Facebook Clear History Feature: What It Means For Brands

As originally reported by CNBC, Facebook is preparing advertisers for the “clear history” tool that will let people erase their personal data from the social network, affecting ad targeting. This long-awaited feature will roll out in the coming months, allowing users to delete data that the social network gathers from websites and apps OFF Facebook, meaning that advertisers will no longer be able to use this data. In this post, we’ll explain what the clear history feature is, how it may affect your company, and provide tips for what to do next.

“When someone disconnects their off-Facebook activity, we won’t use the data they clear for targeting,” Facebook said in a blog post on Tuesday.

This means that popular Facebook marketing technologies like the pixel and Custom Audiences could essentially be rendered useless if the clear history feature is used. With this in mind, the value of proprietary customer data has never been more important.

Email lists, past purchaser data, and website visitor information from your owned data sources will become an even more necessary portion of your advertising efforts than ever before. Do you have a CRM in place? How do you currently collect this data on your site?

Until the feature is fully rolled out and actively being used by Facebook users, this is still all speculation. But having the ability to target your customers directly without relying on Facebook for this information shouldn’t be overlooked.

“If people clear their pixel, they won’t be accessible that way again, unless they visit the website again and rebuild their history.”

Think about how you are leveraging Facebook as a part of your larger marketing and advertising strategy. Is Facebook used primarily as your prospecting channel or are you retargeting site visitors or purchasers with complimentary products or up-selling?

Other advertising platforms such as Pinterest, Reddit, Snapchat, and Google will be explored in greater frequency as additional viable alternatives. In return, they will become more competitive and difficult to advertise on. See what we mean? It’s best to prepare your strategy for the changes that are likely ahead. A crucial step toward controlling the future of your digital marketing efforts is to find a good strategic partner that can guide you through the seemingly ever-changing platform updates.

Blue Wheel Media is able to provide strategic solutions and offerings to navigate this landscape with great success across many different industries including beauty, health and fitness, home improvement and business-to-business enterprises. Drop us a line to see how we can help you level up your advertising today!

Blue Wheel Wins Three More Stevie Awards in 2019

Apparently, April showers don’t just bring May flowers – they also bring Stevie Awards to Blue Wheel! With great pleasure, we announce that we are once again the recipients of multiple Stevie Awards.

This year, we welcome two Gold Stevies for success with our clients in the beauty and home improvement industries. Better still, our very own Director of Strategy & Planning Jon McGraw was recognized as Marketer of the Year. This is a tremendous accomplishment, but we’re not too surprised – Jon brings his thoughtful insights and extremely hard-working attitude to the table every single day. We’re honored to have him leading our team!

Two Gold Stevies

    • Marketing Campaign of the Year – Beauty: Erno Laszlo
    • Marketing Campaign of the Year – Home Furnishings & Appliances: Marygrove Awnings

Silver Stevie

    • Marketer of the Year: Jon McGraw, Director of Strategy & Planning

Winning Stevie Awards is always thrilling, as they are the world’s premier business awards. The Stevies were created in 2002 to honor and generate public recognition of the achievements and positive contributions of organizations and working professionals worldwide and are judged by many of the world’s most respected executives, entrepreneurs, innovators, and business educators.

Needless to say, their recognition of our achievements only further validates our dedication to our clients. Many congratulations to everyone who was involved in these efforts!

PLATINUM AND GOLD MARCOM AWARD WINNER!

Blue Wheel Media is pleased to accept and announce the latest additions to our awards cabinet, courtesy of the MarCom Awards, one of the largest, most-respected creative competitions in the world.
This year’s wins include:

With these awards under our belt, our MarCom grand total is now 14. We couldn’t be more proud of everyone on the Blue Wheel team who contributed to these successes! Blue Wheel has steadily grown our expertise in both the beauty and home improvement industries; these awards are proof that we’re continuing to meet and exceed our own expectations and those of our clients.

MarCom accolades are particularly rewarding because MarCom is designed by creatives for creatives. The MarCom Awards specifically honor excellence in marketing and communication while recognizing the creativity, hard work, and generosity of industry professionals. Every year, around 6,000 print and digital entries are submitted from dozens of countries. To be recognized within that prestigious crowd not just once but four times this year is an honor.

Congratulations to everyone who was involved in these efforts!

