Firstly, I however wanted to give the Wikipedia definition of a ‘celebrity’.

A celebrity (often referred to as a celeb in popular culture) is a person who is famously recognised in a society or culture. Generally speaking, a celebrity is someone who gets media attention and most frequently shows an extroverted personality.

The key thing here that stands out here is ‘famously recognised’, and this is exactly what brands are taking advantage on.

So why celebrities?

Well, consumers, particularly women it must be said, love celebrities and hearing about their daily lives. For years the big brands have utilised the fascination we have with celebrities by associating themselves with the right people in the media.

The influence of the media and ‘celebs’ on our daily lives are becoming ever more obvious to the average consumer, so it’s important that marketing teams tap into this.

But you don’t have to be a massive brand to give this a go, when the key tool that many marketers are using to aid celebrity endorsement is Twitter, and hey it certainly does not have the overheads that traditional advertising has.

Interestingly, it has been commented that the reason behind the popularity of celebrity advertising is the belief that a brand image built through celebrities achieve a higher degree of attention and recall for consumers, which will eventually lead to an increase turnover.

Twitter and Celebrities

The majority of businesses simply do not have the budgets for ‘A list’ celebrity sponsorships. Campaigns including Tiger Woods for Nike, Britney Spears for Pepsi and Uma Therman for Tag Heur ran into the millions of pounds and as we know with Tiger Woods, the risks for brands can be high when they start to misbehave.

So Twitter has now become an opportunity where costs are much smaller but also, when things do go wrong, it can be used to control the impact of a public embarrassment.

Now one of the world’s most popular social media outlets, Twitter was first popular with cyber geeks. But the traction it eventually gained with high-profile celebrities is arguably one of the leading reasons that Twitter is today a mainstream phenomenon.

So Twitter was actually propelled into the social landscape by using celebrity endorsement, and whether this was intentional or not, it has proved what power they have.

Foursquare’s Celebrity Mode

One startup that appears to be following Twitter’s lead is the rapidly-growing Foursquare, so much so that Yahoo! has shown interest in buying the company for $100 million.

Foursquare is a consumer mobile service that encourages people to share their location information with others. This is an interesting current example of celebrity endorsement because Foursquare have just signed a new deal with MTV Networks. The plan is showcase personalities from hit MTV and VH1 shows such as Jersey Shore and The Hills using Foursquare’s new Celebrity Mode.

‘Celebrity Mode’ basically enables fans to stalk follow their favourite celebrities and opens up the opportunity for location-based sponsorship opportunities.

Pros of celebrity endorsement

Mainstream exposure – For better or worse, Western culture is obsessed with celebrities. For a business looking to gain mainstream exposure, high-profile celebrity users can drive a lot of interest very quickly.

Increased credibility - Even celebrities that the public loves to hate can help generate the appearance of credibility for a brand. For many individuals, if a well-known celebrity has chosen to use a particular service, that service must have something worth checking out.

Compelling content - Content is always a challenge for content-driven businesses. Celebrities by their very nature are likely to produce the type of content that even money can’t always buy: timely, exclusive and controversial.

Cons of celebrity endorsement

Decreased credibility - Despite the infatuation we have with celebrities, a large number of consumers don’t care about what Cheryl Cole or Johnny Depp are doing. Some are even likely to be nauseated by celebrity happenings. For these consumers, too much celebrity involvement on a particular service is likely to be a real turn off.

Lost focus - Consumer internet companies in particular walk a fine line when proactively courting celebrities. If they’re perceived as being too focused on not knowing to the needs of their celebrity users, they may lose the respect and loyalty of their regular users.

Fleeting relevance - The only thing that fades faster than external beauty is celebrity. Thus, building a service on the back of celebrities can be difficult, and businesses that want to remain relevant may need to develop an alternative source of relevance to the mainstream consumers.

Celebrity Endorsement Using Twitter is a post from WMpS, your one stop digital agency.

Google Street View is a new technology that is featured in Google Maps and Google Earth that provides 360° horizontal and 290° vertical panoramic views along a street.

Google’s Street View service has actually been available since March 2009, with a total of 25 cities being featured. However the increased coverage launched last Thursday makes an additional 210,000 miles of detailed mapping available to the general public over the internet.

