Visualization vs. Analytics

Where am I now?  Where should I go next?

These two questions quickly embody the difference between two terms that are often spoken in the same breath in the burgeoning world of branded social media; Data Visualization and Analytics.

Terminology in any field is a ripe source for confusion and misunderstanding.  We’ve all entered into an unfamiliar arena and been bombarded with a series of acronyms that users in the know throw around cavalierly, leaving the rest of us to make surreptitious Google searches while nodding along with glazed eyes.

A more nefarious problem is the usage of words we think we know to describe new products.  In our field, the term “Analytics” gets used to describe a lot of things.  Entire product suites are built around the concept, touting an ability to plumb the dark depths of social data and glean meaningful insights, placed neatly on visually appealing charts and graphs ready-made for your next presentation.

But are what most of these products offer truly Analytics?

In a sense; sure.  If we, as a collective of brand managers, engineers, social gurus, product managers and other assorted members of the community decide that is what we’re calling Analytics, then come hell or high water that is what Analytics in our area will be.

In a more traditional sense; no.  What most of these products offer is Data Visualization.  They take the data that is available to those who know how to get it and make it presentation friendly and easier to digest by your average audience member.  Certainly valuable, but it doesn’t provide any inherent analysis of the data.

Take an example from outside of the world of social media: maps.  Opening Google Maps to display your current location is a great example of Data Visualization.  Taking a single data point - your current latitude and longitude - Google can show you a detailed map of where you are currently standing and your surrounding area.  You can see all of the roads around you, and if you have a destination in mind, you can use this tool to plot your own path.

But Google Maps also has an analytics component, because given a destination it can do the plotting for you.  Drawing from a deeper set of data that isn’t easily visualized on a simple map, Google can offer you a suggestion for the best route to your destination.

Is it always the best possible route?  Of course not.  You may have some personal knowledge of your needs that can’t be communicated through a simple interface.  The application will also never be operating on a complete set of data about the state of every road or every traffic block.  What it does is take the data that it does have available and make a suggestion for how you can get to where you want to go.

This is the simple difference between data visualization and analytics.  Visualization describes your present; analytics drive your future.

Want to know more about how Moontoast can help propel your vision through rich media and campaign analytics? All you have to do is request a demo today.

Meet the Team!

Here at Moontoast, our offices are a buzz with driven, ambitious, imaginative team members. We couldn’t be prouder of our collaborative crew… so we thought, hey, it’s not fair to keep us all to ourselves! These are a few of our Moontoasters we would like you to meet….

Howard Greene

CFO
Howard has been managing finance teams for the past 10 years, most recently as the CFO of Exit41, Inc. a software service provider to the Restaurant Industry. His unique approach to finance melds the necessities of a tight accounting group with an overall desire to aid the business by applying a “finance view” using the numbers to all areas of the business to help it grow.

Office Nickname:
“Dr. No”

Why did you choose to join the Moontoast team?
Marcus was just so damn convincing… and good looking.

What do you like to do in your spare time?
You can find me hanging off the side of a cliff, usually.

What is the one thing you want people to know about you?
Nothing - I'm the international man of mystery.

Chris Bulger

Senior Product Manager
Chris is a Sr. Product Manager in charge of our social analytics.  His focus is on helping brands manage and measure their social marketing content, and optimizing it to deliver maximum ROI.  Chris came to Moontoast after five years at Compete where he helped grow compete.com into one of the industry leading analytics providers for consumer behavior insights.

Office Nickname:
"The noisemaker"

Why did you choose to join the Moontoast team?
I am passionate about building something from scratch and helping solve a new set of customer problems.

What do you do in your spare time?
I'm an avid runner, building up the strength and courage to tackle a marathon in 2014.

What is one thing you want people to know about you?
I make awesome fart noises...with my hands!

Tricia Chang

Product Marketing Manager
Tricia is our head of the marketing team at Moontoast, along with the product manager for the website. Tricia previously spent 3 years at Care.com, an online marketplace with a mission to help care seeking families find local care providers, in product management, product marketing and operational capacities. Prior to that, she spent 2 years abroad traveling around Asia and teaching English to the most adorable 2-year olds she’s ever seen.

