The Laredo Group Beacon

(Originally posted by Leslie Laredo in Laredo Group iAdBiz Views, 6/9/09 Issue)

I have been in the online industry since its inception (circa 1982) and have seen so much evolution, in the technology (online speed was tied to 300 baud modems), media was simple placements (billboards on Prodigy), and business models were based on subscriptions (”pushing” updated content to browsers and before PPC search existed). In the last 18 months, there has been an overwhelming amount of change…new media platforms, new opportunities to reach niche audiences, new ways to track, evaluate and predict audience behavior, new tools to evaluate campaign objectives, changing ownership of companies, and the unprecedented impact Web2.0 (social media) is having on the media ecosystem.

With all the change, however, I think it is important to highlight some important research that dispels some often quoted, the “banner is dead.” It is not. An excellent white paper, The “State of Digital Display”, available at http://www.primaryimpact.com/stateofdisplay.php, shows how banners do deliver on objectives, whether branding or response. The paper reinforces what we discuss in our courses…that creative is the greatest variable in determining success. It shows how display improves the performance of search, and how better performance can be achieved by rather simple ideas of limiting ad clutter on a page. This research paper, written by long-time industry participant, Kathryn Koegel, deserves a lot of attention. She uses data from the leading research and ad serving companies to illustrate the points and drive home the arguments that the ad banner is still an important part of the digital media space and why buyers and sellers must understand all the components of how to deliver and measure digital ad units to improve advertising performance.

Other important news is on the research front. In our courses, we discuss how dramatic the site measurement data can vary depending on the source of the data, internal site (log-file) data versus syndicated research data. Typically, syndicated research data shows much smaller audience reach for some sites due to the under-counting from populations outside of current home and work locations. comScore, one of the leaders in syndicated research, has announced their Media Metrix 360, panel-centric hybrid solution to digital audience measurement. comScore will now marry site traffic data with panel data, which will help improve their measurement of at work users and enhance coverage of niche audiences and Web 2.0 applications. It also allows publishers to participate if they place comScore web beacons on their web pages, similar to Quantcast’s pixel tracking methodology.

I also just attended the digiday: NETWORKS and digiday: TARGET on Monday this week. During the sessions I listened to many presentations on how the ad network space is evolving from sellers of remnant inventory, how the selling of “audience” is changing, and the importance of data in determining the value of audience. This is an exciting time for our industry and in future columns I’ll be highlighting many of the other essential insights learned at this recent conference and elsewhere.

(Originally posted by Jeff Leibowitz in Laredo Group iAdBiz Views, 5/27 issue)

Several times a week, I get calls from human resource managers, sales vice presidents, agency owners or executives, interactive advertising managers, media directors or others who are responsible for getting their people up-to-speed on interactive and Internet media and advertising. Sometimes they have very reasonable expectations of the time and investment it will require to do so (many of these people have taken Laredo Group courses in the past and understand the complexity, depth, effectiveness and value). But often, the professional and responsible executive calling has, frankly, self-defeating views and limitations as regards the amount of time or money they are willing to invest to get the results that they need.

The amazing thing is that they often fully acknowledge that learning to buy or sell interactive advertising is critical to the growth or even very survival of their company…but they are only willing to invest, for example, a half-day or even just 90 minutes during some otherwise scheduled meeting! They also often want to spend less on this admittedly critically needed training than they spend on coffee for their offices each month. More amazingly, they also seem to acknowledge that interactive advertising is a very complex media…far more so than any other media…with the need to understand more technology, metrics, ad products and more than any other media…and that all of these things are changing and evolving at a staggering pace. But they don’t connect all of that with the need to spend the needed amount of time and dollars required to understand it all.

