Posts Tagged ‘Google’
Monday, May 13th, 2013
 The Digital Summit is the largest event of its kind in the Southeast. Only a handful of seats remain available for the largest digital conference in the Southeast, the Digital Summit, Georgia World Congress Center in Atlanta, tomorrow, May 13 and Wednesday, May 14.
This year, in addition to the more than 100 leading digital thought leaders set to present the latest digital strategies and trends at the summit, you’ll get the inside story on two hot topics: the Internet currency Bitcoin and the company disrupting cable and satellite TV delivery models, Aereo.
Chet Kanojia, CEO and founder of Aereo, which grabs over-the-air TV broadcasts and offers them to consumers via Internet connected devices, will talk about his starup’s disruptive technology.
Kanojia says The consumer proposition is what’s important.
 Bitcoins Stephen Pair, co-founder and CTO of BitPay, the leading processor for bitcoin, will provide an overview of the somewhat controversial Internet currency. He talked to the TechJournal about What will make bitcoin succeed or fail,” in advance of his appearance at the Summit.
Speakers will also share the latest best practices and strategies in topics such as social media, email marketing, search, mobile, e-commerce, usability, analytics & measurement, online video, social TV and digital advertising/branding among many others.
A capacity crowd of 1,500 digital marketers, Internet executives, web strategists, entrepreneurs and other digital professionals will connect in Atlanta for two full days of content and networking.
 Speakers represent leading brands such as Google, Twitter, reddit, Mashable, Porsche, Turner, TMZ, Coca-Cola, HootSuite, NASCAR, The Weather Channel, Aereo, Dell, Rovi, HGTV, Forrester, StumbleUpon, Salesforce and Adobe to name a few.
The Digital Summit conference features a keynote from the co-founder of reddit, Alexis Ohanian, and over 80 strategy presentations and discussions, musical acts, the Startup Showcase, preconference workshops, leading digital vendors and hours of attendee networking.
Here at the TechJournal we’ve interviewed a handful of the digital gurus who will participate. It’s only a sample:
Among those you’ll hear are:
Microsoft/Bing’s Matt Wallaert says Behavioral Science is helping build a better tech future and why people prefer Bing to Google in tests.
Mike Perla, director of conversion optimization and creative at Fathom will fill you in on how to Show your client ROI from usability testing.
Aaron Schildkrout, co-founder of the unique online dating site, How About We, talks about a data driven company
 Brian DAmato Brian DAmato, SVP of Analytics at Moxie discusses How to get ROI from digital channels.
Tim Clark, director of optimization for NASCAR, talks about how NASCAR listens to its fans to increase digital channel engagement.
Erik Muendel, CEO and creative director of Alexandria, VA-based Brightline Interactive offers three tips for grabbing attention via digital channels and keeping it.
Social media and marketing consultant Jeff Sheehan explains how Linkedin offers a billboard to 200 million users.
SEO expert Josh McCoy says you should use competitive analysis and enticing content to fire up your SEO.
 Erica McClenny Erica McClenny, vice president of client services withExpion, urges you to break down walls to pop the social media bubble.
Michael Marshall, CEO of Internet Marketing Analysts tells you how to do those backlinks right.
 Brian Wong Brian Wong, founder and CEO of Kiip, one of the top four online ad companies according to Forbes, offers insight into the mobile ad secret sauce – capturing moments of achievement.
Jacques Panis of Shinola, talks about bringing jobs and manufacturing back to the US in Good timing, making watches in Detroit.
Tags: AEREO, AOL, Atlanta, Bing, Bitcoin, Brian Wong, Digital Summit, Google, Josh McCoy, Kiip, Mashable, NASCAR, SEO, speaker interviews, twitter
Posted in Best Practices, Events, Georgia, Internet/New Media, Marketing, social media | No Comments »
Tuesday, May 7th, 2013
 Fewer than 100 seats remain for the Digital Summit in Atlanta which is only a week away. One of the largest digital marketing events in the Southeast, the Digital Summit features more than 80 presentations from marketing and technology thought-leaders.
Speakers from brands including Twitter, Google, Mashable, Porsche, Reddit, Adobe, TMZ, Bing, Nascar, Coca-Cola, Salesforce, AOL and many more will discuss the latest trends and insights into all things digital.
More than 1,500 are expected to attend.
Hours of networking
 People networking at a previous TechMedia event. In addition to learning the latest digital trends and best practices with actionable takeaways from over 100 world class speakers, you’ll get hours of networking opportunities at two open bar receptions, day one’s gala reception with heavy appetizers, breakfast & lunch on day two, cool giveaways, opportunities to check out the latest digital technologies and startups, a concert from a grammy nominated artist and a lasting experience.
Digital Summit will take place at the Georgia World Congress Center in downtown Atlanta. The conference is readily accessible with a direct flight from most major US cities. The World Congress Center is a just short hop on Atlanta’s mass transit system from the airport.
 Chaitanya ‘Chet’ Kanojia, CEO, founder of AEReO, will participate in the upcoming Digital Summit in Atlanta. AEREO CEO participating
Among other top speakers, the CEO and found of AEREO, which has been much in the news lately with its technology for capturing over-the-air broadcasts and delivering them to customers via Internet connected devices, will be on hand.
For more about the event and links to interviews the TechJournal has done with a number of participating speakers, see: More than 100 digital thought-leaders headed to Atlanta.
