Who Are The Fastest Mobile Shopping Adaptors?

Last month, we had a post about how smart phone owners are active shoppers.  In fact, over 70% of smart phone owners used their device on their last shopping trip.  A new study has been released that details what groups are the fastest adopters of mobile shopping activities.  Knowing who these groups are can help bring success to your mobile shopping offerings.  But it may not be who you think it is.

• African-American consumers outpace
the population as a whole in mobile
shopping activities

• More than 30% of African-Americans have located a retailer through a smart phone

• More than one in five African-Americans used a mobile device to read a product review

• Over 20% of African-Americans have also used a mobile device to store a shopping list

• 40% of African-Americans have interacted with a company through SMS

• While tech adoption is often considered a male first function, women have been quicker to move towards mobile shopping

• 25% of women have located a retailer via mobile device compared to 20%
of men

• Women are also more likely than men to read product reviews, keep a shopping list and make purchases on a mobile device

• Hispanic consumers are more likely to compare prices on a mobile device than other groups

What Does This Mean To You?

Most tech adoption happens first by younger, affluent male consumers. But with mobile shopping, that just isn’t the case.  When you are looking at targets for your m-commerce activities, you can’t afford to overlook the African-American & Hispanic segments or female consumers.
Metro Orlando Adults who live in a household with a smart phone:

• American-Americans – Nearly 40%

• Hispanics – Over 40%

• Females – 38%

Targeting will help you get the most out of your mobile shopping efforts.  Promote your programs and capabilities in relevant content.  Make sure you offer your customers real value and continue to fine tune your program once it is in place.  For more information on reaching the groups that can bring you mobile success, please contact your Orlando Sentinel Media Group representative or:
Al Fiala
Advertising Research Manager
407.420.5702
afiala@orlandosentinel.com
www.orlandosentinel.com/mediakit

Source: Mobile Commerce Daily; The Integer Group; M/A/R/C Research

The Social Second Screen

Multitasking is nothing new.  For many years consumers have done multiple things while engaged with media.  Mobile devices, such as tablets and smart phones, have taken media multitasking to a whole new level because of how engaged users are with the devices.  Several recent surveys have shown just
how pervasive these second screen activities are, especially with social media.

• Over 40% of US consumers are using
their laptops, smart phones or tablets
while watching TV

• The top activity is email related, social networking ranks second

• Among those who are social networking, 55% of men are on Twitter as are 45% of women

• Half of Twitter users are engaged with others about shows in real-time

• Over three-quarters of social networkers tell their friends what they
are watching

What Does This Mean To You?

As consumers continue to rely on mobile devices for content, second screen activity is bound to increase.  This means that the attention of viewers will be even more fragmented and any investment in TV advertising can be adversely affected.  In fact, because most users are holding their devices, there is a good chance they are more engaged with second screen content than the TV shows that are being shown.  Portability is also an issue, it’s much easier to move from room to room with a tablet or smart phone than to move a wall mounted flat screen.  As a business, you need to make sure your advertising messages are being seen.  Due to the growth of mobile, the TV may be on, but are the viewers watching the message?  For more information on effectively reaching consumers through multi-platform channels, please contact your Orlando Sentinel Media Group representative or:
Al Fiala
Advertising Research Manager
407.420.5702
afiala@orlandosentinel.com
www.orlandosentinel.com/mediakit

Source: OnlineMBA.com; Kalena Jordan, SearchEngineCollege.com; sitepronews.com; MediaBistro; Nielsen; Pew Center for Internet and American Life

Snapshot of a Pinterest User

Since launching just over a year ago, Pinterest has rapidly become the number three social networking site. For the unfamiliar, it differs greatly from Facebook or Twitter.  Pinterest is a photo-based virtual pinboard where users create boards and pin photos to them.  Being a visually formatted social presence, Pinterest offers your organization a great way to create awareness.

• Some of the latest data has Pinterest with
over 100 million users, but their growth rate
has slowed recently

• Six in 10 users are female

• Over half of users are age 25-44

• Half of users have household incomes of $50,000+, over 20% are in the $75,000+ group

• The Pinterest iPhone app has been downloaded over 250,000 times

• Over 20% of Facebook uses are daily Pinterest users

• Some of the top Pinterest boards relate to crafts, hobbies, design and fashion

What Does This Mean To You

Pinterest can be a great sales driver for your company.  It’s not just Pinterest’s rapid growth it’s the basic format and the user’s propensity to purchase that make it valuable.

