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MKTG 3825: Digital Marketing

Fall 2012Syllabus
Professor Laura Kornish
kornish@colorado.edu @laurakornish http://www.facebook.com/laurakornish
KOBL 479 Office Hours Tuesday 12:40-1:40 and by appointment


Course Description
Digital marketing is an exciting area of marketing practice. In this course, we will cover the what, why,
and how of major current approaches, including online listening and monitoring, search engine
optimization, search ads, email marketing, and participating in social media. In addition to those specific
topics, three key messages are woven throughout the course. First, establish habits for keeping up to
date on emerging digital technologies relevant to business and to marketing. Second, rise to the
challenge of developing strategy to guide tactics. Third, identify data sources that allow you to define
and track performance indicators for your digital marketing activities. The course is designed to get you
to think like a digital marketing professional, and to give you experience with industry-relevant hands-on
assignments and exercises.

Course Materials
The course materials will primarily be posted on D2L.

In addition, there are several Harvard Business Publishing cases to purchase online. The link to those
cases will be posted in D2L.

Prerequisites
The prerequisite for this class is the BCOR Marketing class (BCOR 2400).

Evaluation Components (1000 points total)
Assignments = 500 points total
Listening Assignment, 75 points
Driving Traffic Assignment, 150 points
Ethical Code Assignment, 75 points
Case Study, 200 points

Class participation and attendance = 100 points total
Attendance, 50 points
Class participation, 50 points

Exams = 400 points total
Midterm exam 1, 100 points
Midterm exam 2, 100 points
Final exam, 200 points


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Attendance and Class Participation/Contribution
Attendance is worth 50 points in your grade. For each of the 28 class sessions after the first week of
class, you receive 2 points for on time attendance, up to a total of 50 points. That means you can miss
three classes during the semester without attendance penalty.

If you have to miss class, you do not need to let me know. Absences are not excused or unexcused.
If you do miss, it is your responsibility to ask a classmate what you missed, to get all the relevant
information from a classmate, and to make sure you complete any assignments. If you ask me, I am
going to miss class, is there anything I need to do? I will know you have not read this section!

Class participation is worth an additional 50 points, determined at the end of the semester. Here are the
questions I ask myself to evaluate class participation. Did this student
Attend class?
Come prepared for class?
Actively participate in class?
Contribute to the classroom learning experience of his/her classmates?
Interact in a pleasant and professional manner?
Refrain from asking for exceptions to course policies?
Adhere to the no electronics policy?

Some of the 50 points can be earned in full for various in-class and class preparation activities. Those
opportunities will be announced during the semester.

Major Course Learning Objectives
1. Establish habits for keeping up to date on emerging digital technologies. Develop creative ideas
and convincing arguments about how those innovations will extend current marketing practices
and enable entirely new ways of creating value.
2. Write actionable objectives for digital marketing initiatives.
3. Be able to find out what people are saying about a brand or company online and communicate
the messages in the data. Adopt best practices in graphical displays of information.
4. Learn how to use web site analytics tools and know how to interpret the data.
5. Know the major online advertising approaches and be able to make a case for whether an
approach is appropriate and how success will be judged.
6. Recommend keywords for websites and search ads based on search behavior research and
competitive analysis.
7. Be able to advise a company about how to improve their search ranking through search engine
optimization (SEO) best practices.
8. Gain experience driving traffic to a website, critically evaluating what was effective and what
was not.
9. Know the fundamentals of running search ad campaigns and interpreting their results.
10. Develop your own personal code of ethics surrounding digital marketing activities.
11. Improve your proficiency with Excel spreadsheets, including absolute ($) and relative references
for dragging formulas; =SUM(), =COUNT(), =VLOOKUP() and other functions; cell references to
other tabs in a worksheet; Pivot Tables; and graphing.


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Electronics policy
Unless otherwise stated, please do not use your computers, phones, or other portable electronic devices
during class. I understand that computers can be useful for note taking, but I have found the use of
electronics in class to detract from the classroom environment. I post the slides before most classes, and
I encourage you to bring print-outs to class to take notes. There will be specific times when I will ask you
to do something on a computer or device, but I will be very clear about the times those times.

Late Assignments
Grades on late assignments will be reduced by 10% of the full assignment points for each day an
assignment is late. Late days are counted starting from the due date and time (an assignment 2 hours
late is one day late; an assignment 26 hours late is 2 days late, etc.). All days, including weekends and
holidays, count.

