By Patricia Wilson


The iPad. Promoted tweets. Interactive ads. Which hot new trends have merit for advertising? Getting to the soul of marketing. These were just some of the main topics covered at the 2010 Ad Age Digital Conference held April 13 and 14 in New York.


BrandCottage was on hand at the conference. Here are some of the event’s highlights:

Best speaker: Jim Farley, group vice president of global marketing at Ford Motor Co.


Farley, who is the cousin of the late comedian, Chris Farley, explained that Ford is riding a wave of advertising success based on the “democratization of marketing.” In both digital and traditional marketing, he explained, Ford puts the brand in the hands of real consumers. “That’s what digital has shown us: how to earn credibility among consumers,” he said.


One out of every four advertising dollars spent by Ford goes to digital, including social media. “Social media has shown the importance of being authentic, even in traditional media,” Farley noted.


Few could argue with Farley’s authenticity. At 16, he purchased his dream car, a Ford Mustang. “To be good at marketing, you have to understand the soul of what you’re selling,” he said.


See Ford’s Jim Farley Says Recession Was a Blessing for Digital in Advertising Age for full story.


Biggest news: Twitter COO Dick Costolo announced promoted tweets. It was refreshing to hear from Costolo that consumers and advertisers have a “wait and see what happens” attitude about the acceptance of promoted tweets and that Twitter was going to move ahead carefully (testing of promoted tweets began during the conference).


“We wanted to do something that just enhances the conversation that companies are already having with their customers on Twitter,” Costolo said. Of course, Twitter also needs to build a revenue model to capitalize on the company’s reported 50 million daily tweets — a fact not lost on attendees.


Twitter’s initial version of promoted tweets — in the form of keyword ads — will appear in search results. Later the ads will appear in user feeds on Twitter and on third-party clients such as TweetDeck, TwitterBerry and Tweetie, which Twitter recently acquired.


In short, each ad is a tweet that will appear at the top of a search. The promotional tweet can be re-tweeted, just as a regular tweet is passed around today. Costolo said ads would be available on a CPM-basis.


See Chats, Stats and Secrets about Twitter in Advertising Age for more information.


Biggest antagonist: Yahoo! Scientist Duncan Watts, who questioned the value of tweets.


Watts reported that, based on his research, a tweet’s average influence score is 0.28 people. “Most of them will send tweets and no one else re-tweets,” he said. “A lot of times, not that many people are listening on Twitter.”


However, Watts did not discount the value of thousands or millions of many-to-many connections. In fact, he said that advertisers would get more value from a lot of small influencers than from a big influencer such as Kim Kardashian, at $10,000 per tweet.


“If you recruit enough people who, on average, influence just one other person, you could get a much better return on investment,” he said.


Best quote: “I’ve seen the future and it’s covered in greasy fingerprints,” said Simon Dumenco, Ad Age’s Media Guy.


Dumenco gave a lighthearted speech on the transformational power of the iPad, for which he believes fingerprints are about the only down side of the device. Still, he added, publishers have only begun to scratch the surface of the iPad’s potential. “So far, the iPad’s killer app is demo-ing the iPad,” said Dumenco, quoting technologist Ben Rosen.


Cautious optimism: Digital is here to stay and marketers are getting on board in big ways. However, most CMOs and brand marketers say they are not hopping on the next shinny thing just to be first. “We never hop on the next hot thing, but the iPad made a lot of sense for us,” said Vivian Schiller, president and CEO of NPR.


For companies such as Dell, however, it’s full speed ahead. “Dell is a total digital company and it’s part of our corporate DNA,” said Dell CMO Erin Nelson. On Twitter, Nelson said the social media platform “has collapsed our customer feedback cycle and dramatically improved product development.”


In conclusion: Understanding how consumers use various media, how they react with online ads and why they join social networks in the first place — these are all important strategy questions for branders. We’ve moved way past mere reach and frequency.


What is clear is that (1) no single media owns the consumer and (2) the consumer now has a lot of influence. Smart marketers understand that consumers now seek authentic and trustworthy brands — new realities thanks to digital and social media.


