Social Media was all the rage in 2010.  Businesses learned a lot about what worked and what didn’t.  Mashable has put together their 6 predictions for what digital advertising in 2011 is going to consist of, enjoy!

1. Local Advertising Becomes Relevant Again With Location - As Google, Foursquare, Yelp, Shopkick and Facebook Places continue to grow in 2011, shoppers will become more and more conditioned to receiving a deal or coupon for letting their friends know where they are.  As consumers begin to fully understand how to use these services, more and more will begin to depend on them.
2. Silicon Valley Will Be the Next Madison Avenue – As Facebook and Twitter continue to gain momentum and steam, advertising and marketing talent will head to California to cash in.
3. Influencers Will Be the Celebrities of the Social Web – People say that “it’s cheaper to keep and please the customers you have, than acquire new ones.”  This philosophy is why The Palms Hotel in Vegas partnered with Klout, a company who aims to create an official layer of social credibility.  2011 will be a big year for businesses to start really looking at and analyzing Twitter, blog posts and reviews, as a way to understand their consumer’s expectations, and for them to be able to meet and exceed them.
4. Small Will Be the New Big for Social Networks – Although no one can say that Facebook is anything but successful, 2011 will a year when smaller, more limited social networks begin to appear.  We are beginning to see it with the Facebook Groups feature, but some people and businesses prefer to communicate with a small, select group rather than everyone in their social network.  Two new businesses to look out for are Path (which limits social networks to 50 people) and Fast Society (which allows iPhone users to create small text groups, and the groups last for three days).
5. Brands Will Become More Like Media Companies – Brands no longer have to entirely rely on advertising or media companies to get their message out quickly and effectively.  Social Media is extremely important for companies to learn how to use in a manner that benefits their brand.  Skittles for example, hires comedy writers to keep their social media content fresh and random – just like their commercials.
6. Facebook “Likes” Will Be Important for Your Brand - Check out this video from Kraft Foods, which explains why Facebook is so important for brands.

For the full mashable article, go to: http://mashable.com/2010/12/21/advertising-industry/

While at lunch with some friends this weekend we discussed our experiences with Santa and how our parents kept the secret and fun alive for us as kids.  One friend’s father would dress up as Santa and come in during the middle of the night, hand him a candy cane and send him back to sleep.  I love the effort put in by his parents!  Since Christmas is happening this week, Mashable put together a list of 9 ways for kids to connect with Santa (which are especially helpful for those parents who can’t get their hands on Santa costumes this late in the game.

1. Email Santa - EmailSanta.com allows you to get results instantly.  Simply fill in the blanks for the “Dear Santa” letter and the website will personalize a letter from Father Christmas.
2. Send a Call From Santa With Google Voice - Google has created a wonderful “gift” for those kids who need to hear from Santa because they’ve caught on that their parents writing is awfully similar to the guy in red.  After a quick Q&A session requesting the name, age and gift of choice, Google Voice will generate a call for your child to listen to.
3. Personalized Santa Video – Disney has created a video where your kids names can be added to Santa’s “Nice List.”  Simply register on the Disney site and present your kids with their personalized video.
4. Smilebox’s Dear Santa Video Card - This easy to create “Dear Santa” downloadable video allows your child to be the star of the show.  Once you add in your personal info and a video of your child you can share the video with members of your family, near and far.
5. Santa’s Good List Interactive Quiz - If your child needs a little reassurance about what list they will be on this year, check out this website.  Santa’s elves take you through a list of questions that let your child know if they have been naughty or nice.
6. Portable North Pole Personalized Santa Video – This is another awesome way to personalize a video from Santa for your kids.  Mashable highly recommends this for the kids (and even adults) in your life.
7. Visit the North Pole – NorthPole.com is perfect for a rainy (or snowy) day.  It includes an extensive amount of Santa, elf, reindeer and North Pole themed interactive stories, games, recipes, craft ideas and print-outs; perfect for getting your kids in the holiday spirit.
8. NORAD Santa Tracker – Rox introduced you to the NORAD Santa Tracker last year.  This NORAD and Google program is a great way to get your kids excited about Santa’s arrival by allowing them to track his journey around the world.
9. I Caught Santa Photo – If your kids are ones that need “proof” this program is perfect for you.  For a slight fee, you can upload one of your home photos and they will “catch” Santa putting presents under your tree.

