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To support your digital marketing training, here's this month's update for marketers driving the digital agenda.
As many brands focus on their 2013 budgets, the shifting landscape means digital strategies need to flex too. Highlights from the last month include:
- Social: Twitter boosted page design and ad targeting but restricted APIs
- Mobile: iPhone 5's launch fuels the smartphone war for appstore control
- Regulations: Brands are provoking regulators by cheating social with paid-reviews
- Ecommerce: Grocery sales are growing fast, but miss tricks with optimisation
- Video: Our monthly collection of virals and audience stats
To support your training, each section below relates to a digital training module, with full stories on click through.
Best from all the digital strategists
Danny Meadows-Klue
President
Digital Training Academy
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Social networking is the leading category in India with over a 25% share of total time spent online. Social networking exceeds the entertainment category by 15%. Social networking also has three times the engagement levels of email, which is the forth most popular destination in the country.
20/09/2012 |
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Google sites draw the highest volume of the Indian online population with almost 58 million hits for June 2012, however, Facebook leads the group in engagement levels. Facebook users spent an average of 224.9 minutes of their online time on the site, exceeding the time spent on Google sites by over an hour. Microsoft sites ranked fourth in terms of volume of visits, but showed poor engagement levels with users spending an average of less than 20 minutes on the sites.
20/09/2012 |
Full story...
This chart shows each country's total number of unique internet users between June 2011 and June 2012. The Russian Federation has the highest total of unique users out of all the countries measured, exceeding the second highest, Germany, by almost 7 million users.
13/09/2012 |
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The United Kingdom had the highest number of average page visits with 3,434 per month. Finland and Norway had relatively high page visits for countries with low online populations, with 2,495 and 2,504 average page visits respectively.
13/09/2012 |
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The United Kingdom spent the most time online between June 2011 and June 2012 with an average of 37.9 hours. The country with the lowest average time spent online was Austria with 13.5 hours- a total of 24 hours less than the United Kingdom.
13/09/2012 |
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Europe as a whole dropped 6% in average time spent on web based email sites. Hotmail was the only site measured that reported a drop in average time spent with a 14% dip. Google Mail shows strong levels of engagement with an 18% increase since June 2011.
12/09/2012 |
Full story...
This chart shows the growth of web based email sites in Europe between 2001 and 2012. Europe's usage as a whole rose by 3.7% to a 69.5% reach of the total population. The UK has the highest percentage of its population using email sites, growing by 5.2% since last year. Sweden also showed notable growth over the period, with an extra 6.1% of its total population adopting email sites.
02/09/2012 |
Full story...
More key market data stories from this month:
- Shopper intention to buy food and drink online grows 44% - global survey (Ecommerce)
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Japan has the highest number of online videos watched per user with 242.5, surpassing its closest contender Hong Kong by over 60 videos per user. The fewest videos watched per user were recorded in Indonesia with 53.5, four times less than Japan.
24/09/2012 |
Full story...
This chart shows the total number of unique online video viewers and the percentage of that countries web population that they represent. Vietnam and Hong Kong have the highest percentage of their web population engaging with online video with 89.8% and 88.7% respectively. India and Indonesia showed the lowest total percentage of web populations interacting with online video.
24/09/2012 |
Full story...
How do you make a low budget online campaign for a brand that has awareness of 4%? This campaign for Lay's potato chips shows how, with a little local knowledge and some creative thinking, a small budget social media campaign can make a big impression...
Watch the case study video below (narrated by a talking potato, naturally).
14/09/2012 |
Full story...
Procter & Gamble's Facebook campaign for its Secret deodorant smartly matched the brand to
a key issue facing its target audience - cyber bullying. The "Mean Stinks" used video and social media in an 'always-on' approach that resulted in a 9% uplift in sales. See why it's our viral of the week below…
26/09/2012 |
Full story...
Nestle has launched a (slightly creepy) new promotion for its Kit Kat, Yorkie and Aero bars, embedding GPS trackers in select bars, with the promise to track down the buyer within 24 hours to deliver a £10,000 prize. The promotion called 'We will find you', will involve six KitKat 4 Finger, KitKat Chunky, Aero Peppermint Medium, or Yorkie bars.
Watch the promo video here:
24/09/2012 |
Full story...
Old Spice has returned with another interactive viral video, letting viewers make music with their keyboards (via a muscle-bound American football star, naturally). See why its our video viral of the week below...
30/08/2012 |
Full story...
This 17 minute video from Lego provides a prime example of how a brand can engage users with long-form online content, rather than 30 second TV commercials. See why it's our video viral of the week below...