Confirmed speakers include:
- Alexis Ohanian, Co-Founder, reddit
- Baratunde Thurston, Technology-Loving Comedian
- Frederick Townes, Sr Technical Advisor, Mashable
- Matt Wallaert, Behavioral Scientist, Bing/Microsoft
- Brent Herd, Dir Southeast, Twitter
- Brian Wong, CEO, Kiip
- Joshua Fruhlinger, Head of Digital, TMZ
- Kelly Deen, Dir Consumer Marketing, Turner/Cartoon Network
- Lizzy Nephew, Social Media & Emerging Technology Specialist, Porsche
- Tom Daly, Group Director, Global Connections, Coca-Cola
- Maureen Schumacher Cole, Head of Financial Services, Google
- Steven Tedjamulia, Dir of Digital Strategy & Innovation, Dell
- Michael Tippett, Dir of New Products, HootSuite
- Steve Robinson, Dir of Online Analytics & Business Intel, The Home Depot
- Michael Rodriguez, Product Manager of Digital News, The Weather Channel
- Scott Carlis, VP Digital & Social, AEG Digital
- Chet Kanojia, CEO & Founder, Aereo
- Bert DuMars, VP & Principle Analyst, Forrester
- Randall Lloyd, Dir of Social Ad Sales, Salesforce
- Mallory Colliflower, Community Manager, HGTV
- Tim Clark, Dir of Optimization, NASCAR
- Mandar Shinde, Sr Dir Mobile Monetization, AOL
- Jeff Siegel, SVP Worldwide Advertising, Rovi
- Loni Stark, Director of Product Solution & Industry Marketing, Adobe
- Lance Broumand, CEO, UrbanDaddy
- Anthony Napalitano, Dir Global Partnerships, StumbleUpon
- Brian D’Amato, SVP Analytics, Moxie
- Matt Kaplan, VP Sales, Mail Online
- Jason Hartley, Group Media Dir, 360i
- Jeff Dennes, SVP – Head of Digital, SunTrust
- Nick Ayers, Mgr, Social Marketing, Intercontinental Hotel Group
- David Favero, Southeast Sales Dir, Shoutlet
- Justin Carll, Digital Strategist, PureRED
- Rory Felton, VP of Business Development, Music & Entertainment, Chirpify
- Brian Ford, Sr Dir of NA Sales & Service, 3DSystems
- Gretchen Fox, Social Architect, grtchnfx
- Bob Gilbreath, CEO, Pingage
- Laurie Hood, VP of Product Marketing, Silverpop
- Kami Huyse, CEO, Zoetica Media
- Simms Jenkins, CEO, BrightWave
- Manny Ju, Dir of Product Management, Blue Hornet
- Lawrence Kimmel, Executive Director, Hawekeye
- Mike King, Dir of Inbound Marketing, iAcquire
- Topher Kohan, Assc Dir of Search Strategy, Rockfish
- Chris Korbey, Creative Director, Emma
- Yoel Leinwand, Account Executive, YouTube
- Rebecca Lieb, Industry Analyst, Altimeter Group
- Michael Marshall, CEO, Internet Marketing Analysts
- Erica McClenny, SVP Client Services, Expion
- Josh McCoy, Lead Strategist, Vizion Interactive
- Mark Miller, SVP/CRM Practice Lead, Digitas
- Howard Morton, CEO & Managing Partner, Boardwalk International Advisors
- Erik Muendel, CEO, Brightline
- Dave Mundo, VP, Analytics Director, BKV
- Stephen Pair, CTO & Co-Founder, BitPay
- Jacques Panis, Dir of Strategic Partnerships, Shinola
- Mike Pearla, Dir of Conversion Optimization, Fathom
- Claudia Perlich, Chief Scientist, Media6Degrees
- Steven Roe, Dir of Business Development & Marketing, Response Media
- Lindy Roux, Principal Content Strategist, Siteworx
- Nigel Sanctuary, VP Cloud Propositions, Kognitio
- Joey Sargent, Principle, Brandsprout
- Becky Scheel, Graphics/Website/Exhibit Designer, ZooAtlanta
- Aaron Schildkrout, Co-Founder & Co-CEO, How About We
- Jenny Schmidt, Principle, CloudSpark
- Jeff Sheehan, CEO, Sheehan Marketing Strategies
- Rob Sanders, Founder, RSO Consulting
- Patrick Toland, CRO, Optimal Social
- Stefan Tornquist, VP Research (US), Econsultancy
- Chad White, Principle of Marketing Research, ExactTarget
- Scott Williford, Fouder & CEO, vLink Solutions
- Luke Barton, Technical Director, Siteworx
- Trevor Sumner, President, LocalVox
- Yakka Murphy, Art Director, Digital Experience, The Weather Channel
- Cara Citino, Dir of Digital Services, R2integrated
- Jeff Ferguson, CEO, Fang Digital Marketing
- Victor Wong, CEO, PaperG
- Ade Adeosun, Sr Dir Digital Business Analytic, comScore
- Kelley Mitchell Price, Chief Experince Officer, PocketFirm
- Annalise Kaylor, Dir of Social Media, Intrapromote
- Trish Nettleship, Dir of Social Media & Influence, UCB
- Danny Davis, CEO & Founder, Proving Ground
- Thomas Cornelius, President of Adility, InComm
- Adam Harrell, President, Nebo Agency
- Nikhi Deshpande, Director, GeorgiaGov Interactive
- Peter Lee, Editorial Director, GeorgiaGov Interactive
- Alankar Tayal, Optimization, Usability, Testing & Analytic Expert
Tags: 2013, AEREO, AOL, Digital Summit, Google, Kiip, Reddit, TMZ, Turner, twitter
Posted in Best Practices, Events, Georgia, Internet/New Media, IT | No Comments »
Thursday, May 2nd, 2013
 More than 100 leading digital thought leaders are set to present the latest digital strategies and trends at the Digital Summit, Georgia World Congress Center in Atlanta, May 14th – 15th, 2013.
Speakers will share the latest best practices and strategies in topics such as social media, email marketing, search, mobile, e-commerce, usability, analytics & measurement, online video, social TV and digital advertising/branding among many others.
A capacity crowd of 1,500 digital marketers, Internet executives, web strategists, entrepreneurs and other digital professionals will connect in Atlanta for two full days of content and networking.
Speakers represent leading brands such as Google, Twitter, reddit, Mashable, Porsche, Turner, TMZ, Coca-Cola, HootSuite, NASCAR, The Weather Channel, Aereo, Dell, Rovi, HGTV, Forrester, StumbleUpon, Salesforce and Adobe to name a few.
The Digital Summit conference features a keynote from the co-founder of reddit, Alexis Ohanian, and over 80 strategy presentations and discussions, musical acts, the Startup Showcase, preconference workshops, leading digital vendors and hours of attendee networking.
Here at the TechJournal we’ve interviewed a handful of the digital gurus who will participate, with more to come.
Among those you’ll hear are:
Brian DAmato, SVP of Analytics at Moxie discusses How to get ROI from digital channels.
 Tim Clark, director of optimization for NASCAR, talks about how NASCAR listens to its fans to increase digital channel engagement.
Erik Muendel, CEO and creative director of Alexandria, VA-based Brightline Interactive offers three tips for grabbing attention via digital channels and keeping it.
Social media and marketing consultant Jeff Sheehan explains how Linkedin offers a billboard to 200 million users.
SEO expert Josh McCoy says you should use competitive analysis and enticing content to fire up your SEO.
Erica McClenny, SVP, Expion, is participating in the upcoming Atlanta Digital Summit. Erica McClenny, vice president of client services withExpion, urges you to break down walls to pop the social media bubble.
Michael Marshall, CEO of Internet Marketing Analysts tells you how to do those backlinks right.
Brian Wong, founder and CEO of Kiip, is participating in the Atlanta Digital Summit May 14-15. Brian Wong, founder and CEO of Kiip, one of the top four online ad companies according to Forbes, offers insight into the mobile ad secret sauce – capturing moments of achievement.
Tags: 2013, AOL, Atlanta, backlinks, Brian DAmato, Brian Wong, digital advertising, Erica McClenny, Events, Forrester, Google, Jeff Sheehan, Michael Marshall, mobile secret sauce, NASCAR, SEO, StumbleUpon, The Weather Channel, Tim Clark, twitter
Posted in Analytics, Events, Google, Internet/New Media, IT, Marketing, Mobile, social media, Telecommunications, Twitter | No Comments »
Wednesday, May 1st, 2013
 Two of today’s most talked about brand advertising categories are mobile and online video. Until now, however, brands have struggled with accurately and definitively measuring the return they are getting on their video and mobile ad spending, and deciding how to best allocate their limited marketing and advertising dollars.
