OTO One to One Interactive » otocorporate-white papers

Social Media for Marketing: An Analysis of Digg.com Engagement and User Behavior

jkarnell — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 17:01:50 +0000

Social media is a broadly used term that includes a wide range of techniques and tools for leveraging and supporting the sharing of information among people. Internet enabled tools are the locus for social media activity as they provide low-cost access to many people allowing for a new wave of targeted advertising to develop. As social media continues to grow at a near exponential rate, marketers and researchers alike are becoming increasingly interested in the practices of the users who help shape the content at highly participatory social media sites. Digg.com is an exemplar site for user participation in social media and is the focus of this report. Understanding the behavior of Digg.com users will help marketers to better represent and promote their material on Digg.com as well as provide insights into the practices of social media users in general.

In this report, we present an analysis of user engagement with social media via Digg.com. Viewer engagement was measured with OTOinsight’s Quantemo™ neuro-marketing research system. Quantemo™ utilizes a multi-modal approach that combines self-report, physiological and neurological data to holistically and reliably measure user engagement with digital media. Analyzing the results from the Quantemo™ sources, we present a set of four insights concerning how users engage with social media and how the cues in social media systems positively inform user behavior.

Our research uncovered four significant insights:

1. Users Seek Tailored News Experience and Not “Mass Media” Stories
2. Story Headlines Are the Chief Determinant of Digg Behavior
3. Short, Direct, and Branded Headlines Dominate Digg.com
4. Positive Engagement Scores Associated with Desirable Digg Behavior

Implications of User Engagement with Search Result Pages

jkarnell — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 12:55:57 +0000

It is well established that rankings on a Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs) have much to do with whether a user is likely to click on a given result and higher rankings can actually have a positive effect on a brand’s perception and ‘likeability’ (MarketingSherpa, 2009). With the onset of Universal Search, this study sought to measure the user impact of this new generation of search engine result pages that include multimedia elements such as images and videos. Specifically, we wanted to understand if there was a difference in emotional engagement with the results and if that would impact click propensity in Paid and Natural Search. The study compared user engagement with Universal search results vs. traditional text-only results by recording the users’ eye tracking, physiological & emotional reactions, and click tracking behavior.

Our research uncovered two significant insights.

Insight 1:

SERPs which include Universal Search results reinforce eyeballs to stay focused on the first page’s top paid and natural search results

Implications:

The advent of Universal Search demands that companies optimize not only their text, but also their media (images, videos, etc)
Image and video results may anchor users to stay at the top of the SERP
Images and videos will begin to impact what users will click on first in a SERP

Insight 2:

The inclusion of Universal Search results increase emotional engagement during interactions with a SERP

Implications:

Users will get an ‘instant gratification’ from images – perhaps more so from branded images
Higher engagement with Universal results may stop users from exploring the rest of the SERP

Emotion, Engagement and Internet Video

OTO Admin — Tue, 09 Dec 2008 00:00:00 +0000

Internet video is one of the fastest growing entertainment media and among the most popular of all Internet activities. According to recent reports (July 2007, January 2008) from the Pew Internet & American Life Project, 57% of Internet users visit video sharing sites and 20% visit video sharing sites daily. Growth in Internet video consumption is highest among the key demographics of college-bound and educated 18-29-year-olds, 76% of which visit video sites daily. Additional high-growth demographics include women (11% view daily, up from 5% in 2007) and 30-49-year-olds (14% view daily, up from 7% in 2007).

In this report, we present an analysis of viewer engagement with Internet video. Analyzing the results from the various Quantemo™ data sources, we present a series of three insights concerning how users locate, respond to, and engage with Internet video. Download the full report, free of charge, to learn more.

Player Engagement and In-Game Advertising

OTO Admin — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 00:00:00 +0000

In-game advertising (IGA) refers to the use of computers, the Internet, and video games as a medium for the delivery of advertising materials. IGA is one of the fastest growing forms of advertising in terms of yearly spending and anticipated growth. PriceWaterhouseCoopers estimates total spending on in-game advertising to reach $1 billion by 2010. The increasing popularity of in-game advertising can largely be attributed to both the increasing popularity of video games in general and the desire to reclaim the 18-35 year old male demographic, which is rapidly turning away from television towards video games.

In this report, we present an analysis of physiological engagement with advertising-rich video games. Physiological engagement was measured with OTOinsight’s Quantemo™ neuromarketing measurement platform. Analyzing the results from three separate physical traces in combination with eye tracking and interview data, we present a series of five insights for the design and dissemination of future in-game advertising. Download the full report, free of charge, to learn more.

Serious Games for Marketing: Learnings from Corporate & Amateur Efforts in SecondLife

OTO Admin — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 00:00:00 +0000

“Serious games” refers to the use of games and game technologies for non-entertainment purposes. Traditionally, the education, health, and military sectors were the primary actors in this domain, but in the past few years, marketing has arisen as a major sub-domain of this area. Examples range from the selling of advertising inside video games to dozens of small, experimental corporate-sponsored spaces in virtual worlds such as Second Life, to the fully realized first-person shooter America’s Army, developed as a recruitment tool for the U.S. Army. The results have been uneven, as most of these early efforts have had an experimental edge. This report releases findings that compare player engagement in some of Second Life’s most successful user-generated areas compared with some of the more ambitious corporate-sponsored efforts in Second Life.

In making these comparisons, particular attention was paid to:
* Production Quality
* Publicity and Advertising
* Social Infrastructure
* Role of Commerce
* Population Density

From this analysis, we learned that the top corporate builds are as good as or better than user-created builds in some areas, while lagging behind in other areas. Based on our findings, we offer five insights for the design of future branding and marketing-oriented builds in virtual worlds, such as Second Life. Download the full report, free of charge, to learn more.