YouTube's 'Buzz Targeting' Sells Ad Space on Soon-to-Be Viral Videos

Google has introduced "Buzz Targeting" on YouTube, a new way to wring ad dollars from the video site. Buzz Targeting highlights videos that are about to go viral amongst YouTube users. The algorithm examines videos being favorited and distributed across other sites, among other criteria, then gives advertisers the opportunity to advertise around them. Ads incorporated […]

Posted: Wednesday, May 14th, 2008

How-To: Launching and Monetizing a Facebook Application

Now that Facebook applications can be put on any website, the time is now to create an app, whether to promote a brand or for your own tactical reference. This is intended as an introduction to researching, creating, launching, advertising, and making money from Facebook applications. Researching your app Be sure to do the proper research on […]

Posted: Wednesday, May 14th, 2008

Photo Retoucher Defends Integrity of Dove 'Real Beauty' Campaign

A quote from a photo retoucher for Dove's Campaign for Real Beauty has generated questions about how "real" any of the beauties actually were. In the May 12 issue of the New Yorker, Pascal Dangin — photo retoucher for Annie Leibovitz, who created the Real Beauty ads for Dove and Ogilvy — said this with regard […]

Posted: Friday, May 9th, 2008

How-To: 10 Tips for Launching a Solid Podcast

Campaign studies by Podtrac and TNS found podcast advertising is three times as effective as "traditional" online advertising, and seven times more so than TV ads. In 2007, podcasts served 18.5 million users in the US — a figure projected to rise to 65 million by 2012 (eMarketer). These tips for launching an engaging podcast will help […]

Posted: Wednesday, April 30th, 2008

CRM Suite Helps SMBs Better Address Disgruntled Yelpers

Yelp has launched a set of tools that enable firms to nurture relationships on the popular review site — whose sip-and-tell clientele have likely burned as many small businesses as they have helped. The suite is available at biz.yelp.com. Business owners may: - Update business information - Directly message users that have reviewed their business - Set alerts for […]

Posted: Wednesday, April 30th, 2008

How-To: Using Twitter to Build Brand Integrity

Enterprise blogging has been lauded for its ability to "humanize" a company and make distant executives feel available to ground-floor customers. Twitter can serve the same purpose much more quickly. Twitter spearheads the "microblogging" trend, where people air thoughts and share information in real-time while observing a 140-character limit. Here are tips for getting the most […]

Posted: Wednesday, April 23rd, 2008

WOM Research: Moms Buzz about Brands

New and expecting mothers have over 109 word-of-mouth conversations per week about products, services and brands. Most brands are discussed in a positive context and are considered highly credible by other moms, according to a Keller Fay study conducted for BabyCenter, MarketingCharts writes. Per day, the group engages in one-third more word-of-mouth (WOM) conversation than the […]

Posted: Wednesday, April 23rd, 2008

Facebook Launches 'Lexicon' Tool for Measuring Buzz

Last week Facebook quietly launched Lexicon, a tool that counts the number of instances a word occurred on profiles, groups and event Walls in its network. Casual users can compare the buzz-worthiness of up to five different words or phrases at a time. Phrases are limited to two words. A comparison between Microsoft, Yahoo, Google and AOL […]

Posted: Wednesday, April 23rd, 2008

Barack Obama Takes Lion's Share of Online Video Viewerships

Barack Obama enjoyed the highest number of online video viewers in March, compared to other presidential candidates, reports Nielsen Online. The research group reported "very little viewer overlap" between candidates, suggesting watchers have already committed to whom they plan to vote for. All told, Obama's website drew 518,000 unique visitors in March alone. Hillary Clinton lagged significantly […]

Posted: Tuesday, April 22nd, 2008

Measurement Tool Divines 'Viral' Ads in Advance

Consumer media firm MedTrackAlert has partnered with CNET to develop a measuring tool that quantifies the likelihood an ad message will be passed on organically. The "tool" makes use of a "shareability scale," which is proffered to consumers in testing groups. The results are used to determine whether a given ad or set of ads will […]

Posted: Tuesday, April 15th, 2008

Gentoo Awarded Nearly $200K for 'Net Libel Damages; Representative Demands Web Publisher Conduct Code

