Social Media usage trends

Worldwide-Social-Media-Usage-Trends-in-2012

This article is interesting because of the global take on Facebook saturation and the eye on countries where Facebook has not yet reached the number one position.  The US saturation rates are also moderatly interesting.

It starts out with a quick look at the expected user adoption rates of social networks in general.  EMarketer predicts a 19.2% increase from 2011 fir 2012.  The total number of anticipated users for 2012 is an incomprehensible 1.43Billion. 

Eventuly social media saturation is still a long way off.

Pew Internet survey found that the use of social media by internet users rose from 61% in 2010 to 65% in 2011.  Relating the number os adults who use social networking sites at least once per typical day are 61% for adults under thirty.  Daily use for 50 to 64 year olds rose to 32% in 2011, up from 20% the previous year.

Of course, the article and the reports it references spent some time discussing the trend for business to use Social Media for marketing.  Nearly all companies, when asked, reply that they will be increasing their investments in social media. 

The article references another article that I found interesting and has great visuals and charts about how companies spend their money on internet marketing (here's the punchline, social media is a large chunk that's growing larger) The-5-Ws-of-Social-Media-Marketing-Industry-Survey-Insights-Study



A joint study by global management consulting firm Booz & Company and Buddy Media found that 96 percent of companies surveyed would be increasing their investments in social media. Advertising and promotions, PR, and customer services were listed as the main uses or benefits but other uses such as market research and recruitment were reported. (Also see "The 5 Ws of Social Media Marketing: Industry Survey & Insights [Study]" for more social media marketing trends from Social Media Examiner.)

While Facebook is "the" social network in the US and has been since 2008 when it handily dismissed MySpace, it hasn't quite conqured the whole world quite yet.  The biggest hold out is China, where Facebook still isn't allowed by the government. The massive Chinese social media market is led by TencentOZone with  significant slices of the pie going to TencentWeibo, SinaWeibo and Renren.  The majority of China's population is predicted to have internet access by 2015.

Since it surpassed Brazil's former leading social network, Orkut, last December, there are now only 6 countries wold wide where Facebook is not yet number one. 

In Russia, Vkontakte and Odnoklassniki dominate and are expanding into Eastern European countries.

Japan, South Korea, Vietnam, and Poland were the other countries listed by comScore as the territories where Facebook doesn’t command the greatest market share.

Marketing an Online Service to Me and my Four-Year-Old

We talked in class about the demographics of advertising for younger age groups and how to reach this future (and via parents and grandparents) current market segment.  Amidst this conversation I was targeted marvelously by http://www.abcmouse.com/.
It was really neat to see how cable TV worked with traditional TV commercials in a way that had specific appeal to a potential customer (me) who DVR's the majority of programming which I share with my four-year-old.  In a magnificent example of destination marketing and fully utilizing "content is king" I found this resource when I did a DVR search for a specific movie (Monsters vs Aliens).  It was only available on FX On Demand, which means, I can't just find it by doing an FX search and recording the program.  We can only see it as long as it is available on FX on Demand, for a limited time.  Because it is a limited time, we are more apt to watch-it-now.  With FX on Demand, we have variety similar to  HBO, but without having to pay extra.  FX on Demand movies, unlike HBO, do have commercials.
The commercial for abcmouse wasn't the typical 30 seconds.  It was a full two minutes.  While I was fast forwarding the commercials, I had to notice the commercial because it was longer than typical.  If it was 30 seconds, I would have sped right over it.  This interruption tactic was acceptable to me because I knew the value at the outset, I got the movie without paying money for it. I was paying by having the commercial interrupt. I had already agreed to this when I selected FX on Demand.

The longer spot was enough to get my attention with the high utilization of bright colors, happy children and an obviously preschool theme.  It was enough for me to want to watch the commercial content which appeared to hold value to me.  I stopped fast forwarding and played back the whole commercial. 

When Patrick's movie was over, I replayed the commercial.  In minutes I was online looking at their homepage.  In ten minutes I had previewed the site and signed up for a membership.  The first month was free and the monthly charge after that is a mere $7.95.

My point is this, interruption advertising still works if you are a smart marketer and know how to work it.  I tend to prefer funny commercials over non-funny ones, but they still don't tend to succeed at gaining my business.  This marketing effort respected the fact I want value for my time and gave it to me.  In return, I gave them my business.

Incidentally, my son loves the program and is learning more from the website than the traditional learning books we have.  He loves to get online and color, read books and play number games.

