Ventura & Company

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Happy 10th Birthday, LinkedIn!

LinkedIn celebrated its 10^th birthday on Sunday, with 225 million users in 200 countries and is enjoying nice growth, reporting revenue and profit up 80%, with 3,700 employees and 26 worldwide offices. It’s the first of the major social networks to celebrate a decade in existence. LinkedIn is a year older than Facebook and three years older than Twitter.

Unlike Facebook and Twitter, LinkedIn had a revenue model from almost the beginning. Job listings on LinkedIn have become an important exchange for both job seekers and employers. A tiered pricing model for premium services has also contributed to quarterly revenue exceeding $300 million.

Early LinkedIn Profile Format

While it doesn’t get the buzz of a Facebook or Twitter, LinkedIn is a major social network. According to the PEW Internet and American Life Project, LinkedIn is the number 2 social media site for adults, with 20% of all Americans over 18 years old having LinkedIn profiles. Facebook, of course, ranks first with 67%, but LinkedIn has more users than Twitter (16%), Pinterest (15%) and Instagram (13%).

It’s been long regarded as the online business reference, but LinkedIn has recently added functionality to make it more social. Just last week, it introduced a new mentions feature that allows users to connect with others in real time similar to Facebook and Twitter. A company blog post stated “We’re excited to introduce a new way for you to engage with your network through the ability to mention your connections and companies in conversations on LinkedIn,”

The new LinkedIn Contacts puts all your contacts from various sources into one place. It allows you to make notes about each, research past interactions, and keep track of important meetings and birthdays. You can also sort information based on different criteria. LinkedIn will automatically update the info when it is changed on the sourced platform. However, it will not include your Twitter or Facebook followers or friends

Now LinkedIn members can also post photos and videos to their profile pages. These could include professional work in audio/video format.

LinkedIn is also focused on mobile. A relaunched mobile app is more visually appealing and has more functionality.

In an era where content is critical. LinkedIn works hard to be the key content provider for business. They recently acquired Pulse, a newsreader / aggregator that they hope to relaunch as “the definitive professional publishing platform.” Pulse currently has 30 milli0n users and aggregates content from some 750 publishers. In 2011, LinkedIn launched LinkedIn Influencers with business leaders like Richard Branson providing original content.

LinkedIn now has more than a million special interest groups with conversations taking place among their members. Unique to the application is the ability to get introduced to second and third level contacts.

Entrepreneur magazine recently published “LinkedIn Tips: 10 Ways To Get The Most Our Of Your Network.” Take a look to make sure that you are optimizing your presence on LinkedIn.

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When Tragedy Happens, Brands Must Show Humanity

I write this barely four hours after the news broke about the Boston Marathon bombing. All the major news services have gone to wall-to-wall coverage. Unlike some other recent tragic events, this one occurred on live TV, with cameras aimed across the Boston Marathon Finish Line capturing the explosions of two devices set about 100 yards apart. Those who have watched the video, both on TV and online, see it played again, and again and again. I now focus on the elderly runner who was practically abreast of the first explosion who is literally blown off his feet, and it will be a long, long time before this image fades form my memory.

This horrific event occurred on a weekday, a work day for everyone except those in Massachusetts, where Patriot Day is a holiday. And it happened when most of us were at work – a little after 3pm on the east coast and earlier in the other US time zones. Many of us first learned about this from social media as Facebook and Twitter both blew up with posts and links to mainstream media. We happened to have CNN on in our office at the time, and an intern alerted all of us to the breaking news. I was one of the first in my Facebook community to post what I was hearing as the story broke on CNN.

For a lot of working people who did not have access to the TV coverage, they followed the unfolding details on social media. It will be interesting, but not surprising, to see the metrics on posting activity in the hours immediately following this catastrophe. Many of us were operating with two or three screens – watching the television coverage while scanning online and social media feeds for more details or resources. Some of us only had social media to keep us informed.

