Marketing News February 2010

In the news this Month...

The news items below are gathered from many popular and expert magazines, e-newsletters, and websites, all in one place for easy reading by busy entrepreneurs and business owners. These are quick summaries of some of the hottest marketing news around that affects small business to ensure you stay on top of the fast changing environment we all face.

February 6, 2010 Facebook Mums are marketing savvy. Recent research from two US sources published in eMarketer, reported that most mums (~70%) on Facebook were  neutral to ads found on this social networks compared to 36% who actively disliked them. Only a small percentage (~4%) actually liked them. They were much more accepting though it seems when the marketing was done on their terms. Many use social networks to check out companies and brands, and a significant number (75%)  listed themselves as fans of at least one company or brand. The survey by Lucid Marketing and Lisa Finn, found mums to be savvy about marketing and skeptical about offers that seemed too good to be true. Source: eMarketer.com

February 5, 2010 Teens and young adults find blogging 'unhip' compared to social marketing. For a while back in the last decade, usage of blogging looked like it would keep growing amongst younger audiences with 28% (2006) of young teens aged 12-17 years being avid users. According to research by Pew, reported in Biz Report.com, this usage has now dropped in 2009 to 14%. In comparison, usage rates of social networks amongst teens and young adults rate at around 75% of online youth. A change in preference from reading longer amounts of text and having to write longer amounts that need constant updating, to short one-liners that gets everyone updated in seconds is a key reason hypothesised for the trend. Although a changed status for blogging from 'cool' to 'uncool' is also a possibility. This would present an interesting dilemma for Facebook, which is showing these days a growing number of older audiences including parents and grandparents, which may dial down its cool credentials considerably! Source: Biz Report.com

February 5, 2010 Twitter signup rate is decreasing. Research from a US company called RJMetrics reported in Biz Report.com, states that while Twitter usage is still increasing by adding millions of new users on, the actual rate of sign up has shown a decreasing trend for the first time since it took off.The number of new signups has decreased from 7.8 million new users in July last year to only 6.2 million this last December. It is no secret that Twitter usage is fairly focused with 'power users' designatd as those who have tweeted over 3200 times, making up less than 10% of the total of 75 million users.Other data shows that 25% of accounts have no followers and 40% of accounts have never sent a single tweet. This type of information has helped make Twitter the subject of many healthy debates about its likely longevity. A positive sign of its ability to last the distance is the level of engagement that many motivated users appear to have both in tweeting and following. However, with the average number of followers also showing a decline, perhaps there is a ceiling limit to the extent which Twitter will be used in its current form for the immediate future. Source: Biz Report.com

January 29, 2010 Consumer engagement a top priority for marketers this year. Research from the Society of Digital Agencies reported in eMarketer, states that senior marketers worldwide rate social networks and applications as the highest priority in 2010.  Metrics used by marketers to measure engagement levels of consumers include time spent on site, unique page views  and click-through rates. The report also indicates that there are a range of digital activities that will maintain marketers attention, with over 40% of marketers considering SEO, mobiles, viral marketing, digital advertising and e-mail marketing, as important. Source: eMarketer.com

January 28, 2010 Baby Boomers Using Social Media more. Move over you Generation X,Y and Z'ers; here come baby boomers into the world of social networking. While social media isn't new to all baby boomers, research from Deloittes and Burst Media show that nearly 50% of Boomers have an online social profile that they maintain - a significant increase over previous measurements. This seems to be suppported by other research sources, one claiming that Baby Boomers are 'emeging as the new Social Mavens'. A report developed by eMarketer (Boomers and Social Media) notes that boomers contacts include family, friends and co-workers of all ages. The report author Lisa Phillips claims that 'boomers are flocking to Facebook' so they can be connected to family and friends, just like any other generation. Source: eMarketer.com

January 21, 2010 App usage to explode in 2010. Forecasts from the US reported in eMarketer show less than half of marketers created a social or mobile app in 2009  but the majority plan to invest in a mobile app in 2010. The phone brand of choice is the iPhone (62%) but Facebook is the leading choice for using new apps (79%). Marketers and businesses must be getting the message that engagement with the consumer is the way to go in 2010. Budgets will need to reflect not only adequate funds to develop the apps but also to promote the app to consumers. Source: eMarketer.com

September 14, 2009 Mobile advertising to skyrocket this year. Forecasts from the US reported in the Biz Report, show a forecast of enormous growth for mobile advertising in 2009, skyrocketing by yearend to 74%. This growth is only the harbinger though of the real boom forecast for 2011 when the advertising market will shift heavily into the digital medium. Growth has been driven by the greater proliferation of smart-phones versus prior years as many brands have introduced new models including Blackberry, Apple and several others. The growth of 3G and 4G networks are also helping this along. The Biz Report forecast that mobile marketing will facilitate much higher levels of personalised marketing because it will be easier to target consumers through their phones. Source: Biz Report.com

