablets. With smaller screens and slower internet connections, smartphones are not as conducive for video ads as are tablets.
Overall, the conversion pathway on smartphones should be simpler than that on tablets. Users on mobile phones are usually in a more objective-focussed and less content-consumption mode than when they are on tablets.
Source: mediapost.com
User Engagement on Google+
According to comScore, Google+ usage has been decreasing over the past few months, as seen in the chart below:
However, with Search Plus Your World, we’re seeing an increase in the number of brand pages. They’re investing time and resources into creating brand engagement through content and outreach.
Another interesting finding has been by a social media measurement company Simply Measured- apparently, Wednesdays and mornings are the most popular times for posts and user engagement. It seems to me that brands are posting more during these times, while user engagement is naturally following suit. Here’s a chart:
This is definitely an insightful finding and it will be interesting to see how this evolves. If this trend continues, perhaps it’s worth looking at how it is impacting users’ engagement with other touchpoints, such as paid advertising and corporate websites.
Source: emarketer.com
Importance of Localized Advertising
A report from Opus Research advisory service Internet2Go states that localized ads can improve click-through rates and engagement. While this is no surprise, the impacts of localization have been found to be staggering.
A mere mention of a city name has the power to improve CTRs by 200%. Local telephone numbers also have much higher CTRs than non-local or 800 numbers. Also, ads in a local context also perform better; people using location-based services notice and respond to relevant ads by a much higher margin. In addition, more people take action after doing a search on a mobile device than a desktop device, be it a call or an in-store visit.
With the boom of mobiles and tablets, ad formats and strategies need to increasingly cater to location. Contextual advertising alone is no longer enough.
Source: mediapost.com