Missed Exams
I do not give make-up exams. If you miss one of the midterm exams due to a documented emergency,
your final exam grade will count for the missed exam. If you miss the final exam, you will receive an
incomplete in the course.

Honor Code
All students of the University of Colorado at Boulder are responsible for knowing and adhering to the
academic integrity policy of this institution. Violations of this policy may include: cheating, plagiarism,
aid of academic dishonesty, fabrication, lying, bribery, and threatening behavior. All incidents of
academic misconduct shall be reported to the Honor Code Council (honor@colorado.edu; 303-735-
2273). Students who are found to be in violation of the academic integrity policy will be subject to both
academic sanctions from the faculty member and non-academic sanctions (including but not limited to
university probation, suspension, or expulsion). Other information on the Honor Code can be found at
http://www.colorado.edu/policies/honor.html and at http://honorcode.colorado.edu/.

Disability Services
If you qualify for accommodations because of a disability, please submit to me a letter from Disability
Services in a timely manner so that your needs can be addressed. Disability Services determines
accommodations based on documented disabilities. Contact: 303-492-8671, Center for Community
N200, and http://www.colorado.edu/disabilityservices.



Provisional Schedule: see D2L for Official Schedule
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Provisional Course Schedule
Please see D2L for the official course schedule, along with detailed information about what to prepare
for class.

Date Topic(s)
Section 1: Course Introduction and Digital Marketing Strategy
Aug 28 Course Overview; Thinking like a digital marketing professional
Aug 30 Case: Dellenbach Motors
Sep 4 The Digital Revolution in Media Industriesand Whos Next?
Sep 6 Introduction to Digital Marketing Strategy
Sep 11 Case: eTown
Sep 13 Digital Marketing Strategy and Target Markets
Section 2: Digital Listening and Learning
Sep 18 Intro to Section 2/Listening
Sep 20 Company Fair
Sep 25 Website Workshop
Sep 27 Web Analytics
Oct 2 More on Web Analytics
Oct 4 Guest speaker: Dave Underwood, CU Academic Technology Consulting
Oct 9 Midterm Exam 1
Oct 11 Due date for Listening Assignment
Section 3: Reaching Audiences through Digital Channels and Search
Oct 16 Online Advertising
Due date to submit your link for the Driving Traffic Assignment
Oct 18 Case: eBay Partner Network (A), HBS 9-910-008
Oct 23 Email Marketing
Oct 25 Case: Groupon, HBS 9-511-094
Oct 30 Search Ads
Nov 1 Interpreting the Results of Search Ads
Due date for posting Ethical Dilemma to D2L
Nov 6 Case: Air France Internet Marketing, KEL319
Nov 8 Search Engine Optimization
Due date for Ethical Code Assignment
Nov 13 SEO, continued
Nov 15 Midterm Exam 2
Thanksgiving Break
Section 4: Building Value through Digital Interaction
Nov 27 Social Media
Nov 29 Trust, Privacy, and Ethics
Dec 4 Case: The Ford Fiesta, HBS 9-511-117
Section 5: Course Wrap-Up
Dec 6 More Excel Exercises . Due date for Case Study
Dec 9 Last day to count traffic for the Driving Traffic assignment.
Dec 11 Discussion of Student Case Studies
Dec 13 Wrap-up/ Due date for Driving Traffic Assignment
Exam Final Exam Date and time TBA
Provisional Schedule: see D2L for Official Schedule
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MKTG 3825: Digital Marketing
Fall 2012
Professor Laura Kornish


Section 1: Course Introduction and Digital Marketing Strategy

Class 1. (Aug 28)
Course Overview
My primary goal for the first class is to get you to start thinking like a digital marketing professional.
Digital marketers approach their jobs with a curiosity about how new technologies will change business,
with an insistence that strategy drive tactics, and with a data-driven mindset. We will also discuss the
course assignments so you will have a good sense of what you will be doing in this course. Finally, I will
explain the course policy about the use of electronic devices.

Class 2. (Aug 30)
Case: Dellenbach Motors
This case study was written by Shaun Elley, a student in MKTG 3825 last year.