We are all aware of the huge marketing presence on social media channels. What happens to brand messages when a tragedy occurs and everyone’s focus turns to breaking news? Standard brand messaging suddenly seems superfluous. Content consumers are not in the mood to be engaged by your brand. Their focus is information on the unfolding story. And, worst-case scenario, brands can seem not only insensitive, but also oblivious to what is going on around them in the real world.

As Scott Monty, Ford’s Global Digital and Multimedia Communications Manager posted on Facebook, “If you manage social media for a brand, this would be a good time to suspend any additional posts for the day.”

And the esteemed Mari Smith, one of the most astute Facebook marketing gurus posted: “Brands and business owners: You may want to turn off any automatically scheduled social media posts today out of respect for the victims of the recent Boston Marathon explosions. It’s always difficult to know what to do in this type of situation. Simply extending empathy and compassion to those involved and not having a ‘business as usual’ attitude can certainly help.”

No one advocates turning tragedy into a marketing advantage, but brands and business owners can and should react like human beings. You may not know what to say, but a simple statement like “Our hearts and prayers go out to the people of Boston” goes a long way in expressing your humanity.

If your brand or business does not have a policy on how to react in the social media space during times of tragedy or crises, perhaps now is the time to discuss and implement one. There are hundreds of good examples of how to do it right on the major social media pages right now.

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2013 Mobile Future in Focus Report from comScore

2013 may eventually go down as the “Year of Mobile.” Last year, 2012, we saw more access of online content from mobile devices than from PCs. We saw a huge 4% jump in smartphone adaption in the final quarter of 2012. That was followed by more than 50 million smart devices being activated during the week following the Christmas holidays. Smartphone and tablet adaption continue at a rapid pace.

We are learning that “one mobile” strategy doesn’t fit all mobile devices. We now know that people use smartphones differently than they use tablets to consume content. Tablet users take deeper dives into content, and exhibit longer usage periods. Therefore, as marketers, we must have a tablet strategy that delivers that deeper content.

comScore, the very respected research company, just released their “2013 Mobile Future in Focus Report” on February 25. Below are some of the key take-aways from this report:

Multi-Platform Dynamics Shape the ‘Brave New Digital World.’

With smartphones surpassing 125 million U.S. consumers and tablets now owned by more than 50 million, we have crossed into the Brave New Digital World – a new paradigm of digital media fragmentation in which consumers are always connected. comScore Media Metrix® Multi-Platform (Beta), which provides an unduplicated view of digital media audiences and consumption across desktop computers, smartphones and tablets, reveals that more than one out of every three minutes online is now spent on devices beyond the PC.

Smartphones Surpass 50 Percent Penetration and Break Into ‘Late Majority’ of Adopters

2012 was a milestone year for the U.S. smartphone market as it finally surpassed 50 percent market penetration and now enters the “late majority” stage of the technology adoption curve. The number of smartphone subscribers has increased 29 percent from a year ago and 99 percent from two years ago. Not only does the market’s current ownership profile reflect a smartphone majority, but 72 percent of all newly-acquired devices are now smartphones.

Android and iOS Control U.S. Smartphone Market

Google’s Android OS, which has been adopted by multiple OEMs, and Apple’s iOS, which is carried exclusively on iPhones, have come to dominate the U.S. smartphone landscape with nearly 90 percent of the market today. This market share dominance is being reinforced by the two platforms’ well-developed app ecosystems, making it even more difficult for the competing platforms to narrow the gap.

Samsung Makes Splash in Smartphone OEM Market

Apple continues to gain ground as the leading smartphone OEM, but Samsung has seen the most explosive growth in this market over the past couple of years with a year-over-year increase of more than 100 percent and a two-year increase of more than 400 percent. While Apple maintains a healthy lead over #2 Samsung, the gap has been steadily narrowing during a year in which the rivalry heated up between the two smartphone OEM leaders.

