Sean Cook, CEO of ShopVisible and a participating speaker at the upcoming Digital Summit in Atlanta.
Sean Cook, CEO of Atlanta-based Shopvisible, saw a shirt he liked in a catalog on his dining room table. The retailer had a store nearby, so Cook bought the shirt.
Later that day, his wife received a discount coupon on her mobile phone for the same shirt and fowarded it to Cook’s email address. He later went online and ordered three more using the discount.
To reach today’s connected consumers, says Cook, you have to look at multiple channels and the “interconnectivity of devices.”
“We have an incredible amount of new clients coming in looking for our cross-channel capabilities (at Shopvisible),” Cook says.
Not a luxury, but a mandate
“Long term clients are embracing mobile, tablets, and social commerce as well. Given that consumers are in and out of all these channels during the day, it’s not a luxury to be in all those places, it is a mandate.”
For instance, he notes that conversion rates on mobile are not that high (at least not yet). “But you can see the impact it has on other conversions,” he adds.
Then there is the way tablets are influencing marketing. “There is a whole new language of user experience. Now, entire interfaces have to be designed for touch – how do you make it a touch-friendly experience?”
You can’t just restamp your website for tablets and mobile, Cook says. “You’re going to have to put effort into it – the mouse is not the same as your index finger or thumb.”
Strip away the clutter for touch screens
On mobile and tablets, “That often means stripping away stuff,” says Cook. “What can you pull out of the process to make it as efficient as possible?”
While Shopvisible encourages its clients to do locally specific offers, but Cook says it’s important to look at more than one data point. “I was looking for something on Amazon for a birthday my young daughter was attending and for the next three or four months, Amazon was convinced I was a Barbie enthusiast.”
So, he suggests, “Take more than one data point and make sure you continue to collect data and have an evolving set of offers for your customers.”
Participating in the Digital Summit
Cook is a frequent presenter and educator on the topic of integrated touch point commerce at conferences like Shop.org and Innovate.
Additionally, he has published articles in tier-one publications such as Forbes, 1to1 Magazine and Internet Retailer and his commentary has been included in popular retail and ecommerce publications like Website Magazine, Ecommerce Times and DMNews. In 2011, Cook was listed as a top 25 Entrepreneur to watch, by Business to Business Magazine.
He’ll join speakers from brands such as Google, AOL, The Huffington Post, Mashable, Twitter, Klout and Pandora, among others, at the upcoming Digital Summit in Atlanta May 9 and 10.
StreamSend, an email marketing service provider suggests tha three steps can successfully guide businesses in creating social marketing campaigns that add new social “fans” and build relationships with existing fans.
“Businesses can now leverage the power of social media to create profitable relationships,” said Dan Forootan, president of StreamSend Email Marketing.
“Each campaign creates a series of social contact points where customers can like or share the message, and send that message further into the social network to find more customers. Just how far it travels depends on the content value and how well the social campaign is executed. Here are the three important steps that clients report make the biggest difference for them.”
1. Craft the Message
What’s the point? Don’t take the first step until you know the destination: sales, page traffic; audience perception?
Know the audience, starting with their email address and opt-in status. Learn their preferences through two-way communications and analytics, then learn more by experimenting so you can further personalize.
Building a valued relationship depends on sending the right message at the right time to email and social audiences, based on customers’ wants and needs.
The best campaigns go light on sales, heavy on value — and the call to action is more like a way to keep the conversation going. Keep content light, fun and engaging and it will get shared.
2. Deliver with Impact
Let the nature of the message help determine which channels are most appropriate. Businesses can use email to automatically share campaigns and messages to Facebook fans, Twitter followers, Linked-In connections, Google+ and email subscribers — not to mention fan pages and blog embeds.
Keep it simple with email-social templates to avoid reinventing the wheel each campaign, while easily producing Facebook landing pages, creating engagement and delivering messages with professional-looking “Like” pages.
Viewers respond more enthusiastically and are more likely to share your messages with video. Email + video can show benefits instead of telling about them.
An imperative for email +video: have the ability to engage viewers directly from the email, rather than leaving the email to follow a link where it will play. This key feature will reveal all of their behavior for future message fine-tuning.
3. Make Measurement Count
Success can’t be measured without an established way to get metrics. Measurement can’t succeed without set benchmarks. It’s the starting line and the finish line of each campaign.
Reporting will show how campaigns drive page visits, shares, new Facebook fans and email subscribers so that it can all be tracked and the campaign success exactly measured to fine-tune future campaigns.
While consumers and marketers both say that interacting through social media has strong benefits, there is still more engagement and interaction required by both groups, according to Lithium Technologies, which sells customer experience solutions.
“There is no excuse anymore, when you consider the simplicity and sophistication with which marketers can monitor social customer experiences, engage and build communities around the brand, and clearly measure business value using tools like Lithium provides.”
“Consumers are increasingly expecting, even demanding, that brands interact with them through social media,” said Katy Keim, Lithium CMO.
“It’s not enough to just show up on social channels. Smart brands are taking control of social customer engagement by figuring out how to tackle meaningful activities with their social customers—things like collecting feedback and new product ideas.”