This article offers an excellent review which illustrates the use and benefits of abcmouse.  Enjoy.

http://educationalgamespot.blogspot.com/2011/05/abc-mouse.html

Every Visitor Counts

I took the title of this post from the Beonic Website.  It's their motto and highly descriptive of their service.  They count, track and analyze visitor flow and behavior, for industries such as:
Super Markets
Retail Stores
Gaming Venues
Department Stores
Public Facilities
Shopping Centers

They're a good example of a service that retailers can purchase to help collect primary data about the customers who enter their premesis.  Their Beonic Solutions packages include the software component of their tracking and analytic system.  The major hardware required are Thermal Sensors. 

When the point-of-sale software is incorporated with the rest of hte Beonic Solutions Suite, Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) are distilled from the data and transmitted to management.  The benefits include:

Merchandising performance

Store/design performance

Sales conversion

detailed visitor trac profiling

Benchmarking against other locations

Trend analysis

Our customers use the Traffic Pro information in the follwing way
Sales conversion

> Provide in-store accountability

> Determine unrealised sales potential

> Adjust sales campaigns quickly



Sta scheduling

> Roster for peak and slow periods

> Balance sta numbers with visitor numbers for better customer service

> Reduce costly over-staffing
 

Marketing e ectiveness


> Monitor visitor traffic before and after campaigns

> Measure the success of promotions


>Redefine Marketing Strategies to increase sales conversion

Ch 4 Emerging Economies and Internet access

Though I found plenty of links to charitable organizations that donate new and used computers to developing countries (a bing search for' recycled computers + Africa + charities' yielded over 47,800 results) I could not find the story I heard on public radio (not even on the NPR website).  Still, I love reading about efforts to bridge the digital divide in developing countries, especially Africa, so here are some of my favorite articles I found on the topic and my thoughts on these efforts.  I realize some of hte articles are shorter than the ideal length, but if you put them together, they would be much longer than your typical WSJ article.

The Bill and Melinda Gates foundation (under the direction of Bill and Melinda Gates and Warren Buffet) offered an endowment to the Botswana public library system in August of 2009.  http://www.gatesfoundation.org/press-releases/Pages/free-access-to-computers-botswana-libraries-090807.aspx Together with the Botswana government they are working to bring about improvements to that country's library system through the technology endowment in order to diminish the digital divide and improve the lives of the citicens of Botswana.  This joint effort is called Sesigo. 

I felt the impact of this strategy more when I readtThese quotes from the library's website:

Computer Training

"In an endeavour to bridge the digital divide normally exacerbated by the lack of access to computers and know how to use them, libraries now offer free access to as well as free computer training to all citizens. Contact your nearest library to find out the training dates."

Internet Access

"Internet is available for public access in Ghanzi, Thamaga, Lobatse, Kanye, Moshupa, Gaborone, Shoshong, Mochudi, Mahalapye, Palapye, Selibe Phikwe, Molalatau, Ramokgonami libraries. More libraries are to be connected. The public can access internet for free. Library staff is available at all times to assist the public."

I read a book from one of my favorite series, which happened to be set in Gaborone, this week. That made me want to look up what the smart people who want to help Africans have been doing in that particular neck of the plains. 

 http://www.sesigo.org.bw/index.php?id=50
Computer Aid International is a UK registered charity that aims to reduce poverty through practical ICT solutions.
The ticker on their website reports that they have already provided 197,975 computers to developing countries.  http://www.computeraid.org/
Also on their website I learned, "Most recently, Computer Aid has launched the ZubaBox, a solar powered IT hub, which will enable access to solar powered ICT anywhere in the world."

EcoFriend's article published in April of 2010 reported that Computer Aid International used this technology to open a solar powered internet cafe in Zambia. http://www.ecofriend.com/entry/computer-aid-international-provides-solar-powered-internet-cafes-in-zambia/

While we have all heard of the plan to burry broadband fiberoptic cable to reach Africa and how the UN supports this initiative, I found dissent where I expected to find support for this proposal, from the NPR website.  The author of the article has impressive credentials, but his emphasis seemed to be largely based on questioning the economic impact of the initiative, with less attention paid to the overall quality of life improvement that can come from a greater knowledge base. 

NPR article argues for better and more consistant research to verify the link between growth of GDP in developing countries and broadband access in this article posted May 20, 2011, written by Charles Kenny, a senior fellow at the Center for Global Development and a Schwartz fellow at the New America Foundation. http://www.npr.org/2011/05/20/136491388/foreign-policy-put-the-breaks-on-broadband
While stressing the conspicuous absense of hard data or credible research cited in the United Nations summit on the Millennium Development special report, issued the preceeding September. 

