Targeting Technologies

Just 35% of advertisers target many small, specific audiences when buying ads or paying to promote content on social media properties, according to [download page] a study conducted by Forrester Consulting on behalf of Kenshoo Social. The study reveals that the most common practice among these professionals (who spend upwards of $100,000 a year on social advertising) is rotating through multiple creatives (60%). Even when using targeting, paid social media advertisers are using more basic types, according to the study. Read more »

75% of ad agencies responding to a BrightRoll survey believe that video is equally or more effective than TV, and that's up from 64% who believed that to be the case in last year's survey, according to a new BrightRoll report [download page]. Even more respondents (91%) believe that digital video measures up well with display, although they're less convinced about its effectiveness compared to social media (68%), search (52%) and direct response (45%). The most important aspect of video advertising to clients is its targeting capabilities, according to 45% of respondents, with reach (27%) also valuable. Read more »

More mobile location-based advertisers are using geo-fenced strategies, and new survey results from CouponCabin.com indicate that 20% of smartphone owners surveyed have visited a store after receiving notification that specials, coupons, or deals were available nearby. The CouponCabin.com survey results, released in conjunction with the company applications' new geo-fencing feature, also reveal that two-thirds of smartphone owners would be at least somewhat interested in a mobile application that lets them get notifications for geo-targeted coupons. Read more »

More than 80% of advertisers find audience targeting to be very (29%) or somewhat (55%) effective, and the vast majority of agencies agree, per results from an eXelate survey. Both groups point to 3rd party online data as their preferred data source for audience targeting, also ranking this source as their most effective for both direct response and branding campaigns, ahead of 1st-party CRM data. Read more »

Asked whether they would rather see online ads for random products and services or ads directed towards their interests, 40.5% of respondents to a new survey [pdf] chose the latter (targeted ads), while another 27.6% were content to see both. The study, conducted by Zogby Analytics on behalf of the Digital Advertising Alliance (DAA), found only 16.1% preferring random ads, with another 15.8% unsure. Late last year, a study from Ipsos similarly found Americans giving targeted social networking ads a vote of confidence. Read more »

16% of advertisers on the Millennial Media platform integrated mobile commerce experiences into their campaigns last year, according to the network's year-in-review report [download page] released this morning. In the campaign action mix, m-commerce was offered as a post-click option less than social media (18%), store locator/view map (21%), and application download (37%), among others, per the report. Read more »

Close to 95% of national advertiser campaigns now use some form of location targeting in mobile, says xAd in its 2012 year-in-review report. The study notes that locally-targeted campaigns performed significantly better than industry standard metrics. Among the available audience targeting tactics, search behavioral targeting providing the biggest lift, at 60%. Close behind, place-based targeting showed a 55% lift over the benchmark. Read more »

Asked the top 3 benefits of online advertising when compared to offline advertising, 23% of respondents to a Marin Software survey [pdf] conducted by Forrester Consulting said the most important benefit was online's more accurate targeting. The survey of North American marketers who spend a minimum of $100,000 per year on paid search also found that respondents value online's measurability and efficiency, but are less enthusiastic about its conversion rates and access to customer response data relative to offline advertising. Read more »

Just 5% of American adults believe that companies should have the right to track their activities whenever they're online, while an opposing 28% feel that companies should never be able to track their online behavior, per results from a survey conducted by Ipsos on behalf of Microsoft. While that implies a negative sentiment towards online tracking, a majority 60% are ok with companies tracking them, but only if individuals give their permission. Read more »

Presented with a list of digital-related opportunities and asked to name the three most exciting for their organizations this year, 43% of digital marketers pointed to mobile optimization, according to [download page] a new Econsultancy study produced in association with Adobe. Mobile optimization - which the report refers to in part as the need to make every digital experience work well on any device in any location - took top honors from last year's leader, social media engagement, which tumbled from 54% to 35% of respondents.  Read more »