Consumers are influenced by social media and they expect a two-way dialog with brands across the social web, but rarely get it. A survey of consumer attitudes, conducted by Lithium in April and released during the Lithium Network Conference (LiNC) 2012, about social media reveals:
While 25% expect to hear back from a company when they tweet about a brand or product, only 9% have actually received a response
35% say after “liking” a brand on Facebook, they expect to hear from the company—yet 58% say that they have never received a response from company after “liking” it
Marketers need to demonstrate social media marketing ROI to the C-suite, but aren’t able to. A separate surveyof marketer attitudes around social media, conducted by Lithium and MarketingProfs in April, reveals:
74% of marketers say creating a community around their brand is a social media business objective—but only 18% of marketers say their company has an online community
86% say they actively use Facebook in their marketing efforts—but only 2.8% report that when fans “like” their brand on Facebook, it results in better quality interactions
42% say they are very concerned about demonstrating the value of social media to executive management—but only 4% say their ability to measure the overall impact of social media is excellent
31% say that customer retention is quite important, but only 4.6% of marketers say they are able to measure customer satisfaction (Net Promoter Score) extremely well
While social media marketing ROI remains elusive for most, findings indicate marketers who combine two assets well are best able to realize the full potential of social media and demonstrate the most impressive ROI:
Leading-edge technology—listening to social customers who want to be heard, building online communities to deepen social customer engagement.
A mature, strategic approach to measurement—tying social media objectives to real business outcomes like increasing revenue and driving awareness.
“There’s a clear disconnect between the value of social media and marketers’ ability to demonstrate and act on that value—but it doesn’t have to be that way,” said Keim. “There is no excuse anymore, when you consider the simplicity and sophistication with which marketers can monitor social customer experiences, engage and build communities around the brand, and clearly measure business value using tools like Lithium provides.”
While large portions of marketers are not yet truly measuring and understanding the impact of their social media efforts, a significant vanguard (35%) do say that social media marketing helps to meet primary business objectives better than most other channels.
Social media and the web are changing how we watch TV.
If you get interested in a new TV show, do you go online to check out the show’s website or try out its mobile app? Do you interact with shows via social media, ala the Twitter streams that now run during some cable news shows?
The 19th annual State of Cable and Digital Media study, which has just been released to study clients, documents the extent to which social media is transforming the way TV viewers hear about, engage with, and communicate about television content.
Four in ten (39%) TV viewers with Internet access have turned to the Internet to search for more information or trivia about something they saw on TV at least occasionally; 16% always/frequently do so.
We certainly do that – often for nonfiction shows about history or science and sometimes news.
A quarter of viewers like extra web/app content
Almost one-quarter (23%) also say they at least occasionally visit the websites or apps of their favorite shows to engage with extra content. We found HBO GO’s interactive elements for the popular Game of Thrones series a fun way to revisit episodes.
The study is beginning to measure and track the “water cooler” effect of social media as an important vehicle to promote television shows and brands.
According to the study, 19% of TV viewers with Internet access have started watching a show because they heard about it through social media or the blogosphere, increasing to 23% among 18-34 year-old viewers.
We heard about The Big Bang Theory via a Tumblr blog and became fast fans. Tumblr has many blogs dedicated to specific shows that occasionally get shared even if you’re not subscribed to them.
And, one in ten (10%) have posted on social media about a show or movie they saw—13% among the 18-34 set. We must have done that too, because our Klout score says we’re influential about television.
Among these younger viewers, 8% at least occasionally interact about a show on social media in real time, at the same time as they are watching the show (see chart).
We tried that on an MSNBC news program, but our Tweets never made it to the stream. Still, we expect to see much more of this during live programming of various sorts. The feeling of being part of a national TV broadcast is likely to be attractive to many viewers.
Don’t make them feel “marketed to”
“The potential power of social media to drive TV viewership—and perhaps even to drive consumers back to live, real-time viewing—is enormous,” notes Adriana Waterston, vice president of Marketing and Business Development at Horowitz Associates.
“But media brands and marketers will need to figure out how to do it right. As we heard in our recent Viewing the Viewer videography, consumers don’t want to feel ‘marketed to’—they want to feel in control of their social media experience,” adds Waterston.
Now in its 19th year, State of Cable and Digital Media is an annual, syndicated survey of television households published by Horowitz Associates Market and Multicultural Research. The study tracks key trends in consumer behaviors towards and adoption of new television, broadband, and mobile technologies. – Allan Maurer
Americans are growing more frustrated with customer service and businesses are feeling the heat as consumers tell an increasing number of people about both their positive and poor service experiences.
The 2012 American Express Global Customer Service Barometer also found that consumers who have used social media for service wield the greatest amount of influence.
They tell significantly more people about their service experiences, and say they’d spend 21% more with companies who deliver great service – compared to 13% on average.
At the TechJournal, we’ve heard from numerous social media marketing experts that customer service is a primary use of both Facebook and Twitter for many firms.
But the survey, which was conducted in the U.S. and ten other countries, also reveals a sorry state of service in general.
Nine in ten of Americans surveyed (93%) say that companies fail to exceed their service expectations. What’s more, one out of two respondents (55%) walked away from an intended purchase in the past year because of a poor customer service experience.
One in five consumers used social media for customer service
The most popular ways consumers address service inquiries continue to be speaking to a live representative (either on the phone or face-to-face), and through company website or e-mail.
That said, one in five consumers (17%) say they’ve used social media at least once in the last year to obtain a customer service response, and this relatively small group of consumers is extremely engaged and vocal.
“Delivering outstanding service creates impassioned advocates and can serve as a powerful marketing weapon for companies,” said Jim Bush, executive vice president, World Service, American Express.
“For example, consumers who have used social media for service in the last year are willing to pay a 21% premium at companies that provide great service. They also tell three times as many people about positive service experiences compared to the general population.”
“Ultimately, getting service right with these social media savvy consumers can help a business grow.”
People who use social media service spend more
People who have used social media for customer service at least once in the last year are willing to spend substantially more (21%) with companies they believe provide great service – in contrast with the general population (13% more) and those who have not used social media for customer service (11% more).