To make matters worse, the current down economy is causing (very counter-productively) training budgets to be slashed and, simultaneously, dozens of people who, no longer having a job, have put out a consulting or training shingle and are more than willing to claim that they can teach you whatever you want to know about interactive advertising in as short a session as you’d like for whatever amount of money they can get out of you. Their “qualifications” are often based on having worked for some name brand agency or website for a short time, and therefore claiming that they are now both online advertising gurus and capable trainers (a unique skill and experience set unto itself).

The economy, however, is also the reason that it is even more important than ever to get thorough and expert training in interactive advertising. Fewer employees, whether on the agency or marketer or sales side, means that everyone left must perform absolutely optimally…and good training is the best and most cost-effective way to make that happen. Most people who take our courses, especially those who take both Laredo Group’s Level I and Level II courses together, tell us that they improved performance so dramatically and so quickly that our training paid for itself within days or weeks. And some clients even claim a ROI as high as 17:1 on their Laredo Group training investment dollars!

Look…I too would love to be able to do a complete and comprehensive interactive media training program in just a 90 minute or half-day session (as offered by some other media trainers… most of whom have never bought or sold an interactive ad themselves), but the simple reality is that it is just not possible…and anyone who tells you that they can do such a program is fooling both themselves and you. Similarly, anyone who believes that they can get such training done in a short session or for short money is equally fooling themselves and their employers.

Many people today are, and should be, at least trying to be very penny-wise, but some are also being not just pound foolish…they’re being TONS foolish! For some media types and companies (to remain nameless…they know who they are) the cost of not immediately becoming extremely proficient in online and interactive advertising may literally be the survival of their company!

To use a mercenary, but nowadays sadly relevant, concrete example…If you are down to fifteen people that need to better understand interactive advertising buying or selling, and things are very tight financially, you’d be much better off letting one more go and using their salary to get the remaining 14 people comprehensively trained so that they are all much more productive. If each one improves by only 10%, you are well ahead. If your group is larger, then the benefits can be even greater.

Do your own math for your own organization, and I think you’ll see that investments in training…in both time and money…can provide an exceptional and necessary ROI in these difficult times. And make sure your equation includes the possible result of not becoming proficient in interactive advertising…such as losing customers, clients, jobs, and maybe even the entire company.

Find whatever time and money is truly necessary to get the best training possible and you’ll reap both the short- and long-term benefits necessary to survive, and perhaps even prosper, in the tough times of today and, even more so, when happy days are here again.

(Originally posted by Rob Graham in Laredo Group iAdBiz Views, 5/13 issue)

One of the biggest challenges that online marketers face is simply staying ahead of the tide of new marketing products and channels at their disposal. We’ve come a long way from the days where a few simple print ads could account for 100% of a company’s marketing efforts.

In the online marketing world alone, how marketers effectively reach prospects and clients has undergone vast changes in just a few years. Instead of relying purely on banner and online display ads, today’s online marketers can choose from a wide array of new technologies, methodologies and marketing channels that will allow them to reach very specific parts of the marketing landscape. And yet, even with access to all this great technology the fundamentals of effective marketing still apply:

– Be relevant to the audience your message is intended for
– Grab and hold the attention of consumers
– Tell an engaging story

One of the tools that today’s online marketers are embracing more and more is digital video. Digital video offers marketers the ability to more accurately position their messages, measure the impact of video marketing tools and include dynamic and interactive elements designed to engage consumers.

However, none of these things happen automatically just because a marketer uses digital video. A great deal of planning is required to create any effective online campaign and video is no exception.

Too many marketers think that repurposing a broadcast commercial by slapping it up on a webpage will do the trick. In some instances it may suffice while in others the format of the video, the positioning of elements such as brand names, logos, and other important marketing factors, can get in the way of clearly communicating value to consumers. In short, there is a difference between creating a commercial for broadcast and creating a commercial for an online environment.

One important consideration to keep in mind is that in the online world consumers don’t need to stop and watch commercials. Even in cases where pre-roll ads are being used, consumers show an incredible fickleness. If the pre-roll doesn’t speak to them, a large percentage of viewers will abandon the video stream regardless of the video they originally wanted to watch.

