Marketing Pilgrim Published: “Google Search Across Apps Goes Live” plus 3 more

---

• Google Search Across Apps Goes Live
• FTC Organizes a Workshop On Native Advertising and Confuses Itself
• Sprint’s Social Media Dramatic Reading Campaign is About to Take a Dramatic Twist
• The Power of the Facebook Login on Mobile

Google Search Across Apps Goes Live Posted: 05 Dec 2013 04:00 AM PST About a month ago we told you about Google rolling out its version of search that runs across apps. We told you about the development as it appeared in the Webmaster Central blog. Today, we're happy to announce a new capability of Google Search, called app indexing, that uses the expertise of webmasters to help create a seamless user experience across websites and mobile apps. Just like it crawls and indexes websites, Googlebot can now index content in your Android app. Webmasters will be able to indicate which app content you'd like Google to index in the same way you do for webpages today — through your existing Sitemap file and through Webmaster Tools. If both the webpage and the app contents are successfully indexed, Google will then try to show deep links to your app straight in our search results when we think they're relevant for the user's query and if the user has the app installed. When users tap on these deep links, your app will launch and take them directly to the content they need. Now, that capability is being rolled out to searchers as announced in the Inside Search blog at Google. A task as simple as choosing a movie to see can actually be complex — and the information you want can be in several different places, often in apps. You might get your trivia from IMDb, the box office stats from Wikipedia and ratings from Rotten Tomatoes. Starting today, Google can save you the digging for information in the dozens of apps you use every day, and get you right where you need to go in those apps with a single search. Google Search can make your life a little easier by fetching the answer you need for you — whether it's on the web, or buried in an app. Examples given by Google in the post include the picture above which gives you a search result about your query that comes from inside an app. The other instance where this will help is searching for an app only. Sometimes, the best answer for a search can be an app. Say you want to explore downhill skiing — now, you can just ask Google for downhill skiing apps and get a collection of useful apps. This makes perfect sense because using an app rather than trying to navigate through a web result can simply get a searcher from Point A to Point quickly and more efficiently. If you are Google that’s the end game because a happy searcher keeps coming back and they click on ads and companies keep buying ads and on and on. You know the drill. What do you think of these improvements in search to truly integrate app results? Does this change your approach to app building?

FTC Organizes a Workshop On Native Advertising and Confuses Itself Posted: 05 Dec 2013 02:58 AM PST Yeah, the headline is correct. The Federal Trade Commission is trying to put together its case for or against native advertising. Unfortunately, the agency isn’t sure about the true nature of native ads and admitted as much following its own conference. Leave it to a government agency to, in effect, confuse itself. Adweek reports A day-long examination of native advertising left regulators with no clear direction about how to police what has become digital media’s hottest ad format. The Federal Trade Commission, which organized the workshop, has been bringing cases against ads masquerading as editorial content since 1917 (the first case was against a newspaper ad for an electric vacuum cleaner). But digital media has put what the FTC once termed “masquer-ads” on steroids. Worried that consumers might be confused by native ads, the FTC was looking to the workshop to help figure out if the agency should issue additional guidance to help advertisers and publishers steer clear of enforcement action. But after hearing from all parts of the industry, from academicians to publishers and ad networks, FTC officials said they would have to think about the next steps. “This has raised more questions than it answered,” said Mary Engle, the FTC’s associate director of the advertising practices division. So while yet another government agency feels like it has to have control over everything in business, the real folks they should be focused on, the consumer, may not be as worried about native ads as the FTC wants to believe. Heaven forbid, the public actually state their general feeling about a matter. Regardless, the FTC is likely to keep moving ‘forward’ because they ‘know what’s best’ for poor citizens not smart enough to take care of themselves. Maybe the feds should just back away and relax for a bit but don’t count on that. Even the recent studies on how consumers react to native advertising proved inconclusive. Research conducted by Prof. David Franklyn of the University of San Francisco School of Law found that a growing number of consumers simply don’t care if the content is paid or unpaid; 50 percent don’t even know what the word “sponsor” means.” “The market has overwhelmingly blurred the lines in a way consumers have accepted because search is free and the Internet is largely free. If consumers had to pay, they might get more annoyed. The consumer has been conditioned to acquiesce to anything people in this room can think of to make money,” said Prof. Franklyn. We’re no strangers to native advertising here at Marketing pilgrim where our channel sponsors get the chance to create content that is labeled as sponsored. We try to make sure that the content is good, not salesly and will benefit our readers. If our readers decide to investigate more about our channel sponsors they do so knowing they had been exposed to the advertiser and not deceived. So what is your take on native advertising? Why is it a problem if it is identified clearly and properly? What level of involvement should the government have in establishing minimum standards/guidelines? Maybe next time the FTC could organize something more remedial so it doesn’t chase after its own tail trying to tread where they might be better served by playing in the shadows. Thoughts? Join the Marketing Pilgrim Facebook Community

