Digital / Social

February 6 2020

Impression-Based Measurements

By: Katie Cichowski

It’s no secret the media landscape is changing and becoming ever so fragmented. Measurement and cost efficiencies are always top of mind for both clients and agencies alike. So how do you measure and compare costs when each medium has its own unique measurement; Print on circulation, Radio & TV based on ratings, digital & social based on impressions? Find the common denominator. Impressions.

Simplistically said, impressions allow for a more ‘apples to apples’ comparison, from both delivery and cost comparison stand points, but unfortunately, on an industry level, it’s not as simple as it sounds. Major industry players are working hard to define an impression, one that can accommodate viewing consumption on a variety of platforms with equal footing.

The shift to impression-based evaluation continues to be on the forefront, with industry adoption accelerating for effective measurement.

January 30 2020

Instagram Answers Some Common Questions

Digital / Social 0

By: Jeff Radzinski

As is being widely reported across digital marketing blogs, Instagram’s Creators account has been answering some common questions. If you are a social media marketer or brand on social media, you probably have been asking the same questions. The answers are interesting to say the least, but not always 100% clear. Never the less, they are worth taking a look at:

Question: Does the type of account you have impact ranking?

Answer: No, we do not favor posts from businesses or verified accounts in Feed. If you interact with that content more, of course it is more likely to appear at the top of your feed.

Question: Does Feed ranking favor videos over photos?

Answer: We don’t universally favor photos over videos. Your feed is customized for you, so it really depends on how you use Instagram. If you consistently watch a lot of videos, that will be reflected in your feed.

Question: Why don’t you go back to chronological feed?

Answer: Since switching to a ranked feed, the average post is now seen by 50% more followers than it did with the chronological model.

Question: I’ve heard that the algorithm ranks posts higher that get a lot of likes or comments in the first 30 minutes?

Answer: True

Well there you have it. Anything surprising to you? If you aren’t already following the Instagram Creators account, it may well be worth a follow for more insights and news, @Creators.

December 12 2019

Have You Been Airdropped?

Digital / Social 0

By: Jeff Radzinski

AirDrop is a file-sharing feature on Apple devices that lets users send photos, videos, contacts, links, and other content via Bluetooth and Wi-Fi. Phones with AirDrop turned on can send files to another person from up to 30 feet away and it doesn’t matter if you are in another person’s contact list or not.

While many iPhone users use AirDrop to simply share a file with a friend, some teens are using it for another purpose. A not necessarily new trend called “Airdropping”. If you’ve ever been in a public area that a large group of teens have entered, then begun receiving numerous silly memes and photos from oddly named iPhones around you, you may have been airdropped.

Teens will change the names of their phones to something vague so it’s not distinguishable who they are, then enter a fairly busy area usually with several other friends and begin sending large amounts of image/memes to anyone with their AirDrop activated. Sometimes the goal is to just get a funny reaction from the recipient, other times they are trying to crash another person’s phone by sending a mass amount of files in seconds.

Most times “airdropping” is harmless, just sending silly images to anonymously get a reaction from others. But of course, there are some who abuse it. AirDrop has also been used to share answers to tests in the classroom, send unflattering pictures of someone to an entire room of people or make fun of others without the subject of the jokes knowing it.

Some teens believe that sending images through AirDrop is better than social media accounts because you don’t need to have a person’s username or phone number to share and its quicker than sending a group text or DM. The downside to AirDrop is no one is monitoring it for abusive/illicit content and since it’s automatically included on every iPhone it can easily be used as a tool for abuse.

Is this just a trend that will come and go or will this become an evolution of social media? A platform for sharing with just those in a close vicinity to you at any given time.

December 4 2019

Cyber Week

Digital / Social 0

By: Brianna Wilkinson

So, it’s Cyber week and not only is EVERYTHING on SALE (neon blinking) for the holiday season but guess what? Our favorite streaming services got into the act.

As if Disney+ didn’t get enough subscribers on day one, ten million, they put together a package with Hulu and ESPN+ to get more people to hop on board because a million plus new subscribers a day isn’t enough.

CBS All Access is giving you a month free and you can Sling for $15.00 a month.

Coupons sites have popped up with deals and codes just like if you were buying from Pier 1 and needed a coupon.

So, to all the naysayers out there that say TV is dead and no one is watching:

TV is one of the most popular mediums in the United States, reaching around 90 percent of adults per week. Audiences are able to choose from a plethora of programs, with latest figures suggesting there are over 1,700 TV stations in total. While adults are still spending a lot of time watching TV, the number of hours per day has decreased from 4.2 in 2014 to around 3.35 as of 2018. Young adults seem to spend significantly less time watching television than their older counterparts as alternative forms of entertainment have begun to greatly increase in popularity.

These falling viewership numbers don’t necessarily mean that people are watching less TV overall, just that they are beginning to turn away from traditional TV and move to subscription video on demand services such as Netflix. Consumers in the U.S. have been particularly quick to adopt new viewing technologies, but nevertheless, the number of TV households in the United States has continually increased over the last five years.

Published by Amy Watson on Statista.com, Oct 9, 2019

Now back to the regular scheduled program…..