MarketShare, which sells predictive analytics for marketers, has just completed one of the first in-depth analyses of video and mobile ad effectiveness as part of the larger marketing mix.
The study, sponsored by Google, quantifies the relative impact of these digital media across several major industries, including autos (entry level luxury segment), credit cards, cosmetics, auto insurance and smartphones, with implications for many others.
How marketing drives consumers
MarketShare analyzed vast amounts of data from Google, YouTube, and other syndicated data sources to establish how, at a category level, marketing drives consumers to engage with search, display, video and mobile channels, ultimately influencing their purchasing decisions.
“Through this analysis, MarketShare and Google are helping marketers better understand how search, online video, and other paid, owned, and earned marketing tactics influence consumer behavior and drive demand,” says Wes Nichols , Co-Founder and CEO at MarketShare.
“At the same time, we’ve uncovered new insights about video and mobile advertising effectiveness that many marketers haven’t seen or been able to quantify before.”
A Marketing Efficiency Index developed by MarketShare compares ad spending on different online and offline channels to actual results (sales or applications). Looking at the overall average for the industries analyzed, findings show that online marketing offers greater efficiency per dollar of marketing spend than offline.
Reallocating marketing dollars lifts sales
By reallocating marketing dollars, marketers with spending levels similar to the category averages studied could expect to generate an incremental 1% to 4% lift in sales. Since the total marketing spend analyzed across all five categories totals more than $8 billion, the stakes are significant.
“Through our efforts with MarketShare, we were able to develop unique category-level models for analyzing digital and traditional marketing channels more holistically, helping us better understand the full value of marketing investments,” says Gunnard Johnson , Advertising Research Director at Google.
MarketShare’s analysis of category-level marketing activity sought to measure how consumers are influenced throughout their “purchasing journey.”
 By including not only paid marketing investments, but also other intermediate outcomes in the purchase journey such as a consumer’s Google queries and content views on YouTube related to a brand (both brand-uploaded and content related to a brand), this analysis went deeper into drivers of brand performance than traditional marketing allocation efforts.
A few key takeaways for marketers include:
- While offline marketing and other environmental factors continue to play a substantial role in driving demand in the categories modeled, digital spending appears to have substantial upside for greater marketing efficiency, particularly for smartphones and auto insurance.
- Desktop search continues to warrant a significant percentage of marketing allocations. In addition, mobile search is an aspect of marketing investment that this study has identified as important, especially in larger categories such as Cosmetics, Credit Cards and Auto Insurance.
- Online video investments via YouTube in the range of 1%-4% of total media budget seem appropriate for high-spend categories, with more considered purchases (e.g. luxury autos or handsets) perhaps even higher. All in all, the model suggests that current levels of brand spend in YouTube appear to be consistently underinvested.
- Quantifying the impact of other consumer touchpoints highlights the importance and potential for paid advertising to influence owned and earned contributions. In particular, the analysis was able to determine the value YouTube “owned” and “earned” content views represent, highlighting their significant overall sales contribution.
Tags: desktop search, efficiency, Google, market research, mobile, online vs. offline marketing, video, YouTube
Posted in Best Practices, Internet/New Media, Marketing, Mobile, Studies, surveys, reports, video | No Comments »
Wednesday, April 24th, 2013
By Allan Maurer
 Jeff Sheehan So, how do you get 195,000 followers on Twitter? Buy them? Bribe them? Offer them ice cream cones?
“Honestly, I worked my tail off,” says Jeff Sheehan, a marketing and social media consultant at Sheehan Marketing Strategies, who is recognized as one of the Top 100 Marketers to Follow on Twitter, who now has more than 199,000 followers.
Sheehan, who has 30 years of high-tech global sales, marketing, and advertising experience marketing to Intel, Cisco, Apple, HP, and IBM, is a well known speaker in the Atlanta area on the use of Linkedin, Personal Branding, Social Media, and Marketing.
He’ll be talking about Linkedin at the Atlanta Digital Summit May 14-15, joining dozens of other digital media, marketing, advertising, and technology thought-leaders from brands such as Google, Twitter, AOL, Adobe, and many others.
“The power of social media is incredible,” Sheehan tells the TechJournal. “It levels the playing field and gives you the ability to position yourself regardless of your background. So anybody can be a somebody if they’re good at branding themselves online.”
Tips on using Linkedin
 An expert at using Linkedin, Sheehan offers these tips on using the social network:
First, he says, “Be credible. Put up the best profile you can.” That means also including appropriate keywords – although he rails against people who overdo it the way sites used to overuse keywords for SEO. On his blog for instance, he cites one unnamed job hunter who was in social media less than a year but includes a whole long paragraph with nothing but the phrase “Social media marketing.”
You should, though, include a professional photo and a complete picture of what you’ve done.
Next, Sheehan suggests, you have to build your network. “Find people with common interests and ask to join their network,” he says.
Once you’ve acquired endorsements and recommendations on LinkedIn, it adds to your credibility, he says, although we’ve heard some dissenting voices regarding the value of endorsements.
Like your own billboard
After you establish your identity, Sheehan notes, Linkedin is “Like your own billboard with a potential audience of 200 million people. You can display your work and provide your network with material you think is relevant, articles, news.”
He warns, however, “Don’t spam people.” One person in his network “Puts out post after post after post,” he says, so Sheehan used the Linkedin “hide” feature. That keeps the person in his network, but he’s not longer bothered by all those superfluous posts.
“You want to keep people in your network,” he says. “The more people you are connected to, the easier you can be found. So it’s important to retain the size and integrity of your network.”
Longer shelf life
On the other hand, used judiciously, you can “Get a lot of visibility via Linkedin updates,” which have a shelf life a bit longer than the rapidly moving Twitter stream.
 Just call me Larry. Sheehan, who has called himself a “Twitteraholic,” says he also sees great potential in Google+. “Google is going to continue to invest in it,” he says.
Facebook, he says, “Is mostly for friends and family.”
Pinterest, which had quite a buzz last year, “Is not as universal” as the other social networks, he adds. “It’s audience is 85 percent female. But it has benefited a lot of businesses.”
There are so many social networking tools, with new ones such as Instagram and Vine popping up all the time, that no one has time to manage them all.
“Pick your poison and figure out where you’re going to focus,” he says.
Tags: Atlanta, Digital Summit, facebook, Google, Jeff Sheehan, LinkedIn, Pinterest
Posted in Events, Facebook, LinkedIn, social media, Twitter | No Comments »
Friday, April 19th, 2013
 SEO expert Michael Marshall is among the digital thought-leaders participating in the Atlanta Digital Summit May 14-14. By Allan Maurer
Back before Google launched it SEO-changing Penguin algorithm, certain “spamtastic” backlink building methods worked for quite a while, which is why they became so prevalent.
When that Penguin algorithm hit, even many legitimate sites were adversely affected. “They were lured into spamtastics because they worked for so long,” says Michael Marshall, CEO of Internet Marketing Analysts, who helped craft advanced SEO strategies for many top Internet brands, including AOL, 1800Flowers, and Alcatel-Lucent among others.
