Real-Time Marketing

Big brands are changing the way they market and advertise online.  With social media, content can be posted quickly to users and on a massive scale.  These s online impressions can create massive value in earned media. Content that goes viral or becomes newsworthy can gain massive free exposure through paid media sources.  Dove's on going campaign for Real Beauty has been generated millions in earned media with an annual budget much smaller than that.  There advertisements were consistently talked about on radio stations across North American and Europe and even on talk shows Ellen and Good Morning America.

 Marketers are always looking for ways to make the greatest impressions when posting content online, real-time  marketing is just as it sounds promoting in real time.  Sometimes timing can be the difference between success and failure and real-time marketing looks to capitalize on perfect timing.

When a power outage occurred during the 2009 Super Bowl Oreo posted the above advertisement on Twitter and as you can see by the numbers it was a huge success and made an ever lasting impression. Here is a great article on other companies who got the marketing timed perfectly. Recent survey's showed that 76% of marketers are now using real-time tactics, although only 44% of companies are including these tactics within their budgets.  Below is a great info-graphic I came across ( I love info-graphics!) that shows the effectiveness of real-time marketing and why more companies should be utilizing this strategy.

For any business that is looking to expand there marketing scope real-time advertising will ensure that their timing is always perfect. Let me know what you think below!

Sources

http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2014/04/11/how-social-media-marketing-is-changing-the-way-big.aspx

http://mashable.com/2013/07/15/real-time-marketing/

http://mashable.com/2013/02/04/brands-super-bowl-social-media/

http://www.dmnews.com/infographic-the-power-of-real-time-marketing/article/342292/

Social Media Goverance

It's easy to say that the use of Social Media has absolutely exploded as a means for business to market and sell products and services.  Although paid media like television, radio and print Ad's are still considered the strongest and most used forms of advertising, marketing through digital platforms is the way of the future.  Deciding on using social media platforms to do some marketing?  That's great, but its important to ensure that the proper precautions are taken in when doing so.  Social media governance are policies and strategies to help you manage your social media marketing but also your presence online and the image you want portrayed to individuals.

Below are some key guidelines to consider when thinking about implementing a social media policy. 

• Define the scope of your social media
• Guidelines for monitoring and posting
• Branding guidelines
• Training and educations
• Contingency plans

The above are a few things to consider when creating a social media policy.  It is important that the digital platforms being used are well researched.  Different platforms have different rules governing what can and cannot be posted, the differing user bases may take certain messages with a different tone as well. Social Media Today has a great guide in getting in aiding individuals in creating a policy. Social Media Governance provides many examples of governance polices, one can find resources to guidelines created for blogs to online forums.  No matter the size of the business this is best practices for all organizations, whether that be sales or service based.  A negative post online is going to stand out much more than a positive one, that's why its important that the above mentioned guidelines are in place. 

Related Links

http://socialmediatoday.com/miadand/185087/what-social-media-governance-and-5-key-elements-successful-model

http://socialmediatoday.com/tatiana-aders/1917386/template-how-build-social-media-governance-policy

http://socialmediagovernance.com/policies/?f=0

Smart Watches Wearable Technology Wearable Marketing

Wearable technology is an emerging market that is quickly on the rise.  Some well known devices today are Google glasses and Smart watches.  The first releases of successful smart watches were released in 2013 with the most well known being Samsung's Galaxy Gear. Many new players have since come into the market with their own variations, most notably Pebble with even Apple rumored to be creating their own iteration.

Source:  Forbes

So exactly is a smart watch? The best way to understand their capabilities is to make a comparison to your smart phone.  You can essentially do anything on your phone that you could do on your laptop, your smart watch can receive messages, use geo location software and of course tell you the time.  A misconception among people is that smart watches are just an extension of your smart phone as many models need to be connected to a smart phone. In research done by Nielson it found that the main reason consumers purchased smart watches was because of convince. That screen is more convenient to view and with the use of your smart phone one can control what type of notifications they want to be bothered with.  Geo location ad targeting is one such option that can allow targeted Ad's if a someone is shopping in a mall or looking to grab a coffee.

Another thing to consider is data that can be collected from users for marketing purposes.  The technology can be used to gather further information on consumer trends and actions when purchasing or visiting a business.  With this product just entering a period of growth the possibilities for its uses for both practical and business are endless.  Imagine walking into a store and scanning an item and getting an instead description on promotions or comparisons for that product.  Have a look at the below articles for more information about smart watches and its future potential for marketers.

Sources

http://mashable.com/2014/03/23/smartwatches-ads/

http://www.forbes.com/sites/michaelwolf/2013/09/27/smartwatch-market-forecast-to-reach-15-million-in-2014/

http://mashable.com/2014/03/23/smartwatches-ads/