Prepare
1. Read the Dellenbach Motors case and come prepared to discuss the following questions:
From what is described in the case, how would you summarize the Dellenbach brand in one
sentence?
Shaun writes, Traditionally Dellenbach does not like to get much attention for these things,
because they do not want people to think that they only do it for the good publicity, however I
believe they should try to show this side a bit more (p. 3).
o Do you agree with his opinion?
o Looking in current media, find two examples of companies that have used social media
to share community involvement efforts. Identify one that is in poor or marginal taste
and one that is in good taste (in your opinion, of course). Do one of the following:
Upload one PDF file with screenshots of your examples to D2L before class
(name your file lastname-second-day-examples.pdf, where lastname is your last
name), or
Bring hard copies of screenshots of your examples to class. If you bring hard
copies, staple them together and write your name and section time on the
copies. I will collect them.
What digital marketing techniques are mentioned in the case? Which ones are you familiar
with? Which ones do you have questions about? Can you think of other digital marketing
approaches a company like Dellenbach might use?
What could Dellenbach measure to determine whether their online marketing efforts are
working?

2. Skim the IBM report From Social Media to Social CRM (2011), focusing on the yellow-highlighted
portions. Come prepared to discuss the following question:
What advice for Dellenbach do you have based on the report?



Provisional Schedule: see D2L for Official Schedule
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Class 3. (Sep 4)
The Digital Revolution in Media Industriesand Whos Next?
Media industriesbooks, magazines, newspapers, music, and moreplay multiple roles in the
marketing world: they serve as channels for delivery of marketing messages and they also face their own
marketing challenges. In todays class we will look at how digital technologies have transformed these
industries. We will also discuss some emerging technologies and explore implications for other, less-
obviously-digital industries.

Prepare
1. Read pp. 1-8 and middle of p. 11 middle of p. 13 in the case The News Industrys Painful
Transition to the Digital Age (i.e., you can skip the sections called New Approaches in a
Changing World and Discussion Questions). Come prepared to discuss the following
questions:
a. How is the threat to newspapers from the Internet the same as, and how is it different
from, the earlier threats from radio and then television?
b. What were the three traditional sources of revenue for newspapers? What happened to
each of them?
2. Read the WSJ articles What to Do When Attacked by Pirates (6/1/12), New Home for
Computer Screens: The Face (5/22/12), and Screens Get a Place at the Table (5/30/12).
Come prepared to discuss the following questions:
a. What is the book industry doing better than the music industry did?
b. Do you think the technologies in the The Face and The Table articles will catch on?
In what industries other than the ones mentioned?
3. Optional: Read Chris Anderson: What I Read, The Atlantic Wire, August 2010.
4. Fill out the media habits form and bring a hard copy to class.

Class 4. (Sep 6)
Introduction to Digital Marketing Strategy
Examples of segmentation, targeting, and positioning.
Hierarchies of objectives.

Prepare
1. Read the posted excerpts from the OutdoorSolarStore.com case.
2. Read the posted excerpts from the PoshSplat case.
3. Read the Green Garage caselet. We will be spending time in class developing answers to the
discussion questions at the end, so take a look at them, but you don't need to come to class with
polished answers.


Provisional Schedule: see D2L for Official Schedule
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Class 5. (Sep 11)
Case: eTown
eTown is a Boulder-based non-profit organization, dedicated to music and social causes. They put on a
live show every week and produce a widely distributed radio show from it. In this case, we will look at
the challenges and opportunities that they face due to the changing digital landscape.

Prepare
1. Come prepared to discuss the questions in the last section of the case.
a. For question 1: come prepared to share three or more ideas for digital marketing tactics
that you think eTown should try. How do your ideas support eTowns goals?
b. For question 2: should eTown go after the younger age group? Why or why not? How
can they do it?
c. For question 3: come prepared to share one way in which the non-profit status does not
matter to strategy formulation and one way that it does.
2. Optional but recommended: listen to a podcast of eTown.
3. Bring a computer with Excel to class today.

Class 6. (Sep 13)
Digital Marketing Strategy and Target Markets
Two technology-relevant lenses for target markets:
o Technology adoption life cycle (TALC).
o Groundswell technographics.

