And this is perhaps why social media has, for many brands, been a bit of a puzzler. It’s a discipline that relies for the most part on human behaviour – reaction and response, interaction and participation, and the fact that we don’t just show people content, we want people to share content, on our behalf.

Most of the brands that Socialyse work with started out a few years ago by dipping their toes in the ‘social’ waters – launching a Facebook page (or MySpace page back in the day!) to establish out how they could best engage with consumers, see what resonated and what exactly their tone of voice should be.

As technology and consumer behaviour has become more sophisticated, investment has increased and social media has risen up the marketing agenda – but to what extent?

What brands are doing in social media in the UK

In the Autumn, Havas Media Social conducted an extensive quantitative and qualitative survey amongst the membership of the Incorporated Society of British Advertisers to find out how much brands were using social media, what they were using it for, and what departments internally were leading the way. We found that 100% of the 50 biggest brands in the UK were ‘doing’ social media in some form; 78% viewed it as a long-term commitment, with 50% using the discipline for ongoing activity, rather than just tactical campaigns.  So the testing phase seems to be over.

In addition, the results pointed overwhelmingly to one major finding: formulas are a good thing. Brands want a guarantee that they’ll make money and meet business objectives with significant social media budgets, and ROI is a necessity.

One of our respondents, Jude Brooks, digital activation manager for Coca-Cola, reinforced this by stating: “Social media is becoming far more formulaic and, in some ways, rightly so. This is for a number of reasons. Most marketers want to do things that work – they’ve seen others do it and that takes the risk out of their own activity. As a discipline, it’s all quite new and there are a lot of people who don’t understand it – or they understand it but aren’t quite in that ‘comfort zone’ to know what they’re doing.

Currently there is a nervousness about social because it’s changing at such a fast pace, so if you’re presented with the opportunity to narrow it slightly, it allows people to say ‘I get it now, let’s try this route’.

How agencies can help you get the right social media formula

As such, over the past 12 months we’ve seen the rise of more ‘templates’ in social media, which help brands (and our clients) understand what they’re likely to get out based on what they put in.  We’ve spent years learning what real people do in social, what they like, what they don’t like, what brands can do to maximise this and what forms of measurement are most meaningful, which means that we’ve been able to standardise our approach. From pages on social networking sites to influencer outreach programmes, promotional activity and competitions to creating viral content, there are now certain rules we can apply.

The industry used to argue that there was no ‘one size fits all’ in social media. And whilst this is true in terms of content and creativity, what we can do is make informed judgments about the best platforms, the best tactics, and the best awareness strategies to get your brand the best response in the social space.

The great strides we (and the industry) have made in measurement have also led to more robust social media campaign analysis. Our advancements in social attribution and understanding the role social plays throughout the customer journey, as well as how to use social data to learn more about an audience, means that analytics are coming to the fore – which, for the geeks among us, is very exciting news.

Socialyse as an extended part of your team

We’ve been saying for a long time now that consumers have changed. Brands are rapidly adapting to the change and it is the agency’s responsibility to adapt even faster and support their clients every step of the way. With 50% of all brands interviewed now having a dedicated resource in-house, and even more conducting some form of social activity within the business, your agency should act as extended members of your internal team. Our clients expect us to be coming up with new ideas, to be at the forefront of innovation and to understand consumer behaviour; they’re looking to us for the very best in best practice and regulatory affairs.

We don’t believe that social media should represent a scary, vast unknown. Rather, we partner with our clients to apply our social templates to their marketing activity and business objectives. This doesn’t mean that social media should be boring, either. Instead, it means that if we have the strategic frameworks in place we can be even more creative and engaging, to tell a story whilst being accountable every step of the way.

For further details on this subject please contact Amy Kean on 0207 393 2724 or at amy.kean@uk.mpg.com.

Google’s personalised search service rollout, Search Plus Your World, has once again stoked the debate surrounding the clash between the search giant and social networks Facebook and Twitter regarding who owns the social search space and controls the most data.

The product, which features natural search listings alongside photos and posts from an individual or brand’s Google+ Circles and Picasa accounts, is rolling out across google.com. Its arrival has triggered outcry from social networks, which believe the search giant is deliberately manipulating its index to promote adoption of Google+.

