http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/technology/2008/11/obama-the-first.html

The Obama team broke another media mold by posting 1,800 videos to YouTube during the campaign, including a dozen with more than a million views each — the most popular being his speech on race, which has become one of YouTube’s most-viewed videos. Last week, the administration-to-be announced that online video would replace radio as its default method for the weekly national address, and the first one, despite being mostly unremarkable, has scored nearly a million views since Friday.

In April, we did a mini facebook ad experiment. We placed ads on facebook for aimDC.org with real money! This was a small experiment to understand how the facebook ads work. Now we will tell you step by step how we did it and what we got out of it. As aimDC.org team, we feel passionate about bringing you anything useful. Let’s start.

Making a PLAN

WHY?

Our goal was to create a mini ad campaign on facebook, targeting apartment professionals. The ads ran for aimdc.org, where apartment professionals in DC meet. Our goal was to reach these professionals when they are using facebook. BUT our REAL goal was just to show you how easy it was to setup an ad campaign on facebook.

WHAT?

We recorded everything we did and created a video out of it. You can see the video on the right rail under “Internet Video School” if you haven’t seen already. More than 100 people already watched it.  But I would recommend you read the manual first to understand it a little bit better ;) That being said,  there are two main things we will learn:

1- Basicly how to place an ad on facebook and  how the process works

2- See the results of the mini ad campaign and understand what it means.

More tomorrow about HOW we did it and RESULTS…..Stay tuned.

#2 Appreciate the importance of good visuals.

#3 Get to the point quickly.

#4 Select the format that will tell your story with greatest power

#5 Enhance legibility

While by no means flashy, this ad says all that needs to be said.

The Internet is a very time-sensitive medium. Multiple images force the viewer to work harder to comprehend the ad. Likewise, extentsive copy that moves quickly demands excessive concentration and rarely holds viewer’s attention.  The ads that are the most powerful present copy in a format that is easy to read and understand.

#6 Avoid Ambuiguity

#7 Emphasize consumer benefits.

#1 Keep it Simple

#2 Appreciate the importance of good visuals.

#3 Get to the point quickly.

#4 Select the format that will tell your story with greatest power

Understand. No single format ensures success in online advertising.  I am sure you have seen a lot of size of ads on different sites; vertical(skyscraper or half page), horizontal (leaderboard), or big box (rectangle shaped) etc.  Rather the success depends on how the creative elements work in harmony with a particular format. For instance limited space of a leaderboard ad or a tile is far more suitable for framing text than pictures.

#5 Enhance Eligibility

#6 Avoid Ambuiguity

#7 Emphasize consumer benefits.

#1 Keep it Simple

#2 Appreciate the importance of good visuals.

#3 Get to the point quickly.

Every second is precious. Why anyone would care about your service? Communicate effectively and concisely. The most important things is to explain the consumer benefit. The quciker you get to the main message and brand name, the more successful your ad is going to be.

Static. Static ads are sometimes more effective simply because it is simple! Furthermore, they present the important information quickly and clearly. So don’t underestimate the power of the static ads.

#4 Select the format that will tell your story with greatest power

#5 Enhance Eligibility

#6 Avoid Ambuiguity

#7 Emphasize consumer benefits.

INTERNET PROSPECT;

- Expects quick and easy access to the information he or she wants.
- Wants to tour your property online.
- Has access to and gathers more information than with any other medium: Very Qualified!
- Narrows choices down to 2-3 communities.
- Is very close to making a decision

SO WHAT?

It certainly helps to know the internet prospects. They are different because the way the internet is used different than other media. For instance ,it is impossible to do a quick search among hundreds of listings on a newspaper based on pets allowance, but it is possible with online, therefore Internet users are in general inpatient when it comes to finding what they are looking for. So you might want to be specific when targeting them and targeting them with very simple, concise messages. Please check the ad from Bozzuto on the top again see how concise, simple and effective it is. Therefore it works! Spending some time to understand online you can improve your ad results significantly…

We will mention about how to create effective online ads in later posts. Stay TUNED!

#1 Keep it Simple

#2 Appreciate the importance of good visuals.
Give the audience attractive holistic images, good colors, and clarity. Online ads represent a melding of the qualities of a static print ad and the motion of a television commercial.

All colors are not created equal: The most effective colors are blue, golden, yellow, green, red and black(esp when used with a white background).

Eye Contact: Position the model in the ad so that he/she makes a direct eye contact with the reader.

#3 Get to the point quickly.

#4 Select the format that will tell your story with greatest power

#5 Enhance Eligibility

#6 Avoid Ambuiguity

#7 Emphasize consumer benefits.

When it comes to online display advertising, many of us stil feel concerned.  How do you really make your ads work? What works online , what doesn’t? How can you make sure that your online advertising efforts are maximized during these hard times.  We will talk about how to make your online creative work! There are 7 steps that we will talk about each step day by day.  So let’s start with #1 today.

#1)  KEEP IT SIMPLE: Web site visitors are focused on jobs at hand and the kind of ads which grab their attention are those that stand out in the crowd. The Internet is like a highway billboard so a single eye filling picture and a short teaser copy are usually sufficient for the task of attracting a reader’s attention.

 #2 Appreciate the importance of good visuals.

#3 Get to the point quickly.

#4 Select the format that will tell your story with greatest power

#5 Enhance Eligibility

#6 Avoid Ambuiguity

#7 Emphasize consumer benefits.

AGENDA HIGHLIGHTS:

- One-on-one consultations with selected Internet marketing experts (limited opportunity)
- An audit and critique of a company’s entire web presence
- Social media marketing case studies showing how apartment firms are using Web 2.0 sites to generate leases
- Hands-on session in building web media
- Internet communications with residents and media in an emergency situation;
- Local search and other targeted opportunities in search engine management
- A new product showcase featuring new ideas and new products being presented in rapid back-to-back presentations

SEE THE FULL AGENDA:
http://www.apartmentinternetmarketing.com/2009-conference/agenda/

HOTEL & TRAVEL:
http://www.apartmentinternetmarketing.com/2009-conference/hotel-travel/

REGISTER NOW:
http://www.apartmentinternetmarketing.com/2009-conference/register/

We just wanted to give you the news before everyone. We are working on creating a forum page for apartment professionals. It will be a platform where anyone can yell, scream, shout, ask questions and have cool nicknames! stay tuned!