They are also far more vocal about service experiences, both good and bad. In addition, more than 80% of these consumers say they’ve bailed on a purchase because of a poor service experience, compared to 55% overall.
Service Topic
Consumers Who Haven’t Used Social Media for Customer Service
General Population
Consumers Who Have Used Social Media for Customer Service
Additional amount consumers are willing to
spend for excellent service
11% more
13% more
21% more
Have not completed an intended purchase
because of a poor customer service
experience in the past year
49%
55%
83%
Number of people consumers will tell about
good customer service experiences
9 people
15 people
42 people
Number of people consumers will tell about
bad customer service experiences
17 people
24 people
53 people
Consumers who have used social media for customer service do it for a number of reasons. The “Social Top 5” activities for these Americans are:
1) Seeking an actual response from a company about a service issue – 50%
2) Praising a company for a great service experience – 48%
3) Sharing information about your service experience with a wider audience – 47%
4) Venting frustration about a poor service experience – 46%
5) Asking other users how to have better service experiences – 43%
However, these consumers feel companies are getting better at social media service: 60% of this group feels companies have improved their response times through social media over the past year.
Eyes on the Prize
Social media is not the only way people are spreading the word about their customer service experiences.
The general population will tell significantly more people about their customer service experiences than in 2011, highlighting the importance for businesses of treating every customer interaction as an opportunity to build customer loyalty and a positive brand image.
Americans will tell an average of 15 people about positive experiences – up 67% from 9 last year.
Americans will tell an average of 24 people about poor experiences – up 50% from 16 in 2011.
More than three in five Americans (61%) feel companies have not increased their focus on providing better service, and of this group, 32% feel businesses are paying less attention to providing good customer service – an increase from 2011 (26%).
This dissatisfaction with the state of customer service overall helps ensure companies that deliver great experiences are recognized – and rewarded.
Two in three Americans (66%) said they would spend an average of 13% more with a company that provides excellent customer service – matching 2011 and up from 9% more in 2010.
“Companies must keep their eyes on the prize when it comes to customer service,” said Bush.
“Outstanding service means exceeding customers’ expectations as you seek to meet their needs. Companies that do this consistently understand that exceptional service is a real competitive advantage.”
Have something you want to sell on Pinterest? A new site, Pin2Sell.com, allows anyone with a PayPal account to create purchasable products and post them directly on Pinterest.
Created by Chicago-based Clique Studios, an interactive and eCommerce agency based in Chicago, the service is completely free and enables users to sell items without signing up for any additional services.
With over 10 million users, Pinterest’s base is intensely loyal, spending 88 minutes bookmarking every day. They are also social, driving more third-party traffic than Google, LinkedIn and YouTube combined.
Here at the Techjournal we’ve seen many social networks launch in the last five years and none vaulted into the top ranks as fast as Pinterest. It’s clear focus on visuals let it grab a significant set of people interested in food, fashion, infographics and photos.
So, we suspect Pinsell is going to do well.
The perfect place for social commerce
“It just seems like the perfect place for social commerce,” said Ted Novak. “Pin2Sell makes it incredibly easy and integrated. Just take a picture, enter the price and your PayPal account, and your Pin can be purchased by anybody who is interested in it.”
A growing market, social commerce is expected to reach $30 billion in annual sales by 2015. Etsy, a peer-to-peer site for vintage and handmade products, reported $62.8 million in goods sold and 1.35 billion pageviews in March 2012 alone.
“As an eCommerce agency, we see the trends on social commerce and the loyalty that exists on Pinterest. It just seemed like there needed to be a solution, so we came up with Pin2Sell,” says Derek Nelson, Clique’s creative director.
“When testing, our test pins would be up for less than a minute, and almost each one was re-pinned by a complete stranger by the time we deleted them.”
Pin2Sell is available now for free at Pin2Sell.com.
Pinterest, now the third largest social media site and the 16th most popular site on the web, can be an nonprofit fund raising engine, says Social Raise, a Chicago-based firm that helps nonprofits use digital experiences to raise funds, awareness and impact.
It asked nonprofits how they can use Pinterest to help their organizations.
Here are 7 tips on how nonprofits can start using Pinterest to raise awareness, impact and fundraising.
1) Pinterest engages.
One of the most important aspects of a digital fundraising campaign is intertwining storytelling throughout the technology. Pinterest is a fantastic resource for visual storytelling, which translates perfectly into the nonprofit space.
For example, if you’re running a capital campaign for a new building, “pin” different images of the project. Invite people to follow your Pinterest board, and start the engagement from the inception of the campaign.
One of the most common misperceptions in fundraising is that if the technology is there (the dreaded “Donate Now” button) then people will donate. People first need to be engaged. After that, they will contribute their time and resources. Pinterest helps engage. Engagement drives fundraising.
2) Make non-visual things… well, visual.
We’re all inundated with facts and figures. Many nonprofits have been successful in turning data into a visual that people can easily consume (e.g. infographic). Post this on Pinterest to provide a visual gallery of data that many wouldn’t take the time to digest.
Also, nonprofits can take quotes and testimonials of the difference that they’re making, and create a visual out of this. The more people are familiar with your success, the more willing they will be to visit your site, learn about your organization, and give to your cause.
3) Brainstorming fundraising ideas.
Most of us are visual creatures and seeing something is easier than reading about it. Pinterest takes advantage of the web information overload and makes it easier for us to consume information visually.