Office Nickname:
“The Climber.”

Why did you choose to join the Moontoast team?
I joined Moontoast to re-connect with a start-up environment and to be a part of a great team, trying to crack the code to social and mobile advertising…and of course the obscenely delicious cookies in Quincy Market.

What do you like to do in your spare time?
I frequently rock climb and then reward myself with Twilight and Hunger Games marathons.

What is the one thing you want people to know about you?
I once told the lady at Starbucks my name was Katniss Everdeen and screamed, "I volunteer as tribute" when my name was called.

Kristina Dolan

Marketing Associate
Kristina develops content ideation and strategy at Moontoast. She also manages the company blog and event schedule, creates and optimizes lead generation efforts, and helps develop overall marketing strategy and road map. Kristina previously held the position of marketing associate at a global online media firm, and before that was an applications specialist at an information systems software and service company.

Office Nickname:
“Giggles.”

Why did you choose to join the Moontoast team?
I joined Moontoast to become part of a hard-working team with great ideas and an unmatched sense of humor. And how can you beat the Faneuil Hall location?

What do you like to do in your spare time?
When I’m not road tripping around New England visiting friends and family, I am usually playing volleyball or trying new restaurants around Boston.

What is the one thing you want people to know about you?
The hardest I've ever cried was at a Celine Dion concert... don't judge - she's an angel.

Zack Yeremian

Client Services Manager
As our Client Services Manager here at Moontoast, Zack is our client's wingman. As he helps empower and inspire, clients are able to maximize their Social Advertising ROI through our self-service admin, and interactive, transactionally rich media apps. A graduate of Syracuse, his time within their Athletics programs, minor league baseball and the Boston Celtics, shaped his passion for all things entertainment. From this evangelistic enthusiasm, he went into the social sphere, where he has led work on the Google+ initiative at Google.

Office Nickname:
“Thackery Binx.”

Why did you choose to join the Moontoast team:
I came to Moontoast to bring a passion and energy for a product and service I truly believe in, as I see a great solution for brands to harness the next step in the evolutionary power of social.

What do you do in your spare time?
Um… eat. I eat so much I wake up chewing.

What is the one thing you want people to know about you?
I once drove across Canada in under 3 days… living off of only beef jerky. 

Boosting ROI with Facebook Open Graph Advertising

The popularity of Facebook makes it one of the webs premier destinations for getting the most out of your social advertising dollars.  Facebook gives brands the ability to target by age, gender, interests, location, or even relationship status, making Facebook's targeting capabilities one of the best options for reaching your target audience.

Now Facebook’s Open Graph is making those options even better.  

What is Open Graph?

When used correctly Facebook’s Open Graph can be a dynamic tool for brands to help promote a specific campaign, or just grow their overall social presence. As brands look to increase their Facebook presence, Facebook Open Graph provides an opportunity to help foster that engagement.

Since Facebook has allowed Open Graph to be used by third-party applications it has quickly become one of the best ways to get users of the social network to engage with your brand, find other users who share similar interests, and ultimately share your message with their friends.  Quite simply, Open Graph is Facebook’s version of word-of-mouth advertising.

For example, if you choose to log into Spotify with Facebook, the application uses open graph technology to share what you’re listening to with your friends, by posting stories in their News Feeds. Friends can then comment, Like, or listen to the song themselves. Basically, Open Graph provides a way to take what would normally be a static action (listening to a song) and turn it into a social action.

Through Open Graph, brands have the opportunity to see what is being shared, and who is sharing it - crucial factors in gaining a better understanding of their fan base. This information allows brands to then make informed decisions on what their fans want to read, listen to, watch, and share.

Traditionally, the dialogue amongst brands and their consumers has been largely one-sided. The general process usually involved a brand’s page sharing links or videos and hoping for traffic. Now Open Graph takes out a lot of the guesswork, allowing users to control what is being shared.

Getting the most out of Open Graph

Focus on Quality Content

Since Open Graph Search helps users find what’s shared within the Facebook environment, it’s essential that brands focus on producing content that their fans will want to share, tag, or comment on. Brands need to make sure that their content is shared on Facebook so that the results will show up in a Graph search.