September 8, 2009 Customer dissatisfaction with automated and online services in Australian and NZ businesses. ANZ businesses are currently losing big time due to poor service received by their customers from automated self-service, mobile phones and online. Recent research by software company Greenfield Online and Datamonitor showed that losses of more than $2.6 billion in Australia and $1.5 billion in New Zealand each year result from bad service associated with key annoyances such as: Automated, difficult to navigate, self service programs Programs with no ‘real' person to assist Customer service representatives with no authority to make decisions Having to repeat their information each time they were being transferred. Up to 72% of such people ended their relationship with the businesses concerned, often transferring to a competitor. Source: Biz Report.com

September  8, 2009 Different Email Accounts have different open rates A survey from Mail Chimp, the email distribution service used in the US, reports different opening rates between differnt email provider accounts. For example, Gmail accounts were more likely to be clicked on and opened by users than other popular accounts. Gmail is also one of the fastest growing services in the US - even though Yahoo! mail and Windows Hotmail service had significantly greater visitors to their webmail service, the Gmail service is growing faster and unique visitors grew by 47% between July 2009 and July 2008. G mail also had the lowest hard bounce rate although  it may be that Gmail's stringent spam protection may result in emails disappearing without producing a bounce. Source: eMarketer.com

August 28, 2009 Who uses Twitter? Analysis of Twitter usage in a report by Sysomos shows that Twitter is dominated slightly by women (53% users) and the majority are young (81% are 29 years and below). Only a small proportion send tweets frequently (update 10 times daily) compared with 85.4% who teet less than once a day. A very concentrated few twitter uses are responsible for the large number. The more followers a person has the more they tweet however the vast majority of users (92.4%) follow less than 100 microbloggers. Source: eMarketer.com

August 28, 2009 Buyers want human touch even online In a US survey reported in the online news service Biz Report, 52% of adult consumers said their decision to not purchase was influenced by the lack of a human contact point in the purchase cycle they experienced. Reasons stated for this included the inability to get a question answered about their purchase through the e-commerce website they were using (58%). A staggering 93% were reported as having a question about purchase. Commentators in the market recommend that website operators make sure that product descriptions, delivery details and payment functions are clear to reduce consumer confusion, anxiety and lack of trust. Source: Biz Report.com.au

August 27, 2009 Google still dominates Recent Australian Nielsen data measuring site visits has confiirmed that Google still dominates with the highest number of visits in July 2009, up 22% on the previous month. NineMSN came in second place, Microsoft in third place and Facebook came in fourth place, with an astounding 51% increase in unique visitors. Source: B&T.com.au

August 27, 2009 Older adult use of Facebook on the increase Recent research from Forrester in the US shows that participation by older adult groups in social networks is on the rise and likely to continue. The report showed that usuage by 35-54 year olds had increased significantly in the last year by 60%. Even the over 55 year old group showed increasing participation and the 35-54 year olds are moving towards creating content rather than just spectating, which these older participants have done more traditionally with social networks such as Facebook in the past. The Forrester researchresults reported in Biz Report suggested that 'marketing campaigns aimed at older audiences were safely able to include a significant social media element and assume there would be 'a substantial, engaged audience to address'. Source: Biz Report.com

August 25, 2009 Small businesses are turning to online for sales Now even small business are using online more to promote their business than traditional media such as television, radio and newspapers. A report from the Kelsey Group claims that online/digital ad penetration increased to 77% while traditional ad penetration decreased to 69% amongst small amd medium sized enterprises in the U.S. This is a milestone in digital and online adoption, indicating the broad shift overall to online platforms. Source: Biz Report.com

August 14, 2009 Consumers share 1/3 of online videos US research shows that on-third of all online videos are shared by consumers and are more likely to engage with online video than television ads.The research from Yahoo, Warner Bros and other high profile companies, reported that 70% of consumers report watching some videos at home and work. Also, 28% of consumers are more likely to pay attention to online videos than TV ads. Source: eMarketer.com

August 14, 2009 Australians Plan to Spend as Confidence Rises Research from well-known research company The Leading Edge has measured a rise in Australian consumer confidence accompanied by a more relaxed attitude to spending with key desires mentioned as holidays, clothes, restaurants, and electronic goods. A stronger preparedness to spend was seen in consumers aged 24 years and under.The report suggests that consumers are more likely to splash out on brands that provide good value, rather than more luxurious brands. Source: B&T.com.au