Prepare
1. If we didnt finish the Excel exercises last time, bring your computers again.
2. Read the Chasm Notes (a synopsis of the main points of Crossing the Chasm by Geoffrey
Moore, 2002). Pages 1-3 are most relevant. You can skim pages 4-5.
3. Read the slides that give the overview of social technographic categorization, from the book
Groundswell by Charlene Li and Josh Bernoff:
http://www.slideshare.net/jbernoff/social-technographics-explained



Provisional Schedule: see D2L for Official Schedule
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Section 2: Digital Listening and Learning

Class 7. (Sep 18)
Intro to Section 2/Listening
Introduction to Section 2 of the course
Market research on the weblistening to, analyzing, and presenting the information
o Introduce Listening Assignment
Prep for company fair

Prepare
1. Read the Listening Assignment and come prepared to ask questions.
2. Read about Nielsens BuzzMetrics Services at
http://www.nielsen-online.com/products_buzz.jsp?section=pro_buzz
3. On information graphics:
a. Read Effectively Communicating Numbers (Few):
http://www.perceptualedge.com/articles/Whitepapers/Communicating_Numbers.pdf
b. Read this post on Data Graphics (Ulrich):
https://wharton.instructure.com/courses/140948/wiki/data-graphics
c. Read Things that Make Us SMART (Norman), pp. 55-65, 93-100.
d. Read about Tuftes concept of data-to-ink ratio at
http://www.infovis-wiki.net/index.php/Data-Ink_Ratio
e. Optional: Read some of the recent posts at the Junk Charts blog
http://junkcharts.typepad.com/
f. Optional, but fun:
Check out the OKCupid blog, which makes excellent use of infographics based on data
from their online dating site. (Warning: PG-13.)
http://blog.okcupid.com/

Class 8. (Sep 20)
Company Fair
Today we will meet in the atrium of Koelbel. Companies with connections to digital marketingboth
agency/providers and clientswill be there to talk to you about
a. What part of the digital marketing space they are in and what they do (for agency/providers),
and/or
b. What kind of digital marketing techniques they use,
c. Whether they may have internships available, and/or
d. How you might do one of the course assignments with them (Listening, Driving Traffic, or Case
Study).

Come prepared to ask intelligent and genuine questions.
Dress somewhere in the range of not sloppy to business casual.

You will fill out a worksheet as you talk to our guests. Hand it in to me before you leave.


Provisional Schedule: see D2L for Official Schedule
9

Class 9. (Sep 25)
Website Workshop
Today you need to bring a computer to class.

Before this class, I will need to add you as a collaborator on the leedsdigitalmarketing.com website. I will
ask you for either a gmail address or an email address for which you have a google account set up.

In class you will be creating a page on this site; I will give a demo in class on how to use Google Sites.
Then, over the weekend, you will drive some traffic to the page and next week we will look at the results
of the traffic.

Prepare
1. Bring a computer to class today.
2. Come prepared with an idea about what you will put on your page on the site. It must be a PG
(or G) topic! Please, no reviews of the Boulder bar scene.

Class 10. (Sep 27)
Web Analytics
Today we will be looking inside Google Analytics. Before class, ensure that you have access to the
leedsdigitalmarketing Google Analytics account. (Log into analytics.google.com with the gmail
address/google account you told me about and make sure you see the leedsdigitalmarketing listed.) We
will look at what can be trackedhow and why, conversions and funnels, and ecommerce tracking.

Prepare
1. Before class, make sure you have access to the Google Analytics for the leedsdigitalmarketing.
2. Bring a computer to class today.
3. To familiarize yourself with Google Analytics (GA), watch this nine minute video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_qfG2d9etvk. [Note: this video gives the basic ideas, but it
shows the GA interface circa 2011; GA got a facelift this year.]
4. If you want to read more about GA, check out the resources at
http://www.google.com/analytics/discover_analytics.html.

Class 11. (Oct 2)
More on Analytics
Today we'll look in more depth at some of the metrics that can be tracked using Analytics data, focusing
on the calculations.

Prepare
1. Do the exercises on calculating conversion metrics using Analytics data. I distributed hard copies
of these exercises in the last class. We will be going over the solutions in class, so come
prepared to share your answers.

Class 12. (Oct 4)
Guest: Dave Underwood, from CU Academic Technology Consulting
Class 13. (Oct 9)
Midterm Exam 1

Provisional Schedule: see D2L for Official Schedule
10

Class 14. (Oct 11)
Listening Assignment Debrief
Yes, I know there is a night football game. And yes, we are having class today. First, we will debrief your
listening assignmentsyou will share your infographic with classmates. Second, if time allows, we will
do some in-class Excel exercises with listening data.