If you’re looking to have a successful fundraising campaign, it’s powerful to get buy-in from your constituency at an early start. Instead of having a top-down fundraising strategy where the nonprofit is telling constituents how to fundraise, ask your base to “pin” pictures of interesting fundraising ideas.
4) Social fundraising at its best.
Pinterest gives organizations an opportunity to engage in an online visual conversation. If you’re raising funds for any cause, ask your volunteers to get a ‘photo of the day’ that represents your campaign. It goes back to engagement. The more they’re engaged, the more they’ll be willing to contribute to your fundraising campaign.
5) Highlight your volunteers: Your volunteers are working hard for your organization. They’re in the trenches and can vouch for why their funds make their respective nonprofit tick. Take a 30 second clip of a volunteer’s testimonial in a video, post it on YouTube, then put it on Pinterest. Your video is now part of your visual storytelling.
6) Highlight your success while pinning others.
The same application as highlighting your volunteers can work for the individuals that your nonprofit is helping. Create a Pinterest board for a very specific cause “Labrador Rescue in Chicago” and then “Like” other posts that may spark interest in your post. This will notify that user and start a conversation.
7) Increase your exposure.
If you have a focused fundraising campaign, then tag your posts to be relevant to your cause. As people are looking for your organization, this will improve search engine optimization. When you’re thinking of your Pinterest board names and descriptions, this is something that should be at the forefront. The more people can find your organization; understand your cause, the better for your fundraising campaign.
In summary
Pinterest should not be the fundraising tool, but only one tool in a myriad of fundraising tools to be used in the digital space. A solid digital strategy should also include other social media outlets, mobile, web alongside a carefully planned and executed marketing strategy to get the word out about your campaign.
Also, Pinterest should not be used to directly promote your organization. That will quickly turn off people. Instead, use it to extract the human stories from your organization and put that into digital form. That’s what engages. When people are engaged, they’re much more willing to take action.
The Obama campaign is outpacing the GOP with digital display ads 10-1.
Political campaigns are increasingly using social media marketing to get their messages out and engage with supporters, according to a new report from digital measurement service comScore.
The report, Digital Politico: 5 Ways Digital Media is Shaping the 2012 Presidential Election, examines key trends shaping the current election cycle in areas such as social media, digital advertising, and paid search.
“Digital media has emerged over the past few election cycles as a formidable platform for political campaigns, providing the ability to efficiently target campaign messages and reach key voting constituencies at a fraction of the cost of traditional media,” said Andrew Lipsman, VP of Industry Analysis at comScore.
“Political blogs, online advertising and online fundraising have helped shape the past few elections, but 2012 will almost certainly be remembered as the ‘social media election’ given how central Facebook and Twitter have become to the current digital battleground.”
Key findings highlighted in the Digital Politico report include:
Digital Advertising Plays an Increasingly Prominent Role in Campaigns
While TV and radio ads still dominate campaign expenditures, digital advertising has grown in use with each succeeding campaign cycle. In the past six months, the Obama campaign has outpaced Republicans’ digital display ad presence by a ratio of 10 to 1, leading with the highest share of voice in online display ad impressions (86 percent) in February compared to Republican candidates.
Social Media Delivers Valuable Amplified Exposure for Campaigns
Through social media, some candidates’ campaigns have been able to deliver earned media impressions that are similar in scale – and in some cases much larger – than the number of impressions delivered by their paid display ad campaigns. An analysis of Facebook earned impressions and total paid display ad impressions in January 2012 reveals that Ron Paul managed to more than double his paid media exposure with earned impressions, reflecting the efficiency of social media. In contrast, Mitt Romney received only half as many earned impressions as paid impressions while Rick Santorum almost matched his paid total.
Social Media Facilitates Online Fundraising
An analysis of the donation rate among Barack Obama’s total social audience on Facebook, which includes fans and their friends, compared to donors who were not among these segments showed that fans and friends donated at a rate 2.5 times that of the non-fans. However, despite their higher likelihood of giving, fans and friends of fans actually donated less per person on average than the other non-fan donor segment, reflecting their younger age profile.
Political Sites & Blogs Reach Across Aisle, But Still Engage Partisan Visitors More Heavily
An analysis of the political affiliation of visitors to selected political blogs and sites generally shows higher percentages of visitors who are aligned with the sites’ political leanings. While these sites simultaneously attract visitors from both sides of the political spectrum, visitors who tended to side with the site’s partisan leanings exhibited higher engagement in terms of share of time spent on the site. For instance, while TalkingPointsMemo.com shows a notable percentage of Republican visitors to the site, Democrats account for the vast majority of time spent on the site at 70 percent.
Paid Search Use by Candidates Ramps Up Leading Into 2012
While the leading Republican candidates did minimal paid search advertising throughout 2011, they ramped up their paid search activity significantly toward the end of the year and coming into 2012.
In the last six months, more than 60 percent of click-throughs to BarackObama.com came from paid search ads – the highest among the candidates. Search engine click-throughs to RickSantorum.com were also driven by a similarly high percentage at 56 percent.
Kyle Lacy - Principal, Marketing Research and Education, ExactTarge
By Allan Maurer
Today’s world of digital marketing is not a nine-to-five job. “It doesn’t matter when you’re working, it matters when the customer is buying and using your product,” says Kyle Lacy, principal for marketing reserch and education at ExactTarget, which sells interactive marketing solutions.
“If you’re a retailer and you are not following and using social media on a Saturday, one of the biggest retail days of the week, do you have an issue? In my mind you do. If I’m having a bad experience and tweeting about it in your store but I don’t get an answer until Monday, you missed an opportunity.”