• Pinteret is projected to account for 40% of socially driven purchases in 2012

• Buyers referred from Pinterest are 10% more likely to make a purchase and spend an average of 10% more than visitors referred by other networks

• Shopify, one of the major e-commerce platforms, reports that orders generated from Pinterest have quadrupled from September 2011 to April 2012

Pinterest is quickly gaining adoption and awareness, but you need to direct customers to your Pinterest boards.  Three-quarters of consumers who “like” or follow companies on social media did so because of advertising.  Social media success begins with creating awareness about your offerings.  For more information keeping your business top of mind and developing loyal customers, please contact your Orlando Sentinel Media Group representative or:
Al Fiala
Advertising Research Manager
407.420.5702
afiala@orlandosentinel.com
www.orlandosentinel.com/mediakit

Source: Forbes; thesocialskinny.com; Media Bistro; Mashable; Shopify; Compete

Snapshot Of A Facebook User

Facebook is the world’s biggest social network and to many consumers social media and Facebook are two sides of the same coin.  Many businesses only form of social media presence is a Facebook page.  Knowing what the average Facebook user looks like and knowing their social activities can help you maximize the impact of your Facebook offerings.

• Facebook has over 845 million active users

• The average Facebook user has 130 “friends” and the average visit lasts 23 minutes

• Over 45% of Facebook users are age 45 or older

• Nearly 60% of users are female

• 57% have attended college and roughly one quarter have a college degree

• Almost half of Facebook users have household incomes between $50,000 and $100,000

What Does This Mean To You

Simply having a Facebook page does not equal social media marketing.
Do you have a social media or Facebook strategy?
What are you doing to engage readers?
How are you leveraging your “friends”?
How often you post?
What kind of content do you post?
Having a Facebook page is just the starting point for creating a winning social media strategy.
How important is this audience?
In Metro Orlando, over 55% of adults have accessed Facebook in the past month.
Nearly 40% of these users have household incomes over $75,000+
For more information on to bring your business more success through social media, please contact your Orlando Sentinel Media Group representative or:
Al Fiala
Advertising Research Manager
407.420.5702
afiala@orlandosentinel.com
www.orlandosentinel.com/mediakit

Source: OnlineMBA.com; Kalena Jordan, SearchEngineCollege.com; sitepronews.com; The 2012 Scarborough Report, Release 1

How Companies Use Social Media

We’ve done several posts on consumer’s social media activities and why they like or follow brands. A new study is out that looks at what businesses are doing with social media, looking in particular at their social media use in tracking customer feedback.

• One in four companies that are B2C in nature just track consumer feedback via social media

• Just over one in five B2B
based organizations only track feedback
with social media

• Only 27% of B2B companies track and follow up with customers over social networks, while over half of
B2C companies track and follow up

• Nearly half of B2B companies do not even track social media comments about them

• Over 28% of all companies do not monitor consumer feedback across social networks

What Does This Mean To You

How is your organization using social media?
Do you track what people say about you?
Do you follow up on their comments?
Monitoring what is said about you can help you build loyalty and create engagement. It’s not just about fixing problems; it’s also about thanking them for positive comments. This shows consumers you are responsive to their needs and appreciate their opinions. The companies that do nothing with social feedback about them are at best missing a golden opportunity to generate a customer connection. The ones that are ignoring problems are delivering gift wrapped customers to their competitors. For more information on Social media maintenance and reputation management, please contact your Orlando Sentinel Media Group representative or:
Al Fiala
Advertising Research Manager
407.420.5702
afiala@orlandosentinel.com
www.orlandosentinel.com/mediakit

Source: eMarketer; Satmetrix

Mobile Video Ad Drivers

We’ve had a couple of recent posts on the importance of mobile video. 
The reports that were the basis for our posts also gave information on what drives mobile consumers to watch mobile video ads.  Utilizing this information can help your video ad campaigns be more effective and create awareness for your brand.

