Diageo on client content and Facebook ref fall – Content24

Welcome to Content24. Why is it different? Because it’s a digest of the stories that have made an impact over the past 24 hours, and not just a platform for recycled content marketing. Today we’re looking at Diageo and falling numbers for Facebook

Diageo embraces Hollywood

Dan Sanborn, Diageo’s vice-president of entertainment marketing, speaks about tie-ups between brands and film and publishing companies. Although this piece is partly about product placement, Sanborn makes some interesting comments about the challenges companies face when trying to produce their own content.

Asked about the rise of adblockers, Sanborn says their existence is proof that marketing needs to change. The same is equally true of digital recorders, which are “forcing brands to be clear on what the purpose and culture is and demanding that we do interesting and creative things”.

He also states that the replacement of an ad-funded media with a subscription-based system is providing more opportunities for marketers to be creative. But at the same time they will have to relinquish some of their previous control and “realise they don’t have all the answers”.

Facebook redirects to publishers falls by 32 per cent

According to new figures from analytics specialist SimpleReach, referral traffic to publishers from Facebook has fallen 32 per cent since January. And that was only the average. The research found that the greater the publisher’s reliance on Facebook the bigger the loss. Some saw falls of as much as 42 per cent.

This comes despite recent initiatives by Facebook to bring in more publishers.

They include Facebook Instant, which allows publishers to put adverts on the page and takes advantage of Facebook’s faster load time from mobile.

The figures are interesting because an important requirement for Facebook – and other social media – is to help bring traffic to your own platform or sales channel. Otherwise you’re simply providing Facebook with free content. Instant only works because it allows brands to run their own ads.

There is little understanding of why this is happening. However one publisher said that it could be down to a change in user habits. They said that people are referring more articles through text or email, which could affect the figures.