Prepare
1. Listening Assignment due. Upload electronic copies of your two-page PDF file and your data file
(an Excel file). And bring a hard copy of page 1 to class. If color is relevant to your image, please
try to print in color. Remember that your name should not show on your printout.
2. Bring a computer with Excel to class.


Section 3: Reaching Audiences through Digital Channels and Search

Class 15. (Oct 16)
Online Advertising
Today we will dive into the first topic in Section 3, online advertising. We will cover display advertising,
ad networks and exchanges, and retargeting. Later in this section of the course, we will cover paid and
organic search.

Prepare
1. Read this overview of Types of Online Advertising:
http://www.webadvantage.net/digital-marketing-services/online-media-buying-
planning/types-of-online-advertising
2. Read the posted collection of WSJ articles on online advertising:
a. Big Pop Seen for Online Ads (6/8/11)
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304432304576371901414867940.html
b. Google Readies New Local-Ad Assault (6/4/12)
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304821304577443371490403652.html
c. Facebook Seeks to Boost Revenue from Mobile Ads (6/5/12)
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303506404577448623777251052.html
3. Due date to email me your link for the Driving Traffic Assignment

Provisional Schedule: see D2L for Official Schedule
11

Class 16. (Oct 18)
Case: eBay Partner Network (A), HBS 9-910-008
The eBay Partner Network case is one of the four cases you purchased from the HBSP site.

In this case, we look at eBays use of an affiliate marketing program. At the time of the case, eBay was
deciding whether to continue to use Commission Junction, the largest affiliate network, to manage its
affiliate program, or to move the program in house.

Prepare
1. Come prepared to discuss the following questions:
What is an affiliate program?
Why would a site like eBay use one?
What are the major drawbacks of an affiliate program (to the website trying to market
itself)?
What are the key reasons that eBay should bring its affiliate program in house? What
are the key reasons that they should keep it outsourced?

Class 17. (Oct 23)
Email Marketing
Email marketing can be an effective way to stay in touch with customers and stakeholders. In this class,
we will talk about the key email marketing metrics and best practices.

Prepare
1. Read 10 Best Practices for Email Marketing, eMarketer, 2011.

Class 18. (Oct 25)
Case: Groupon, HBS 9-511-094
The Groupon case is one of the four cases you purchased from the HBSP site.

This case covers Groupon, which offers deeply discounted daily deals for merchants in geographic
markets. The case describes the incredible growth trajectory Groupon has followed and presents some
of the challenges to them in the future.

Prepare
1. Today I will ask you to fill out a form with some information about the topic of your Case Study.
2. Come prepared to discuss the following questions:
What is the value proposition that Groupon offers to merchants? What kind of
merchant especially benefits from that value proposition?
What are Groupons competitive advantages? Where are they competitively vulnerable?
In the last paragraphs of the case, Andrew Mason expresses his innovate or die
sentiments. What types of innovative approaches for Groupon are suggested in the
case? Which, if any, of these should they pursue?


Provisional Schedule: see D2L for Official Schedule
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Class 19. (Oct 30)
Search Ads
Today we will start talking about having a search-friendly digital presence. We will start by talking about
search ads, the sponsored links that show in search engines in response to search terms. Googles
system is called AdWords, and well cover how to set up campaigns, how the bidding system works, and
how to interpret the data.

We will be doing some exercises in class. I will bring hard copies of the handout. Please bring a
calculator.

Prepare
1. Read the following materials in the AdWords Learning Center at this URL:
http://support.google.com/adwords/?hl=en
Read the Setup and basics section and the Manage ads section.
2. Read the following posts from the Trada blog:
a. http://www.trada.com/blog/mistakes-you-will-make-in-paid-search/
b. http://www.trada.com/blog/conversion-rate-killers-part-1/
c. http://www.trada.com/blog/conversion-killers-part-2/


Class 20. (Nov 1)
More on Interpreting the Results of Search Ads
Today we will cover more about interpreting the results of search ads. I will be showing you how to
interpret the results of search ad campaigns using Excel. There will be a handout posted and distributed
for the in-class exercises. If you are really anxious about Excel, look at the posted handout before class,
and if you want to come by my office earlier in the week and get a head start, let me know.