05/09/2012 |
Full story...
To promote its new Etios car in South Africa, Toyota promised to make people smile. The Sweets for Tweets installation, created by HelloComputer & ThingKing, did just that by rewarding virtual smile tweets with real-life candy via a Wonka-like contraption. See why it's our video viral of the week below...
20/09/2012 |
Full story...
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Apple has unveiled its latest iPhone, offering 4G connectivity, a longer screen and improved hardware and software, all for £529. Apple said the handset would work on Everything Everywhere's (EE) 4G LTE network in the UK. The handset will ship on 21 September and is powered by new A6 processor that is twice as fast at graphics and processing, while RAM memory will double to 1GB. However, it does not feature a NFC (near field communication) chip to allow it to make touchless payments. In addition, the handset does not offer wireless charging like Nokia's Lumia 920.
Watch the trailer here:
13/09/2012 | Full story...
Apple's new mapping technology, which replaces Google Maps, has come under fire from users and businesses alike for a myriad of inaccuracies and misplaced landmarks. Amongst a wide range of complaints surfacing on Facebook and Twitter include missing towns (Stratford-upon-Avon and Solihull), wrong locations (Uckfield in East Sussex) and satellite images of various locations, particularly in Scotland, being obscured by cloud. Some smaller roads and lanes do not even have road names and numbers in the UK. There is also no built-in information about public transportation.
21/09/2012 | Full story...
Apple's customer service secrets have been leaked via a Genius handbook that bans employees from saying words that will alarm customers, according to a news report. The handbook, leaked by technology blog Gizmodo, instructs Apple employees on how to act and speak when dealing with customers and includes a list of banned words such as 'crash', 'bug' and 'freeze'. If proven to be legitimate, the handbook provides unprecedented insight into one of the most successful customer service strategies in the world. Apple stores have the highest sales per square foot of any retail space in the UK by a wide margin.
30/09/2012 | Full story...
Twitter has launched interest-based ad targeting for Promoted Tweets and Promoted Accounts campaigns letting brands target micro-bloggers based on like-minded groups of followers and their friends. Promoted Tweets and Accounts already target "users who share interests with your current followers." The new service now lets advertisers explicitly identify the interests that they want to reach.
31/09/2012 | Full story...
A Twitter campaign from Waitrose has become the subject of ridicule this week, once again sparking the debate as to whether there's 'no such thing as bad publicity' on social media. The John Lewis owned firm invited Twitter customers to finish the sentence 'I shop at Waitrose because...', asking them to include the hashtag "#WaitroseReasons". Within hours the hashtag was being mocked on the social network. Two Twitter posts ridiculed Waitrose by saying that the upmarket shop was the best place to pick up unicorn food and 24ct gold thread toilet paper.
21/09/2012 | Full story...
Paid-for reviews, 'likes' and ratings is becoming commonplace on social media and review sites, and will account for 10%-15% of all the reviews by 2014, according to a new report by Gartner. The IT advisory firm predicts that increased media attention on fake social media ratings and reviews will result in at least two Fortune 500 brands facing litigation from the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) over the next two years.
18/09/2012 | Full story...
Facebook is cracking down on potentially fake 'likes' on its site, amid criticism that bots are ramping up prices for advertisers on the social network. The social network announced in a post on its Facebook Security page that it is ramping up its automated efforts to remove likes that were generated via methods that violate its terms of service. The firm also used the announcement to warn against companies selling 'likes'.
06/09/2012 | Full story...
Yahoo has sold back half of its stake in Chinese internet giant Alibaba for $7.6bn (£4.7bn), in a move that has fuelled speculation that the firm could use the cash to bid for a hot web property, such as Pinterest or Foursquare.
20/09/2012 | Full story...
Chinese internet marketing giant Baidu is stepping up its product portfolio with major launches in cloud computing and a suite of mobile internet browser tools. Baidu is now looking to markets beyond China and revenues beyond search, directly competing with European and North American mobile, search and hosting firms. Baidu has launched a mobile browser, with aims that 80% of China's Android handsets will have downloaded Baidu Mobile Browser by the end of the year.
04/09/2012 | Full story...
Facebook is testing a new mobile ad network, running ads targeted according to user data on third-party apps and mobile websites for the first time. The new platform will see Facebook expanding beyond its website to syndicating ads across the web and on mobile apps, essentially offering a rival to Google's AdSense ad network.
The move comes as the social network comes under increasing pressure from investors to make more money from mobile ads.
