The Top Most Shared Ads Of 2013

With 2013 coming to an end it is time to share with you the most shared Ads of 2013. Unruly just released a list of the most shared ads of 2013. Unruly’s rankings are based on the number of shares across Twitter, Facebook and the blogosphere as opposed to the number of views. This really show us a measure of the ad’s "virality".
The top 20 list shows how brands, big and small, local and global, can make a big impact using social video across the web. With the right content and the right distribution strategy, advertisers have the ability to engage consumers at rapid speed and scale.
Over the last 12 months, one trend that has emerged is that many brands are now embracing the role of content creator. In 2013, brands did not have large events to inspire content as they had in 2012 (like the Olympics). Now they have created their own dramas, experimenting with a wide range of emotional triggers, including hilarity, shock and fear, all demonstrated in the top 20 ads.
I read all your comments from my last post and I noticed you guys truly enjoy visuals, so I am sure you will enjoy this as well. I have decided to share my favorite 5 adds with you. Take a couple of minutes to analyze the add! It is truly amazing how much you can express in just a few minutes. ENJOY!

#5 PEPSI MAX (Test Drive, 2.69 million shares) - Hilarious! 

#4 KMART (Ship My Pants, 3.05 million shares) - Clever use of words.

#3 Budweiser (Brotherhood, 2.72 million shares) - For all the animal lovers out there (yes, I cried)

#2 Evian (Baby & Me, 3.34 million shares) - Cute and just plain adorable 

#1 Dove (Real Beauty Sketches, 4.24 million shares) - Moving and powerful. Specially for the ladies! It is a bit longer than the other ads, but it is worth your time.

And just for kicks here is one of my resent favorite adds from Nationwide Insurance, hope you enjoyed!

 

The 3 C's of Marketing

So we have all heard about the 4 P's of marketing. Product, place, price and promotion right? But have you heard about the 3 C's of marketing? In order to create a marketing campaign that will truly surprise your audience and capture their attention you must make sure your campaign is Creative, Controversial and Clever. Following these 3 C’s will allow you to concentrate around the three most crucial factors that are needed for success. This will assist you on focusing your business strategy on three areas that include the customer, the competitors and the corporation.

I went on a hunt to find you the best examples for each of the C's. Enjoy!

• Creative

Billboard by ZWILLING J.A

Outdoor ad by NATIONWIDE INSURANCE

Outdoor ad by FEDEX

• Controversial

Mousepad by AXE

Pool ad by LIFE SAVING VICTORIA

Merchandize by SALVATION ARMY

• Clever

Pool ad by HSBC

Add by BAYER

Ad by JUICY FRUIT

READ MORE AT :

www.oddee.com

www.woohome.com

imwiththebrand.wordpress.com

www.mymodernmet.com

The scary side of social media

In the spirit of halloween I decided to have a little fun with my blog this week. Today im going to take you to the dark side of social media... Privacy violations.
So here I am. Naive little me. Enjoying all my social media accounts. Posting pictures of last night's halloween party on instagram. Checkin-in on Facebook. When I notice the perfect advertisement "Heels under $20" on justfab . Don't believe me? heres a screen shot of my Facebook:

But how did you know Facebook? How did you know I was in need of the perfect heels for my costume. Contrary to my initial beliefs Facebook is actually not a crazy old witch looking through a magic ball that shows her whats going on inside my head. Facebook just knows how to keep tabs on you (literately). all those ads on the sites you visit seem to be a perfect match to your interests is no coincidence. advertisers will do just about anything the online environment allows them to do – even if it means breaking your online privacy – to develop new ways to promote products. And the easiest way for them to find out your likes and habits is keeping a close eye on your social media behavior.But how did you know Facebook? How did you know I was in need of the perfect heels for my costume. Contrary to my initial beliefs Facebook is actually not a crazy old witch looking through a magic ball that shows her whats going on inside my head. Facebook just knows how to keep tabs on you (literately). all those ads on the sites you visit seem to be a perfect match to your interests is no coincidence. advertisers will do just about anything the online environment allows them to do – even if it means breaking your online privacy – to develop new ways to promote products. And the easiest way for them to find out your likes and habits is keeping a close eye on your social media behavior.

