Fake web traffic has long plagued the online publishing world, but Dr. Paul Barford, computer science professor at the University of Wisconsin, is claiming the problem might be worse than suspected. And it's costing some of the top online advertisers millions in wasted ad impressions.
Dr. Barford, who is also the chief scientist at startup MdotLabs, is slated to present a study at an Internet security symposium Wednesday in Washington, D.C., where he we will claim that 10 traffic networks are serving up more than 500 million invalid ad impressions a month.
"We estimate the cost to advertisers for this fraudulent traffic to be on the order of $180 million annually," he said in a statement in advance of the presentation.
Dr. Barford reached his conclusion by posing as a web publisher and signing up for several different traffic generation services, also called PPV networks, which he filtered through software that uses anomaly detection to identify fake website traffic....
Jeff Domansky's insight:
Fascinating research into social marketing and the growing problem of fake web traffic.Well worth reading.
...Among other things, baby-boomer marketers need to accept the fact that millennials have not inherited their parents' love for the "touch" of paper. They do not naturally go gaga over double-page spreads of either editorial or advertising in magazines. They do not feel compelled to seek their fashion and beauty direction from the magazines that served as bibles for older generations. Nor do millennials feel the need to park themselves in front of a TV at the time appointed for their favorite show, or even to watch TV on a TV at all. Millennials spend a huge amount of their lives online: on smartphones (59%), on tablets (35%) and on their laptops (70%). As of 2011, 91% of millennials are regular internet users, according to Forrester Research....
Jeff Domansky's insight:
Okay Boomer marketers. Listen up. Milllennials are different. Here's why that matters.
How "cool" is your brand? Marketers may soon get the answers...
A Breakthrough In Measuring Cool Business leaders can now determine whether their brands are perceived as cool and how much emotional heat they have as a measure of future business success. Results from a recent study in the beer and spirits categories are described below to illustrate the new insights available from measuring cool.
Today there is too much noise, too much clutter and too many choices for customers to navigate in virtually every category. When a brand evokes the characteristics of cool, it stands out and drives consumption. For brand owners and innovators it has been increasingly difficult to differentiate on functional features and benefits to get ahead of competitive brands and private label.
The accumulated research on quantifying cool by Buyology has demonstrated:
- Cool is a key driver of brand favorability across a wide spectrum of product and service categories
- Cool is relevant and important to all age groups, although what is considered to be cool may vary by age.
- Cool brands have different characteristic patterns
- Cool is more reliably measured through non-conscious methods, where perception and intuition operate in our thinking...
Web application performance monitoring company New Relic studied some 42 billion page views. Because many tech savvy sites use New Relic to improve performance, this data provides not just an indicator of where users are today, but where they’re going.
Companies like Google and Facebook have had access to vast amounts of data on how consumers behave on the web for years. Now you can get access to this same kind of Big Data, even if you don’t have their scale.
Here are four key insights from the Quarterly Web And Mobile Benchmark...
Jeff Domansky's insight:
If you're looking for BIG Data insight on social media, look no further...
Our 2013 Trend Report Forecast is now available at http://www.trendhunter.com/trendreports - The top 20 trends video is annually our top video, profiling some of the trendiest, most insightful trends and ideas from the trend reports. The top 20 are just 20 of our PRO Trends, so if you'd like to browse 1600 more PRO Trends or create a custom trend platform, visit the site! FIND BETTER IDEAS, FASTER at TrendHunter.com! ( narrated by innovation keynote speaker, Jeremy Gutsche...
Measuring the efficacy of social media marketing still isn't an exact science, regardless of what the gurus and ninjas tell you.
So how can we whittle all the thousands of social campaigns we've seen this year down to a definitive list of the '10 best of 2012'?
Do we gauge it on the number of new fans acquired, retweets, ROI, YouTube views, the number of people it reached, sentiment analysis, the amount of traffic it drove or maybe the number of new brand advocates it created?
The answer is any of the above and any number of other social metrics, so for this list I've instead gone for the campaigns that I found to be most memorable, innovative, or downright funny....
Jeff Domansky's insight:
Lots of lessons in thislist of social marketing success stories...
85% of consumers say it is important or very important to them to do business with a company for which they have strong emotions, per survey results [download page] released in November 2012 by rbb Public Relations. But that connection is more important in some industries than others, and appears to matter more in industries where products are more complex and less of a commoditized.
For example, 76% of respondents say that an emotional connection is important from healthcare providers, with that connection built upon personal and proactive communications from the provider. Banking (63%) was next, followed by professional services (62%). A high proportion also value emotional connections when it comes to travel (56%), insurance (55%), auto (52%), technology (44%) and food (also 44%)....
Jeff Domansky's insight:
This report has some extremely valuable insight for marketers in specific industries. The implication is that a strong personal, emotional connection has a higher ROI.
One in eight (12%) consumers in the UK have stopped using or buying a brand due to negative comments on social media, according to research from SAP UK & Ireland.
The survey of 1,000 UK online shoppers highlighted the need for brands to engage with customers online. Twenty-two percent of consumers have bought from a specific brand or retailer based on a recommendation they have seen on a social network....
