Most Companies Have Social Media Strategies

Three-quarters of companies currently have a social media marketing strategy, according to a new study from King Fish Media, Hubspot and Junta 42.

Companies Have or Will Have Strategies
As mentioned above, about three-quarters (72%) of companies currently have a social media marketing strategy. Of the 27% without a social media marketing strategy (1% were undecided), 80% plan to have one within the next 12 months. Furthermore, only 11% of companies without a strategy definitely do not plan to implement one in the next 12 months, with 9% undecided.

Investments Will Grow
Another three-quarters of companies (75%) plan to increase their social media investment in the next 12 months. As with the previous question, a high percentage of respondents (13%) don’t know, with only 12% definitely not planning to increase social media investment.

One-third of Increases Tied to Specific Project
Of companies planning a social media spending increase, about one-third (35%) are tying it to a specific project or custom media program. Another third (33%) will make social media an incremental marketing budget increase.

One-fifth of respondents (21%) will fund social media spending increases from their moving budgets, while 11% don’t know how the increase will be allocated.

Marketers Take Part-time Social Media Responsibility
In a solid 70% majority of companies, social media is a marketing responsibility. Twenty-three percent place social media on the shoulders of management. The remaining 7% assign social media to sales, IT, or don’t know.

In 90% of companies, managing social media is a part-time job mixed in with other responsibilities.

Marketers Promote Whole Company to New and Existing Customers
Two-thirds of companies surveyed (67%) use social media to promote the company as a whole. Another 41% promote specific individuals (more than one response permitted), while 24% promote a specific brand.

In scope, most companies (70%) target social media campaigns to both new customer acquisition and customer retention. However, of companies that only target one of those groups, far more target new customers (23%) than existing (4%).

Social Media ROI Varies
Marketers use a wide array of metrics to measure return on investment (ROI) from social media campaigns, according to other survey results. Quantitatively, almost all (93%) measure the number of visitors/page views, while 85% measure the number of fans/followers generated. Another 79% measure the traffic generated to the corporate site from social media.

Qualitatively, 84% measure increased dialogues with prospects and customers, while 68% measure how much existing customer relationships were strengthened.

About the Data: The survey was created by King Fish Media and hosted online by from April 15 to June 1, 2010. Email invitations were sent out directing respondents to the survey by King Fish Media and the two survey co-sponsors: HubSpot and Junta 42. In addition, the link was sent out via social networking sites Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. The survey was completed by 457 respondents primarily split between corporate management and marketing/sales management. The data was compiled and tabulated by Datastar.

Online Ad Growth to Outpace Total Ad Growth

Online advertising will grow at a faster pace in 2011 than overall advertising, according to estimates from Borrell Associates.

Online Ad Spending to Reach $52B
Borrell Associates analysis indicates total online ad spending (including mobile) will grow almost 14%, from $45.6 billion in 2010, to $51.9 billion in 2011.

Overall, advertisers will increase their spending next year by less than 5% above this year’s projected level, bringing US ad spending totals to $238.6 billion. This means online advertising will account for about 22% of total ad spending.

Display Will Grow 60%
The fastest-growing segments of online advertising are the targeted, the local sector, and social media. The big driver will be targeted display (such as banner ads) advertising, which Borrell expects to grow almost 60% in 2011, reaching $10.9 billion for national and local combined.

While national advertisers will increase their use of targeted display by nearly 50%, local advertisers will outperform even that. Use of targeted display by advertisers local to the markets where their ads run will more than double, reaching more than $2.3 billion next year.

Local Waxes, Run-of-Site Wanes
By next year, local online advertising should grow by almost 18%, from $13.7 billion in 2010, to $16.1 billion in 2011. However, run-of-site display should continue to lose spending. Sales of run-of-site display ads are expected to drop nearly 14% from this year’s level, or $9.5 billion to $8.2 billion for both local and national.

Borrell says this early online format has been overshadowed by newer, more productive ad formats, and competition has pushed display unit prices down. Most of the spending decease will come from national advertisers. Local run-of-site ads are forecast to decrease less than 3% next year.