Lacy is the author of two critically acclaimed books, Twitter Marketing for Dummies (2nd ed) and Branding Yourself (2nd ed). Prior to ExactTarget, Kyle co-founded a marketing technology company, helping over 350 clients build and deliver digital marketing experiences. He is one of dozens of top speakers at the upcoming Digital Summit in Atlanta May 9-10.
At the event he’ll focus on stories about clients who used email, social, and mobile channels to attract new customers, build community, and increase sales performance.
The rise of media where people can send a live message to millions in a split second has destroyed the traditional idea of marketing communications, Lacy says.
Branding Yourself
In his book, “Branding Yourself,” Lacy explains how business owners and employees can tell a story that applies specifically to the business or owner “So people remember you for what you’re good at.”
Lacy says, “We all have stories that are unique to us and no one else can tell that story.” To tell it, he adds, “You need to understand what you do best.”
He recommends starting by writing a one-sentence pitch. “What do you do best and and want people to remember? If someone asks us what ExactTarget does, they not going to remember we’re an interactive marketing hub, so we tell a story about how a specific client uses us to generate more business.”
To be effective, you have to make your story personal and memorable. “It’s like those old sales videos where they tell you if you see a bass plaque on the customers wall, be sure to talk about fishing. It’s the same idea.
We discussed the way marketers are using Twitter, which some reports say is not a particularly good channel for sales.
“How you use Twitter depends upon your company and your strategy,” Lee says. “It can be used for lead generation and our research shows it does drive traffic. The question is whether social drives traffic to lead generation opportunities such as webinars and such. “It’s a quick communication channel we’re seeing more and more companies use for customer service or education. It’s valuable if your customer is using it.”
According to the report, it takes a minimum of 25 hours per week to see worthwhile results from social media efforts – insight that has long eluded small businesses and nonprofits struggling to find the right market mix in today’s digital economy.
Now available at www.DitchDigitalDabbling.com, the report aggregates responses from small businesses and nonprofits in many sectors including women-owned, minority-owned, and socially responsible.
Only five media tools rated very effective
A joint research project by Message Medium and Ventureneer, the Ditch Digital Dabbling survey definitively outlines the online marketing tactics that work best and highlights new revelations, including the fact that “Power Users” rate only 5 social media tools as very effective.
“While many small businesses and nonprofits market online, very few have a firm grasp of the strategies, tactics, and tools to do it well in spite of the overload of how-to information,” explained Message Medium president Maisha Walker. “Rather than adding to the noise, we wanted to share real-world insights and success stories, gleaned from their peers who were facing similar challenges.”
By showing which online marketing and social media strategies have and haven’t worked, the survey results act as a research-driven road-map to saving small businesses time and money when putting together their own marketing plans.
“The survey confirms that you can’t get the best results from online marketing programs unless you know how to effectively measure whether you’re achieving your goals or not,” commented Ventureneer president Geri Stengel.
“While we found that a majority of companies attempt to measure performance, they don’t understand what actually works. The concept of trying, measuring, and tweaking — almost in real time — is new, but it’s as critical to effectiveness as is time spent.”
The Ditch Digital Dabbling Executive Summary is available for free download, in addition to the comprehensive report with in-depth case studies, detailed survey figures, and more, visit www.DitchDigitalDabbling.com.
The rapid adoption of smartphones and tablet computers are just the lastest entries of disruptive personal tech that shake up the status quo. Pretty much the only sure thing in personal tech is that things will change.
Mobile wallets and Google glasses may be about to disrupt things again.
Here’s an infographic from our friends over at Frugal Dad looking at the past, present and future of disruptive personal technology:
Matt Peters, co-founder & creative director, Pandemic Labs, during his presentation at the Internet Summit in November. His company has done significant research since then on how brands can increase their Facebook engagement. (Photo by Allan Maurer)
By Allan Maurer
While brands have been climbing on the Facebook bandwagon for quite a while, many of them are not getting the engagement they could from the social network, says Matt Peters, co-founder and director of Pandemic Labs, a social media marketing and analytics agency.
In fact, most brands rely heavily on the least engaging Facebook posts – those with just links. They also do most, if not all of their posts during business hours – although most of their customers are likely to go to the site evenings and weekends.
Pandemic Labs has collected a vast amount of data even since his appearance at the Internet Summit in November 2011. Peters plans to share insights from that research on increasing Facebook engagement during his presentation at the upcoming Digital Summit in Atlanta May 9 and 10.
Pandemic Labs uses neuroscience and analytics to determine successful best practices for brands that want seriously improved Facebook engagement. It calls its work the “Science of social.”
The company recently received third-party validation that its tactics do indeed work.
On March 22, 2012, L2 released its 2012 Digital IQ Index for hotels. Pandemic Labs client, The Ritz-Carlton, ranked 5th in overall score out of over 50 hotel brands from around the world, and holds the top spot for Facebook Engagement. Social media constitutes only 20% of the overall ranking, but The Ritz-Carlton had an extremely strong showing in the social arena. The Ritz-Carlton is shown to have the most engaging global Facebook Page of any hotel brand in the world. Pandemic Labs has been working with The Ritz-Carlton for years to design and execute a best-in-class social media presence focused on consumer engagement and value.
Meanwhile, here’s a glance at some of what Pandemic Labs discovered about Facebook brand engagement in an infographic the company created:
A new study shows that 39 percent of Americans spend more time socializing online than they do with friends in the real world. But sadly, nearly one third (31 percent) also admit to sometimes getting lonely, and 35 percent would like to increase their circle of friends.
The “Social Lives vs. Social Networks” research1 surveyed more than 6,000 people in the U.S., the U.K. and Germany, including 2,000 Americans.