Jeff Domansky's insight:
Valuable market research for social marketers, PR and social strategists!
Here are some top analytics to avoid when measuring marketing ROI and proving revenue.
I recently wrote about how to build a data-driven marketing team. But what metrics should that team track? There are literally hundreds if not thousands of possible marketing management metrics to choose from, and almost all of them measure something of some kind of value. The problem is that most of them relate very little to the revenue and profitability metrics that concern the CEO, CFO and the board....
Here are the top categories of metrics to avoid....
Jeff Domansky's insight:
Jon Miller shares valuable tips on what metrics NOT to measure.
As a digital strategist, I’ve attended plenty of brainstorms and meetings where we talk about how we can define popular digital behaviors and mechanics introduced by startups and digital companies. The cross-pollination of ideas and best practices is exciting and while there are tons of things startups can learn from advertisers and marketers, there is a lot more that brands can learn from startups.
I’ve developed what I like to refer to as “The Startup Filter"--a set of principles that are the building blocks for any successful startup. Lately, I’ve found myself using these principles in my client initiatives, whether it’s developing a website, a new digital product, or even a short-term marketing campaign. Here are some of those principles....
Jeff Domansky's insight:
Here's an excellent approach Jinal Shah uses, taking startup strategies and applying them to agency projects.
Check out these 13 marketing musts and get your business ready for the New Year!
...There is clear evidence that we are still watching TV, reading magazines and newspapers (more online) and listening to the radio. Add to that, the parallel world of content marketing with blogs, podcasts, e-marketing, mobile, text and social media platforms and we can and do get overwhelmed with all the choices.
Here’s what’s most important to figure out:
* The marketing vehicles that are best for you and your customers. * A clear brand and marketing message about you, what you offer, why you.
* Being consistent, looking professional and staying fresh....
With talks of the new Google Penguin update and how social media can help stabilize and improve a site’s performance online, site owners are increasingly focusing on social media marketing campaigns. The question is – how do you really know how effective your campaigns are, and how can you determine ROI?
Of course, the ultimate way to track the effectiveness of your social SEO campaign is increased revenue, but there are other forms of tracking that can be beneficial as well. After all, not everything you do is going to generate an instant increase in revenue. In this article I will discuss how to track the effects of your social seo efforts, and the best methods and tools to add to your toolbox....
Jeff Domansky's insight:
Tools, tactics and social marketing tracking tips that work.
Did you know that a recent study showed that almost half (44 percent) of moms have gone on to make a purchase after a friend posted a recommendation or liked a product on a social media site?
We’ve been here before, of course (many times), but it bears repeating – moms and social media make a great mix, and if these socially savvy ladies are a demographic fit for your business then you should absolutely be engaging with them – frequently – within your marketing campaigns.
You need more proof? Moms love to share information about products. Your products. More than nine in ten (92 percent) pass along information about deals or finds to others, and 78 percent of moms follow brands on social media to get coupons and discounts (compared to 55 percent of other folk).
They’re mobile, too – 89 percent of moms use their smartphone to check social media on the move....
Jeff Domansky's insight:
Useful study that confirms several social media "truths."
Most likely you are working to reduce your bounce rate and may have even performed some split testing to improve your conversion ratio. But do you know the deeply rich and valuable wealth of data available through Google analytics if you just have the necessary knowledge to tease it out?
Is the keyword you are spending money on SEO giving you the highest possible return? Perhaps you think your head term is bringing in a large portion of your revenue. Is that true? How are your long tail visitors performing? If you quantify the ROI for each, are you allocating your resources properly? Are there long tail keywords that are at the bottom of the funnel that have a greater ROI than your head terms? These, and other similar answers, await you in your Google Analytics account....
Jeff Domansky's insight:
Are you new to search engine analytics or maybe you just need an SEO tune up? Marcela De Vivo's extensive primer is for you. it's one of the best overviews I've seen for some time. So dive in, learn, measure and get better social media results!
...Paul Dunay has written, "there is no campaign in social media," while Joe Pulizzi said in a video interview that "content marketing is not a campaign, it is a promise to our customers." Even Bill Lee, in his Harvard Business Review article, "Marketing Is Dead," said, "Traditional marketing may be dead, but the new possibilities of peer influence-based, community-oriented marketing ..." (which some of us might call 'inbound marketing' ... wink wink) “... hold much greater promise for creating sustained growth through authentic customer relationships.”...
So, if the marketing campaign is dead, why is it dead, and what do we do now? Let’s start off with some of the reasons why it's dead?...
Social Media has had a terrific ride for the past several years, but the days of easy growth are gone. In fact, the days of easy anything in social are behind us. For many brands, 2013 will be a year of social media disappointment.
With so many consumers spending so much time in social media and expecting so much of brands, our investments in social will continue to grow, but that does not mean our results will grow, at least in easily measurable ways. Certainly, all of our brands will earn more fans, see more comments and collect more retweets, but we all know this is no longer enough--our bosses want to know the business results we are delivering, and fans simply are not a business benchmark.
