Although the rivalry between Facebook and Google is already high, a new study from Appcelerator and the International Data Corporation (IDC) indicates some surprising results that will likely heat up the competition even further. The study, which surveyed, more than 2,000 mobile developers, found that 39 percent of developers plan to focus on Google initiatives instead of Facebook’s social graph this year.
Since this was a bit of shock to everyone, Michael King, Appcelerator’s principal mobile strategist, told us that the companies actually did a follow up survey to find out what was really happening. As he explained to WebProNews, developers think Google is better in terms of its network assets such as YouTube, search, maps, and Android. They also felt Google was better about engaging with them and offering guidance for how they should develop social applications for mobile.
King said that Facebook really needed to step up its efforts because, if not, Google could move ahead of it.
The study also found that developers have a smaller interest in Android apps, but that both HTML5 and cloud development are on the rise.
Do these results come as a surprise to you, or did you expect developers to gravitate toward Google instead of Facebook? Please share your thoughts.
Filed under Internet Marketing by on Mar 24th, 2012. 
On Monday, Verizon and Coinstar, which is Redbox‘s parent company, announced a partnership that will bring a service very similar to Netflix‘s to consumers. The companies will offer both a physical and streaming video platform that will be available online and on mobile devices.
While the news adds another player to the space for consumers to choose from, most people are talking about the impact of the unnamed Verizon/Redbox venture on Netflix. As we all know, Netflix had its share of problems last year when it hiked its prices. Many users even said they were discontinuing their service as a result.
However, Bryan Gonzalez, the Director of Social Entertainment Labs at the Entertainment Technology Center at USC, told that, if Netflix keeps its focus on content, it would remain a competitor in the space. According to him, Redbox and Verizon’s venture will be a contender but will not likely kill Netflix.
Coinstar and Verizon said their service would be available at the second half of this year. Is this a service you’ll use?
Filed under Internet Marketing by on Feb 7th, 2012.
Recently, the ComBlu team conducted a deep dive on the state of measurement in our industry. We looked back at online conversations over the last 18 months to glean any insights into the maturity and growth of social media measurement. No big surprises—the discipline is coming along slowly, but surely.
Just a year ago, the conversations centered on the “what” and the topic of social media measurement in general. What do I measure, and is this really actionable? Six months later, we arrive at the “how.” Conversation volume decreases slightly, but the sophistication level goes up. How do I track and manage data from multiple platforms? I have more data than I know what to do with. How do I define ROI? Today, the conversation is in the “why” phase. Clearly, ROI has always been front and center of the measurement landscape, but now it’s as an equal. It’s time to ask the hard question—are we getting what we paid for?
While there is no big “aha” found in the data points above, it validates what my clients, colleagues and partners are saying—this is “the year of ROI.” But, the deliberator in me wants to back up and assess the current situation. Measurement tools barely represent a fraction of the conversation, which is really the “how,” and I am not certain that we have cleared that hurdle yet. I challenge anyone to demonstrate ROI of their social program if they don’t know how or have the right tool set in place to measure engagement.
Engagement is the driver behind any social program and there are multiple flavors of it. We don’t engage just for fun—we do so because it is intended to impact the business favorably. In order to track engagement, we must start with the right mix of metrics. It’s true that metrics do not equal ROI, but an engaged stakeholder base does. Below are some common social health and performance metrics to consider as you build out your engagement strategy:
As you can see, engagement is not measured by the number of Facebook fans, Twitter followers or your community members. Engagement is about achieving a desired outcome that is based solely on the objectives of your organization.
Let’s walk through a scenario. Brand X is planning for the limited pre-release of their new 4G smart phone, so they develop an advocacy program to support it. The brand knows that online user-generated content (UGC) impacts sales because 70 percent of consumers trust the recommendations of others, even if they don’t know them personally. Pretty simple stuff. Below is the construct:
| KPI | Desired Outcomes | Metrics |
| Increase online product recommendations by 45 percent | Engage brand advocates for the creation of user-generated content (UGC) via:
· Product reviews · Customer stories · Videos · User ratings |
· # of product reviews on owned assets
· # of third party product reviews · # of product reviews on retail partner sites · Average rating of 4 · # of videos uploaded · # of views · # of comments · # of shares |
Brand X invested in an integrated social platform dedicated to mobile technology as a means to engage their customers. In turn, those customers generated tons and tons of content that lives on Brand X’s owned assets and other third party sites, such as YouTube, Amazon and Best Buy. These customers spent much of their personal time thoroughly testing and reviewing the product from soup to nuts. Then, they amplified their opinions on highly influential sites. Here is a small sample of the results:
- Member video on YouTube generated more than 25,000 views, plus positive comments relating to purchase intent
- Member review on Amazon generated 75 “helpfuls” in the first week
- Member forum post on Best Buy’s online community generated 250 views and sparked conversation
A healthy and performing social program does equal ROI because it indicates whether or not you are engaging successfully. For Brand X’s model to be successful, they needed the ability to track:
- Incoming traffic to the platform
- Membership growth
- Return visits and login activity
- Content consumption patterns
- Content creation, rating and sharing—both on- and off-domain
- Feedback received
By having the ability to pinpoint what engagement tactics were working and which ones had little traction, Brand X was able to diagnose member behaviors and trend from a red status to a green one. They:
- Made adjustments to content and its placement
- Interacted directly with their most prolific members and thanked them on a regular basis
- Developed return motivators to ensure frequent participation
- Modified the user experience and navigation based on direct feedback
- Asked more relevant and meaningful questions of the membership base and communicated back to them
- Syndicated and showcased UGC on their owned assets
Utilizing a diagnostic tool provided Brand X with actionable information. They made adjustments and course corrections when needed. By meeting the needs of their customers through engagement, they were able to increase their online recommendations above goal. This is why social health and performance matter. Brand X could tell a complete story and answer the “what,” “how” and “why.”
