Anyone that says desktop display advertising is dying is sadly mistaken. It may seem like a pretty ridiculous statement to make, but there have been countless professionals that have said display advertising will undoubtedly be taken over completely by things like social marketing and mobile display. Although they have not been the talk of the headlines lately, desktop display advertising is still proving quite successful for marketers. By the end of 2012, it was easy to see that display marketing has surely hit some bumps in its long road, but is still moving along. In an article by Online Media Daily, we can see proof of the state of home page display marketing as the year came to an end.

The article, detailing data from the latest report by Macquarie Securities, a large research team, shows that at the end of 2012, desktop home page display was not in a perfect state compared to the prior quarter and the fourth quarter of 2011. For example, 56% of home page display ads in Q4 of 2012 were oversized units, while only 45% were in Q3 and 43% were in Q4 of the prior year. This shows a struggle in home page display ad health, as these larger ad units often require higher CPMs than the average ad unit.

Also, it appears that there has been a significant increase in home page ads that are brand-focused alone, instead of the direct-response ads that have been popular in the past. The research shows that 67% of ads were brand-focused in Q4 of 2012, which has increased from 58% in the prior quarter and 59% the year prior. Most of these brand-focused ads came from media and financial service verticals, coming in with 18% and 14% of home page display ads.

Below are some more important highlights from the company’s research:

• YouTube stays the leader in home page ads with its large home page ad unit seeing maximum use 91% of the days in Q4.
• It appears that diversity is up in home page advertising; Media fell to 37% of all home page ads and the holiday season brought in more activity from verticals such as consumer electronics and automotive.

Proof of this improvement in home page display advertising also comes from companies like Yahoo and Amazon. Yahoo’s use of oversized ad units increased 10% from quarter to quarter, and brand focused ads increased by 11%. For Amazon, things were even more significant. Amazon’s use of oversized homepage ad units increased from 1% to 17% of all home page ads. Also, just over half (55%) of the company’s ads were a combination of direct-response ads and brand-focused ads.

All of this evidence points to many things, one of them being that display advertising still has plenty of room for growth, regardless of newer, flashier advertising techniques. Home page display advertising is still very popular, and for many marketers it is still extremely useful. The increased growth and diversity in the last quarter of 2012 is all good news for display marketers who are still looking to home page display advertising as a viable marketing source.

Every single day, millions of people log into Facebook, simply to scroll endlessly through their News Feeds and see what is going on with friends and family since the last time that they did the same exact thing. That is the wonder of Facebook, as people have fallen in love with this incredibly simplistic way of keeping up socially. However, recently we have been seeing more and more of this News Feed taken up by advertising, in many forms. Users have not minded the ads, and rather have been engaging with them quite regularly. There is one type of ad that can often be found in Facebook’s mobile platform that has apparently been doing quite well. These ads are those that are advertising mobile apps that can bring users to a download page straight from Facebook.

Now that thousands upon thousands of businesses are releasing their own mobile apps, as the world turns ever so quickly into one that is dependent on mobile browsing, app developers are harder at work than ever. According to a marketing partner of Facebook, AdParlor, these mobile News Feed ads that advertise mobile apps are bringing in some impressive numbers. In fact, the average clickthrough rates for these mobile news feed ads, according to AdParlor’s four-week campaign monitoring those of a large gaming company, came in at about .5%, and sometimes even higher.

Another way of measuring their success that AdParlor used was cost-per-install, which is basically a way of seeing just how much it is costing developers to bring users to performing actions upon viewing news feed ads. In the US, the cost-per-install was at about $2.75, which is relatively low. Not only that, but for all countries that were examined, the cost-per-install was under $3.

In a TechCrunch article, CEO of AdParlor, Hussen Fazal states the following regarding these particular mobile news feed advertisements:

“As Facebook mobile app install ads evolve, we’ve seen very encouraging numbers across the board.  We believe budgets will continue to shift towards mobile, and expect Facebook mobile app install ads to be a key component of the marketing mix for all mobile application developers.”

It is easy to see that if these ads continue to perform as well as they have been, Facebook may very well have created yet another giant revenue force. App development is only on the rise, and will be for some time as mobile grows larger in the hearts of consumers and marketers. If this new revenue generation is to take place, it will only be a matter of time before it happens, and Facebook will have found a way to expand what already is an enormous marketing source.

Businesses, marketers, banks, games, and more; they are constantly creating newer apps, and consumers are constantly installing them. Marketers for these apps have often had trouble in the past reaching as many people as has been desired, but with Facebook that may no longer be an issue.

