Here is an interesting study by AYTM Market Research that reveals some insights on how users on social platforms interact with Businesses/Brand pages.

Source: AYTM Market Research

The four distinctly different types of online audience measurements  available are:

1. Site-Centric, in which the website server log entries are the immediate subject of analysis;

2. Ad-Centric, in which the ad server log entries are the immediate subject of measurement;

3. Browser-Centric, in which the contents displayed in PC browser are the immediate subject of measurement;

4. User-Centric, in which the person using online media is the immediate subject of measurement. (Richard W. Goosey)

This article shall focus on Site-Centric and User-Centric, which are the most common methods followed in the industry and analyze their advantages and limitations.

Site-Centric Measurement

Site –Centric measurement is a census –like method which can measure almost every site related metrics like no. of visitors, no. of page views, clicks, time spent on the site, time spent on each page, bounce rate, etc. This kind of measurement is very useful for website publishers as it gives them a very comprehensive way to measure all the activity on their site. This method can track page by page activity of a visitor right up to the conversion page in case of an ecommerce site. This data is really useful to understand which sections of one’s website are visited most and identify sections which may not be doing very well. It is one of the most reliable and accurate methods which captures both in house and out of house usage of the internet. Capturing out of house consumption of media is generally in most other mediums.

Site-Centric measurement generally works on a cookie mechanism. The moment one visits a site, a cookie (a small file) gets downloaded on their system and tracks all their navigation on the site. This data is reported back to a server which aggregates all this information and makes it available to the advertiser or the website owner. There are several paid and non-paid third party packages that one can use to track their website data. Google Analytics is the most commonly used application which gives one a very comprehensive analysis of their website traffic and activity free of cost.

Though this method is one of the cheapest and most accurate ways to measure internet audience, it does have certain limitations. The biggest limitation of site-centric data is the fact that it does not tell us anything about the demographic profile of the user. One does not get to know the age, gender, etc. of the user whose website activity was tracked. For Advertisers, knowing the demographic profile the visitors of a website is a must. Also, this method cannot differentiate between two users working on the same machine; hence, it is believed that site-centric method measures devices and not people. Apart from there are some other limitations, like a refreshed page or aborted pages are also counted. Since the system mainly relies on the cookie mechanism, in cases where users delete their cookies often – data can get skewed.

User-Centric Measurement

User-centric measurement is the more traditional panel based method, where a sample is recruited and their internet behaviour is tracked. This system gives one detailed demographic data about the users in the sample and hence advertisers find this data very useful. Also, because the demographic data available in this method is similar to the data in most other traditional mediums it is easier to do a comparative study of media consuming habits of particular audience using this method.

In this method a panel is recruited and they are generally asked to download a tracking file on their computers. This file then helps track all the online activity of the user. Though this method too can track out of home activity of a user but this is subject to the fact that a respondent downloads the required file on their computers. There have been several cases where it has been known that users do not download the file on all the systems they use and this again brings in error in measurement. One of the advantages of this method is that it is conducted by third party and hence any biases are believed to be absent. ComScore and Neilsen /Net Ratings are some of the common bodies providing this kind of measurement data.

The biggest limitation of this method is the fact that the kind of data tracked is restricted by the size of the sample. It is expensive to recruit a large sample and hence data captured for a smaller sample is projected over a larger universe. Also, the motivation for respondents to download the file that allows tracking of their online behaviour is often questionable. Many people are unwilling to have their online usage tracked due to privacy concerns.

Conclusion

Both user-centric and site-centric measurement methods have their own advantages and disadvantages; however none of them in isolation is a complete solution. There is a need to integrate the advantages of both the methods and come up with a more comprehensive solution that will not only accurately capture all kind of online activity but will also give the publishers and advertisers rich demographic data about users. It is this comprehensive data that will help people better plan their media campaigns and will also allow for comparability of activity and behaviour across all mediums.

Several research organizations are coming together to share their expertise around digital media tracking and measurement. Efforts are also being made to link it with traditional media metrics. Hence, one expects an integrated method of measuring audiences online to soon evolve and provide publishers and advertisers with a more complete solution.

Here are a few things that marketers should keep in mind before advertising on social media.

Does your brand/product fit in?

