Yahoo, AOL Reverse Core Search Query Performance

US search providers Yahoo and AOL reversed their August 2011 core search query performance, when Yahoo increased its total 5% and AOL decreased its total 9%, in September 2011,  according to comScore qSearch data. Yahoo’s total core search queries dropped 8%, from 3.61 billion to 3.32 billion, while AOL’s jumped 16%, from 229 million to 265 million.

Number one provider Google, number three Microsoft and number four Ask Network reported little or no month-over-month change in core search queries. The top five providers maintained their rankings from the previous month.

Search Shares Stay Similar

Google led the US total core search market in September with 65.4% market share, followed by Yahoo with 17.2% (down a leading 7%) and Microsoft with 13.4%. Ask Network accounted for 2.6% of explicit core searches, followed by AOL, Inc. with 1.4%.

In terms of the explicit core search market, there was also little month-over-month change. Google led with 65.3% market share, followed by Yahoo with 15.5% (down a leading 5%), Microsoft with 14.7%, Ask with 3%, and AOL with 1.5%.

Yahoo Also Loses Explicit Core Search Queries

Yahoo also saw its explicit core search query total drop compared to August. In September, Yahoo reported 2.64 billion explicit core search queries, 5% less than 2.78 billion in August. AOL led with a 16% increase, from 229 million to 265 million.

The other three members of the top five search provider list all showed little change from the prior month. Google led with 11.17 billion explicit core search queries, while Microsoft came in third with 2.52 billion and Ask ranked fourth with 507 million.

Google Gains Organic Search Ground

In September, 67.4% of searches carried organic search results from Google (about a 1% increase from 66.8% in August) while 26.7% of searches were powered by Bing (down 1% from 27.1% in August).

Explicit Core Search Query Leaders Gain, Lose from 2010

Looking at comScore data on explicit core search queries conducted in September 2010, it becomes apparent that the top providers have gone in different directions during the past year. Google’s total rose 5% from 10. 6 billion, while Yahoo’s total decreased 22% from 2.7 billion. Microsoft experienced an impressive 40% gain from 1.8 billion queries.

Meanwhile, Ask Network’s explicit core search query total slipped 15% from 593 million, while AOL saw its total drop 27% from 362 million.

Re-Elect Bruce Fortine – College of the Canyons

Re-Elect Bruce Fortine – College of the Canyons

RE-ELECT BRUCE FORTINE - COLLEGE OF THE CANYONS

RE-ELECT BRUCE FORTINE - COLLEGE OF THE CANYONS

Most Branding Posts Occur During Work Hours

Approximately 60% of Facebook branding posts are published from 10 AM through 4 PM, indicating brands are most active with their posts during core business hours (EST), according to a study released in October 2011 by Buddy Media. Data from “Strategies for Effective Facebook Posts” reveals that after 4 PM, the number of published posts steadily decreased.

However, brands that posted outside of business hours (early morning, at the finish of the work day and late at night) had engagement rates approximately 20% higher than average.

End of Week Best Time for Posts

Almost nine in 10 (86%) of posts are published between Monday through Friday, with user engagement on these posts peaking on Thursday and Friday. Generally speaking, Buddy Media data indicates that means the best time of the week to post is toward the end of the week.

This finding coincides with data recently revealed by Facebook showing that the “Happiness Index” on Facebook spik es by 10% on Friday. Engagement rates fall approximately 3.5% below average for posts published Monday through Wednesday, with engagement rates on Saturday being 18% below average. However, engagement rates ultimately vary by industry.

‘Like’ and ‘Post’ Best Commands

The top two keywords, “like” and “post,” both have positive comment and ‘like’ rates, which Buddy Media says suggests the basic fundamental rule is to keep it simple. Liking a post requires the least amount of effort asked of a user, so Buddy Media advises if brands want users to like a post, they should tell them outright because they will listen.

Softer Sell Keywords Resonate Best

When running a contest, sweepstakes or other promotional offer, softer sell keywords resonate better with users as opposed to more direct or aggressive language like “contest,” “promotion,” “sweepstake” and “coupon” keywords.

Two of the top five promotional keywords were “winner” and “win,” suggesting fans are open to a contest or sweepstakes type of promotion when the correct tone is set in the Post. Buddy Media advises win/winning keywords give fans something to get excited about rather than feeling they are being sold to.