In protest about the changes, Facebook and Twitter engineers have created a piece of code designed to negate the changes initiated by Search Plus Your World. When a user installs the code, called Don’t Be Evil in reference to Google’s informal corporate motto, within the bookmarklet in their browser, it automatically replaces the page of Google+ results with a page of pure ogranic results including those from a selection of social networks included on a white list.

The clash has prompted mixed reactions from brands and agencies. Some believe the move will harm brand strategies by obscuring important data from third-party social networks. O2’s search marketing and digital capability manager Stuart Bryce said the mobile operator is increasing its focus on social-search developments that have arisen since Google’s recent changes.

“Relevancy is the most important thing in search and that shouldn’t be forgotten,” he said. “Not all Google+ results will deliver the best results for the searcher and Google should remind itself that there are other search engines out there, just a click away”.

He also stressed the importance of Twitter and other social network data, which are being snubbed by the changes to Google’s Search Plus Your World. “Twitter is a huge part of the internet used by millions per day, there is a wealth of relevant data there to be mined, which should not be ignored,” he said.

Some agencies believe brands that do not create Google+ profiles will suffer in Google’s natural-search rankings. MPG media contacts’ head of search David Freeman said brands that do not create profiles on Google’s social network will “miss out” as those that do are automatically bumped higher up the natural listings.

Meanwhile, other brands and agencies view Google’s personalised search changes as necessary for the market to continue evolving.

British Airways has become one of the latest brands to embrace a Google+ profile, joining the likes of O2 and hotel group Mr & Mrs Smith (nma.co.uk23 January 2012). BA digital innovation manager Richard Bowden said it regards Google+ as a creative test bed for content co-creation. “Google+’s Circles and Hangouts are features that lend themselves well to co-creation, more so than Facebook, which is a very different platform and should be treated as so,” he said.

Aegis-owned agency iProspect’s head of search and performance media Mark Fagan said brands must start engaging with their consumers via their Google+ page and creating SEO strategies that span beyond tradition methods such as link building, and optimisation.

“The implications of Google + Your World for brands are potentially huge, with results pages being highly personalised based on who is in your circles, as well as brand’s Google+ pages getting much more visibility in the search engine results,” he said.

“We believe that the authority metric Google looks at for ranking is shifting more from purely links to include connections and sharing (from all sources including Twitter),” he added. “We are monitoring the effects on PPC with the loss of real estate across certain keywords but we have yet to see anything conclusive.”

Meanwhile, Bigmouthmedia’s head of media innovation Andrew Girdwood said brands are at the mercy of Google’s own timings and therefore must be ready for full rollout of Search Plus Your World in the UK. “Google could flick the switch and implement it overnight, which would turn people’s worlds upside down,” he said. “They must start preparing now.”

Many are now aware of the change in law, but most businesses have yet to react – despite potential fines of up to £500,000. In October this year, Christopher Graham, Information Commissioner, commented: “I still think there are a fair number of people in the advertising business and the website business who are in denial about this… However much you don’t like it… Consent for cookies is the law.”

So why have so few businesses yet to do anything about this legislation?

Is it complacency?

That appears to be the opinion of the Information Commissioner. However, according to research from Affilinet, only 12% of marketers who responded to a recent survey believe that businesses will be able to engage consumers successfully without the use of cookies. So, clearly, there is a sense within the industry that a significant increase in cookie opt-out will have serious repercussions for online marketing.

Do some think that technology is going to resolve this before businesses need to react?

Possibly, yes, as there has been a lot of noise about technology developments in this space. However, it is a false hope to think this will be in place any time soon.

The UK government has been vocal in its belief that, with some development, browser settings may provide a means to indicate user consent (or lack thereof). In theory, it does make sense that three main browsers (IE, Firefox, Chrome) need to be changed rather than thousands of websites. However, in practice, this is ignoring some clear stalling points. Firstly, all three browsers are primarily headquartered outside the EU and so have only a limited incentive to change a global system for the sake of one region – and a region that has multiple variations of the law. Secondly, the organisations behind these platforms are competitors and have limited incentive to work together. Finally, even if new browser versions are released, they will take time to be adopted by users. Browser negotiations are underway but, realistically, development will be too slow to have a solution in place in less than 12 – 18 months.

