Did Groupon misfire with its Super Bowl ad?

As everyone catches up on the long list of $3Million ads from Sunday night’s Super Bowl, Twitter is still a buzz with commentary about an ad by Groupon.

Targeting and segmentation in today’s terms

Advertising is about showing the right message to the right person at the right time and with the ability of online marketers to track an individual’s buying behaviour, advertising has never been more targeted.

The Top 5 Secrets to SEO Copywriting

Many marketers mistakenly assume that writing copy for the web follows the same principles as all other communications copywriting. Well BIG no! The copy on your brochures and shareholder reports will not do the trick, and taking the easy road of wacking the copy you have on hand up on your website equals fail.

The good and bad of Facebook’s latest security features

To coincide with Data Privacy Day, an international effort by governments, businesses and advocacy groups to raise awareness about the importance of staying in control of personal information, Facebook announced its latest developments to protect users’ online security.

Is it possible to love your toothbrush?

Creative agency DDB Worldwide has developed a social media campaign for Philips using secret cameras to film its customers.

Users of the Philips Sonicare toothbrush were asked to audition for a TV commercial. Customers seeking their 30 seconds of fame raved about their electric toothbrushes unawares of the concealed cameras filming them from the moment they stepped into the studio.

Google to boost its local advertising program with coupons

With Google’s offer of $6 billion to buy social commerce sensation Groupon rejected, the search giant reveals that it has plans to launch a Groupon competitor in an effort to further develop its service for local businesses and boost its already major advertising networks AdWords and AdSense.

How Social Commerce Connects the Dots

One of the biggest challenges marketers face is accountability of the kind that monetises returns from specific channels in finite ways. Most campaigns usually involve multiple media and at the very least a series of touchpoints that lead customers from first impression through to purchase.

MySpace and Facebook Mashup

Facebook and MySpace have joined forces in a partnership which allows users to link Facebook content to their MySpace profile.

10 Steps to Better Content Marketing

Combine PR, SEO, social marketing and branding and you’ve got content marketing.

Content marketing is an effective technique for building and strengthening relationships with customers. By creating and sharing helpful content with your target market you can become more visible on the web, add value to your core offering and in turn build value into your brand.

The Extraordinary Power of One Simple Word

A study published in the Journal of Advertising reveals that a sentence containing the word ‘Trust’ in an ad dramatically changes customers perceptions and response.

How to Stand Out on YouTube

According to YouTube, over 35 hours of video is uploaded to the channel every minute. That’s 2,100 hours uploaded every 60 minutes, 50,400 hours uploaded to YouTube every day or the equivalent of over 176,000 full-length Hollywood releases every week!

Content owners hit back at Google’s latest innovation

Broadcasters ABC, NBC and CBS have blocked users of Google TV from accessing episodes of popular TV programs. The networks have also demanded fees from Google for making their online content available via the platform.

Google’s change from ‘Sponsored Links’ to ‘Ads’

Google has taken the step of changing the label for its paid search engine advertising on all of its English-language websites from ‘Sponsored Links’ to ‘Ads’ also considerably reducing the size of the heading.

How ING is enhancing its customer experience

As more and more of the larger brands and corporation realise the power of mobile marketing, ING Direct has claimed the marketing channel as a primary means of interacting with its customers.

Gap Facebook Places Free Jeans Giveaway

On November 5th Gap ran a US based event giving away 10,000 pairs of jeans to customers that show any Gap employee their check-in on Facebook Places.

Google Analytics Privacy Issues

SEO and privacy experts have raised questions about a feature in Google’s Analytics Dashboard that allows website operators to find information on individuals who have linked to their site through social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter.

Why Google Needs To Buy Twitter Immediately

Angel investor Dave McClure pointed out what is obvious to everyone but Google: Google needs to buy Twitter immediately. “We’ve been urging Google to buy Twitter for more than 18 months now, and it would have cost the company a lot less if it had taken our advice 18 months ago.” But whatever it costs Google to buy Twitter today is worth it.

Here’s why:

The future of marketing: making everybody a winner.

Neuroscience and Behavioural Economics are highly discussed topics in the marketing industry. Some see them as saviors, another quick fix. Others feel queasy about exploring the brain to sell products and services.

Twitter gets a revamp

Twitter has announced a redesign of its website, to be rolled out across all Twitter accounts over the next few weeks.

Tips to Integrating Email and Social Media

Best e-mail marketing practices call for social marketing to serve as a partner, not competitor.