In this article I will be discussing explain how exactly Google achieved this extraordinary task, the widely publicised privacy concerns and the benefits of Street View.

How were the photographs captured?

The astonishing Street View images are captured by various ‘Google’s cars’ which are fitted with a special panoramic camera on its roof.

Any pedestrianised locations or interest in the UK have also been photographed using ‘Google’s tricycle’. For example you can look at photos of Stonehenge and the banks of Loch Ness online without even visiting the place.

Once the images are captured by the Google cars and tricycles, they are “sewn” together to create the images we now see on Street Maps.

How do I use it?

Here are a couple of short videos from Google on how to get started with Street View using your PC or Mobile.

What are the benefits of Street View?

• There are endless benefits of using Google Street View from business to leisure, some of which are summarised below;
• Explore famous landmarks around the world from the comfort of your own home. For example you can view sights such as Big Ben, Eiffel Tower and the Statue of Liberty.
• Use your mobile device to look up directions and navigate using street view images for every step you take to your destination.
• Check the parking facilities or disabled access before visiting a new city
• Show family and friends where you live or perhaps any home improvements such as extensions to far away relatives.
• Preview your holiday accommodation. This will help you see if there are any negative points to the local area, particularly when brochures only tend to tell you about the good stuff. You could even take a virtual stroll from your hotel to the beach to see what the neighbourhood is like.
• Event locations could be advertised such as festivals, charity runs and open air markets.
• UK businesses are able to embed Google maps and Street View into their own sites for free. For example a hotel owner could promote its establishment within the local area by offering potential visitors a virtual stroll through the nearby streets.
• You could use Street View to promote your business by showing them an external view of your premises and nearby amenities. It could also be used to help visitors find your business by guiding them using local landmarks and tube stations.
• Estate agents are able to show prospective buyers or tenants available properties. Also Street View images can be easily embedded into their sites with the Maps API.
• Schools can incorporate the new features on Google Maps as part of their geography and history lessons to go on ‘virtual field trips’.
• Journalists could embed the location of a news story onto their site to show the location of a news event, for example a protest in central London.
• Likewise, a journalist could be writing an article about a new building built by a famous architect. Thanks to Street View, they would not need to go to the location to take a photo for their article.

Why all the fuss about privacy concerns?

As Google states on its website ‘Street View’ contains imagery that is no different from what you might see driving or walking down the street. However, since the launch last week, critics have said that it is an invasion of privacy and that the technology could easily be used by criminals in planning burglaries and thefts of cars and properties.

Google has, and continues to take steps to preserve people and their properties anonymity. It’s specialist technology automatically blurs number plates and people’s faces, and users can also ask for their homes or cars to be removed by clicking on the ‘report a problem’ button on the image concerned.

Whilst I understand people’s concerns, I personally think that the benefits of Street View far outweigh the privacy issues raised by some critics. Google are not capturing images of anything that cannot be viewed by the general public. All streets in the UK are after all in public domain, meaning anyone can walk down your street and take photos of your house if they so wish to. The only difference is that now this information is available at a click of a button from your PC or mobile device.

What can we expect next for Google Street View?

I am sure there will be hundreds more possibilities for this new technology over the next year, and I also expect Google will continue to launch new technologies to help make our lives that little bit easier.

Interestingly, this morning I read that Google are apparently now working on something called ‘Store View’.

Yep, you guessed it, Google are reportedly running a trial whereby photographs are taken of the inside of a shop every 6 feet and in all directions, alongside snapshots of products. The plan is to allow people to venture from Street View into Store View by clicking on a virtual door. They will then be able to enter the store, walk through it and browse products before making a purchase.

When a journalist asked Google about the rumours they simply replied ‘“We are always experimenting with new features for Google Maps. We have nothing further to announce at this time.”

Google Street View Now Covers 90% of the UK is a post from WMpS, your one stop digital agency.

In this article I will be focusing on the ‘ugly’ and how important ‘Crisis Management’ is to protect a brand or organisation from negative sentiment.

I will also look at 3 recent cases of when things go wrong and how the brand reacted, whether that being in a positive or negative way.