To do the in-class exercises, you will need the spreadsheet with the complete set of Dorje Designs data.
(We looked at a bit of that data last class.) I will also get you started analyzing the data for the AirFrance
case; we will continue that analysis and discuss the case next class.

Prepare
1. If we didn't finish going over the pencil-and-paper calculations from the Dorje Designs example
last class, make sure you have them done so we can go over them at the beginning of class.
2. Bring a computer with Excel to class today.
3. If you want to get a headstart on some of the Excel demos I will do in class, you can watch the
videos posted in D2L. (You can also watch them after class instead of before; or both!) The
videos show demonstrations with the Air France data on Excel 2010 for PCs. When you click the
video links, it should open in a new browser window. Flash is not generally supported on
iPhones and iPads, so I don't think the video will show on those devices. There are four videos:
VLOOKUP (3:00), Pivot Table creation (1:43), CPC calculation in the Pivot Table (2:11), ROA
calculation in the Pivot Table (2:21).
4. Due date for posting Ethical Dilemma to D2L


Provisional Schedule: see D2L for Official Schedule
13

Class 21. (Nov 6)
Case: Air France Internet Marketing, KEL319
The Air France case is one of the four cases you purchased from the HBSP site.

This case gives you a chance to examine data from four search ad channels that Air France was using
circa 2007: Google, Yahoo, MSN and Kayak. Your job is to recommend how each of these channels
should be used. The spreadsheet with the data is posted.

The real meat of this case is the data analysis. The text of case provides some context, but a lot of the
text can be skimmed and some even skipped. For example, the "Air France" section on p. 2 and "The
Airline Industry and Its Competitive Landscape" on pp. 2-3 is background information, and you can skip
it or at most skim it. It's interesting but not highly relevant to the case discussion we will have. The
section called "Media Contacts and Its Partners," starting on the bottom of p. 6, continuing to the
middle of p. 11 can be skimmed. Don't skip it entirely--it gives some background on each of the
platforms (or "publishers"), but the details are not essential to analyzing and interpreting the data.

Prepare
1. Follow the instructions I gave you in the last class about how to prepare for today's discussion.
You do not need to prepare answers for the bulleted questions on p. 12.
2. Bring a computer with Excel to class today.

Class 22. (Nov 8)
Search Engine Optimization
How to pick keywords, research tools for selecting them, what to do with them once you have
picked them. Long tail vs. head words. Competitive analysis of keywords.
Looking at the page source (HTML) for a web page.
Getting links to your site.

Prepare
1. Read SEOMozs The Beginners Guide to SEO, Chs 1-6
http://guides.seomoz.org/beginners-guide-to-search-engine-optimization
2. Read the results of the 2011 survey of SEO professionals about what matters in search. The link
to the main page is below, but you need to click through the different sections of the site (e.g.,
Correlation & Survey Data, Predictions & Opinions) to get the full results.
http://www.seomoz.org/article/search-ranking-factors
For each of the nine sections of the survey (Domain Level Keyword Usage, Domain Level Link
Authority Features, etc.), look at the bar chart on the page that gives Survey Data. For most of
the nine sections, the Correlated Data is at the top of the page and the Survey Data (the part
you want) is below. You should be familiar with what are accepted as effective SEO practices
and what are not. Note that in many cases, the information in the survey also showed up in class
or in the Beginners Guide.
3. Read Inside the Box: How Googles Algorithm Rules the Web, Wired, Levy, March 2010.
http://www.wired.com/magazine/2010/02/ff_google_algorithm/
4. Read The A/B Test: Inside the Technology Thats Changing the Rules of Business, Wired,
Christian, April 2012. http://www.wired.com/epicenter/2012/04/ff_abtesting/all/1
5. Read As Google Tweaks Searches, Some Get Lost in the Web, WSJ, 5/16/12.
6. Ethical Code due.

Provisional Schedule: see D2L for Official Schedule
14


Class 23. (Nov 13)
SEO, continued
Today in class you will have the chance to apply your knowledge of SEO from the last class and from
your readings.