Improving Your Engagement

One of the most important aspects in leveraging the power of Facebook is making sure that brands continue to engage their fans and develop connections.  Quite simply, the stronger your connections are, the higher your brand will rank in Graph Search.

Understanding your audience

Facebook’s Open Graph gives brands the ability to understand their audience on a much deeper level. Instead of simply seeing that a user has Liked a page, you can now see past that surface action and understand why they Liked it.

Brands can now search for “pages Liked by members that like shoes” which will allow them to see what else it is that these same people like. What this means is that now you can fine-tune your marketing materials to make sure that your brand is getting in touch with the right audience via materials that they’re more likely to engage with.

Open Graph technology allows brands to now explore the “how” and “why” of engagement which ultimately creates a much clearer picture of who it is they want to target.

Although Open Graph is enabling brands to reach and engage with their customers in ways that did not seem possible just a few years ago, it does not happen by accident. Brands still have to be focused on a high level of quality in their marketing. One great way to engage users on a deeper, more meaningful level is with the implementation of more engaging rich media ad units such a video integration, special offers, countdowns to a specific event, or fan polls. Leveraging these types of interactive units will lead to higher engagement and also make fans more likely to share your message with their friends.

The payoff is that you will now have users promoting your brand, making the ROI from Open Graph one of the most powerful social tools anywhere on the web.

A Startup Guide for Father’s Day

Uncovering this year’s trendy, fantastical and downright clever websites when shopping for Dad this Father’s Day

Shopping for Father’s Day is always tough, and when the well runs dry of ideas, well… good luck with those tube socks soldier. It’s ok, we have all been defeated by holiday shopping, but this year it’s time to rid yourself of those daunting connotations and embrace the renaissance of websites that inspire and delight.

Here at Moontoast we pride ourselves on being innovative and trendy, and to help you with gift ammunition this year, I have compiled a list of my favorite innovative websites when shopping for Dad. Now let’s dive into the good stuff, and turn shopping into a pastime as good as watching a ballgame with the old man.

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5. For the Artist - Etsy.com

Etsy, an online marketplace chock full of independent selling artists, showcases an array of unique and imaginative gifts for Dad. With their dedicated Father’s Day section, they have everything from vintage travel gear to handmade gadget accessories. 

Notable Gifts:

1954 Vintage Travel Kit

Wooden Club Docking Station

4. For the Nerd - ThinkGeek.com

For the Dad who still dresses up and goes to Star Trek premiers, ThinkGeek.com meets the needs of those on the techie frontier. A site passionate about delivering a hilarious array of nerdy and cult-classic gifts, it aims to please any 010001000100000101000100.

Notable Gifts:

Programmable Cufflinks

Camera Lens Travel Mug

3. For the Outdoorsman - Uncrate.com

Uncrate.com uncovers fresh gift ideas unlike any other. Named one of Time Magazine’s top 50 websites of 2012, Uncrate delivers the latest and greatest gift ideas for men. Yielding an impressive outdoorsman guide, this website makes the cut for a Dad who loves the wild.

Notable Gifts:

Stuff a Burger Press

Mini Outdoor Espresso Maker

2. For the Standout - CustomMade.com

Fellow local start-up CustomMade.com, is changing the way people think about buying handcrafted items. Ranging from custom woodwork to jewelry, their marketplace pairs buyers with makers. As a buyer, you have two options: you can either peruse through an eclectic range of custom goods displayed by makers, or you can submit a project idea. Upon your project submission you will be paired with a qualified maker, where you will see your vision come to life.

Notable Gifts: 

Vintage TV Cocktail Cabinet

Custom Humidors

1. The Best of Everything - MeWanty.net

Just like their slogan reads, “In a world of things, find what you really want...y”. Coming in at #1 (and not because of their Toast handwarmers), MeWanty takes the best of all trending items the Internet has to offer, and blends them into a frequently updated marketplace of awesomeness.

Notable Gifts:

Blend Your Own Whiskey

Chewbacca Robe

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As technology and Internet culture evolves, so should your gift ideas. Just like a meme or social campaign, the trend of showcasing a gift online is just like any viral phenomenon. Despite what you may think of this online ‘show and tell’ frenzy, the immense happiness from those who received a share-worthy gift is palpable. So this year, think outside of the box and aim high for Dad, as he deserves a one-of-a-kind gift that makes him feel like a kid again. And remember, if your Dad has awkward social posting habits, he gets a free pass on Father’s Day. Come June 16th, any gift that is share-worthy is a job well done.