High-Speed Mobile Connectivity Has Unleashed Mobile Content Consumption

The improved availability of high-speed Internet access has significantly enhanced the average user’s media consumption experience, contributing to a rapid uptick in mobile media consumption. Default Wi-Fi accessibility for smartphones and tablets has not only off-loaded bandwidth from networks, but has also contributed to a better on-premise (e.g. in-home) browsing experience for users. While Wi-Fi usage has become more prevalent, networks speeds have also improved with 4G and LTE technology as an increasing number of phones on the market are enabled for these speeds.

comScore, Inc. (NASDAQ: SCOR) is a global leader in digital measurement and analytics, delivering insights on web, mobile and TV consumer behavior that enable clients to maximize the value of their digital investments. For more information, please visit www.comscore.com/companyinfo.

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Beyond the Hashtag #: Marketing Lessons from the Super Bowl

The post Super Bowl conversation continues. And the day after the third highest rated Super Bowl Game in history, forever to-be-known as the ”Blackout Bowl,” much of that conversation is about the TV commercials and the marketing messages that cost about $4 million per 30 second spot. And some of the conversation is about new standards for digital engagement.

Some observations…

Chrysler certainly marches to their own drummer, and they do it well. Following up on the buzz that they generated in the two previous Super Bowls with spots featuring Eminem and Clint Eastwood, they doubled-down this year with spots for Jeep and Dodge Ram. For each brand, they ran a single 2 minute commercial, which is much more conducive to their custom messaging than the normal 30 second format. Both spots, Jeep’s “Whole Again,” saluting military families, and Dodge Ram’s “Farmer,” saluting America’s farm families, shared some high level branding attributes. Both were voiced by recognizable celebrities not known for commercial endorsement, Oprah on the Jeep spot, and the late Paul Harvey for Dodge Ram’s “Farmers.” The Harvey voice over was a recording of a speech that the venerable radio newscaster gave to a Future Farmers of America convention in 1978. Both spots had strong imagery – for Jeep it was the families of deployed military members and their returning loved ones. (The dramatic music used is the theme from HBO’s mini-series “The Pacific.) For Dodge Ram’s “Farmers” it was striking color and black and white still photography of everyday farm and ranch people. Neither spot had one sentence of “sell,” but both were heavy on emotion, which is the key to successful branding. Also, neither spot was released prior to the Super Bowl, but both made most “Top Five” lists of both critics’ and consumers’ choices. Impressions not garnered by pre-event online viewing were more than compensated for by post Super Bowl online and television play. It will be interesting to see if any other marketers go for two-minute units in next year’s game.

Oreo’s Social Integration Set New Standards.

Oreo may be celebrating the venerable cookie’s 100^th birthday, but their brand team led the pack in the Super Bowl digital space. Marketers and consumers alike were astonished when Facebook and Twitter exploded with a custom “You Can Still Dunk in the Dark” graphic that appeared approximately 15 minutes into the weird stadium light malfunction just moments into the second half of the game.

Amazingly, Oreo held he stage during the long pause when there was nothing to watch on TV and SocialTVers (those participating in online social channels while watching TV) were all over Facebook and the Twitterverse, Retweeting “Dunk in the Dark” almost 20,000 times with a similar number of Facebook “Likes.”

In a strategy that is sure to be copied by big brands during next year’s Super Bowl and other big events, Oreo had a 15 person agency (360i) and brand team all in the same room ready to respond to any social media opportunity. The Baltimore Ravens may have won the Super Bowl, but Oreo won the blackout

And, they did it with $0 ad spend!

Sarah Hofstetter, president of Oreo’s digital marketing agency 360i, responsible for game-day tweeting, said in an interview with Wired, “The new world order of communications today incorporates the whole of the way people are interacting with brands right now. Once the blackout happened, no one was distracted — there was nothing going on. The combination of speed and cultural relevance propelled it the forefront.” Watch for Sarah to be a keynote speaker at every major social media conference in the coming year.

