Archive for 'Insights'
Is social media a fad? Or is it the biggest shift since the Industrial Revolution? (watch the video)
Posted on September 2, 2009, by Avi Savar, under Business, Insights, Trends, Videos.
Welcome to the World of Socialnomics
Key Stats from the Video:
By 2010 Gen Y will outnumber Baby Boomers… 96% of them have joined a social network.
Social Media has overtaken porn as the #1 activity on the Web
1 out of 8 couples married in the U.S. last year met via social media
Years to Reach 50 millions Users: Radio (38 Years), TV (13 Years), Internet (4 Years), iPod (3 Years)… Facebook added 100 million users in less than 9 months… iPhone applications hit 1 billion in 9 months.
If Facebook were a country it would be the world’s 4th largest between the United States and Indonesia
Yet, some sources say China’s QZone is larger with over 300 million using their services (Facebook’s ban in China plays into this)
comScore indicates that Russia has the most engage social media audience with visitors spending 6.6 hours and viewing 1,307 pages per visitor per month – Vkontakte.ru is the #1 social network
2009 US Department of Education study revealed that on average, online students out performed those receiving face-to-face instruction — 1 in 6 higher education students are enrolled in online curriculum
80% of companies using LinkedIn as a primary tool to find employees.
The fastest growing segment on Facebook is 55-65 year-old females
Ashton Kutcher and Ellen Degeneres have more Twitter followers than the entire populations of Ireland, Norway and Panama
80% of Twitter usage is on mobile devices… people update anywhere, anytime… imagine what that means for bad customer experiences?
Generation Y and Z consider e-mail passé… In 2009 Boston College stopped distributing e-mail addresses to incoming freshmen.
What happens in Vegas stays on YouTube, Flickr, Twitter, Facebook…
The #2 largest search engine in the world is YouTube
Wikipedia has over 13 million articles… some studies show it’s more accurate than Encyclopedia Britannica… 78% of these articles are non-English
There are over 200,000,000 Blogs — 54% of bloggers post content or tweet daily
If you were paid a $1 for every time an article was posted on Wikipedia you would earn $156.23 per hour
Facebook USERS translated the site from English to Spanish via a Wiki in less than 4 weeks and cost Facebook $0
25% of search results for the World’s Top 20 largest brands are links to user-generated content
34% of bloggers post opinions about products & brands
People care more about how their social graph ranks products and services than how Google ranks them
78% of consumers trust peer recommendations. Only 14% trust advertisements
Only 18% of traditional TV campaigns generate a positive ROI
90% of people with DVRs skip ads
Hulu has grown from 63 million total streams in April 2008 to 373 million in April 2009
25% of Americans in the past month said they watched a short video… on their phone
According to Jeff Bezos 35% of book sales on Amazon are for the Kindle
24 of the 25 largest newspapers are experiencing record declines in circulation because we no longer search for the news, the news finds us.
In the near future we will no longer search for products and services they will find us via social media
More than 1.5 million pieces of content (web links, news stories, blog posts, notes, photos, etc.) are shared on Facebook…daily.
Successful companies in social media act more like Dale Carnegie and less like David Ogilvy — Listening first, selling second.
Successful companies in social media act more like party planners, aggregators, and content providers than traditional advertisers.
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Levels of Intimacy in Today’s Communication
Posted on August 22, 2009, by Avi Savar, under Insights.
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The 4 kinds of CEO’s… Which one are you?
Posted on August 16, 2009, by Avi Savar, under Business, Insights, Journal.
I constantly push myself to be a better leader. The single most important rule I follow is give my staff the freedom and autonomy to succeed. This was one of the hardest things for me to learn… Accepting that there are several ways to accomplish the same thing — not just my way. My way might be the best for me, it may even be the most efficient and effective all around — but that doesn’t mean that my way is the best approach for you.
In my continued search to improve my leadership skills, I came across the following article written by Eric Kurjan, President of Six Disciplines Northwest Ohio. He basically states that all CEOs fall into 4 basic categories…
Although I strive to be CEO#1 — I probably fall into the CEO#4 bucket.
