This week we’re looking at changes in social media behavior. In the last year, we’ve a seen a decline in the creation of personal content in favor of linking to professional content. What does this mean for social media and how it’s used?
We’re also taking a look at search behavior. We all try and follow best practices as marketers, but wouldn’t it be helpful to understand how people use search? We’ll take a look.
We’re back with our first show of 2011. We hope you had a nice holiday break, but it’s time to get back to work.
The big news this week is the announcement of PerformanceExchange at Affiliate Summit West. MediaTrust’s new system connects advertisers with prospective new customers via our proprietary CPC bidding and customer delivery system. Using Performance Exchange, the winning bidders’ text ads are dynamically generated in real-time, and Advertisers pay only for quality consumers delivered to their landing page.
In other news, we wanted to bring an article to you attention over the Econsultancy Blog. CEO Ashley Friedlein has outlined 17 trends he thinks we’re going to see in 2011. You’re going to want to take a few minutes and check it out.
Finally, we’re checking in with WordPress on their final numbers from 2010. They continue to report record adoption rates and growth. In fact, they announced that they account for about 10% of the world’s websites.
This week we’re taking an in-depth look at the recently launched Offermatic – a savings services that helps customers save money without needing to present coupons, promo codes or vouchers. Instead, consumers link their debit and credit cards to the Offermatic service and advertisers send relevant deals based on the user’s purchase history. Priced on a CPA basis for clients, initial tests are showing conversion rates in the neighborhood of 14.5%. Could this change the way we think about performance marketing?
We’re also looking at an article from ReadWriteWeb. It was written by a 16 year old Morgan Stanley intern and it talks about why teen don’t use Twitter. If you’re in the business of marketing to teens, you’ll want to check this out.
Finally, we’re taking a look at paid search spending predictions over the next 3 years. How does it stack up to display advertising? How does online video figure into the mix?
This week we’re diving into the FTC’s call for “Do Not Track” legislation. The Federal Trade Commission is pushing web browser makers to include functionality to turn off tracking or monitoring of any kind. They say that users have a right to privacy online. Advertisers argue that tracking is necessary to customize news feeds and enable things like social media functionality across the web. How will this all shake out? It’s going to be an interesting battle over the next few months.
We’re also covering two major coupon sites in the new this week. First we’re looking at the Groupon / Google deal that feel apart late last week. What does this mean for Groupon going forward? Plus we’re tracking the acquisition of RateItAll.com by WhaleShark Media.
Holiday shopping season has kicked off in a big way. This year online sales are expected to top $32 billion. That’s impressive, but when you compare it to the $852 billion being spent in total this holiday season, it’s really just a drop in the bucket. This week on Relevantly Speaking we’re going to be talking about ways that online retailers can boost their sales and capture a bigger slice of that holiday pie.
Last week we talked about the poor reputation that performance marketing has been saddled with in the larger advertising world. This week, The Economist is piling onto that perception with a quote calling affiliates “criminal freelancers.” We dig a little deeper into that.
Finally, we’re doing a little bit of celebrating in the MediaTrust camp. New York Enterprise Report has recognized MediaTrust for their innovative sales and marketing efforts in the area of social media.
Relevantly Speaking returns this week with a variety of news spanning the entire online marketing landscape. First we’ll take a look at Facebook’s email announcement last week and what it means for marketers trying to get into consumer inboxes. Not to be outdone, Twitter had an announcement of their own around their new analytics package.
We’re checking in with the Performance Marketing Association and taking a look at their new column called “Ask the Experts.” This week they’re asking the question “What’s holding the industry back?” Publishing veteran Tony Pantano of imwave weighs in.
Finally, let’s talk cash – it’s especially relevant around the holidays. Cash.com is one of best performing cash advance payday loan offers and most recognized brands on the MediaTrust platform. With the increased need for extra cash during the holidays and as we approach the New Year, this offer will only get better.
You can get started today – just reach out to your Publisher Manager.
This week we’re talking to Brent Csutoras, SVP at BlueGlass Interactive, about what makes good viral content. What types of things typically go viral? What’s the spark that sets it off? How can companies take advantage of content that spreads?
This week we’re talking to Don Batsford of 31 Media about the differences between tackling a social media strategy versus a search strategy. What factors should you consider for both? What are the strengths and weaknesses of each? Don helps us answer some of those questions from Affiliate Summit East.
This week we’re talking to Matt Mickiewicz, founder of 99 Designs and Flippa, about how publishers in the performance marketing space can use crowdsourcing to bring down the cost of design work. With 99 Designs you get to harness the expertise of 78,000 designers for a fraction of the cost you’d otherwise pay.
Have you had a chance to use the service? What did you think? What about Flippa? Ever purchased a web site? We’d love to get your thoughts in the comments section.
This week we’re talking to Kim Kaplan, Vice President at Plenty of Fish, about a variety of topics including; their new ad platform, the importance of a strong brand and their foray into offline marketing with Lady Gaga.
MediaTrust is an innovative award-winning leader in performance marketing “Connecting Quality Clicks to Conversions” with the PerformanceExchange real-time cpc bid exchange for performance marketing.