One primary question that every marketer must ask before advertising in any medium is whether their brand is a good fit for that medium. This question becomes all the more important in case of Social Media as the marketer has very little control over the content of this medium. “Before committing to a social media campaign, ask yourself whether you are happy for your brand to sit alongside individual profile page images of last night’s heavy partying,” says  Laura James in her article ‘Should you advertise on social networking sites.’ No matter how lucrative social media may seem, it is pointless spending advertising monies on a brand that just does not fit in with the kind of content users expect on these sites.

Do you have an objective for your social media campaign?

Once you have agreed on social media being the right platform for your brand or product, the next thing to do is to chalk out a clear objective for your campaign. Very often companies think that their traditional media advertising objective will work just as well on social media. Some companies even go to the extent of directly using their TVCs or print ads on social media. While this may work in some cases, it is not always the best thing to do. Ideally, one should put enough thought and have a properly planned objective for social media that is measurable. Based on this objective the company should plan their campaign. This is important because the type of content available on social media is different from traditional media and so is the media consumption.

Have you defined measurable success parameters?

Based on the objective of the social media campaign, one should also define success parameters. While defining these success parameters companies need to ensure that these parameters are measurable. In cases where a direct measurement of a certain parameter is not possible, proxy variables should be used. Most social media campaigns have one umbrella goal of ‘user engagement.’ However, user engagement by itself makes no sense unless it’s measurable. Marketers should avoid terms like ‘user engagement’ which has been much abused in social media and instead look at other parameters like no. of comments, no. of tweets, forwarded links, or some other similar activity that actually shows engagement. Marketers need to understand that social media advertisements are not only about views, clicks and click-throughs. One needs to look beyond the normal online advertising metrics and come up with parameters more suitable to the differential user behaviour on social media.

Are you regularly conversing with your audience?

One of the biggest mistakes that a marketer can make on social media is launch a campaign and forget about it. Social media unlike most traditional forms is not a passive medium. Launching a campaign on social media is only the first step in the process. Marketers need to ensure that they have a team in place to regularly monitor their social media campaign and the user activity around it.  This is a medium where users will share their experience whether good or bad about a product/brand. All user sentiment and feedback should be given due respect. Companies need to be aware of the fact that people will talk about their product/brand online and it only makes sense that they engage with the users to positively influence what the users have to say.

Are your campaigns creative and engaging?

A study done by Jam/My Space early this year in UK said that about 26% of social media users said that they already felt bombarded by too much clutter/advertising. It’s important that marketers ensure that their ads on social network sites are engaging and not distracting. A good idea can be coming up with interesting Facebook/Orkut applications around your brand which are also entertainment for the user.  While using banner and other form of display ads using background colour similar to that of the site that you are hosted on can often work wonders as users often think they are a part of the site. If an advertisement can add value to a user’s overall experience on a site, nothing like it.

Are you being honest with your campaign?

Social media users are extremely savvy and will quickly spot any fake claims made by companies. Hence, marketers should restrain from launching any fake blogs (‘flogs’), sites, communities etc. Nor should they make any fake claim about their products. The chances of any fake activity being quickly identified by users are high and the consequences disastrous. Sony’s fake blog ‘www.alliwantforxmasisapsp.com’ which they claimed to be launched by a PSP fan was identified by users as Sony’s own imitative within hours.

Are you prepared for criticism?

Social media is a dynamic medium where users generate and control most of the content. In spite of all efforts that marketers may make to be culturally sensitive and truthful, they still may offend some users. Also, there could be situation where a users blog about some bad experience they have had with your product/brand in the past. Any social media campaign is vulnerable to criticism from users and hence marketers should be prepared for it. Several companies like Dell, have acknowledged the criticism they have received from users and engaged with them on social media to rectify the damage.

Advertising on social media is exciting; it has great opportunities for brands but at the same time it has several risks if you go wrong. It is important to understand that your brand is different from others, what worked for someone else may not work for you. Hence, any marketer who plans to enter social media should do so with a well planned strategy and reason. Joining the race because everyone else is out there is just not reason enough!