Sprint’s Social Media Dramatic Reading Campaign is About to Take a Dramatic Twist Posted: 04 Dec 2013 03:03 PM PST There are actors who are so charismatic and with such amazing voices that people say, “I could listen to him read the phone book.” I think this is how Sprint got the idea for their new campaign that has stellar thespians James Earl Jones and Malcolm McDowell reading social media messages on an empty stage. Haven’t seen it? Here’s Spring Honors Craig and Chris’ Text Messages Ironically, these commercials are a comical slam at the banal chatter that goes on via text and social media but rather than be insulted, fans are proclaiming their love for the ads. Danielle Gray posted a Tweet about how much she enjoyed the commercial and now she’s going to help launch the next installment. From AdAge: The video launch will begin as a tweet from Sprint (@Sprint) to Danielle’s personal Twitter account at 6 p.m. Sprint and Danielle’s friends and fans will have the exclusive until midnight when it will be posted to Sprint’s Facebook page with her tagged. When I first read this article, I assumed that Danielle’s Tweets would be the focus of the new commercial but on a second read I don’t think that’s true. AdAge says the content will be a text conversation between a boyfriend and girlfriend, so it sounds like not. Still, hand an expensive ad over to one person on Twitter is a dramatic move, but it’s likely to set off the kind of viral storm they could never create with a normal launch. But wouldn’t it have made a bigger splash if it was Danielle’s actual Tweets? That’s a marketing opportunity that seems too good to miss. The entire campaign, as silly as it is, works because we’ve had these conversations with our friends. We recognize the lazy, back-and-forth message style and the texting shorthand. Sprint also got, what I imagine was an unintended boost, from Star Wars fans who follow James Earl Jones aka the voice of Darth Vader. The success of these ads is proof that sometimes the little ideas work better than the big ones. These ads are simple, uncluttered and fun. How often do you see that on TV? Best ad on the air right now? Totes Magotes!

The Power of the Facebook Login on Mobile Posted: 04 Dec 2013 11:33 AM PST You’re about to create a new login for a site you’re likely to visit often. You can submit your email and password and probably fill out a longer form or you can click to hook your account to your Facebook profile. Which would you choose? Last year, I would have chosen to fill to fill out the form, no matter how lengthy because it just felt wrong giving everyone access to my Facebook account. Now. . . not so much. Yesterday, after reading a post on the Facebook Developer Blog, I paid attention to my logins and found that I was using a Facebook for the majority of my routine logins. The upside is obvious. It’s fast and you don’t have to remember your username or password or which email you used to sign up. The downside is that, in spite of assurances otherwise, it feels like I’m giving sites access to my information. It’s also an issue if I need to share access to a site with someone else but that’s a rare case. Mostly, I don’t like doing it but ease has won out over privacy concerns. Looking strictly at mobile – wow – clicking that big, blue Sign In with Facebook button beats typing in an email and password any day. (I need a shorter email.) According to the Developer Blog, Facebook logins benefit both the app user and the app maker. They recently posted a couple of success stories: Threadflip offers a simple and intuitive way for people to buy women’s fashion. Threadflip found that Facebook Login users: – Spend twice as much time using the app – Are 38% more likely to make a purchase in their first week of using the app and 50% more likely to make a repeat purchase in their first month – Perform 3x as many social actions (likes, follows or comments), and are 2x more likely to invite users from their social networks – Have a 30% higher average lifetime value Any one of those points would be worth it but all together, they point to the power of the Facebook login. Here’s another: Applauze, a Parse-powered app, lets people easily discover and buy tickets for concerts, sports, and other events. Applauze found that, compared to people that use other sign up options, Facebook Login users: –  Account for 70% of their top 100 spenders –  Return to the app 20% more often and are 27% more likely to be repeat buyers –  Spend more per order on average Not bad. The takeaway here is if you don’t offer a Facebook login option on your mobile app or website, it’s time for a change.

You are subscribed to email updates from Marketing Pilgrim - Internet News and Opinion To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now.	Email delivery powered by Google
Google Inc., 20 West Kinzie, Chicago IL USA 60610