The Latest Twitter Advertising Trend

The latest trend to hit Twitter land is a new type of ad network offering to pay Twitter members to serve up ads using their accounts by becoming a publisher. I have received a few links promoting this type of arrangement in the past but last week adCause announced its new service that has gained some attention. They pay publishers based on popularity. While Twitter has yet to monetize their own network, there are others swooping in to do just that. If it works there will be plenty jumping in line to join the ranks, but I am not convinced the concept will be effective.

At a time when Twitter is taking over as one of the fasted forms of communication with a way of sweeping the latest news such as the US Airways Flight 1549, which crashed into the Hudson River recently. Posts of such news breaking events are making their way quickly through Tweets, often times before major news organizations can provide coverage. There is an awesome power in this concept as people share information, being able to tap into that distribution channel with a branded message would certainly help any organization looking to boost their sales.

However, the users of these social communities typically regard them as a safe zone, so to speak, from advertising, not that it doesn’t exists as there are plenty of people pitching themselves or their products but the participants have the option to follow or not. Since the community is self regulated it would seem a certain risk exists from negative perception of all parties that choose to participate in transparent ad serving. From an advertising perspective, those who decide to endeavor into these waters run the risk of alienating the very ones they are targeting as customers. Not to mention the Twitter members signing up to profit from their connection list which may end up dwindling if they are perceived as nothing more than spammers.

I personally will pass on offering my account as ad revenue.

Just Weeks Away From All Those Super Bowl Ads

Is your anticipation up? Yes, it’s coming upon us, that special day in both sports and advertising. The biggest day of the year for so many fans. I have been neglecting the topic as of late with the economy impacting us all in different ways, but a good friend of mine recently reminded me that even in difficult times we should remember to stop when we can and just enjoy. In my mind, there is no better day than the Super Bowl to do just that.

The Super Bowl is right up there in my household with any major holiday. We make junk food that would normally not be served on a daily basis, perhaps partake in a little too much wine, soda, or your favorite beer and most of all enjoy the show. I happen to love football so that part is easy enough to endure, but I also love the ads. It’s a moment you anticipate all year long. There have been companies made on one ad alone and of course, some of those that did not last until the following year.

The tone of ads this year may be much different from years past. Companies I suspect may be rather cautious about the potential to offend anyone in such economic times. Spending $3 million on a 30-second ad in a time where layoffs are happening left and right may be considered offensive enough, we’ll have to wait and see. The most successful ads of recent years have been all about humor. The past 2 years there has been a great deal of focus on contests, this year it will be the Doritos Super Bowl Ad Contest to watch. Both NFL and GoDaddy opted to have the fans pick their ad for them. Denny’s will be a new participant. E*Trade will be returning, if you remember the talking baby was quite a hit last year. I can’t wait for game time to see the final line up.

There have also been some memorable moments outside the game that have changed the world such as the Janet Jackson “wardrobe malfunction” many years ago, which still holds records for the most replayed TiVo event. For those of you that have read my book you know that I love the TiVo statistics and I’ll give them a little shout out since they were so great to work with on the project. Now this is just one measurement, there are plenty of others but they represent a good audience share. A lot has changed since then, this year it may just be the Twitter activity that is most revealing.

Let us hope for an entertaining, possibly underexposed, game day this Feb 1!

Marketing Yourself - Self Promotion is now expected

For many of us that have typically held positions in rather traditional organizations we are forced to reevaluate the concept of public perception. Conservative organization have often maintained thoughts of limiting exposure or to put it another way, reducing the potential for negative exposure by ensuring its employees are not public about many of their view points or opinions. The mindset has changed in how we share what it is we do and who we really are as individuals. Once upon a time, it was important to maintain professional yet quiet reputations. Shouting out your point of view on politics or a particular approach was frowned upon by many organizations. Now it is essential to your professional survival.

I happen to be in the forty something category that evolved in an awkward time between hippy-ish parents and the evolution of corporate America. Boy, have things changed, although that can be good. Once there was a time that you were told not to rock the boat, all of the sudden now you have free reign to voice your opinions as you see fit. In fact, you are expected to have an online presence in order to succeed.

If you do not have authority rankings who are you? What is your opinion really worth? The answer is a lot, maybe more than you think. In fact, your opinion may just make or break your next job opportunity. No matter what that opinion may be, not having one may cost you. You must apply good marketing techniques to yourself as a brand to get ahead.

Today’s success is all about participation and influence, often times this occurs in places we least likely think it will happen. For those of you that have maintained anonymous profiles to post your opinions it turns out you may have been undermining your potential for success after all. If you were ever afraid of starting a Facebook page or leaving comments on your favorite blog, fear no more, jump in and see what can happen! Please apply common sense on this one, that doesn’t mean making inappropriate comments that will have others outraged or posting pictures of you mooning friends at a weekend party.

Remember not having an opinion may matter more in the long run so make your opinion count and don’t be afraid to share, appropriately of course.

Banking on Obama for a bailout?

The President Elect has had quite the busy week. He arrived in Washington, got his children to their new schools, had his Twitter hacked and now has the not so small task of establishing an effective economic recovery plan, amongst his other trivial tasks of taking over the presidency. So what will happen next year? With an estimated 7 trillion dollars lost in investor’s portfolios last year, which is not something that magically reappears, his plan for recovery will be a challenging chore indeed.

As companies strive for survival some changes already occurring may impact services you now receive free of charge. Organizations built on ad revenue models in lieu of charging customers for the services they offer are now being hit with declining revenues as budget cuts are exercised and ad rates drop in general greatly reducing the revenue potential. Social networks for one come to mind. In most cases, the principal revenue needed to support infrastructure and provide tools to use their services are all funded by ads. This is a good thing for the consumer as you get to take advantage of those goodies without having to pay a monthly fee. Tough decisions will be made by each individual organization to determine whether to change their business model, but with so many people affected by the economic situation it is doubtful that people will willingly start paying for things they are already receiving free of charge. It’s human nature that we are not happy when things are taken away.

This change will be, I hate to say permanent as there is little permanent on the internet, but it will be a lasting one. It’s the same problem faced by newspapers and other print distributions, once ad revenues, which make up a substantial amount of their income, drop to a point they can no longer cover their overhead a decision needs to be made to either replace the cash stream or close the doors. With less investors willing to fund organizations with dwindling ad revenues it will become more challenging to keep them going, worse yet it will prevent new services from being developed in general.

Speaking of New Year’s Resolutions – internet dating extreme

It’s always about the marketing! I was watching Good Morning America yesterday when I see a women being interviewed for her New Year’s resolution to find a husband in 52weeks. She launched a website to promote herself, which of course includes videos and lots of personal information. I am not really a fan of the New Year’s resolution, it always seems like people set themselves up for failure with unrealistic expectations like lose a billion pounds, quite smoking 2 packs a day, find a husband in a year, but that's just me. What I found strange about this particular resolution was the strategy around implementing the plan.

Here is a person sitting on national television talking about her mission to find a husband by making it easy for people to get to know her by using her website. I can only imagine the amount of traffic her site received after being on GMA.

I wonder if her marketing will pay off?
Do you think she will find Mr. Right by advertising herself online as wife material?
How many of you would go this extreme to find a mate?