Great Pinterest infographic on Pinterest user trends, here.
Look at these, though. This social media infographic is succinct and on the money. Or, more specifically, on the ROI.
iquariusmedia.com
The Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) reports that ad revenues last year were up 22% from the year before, hitting $31 billion. Here’s the biggest news:
- Mobile ads grew the most of all categories, up 149%, or $1.6 billion
- Search was the largest category with a 47% share (up 27% to $11.7 billion)
Digital video rose 29% to $1.8 billion and display advertising made up the rest with 35% of all revenues.
“This historic moment, with an especially impressive achievement in mobile, is indicative of an increased awareness from advertisers that they need to reach consumers where they are spending their time—in digital media,” said Randall Rothenberg, President and CEO of IAB, in a press release.
Ad Revenues versus Ad Spending
Internet ad spending is huge – the next biggest after traditional television advertising. $31.7 billion of ad spending in 2011 was on Internet ads. Retailers spent the most (22%), followed by telecom (12%), and leisure and travel (8%).
Unsurprisingly, Internet ads’ revenue growth has outpaced all other media outlets’ over the past seven years. Retail has seen the most growth in Internet ad revenues, followed by financial services, telecom, auto, then computing products tied with leisure travel.
As for the minutiae of what makes a great Internet ad, that our business. Let’s talk about whether and what kind of Internet ads are best suited to your business. iQM.
The PDF of the full report is here.
iQuarius Media watched the Amway Arena crumble in a massive explosion right outside our window. Now, we’re watching it be built back up to be a hub of digital media in Central Florida.
The Creative Village is making its home in downtown Orlando at 600 West Amelia Street. This bustling hub of connectivity will function as an outlet for the burgeoning digital media industry in Central Florida. Here, high-tech creatives like those at iQuarius Media can “live, work, learn and play” while creating more than 8,000 jobs, according to the City of Orlando.
Since its demolition, they’ve released the plans for dividing the space:
- 900,000 – 1,000,000 square feet of office/creative space
- 300,000 – 500,000 square feet of higher education space
- 25,000 square feet of K-12 education space
- 1,200 – 1,500 residential units
- 125 – 150,000 square feet of retail/commercial space
- 150 – 200 hotel rooms
New Talent = New Energy
With several emerging media initiatives already in place in Central Florida, the Creative Village will have no shortage of resources to draw from. Digital media talent is practically oozing out of educational centers like the UCF Center for Emerging Media, the Florida Interactive Entertainment Academy, and Full Sail University.
iQuarius Media is no stranger to the cultivation of creativity and is excited at the prospect of new digital media talent – and outlets to showcase our own – in Orlando.
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iQuarius Media is a full-service new media (digital media) firm in downtown Orlando (though our clientele included multinational corporations). Call us for slick, personal, and professional web design, Internet marketing, SEO, graphic design, social media management, 2D and 3D animation, audio post-production and more.
To learn more about the Creative Village or offer input, please visit this link.
by Natalie & Kal
From 2D to 3D, we use the latest technology and tools for powerful storytelling and fluid animation.
Nothing grabs an audience like eye-catching motion design, whether it’s: video graphics for your home page, as part of a web-distributed video, or even interactive ROM business cards.
iQuarius Media creates sleek motion graphics that are engaging, imaginative — and beautiful.
3D Animation
Whether you want to add a dimension to your existing visuals, or you want to bring something in your imagination to life, 3D animation adds a dramatic layer of reality to your material.
The Motion Design Process
We can start you from scratch. Or we can join you at any point in your current process, at any of the following:
- Concept
- Making decisions about intended audience and: art direction, cinematography, length, tone, soundtrack, etc.
- Making decisions about distribution: frequency, saturation, channels and markets
- Script
- Visual elements: live action, graphics, segues, etc.
- Live recording and sound design: music, backgrounds, sound effects
- Editing, compositing, and encoding
- Distribution and Internet marketing
Call us and we’ll help you across the finish line.
Listen, we talk about Google so much because, as business owners, we know the power Google has over our livelihoods. From gathering targeted customers to publicizing our accomplishments, to simply making sure we stay in touch with all the people we need to keep near, it is the world’s information hub.
We concentrate so hard on creating media and marketing our material in a way that keeps us in Google‘s good graces. To us, Google is that little something that we keep in our minds as we check how our clients are being seen, or how they’re being found, or as we SEO every paragraph that leaves our desks; or if we have something that needs to be shared. It occupies a small but constant space in our minds.
From Shatara, our Internet Marketing Director:
Increased productivity, international presence with a local feel, a professional necessity: those are some of the things that come to mind when I think of Google. Having the world at your fingertips (literally) makes it much easier to manage both personal and professional relationships in this age of informed shoppers. You can’t help but do your best to have a strong presence on Google, to ensure that your potential clients find your brand instead of your competitors.
Worth a Thousand Words — Well, More Like Billions
That’s why, sometimes, it’s a valid mental exercise for us to step back and see things like Google for the great social forces that they are. Knowing, in aggregate, what people are searching on Google is a sociological study in itself. Every year, Google Zeitgeist gathers information about all the billions of searches that were conducted over the year, and they’ve done it again “to capture the year’s 10 fastest-rising global queries and the rest of the spirit of 2011.” We’d like to step back for a minute and just hear what Google is saying through the power of video.
iQuarius Media has had a stellar year. Now that the end of the year is approaching, we’re all starting to look back at the year in review. We think this video is a great little reminder of the wonders and weirdness of 2011. It also keeps us humble knowing that there are things that are bigger than us; it’s a fitting celebration for the coming holidays and of our wishes for you, our clients, and ourselves for an amazing 2012.