Happy Father’s Day!

Toastfully yours,

Zack

Why Consumer Tech Brands Need Rich Media to Improve Social Media Efforts on Mobile

          In a recent eMarketer report, consumer electronics ad spending on mobile is expected to be the highest increasing advertising channel – over Digital Video (YouTube, Vimeo, etc.) and traditional TV. This is largely accredited to the fact that consumers are not loyal to one specific brand within the consumer electronics segment.  (Yes, that surprisingly even goes for iPhone users). According to a recent Consumer Tech report released by Accenture, less than 50% of consumers believe it’s very important to have their devices using the same operating system. This means that brands are going to have to find new and innovative ways to reach and capture their fickle target consumers and social media is the ideal channel to do so.

It is imperative for consumer tech brands to differentiate themselves through social media so they can remain relevant among their audience. This is especially relevant for the highly social Millenial demographic. According to a recent CEA study, 75% of Millenials are planning to purchase a consumer electronic product within the next 12 months, followed by generation X – a demographic that generally has higher expenditures – at 65%. By advertising in Social, brands can reach fans and friends of fans while targeting key consumer attributes to reach audiences like Millenials or gen X, including demographics, affinities, device types, and behavior. Facebook also allows brands to create upload CRM lists to find and match a contact and then create “look-a-like” audiences to optimize spend and maximize ROI.

                  Many brands have already taken advantage of social and all that it has to offer. Blackberry and Intel have both successfully launched rich media campaigns using the Moontoast platform. Blackberry used Moontoast to acquire 6,000 leads and saw a 25% conversion rate within 24 hours of the campaign post. Intel used Moontoast to promote David Blaine’s 2012 Electrified campaign and documented 42,700 live-stream views within Facebook News Feed.  By using Moontoast Social Rich Media ad units, Blackberry and Intel were able to deliver messages that resonate with their consumers while keeping them within the social stream. Best of all, Moontoast can provide the same experience across all social media platforms in mobile, including Facebook, Tumblr, Twitter, Pinterest, LinkedIn and Google+.

                  If you’re interested in learning more about how Moontoast can strengthen your rich media efforts in the consumer tech industry to maximize your social ROI, click here. Not in consumer tech? Learn how else Moontoast has helped brands succeed via Ad Week.

Facebook’s Path to Continued Innovation

When it comes to social advertising, brands are still “heading west” without a guarantee of finding golden sales results.  However, there are significant forces at play driving social advertising to better justify itself to advertisers.

One major driving force is Facebook’s IPO, which has accelerated the network’s focus on revenue generation. In order for Facebook to drive revenue growth, they have to consistently drive meaningful results across the entire consumer journey: from Discovery (brand awareness), to Interaction (engagement), to Transactions (monetary or non-monetary conversion), to Endorsement (virality).

 In order to drive these results, Facebook is rapidly developing tools that are laser-focused on providing brands more quantifiable, targeted, and optimized reach, engagement, and conversion – basically better ROI.

The goal is pretty clear: build tools that shift more of the print, broadcast, search, and display advertising budgets to social.

The addition of advertising tools such as FBX, Custom Audiences, Lookalike audiences, Partner Categories, as well as a keen focus on mobile, have improved Facebook’s ability to drive significant ROI for brands, and therefore earn a larger share of advertisers’ wallets.

All in all, Facebook’s strategy of rapidly “adding arrows to the quiver” is working. Facebook’s results are better and more quantified, revenues are up, and so is the network’s stock price.

But, Facebook also knows that in order to succeed over time in the public market, they must accelerate revenue growth and improve margins. Outside of continuing to excel at their well-known motto “move fast and break things”, a key to Facebook achieving sustained revenue growth rates and healthier margins is 3rd party innovation, driven primarily by the Preferred Marketing Developers (PMD’s).

