Tag: media

Rebranding “Yo Mama” Into A Compliment

July 16, 2013

In light of the previous commercials K-Mart released transforming crude humor including “Ship My Pants” and “Big Gas Savings”, the brand continued down that similar path with a twist on the popular “Yo Mama” jokes.

Click here to watch K-Mart’s “Yo Mama” Commercial

“Yo Mama” is a common phrase that is used as an insult but K-Mart took a turn with this phrase and rebranded it to become somewhat of a compliment to market their new layaway plan. This free back-to-school layaway plan presented phrases like “Yo mama get that hoodie from K-Mart? Yeah, dawg! Well yo mama must have cavities cause that hoodie is SWEEEET!!”

By transforming the commonly used negative phrase, these commercials were able to connect with the people on something that was already known to the masses and complement with the K-Mart brand. These recent K-Mart campaigns have gotten people to stop and turn their heads and that’s exactly what good marketing is. You need to grab the attention of the masses through all of the ads that are out there. Only then can you really try to influence your audience.

UberAds: Targeting Smartphone Users Through Social Media

May 20, 2013

As the amount of smartphone users skyrocketed over the past few years, advertisers saw this as an advantage. With internet usage on the go, ads out in the world on billboards, posters and subways are ignored as people have constantly been staring down at their phones and tablets. This is a disadvantage to brands that haven’t transitioned into mobile ads but for those who have, users are bound to come across their ads as they can be anywhere on any application, social media network or the mobile browser itself.

2013

Mobile ad firm UberAds is launching a new ad product coming this summer of 2013, which targets app users based on their social media data and location. By having ads that are relevant and useful to users, people see them as helpful prompts rather than annoying  ads. This tactic allows better performance and effectiveness.

“So if you follow Tom Cruise on Twitter and are near a theater, you could see an ad for movie tickets,” explained Bill Gross, UberAds CEO.

NBC Universal tested this app recently on Tom Cruise’s new science-fiction movie “Oblivion” by creating 2 million mobile impressions specifically targeting audiences including Cruise’s 3.9 million Twitter followers. The positive feedback increased significantly with a 4% mobile click-through rate compared to the average 1% click-through rate of mobile ads. With the successful trial run, NBC Universal will continue to use this method on Cruise’s new movie “Purge,” which is coming out this summer. They will also use expand to other social media networks including Instagram and Pinterest to pull interest from users.

As other advertisers saw the increasing effectiveness of these targeted mobile ads, they too have decided to join in.

“We see long-weekend types of trips in the summer months,” said Elizabeth Dorrance, director of media and analytics at Expedia. “So people‚ while driving, are more likely to book hotels last minute on their phones.”

uberads

These UberAds will revolutionize the mobile advertising industry using this social signal targeting system. The real-time data will deliver increasing positive feedback rates for advertisers as people will be more inclined to respond to the helpful notifications. With the usage of intent, location and time, the mobile ads made for the right audience will be presented and both advertisers and the people will be satisfied with the outcome.

ThingLink Brings Image Interactivity to Social Media

April 24, 2013

The saying goes “a picture is worth a thousand words,” but imagine how much a picture could be worth if it was embedded with content, links, videos and more! With the integration of ThingLink, an interactive image platform, and social media networks such as Facebook and Twitter, anything is easily accessible.

Tweets and Facebook status updates are now transformed from 180 characters of mere text to a portal of endless possibilities. What was once a tweet with a simple image of country artist, Joy Collins, is now an interactive portal to her official website, Facebook profile, Google+ profile, YouTube channel, Instagram and so much more! The difference is incredible and Facebook quickly jumped in with a ThingLink app as well.

“Images are becoming forums for conversation and discovery that include sharing, touching, commenting, and remixing rich media content created by others,” said Ulla Engeström, CEO of ThingLink. “ThingLink is now enabling a new kind of discovery experience on Facebook Timeline that evokes emotion and brings moments to life in ways that drive higher engagement.”

The ThingLink app now allows an engaging, interactive fan page for Facebook. With the ability to link to each person’s profile in one image along with many other links, static images are now discovery experiences. Every image contains a story and ThingLink allows people to tell that story in every way possible by embedding other sources of information. This interaction platform not only helps your audience, but it also builds a new level of analysis for your company as well! A myriad of social behaviors can now be explored with detailed statistics for you to analyze your audience. Click here to create your ThinkLink app for your Facebook page!

Social Media Truths for Marketing

January 30, 2013

Social media is the a common new direction many businesses are striving to master. Through this young and hip gateway, the Generation Y demographic can be won over in the marketing industry. By adhering to the ways of the youth, businesses are able to connect with them better as they advertise their products to the public. However, it’s important to understand how social media works in order to use it to its fullest potential.

Social media takes time to build upon. Your Facebook or Twitter page isn’t going to instantly become popular overnight. This is important to understand so that social media isn’t your main marketing source the begin with. A base of followers needs to grow through giving time for those people to spread it to their friends and so on and so forth. Not only is time necessary, but a whole lot of effort is as well. By continuing to post things regardless of the number of followers at the time, you will maintain a stable base of information and people will flock towards your page as they see what you have to offer.

