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news feed

an upfront media publication


issue 30 | mar 2012

unless youve been living under a rock, youve probably heard of the upstart social network pinterest by now. in this months upfront media newsfeed, read all about the webs latest social media darling and what it can do for your brand. also in the months issue, we get you, our savvy marketer, acquainted with and combatting consumer fatigue in the social space. oh, and bing shows us just how much they look up to big brother Google. Happy reading!

Jamie yeo director, upfront media pte ltd

LATEST NEWS

WHy ARE RETAILERS SHUTTING THEIR FACEBOOK STORES?

THE MARKETINGS GUIDE TO PINTEREST (INFOGRAPHIC)

HOW PINTERESTS FEMALE AUDIENCE IS CHANGING SOCIAL MARKETING

BRANDS FACE STREAM FATIGUE AS CONSUMERS LOOK BEyOND GIMMICKS IN SOCIAL NETWORK

BING TESTING NEW, GOOGLE-y LOCAL SEARCH RESULTS

ROD AUSTIN: 2012S TOP DIGITAL MARKETING TRENDS

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upfront media news feed | issue 30 | mar 2012

wHY are retailers sHuttinG tHeir facebooK stores?


by lauren indvik
22 februarY 2012 | masHable.com

eager to monetize the large followings they had built on facebook, many large brands set up shop on the social network for the first time last year. now many of those facebook stores are closing. a bloomberg report this weekend pointed out that Gap, J.c. penney, nordstrom and Gamestop have all opened and closed shops on facebook within the past year undermining expectations that the social network will become a major revenue driver for retailers over the next decade. we just didnt get the return on investment we needed from the facebook market, so we shut it down pretty quickly, ashley sheetz, Vp of marketing and strategy at Gamestop, told bloomberg. for us, its been a way we communicate with customers on deals, not a place to sell. Gamestop opened a store on facebook in april 2011, and closed it six months later. there was a lot of anticipation that facebook would turn into a new destination, a store, a place where people would shop, sucharita mulpuru, an analyst at forrester research, added. but it was like trying to sell stuff to people while theyre hanging out with their friends at the bar.

THE END OF F-COMMERCE? still, none of this proves that social networks dont have potential as sales channels. it may be that retailers simply havent harnessed the power of these platforms in the right way. in most cases, retailers have entered the f-commerce market by importing their online catalogs and making them available for purchase in a facebook app. the experience is nearly identical to shopping on their websites, with two major differences: #1: shoppers can complete their entire browsing and checkout experience without leaving facebook.com. #2: the facebook apps tend to work more slowly. in other words, consumers have little to no incentive to shop via these facebook apps.

image courtesy of istockphoto, oxford.

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upfront media news feed | issue 30 | mar 2012

at the very least, facebook has become an important traffic driver to retailers websites. for instance, 1.9% of traffic to burberrys website in september 2010 came from facebook; a year later, 29.1% of site traffic was from the social network, mullen wrote in an email to mashable. [burberry is] using the platform to drive traffic at a fraction of the cost of what it would have to pay on Google and other search engines. in addition a significant portion of that traffic and resulting sales is likely incremental, she added. mullen also pointed out that half of shoppers are logged in to facebook while they shop on third-party ecommerce sites, which lets retailers capture the massive amount of user data facebook has, she says. brands such as smashbox and mac are also incorporating friend recommendations within their ecommerce pages.

image courtesy of v3im.com

others simply have not dealt in enough volume offering, say, just one item for purchase each month, or discounting one or two items for a short period. although these efforts have generated a fair amount of pr buzz, most of these companies are losing money on these efforts because development costs are so high, says maureen mullen, director of research and advisory services at luxury research and consulting firm l2. or the problem may be facebooks infrastructure. as mulpuru says above, spending time on facebook is akin to spending time with your friends at a bar. pinterest, on the other hand, is more like heading to a craft fair, forbess Jeff bercovici points out youre there to browse, and to shop, and brands are finding the platform worth investing in. facebook, at present, isnt built for that kind of shopping experience. but it could certainly build pinterest-like tools to make it that way.