The U.S. findings highlighted the clear benefits of social networks, such as bolstering people’s confidence (23 percent) and helping to facilitate new friendships (26 percent), but also discussed the downsides of becoming too reliant on online communication tools.
People are not always truthful online
People are sometimes dishonest online – we hope that isn’t news to anyone.
Aside from feelings of loneliness, the survey revealed that people could embellish the truth when sharing online, perhaps to appear more interesting to others, or to “control” their online persona.
For instance, nearly 25 percent of American respondents admit they have exaggerated or lied about who they’ve met or what they’ve done on their social networks, with a staggering 39 percent having shared bad news, such as a death or divorce.
They also show a tendency to shy away from face-to-face conversation, with 19 percent stating they prefer to engage in text or online contact.
By launching this study, Badoo wants to encourage people to consider how their use of social networks could help enhance their offline friendships, rather than being dependent on them for all social interaction.
By providing a platform for meeting people in your local area, Badoo provides an antidote to this worrying trend: in fact, more than 50% of conversations on Badoo lead to meet-ups in the real world, helping people create new friendships and relationships. (Source: Badoo Customer Survey, Dec 2011.)
More U.S. Findings From the Social Lives vs. Social Networks Research:
Sixty two percent have shared good news (e.g. a pregnancy or engagement) online
Sixteen percent have cancelled arrangements with friends over social networks (among 18-24 year olds, this rises to 43 percent overall)
Thirty three percent are more likely to speak to someone new online vs. offline
Twenty four percent confess they accept “friend requests” from people they aren’t really interested in and even those they don’t particularly like
Forty seven percent believe they have to be more guarded with what they say online
Twenty four percent have missed key moments and events in their life, because they were too busy trying to capture and share it on a social networking site
Eighty four percent believe that social networking sites are great for staying in touch with friends that live far away, as well as tracking down old acquaintances (76 percent) and helping shy and lonely people make new friends (83 percent)
Personally, we’ve found any number of our social network connections lead to real world socializing, but we think this move to connect online life with real life is going to gain traction. Badoo is not the only service looking to connect the two and more are probably on the drawing boards now.
Dr. Andrea Bonior, psychologist and author of “The Friendship Fix,“(www.drandreabonior.com/book.php) reviewed the U.S. findings for Badoo and commented:
“It is a growing reality that we are spending more and more time online, and social networks are obviously pivotal to that experience. But it’s crucial that people take time to nurture their friendships with more than just a simple ‘status update.’ As Americans work longer hours, we spend more time online tied to our devices, and with the recent economic shifts forcing relocation for some to find new employment, we also tend to be more geographically dispersed.
“These factors can all wreak havoc with our social lives, so, while it’s tempting and certainly convenient to manage friendships completely online, it shouldn’t be the only way we share our lives with others. We risk missing out on truly satisfying emotional experiences that way.”
Market Strategies International released its inaugural Social Media Brand Index, which provides a rigorous view of how top brands across different industries succeeded in social media in 2011.
We’re not surprised to see many of the names on the top 20 list from the index. Starbucks has been a leader in the use of social media marketing from the start, as have Amazon, Disney, Google and Nike.
The Index also shares five insights every marketer should consider when analyzing social media investments.
“Companies are swimming in web analytics, but they often have no idea where they are in relation to other swimmers,” said Theo Downes-Le Guin, a consultant to Market Strategies and its former chief research officer.
“Our Index rank orders nearly 150 leading brands across industries as well as the most social brands by industry.”
Here’s the top 20 most social brands revealed by the index:
Market Strategies specifically built this Index to address the effect of sponsored – not just “naturally occurring” – social media content and interactions. The underlying premise is that four elements drive a successful brand presence in social media:
Volume: The number of conversations that contain a consumer opinion, emotion or behavior.
Net Sentiment: The ratio of positive to negative sentiments expressed about a brand.
Positive Emotions: The number of content items that are identified as having positive emotions.
Sponsored Presence: The number of “likes” on a company-sponsored Facebook page, the number of followers on a corporate-sponsored Twitter account(s) and the number of subscribers to sponsored YouTube channel(s).
Downes-Le Guin added, “We’re still very early in the game in terms of understanding and analyzing social media marketing efforts, and we’re years away from an agreed-upon ROI model. But, we believe social media will remain an important part of the marketing mix and our ability to validly demonstrate that importance will grow over time.”
Five key takeaways emerged from the study that may be instructive for marketers who struggle with how to support their brands using social media:
Diversity of social channels and tactics is critical to success.
Every industry has a different “right” level of social.
Reach without positive sentiment is a short-term win.
Not all sponsored channels are equal.
Measuring success requires mashing up data sources.
Download Market Strategies’ 2011 Social Media Brand Index to see full rankings and learn more about the key takeaways.Read more at FreshMR.
Findings revealed in a new white paper from Baynote, which sells customer experience solutions, shows that 93 percent of retailers view analytics evaluation as their number one merchandising/navigational priority from a customer retention point-of-view.
However, retailers on average have failed to reach optimum data analysis capabilities, citing information silos, limited data access across organizations, and lack of education about which metrics are the most valuable as the top hurdles.
“Data will be the driving force behind growing businesses where gaining a clear picture of one’s customer will suggest ideal marketing and personalization strategies,” said Lauren Freedman, president, the e-tailing group.