Facebook leverages the PMDs to introduce new solutions to the market that are built upon Facebook’s APIs, driving improved advertising results and incremental revenue for Facebook. As a fantastic side effect for Facebook, PMDs help curb Facebook’s product investment and market education expenses by continually pushing the boundaries of what is possible on the social network through the APIs and successfully marketing Facebook tools to brands and agencies.

More succinctly, PMDs bring Facebook more revenue faster, as well as reduce costs in some areas, thereby driving up Facebook margins. So, as Facebook continues to roll out amazing tools and products, I believe that they will continue to leverage and support the PMDs and the innovation that they deliver.

As an example of PMD innovation, Moontoast has brought a real gem to social advertising: rich media.

Moontoast’s Social Rich Media Ad Platform takes the best from the display rich media advertising world and “socializes” it for brands to implement within social streams, like the Facebook News Feed. In Facebook, brands have historically been armed with link, photo, and video page post ads. Now, in addition to Facebook’s native functionality, brands can leverage Moontoast’s platform to launch rich media ads on Facebook, earning as much as 7x more engagement, therefore making every dollar spent on Facebook advertising up to 7x more valuable.

Moontoast’s solution is a great example of 3rd party PMD innovation that has brought incremental revenue to Facebook, all in an effort to help Facebook better monetize the most engaging real estate on the social network, the news feed, especially in mobile. In return the advertiser gets more value, and the fan gets a more engaging and rewarding news feed experience.

It’s also worth noting that brands can utilize Moontoast’s rich media ads in tandem with all of Facebook’s new tools. Combining Facebook’s targeting and optimization tools with Moontoast’s platform creates an incredibly valuable solution for brands.

The solution is already delivering fantastic results. Moontoast’s clients include innovative and first class brands such as Lexus, Kia, Toyota, Intel, Hyundai, Salesforce.com, P&G, and more.

Interested in learning more about how Moontoast can strengthen your Social ROI? Click here.

Practice Makes Perfect

Practice makes perfect. The 10,000-Hour Rule. Everyone knows that to become better at anything you do, it takes practice. Why should Social be any different?

We all hope to hit a home run, and when we don't, that leaves us wondering what happened. It’s time to give up the guerrilla approach to Social and take an analytical look at campaigns. It’s time we become experts at Social.

KPI’s and Goals

KPI benchmarks help set the standard and provide you an estimated expectation of how a campaign will perform. Goals help you define better KPI’s so you can learn and improve over time. But remember, these are going to vary across different brands and audiences.

I know what you're thinking. What if I'm trying something new in social and don’t have past experience to compare? Here’s where the analytical approach comes in handy.

Look at the data you’ve collected.

• How much engagement do you usually get from a single post or a tweet?
• What kind of demographic information do you have?
• What kind of offers have you done in the past that were successful?
• What time or day of the week did you get the most interaction?

Refining these valuable tactics will help you learn more about your fans and what kind of offer will really speak to them.  

The Offer

The best advice I can give you is to "think like a fan." People are bombarded every day with social advertising, so the offer has to not only be unique, but compelling. You want information or a sale? Give fans an offer that is valuable to them and keeps them coming back for more. Invite them to be a part of your brand with meaningful interactions and reward them for their support. Here are a few best practices for making your campaigns more compelling for a successful launch:

• Limited Quantity or Time - You want fans to act now? Limit the quantity or availability.
• Discount or Free Shipping - Who doesn't love spending less money?
• Exclusive - Social channels provide the opportunity of making fans feel special by giving them exclusive content or access -- make it worthwhile.

Launch Plan

According to a recent article on Facebook EdgeRank, 96% of fans don't go back to brand pages because they spend 27% of their time perusing through the news feed. So the only way to effectively reach your audience is through advertising in the news feed, where according to ComScore your post is 40 - 150x more likely to be consumed.

The downside?

The news feed is ever-changing and evolving - people post updates, families upload pictures - so much happens that only 16% of your audience ever sees a post.

So the big question is, how do you reach a higher percentage of your audience within the news feed? Moontoast can help. We provide the ability to distribute your offers across social and insights into our best practices.

Now that you have a good background in understanding how to maximize your reach,  let’s talk about the launch. Set up what’s coming by alluding to a “campaign mindset”. These are tips to make the biggest splash for that specific event.

