Online advertising is projected to reach $39.5 billion in sales, while print will total $33.8 billion. Online spending will jump almost 25% (23.3% to be exact) in 2012 alone. And the numbers keep climbing – online ad spending is expected to hit $52.8 billion in 2014 and $62 billion in 2016, leaving traditional media, like newspapers and magazines, in the dust.

The principal analyst for the eMarketer study, David Hallerman, says, “Advertisers’ comfort level with integrated marketing is greater than ever, and this is helping more advertisers … put a greater share of dollars online.”

It should come as no surprise, considering more shoppers are going online to make purchase decisions, find retailers, and engage in transactions. According to Pew Research Center, almost 60% of customers use the internet to research a product before making a purchase, and 66% of those consumers have made at least one online purchase in the last year.

Online advertising also offers features traditional print advertising can’t, like precise tracking and instant feedback.

At MediaRevo, we know how crucial online advertising is because we spend every single day immersed in it. When we launched an intensive pay-per-click campaign for Toyota of Hackensack, their Toyota Certified Used Vehicle sales quadrupled within just one year by leveraging the power of paid search, banner ads, and Facebook advertising.

Find out more about online advertising and proven success strategies at MediaRevo advertising.

According to Nielson, Americans spend 23% (nearly a quarter) of their online time on social networking sites like Facebook, StumbleUpon, Blogger, Tumblr, Twitter, YouTube, and LinkedIn. In August alone, StumbleUpon and Facebook accounted for 88% of all social media traffic. With numbers like that, it’s hard to resist social media’s lure.

But while everyone talks up the power of social media, very few know how to properly use it. Sure, membership is free and the potential audience is vast, but if it’s sucking up vast spaces of your precious time without showing meaningful results, you’re wasting your resources.

In an article from Inc. Magazine entitled “Social Media is a Waste of Time”, Senior Vice President of the social marketing agency BzzAgent, Malcolm Faulds, argues sites like Facebook, Twitter, and Groupon are a waste of small business resources – unless you have a strategic plan in place for their usage.

At MediaRevo we understand that many smaller companies often lack the time, the personnel, and (most importantly) the specialized expertise to perpetually manage scores of social media accounts. That’s why our staff is trained in the most up-to-date techniques every key online social network. We optimize and maintain our clients’ accounts – and they reap the rewards.

While social media is constantly evolving, we’ve found some tried-and-true rules that can keep you from squandering valuable hours online.

Maintain your presence – consistently!
One of the most common mistakes – perhaps the most common mistake – businesses make in terms of social media is not maintaining enough of a presence. Malcolm Faulds highlights this in Inc.:

“The typical small business Facebook page is a ghost town. It might have some pictures of the business, a few posts about an event six months ago, and a handful of followers who joined when the page launched. On Twitter, there might be a couple posts a month and none of them are related to any customer question.”

Most companies have a “fits and starts” action pattern – they update way too much and then abandon their pages for days, weeks, or even months.

It’s not enough to simply create an account, accumulate some followers, and update sparingly. Social media is about starting a conversation and establishing relationships with your customers.

In order to do this you should update your pages regularly. Posts must be relevant to your product or service and novel enough to stand out in a sea of status updates and Tweets. Make sure to have two-way conversations with your clients, vendors, and potential customers. Ask them questions directly, follow up on comments, and thank them for their participation.

Use the right medium
Not every company needs to be on every social networking site. If your business is a virtual store, there’s little point in setting up an account on Foursquare.

Some large pharmaceutical companies have recently decided a good way to inform the public about new products would be through a Twitter account. One hundred and forty characters to teach heart patients about the risks and benefits of a new cholesterol-lowering drug? Not an effective plan.

When we start out with a new client, we determine which channels will be most effective by analyzing their product and customers. And we don’t waste time with media that doesn’t work for them.

Start by thinking about your product and which networks would best showcase it. For example, LinkedIn now has a section in company profiles dedicated for pages and videos about the company’s work.

Do your research
Do some research to find out where the bulk of your customers spend their time and maintain your presence there. Figure out which days of the week and what time of day they’re active online and post your updates and promotions then.

Establish a voice (and maybe a face or two)
Social media is virtually useless if it’s not interesting and engaging. Putting out content that sounds like an automaton just Tweeted it won’t catch anyone’s attention. Being professional doesn’t mean coming across as lifeless.

What’s your corporate culture like? What’s your business philosophy? The answers to these questions can help you determine your online identity.

Show pictures of employees and who’s posting what. Make sure the CEO’s blog or news feed has his or her picture. Post Facebook pictures of company events, outings, or just hanging out at the office. Show your human side – it’s what people relate to.

Stay relevant
Know what your customers are interested in and write posts that are targeted towards them. Again, it’s a dialogue. Answer questions and follow up on their pages. The more customer feedback you seek, the more you’ll know what they want to hear.

At MediaRevo, we engage followers in pertinent, meaningful conversation. We share articles and information relevant to our client’s business. We see what customers are talking about and go from there.

A good place to start is popular stories and trending topics, like those on the right-hand bar on Twitter. This inserts you into an already popular conversation and gives you hundreds or even thousands of potential followers keeping track of that thread or subject.