Additional findings of the e-tailing group “Metrics Therapy – Details, Dashboards and Diligence,” white paper include:
It’s about profit, not conversion:
While conversion gets the most attention in media, gross profitability was seen as the top metric, especially in low margin categories where profitability percentage points can have a major impact on overall performance
Personalization measurement in its infancy:
Retailers increasingly value, and are investing in, personalization technologies yet agree there is an industry-wide need for more sophisticated measurement tactics
Mobile and tablets delivered:
For mobile and tablets, both traffic and conversion exceeded expectations yet improved optimization across these channels and a better understanding of key metrics will enable retailers to drive growth
In general, retailers are following a “same metrics/different device” approach to metrics, which can work in the short-term, but will become problematic for retailers’ long-term strategies
Social stuck in measuring “soft ROI,” but looks to evolve:
In social, retailers’ metrics are still focused on the number of Facebook fans and Twitter followers, (78 percent and 61 percent, respectively) not real ROI; retailers cited measuring interactivity and customer preferences as top goals
Multi-channel view on the horizon:
The ultimate horizon for retailers is to have a holistic 360-degree view of the customer across all touch-points that takes into account interactions and transactions and provides understanding of the most cost-effective ways to reach customers and drive conversion for life
“While retailers are making analytics evaluation their number one priority, the vast majority are still struggling to measure and optimize the customer experience across multiple devices and channels,” said Dan Darnell, vice president of marketing, Baynote. “For retailers, measurement is still a work in progress – our Merchant’s Metrics Playbook is a great resource for e-commerce teams that are serious about taking their analytics capabilities to the next level.”
While numerous industry studies have been devoted to the “online casual gamer,” ArcadeWeb, a highly trafficked gaming site, has released key findings from its national user survey, designed to provide the first insight into a new, growing type of online gamer: the casual tournament player.
The study’s findings are the first to shed light on the “who’s,” “what’s” and “why’s” of this new breed of casual gamer who embraces a distinct, new online platform where he/she can compete to win real cash prizes, rather than purchasing virtual currency to win virtual rewards.
“While virtual-currency-driven ‘freemium’ is by far the most dominant casual gaming model, the industry needs to better understand the many new and different models that are emerging, as well as the profile and behavior of the consumers they attract,” said Adriano Parotta, VP, Social Games, ArcadeWeb.
“The amount of time-spent-gaming by casual tournament players revealed by our survey suggests it’s a very interesting model to watch. Clearly, adding competitive, social, and real-rewards components to casual gaming leads to greater gamer engagement and site ‘stickiness.’”
ArcadeWeb.com, which attracts 3.4 million monthly unique visitors, features distinct “pure” casual gaming and casual tournament communities,[1] so the demographics and behavior of each population could be compared. Nearly 3,000 active gamers at the site participated in the surveys[2]: 1,435 tournament players and 1,486 traditional casual gamers.
Who Is the Casual Tournament Gamer?
“Mid” Age is Tournament Sweet Spot
The survey revealed that casual tournament gamers fall heavily into the middle of the age spectrum: nearly half (44%) are between ages 35-54, with the largest percentage (24%) falling in the 45-54 age group. Just 17% are over 55, and 16% are under 24.
Traditional casual gamers surveyed, conversely, were more likely to occupy the upper and lower ends of the age spectrums: 30% are under 24, while 31% are over 55.
Woman-Dominated Competition: While one might imagine competitive tournament gaming would skew male, the gender breakdown for both traditional casual gamers and casual tournament players was exactly the same: 66% female and 34% male.
Gender Breakdown Same for Tournament and Casual Gamers
Female Gamers
66%
Male Gamers
34%
Northeast – the Casual Tournament “Mecca”
The survey also breaks down casual tournament gamers by region: Southeast (28%), Northeast (27%), Midwest (19%), West (15.5%) and Northwest (9.5%). When comparing those numbers to regional U.S. population figures, the Northeast (population roughly 55 million) with its denser population of tournament gamers, actually trumps the Southeast (population 78 million[3]) as the casual tournament gaming “capitol,” while the western states lag behind.
“Sticky” Casual Tournament Gaming
The survey compared time-spent-gaming for traditional casual versus casual tournament gamers, and revealed how social, competing-for-cash elements lead to far greater gamer engagement and site “stickiness.”
For instance, roughly 44% more tournament players than “regular” casual gamers report playing over six hours a week at ArcadeWeb.com. And while 30% of the site’s “regular” casual gamers report playing less than an hour a week at the site, only 10% of tournament players do.
More than two in three (67%) tournament players report playing 3+ hours a week at the site – and, as a point of comparison, the average Facebook user spends roughly an hour and twenty minutes at that notoriously sticky site weekly.[4]
Time-Spent-Playing: Casual Tournament vs. Traditional Casual Gamer
‹1 hour
1hr+
3 hrs+
6 hrs+
10 hrs+
Casual Tournament
10%
90%
67%
39%
23%
Traditional Casual
30%
70%
48%
27%
16%
More than two-thirds of tournament gamers play 3 hrs+ while less than half of traditional casual gamers do.
Older tournament gamers surveyed play the most: 23% of those aged 55-64 report spending an astounding 20+ hours each week playing/competing at ArcadeWeb. And 35% of tournament gamers aged 55-64 spend 10+ hours gaming at the site, more than twice the percentage of tournament players aged 18-34 (16.5%).
Winnings Go to Necessities
Tournament casual gamers weighed in on how they’re using their cash winnings, and rather than a “casino jackpot” mentality, 80% report spending them on “basic necessities,” with 26% reporting they have used winnings to buy groceries, and 24% to pay bills.
“There are now many alternatives to the virtual currency purchasing/rewards model in casual gaming, including sites like ArcadeWeb, Gamesville, Pogo or iWon!, which revolve around free casual tournaments and cash prizes,” noted Parotta.