Gentoo Sunderland, formerly the Sunderland Housing Group, has been awarded £100,000 (about $199,434) in compensation for cyber harassment. This is the highest amount ever awarded in the UK for internet libel damages. Several years ago the firm was targeted by anonymous website Dad's Place, which made "seriously defamatory allegations ranging from corruption to nepotism and the […]

Posted: Friday, April 4th, 2008

Influential Online Hispanic Consumers: Super 'E-fluentials'

Influential online consumers ("e-fluentials") among Hispanics use the internet to connect with friends and family, as well as share views about products and brands — often in higher proportions than other e-fluentials, according to a Burson-Marsteller study, writes MarketingCharts. Below are key findings from the study. Online Interaction High "Hispanic-fluentials" spend more time interacting with others online […]

Posted: Thursday, April 3rd, 2008

Economic Impact of Word-of-Mouth Calculated with Net Promoter Model

Customer word-of-mouth (WOM) behaviors have strong financial positive and negative impact on customer loyalty, ultimately affecting company growth, according to a SatMetrix Systems whitepaper, reports MarketingCharts. The report, which highlights the business-to-consumer (B2C) computer hardware industry, is the first in a series that uses the Net Promoter economic model to quantify the impact of word-of-mouth. Net Promoter […]

Posted: Thursday, April 3rd, 2008

Social Media Marketing Still Lacks Strong Metrics

Companies adopt social media as a marketing tool but struggle to find effective metrics, writes Paul Gillin (author of The New Influencers) in a report issued by the Society for New Communications Research (SNCR), MarketingCharts writes. "New Media, New Influencers, and Implications for the Public Relations Profession" is based on findings from a survey of […]

Posted: Tuesday, April 1st, 2008

YouTube Launches Free Analytics Tool for Video Publishers

YouTube has debuted YouTube Insight, a suite of analytic tools that provide audience trends on videos that publishers have uploaded. YouTube already offers comments, ratings and a ranking for each clip. Insight adds context to where viewers come from and when they watched a given video. Because publishing a video on YouTube is so simple, the tool […]

Posted: Friday, March 28th, 2008

Mercedes Conceives Online Video Special for Gen-Y Music Junkies

Daimler-owned Mercedes-Benz is broadcasting a music show on its online TV station. Launched last month, "Mixed Tape Music Magazine" is a monthly special with video clips by artists like Jennifer Lopez and Mark Ronson, according to The Wall Street Journal. The show targets future Mercedes customers, which will hopefully associate the brand with being hip (assuming that […]

Posted: Thursday, March 27th, 2008

Alternative Media Poised for Strong Growth in '08, Despite Slowing Economy

Spending on alternative media in the US jumped 22.0 percent from 2006 levels to reach $73.43 billion in 2007. That rapid growth is expected to continue in 2008 despite a slowing economy, according to a new report from PQ Media, MarketingCharts writes. Alternative media, including 18 digital and non-traditional media segments, accounted for 16.1 percent of […]

Posted: Thursday, March 27th, 2008

Every Episode of South Park is Now Online

The creators of hit comedy show South Park have made every episode available online — for free, with ad support. South Park Digital Studios shall feature all episodes and archives, including 3,000 embeddable video clips, and games, reports NewTeeVee. The site one-ups Hulu — a hosted streaming TV site with content from many networks — by availing […]

Posted: Thursday, March 27th, 2008

imeem Opens Back-End — and Music Catalog — to Developers

Following the examples of MySpace, Bebo and Facebook, music-streaming social network imeem will avail its back-end to software developers. Programmers can customize the existing imeem media player and leverage imeem's social graph, including users, friends and associated profile data. But developers won't just be able to create apps for the site; they will also have imeem's catalog […]

Posted: Wednesday, March 26th, 2008

Whole Foods to Make Podcast Stars of Six Kids

In early March, Austin-based Whole Foods launched Whole Earth Generation, a video podcast series designed to raise environmental awareness among youngsters. To kick it off, Whole Foods announced a contest to find six kids aged 8 to 17 to serve as hosts for the series, which runs through April 29. Children in North America could either submit […]

Posted: Wednesday, March 26th, 2008