BURBERRy IS USING THE PLATFORM TO DRIvE TRAFFIC AT A FRACTION OF THE COST OF WHAT IT WOULD HAvE TO PAy ON GOOGLE AND OTHER SEARCH ENGINES. IN ADDITION A SIGNIFICANT PORTION OF THAT TRAFFIC AND RESULTING SALES IS LIKELy INCREMENTAL.

in other words, its too soon to lament the demise of f-commerce. what we do know is that replicating retailers ecommerce sites is not the way to go about generating revenue via facebook, at least for now.

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upfront media news feed | issue 30 | mar 2012

tHe marKeters Guide to pinterest [infoGrapHic]


by Zoe fox
29 februarY 2012 | masHable.com

pinterest, the darling digital pin board thats turned the social media world upside down, is now a top traffic driver for brands. thats a good sign marketers should get their butts up to speed on the latest pinning tips and tricks.

fortunately for you, mdGadvertising has created an infographic explaining the nooks and crannies of the social network. many brands such as etsy, real simple, whole foods and west elm are on board and have already amassed significant followings. this infographic explains some pinterest basics, such as explaining what a pin, repin and board are, and provides five tips. You should first decide whether pinterest is a fit for your product. selling life insurance? this might not be a helpful platform for you. if you think pinterest is right for your brand, go ahead and add a pin it button to your site. make sure to use great visuals. pin products you love but dont sell this site isnt all about selfpromotion. add some early pinterest all-stars and learn from their strategies. Youre probably not surprised that 87% of pinterest users are women. However, you may not realize that the site has a significant age range, with 80% of users fairly evenly distributed between 25 to 54. if you havent caught the pinterest bug yet, be assured many others have. according to a comscore report, it was the fastest standalone site in history to pass the 10 million users mark, which happened in January. are you a marketer using pinterest? How have you jumped on board the pinterest train?

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upfront media news feed | issue 30 | mar 2012

How pinterests female audience is cHanGinG social marKetinG


by curt finch
29 februarY 2012 | masHable.com

as the new kid in town, pinterest is poised to make some major waves in the social media scene. facebook, twitter and Google+, watch your backs. launched in 2010, the site grew from 1.6 million visitors in september 2011 to a whopping 11.1 million visitors in february 2012. a cursory examination of pinterest site statistics reveals some interesting demographic information: women are engaging on the social site with much more veracity than men. currently, women make up about 82% of active users on pinterest, according to Google ad planner. as a general trend, women engage more on most social sites, including on facebook and twitter. comscore says women are the majority of social networking users, and spend 30% more time on sites than men. plus, mobile social network usage is 55% female, according to nielsen. is it the inherent nature of pinterest that speaks to women? one might argue that pinterests openness, its homepage feed an aggregate board of everyones pins, allows users to follow friends interests and plays to the female psyche. many examinations have been made as to why this is the case. some have proposed that women are simply more socially inclined than men, the posited difference
image courtesy of istockphoto, fotosipsak

being that men generally view social media as a tool a means to gain information or access entertainment while women more often use it to interact with others and build a community online. whatever the answer, the real question remains: what does all of this information mean for businesses using pinterest as a marketing tool? after all, women account for 85% of all consumer purchases, everything from autos to health care. social consumption sites like pinterest are particularly good marketing avenues for
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upfront media news feed | issue 30 | mar 2012

consumer products. many businesses have established presences on facebook and twitter, using the unique properties of each platform to highlight their brands. accordingly, individuals can like or follow businesses they are interested in. However, it can be difficult to determine just how significant the draw of a product-centric environment for social media users on facebook or twitter. with sites like pinterest, companies have a rich view into just such an environment. businesses use two primary marketing tactics to target women on pinterest. the first, and perhaps most straightforward, is to use the platform to exhibit items or services that traditionally appeal to women. in the case of walkers shortbread, pinterest represents one of the companys very first forays into social media. while the company does have facebook and twitter profiles, it found a better fit for its product on pinterest. tom Kupfer, account supervisor for pmG public relations, says, it makes sense. pinterest and walkers are both popular among females. nothing makes people want to buy shortbread like delicious shortbread photos. its a great way to reach others with an interest in food. companies can also use pinterest to selectively market their products. core performance, a proactive wellness company that specializes in training elite athletes, takes the female demographic into account when posting to pinterest by focusing on nutrition and the latest weight loss trends and recipes. in addition, core performance hired tia albright from wedding site the Knot to oversee its content strategy and to ensure its flavor appeals to women in particular.