Most online consumers are in constant scan mode looking for items of personal interest to grab their attention. If a video ad is presented on a webpage, a consumer may only catch part of it depending upon where their attention is at the time. Even if they were to see the ad, a few seconds of scanning is often enough time for them to decide if the offer is personally relevant to them. If a meaningful connection doesn’t happen they will quickly wander off.

From a design standpoint this means that marketers need to ‘cut to the chase’ very quickly to make the value of the offer clear to the consumer and to make sure their logo, tag lines and any other branding materials are visible at all times so the consumers can see and remember them. It’s also important to pace the material so that it doesn’t become too much information for consumers. If you’re running a :15 second spot, then focus on making sure that the main message (benefit statement usually) makes it through loud and clear along with a complete understanding of who the advertiser is and how the consumer can take advantage of the offer if they desire.

It’s also important for marketers to keep in mind that the web is an interactive environment. To create a static ad in a sea of interactivity is often a nonstarter. However, marketers who work with rich media advertising and other new technology companies can gain an upper hand by creating dynamically interactive ads that are not only engaging but allow consumers to get directly involved with the branding and marketing messages.

Marketers who use technology just because it’s the ‘hot’ new thing often find that they trade ‘glitz’ for effective communication. In the case of video, it can do a highly effective job of communicating complex information because it offers the ability to ’show and tell’ all in one place.

A picture can be worth a thousand words and a video can speak volumes. But using video just for video’s sake isn’t an instant marketing win. The video needs to have meaning to the viewer, effectively communicate the marketing message, accurately represent the advertiser and be engaging. If it doesn’t accomplish all of these things then it may actually work again clearly communicating the offer.

(Originally posted by Jason Heller in Laredo Group iAdBiz Views, 4/29 issue)

Allow me to expose my inner media geek today while I address one of the most frequently asked questions among attendees of our planning & buying training seminars. In fact, there are few topics that evoke such passionate debate among senior level media strategists as “the role of the GRP/TRP metric online”. For the purpose of this article, each generic reference to GRP is in actuality a TRP reference, as is the case in most media conversations.

Since the dawn of media planning time, media impact has been predicted and evaluated as a function of the relationship of reach and frequency against a defined target universe – essentially the percentage reach against a target multiplied by the frequency:

GRP = (Reach/Target Universe x 100) x Frequency

Generally, the Nielsen television universe is used as the denominator in the reach calculation due to its close representation of the actual universe of US households. Proponents of a related metric, the iGRP, use the online universe of the target as the denominator of the calculation.

Allow me to lay out the arguments of both sides…

The argument for using GRP’s goes something like this: Advertisers use GRP’s to measure traditional media, so why should online be any different? Having an apples-to-apples metric allows advertisers to evaluate all media uniformly and in a more integrated fashion as part of a mix.

The argument against GRP’s: We shouldn’t fit a square peg of new media dynamics into the round hole of a traditional media planning model. The GRP doesn’t account for the unique attributes of digital media, such as engagement and relevant targeting. “Apples-to-apples” comparisons are rare because online targets are more psychographically defined, while traditional GRP evaluations only incorporate demographics. The iGRP further muddies the proverbial waters by using a different universe than the traditional GRP altogether, thereby countering the primary argument that the GRP provides an apples-to-apples comparison across media.

Whether you are for or against the use of GRP’s, nobody will argue against the importance of understanding how reach and frequency affect campaign impact. There are plenty of ways to measure this influence and develop media mix models without retrofitting the GRP.

While the argument focuses around the GRP, the real issue quite simply stems from a difference in media currency, not evaluation metrics. While the unit of media currency for both traditional and digital media is called the “impression”, the underlying currencies are different. The currency of traditional media is “audience”, where impressions equal reach. However, digital media impressions are equal to reach x frequency. As a result there is an over abundance of devalued online ad inventory. Just think about the impact of the value of $1 if the government just flooded the market with newly minted currency.