Ch 3, Facebook IPO, market value and marketing revenue

So does Facebook's marketing revenue justify the 5billion IPO?  Analysts speculate investors could be tapped for closer to 10 billion according to recent article in Reuters. http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/02/02/us-facebook-ipo-idUSTRE80U29V20120202

"Its IPO prospectus shows that Facebook generated $3.71 billion in revenue and made $1 billion in net profit last year, up 65 percent from the $606 million it made in 2010." (Reuters)

Does this IPO have anything to do with the new "Time Line" format that Facebook introduced this year?  Apparently so... "Facebook aims to be more attractive to potential large advertisers. It has improved its ad targeting capabilities as it collects user data through new features such as the Timeline, said George John, founder of Rocket Fuel, a digital marketing company."

It's interesting that while Zuckerberg, who would become the 4th richest man in America if Facebook is indeed valued at 10billion due to his 28% retained ownership, claims that the money is to fund a better service rather than the service becoming a product with its own purpose of generating revenue. 

My cynical mind sees the new time-line format as an improvement for marketers more than an improvement for users.  In 2011 Facebook earned 69% of its revenue from ads and another 12% from Zynga games (which run their own ads).

Social Networking with a Purpose

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/30/technology/personaltech/30basics.html

I loved this article about LinkedIn because it is a practical description of why and how to use LinkedIn not only to expand your own network and help job seekers market themselves, but how you can find potential customers through LinkedIn.


For Example, this is my LinkedIn profile
 http://www.linkedin.com/profile/view?id=85719797&trk=tab_pro

One of my favorite things about LinkedIn isn't mentioned directly in the article, it's the advertising you can do through LinkedIn.  If you want to market your product or service to members of a certain group, the advertising is very cost effective and can be well targeted if you take the properly identify your target market.

It's like using Google Adwords, but for less money and with better aim. 

http://www.linkedin.com/advertising?src=en-all-el-li-hb_tab_ads&utm_medium=el&utm_source=li&utm_campaign=hb_tab_ads&trk=hb_tab_ads

 You can target by:
Job Title, Industry, Geography, Company Title, Seniority, Age, Gender or Group

Since the charge is pay-per click and you can set daily limits on how much you want to spend, it is a very flexible, cost effective and practical tool.

The step-by-step guide makes it easy to create ads, even if you are not in advertising.  Great tool for any B2B, especially those with limited budgets.

To maximize your social network in a way that will drive traffic to your ad, consider joining an industry group that includes your target market.  When members of the group post questions for other members to offer advice on, try to find answers for them.  Become a problem solver for your potential customers.  They will be more likely to remember the name of the company you represent when you do this and the likelihood that they will click on your ad goes up.  

"Hello World"

Hello World,

My name is Amanda Spacaj-Gorham. My maiden name, Spacaj is actually pronounced "spachE" or "spa chi" I prefer to think of this name as representing a perfect afternoon, in which I visit a spa in order to rediscover my . Truthfully, I seldom visit an actual spa, and it requires ridiculous analytic effort for me to find my chi, effort like buying a lecture series on the neurology and physiology of stress just to unwind. Yet somehow, the image of spa chi, shrouded in wisteria and smelling like kiwi, appeals to me greatly.

My married name, Gorham, just makes me want a gorgeous ham sandwich.

I live in the South County of Saint Louis, in the smallish municipality of Affton. I am finishing my BS in Business Administration with a Marketing Emphasis this spring.

I'm taking Internet Marketing to further bolster my skills in the highest demand and least understood avenue of marketing.

The University of Missouri-Saint Louis (UMSLhttp://www.umsl.edu/) has an excellent, accredited, business college. I feel like I should say the business program is my favorite thing about UMSL, but even that can't beat the Metro Link access. I just feel spoiled with two Metro stops on the dual campuses of UMSL.

In all fairness, I have to mention the most annoying thing about UMSL is the lack of lockers available for students to rent. I feel that the lack of lockers is a deterrent to taking the Metro Link. In order to commute by train, a student has to either not bring required books to campus with them or carry up to 150 pounds of books.

My favorite class was my first Marketing class, 3700. I suspected a marketing degree would be my best fit before that class, but by the end of the semester I knew that I would keep attending classes here at UMSL until I received my MBA in Marketing.

I like teaching aquatic exercise, baking, gardening, zumba, swing dancing, visiting museums and playing with my kids.  I was a Supplemental Instruction Leader for Microbiology at UMSL for a few semesters. 

This semester I am also taking: 

Introduction to Operations Management with Aldis Jakubovskis
Strategic Management with Peggy Lambing
and
Entrepreneurship in the Global Environment with Dr. Charles Kuehl