Marshall, who writes about SEO for many media outlets, from Forbes, Investor’s Business daily, PRWeek, SearchNewz and SEOToday.com, is among the plethora of digital thought-leaders, tech gurus, and execs from top brands participating in the Digital Summit in Atlanta May 14-15.
In two separate sessions, Marshall, who is also a lead instructor at Search Engine Academy, will discuss understanding Google’s search algorithm and link-building.
Fixing bad backlinks
Marshall says that if past practices hurt your site when Google’s Penguin hit, there are two ways to fix the problem.
First, he says, “Make the structure of your backlinks look more natural. Search engines have a specific way of determining that.”
He suggests using Google Web Master tools or Majestic SEO to monitor your backlinks.
Then, Marshall says, “You have to get rid of backlinks and/or add more good ones to such a degree that it minimizes the effect of the bad ones. “It’s a percentage game, although no one know the exact percentages,” he adds.
If you can’t remove some backlinks for any of a variety of reasons, you can use the Google and Bing disavowal tools so they don’t harm your rank. But before doing that, Marshall warns, “Get your ducks in a row, because they won’t just look at the backlinks, they’ll look at everything.”
Adding good links
How do you go about getting good links to outweigh the bad?
“Get links from organizations in your industry,” Marshall says. “Your partners, vendors, suppliers. Those are the types of sites you want links from.”
If you’re a local company, he suggests, “Anything like the Chamber of Commerce or industry guilds – organizations that have a good reputation in your space locally.”
Another standard approach is to identify your top competitors going after the same traffic you do. “Look at your top five competitors. What 20 backlinks do they have in common? They’re a good place to start.”
Don’t buy links for SEO
What about buying links?
That’s a no-no in today’s SEO world – although you can buy them if you don’t use them for SEO purposes. “Google says it knows that buying links are a regular part of doing business, but it doesn’t want you to use them for SEO,” notes Marshall.
Google plans a new major Penguin release Marshall says he expects may shake things up as much as the original one did.
He recommends that the way to stay on top of the SEO world is to “find reliable sources online.”
Those include Google’s own blog, Searchengineland.com, SEOrountable.com, and the Searchengineacademy.com blog.
Tags: Atlanta, back links, Digital Summit, Google, Michael Marshall, Penguin algorithm, SEO
Posted in Events, Google, Internet/New Media, Marketing | No Comments »
Friday, April 19th, 2013
 The four most valuable social media brands in 2012 were able to defend their leading positions and increase their brand values, with Google+ rising fast.
The rankings are from the Department of Social Media Management of HWZ University of Applied Sciences in Business Administration Zurich, in cooperation with BV4 Certified Brand Valuation Experts.
Facebook takes the top of the current ranking with an estimated brand value of $ 34.320 billion, followed by YouTube with a brand value of $ 26.824 billion, and Twitter with $ 23.656 billion.
Less well known in the Western world is the Chinese network Qzone which, with a brand value of $ 16.336 billionn, is in fourth position.
 Top winner of this year’s ranking is Google+, which gained 14 ranks ($ 5.878 billionn).
Together, the thirty most valuable brands have a monetary value of nearly $ 200 bn
Trends positively influenced brand value growth
Actual social media trends had a positive influence on the strength and value development of the analyzed brands, fueling a growth of 59% compared to the top 30 brands in 2012: on one hand, the most successful social media brands such as Facebook and Twitter were able to further develop their dominance with regard to their financial brand values.
On the other hand, Chinese social media brands expanded their strength and value thanks to the impressive Chinese Internet usage statistics that are characterized by a rapidly increasing number of Internet users and an intensive daily use of social media networks.
Furthermore, the new brand arrivals Instagram ($ 2.101 bn, position 22) and Pinterest ($ 1.987 bn, position 24) clearly benefitted from users’ augmenting need to share pictures among their digital peers.
Finally, the trend of increasingly using mobile devices rather than PCs to access social media platforms is an additional factor that positively influenced the strength and value development of the most valuable social media brands in 2013.
The growing importance of social media brands
Brands are important intangible value drivers for consumer goods and service companies. Compared to corporate values, intangible values like brands are continually increasing.
This is also true for social network brands, which have spread rapidly throughout the world and were able to continue on this path to success. Some of the important value drivers of social media brands are global awareness, growing user numbers, omnipresence in the day-to-day life of consumers, as well as facilitation of simple and efficient communication.
The detailed report ”The Most Valuable Social Media Brands 2013″ can be obtained free of charge at http://www.fh-hwz.ch/fsmmand http://www.bv4.ch . Follow the hashtag #socialbrands13
Tags: brand value, facebook, Google, rankings, social media, twitter, YouTube
Posted in Facebook, Google, Internet/New Media, Twitter | No Comments »
Wednesday, April 17th, 2013
Early Bird rates for the Atlanta Digital Summit, one of the largest digital marketing events in the Southeast, expire this Friday. The event, which draws 1,500 attendees tends to sell out, so it’s a good idea to register early.
You can meet execs from Twitter, Google, Mashable, Bing, reddit, YouTube, StumbleUpon, TMZ, Dell, Home Depot, HGTV, Salesforce, CNN, AOL, Forester, Urban Daddy and The Weather Channel?
They’re all represented at the upcoming Digital Summit 2013 May 14-15.
The event draws digital marketers, web strategists, senior Internet executives, thought-leaders, and entrepreneurs to Atlanta, so the networking is nonstop.
When you’re Wong, you’re right
We’ll be interviewing some of the featured speakers and panel participants as we head toward the event (TechJournal is a TechMedia division).
We spoke to Kiip CEO and founder Brian Wong, who is among the dozens of digital thought leaders participating.
Wong, the youngest person who ever received venture funding, describes how connecting mobile ads to “moments of achievement and delight” can make those ads welcome rather than an annoyance. See: Mobile ad secret sauce.
We also interviewed Joellyn “Joey” Sargent, a principal at strategic marketing and management consulting firm BrandSprout. She offers insight on the need to integrate digital and traditional marketing and online and offline efforts.
Look for many more interviews with participants at the TechJournal leading up to the event.
Register now to reserve your seat. TechMedia’s last event in Charlotte, NC, had to close registration a week ahead of the event and had a long waiting list, so do it early.
Tags: 2013, AOL, Atlanta, Brian Wong, Dell, Digital Summit, early rate, Google, Joey Sargent, Mashable, twitter, Wall Street Journal, Yahoo
Posted in Events, Internet/New Media, IT | No Comments »
Friday, April 12th, 2013
 You can see what’s hot and what’s not looking at the merger and acquisition picture in any industry, and in online and mobile, analytics, SaaS, mobile payments and food service and content firms are like spice to the big dish Internet companies these days.
Deal volume increased three percent relative to the prior quarter in online and mobile industry mergers and acquisitions in the first quarter of 2013, according to mid-market investment bank Berkery Noyes in its mergers and acquisitions trend report, but transaction value decreased 50 percent, from $15.8 billion in Q4 2012 to $7.9 billion in Q1 2013.
