Shauna Nicholson » Strategy Posts

5 Ways Pandora’s Advertising Model is Better than Yours

Shauna Nicholson — Thu, 26 Aug 2010 15:06:37 +0000

pandora advertising

Despite our love of social media and engagement-driven marketing, display advertising isn’t going anywhere fast.

Analysts and Google CEO Eric Schmidt are in agreement that (display advertising) is the next major cash cow for them, estimating that display will account for more than $1 billion in 2010.

And that’s okay. But it means we need to do it better.

I’ve often heard (and even thought) that if you build an exceptional web property/mobile app with a ton of users, advertising will be a sufficient revenue model. The fact is, (most) advertisers aren’t stupid. Traditional banners have lost a lot of their effectiveness. Here’s how Pandora is making it work.

1. Pandora offers experiential advertising. Instead of only offering pay-per-click models, Pandora draws users into the brand experience. Users can interact with the ads: scroll over special deals, play a funny video, launch a station… And it’s all in a way that doesn’t irritate the user.

2. It spans platforms. From unobtrusive ads at the bottom of mobile, to music-infused blurbs between songs, on up to stations customized to your brand, Pandora meets consumers where they want to connect.

Pandora is offered via web browsers or downloadable desktop apps. Pandora also offers free mobile apps across platforms to offer their services and, of course, advertisements.

3. Each advertisement has custom dimensions. Face it: Users are virtually unresponsive to your banner ad.

Generally speaking, Nielsen’s eye tracking research typically showed that there are no fixations within advertisements. And users don’t fixate with design elements that resemble ads. In the early years of display advertising on Web pages, people ignored ads because they were usually totally irrelevant. Not only that, most banner ads were as creative as you’d get from a box of crayons and a drawing pad. (Even worse when the animated gif arrived and everything had to flash off and on just because you could). Source

Sure Pandora ads show up in (generally) the same places, but the shape, size, feel, and experience of each ad created is crafted to allow the brand to interact with the user in a completely custom way. Bottom line: They don’t look like “ads.”

4. They empower advertisers to use a medium users are already familiar with. Instead of using never-heard-of songs to avoid copyright, Pandora has brands associating products with the songs users are already singing along to.

There is nothing new for the user to learn or retain. Rather, the user is now able to connect a brand to something they’re already opting into engaging with.

5. They’re targeting based on on-the-fly user inputs. This means the user experience is customized as the user customizes and experiences the website!

Case in point: Clicking the “thumbs up” on a party-themed hip hop song changed my ad from the Ford’s “Sales Event” to Barcardi’s “Color your summer.” Those of you who can’t see the correlation between party-themed hip hop and Barcardi are in serious need of a vacation or a college student.

Learn more about advertising on Pandora. No, I’m not a compensated blogger.
How are YOU using these trends to purchase or sell advertising?

Quick Look: Social Media Policy Essentials

Shauna Nicholson — Wed, 14 Jul 2010 15:00:25 +0000

From LinkedIn: Social media policy essentials
I’m hearing social media horror stories from friends and peers, and all suggest that a social media policy is essential for any organization seeking a foothold in that space. What are your top tips, biggest surprises or best sources of direction for companies and agencies crafting social media policies?

Here is a quick look at a few starting points.

Emphasize what transparency means to the organization. Social media tools are used by businesses who are looking for barrier-free communication with their communities, however they’re defined. This can be misinterpreted as blind transparency unless you include better definition.

Understand what your business’ primary goals are in using social media tools.

Social media has a variety of benefits. Understanding what your business’ goals are allows your team to effectively navigate the necessary team, content, and tools it’ll take to achieve success. Because social media is still considered “new” by many organizations, this is often overlooked leaving campaigns lacking a concrete look on the return-on-investment.

One of the biggest benefits to defining your business goals before the policy is that it helps you cut out shiny object syndrome and focus on why you’re actually there. Even though the latest and great tools are released (weekly), you don’t necessarily need to jump on every bandwagon.

Some benefits are measured qualitatively:

PR value
community engagement
brand interactivity

Some benefits are measured quantitatively:

search engine optimization
traffic
conversion rate
referring traffic sources (and more!)

Explicitly identify topics that you don’t want published online, even if they may seem like common sense.

Yes, there are some issues your business wants to communicate, but that doesn’t include internal company drama, private client information, or technical compositions of your network systems. Define what is off-limits.

Use this information to craft a guideline of expectations: Social Media Employee Policy Examples from Over 100 Organizations

Make the social media policy worth reading

Don’t allow this document is sit in the inbox of your employees. Invite them to be a part of your company’s conversation around social media and use their feedback to better mold and define areas of your policy.

What would you recommend to add to this brief list?

Will the Real Social Media Marketer Please Stand Up?

Shauna Nicholson — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 19:33:18 +0000

Engaging your social media network can be tricky; without proper planning, it can be even worse. The good news is that simply using the tools is free or relatively cheap; the bad news is that it’s hard to understand when you need to hire a strategist versus having your teen post on their favorite network.

WARNING: This post is inspired by Tanya Ferrall‘s “4 Types of Social Media Marketers and the 1 You Never Read About”. I insist to, not only be the “one you never read about” but, offer some insight as to why this type is crucial to your ROI.

Questions to ask your social media marketer:

Why social media? Like everything else you do for your business, you need to consider the business case for using social media. Without one, your campaign will be less effective and difficult to justify.
How will we be measuring the ROI? At what point should you measure an ROI? Whether it’s qualitative or quantitative, you’ll need this information to ensure that expectations are met (or exceeded!).
How do you identify the tools we will be using? If the marketer starts listing off the names of the social media tools (Facebook, blogs, podcasts, etc), a red flag should go up. This question will help you decide whether or not the marketer has a grasp on marketing as a whole. There are many out there focused too much on the tools, rather than why the tools are effective. Solid social media strategies start with identifying relationships, then pairing tools that will be most effective for each.
What role will I (or a representative) be playing in this campaign? To keep a campaign genuine, you should at least have a “check in” point to ensure the correct communication is being relayed and a personality is kept fresh.
What are my competitors/What is my industry currently doing in this area? Excuse me, but duh? If they don’t know, don’t hire them.
What will I do to differentiate myself from my competitors? If it’s the same, forget it-unless you have a plan to do it better, more effectively, and easily translatable.
How will this strategy compliment my existing advertising and public relations initiatives? Social media is most successful when the strategy compliments existing mediums. This is why half of Biznet’s (where I work) business is dependent upon supporting advertising and public relations agencies. In fact, social media is an extension of the two and should be handled accordingly.

Just because you’re unfamiliar with a certain marketing medium doesn’t mean you should trust everything you hear. Maintain the same rules for using these tools as you do for all things business, while being willing to understand the way they work. If you need help getting started with social media, developing a network, or engaging a network, follow the links!