What’s the form of internet marketing that people tend to notice the most, while still receiving the least clicks? Of course, what I means is display advertising. The CTR’s of display ads usually aren’t the biggest, but people keep them around because they are still effective in some form or another. However, it’s hard to see a long future for display advertising, because of the often mediocre results that they pull in. More and more options for advertising are popping up all over the web, and with that, others are becoming obsolete. The way that marketers think display will stay around is through integration.

There are really three reasons for anybody to use the internet today, and those are for email, search, and social networking. According to a survey by Econsultancy and Responsys, reported by eMarketer, integrating display banners into these three major internet communities is the only way that display will survive as a successful marketing solution. The surveys, “found that of the top four trends deemed most important to the future of display advertising, three were related to integration.” 59% of respondents said that the future of display advertising on the web relies upon integration with social media as a very significant factor, 56% said the the same for integration with search, and 41% responded in the same way for email integration. What’s more is that 50% of the respondents in the survey said that personalized ads online are a key factor in display’s future.

The fact is that personalized ads are now being found on most social media networks. So, in a way, this just adds to how important social media integration is for display ads. Advertisers are starting to realize the importance of integration as well, and their plans to take action have come to light. While 44% of respondents said they are looking to integrate with on-site content management now, 37% plan on integrating with search engines very soon. In third place came email, at 31%. Surprisingly, only 28% of respondents say that their first integration plans are with social media. “Companies were also most likely to say that integrating search and display had the most positive impact on their display advertising, with 70% of respondents agreeing.” Plans to integrate were very low in the line of mobile marketing, at 14%. It’s probably because of the low probability of click throughs on mobile devices.

According eMarketer, personalized ads are, in the opinion of certain agencies, the most important to the future of display marketing. The fact is, though, that the majority of agencies are saying that internet search integration is what has been boosting display performance, and will continue to. Display still has the potential to be a very successful form of internet marketing, if advertisers start recognizing the potential of integration into things like email, search engines, and social media. Display’s performance has come down to integration, and it seems that without it, other advertising methods will continue to prevail.

As and experienced advertiser, you probably know how important it is to manage your online reputation alongside successful advertising campaigns. We’ve all seen the damage that negative online reviews can have on a business, so managing your reputation online is just as important as any other marketing aspect. Now, the problem is, if you don’t manage your negative reviews or social media chatter, you’re guaranteed to lose customers and money. The best way to roll with the punches is to take negative reviews as feedback, and try to work on the things mentioned within them. However, studies have shown recently, that businesses don’t seem to be paying enough attention to the negative reviews they receive.

eMarketer wrote in a report called, “Dealing with Negative Buzz on Social Media,” the company writes, “In a world of social sites that allow consumers to post photos, videos and opinions about companies and brands, disparaging comments and other content detrimental to brands are bound to bubble up.” The most surprising fact that eMarketer’s article informs of is that only 49% of businesses who receive negative reviews online actually act upon them. The biggest issue that this poses is that a total of 50% of respondents said that the main reason they use social media for customer service is to get answers about issues with the business at hand. With businesses ignoring the countless issues and negative responses to products or services, customers are vanishing quickly.

“This buildup of negative buzz on social media can have a significant impact on brands because social media is more public and moves faster than customer complaints via traditional channels.” Businesses used to have to worry more about reviews on sites like Yelp or Angie’s List, but now the biggest problem for online reputations has really become social media. People can speak directly to past customers and get the information they need. Also, on the social pages of businesses, people post countless questions, comments, and concerns regarding businesses, which others can view. Since social media is among the top reasons for internet use today, people are bound to base their opinions on what they see on these networks.

“A growing number of products and services are available for marketers, and these evolving tools help companies monitor more keywords and issues, more accurately track sentiment, spot negative situations earlier in the process and determine who is behind the buzz.” There are people out there that have made it their role to manage the way businesses are perceived on social media networks, so, finding a way to maintain a good name isn’t the issue. The issue is that over half of the companies with pages on social networks do not make the effort to follow up on customer feedback. The fact remains that social media has become the new word of mouth, but with it being digital, there’s a way to manage it. It was widely understood that there’s nothing that could be done about what people physically said about businesses, but with social media, things have changed.

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Before downloading any free web application, users must ensure that proper disclosure is always provided before proceeding.  Oftentimes, I believe that download campaigns are mistakenly labeled as “adware” and therefore maintain a malicious stigma.  When, in actuality, many download campaigns are actually very safe and virus free, particularly if proper disclosure is given.  Albeit in cases where more cleaner downloads may be detected by AV scanners, its always critical to view at minimum, the following: a) full consent and opt in procedure b) option to opt out and uninstall c) clear user installation flow and finally and most importantly d) clear and transparent instructions on how to uninstall.

Downloadable campaigns and / or campaigns which convert on download or install, are getting a bad rap and at most times this is more an issue of misperception.  Certainly, there are clearly nefarious downloads that are out there, without question.  In particular, those downloadable campaigns that give no disclosure should be avoided first and foremost.  By disclosure we mean that the prospective user that is attempting to download, must be presented with clear and concise disclosure which clearly outlines what the user will be installing exactly on their PC, upon giving consent.

