Digital Connections – 360i Blog, Digital Marketing Agency

In recent weeks, the two juggernauts in social media – Facebook and Twitter – announced plans to roll out mobile advertising, marking a pivotal moment in the collision of social and mobile advertising. These launches will not only mean significant revenue growth for the social media networks, but also a substantial extension of a brand’s reach on these networks. Here are the Who, What, Where, When and Why of the launches.

WHO:  Facebook and Twitter both made announcements late last month.  Facebook made the announcement during its fMC 2012 conference, and Twitter posted the news to its blog the day before on Feb. 28.

WHAT & WHERE: Facebook’s new Premium Ad Package includes the addition of mobile for the News Feed ad placements. On Facebook’s mobile apps, the ads will appear in a fan’s News Feed as a Sponsored Story.  The look and feel will be similar to the desktop experience including social connotation (i.e. number of comments and ability to like/comment). There has been speculation about how long it will appear, but as of right now it would move along the fan’s New Feed like any other post appearing in the feed.

The rain has finally cleared up in Austin and Team 360i is ready for the second leg of SXSW. Below is a recap of some of the top takeaways thus far. Follow us for the next few days at sxsw.360i.com for even more conference coverage.

1. If last year’s SXSW buzzword was “cloud-based,” and the year before that was “location-based,” this year’s is definitely “transmedia.” 360i client Bravo said that cross-platform storytelling was at the heart of the network’s recent Top Chef campaign, which made the show the most streamed program in NBCU history. On deck for Bravo? A social media game built around the popular Real Housewives series. [How Transmedia is Changing TV]
2. If there’s a Top Chef winner within a 30 mile radius, our David Berkowitz will find him. Then he’ll give a great presentation on the future of mobile payments.
3. Since digital is such a powerful mechanism for storytelling, it’s no surprise that the stories of athletes – a perennial focus during the Olympics – will be paramount during London 2012. Look for new and exciting ways to connect with your favorite teams and athletes come July. [Priming Audiences for a Truly Social Olympic Games]
4. The man behind Lil Wayne’s social media coup that quickly dethroned our client Oreo during the brand’s innovative record-setting event last spring is apparently a huge fan of 360i. Who knew? [Meet the Man Behind Lil Wayne’s Digital Strategy]
5. Gamification is an important piece of the Foursquare puzzle – but it’s not at the center of CEO Dennis Crowley’s vision these days. In a keynote address, Crowley said he wants people to see the platform’s powerful ability to deliver relevant information about places you go – beyond just offering badges and rewarding check-ins. Foursquare now has nearly 20MM users. [Making the Real World Easier to Use]
6. The law might not be the most exciting thing for a community manager to consider, but it’s an increasingly important one as content curation takes new shapes on platforms like Pinterest. There are four main factors courts look at when making a call on what’s covered (and not covered) by the Fair Use Act. [Social Media & the Law]
7. When life gives you lemons, distribute branded ponchos and umbrellas.
8. Innovative filmmaker George Lucas borrowed several themes and individual shots from movies that preceded Star Wars, such as the classic Western “The Searchers.” Original doesn’t have to mean that your idea or content is unprecedented; it could also mean that you took an innovative spin on something that already exists, reincarnating an old idea as something entirely different. Oh, and speaking of Star Wars, someone gave out branded light sabers. [Everything is a Remix, So Steal Like An Artist]
9. App design and development for touch screen devices should strike a balance between metaphor and tech. For example, apps can carry out a book metaphor by simulating flipping through pages – but if it doesn’t contain some sort of search functionality, you’ve likely taken the metaphor too far. [Tapworthy Touchscreen Design]
10. Optimizing your advertising efforts for the real-time environment might mean thinking like a news outlet. This is the strategy IKEA employed during its 365 campaign, which churned out a new commercial every day for an entire year. Creative reviews were replaced by “editorial board” meetings so that content could be created and optimized in semi-real time. [Real-Time Newsjacking]

Follow us at sxsw.360i.com and on Twitter @360i for more updates from SXSW Interactive.

Today, we launched a blog that we’ll use to capture and relay the core learnings emerging from SXSW as they happen, focusing on what their tangible implications are for marketers. It’s called SXSW BrandLand, and the 360i team on the ground in Austin will be updating it often during SXSW Interactive from March 9-14. Follow us on Tumblr and via Twitter @360i (#BrandLand) for real time updates.

Joining us in Austin? Download 0ur Pre-Conference Guide to SXSW.

Click to enter SXSW BrandLand »

Bravo’s popular late night series, “Watch What Happens Live,” is partnering with TaskRabbit for a special integration at SXSW Interactive. This marks the first time the breakthrough service networking platform has partnered with a major brand. TaskRabbit works by providing its users with a crowdsourced pool of able service providers – called “TaskRabbits” – to complete both everyday and skilled tasks.

