Patent Application
20190034979
This application claims priority to U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 62/537,698, filed on Jul. 27, 2017, which is hereby incorporated by reference herein in its entirety.
Embodiments of the present invention relate to systems, methods, and applications or social media advertisement and marketing management and more particularly for such systems, methods, and applications involving tracking of activity.
With the advent of mobile technology and the growth of social media, advertising and marketing has been shifting away from traditional media outlets, such as television and radio, to more modem media outlets, such as social media (e.g., Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, etc.) and media content services (e.g., YouTube, etc.). Accordingly, traditional forms of marketing and advertising are not effective in reaching and marketing to the consumers of these newer forms media. Social media has allowed for individuals of fame to promote and market products, with social media postings of such individuals having the potential to reach a wide audience and potentially be re-shared, thereby going “viral”. However, making arrangement for product promotion can be unduly cumbersome, particularly for individuals with lower levels of fame for whom it may not be worth seeking out access to social media marketing arrangements.
The present invention addresses the above-described deficiencies as well as other deficiencies associated with the prior art. In various aspects of the present invention, systems, methods and applications for social media advertisement and marketing management are provided in which a user is provided with, for browsing purposes, a plurality of advertisements relating to products and/or services, a selected advertisement is received from the user, and a unique advertisement and/or referral link associated with the user and the user selection is generated and provided to the user, and activity associated with the unique advertisement and/or referral link is tracked. The unique advertisement and/or referral link may be posted, and may be posted automatically, to one or a plurality of social media platforms, including blogs.
These as well as other features of the present invention will become more apparent upon reference to the drawings wherein:
Embodiments of the present invention generally relate to a network-based advertisement management system that can facilitate advertising and marketing through social media platforms. Although embodiments of the present invention are described with respect to systems and methods for managing advertising and marketing on social media platforms, the systems and methods described herein are not limited thereto, and can be applicable to managing advertising and marketing through other media.
According to an embodiment of the present invention, a data store (i.e., database) including one or more (and preferably a plurality of) advertisements is provided for a plurality of, for example, various goods and services. Unique advertisements for each of the plurality of goods and services can be generated and provided and placed on social media platforms, including, but not limited to blogs. For example, a user can utilize is certain embodiments of the present invention (e.g., through a mobile or web-based application) to browse, select and request an advertisement relating to a certain product or service. According to one embodiment, the data store of one or more advertisements for the plurality of goods and services being offered may include a description for each of the plurality goods and/or services, image(s) and/or video(s) and/or other media content (e.g. explorable environment(s) or interactive game(s))of the advertisement that would be provided, and an incentive for the user for placing the advertisement in the user's social media platforms and/or media content providers (e.g., YouTube, Vimeo, Periscope, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, etc.) in order to allow others to view the advertisement in an effort to make it go “viral.” For example, the user may be offered a reward or a monetary incentive for each good and/or service purchased through the user's uniquely generated advertisement. The incentive may also be non-monetary, for example, a physical or experiential or service reward or rank or access level or a public honor. According to another embodiment, the user may be offered a reward or a monetary incentive for each instance the unique advertisement is posted to a social media platform.
Upon the user's selection of an advertisement, a unique advertisement can be generated and provided to the user. In certain embodiments, the user may select multiple advertisements and opt for the unique advertisements being generated (and/or automatically posted) simultaneously or sequentially or according to a defined schedule. According to one embodiment, the advertisement can include a unique identifier or other unique information associating the advertisement that was generated with the specific user who requested the advertisement. For example, each user may be assigned a unique code that is included in each referral link associated with or embedded in the various unique advertisements generated at the behest of the user, or each unique advertisement may be assigned a unique code that is stored in a server's memory as being associated with the particular user at whose behest the unique advertisement was generated. Accordingly, every user would have a unique advertisement associated with the user to allow for tracking of activity associated with each unique advertisement. According to another embodiment, a referral link with identifier can also or alternatively be generated, for example for use by the user on a blog. The user can then post the generated unique advertisement and/or referral link to one or more of the user's social media platforms, such as Facebook Twitter, Instragram, LinkedIn, Snapchat, Pinterest, Google+ etc. and/or media content providers (e.g., YouTube, Vimeo, Periscope, etc.), which shall also be understood to be social media platforms. For example, the user may post the advertisement in his/her social media feed, post the advertisement in his/her media content provider channel post a link to the advertisement, send it to his/her subscribers, contacts, or friends via direct and/or private message, send it to subscribers, contacts, or friends via email, post it in a friend's or contact's comments section, respond to a friend's or contact's post with the advertisement, etc. According to certain exemplary embodiments, the advertisement may be automatically posted and/or posted by the user in the social media platforms linked to the advertisement database.
