Learn from the Open Web

November 02, 2017 by Taylor Wiegert in Facebook, Strategy, Strategic Planning

The open web got a bit more open. Following Russian interference, Facebook’s doing what it can to make advertising on its platform more transparent in an effort to appease critics that the platform is too big, too powerful and in serious need of regulation.

Its latest step is making any ad running on Facebook viewable by anyone else. This is meant to bring dark posts out of the dark with a new “view ads” icon that will display on every advertiser’s Facebook Page. Anyone who clicks that icon will see any of the ads an advertiser is currently running. Facebook’s not alone. Twitter is taking a similar approach with its platform.

This is a marked shift by Facebook. Dark posts have traditionally played a pretty critical role for advertisers to test creative with a small group of users without it being seen by anyone else, as well as target specifically-tailored creative to different audience segments. Dark posts allowed advertisers to take a segmented approach to their advertising. Now, that ability isn’t going away. What is going away is the ability to do all of that in secret. That’s what’s happening to your brand, but it’s also what’s happening to the competition.

Becoming a Fan to Learn from the Competition

February 04, 2014 by Taylor Wiegert in Best Practices, Monitoring, Optimization, Planning

Businesses do everything they can to not show their cards, do the unexpected and catch the competition off-guard, but there is one space in which competitors do let down their guards down just a bit, social media. They have to. The environment demands a level of transparency, and they don't control the message--people do, so it's surprising how many marketers aren't following their competitors online and are instead focusing on their own brands almost exclusively.

Following the competition and tracking their actions allows any brand to identify opportunities to zig where the competition zags, fill in gaps that the competitor hasn't jumped on yet and avoid mistakes competitors have already made. Our competitors can teach us a lot.

Targeting Conversations Twitter Tailored Audiences

January 17, 2014 by Taylor Wiegert in Twitter

Twitter updated its Tailored Audiences feature this week by adding the ability for advertisers to upload their CRM databases and target existing customers through Promoted Tweets, in addition to retargeting ads to people who have visited their websites. Twitter's added another fascinating feature that allows advertisers to upload lists of Twitter usernames or user IDs to target them as well, and that's what's most interesting to me.

Giving Consumers the Time of Day

January 07, 2014 by Taylor Wiegert in Consumer Behavior

Social media marketing is a given for most brands today, making the challenge of getting funds to support initiatives easier than it used to be (in most cases at least). The challenge is becoming more intangible. The struggle for brands in a a space that is always moving faster and showing no sign of slowing down is finding the time to serve customer needs in a way that meets their expectations.

Things I’ve Learned from Lately #64

December 14, 2013 by Taylor Wiegert in Things I've Learned From Lately

“Things I’ve Learned from Lately” is a regular compilation of articles that have made me a smarter marketer. Hopefully, they’ll help you, too.

This Week: The Evolution of Online Content, The Battle for Customer Tracking, The Insights are Waiting and Evaluating Competitors to Gain Competitive Advantage.