Our clients have told us that they would like to see more case studies and best practices to illustrate eMarketer’s digital trends and advertising spending analyses. We’ve listened.

One result is “Mobile Barcodes: Trends and Best Practices for Marketers.” In this report, principal analyst Noah Elkin explains the promise of mobile barcode technology as well as the obstacles to its adoption, such as the need to download a dedicated application to read the codes. It also spotlights how savvy consumers have begun to see the value in QR codes; majorities of those who access the codes use them to secure deals and discounts.

In another example, “Facebook Marketing: Strategies for Turning ‘Likes’ into Loyalty,” writer/analyst Kimberly Maul shows real-world examples of how marketers for Chef Boyardee and Clarisonic are enticing their customers to stay engaged with their brands’ Facebook pages. These are just two of several case studies in the report showing how marketers are succeeding in making deeper connections with consumers through social networks.

Here are eMarketer’s top picks from May 2011:

REPORT: Facebook Marketing: Strategies for Turning “Likes” into Loyalty
Facebook marketing used to be all about how many “likes” a brand could attract on its page. But to be successful in the post-“like” phase of Facebook marketing, brands will need to follow the example of companies such as Discovery Communications, which boasts 75 Facebook pages and regularly rolls out cross-page promotions, and Adobe, which encourages its most ardent fans to share their love for Photoshop.Learn more about this report.

CHART: Social Media Site or Blog that Is Critical to Companies
While company blogs are considered the most important social media tactic, Facebook and YouTube tie for second with 44% of companies in North America seeing them as critical or important, up from 24% and 26% percent, respectively, in 2009, according to Hubspot. Available only for Total Access subscribers.

CASE STUDY: Discovery Initiates Unique Dialogue for Each Show’s Facebook Page
Discovery Communications has a dedicated social media team to update its 75 Facebook pages. The team employs a number of tactics to keep viewers engaged, regardless of a show’s current status on-air. For example, the page for TLC’s “Sister Wives,” which started its second season in March 2011, is active, with video clips and questions for fans, while other pages are active even when the related programming isn’t. Available only for Total Access subscribers.

REPORT: Mobile Barcodes: Trends and Best Practices for Marketers
Barcode adoption, particularly of 2-D types like QR codes, is rising, but there are still a number of obstacles to greater usage. For one, the barcode field is fragmented, with a number of proprietary and open source formats jockeying for position. Nevertheless, marketers are developing best practices. Learn more about this report.

CASE STUDY: Adobe’s Facebook Page Gets Customers Talking
Adobe grew its number of Facebook fans from 240,000 to 1.8 million “likes” by demonstrating an “authentic” voice. For instance, to learn more about visitors, Adobe asked them what they would like to see, and then responded with what visitors asked for: behind-the-scenes glimpses of the product management team and the products they were working on. Available only for Total Access subscribers.

ARTICLE: Tablets Beat Smartphones for Online Shopping, Buying
Tablets hit it big only in 2010 with the release of the iPad, but their owners are already making use of them for commerce—and doing so to a greater degree than smartphone owners, according to research from the e-tailing group. Read article.

INTERVIEW: Product Videos Hike Sales at Zappos
Zappos.com has 40,000 videos live on its site, all produced in-house with help from employees. The result of all that work? Consumers who watch the videos not only purchase more, but return fewer products, according to Laurie Williams, video and photo product manager at the etailer. Available only for Total Access subscribers.

CHART: Top 10 Retail Sites, Ranked by Number of Videos
Among companies that appeared in Internet Retailer’s list of top video-using retail sites, Overstock.com took the top spot, with 46,198 clips on its site in Q4 2010, according to SundaySky, a software provider that specializes in repurposing digital content into automated videos. Others with at least 10,000 clips each included Amazon.com, HSN and QVC. Available only for Total Access subscribers.

REPORT: Demographic Profile—Millennials
Need a snapshot of millennials? Take a few minutes to read this report about the demographic segment that represents 23% of the population and is almost never unplugged. They shop, view, play and communicate through the internet—increasingly via a handheld device—and insist on responding to digital advertising on their own terms. Learn more about this report.