In my line of work I see all kinds of CEO’s. Young and old, male and female, decision makers and decision avoiders, leaders and shrinking violets. The bottom line is that the personalities, skills, abilities and success factors vary by CEO just like they vary in their shapes and sizes.
My experience has shown me that you can group CEOs into four basic categories. Call it “profiling” if you like, but as I look at the businesses that are truly successful and those that need help (and more importantly, those who will accept it) the differences in CEOs becomes clear.
CEO #1 The True Leader – this CEO gets it. He or she has a clear vision for where they want the company to grow. They have communicated it effectively. They set the expectations, they measure the results, and they hold their people accountable. They demonstrate compassion for their people and have built a culture of earned trust. This CEO is open, honest and transparent. They know they will gain more by sharing information than by withholding it. Their employees, or in these cases, “Associates” or “Team Members”, work diligently toward the goals of the company. There is an uncompromising, mutual respect being exhibited. Their goals and plans are pursued with passion, and the results are strong and consistent. Unfortunately, this is a rare breed. I have only met a handful of these CEOs.
CEO#2 The Know-It-All – this CEO thinks he/she gets it. This group is too smart for its own good. These are the CEOs who pride themselves on having never asked anyone for help, guidance or assistance. They tend to be ego-driven, arrogant, controlling and intimidating. They “rule” with the iron fist and make “employees” or subordinates nervous. They may or may not be quick to solve problems with staff. Some will fire with the swiftness of a hit squad in the dark of night with or without justification, while others can’t confront issues and only demonstrate chest-beating and bluster, leaving the problem “employee” in place to continue to contaminate the work environment. There are some who really are more fear-driven and put on the “tough guy/gal” mask. They fear making a bad choice and in most cases are lacking the leadership skills needed to truly run or change the business. They surround themselves with weak, low-horsepower leadership teams in an effort to make themselves appear “smarter”. Unfortunately, this is a common breed. There are tons of these CEOs out there. Many actually run, reasonably successful (based on revenue and/or profit measures) organizations in spite of their behavior, style and methods. But think how successful they could really be with goals, a plan and a defined process for getting things done.
CEO#3 The Heart Attack – this CEO has had one. Hopefully just in the figurative sense. They have been running the business and they are seeing things get worse and worse. They don’t work to change the behaviors, actions or direction — they just fret as the business begins to tailspin. Then, some sort of major catastrophe hits, loss of a major client or two, the bank calls in the note or the line of credit is gone and they determine the need to make a change. This is much like the individual who ignored all the warning signs of an impending heart attack: high blood pressure, overweight, high cholesterol. They’re sure the bathroom scale is wrong. The heart attack is a big “surprise” but now they are going to straighten out their lives. Under a doctor’s supervision they begin to manage their diet, start working out and change the behaviors that led to the heart attack. There are lots of lessons learned (by the CEO and the company) if they survive the heart attack. They realize that the ways they have “led” the business were ineffective and that they need to get help from the outside to get them back on course for survival and fitness. By the way, no surprise here: CEO#3 almost always started out as a CEO#2 Know-It-All.
CEO#4 The Humble Leader – another fairly rare breed. He or she is actually a good leader. They’ve built a successful business and possess many of the same traits and behaviors as the “true leader”. They have not honed their skills to the degree of CEO#1, but they aspire for more. They are not satisfied with the status quo and are looking for every advantage to build a better team, to grow their business, to deliver higher, bigger and better. They look to outside resources and advisors to aid them in their journey toward their vision. They work to develop better and more effective processes and better alignment across the company. They are looking for help to manage the challenges of growth and all the thrills and challenges that come with it. They are hungry and open to learning. They are on the journey to become a CEO#1 True Leader.
So, which CEO type are you?
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My latest article on Adotas… Welcome to the world of Me-Cast
Posted on August 13, 2009, by Avi Savar, under Business, Insights, Press, Trends.