November 21 2019

How a Tweet Led to a Sold-Out Chicken Sandwich

Digital / Social 0

By: Haley Lewis

If you have been on social media lately, you have probably heard of the current ‘Chicken Sandwich War.’ It all started when Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen released their first chicken sandwich in August 2019. Their biggest competitor, Chick-fil-a, took a slight jab at the release of Popeyes chicken sandwich by tweeting:

Popeyes social media team then responded within 15 minutes with the perfect response: “…y’all good?” Popeyes witty response caused a frenzy between customers, thus creating the viral debate ‘Chicken Sandwich War,’ which led to Popeyes chicken sandwich being sold out within two weeks of its launch and led to record sales.

This can be a lesson to all marketers: never underestimate the power of a tweet. When done correctly, social media can be a huge asset to a brands image. This ‘Chicken Sandwich War’ is just one example, but many big brands have utilized how having banter on social media channels can gain more attraction than simply selling a product.

November 14 2019

CTR – The Over Rated Metric

Digital / Social 0

By: Katie Cichowski

What is CTR? Simple. Click through rate. The number of clicks of a digital campaign divided by delivered impressions multiplied by 100 to equal a percent.

Such a popular metric with so much interest, but really what does it mean? It’s definitely not the determination of campaign success. It’s good for benchmarking against various digital tactics, but in this digital day there’s access to so many more metrics then just clicks, that this metric falls low on the totem pole.

Clicking is something most of us try not to do, when we see online ads (with the exception of search). Instead of focusing on clicks, let’s change the focus to some of the more meaningful metrics; view-through rates, new users to site, pageviews, time spent on page and most important, campaign goals.

Does it really matter how many users clicked on an ad if doesn’t result in campaign goals being met? Next campaign, dare not to even look at CTR, but something more meaningful that helps achieve campaign goals. Bet that over-used, old school, metric won’t even be missed!

November 7 2019

Getting Paid for Your Data?

Digital / Social 0

By: Jeff Radzinski

You’ve no doubt heard the debate about online data privacy. The response I often hear is “I’m not doing anything illegal, I don’t care if they are tracking me online”.

This misses the larger point. The larger point being giant data collection companies are tracking your movements online, packaging that data into a consumer profile and then selling that information to advertisers in the hopes of making a sale from you. Seems like a lot of people are making money from this process… except the consumer, who is supplying the information being sold.

Instead of giving away a commodity, why not make money off of it? The data is yours after all, right? One startup company agrees, OzoneAI believes there is a happy medium between selling and protecting your data. On their app, users can grant companies access to their data and get paid for it. The user is paid for the access, and companies get to use the data for better targeting of their ads. Seems like a win-win, no?

Another app called Big Token, has a similar approach. You download their app and answer questions about yourself, check into locations and connect your social media accounts. Based on the data you share you are placed into ad groups and advertisers buy access to these ad groups where you’ll earn a portion of the revenue from the data sale. You can then redeem your earnings via cash, gift cards or charitable donations.

Now don’t go downloading these apps thinking you can quit your job and make a living from answering questions on these apps. But your data is already being taken, sold and profited from. Why not take some of that money for yourself? Something is better than nothing.

A common response to all of this is “that’s nice and all, but I don’t have time”. To which I roll my eyes and cite the eMarketer statistic that the average person spends 1-2 hours per day on social media. I think we can all carve out 10 minutes, if we really wanted to.

October 17 2019

The Age of TikTok

Digital / Social, Media Planning 0

By: Haley Lewis

As everyone knows, marketing is constantly changing and evolving, especially on social media platforms. The newest trend among young adults and teenagers is the self-expression app that has risen to the top four most downloaded non-game app in 2018. TikTok has exploded in the market with a 275% growth in monthly users with 41% of users aged 16-24 (Viner).

Major celebrities, artists, and brands are utilizing TikTok to help reach a younger demographic. Even media outlets like the Washington Post, The Daily Show with Trevor Noah, and The Tonight Show starring Jimmy Fallon have expanded into this platform to connect to a younger audience.

So how can marketers use TikTok to create a successful campaign? This starts by truly understanding what the users want to see. Since this platform is for creativity and self-expression, the ROI on a TikTok marketing campaign will not be sales or direct revenue, but instead awareness and engagement (Viner).

What is the best way to create engagement on TikTok? Challenges are extremely popular on the app. Consider the level of difficulty and the creativity of the challenge. Is it something young adults will find amusing and will be willing to share and interact? If your brand finds that challenges aren’t the way to go, consider using influencers who can help promote your brand to their followers. Really getting a feel for the content on TikTok is vital for a successful campaign.

Once your brand is ready to get started making videos on TikTok, create an account and start building a presence on the platform to create a community around your product or service before you launch a campaign. Remember, the most important part is having fun and get creative!

Source: Viner, Josh. “How To Develop a TikTok Marketing Strategy.” Medium, The Dopamine Effect, 7 Apr. 2019.

September 15 2019

Harrison Media Rebranding

Digital / Social, Giving Back, In the Office, Media Buying, Media Planning, News, Small Business, Women Owned Business 0

It’s an exciting time at Harrison Media. Our team is growing, we are working on new, innovative projects and we are launching a new marketing campaign for the agency that frames up our story. You’ll start to see an all new look and feel launching with our new agency website.

In addition to launching our new site, we are excited about our new blog. Our media experts are passionate about a lot of topics and this will be a great way to share their experiences and expertise. We will be discussing a range of topics – from the latest in media, sharing experiences of owning a small business to digital trends, to giving and a sneak peek of what it’s like to work here at Harrison Media.

We hope you enjoy the new site and find the blog content beneficial. Feel free to share with anyone/everyone that would enjoy and sign up so you don’t miss any postings.