• Over one-third of mobile users said they paid more attention to ads that appeared on relevant sites

• 31% said that fewer ads on a page increased the likelihood they would watch them

• Nearly 30% of mobile consumers said that they were more likely to watch humorous ads

• Almost one-quarter of users looked at informative or informational video ads

• 24% said that eye-catching animation drew them to ads

What Does This Mean To You

As a business, you need to make sure your message is placed on vehicles where it’s going to be seen and acted upon.  Before placing your ad, ask questions about traffic to the mobile site.  Inquire about page views and unique visitors.  If it’s on an app, ask about downloads.  The success of your message depends on targeting – make sure that the audience you want to reach is using the site and channel where your ad is going to appear.  Compare sites on a CPM (cost per thousand) basis.  Buying something purely based on a low price could end up being bad mistake.  You get the audience you pay for.  For more information on reaching your targets and getting results, please contact your Orlando Sentinel Media Group representative or:
Al Fiala
Advertising Research Manager
407.420.5702
afiala@orlandosentinel.com
www.orlandosentinel.com/mediakit

Source: Mobile Commerce Daily; Prosper Mobile Insights; Biginsight

Texting Teens

Before Men in Black, before Independence Day, Before Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, Will Smith had a hit single called “Parent’s Just Don’t Understand” (Bell Bottom Brady Bunch Trousers!).  Parents not getting their kids is nothing new and will probably continue as long as there are parents and teens.  While most parents today think kids communicate exclusively through electronic means, a new study shows something slightly different.

• Nearly half of all teens said they prefer to communicate with friends face to face

• One-third said texting was their favorite form of interaction

• Less than 10% indicated that they preferred to talk with friends through
social media

• Less than 5% said talk the phone was their top form of communication

• Online gaming, video chat, instant messaging, email and twitter all had low response rates

What Does This Mean To You

Teens may not be a group your business is currently targeting, but it’s important to know that they influence many decisions and they are going to be a powerful consumer group in the near future.  Teens are text oriented.  Not only does this mean that mobile in general and permission-based SMS campaigns are a great way to connect with them, it means you need to alter your communication style to keep teens interested.   I’m not suggesting that companies change to speaking in acronyms and initialisms, but shorter, more direct messaging.  Text messages max out at 160 characters, so keep your messaging concise and to the point.  Because teens are very savvy with text messaging, you want to make sure that your offer holds real value.  They may be getting many different offers already, so make sure yours stands out.  For more information on monetizing permission-based SMS campaigns, please contact your Orlando Sentinel Media Group representative or:
Al Fiala
Advertising Research Manager
407.420.5702
afiala@orlandosentinel.com
www.orlandosentinel.com/mediakit

Source: eMarketer; Common Sense Media; Knowledge Networks

Relevant Ads More Effective With Women

Women can be a major factor when it comes to the success of any business.  Targeting them with online video content can help you build loyalty among them and increase brand affinity.  A new research report details how females feel about contextually relevant online video ads and the sites they appear on.

• Over six in 10 women say that relevant online video advertising makes them see the brand in a more favorable light

• 56% of women said they had a more favorable opinion of sites featuring relevant video ads

• Half of online females said that relevant video ads made their web experience more valuable

• Nearly 70% of female internet users said they were more likely to pay attention to video ads that were relevant to the site they were visiting

• 70% of women were likely to ignore video ads that were not relevant to the site they were visiting

What Does This Mean To You

These are just more examples of why targeting is so important to your business.  We’ve had recent posts showing how important online video is and consumers desire for it.  But if you are not focusing your message and using sites that don’t cater to your target audience, all your efforts could be wasted.
There are several ways to use video to your advantage.  Have customers create video testimonials and reward these loyal patrons with valuable offers for sharing them.  An actual customer saying how great your business is holds much more weight than you doing it yourself.  Besides posting these testimonials to your social offerings, ask the customer to put it on theirs.  Make sure all of your videos are share-able.  Make it easy for consumers to forward your video message to others.  Also investigate the ability to have your video ads expand to full page or cover the majority of the page.  This will give your message a dominant position and you won’t be competing with other messages.  For more information on how to increase customer engagement through video, please contact your Orlando Sentinel Media Group representative or:
Al Fiala
Advertising Research Manager
407.420.5702
afiala@orlandosentinel.com
www.orlandosentinel.com/mediakit

Source: eMarketer; Vibrant Media; Dynamic Logic

Email Delivers Success

Email marketing maybe considered old-school digital engagement, but it is still extremely successful.  It doesn’t matter whether you are using house or prospect lists, newly released data shows that email is delivering better results now than in the recent past.