Don’t base your followers on expectations. Just because a professional writer is creating posts doesn’t mean that followers will amass to listen to what you have to say. Most people are interested in what you have to say that’s straight to the point rather than with professional grammar. The great thing about social media is that it is a network of networks where people can find an interesting post and pass it on to friends who can then pass it on to other circles of friends.

Picking which social media network to partake in is important as well. If you dislike the network, you’re less likely to put effort and thrive in using it. Also, one that you use for personal uses shouldn’t be used for professional uses. Use your judgment as to what you feel most comfortable and enjoy using as well as what your demographic uses to decide which social media network to jump into. Through this, it’s also important to understand that you simply can’t be everywhere at once. Start with one base social media network and work from there. Once you have that one established, move on to the next and so on. Through this, you can eventually easily update each network.

It’s called a “Social” media network for a reason. Converse with your audience rather than just broadcasting whatever it is your company is advertising. Get into conversations with clients and respond to feedback. Through this method, followers will come around and the number will grow. People like other people, not words of advertising robots. Communication with the audience rather then to people in general as a whole make them feel important; like they have a say and make a difference to the business. On the other hand, people who act like idiots and just talk to talk can easily be ignored as well. Use your greater judgment in communicating with your audience.

Sharing and retweeting things other than your own business. This may be difficult to do as you want to promote yourself but if you only talk about your own things over and over, people will start to block what you have to say out like an annoying pop-up advertisement. Think about “promo for promos” or voice your opinions about other things to keep your page interesting so people will continue to follow you and spread the word to others.

Think about what would make you follow a page and what would keep you from unfollowing them. Place yourself in your audience’s shoes and you’ll be successful.

Influence Marketing

January 18, 2013

Social Media. Ego. Trends. Popularity. These things influence the market and determine product sales to mass audiences. Most people purchase things they want more than things that things they need. The “want” is driven by how an individual feels with a product and how they feel when others see them with such product.

Did the person who sampled the new Doritos chip flavor end up buying the full bag? Did she buy that book that was featured on Oprah’s book club list? Did the T-Mobile customer change services when all her friends said that Verizon was better? Did people continue to eat Chik-Fil-A when they donated money to anti-gay organizations? It isn’t enough to just see if people buy a product is what salespeople and marketeers mainly check. Analyzing WHY people purchase a product is the main concern as it’s what drives sales.

Marketeers should focus on customers talking about their new product after they buy it. When customers rave about how great things are, their friends and family are more likely  willing to purchase it as well. Through social media, people can get positive feedback, pictures, videos and examples of how to use their products. This influential marketing tactic will be sure to drive sales as the business can see how others feel about their product and what they need to change to make it better as well.

The Evolving Workplace

December 24, 2012

The internet is changing the nature of the workplace as social media networks and apps have entered the business world. Better insight and productivity can lead to better sales through this process as this generation responds to this method effectively.

Social Media going “company-wide” can be used as an office-productivity tool. It can collaborate ideas more easily and enhance the communication not only within the office but across enterprises as well. Human Resource departments are already using social media to connect with job seekers to speed up the application process. Sales teams are using social media to generate leads and track clients as they move through sales. Operations and distribution teams are watching supply chains, while research and development squads brainstorm product ideas. Social Media is going to be seen as a strong business tool in the future, compared to its outlook as a networking tool now.

Although it may seem positive to have these advantages with smartphones and tablets in the office, the digital world sets no boundaries to employees leaving it unpredictable. Social media is the fastest way to spread news and businesses are afraid of employees spreading confidential data or making the company look bad. With social apps on phones and tablets, it is more critical to keep employees in check about the statuses that are posted on Facebook or Twitter.

Social Media will always influence mass audiences but is it safe for large companies? There are certainly many advantages to this marketing tactic that can bring a business ahead in the game. Though this is true, confidentiality is an issue. No one can know for sure until they take that risk or watch others dive into that sphere. The question is “Are you willing to take that risk if your business is at stake or are you going to stand by and watch others surpass you in taking that risk before you?”

Business campaigns in 2013

December 12, 2012

Van West Media — SEOThere have been constant changes in SEO enterprising in the past year as the industry grows rapidly by the minute. It is important for businesses to realize how critical this situation is. Many people believe the common misconception: “SEO relates to the size of a company.” This isn’t true. SEO relates to the management of a company in regards to the search, site and social aspects. This means that companies who put themselves out there are more likely to be seen by audiences.

With SEO, a company with one mere employee can create a large corporation with constant involvement with the people. Relationship engagement with audiences is critical to the success of a company. This platform of integrating search, site and social aspects brings many opportunities. This leverage between large corporations with smaller companies allows growth through effort.

Now, what makes for successful SEO campaigns? It starts with the site as the main aspect. Algorithms are crucial to SEO but variables including traffic, ranking, back-end links, social “likes” and keyword density in content make the difference in a search as well. With informative content comes positive feedback and referrals. It is important to understand what the people want and need to survive in this market. This can be achieved by searching trends on social networks and linking those trends to your site. By adapting to the market’s demands and adhering to the SEO changes, you can make your small company go far in this industry and even surpass a large corporation.