19/09/2012 | Full story...
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The power of online video advertising was demonstrated clearly this month in research by Mediamind, claiming that web users were 27 times more likely to click on a video ad than a standard ad. Video appeared within the confines of a magazine ad in a media first for Marie Claire while for Google it is becoming an ever greater focus. However while video advertising has the strongest audience impact of any online paid media it is still earned and owned media that consumer trust most.
The click-through rate (CTR) for online video is 27.4 times that of standard banners and almost 12 times that of rich media ads, according to new research. The study, from MediaMind, analysed over 3 billion ad impressions globally over the first six months of 2012, revealing an increase in consumer attention to online video in ads.
17/09/2012 | Full story...
In a UK first, Marie Claire is inserting a video ad on the pages of its October issue, set to play once a reader turns to page 35 and 35. The October issue of Marie Claire UK incorporates a black-and-white commercial for Dolce&Gabbana fragrance, the first UK display advert of its kind. Appearing on pages 34 and 35 in a limited run of a few thousand copies of the issue, a male and female model pose in a coastal scene and when the page is opened, the 45-second spot (directed by Mario Testino) automatically plays.
Watch a video demo here:
18/09/2012 | Full story...
Google has shut down its television advertising business, saying that it will focus instead on enhanced online and mobile opportunities for video ads. In a blog post at the end of last week, the search engine giant announced its plans to abandon its TV advertising scheme, which was launched in 2007 with the aim of selling these promotional messages in the same way as online ones.
04/09/2012 | Full story...
Social recommendations and brand websites are more trusted than advertising, yet ad dollars continue to rise globally. Randall Beard, Global Head of Advertiser Solutions at Nielsen looks at paid, owned and earned media and asks if trust in advertising matters? And if so, can we even do anything about it?
19/09/2012 | Full story...
More top Advertising stories from this month:
- How are consumers sharing personal data with brands? (infographic)
- Publicis buys ad agency LBi for €416m
- Newspaper ad trends - Digital revenues fail to match print ad losses
- Email marketing trends - top sectors revealed
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The control Google has over what users see in the results pages was evident this month when it removed Pirate Bay from the search autocomplete. And its ability to enter new online markets was demonstrated when its new car-insurance comparison site jumped from 0 to 75% of search results - to the detriment of the competition. French publishers are taking
offence to Google's money making with their content. Whilst Google remains dominant Facebook is starting to look like a serious potential competitor.
Google has shut off the auto-complete terms for The Pirate Bay on its search engine, as the firm steps up its copyright clampdown. From now, users typing in searches for the file sharing site on Google will now have to type out almost the entire name of the site before seeing any
autocomplete suggestions.
17/09/2012 | Full story...
Two days since announcing its entry into the car insurance comparison arena in the UK, Google's share of visibility for car insurance-related searches has soared overnight, from 0% to 75%, reveals research from digital marketing agency Greenlight. Following on from credit cards and bank accounts, Google has launched a price comparison service for car insurance in the UK, prominently promoted in its search engine results pages when a relevant online search is made.
13/09/2012 | Full story...
France's leading online newspaper publishers have called for a new laws to Google and other search engines to pay them for using their published content. In an interview, Nathalie Collin publisher of Le Nouvel Observateur weekly, said a law should impose a settlement in the long-running dispute with Google, which receives high volumes of advertising revenue from user searches for news contained on media websites.
14/09/2012 | Full story...
More top search stories from this month:
- Facebook 'could capture 50% of global search market in just a few years'
- Microsoft rebrands search ad platform as 'Yahoo! Bing Network'
- Search engine visits drop for first time this year
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As well as capturing more of the search market Facebook is trying to improve its offer to advertisers by enabling even greater targeting opportunities and trying to prove the connection between viewing an ad and purchasing in store. All this whilst it evolves to become more of a mobile company than a web property.
Facebook is working with US data provider Datalogix to measure how many people who view ads on the social networking site then go on to buy that product in a store. Initial testing from the two firms indicates that on average, for every dollar a marketer spent on Facebook it earned an additional $3 in incremental sales. The move comes amid growing shareholder pressure for Facebook to prove the value of its advertising. However, the partnership has raised concerns among privacy advocates over the use of personal information.
24/09/2012 | Full story...
Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg has made his first public appearance since the companies tumultuous stock market float in May. Speaking at the TechCruch Disrupt event in San Francisco, Zuckerberg declared: "We are a mobile company now." He conceded one of the group's "biggest mistakes" was its earlier decision to focus on the mobile web rather than native apps, adding a new Android app would be available "soon". He vowed that Facebook will make more money on phones than on desktops.
