eMedia Daily

AOL - Bebo Deal…And we care why?

AOL announced the purchase of Bebo - the third largest social networking site. Third largest is used lightly - its a distant third to the behemoths of MySpace and Facebook. So, why would AOL, which has struggled in recent years, take the plunge to purchase them?

According to eMarketer….

However, Bebo has been quietly innovative in areas of online marketing that are just now starting to get attention. It is a pioneer of widget marketing, having partnered with prominent widget developers in December 2006, five months before Facebook opened up its platform.

Bebo also hosts KateModern, an online video hit. The site is developing other short-form online video content, along with unique ways of integrating marketers into the video storyline. It also has found novel ways to allow viewers to participate in the action both online (by interacting with the video’s characters on their profile pages) and offline (producers invited fans to watch the filming live last month).

Another thing going for Bebo: its users spend more time on the site than those at Facebook or MySpace – an average of 217 minutes apiece in January, according to comScore Media Metrix. That’s 18 minutes more on average than was spent on Facebook, and over an hour more than on MySpace.

Only time will tell how Bebo will be integrated, and what benefits it may provide to AOL.

Posted in News, Web 2.0 | No Comments »

Internet Usage by State

In an interesting article published by eMarketer, about 2/3 of the US population ages 3 and older now use the internet. (3 year olds on the internet… now that’s a whole new prospect and set of questions. Do websites need to be designed to appeal to a 3 year old as well as a 33 and 53 year olds?)

However, even more interesting than the age skew may be the penetration of internet usage in specific states. This is especially important in geo-targeted online campaigns. For marketers in states with higher penetration levels, their marketing mix may be much simpler, while those with lower penetration rates need to find different ways to reach their audience.

The states that have the highest penetration rate may not be what you expect.

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VideoEgg Offers ‘Per Engagement’ Pricing

In a play for the deep pockets of brand advertisers, VideoEgg has introduced a new “per engagement” pricing model on its ad network.

Called AdFrames, the new offering allows marketers to pay for rollover ads on VideoEgg’s Eggnetwork branded ad network based on the number of user-initiated ad interactions that occur on partner sites, rather than the CPM-based approach that accounts for the bulk of online brand advertising now. VideoEgg specializes in ads that appear in video clips and Facebook applications.

VideoEgg is asking marketers to cough up 75 cents per engagement on the so-called “brand response network.” “Engagement” is generally defined as a user-initiated rollover action that results in a sustained ad expansion. Once expanded, an ad may contain a video, game, or other of rich content. It happens without taking an Internet user away from her preferred Web page, and marketers only pay when an individual completes an action.

Read more from ClickZ

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How to Send an E-mail Newsletter Your Customers Will Love

The Internet is overflowing with poorly executed email marketing newsletters. Here’s advice on how to create a newsy marketing communication that people continue to open and actually read.

We’ve all gotten them. Some of us, to our vexation and bewilderment, have produced them: email marketing newsletters that fail to keep recipients opening and clicking over time.

According to Forrester Research, eight out of 10 broadband users delete most commercial email without reading it, and six out of 10 say most email doesn’t offer them anything interesting. With email users’ time and inbox space increasingly at a premium, and patience wearing thin, how can marketers stay in customers’ good graces and ensure that their newsletters are continuously and eagerly anticipated?

Read more from Chief Marketer.

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A Tip For Press Release Writers - Include a Link

I rely upon Google Alerts to help me keep an eye on a few key phrases (as well as my favorite bands, and news items). So when I saw the headline “SEO For Wordpress Blogs - A Free White Paper from Blizzard …” appear in my Search Engine Optimization alert, I bit.

I went over to read the press release that was posted on 24-7 Press Release.

I got excited about the whitepaper. I wanted it.

But alas, there was no link. So I have no whitepaper. Just a tip for public relations professions trying to reach an online audience. The link is king. We don’t want to search for your company, and then dig around your website trying to find the link. Even if its not hyperlinked, make sure that you include your company URL in the “About Us” section of your press release.

(You can read the press release from 24-7 here.

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DMA’s Email Experience Council absorbs Email Measurement Accuracy Coalition

The Email Experience Council (eec), the Direct Marketing Association’s e-mail marketing arm, announced Tuesday that it is “taking over guardianship” of the Email Measurement Accuracy Coalition, an independent group formed last April that has been working on establishing e-mail marketing measurement standards.
The eec also announced it has formed a research partnership with JupiterResearch that will provide Jupiter reports to eec members at a 25% discount. The announcements were made during the eec’s inaugural Email Evolution Conference in San Diego.

Separately, the eec announced the launch of the Digital Lifestyle Roundtable, which it said will help members better integrate e-mail marketing with mobile, blogs, social networks, RSS and digital publishing platforms. The group’s first initiative will be a survey of marketers to determine how they use or plan to use digital channels to interact with customers. Charter members of the roundtable include representatives from eROI, ExactTarget, OgilvyOne Worldwide and Return Path.

From BtoB

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Fortune’s Top 100 Companies to Work For

Over dinner last night, I was perusing the latest issue of Fortune. They’ve released their rankings, once again, of the top 100 companies to work for. Google tops the list at #1 (for the second year in a row) while Microsoft came in at a dismal 86, and Yahoo at 87.

Review the full list, and read more about what makes them great.

I’d settle for just some of the perks - the free, corporate cafeteria staffed with world class chefs; the on-site gym with personal trainers.

Posted in The World of Work | No Comments »

Denial of Deep Linking

From WalletPop….

Can you imagine a media outlet, which lives and dies by readership and distribution of its articles, prohibiting you from linking to pages within its website??? I couldn’t imagine it either, but it’s true.

BusinessWeek.com has a user agreement which prohibits readers from “deep-linking,” which essentially means you are not supposed to post a link to a specific article. You can post a link to the home page, businessweek.com. But if you find a specific story that you’d like to write about or promote, it’s a no-go. You can’t like to that specific page. From the user agreement: “In addition, User may not:…. 2. use or attempt to use any “deep-link,”…”

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Posted in SEO, Web 2.0 | No Comments »

WhatCounts Expands Deliverability Team with Key Hire

WhatCounts, Inc., a leader in comprehensive e-communication programs, announced today the recent hire of deliverability expert Josie Walls. As the new Senior Email Deliverability Manager, Walls will focus her attention on enhancing processes at WhatCounts, thereby maximizing deliverability for all WhatCounts customers. Walls brings eight years of experience in Internet Service Provider (ISP) relationship management and administration of email deliverability strategy and best practices for other leading email service providers including some of the biggest names in the industry.

“This exciting new position offers me the opportunity to help educate marketers on the most effective ways to ensure compliance with email best practices while maximizing message delivery and ROI,” said Walls.

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Who Doesn’t Use the Internet?

US consumers generally enjoy widespread Internet access. While the Web was once the playground of affluent early adopters, the demographic profile of the US Internet user now resembles that of most Americans.

Nonetheless, about one-quarter of Americans have no Internet access, according to a wide-ranging report titled “Information Searches That Solve Problems: How People Use the Internet, Libraries and Government Agencies When They Need Help” by the Pew Internet & American Life Project and the Graduate School of Library and Information Science at the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana.

Read more from eMarketer

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