Social Media Crisis Management

Crisis management sees people discussing, debating, and complaining about your brand online. As with all conversations, online or offline, some will be factually inaccurate and others will be from people whom have had a bad experience with a brand. These are all types of discussions that should be responded to in the correct manner.

Whilst every crisis is undoubtedly different, and there is no simple set of rules about how to use social media in these situations, a number of observations can be made by looking at how people have successfully or badly managed crises in the past few months.

Case Study 1 – Toyota still does not get Social Media

As I am sure you will know, Toyota is undergoing the largest recall in its history. At the same time it is trying to come to grips with its social media crisis management plan, which with all good intentions, initially fell flat.

Toyota has however done some things right, for example a fundamental rule of crisis management is to never to hide from or avoid uncomfortable questions. To its credit after an extended period of dodging questions initially, Toyota is now confronting the issues head on via engines such as Digg.com and Twitter.com.

Still, though, Toyotas overall social outreach has been poor, which is unacceptable, particularly for its customers and shareholders. Its website, for example, is still saying what a great brand it is and only 3% of the website real estate is devoted to the recall.

The brand also failed to build up an online fan base before the crisis struck. A Facebook fan page or an active Twitter presence would have been just some key areas to develop. As many brands have learnt, when a crisis unfolds for a brand, the first people to turn to are its customers, fans, friends, followers, enthusiasts, and it’s even critics. These groups of people don’t magically appear overnight. They have to be built, earned and nurtured over time.

Case Study 2 – Paperchase plagerism allegation goes Twitter mad

Last month, an independent artist called HiddenEloise, claimed that stationary company Paperchase plagiarised one of her drawings. She posted this on popular micro blogging service Twitter.com and within hours it went viral. There was a huge amount of interest in this allegation and people began to re-tweet the story all over the place.

In terms of crisis management, Paperchase did not fare so well. The brand had very little social media presence to begin with and was slow to re-act to the onslaught.

It later came out that it was an agency that provided the drawings, and therefore the blame was directed away from Paperchase. The damage however had already been done via social media.

Case Study 3 – Eurostar breakdown highlights the need for crisis management planning

There was a massive amount of social media activity when the Eurostar trains broke down back in December 2009. This clearly demonstrated the need for travel companies to have a crisis management plan in place.

A total of 5 Eurostar trains broke down just days before Christmas due to freezing weather conditions, leaving hundreds of customers stranded overnight. The incident caused a massive stir on Twitter and Facebook, with some passengers even Tweeting updates from the trains.

The reality is that you cannot control what and how something is said about your brand therefore companies must be ready for a range of events.

Summary

At the end of the day, social media has changed the way we deal with crisis management. The speed at which full-blown crises can erupt through social media is something most companies have never seen before and we must learn from mistakes made by others.

Social media can be a dangerous place for all businesses and brands, so please be careful, or get a professional digital agency to manage your social media presence.

Social Media That Can Make or Break a Brand is a post from WMpS, your one stop digital agency.

What is clear however is that as more and more cash is pumped into PPC , a greater number of tactics, channels and targeting options will need to develop to ensure that search marketers can deliver better ROI’s to their clients, and therefore spend even more money on paid search.

I expect the following trends to help drive paid search growth as we head into 2010.

PPC Trends in 2010

High keyword prices mean that marketers are going to need to be more savvy to new optimization techniques in 2010. Forrester Research recently reported that two-third of marketers believe that high keyword prices are their biggest challenge in paid search. Therefore there is a real importance in increasing ROI using campaign tactics such as keyword management, campaign testing and geographic and demographic targeting.

Keyword Quality Score also has to be a priority, because it is an easy way to bring down costs of a campaign whilst at the same time driving conversions up via careful keyword selection, appropriate match types and use of negative keyword terms.

Geographic & demographic targeting techniques is expected to be used more and more by marketers this year. It is however important that it is used carefully to bring a positive ROI.

Campaign testing is another area where investment is expected. Whilst best practice rules apply to all campaigns, ROI fluctuates massively from site to site. By testing a campaign, a strategic advantage will be gained which will result in a more sales and an increased ROI for the business.