another tactic for successful marketing on pinterest and other social consumption sites involves creating an environment that fosters positive associations with a company, rather than directly selling products and services. this has the added benefit of falling in line with pinning etiquette, which maintains that shameless self-promotion is frowned upon. rachael cook, founder of the Yogipreneur, uses this tactic in her marketing strategy. if i were only to have links back to my site, it wouldnt work as well as if i also reveal my own likes and interests to the community, she says. by creating a communal environment, cook can grow her personal brand while making potential clients feel welcome and comfortable. to her, this new wave of social sites is all about creating an experience and building a community rather than performing direct marketing. and by sharing other users pins, she shows a willingness to reciprocate what she calls mini-endorsements. are these marketers the cause or the result of the primarily female demographic on pinterest? the answer is both. women, who tend to be much faster at adopting new social media, set the trend. then, marketers review site user demographics and tailor their approaches accordingly. thus, these sites, though not inherently female, become a haven for women on the internet, with products, content and images tailored specifically for them. looking forward, it would not be surprising to see these trends continue on the majority of social sites. social media, and particularly marketing via social media, seem to be very influenced by the old mantra: ladies first.

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upfront media news feed | issue 30 | mar 2012

brands face stream fatiGue as consumers looK beYond GimmicKs in social networKs
by brian solis
20 februarY 2012 | briansolis.com

the mystique of twitter, facebook and Google+ causes a momentary lapse of reason where businesses are surprisingly acting first and addressing the why at a later point in time, if at all. without careful consideration and strategy, a great wave of stream fatigue, social blindness or far worse, customer unlikes and unfollows in will befall unsuspecting businesses en masse in social media. it will come down to a vital, but fixable disconnect. businesses are interacting with consumers to socialize rather than learn about customer expectations to in turn, deliver tangible value, improve product experiences, and invest in long-term relationships. while many brands are designing editorial and engagement programs to encourage consumers to like and follow profiles,

view videos, submit user generated content, consumers are simultaneously struggling to find signal against the noise, grappling with stream fatigue and sometimes an overwhelming sense of over connectedness. the more discerning consumers are learning that tuning out is merely temporary relief for misdiagnosed symptoms and not a fix to their bigger problems. once they realize that streams are programmable, that social content and relationships require thoughtful curation, and more importantly, recognize when inbound streams no longer offer usefulness, theyll find that the only cure rests in unlikes and unfollows. consumers, like businesses, are learning how to navigate social streams as they go.

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upfront media news feed | issue 30 | mar 2012

as experience matures however, building relationships within social networks will become a quiet, but important art of curation. people will select and fine-tune the relationships they deem worthy to improve the content that flows through their streams. people, brands, products, and apps will come and go. this constant modification sets the stage for an important shift in the balance of power between brands and consumers. in social media, its less about caveat emptor and now about caveat venditor, let the seller beware. this is more true than ever before, especially in light of facebooks chatty openGraph development platform. mark Zuckerberg refers to the new movement as frictionless sharing. others worry that it will spark frictionless frustration. as brands and developers experiment with sending automatic updates into the stream, friends and friends of friends will be subjected to a relentless series of action verbs in their news feeds sarah perez listened to foster the people on spotify robert scoble read whoops i didnt mean for you to read this on washtington post social reader. the first reaction on the business side is unfortunately that of excitement. strategists are huddling right now devising ways to send updates to trigger the social effect to expand adoption, reach, and likes! the first reaction on the consumer side is a mixture of concern and annoyance. people are genuinely worried that theyre going to either spam or be spammed and of course the