The on-air, online and on-the-ground integration connects Bravo’s digital savvy audience with the TaskRabbit platform and in turn, engages SXSW-goers in Austin with the Bravo brand. TaskRabbit will be featured on the March 7 episode of “WWHL.” At SXSW, more than 200 Bravo-branded TaskRabbits will award 1,000 attendees with $25 in TaskRabbit credits that can be redeemed for conference-specific perks, such as holding a prime parking spot or waiting in line at a busy food truck.

On March 10, Bravo joins the SXSW conference line-up with a panel titled, “Top Chef: How Transmedia is Changing TV.” Speakers will include on-air talent such as “WWHL’s” Andy Cohen and “Top Chef” judge Tom Colicchio, in addition to digital leaders at the brand, who will discuss how Bravo is bringing multi-platform storytelling beyond the linear screen.

Bravo will also host an exclusive party on March 10 at the TaskRabbit Park in downtown Austin to celebrate “WWHL.”

Bravo, a client of 360i, is renowned for being a first-mover in the digital space. The network became the first entertainment brand to partner with Foursquare in 2010, then formed a pioneering partnership with Foodspotting the very next year. BRAVO’s efforts in digital have garnered the brand accolades from the Shorty Awards, the DPAC Awards, CableFAX and more.

At yesterday’s first annual fMC Conference, Facebook unveiled several platform updates that will soon impact all brands utilizing the world’s largest social network to connect with consumers. Beyond the tactical ramifications – which we outline in detail in our latest report – the core takeaway from fMC is that Facebook has entered a new terrain where earned and paid media should operate as part of a real-time, coordinated front in order to maximize engagement.

The joint introduction of Facebook Timeline for Pages as well as changes to the Facebook premium ad format reinforce the need for a unified, holistic approach to Facebook marketing that integrates community, content and media strategies.

Our belief is that earned and paid media will continue to converge, with each having a multiplying impact on the other. This creates a need for an integrated approach to managing and measuring social media across community, content and advertising. As 360i President Sarah Hofstetter told the Wall Street Journal yesterday, the update will move brands to start thinking about paid advertising as part of their Facebook strategy. “It’s not just a Field of Dreams environment anymore on Facebook where ‘if you build it, they will come,’” she said.

View and download the full report »

Today we announced a strategic partnership with social software firm Expion that will result in a powerful integrated earned and paid Facebook platform and services offering, bringing together community management, advertising, social applications and advanced analytics to measure and improve our clients’ Facebook marketing efforts. Our parent company Dentsu Network West has also reached an agreement to take a minority stake in Expion to catapult the company’s growth.

This move underscores our agency’s firm belief that the success of brands in social rests heavily on a keen understanding of the interplay between paid and earned media. It’s a vision shared not only with Expion, but with Facebook as well, which is slated to announce a series of updates at the Feb. 29 fMC Conference that will further expedite this convergence.

Despite continued investment in Facebook by brands – marketers created four million brand pages and spent more than $3 billion on advertising within the platform in 2011 – there exists a technology gap that has prohibited brands from effectively managing and optimizing across paid and earned media. Our goal in partnership with Expion is to therefore create an environment that promotes seamless cross-functional collaboration and more holistic management of a brand’s overall Facebook program. For example, real-time community analytics will inform our ad targeting and bidding strategies, resulting in better advertising performance. We will also be able to more closely align advertising with content strategy to drive deeper engagement and fan acquisition.

Earned and paid media will continue to converge across the social ecosystem, with each having a multiplying impact on the other. This creates a need for an integrated approach to managing and measuring social programs across community, content and advertising. We look forward to working with Expion to advance this shared vision of the future of social media.

Prior to the Digital Age, the traditional advertising model was fairly cut and dry, with paid placements running across radio, newspapers, magazines, billboards and television. But when websites began to proliferate and, with them, advertising opportunities, us media people got our sticky fingers on it as quickly as possible. Standard banners were placed across websites like stamps on envelopes.

After the initial excitement wore down, people began to view online ads less positively, generalizing them as nothing more than commercial interruptions from what they really wanted to see. If they could fast forward through commercials on VCRs and then DVRs, why should they be held up in their digital experiences? Advertisers had to get smarter in order to capture the attention of a relevant audience and make a brand stand out in a marketplace of options. And as any good media planner will ask, “What’s next?”

While the paid media landscape continues to evolve, brands have increasingly invested in earned and owned media. Earned media includes digital platforms where brands can freely engage with fans or followers through more organic activities, such as page posts, tweets or distributed content. When someone other than the brand shares or comments on brand content within the owned environment, it becomes earned media.