The SaaS/ASP segment experienced the largest quarterly rise in volume, improving 16 percent. Meanwhile, transaction volume in the E-Commerce segment increased six percent between Q4 2012 and Q1 2013.
Highest value deal
The segment’s highest value deal in Q1 2013 was Google’s announced acquisition of Channel Intelligence for $125 million.
In addition, major financial technology players completed several large Online and Mobile payments acquisitions during Q1 2013. For instance, ACI Worldwide acquired Online Resources Corporation for $203 million and FIS acquired mFoundry for $120 million.
M&A involving transactions with a large mobile component increased 33 percent over the past three months. Along these lines, there were several acquisitions in the food service information and content space.
Yahoo, OpenTable buys
 This included Yahoo!’s acquisition of Alike, which enables users to make recommendations about their favorite food establishments; and OpenTable’s acquisition of Foodspotting, an application that helps users share information about particular dishes.
With four transactions, Yahoo! was the most active Online and Mobile Industry acquirer during the quarter. Several of Yahoo!’s recent acquisitions demonstrate its renewed focus on mobile under CEO Marissa Mayer .
Yahoo! has already completed three mobile transactions thus far in 2013, acquiring social news application Summly, as well as applications Alike and Jybe. In contrast, Yahoo! only made two mobile transactions last year, both of which occurred in Q4 2012.
E-marketing and Search segments
As for the E-Marketing & Search segment, M&A activity increased nine percent in Q1 2013. \
“The ability to better profile and target consumers has necessitated the development and growth of companies that can analyze shoppers’ behavior and develop appropriate offerings to the consumer,” said Evan Klein , Managing Director at Berkery Noyes.
“This shift has led to the growth of data analytics businesses and, with the need to develop deeper relationships with consumers, the growth in loyalty marketing companies.”
 Just call me Larry. Regarding the segment’s social media marketing subset, one notable acquisition in Q1 2013 was Twitter’s acquisition of BlueFin Labs.
A key goal of acquiring the social television analytics company is for Twitter to gain additional advertising revenue by leveraging viewer data. TiVo and The Nielsen Company completed E-Marketing acquisitions in 2012, both of which focused on improving the ability to measure digital audiences.
A copy of the ONLINE AND MOBILE INDUSTRY M&A REPORT FOR FIRST QUARTER 2013 is available at the Berkery Noyes website.
Tags: ACI Worldwide, Alike, analytics, Berkery Noyes, BlueFin, Channel Intelligence, food service and content, Google, Jybe, M&A, Mergers and acquisitions, mobile and online, mobile payments, SaaS, twitter, Yahoo
Posted in Acquisitions, Google, Internet/New Media, Mobile, Studies, surveys, reports, Twitter | No Comments »
Wednesday, April 10th, 2013
 What do these brands have in common: Twitter, Google, Mashable, Bing, reddit, YouTube, StumbleUpon, TMZ, Dell, Home Depot, HGTV, Salesforce, CNN, AOL, Forester, Urban Daddy and The Weather Channel?
They’re all represented at the upcoming Digital Summit 2013 May 14-15 in Atlanta, the region’s largest digital marketing and web innovation strategies conference.
The event draws a sell-out crowd of 1,500 or more digital marketers, web strategists, senior Internet executives, thought-leaders, and entrepreneurs to Atlanta.
 Brian Wong, founder and CEO of Kiip, is participating in the Atlanta Digital Summit May 14-15. We’ll be interviewing some of the featured speakers and panel participants as we head toward the event (TechJournal is a TechMedia division). We spoke to Kiip CEO and founder Brian Wong this week. Wong, the youngest person who ever received venture funding, describes how connecting mobile ads to “moments of achievement and delight” can make those ads welcome rather than an annoyance. See: Mobile ad secret sauce.
Register now to reserve your seat. TechMedia’s last event in Charlotte, NC, had to close registration a week ahead of the event and had a long waiting list, so do it early.
Tags: AOL, Atlanta, Bing, brands, Brian Wong, Digital Summit, Forrester, Google, Kiip, Mashable, May 2013, mobile advertising, Reddit, StumbleUpon, twitter
Posted in Events, Georgia, Google, Internet/New Media, Mobile, Twitter | No Comments »
Monday, April 8th, 2013
 Many online and mobile shoppers use price and product comparison engines to help them find the best deals. Google leads, but Amazon’s product ads have grown 2 times faster than overall ecommerce.
CSE’s saw a 56 percent increase in traffic in 2012.
For a look at the Comparison shopping engine scene, Volusion, which offers a shopping feed optimization and management service, has created this infographic:
Tags: Amazon product ads, Bing, comparison shopping engines, Google, Nextag, Pricegrabber, Shopping.com, Shopzilla
Posted in Ecommerce, infographic, Internet/New Media | No Comments »
Thursday, April 4th, 2013
How do Enterprises make decisions about where to locate their data centers and what drives their growing need for them?
 Facebook’s air-cooled data center in Forest City, NC. A new study of the data center industry commissioned by Compass Datacenters has identified a number of emerging factors that are shaping the data center strategies of enterprise companies in the United States.
The study also projects a strong wave of new data center construction in 2013 and 2014. The research was conducted by the respected research firm Campos Research, which surveyed senior decision makers who steer the data center strategies at 150 U.S. companies with annual revenues of $250 million or more.
Key findings from the study include the following:
- 87% of companies will build a data center in next 12-24 months. This represents an acceleration of the trend, with 63% reporting that they completed data center projects in the last 12 months.
- 71% of companies ranked new applications as the primary reason for needing expanded data center infrastructure—making it the most often-cited driver for data center expansions in 2013 and 2014.
- Three-quarters of companies reported that they plan to support a combination of new applications, virtualization, Big Data, and Private Cloud with their new data centers—showing a variety of needs behind the expansions.
- 97% of companies are seeking to locate their new data centers less than 30 miles from their headquarters or major operations center—making geographic proximity a chief consideration in upcoming data center projects.
Here at the TechJournal, we’ve noted that data center construction barely stalled even during the deepest part of the recession. In North Carolina, where we are headquartered, both Google and Facebook have built data centers and regional data center firms such as Peak 10 have steadily expanded their footprint.
 The Compass data center in Raleigh, NC. The company is also constructing a data center in Durham, NC. Other regional data center firms such as Peak 10, have also expanded their footprint substantially in the last few years. Chris Crosby , CEO of Compass Datacenters, said, ”Our team has worked with Campos for several years, and they have an uncanny ability to identify emerging trends before they reach critical mass and transform the data center industry.
“Their past research was prescient in identifying energy efficiency, wholesale data centers and modular design as important emerging issues well before they gathered steam and were broadly acknowledged as major trends. This new study identifies geographic proximity as a key consideration for the projects that companies are currently planning, and that has the potential to change the landscape of the data center industry, both figuratively and literally.”
He added, “In the past, companies based outside of major data center markets had to sacrifice proximity when it came to the location of their data centers. They had little choice but to put their data center in one of the handful of markets, often placing those IT assets far from the companies’ HQ or major operations center.