After declining Microsoft’s $44 billion acquisition offer in early 2008, Yahoo has decided to reject its own search technology for Microsoft’s latest ‘decision engine’ – Bing. Though the deal is to some extent a celebration of Bing’s success, however, it isn’t solely so. Yahoo’s motivation behind the deal has been to reduce costs by outsourcing the search technology and improve their cash flow thorough the ad revenue sharing model that has been worked out between the two companies.

The highlights of deal between the two companies are:

+ The agreement between the companies is for 10 years.

+Microsoft’s Bing will be the search technology used on all yahoo sites. However each company will continue to run their display ad businesses separately.

+ Microsoft will acquire a 10 years license of Yahoo’s search technology and can use their expertise and algorithm to better their search engine.

+Yahoo will continue to syndicate its search affiliate partnerships.

+Yahoo will become the exclusive worldwide relationship sales force for both companies’ premium search advertisers. Microsoft’s AdCenter will be the platform for both the companies self serve advertising. Prices for all search ads will continue to be set by AdCenter’s automated auction process.

+Microsoft will share revenue for the traffic generated on networks owned and operated by Yahoo.

The pact between the two companies is of immense interest to all SEOs and SEMs. It’s been a while since the Google has had any real competition in the search space. Advertisers and SEOs are of the view that this deal will bring in competition and be beneficial for the industry overall.

The current search market shares of the leading companies in the search space are as follows.

Source: ComScore June 2009 Report.

Below, I have tried to analyze the impact of the Microsoft –Yahoo deal on the different companies.

Yahoo

One is not too sure if the alliance will impact Yahoo’s long term business positively. Industry analysts fear that the announcement of this deal will make Yahoo another AOL – a company that owns vertical categories like finance, news, etc but does not own any content. And worse, a company that is dependent on a third party for major chunk of its revenue. Yahoo investors are already reacting negatively to the announcement. This is visible in way Yahoo shares have declined after the official announcement. But again with Yahoo’s search technology deteriorating, a pact similar to this was perhaps the only way for Yahoo to survive the next 10 years.

Microsoft

After three failed attempts at improving their search technology and taking on Google, Microsoft’s release of Bing gives them a moment of respite. Moreover, with Yahoo’s decision to use Bing as their search technology on all their properties- they will now become the number 2 player in the space with a combined market share of about 30%. Though this number is big enough to lure advertisers, a lot will also depend on the fact that whether current Yahoo users will continue to be loyal to the company once it switches over to the Bing technology.

The real success of the deal for Microsoft will be realized only if they manage to get a share of the 75-78% search ad spends that are currently spent on Google properties or their partners. Once the integration happens, initially one does expect a bit of the advertising share to move from Google to Microsoft & Yahoo. However, Microsoft & Yahoo will need to ensure that they are able to deliver quick results for their advertisers and sustain them. Search industry has strong loyalists and not too many people are willing to risk their advertising dollars. If Microsoft & Yahoo fail to provide the early pool of advertisers who try them out good value for their money, there are chances that it may all backfire. Dissatisfied advertisers who then move back to Google will perhaps not return.

Nevertheless, this is perhaps the best chance Microsoft has had in years to take on Google and one expects that they will invest a lot of money and talent to ensure that they make a mark this time. The Yahoo-Microsoft deal is really about Microsoft vs. Google!

Google

Is Google too worried? Perhaps, not. In spite of the alliance between Microsoft and Yahoo, it will take them years before they can match the overall strong value proposition Google offers to its advertisers or reach any where close in terms of market share.

Also, the deal will come into effect only after it has gone through the strict scrutiny of the US, Department of Justice.  There are chances that the logic Microsoft used a year back in opposing the deal between Google and Yahoo, be used against them in this proposed alliance. Google too will be asked their view on the deal, but perhaps they would not have any strong objections. However, even if the approval is granted, both companies will take about 18 to 24 months to actually carry out the entire integration which will be a messy affair. Yahoo search engineers will move to Microsoft and it will take time before things settle down. Google no doubt will use this time well enough. One can expect them to improve their search product and further strengthen their proposition and market share.

For a company like Google this isn’t the first time someone has tried to challenge their position. Will this time be drastically different? One does not have enough reasons to believe so. The Bing-Yahoo deal may bring out an unequivocal second player in the space, but it would not change the game. The alliance comes as no big surprise to Google and one can be sure that they are well prepared.