All posts by Katrina Ma

Going Mobile This Holiday Season

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With mobile marketing and e-commerce as the topics last class, it reminded me of Google who recently released their 2014 Holiday Shopper Research Data. One of the findings was that 75% of smartphone shoppers plan to use their phones in-store this winter. For the longest time, shoppers possessed little to no knowledge when shopping—having to have sales associates educate them on products. Now, shoppers are empowered through their devices. If there are information gaps, shoppers today are more likely to consult their smartphones in-store than ask employees. Our devices help us hunt for deals, and online shopping has become the equivalent of window-shopping.


Image Source: Shutterstock

I don’t find Google’s data surprising. We are living in an increasingly connected world and with a rise in mobile devices, consumers are simultaneously becoming more attached to their smartphones. As such, I believe it’ll be critical for brands to have a mobile presence to remain competitive. The fact that consumers are consulting their smartphones for information will have a significant impact on a business’ bottomline. Whatever content the consumer finds on their phones will impact their purchasing decisions, especially when the consumer is physically in the store and already in a “shopping mood.”

Combined with the growing popularity of mobile real-time bidding (the buying and selling of online ad impressions through real-time auctions), brands who have a mobile presence are more powerful than ever because they can now target their mobile ads and reach more shoppers this way. As a result, going mobile appears to be more of a driver for offline sales rather than online which is quite interesting.

Facebook “Like Gate” is No More

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Have you ever had an instance where you’re on Facebook and you stumble on a brand promoting “Free iPads!” or “Limited time only: redeem your free gift now!” You then click on the promotion only to realize… you have to “like” the brand’s Facebook page first before you can do anything. This is known as the “like gate.” This August however, Facebook announced it was axing the marketing tactic, offering companies 90 days to comply. Facebook justifies the change by wanting its users to like a page because they want to genuinely connect with the brand, and not because they were enticed by “artificial incentives.”

likegateImage Source: Votigo

I thought this news event tied in nicely with last class’ guest speaker, A&W’s Robert Cifarelli. Robert spoke about the downsides of value exchanges. If a brand is new to Facebook and wants to attract their first fans, offering incentives like discounts or freebies in exchange for a “like” may work very well (i.e. the company gets 100k in likes instantly), but the real question is: are these “fans” actually fans? Brands who employ “like gate” tactics run the risk of attracting everyone except their ideal consumers.

Some may argue the “like gate” can be effective if executed properly. However, the brands that have the most effective digital marketing strategies are usually the ones that are making genuine connections with its fans and engaging them so that two-way conversations are taking place. These brands have the power to “stop people’s thumbs” from scrolling past its posts and be able to stand out above the rest. The brands that do this the best can influence people. Some brands even become permanent fixtures in people’s lifestyles. As such, I think Facebook is doing marketers’ a favour by removing the like gate.

Youtube Considers Ad-Free Paywall

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At Re/code’s Code/Mobile Conference last Monday, Youtube CEO Susan Wojcicki revealed the online video site is exploring a paywall option. The paywall will allow interested users to access Youtube content without any ad interference. Though it is unclear on how and when Youtube will be launching this type of service, the company is definitely looking to expand beyond its traditional user-generated content. This is evident when the company announced its plans to launch a new ad-free subscription music service back in June, and a investment campaign for original TV-quality shows back in September.

Susan Wojcicki, CEO of Youtube
Image Source: Re/code

I think an ad-free paywall would be interesting. I’m sure many current users find it frustrating to be forced to watch a 30-second ad just to see a 1-minute cat video. The paywall will also be an extra channel for Youtube to generate revenue. For the past few years, Youtube has been trying to establish itself as premium service to compete against the likes of Netflix and Amazon’s Playbook. With the additional revenue, Youtube could be more flexible in creating more original premium content. Of course, just having the only benefit of “ad-free” won’t be a good enough incentive for users to pay. If Youtube can provide exclusive entertainment like movies or shows on top of the ad-free benefit that only paid users can access, then the paywall would be a worthwhile option. This also only holds if the company keeps its current free model separately. Otherwise, its user base will definitely decrease.

Taco Bell “Blacked Out” on Social Media

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Today, Taco Bell made headlines when the company “blacked out” and shut down all of its owned media including its official website, Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook page. Only one post is left:

Image Source: Marketing Land

So why did Taco Bell “black out”? As you see above, it’s to promote the company’s latest mobile ordering app! Users with the app can now order menu items on-the-go and pick-up at a nearby Taco Bell restaurant.