Zeitgeist 2011
Cyber Monday is a myth. Let’s put that a little more accurately: Cyber Monday was a myth. It started as a marketing ploy by an e-tailers’ association that encouraged its members to create special ads for a Monday in 2005. Sales were good, but not the best – and they haven’t been the best.
Until last year.
In 2010, Cyber Monday became the first online shopping day to surpass the $1 billion mark, exceeding all expectations. It was a marketing campaign turned self-fulfilling prophecy.
There’s more.
The next two weeks or so after the initial Cyber Monday sales brought on the second, third, fourth, and fifth heaviest sales days of the entire year:
- Green Monday (12-13-10) brought in $954 million
- 12-6-10 did $943 million
- Free Shipping Day did $942 million
- and 12-16-10 rounded out the top 5 with $930 million
Local businesses (with Small Business Saturday, for example) as well as the big retailers are going so far as to cut into their profit margins to market for Cyber Monday and Cyber Week. For many retailers who make upwards of 40% of their entire year’s sales during this period, the cost of not getting in on the action is steep.
The rules are simple.
- Join the fray. Create the discounts for your store or services and start marketing. It means nothing to do one without the other. The discount can be simple, and it doesn’t have to be for everything. Saturating social media with “Cyber Monday this” and “Cyber Monday that” and that without having a deal to back it up is not a good idea. Not that a lot of retailers don’t do it – but consumers are also especially wary of that kind of thing during this season.
- Don’t put all your eggs in one basket. Think of Cyber Monday as a kicking-off point. Use the momentum to fuel the rest of December’s sales.
- Keep Internet marketing content fresh, and keep it coming. Consumers – and while we’re at it, Google – is looking for mentions of Cyber Monday of THIS year. Tag, link, blog, etc., accordingly.
- Stay real. Seriously. Being too sales-y will just get you lost in the noise – there are thousands of retailers out there spouting sales copy, and the trick is to not sound like them.
- Get help. It’s exhausting enough being a shopper during this season, let alone a business. Hire an Internet marketing team, or load up your existing team with work.
Black Friday doesn’t have the numbers to back its claims up as the busiest shopping day of the year. Cyber Monday does. Get marketing. Can you afford not to?
Google Plus (Google+ or G+) just launched its G+ Pages for businesses. We already know that a proper Google presence is absolutely crucial for business growth. And we know that G+ is the most explosive force on the social network scene in history. Now, the marketing propellant that is Google search combines with the G+ social aspect – and what you get is a powerful opportunity to increase your company’s presence on the Internet.
+1, +1, +1…
Here’s where G+ Pages surges ahead of Facebook: linking your Page to your AdWords campaigns. All the positive interactions and SEO-boosting fragments that your marketing efforts have been able to garner up until now get tallied together as a single total. Your customers will be able to see all your +1s seamlesslessly, no matter where the +1s came from (including from your website) and whether they are looking at:
- one of your ads
- a search result
- your Page
It also means you will be able to put all your recommendations in more places. As Google points out:
“This means your +1’s will reach not only the 40+ million users of Google+, but all the people who come to Google every day.”
More importantly, this integration with regular Google search means your recommendations from your customers – all your +1s – send an even stronger signal to Google about the popularity and authority of your brand.
Making (Direct) Connections With All Things Google
Of course, the biggest power of Google is that it is everywhere. These G+ rollouts are just the beginning of Google connecting all of its offerings together. We couldn’t be more excited, as social media marketing people, of the potential uses of all these changes coming up (and of course we’ll blog about it as the changes are rolled out)!
Google is even changing the functionality of its basic search to give more importance to G+ with Direct Connect. Typing a + before a company name in the search bar will take you directly to their page. This is only in limited functionality as yet – you can only do it with big names like +Android and +Toyota for now – but the possible ramifications of this for businesses is immense.
Google Themselves Say It Best
From their blog:
“Google+ has always been a place for real-life sharing, and Google+ Pages is no exception. After all: behind every page (or storefront, or four-door sedan) is a passionate group of individuals, and we think you should able to connect with them too. For you and me, this means we can now hang out live with the local bike shop, or discuss our wardrobe with a favorite clothing line, or follow a band on tour. Google+ pages give life to everything we find in the real world.”
To Our Clients, Friends, and Fans
All of our current social media clients should know we’ve got them covered regarding G+ Pages, as well as all upcoming trends in social media and Internet marketing. You’re welcome to call us/message us/see us with questions, of course. While we’re at it, new friends and fans — whether you need Internet marketing, social media, audio, video, or website help — are welcome to contact us as well.
iQuarius Media will be spending National Relaxation Day toiling as usual. We live life at a frenetic pace in The United States, so dedicating a day to relaxation may seem ineffective or imposing on the things we need to do at work and home. Take a break. Stress is a known health concern. Relaxation is important for mental and physical well-being. Release your accumulated stress. Get a massage and kick your feet up, or take a walk in the park. Something to combat the minutiae of everyday life. Celebrate National Relaxation Day with us, just not like us – you might want to try relaxing instead.