temporary debate about privacy emerges once again. dont get me wrong. its a bold move by facebook and executed properly, it will increase interaction around common interests and ignite peer-to-peer commerce simply by sharing or reacting to activities. the first update to many of these frictionless sharing apps will be that of a mute button until developers and consumers can find the balance of whats worthy of sharing and consuming. even before the openGraph, stream fatigue was already endemic among friends and also their favorite businesses. a friend of mine conducted an interesting social experiment earlier in the year. what andrew blakeley wound up uncovering were signs that brands are in fact not considering consumer experiences outside of direct brand engagement. blakeley assumed the role of a consumer and set out to like every brand that presented an opportunity to connect on facebook. ranging from email requests and web sties to tV and print advertising and real world shopping, blakeley liked a total of 46 brands in one week. out of the gate, blakeley observed that only 10 out of the 46 brands offered a reason why consumers should like them. once liked, the experience only degraded. aside from an occasional contest, he felt largely unrewarded. most notably, he learned that the online experience for consumers was undefined or uncharted, leaving consumers to fend for themselves to find relevance within the engagement without any reinforcement to brand value or story. andrew summed up his experience quite
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upfront media news feed | issue 30 | mar 2012

humbly, my week as a social consumer left me tired and confused. it left my facebook newsfeed so crammed with nonsense to the point that i could scroll entire pages without seeing my friends. andrew experienced stream fatigue first hand and the inability to keep up with the information that populates ones social stream.

in a study published by exact target in June 2011, the meanings of fan and like in facebook were scrutinized. the company found that while businesses believed that consumers like brand pages were truly fans of the company, only 42% of consumers agreed that marketers could interpret a like as such. in fact, 33% are indecisive and 25% disagree that likes mean that they are fans or advocates of the brand. MAy I HAvE yOUR INTENTION PLEASE? with each day that passes, the social-savvy consumer will start asking brands for their intentions as requests for their allegiance escalates. accordingly brands will have to give reasons upfront for why consumers should like or follow them into social frontiers. customers will want to know whats in it for them before they open up their stream beyond family and friends. for brands, engagement comes down to understanding how to best deliver value to consumers in social networks. the reality is that customers can and will cut ties with brands that do not take their best interests into account. consumers are realizing that they have the power to reduce or eliminate stream fatigue by tailoring the relationships they maintain in each network. this is a new kind of power because in the past, they couldnt manage/curate these brand relationships in the media they consumed. every business will eventually realize that the hype driving todays social media is only momentary. its not a miracle drug that cures the ails of faceless broadcast marketing. customers are already demanding a more useful and beneficial approach to engagement. the question is, can you deliver it in and around of your strategic campaigns?

while brands are learning in public, its important to realize that earning a like is far simpler than re-earning a like once its lost. similar to traditional online advertising, consumers can ignore marketing messages once in the stream. they can merely become immune to updates or worse, they will resort to unliking and unfriending anyone who is taking away from the social experience.

My WEEK AS A SOCIAL CONSUMER LEFT ME TIRED AND CONFUSED. IT LEFT My FACEBOOK NEWSFEED SO CRAMMED WITH NONSENSE TO THE POINT THAT I COULD SCROLL ENTIRE PAGES WITHOUT SEEING My FRIENDS.

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upfront media news feed | issue 30 | mar 2012

binG testinG new, GooGle-Y local searcH results


by matt mcGee
1 marcH 2012 | searcHenGineland.com

blended in as part of the search snippet. the map appears in the upper right of this display, but floats as the user scrolls down the page. a microsoft spokesperson gave us the companys standard reply about search result tests: were constantly updating and refining the bing search experience, and before any changes are implemented they undergo intensive testing and experimentation to ensure the best possible user experience. we have nothing further to share at this time. Heres how the new display looks in action, with comparisons to the old/existing local search display: OLD BING LOCAL RESULTS: SEATTLE RESTAURANTS an 8-pack of listings shows at the top of the search results page.

if imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, the folks at bing local are paying Google a very nice compliment with a new display for local search results that looks quite a bit like what Google often shows. as first spotted by brightlocal.com, bings new local search results no longer consistently show a pack of businesses listings and map at the top of the page, above all of the regular organic links. instead, with the new display, bing shows a mix of local results: the pack of listings may appear anywhere in the search results, not just at the top of the page. the map appears with the pack in this display. the pack may be replaced by blended listings organic listings with local data

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upfront media news feed | issue 30 | mar 2012

NEW BING LOCAL RESULTS: SEATTLE RESTAURANTS the pack is still together, but its smaller and merged in as part of the search results page, not at the top.