Of course, if it has nothing to do with your business, it’s useless. So stick to topics that have to do with your field.

Free stuff!
Free offers, contests, and discounts are great ways to generate traffic and build customer loyalty.

“Access to offers is one of the biggest reasons people follow brands on social media,” says Faulds. “Give them something exclusive. Make them feel special and encourage them to share it with their friends on Facebook and Twitter.”

Facebook feeds are often packed with friends who have just gotten a great deal from LivingSocial or a coupon from a large retail store. More discounts abound when their friends take advantage of the same deal. Some businesses offer promotions for customers who “check in” on Foursquare or Facebook. It generates a buzz and keeps people coming back.

Link with the right people
Just like every other part of life, knowing the right people goes a long way. Find out who the popular users, bloggers, and opinion leaders are in your field (if you don’t already know) and follow them. Start conversations with them. Comment on their stories and posts. Re-Tweet interesting posts from influential people and thank them when they mention you or re-Tweet your posts. This links you to their network of followers and fosters relationships with people in a position to bring you business.

Keep track of your progress
Track your progress with analytics tools. How will you know what works and what doesn’t if you have no metrics in place to track results?

Google and Facebook already have analytics and insights tools in place, Twitter has Tweetdeck, and there are any number of free analytics programs you can find on the web.

Of course nothing beats specialized, comprehensive platforms that give you deep insight into your customers, their path through your page, the time of day they log on, how many times they return, where they’re from, what businesses are checking out your page and more.

Our new Results! platform, released this summer, does just that. We spent months developing a program which tracks every useful statistic and instantly generates customizable reports to analyze your strategies.

For more information on access to Results!, go to our page.

Give social media the time it deserves
Sometimes doing something halfway is worse than doing nothing at all. Social media is useless if you don’t put in the time to generate meaningful content and foster lasting relationships – which means you’re just wasting time if you’re not committing to it.

Faulds’ final recommendation is perhaps his most sage: “Budget enough time to engage, or else hire someone.”

Most of our clients hire us to take care of their entire social media presence because they don’t have the time to devote to it or the money to hire an expert who knows all the ins and outs. We understand this and can work with your organization to take the confusion out of establishing your online presence, maximizing the return on your social networking.

For more advice on social media and your online presence, contact us.

As Yelp, one of the largest consumer review websites, aims to go public within the next year, reputation management has come into the spotlight. Now a crucial part of any business, little is known about the nuts and bolts of what reputation management truly involves.

Reputation Management Has Evolved
Maintaining a strong reputation for a business before the digital age was simple – strong work and good products would gain a loyal following; profits would grow as word of mouth spread. Then, within the last decade, consumer review websites began popping up all over the internet.

The idea was a shrewd one: provide an open forum in which average consumers could provide candid, unbiased feedback about their experience with a particular company or product. The sites became almost instant successes.

Now 86% of consumers surveyed report doing online research before making a purchase.

But high-profile review scandals at Amazon, Travelocity, and even Yelp have highlighted the intrinsic problems with this set-up.

Businesses began providing incentives – discounts, free products, and even cash – to customers who gave the company glowing reviews. Some even instructed employees to pose as customers and post phony reviews online, while others went so far as to hire “reputation management” services to do it for them.

Even worse, competitors would blanket a rival’s review page with numerous negative comments in order to gain an advantage.

Yelp has been accused of re-posting or extending the life of negative reviews if a company doesn’t pay to advertise on their site. Appliance manufacturer DeLonghi came under fire in 2009 for allegedly having employees post 5-star reviews on Amazon for company products. And most recently, some New York and New Jersey car dealerships have been accused of trying to cover up poor customer service records by flooding auto dealer review sites with phony raves.

What Honest Reputation Management Really Is
Given how routine dishonest practices have become, it’s natural to assume that reputation management is a dubious procedure which involves generating fake reviews while burying ones that are authentic yet negative. But true digital media professionals know there is a forthright and beneficial way to help clients maintain a positive reputation.

At our firm, we stay away from the “dark side” of reputation management and find ethical ways to enhance a company image.

What We Practice at MediaRevo

• We give happy customers a voice. All the advertising in the world doesn’t carry the weight of a genuine rave from a satisfied customer. We make sure those customers have as many opportunities as possible to share their experience with others.

• We respond proactively to negative reviews. If a customer is unhappy and doesn’t feel they were heard, we work with them on behalf of the client to come to a resolution. Everyone walks away satisfied and the company’s image remains intact.

• We reach out to every source. Yelp, Google Places, Superpages, Angie’s List, Insider Pages, Yahoo Local – these are just some of the hundreds of forums which exist in order to help consumers make decisions. We keep up-to-date on the inner workings of all the most popular websites to keep clients ahead of the competition.

• We follow up with consumers. Once customers have been surveyed privately by a company, they may not go on to share their experiences on public sites. We encourage them to share with prospective buyers what they’ve already told the company.

To find out more, check out our reputation management page or contact us.