Another vocal group is the IAB, which is rolling out an icon based self-regulatory program for online behavioural advertising. The role of this program is to provide consumers with easy access to information on, and control mechanisms for, targeted advertising. However, while this forms part of the UK Government’s ‘ecology of solutions’, this program isn’t sufficient to meet the law as it only covers some uses of cookies. In fact, the IAB themselves have always said this program began development before the change in law and is intended to support best practice and not legal compliance.

Are there organisational barriers within the business themselves?

Again, the answer to this is probably yes (in some instances). This is an issue that falls across legal, compliance, marketing, and web dev departments. Such businesses may struggle to find the issue a home and develop the necessary inter-departmental working groups.

Or is it just a lack of clear understanding of what businesses need to do?

This is probably the primary reason for lack of action to date. What the ICO fail to acknowledge in their statement is that their initial guidance on this topic didn’t clarify a number of key points, leaving businesses uncertain as to how to find a balance between compliance and creating a negative user experience.

Fortunately, the latest set of guidance, released 13th Nov 2011, not only resolves some of those missing details but also takes a practical approach that should be a welcome relief to the industry:

• Prior consent remains recommended but is not mandated as it is recognised some cookies are set as soon as a user accesses a site. However, notification must be prominent, understandable, and delivered soon after setting cookies – for example an on-page icon linking to specifics about cookie use
• Prior consent should be achieved where possible. Where mechanisms for ‘active consent’ (getting someone to tick a box saying I agree) already exist (registration, purchase pages, settings alterations) these should be used. Only where that’s not practical will enhanced notice be enough
• Information about cookie use should be clearly understandable and focus more on role and benefit rather than specific details of every cookie
• Linked to this, consent can be inferred only so long as it’s reasonable to expect a user has seen educational messaging about cookie use onsite. In part this will require industry initiatives such as Google’s current poster campaign, but websites should also use the same promotional mechanisms they would use to promote any other news (social feeds, newsletters, latest news sections)
• In practice sites will need to take responsibility for  securing consent for any 3rd party cookies delivered while the user is on the site but consent can be given for groups of cookie by function rather than requiring individual notification by cookie
• ‘Strictly necessary’ cookies, which are exempt from the law, are better defined and further examples given

So what does all this mean for website owning businesses?

Given the practical stance now taken by the ICO, it’s finally possible for businesses to proceed in making themselves compliant and inaction is no longer excusable.

As a result, Media Contacts have developed some simple steps to help get businesses to compliance:

• Double-check to make sure you know all the properties in your web estate as you will need to make them all compliant

• Work with us to help you audit the cookies on your sites and explain their uses
• Work with us to create a dedicated page on your site that explains the types of cookies you use, their role, and how users can opt out if they wish. This can be an extension of your existing privacy policy
• Identify how you can create a prominent link to this section on any pages where a user is likely to enter the site (e.g. a header link or clickable icon)
• Identify the promotional mechanisms you can use to raise awareness amongst your user base (social feeds, newsletters, etc.)
• Identify the touchpoints where you can gain active consent (acceptance of T&Cs, notification next to key navigational buttons, etc.)
• Link to industry education efforts such as http://www.youronlinechoices.com/uk/

For more information on any of this please contact christopher.swarbrick@uk.mediacontacts.com

Mobile paid search volumes surged 49% in the fourth quarter of last year, accounting for 12% of all UK paid search clicks in December, according to Marin Software’s latest UK Online Advertising report.

The report, which analyses data from 1,000 advertisers and agencies, that collectively spend over $2.7bn (£1.8bn) annually on biddable media via Marin’s platform, revealed the majority of paid-search spend (92.5%) is still allocated to desktop, with smartphones and tablets accounting for 7.5%.

However, the number of consumers searching via smartphone and tablet devices outstrips the amount agencies are spending on the medium, according to the report, with mobile click share at 12% and spend share at 7.5%. Desktop search volumes are growing faster than budget allocation, which in turn is leading to less expensive clicks on mobile campaigns, according to Marin.

Paid search click-through rates rose 24% across all devices during the fourth quarter, while cost-per-clicks dropped 5% year on year.

The rise in mobile searches has come as no surprise to agencies, although some believe the growth will render fragmentation issues more problematic. Bigmouthmedia’s head of media innovation Andrew Girdwood said fragmentation issues are still barriers to higher mobile paid search spend.

