Posts tagged Microsoft
Google improves search ads – they’re going visual!
Nov 25th
The search engine giant has invested in innovative new marketing technologies for its search advertising platform. But will it mean a higher return for advertisers?
Google has certainly been busy this week. First they announce they are about to bring back display advertising from the brink. Today, its bolstering its search ad capabilites.
Google has blended videos, images, maps and more into the search results on its search engine to provide a better “search experience”, and a visual one at that.
The search engine giant has been developing and testing a variety of new ad formats. These formats are focused on giving users ads that are “relevant and useful”.
According to Google’s blog, the company is “committed to giving you the information you want — regardless of the form in which it might appear”. But what does it mean for marketers?
The new formats will allow advertisers to provide richer types of information in the ads.
“Text is often useful, but sometimes videos and pictures are a more effective way to receive information,” it notes on its blog. And if you need an example: “if you want to learn a magic trick, a video showing you how to perform the trick is likely the best result.”
Users might also see an ad with more links so they can quickly find a specific page in an advertiser’s website.
Another example: If you’re trying to find a holiday bouquet to bring to your dinner party hostess, you might see an ad that shows your local florist’s location on a map and provides driving directions.
Starting today, you might spot ads that include images and prices for specific products on Google. But while it experiment with new formats (and new revenue streams and price points, I’m assuming), the company will remain “loyal” to its core principle of “getting the right ad to the right person at the right time”.
Google even touts yet more innovative improvements to its advertising business in the future.
Search advertising is about to change forever. And I can’t help but wonder if all this has been spurred on by the incoming threat of Microsoft’s Bing search engine. Google certainly has been busy lately, what’s next and do all these new improvements mean higher prices for advertisers? Furthermore, is it more work for marketers? Looking forward to seeing some ROI figures from advertisers on the back of these “improvements”.
Do you think the changes will make a vast difference?
All I want for Christmas is free Wi-Fi
Nov 11th
Google, Yahoo, eBay and Microsoft, all major online competitors, are competing for your attention this Christmas – in the form of free Wi-Fi access in airports, airplanes and public places.
Google said on Tuesday that it would provide free Wi-Fi access in 47 airports in the US. Travelers who connect to a wireless ‘hot spot’ at one of the airports will see a browser page that gives them the chance to donate to three charities and have the donation matched by Google.
Google is also providing free Wi-Fi on Virgin America flights for the same period.
EBay will provide free Wi-Fi on some Delta Air Lines. Why would eBay have free Wi-Fi I hear you ask? Logging on will take users first to eBay’s holiday page, but they will be free to roam from there.
Since September, Microsoft has given away Wi-Fi access at some hotels and airports, encouraging users to make a query on the company’s new search engine, Bing.
On Monday, Yahoo said it is giving away Wi-Fi access in New York’s Times Square. One street of the busy area was converted into pedestrian zone with lawn chairs this spring, giving more of a reason to dawdle and perhaps flip open a laptop.
Boingo Wireless, which operates for-pay hot spots in airports and is part of Google’s project, said it has been getting good results with free Wi-Fi campaigns sponsored by hotel chains. The campaigns typically offer users 15 to 20 minutes of access after they watch a 30-second video advertisement.
Who does Microsoft want to be and to whom?
Oct 23rd
The battle between tech giants Microsoft and Apple has now gone far behind those rather annoying ‘I’m a Mac, I’m a PC’ ads and is in full swing.
Both companies this week launched new products. Apple came out with some interesting new innovations including a 27 inch screen (the iMac) and Microsoft launched a number of new applications – which I think is actually a very interesting move for the company.
However, Microsoft has lacked much innovation in terms of new ideas. It seems the tech giant that once ruled the world is simply playing catch-up (does anybody remember Zune…who actually has one?).
Apple on the other hand, doesn’t even have to try. Its brand advocates are so loyal and besotted with this ‘hip and trendy’ brand that it doesn’t have to launch hundred of products a year – just a few new gadgets will do.
Anything Apple does is ‘revolutionary’ and instantly cool. Microsoft is still, well, Microsoft. A little outdated and is coming across as simply being, well, a little desperate.
Its launch of Bing earlier this year signaled a new fight as it took on search engine giant Google – trying to cash in on search marketing revenues. But is it too late? What will compel internet users to switch from Google, a brand they have great affinity with and have trusted for years (probably since they first began using the internet!)? It’ll have to be huge.
As a society we have to challenge the big players. We can’t let them have a monopoly on any given market and we need other companies to offer us alternatives – not everyone is the same. But is Microsoft trying too hard to be too many things to too many people and in the process losing site of itself?
Who knows what Microsoft stands for anymore, and furthermore, why would advertisers get on board if they can’t be exactly sure about what they brand does anymore and for whom?
The next ‘holy grail’ of search advertising?
Oct 9th
Micro-blogging site Twitter is in advanced talks with Google and Microsoft about licensing its data feed to the companies’ search engines!
This is very exciting news for all those brands and advertisers that currently use Twitter to release information about upcoming products and company news.
I personally think this is a brilliant idea, and if you’ve ever used Twitter Search you’ll know why – it’s a great way to follow trends, get the news straight from the horse’s mouth and find out what people are saying about you.
The ability to cull through the flood of tweets as they are posted is gaining popularity as an important new way to search the internet for up-to-the-minute information on the latest news events and happenings on.
Twitter’s discussions with Microsoft and Google are being conducted separately and would allow each company to incorporate the 140-character messages, or ‘tweets’, that Twitter is known for into their internet search results.
The AllThingsDigital blog (part of the Wall Street Journal) quoted unidentified sources as saying the companies are discussing several types of deals.
Details could include Twitter receiving a payment of several million dollars and various types of revenue-sharing agreements to allow Twitter to benefit from the ad revenue that Microsoft and Google generate from search results.
Twitter has emerged as one of the fastest-growing internet social media services due to the amount of businesses that use it to promote themselves and stay in touch in ‘real time’, however the company has yet to generate any significant revenue from its free service. Could this be the micro-blogging site’s ‘holy grail’ of revenues?
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