Companies are constantly looking for ways to expand their presence in the social fabric of the world; whether on Twitter or Facebook, brands are conscious that recognition and engagement are major components to attracting customers in the digital age. New apps are often attractive to these advertisers, even if they aren’t entirely sure how to go about using them. For a few companies at least, Snapchat, a video-and-picture texting service, may be a viable medium for connecting with fans.

In January, the New York frozen yogurt chain 16 Handles used Snapchat to run a promotion; the company noticed that the young customers it attracted were avid Snapchat users and decided to leverage the utility. The program required participants to take a picture of themselves tasting one of the flavors at a 16 Handles location, send it to the 16 Handles account—Love16Handles—and in return they would receive a coupon for anywhere from 16% to 100% off of their purchase. The coupons, true to Snapchat form, would self-destruct in 10 seconds.

Snapchat has been a major success, particularly with the teen demographic; the service combines text messaging with the ability to send and receive pictures and videos that automatically self-destruct in a timeframe determined by the user—anywhere from one to ten seconds. The company released figures for its use in 2012 that stated that users sent and received approximately 50 million “Snaps” per day on the platform.

More recently, Taco Bell jumped on the bandwagon, announcing via its Twitter feed that it had a Snapchat account and inviting those on the service to add them for a secret announcement. The company is using the app to reintroduce the Beefy Crunch Burrito. Tressie Lieberman, director of social and digital marketing for Taco Bell, said in an interview that the brand has gotten a massive response on Snapchat, and that, “Sharing that story on Snapchat is a fun way to connect with the fans that we are thrilled to have. IT’s all about treating them like personal friends and not consumers.”

As marketing adapts and changes to the demands of a consumer base that spans multiple social media platforms, it’s likely that companies will be forced to develop a more personal touch with their customer bases; Snapchat is a good way to connect, particularly for companies with products designed to appeal to a younger demographic.

This is not entirely a new thing, however. While Mozilla has not done anything like this in the past, Apple’s Safari browser has blocked third party cookies as a default setting for quite some time. Google Chrome and Internet Explorer still allow third-party cookies by default, with no indication that they will be changing that practice anytime soon.

Privacy advocates maintain that most users don’t know how or why to change the default setting; that, more to the point, individuals should not be followed around the Internet when it comes to shopping unless they expressly allow for it. There are arguments for allowing third party cookies as well—for example, they can improve user experience by making sure the potential customer isn’t inundated by the same ads, managing the frequency at which the visitor is shown ads, and alerting site owners when a site is broken. Additionally, for affiliate marketing, cookies track the consumer along the sales path, so the publisher can get credit for referring the sale.

There is no doubt that this is a complex issue, and one of those situations wherein there is no way to make everyone involved happy. There is the potential for this move on Mozilla’s part to be devastating to many display companies—along with search retargeting companies and of course the affiliate channel. It may also not be quite the solution that privacy advocates think it will be; with an all-or-nothing approach, consumers may see an increase in the frequency and display of random ads, fewer opportunities for small publishers to thrive, and a decrease in content relevancy.

What this means for any given affiliate depends a great deal on the network’s methods. In the case of most reliable and above-board affiliate marketers, the cookie isn’t set until after the user clicks the ad, which makes it a first-party cookie and therefore not at risk under the default setting. Of course, advertisers should check with their network or service provider to get a good understanding of how they set cookies; publishers should also be proactive and learn how their network’s processes work and if the new Firefox release will impact them.

The affiliate marketing industry has faced multiple changes in technology in its history; this shake-up is not really different. Regardless of what browser a consumer uses, publishers will still be able to earn commissions for referring traffic. It does, however, give an excellent opportunity for the industry to work with retailers and technology providers to explain how these technological solutions are beneficial to consumers.

As data collection and analytics for affiliate marketing have become more and more accessible and practical, many affiliate networks have begun working out affiliate attribution approaches as part of their compensation plans. The concept is quickly becoming one of the most controversial topics in the industry, with multiple retailers trying to work out the best system and many affiliates voicing mixed feelings over the phenomenon.

The big question in this topic is: how do you fairly compensate affiliates for their work on moving customers along the purchase path?