It may seem like forever, but not more than 20 years ago, digital advertising was basically unheard of. There were no display ads, no SEO tactics, no social posts, and especially no mobile advertising. Everything that you have ever seen in digital advertising in the broad scheme of things is new. It is all young, meaning it is all still being experimented with and it is hard to really be sure how results will turn out. However, that has not stopped the digital marketing world from reaching an incredibly mark just the other day. Online advertising has reached a record high, and it only took a few years to do it.

Yet again, eMarketer provides us with some information that cannot be ignored. For the first time ever in history, online advertising has surpassed the $100 billion ad spending mark in 2012. That is a number that holds quite a bit of weight with it, and shows just how successful online advertising is becoming. According to eMarketer though, this is still only the beginning, and online advertising has a long way to go in terms of reaching its actual highest point.

The growth is expected to go like this:

Total Worldwide Ad Spend 2012-2016

2012: $102.83 billion

2013: $118.40 billion

2014: $134.65 billion

2015: $149.18 billion

2016: $163.04 billion

As of right now, North America accounts for the majority of all online ad spending, with 39% of the total in the end of 2012. This comes from the constant innovation that we have seen in some of the country’s most popular forms of marketing, and growth in North America will continue to thrive.

As of right now, digital ad spending accounts for about 1 in 5 of all ad dollars that are spent in the world, and that number will only increase as the world continues its digital transformation.  By 2016, eMarketer expects that digital ad spending will well surpass one quarter of all ad spending, and a decrease does not seem likely in the near future.

So, how does this affect any given individual brand or business? Well, it really does not directly pertain to any business, but it shows the unrelenting growth in the industry, and how successful digital marketing can be. It shows how important it is becoming to have some sort of digital presence in the world, and how much more important it will become. If everyone else is doing it and you aren’t, it must mean that there is something you are missing.

For online advertising to reach such a high level in such a short period of time is incredible, and cannot be overlooked. The things that are made possible with digital marketing are more than anyone could have imagined 20 years ago. North America along with the rest of the world have experienced a huge change in the way consumers are reached, and the numbers are looking good.

In the past, there was not marketing or advertising technique that could trump the amount of trust that people put in word of mouth. Now that this word of mouth has all but disappeared as a place people turn to find out about their next purchases, reviews have stepped in as the next best thing. Most internet users pay very close attention to product, service, and business reviews before doing any business whatsoever, which is smart on their part. However, we have all heard of the hurt that reviews can put on any company, big or small. A single negative review can cost a business many customers, and has in very few cases been that which caused the business to go under. But, how can something that some random, often anonymous person states about their personal experience with a business cause so much havoc for that business?

Recent numbers from Weber Shandwick, a marketing and retail research group, show how reviews can affect a business so severely. First off, their study shows that 65% of potential buyers in consumer electronics were influenced in their decisions by reviews. The reviews that businesses appreciate most are often those done by professionals, because they are honest and the positive ones can really portray the greatest aspects of that business. However, these do not appear to be the ones that consumers want to pay attention to. About 77% of those surveyed preferred consumer reviews over editorial.

What is strange is that even though 65% of buyers are influenced by the writings in reviews, mostly by those of other consumers, 80% of those surveyed said that they usually questioned the authenticity and accuracy of the reviews that they were reading online.

So, I guess this is essentially bad news for any business that relies at least partially on reviews as a marketing method. Any random consumer can post anything they want about a business, and it seems all we can do is hope for positivity. However, there is a bright side. The study tells us that consumers, on average, view at least 11 consumer reviews before making a decisions whether to purchase or move on to another brand. So, that gives businesses quite a bit more room, allowing for consumers to find a few positive reviews, instead of simply focusing on the negative.

Bradford Williams, the president of Weber Shandwick’s North American Technology Practice, states:

“We know consumer reviewers are a powerful force. Now we know that they are THE most powerful force. Savvy marketers are the ones who listen to, manage and deploy consumer reviewers to harness their considerable might at the cash register.”

“The increasing impact of consumer reviews on sales means that marketers must learn how to effectively manage the flood of online opinion engulfing shoppers. Online user reviews are transforming buying decisions. Our study sheds new light on why, how and when shoppers use both user reviews as well as traditional editorial reviews in the purchase process.”

The full infographic from this study can be found here.