Improved Multichannel PPC Marketing

Google recently announced it’s findings that more than half of online shoppers research their purchases on the internet before going on to finalise the transaction in store. This comes as no surprise but highlights the fact that search marketers are currently missing out on credit for potentially half of the revenue that their campaigns are generating.

In 2010, tools for measuring cross channel buying will become more accurate and accessible. For example tracking phone calls through a PPC ad to taking in-store surveys about a high street brand.

We expect these techniques to be perfected more and more, and as they are, multi channel merchants will be in a better position to make decisions on their search strategies to bring both online and offline conversions.

Increasing dominance of Facebook and Twitter

Currently, search engines are processing over a billion queries every month, with the majority of course being handled by Google. Whilst the marketshare clearly belongs to Google, we are seeing an emergence of Social Media websites in the search mix.

Facebook, for example, has over a billion queries on its site each month, and this figure is rising rapidly. Many  social networking sites are expected to extend their own search technology in 2010 and 2011. They will allow users to query the user-generate content in their news feeds. This means that users will find it much easier to get recommendations from their friends on where to go on holiday, what designer bag they should buy or what film they should see at the weekend.

Eventually, PPC search marketers will have to evolve to keep up and tailor their campaigns to account for a more ‘social’ set of keywords. By doing this they will be able to capture customers earlier in their consideration cycle – something that is harder to do on search engines like Google, Yahoo and Bing.

Also, the value of this traffic is going to be much higher because people typically place a lot of trust in word of mouth recommendations, particularly from friends.

PPC Predictions for 2010 is a post from WMpS, your one stop digital agency.

As the political build up gathers momentum, we are beginning to hear references to this being the UK’s first ‘digital election’.

How are politicians using Social Media to gain popularity?

In preparation for this election, the British politicians have taken note of Barack Obama’s success in the US election last year.

President Obama was successful in capturing the imagination of the online generation by broadcasting speeches on YouTube, gathering a huge following on Twitter and even publishing his ‘Vote for Change’ posters in online games.

As we know, the last US election was one of the most closely fought and highly charged political campaigns in American history, and clearly highlighted the massive power of online advertising and the importance of engagement via social media.

Whilst the classic political billboards will still play a huge part in the advertising strategy of the different parties, for the first time in British history, the upcoming election will be truly digital.

Assuming the parties get it right with their campaigns in the coming months, we can expect to see some fascinating marketing tactics online. There are however always casualties in any media campaign, most recently that of David Cameron.

How can things can backfire for Politicians

Any brand that becomes tainted by a recent scandal would not dream of launching a large scale marketing campaign online, but due to the of democracy, our political parties are forced into such a campaign.

This, without doubt, means that the first ‘digital election; will be a very traumatic experience for main stream parties. The world of social media is massive as we all know, and any kind of scandal, particularly political, will go viral at the speed of light.

Aside from the expenses row, the most recent example of a campaign backfiring for a politician, was that of David Cameron last week. He launched a campaign poster online which was airbrushed to the max.

It is no surprise then that the Labour party, immediately jumped at the chance to ridicule him publically. They did this by taking the template of the poster and updating it with their own slogan.

What can we expect as the Election draws near?

Whether the ‘chatter’ has a positive of negative sentiment, people are nevertheless talking about the election, and this trend will surly escalate as we head toward May. In fact, recent chatter about has been going around online discussion forumns such as Mumsnet.com and PopBitch showing that the reach has gone past the usual political sites.

There is no doubt that we are about to embark upon what will be the most exciting election campaigns – certainly from an advertising point of view – that we’ve ever seen. I will be providing updates on the trials and tribulations of the politicians as they maneuver themselves around the digital arena over the coming months. The expression ‘a duck out of water’ springs to mind for most MP’s!

Disclaimer : The views expressed in this article do not represent the views of WMpS.

The UK’s 1st Digital Election is a post from WMpS, your one stop digital agency.

After muddling aimlessly through their first online searches, they grew increasingly frustrated with the results they were given by Google, simply because they were not familiar with the concept of Universal Search. So, this weekend, they enlisted my help with teaching them the ways of the world, that being the world of SERP’s.

What is Universal Search?