“Not only did that increase costs and risk, but it also was inherently inefficient from a long-term operations perspective. This new study makes it clear that enterprises don’t want to make that compromise any more, and that has huge ramifications for data center providers.”
Following are additional findings from the study:
- Companies who are planning to build in the next 12 months are planning to add an average of 2 facilities. That average increases to 3.5 when the timeframe is expanded to 24 months.
- The companies who participated in the study currently have an average of 3 data centers. 25% reported that they currently have 5 or more data centers.
- 96% of companies reported that the size of their data centers will be 20,000 square feet or less.
- CIOs were identified as the primary executive who determines need for data center expansion. CIOs were cited by 37% of companies as the person who approves the project, with 24% reporting that the final decision is made by the CEO. 44% of companies described CIOs as having the most influence on the purchasing decision with 19% saying that the CEO now has the greatest influence.
- The most common process for beginning a project is to set the requirements and then look for providers as a second step in the process (71% of respondents).
- The most important factors cited in the selection process for a provider is Service Level. Green strategy was the lowest-ranked selection factor.
- 75% of companies will evaluate 3 providers as part of their selection process.
- Only 44% of companies said that they would consider building the data center themselves, indicating that “do-it-yourself” is declining.
For more findings from this study and analysis from Compass Datacenters, visit http://www.compassdatacenters.com/compass-university/.
Tags: big data, Compass Datacenters, data center, Durham, Enterprise decisions, facebook, geographic proximity, Google, NC, new applications, Peak 10, private cloud, Raleigh, virtualization
Posted in Cloud, IT, North Carolina, Studies, surveys, reports | No Comments »
Friday, March 29th, 2013
 As Valentine’s Day approached in February, millions flocked to Flowers, Gifts and Greetings sites to search for special gifts for their loved ones. Americans were drawn to Automotive Manufacturer sites during the month as Super Bowl commercials and national auto shows piqued consumer interest in the category, according to the comScore Media Metrix service.
“Valentine’s Day had consumers searching for gift ideas at Flowers, Gifts and Greetings sites, making it one of the top-gaining categories for the month,” said Jeff Hackett, executive vice president of comScore.
“Cars were also at the forefront of Americans’ minds in February, between high-profile Super Bowl ads, auto shows around the country, and an improving economy that has many consumers back in the market for their next car purchase.”
Americans Log on to File as Tax Day Nears
As Tax Day inched closer in February, many Americans looked to the web for help in filing their annual returns. The category grew 45 percent to 36 million visitors to rank as the fastest-growing category during the month.
Movers & Shakers
With taxes on the minds of millions, IRS.gov ranked as the fastest-growing property for the second consecutive month, up 78 percent to 22.6 million visitors in February.
Gearing up for the beginning of Spring training, 8.4 million baseball fans visited MLB.com to get the latest news and information on their favorite teams. General Motors, despite having skipped a Super Bowl ad buy in 2013, generated a traffic boost of 19 percent to 7.2 million visitors on the heels of auto shows around the country.
Top 50 Properties
Google Sites ranked as the #1 property in February with 189 million visitors, followed by Yahoo! Sites with 186 million, Microsoft Sites with 164 million and Facebook with 144 million. Sites that jumped significantly in the rankings included Adobe Sites (up 7 positions to #25), Tribune Interactive (up 5 positions to #30) and The Washington Post Company (up 5 positions to #45).
Top ad networks
For Advertising Networks and Buy Side Networks, Google Ad Network ranked #1 with a 93.3-percent reach, followed by Specific Media (84.5 percent), AOL Advertising (83.7 percent), AT&T AdWorks (82.4 percent) and Genome from Yahoo! (81.1 percent).
For the full release and comScores top 50 properties list see:
http://www.comscore.com/Insights/Press_Releases/2013/3/comScore_Media_Metrix_Ranks_Top_50_U.S._Web_Properties_for_February_2013
Tags: cars, comScore, Feb. 2013, gifts, Google, taxes, top 50 sites, Yahoo
Posted in Internet/New Media, Studies, surveys, reports | No Comments »
Friday, March 29th, 2013
 Never mind talking: For more than half of all mobile device users, the number one function via their internet browser is search.
In the past nine months, the total number of visitors to search navigation sites conducted via mobile devices has jumped by more than 25%, with local searches playing a particularly important role – nearly 86 million people now seek local business information on their mobile phones in the United States alone.
More than half of those who conduct local business searches said they use mobile phones for searching because they are on the move. In fact, 56% of those who use local search sites primarily for local business information use these sites on a weekly basis across all devices.
Tip of the iceberg
That is just the tip of the iceberg uncovered in the Neustar Localeze and 15miles Sixth Annual comScore Local Search Usage Study, which analyzes a target sample of more than 3,000 users of local business Internet search.
“What we can clearly see is that the local search market is maturing – what we previously described as a Social, Local and Mobile (SoLoMo) revolution is now embedded in consumer behavior,” said Jeff Beard, Senior Vice President and General Manager, Neustar Localeze.
“Tablet adoption is growing at a blistering pace: It took smartphones nearly a decade to reach 40 million users, while that number was crossed only two years after the iPad arrived. This market is set to keep growing, and businesses need to fundamentally rethink the way local customers are going to find them.”
Mobile and Tablet Searchers Continue to Sky-rocket:
 The study demonstrates that the total number of U.S. searchers on mobile phones grew steadily last year – from 90.1 million mobile phone visitors to search/navigation sites or apps in March 2012 to 113.1 million in December 2012.
Tablets also grew as a source for online searches, with 19% growth between April 2012 and December 2012. Both mobile phone and tablet searchers find accuracy of information to be more important than depth of content.
However, tablet searchers are placing more importance on depth of content over time, while mobile phone searchers are placing less importance on this measure. Additionally, mobile phone searchers are more likely to cite maps, driving directions and distance as key information, while tablet searchers are more likely to find consumer reviews and online promotions most helpful.
Successful local business searches conducted via mobile phones are most likely to result in an in-store visit when compared to the outcomes of searches conducted on other devices.
Online mobile phone and tablet searchers, however, are more likely to continue searching and conduct multiple searches than PC/laptop users. Even more significantly, local business searchers using a mobile phone or tablet have a 78% and 77% likelihood, respectively, to make a purchase as a result of their last search, with tablet searchers skewing toward more expensive purchases.
Search via Apps is on the Rise – Facebook and Google Maps Dominate:
The study also offers a telling glimpse into other current trends, from application usage to social media. Application-based local search nearly doubled in just the past two years, significantly outpacing the SMS and browser markets.
More specifically, of the mobile phone searchers who said they use applications to search for local businesses, 35% use Google Maps. Finally, turning to social media, 92% of those who searched for local business information on social networking sites from all devices used Facebook for that purpose in 2012.
Here’s an infographic detailing some of the study findings:
What are Consumers Searching for?
