Driving ROI From Social Media

This article from adage has a video that reminds me of a conversation i had with a senior manager last week.

Hope you enjoy it as much as i did.

Best Regards,

-The Marketing Ninja

The Beginning Of A New YouTube

http://mashable.com/2011/08/13/interactive-marketing-video/

Looks like YouTube is taking another step in the interactive direction. While there has been "choose your own adventure" type experiences (this one being my favorite!)

I can't really call fast forwarding/rewinding and replaying being a uber awesome interactive experience, but it is interactive. Creating an experience much like an interactive game, where you can make "choose your own adventure" like sequences happen without pausing the content being viewed would be the next best thing. Could YouTube technically become a new type of gaming platform? It is already considered a juggernaut in the online entertainment industry for its easy access to free and entertaining content.

Thoughts anyone?

Best Regards,
-The Marketing Ninja

Peek Into Google Mobile Strategy

googles-us-mobile-head-talks-local-intent-mcommerce-geo-targeting-and-more

In case you have not been keeping abreast of Google's growing mobile ecosystem including Google Wallet and Near Field Communication this is a good short article that goes over whats already available. Would personally like to see wider adoption of NFC and the like technology.

Best Regards,
- The Marketing Ninja

Ladies Not Feeling The QR Code Love?

Based on a report from comscore, it looks like most qr-code-scanners-searchers-are-affluent-18-34-males in the US. This new demographic information might be useful when dictating when and where QR codes are appropriate (video games, sports cars, home improvement).

I find it silly that the writer questions wither or not QR codes will gain full traction in the US. QR codes will never be a serious form of media alone but should always be used to supplement OOH and Print in the most common cases. The ability to instantly traverse individuals from one form of media to another is extremely valuable and should be integrated where it makes sense (To give additional valuable content that you would be unable to experience from the media being traversed). Match this with the ability to track usage with tagging analytics and you have an awesome way to track engagement and other revenue generating activities.

Regardless, QR codes should never be discounted and now that we are starting to get usage demographic information they can be utilized more effectively.  Now if only NFC will gain some traction (hint to smartphone manufacturers!)


Best Regards,
-The Marketing Ninja

ISP's Boldly Siphon Paid Search Advertising Dollars From Bing/Yahoo.

ISPs-Are-Hijacking-Bing-Yahoo-Searches

Bold, Smart, Brash, Call it what you may but Kudo's to these ISP's (Internet Service Providers...like Comcast) for finding a clever way to make money. Until Bing/Yahoo wises up its really their fault for not catching such a blatant and costly exploitation.

I am really interested in how much paid search revenue this is taking away from the affected search engines.

Best Regards,
-The Marketing Ninja

Interesting Look at Search In South Korea

This is a cool article that goes over the major search engines in South Korea and no...its not Google!

The overall design is more reminicent of a traditional web portal (Think Yahoo and AOL). Fascinating to see what South Koreans determine as useful with regards to search. It seems like they want more quality information about current trends and events than a clean interface. Naver itself has a pretty cool real time updating social network stream, now if only i could read Korean! Just goes to show you that one size certainly does not fit all, especially with regards to International SEO.

Best Regards,
-The Marketing Ninja

Photovine: Weaving A Story In Pictures?

This recent addition from Google is a mobile photo sharing network that allows individuals to snap a picture and create a theme for it. Once this is posted others are able join in and add photos of their own along that same theme, weaving together a story in pictures.

Pretty nifty concept but will it stick? I think its time for me to buy a new phone so i can try out some of these nifty new mobile experiences. My Palm Pre + just isn't kicking it any longer.

Anyways take a look at this video that starts with a heart melting intro. Enjoy!

Best Regards,

-The Marketing Ninja

Yahoo and UM On What Car Buyers Want

http://www.yadvertisingblog.com/blog/2011/07/11/how-online-car-buyers-decide/

Nifty article on what influences car buying decisions in both Digital and Dealer experiences. 

Best Regards,

The Marketing Ninja

Key To Future Of Social Networks Lies In Mobile

Google+1 launched this week, and it seems most people think its sort of cool but just another version of Facebook. I feel that most are missing the "big picture" just by looking at the desktop interface and not all of the features included. Technology introduces the means in which we consume and interact with the world and the people in it. Figuring out "Mobile" is the big thing and Google seems to have seen the light.

Huddle, a feature that is restricted only to Android users (hopefully just for now), allows people to communicate with their circles, setup events, and give updates to those events via mobile group chat in real time. Such a cool feature that at the very least this (ME) individual could use on his Friday/Saturday night adventures.

This ability to take all of those useful functionality of a social network with you, and use them real-time to augment daily experiences is the penultimate "next-big-thing" that is actually already here. Keep in mind that the product is still in "beta", its user-base is slowly but steadily trickling in, and too me the most important feature is limited to Android smart phones only. Still....bravo Google. Something might finally just start to stick :)

Best Regards,
The Marketing Ninja

A New Type of Search Ad, Just Google Doing What They Do Best!

http://searchengineland.com/google-offer-ads-not-google-offers-in-the-wild-81418

Shouldn't doubt Google from making their search ad's more robust. That's like expecting Microsoft to loose its edge in office productivity software.

As you can see it looks like the equivalent of an online coupon with a faux outline to clip out the offer. It does its job in standings out and giving the advertiser more room to add enticing copy. I just wonder how much more it costs to add this feature to a search campaign?

Good job Google! Just when i think i had seen everything search advertising had to offer they keep on giving more. Keep innovating and keep it up!

Best Regards,

-The Marketing Ninja