Watch a video of part of the interview below (source: IDG)
12/09/2012 | Full story...
Facebook is launching a new ad targeting tool that uses email addresses, phone numbers and game and app developers' user IDs to larger advertisers. The advertisers will work directly with a Facebook sales representative, and in order for a company to track a Facebook user using any of that data, the Facebook user has to have already given the company that data on their own.
31/08/2012 | Full story...
More top Facebook stories from this month:
- Facebook and fitness apps - a social success story?
- Bing lets users search Facebook photos
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Twitter evolves to improve its multi-channel offering, whilst applying more restrictions to its open API feeds. Meanwhile Pinterest usage gathers pace in the US, whilst MySpace attempts a re-launch.
Twitter has updated its profile pages with Facebook-style header photos, as the micro-blogging firm looks to broaden its multi-platform functions, across the web, mobiles and tablets. In a blog post, Twitter said the changes gave users the opportunity to 'make their presence on Twitter more meaningful'.
19/09/2012 | Full story...
Twitter has released its controversial API update which restricts third party developers, opening up the possibility of in-app ads in the process. The move has sparked anger from some developers, who have claimed the move could stifle the development of innovative products. The firm's hugely popular API platform has spawned a number of widely used social media applications such as TweetDeck, Hootsuite and Twitpic.
07/09/2012 | Full story...
More than 1 in 10 (12%) of US adults are now using Pinterest, but nearly 20% of women are on the site, according to a new report. The study, from the Pew Internet & American Life Project, examined the habits of more than one thousand American adults. It indicates that while 19% of women are using the site, just 5% of online men are on Pinterest.
27/09/2012 | Full story...
More top social media stories from this month:
- MySpace rebrands as music site, now accepts Twitter and Facebook logins
- The (crowdsourced) history of crowdsourcing
- HootSuite buys Seesmic for $16m
- Google+ woos businesses with private posts and video conferencing
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The Smartphone marketplace seems to be becoming a two horse race, between Apple and Google. Twitter is actually generating more revenues from mobile advertising than Facebook. The UK consumer is more receptive to mobile advertising than their US counterparts.
Samsung lead the way in 2012, with the largest increase (5%) in market share between Q2 2011 and Q2 2012. Manufacturers such as Apple and ZTE made significant increases over the measurement period. The previously popular brand Nokia suffered the biggest dip in market share with a 3% decrease.
03/09/2012 |
Full story...
Apple and Google will dominate the smartphone market in coming years, accounting nearly 80% share of the smartphone market by 2016, according to a new report. The research, from IHS iSuppli Wireless Communications, said that Nokia's Symbian operating system will be practically nonexistent by next year as a result of the smartphone merger between the Finnish giant and Microsoft.
10/09/2012 | Full story...
Mobile advertising is performing better in the UK than in the US, while rich media formats are driving more clicks, according to new research. The Advertising Global Benchmarks performance report, from MediaMind, collates data from thousands of advertisers and campaigns, and billions of impressions.
14/09/2012 | Full story...
Micro-blogging site Twitter is on course to make more money from mobile ads than Facebook for 2012, according to new research. The study, from eMarketer, projected revenues of $130m in mobile advertising revenues for 2012. By contrast Facebook expects to make just $73m on mobile for the year, the study found.
12/09/2012 | Full story...
More top mobile and tablet stories from this month:
- Agencies blamed for hampering mobile revenue growth: AOP
- Everything Everywhere promises 4G in UK by Christmas
- Amazon's £159 iPad rival Kindle Fire HD unveiled
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The monetisation of streaming music services hit the headlines this month, as Spotify plans a browser-based service, Apple looks to offer an ad-funded service and Amazon debuts its new Cloud Player service.
Spotify is planning a browser-based version of its music streaming service, as the firm looks to boost both subscriber and ad revenues. The firm will launch an internet-based edition to complement its current standalone desktop and mobile apps. The firm is also likely to take the opportunity to add new features that make it easier for Spotify users to follow the activity of others beyond their Facebook friends.
12/09/2012 | Full story...
Apple is considering to expand its music service by licensing a custom radio servicing device, offering free music streams funded by iAds, according to a news report. The Wall Street Journal reports that the company is in talks with record labels to provide customized streaming music, in a move that would put Apple in
direct competition with the likes of Pandora, Spotify and WE7.
10/09/2012 | Full story...