December was a big month for internet advertising, as it always has been. However, December of 2012 showed the changing of the times a bit more than past years have, as different advertising platforms have grown significantly in popularity. Evidence of this comes from a recent report from comScore, detailing the performance of video advertising as a whole for December of last year. According to the report, consumers viewed 11.3 billion video advertisements in that month alone, which shows a significant boost in video ad view numbers, and that video advertising has absolutely become a viable marketing solution. The 11.3 billion video ad views came from 182 million U.S internet users who watched 38.7 billion online content videos for the month.

The report shows us that advertisements made up a total of 22 percent of all videos viewed in December, and ads from Google sites received the most views. It seems that Google’s acquisition of YouTube was the perfect move for the company, with video ads hitting high numbers not long after. Google Sites boasted almost 2 billion ad views, with the BrightRoll video network coming in second with 1.8 billion ads seen on their network.

The rest of the top five properties included LiveRail.com, Adap.TV, and Hulu. LiveRail.com had 1.7 billion ads viewed on their network, Adap.TV had around 1.5 billion ads viewed with their network, and Hulu came in close with over 1.4 billion ads viewed.

At least 53 percent of the entire population of the country was reached by a video ad in December, and each viewer averaged about 70 ad views for the duration. Although Hulu hit the bottom of the top 5 with total ads viewed on their network, the company had the highest frequency of video ads delivered to viewers at an average of 65. Google’s sites only delivered an average of about 20 ads per viewer for the month.

Some of the report’s other key findings included:

• 84.9 percent of the U.S. Internet audience viewed online video.
• The duration of the average online content video was 5.4 minutes, while the average online video ad was 0.4 minutes.
• Video ads accounted for 22.6 percent of all videos viewed and 1.9 percent of all minutes spent viewing video online.

Video advertising has hit consumers in a huge way, simply because consumers are finding more interest in video and image content than they are written word these days. Video content is the favorite among internet users, especially those who are heavy users of social media. As video content is shared all around the web, so are video ads, which brings to the table a further reach for marketers. comScore’s report regarding December’s video ad performance simply shows the direction in which video ad content is headed, and it definitely looks good. With about 85 percent of the entire online community in the United States viewing online video, it should become very clear that a significant shift has occurred, and is not expected to change any time soon.

Nobody was expecting much from Facebook in the way of creating new tools for marketers to use on their platform, especially since the company just released a few new tools around the holidays. However, while marketers are still getting used to using these new tools to their advantage, Facebook has announced a release of even more tools for marketers to use in their efforts with the platform. The new release was announced by Merry Morud, a specialist in Facebook marketing at aimClear. AimClear is a social, search, PR and display marketing agency. Merry gives a first look into the new features that marketers can look forward to using if they have not already.

Post Updates

As far as most marketers know, promoting a post is an effective tactic to bringing in more traffic, however the problem that most have dealt with is that it was only possible to promote a post that already existed. This did not cause too much of a tragedy for marketers, but the amount of time it took to properly promote a post that one wanted to promote was a bit too much for advertisers. This is why, with the new feature added to Facebook’s Ad Manager Create Flow, advertisers are now able to navigate to the Promote Page Posts tab, and continue on to click the “Create New Page Post” button. However, for those simply looking to drive more traffic with current posts, the option of choosing from a list of existing posts still exists.

Merry Morud writes:

“Well thought out, the hybrid marketing community manager can post pictures, updates, and even links with a thumbnail and meta information that can be edited just like posts from the Wall.”

Connection Targeting with Sponsored Stories

The next update that Merry Morud details in her announcement involves Sponsored Stories, and a change made to the Create Flow design that Facebook created not long ago. Though this was something that was offered before, Facebook is again allowing advertisers to create Sponsored Stories that, “show social engagement surrounding liking or commenting any post.”

“Facebook advertisers can still create Sponsored Stories for a particular post and the social engagement Sponsored Stories will be for only that post.  To create Sponsored Stories for any post, advertisers must select See Advanced Options, and choose to create a new ad about their Page.”

With even more innovation in the obtaining of Likes, traffic, and engagement, as well as innovation in connection targeting, it is hard to see when Facebook will stop coming up with new ideas for marketers. Their new features seem to be appearing one after another during short periods of time, probably to keep marketers up to date with the latest social marketing tactics. Facebook has always been criticized by some analysts for the performance of their company as a social marketing platform, but it is becoming harder to see how or why. Facebook is still the top name in social advertising, and with new features like these, the company is bound to stay in that position.