Success in 2013, more than ever, will be measured in difficult metrics and not easy ones, and increasingly, it will come not just from the Marketing department but from every corner of the enterprise. To succeed in 2013 and beyond, organizations must recognize how social media is altering the way we live, work and conduct business and not just the way we kill time on Facebook.
Here is where (I believe) social will grow and where it will stumble and stagnate in 2013...
Jeff Domansky's insight:
Ex-Forrester consultant Augie Ray offers must-read insight for everyone in "social business". And I guess that would be eveyone LOL...
Are you addicted to white papers, just as I am? Well, my friends at Awareness, Inc. have put together an epic list of the top 10 social media whitepapers of 2012. Enjoy the white paper goodness.
To help you understand important shifts in the social media landscape and how they affect marketing, Awareness Inc combed through the juiciest research findings from 2012, pulling out 10 studies and 30 essential takeaways for any successful marketer and created a guide to help you with them. The ten white papers included are...
Jeff Domansky's insight:
This is a really useful list and social media resource.
Social media duties are treated more as add-on job functions, and don’t often get a dedicated internal team, details a [download page] new Ragan/NASDAQ OMX Corporate Solutions survey. 65% of the survey respondents – the majority of whom hail from organizations that employ more than 100 people – said that social media tasks are assigned on top of current job responsibilities. 27% said they have an internal team that works exclusively on social media, while an additional 5% said they have both an internal department and use an outside agency or partner. Just 3% said they fully outsource all their social media efforts. That 3% figure reflects an apparent unwillingness to spend dollars – rather than time – on social media, a trend that was found by Reply! recently, in research examining SMB use of paid social media services.
The Ragan survey found that when it comes to tools used to measure social media, a 59% majority rely on free tools, while 35% use a combination of free and paid tools. Only 6% use only paid tools, the most popular of which are Hootsuite (31%), Radian6 (25%), and Vocus (17%). (Among free tools, Google Analytics and Google Alerts both easily lead all others.)...
Jeff Domansky's insight:
A valuable research report on social media tools, resources and trends.
This week, Australian research agency Truth Serum published results of a poll detailing the most hated social media marketing practices for users. The results read like a best practice list from any other site.
What is illustrative about this study is that it reinforces that users don’t use social media to see marketing content, anymore than people watch TV to see commercials. In a perpetually contentious relationship like that, insights like “social media turnoffs” aren’t necessarily informative of what businesses should be doing, but they must be understood nonetheless. ...
Via Chana Andler
Jeff Domansky's insight:
This is a must-read for content, marketing and PR pros - an eye opener.
Do you know why your content marketing campaign is going to fail? It’s not because you can’t write great content… it’s actually because you don’t know how to promote it.
You can learn how to write great content, but if no one reads your content and links to it, there’s no point in putting it out there....
Jeff Domansky's insight:
Neil Patel shares great content marketing tips. My additional tip to content marketers is to not overindulge in the "marketing" in your content itself. The reason content marketing works is it doesn't "sell" too hard and it's supposed to be about engaging your audience.
The rise of Big Data provides marketers with an unprecedented level of insight. But too often, it's easy to get buried in the data. Using billions of transactional data points from thousands of Eloqua customers, 40 Must-See Charts for Modern Marketers contains ready-to-use benchmarking data that you can compare your own results to.
Download your free copy of these key insights gathered from real marketing performance data across several disciplines, including: Email marketing; Lead management; Social media; Events management....
Jeff Domansky's insight:
If you don't mind registering, this free e-book is a valuable resource for marketers, PR and content pros.
Check out this list of content marketing trends that will build steam over the next twelve months. Trends that you can to follow and utilize.
...Already we are seeing certain content marketing trends that are turning heads and building a buzz. Content marketing is changing like it always does, and there are a couple of methods that will obviously be building steam over the next twelve months. Trends that you should be doing everything you can to follow and utilize early....
Via Liz Wilson
Jeff Domansky's insight:
Excellent look at content marketing trends and helpful advice.
Ann Smarty cuts through the noise around content marketing to pick out the trends that matter for next year. She also gives a checklist of actions you can take to propel your content marketing. Very useful.
Business is a warzone: If you stand still, you die. No matter how good your product or service, you’re at the mercy of cause and effect. The market’s evolving needs must be met by evolving products.
...But perhaps companies like Microsoft aren’t like yours? They deal in products that constantly change and have a short shelf life; change and fluidity are normal in their particular market. So what happens when you’re not one of these companies? How do you deal with the speed at which social media and the spread of connected devices has changed the balance of power between a company and its customers and made it difficult to market using traditional advertising tools?...
In the transition from Jerome McCarthy’s 4Ps of Product, Place, Price and Promotion to what he calls the 4Es of Experience, Everyplace, Exchange and Evangelism, we also see the morphing of traditional businesses into social ones...
[This is a really thoughtful article on how business must evolved from traditional into social business models ~ Jeff]
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Fascinating research into social marketing and the growing problem of fake web traffic.Well worth reading.