Tales From the Digital Side

This is already very useful. Google has launched the ability to place different bids on different audience segements on their content network and placement-targeted buys. You can place different bids for age and gender segments that work well for your campaign target. This will also be great for diversity strategies, since you can now target women across Google’s networks. It may also make Google more useful for college recruiting, since you’ll be able to target the 18-24 age segment.

More info form the Google Blog:
http://adwords.blogspot.com/2008/01/demographic-bidding-beta-test.html

Just as you are settling down to enjoy your Holiday 2.0 and your New Year 3.0, looks like there will a be host of new buzzwords to learn for 2008! Feel free to do some “blog groveling”! Enjoy!

Thank you Pete Blackshaw and ClickZ. Read the rest of this entry »

Yup, you heard me right. I’m getting sick of vendors and industry experts presenting search engine marketing (SEM) as a very complicated tool that recruiting professionals couldn’t possibly understand or manage thenselves. The truth is you could handle it yourself (if you only had time). However, although you probably need a vendor to help manage it from a time and adminstrative perspective, SEM is a rather simple tool. Read the rest of this entry »

It’s been a long, long time since I had the time to blog. My poor neglected blog has been the casualty of a very busy fall planning season. However, I’m on a trip, sitting in a hotel, waiting for room service to bring me a bite to eat and have a bit of time to write down some thoughts.

I’ve been working with a lot of account teams and clients over the past several months to take advantage of the millions of digital advertising oppotunties out there. I’ve come across a lot of hype around behavioral targeting and wanted to do my share to educate recruitment advertisers on how this should and should not fit into their strategies. Read the rest of this entry »

Google has launched Google Gadget Ads. You can now serve ads within gadget s(also referred to as widgets). Advertisers can now create these branded mini-apps using Flash or HTML and incorporate data feeds, video, images, and more. Essentially, you can create a mini-website within the ads (similar in function to many of the rich media formats available). This has many uses for recruitment. Think jobs database integration, recruiting events, chat, games, etc.

Click Here for the full article.

There is a new term being used to describe the email you receive that is not SPAM, but is also not something you have time to pay attention to. It is being referred to as “BACN” (for more info go here). BACN is all the email newsletters, announcement lists, social network alerts, etc that make it to your inbox. It’s not that you don’t want them, it’s that you don’t have time for them. Read the rest of this entry »

This news made my week. According to this WSJ article, Facebook is working on a system that expands their already pretty nifty Flyer program. The Flyer program is a texted based ad that can be targeted by college, location or some limited demographics (age & gender). If they expand to include occupation, industry, interests, ethnicity, and employer - this will be huge for recruitment advertisers. Even some of these targeting options could get it to a “must include” status for recruitment media plans. If the program ends up being self-serve, as the flyer program is now, it will be even better, as there will not be barriers due to minimum buys for companies with smaller budgets.

Clearly it doesn’t take much to get me excited - but this could be an excellent source for recruitment marketing.

If you manage college recruitment initiatives, you are probably in the midst of preparing for the fall semester. As you consider your options of how to brand yourself to the millenial generation, take a look at MentosIntern.com. Read the rest of this entry »

I don’t think this information is news to anyone who works for a recruitment advertising agency, but many employers might be suprised by the costs of creating a Facebook Sponsored Group. As a media buyer, I have access to this type of information, but I wouldn’t post it to the masses, but recently Valleywag posted information from the current rate card. Since the info is out there, it’s worth a discussion. Sponsored Group costs are going from $150K for 3 months to $300K for 3 months. Even at $150K, the costs were steep for recruitment. It is very hard to make an investment like that prove a positive ROI for your organization. Read the rest of this entry »

Diddy is using Youtube to find his next personal assistant. Not only is this a great use of social media for recruitment, I think the video is also well designed for the target audience. Diddy does not describe the job in flowing, shiny, happy phrases, he presents as what it is… hard work. Transparency is important, candidates want to hear what it will really be like to work for you. Another note on this… Diddy, as CEO, is doing his own recruiting pitch. It says something that he’s personally involved. Read the rest of this entry »