Mercedes made the announcement today on its Facebook page. Semifinalists contacted on December 24 create a short video making their case.  Mercedes will announce finalists on January 5. The team that garners the most tweets and Facebook likes wins a Mercedes Benz 2012 C-Class Coupe.

Dwight Dachnowicz, who has been working for Honda since high school, accepts three-year position as Northeast Chairman of the Honda Dealer Council. Dachnowicz will advocate for 114 fellow dealers and continue to hold down the day-to-day operations at his Tarrytown business, where he has been since he was 35, as the youngest Honda dealer in the tri-state area.

Prior to his most recent honor, Tarrytown Honda was named the fastest growing Honda dealership in the nation in 2009, and while Dachnowicz was General Manager of Madison Honda in Madison, the dealership was recognized by American Honda as the Fastest-Growing Honda Dealership in New Jersey, for three consecutive years.

“I was honored to be asked,” he said. “It’s good for me because I am hands on, and all too often dealers might not know what is going on with daily operations and the products… this allows me to become more involved with product planning and incentives.”

Even with all of his success and recent honor, Dachnowicz claims he hasn’t changed his values or style.

“I’m a very simple guy,” he said. “I drive a used Honda, I don’t come across as a larger than life businessman, I’ve been very fortunate.”

Dachnowicz doesn’t have any plans to expand his business.  Being a family man, he says he just hopes to leave the business to his children, if they choose to get involved.

View Tarrytown Honda here.

I’ve excerpted the image to the right to give some brief context to this post. The graphic depicts an average CPC (Cost per Click) as low as $0.47 days before Christmas eve which later rocketed to over $18.38 per click!

This strange anomaly got me thinking, why aren’t people using the Google Content network to manage ads on Facebook and other Social Media Networks?

Our company manages Search and Socail Marketing for many different clients leveraging Google, Bing, Facebook and various otherSearch & Social Networks. In doing so, we have learned a few things along the way.

What Did We Learn?

1. Using the Google Content Network can save you Big $ over buying directly from many of these Social Networks. On December 24th we paid $1.63 Per Click
   Facebook December 24th CPC for Our Client

2. When opting to buy clicks you get an Additional bonus… you get impressions! In the example detailed below we got 19,675 Impressions of our ad. In plain English we had 19,675 people see our ads AT NO ADDITIONAL COST
3. The ad size when buying from Facebook is 110 x 80 however….The ad sizes using the content network vary from 300 x 250, to 728 x 90 and so on….ALL SUBSTANTIALLY LARGER then the ad sizes offered by Facebook.
4. Using the Google content network you can specify where your ads are placed on Facebook, above the fold, below the fold, in front of pet lovers, age specified users,  in all 35 Different variations of Facebook users! Something you can’t currently manage to the same extent using the existing Facebook platform
5. We mentioned above in item #3 that you can build different banner ad sizes for use with the Google content network on Facebook, we suggest you do.  In doing so you fill a void where others have not created similar size ads.  And typically where there are less ads/advertisers you pay less per click.  This little rarely utilized tidbit will drop the floor out of your overall cost to advertise on Facebook.

In addition to Facebook there are many…many other Social Networks your business can advertise on using the Google Content Network.  In our next post we will outline a few more of them, and how your business…any business can leverage them.

Autobytel.com surveyed over 200 car dealerships to ascertain how they planned to spend their marketing dollars in the next few years. Unsurprisingly, the vast majority (96%) plan to up their Internet spending over the next five years.

Why aren’t I surprised? Well, from 2004 to 2009, 93% of car dealers increased their online marketing budgets, with 80% claiming the Internet has been their best performing ROI channel during those five years.

More than half (56%) boosted their Internet budgets by 50% or more and a third (31%) by 100% or more.

Not bad, eh?

If you need more proof, Autobytel.com’s survey revealed 70% intend to spend more online in the coming year, with just 21% intending to spend more on traditional media.

Another study, this time from Cars.com, analyzed the impact of car descriptions and imagery on consumer interest and response.

It is clear that, apart from a competitive price tag, a large selection of images and well written copy is paramount to enable prospective car buyers to make an informed decision online.

- A competitive price received 191% more vehicle details page views and 263% more contacts.

- Vehicles priced competitively receive 79% more vehicle details page views and 136% more contacts than vehicles priced 10% or higher than market average.

- 11 or more pictures received 175% more vehicle details page views and 127% more contacts than listings without pictures.

- Inventory- and dealership-level sell copy received 17% more contacts.

- The manufacturer’s certified used logo received 18% more vehicle detail page views and 34% more contacts.

While online car dealerships are enjoying the benefits of selling online and embracing the Internet, they still need to up their game with merchandising.

Why? Because, according to Cars.com, of the 230,000 new and used vehicles listed on their website between June 2008 and June 2009 that were analyzed for the study 7% had no price, 13% didn’t have sell copy and, incredibly, 13% had no images.

“Online success begins with making the car the star and offering greater transparency for the consumer,” said Michael Page, Cars.com vice president of advertising products. “As shoppers evaluate their options, they’re drawn to listings and dealerships that allow them to take a virtual test drive, validate the vehicle’s condition and help them make an informed decision.”

Credit to Helen Leggatt