After the advertisement has been posted, other users viewing the advertisement can click (or tap) on the advertisement to be directed to a site or a portal where the goods and/or services can be purchased. Other users viewing the advertisement may also “like” the advertisement. Further, embodiments of the present invention can maintain real-time tracking of the activity associated with each generated unique advertisement. For example, the “activity” that can be tracked according to an embodiment of the present invention may include one or more of the number of views, click-throughs, purchases, likes, etc. associated with each unique advertisement. According to an embodiment, this “activity” can be tracked in real-time. Further, embodiments of the present invention can also track any incentive offered to the user or a particular advertisement in real-time as well. Accordingly, a user would be able to see the accumulation of any incentives he/she is set to receive based on activity associated with his/her unique advertisement. Embodiments of the present invention can also facilitate payment of the incentive 116. For example, payment can be made in the form of rewards, coupons, or monetary payments. The payment of the incentives can be made automatically (e.g., one-time payment, periodically, etc.) to any accounts (e.g., a bank account, PayPal, Venmo, Square, etc.) linked to the user.
As shown in
In certain embodiments, the user can select from amongst the social media posting options 113, such as by tapping or clicking on them. Again, the selected one or ones may be visually indicated as selected, for example with a checkmark or different coloration. In certain embodiments, only social media options 113 with which the user has been connected are shown and/or selectable. In certain embodiments, the user may be limited to selecting a single image or video, while in other embodiments, the user may be able to select multiple for simultaneous inclusion in the generated advertisement. The user may select the post button 114 to automatically post to the selected social media, which in certain embodiments, may post simultaneously to a plurality of selected social media.
An incentive 116 to the user may be displayed on this screen for the product advertisement 110, specified for example as a monetary or percentage or proportion price per consummated sale or post. A pie chart may, in certain embodiments, be used to indicate the percentage or proportion.
The user may search within, or sort, the various product advertisements 110, for example by name or by vendor or supplier (e.g. a user may request to see only Black & Decker or air freshener products, or to sort by vendor name or product category).
The additional information link 115 may display more detailed information regarding the particular product advertisement 110, for example as discussed below in connection with
In certain embodiments, the description 121 may be removed at the user's option from the ultimate user-specific advertisement, for example by clicking or tapping removal button 122. In certain embodiments, the user is not given the option to modify is the description 121. This may advantageously streamline the process and allow vendors or operators of the system to control which messages accompany advertisements. However, in other embodiments, the user may be given an option to modify the description 121, for example via an edit link and/or button, with that modified description becoming part of the ultimate user-specific advertisement.
The textual editing portion 230 may allow the administrator to modify the product to name, the associated URL, the unique item ID, the order in which the product is shown to users, the description or a custom description (for example, customized for particular users), and the vendor. The textual editing portion 230 may also allow the administrator to select whether the product is active (that is, shown to users and/or selectable by users). Although not shown, the administrator may also select details pertaining to the as incentive 116, such as its numerical amount or proportion or whether it is per post or per sale or per some other metric.
Product variation listing 231 provides for the administrator to create different uniquely identified and/or titled variant offers for the product, to select or keep track of the SKU, the number of advertisements available or products salable under the variation, the price, and/or unique URLs per variant. Different variations may be created for different users, for example based on their account level. Details pertaining to the incentive 116 may also be selected for these variants
Assets section 232 provides for different content, such as photos and/or videos, to be uploaded and selected for use in connection with various product advertisements 110. The order in which the content is shown may also be selected by the administrator, as well as whether the content is currently active or not. A description may be included, to be displayed to the user in association with the content and/or for the administrator's tracking purposes. A sources button may open up an interface allowing for the content to be obtained from, or selectable for use by the user only in connection with, specific social media sites. Content may also be uploaded directly by the administrator to the system.