I think the black out campaign is a creative way for Taco Bell to cut through the information clutter and prompt users to download the app. By “blacking out,” there’s no other content on the platforms to divert the user’s attention. Additionally, the suddenness of the campaign is driving a lot of buzz and attention to the company as users wondered why Taco bell blacked out. In fact, Taco Bell is encouraging users to talk about them by offering the hashtag: #OnlyInTheApp (which also happens to be trending on Twitter right now.)

Simultaneously, Taco Bell is running the risk of cutting off conversations between itself and its consumers. Taco Bell currently has a very engaged online community between ages 18-34. While the duration of the black out is currently unknown, the company’s online community base may decrease in size if the campaign lasts too long. Additionally, while Taco Bell evangelists are rejoicing at the idea of mobile ordering, the company is receiving a lot of backlash from normal users as the latter rejects the idea of being “forced” into downloading the app. That being said, I believe Taco Bell is moving in the right direction in the long run–by going to where the consumers are moving, which is mobile. Taco Bell is also improving its customer service model, which would be invaluable for its bottomline.

What does a consumer’s selfie say about them?

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With the emergence of more visual social media platforms like Instagram, Pinterest, and even Twitter, marketing companies are also finding new ways to mine consumer data. In fact, companies like Ditto Labs and Piqora are digging through these types of platforms for “selfies” that could help them draw insights about the consumer for big-brand advertisers.


Image Source: The Wall Street Journal

Marketing companies like Ditto Labs uses technology to scan the photos to identify any brand logos (i.e. Lululemon), the photo’s context (i.e. Is the person smiling? What are they doing?), and any other relevant information. The data then allows marketers to send targeted ads to the user, or help them conduct market research.

While companies like Ditto Labs are only accessing public photos, it’s easy to predict that there will be backlash from users over privacy (if there isn’t any already). After all, posting selfies to be free market research subjects is not something a user would first think of. Otherwise, I think photo mining is an innovative way to understand consumers. There’s no doubt social media and online advertising is getting more visual–there’s just simply too much information thrown at consumers these days. Brands need to find a way to stand out, and I believe those who are able to identify trends outside of text will have a strong competitive advantage. If privacy concerns are taken into account, photo mining is very likely to play a pivotal role in future digital marketing efforts.

Snapchat ads are here!

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Snapchat will now be joining social media giants Facebook and Twitter in online paid advertising. Just announced this morning in a blog post, Snapchat will be rolling out their ads this weekend. The ads are going to work a bit differently though. Unlike Facebook and Twitter, Snapchat will not be collecting data from its users. Instead, “An advertisement will appear in your Recent Updates from time to time, and you can choose if you want to watch it. No biggie.” In fact, the ad goes away after 24 hours, just like how a regular “Snapchat story” from an actual user would.


Image Source: Jefferson Graham, USAT

There’s no doubt Snapchat is a pretty popular social media platform. It’s no bigger surprise they decided to dive into paid advertising because they haven’t really been making money since their founding.

However, Snapchat has always been an aversive advertising platform for big brands due the app’s infamous reputation as a sexting channel for teenagers. Additionally, if Snapchat can not put out “targeted ads,” will it be an effective use of advertising dollars? For the bigger picture, how can marketers quantify/measure their success? Will it spark any user-ad interaction, not to mention, user engagement if the ad disappears after 24 hours? Lastly, marketers who want to advertise on Snapchat have a very niche market to work with, with half of users being ages 13-17. These are the individuals who grew up with the web at their disposal, and advertisements are something they have been tuned to glaze over or habituated to ignore. I guess only time will tell, but I’ll definitely be keeping an eye on Snapchat.

Facebooks ads are now following you!

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Watch out, Google. Facebook wants a slice of the digital advertising pie. This Monday, Facebook launched Atlas, an advertising system that was originally bought from Microsoft. Atlas allows advertisers to place better targeted Facebook ads to consumers, outside of Facebook.

Atlas’ competitive advantage over AdSense is its knowledge of user identities. A long-standing issue for online marketers is that they don’t know who has seen their ads. Cookie tracking hasn’t been the most accurate. Facebook states that Atlas can solve this by linking people’s Facebook accounts to these ad interactions (e.g. a click).

Image Source: Mashable

I think this is great news for marketers as they now have an actual consumer profile to match to when they see people interacting with their ads. One of the most critical components for marketers is to be able to understand who their consumers are to tailor the best content. Atlas would help significantly in accomplishing this. One downside is Atlas will not be gaining a lot fans from Facebook’s already privacy-conscious user base. Past backlash has even culminated into the creation of Ello, the currently invite-only anti-Facebook, that works just like Facebook, but with a promise to never sell user information.