Blue Wheel Wins 3x Marketing Campaign of the Year 2018

Blue Wheel Media is the proud recipient of three Gold Stevie Awards for Marketing Campaign of the Year in 2018! These wins reflect the company’s efforts in two major industries they have developed a strong foothold in: beauty with Grande Cosmetics and home furnishings with Monark Home and Marygrove Awnings.

Blue Wheel’s three Stevie Awards this year bring the company’s total amount of wins to eighteen awards across various digital categories, including last year’s prestigious Grand Stevie Award for Most Honored Interactive Agency!

The Stevie Awards are the world’s leading business awards, formed in 2002 to acknowledge and generate public recognition of the achievements and contributions of organizations and working professionals across the world. Among Stevie Award judges you will find many of the world’s most respected executives, entrepreneurs, innovators, and business educators.Grande Cosmetics is a company that specializes in engineering beauty products that enhance natural beauty and provide both short-term and long-term benefits. Since July 2017, Blue Wheel Media significantly grew their brand awareness, allowing them to dig themselves out from under the mountain of niche cosmetics brands to become a fan-favorite product featured and sold at Sephora.Monark Premium Home Appliances is a large home appliance dealer that sells luxury kitchen appliances and high-end accessories from notable brands. Prior to their relationship with Blue Wheel, Monark had essentially executed zero digital advertising efforts.

Among many other marketing achievements, Blue Wheel’s work enhanced Monark’s visibility for desktop organically over 370% and mobile over 346% and obtained a 13% lift in leads year-over-year as well as a 105% increase in showroom web traffic.

Marygrove Awnings has been providing high-quality retractable awnings in Michigan for over 80 years. Through a robust series of marketing efforts, in 2017 Blue Wheel was able to increase online sales by 80%, contributing to Marygrove’s highest sales figures in their 80+year history that same year.

A heartfelt congratulations to everyone who was involved in the success of these campaigns!

Blue Wheel Wins Grand Stevie Award: Most Honored Interactive Agency 2017

Blue Wheel Media accepts The Grand Stevie Award for Most Honored Interactive Agency 2017! In addition, Blue Wheel was awarded three Gold Stevie Awards, including Small Company of the Year 2017, Online Marketing Campaign of the Year 2017, and Small-Budget Marketing Campaign of the Year 2017! The company also scored two Silver and four Bronze Stevie Awards.

The Stevie Awards are the world’s premier business awards, created in 2002 to honor and generate public recognition of the achievements and positive contributions of organizations and working professionals worldwide. Stevie Award judges include many of the world’s most respected executives, entrepreneurs, innovators, and business educators.

The Grand Stevie Award is the highest honor by the American Business Awards and cannot be applied for directly. Winners are determined by a points system based on the total number of awards won in the American Business Awards, with a Gold Stevie win counting for 3 points, a Silver Stevie for 2 points, and a Bronze Stevie counting for 1.5. In order to be recognized, the winners must have significant achievements to proclaim by capturing the interest and appreciation of those achievements by the judges in their nominations. “Interactive Agency” is defined as an agency offering a mix of Web design/development, Internet advertising/marketing, or E-Business/E-Commerce consulting.

Blue Wheel Media’s Gold Stevie Award for Company of the Year in the Advertising, Marketing & Public Relations, Small categories is also a significant win, demonstrating the company’s success and expansion in 2016, including the following: doubling company revenue; adding two dozen new clients; expanding to an NYC office; accounting for significant growth in new and current client campaigns; receiving awards in multiple Platinum and Gold categories by Hermes Creative Awards and MarCom Awards; and giving back to the community through pro-bono work and donations.

The other two Gold Stevie Awards involve Blue Wheel’s work with a leading bedding company claimed both the Online Marketing Campaign of the Year and Small-Budget (<$3M) Marketing Campaign of the Year by bringing their core value proposition to the forefront. The campaign ultimately increased conversion rates and revenue while driving significant traffic to the website: unique site visitors increased by 500%+ with top-line revenue increasing by 300%+ into 2017.

The full list of Steve 2017 awards include:

  • Gold: Company of the Year, Advertising, Marketing & Public Relations,Small – Blue Wheel Media
  • Gold: Online Marketing Campaign of the Year
  • Gold: Small-Budget Marketing Campaign of the Year (<$3 million)
  • Silver: Marketing Campaign of the Year, RetailSilver: Website, Retail
  • Bronze: Website, Financial Services – Billhighway
  • Bronze: Website, Non-Profit Organizations – Motor City Open
  • Bronze: Website, Consumer Products, Durables
  • Bronze: Website, Business Services – WellNet

Congratulations to everyone who was involved in these efforts!