Once upon a time we lived in a world of ‘Broad-cast’. But those days are over. The world of ‘Broad-cast’ was followed by ‘Narrow-cast’ with the introduction of direct marketing and interactive. Nice, but again, it’s not nearly as effective as it once was.”
The new mantra for today is the world of “Me-Cast”
Who needs to spend $350,000+ on a slick commercial these days? In the world of Me-Cast, if you give consumers the content they want, the platforms to create their own content and the tools to share it with their networks, you’ll get more visibility for your brand than through traditional methods and at a fraction of the cost.
So, what should marketers do as the world of Me-Cast takes over?
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Don’t be afraid of the unexpected…
Posted on July 23, 2009, by Avi Savar, under Insights, Journal, Videos.
Sometimes the road less traveled can lead to inspired, memorable and joyous moments in life!
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Entrepreneurs Can Change The World – An Inspiring Video
Posted on June 23, 2009, by Avi Savar, under Business, Insights, Videos.
This terrific video reminded me why this crazy roller-coaster ride is worth it! Being an entrepreneur isn’t easy, and you can often lose sight of the big picture.
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Is Green Marketing Here to Stay?
Posted on June 16, 2009, by Avi Savar, under Business, Insights, News, Press.
My latest article for Adotas just launched… it tries to answer the question “Is Green Marketing Here to Stay?” The article breaks down several factors to come up with an answer.
First, we must look through the consumer lens to evaluate the marketplace, consumer motivation and accessibility. Additionally, we need to understand how those factors impact the key players responsible for developing, distributing and promoting the products that fill the marketplace: manufacturers, brands and marketers.
The full story and detailed breakdown of these dynamics (marketplace, motivation, accessibility & key players) as it relates to “green marketing” can be found in my complete article on Adotas: Is green marketing here to stay?
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A Tipping Point: The Dancing Man Party
Posted on June 5, 2009, by Avi Savar, under Insights, Videos.
This is a great case study in human behavior. One man can start a movement… Malcolm Gladwell, author of The Tipping Point would be proud.
Tipping points are “the levels at which the momentum for change becomes unstoppable.”[1] Gladwell defines a tipping point as a sociological term: “the moment of critical mass, the threshold, the boiling point.”[2] The book seeks to explain and describe the “mysterious” sociological changes that mark everyday life. As Gladwell states, “Ideas and products and messages and behaviors spread like viruses do.”[3]
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Video Best Practices: Part 2 – First Came Story… Now The Strategy
Posted on June 2, 2009, by Avi Savar, under Business, Insights, Press.
This is the follow up to last weeks article covering online video best practices — here’s an excerpt and link to the full article is below:
ADOTAS — So we talked last week about the importance of content, and we showed you a few examples of online video that delivers with a strong story.
Now you have hit all the important points, element of surprise,thrown in a few laughs, some subtle sex appeal, and now you wait forthe eyeballs to come to you. And…nothing. Outside of views fromeverybody in the office, and snickering rivals, you’re barely a blip inthe forest that is YouTube.
Link: Read the full article at Adotas.com
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Keys for successful online video advertising
Posted on May 27, 2009, by Avi Savar, under Business, Insights, Press.
My first article as a contributing editor on Adotas.com — the first part of a 2-part story on video best practices… a quick excerpt is below, and a link to the full article follows. Enjoy!
ADOTAS — Every minute, about 10 hours of video is uploaded to YouTube, the number one site for uploading and viewing videos online. In fact, hundreds of millions of videos are watched each day on YouTube. Most quietly fade away. At Big Fuel, we’ve been working with advertisers to effectively deliver online video for years. Our videos don’t fade away, in fact, our last two videos generated over 1.5MM video views in less than 2 weeks. (Facebook Manners, Real Life Twitter) Here are some basic, yet essential, guidelines for success. These are some of the rules that we follow which allow us to guarantee results for our clients.
link: Read the full article at Adotas.com