The fact that Facebook users are concerned about privacy should be something marketers should consider if they choose to employ Atlas. Said users may be prompted to give fake information on their profiles as a result. This could skew online ad measurements, taking marketers back to square one with AdSense and cookies tracking. That being said though, there is no doubt Atlas will shift the current digital advertising landscape.

Barbie is #Unapologetic

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Barbie might have begun her “career” as a swimsuit model, but after having over 150 careers since 1959, she’s now a changed woman. With a history of being criticized for contributing to low self-esteem in girls and portraying unrealistic body images, Barbie’s popularity has been falling for the past two years, with sales dropping a record 15% in the last quarter. Mattel tackled this issue this summer by introducing the online #Unapologetic campaign and the “Entrepreneur Barbie.” This Silicon Valley-based gal even has her own LinkedIn profile!

Untitled-1Image Source: Mattel

Mattel is trying to transform Barbie into an empowering role model, one that values her career and personality over materialism. To do this, the company also partnered with eight women entrepreneurs to create an online dialogue of inspiring young girls to be #unapologetic in pursuing their dreams via blog posts! Content includes career tips, their own entrepreneurial journey, and career-themed games.

As we enter an era of women entrepreneurship becoming more prominent, I believe Mattel has come up with a very clever and strategic campaign with #Unapologetic. The campaign’s entrepreneurial aspect helps address the issue of Barbie of being a gender stereotypical doll by encouraging girls to think about starting their own business and to embrace their creativity. Collaborating with existing women entrepreneurs is a great way to generate credibility for the campaign and it really exemplifies again the capability of influencers and the power of blogging. Just using the hashtag #unapologetic on Twitter is driving buzz and attention for the Barbie brand even outside of Mattel’s target audience. That being said, Mattel still has a lot of work to do to change parents’ minds about Barbie. This includes the children themselves, who could easily be immune to marketing tactics depending on their mood.

Shop in the comforts of your own social network

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An hour? Two hours? Or maybe even three? While the duration is subjective to each person, there is no doubt today that surfing on social media sites are taking up a good portion of our day. And now, both Facebook and Twitter are giving us more reasons to stay on them even longer.

In July, Facebook began testing out a new “Buy” button feature on ads and page posts, allowing users to purchase a product directly from a business without having to leave the social network. This month, Twitter also began publicly testing their own “Buy” button, which are embedded in tweets of the advertiser.

twittershoppingImage Source: Mashable

So why exactly are Facebook and Twitter dabbling in e-commerce? In the past three years, the two sites have rapidly transformed into indispensable platforms for marketing and advertising. Thinking simply, I believe it’s one more easy way for the social networks to generate revenue from businesses. But critically, I think the feature can help build even more organic user engagement, which is appealing to the social networks themselves, marketers, and advertisers alike. From personal experience, I know how online shopping alone can take away two hours of your day in an instant. Now that a platform like Facebook is combining social networking and shopping together, there’s a good chance I may never leave my desk!

At the end of the day though, users don’t exactly go on social networks to shop. Brian Solis has even mentioned in his book Engage! that “people do not create accounts on Facebook, Youtube, and Twitter … to hear from brands.” People go on social networks  to socialize with other people, to see what they’re doing, and to hear what they’re talking about. But who knows? Before, we didn’t think posting 140-character messages would mean much either!

Influencers: The Food Babe

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During my first eMarketing class, I learned about two types of influencers on the web: a hub influencer vs. a bridge influencer. While a hub influencer brings new ideas to the table, a bridge influencer fills in knowledge gaps between separate groups of people.


Image Source: Foodbabe.com

Recently, I stumbled on a bridge influencer: The Food Babe, otherwise known as Vani Hari. Well-known for her campaigns against large food corporations, she has gathered numerous supporters across North America who proclaim themselves as, “The Food Babe Army.” With her army, Hari has pressured General Mills to remove genetically modified ingredients from Cheerios, and Subway to remove a chemical used in making yoga mats from their bread. Presenting herself as the voice of the people, this social media juggernaut “investigates our food and holds companies accountable.”

I did noticed some of Hari’s findings (while completed with good intentions) can be exaggerated at times. In her most recent investigation of Starbucks’ Pumpkin Spice Latte, one of her findings was that the seasonal drink has “no real pumpkin!” (I don’t know about you guys, but I always thought it was called pumpkin “spice” for that reason? 🙂 ) It’s very neat to see how a blogger can take something fairly mundane, and make it go viral on social media. Additionally, this individual has so much influence on consumers that she can trigger wide-scale boycotts, and dilute a company’s otherwise long-established brand in an instant.

Some say Hari’s actions are those of a bully, but her supporters say she’s their saviour. The fact that bloggers today have consumers’ trust on their side, it seems like companies are either with the bloggers, or against them.