There are multiple ways advertisers can invade your social media privacy. they take advantage of your data and make you a target for their ads. Here are the most common ones:

Data Scraping

It involves tracking people’s activities online and gathering personal data and conversations from social media and other online forums. Usually, research companies are those who gather your info,  they sell the compiled data to other companies. They utilize these details to design targeted ad campaigns for their products. While one might argue that people are knowingly sharing personal details on social media and thus, it’s free for everyone’s use. However, data harvesters don’t ask for the owner’s consent, this raises an ethics as well as an online privacy problem. Take the case of Nielsen Company as an example. They were caught scraping data from "Patients Like Me" online forums. These forums are used by people to talk about their emotional problems in what they though was a safe and private environment. Doesn't seem so ethic now does it?

Facebook apps leaking personal data.

It has been reported several times that certain Facebook apps are leaking personal information about those who are using them. The info is told to me sent  to advertising and Internet tracking companies. Of course the unfortunate app users have no clue about what is going on. So here’s how the leakage works: during the app’s installation process, you are prompted to accept certain terms, and once you select “Allow”, the application then receives an green light !  However, no disclaimer is showed announcing you your data is being transferred to third parties. Thus your online privacy and safety are put at risk. some of the apps that have been found to leak identifying information include FarmVille and Family Tree.

That "LIKE" is tracking you.

We all use the “Like”, “Tweet” or “+1” buttons to share content with our online friends. However, these are not as harmless as they seem to be. They work with cookies wich are small files stored on your computer that enables companies to track  users across different sites. The cookies are placed in browsers when you create an account or log in, and together they allow the social websites to recognize you on any site that uses these widgets. Therefore, your interests or online shopping can be easily tracked, and your internet privacy rudely invaded.

Well now you know, so beware of the dangerous online privacy violations under that sweet surface most social media sites provide.

Read more at

www.bullguard.com

www.sensibleemarketing.com

Know where your customers hang out

In a social media campaign companies need to understand what kind of social media are their customers into. Are your customers using facebook? Do your customers in rural areas spend as much time on social media as your city customers? How are they interacting? are your customers active social media users? These are the types of questions all companies need to ask themselves before any decision regarding social media marketing takes place. If you don't know where your customers are then you are most likely not going to reach them!

If you are not keen enough, you may end up drowning in the many options social media offers. In order to be effective in managing your company's online presence you need to identify the most potent social media tools. Using those tools effectively will help you maximize your business; it will serve as a direct communication with many of your customers as well. To get you started here is a quick recap on the biggest leaders on social media:

Facebook

With over 1 billion active users Facebook is one of the biggest and most powerful leader of social media.  Facebook started out as more of a social website, but it quickly transformed to a strong tool that can be used for marketing purposes. 

By creating a Facebook page for your business you can effective engage with your audiences in discussions. Posting on your customers' walls will is a good way of getting your company name out there. You can also have a "Like” link on your website; this will serve to drive traffic to your Facebook page. If you want to reach more people you can always pay for advertisement on Facebook. If you know you target audience this could be a very effective way of recruiting new customers. 

Twitter

Twitter has more than 200 million monthly active users. It is a simple yet very powerful social media tool that is being used by businesses everyday. Unlike Facebook, Twitter uses status updates that are limited to 140 characters.  You are only able post very short messages, making this great for a quick and to-the-point post. This has been used by businesses to announce new products or offers as well as special events and overall trends. Twitter can be seen as the tease of social media. Always giving a little sneak peek! This year Twitter bought Vine, a video-sharing app, which lets people craft and share six-second videos, was an immediate hit and has attracted 40 million users

Instagram

Instagram allows you to take photos and instantly share them across different social networks. It allows you to edit your pictures using fun filters. This is an ideal medium for sharing images that build a brand’s identity and personality. Instagram has the potential to be particularly effective for small businesses as it’s a cost effective way of developing brand personality without the need for huge ad campaigns. For some inspiration follow this link: INSPIRATION.... you can also check out Burberry's Instagram page. Burberry is one of the best instagramers, posting frequent images from around London promotes its image as a traditional, British brand. 

Unfortunately, the choice regarding which social media to use does not depend on you. It is pivotal to understand where your customers spend their time in order for you to reach them, check out the full graphic for demographics of social media users.