Nat’l Paid Search also Loses Popularity
The national paid search ad format will experience a double-digit spending decline next year, moving down 11.3%. This drop will be caused by lower pricing and churn, but will be mitigated by a local advertiser increase of more than 10%. In general, Borrell analysis suggests local online advertiser trends tend to lag those of the larger national advertisers by about two years. Local spending decreases in paid search will likely follow, possibly as soon as 2012.

Email Ads to Increase 9%
Email advertising will see moderately strong growth in 2011, up 9% to $16 billion for national and local. Growth in this format will come almost all from national advertisers; with only 3% local. White paper marketing is a major contributor to its popularity, especially among B2B advertisers.

Streaming Video Shows Strength
The streaming video format is expected to continue its dramatic growth, increasing more than 60% to $5.6 billion next year. More DIY and less expensive tools put this ad format within the budgets of even small advertisers.

Because of this, Borrell predicts two out of every five streaming video ad dollars will come from local advertisers next year. Streaming audio, on the other hand, looks to remain a footnote. Though it too will enjoy double-digit ad spending increases in 2011, streaming audio has yet to pass the $1 billion ad spending level.

Coupons to Drive Online Promos Growth
Online promotions will top $24 billion next year, up 10% from this year’s totals. Much of this increase will be due to the rising use of online couponing, forecast to grow almost 14%, to $9.1 billion, in 2011.

Mobile Ads Continue Growth
Proximity advertising is also on the rise, up 11% next year. Mobile devices that can tell users when a particular merchant is in their immediate vicinity continue to sell briskly, and advertisers are expressing interest in this form of advertising.

Mobile marketing continues to grow, fueled by ubiquitous apps, user-friendly browsers and 3G/4G speeds. As smartphone ownership now comprises 25% of all cellphone ownership, mobile ad sales will enjoy growth of more than 20 cents of every online ad dollar spent next year.

Teens Text 5x More than Adults

Teens ages 12-17 send and receive a median of five times more texts per day than adult texters, according to new data from the Pew Internet & American Life Project.

Most Adults Send 1-10 Texts Per Day
Slightly more than half (51%) of adults who text send one to 10 texts per day, compared to 22% of teens. The percentages of texting adults and teens who send 11-20 and 21-50 average daily texts are fairly similar. Where teens begin to outpace adults is in the percentage who send 51-100 average texts daily (18% to 7%), and more notably in the percentage who send 101-plus average texts daily (29% to 8%).

Ultimately, adults who text typically send and receive a median of 10 texts a day; teens who text send and receive a median of 50 texts per day.

Men Make More Cell Calls than Women
Women tend to make slightly fewer calls with their cell phones than men, despite stereotypes of women enjoying talking on the phone more. While 53% of women make and receive five calls or fewer per day, 43% of men say the same.

Men are a bit more likely to make slightly more phone calls in a day; 26% of men send and receive six to 10 calls a day, while 20% of women exchange that many calls. Men and women are equally likely to be represented at the extreme high end of callers, however, with 8% of men and 6% of women making and taking more than 30 calls a day.

The average adult cell phone owner (across genders) makes and receives around five voice calls a day.

Cell Phones Provide Security, Annoyance
Americans especially appreciate that their cell phones make them feel safer (91% of cell owners say this) and help them connect to friends and family to arrange plans (88% agree). Still, some users express irritation with their phone for the disruptions it creates, though the heaviest users of the phone are no more likely to express irritation with their phone than lower level users. Two-in-five (42%) cell phone owners say they feel irritated when a call or text message interrupts them.

In a further sign of cell phone-related annoyance, 57% of adults with cell phones have received unwanted or spam text messages on their phone.

Minorities Use Cell Phones More than Whites
African-American and Hispanic cell phone users are more intense and frequent users of all cell phone capabilities than whites. Minorities send more text messages and make more calls on average than their white counterparts. For example:

• African-American and English-speaking Hispanic adults are slightly more likely than whites to own a cell phone, with 87% of African-Americans and English-speaking Hispanics owning a phone, compared with 80% of whites.
• African-American and English-speaking Hispanic cell phone owners are more likely than whites to initiate and receive large numbers of calls each day. One-in-eight (12%) African- American phone owners and 14% of Hispanic cell phone users make and receive more than 30 calls on a typical day, while just 4% of white cell phone users make and receive the same number of calls.
• African-American and Hispanic texters typically text more on average than white texters, with a median of 10 texts a day for African Americans and Hispanics and 5 texts a day for whites. White adults are a bit more likely than English-speaking Hispanic adults to say they do not send or receive any texts on a typical day (10% vs. 4%).