As many downloadable campaigns are often monetized with search providers and various searchfeeds including Google, Bing, Ask and Infospace as few examples, all of these search providers will of course relay their disclosure requirements and distributors must adhere to these standards before any packaged.  In most cases, some search providers for example, will allow for a pre-check on the terms.  Normally, with a pre-check option and with the user is given consent to proceed the package, will then do either one or all of the following actions, upon clicking “next”:

–          Reset search homepage to the new search provider
–          Reset the default search or DNS
–          Install or attach the new search providers toolbar

In many cases, Google, Bing, Ask or Yahoo’s brand may not be particularly associated with the toolbar that is being installed with the overall package.  This is essentially the result of their many distribution providers that currently leverage the partner’s brands as a white label and or private brand.  One good example of this would be Conduit,www.conduit.com .  This distribution provider will then either power their toolbar with one of these four search providers (in US case, this could be either Google, Bing, Ask, Yahoo, Yandex, Baidu, Blekko, etc.). as their exclusive searchfeed provider.  In many cases, white label toolbar distributors will also blend these various searchfeeds, creating one unified feed as a blend, or a “metafeed”.  When in doubt, you can always check the privacy policy or terms of use to validate which actual core search provider is actually powering the branded toolbar.

Overall, downloads do not have to be nefarious and harmful, particularly, if the user has given consent to install a search toolbar (most likely tethered to some free anchor or “hook” product, like a game or free utility).  Users will also want to ensure that clear and recognizable brands are shown are at least made available with a fully transparent and visible link to both the terms of use and privacy policy.  This is true even in cases of white label or branded toolbars and brower helper objects.  Its always smart really prudent and smart to walk through the entire installation process of a download before automatically labeling it as a “adware”.  In the end, its really the major search feed providers that depend on bundle distributors for core and widespread distribution of their searchfeed.  This is true of course, if done in an openly transparent and compliant manner.

Now I’m sure you’ve heard everything there is to hear about Facebook. People like myself watch Facebook closely, simply because it’s been the most popular social network platform for a long time now in the advertising world. It seems that every new announcement that Facebook has pertains to performance marketing in some way or another, so I like to stay up to date. However, this may be slowly coming to an end, as there is recent news suggesting that Facebook’s popularity is silently slipping away. One company has taken it into their own hands to find out exactly how popular Facebook still is, and in effect find out how valuable of an advertising platform it has become.

SodaHead is a website for opinions and statistics, and just recently they focused their attention on the subject of Facebook’s popularity now and in the future. In a very interesting infographic, SodaHead illustrates the opinions of a group of surveyed people. The responses of these participants helps us to judge the direction in which Facebook is headed. It shows that things are starting to change in the minds of social network users, and their opinions of Facebook may not be what they used to be.

To begin, SodaHead explains that while 10% of respondents are still checking Facebook constantly, 37% don’t even check their Facebook pages once a day, and 20% said they check once or twice a day. The larger amount of respondents say they don’t check Facebook daily, which is much different from Facebook’s prime when the majority of people were constantly on the site. What’s more revealing are the responses in regard to future Facebook plans. 52% of people plan to spend less time on the site in the future. So, in proportion to the entire Facebook user base, if over half of its users spend less time on Facebook in the future, will that eventually lead to that amount of people stopping using the site all together?

Of the respondents, 73% think that another social platform will “eclipse” Facebook in the near future. Coming from actual Facebook users, the percentage of people that say Facebook will be outdone is not very reassuring when considering Facebook’s future. Especially since on 23% of respondents said they only use on social network platform, while 61% said they use a few and 9% said they use a ton. The fact is, some of Facebook’s most influential competitors are starting to improve and users are starting to like them more.

Facebook never changes much. Sure, the format of the website has changed, advertising opportunities change, and there have been new features. But, these have all shown up over Facebook’s long eight year run, and it’s understandable that people have been craving change. This change that they’ve been waiting for is exactly what these new social networks are supplying. Although I don’t think we’ll have another case like we saw with Myspace years back, it’s very possible that Facebook will lose some popularity in the near future, essentially losing its value in the advertising world. I think it’s clear that Facebook may never die, but there’s a good chance it will get weaker, soon.
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Every business wants a good reputation with consumers, having them believe that they are reliable and trustworthy. The known ways to create an online reputation are countless, but some of the main ones today are reviews and Likes. The Like button isn’t only a form of conversion, but the number of likes a certain brand, product, or service has can tell consumers a lot about their reputation with other consumers. Also, online reviews are written and read by a large number of consumers, and the opinions of other consumers seem more trustworthy to most people. Both of these are said to be the best ways to create a reputation on the web, among other ways.

The reason I mention these in particular is not only that they are the most popular forms of reputation management, but also because of About.com’s recent report entitled The Trust Factor. The two aforementioned methods of reputation management are compared in the report, as About.com tries to clear up some confusing aspects of managing a name on the web. The report covers all aspects of consumer trust in brands, how trust can be developed with consumers, and then what the best methods are statistically.

A survey was performed by About.com on the subject of reviews and Likes. 50% of those surveyed said that more trust is added if something, “has lots of positive user reviews,” and if the company does not try to hide the negative ones. With a much lower 26%, a lot of Likes on a brand or product will create less trust from consumers. The report quotes Qual Phase, one of the many respondents as saying, “It’s hard to tell how current a like is, or why people were liking them.” Phase also says, “I wish likes would just go away. What’s the value?” So, clearly from these results we can gather that Likes are good for many things, but reputation management may not be one of them.

Basically, what About.com is saying is that social integration significantly boosts trust in consumers. There is another graph provided in the report that describes the specific ways that social integration can improve trust. 41% of those asked said that when allowed to see reviews by people in their own social networks, they put more trust into that brand. Among others specifics, only 33% said that seeing a Like by a friend made them instill more trust into a business.

It’s common knowledge in advertising that the Like button was a gigantic innovation in performance marketing. What About.com is telling us is that the Like button can not do everything. In reputation management, reviews are the big ticket item, even though they can also hurt businesses. Consumers always tend to trust other consumers, which is the way it has always been. Since the internet came to be, word of mouth has nearly disappeared, and it’s replacement is online reviews. The difficult thing is that often times reviews can not be controlled, but there are some effective ways to manage them. Regardless, they are the way that people decide good from bad today.