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Read more at:

http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/228195#ixzz2hdp2ntct

http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/09/13/twitter-vs-facebook-a-tale-of-two-sites/

http://www.tightlineproductions.com/facebook-vs-twitter-vs-instagram/

Could an extra 6% beat Amazon?

Have you ever made a purchase on Amazon.com ? I have! My purchases include various school books, a flat iron and a couple of iphone cases. Well, I am not a frequent buyer per se but I am a loyal buyer when it comes to school season. Books listed on Amazon have discounts that range up to 90% in used books, 80% in e-books and 70% in rentals. Not bad huh?


In case you haven't heard Rick Scott is celebrating a deal to open an Amazon.com operations center in the Sunshine State by 2016. The good news is the new 3,000 jobs this will generate. The not so good news is Floridians will have to start paying sales tax on all Amazon purchases. Previously, Florida residents could shop Amazon without having to pay 6 percent tax on purchases thanks to a 1992 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that an Internet company would be forced to collect sales tax only in states in which they have a physical presence. If you are not familiar with the subject here is great video to get informed:

With all the commotion going around online sales tax it makes me wonder, how big of a hit will this be on consumers around Florida?  Personally, I would not mind paying $84.80 on a book I now pay $80 for. It sure beats the $150 bookstore price. But what about other kinds of Amazon.com customers. 

Some Floridians could be buying items like a $10,760 Medusa Ring on Amazon.com. A 6% sales tax changes the ring price to $11,405.60. Adding an extra $645.60 that Im not sure everyone is willing to pay. Amazon should take in consideration it customer's trends. If around the months of August and September there is an increase on book purchases then a strategy should be placed to work on customer retention around those months. Specially for the first year, you dont want an extra $8-$10 scaring your customers away. I am curious as to how Amazon will act towards the online sales tax in Florida. Maybe next year we will all receive an extra %20 off towards our book purchases. For now we just wait and see. 

Social Media = VIRAL word of mouth

Lets starts with numbers, cold facts. As of 2011 the number of social media users in different platforms was as follows:

• Facebook - 500 Million
• Facebook Mobile - 200 Million
• Twitter - 175 Million
• YouTube - 100 Million views per day / 700 Billion playbacks annually

Followers keep growing at an exponential rate and its becoming easier for consumers to voice their opinions and concerns. Unfortunately, for many business, most of those posts or videos consist of consumers venting on their dissatisfaction. One iconic example is the story of Dave Carroll, a musician, and United Airlines. It all started prior to departure when a woman siting behind Carroll said out loud "My god they're throwing guitars out there". Carroll and his friend Mike, a bass player, noticed United baggage handlers throwing Mike's bass without regard. Carroll quickly noticed his $3,500 Taylor has been thrown right before. When Carroll got his Taylor back the neck was broken (SHOCKING!). He notified United Airlines, nobody took responsibility for his guitar and he was passed from employee to employee. After nine months of communication a United Airline employee emailed Carroll a letter stating that the airline would not be taking responsibility for the guitar and would no longer communicate about the matter. Well, Carroll was not a happy customer and decided to take matters in his own hands. Carroll went ahead and make three songs about United Airlines and his baggage experience. He then made videos of these songs on YouTube and his own website www.davecarrollmusic.com, inviting viewers to vote on their ultimate favorite song. His goal was to reach one million hits in just one year, sounds ambitious right? To United Airlines' surprise Carroll's first video had over 10 million views! here is my favorite video (video # 2):

Within four days of Carroll's first video going online United Airlines took a hit of 10% equaling an approximate of $180 million or 51,000 replacement guitars. Soon after his videos went viral United Airlines tried to mend things over and donated $3,000 to the Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz. Unfortunately it was a little too late since Carroll had been featured on the today show, CNN and even  Jimmy Kimmel.

Clearly social media is a great mean for customers to voice their opinions, but is up to companies to make this a positive experience. Companies must take advantage of the multi-million followers available to them. It is pivotal to always make the customer feel appreciated for their opinion. Companies should encourage customers to participate in positive word of mouth in their social media channels and immediately act when negative comments surface.

Sources:

• http://www.youtube.com/user/sonsofmaxwell
• http://www.davecarrollmusic.com/music
• http://www.business2community.com
• Consumer Behavior: Building Marketing Strategy. Delbert Hawkins, David Mothersbaugh, Roger Best