As an example of these currency differences – if you buy a spot during a TV program that reaches 1MM viewers, you are buying 1MM impressions, and reach equals 1MM. Frequency is a function of additional buys. When you buy 1MM impressions from a particular website, you buy a share of voice, not the total audience. In this instance, your 1MM impressions can yield 1MM people at a frequency of 1, or 50,000 people at a frequency of 20. In either case your GRP’s would not give you the ability to judge the relationship of reach and frequency of your buy – a frequency cap would.

The Final Word -

With all the breadth of data and analytic tools available, why focus on a metric that aims to predict impact, when impact and influence can be measured? Make sure that all buys have frequency cap parameters so that you can predict reach and frequency, then measure the metrics that matter based on your objectives. Online, you can actually measure the frequency at which you hit a point of diminishing returns on branding effectiveness, or the frequency at which you achieve your best direct response performance. After all, isn’t media impact what the GRP tries to predict in the first place?

(Originally posted by Leslie Laredo in Laredo Group iAdBiz Views, 4/14 issue)

In 2008, we had the opportunity to work with Communications Media Inc. (CMI) during their transition to integrate digital media services into the agency. In the year since CMI started the transition, they have been extremely successful winning interactive AOR for one of their largest clients (case study) as well as gaining new clients for CMI Interactive.

I initially met some of their executives during a private sales training we held for a B2B publisher. The group publisher wanted their agencies to get the same digital media training as their media reps. CMI followed up by sending several people who were assigned the responsibility for the agency’s transition, as well as their executive staff, to our public training programs. Afterward, Laredo Group was engaged to conduct private media training sessions on-site for the rest of the team.

We asked CMI to give us some insights into the process and evolution of making this transition.

How committed was management to this evolution and where did it fit in the overall priorities of the agency?
Our transition to integrate digital media services into our existing agency model began with a firm commitment from senior management. They named an internal project champion, assigned responsibility to a team charged to make the integration happen, and gave them a wide range of authority to make important decisions.

What specific training and knowledge did you feel were critical?
Independent training by folks who are all about the digital space was essential. Independent training from the Laredo Group provided that foundation, in addition to a basic understanding of how digital media work in general. It became the launch pad from which we were able to deliver on this capability — just in time for increased client demand.

What happened that you didn’t expect to happen?
Everything and nothing! Things happened so fast, and the approach so quickly adopted that we never had the luxury of fully defined “expectations.” Rather, we remained steadfast to the ultimate goal of bringing digital media services to our clients in time for their respective planning seasons, and remained nimble enough to adapt to changes as they occurred.

Overall, we didn’t expect our clients to take to our new value proposition so quickly. We thought it would take a much tougher sell against dedicated digital agencies.

Did you discuss or involve your publishing partners in your process? How do you find and evaluate new digital advertising opportunities?
This was a hidden gem for us. We had solid, long-standing relationships with traditional publishers who themselves were somewhat slow to adopt the online channel. Given that relationship, and the development of our new capabilities in the channel, we were able to work closely with them to help them develop their own capabilities and offerings that we felt would work best for our clients. This became a selling point for our own services.

What advice would you give to your clients who are evaluating the digital “readiness” of their agency partners?
It may sound obvious, but your agency must truly understand how your customers interact with various forms of media. Many of our clients used to turn to “digital” agencies because they were experts in the channel. Once we made the commitment to the space, our understanding of our clients’ customers followed. Be sure your agency has not only the technical skills, but also relevant market knowledge. But above all, your agency has to understand that this “new” media is here to stay, and has truly made it a part of the fabric of their company, not just a new capability.