Happy Almost Holidays everyone! As always, we would love to hear back from you if you try out and of these programs.  We love our reader’s feedback!

Over the past few years there have been 3 technologies that have caught the attention of businesses who want to link their consumers to the real world via their smart  phones: quick response (QR) codes, near field communication (NFC) tags, and visual recognition technology.

Quick Response (QR) Codes are great because they are cheap, quick and easy to deploy.  There are also several free QR reading apps that are readily available to the smart phone public.  The main obstacle with QR codes is whether the consumer will actually repeatedly take their smart phone out and use them.

Near Field Communication (NFC) Tags work “by creating a connection between two chips using high-frequency transmission through the air.”  NFC is extremely easy for consumers, all they have to do is wave your phone within 4 inches of a chip and the digital content is unlocked – similar to unlocking a car with a remote keyless entry.  The obstacle that NFC tags face is they are moderately expensive and are most commonly used by large companies, not small and medium-sized businesses.

Visual Recognition Technology “relies on visual cues and patterns to identify specific objects and match them with Internet content.”  The best example of this technology is Google Goggles.  The great thing about VRT is that there are no manufacturing costs for companies making its reach almost limitless.  Unfortunately it is the slowest of the 3 technologies mentioned because of the immense amount of set up work involved.  In order for this technology to work, all visual identifiers have to be cataloged at different angles, which as you can imagine is not the fastest task.

These 3 technologies each have great potential in improving the way businesses drive foot traffic, as well as getting products in the hands of their consumers.  Although they all face uphill battles, the potential uses for brands and their marketers is worth the time and effort documenting their successes and pitfalls.  For more information, including Mashable’s ideas for how each technology can be used, go to: http://mashable.com/2010/12/14/real-world-linking-technology/

Several companies are relying on their 2011 Super Bowl spots to be the official launch of their social media campaigns for the new year.  Mercedes-Benz and Audi are just two of the large, high profile rivals that are launching social media contests with ties to the Super Bowl.  These are strategic leaps of faith for the car companies, who have only dipped their toes in the social media market up to this point.  The companies really believe that creating and promoting a campaign with the Super Bowl as the final destination, is a strategy that will skyrocket their social media presence and future use with consumers.

Mercedes-Benz’s social media network of choice: Twitter (and a little bit of Facebook).  The company plans to launch “The World’s First Twitter-Fueled Race.”  The premise of the campaign is that the social media guru teams of two will compete by posting the most Tweets about Mercedes-Benz and those that can get the most “likes” on Facebook for the company as well as create the most buzz via Twitter, will win new cars.  The company is doing their contest casting call on Facebook today.

Audi on the other hand is seeking out (and rewarding) the 10 most active  and most original social media wizards.  Their specific forum was not immediately known.

Well, if two of the world’s largest car companies are trying their hand at social media in conjunction for the big game, surely we will see a lot of other companies who will try this strategy as well.

If any of our Rox readers come across any social media contests in cooperation with the big game let us know and we will post them for all of our readers to see and play along.

For more information on the two companies mentioned above, go to: http://www.usatoday.com/money/advertising/2010-12-13-superbowl13_ST_N.htm

The holiday shopping season is in full force and it’s no surprise that smartphone users are relying on their phone’s technology to help them score the best deal.  In fact, the data shows that “29% of all smartphone owners intend to use their device to look for a better price, 23% will be looking for product reviews, 22%  will receive sale alerts and 20% will search for products at another store” this holiday season.

So what should companies and brands focus on…a fully-functioning mobile website or a mobile app? According to a new InsightExpress study, 48% of smartphone owners prefer to go to a mobile website versus 38% that prefer a mobile app.  BUT Joy Liuzzo, senior director of mobile research at InsightExpress, warns against choosing.  She believes that brands should make the investment into both a mobile website and an app.  Consumers shouldn’t be forced to choose and when you provide the consumers with both mobile experiences you are much more likely to satisfy them as all the information they need can be easily accessed in one way or the other.

For more information and statistics from this study, go to: http://www.mobilecommercedaily.com/smartphone-owners-prefer-retail-mobile-web-sites-over-apps-insightexpress/

There are more than 56 million Americans play social games online.  Not only are these games fun, but most are free.  Advertisers have begun to take notice of the large number of online social game players and the huge opportunity that social games could be for brands.   Mashable has provided 6 key reasons why social games are the next advertising frontier:

1. Advertising in Games Is About Engagement, Not Eyeballs – As online advertising became more popular and banner ads began to pop up whenever we opened up a web page, people started to train themselves to ignore those areas of the page.  The great thing about advertising in social games is that brands can engage the player and reward them for interacting with their product.  For example, Cascadian Farm blueberries partnered with FarmVille allowing players to purchase Cascadian blueberries over another crop.  More than 500 million products were “planted” and brand awareness increased 550%.  An “offer wall” is another strategy tested out by some brands.  This is where brands will exchange virtual rewards for someone watching a video or taking a survey about their new product.
2. Social Games Reach the Facebook Audience – A recent Nielsen showed that when online, “the average American spends more time on Facebook than on Google, Yahoo, YouTube, Microsoft, Wikipedia and Amazon combined.”  There more than 500 million people on Facebook and a lot of them play social games, creating a great alternative to reaching consumers creatively without banner or display ads.                             
3. Some Games Have  Bigger Audiences Than Prime Time TV - There are about 30 million players per day who play Farmville, while there are about 24 million people who watch Dancing With the Stars.  The great part about social gaming, as discussed earlier, is that in many cases it is much more accessible than television (thanks to smartphones), as well as most social games are FREE.                                               
4. Advertising With Social Games Isn’t Restricted to Virtual – A few months ago we told you about Zynga partnering with 7-11.  The partnership allowed consumers to purchase real goods from 7-11 with bonus reward virtual goods in their favorite social games.  The 6-week, 7,000 store promotion resulted in more than 3 million codes being redeemed.
5. Brands Can Be Part of the Experience - In the virtual world brands have the opportunity to become part of the game.  They can either hang out on billboards within the game, or they have the option to add an element to the game play itself.   Farmers Insurance tested out working within Farmville by offering players a branded blimp to protect their farms.  Those who chose to put the blimp on their farms had their crops protected for the 10 days of the promotion, while the Farmers blimp continued to be seen in their farm-scape even after the promo was over.
6. Brands Can Reward Players for Interacting With Them - Brands who get involved with social games are getting an advantage in the advertising world, mostly because the social gaming advertising options promote engagement.  Whether its offering players the opportunity to play a game for free if they watch your commercial or take your quiz, getting people to interact with your brand provides an advantage that online banner ads cannot.                                                                  

Ad spending on social gaming has increased 60% since 2009, and it will only continue to grow with the great engagement opportunities that this medium provides.  For more information, check out Mashable’s full article: http://mashable.com/2010/12/05/social-games-advertising/

In a first for the credit card industry, American Express has partnered with Zynga to provide a new redemption offer for its members, virtual goods.  Yes, limited-edition virtual goods, including windmills in Farmville and stoves in Cafe World, will now be an option for AmEx users who don’t want to spend a lifetime building up their points towards free trips or restaurant gift certificates.

Now this may seem like an interesting partnership for AmEx, but Zynga is a company that knows what they are doing.  An estimated $2.2 billion dollars was spent purchasing virtual goods in 2009 and Zynga was a big part of that as they boast more than $500 million in revenue.  In addition, the partnership allows AmEx to promote themselves to Zynga’s 225 million monthly users.

For more information about this new partnership, go to: http://www.zynga.com/about/article.php?a=20101130