NEW BING LOCAL RESULTS: RICHLAND WA REAL ESTATE this is the most similar-to-Google look that bing is testing. theres no pack anymore. the local listing information is blending in with organic results, and the map in the right column floats as you scroll down the page.

OLD BING LOCAL RESULTS: RICHLAND WA REAL ESTATE a 6-pack of results shows at the top of the page.

in this screenshot, note that listings 1, 3 and 4 in the organic results point to a bing local listing, while listings 2 and 5 point to the business website. listing four also includes a rating/ review from bing local; in other searches, bing shows ratings/reviews from Yahoo local, Yelp, etc., in that spot. whats unclear to me is how widely this test has already rolled out. i emailed a handful of friends who pay attention to local search and several but not all are seeing the test.
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upfront media news feed | issue 30 | mar 2012

rod austin: 2012s top diGital marKetinG trends


by rod austin
12 februarY 2012 | missoulian.com

its february, the year is well under way and your marketing budget is polished and in fullswing - right? whether youve mapped out a marketing plan for 2012 or not, digital should be a healthy part of the mix. Here are the top digital marketing trends to watch in the coming year: MOBILE AUDIENCE GROWS ExPONENTIALLy we see it here on missoulian.com and national trends confirm: smartphone adoption is growing at a rapid pace and is expected to overtake pcs as the most common web access medium worldwide by 2014. to do: set a plan to make your website mobilefriendly and find relevant marketing channels to help capture a piece of the rapidly growing mobile audience.

SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING STAyS HOT no longer the new kid on the block, social media marketing has moved into the must do category of the digital marketing arsenal. facebook, twitter, linkedin and the like dont always show an immediate return on investment, but they definitely strengthen your brand by engaging current and future customers through open interactions with your business. and as a bonus, this engagement is visible to their peers and major search engines, which will help grow your social influence and search engine positioning. to do: stay active on social sites and encourage engagement through relevant content and promotions. listen to your audience and keep an eye on your competitors that are active in the same space. SEARCH ENGINE MARKETING REMAINS A TOP PRIORITy ten years ago, search engine optimization and pay per click were in their infancy. appearing at the top of the search results was as easy as optimizing a few pages on your site, and purchasing space on Google adwords cost as little as 5 cents per click. while both have become considerably more difficult and expensive to manage, maintaining high visibility on search engines is as critical as ever. when Google, one of the largest companies in the world, recommends a website in the no. 1 slot for a certain search phrase, people tend to trust that site.
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image courtesy of zhimmer.com

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upfront media news feed | issue 30 | mar 2012

efforts are promoting each other: i.e. include a Qr code pointing to your website and an incentive to follow you on facebook in print ads. an overwhelming majority of us use the internet to research topics that are important to our daily lives, and digital marketing is no different. Get online and start exploring, but remember that digital marketing is constantly evolving and requires a certain level of consistent vigilance. and if you still think that your business doesnt need to maintain a digital presence, let me know when your going-out-of-business sale will take place.

image courtesy of careeractionnow.com

to do: find out where you rank for search terms related to your business and research the rank/search engine marketing activities of your competition. and if the preceding paragraph sounded like a Greek translation of star wars: episode 1, spend some quality time on Google researching seo, ppc and sem. FUNDAMENTALS REIGN as in sports, dont forget the fundamentals. and as in professional wrestling, image is everything. Just like your storefront or business card, your digital presence has a major effect on your professional image. if your website looks outdated or your marketing campaigns are not consistent, you are losing out on an opportunity to impress a potential customer. would you frequent a local business that operates out of a dilapidated office? do poorly executed tV, radio or print ads instill a sense of trust in that product or service? to do: research current design standards and see how your website and marketing efforts stack up. ensure that all of your marketing

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