In one embodiment, there is a method for social media advertisement and marketing management including: providing, using a computer processor coupled to a data store and in communication through the Internet with a client device accessible to a user, a plurality of advertisements stored in the data store for browsing by the user on the client device; receiving a selection of an advertisement by the user; generating a unique advertisement associated with the user based on the selected advertisement; and tracking activity associated with the unique advertisement.
In an additional embodiment, the method involves connecting the user with a social media platform; and automatically posting the unique advertisement on the social media platform on behalf of the user.
In yet an additional embodiment, the method involves connecting the user with a plurality of social media platforms; receiving an indication from the user, from amongst the plurality of social media options, of at least one social media platform; and automatically posting the unique advertisement on the at least one social media platform. In a further embodiment, the indication from the user of the at least one social media platform is an indication of a plurality of social media platforms, and the unique advertisement is simultaneously automatically posted on the plurality of social media platforms.
In one more embodiment, the method involves the plurality of advertisements including advertisements for different vendors. In a further embodiment, the method further involves allowing the user to search the plurality of advertisements by vendor.
In yet another embodiment, the method involves allowing the user to search the plurality of advertisements by name.
In an additional embodiment, the method involves offering, over the network, a monetary or non-monetary incentive to the user for generating a sale through the unique advertisement; tracking incentives earned by the user as part of the tracking of activity associated with the unique advertisement, receiving, over the network, an indication from the user of how the user would like to receive the incentives earned by the user; and delivering the incentives earned by the user to the user. In a further embodiment, the method involves providing the user with an interface, on the client device, for graphically reviewing, by selectable time period, the incentives earned by the user.
In another embodiment, the method involves allowing the user to browse, on the client device, a plurality of content associated with the selected advertisement; and receiving an indication from the user, from amongst the plurality of content, of at least one piece of content, where the unique advertisement includes the indicated content. In a further embodiment, the plurality of content includes a plurality of photos and/or videos.
In an embodiment, the indication from the user of at least one piece of content includes an indication of a plurality of pieces of content. In a further embodiment, the indication of a plurality of pieces of content includes an indication of a plurality of photos and/or videos. In one more embodiment, the method involves connecting the user with a plurality of social media platforms receiving an indication from the user, from amongst the plurality of social media options, of at least one social media platform; and automatically posting the unique advertisement on the at least one social media platform. In a further embodiment, the indication from the user of the at least one social media platform is an indication of a plurality of social media platforms, and the unique advertisement is simultaneously automatically posted on the plurality of social media platforms.
In an embodiment, the method involves allowing the user to review, on the client device, a textual description; and receiving an indication from the user of whether to include the description, where the unique advertisement selectively includes the textual description based on the user's indication.
In yet one more embodiment, the method involves allowing the user to review and modify, on the client device, a textual description, where the unique advertisement includes the textual description as modified by the user.
In another embodiment, there is a method for social media advertisement and marketing management including: providing, using a computer processor coupled to a data store and in communication through the Internet with a client device accessible to a user, a plurality of advertisements stored in the data store for browsing by the user on the client device; receiving a selection of an advertisement by the user; generating a referral link associated with the user based on the selected advertisement; and tracking activity associated with the referral link. In a further embodiment, the method involves offering, over the network, a monetary or non-monetary incentive to the user for generating a sale through the referral link; tracking incentives earned by the user as part of the tracking, of activity associated with the referral link; receiving, over the network, an indication from the user of how the user would like to receive the incentives earned by the user; and delivering the incentives earned by the user to the user.
In another embodiment, there is a social media advertisement and marketing management system including, (a) a date store containing a plurality of advertisements; and (b) a computer processor coupled to the data store and in communication through the Internet with a client device accessible to a user, the computer processor programmed to provide, over the Internet, the plurality of advertisements to the client device for browsing by the user, further programmed to receive a selection of an advertisement by the user, further programmed to generate a unique advertisement associated with the user based on the selected advertisement, and further programmed to track activity associated with the unique advertisement.
The embodiments and examples shown above are illustrative, and many variations can be introduced to them without departing from the spirit of the disclosure. For example, elements and/or features of different illustrative and exemplary embodiments herein may be combined with each other and/or substituted with each other within the scope of the disclosure. For a better understanding of the disclosure, reference should be had to any accompanying drawings and descriptive matter in which there is illustrated exemplary embodiments of the present invention.
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 62537698 | Jul 2017 | US |
