Google Adwords Enhanced For Mobile Campaigns

Changes to Google Adwords could be good for local small business. 

Here's what eConsultancy had to say about it: 

Google AdWords changes the game with enhanced campaigns

Google’s Adwords blog demonstrates this with a couple of examples:

• “A breakfast cafe wants to reach people nearby searching for "coffee" or "breakfast" on a smartphone. Using bid adjustments, with three simple entries, they can bid 25% higher for people searching a half-mile away, 20% lower for searches after 11am, and 50% higher for searches on smartphones. These bid adjustments can apply to all ads and all keywords in one single campaign”

• “A national retailer with both physical locations and a website can show ads with click-to-call and location extensions for people searching on their smartphones, while showing an ad for their e-commerce website to people searching on a PC — all within a single campaign.”

There are also some reporting updates in line with the new features of Enhanced campaigns. Now, specific interactions can be classed as conversions such as phone calls that are generated from a click-to-call ad, that last more than 60 seconds. Situation based data combined with device and keyword level data will help provide a much clearer picture of the customer journey. These are insights that marketers have long wished for.

Prepare for the shift

The option to migrate to these ‘enhanced’ campaign settings will be available almost immediately. However, it’s likely that only select accounts will see it initially, with it being added to more over the coming weeks and months. Once the advertiser is happy to make the transition, assuming the option exists in the account, they should seek to enable the enhanced set up.  Read more

Tim Berners-Lee On Open Web

Internet founder claims governments can't be trusted with our data

Published on 29 Jan 2013

One of the founders of the internet, Tim Berners-Lee, has attacked a proposal to store all Australian's internet data use warning it could be misused and government's can't be trusted to keep the information secret. Find more from Lateline at http://www.abc.net.au/lateline

Here's an earlier talk by Tim Berners-Lee on TED

Social Media Pushes Tourism In Capetown

Here's a great example of a local area using social media to draw tourism to an area. 

In this example contestants were to post a photo of them in this location to be in the draw for a great prize. 

In this blog report they revealed the success of a recent competition in South Africa's Capetown to bring visitors to the city.  The competition was open through December 31st, 2012, and winners were revealed on January 25, 2013.  Potential travelers had serious motivation to participate, with prizes including:

• first prize — an all-expenses-paid trip to Cape Town
• second prize — a week long holiday for a domestic traveller
• third prize — long haul flights on Virgin Atlantic Airways

Throughout the course of the campaign, the Facebook game was played by 8,212 people. Participants hailed from South Africa, the UK, USA, India and Germany (in order by number of participants).

According to the report " The campaign demonstrated “the incredible power of sharing on social media,” said Mariëtte du Toit-Helmbold, CEO of Cape Town Tourism.  She sees gaming as a “creative playspace for a brand” and notes that many major tourism destinations are now incorporating gamification into their marketing strategy.  The move into this space was very deliberate: du Toit-Helmbold adds, “We researched this field extensively before embarking on our campaign and we have learnt a lot in the process.” "

So what could we be doing to use social media most effectively to draw attention and bring new people to the Newcastle and Hunter Valley and share their travel stories? 

We have so many great attractions. Here are just some that I have pinned on to Pinterest. What's your favourite spot to share? Or maybe you have tried a competition like this? We'd love your feedback on how that went. 

Ford Instagram Campaign

With almost everyone carrying a smartphone now, Instagram has become the application for many to use to share photographs.

The video shows how Ford has used their activity on Instagram to launch a social media campaign with some  amazing results.



Are you using social media with some success in your business? Please share your experience.