What advice would you give to other agencies that want to evolve into fully integrated digital services?
- First, senior management has to be in full accord with respect to this corporate initiative.
- Fully explain the career benefits of this effort to all concerned so they will be more apt to support the change.
- Assign a specific project “champion” and a support team to usher in this change. This group should be respected by your internal people, and have the ability to make decisions quickly and confidently.
- Invest in appropriate training. You will need experts who are fully immersed in the space to greatly raise the level of awareness as to what’s happening online from a media perspective. (We found that in the Laredo Group.)
- After the establishment of this base of understanding, it becomes a continuous learn-and-improve game. Your people, and especially those assigned the responsibility for the transition, must remain committed to stretching themselves personally, and in their work lives, to make the new capability become a reality for their clients.

(Written by Leslie Laredo for Laredo Group iAdBiz Views, 3/31 issue)

I hear many site reps refer to their role in sales as “pitching their site” to the buyers. Their sales presentations start with metrics about their site, which usually include their page views (PVs), unique visitors (UVs), and various other details about hold time, page views per session, and so on. This way of selling positions the site as just another commodity, based on “how big is the site and audience” and forces the buyer to evaluate their site based on quantity vs. quality. By selling site metrics and not the value of the audience, many reps get feedback their site isn’t big enough to get the buyer’s attention, and just go away with their tail dragging.

Reps need to understand that by not focusing on the “commodity” aspects of their site, and instead focusing on their audience and editorial content, they will help buyers differentiate their site based on a much more unique audience value proposition.

Media selling is about matching the buyer’s target customer with the seller’s audience, the efficiency of the match (the audience composition), the ability to deliver effective targeted reach (using different targeting criteria) and the talent or skill of the rep to understand how to translate creative and unique opportunities on their site into the media objectives of the buyer. If sellers focus on non-commodity aspects, buyers will respond differently. While media buyers want and demand efficient reach, they also value quality editorial brands and audiences, which are not defined by PVs and UVs.

One sales organization that does this “selling of the audience” extremely effectively is WashingtonPost Digital, which received the IAB’s sales excellence award in February at the IAB’s annual conference. The sales excellence award recognized WashingtonPost Digital for the best performance in delivering on promises and being responsive to client needs and interests as well as other criteria. I recently spoke with Steve Stup, VP of Ad Sales for WashingtonPost Digital about winning this award.

Steve told me about their program called POST, which stands for Positively Outrageous Service and Treatment. This is an internal program involving the entire sales organization: sales execs, sales management, account managers and ad operations. Their common goal is to make sure their clients are “wowed” by the experience.

As Steve pointed out, one key aspect of this customer support strategy “…is to instill it in our culture. Every sales person is expected to live up to the expectation that servicing clients is the most important aspect of the job, and everyone has to deliver top level performance.” In addition, he credits the success of the POST program with how they hire and focus their reps on selling their audience values instead of their site stats. “The sales people we hire must show us a sense of pride in the brand, and have to be the type of person who gets goose-bumps presenting our value to advertisers. They must take pride in what they sell. Our clients will believe in what they say, because they say it with confidence, and clients see and hear that sincerity. At high levels in the agency or at the clients, we always talk about the audience.”

Steve spoke of one of the ways that they win business…being innovative. In fact, WashingtonPost Digital has an Ad Innovations group. This group is responsible for coming up with ideas and making recommendations. Another feature of their success with clients is their ability to make smart or realistic estimates, instead of just giving any number to close a deal. Steve says his “team has a smart dialog with the client and won’t make promises it can’t meet.” A major take-away from his comments is the importance of managing your clients expectations and not making guarantees you don’t know you can deliver, especially for new or custom programs. Tie your success to developing passionate brand reps, who have in-depth knowledge of your audience and demonstrate personal commitment to improving their sales skills.

via TheDigitalBlur

For those who are wondering why I am writing about the TV industry today, the annual TV upfronts is an important event that affects the entire  media ecosystem, and ignoring the largest macro-economic event in the media industry is not a wise move.