Affiliate attribution allows Internet retailers to track different ads that result in a sale, or some other action taken by a consumer; this gives “credit,” so to speak, to each touch point that contributes to a conversion. For example, this can include a variety of affiliates who have interactions with a given customer leading up to the sale, as well as different marketing channels or programs in-house. According to a recent study by Econsultancy, only 54% of businesses have an affiliate attribution model—however, 89% of those that have moved to the model said that the change had a positive impact on their business, and nearly 30% categorized the impact as major.

Traditionally in affiliate marketing, the sale is credited to the last click prior to conversion, a system which many affiliates have found limiting; particularly among those that are involved early on in the sales path, interest is piqued as to distributing compensation more broadly. While a blogger or review site can educate and influence a potential customer, they receive no credit if that customer clicks through a subsequent affiliate link or ad with the traditional model.

Other affiliates have built their entire business around being in the right place in the right time—a strategy that seems to ultimately fall apart in the attribution model. These affiliates are understandably a little less enthusiastic about attribution, which tends to cut into the money they earn on any given conversion.

To be clear, affiliate attribution is not and should not be a strategy used to pay less commission to affiliates—instead, it is a means to pay affiliates that have more influence a higher margin, because of the greater value they drive within the affiliate program.

Implementing an attribution model can be a huge change within a marketing organization; as a result, it should be approached with clean communication with those that may be impacted, both internally and externally. However, with the rise of “big data,” and the availability of analysts to look over the information and assign value to specific affiliates, attribution can help to stimulate greater value overall for any network, as well as positively impacting sales more or less immediately.

By Savannah McClelland

Earlier in the week, social app Foursquare launched a major update, with the aim of rethinking the location-based service as a discovery tool instead of the focus being on the social aspect. Among the updates, search features more prominently in the new version, and it also offers suggestions of nearby attractions when users open the app.

In a blog post, Foursquare explains that its recommendation engine is designed for people who simply don’t have time to sift through reviews to make a decision about where to eat or shop. Therefore, when users perform a search, the top-rated places are always at the beginning of the results. The new Foursquare is organized into four essential parts:

• Search, a feature that is available from the moment the app is opened,
• A map that shows friends nearby as well as places the user might be interested in,
• The feed has been revamped to include not just check-ins but the personalized recommendations
• A re-conceptualized check-in button, which is prominent everywhere in the app.

The changes come alongside the announcement that Foursquare managed to raise another round of financing, which totaled $41 million. The goal of the fundraising, said Foursquare’s CEO Dennis Crowley, is to help the company prove that it has a viable business model. Crowley added, “This allows us to get closer to being able to prove that there’s a real business here.”

Crowley stated in a blog post that Foursquare’s goal is to do for local search what Google did for web search, commenting, “We’re building tools for local businesses to connect with their customers. We’re making search better, every single day. We’re building that location layer for the internet—the platform that all other companies use to power location in their apps.” Businessweek also reports that Foursquare is planning to expand its sales team and “let all the merchants it works with buy ads.” There’s a great deal for Foursquare to do if it wants to turn around the perception of it, but with these updates, and the changes that are in mind with the new funding, it will certainly be interesting to see how they tackle the challenge.

Whether you are completely new to the affiliate world or have some experience in affiliate marketing, shopping for a network can seem like a daunting prospect; after all, without searching very hard at all, you can find hundreds of different networks on the web, all with different systems. However, ultimately there are a few simple tricks to finding exactly the right network for your needs. The question of the right network boils down to three things:

What network will be best for your business?

What types of affiliates do the best in the network in question?

Which network will help you acquire the most new customers?

Reduced to these three questions, the prospect becomes much less daunting. To find the answers to these questions, there are a few simple things to keep in consideration, to explore with the networks you’re investigating. For example, the second question, “What types of affiliates do the best in the network,” is fairly straightforward to get an answer to. Ask for a list of merchants similar to you, and what makes them successful. While you may not want to run on the same network as your competition, there’s a real benefit to knowing what categories of merchants perform well. It’s also good to get an idea of what the network gears itself towards; how much good would it do for you as a medical devices company to join a network that specializes in personal electronics?