Other Findings

• Posts between one and 80 characters had, on average, a 27% higher engagement rate, yet only accounted for 19% of all posts.
• Despite the popularity of URL shorteners, Buddy Media research revealed that engagement rates were three times higher for Posts that used a full-length URL.
• Posts that end with a question (rather than having it at the beginning or middle) have a 15% higher engagement rate.
• “Where,” “when,” “would” and “should” drive the highest engagement rates (but are used less frequently, leaving an opportunity for brands to increase use of these keywords).

‘Dollars Off’ Best Retail Facebook Keyword

The keyword “dollars off” in a retail offer-related Facebook post provides the highest user engagement out of 10 popular choices, according to a September 2011 report from Buddy Media. Retail offer-related posts including “dollars off” receive a 55% higher than average engagement, followed by posts containing “coupon,” which have engagement 39% above average.

About the Data: All Facebook posts made via the Buddy Media Platform by a sample size of 200 Buddy Media clients wer e analyzed for a two-week period (Januar y 30, 2011-February 12, 2011). Likes and comments made to these posts were also analyzed.

Source: MarketingChart.com

Americans and Text Messaging

Overview

IMPORTANT NOTE: Several publications have reported that 31% of US adults prefer to be contacted via text message. In fact, this question was asked of cell phone owners who use text messaging, and 31% of these text messaging users prefer to be contacted via text when someone needs to reach them.
Some 83% of American adults own cell phones and three-quarters of them (73%) send and receive text messages. The Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life Project asked those texters in a survey how they prefer to be contacted on their cell phone and 31% said they preferred texts to talking on the phone, while 53% said they preferred a voice call to a text message. Another 14% said the contact method they prefer depends on the situation.
Heavy text users are much more likely to prefer texting to talking. Some 55% of those who exchange more than 50 messages a day say they would rather get a text than a voice call.
Young adults are the most avid texters by a wide margin. Cell owners between the ages of 18 and 24 exchange an average of 109.5 messages on a normal day—that works out to more than 3,200 texts per month—and the typical or median cell owner in this age group sends or receives 50 messages per day (or 1500 messages per month).
Overall, the survey found that both text messaging and phone calling on cell phones have leveled off for the adult population as a whole. Text messaging users send or receive an average of 41.5 messages on a typical day, with the median user sending or receiving 10 texts daily – both figures are largely unchanged from what we reported in 2010. Similarly, cell owners make or receive an average of 12 calls on their cells per day, which is unchanged from 2010.

About the Survey

These results come from a nationally representative phone survey of 2,277 adults ages 18 and older conducted from April 26-May 22, 2011, including 755 cell phone interviews. The margin of error for the whole survey is +/-2.3 percentage points, while the margin of error for cell phone users is +/-2.7 percentage points.
SOURCE: http://pewinternet.org/

3 in 10 Consumers Lack QR Code Understanding

A high number of US consumers demonstrate a significant lack of understanding as to what QR codes are or how they work, according to an October 2011 survey from strategic marketing firm Russell Herder. Results from “The QR Question” indicate 72% of consumers say they have seen a QR code, but nearly 30% do not know what it is.

In addition, nearly one in five consumers who regularly use the internet via mobile phone do not know what a QR code is.

Consumers age 18-24 have the highest rate of having seen a QR code (more than 75%), while those age 25-34 and 35-44 both have seen a QR code at a rate almost the same as the overall average. Interestingly, a slightly higher percentage of consumers age 55 and up report having seen a QR code than those 45-54.

3 in 10 Multiple QR Code Scanners Say Time Was Worth It

Nearly four in five of those who have scanned a QR code have done so more than once. Perhaps more importantly, however, only 31% report that what they receive in return is always or usually worth their time.

The largest portion of consumers who have scanned more than one QR code (52%) say it is sometimes worth it, while a combined 17% say it is rarely or never worth the time spent.

Younger Mobile Users Scan More

Consumers who have seen a QR code, know what it is and have scanned one with their mobile device tend to be younger (ages 18-34), male and regularly go online via their phone. More than 23% of mobile phone owners age 18-24 have scanned a QR code, roughly 50% more than the slightly more than 15% of overall mobile phone owners who have done so. Mobile phone owners age 25-34 also overrepresent in having scanned a QR code.