Oreo was also the only brand to utilize Instagram, the current social media flavor of the month. In the “Cookie vs. Cream” online takeoff of their first-quarter TV spot, users were urged to submit Instagram photos to be “cookied” or “creamed” that Oreo might turn into a sculpture. The online extension was promoted at the end of the spot. Oreo has already garnered 36,000 Instagram followers.

In the biggest TV and SocialTV event of the year (it’s estimated that more that one in three people watched the Super Bowl on TV while participating in social channels online), Oreo dominated the second (and third and fourth) screens.

This may ultimately be viewed as a paradigm shift in online social applications of TV engagement. Here’s what we learned:

The second screen is not secondary. We saw that the second (and third and fourth) screen is just as important as the TV screen for SocialTVers. Hashtags are the traffic cops on the engagement highway, but are often added as an afterthought. Marketers should think of hashtags as drivers to online engagements. The TV spot is optimized when is directs the consumer to specific online engagement.

Real Time has just become critical. What made the Oreo “Dunk in the Dark” go viral was that it appeared while the event was occurring. Had it appeared the next morning, or later in the week, it would have been ho-hum. It’s the timing that made it effective.

Content is king. It’s not that Oreo was able to post custom content in the middle of the Super Bowl power failure, it was the content was relevant and resonated.

What marketing messaging in the Super Bowl resonated with you? What are your commercial winners and losers?

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Designing the Ultimate Online Fan Fxperience

The normal level of excitement we have here at Vco has nearly tripled today as a project that our team has been very passionate about goes live. Drum roll please! Allow us to introduce the newly redesigned Dragon*Con website. It has been a great experience over the last several months to bring this new site to life, and we are extremely proud of the result. It’s been a unique challenge – creating a site for tens of thousands of fans of one of the world’s biggest science fiction and fantasy conventions.

When we first met with the Dragon*Con team, we learned that their site had not been updated since 1997. A lot has changed with the convention itself in the last 16 years. Their “fan tracks,” or areas of interest, had grown to over 40 separate interests. Over 50,000 people attended the 26th annual event in 2012. The direction given to our team was to respect the fans – let every fan be able to find what they are looking for – and bring the excitement of the 4-day convention to life online where those fans can stay connected the rest of the year. Challenge accepted!

Content, Content, Content

We knew that this site redesign it would utilize some of our core strengths at Vco – site design, user experience & flow and content strategy. First up, was organizing the content, and there was a lot of it. We needed to let each fan be able to get to the content they need quickly in order to plan their experience at the show and their trip logistics. Realizing that the site is an online extension of the show, we prioritized content based on how any fan can plan their 4 days in Atlanta for the annual event. Our primary focus was to answer the question: “What can I do when I get there?” From there, all other content must support this role – from where to stay, to learning about the history of Dragon*Con to checking out photos from past events – we have created clear paths to create the ultimate Dragon*Con experience for each individual, while serving all fans. The site design allows every fan to quickly drill down to what they are looking for within the updated content architecture.

Unparalleled Digital Design

If you have never been to Dragon*Con, you are truly missing an event that challenges the imagination. Whether you are a fan or not, the energy and passion for the events by the ardent fans over a 4-day period is infectious. Our incredible design team created an online experience that really brings this energy to life online. We had access to years of content, assets and photographs as well as behind-the-scenes access to guests of the 2012 show. With all of this, we were able to highlight the wide variety of events and let the images speak for themselves. Each section of the site has a custom graphic header with visuals that match the experience described on the page. W, we inclue a visual to each type of event, guest and experience at the convention. We created an infrastructure that is easily scalable as more content is added to the show (and ultimately the site), yet does not compete with the rich graphics and photographs.

Personally, I would be remiss if I did not recognize the hard work of some of our team members whose dedication really made this site, well, awesome! Rob, Lauren and Leigh you made this site a best-in-class experience and has set the bar for our work moving forward. I cannot thank you enough!