Amazon has launched its Cloud Player in the UK, offering an online backup of all their songs purchased from the online retailer. All MP3 files purchased from Amazon are automatically stored in Cloud Player for free and there is no charge for importing a further 250 songs from iTunes or elsewhere.
Watch a video explaining how the service works below:
25/09/2012 | Full story...
More top multimedia content stories from this month:
- Vimeo debuts 'tip jar' for ad-free content
- Google debuts YouTube app ahead of iPhone 5 purge
- BBC iPlayer offers mobile downloads to watch on the tube
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Games publisher Rovio launches its sequel to Angry Birds this month, whilst Amazon debuts a new crowd-sourced comic.
Rovio has launched a sequel to its hugely popular Angry Birds game, 'Bad Piggies', as the app maker hopes to match the ad-funded success of its predecessor. Going live today (27th September) and available
for iOS, Android and Mac, the free ad-funded game turns the franchise on its head by letting the fans play as the pigs with new gameplay. In Bad Piggies, instead of shooting with a slingshot, players build vehicles that help the characters get the birds' eggs. The company said it was hoping the new game would breathe additional life into its brand.
Watch a gameplay trailer here:
27/09/2012 | Full story...
Amazon is creating its first digital comic, Blackburn Burrow, with a plot that will change depending on feedback from readers. Described as, "a story set in Civil War America where supernatural horrors are infesting a small Appalachian town in Northern Georgia," Blackburn Barrow was first submitted to Amazon Studios from writer Jay Levy in 2010.
14/09/2012 | Full story...
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Research from Nielsen highlighted how connected consumers are planning to increase their online purchasing - across categories including groceries. Although online retailers are still losing millions of potential sales from abandoned shopping baskets and the Olympics had a detrimental effect on August online sales.
Connected devices have become a way of life for many, but shoppers are digitally engaged to varying degrees depending on the products they buy, according to new research from Nielsen. While e-commerce activity for some consumer packaged goods (CPG) products — especially perishable categories where freshness counts — may not be as transformative as other non-CPG industries — such as books, music and travel — online grocery purchasing power is growing.
04/09/2012 | Full story...
UK online retailers could be losing millions of pounds worth of sales from customers who click away from a full basket and abandon their purchases, according to new research. The study, from Aspect Software, found that 52% of retailers questioned claimed that they did not act on abandoned baskets with 12% saying that they had no plans to introduce a recuperation strategy.
28/09/2012 | Full story...
Olympic fever had a detrimental effect on UK online sales in the UK, which fell 11% during August, according to new figures. The study, from IMRG Capgemini, found that year-on year sales were up, but August's sales marked a steep decline on the previous month of July.
20/09/2012 | Full story...
More top ecommerce stories from this month:
- Topshop live shopping fashion show gets 2 million viewers
- Top 50 online retailers in the UK- Olympics boosts travel sites
- Amazon recruits 100 tech jobs for new London research hub
- Asda overcharges customers after Walmart computer glitch
- Amazon launches Groupon rival in Europe
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Online privacy regulation is starting to take hold as more and more websites comply with the EU Cookie Directive and the list of browsers with 'Do Not Track' options increases with the additional of Google's Chrome. But still personally identifiable information is still leaking out - as hacktivists post 1 million Apple IDs online.
Nearly one third (63%) of top UK websites have taken steps to address the new EU Cookie Directive, which aims to warns users when their data is being tracked online. The new research, from data privacy management firm TRUSTe, looked at UK website compliance efforts to date. TRUSTe's analysis reveals that nearly two in three top UK websites have implemented at least some measures to address the Directive, including several who have implemented robust and user-friendly compliance solutions. TRUSTe's study reviewed both compliance efforts and tracking activities on top UK consumer websites.
07/09/2012 | Full story...
Google is to add a 'Do Not Track' option to its Chrome browser, letting users opt out of developers and advertisers tracking their web surfing habits. The move follows similar features already rolled out to Internet Explorer, Safari, and Firefox. The option will enable users to confirm the websites and advertisers that they don't want to get followed.
17/09/2012 | Full story...
The IDs of around one million iPhone and iPad users has been leaked online by a group on hackers associated with the 'Anonymous' movement of online political activists. The data was allegedly stolen from an FBI laptop, which if proved true, could be a major embarrassment to the US intelligence service.
05/09/2012 | Full story...
More top regulation stories from this month:
- The end of passwords? Intel plans hand gesture security technology
- Blogger reviews in social media marketing - Samsung breaks regulations?
- FileSonic taken offline in piracy clampdown
- Pirate Bay founder arrested
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