“Google in particular is under pressure to sort out fragmentation across its Android platform,” he said. “Then if you are buying outside of the Google ecosystem, it’s even more fragmented with Microsoft and Nokia’s products, along with those of all the smaller mobile ad vendors, which ultimately undermines the efficiency of mobile ad spend.”

Marin Software VP of marketing and partnerships Matt Lawson said the report showed the highest budget allocation to mobile devices ever, but that mobile search ad spend still “lags” behind user adoption of devices.

Jellyfish planning and strategy director Matt Owen (right) agreed brands are not capitalising on the opportunities presented by mobile search. “From a planning point of view, brands are being too slow to react to the consumer demand that’s there,” he said. “They need to be more aggressive about their mobile search strategies and try and own that space.”

Owen said digital marketers must ensure they allocate test budgets to really understand how the different mobile channels operate, and drill down into how consumer behaviour when searching across mobile devices differs from desktop search.

However, Mediacom’s regional head of operations Rob Weatherhead (pictured) warned against all brands presuming they must increase investment in mobile paid search spend based on general industry-wide reports.

“Mobile has matured to the point that everyone should take note of it, but it is very much an industry-specific area,” he said. “If you drill into these figures by sector, we would be seeing very different numbers. For example, an individual is unlikely to buy their car insurance via a mobile handset, whereas searching for travel destinations and information is an area that lends itslef well to mobile searching.”

He also stressed the importance of separating mobile and tablet device strategies, adding that the rising adoption of the latter makes this increasingly important. “It’s vital not to group mobile and tablet devices together both in reports like these and with individual strategies because consumers behave so differently on each and expect different things from each,” he said. “An interesting development this year will be agencies distinguishing more about how people interact on each mobile and tablet devices as the two become more and more separate.”

Media Contact’s head of mobile James Tag also believes budget must be allocated to experimentation in mobile search. “Brands need to start investigating how to use mobile search best, exactly the same way they are in mobile display, and testing different strategies,” he said. “The conditions are favourable – there are higher click-through rates on mobile and it’s less expensive, so why wouldn’t you want to get involved?”

Meanwhile, Steak’s head of search Gareth Owen (pictured) said the increases in mobile search traffic reflect positively on TV ad creativity and effectiveness. “With devices within hand’s reach in the lounge, consumers are acting on ads straight away, with brands seeing a direct correlation between TV campaigns and brand searches on mobile devices, especially in the evenings,” he said.

Latest revisions to the data privacy law state that brands must get consent for the use of cookies, the technology underpinning many website functions. Direction on what businesses must do to meet these new standards has been vague, leaving marketers confused and struggling to incorporate the change.

In response, Media Contacts is the first agency to offer clients a robust yet practical service to cut through the uncertainty and make websites as compliant as possible with current guidelines:

• Comprehensive site audit using Cookie Reports – market leading technology
• Digital media expertise allow Media Contacts to contextualise cookies found and their role
• Consultation, not just reports, means advice on how to revise privacy policy to react to results
• Provide better awareness to site users so that regulatory bodies can see clients tackling the issue
• Rapid deployment audit and consultation can be completed in as little as one week

Improving transparency for visitors will not only help clients avoid potential legal issues but it will also improve brand image by bringing businesses more in line with public expectations.

Chris Swarbrick, Head of Ad Operations at Media Contacts, said: “Latest reports show that most organisations underestimate the volume of cookies on their site by about 80%. It could have wide ranging market repercussions if businesses don’t respond and ensure they are compliant, including further restrictive legislation and consumer backlash against non-compliant brands.”

It is perhaps not surprising, therefore, that adverts are increasingly becoming more about entertainment with a little hard sell attached rather than the reverse. Shouting is no longer enough. As audiences have become better at filtering out commercial messages, brands have turned to more mainstream entertainment to support their marketing activities and communicate with their customers. This is why we believe content should now be at the heart of every brand’s marketing mix, and we believe that its role will only grow.

To add to this, TV and digital are evolving at a quicker pace than ever before. The web, with its ever increasing share of the advertising market has driven up demand for sticky content, while on television, largely as a reaction to spend migrating online, broadcasters have for the first time been allowed to sell product placement.

