Facebook Revamps Brand Pages

Facebook has changed once again, no surprise there! But this time they made huge improvements to the mobile app. Facebook has been changing the design of its mobile brand pages. This new design has been focused around interaction instead of content, which is easily accessible at the top of the page. New changes to the Facebook web page are coming soon!

Facebook took a different approach by changing their site to be more mobile friendly. More than half of Facebook users access their profiles through their mobile devices, so the change has already proven to be more user friendly.

Infographics: The Newest Way to Digest Data

Infographics have been popping up in social media everywhere recently and the buzz is all about how they educate viewers more quickly and efficiently than traditional posts.

Infographics visually express data via the use of small icons, bits of text and basic graphs; this seems to be the best formula to help viewers digest content faster. With info expressed visually and usually in within a moderate amount of space viewers are more likely to view an infographic as compared to a basic post. With the pressure from users for faster data and instant results, infographics seem to be the best way to grab attention.

 In the world of social-media and marketing expediting the relay of data is paramount and infographics are a great way to boost relevance and engage a target audience. To grab attention and engage your audiences experiment with infographics, but don’t rely on them as a primary means of advertising. Infographics should be supplemental to your marketing tactics!

Powerhouse USA Adds 3 New Team Members

We’re very excited to announce three new hires to our growing team here at Powerhouse USA!

Jenn Allen is now the company’s Creative Services Manager. “Art has always been my passion and I love working in the fast paced environment at Powerhouse USA and being able to bring agency and client ideas to life,” said Ms. Allen about her new position. She will be overseeing all graphic content elements of online and print campaigns.

Andrea Rodrigues has been added as the company’s Marketing Coordinator. “I’m thrilled to be at Powerhouse USA and working with their diverse roster of clients.” Her responsibilities include client relations, budgets, presentations, and research.

Megan Neuner is the company’s newest Internet Marketing Coordinator. “Internet marketing is such an exciting area and working at Powerhouse USA provides me with the opportunity to help with their existing client base as well as grow future business.” Ms. Neuner is responsible for client web presents and develops online marketing and advertising campaigns as well as social media.

5 Ways to Monitor Your Brand’s Effectiveness

In today’s world, branding isn’t entirely about numbers anymore. Now we have to take generating a fan base into account. Here are 5 ways to measure how well your brand is doing online:

            1.   Are you engaging your fans?

Effective marketing is about building relationships with fans and customers, not about yelling out information in a busy marketplace. Social media tools such as Facebook and Twitter allow us to see how responsive and active we are with our customers.

A French telecommunications company named Orange asked their followers to tweet summer plans with hashtag #thissummer. The company was able to record the responses and generate traffic which allowed the followers to identify with the company’s branding.

2. Are you adding value to the conversation?

It’s a great idea to post content that other people will want to see and share with others. Healthy Choice posted a 75 cent coupon on Facebook which would increase in value as the site grew more followers. The company gained 10,000 fans in just a few weeks. This is a good example of how a company can bring value to its customers by increasing engagement.

3. Are you practicing the 20-to-1 rule?

The 20-to-1 rule means that you have to make 20 relational posts for every 1 marketing posts. In order to be successful, you need to be a giver instead of a taker. Companies need to be generous with their fans, so when you do need something, your fans respond.

4. Are you monitoring feedback?

If you want to be effective, you have to know what works and what doesn’t. A blogger with a large amount of followers tweeted about a negative experience he had with U-Haul. In no time, U-Haul lost thousands of dollars and long-term damage to their brand, solely because the company didn’t understand how much power the consumer has in today’s world. Creating an outpost where you can monitor what people are saying will allow you to address the consumer’s concerns, receive immediate market feedback, and show your customer’s you’re listening.

5. Are you engaging through your blog or website?

Most people believe you need a website with flashy graphics and a fancy design in order to generate higher traffic. However, this is not the case. Customers mainly want to feel like someone cares and is listening, not so much about how appealing the site looks. Try ending your blog with a question so readers feel like they can engage.

Facebook to Let Advertisers Bid on Ads Using Your Browser Data

Facebook is expected to introduce real-time bidding as a feature to their advertising. This is something that Google has done for years, which legs advertisers use browsing history to target users.

Facebook Exchange, the bidding feature, is projected to be launched in a few weeks. Facebook is currently working with eight different firms, such as Turn, TellApart, MediaMath, DataXu, AdRoll, Triggit, and The Trade Desk, to create this feature. Facebook has just begun to include cookies to track users by their browsers. Third parties will match information from other sites with those cookies. If a user searches for “truck,” and then goes onto Facebook, advertisers in the auto industry will be able to show that user ads on Facebook for trucks.

Although Facebook’s traditional advertising is very successful, the new changes will allow for advertisers to achieve more impact and insight, more quickly, at a smaller cost. Facebook already leads the U.S. display ad market, with a 14% share in 2011, and is expected to rise to 16.8% in 2012.  

Will 2012 see growth in online ads?

From Online Media Daily: Just as gadget-crazed as consumers, advertisers are expected to accelerate their nontraditional media spends through 2012. MagnaGlobal now expects spending on Internet media (including national and local) to grow by 12.2%, this year. That’s up from the Interpublic unit’s previous forecasts of 10.9%, and, if correct, will represent $35.6 billion and a 20.2% market share.

“Encouraged by the rise of smartphone and tablet usage and the availability of scalable platforms, mainstream advertisers are now fully embracing all mobile formats (display, search, video, in-app),” said Vincent Letang, EVP and head of global forecasting at MagnaGlobal.

Letang expects mobile-related online ad revenues to grow by 53% in 2012, to reach $2.4 bil. “iAd and Facebook in particular will create more opportunities for marketers in various mobile environments in 2012,” he said. With $1.6 billion in 2011, mobile advertising already represents 5% of online advertising, and 1% of total domestic advertising.

That said, Internet media is still driven by paid search, as well as online video, which Letang expects to grow by 24% in 2012 to reach $2.2 billion.

In terms of advertising sectors, technology, finance and telecoms are expected to increase their respective expenditure at higher than average rates, according to the company.

Automotive remains a concern, but more for traditional media buyers, MagnaGlobal notes. In 2010, and again in 2011, a double-digit recovery in car sales was matched by a double-digit growth in automotive ad spend. Going into 2012, however, while new car sales were up in the first quarter, protracted unemployment and steep gasoline inflation could hamper further growth.

Read more: http://www.mediapost.com/publications/article/173666/new-online-ad-forecast-12-growth-for-2012.html#ixzz1tjoq8epQ

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