For anyone who has worked for a major marketer, media agency or  TV network, the month of May represents an interesting and eventually an evolutionarily outdated event – TV upfronts.  The upfronts (for those that live under a rock) is the time of year that major advertisers and their agencies plan and buy a large share of their TV ads for the coming year. The networks package up their new series and existing hits and provide a dog and pony show that only the advertising industry can do.

Over the past few years we have witnessed some interesting changes in the upfronts. On the buy-side, in some instances major marketers pulled out, opting to plan and buy ad hoc throughout the year rather than commit to large scale upfront buying (but not to a degree that affected media sellers or the tradition itself).  On the sell-side, we’ve seen a full on integration of digital channels in the packaging of ad programs, and there are small upfront events hosted by online only entities as well (mainly video), taking full advantage of the planning season. The upfront sessions have as much to do with major networks selling online inventory, particularly video, as they do television. Well …  maybe not as much, but it’s become increasingly more important to the networks.

Digital Video

Hulu was just officially ranked the number two video site on the web after YouTube.com. For the advertising industry that is huge news. Unlike YouTube, which grew because of consumer generated content, Hulu grew because consumers embraced the high-value production type content you would expect from NBC and Fox. The consumer adoption is a boon for marketers. Rumor has it that Hulu is conducting ad hoc upfront presentations and I imagine that we’ll soon hear about a small bash during the formal upfronts in May. The only downside – the price tag. Ads on Hulu are sold at CPM’s that are exponentially higher than TV. That simply can’t last and the model will have to change.

Advertisers Pulling Out?

Apparently many big advertisers, like P&G for example, have been exercising their contractual rights to cancel a portion of what they purchased upfront last May, which will severly impact networks income between now and the 2009 upfront in May. I have to imagine this sets a somber tone for the upfronts and the potential from these same advertisers and categories. So it begs the question – in this economy, what will the 2009 upfronts be like? Oh yeah and the bigger question. .. does it really matter for anyone other than the networks?

Yes TV ratings are eroding as it is, yes low consumer confidence will affect budget for big box retailers and their budgets, yes the automotive & financial categories in an upheaval, and yes there is a general conservative and ROI-sensitive mindset amongst marketers. You’d think that this year’s upfronts will be going down in history as an evolutionary milestone of marketer hesitancy. We’ll see. Networks have begun selling at higher CPM’s as a way of adapting. One thing’s for sure – the trend continues to give digital a leg up, even amid our own identity crisis. The lack of standards, high CPM’s, and confusion over measurement hasn’t made it easy in the digital video world, but the growth rates and addressability cannot be ignored by advertisers.

Another interesting tidbit – Ad Age reported that Univision is scrapping plans for the traditional upfront presentation in New York (last year was a bash in Lincoln Center) and will be hosting several smaller events in key agency markets, bringing the presentation to agencies versus asking them to fly in to the upfronts in NY. Probably a wise move and definitely a sign of the times. CBS will be selling less inventory upfront and focus on continued sales during the scatter market (ie: the rest of the year). NBC has jockeyed for position and will begin their upfront presentations a bit earlier than the other networks, a move they made last year as well.

So, Why Does This Matter To Us Digital Folks?

The concept of the upfronts revolves around supply & demand, or at least the concept of it (often there are no real supply/demand issues). Digital media is rarely purchased upfront because buyers know that there is often an endless supply of inventory to reach our targets. In certain categories like pharma or automotive (even in today’s market), there is a real supply/demand issue and buys occur “upfront”, but the timeline of upfront is different for each advertiser. The concept of the industry getting together for a few weeks of the year to plan out a significant portion of the market is unheard of and will almost never (never say never) happen. The moral of the story is that marketers have a common currency (audience) that they understand, and a historical understanding of what media wieght (GRP’s) required to move their businesses. As an industry we (the digerati) have not been able to help marketers establish that same historical level of budget allocation confidence. Marketers understand that their consumers spend a significant percentage of their media time online, that they are addressable, that we can engage them, and that we can measure that engagement – but until we can establish more industry level data and case studies on specific digital budget allocations as part of a media miz affecting their businesses, we will be stuck in the holding pattern we are now in. It is no wonder the web is often pigeonholed into the direct response bucket by many. DR is very black and white. It’s a shame that the medium has come to this. There have been many calls for creativity, and for revised standards, but I also add to that the call for more research and testing at an industry level. Something the industry once embraced, but has fallen by the wayside. Digital media IS the most accountable media, we CAN engage consumers, it DOES move the needle. I ask the IAB and 4A’s – can we systematically formalize this data for the world to see?

