Time Warner, Inc. Goes Organic!

Time Warner, Inc. Goes Organic!

I’m going to discuss the organic search and paid search rankings of Time Warner, Inc., as well as their social media presence. Something important to address is the fact that Time Warner, Inc. is not in the industry for consumer goods; rather, it is a service of entertainment. Time Warner, Inc. is also not to be confused with Time Warner Cable, which offers a consumer good of television service that customers are billed monthly for. Another important thing to take into consideration is that Time Warner, Inc. is an umbrella company that owns DC Entertainment, HBO, The CW Network, TimeWarner Corporate, Turner Broadcasting, and Warner Bros. Entertainment Group, which are all companies that own more entertainment networks.

When organically searching the term “Time Warner,” Time Warner, Inc. is ranked second against Time Warner Cable. When specifically searching “Time Warner, Inc.,” Time Warner, Inc. ranks first, as expected. However, when it comes to paid search, the only advertisement that pops up is Time Warner Cable. I think that this is because of the services each company offers. Time Warner Cable’s website is home to brand overview, investor relations, and career search. Therefore, a very specific audience is searching for the company, and they don’t need to bring the general public to their website, therefore they most likely do not invest in paid search. The likelihood would increase for the businesses that they umbrella such as Turner Broadcasting (CNN, Cartoon Network, HLN, Adult Swim, Turner Sports, TCM, TBS, TNT, truTV, and Boomerang), which the general public is more likely to search for. I do not think that they need to improve on their paid search; maybe they can improve on stepping up their game on organic search competition with Time Warner Cable. But then again, one can argue that Time Warner Cable actually helps their profits because if people are buying television and Internet, then they are more available to consume Time Warner, Inc.’s products.

Getting Social On That Media

Time Warner Inc.’s social media presence in numbers:

·      Facebook: 121,577 likes

·      Twitter (@twxcorp): 11.1k followers

·      YouTube: 175 subscribers

·      Instagram (@timewarnerinc): 425 followers

Their presence online is very poor, but once again, the general public does not go to them for content. For example, Time Warner, Inc. owns HBO. This is HBO’s social media presence:

·      Facebook: 11,676,783 likes

·      Twitter (@HBO): 1.33m followers

·      YouTube: 614,374 subscribers

·      Instagram (@hbo): 420k followers

As you can see, the numbers drastically increase when narrowing in on one of their businesses. So, Time Warner, Inc. does not need a huge following, since their individual companies are doing a great job on their social media presence.

Some keywords that are most important for Time Warner Inc. are most likely HBO, Warner Bros., CNN, Cartoon Network, HLN, Adult Swim, Turner Sports, TCM, TBS, TNT, truTV, Boomerang, Turner Broadcasting, and all other brand names that they umbrella. These kewords are important because each brand has a very specific following that the public groups to. #Awesome


HBO (@hbo). (2015). Retrieved October 28, 2015, from https://instagram.com/hbo/
HBO. (2015). Retrieved October 28, 2015, from https://www.facebook.com/hbo/
HBO (@hbo). (2015). Retrieved October 28, 2015, from https://www.twitter.com/hbo/
HBO. (2015). Retrieved October 28, 2015, from https://www.youtube.com/user/hbo/
Roberts, M., & Zahay, D. (2013). Search Marketing: SEO and PPC. In Internet marketing: Integrating online and offline strategies (3rd ed.). Mason, OH: South-Western Cengage Learning.
Time Warner Inc. (@timewarnerinc). (2015). Retrieved October 28, 2015, from https://instagram.com/timewarnerinc/
Time Warner. (2015). Retrieved October 28, 2015, from https://www.facebook.com/TimeWarner/
Time Warner (@twxcorp). (2015). Retrieved October 28, 2015, from https://www.twitter.com/twxcorp/

twxcorporate. (2015). Retrieved October 28, 2015, from https://www.youtube.com/user/twxcorporate/

Analyzation of Digital Marketing Strategy

TWDC E-Mail Marketing

Among Scripps Networks Interactive, Time Warner Inc., and The Walt Disney Company, I only found the option to opt-in on emails with The Walt Disney Company.

As discussed in previous blog posts, TWDC has many different business segments. As an example, the analysis will cover emails that I have received from both Disney Studios and Disney Interactive. The basis of Walt Disney Studios is the segment that produces the feature films and pictures that we see in theaters. Whereas, Disney Interactive produces mobile, social, and console games, Club Penguin, original programming, and online web entertainment destinations.

Below are examples of the emails I have received.

Disney Studios Email

The email from Disney Studios is about the availability of box office hit Inside Out on Digital HD and Disney Movies Anywhere, and it’s upcoming Blu-Ray release on November 3^rd. This email follows good direct marketing, considering the customer is acquired via subscription for updates of products on the website, hence a possible purchase. Walt Disney has a pretty easy time converting customers considering the magnitude of the company and all the different segments a consumer can be converted by. Specifically, this email does not exactly convert the consumer, considering a prior action (watching the movie), is usually taken before buying the movie. If the consumer is a Disney regular, the likelihood of retention, growth, and engagement are high. The majority of Disney fans are avid fans of the brand and will always be attracted to its products.