One form of marketing that has always been around and that has and always will work just fine is the coupon. Coupons are used all day, every day all around the country, so much so that there are television shows that focus on the use of coupons alone, like the all famous Extreme Couponing on TLC. Anyway, it was a pretty obvious expectation that coupons would become even bigger once they became digital, and when they did the expectation was proven correct. Companies like Groupon and Coupons.com can be found in the news all the time now, and consumers are starting to tap into the world of digital couponing quite heavily. So, what happens every time something gets big on the web?

Well, the answer is simple; Google takes action. Google has made attempts at couponing services in the past, with services like Google Coupons, Google Wallet, Google Offers and Google Offer Ads, but none have really taken off in the way that they had expected. But, the people of Google decided not to give up, and now they present to the world their newest step into the world of digital coupons, Zavers. This new service is an online couponing solution for retailers as well as a redemption solution for retailers and manufacturers.

This is how Google describes the new service:

“Unlike traditional media, Zavers’ real-time data gives manufacturers new ways to measure coupon redemptions and analyze consumer preferences so they can manage distribution, tailor campaigns, and optimize budgets for maximum ROI. Zavers also offers access to an extensive network of manufacturer coupons, opening up new retail revenue streams.

With Zavers, shoppers find manufacturer discounts on their favorite retailer websites, and save the digital coupons to their accounts. Then they simply shop for those products and check out as usual. Redemption occurs in real time, with savings automatically deducted at checkout when shoppers provide their rewards cards or phone numbers—no scanning or sorting necessary. Manufacturers only pay when a product is moved off the shelf.”

Of course, Google created this new service to work with Google Wallet, their new online payment and processing service. However, it does not seem that many people have really taken a liking to Google Wallet, so Zavers will also be able to be associated with loyalty or credit cards that already exist.

The service was just announced recently, but already Google has lined up some great Zavers beta testing companies such as Price Chopper, The Food Emporium, Path Mark, Super Fresh, A & P, and Bi Lo. As you can see, most of these names are well known, popular companies, which points toward the fact that unlike many digital couponing services, this one is aimed at the bigger businesses and corporations.

As for distribution of coupons, it has been said that Google will allow many different ways to get coupons seen and used. Marketers and companies will be able to use AdWords, email, display ads, and even mobile advertising methods.

Facebook users can usually decide whether they want to Like and become a fan of a Page or not just by seeing a single post. Along with that, Liking a Page is usually a split second decision for users, and they often do not see a post from a Page and then return later in the day to like that Page. It is sort of a now or never kind of thing when it comes to Page post advertising, and there are certain aspects that are required in making these posts successful as an advertising solution. One such aspect has returned recently, and will bring these Page posts back to their former glory, according to Inside Facebook.

Page posts used to be more of a fan acquisition tool, as they used to include a Like Page button, which made grabbing fans simple. Now, Page post ads can be promoted to existing fans, friends of fans, or even people that are in no way connected to the page. In the past, the posts that were promoted to users that were not connected to the page usually included a Like Page button, increasing the chances of acquiring fans. In November of 2012, Facebook ridded Page posts of their Like Page button, and performance on these posts went way down.

According to Inside Facebook, Spruce Media came up with some numbers regarding the disappearance of the Like Page button option in Page post ads. The clickthrough rate of Page post ads when the Like Page button option was removed dropped severely from 2.52 percent all the way down to 0.62 percent. Not only that, but conversions decreased as well. The conversion rate before the Like Page button was removed was at 12.8 percent, and then it nearly got cut in half when the button was removed to 6.5 percent. Finally, the average cost per fan went down farther than Facebook could have expected, dropping about 270 percent. So, needless to say, Facebook made a mistake removing this option for marketers.

But, there’s no need to worry because sometime last week, we have begun seeing the option reappear, and it seems it is available for any Page post advertiser who wants to use it. Hopefully we will see things return to the way they were before. However, Inside Facebook lends a bit of advice to those marketers considering the option for their marketing use.

“Now, starting some point in the past week, the “Like Page” button is back for desktop News Feed page post ads, though not for the mobile equivalent. Advertisers should be aware of these differences as they plan their campaigns. Page post ads are generally good for content marketers and pages looking to increase engagement, but they are not optimized for fan acquisition. If getting new fans is an important secondary goal, advertisers may not want to buy mobile page post ads since they do not currently have the Like Page button.”

The Like Page button will appear in the same place that it used to appear within ads; in the upper right hand corner. Check out some Facebook Page Post ads to see it back in action.