Prepare
1. Read SEOMozs The Beginner's Guide to SEO, Chs 7, 9, and 10. (Ch 8 is optional.)
2. Read this post by Ken Barber: http://digitalmarketingupperhand.com/2009/12/20/10-most-
common-web-design-mistakes/
3. Read this article about the JC Penney SEO scandal.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/13/business/13search.html
4. You will have some time in class to work with a partner on critiquing the SEO efforts of the
company you are writing your Case Study about. I will ask some people to share in class. (You
can certainly include this analysis in your the written Case Study you hand in.)

Class 24. (Nov 15)
Midterm Exam 2
Week of November 18 is Thanksgiving.

Section 4: Building Value through Digital Interaction
Class 25. (Nov 27)
Social Media
We will discuss the range of activities that fall under social media, and how to keep up with the latest
developments in this fast-changing field. First, we will look at how social media can influence the
strategic question of what the company or organizations value proposition is. Second, we will look at
measurement of social media investments. Some firms have doubts that social media is a good
investment, but everyone seems to be doing it. We will discuss challenges to developing convincing ROI
measures and best practice approaches. If time permits, we will discuss social influence scores.

Prepare
1. Read Seven Guidelines for Achieving ROI from Social Media, eMarketer, Ramsey, 2010.
2. Read the posted collection of WSJ articles on various social media companies. Plus, poke around
in the main sites and apps mentioned in the articles and make a list of the ways they are used
for marketing and commercial activities. Come prepared to share your thoughts on whether
those activities you observe seem effective, and how the companies doing them might measure
that.
a. The $800 Million Formula: Slim Sales, a Goofy Name (8/26/11)
b. Pinterests Rite of Web PassageHuge Traffic, No Revenue (2/16/12)
c. Start-Ups Follow Pinterests Lead (2/23/12)
d. The Mounting Minuses at Google+ (2/28/12)
e. Twitters Slow Road to IPO (3/2/12)
f. The Big Doubt Over Facebook (5/1/12)
g. The Race: Build the Instagram of Video (5/8/12)
h. YouTube to Double Down on Its Channel Experiment (7/30/12)


Provisional Schedule: see D2L for Official Schedule
15

Class 26. (Nov 29)
Trust, Privacy, and Ethics
Trust is an important issue in all of marketing, in all of business. In this class, we will discuss what the big
trust issues are in digital marketing, and look at some examples of how trust issues are related to
strategic objectives. Many of the ethical issues in digital marketing relate to trust. Your ethical codes are
due today.

Prepare
1. Read the highlighted sections of Online Display Advertising: Targeting and Obtrusiveness,
Marketing Science , Goldfarb and Tucker, May-June 2011.
2. Read the FTC Endorsement Guides, 2009.
http://ftc.gov/os/2009/10/091005revisedendorsementguides.pdf
3. Skim 10 Best Practices for Success with Social Media, eMarketer, Ramsey, 2010, especially
best practices 3-9.
4. Optional: Read the WOMMA ethical guidelines. http://womma.org/ethics/code/
5. Optional: The Wall Street Journal developed a series called What They Know, about privacy
concerns in online activity. The articles are posted here:
http://online.wsj.com/public/page/what-they-know-digital-privacy.html

Class 27. (Dec 4)
Case: The Ford Fiesta, HBS 9-511-117
This case covers The Fiesta Movement, a digital marketing campaign used to promote the U.S. launch of
Fords subcompact, the Fiesta.

Prepare
1. Come prepared to discuss the questions raised by Chantel Lenard on p. 2 of the case:
What are we doing to control the messages and activities of the Movement, and is it
enough, too little, or too much?
What do we need to measure to decide whether it is performing?


Provisional Schedule: see D2L for Official Schedule
16

Section 5: Course Wrap-Up
Class 28. (Dec 6)
More Excel Fun
Bring your computers to class. We will be making a final push with your Excel skills. Fun!

I will bring hard copies of a handout. You will need to download the data file from D2L.

Earlier in the semester, I gave you some readings about data graphics. Those readings gave you some
important principles regarding portraying quantitative information visually. By mastering the principles
in those readings and understanding how to use Excel to adhere to them, you can really differentiate
your skillset in the workplace.

Prepare
1. Case Study due.
2. Bring a computer with Excel to class today.

December 9 is the last day to count traffic for the Driving Traffic Assignment.

Class 29. (Dec 11)
Discussion of Student Case Studies
There is nothing to prepare for today.

Class 30. (Dec 13)
Wrap-up

Prepare
1. Report for Driving Traffic Assignment due.



Final Exam, Date TBA