There are also clear patterns in the choice of local search categories. The healthcare industry in particular needs to take note: pharmacies lead the pack with 86% of consumers looking for a specific pharmacy, while doctors and hospitals rank second with 75%. Banking and finance are not far behind (69%), followed by restaurants (65%). In fact, 23% of those surveyed said the last local business they searched was a restaurant.
“The greatest impact of the Internet is to offer access to information on a global scale, yet it’s equally important in driving business at the neighborhood level,” said Gregg Stewart, President, 15miles. “Consumers now expect accurate, easy-to-absorb information on local businesses on a variety of computing platforms, and those companies that can adapt to this new world have the most to gain.”
For more information on the survey, click here.
Tags: facebook, functions, Google, local business search, Maps, mobile, navigation sites
Posted in Google, infographic, Internet/New Media, Mobile, Tech life/Culture | No Comments »
Wednesday, March 27th, 2013
If you register today (March 29) you can still get the substantial early-bird discount to the upcoming Digital Summit May 14-15 in Atlanta. It’s a real savings and the event usually sells out, so you’ll also ensure yourself of a seat by registering early.
The jam-packed two-day event includes more than 75 speakers from top brands such as Google, Twitter, Mashable, reddit, Dell, Turner, National Geographic, AOL, YouTube, Home Depot, Forrester, ExactTarget and more.
Today is the last day you can still grab the early-bird rate.
Who attends Digital Summit?
Senior marketers and branders, digital executives and professionals, web and mobile strategists, designers and web project managers, bloggers and new media, entrepreneurs and business developers and anyone else who operates in the digital community. Check out some of the brands who will be attending.
It’s an unparalleled networking opportunity loaded with opportunities to meet potential partners, customers, thought-leaders, and colleagues.
Want more?
Take it deeper by attending the Pre-Conference workshops. When you sign up for our pre-conference, you’ll get a dozen more sessions to choose from covering advanced strategies in Social Media, Search Marketing and Usability & Design.
Everything the Digital Summit does is focused on giving you a more intense experience with take-aways you can put to work immediately when you return to the office. This week only, all for just $100 more – plus, we’ll even throw in lunch!
Get VIP Access!
And for those who want it all, sign up for our Platinum Pass. You’ll get access to both the main conference, pre-conference, as well as our special VIP Platinum Lounge and a Platinum Swag package sure to make you the envy of the office. Sign up this week to get the best rates for the Platinum Package. There’s a limited number available.
The Digital Summit is a TechMedia event and the TechJournal is a TechMedia division.
Tags: 2013, AOL, Atlanta, Digital Summit, early-bird discount, Exact Target, Google, Reddit, Turner, twitter, YouTube
Posted in Events, Internet/New Media | No Comments »
Thursday, March 14th, 2013
Google has awarded a multi-year grant to Polytechnic Institute of New York University’s (NYU-Poly) Oded Nov to further his study of the role of design in shaping online behavior.
Nov, an assistant professor in the Department of Technology Management and Innovation, has long focused on social media, and the behavioral aspects of information systems. Working with Mor Naaman of the Rutgers University School of Communication and Information, he will embark on an ambitious new two-year project to examine the factors that impact users’ interactions with and contributions to social media.
“In particular, we will focus on the impact of social traces created by users’ feedback and inputs – the social cues about the attributes of the users, their opinions and the community they form,” Nov said. “As in the physical world, your behavior online changes depending on the others around you.”
While in no way connected, this comes on the heels of Facebook reporting that your “likes” on the site reveal much about you – possibly your I.Q., sexual and political persuasion, and even drug use. It’s becoming increasingly apparent that social media’s interactive nature affects much as other communities we may belong to in the real world.
We’ll be interested to see if this study addresses how the apparently never-ending design changes on Facebook, Google+ and other social networks affects their use (other than sparking cries of protest).
Google bestows the Focused Research Award, as the unrestricted grant is known, upon scientists working in areas of key interest to the company as well as to the broader research community.
Tags: design, facebook, Google, NYU-Poly, Rutgers, social media, social traces
Posted in Facebook, Google, Internet/New Media, social media, University Tech | No Comments »
Friday, February 22nd, 2013
 A bot believed to have netted $14 million in illicit profits has been turned into a golden learning opportunity, yielding important insights into how the online community can best alert and assist customers with infected systems.
So say Georgia Tech researchers who announced the results of a study based on the industry’s response to the DNS Changer Trojan and shared recommendations to help curb future malware outbreaks.
From 2007 to 2011, the DNS Changer Trojan hijacked Internet searches and re-routed the Web browsers of infected computers to fraudulent sites using the rogue DNS servers operated by the Rove Digital advertising network.
Active social media warnings effective
The DNS Changer Remediation Study identified phone calls, billing notices and redirecting users to customized Web pages among the most effective methods to notify customers that their systems were infected.
Researchers Wei Meng and Ruian Duan, working under the supervision of Georgia Tech School of Computer Science Professor Wenke Lee, also found that “active” social media warnings were useful for enabling remediation.
With this approach, sites such as Google directly informed users they were infected through their browser windows, a tactic that proved to be more effective in motivating users to disinfect their systems than passive warnings issued in general posts or news articles on social media platforms.
“Social media can have an important role to play in alerting users to infections in their systems and in stemming malware outbreaks. We believe in the importance of implementing active, direct notifications earlier in the process,” Lee said.
The complete DNS Changer Remediation Study is available on the M3AAWG website athttps://www.maawg.org/sites/maawg/files/news/GeorgiaTech_DNSChanger_Study-2013-02-19.pdf.
Tags: bots, DNS Changer, Georgia Tech, Google, online safety, remediation study, Security, social media
Posted in Georgia, Internet/New Media, social media, University Tech | No Comments »
Thursday, February 14th, 2013
 Although a large majority of startups are hiring (87 percent), a similar number struggle to find people with the skills they need, according to Silicon Valley Bank’s fourth annual Startup Outlook study, a survey of startup companies nationwide.
Hightlights of the Startup Outlook survey:
• 87% are hiring
• 46% have at least one founder born outside the U.S.
• 82% say STEM skills are critical to their business
• 87% say it is somewhat or extremely challenging to find workers with the skills they need to grow their business
• 66% say the biggest challenge to retaining the talent they need is a combination of finding and competing for the people with the right skills
The report also includes several anecdotes from startup companies as well as the results of the survey related to finding and retaining talent.
“Every time I meet with a group of tech company CEOs they say the same thing: hiring world-class talent is one of their biggest challenges,” said Greg Becker,president and CEO of Silicon Valley Bank. “They struggle to find, attract and retain the engineering, scientific and technical talent they need to grow their businesses.”
Google down the street
That echoes many reports we’ve seen on the technology job space. People with the right skills are in high demand and attracting and keeping them is a problem for many startups, which have to compete for them with larger, established companies.
“As soon as good employees raise their heads, they’re snatched up,” Andrew Evans, CFO at Boulder startup Symplified. Its neighbors include Google, Oracle and Microsoft. “If you’ve got Google 10 blocks down the street,” he told SVB, “you have to be creative to differentiate your company on more than just salary.”
