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The most important question that comes to mind while planning on such UGC sites (Social networking and user generated content sites) is how ethical it is to put “sponsored” content on sites which are meant to share opinions, insights, experiences, and perspectives with each other.

I faced the same challenges while planning the campaign on blogs and other social networking sites for the first time.

Campaign performance (gauge by visits of companies on my website by clicking on the banner/link.) on publisher content sites was higher than on UGC. Though in money terms, lower cost of UGC media scored over publisher content site resulting in lower cost per visit.

To my mind, both the channels are imp - content sites for generating more visits from relevant target audience (depending on who they are; for me this works! J) and Blogs and networking sites for not just visits, but “word of mouth” and “buzz” about newer concepts.

Labels: advertising on blogs, Blogs, online advertising, online marketing, ROI, social media, Social network

posted by Pallavi Bhardwaj  # 8:32 PM 0 Comments

I was going thru a webcast of Digital marketing conference on iamai.in.

Very interesting things were being discussed and most important being ROI.. something that internet has to show and prove again and again.. and I feel its perfectly fine. This is what distinguishes this medium from others and to helps companies invest money “to start with”.

Mahesh Murthy, Founder & CEO, Pinstorm Technologies Ltd made an interesting comment on ROI.. something which I feel should be open for discussions..

What is ROI? Return on investment or relevance, originality and innovation! Which of the two would help companies win in long run? It is a medium for quick acquisition and reducing operations costs, as mentioned by Tina Singh : Head corporate marketing, ICICI Bank Ltd (http://www.24framesdigital.com/iamai/160307/session1_tina_singh.htm) in her wonderful presentation, or it is much more than that and should be considered as a channel which provides customer experience?

Srinivasan Rajagopal, Head eBiz Special Initiatives, Citibank made an interesting remark of whether internet is a Medium or an Experience. To my mind, it’s BOTH!

It’s a medium for acquisitions; for distribution as well as a channel which can deliver customer experience, depending on what is the end objective!

With so much of options available in the market, Customer has truly emerged as a king and in most cases a King Maker! With social networking, collaboration and experience sharing tools, like I can define target group to choose the customer; the customer can choose me amongst his list of favorites!

Labels: digital marketing, iamai.in, Internet marketing, online advertising, online marketing, ROI

posted by Pallavi Bhardwaj  # 9:31 PM 0 Comments