As a marketer, I use Google almost every day, and  take for granted the functionality of Universal Search. Gone are the olden days when Google’s SERPS were just a list of ten blue links, and meta descriptions. Let me explain more…

In May of 2007, Google launched its Universal Search system that forever changed the way websites would be ranked in search engines. By optimising the various forms of content, websites are able to ‘own’ more of the overall SERP’s, thereby increasing their share of traffic for that particular search.

As a result, users now have the ability to sift through a diverse set of web content such as video, images, news, shopping, feeds, book recommendations, twitter and blog feeds and much more. These can be accessed within the main Google SERP’s page or by using the Google menu bar which has tabs for each of the verticals (see below)

How can Universal Search benefit you?

Google’s Universal Search has now been in existence for almost 3 years, yet most businesses do not take full advantage of the opportunities it presents to get products and services in front of a wider, more diverse audience.

It’s about shelf space and the user experience. Ultimately, the more spots you take up in the search results, the less likely it is that one of your competitors is occupying that space.

But, it’s important to remember that it is not quantity, but quality that counts. The algorithm needs to recongise what type of content a user is looking for based on their search term. Bombarding someone with videos, shopping and news results simply won’t cut it unless it is relevant to them.

For instance, someone looking for a restaurant location might find a map result more useful than going through the restaurant’s whole site to find the information they need. Similarly, someone wanting cinema times in their area will get the information they require via Google’s cinema listing feature than by going to each individual cinema website.

How are other search engines encompassing Universal Search?

Yahoo! Search has been offering a “blended search” experience for several years. This continues to integrate videos and photos directly in search results in the same way as Google does.

Bing on the other hand calls their output ‘verticalisation’. The concept is exactly the same as Google and Yahoo but more recently they have added another niche vertical to its listings, that is ‘recipes’. Aimed at budding Jamie Olivers, their new recipe result pull together data from various recipe sites and provides the searcher the option to display and filter recipe results via the recipe-specific interface shown below.

What does the future hold for Universal Search?

The message travelling throughout the search community is to adapt, or die. More and more people, like my parents, are learning to make full use of universal search to help them find content relevant to them. This gives them a richer user experience, which is something we can all cash in on.

Google’s Universal Search is a post from WMpS, your one stop digital agency.

How would this work?

An apartment building manager could hang a virtual ‘For Sale’ sign on the outside of his building. This could then be removed and replaced with an alternate image once the property has sold in the real world.

It is still not apparent whether the ‘street view; function on Google maps will receive a sufficient amount of traffic to support this new advertising medium, however Microsoft has started showing ads on billboards in the ‘birds eye view’ on it’s maps.

What are the implications on business owners in ‘the real world’.

Let’s say I own a theatre in the West End, and Street Maps is showing an out of date banner on my building as it was photographed over 6 months ago.

What rights (if any) do I have in relation to deciding whom can place an advert for a new play on the ‘virtual representation’ of my ’physical’ property? As a building owner, am I entitled to a payment for the use of ‘advertising space’? Or, because the environment is ‘virtual’, do Google all the whole street map environment?

Also, just think, if the thought of a competitor bidding on your company name in AdWords was bad, then just wait until they bid £5 per click to showcase their virtual billboard over a real-life billboard you’re paying £5k a month for!

I foresee some interesting legal battles in relation to this if the technology is rolled out. Just imagine Google selling ‘virtual’ ad space at Wembley stadium. I am sure the owners will step up and demand a large piece of the pie!

When will we see start seeing these changes?

Well, not anytime soon because Google only holds the patent on the technology, which does not mean that they will go ahead and launch the service, or that other map providers will not either. Even if they do use the patent, it is not going to happen overnight.

I will keep you up to date on any developments on this, in the meantime please check out Clare’s awesome ‘Augmented Reality’ blog post.

Google to inject Google Maps with Online advertisements is a post from WMpS, your one stop digital agency.

Today’s generation take advantage of the endless number of applications available on the latest phones which can do anything from helping you find a local dry cleaners via a targeted PPC ad, to learning a whole new language using the latest mobile application.