Patricia Wilson is the founder of BrandCottage, a media marketing company with offices in New York, Atlanta and Washington, D.C.

By Barry Lawrence


What do you think about the future of social media spending in 2010? Please take our simple poll on this really cool Twitter-friendly application: twtpoll.


Click here to take the poll.


As a long-time public relations professional, I have always promoted the use of surveys and polls to create news that is reflective of a company’s brand. This is a great way to make news that reporters actually care about and to establish companies as thought leaders in their respective industries.


Now, with tools such as twtpoll, you can make news and engage your community. LinkedIn also has a nice social media application for polling. SurveyMonkey does a nice job with more in-depth online surveys. The trick is to have your survey questions designed by a professional so that questions and answer choices are unbiased, complete, easy to understand and not too long. Tougher than you think.


The important thing to remember is to be honest about the source of your data when sharing with reporters. Some media outlets, such as the Wall Street Journal, are persnickety about online polls. Others are OK with online poll data as long as they can be clear about how the results were derived.


Barry Lawrence is a BrandCottage partner in charge of public relations and social media relations.

by Patricia Wilson


Social media is like the Wild West to many marketers. It often feels like a runaway train rather than a tool we can neatly harness, apply data against and measure. It takes many traditional marketers out of their comfort zone. Yet, social media cannot be ignored in the marketing mix and it is likely here to stay.


According to a March 2009 Social Media Success Summit survey (white paper) of nearly 900 marketers, 88 percent said they are currently using some form of social media. However, 72 percent have only been doing so for a few months or less. Worse, the majority of marketers say they really don’t understand social media.

72 percent of marketers have either just started or have been using social media for only a few months.

— Social Media Success Summit 2009, March 2009 Survey

In the work BrandCottage does with marketing professionals, 100 percent of our clients are using some form of social media. But most are still struggling to figure out just how to use it best. Marketers most often stake out claims on Facebook and Twitter, creating plots of digital space to help broadcast their promotional messages. But such strategies miss the mark.


Creating a promotional-only social media experience is like forcing viewers to sit through an entire television day of only commercials. Or picking up a magazine that only contains ads. Can you imagine riding in the car and hearing ONLY commercials on the radio? This is the opposite of what our customers want from us as marketers and the polar opposite of the intrinsic benefit of social media.

Most used social media tools by marketers, according to the Social Media Success Summit report:

• Twitter: 86 percent
• Blogs: 79 percent
• LinkedIn: 78 percent
• Facebook: 77 percent
• Youtube or other video: 41 percent
• Social bookmarking (i.e.; Del.icio.us): 38 percent
• Forums: 38 percent
• StumbleUpon: 28 percent
• Digg, Reddit, Mixx or similar site: 26 percent
• FriendFeed: 18 percent

Social media is different than traditional media because it offers us a two-way conversation. It has the power of the crowd. It has the benefits of being able to put something out to a crowd to see how they respond, how they make it better. If we’re successful, the crowd does most of the talking, not us. If all we do is push our goods, consumers will reject us, they will block us, hide from us and stop following us . . . with one click of the mouse.


Marketers, however, still need to sell stuff, right? Of course. But there are smart ways to use social media, to create connections at a deeper level and to give customers value:

1. Do a lot of listening and then create content your audience wants and values.
2. Say things they want to hear . Yes, sometimes it’s a deal on your product , but not always.
3. Be a storyteller. Get others to tell stories that relate to your core values. REI does this well.
4. Invite industry experts to blog on behalf of your brand.
5. Track trends and create lists. For example, a clothing retailer should provide style tips and the top fashion trends.
6. Include images to keep people interested.
7. Be genuine. Be a real person behind the brand.
8. Create content for your audience they can use, even if its not directly attached to your brand. Dell, for example, has a small business blog and they are a huge success with Twitter.
9. Ask questions and seek input from your audience. They want to talk with you. They want to contribute.
10. Respond to your customers. Social media impacts customer service as much as marketing. Whole Foods does this well on Twitter.

Patricia Wilson is the founder of BrandCottage, a media marketing company with offices in New York, Atlanta and Washington, D.C.