Instagram Promotion Scams & How To Avoid Them

Congratulations, Instagram junkies! Your faithful iPhone photography and unprecedented user engagement have led to a wealth of new and exciting opportunities for you to take advantage of… ahem… I mean, for you to be taken advantage of.

You know the old adage about how a deal that’s too good to be true probably is? Oh, you don’t? Well, that explains why such an alarming amount of you are falling for the latest wave of Instagram scams. Huge brands promising ridiculous giveaways that they could never fulfill, all in exchange for a little Instagram love: a shout-out here, a follow there, picture comments everywhere. Be one of the first 20,000 to spread “British Airway’s” holiday giveaway to your feed and voilà! You and a loved one are flying to London. FOR FREE.

Yes, you read that correctly. 20,000 OF US ARE GETTING TWO FREE TICKETS TO LONDON JUST FOR TAKING A SCREENSHOT OF AN INSTAGRAM PROFILE, POSTING IT TO OUR ACCOUNT AND JAMMING UP OUR FOLLOWERS’ FEEDS, SOME OF WHOM WILL BE AS NAÏVE AS US AND ALSO SHOUT-OUT THE PROFILE, PERPETUATING THE CYCLE UNTIL EVERYONE WE KNOW ON INSTAGRAM IS IN LONDON (FOR FREE), PARTYING TOGETHER IN REAL LIFE AND POSTING PICTURES OF IT ON INSTAGRAM…

ARE. YOU. KIDDING. ME?

Ok, ok… as the caps lock guy, I apologize… Let’s compose ourselves and break down exactly what’s wrong with this picture.

For the sake of discussion, we’ll assume these Instagram scams are actually legitimate promotions.

Why would a company do this?

A. ‘Tis the season.
B. The company is making too much money and is looking for a way to lose its ass on a half-cocked promotion.
C. To gain publicity and boost the brand’s social presence.

Of course the answer is C. So, if a company is trying to grow its digital fan base, why would it use an account that has little-to-no existing content (a company with one photo on its Instagram is not a company that is going use Instagram for a giant promotion), NO company links or contact info, and most importantly, NO actual information about the giveaway? Which brings us to our next question. This one is a simple yes or no.

Isn’t it strange that there are no rules, regulations, or legalities for a giveaway that will cost the company at least a quarter of a million dollars?

A. YES
B. NO

If you answered B, thank you, but our time together has come to a close. Please follow this link far, far away.

If you do, on the other hand, find this suspicious now that you think about it, congratulations! We’re getting somewhere. How often do you encounter the legal fine print on a promotion or giveaway? Every single time — if the company is legitimate. Because giving away a ton of product as a promotion is one thing. Leaving yourself legally culpable if the giveaway somehow goes awry… well, that’s quite another. A legitimate company would rather staff a legal department or outsource to a company like ePrize that specializes in knowing how to close loop-holes and run the red tape.
Ok, one last question:

This giveaway could be real, so what’s the harm in trying to win just in case?

A. No harm!
B. No harm! Unless you count looking like a bozo on Instagram.
C. In the event that this giveaway is not real (spoiler alert: it’s not), you are leaving yourself open to being scammed at a future time… and you look like a bozo on Instagram.

Once again, the correct answer is C. As we saw six months ago in a similar Instagram scam, luring users in with promises of big rewards is merely step one. From there, the charade will continue as the scammers solicit names, email addresses, and if they’re lucky (and you were born yesterday), personal information, as a technicality before they can “send your prize.”
It’s still unclear exactly what’s motivating this latest string of Instagram scams. But this much is clear: thousands of people are falling for them. Don’t be one of them.

As Instagram continues to demand more digital marketing attention from companies large and small, the amount of Instagram-based contests will undoubtedly increase. As will the number of complete and utter scams. So, next time you encounter an Instagram giveaway, consider the following:

  • Does the company profile look totally legitimate, or does something seem suspicious?
  • Is the contest surprisingly easy to win?
  • Are there actual contest rules and legal fine print?
  • Is the prize value relative to the task required to enter? (In other words, is the company giving away a $5 gift card or a brand new iPad for an Instagram shout-out?)
  • And finally, the most important question of all: is it too good to be true? Because it probably is.