MPG Media Contacts, through the launch of Branded, our specialist content team, has been at the forefront of both.
We believe content should form a part of most brands’ activities today. From their website, through to any commercials for broadcast. And content should be versatile. A common failing in the current market is that brands make one piece of content without thinking of how it could be deployed elsewhere for maximum effect. There is also a misconception about how much good content costs – it is genuinely possible to produce broadcast quality work for £50-100k.
If you have in-house ability to produce the content, as we at Branded do, brands can make further savings without compromising quality.
So what does the current landscape look like? Everything is rapidly converging and has both direct and indirect benefits. We are increasingly delivering work in the social and online environment which is performing better than some of the more traditional executions employed by the same brands in former years.
We are also seeing a shift in brands engaging with making their own TV shows, as well as using more basic forms of content as a great cost effective way of boosting search.

Finally, with product placement now legal in the UK, brands can engage with seeing their product in shows that perfectly fit their brand; this, in turn, gives them the opportunity to license characters or content from those shows. Added to this, brands can commission bespoke content that runs alongside the show in online and social environments. A genuine 360° opportunity that we believe hugely deepens the communication.
The opportunities in the branded content space are dazzling and it’s easy for marketers to feel overwhelmed by the pace at which things are moving. Keeping up with technology, emerging channels, consumer adoption, and viewing trends can be a full time job on its own. What content should a brand create? How should it be distributed and, in these times, how can it be created cost effectively? Expensive shoots and big production teams are getting harder to justify. At Branded, we understand the complexities involved in delivering great content to budgets that are both realistic and advantageous to our clients. Essentially, we are a bespoke creative, production and distribution service, integrated within the agency and available to all MPG Media Contacts clients.
It’s true to say that, more than ever, content is king.

Search Engine Optimization focuses on four main areas:

1. Technical Architecture
2. On-Site Optimization
3. Off-Site Promotion
4. Social Signals (New Factor)

During the last six months, the top tier Search Engines have incorporated social
signals into their algorithms as a small factor for determining how a site should
rank for targeted keywords.

The evolution and impact of Social Search is still in its infancy. Havas Digital expects
Social Search will continue to gain in popularity and continue to be a larger
percentage of the Search Engine’s algorithm in the near future, as both Search

MPG Media Contacts’ ‘Meaningful Brands’ study challenges traditional measures of brand value. It questions the long-term viability of economies and companies built solely on greater levels of consumption and provides direction for brands trying to maintain their profitability in the face of a consumer slow down. And nowhere does this issue become more important than at Christmas.

Eva Powell, Strategy Director at MPG Media Contacts said, ‘For many retailers and market sectors, Christmas is a critical period for business growth, but with consumer confidence at an all time low and increased pressure on the cost of living we wanted to know whether people’s behaviour will fundamentally change over Christmas 2011. Are people moving away from the pressure to give and receive vast quantities of gifts? Are they planning the same level of indulgence as Christmas past? And what will the findings mean for brands that rely on this time of year to drive profits?’

MPG Media Contacts asked a sample of 2,000 nationally representative respondents about their attitude to Christmas and what they planned to do differently this year versus last. The aim of the research is to understand whether there will be a new frugality driving gifting and consumption behaviour over Christmas 2011.

Overall the research suggests that women are more mindful about overspending and will be opting to buy fewer gifts. Men on the other hand are proving to be less likely to be tightening the belt, which provides a huge opportunity for retailers. The majority of respondents will be looking to only spend what’s necessary on food and drink to limit the amount of waste this Christmas and people buying gifts on discount sites such as Groupon will be on the rise as consumers can buy more for the people they love – but for less. ‘Buying British’ is also high on the agenda this year, so while people might be buying less, they are still looking to support the economy through their choice of food and gifts they buy.

The new Scrooge is female. 45% of people plan to buy gifts for fewer people and 37% plan to buy fewer presents. Women are far more likely to be belt tightening with half of them planning to buy for fewer people and 41% buying fewer gifts over all.

60% of our respondents agree that children get too many presents. Those of grandparent age are particularly critical of kids being spoilt at Christmas with 73% of 55-64’s and 65% of 65+ disapproving of the vast quantities kids now receive.

However, while they may be belt-tightening, women place far more emotional investment into gifting with 74% agreeing that it is the effort rather than the price that matters, compared to 58% of men.