– Beth Ventura

Are you looking for a site experience that will set you above your competition? Reach out to us and see what great solutions the Vco team create do for you!

Posted by Beth Ventura | Read More | No Comments

We’re Google Engaged!

The internet has become a ubiquitous marketing tool. From worldwide brands to the neighborhood bakery, virtually every business in America has a web presence. That’s made the digital world an even more crowded place. And, because of that, it has become more-and-more difficult for almost all brands and marketers to be found by consumers in the market for their products or services. It’s one thing to be on the internet. It’s a whole bigger issue to be found on the web. That’s an even tougher proposition for small and medium sized businesses who don’t have the resources or expertise to buy positioning that the biggest marketers do.

For years, digital marketing agencies have been tuned-in to Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and Search Engine Marketing (SEM). Frankly, Ventura & Company (Vco) is well versed in optimizing search results for our clients. However, as the web becomes more crowded by marketers, and more than three out of four people say that they search the internet before making a purchase, we want to make sure that we can offer our clients leading edge marketing solutions in this crucial area. We’ve just taken a giant leap forward by qualifying as a Google Engage marketing agency.

Why Google? Because they “own” internet search. The most recent aggregated web search statistics (compiled by KarmaSnack for December 2012) shows Google with an 86.3% share of all web searches initiated in the US (Bing ranks #2 with just 7.3%) and 88.8% of all global searches (Bing ranks #2 with 4.2%). If you want to be found on the web, you have to play in Google’s world.

Being a “Google Engage” agency allows us to work closely with Google to optimize web search presence for our small and medium-sized business clients. To become certified as a Google Engage agency, we’ve been through a comprehensive training program covering topics such as Google AdWords, Pay-Per-Click (PPC), Keywords, organic and paid search, DoubleClick ad serving platform, Google Analytics, YouTube, Google Places (Maps), Gmail, Google Checkout, and Google’s “Click to Call” mobile platform. And, since “search” is ever changing, Google Engage allows us to stay at the forefront of search trends and philosophy.

When we work with our clients, we have a dedicated Google representative who’s just a quick phone call or email away, to assist us in designing the most efficient customized SEO and SEM programs. She helps us optimize your investment and drive search conversions.

We can show you the value of each Google AdWords click, calculate an efficient Cost Per Click (CPC), boost conversiontes and maximize your return on investment. We can help you use Google tools to build brand and awareness, acquire new customers and uncover untapped markets. We can also show you what your competitors are doing and help you develop a Unique Selling Proposition.

The new year is the perfect time to take a look at your online investment and ask yourself “Is there a better way to do this?” We think that the answer to that is “yes!” and we’d like to show you how. Drop us an email at info@ventura-company.com and we’ll arrange a conversation.

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The Simple Science of Facebook Engagement

Whether you are a big brand or a small business, Facebook should be an integral part of your marketing strategy. There are some simple ways that you can improve engagement on your Facebook page with your fans.

What percentage of businesses have acquired a customer via their Facebook page?

Do you know the optimum time to make your posts? There are times that allow you to reach the maximum number of fans.

Likewise, there are times that should be avoided.

Is it advantageous to include an image?

Do longer or shorter posts drive more engagement?

What about people who post customer service complaints on your Facebook page – how soon do they expect a response?

What else can you do to maximize engagement opportunities on your Facebook page?

Here are answers to those questions and some other great tips on this great infographic from American Express Open.

The Simple Science of Facebook Engagement

by AmExOPENForum.Learn about data visualization tools.

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Cyber Holidays?

It’s that time of year again, where we talk about the amazing statistics (good and bad) about the holiday season. Nestled between Thanksgiving/Hannukah/Christmas, retailers and marketers watch foot traffic, site traffic, YOY increases, daily deals and how early to open their retail locations. Just as anticipated, online, and mobile more specifically, are gaining more and more ground during the 2012 holiday season. It’s pretty amazing the impact of Cyber Monday in just 7 years, considering that Shop.org coined the phrase in 2005 as a holiday shopping gimmick.