“We need to create a tech-savvy, highly skilled American workforce – the more people with skills that are in demand, the better for all of us. When it comes to immigration policy, we believe that Congress is well aware of the issues facing the technology industry, so the time to act is now.”
High growth small companies, while few in number, have an outsized impact on the U.S. economy. They consume roughly 0.1-0.2% of U.S. GDP in invested capital, but create roughly 11 percent of U.S. private sector employment and 21 percent of U.S. GDP – or roughly twelve million jobs and over $3 trillion in annual revenues.
“With this report, and the Startup Outlook survey at large, we are trying to bring facts to the table in the hope that better data will help lead to better policies for our country,” said Mary Dent, head of Silicon Valley Bank’s government relations group and General Counsel.
Silicon Valley Bank conducted its annual Startup Outlook survey in December 2012. More than 750 executives of startup companies, defined as those in the innovation sector with less than $100 million in annual revenue, responded.
The company will be releasing additional data and reports based on the survey in the coming months. View all news related to the results of the Startup Outlook survey at http://www.svb.com/startup-outlook-report/ and follow the conversation on Twitter at @SVB_Financial #StartupOutlook.
Tags: Google, growth, hiring, immigration, Silicon Valley Bank, Startup Outlook, Startups, STEM skills, talent
Posted in Economy/Jobs, Startups, Studies, surveys, reports, TechJobs | No Comments »
Tuesday, February 12th, 2013
 Amazon is on a roll. In addition to topping a list of 25 retailers with the best mobile satisfaction ratings during the recent holiday shopping season, it also edged out Apple as America’s most reputable company, according to the 2013 Harris Poll RQ Study which engages over 14,000 members of the general public to measure the reputations of the sixty most visible companies in the country.
And companies can learn from how the leaders gain their stellar reputations.
This is Amazon’s first time earning the top ranking, but the fifth consecutive year with a great reputation score. The Walt Disney Company, Google, and Johnson & Johnson complete the top five. This is Google’s eight consecutive top five appearance, an incredible achievement for a fourteen year old company.
AIG and Goldman Sachs return to the bottom two reputation positions on the list of the most visible companies, joined by Halliburton, American Airlines, and Bank of America. With a full six point increase in RQ score though, Bank of America had the highest year-over-year increase in the 2013 study. Best Buy and Honda experienced the greatest decline in RQ scores, 6.76 and 4.73 points, respectively.
RQ measures six dimensions that comprise reputation and influence consumer behavior.
The dimensions and the 2013 leaders are:
- Social Responsibility – Whole Foods
- Emotional Appeal – Amazon.com
- Financial Performance – Apple
- Products & Services – Amazon.com
- Vision & Leadership – Apple
- Workplace Environment – Google
 Amazon’s reputation strength runs wide and deep as it ranked in the top five in five of the six dimensions of reputation. Amazon had a five point advantage over any other company in the study in the dimension of Emotional Appeal, despite an entirely virtual relationship with the public. Amazon also achieved the top rating in the dimension of Products & Services.
Amazon earned nearly 100 percent positive ratings on all measures related to Trust. More than 50 percent of respondents also recall discussing Amazon with friends and family in the past year, and nearly 100 percent of these conversations were positive.
“Our results show that Amazon has managed to build an intimate relationship with the public without being perceived as intrusive,” adds Fronk. “
Nine of ten would recommend it
And as the company that is so widely known for its personal recommendations, more than nine in ten members of the public would recommend Amazon to friends and family.”
The results for Apple and Google are equally as impressive as those for Amazon and continue a compelling trend that has been developing for the past few years – companies that begin in the technology sector, which is by far and away the highest-rated industry when it comes to reputation, absorb the reputation equity from the industry, then transcend the industry to become a more multi-faceted business.
Companies that are able to do this are perceivedto “Play A Valuable Social Role,” a characteristic, which according to the RQ study, has become a key driver of reputation.
 The Kindle’s eInk technology frees you from LED glare and eye-strain – and you can make the fonts as large as you like. As a longtime Amazon customer, we can understand why it has such a great reputation, despite moves such as encouraging “showrooming,” viewing products in stores to buy later online.
It’s customer service is beyond first rate. We dropped and broke our first Kindle e-reader when it was out of warranty and they still replaced it free, overnight, and we didn’t even have to pay postage. When a large package of books went awry and never showed up, they simply resent the order.
Banking industry shows gains, still low ranked
The banking industry is not so lucky. It showed some encouraging signs in 2013. Positive ratings of the industry are now 25 percent, a more than 50 percent increase from 2012.
Wells Fargo became the first of the four big banking companies in the past four years to move from negative to positive equity in the dimension of Emotional Appeal. Harris’s fourteen years of conducting the RQ study show that a company cannot build or maintain positive reputation without this positive equity. Wells Fargo also received significantly higher marks on attributes related to its people and work environment, and it is possible that these may be the first signs of a bank once again being seen as trusted.
But in our conversations with sources, the banking industry is still most often cited as having abysmal customer service and is viewed as frequently predatory. The continuing mortgage default problem hasn’t helped.
What can companies learn from the 2013 Harris Poll RQ Study?
Companies need to evaluate and understand the increasing importance that playing a valuable social role has on reputation, purchase consideration, advocacy and positive word of mouth. This is about a business having a purpose, not just checking the box on social responsibility or sustainability.
Additionally, companies need to adapt to a major trend in consumer behavior. More than 60 percent of consumers now “pro-actively try to learn more about how a company conducts itself” before they are willing to consider that company’s products or services. This group, which Harris calls Seekers:
- Proactively engage in conversations with others about what they find out about a company;
- In 60 percent of cases, decide NOT to do business with a company because of something they learn about that company; and
- Actively try to influence friends and family on whether to do business or not with a company based upon what they have learned about that company’s conduct.
Tags: Amazon, Apple, Google, Harris Poll, reputation, retailing, Whole Foods
Posted in Amazon, Apple, Best Practices, Google, Studies, surveys, reports | No Comments »
Tuesday, February 12th, 2013
Do you know which search engine is number two after Google? Here’s a hint: it’s not Bing, Yahoo, AOL or Ask.com. It’s YouTube, which is larger than all of those combined.
Now showing an astonishing four billion videos a month, YouTube has been a meme engine since the first video (“Me at the Zoo,”) posted in 2005.
Google bought YouTube in 2006 for $1.65 billion and you have undoubtedly noticed its march toward commercialization with pre-roll commercials and other advertising.
Memes proliferate on YouTube. We posted a brief part of our interview with zombie movie director George Romero a few years ago. Romero, who directed “Night of the Living Dead” in 1968 and “Dawn of the Dead” in 1978, created the zombie meme now going strong with TV shows such as “The Walking Dead,” and an endless stream of movies. The point: before the Internet, it could take 30 or 40 years for a meme to really saturate the world.
Here’s an infographic detailing the history of YouTube from shortymedia.
Tags: George Romero, Google, history, infographic, meme machine, YouTube
Posted in infographic, Internet/New Media, Tech life/Culture | No Comments »
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