Where to spend your advertising budget

According to Nielsen 92% percent of consumers around the world say they trust earned media, such as word-of-mouth or recommendations from friends and family, above all other forms of advertising.

On a global level in the past two years confidence towards traditional media like TV, magazines and newspaper ads decreased respectively by 24%, 20% and 25%. Despite the decline though, the majority of advertising budgets are still spent on traditional or paid media, such as TV.

The growth in trust for online search and display ads over the past years has given marketers increased confidence in putting more of their ad dollars into online media where 70% of consumers rely on opinions and feedback posted  online by others and 58% trust messages found on company websites.

Emails and sponsorship are still widely used and recognised with 50% and 47% of preferences.

Using mobile devices with display and SMS ads don’t seem to work, they are both at the bottom with 33% and 29%.

In this part of the world, Middle East and Africa, consumers’ confidence goes towards ‘word of mouth’ (90%), ‘websites’ (71%), ‘online feedback’ (69%), ‘editorial content’ (67%) and ‘sponsorship’ (62%).

Also outdoor advertising and display/text ads on mobile phones surprisingly seem to be trusted with nearly 60% of preferences, while TV and radio advertising are down with respectively 52% and 50%.

You can view and download the full Nielsen Global Trust in Advertising Survey here.

Google is looking for the new Doodler

What is a doodle? According to Wikipedia a doodle is an unfocused drawing made while a person's attention is otherwise occupied. 

The very first doodle appeared on Google in 1998 but, more formally, doodles really came of age in 2000, when Page and Brin, Google founders, asked current webmaster Dennis Hwang, an intern at the time, to produce a doodle for Bastille Day.

The very first doodle

Since then the team has created over 1,000, static or animated, doodles, here are some:

So if you’re a graphic designer here is the chance to land your dream job. You should have a minimum four years experience and a wide range of artistic styles. See the full details and apply for position here.

Review of the automotive industry in Oman on Facebook

One of the most competitive markets in the world today is the auto industry with its many car brands competing fiercely against each other. In Oman is no difference.

Automakers and dealers are chasing millions of customers who spend an increasing amount of time each day on social-media sites especially Facebook.

As an old saying in the automotive industry states that every dollar spent on marketing should earn you three...how much efforts brands should make then? And what kind of content is appropriate to put on a Facebook page? And will it really help sell cars?

Most brands in Oman have recently started so don't expect huge numbers in terms of fans / interaction.

Kia Oman has the biggest fan base with currently 3345 fans. The page is very well customised with games, videos, photos and info and I really like their current contest, Kia Young Artist. Very well done.

In second place we find Toyota Oman with 1889 fans. Again, plenty of  games, videos, photos and updates.

Only joined Facebook last January Hyundai Oman managed to gather so far 1332 fans. Not much happening in terms of games and contests but the page is constantly updated with news, photos and videos which is what people look for.

Been on Facebook since 2010 Mazda Oman has not managed to gathered many fans, 761 as of today. It seems though that this year they're putting a bigger effort and the Mazda Dream Date Contest was a success. Keep it up now.

Been on Facebook for about a year GMC Oman seems to have slowed down a little in the past months as updates are not as frequent as before and interaction is really low. Number of fans 668.

When the Aston Martin Oman page opened in 2010 there used to be plenty of news and photos on local events, recently it is more of a global page but still worth a visit. Number of fans 568.

Suzuki Oman is very similar to GMC i mentioned above. Must be managed by the same people as many identical photos and updates are used in both pages. Still interesting if you're a Suzuki fan. Number of fans 376.

Mercedes-Benz Oman joined Facebook in September 2011 and has 119 fans. They had a nice photo contest early in February, let's see if they can come up with other interesting activities in the future and grow their fan base.

Nissan Oman joined Facebook about a year ago, in April 2011, however nothing was really posted a part from copies of print ads. On the page now you can request a test drive, get a quote, download a brochure and also have the chance to win Nissan wrist watch. Number of fans 75.

Honda Oman is the latest entry as it joined Facebook in March 2012 and has 40 fans. With their current contest you may win a plasma TV.






If you love cars a few other pages worth checking out are:

The Oman Cars Club, very popular, with its 9381 fans.

Muscat Buy or Sell Cars, 3065 fans.

The Oman Karting Team, 858 fans.

The Ford Focus Raba'a Rally - Oman, 142 fans.

Not the official page but Jeep Oman will entertain you with lots of action videos and photos. Number of fans 101.

And lastly, the Porsche Club Oman, with 81 fans.

Got any enemies?

Most social networks try to connect people based on affinities; you like something, I like it too, and therefore we should be friends. 

But people are also connected and motivated by things they dislike...that’s the idea behind EnemyGraph.

EnemyGraph is a Facebook application that allows you to list your enemies. The project was developed principally by graduate student Bradley Griffith with help from his mate Harrison Massey.

This new platform has about 25,000 users but because of its sudden popularity it is currently struggling with some technical problems.

Anyone on Facebook can be your enemy; people, Pages, Places and Groups. At the moment the person with most declared enemies is Justin Bieber with 872 enemies.

Not sure this is the way to go. Do we really need to spread any more bad feelings? A simple ‘Dislike’ button would have been enough.