Here are just a few of the amazing stats to come out of last week’s official kick off to the 2012 holiday season:

Cyber Monday, November 26, 2012, became the biggest online shopping day in history. Sales were up 17% over last year according to Adobe Digital Index, to almost $2 billion. Mobile devices accounted for over 22% of all online purchases up from 12% in 2011.
The most popular Black Friday categories are Electronics, Computers and Clothing – measured by clicks.
According to Google Trends, people started widely searching online for Black Friday deals as early as October 14
Retailers began commercializing (and even opened stores) on Thanksgiving, creating opportunity for consumers who dont want to watch 12 hours of football and making the holiday “Grey Thursday” according to NPD Group. This was confirmed by 17 % of consumers, nearly 41 million people, shopping on the holiday.
All told, and the figures are still being tallied, over 14 million of us shopped over the holiday weekend with an increase of over 4.1%
Black Friday also saw huge increases online with over 57 million consumers visiting an online retailer, up 18% from over a year ago, and a total of over $1 billion in sales on Black Friday alone (from comScore).

After planning an integrated holiday email campaign for a client and launching a new Ecommerce site for another to gain increased share of the holiday shopping mindset, I personally decided to stay home and avoid the crowds over the weekend. However, cabin fever got the best of me and, of course, I could not last 5 days without a trip to Target. I was shocked to see how empty the brick and mortar store was. I shopped leisurely through the aisles taking advantage of Black Friday deals that were well stocked. I spoke with friends of mine who experienced the same. Traffic was not crazy, parking was easy, and everyone could get quickly in and out of the stores.

With online traffic reaching new highs and foot traffic, anecdotally refreshing, all retailers need to make sure that their online experience delivers on consumers requirements to research and buy the best deals on a schedule that suits the consumer’s timeframe. Exclusives and offers timed to gain maximum exposure to savvy, deal-shopping consumers need to be consistent across all channels, especially digital. Social, mobile and email all need to create awareness of timely offers and drive towards conversion. Every tool in the digital tool box has a role to capitalize on holiday spending.

How were your holiday results? What roll did digital play in your overall sales? How could you improve your share of wallet?

Happy Holidays!

Posted by Beth Ventura | Read More | No Comments

Welcome to the team, Erick!

We are proud to announce a great addition to the Vco team, Erick Pennington is joining as Director of Business Development. Erick’s brings extensive experience in agency business development to Ventura & Co. Erick began in corporate sales in Sports Marketing as the champion of great success for MLB’s Tampa Bay Rays and NBA’s Houston Rockets. From there, Erick kicked off his first agency experience in Charlotte where he became the highest-grossing business development person working with brands such as DuPont, Russell Corporation and North American Honda. From there, He then settled in Atlanta, where he exceeded new business development goals while working with brands such as Cingular Wireless, Coca-Cola Enterprises, VeriFone and Whole Foods to name a few.

However, it is not Erick’s experience that makes him a perfect fit to lead Vco’s business development efforts. It’s his strategic approach and ability to listen to client needs that melds with the entire Vco team approach to digital marketing and strategy. Great sales records and working with strong brands can only be achieved by someone that has clear focus and a strong ability to match needs with capabilites amongst potential partners. Erick has proven that he can do just that.

When Erick is not executing our business development strategy, you can find him on his online radio show The Agency Review Project. In his free time, you can yell “Roll Tide” with Erick any Saturday in the fall.

Welcome to the team, Erick! We are thrilled to have you aboard!

Say hi to Erick in the comments below or you can always talk to him at erickp@ventura-company.com

Posted by Beth Ventura | Read More | No Comments

Older Posts »

2013 Mobile Future in Focus Report from comScore

Designing the Ultimate Online Fan Fxperience

We’re Google Engaged!

Cyber Holidays?

Welcome to the team, Erick!

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