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/

Ingredients for an Effective Website

When creating an online website for your business it extremely important that your page is able to effectively communicate your message. Your website is going to be central to all your online activities, even when using social media the end game usually involves getting users to your website.  When creating a website it's important that it is simple to use yet visually appealing at the same time.  The best approach when creating a website is to view it from the customer's perspective. Below is a basic model for consumer behavior that can aid in how consumers think.

  Your website should do one of many things it should aim to establish your brands identity and expectations.  You should be constantly seeking to inform and educate your customers, this will keep them engaged and re-visiting your site.

When creating your website search engine optimization (SEO) should always be kept in mind .  Your website should be built so that it has the greatest chance of being an organic search result if a customer is looking for your page.  Some important things to avoid when building a web page are to avoid lists of keywords that attempt to cloak pages.  Its important that text headings and keywords are unique and to the point. Search engines always look for specific keywords so more is essentially not better. Linking your website to other pages that are relevant to your content will also greatly help your search results.  Here is a great link into the basics of SEO and how to implement these tactics a little to no cost.  There is a ton of information \online relating to website design and search engine optimization.  Any one of these guides can help create a good website given the fundamentals mentioned in this blog are kept in mind.

Sources

https://www.google.com/webmasters/

http://www.forbes.com/sites/allbusiness/2014/01/14/3-major-web-design-trends-for-2014/

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

Foursquare for Business and Location Based Targeting

Source: Microsoft research

Location based social networks allow users to interact with one another using their physical location as a basis for interactions. The most notable users of this technology are Foursquare and Yelp.  These applications allow users to to check in at certain locations and share information that anyone can view.  These functions are particularity popular with hotels, restaurants, shops and tourists attractions.  Users can write reviews and leave rating while at their favorite restaurant and even post photos on a user created business page.

With over 40 million users and 1.5 million business Foursquare has recently launched services for business that allows shops to claim their user created pages. Hyper targeted advertising gives businesses the ability to target advertising to people who are near their location allowing for greater effectiveness. Foursquare's system is similar to that of Google's where businesses bid on advertisement space based on user actions like check ins to a venue (Forbes).  Analytic tracking trough Foursquare is perhaps the most exciting prospect for business users, below are a few effective uses.

·   Low customer acquisition costs	·   Monitoring foot traffic	·     Enhanced customer segmentation
·  Location-based activity recommendations	·     New forms of location based loyalty programs	·    Push and pull advertising services
·    Fast and effective information retrieval	·     Experts/Influencers detection	·      Interesting locations /travel sequences detection
	·   Preference-aware location and friend recommendations	·      Unexpected/anomalous/unusual events detection

This new service is an excellent way for business to expand their online presence and interact with their customer base. With over 40 million users the potential to expand ones customer base is immense, tie in analytic s tracking businesses will be able to identify the best means in attracting new customers.

Sources

http://www.forbes.com/sites/jeffbercovici/2013/10/14/foursquare-launches-ad-platform-for-small-businesses/

http://research.microsoft.com/en-us/projects/lbsn/

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/

New Blog in Production and Operations Management

Please have a look at my new blog discussing topics in the importance of Operations Management.  My first post will discuss the importance of aggregate planning in the production process. It will also look into going 'green' in supply chain management and important issue that will arise in the near future.  Please let me know what you think!

Aggregate Operations Planning

RFID & NFC, Expanding Your Festival Experience

Source: Tech Radar

People these days are becoming more enriched and engaged with technology.  No matter what a person may be doing they are only a reach away from popular social media platforms like FaceBook, Twitter, YouTube and Instagram to name a few.   If you ever attended a music festival or know someone who has you will see constant updates ranging from status updates, pictures and videos.  New technology in the form of RFID and NFC are changing the way people experience music festivals.

Radio Frequency Identification (RFID)

This technology was first use in the manufacturing process by tracking the production of a car's and later form tracking packages through warehouses. At Bonnaroo music festival all goers were equipped with these tags to gain entry into the event, in addition they had the chance to link the tags up with their FaceBook accounts.  By doing this it allowed them to simply tap their wristband at stations at any of the 10 stages to perform a FaceBook check-in.  The check-in had details of the time and place which made it easier to find lost friends and even showed what artist was currently playing. There were even booths spread out around the grounds were people could take pictures and by simply tapping their wristband it would be uploaded to FaceBook! In 2012 one of the booths that had been set up generated 20,000 photo uploads with over 250,000 live clicks.

More on RFID technology

Near Field Communication (NFC)

NFC is simply an extension of RFID but most commonly embedded in our smart phones.  It can be used for this like wireless payments and can make any software or hardware perform a certain task when linked.

At PIAS Nites music festival in Belgium are going to be using this technology in the form of NFC cards.  These cards will allow for users to link their FaceBook accounts to these cards and allow to friend people they meet in real life by simply tapping the two cards together.  It will also allow people to share content with one another by holding an open picture or video up to this card which in turn will upload the content to their FaceBook page.

More on NFC technology

The possibilities with this technology are endless right now it has mainly been used with FaceBook but with the mass amount of social media platforms it makes tons of room for innovation. From a marketing perspective this is a game changer.  The technology allows companies to effectively create online communities and exclusive content on their festival all of which is user created. It allows for promoters to get a more accurate picture of how successful their festival experience is and what events are being discussed the most. 

Source :RFID Steve

Sources

http://www.rfidjournal.com/articles/view?10829/2

http://www.fastcompany.com/1742315/facebook-friending-tech-test-nfc-belgian-music-festival