In the email from Disney Interactive, online games are being marketed. This is an email that must already have had prior customer acquisition and conversion due to the fact that this email is most likely meant for parents who have children that are familiar with the movie or show the characters in the game are associated with. This email is less informational and more interactive, therefore requiring action for the email to be successful. If the email is specifically marketing online games, then it is usually calling for a click at that moment. Retention, growth, and engagement rely on the target audience the email is being sent to.

Disney Interactive Email 

Email Design Principles

As for email design principles, the emails both motivate a person to take action, reduce anxiety to taking the action, and are easily navigable to convert the consumer. The only thing I would enhance is the actual template of the emails. Considering they are coming from Disney, I feel that they should be a little bit more “magical.” The emails would be awesome if they were a little bit more visually engaging. Evidently, I think that the email from Disney Studios is more appealing than the email from Disney Interactive.

If I were to conduct an A/B test, I would test changing the subject line. The Inside Out email had a subject of “Because We LAVA You” and the game email had a subject of “Play these games before summer ends!” I wonder if the emails would be more engaging and encourage people to open them if they had subjects about what the actual content in the email was about.

Because We LAVA You = Bring Inside Out Home!

Play these games before summer ends! = Stay Cool Inside With These Games!

CAN-SPAM Act

According to the CAN-SPAM Act, the emails are compliant with the following:

1.     Don’t use false or misleading header information

2.     Don’t use deceptive subject lines

3.     Identify the message as an ad

4.     Tell recipients where they are located

5.     Tell recipients how to opt out of receiving future emails

6.     Honor opt-out requests promptly

The Four I's of the Time Warner, Inc. Website

And now onto the Time Warner, Inc. website! Does it, or does it not follow the incredible four I’s of Internet marketing?

Interactive – Information-driven – Immediate – Involving

The Time Warner Inc. website is interactive in the sense that the Internet allows the consumer and the company to interact. However, due to the fact that Time Warner Inc. is an entertainment company, it does not specifically sell products directly to the consumer since its products are television series and media related productions. The website allows for interactivity specifically with investors via its investor relations tab.

Whether the website is information-driven is debatable. It provides information to viewers and investors about its current and upcoming shows, but I am not sure how it specifically uses gathered data by viewers to market them. This is probably done on a broader scale than the website. For example, they most likely use their viewership and ratings to determine which shows they market ahead of others or what time slots they place their shows in.

It is unclear how immediate the Time Warner Inc. website is. They have a “Contact Us” option on their website, so one can assume that they take the average three business days or less to reply to an inquiry.

Out of the four I’s, the most evident I used is Involving. No matter what, media and entertainment is involving, so it only makes sense for the website to be full of video, social media engagement, and other rich media.

Direct Marketing Strategy: Scripps Networks Interactive

Considering that the direct marketing channel for Scripps Networks Interactive is television, it is difficult to interpret how many viewers actually visit the Scripps website. If a viewer that was interested in Food Network, they are more likely to navigate to the actual Food Network website rather than the Scripps website. 

With that being said, the Scripps Networks Interactive website uses the critical strategy elements (acquire, convert, retain, grow, and engage) as successes from the brands that they own. For example, the Travel Channel viewers are more likely to be acquired by watching the show, or by a marketing campaign set out online. Therefore, the direct marketing strategies are evident at Travel Channel's website. In summation, it does not seem like Scripps directly markets to its viewers and consumers, rather its individual brands do so. 

Travel Channel acquires the audience via its show, converts the viewer by pulling them in with more marketing campaigns to keep them watching other shows on the network, retains viewers by making them regular viewers, grows viewership with other marketing tactics or word of mouth, and engages viewers via online vacation giveaways, etc.

About A/B Testing Campaigns. (n.d.). Retrieved October 16, 2015, from http://kb.mailchimp.com/campaigns/ab/about-ab-testing-campaigns

CAN-SPAM Act: A Compliance Guide for Business. (n.d.). Retrieved October 16, 2015, from https://www.ftc.gov/tips-advice/business-center/guidance/can-spam-act-compliance-guide-business

Disney Interactive | The Walt Disney Company. (n.d.). Retrieved October 13, 2015, from https://thewaltdisneycompany.com/disney-companies/disney-interactive-media-group

Studio Entertainment | The Walt Disney Company. (n.d.). Retrieved October 14, 2015, from https://thewaltdisneycompany.com/disney-companies/studio-entertainment

Time Warner Inc., (n.d.). Retrieved October 15, 2015, from https://www.timewarner.com

Scripps Networks Interactive, (n.d.). Retrieved October 15, 2015, from https://www.scrippsnetworksinteractive.com