• Two-thirds of marketers worldwide said that email was their most successful marketing tool

• From 2010 to 2012, the open rate for house email lists jumped 13% -the current open rate for house lists is at 22%

• During the same period, the email open rate for prospect lists increased slightly, from 11.2% to 11.4%

• The click through rate for house lists increased 17% from 2010 to 2012 and the CTR for prospects jumped 86%

• Email has the highest return on investment of any direct marketing effort
at 28%

What Does This Mean To You

Email is a great tool for creating one to one digital connections. Through advances in audience targeting techniques and automation tools, email has become more effective.  The key to any successful email campaign starts with your target audience.  Delivering offers they find valuable will elevate your image with consumers.  Creating generic offers or not targeting specific messages for specific segments might get your communication classified as SPAM in consumers mind.  There are many legal caveats to marketing via email.  Consulting with an email specialist will help ensure your company doesn’t violate any laws and keeps your business in a positive light.  For more information on how you can develop loyal customers and get great results with email, please contact your Orlando Sentinel Media Group representative or:
Al Fiala
Advertising Research Manager
407.420.5702
afiala@orlandosentinel.com
www.orlandosentinel.com/mediakit

Source: eMarketer; CMO Council; Direct Marketing Association

Building Loyalty, Getting Results

One of the most coveted assets any business can have is a loyal customer.  Loyal customers not only tend to spend more at businesses they patronize, they tend to forgive mistakes that other consumers may not and they are a powerful word-of-mouth extension of your brand.  A recommendation from a loyal customer to a friend about your business can be very influential.  A new study has been released that details what things consumers think are important in creating loyalty – these are things your business can employ to inspire loyalty among customers and increase your bottom line.

• The average American consumer belongs to 18 different loyalty programs of one kind or another

• Over one-third of online adults said that providing excellent 24/7 customer service was the best way to create a loyal customer

• 20% said that rewarding customers for purchases, positive feedback and referrals was a great way to develop loyalty

• 13% indicated that sending them exclusive or relevant offers and specials would inspire loyalty

• 12% said loyalty could be developed through providing personalized products & services and 10% said simply knowing me when I call or visit would build loyalty

What Does This Mean To You

Most every business needs as many loyal customers as they can get.  Not just to keep the registers ringing, but also to spread the word about everything they can offer.  Social media has given shoppers a platform to either crow or complain about companies or the service they receive.  Loyal customers can be your social brand evangelist. There are digital tools that can help you achieive many of the suggestions that came out of the study.
Customer Service – Is your website easily navigate-able? Is the information up to date? Do you have a
live chat area where customers can interact with staff? Does your mobile site offer mapping, directions and a click-to-call feature? Are you incentivizing staff to perform top-notch customer service
Shopper Rewards – Does your company offer a points-for-purchase program? Do you monitor social media and thank customers for feedback – positive or negative? Are you looking at geo-location social networks like FourSquare and rewarding customers for checking in?
Targeted Offers – Are you collecting email addresses and text information? Are you adequately informing customers up front how and how often you will contact them? Do you legally know what your
responsibilities are?  Are your offers truly targeted and giving the receiver value?  Are you asking them
any questions that may help you develop targeted offers?
Every business is different.  There is no one cookie cutter approach to develop loyal customers. By asking questions about your current efforts and leveraging technology, your business can create a loyalty strategy that is unique to your needs.  For more information on digital tools that can help you
win loyal customers, please contact your Orlando Sentinel Media Group representative or:
Al Fiala
Advertising Research Manager
407.420.5702
afiala@orlandosentinel.com
www.orlandosentinel.com/mediakit

Source: COLLOGUY; ClickFox; eMarketer