There is a strong and growing desire to limit waste at Christmas Traditional ideals of abundance are no longer relevant as the recession firmly impacts consumer behaviour. 57% of people are concerned about the amount of waste at Christmas and 64% of people are actively trying to buy only as much food, drink and household items as they need this year. Such opinions are growing year on year with 67% of people being more careful to minimise waste compared with Christmas 2010.

Discount voucher sites will win over Christmas websites such as Groupon, KGB, Achica and Wowcher should see good growth this year with 46% of respondents saying they will use them more than they did last Christmas. Their use will be more prevalent amongst women (54%) and 25-34s (56%). For consumers these sites offer a means to maintain the ‘volume’ of gifts given but at a vastly lower investment and do pose strong competition for many retailers.

Buying British is ‘in’ at Christmas While people are certainly planning to buy less, they are making what they buy count, particularly in supporting the local economy. 47% of people care where their Christmas food comes from but this does not translate into Organic and Freerange where there is considerably less intent, which indicates an awareness of provenance as a means to stimulate the economy. This also rings true for gifting, where 39% of people feel it is important to support local producers or suppliers. Retailers, particularly food retailers should look to make a feature of UK suppliers where they can as a means to drive incremental value.

Homespun gifts not on the rise Economic hardship has not however resulted in more creativity in British households, with just 5% of people strongly agreeing that they intent to make more of their presents and gifts themselves this year versus last. There is slightly more enthusiasm by a third of respondents for making decorations, particularly amongst 18-24 year olds of whom 44% plan to do so, possibly a reflection of living away from home for the first time. While home spun gift creativity has limited appeal, there is more enthusiasm for home spun cooking with 58% of people preferring to make their own food rather than buy ready prepared.

Retailers should renew their focus on targeting men. While people are reigning in their spend this Christmas, it is a far more female trait. Traditionally retailers focus on women and housewives at this time of year, but men are far less likely to modify their spending behaviour as a result of the recession with 33% saying it has had no effect on their Christmas spending (compared to 23% of women). Men are far less concerned with minimising waste with just 36% planning to buy less food and drink this year compared to 46% of women.

Men seek convenience and ease when it comes to gifting. They are less price sensitive (77% consider price important vs. 85% of women) and they invest far less emotion into gifting, just 62% claiming to get a great deal of joy out of the act of giving compared to 78% of women. They are also more likely to spend as little time as possible (31% vs 19%) and put less effort into thinking about what the recipient would like (68% vs. 84%)

Men therefore offer greater spending potential and in putting in less effort in to the process they are also looking for easy solutions to their gifting challenges. There is therefore opportunity for brands in providing assistance through ‘ready-made’ solutions.

Gifting taps into our core need to be a part of social groups Gifting represents so much more than the exchange of presents. Giving directly benefits the emotional and social wellbeing of the giver; and the experience itself is important as 60% of people want to be with the recipient when they open it.

69% of people get a great deal of joy out of giving; rising to 78% of women, reflective of their greater emotional investment in the process. Gifting enhances relationships, with 57% saying it makes them feel closer to the recipient and 65% saying it reflects their relationship. Younger respondents are more inclined to feel it brings them closer and conversely older respondents less so. This demonstrates the importance of gift giving in bond creation and affirmation of relationships, less important to older people where relationships are already well established.

The talk of an economic slowdown seems to be enhancing the amount of effort, care and consideration that goes into gifts. 81% of people believe it is the thought that counts and 76% of people put a lot of thought what the recipient would like. So while financial pressures may mean spending less it also fundamentally enhances emotional wellbeing through increased consideration and perception of effort. Generosity is not linked to the amount spent. This represents new commercial opportunities around developing more fulfilling experiences as gifts that promote social cohesion, rather than over-consumption of product.

In summary Recent economic pressures have indeed impacted consumer behaviour with greater concerns over excess; but it has resulted in a more considered approach to consumption. This more considered spending will increasingly be directed to brands that enable greater positive outcomes for all concerned. Christmas offers the definitive opportunity for people to build and foster relationships and gifting creates bonds through emotional and social wellbeing. This ultimately means that brands looking to drive growth at Christmas need to focus on helping people achieve better social and emotional wellbeing that underpin the real meaning of Christmas.