ARTICLE: How Moms Keep Connected Using Smartphones
Smartphone ownership is higher among moms than the general population, according to March 2011 research from parenting website BabyCenter. Nearly six in 10 moms have a smartphone compared to 50% of all internet users. Read article.

INTERVIEW: Taco Bell Cracking Code on Young Men’s Digital World
Ronalee Zarate-Bayani is charged with developing the strategy for Taco Bell’s social media and mobile marketing efforts, and for ensuring customers have a positive experience with the brand across all digital touchpoints. Read interview.

eMarketer Total Access subscribers have access to these features and more. To learn more about becoming an eMarketer client click here.

Here are some figures to help put the New York Times’ earnings in context of US ad markets for digital and print newspaper advertising:

Digital newspaper revenues are expected to grow 8.6% to $3.3 billion in 2011, up from $3 billion in 2010, eMarketer estimates. Print newspaper revenues will fall 6% to $21.4 billion in 2011, down from $22.8 billion last year.

Online advertising spending passed print newspaper advertising spending for the first time in 2010, when overall spending on internet ads reached $25.8 billion, compared to $22.8 for print newspaper ads.

For a complete report on US Major Media Ad Spending, available to Total Access clients, click here.

eMarketer’s major media ad spending projection is the result of a comprehensive analysis of myriad elements related to the ad spending market. We use both bottom-up and top-down approaches for the estimates and projections.

For more of eMarketer’s coverage of media ad spending, all of which is available to eMarketer clients, click here.

In conjunction with the TV and major media ad spending estimates we released Tuesday, here’s a closer look at eMarketer’s new US magazine and newspaper ad spending forecasts.

In December 2010, eMarketer estimated that online ad spending passed newspaper ad spending for the first time that year. eMarketer estimates print ad spending at US newspapers will fall 6% to $21.4 billion in 2011, after revenues shrunk 8.2% in 2010. If there’s a bright side for the newspaper industry, it’s that massive losses to print newspaper ad spending will taper off in 2011 and continue to get smaller. In 2014 and 2015 spending will drop just 1% each year.

Between 2009 and 2015, eMarketer estimates print newspaper ad revenues will drop by a total of $5 billion. Over the same period, newspapers’ share of total major media ad spending will fall from 16.9% to 11.4%, the greatest loss in share of any medium.

eMarketer forms its forecast through a meta-analysis of data aggregated from research firms and other organizations that track advertising spending at magazines and newspapers. eMarketer benchmarks its US newspaper ad spending projections against data from the Newspaper Association of America (NAA), for which the last full year measured was 2010. Newspaper spending includes classified, national and retail.

Print magazines, like newspapers, will see continuing declines through 2015. Overall US advertising revenues at magazines fell 2.9% to $17 billion in 2010, down from $17.5 billion in 2009, according to eMarketer.

As with newspapers, the biggest losses for magazines came on the print side. eMarketer estimates print ad revenues at magazines fell 5% to $14.7 billion in 2010, down from $15.5 billion in 2009. This year, eMarketer estimates print revenues will fall 5.6% to $13.9 billion.

Gains in online revenues, which will rise from $2 billion in 2009 to an estimated $3.1 billion in 2015, will fail to offset the losses in print—with total US ad revenues at magazines expected to drop to $14.7 billion in 2015.

eMarketer’s magazine ad spending projections are based a meta-analysis of data gathered from over a dozen sources, including Myers Publishing, PricewaterhouseCoopers, ZenithOptimedia, the Publishers Information Bureau and the US Census. eMarketer’s print magazine spending figures include both consumer and business publications. You see a comparative estimate of eMarketer’s forecast alongside projections from other firms below.

For more information on eMarketer’s coverage of advertising spending, you can read the press release here.

US print ad revenues for magazines fell to $14.7 billion in 2010, down 5% from $15.5 billion in 2009, according to eMarketer. Print ad revenues will sink another 5.6% this year, accounting for $13.9 billion by the end of 2011.

To read more on eMarketer’s coverage of media ad spending, click here.