Mobile phone owners age 35 and up all underrepresent in having scanned a QR code with their device, with an almost negligible rate among those in the 55-plus bracket.

It is also worth noting that among people who know what a QR code is, and own a mobile device that is capable of going online, 54 percent say they are likely to scan one.

comScore: QR Code Scanners Skew Young, Male, Wealthy

In June 2011, 14 million mobile users in the US, representing 6.2% of the total mobile audience, scanned a QR (quick response) code on their mobile device, according to an August 2011 study released by comScore MobiLens. The study found that a mobile user that scanned a QR code during the month was more likely to be male (60.5% of code scanning audience), skew toward ages 18-34 (53.4%) and have a household income of $100,000 or above (36.1%).

In addition, 18-to-24-year-olds were 36% more likely than average to scan a QR code with a mobile device, and those with a household income of $75,000 but less than $100,000 were 18.6% more likely than average to scan QR codes.

About the Data: Russell Herder conducted an online survey of more than 500 US residents in August 2011 to gain insight into awareness levels of QR codes and attitudes towards their use among consumers.

Tablet Ownership Changes Gaming Habits

A majority of tablet owners say they use a video game console/handheld video game less often less often as a result of owning a tablet, according to data released in October 2011 by GfK MRI. About six in 10 (59%) tablet owners say they use traditional video game playing devices less often due to the influence of their tablet.

Tablet ownership does not affect any other activity as strongly. However, roughly four in10 tablet owners say their tablet does lessen their participation in several other activities. These are reading printed paper/books (44%), reading paper newspapers (42%), using a desktop/laptop (41%) and reading printed/paper magazines (40%).

TV, Cell Phones, Socializing Less Affected

Only one in four (25%) tablet owners say they watch less TV as a result of tablet ownership, while about the same percentage (23%) say they use a cell phone/smartphone less often. More physical activities such as playing sports (19%), going to the movies (17%) and socializing with friends/family (9%) are less affected.

7 in 10 Tablet Owners Use Gaming Apps

GfK advises that the fact that a majority of game-playing tablet owners report using a video game console or a handheld video game less often as a result of owning a tablet does not necessarily mean they are playing video games less often, but it does indicate they are moving gaming from other devices to their tablets. As evidence, GfK analysis indicates about seven in 10 (69%) tablet owners have used gaming apps in the past 30 days.

This makes gaming apps about 17% more popular than the next-most-used type of app, social networking (59%). Weather apps (58%) closely follow, with music apps (53%) also used by more than half of tablet owners in the past 30 days.

No other type of tablet exceeded 50% usage, but entertainment (48%), book (42%) and shopping/retail (40%) apps were also among the popular tablet app categories.

Increased Tablet App Dowloads Result in Lower Use

The more tablet apps consumers download, the less likely they are to use them regularly, according to Gfk MRI iPanel data previously released in September 2011. Among the iPanel respondents who own a tablet and have downloaded between one and nine apps on their device, 95% say they regularly use those apps.

In contrast, only 37% of owners who have 10 or more apps on their device regularly use this many apps, while only 16% who have 20 or more apps on their device regularly use this many.

About the Data: GfK MRI’s online iPanel is composed of more than 3,000 adult e-reader and tablet owners.

Source: MarketingChart.com

1 in 5 Mobile Users Don’t Want Coupons

Almost one in five (18%) smartphone/tablet users do not want to receive any coupons on their device, according to [download page] data released in October 2011 by Prosper Mobile Insights. This is a higher percentage than say they want to receive mobile coupons via social media check-in (10%).

Email (51%, more than one response allowed) is by far the most popular method of receiving mobile coupons, followed by manual search (32%), scanning a QR code in-store (32%), and text/IM (31%). In addition, 26% of smartphone/tablet users prefer to receive coupons automatically when they are near a store.

3 in 4 Mobile Users Browse Products/Services

Prosper Mobile Insights data shows that three in four (76%) smartphone/tablet users have used their device to browse/look for products and/or services. Locating a store/store hours closely followed in popularity (73%).

No other mobile activity was anywhere near as popular as these two activities. Almost half (49%) have researched specific products, while 47% have received text messages with specific offers and 46% have read customer reviews. Other popular mobile activities include making purchases (40%) and scanning QR codes (37%).