As a new owner of the Google HTC Magic mobile phone myself, I struggled to grasp the massive capabilities this new android phone has. My current apps (yes I have already picked up on the lingo!) include BBC News, Facebook, Shop Savvy and my current favourite ‘PapiJump’, which a simple, yet highly addictive game application for the android. In fact, I probably use my phone more for browsing the internet and utilising applications that I do calling and texting people, something I could never have anticipated a few years ago.

The reach of mobile ads

It has been estimated that as we head into 2010, mobile phones will outnumber TV sets by over 3 to 1, PC based internet users by over 4 to 1 and laptop and desktop PC users by nearly 5 to 1.

In Spain, a massive 75% of mobile phone owners receive marketing ads, in France 62% and in Japan 54%. Interestingly as mobile advertising matures, it is likely that user involvement and engagement will mature. For example, in Japan today, 44% of mobile phone owners click on ads they receive on their phones.

It is therefore not surprising that advertisers in many markets have recently rushed to cash in on this new marketing medium. Interestingly, PPC mobile ads are being used more and more as consumers become savvy to the changing search landscape.

According to the research firm Berg Insight the global mobile advertising market was estimated to be £1 billion back in 2008 and the prediction is that this will grow at an annual growth rate of 43% to almost 9 billion by 2014.

Types of Mobile Ads

There are 4 main types of mobile advertising; SMS ads, Search ads, Web Display ads and App Display ads.

Most ads use the PPC model whereby the advertiser is charged when someone clicks on the advert via their mobile phone. Targeting the ads to the correct user demographic is the key to the success of mobile marketing. For example, someone using an application for finding out the weather abroad could be shown holiday offers for that specific country or city. Another example is demographic targeting where someone might be looking for a Chinese restaurant as they walk down a city high street. The perfect ad to show to the browser in this scenario would be that of a Chinese restaurant within 2 miles of their location.

What can we expect in 2010?

It is likely that advertisers and the media industry will increasingly take account of this large and fast-growing market, though it still only remains at around 1% of the total global advertising spend.

Many UK marketing agencies, like us, are already helping their clients to take advantage of this emerging technology. Specifically several of our clients are already using mobile PPC advertising to drive traffic and sales to their websites.
Please Contact Us for more information on Mobile PPC Marketing.

Put Your Product in Their Pocket – Potential of Mobile Advertising is a post from WMpS, your one stop digital agency.

The launch of affiliate voucher code and cash back sites in 2009 has influenced the way we all shop online. As consumers raced for the best deals and offers this Christmas, retailers were at the same time fighting to provide the best promotions.

There is no doubt that the recession has hit the high street hard however consumer spending hasn’t, and has no signs of stopping. In fact a recent retail report published by PayPal showed that online spending in the UK is set to more than double by 2011.

The Voucher Code Affiliates

Retailers use a range of affiliate marketing techniques to send shoppers to their own websites, by paying out commission on sales or enquiries. A staggering £227m was estimated to be paid in commissions and fees to affiliates during 2009.

Consumer awareness of affiliate channels is consistently increasing, and the use of voucher code sites is a prime example of the online marketing industry innovating and responding to market changes.

Also, now the IAB guidelines have been introduced to protect consumers against voucher code bad practice, customers can now be confident that the discounts and offers they subscribe to are more reliable than ever before.

How can retailers take advantage of the increase?

Consumers in the UK, and indeed the world, are doing more research before making their purchasing decision. Voucher codes sites, Cashback sites and Review sites have a large role to play in this new buying cycle.

A study by LinkShare earlier this year found that 81% of their respondents were doing online research ‘most of the time’ before buying a product and in addition to that, 92% said they now had more confidence in online information than the sales advisors that they came across in shops.

This provides a key opportunity for retailers and their marketing agencies to capture the ‘browsers’ as they are contemplating their purchase decision. The key is to observe their consumers behaviour and offer them the right information in the right format at exactly the right time to capture that sale. This is a massive area where affiliate marketing has the opportunity to gain a larger market share in 2010.

What does 2010 have in store for Voucher Code sites?

Now that the UK consumer has become accustomed to the extra value offered by voucher code sites, there is no chance that they will be going back to the higher prices that they may have paid before. So it appears that this trend is here to stay as we head into 2010.

2009 – The Year of the Voucher Code is a post from WMpS, your one stop digital agency.