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Facebook rolls out ads to news feeds, naming them Featured Stories

Facebook is rolling out ads in the news feed today, labelling them as Featured rather than Sponsored Stories.  The ads that appear in a user’s news feed work in the same way as Facebook’s Sponsored Stories ad format, by showing a user’s social interactions with brands within the ad creative.  Facebook said the posts, which [...]

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Quick Tips: Content Ideas for Email Marketing Campaigns

One of the most common questions from companies engaged in Email Marketing is “Help! What do I write about in my email campaigns?” While they are the subject experts on their products and services, the secret is to ‘package’ the ‘story’ in a way that their customers want to hear, and follow some simple time [...]

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• February 3, 2012 at 3:58

  Samsung says the first retail app for its internet-connected TVs, unveiled this week in partnership with M&S, gives “a snapshot of how consumers will be able to shop in the future.”  The new app can’t yet be used to buy goods, but viewers can use it to tap into information on high street trends, and advice on choosing the right wine, beauty tips and recipes.  They can download the M&S app, developed in collaboration with multichannel video agency Adjust Your Set, from the Samsung Smart TV app store, where it sits alongside BBC iPlayer, LOVEFiLM, Netflix, YouTube and others.  The TV also acts as an entertainment hub, connecting to devices such as smartphones, laptops and tablets.

  Source: internetretailing.net

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• February 2, 2012 at 3:54

  Brands including Asda, Cadbury and Sky are part of a UK beta group trialling Twitter’s enhanced profile pages, which allow brands more customisation.  Asda, Cadbury, EA Sports Fifa and Sky HD are four of the first UK brands to have enhanced pages live on Twitter.  The pages, announced in December, allow brands to customise the messages that greet consumers on their Twitter home page, including a customisable banner and the option to display one tweet prominently at the top of their feed (nma.co.uk 9 December 2011).

  Source: nma.co.uk

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• February 1, 2012 at 3:51

  Yahoo aims to capitalise on the growing number of mobile apps on the market by launching a discovery engine that helps UK users navigate the 500,000-plus apps in both the App Store and Android Market.  The function, named App Search, is available via a tab on the Yahoo homepage and helps users discover apps based on the search terms they enter.  It then returns matching titles with a comprehensive description, price, star rating from users, screenshots and the relevant links.  Users can also filter the results by category, such as free or paid-for, and can then download the apps directly from the relevant outlet, by clicking “send to phone”, which sends a text message with a hyperlink the user’s phone, or by scanning a QR code, which directs the user to the relevant destination.

  Source: nma.co.uk

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• January 28, 2012 at 4:19

  Personal e-mail is the most common mobile activity in the EU5 (France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the UK), according to research from comScore. Over 65.4m mobile users accessed their e-mail in the EU5 during the 3 month period ending November 2011.  comScore’s MobiLens study measures the trends and behaviour of 237,000 mobile users aged 13 years and above in Europe. Social networking, with 58.2m users, was the second most popular activity, while accessing weather came in third, with 52.9m. The fastest growing category, however, was news, which ranked fourth – growing 51.3 per cent from 30.6m in November 2011 to 46.2m.

  Source: mobilemarketingmagazine.co.uk

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• January 27, 2012 at 4:17

  Online sales are rising strongly this month despite a slump in high street spending this month, according to CBI figures.  Ecommerce was the only part of the UK retail market to report growth in the first two weeks of January, the period covered by the body’s latest monthly CBI Distributive Trades Survey. It found 44% of retailers reported that sales volumes were down compared to the same time last year while 22% reported a rise, giving a balance of -22%.  At the same time retailers offering internet and mail-order sales – the non-store category – reported, on balance, large rises in sales, at +50%. This level of growth, said CBI chief economic adviser Ian McCafferty, was still weaker than the +91% growth seen in December.

  Source: internetretailing.net

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• January 26, 2012 at 5:00

  The UK is the leading market for smartphone ownership with over 45% of the population owning such a device, according to research released by Google.  The study, conducted with Ipsos, indicated that smartphone ownership is becoming increasingly mainstream with with an increasing percentage of women and those aged over 45 adopting such devices.  Ownership of smartphones increased from 30% to 45% in the UK between January and October last year, making it the top market in the study, which also surveyed the US, Germany, France and Japan (see image below).

  Source: nma.co.uk

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• January 26, 2012 at 4:58

  The idea of the ‘Digital High Street’ has come a step closer with leading retailers Everything Everywhere, Asda and Tescos joining the growing list of retailers signing up to appear on search and discovery app NearMe – adding potentially more than 30million customers to the service that already has an organically grown user base of 500,000.  Near me is a mobile guide app – that currently works on iOS only – that lets consumers search for the things they need that are near them, from specific shops, to pubs, hospitals, parking and so on. But what makes this different is that brands can now pay to appear on the home screen of the search service, creating something akin to a digital high street.

  Source: internetretailing.net

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• January 26, 2012 at 4:56

  Facebook is investing further in its outreach programme to retailers to bring clarity to the term “social commerce” and promote social integration on their websites.  Gavin Sathianathan, Facebook’s strategic partner manager, is leading the social network’s bid to promote social commerce in the UK and said that agreed definitions are a key building block in its evolution. “It’s really important we nail what we mean by ‘social commerce’,” he said. “At Facebook, we do not equate ‘social commerce’ with opening a store within the network.”  The comments follow a story last week in which retail brands including John Lewis and Reiss told new media age that selling items via social networks, such as a Facebook Store, was not on their 2012 agenda, favouring to hone their m-commerce strategies instead.

  Source: marketingweek.co.uk

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• January 26, 2012 at 4:54

  Channel 4 is looking to “pioneer” the use of data in its advertising model as it looks to invest in more direct connections with its audience.  Speaking to the Oxford Media Convention, Channel 4 chief executive David Abraham said the broadcaster is “retooling” its self-funded commercial model so that it engages with viewers on a deeper level.  Channel 4’s sales house made £1bn in revenue in 2011 and in November made more than £100m in ad revenue, the first time it had ever exceeded the £100m mark in a single month.

  Source: marketingweek.co.uk

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• January 24, 2012 at 4:56

  eBay.co.uk, the leading online marketplace, has predicted $8billion in global mobile sales on the site as a new consultation from Ofcom set out proposals to make 4G mobile spectrum available in the UK.  Welcoming Ofcom’s proposals, Angus McCarey, UK Retail Director for eBay, said: “We know that the potential for mobile shopping is huge – but only if the infrastructure is there to make it work smoothly for consumers. This year, we are predicting global sales of $8 billion via mobile on eBay alone.  “According to our research, mobile retail will be worth a massive £19 billion to the UK economy by 2021. A high speed 4G network will make it easier for consumers to shop via their mobile and for retailers to grow mobile sales.”

  Source: internetretailing.net

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