Other Findings

• Two in three (67%) smartphone/tablet users somewhat or strongly agree that location-based mobile coupons are very or somewhat useful, while 23% neither agree nor disagree.
• Only 45% of smartphone/tablet users somewhat or strongly agree they are concerned about security issues and their location being tracked, while 30% neither agree nor disagree.
• Four in 10 (42%) smartphone/tablet users have used their device as a coupon.

e-tailing group: 1 in 3 Online Consumers Has Performed Mobile Shopping Research

Approximately one in three online US consumers have performed one of several mobile shopping research activities in the past three months, according to a September 2011 study from the e-tailing group and PowerReviews. Data from “The 2011 Social Shopping Study” indicates that a leading 33% of online consumers have both checked for sales and specials and looked up store information such as hours, location and maps via mobile device in the past three months.

About the Data: Prosper Mobile Insights surveyed 348 smartphone and tablet users on their devices between September 22-24, 2011.

Mature Consumers Use Tech

Mature consumers around the globe are using technology at high rates, according to the A.T. Kearney Global Maturing Consumer Study. Data from the study indicates 87% of global consumers age 60-64 use a mobile phone, as do 74% of those 65-79 and 50% of those 80 and older.

Mature usage rates for internet and internet shopping are not quite as high but still show some solid penetration among the 60 and older set.

For example, 68% of consumers age 60-64 use the internet, although this figure drops to 46% for consumers 65-79 and 19% for consumers 80 and up. Out of online mature consumers, 49% of those 60-64 shop online, as do 41% of those 65-79 and 29% of those 80 and older.

Sixty-nine percent of respondents have both fixed-line and mobile phones. The percentage that uses only a mobile phone is 11%, while 22% have fixed-line phones only. In addition, exactly half of the survey respondents use the internet, with 20% taking advantage of it for shopping, research and communication.

Mature Consumers Display Unique Shopping/Spending Habits

Two-thirds of those aged 70 to 80 say they shop twice a week or more. They shop at different times, preferring to go on weekdays, and relatively early in the mornings, when the stores are less busy. The older they are, the more they prefer smaller stores and shopping closer to home (68%), and the more likely they are to walk to the shops rather than drive or be driven. A.T. Kearney analysis shows proximity is almost always a main reason for choosing a specific store.

In addition, mature consumers spend proportionally less of their income on clothing and transportation than people under age 60, and more on food, beverages and non-prescription health products. They buy fewer items but tend to spend more per item.

A.T. Kearney data indicates that overwhelmingly, mature consumers seek quality products, are loyal to brands, and are not particularly price sensitive, even if their incomes are below average levels. This trend is even more pronounced with aging.

Mature Spend Will almost Double by 2020

Worldwide, consumers aged 60 and older spent more than $8 trillion in 2010; by 2020, A.T. Kearney projects they will spend $15 trillion, or a close to 90% increase. An analysis of the share of income for the older-than-60s in various economic regions shows that it will continue to rise through 2020.

Price Alone Not Enough for 4 in 10 Mature Consumers

More than four in 10 (43%) study participants say they will buy promotional products only if they believe the quality is comparable to their usual purchase, 34% say they buy goods on promotion whenever they can, and 22% say promotions have no impact on them.

Harris: Mature Consumers Less Likely to Cut Back

Although they are more likely to be on a fixed income, mature US consumers age 66 and older are less likely than younger consumers to have cut back spending in many areas during the last six months than their younger counterparts, according to March 2011 Harris Poll data. Lower rates of cutting back on spending for three of these activities, brown-bagging lunch, buying a morning coffee, and carpooling, may reflect the lower percentage of mature consumers in the workforce.

About the Data: A.T. Kearney’s Global Business Policy Council launched a global survey of 2,947 people in 23 countries. Participants are from cities, towns and rural areas, belong to all income brackets and age groups (60s, 70s and 80s). Half of the surveys were performed in face-to-face interviews in a variety of shopping environments: hypermarkets and shopping malls, supermarkets, street markets and small shops. The other half were conducted via questionnaires posted on the A.T. Kearney website, with additional information usually gleaned in face-to-face or telephone interviews with respondents.

Source: MarketingChart.com