As social media measurement continues to mature as a discipline, the “how” should become clear and the available toolset should follow the curve. It will be interesting to see the capabilities and new technologies that emerge over the next six months. To continue this conversation, you can meet up with Kathy Baughman, who will be speaking at WOMMA’s Talkable Brands Exchange in August.
Filed under Internet Marketing by on Jul 30th, 2011.
It really does seem like a match made in heaven, right? Twitter and Television. Are people sitting on their couches, watching their favorite shows, and feeling the urge to discuss it with the online community? The simple answer is yes, …
Filed under Internet Marketing by on Jun 30th, 2011.
At Thursday’s conference held by the Canadian Marketing Association in Toronto called The Science and Art of Social Business, Mitch Joel, a respected digital marketing visionary was very vivid in a panel moderated by technology reporter Matt Hartley of the Financial Post with AOL Canada’s General Manager Graham Moysey.
He said that newspapers aren’t dying because of social media- it’s because newspaper content is boring.
Mitch Joel asked what’s worse: “mass media or mass content?”
He asked why agencies don’t hire more journalists to write content for the brands they represent- for content has to be so outstanding and relevant, otherwise it’s just a marketing push that people hate.
Joel continued in saying that the conference was a flashback to ten years ago, only when the word was “Internet” instead of “social media”.
That mobile was here, that we were super connected but highly untethered, and saying that we needed to focus on what consumers like to do with mobile.
While saying that planning a separate strategy for social, mobile and online wasn’t smart because the consumer is already integrated.
That social media’s ROI was only definable by the goals of the organization at hand. Dave Fleet of Edelman Canada said that organizations should have different voices for different parts of the organization, while SapientNitro’s David Bradfield said that social business is all about cheques and balances across an organization.
Perhaps Mitch Joel’s greatest point was that The Huffington Post had said that every day a paywall went up it was good for them, as Joel argued that paywalls only work if the content is unique and of great value.
For paywalls restrict access and are of the opposite view of Arianna Huffington’s wide-ranging notion of openness and transparency in media, which she highlighted in a keynote I covered some weeks ago.
Mitch Joel said he didn’t care about paywalls, that he cared about publishers being evolutionary, that we have to think about how to re-invent marketing.
The rant didn’t start there though- that seemed to have started on his blog where he argued that technology and innovation won’t save marketers, citing QR Codes as the great lunchbag letdown. Ironically enough, the luncheon sponsor CentrSource, heavily promoted by the embattled Canada Post at the conference, didn’t even heed my advice of optimizing QR Codes for better experiences, simply linking to a boring old website.
Similar sentiments were echoed by Ryan Caligiuiri of The Globe and Mail, saying that we need to kill creativity to make an effective ad.
Despite Mitch Joel saying that storytelling is what brands should focus on rather than technology as most agencies don’t have the basics right, a new trend combines storytelling, media and technology calledtransmedia storytelling.
I wonder if that’s evolutionary enough for Mitch Joel.
Why Not Focus on Technology and Creativity?
The Vice President of Customer Insight at Delvinia Interactive, Amy Sullivan, said at the conference in another panel that social consumers are split between value and originality.
Wouldn’t that also translate into marketing and advertising, where consumers have come to expect seeing dazzling displays of technology integrated into advertisements while also conveying a clear cut message?
Wouldn’t examples using software after effects technologies like RealFlow, presented by After Effects Toronto Wednesday night at the Dovercourt House have the potential to be effective?
Facebook Allows for Offline and Online Creativity In Campaigns
What’s more appropriate is finding a balanced campaign that combines offline and online through a variety of mediums- which was illustrated greatly by the winning team that I was on in the Facebook challenge, led by Yahoo! Canada’s Senior Manager of Consumer Marketing, Justine Melman.
Facebook’s Alfredo Tan said that Melman’s proposed campaign was a perfect example for you can use so many different types of online advertising to do different things with Facebook in terms of brand advertising- that there’s no single right or wrong way- there are multiple right ways, which allows for the element of creativity for a successful campaign in a competitive environment for Facebook Likes.
Just as AOL’s Graham Moysey said that search advertising was maxed out, hence the beginning of a shift to display advertising, Facebook, much like LinkedIn, said that if the ’90s was browsing, the ’00s was search, this decade will be about discoverability through social networks, using social indexing to make websites smarter.
I’ll leave you with a great example of creativity and technology with Facebook using RFID technology at a recent European auto show by Renault, for in a discussion of where social media will be in five years I said that mobile media has the great potential to connect the offline world back to online in various ways:
Author: Dan Verhaeghe is the Marketing Specialist and New Media Expert at McLoughlin Promotions. He can be followed @mcloughlinpromo, emailed at dan@mcloughlin.ca or called at 905-238-8973 ext. 233.
Filed under Internet Marketing by on Jun 25th, 2011.
