Agencies struggle to meet clients’ social needs

Posted by Avi Savar on Dec 11, 2009 in News & Information, