Selling on Facebook Now Easier to Track

Selling on Facebook is now a bit easier to track as the company is readying a new analytics tool that allows e-retailers to see which ads are most effective. 

The conversion tracking tool should be a popular one, but its functionality does not give critical insights some companies might want. The people who click the ads will remain anonymous. Good for privacy, not quite as helpful to ad sellers. Still, it's a step forward for the one billion member strong Facebook as it tries to chip away at Google's stranglehold on online advertising.

Best for Direct Response Marketing

Retailers who have been considering buying Facebook ads will likely find the tool useful, and that could help sway them to advertise on Facebook rather than Google. It couldn't hurt anyway. Any insight companies can get from advertising campaigns will help in targeting the next time around.

One way the tool will help do this is to allow companies to sell new ads to people with similar attributes to those who responded to a previous ad. It's worth noting here that Facebook defines conversions as any desired action taken, like registering for a newsletter, and not just completed sales. 
Once the tool launches at the end of the month, marketers will be able to track more than just the numbers of clicks or numbers of app downloads triggered.

Facebook Ads vs Pages

Of course, there is more than one way to make money on Facebook, and trying to convert Likes into dollars is one popular way. This has its own set of pitfalls, however, and that is one of the main reasons why Facebook ads hold so much promise.

Back in September, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said Facebook was focused on mobile, and so far that has helped the company's bottom line. For customers though, convincing them to advertise on Facebook might be a tougher sell because of the shadow of Google. Google shows relevant ads during a search, and that immediacy is hard to beat. 

Along with new features like Sponsored Stories, Facebook's tracking tool is one more piece the company can use to get advertisers on board. Tell us in the comments if you have a loyal Facebook following and if your Page is a moneymaker.



Source: http://www.cmswire.com/cms/customer-experience/selling-on-facebook-now-easier-to-track-018316.php

Coca-Cola dodges federal false advertising claim on its so-called "pomegranate" juice

They say close only counts in a game of horseshoes or when throwing a hand grenade. Obviously, close is good enough when it comes to food ingredients as well.

Beverage giant Coca-Cola was recently able to dodge a federal claim of false advertising on one of its "pomegranate" drinks - but just barely. Minute Maid, which is a subsidiary of Coca-Cola, can continue to label one of its drinks "Pomegranate Blueberry," even though it is almost entirely made of apple and grape juices, and contains a paltry 0.3 percent pomegranate juice and 0.2 percent blueberry juice.

A three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco dismissed a suit filed by Pom Wonderful, maker of a variety of pomegranate juice drinks that accused Coca-Cola of phony labeling and advertising.

The court said federal law leaves those kinds of decisions up to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). While the agency has yet to rule on Minute Maid's label, the court panel, in a unanimous decision, said federal regulations say a company can name a drink after a "flavoring" that it contains, even if it's not the primary ingredient.

"As best we can tell, FDA regulations authorize the name (Minute Maid) has chosen," said Judge Diarmuid O'Scannlain, in the ruling. "For a court to act when the FDA has not - despite regulating extensively in this area - would risk undercutting the FDA's expert judgments and authority."

Where's the pomegranate?

Pom Wonderful alleged in its initial lawsuit in 2008 that Coca-Cola was misleading consumers with its labeling, which contained a picture of pomegranates and blueberries. In its suit, Pom Wonderful claimed the Minute Maid labeling violated the false advertising provision of the Lanham Act, as well as California's Unfair Competition Law (UCL) and False Advertising Law (FAL). The court didn't agree.

"The naming component of Pom's claim is barred because, as best we can tell, FDA regulations authorize the name Coca-Cola has chosen," O'Scannlain wrote. "The FDA has concluded that a manufacturer may name a beverage using the name of a flavoring juice that is not predominant by volume."

The product in question was introduced by Minute Maid in 2007. It bears a label that says, "Help Nourish Your Brain" above a drawing of fruits. Besides "Pomegranate Blueberry" the label also says "Flavored Blend of 5 Juices" in smaller letters.

But for all intents and purposes, there is hardly anything of substance in the drink if you're buying it for the labeling. Each bottle contains 99.4 percent apple and grape juices, which the court noted were cheaper than pomegranate and blueberry juices. Not that cost is any motivator here, of course.

Not upset at all by the company's sleight of hand labeling, Coca-Cola executives pooh-poohed the suit.

"We are confident that the (judge) will dismiss what little is left of Pom's baseless claims," the company said in a statement.

Pomegranate's good for you - when you can find it

In tossing Pom's claims, the appeals panel dismissed a lower court's ruling saying the juice maker was entitled to compensation under California law.

"The district court interpreted the 'lost money or property' language to require a plaintiff to show that it is entitled to restitution from the defendant -- even if the plaintiff seeks only injunctive relief," O'Scannlain wrote. "That was error. The California Supreme Court has now made clear that standing under section 17204 (the UCL standing provision) does not depend on eligibility for restitution."

Okay, so maybe you're asking by now why this story matters to you.

Well, pomegranate is quickly gaining favor in health circles for its nutritional value as an antioxidant-rich fruit. Besides tasting great, research shows pomegranate juice can lower harmful LDL cholesterol levels, improve blood flow to the heart for cardiac patients, reduce thickening of arteries that supply blood to the brain, and lower blood pressure.

Only, don't buy Minute Maid's Pomegranate Blueberry juice if your goal is to reduce your health risk. For the record, there isn't much pomegranate in it.

 

 

Source: http://www.naturalnews.com/035962_Minute_Maid_pomegranate_juice_false_advertising.html

Local advertisers, readers benefit from citizen journalists

How more than 3,000 civilian journalists took command of Het Belang van Limberg’s hyperlocal weekend supplement. And how we made money from it.

On March 1, 2011, Het Belang van Limburg launched its hyperlocal project. Het Belang van Limburg (with an 85% market share and 100,000 daily net sales) is by far the newspaper of choice for the inhabitants of Flanders’s most eastern province. 

The project consists of 48 Web sites, one for each community. The innovative part of the concept is that the inhabitants of the communities can send in their own news stories. The articles are not only published on the Web site but also in an extra weekend supplement. 

As of October, 35 of the 48 communities are online and already 3,250 people have registered to be an active civil journalist, or “news hunter,” as they are called in the newspaper. Every weekend supplement has 20 pages, and we publish 10 different editions. Each edition serves a cluster of 100,000 people. Added up, that means that one million people can become a “news hunter.”

Remarkably, our readers write almost 80% of the content in the weekend supplements. And the local advertisers love it, as we had hoped they would. By keeping the ad rates low and placing the ads next to the local content of their community, the advertisers can communicate directly with their potential customers.  

The commercial possibilities were one of the reasons for launching the project. New advertisers, for whom the daily newspaper was too expensive, are now queuing up to appear in their local edition.

But the main reason for going hyperlocal was the connection with our readers. We want to bind them to our brand and educate them to use all our media — not only the printed daily, but also our Web sites and social media.

People participate in this effort for different reasons:

• Out of personal interest. They just love to write. They know what is going on in their community and like to share it. These are the people who see a fire engine pass, jump in their car, take a picture of the blaze, and send it in.
   
• They want to connect with their neighbours. They are searching for their lost pet, they want to organise a street barbecue, or they want to improve the traffic situation in their community. By posting an article, they give their community a voice or create a call to action.
   
• They want to promote their association or sports club.

A team of professional journalists, recruited from the current newsroom, edits and/or checks every article that is sent in by citizen journalists. 

The first six months were a great success with more than 3,000 citizen journalists writing for us and thousands of articles published. Even our communication is self-funding. We distribute a door-to-door magazine in every community to explain the project. The local commerce advertises in it, so we can keep the cost very low. And on the cover of the magazines? Local people of course. 

What challenges do we face?

• How to generate enough money with low rate ads. You can’t sell an ad for €100 and spend €150 on its layout. The cost structure has to be lenient, which is not always easy for a big company. We urge advertisers to work through a customer portal.
   
• How to generate enough relevant content. Our goal is to motivate at least 25% of all inhabitants of a community to visit the Web site once a week. Therefore, the news has to be interesting and socially relevant enough to keep them coming back. It has to go further than runaway dogs and school trips. By coaching the civil journalists, we try to achieve this goal.
   
• How to organize the newsroom. The mere fact of using user-generated content comes as a shock to most journalists in the newsroom. On top of that, we want them to work with that content, to publish it immediately on the Web site, to elaborate on it. This demands an entirely new point of view on news handling.

But we’re not done yet. Our plans for 2012 include:

• Launching a national and regional marketing campaign.
   
• Focusing on profiling and coaching the citizen journalists.
   
• Raising ad rates.
   
• Developing mobile applications.
   
• Recruiting extra citizen journalists. Our goal is to have 8,000 co-creators of content — to have eyes and ears in every district, on every street in our province.
   

Source: http://www.inma.org/article/index.cfm/49142-local-advertisers-readers-benefit-from-citizen-journalists

Daily deals programme connects advertisers with customers

Gannett’s companywide daily deals offer, DealChicken, expands from its Arizona market to 57 markets across the United States, with 81% of its advertisers new to the newsmedia company.

Five years ago, the first thing in your inbox each morning would likely have been a work-related email from your boss or an unnecessary forward from your paranoid mother. Today, inboxes around the world fill up with offers from retailers, merchants, and daily deal sites as the sun rises.

Gannett Co., Inc., recognised this change in the average consumer’s daily life. But more importantly, we recognised the need to connect merchants in the community with potential new customers. It is the oldest form of “client solutions” in the newest way possible. Provide daily deal subscribers with tempting options at half price, and it’s hard to resist. 

The concept was not born overnight. Nearly 10 years ago, Gannett purchased Clipper Magazine, fully embracing the couponing craze. In spite of the numerous daily deal sites debuting in every major city, these traditional coupon mailers were experiencing steady growth. How might we take the lessons learned there and apply them to social commerce?

We looked at the competition. Groupon and Living Social were investing heavily to establish a local presence without any true appreciation of the particular market’s intricacies and defining characteristics. 

Here was Gannett’s opportunity. With more than 100 years of experience at the local level — dealing with advertisers in the community, frequenting small businesses, and handling customer service inquiries from mere miles away — we had the hometown advantage. Pair that with the best practices of a well-recognised corporate brand, and it means we are able to deliver resources no one else can; including, but not limited to, additional promotion in our local newspapers and on our broadcast stations.

In 2010, the Arizona Republic launched the first site. DealChicken’s popularity grew rapidly, quickly able to hold its own against Groupon and Living Social.

The early success in Phoenix was encouraging, so we formed an advisory committee. Key experts from various areas of Gannett developed a strategy, tested brand elements, and decided to move full-speed ahead. The mascot for DealChicken was bright, bold, offbeat, and friendly. This helped us to stand out in a crowded field of generic daily deal titles. 

In July 2011, we rolled the DealChicken brand out to 11 sites beyond Phoenix. By November 2011, we were live in 57 markets across the country, and in February 2012, we launched a travel vertical. 

A passionate employee base fueled the quick and steady growth. The new brand operated like a start-up but was backed by a media giant, attracting an energetic and collaborative workforce. Each market is largely responsible for its own social media and marketing promotion. Although local employees operate in 57 different markets, the internal corporate social media platform, Yammer, keeps them connected. They never need to go far for advice on what photo works best or how to deal with a merchant query. 

Account reps often visit businesses in person to determine if the business is a good fit for DealChicken. Emphasis has been placed on deal quality rather than deal quantity. Upholding these high standards and keeping our subscriber’s best interest at heart has paid off. Customers trust the integrity of our brand. And while other deal sites have received criticism for over-selling to an unengaged audience, DealChicken’s merchants have seen repeat customers and higher-than-average bill totals when our users redeem their vouchers. Our audience tends to skew slightly older with higher incomes. This does not come as much of a surprise, considering many signed up after seeing ads in their local newspapers.

A number of our partner businesses have seen exceptional sales growth and positive exposure after running a deal on DealChicken. Vermont Maple Syrup sold nearly 5,000 deals in December, with a flurry of comments on its blog praising the syrup. One reviewer stated: “I was one of the DealChicken recipients of your Maple Syrup. It was worth the wait! You will have one repeat customer here and we will pass the word to others. Yours is the best maple syrup we’ve ever had, even from other places in Vermont. Thank you again for the hard work.”

Meanwhile, a restaurant in St. Louis, Missouri, saw gross sales of US$9,350 as a result of a single offer presented to customers in July. These were some of the more notable results, but they are not outliers by any means. Markets large and small have success stories across multiple business segments.

Currently, 81% of DealChicken advertisers are new to Gannett.

It’s not easy to search out 57 great deals each day, but Gannett has been able to make it work. At the end of 2011, DealChicken was ranked the ninth-largest among the major daily deal Web sites tracked by comScore. It’s now sixth. With even more products launching soon, DealChicken is poised for even greater growth in 2012. 

We took the best attributes of a national media powerhouse — proven business practices, social media know-how, distribution expertise, institutional knowledge — and combined those with the start-up mentality — hard work, exceptional customer service, and an unexpected new product. That’s how we got cracking. 

Read more: http://www.inma.org/modules/article/index.cfm?action=articleView&articleId=50161#ixzz2JccXVra2