“If the virtual currency model can become mainstream entertainment, I would bet that diverse ‘real money’ models will have an even more powerful future in the casual space. Our new findings shed some light on the fast-growing casual tournament gaming segment – and, in general, the profile, behavior and motivations of distinct, new groups of casual gamers need to be better understood.”
ArcadeWeb also recently released survey findings revealing that the current economy is having a powerful impact on people’s time spent playing casual games. To access those, click here.
Do you need a way to connect with new people or to try new things? A Santa Monica, CA, startup that helps users meet people for social activities offline has just nabbed funding to expand.
Social activities discovery site Lifecrowd has secured$5 million in initial funding to expand its online marketplace that helps users discover and participate in fun activities in their area, connect with friends and meet new people.
Lightbank, the Chicago based investment fund focused on early-stage technology companies, is leading the investment and will take a seat on the Lifecrowd board of directors.
Other participants include Bullpen Capital founded by Paul Martino (seed investor in social gaming pioneer Zynga), Baroda Ventures (seed investor in Fab.com) and Prism VentureWorks (seed investor in The Receivables Exchange).
First startup to emerge from the MuckerLab accelerator
Lifecrowd received additional backing from MuckerLab, where it became the first start-up to emerge from the Santa Monica based accelerator program just last month.
“This powerful group of experienced tech investors brings an incredible collective expertise in localized online commerce to the table, as well as deep experience in marketplace development, scaling up on a domestic and international level, and a thorough understanding of what today’s consumers want,” said Lifecrowd CEO Bong Koh.
Lifecrowd fuses online social networking with offline activities by providing a platform for users to discover and participate in casual group activities going on in their area—from wine tastings to dodge ball games.
On its website, Lifecrowd notes, “Despite being true net geeks at heart, we’re an active bunch that loves venturing out to try new activities, experience different events, and meet interesting people.” They blog about their adventures.
Curated selection of outings
At Lifecrowd, users can browse a curated selection of outings, events and host-led sessions, view photos and read user reviews about activities going on in their area, including volunteer opportunities.
Users can sign up for activities directly through Lifecrowd and even reserve/pre-purchase spots for paid activities. The site uses social filtering via Facebook and personalization methods to recommend fun activities aligned with users’ interests.
“The social activities space is really heating up and we see a tremendous market opportunity for Lifecrowd’s approach to catapult it to the head of the pack,” said Paul Lee, Partner at Lightbank.
Site includes volunteer activities
Lifecrowd emphasizes casual settings with a typical group size of 8 to 10 people—big enough to socialize without being overwhelming. All activities are created by users, called “Hosts,” and with Lifecrowd, anyone can be a host, not just a business or merchant.
The site also lists a variety of volunteer opportunities, perfect for individuals who want to participate in community service, but don’t know what’s available, where to go or how to get started.
The interesting startup has attracted national attention from the tech press, including TechCrunch, Wired, PandoDaily, KillerStartups, and Tech Cocktail, among others.
The rise of Pinterest has brought much attention to the small but growing community of image sharers, folks who collect and share images from around the web through social image sharing sites. But will it be of use to marketers?
Retailers are now searching for how to leverage the new tool for acquisition and engagement. But are online consumers actually shopping through this channel?
A new study from Bizrate Insights suggests that yes, a handful of online consumers are in fact making a purchase.
While awareness of image sharing sites is still relatively low among online buyers as compared to other channels, among those aware, the study finds that over 1 in 4 have purchased an item directly from an image sharing site such as Pinterest, by clicking on an image they saw.
“There has been much speculation on whether online shoppers are utilizing Pinterest for pure inspiration or if it is in fact bringing in sales,” remarks Hayley Silver, Vice President, Bizrate Insights.
“Our goal in launching the Bizrate Insights Image Sharing and Shopping Series is to gain an understanding of how online shoppers are using this new channel and how it is changing over time, ultimately providing retailers with key insights to leverage in their approach.”
These findings represent the first in a series of dedicated consumer pulses Bizrate Insights plans to release over the next few months related to Image Sharing Sites and Shopping.
A Japanese bullet train, only one aspect of tech and travel.
On my last Amtrak train ride, I worked via the train’s wireless network for the entire three hour trip. GPS devices have replaced paper maps for many people.
Nearly all of us use the Internet to research and book travel these days. And one of the annoyances of flying is the need to turn-off electronic devices for take-offs and landings.
This infographic takes you on a trip from train to tweets in 171 years.
StreamSend
While consumers and marketers both say that interacting through social media has strong benefits, there is still more engagement and interaction required by both groups, according to 
Have something you want to sell on Pinterest? A new site, 
Pinterest, now the third largest social media site and the 16th most popular site on the web, can be an nonprofit fund raising engine, says 
The rapid adoption of smartphones and tablet computers are just the lastest entries of disruptive personal tech that shake up the status quo. Pretty much the only sure thing in personal tech is that things will change.
Findings revealed in a new white paper from Baynote, which sells customer experience solutions, shows that 93 percent of retailers view analytics evaluation as their number one merchandising/navigational priority from a customer retention point-of-view.
While numerous industry studies have been devoted to the “online casual gamer,” ArcadeWeb, a highly trafficked gaming site, has released key findings from its national user survey, designed to provide the first insight into a new, growing type of 
Do you need a way to connect with new people or to try new things? A Santa Monica, CA, startup that helps users meet people for social activities offline has just nabbed funding to expand.
The rise of Pinterest has brought much attention to the small but growing community of image sharers, folks who collect and share images from around the web through social image sharing sites. But will it be of use to marketers?
