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Julie Kennedy is an account executive in charge of sales on the West Coast at Zango, an online media company that automates and monetizes relationships between content creators, Web publishers and advertisers of all sizes.

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The NEW Rules of User Engagement

Written on
May 16th 2008
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by Julie Kennedy  |
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woman_blogs_small.jpgADOTAS EXCLUSIVE — Leave it to an L.A. salesperson to write a remarkably intelligent piece about media buying. Of course I, like most sales people, want you to test my advertising products because they are super-relevant, granularly targeted and highly converting (which is true), but I’d like to open the online ad stage to more than just my performance ammo.

Planning and buying media to maintain relationships with the customers you have is key, and selecting the right placements is even more crucial. Why? Because consumers have a choice, they have their “likes” and well, it’s their life. In the online industry, we often forget that consumers – the people we’re trying to reach — are real. Media plans are made accordingly.

But the Internet isn’t just a big la-la-land of content just waiting for the average consumer to stumble upon. The Internet is smart now — we know this, thanks to analytics of all kinds. It’s organized, yes, but also over-assumes that consumers sit online all day and search for stuff, waiting to see what comes back in search results. Not so. Hopefully most people have better things to do.

While big search engines certainly do their part to deliver relevant search results, consumers’ behaviors are becoming increasingly refined — more often, they’re interacting and navigating to their preferred sites online rather than simply searching and browsing. That’s when defining your ad placements is imperative. There’s more destination-like surfing conducive to consumer lifestyles, rather than window shopping online. So as media professionals, instead of wondering “how” we get new customers, we need to start thinking about “where” we get them. Knowing there’s a noisy marketplace of over-stimulating messages, the challenge to uncover “where” is partly in realizing that every user experience is self-created, and no two are alike.

Here’s an exercise: think about yourself. Think about your car, your clothes, your favorite brands, restaurants, radio stations and fave sites online. In all that you do, you CUSTOMIZE your life. You create an environment around you that fits you, your life, likes, interests, habits and influences. Ultimately, you have your own routine. Why else would HP make a computer that’s so “all about me?”

Consumers define their own ecosystem of destination game sites, social-networking sites, travel and sports-related sites. Based on content, ease of navigation, peer presence and, of course, personal preference, the ecosystem fits the lifestyle to create the ultimate positive user experience. If you’re a chosen site in their Circle of Trust? Then you’ve hit the “where” jackpot, you win the media planner of the year award and you’ve made a new best friend. Know this: your target users will become your best friends if you let them, so you MUST understand who they are.

So, bottom line, media planning is changing; the rules of user engagement are changing. Casting a wide net online hoping to catch your next best customer with untargeted banners, generic paid search initiatives, etc.? A thing of the past. Finding new partnerships that allow you to reach niche destination sites to target and engage enthusiast consumers? The Dream!

Here are a few new rules to apply when planning your next campaign:

1) Be open minded. Think beyond demographics. I stress this to my advertisers all the time. You already know your target audience – 18 to 32 males, or 28 to 36 females with kids. Obvious site matches? College sports or parenting. But what more? Be real about the person behind the stats.

2) Know your facts, but have a heart. Why do your best friends like you, call you and want to hang out? Because you’re smart, funny and they trust you. You like them for who they are and vice versa. Same with your audience. This is reality. No TV show or market research can capture the little everyday nuances, emotions and experiences in life. Same thing online – consumers have choices, so understand the next move instead of assuming it. Get to know them like a friend, learn their real habits, and stay one step ahead — it’s YOUR job to be there before them. But what more?

3) Think INSIDE the box. I’m not talking about creativity here. I’m talking about your computer. The computer is a box and your customers are inside. Be the friend they call to hang with. Think how they think. Go where they go. But get there first, engage them with clever ads once they’re there, and plan/buy media accordingly. But what more?

4) No pain, no gain. Know pain, know gain. Apply a life lesson: be willing to take risks. Establish partnerships with new ad networks and media partners. Be willing to try new media channels and ad opportunities. New users, new eyeballs and new best friends are in every ad channel and network online. Test a few – they are called “tests” for a reason. Leave old perceptions behind and be willing to experiment. But what more?

5) Keep asking yourself – “WHAT MORE?” If you’re on the agency or ad network side – what can you do to make your campaigns better, more effective, have farther reach, engage new users? Where will you place media for maximum traffic, increased conversions, and relevancy to niche sites? Might they check gym class schedules, log in to for Fantasy League standings, search movie listings or city events? How can you make new friends for your brand or client? Ask: What more, what more, what more? – then plan your media buys to reach those niche sites.

I know we’re all busy creating new campaigns, nailing down the right tracking, minimizing discrepancies, maximizing traffic, optimizing for best performance, establishing proper geo, site and keyword targeting, calculating pricing, CPA goals, blah, blah, blah…but keep in mind that the ad you’re placing and the media you’re buying is your canvas – it’s your landscape. Be creative, try new ad units or networks, be real about who you’re trying to reach to spark intense user engagement with the ads you place. And always consider “what more?”

Consumers have a choice. Engage them. Be a BFF. Make it to the “Circle of Trust.” Then go out and win yourself a Planner of the Year Award. And gimme a shout – I might be able to help.



Reader Comments.

Great article!

Igor

Posted by Igor | 12:34 pm on May 16, 2008.

I wish more digital media buyers would get out of the “scalable” mentality that just lends itself to mediocrity on the vertical ad networks.

At Marketdrive Marketing, we have several sites, the largest of which is www.consumeraffairs.com and http://www.marketdrivemarketing.com. ConsumerAffairs.com in particular gets a ton of traffic, but we get immediately commoditized by the networks and our value drops. It’s hard to sell value priciples to the buyers at the moment.

Thoughts?

Posted by Jeff Wilson | 12:43 pm on May 16, 2008.

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