I am proud to announce that I have completed the course for, and am now Certified in Social Customer Care. It was an amazing experience learning from Brands like Coca Cola, Intuit and Omaha Steaks! Thanks SOCAP and WOMMA for another amazing and important course!
I have been in college for the last 18 months and LOVE IT! If you are headed to college, the very first thing you learn is how expensive it can be!
Walking into a college book store and paying $80-100 for a book can blow your mind!
Rent and Save up to 85% on your Textbooks!
I decided to become an affilate for this great idea! We starving students need to stick together!
In this Word on the Street Assignment, we had to answer the Question: “In what ways do you feel that companies are using mobile technologies to target you regarding their products and services?”
A great article on this subject is in the New York Times. Written by Stephanie Clifford, it was published on April 16, 2010 and is titled “Web Coupons Know Lots About You, and They Tell” [http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/17/business/media/17coupon.html].
Companies who use mobile advertising target potential customers by:
All of this is invisible to the customer. It’s not ‘general’ information either. These coupons can get eerily specific, virtually following you to bed where it knows what kind of sheets you have!
Some merchandisers use a company called RevTraxx who has no privacy policy. They get around the privacy policies of Google and can even trend your IP address – if you have a proclivity for downloading pizza coupons on Friday afternoons – you may soon find one already there!
In a worst case scenario, as the article points out, companies with this kind of personal information can offer you substandard products than they might offer another person; or the same product but at a higher price than the next person. Privacy advocates are very much alarmed by this activity and the article quotes Ed Mierzwinski, the Consumer program Director for USPIRG as saying “There really have been no rules set up for this ecosystem”. Now, USPIRG is asking the FTC to tighten up online advertising privacy rules.
The FTC took it’s first action in March when it sought input about whether to revamp the COPPA (Child Online Privacy Protection Act) regulations, which were last updated in 2000. Among other questions, the FTC asked whether it should expand the definition of personal information to include “persistent IP addresses, mobile geolocation information or information collected in connection with online behavioral advertising.”
[http://www.mediapost.com/publications/index.cfm?fa=Articles.showArticle&art_aid=124908]
The deadline for comments on this, originally scheduled for June 30, 2010 has been extended by the FTC to July 20, 2010
[http://www.mediapost.com/publications/?fa=Articles.showArticle&art_aid=131185&nid=116157]
In the meantime the “word on the street” is for advertisers to police themselves when dealing with kids 12 and under. As stated in the article “Why Marketers Must Keep Kids’ Safety In Mind”, “Marketers will have to tread lightly when dealing with minors, both because of existing regulations and the possibility of new ones. As newer channels like mobile and social networking become increasingly important destinations for kids and teens, effective self-regulation could head off some of the possible restrictions strict legislation or rule-making could bring.”
Back in classes again – at last! This month – Mobile Advertising and Social Media Optimization. Redux. I started these classes in May before I went down hard due to illness and had to take a Leave of Absence.
Returning to these classes reminded me of a very important lesson in technology: It’s moving faster than the speed of light! I had done a Discussion post for Mobile Advertising back in May that talked about Google’s pending purchase of AdMob and the FTC investigation into whether it gave them too big a percentage of the marketplace. Well, in less than 45 days everything has changed! Now Google owns AdMob, is ready to go head-to-head with iAd from Apple and so I had to -rewrite my post to reflect the entirely new environment!
The two questions posed for the discussion in Mobile Advertising class this week were:
1. Referring to this link talking about how Google was optimizing a news site so smartphones could better use it, the question posed was: ”Do you feel that Google has an edge on the mobile news market”?
2. Referring to Google’s purchase of AdMob, the question posed was: ”Do you feel that AdMob has created an effective way to targeting advertising for some of these major retailers”?
My initial response posted:
In terms of news delivery, I believe that anytime you can create the look of a desktop in a mobile environment it is a bonus, particularly when your aim is to deliver a consistent experience cross-platform. To date the world of Mobile News has been very basic in terms of simple text delivery. To have the richness and experience of a desktop/laptop on a mobile device has long been the Holy Grail, ever since the first iPaq was released.
This cross-platform rich environment is a definite advantage to Google.
Google’s recent purchase of AdMob brings them the ability to deliver mobile display ads. This, clearly is in line with Google’s growth into the Mobile marketplace and is the next logical step n bringing mobile marketing into line with Internet Marketing’s ability to deliver rich advertisements.
jiWire conducted a Q1/2010 mobile insights study with 1,000 mobile users. Their new report “examined device use…and consumer preferences for mobile content and advertising delivery.
David Staas, senior vice president of marketing at JiWire, says “People have a completely different perception of mobile content and advertising when they’re on-the-go… half of the on-the-go mobile audience say they are more likely to engage with an ad that is relevant to their current location… ”
They also found:
55% of the on-the-go audience owns an app-enabled smartphone or mobile device. The top devices (and % ownership) are:
The top 5 mobile applications are:
1. Facebook
2. Google
3. The Weather Channel
4. Pandora
5. Twitter
Further, more than 40% of those surveyed spend more than one hour per day using apps.
Over 50% of this audience has engaged with advertisements on an app in the previous 30 days. Of that 50%:
35% clicked on ad
27% visited advertiser’s web site
18% made a purchase
The most telling information gleaned from the study:
“Respondents say that advertisements on mobile devices are both welcome and effective, with 53% saying they were willing to share their location to receive more relevant advertising”.
I would say that, again, Google was ahead of the curve in negotiating and defending (against the April 2010 FTC investigation) their purchase of AdMob.
More Info: Google Answers: Mobile Image Ad Information
Buyer Persona Consumer Behavior Content Conversion economy Florida Fun Stuff Google health care health insurance Interactive Internet Internet Marketing New Rules Online Shopping recession marketing Social Networking Strategy tactics Tampa Bay Thought Leader thought leadership universal healthcare Web 2.0 WOM
WP Cumulus Flash tag cloud by Roy Tanck and Luke Morton requires Flash Player 9 or better.
