Check out our infographic below for a visual guide on some of the latest data in the online advertising industry:

It is now common practice for brands to include URLs or search calls to action within TV ads to encourage viewers to go online and find out more. 

Renault's current 'Megane Experiment' TV ad asks users to go online, though the execution wasn't perfect; the URL was too long, and related search terms didn't all lead to the correct page. 

With this in mind, here are ten best practices to help brands tempt customers online and make the most of any leads... 

• Include a clear call to action on the ad
• Use a unique URL or search term
• Unique campaign name
• Does the URL or search phrase appear when typed into a search engine?
• Landing page must match expectations
• Make sure your landing page has a clear purpose
• Clear calls to action on landing page
• Add sharing options
• Don’t ask too much
• Provide a range of contact options for visitors

Article Highlights:

• The internet's share of total media spending will continue to rise, from 15 percent in 2010 to 20 percent in 2014
• Display -- banners, rich media, and video -- remains a bright spot within the online ad ecosystem
• Tied into the shift away from traditional forms of media advertising is an increased emphasis on branding

Article Highlights:

• Axe is a leader in many digital areas, and digital-first marketing is no exception
• Kia's hamster campaign for the Soul is a shining example of how being different and digital-first can drive big dividends
• The "Yahoo is You" effort took a more traditional broadcast-centric strategy, while Bing hinged its efforts on placements that made it easy to try

Next In Focus

Broadcast vs. digital-first

What is the role of TV in the new media environment? Most brands continue to see TV as a one-way broadcast medium -- a platform by which we can deliver marketing messages that consumers should simply absorb and remember. In this world view, digital is an add-on -- a means of overlaying an interactive element onto what is primarily an old-school sledgehammer-to-consumer-skull effort. Little more than checking a box. You know the drill. Or perhaps I should say mallet. The brand blasts away a nice "strategic ad" over the airwaves, but spends 7 percent of the budget pushing some "viral" or "social" effort that essentially asks consumers to spit back the broadcast message.

Fortunately, a few brands are leading a transition. They understand that TV is no longer a broadcast medium so much as it is a mass distribution channel -- one that establishes awareness for a larger campaign effort that gives consumers a real role in shaping and communicating the brand essence. These are "digital-first" brands. That doesn't mean they necessarily spend a larger proportion of dollars on digital. Not at all. Rather, they use all media -- traditional and digital -- to seek out consumer participation. Participation that is channeled through digital platforms.

As we jump into the brave new world of paid “twinfomercials,” a few points bear remembering when deciding how best to leverage this social media sea-change:

1. The Acceptance of Advertising. Twitter’s core demographics are familiar with paid online advertisements. They largely accept that the best things in life cannot remain free if providers fail to leverage the financial opportunities they bring about. They do, however, want their preferred platforms to be as discreet as possible in pursuit of profit. And, above all, they want full disclosure of how their engagement is capitalized.

Twitter’s approach to advertising has so far been one of the more transparent and open to feedback we’ve seen in the social media space. And by remaining transparent to its community, as Twitter has successfully done to date, the platform could avoid many of the same pitfalls that continue to plague just about every new update Facebook has let loose on its half-billion users.

2. Advertising Alone Won’t Do the Trick. Despite the eager hopes of corporate communicators and brand managers who might be looking for the path of least resistance, promoted tweets are no silver bullet. They, and whatever future developments roll out in the months ahead, are but one instrument in a symphony of Twitter engagement tools. Used in coordination with sustained, value-driven engagement, they will certainly help to amplify messaging. Made to stand alone, however, they will unquestionably fail in a marketplace that values continuous personal interaction.

3. Tailor Your Advertising to Twitter. Corporate marketers need to step up to the plate and take it upon themselves to create value-driven Twitter ads. This is not another opportunity to rehash a Facebook Mafia Wars advertisement or show users how they too can have a ripped six pack. Advertisers need to sit down and think about how content is used and shared on Twitter, and, importantly, what makes a Tweet (paid or not) successful.

Twitter will measure what it calls resonance, which takes into account nine factors, including the number of people who saw the post, the number of people who replied to it or passed it on to their followers, and the number of people who clicked on links.

If a post does not reach a certain resonance score, Twitter will no longer show it as a promoted post. That means that the company will not have to pay for it, and users will not see ads they do not find useful, Mr. Costolo said.

At first, companies will pay per thousand people who see promoted posts. Once Twitter figures out how people interact with the posts, it will figure out alternate ways to charge advertisers.

In the next phase of Twitter’s revenue plan, it will show promoted posts in a user’s Twitter stream, even if a user did not perform a search and does not follow the advertiser.

For example, if someone has been following people who write about travel, they could see a promoted post from Virgin America on holiday fare discounts.