PRE-POSTING - Your fans are not going to know when to check your page for a new promotion unless you tell them. We strongly recommend pre-posting to create anticipation and an appointment dynamic so fans know when to expect that unique, compelling offer. Get them excited by giving a teaser of what's to come.

• Want to take it a step further?
  Create a Facebook event a week before so fans will have a reminder and become part of the launch.

LAUNCH -  Now that you've set the expectation, it's time to deliver. Communication is key. Give fans details about the offer, why it's special and why they have access.

• How often should you post?
  According to a study by analytics company EdgeRank Checker, consumers actively engage with the average Facebook post for just three hours. If you combine the low percentage of fans who don't return to the brand page and EdgeRank, there's a high probability many fans will not see your posts. Those random pictures of animals and what your friend ate last night are likely to push your post down the News Feed rather quickly. We suggest posting every 3-4 hours for the first 3 days, depending how long the flight of your campaign will be.

LAST CALL - Don't forget to tell fans when the offer expires or when inventory is running low. Share numbers of what's left to keep the conversation going. Keep them up-to-date so they have the opportunity to act now and not miss out. Social is a fast-paced environment with two-way conversation, so make the most out of this last best practice for your launch plan. Last, but certainly not least, say "Thank You." Show appreciation to your social audience for participating and make them feel special.

To learn more of Moontoast's best practices, you can download our free white paper or request a demo.

Take a look at the infographic below, courtesy of Post Rocket, to learn more about EdgeRank.

Target or Exclude Your Existing Customers on Facebook

Say someone gave you 100 bananas and told you to go market them, would you put your message in front of the whole jungle, or just the monkeys? If you are a marketer-by-practice, my guess is that you chose the monkeys. Marketing efforts achieve the best performance when placed in front of an audience your content is most relevant for. This is a traditional marketing practice that often falls under the classic “easier said than done” category. Luckily, Facebook is stepping in to help.

Facebook has launched a new way for brands to target consumers – Custom Audience. This new capability enables marketers to engage customers that they already have a relationship with, on or off Facebook.  As long as you have the email, phone number or user ID of your customer, you have a relationship with them.

This Custom Audience feature will allow brands and marketers to target the segmented audience of their choice.  Here are some examples of what you could accomplish using a Custom Audience:

• A retailer could target customers who recently made a purchase on their site
• An auto manufacturer could create an audience of people who have test-driven a car
• A travel company could target loyalty club members
• Any company could target their own lists to create audiences tied to specific ages, genders, and locations

Coming off the heels of Custom Audiences, you can also utilize Facebook Lookalike Audiences to target and expand your brand’s reach. Facebook analyzes the Custom Audience you created and builds a new audience off of it based on either similarity or reach. This is an extremely useful tool for brands looking for not just retention marketing, but expansive marketing as well. Ads can be more relevant to the targeted audience, therefore leading to better brand credibility and ad performance.

These new targeting features are ways for brands to safely target users without alienating those customers. Remember, putting your content in front of an audience guaranteed to be interested … now that’s gold.

Moontoast Joins the SHIFT Open Marketing Cloud

We are now partnering with SHIFT, the leading collaboration platform for marketers and agencies. Moontoast is one of the first Social Rich Media Ad Platforms to be fully integrated into the SHIFT Open Marketing Cloud, a new suite of best-in-class marketing technologies that was launched in April.

Moontoast’s social rich media advertising platform will integrate into the SHIFT Open Marketing Cloud to enable advertisers to create, post and amplify social rich media ad units into the Facebook News Feed through the SHIFT platform using a seamless single sign-on process.

Read the rest of the press release here >> 

Moontoast and VideoGenie Partner to Bring User-Generated Video to Facebook News Feed

We are excited to announce our Social Rich Media ad integration with VideoGenie, a leading user-generated video platform. The integration will combine our Moontoast Social Rich Media ad units with VideoGenie's capabilities for capturing and managing user-generated video submissions.

For the first time, brand advocates will be able to leverage the new Social Rich Media unit to record and submit user-generated videos directly within the Facebook News Feed, tapping into the power of brand advocacy and word-of-mouth marketing.

Read the rest of the press release here >>