via TheDigitalBlur.com

You have heard a millions times by now that social media provides consumers (also know as “people”) with more control than ever before. The increase of control and organic growth created environments with little to no formal rules, for any of the 100+ million participants around the world, consumers and marketers alike.

Well, marketers are people too, and marketers of all sizes are beginning to participate in the proverbial conversation – sans rules. We live in an era of millions of soapboxes. Whether you run a one person company or a global corporation, there is a level of proper etiquette required for your newly acquired social media soapbox.

Here are a few tips to make that soapbox work for you and not against you.

1) Listen First: The key to all good relationships is honing your listening skills. Skillfull communication cannot happen without skillful listening. Understanding the consumers and communities that you wish to engage is the first step to successfully doing so. Start off on the right foot. Knowledge is power, so to speak.

2) Make A Proper Introduction: Would you do either of the following?

• Walk into a room full of people and blurt out “come to my store!” or “come to my meeting next door” ? 
• Start handing out business cards to every person in the room and walking away without saying hello and introducing yourself?

Of course not! Well that is the equivalent of what many small businesses are doing by trolling targeted communities within social networks and promoting their communities or other commercial interests without actually adding value or otherwise participating. I have noticed an uptick in small businesses and individuals essentially spamming communities with their drive by self promotion tactics (most notably on Facebook lately). The spammy behavior is rampant and getting worse. It waters down the experience for others and just makes you look bad.

You need to actually participate or stand down, pick a side – well, pick participation, and start by introducing yourself the way you would in…dare I say it…a real world social situation.

3) Add Value & Earn Respect: Participating is not enough. You need to actually add value and earn respect. This is a lot harder to do when you are faking the funk or otherwise don’t belong in a community in the first place. Hence the need to participate in an authentic manner. Be a resource. Provide useful information. You can’t make people like you, you must earn it.

4) Check The Ego At The Door: Nobody likes an egomaniac. Get into the habit of  providing interesting facts and links, and highlighting other members of the community and even those outside the community. “Give props unto others”. Humility goes a long way.

5) Work Together: Brand and category evangelists are often very easy to find, approachable and open to supporting you. If have truly earned the respect of the community at-large (see point #3 & 4), you can even reach out directly to ask for help. Social media presents many opportunities to work closely with consumers to gain ongoing valuable feedback and insight, to rally support against negative detractors in the various communities, and to help make your products better. Let them help you. After all, that’s what friends are for.

 So, what are some of your top tips for not abusing the soapbox?

During the past few years there has been a huge paradigm shift surrounding the most effective way for marketers to reach consumers that has less to do with the idea of reaching the most eyeballs (reach and frequency) and has a lot more to do with reaching the RIGHT eyeballs.

Its about efficiency and its about relevancy. If the person seeing your ad has no need for or interest in the product being offered then it doesn’t matter how great the offer is, it’s a non-starter. With Behavioral Targeting the goal is to stop wasting money and other resource reaching people who will never become customers and to instead plan ahead to create ads and campaigns which focus on bringing the right message to the right consumers and the right time.

Rob Graham, Laredo Group’s VP of Creative and Technical Training has posted a video which helps explain the uses and benefits of Behavioral Targeting more closely.

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