Other Findings

• 5% of all adult texters send more than 200 text messages a day or more than 6,000 texts a month. Fully 15% of teens ages 12-17, and 18% of adults ages 18 to 24 text message more than 200 messages a day, while just 3% of adults ages 25 to 29 do the same.
• Heavy adult texters, those who send and receive more than 50 texts a day, also tend to be heavy users of voice calling. Light texters, who exchange one to 10 texts a day, do not make up for less texting by calling more. Instead, they are light users of both calling and texting.
• Parents (90%) are more likely to have a cell phone than adults without children under 18 at home (78%).

Minors Text 90x as Much as Seniors
The number of messages juveniles younger than 18 text in an average month is about 90 times the total of seniors 65 and up, according to new data from The Nielsen Company. In an average month, an under-18 American will send 2,779 text messages. This dwarfs even the average total of those 18-24 (1,299). It is also 86.7 times the monthly total of 32 text messages the average American 65 and older sends in the same period. The number of text messages sent in an average month steadily declines with each successive age bracket.

About the Data: The re¬sults in this report are based on data from telephone interviews conducted by Princeton Survey Research Associates International between April 29 and May 30, 2010, among a sample of 2,252 adults, age 18 and older.

Less than Half of Brand Managers Use Mobile Apps, Video

About four in 10 brand managers currently use a mobile application to promote their brand, with two in 10 using mobile video content, according to a new white paper from Brightcove and TubeMogul.

As mentioned above, findings from “Online Video & The Media Industry” show 42% of brand managers indicated that they currently have a mobile app to promote their brand, while 57% indicated they do not.

2 in 10 Mobile App Users Include Online Video
Of the brand managers who do have mobile apps for their brands, only 21% indicated their mobile apps include video content. However, a full 70% of brand managers said they plan to add video to their mobile app strategy in the next 12 months.

Apple iOS Universally Used
Brand managers that do have mobile apps are primarily focused on building apps for Apple iOS devices, with a full 100 % indicating they use the Apple iOS development platform. Only 27% indicate they are building apps for the Android OS, while 47% say they are developing apps for other platforms including Windows, Research in Motion BlackBerry and Symbian.

North American Mobile Video Adoption Low
North Americans are less than half as likely as the global average to watch online video via mobile device, according to a recent study from The Nielsen Company. Data from “How We Watch” indicates that as a region, North America only scores 45 on the Index of Mobile Video Usage (Past 30 Days). With a score of 100 representing the global average, this means North Americans are 55% less likely to watch mobile video than international online consumers as a whole.

Europe also significantly lags the global average with an Index score of 55. As a region, Asia-Pacific consumes the most online video with an Index score of 145, followed by Middle East/Africa/Pakistan (MEAP) with a score of 136 and Latin America with a score of 118.
While often the lag of mobile media adoption in North America and Europe is attributed to the advanced mobile cultures in comparative markets, Nielsen says that with regard to video especially, the proliferation of other screen choices also impacts relative mobile video consumption.

That is, slower mobile video adoption in North America and Europe may as much be attributed to the technological advancement and ubiquity of other screens in these markets as it is to the proliferation of mobile technology in more advanced mobile media markets.
In addition, mobile video adoption varies widely by gender (men over-index by 18% while women under-index by 9%) and age (adults 25-29 over index by 73% while adults 60-64 are 73% less likely to use it).

About the Data: The data used for the analysis included in this report was taken from a cross-section sample of Brightcove customers representing media industry verticals. While the sample aggregates a sizable data set, it is not intended to be statistically representative of the online video industry as a whole, or of Brightcove’s entire customer base.

Consumers Prefer Text Coupons

Close to half of US consumers prefer mobile coupons to be sent via text message, according to a recent study from Insight Express.

Texting Beats Apps, In-store Mobile Coupon Delivery
As mentioned above, figures from “Get Ready for the Mobile Shopper” (included in the July 2010 Millennial Media SMART Report) indicate 45% of consumers prefer to receive mobile coupons via text. Another 28% prefer to find mobile offers using an app, and 27% opt-in to receive mobile coupons at the store.

Store Most Frequent Locale for Mobile Phone Use
When asked where they have used their mobile phone, by far the largest percentage of consumers (82%) said in a store. The only other locale receiving more than a 50% response rate was the doctor’s office or hospital (55%).

Following medical facilities in popularity were sporting events (36%). Beyond the top three locales, less than one in five consumers uses a mobile phone in places such as during a movie at a theater (17%), while flying on a plane (14%) or in church (7%). This probably reflects regulations and/or social stigma against using mobile phones in certain situations.

In addition, nearly 20% of smartphone owners made a special trip to the store after receiving a mobile coupon.

Men Substantially More Likely to Use Mobile Phone in Many Places
There are several locales where male shoppers are substantially more likely to use a mobile phone than the general population. For example, 30% of men will use a mobile phone in an electronics store, compared to only 10% of the general population.

The spread is similar for mobile phone usage in clothing stores (about 32% of men compared to about 15% of general population), and slightly smaller for department stores (30% compared to about 15%).

About 15% of men will use a mobile phone in a service location, compared to about 5% of the general population. In all these circumstances, male mobile phone usage is two to three times that of the general population.

4 in 10 Mobile Campaigns Target Audience
Slightly more than four in 10 (43%) mobile advertising campaigns in July 2010 were aimed at a targeted audience, with 57% launched as broad reach campaigns, according to the Millennial Media July 2010 SMART Report.

The largest percentage of the targeted audience mix was represented by geographic targeting (40%). According to prior Millennial Media analysis, this targeted reach method resonates strongly with advertisers in the travel vertical, particularly hotels and resorts, who are able to reach visitors new to the area with relevant messages.

Meanwhile, Millennial Media research suggests the entertainment and telecom verticals leveraged the demographic targeting method to appropriately message campaigns to multi-cultural audiences. This reach method experienced a 9% increase month-over-month and represented 36% of the targeted audience mix in July 2010.

Behavioral audience targeting accounted for another 17% of the targeted audience mix in July 2010, and experienced a 5% increase month-over-month. Millennial Media credits part of this growth to brands in the travel vertical creating targeted audiences of vacationers, as well as telecom advertisers developing custom audiences for consumers ready to switch providers.

About the Data: This data was gathered as part of InsightExpress’ Q2 2010 Digital Consumer Portrait, a quarterly study of 1,000 – 1,500 US consumers conducted since July 2007. For Q2 2010, a total of 1,300 surveys were completed by a sample representative of the US online population.

Social Media Sponsorships Grow in Variety of Ways

Social media publishers are frequently engaging in different types of sponsorship for increasing compensation and often not fully disclosing the practice, according to a new study by Izea.

As defined by Izea, social media sponsorship is the practice of providing compensation to a social media publisher in exchange for mention, promotion or review. Compensation can be in the form of cash or non-cash incentives.

Social Media Sponsorship Incentives Mostly Non-Cash
“The State of Social Media Sponsorships” indicates that in 2009, total social media sponsorships equaled $46 million in cash and non-cash incentives. The bulk of this total, $35.7 million, or 77.6%, was in the form of non-cash incentives. The remaining $10.3 million, or 22.4%, was in the form of cash.

Both of these totals grew dramatically from $0.1 million cash and $2.5 million non-cash in 2004.

6 in 10 Publishers Engage in Direct Sponsorship
Almost six in 10 (57.3%) social media publishers have engaged in direct sponsorship, or specific compensation for a specific post or series of posts. Another 49.3% have engaged in indirect sponsorships, where a free product was provided and a post was expected but not required. And 27.2% have engaged in a material relationship, posting to promote a client, employer or other party with whom they had a financial connection.

Frequency of Sponsorships is High or Low
When asked how many times they have promoted an advertiser through social media channels in exchange for some form of compensation, the highest percentage (29.9%) of social media publishers said 20 times or more. Another 25.6% said once, and 25.1% said two to five times.

Interestingly, the middle ground ranges of six to 10 times (12.8%) and 11-20 times (6.6%) were the least common. About half of social media publishers have engaged in sponsorships five times or less, while another three in 10 have engaged 20 times or more.

Unfamiliarity with Disclosure High
Many social media publishers are unfamiliar with the concept of disclosing sponsorships and the fact that the FTC now has disclosure regulations in place. When asked what form of disclosure they use when working with advertisers, 21.6% asked what it meant.

In addition, one-third (35%) of PR, social media and marketing professionals have no familiarity with FTC guidelines regarding disclosure. Another 26.1% have heard of them but not read them, meaning six in 10 professionals in the social media sponsorship space effectively do not know the content of the FTC regulations.

Money Talks
Despite the bulk of sponsorship compensation coming in non-cash form, other study results demonstrate social media publishers show a clear preference for cash compensation, with 71% preferring it, 26.9% accepting it, and only 2.1% disliking it. While a high percentage of social media publishers accept free products (69.3%), only 25.4% prefer them.

Discounts/coupons are by far the least popular form of compensation, with a 9% preference rate and 49.2% acceptance rate. More than four in 10 social media publishers (41.8%) dislike them.

US Leads Online Video Viewing

The US is the leading region for viewing online video from most sources, according to a new white paper from Brightcove and TubeMogul.
Findings from “Online Video & The Media Industry” show that US viewers watched the greatest amount of online video content for the longest periods of time across the broadcast, magazine, music video and radio verticals. In particular, US viewers accounted for more than 50% of magazine total views with a leading average of 3:44 minutes per view, and had a substantially higher average minutes per view average (1:24) than any other region.

In addition, while US viewers while accounted for more than 60% of online media total views, their minutes per view average lagged the European Union (1:44).

Meanwhile, Europeans watched the second-highest amount of broadcast video content (21.28%), but were the least engaged, dropping off after 30 seconds on average.
In the Asia-Pacific region, viewers were most engaged when it came to radio content, accounting for almost 65% of total views.
US and Europe Dominate Brand ViewsIn terms of geography, a combined 90% of online brand views came from either the US (52%) or Europe (385). More than half of all brand / e-commerce views occurred in the U.S. Brands also had fewer views coming from the Asia-Pacific region or the rest of the world than media companies.

Study results also indicate US viewers watched brand videos 20 to 54 seconds more than viewers from other regions, demonstrating more time-spent with brand-related online video content. Europeans watched news and entertainment video content even longer than U.S. viewers, on average, but spent less time with brand videos than any other region.
Google Dominates 3rd Party ReferralsOther study results indicate that overall, 81.9% of video streams were discovered via direct traffic or navigation within a publisher’s own site. In the case of third party referral traffic, 64% comes from Google, followed by Yahoo (11.9%), Facebook (4.3%), Bing (2.6%), and Twitter (1.2%).
However, in terms of number of video streams referred per month, Facebook and Twitter are growing much faster than traditional search engines as sources of video views. At current rates, Facebook will surpass Yahoo within the year to be second only to Google in referral traffic to online video content for media companies.
About the Data: The data used for the analysis included in this report was taken from a cross-section sample of Brightcove customers representing media industry verticals. While the sample aggregates a sizable data set, it is not intended to be statistically representative of the online video industry as a whole, or of Brightcove’s entire customer base.

This article was written by Marcia Yudkin, the author of 6 Steps to Free Publicity and 10 other books

Everyone keeps their radio tuned to station WIIFM - What's In It For Me. This fact and its implications hold a valuable secret for multiplying publicity opportunities.

Let's put ourselves first in the position of the editor of a magazine for floral shops. His assistant has collected the day's press releases for her, and he gives each headline a scan before either reading more carefully or tossing it. His foremost concern during his five-second screen: Is this relevant to florists, my readers?

Naturally anything with the word "florists" or "flowers" in the headline commands a thorough read. And since his readers all own or operate a small business, anything with "small business" in the headline catches his attention as well. Without these key words or phrases in the headline, the editor is forced to translate, to think whether a general message about a trend, a law, a new service or an event holds significance for her market.

Likewise, when the editor of a portal site for financial service professionals peruses the day's business releases, anything with "finance" or better yet, "financial professionals" compels her to click through. In browsing mode, her brain might not think quickly enough to see "E-Learning Grew 40% in 2001, Expected to Double in 2002" and understand that this relates to her readers' ability to obtain continuing education more cheaply and efficiently. However, if she saw "Financial Services Professionals Keep Skills Tuned Through Rising E-Learning Trend," she wouldn't ever ignore it.

Now let's explore what this means for the smart publicity seeker. If you want to maximize your media coverage, begin by making a list of professions, industries or consumer segments that would benefit from what you're promoting. Then craft a general press release and change the headline and at least part of the contents for each niche so that the relevance to that group jumps out unmistakably.

For instance, a few years ago a client of mine released a new video on the home and family life of the Amish. I watched the video and took notes on the kinds of magazines that would be interested in different aspects of the material, then fashioned a headline for each angle. The reference to "happiest" in three of the headlines refers to a scientific study mentioned in the video narration.

Travel - New video, "Amish Values & Virtues...Plain & Simple," reveals the everyday life of America's happiest, most picturesque community Country - New video, "Amish Values & Virtues...Plain & Simple," reveals the beliefs underlying America's happiest rural lifestyle Parenting - New video, "Amish Values & Virtues...Plain & Simple," reveals the child-rearing practices underlying America's happiest lifestyle Christian - New video, "Amish Values & Virtues...Plain & Simple," shows Christian values shaping a way of life.

About half of the release text stayed unchanged from version to version, and the rest elaborated on the travel, country, parenting or Christian content. Thanks to the niching, this video took off faster than any of my clients' previous releases.

Consumers Support Companies that Support a Cause, Finds Study

Published on September 16, 2010
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Eighty-three percent of U.S. consumers want more of the products, services and retailers they use to benefit causes, according to the new 2010 Cone Cause Evolution Study. The report also finds that 41% of consumers have purchased a product in the past year because it was associated with a social or environmental cause.
This marks a two-fold increase since Cone first began watching cause marketing in 1993.
U.S. consumers expect businesses to continue meeting their social responsibilities even during hard times: 81% percent said companies should financially support causes at the same level or higher during an economic downturn. Businesses apparently did meet the most recent challenge, with 64% of consumers believing that companies responded well to social and environmental issues during the recession, writes Environmental Leader.
Cause marketing continues to influence U.S. consumers’ buying decisions. 88% say it is acceptable for companies to involve a cause or issue in their marketing, 85% have a more positive image of a product or company when it supports a cause they care about, and 80% are likely to switch to a brand similar in price and quality if it supports a cause.
They are also willing to switch product brands to support a cause: 61% of Americans say they would be willing to try a new brand or one unfamiliar to them, 46% would try a generic or private-label brand, and 19% would be willing to purchase a more expensive brand.
Moms, Millennials Most Cause-Conscious
Moms and millennials (18-24 years old) are the most cause-conscious. 95% of mothers find cause marketing acceptable (vs. 88% average), and 92% want to buy a product supporting a cause (vs. 81% average). They are also more likely to switch brands, and have purchased more cause-related products in the past year than any other demographic.
94% of millennials surveyed find cause marketing acceptable (vs. 88% average) and 53% have bought a product benefiting a cause this year (vs. 41% average).
How to Begin
While marketing products on their “green” benefits can be a productive business strategy, many times the most obvious benefits aren’t the ones that resonate most loudly with potential customers. Before you begin designing a green marketing campaign that is focused on a single environmental or energy saving benefit, Bob Lipp, president of Marcomm Group, suggests asking yourself the following questions:
—What green advantages to my product are most relevant to my target market?—How can these advantages help the customer’s bottom line?—How can these advantages reduce fines or waste-handling costs?—What are the most significant regulations facing the industry you are trying to sell to?—What other non-monetary benefits can the customer gain from using your products?