Another thing to consider is what affiliate models are most prominent in the network. You can ask about the types of offers that resonate best with the affiliates in the network, which will help you figure out the pay-for-performance model that generates the most excitement. Additionally, if you’re looking for a network that will provide a platform for e-commerce, be certain that the network has that focus, featuring affiliates that like rev-share splits. Identifying what methods are used by the most prominent affiliates is also important. If you don’t want to allow pay-per-click offers, for example, a network flush with search marketing affiliates isn’t going to give you the kind of results you need.

Finally, you should be asking what the network does to minimize fraud. Affiliate fraud continues to be a huge issue in the performance marketing world; possibly because affiliate marketing is driven by entrepreneurs with independent business-owner mindsets, the atmosphere is more that of a loose confederation than a united group. Affiliates live in the “frontier” of internet marketing, which means that effective self-policing is important. Ask how the network monitors fraud, and what the policy is for dealing with those in their network participating in fraud.

If you keep these aspects in mind as you’re shopping around, it will reduce the pressure and give you a good starting point for the conversations you will be having with the networks. These are all questions and considerations that a good affiliate network is more than happy to discuss with a prospective new affiliate. All that remains is to use these guidelines to find the best network for your needs and get on board.

If you’re at the show and would like to meet with us, we have Matt Taylor there representing Crush Ads.  Get in touch with us and we can set up a meeting.

Happy Valentine’s Day, everyone!  While today is no Black Friday or Cyber Monday, it is still a major retail and e-commerce event, and a boost for stores and shipping companies early in the calendar year.  With the help of the National Retail Federation, UPS , Ad Age and the American Express Spending & Saving Tracker survey, I’d like to present you with Valentine’s Day by the numbers.

U.S. consumers are expected to spend $18.6 billion overall on Valentine’s Day gifts.

Jewelry is the big-ticket item for gift givers.  $4.4 billion will be spent on diamonds, gold and silver.

$1.9 billion will be spent on flowers today.

$1.6 will be spent on candy; 51% of those surveyed give sweet treats to their loved ones.

Who would have thought- $1.5 billion will be spent on gift cards.

$815 million will be spent on the ones who love us unconditionally- our pets.

UPS will ship 95 million flowers for Valentine’s Day, with the bulk coming from Latin America on UPS temperature-controlled aircraft from Ecuador and Colombia (big rose-growing countries).

6,000,000 are expected to get engaged on February 14; that number is up from 4 million in 2012.

3,000 TONS of flowers will move through a massive refrigerated warehouse in Miami that UPS has set up to keep flowers fresh.

Can you guess what the average U.S. consumer plans to spend on candy, cards, gifts and more this year?  The answer is $130.97- up from $126.03 last year.

So how much is the average woman spending on today? About $88.78, which is less than half of what men are estimated to spend (an average of $175.61 on jewelry, flowers, and a romantic evening out).

40.7% of smartphone owners are estimated to have used their handhelds to shop for gifts.

26.3% of Valentine’s gifts are found online, up from 19.3% last year

29% of those surveyed said they’d post sweet nothings on Facebook.

Americans spend an average of $8.49 on friends for Valentine’s cards and gifts; they’ll shell out an average of $5.12 on colleagues.

7% of consumers who in a survey said they send their Valentine’s message via Twitter in 140 characters or less.

“I’m very excited about the move to our new location for several reasons,” said BMI’s President, Dan Lansman.  “First, the additional space will allow us to continue our growth plan and execute our long term strategies.  We now have a state of the art facility laid out to maximize efficiencies for both our employees and customers.”

Check out some pics of our beautiful new office:

Erin in her new office

Our new kitchen

The Crush Ads area!

The email production office

Amy and Luis in the new accounting office

Kathy relaxing in Coco Cay

Jeremy and Casey in Coco Cay

Daniel and Sasha in Coco Cay

Erin, Jamie, Kathy and Gina at Senor Frogs

Darin, Santo and Brandon at Senor Frogs

The crew partying it up at Senor Frogs

Kathy and Christy at dinner

What should we order?

Attila and his family at dinner