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This Week in Digital 5.4.12

From the New York Times launching a social media ad program to Wrapp and FreeMonee allowing brands to send gift cards to consumers based on their Facebook information, this edition of This Week in Digital underscores the importance of using all the tools in your digital toolkit to communicate effectively to your target audience. We hope you enjoy this round-up of digital news and how it relates to communications between brand and consumer.

New York Times Launches Social Media Ad Program

TheNew York Times announced the launch of Ricochet, a new digital advertising approach that blends media buying with a brand’s social media presence. The advertising program allows brands to select articles from Times Co. properties that would appeal to their target audiences. Once brands select the articles, the program will develop special social media links specific to that brand for sharing. Consumers that click the article links will see the brands’ ads next to the story. As news outlets are learning that many readers find their content through social media, the development of Ricochet is a way for brands and news outlets to work together, and use each other to reach a common goal – more eyes on their content. Programs like Ricochet will allow brands to launch highly-targeted advertising campaigns through editorial content and social sharing, resulting in new opportunities for brands to reach their audiences, and new mechanisms PR practitioners can use to disseminate carefully crafted messages to consumers through a variety of mediums.

Target Potential Customers with Free Gift Cards

Free Monee

Social media continues to be an effective way to reach a targeted audience through content and advertising. Now, Facebook applications likeWrapp andFreeMonee take Facebook targeting one step further, allowing brands to send promotions and gift cards to consumers based on the relevancy of their Facebook information. Users who download these apps are able to receive promotions like $5 to Sephora or discounts at the Gap based on data pulled from their profiles that demonstrates they would be most likely to purchase the brands’ products. These applications enable brands to shape campaigns directly related to their consumers’ personal interests and communicate with a defined target audience.

Men Less Likely to Have Blogs, Facebook Profiles

Social Media & Cross Platform Viewing Behaviors

If it seems like most social media campaigns are aimed towards women, it’s because women are more active on social media than men,according to a new study. The study by Nielsen found that men are less likely than the average adult Internet user to create a blog, follow a brand on Facebook or other social media sites or create a social media profile, demonstrating that brands communicating to men need to carefully target them by studying other demographic information, pinpointing the most relevant social media platforms, and developing communications appropriately to reach this segment of the population spending less time online.

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