A new year means new goals, new successes and new opportunities. How will you embrace the evolving trends and execute them to bring the greatest achievements for your marketing? Recently, we looked at the trends for 2011, including mobile computing and mobile devices. Now let’s look at what social media and integrated campaigns mean for marketers in 2011!

Social Media

Wouldn’t it be amazing to have access to hundreds of millions of people? Just a few years ago, it would have cost millions to do that, but today it’s possible with social media. Social media, while nothing new in the concept of building communities through organizations that met in person, changed marketing and the ability for consumers to learn, interact and discover brands online. While places like Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube and Twitter give us unprecedented audiences, they also bring the ability to target our messages to the communities that matter most. Very few companies, if any, need to or should try to reach the 500 million people on Facebook or more than 100 million on Twitter. But if they can build loyalty, understanding and engagement with their brand, even if it’s just a community of a few hundred, it’s makes the masses manageable and goals more attainable.

Now, think about combining two of the fastest growing trends in consumer marketing: social media and mobile advertising. Take a look at Talk2Me, a revolutionary mobile ad unit from iVdopia that combines these two marketing elements perfectly. The Talk2Me ad unit allows advertisers to integrate social media sharing options into their mobile advertising campaign with pre-app video or banner ads, allowing users to further engage with the brand through multiple social media options – all from within a single ad unit. Here’s an example of the Talk2Me ad that was successfully integrated for a major motion picture’s marketing promotion on smart phones:

Additionally, social media also gives you millions of ears and eyes to provide you with one of the most valuable tools in marketing – feedback! It’s the easiest way for you to know what people think of your brand or the latest campaign. But it’s important to not just listen but also learn from what’s being said. Use it to improve what you do!

Integrated Campaigns

I love Diet Mountain Dew. But if that’s all I ever drank, well, a nutritionist and my dentist would not be happy and I probably would face the consequences (and nobody likes to visit the dentist!). That’s why balance is important, not just in what you gulp but also the avenues you give consumers to reach you. With more awareness and understanding of social media, many people may think that’s all they need. But how do you reach people who do not use those tools? Do you ignore them or find a way to work both the old and new together. In today’s marketing environment, we find ourselves with more and more roads to reach customers but we need to create a map that takes us on highways, dirt roads and alleys to make sure we reach our target most effectively.

With a well-integrated marketing campaign, online, print, broadcast, mobile and social media all need to work together. We can do that in a variety of ways. I love Twitter, but I still get excited when I get a well-designed post card. Bringing these two together may mean including your Twitter handle on your next print campaign, or putting a QR code on a billboard to drive readers to your website for more information using their mobile phone. When there, you could capture valuable information about the consumer, including demographics, interests and target them in your next campaign. This isn’t just about the existence of many channels, but using those channels to support each other.

For example, mobile advertising companies such as iVdopia, create ways to integrate elements. A smart phone user may see an advertisement for a movie before they play a game app. The ad piques their interest and drives them to a website or the movie’s Facebook page. But the billboards for this movie also encourage them to go to a website, tying in all these elements together.

In the example illustrated above for a major motion picture’s release, iVdopia aimed to engage moviegoers and raise awareness, interest and intent to watch the movie by aligning the mobile strategy with the movie’s marketing campaign. The solution was a combination of pre-app videos ads and Talk2Me ad units, which featured various social media and user engaging functions that brought in various marketing elements of the movie together. These ads created an integrated opportunity for users to engage and share trailers, video clips and photos from the movie, visit website, buy movie tickets, etc.

The results of the integrated marketing campaign revealed that more than 30 percent of the users who viewed the trailer, went on to share the clip with friends on Facebook and Twitter. The campaign illustrated the power of video ads as well. More than 50 percent of the users watched the entire trailer, and on average, they watched 10.8 seconds, or more than two-thirds of the clip!

About Jeff Hayzlett

Jeffrey Hayzlett served as the Chief Marketing Officer, to one of the most iconic world brands, Kodak, where he helped to lead one of the biggest turnarounds in business history. Named by Forbes Magazine, as the “Celebrity CMO,” for his numerous television and public appearances, Mr. Hayzlett was responsible for the Kodak's worldwide marketing operations including the design and implementation of all marketing strategies, investments, policies, and processes. He led the company's efforts for Strategy and Planning, Marketing Programs, Marketing Network Operations, Brand Development and Management, Business Development, and Corporate Sponsorships. He was also responsible for the company's Corporate Communications, Public Relations and Public Affairs organizations.