Interactive Advertising Q&A Roundup

As an active member of communities touching the interactive advertising world I answer many questions on a daily basis. Each week I will round of some of the best questions and answers for your consumption. If you have a question about a subject related to interactive advertising or related subjects, you can email Nick Kinports at nick.k@maddockdouglas.com.

David Peck, New Media Strategist for LSF Interactive, asks:

How can we use a video like this to get the youth to vote? Saw this great video regarding getting the youth to vote in the upcoming election:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o4kg514DcTA#

Got me thinking… How can we use a video like this to get the youth to vote?

ADMAVEN answers:

David,

Using a video to influence a group is a very powerful technique that has proven results; IF and only IF the video in question resonates with meaningful, targeted, and perceptually valuable content.

For example, let me direct you to my latest blog post, which is a prime example of exactly what I am talking about (not an ad to get you on my blog the post actually is a perfect example for this question).

Linked below to the blog and the specific post itself.

http://admaven.blogspot.com/2008/09/robin-williams-and-spore-why-not-more.html


Judith Bush, Manager of Software Development at OCLC, asks:

What are "best practices" and "best uses" of Facebook for community outreach?
My goals are to:
-become recognized by the general community
-become a known resource for watershed information throughout the community
-involve schools and students with projects as well as fundraising

ADMAVEN answers:

Judith,

Your situation is superb for the use of a social media outlet such as Facebook. The best Facebook campaigns involve relevant content (important and timely information to your local community) that cannot be easily accessed elsewhere (your council produces the information as a sole provider). Your target audience of schools and students are among the top users of Facebook.

This being said, your immediate goal should be to choose an individual to represent your organization and create a Facebook profile for that individual.

Next, you must begin placing relevant content into the profile. This may be done in the form of a blog, group, or announcements. Once your content is rolling you can begin inviting your target audience to participate with a clear, concise message detailing why your Facebook profile is important to their lives.

As for stories of successful engagements, let me point you toward a few resources.

I have linked below to my review of a free ebook entitled, "The Social Metropolis". The book provides relevant case studies and success stories that will assist you in developing your own campaign. Follow the link in my blog to download the book.

http://admaven.blogspot.com/2008/08/sem-vs-smo-part-3-social-metropolis.html


Mike McClure, Partner, Exec Creative Director at The Yaffe Group, asks:

What would get you to watch a webinar? What makes a good webinar? Special guests? Unusual topics? Straightforward strategies to improve your biz? Sock puppets? What works for you?

ADMAVEN answers:

Mike,

In general, the most effective webinar involvement is a personal referral. If your target audience is small (say <1000 people) the best thing to do would be a targeted campaign that has a high level of customization. For larger target audiences I recommend using your analytics to find out where these targets spend their time online, and then leveraging social media to promote your webinar. Regardless of the strategy you take, make sure your webinars provide relevant, useful, and entertaining information that is truly meaningful to the target audience. Ensure your webinars are extremely easy to share over social media (i.e. YouTube, MySpace, Facebook, Digg, Technorati, Email, Etc...). If the content is good enough your audience will work to distribute for you.


Guillermo Pérezbolde, Editorial Director at Entrecreativos.com and Creative Operations Director at Mente Digital, asks:

Do you think that Google´s AD Planner will become the standard for Online Media planning?

ADMAVEN answers:

Guillermo,

Google offers a lot of great tools to deal with simple (read: small) online campaigns. They will not be replacing agencies any time soon for larger jobs.

We use a variety of tools and outside resources to get the job done on larger campaigns. and Google cannot match the depth and breadth of expertise and software that the process encompasses.

SEM vs. SMO Part 3: The Social Metropolis

Social Media Optimization continues to grow at an exponential – and nearly incomprehensible – pace. In the agency world it is almost impossible to stay at the forefront of the SMO environment due to this rapid expansion. That being said, there are a few agencies that do an outstanding job of keeping abreast. In the third installment of the SEM vs. SMO series, I will focus on GoViral, the concept of The Social Metropolis, and the book by the same name.

To begin, let’s get up to speed on the concept. At the end of the article I will provide a link to download the full book free of charge from GoViral.

Jimmy Maymann, the founder and CEO of GoViral, presented his concept of The Social Metropolis this year in Cannes. The video of his presentation is below. Though lengthy, it provides a basic introduction to the concept of The Social Metropolis and what it means to enter this emerging space.

One of the key takeaways from Mr. Maymann’s presentation is the concept of democratization of information. As more people have free and unfettered access to the internet, we see a growing trend of consumer empowerment. The following excerpt from The Social Metropolis highlights the resulting disparity between consumer intelligence and the current state of the ad industry:

“The result is a genuine mismatch between a media and marketing experienced public, and a marketing/advertising industry that, generally speaking, have been delivering the same product since the 1970s. I magine if Ford or Sony did the same...? The old model is broken - a new one is only slowly taking shape. Over the past decades, companies have become used to defining their message, shaping their brand, and having complete control over the channels of communication. Now they are losing it” (The Social Metropolis – Page 11).

Though there is a bounty of new and exciting information in The Social Metropolis, ADMAVEN wants to highlight the bigger picture – respect SMO or be left in the dust.

Explaining exactly how you can take advantage of SMO to leverage your next big campaign is out of the scope of this article. This information, however, can be gleaned by reading GoViral’s The Social Metropolis. Visit GoViral and download the book here.

Happy reading!

Nicholas Kinports (follow him on Twitter @ADMAVEN) has worked in the interactive technology world for over 15 years. He is the Digital Strategy Lead and founder of Chicago-based digital marketing firm lonelybrand, where he directs the creation and execution of digital marketing programs that generate measurable signups, conversions and sales.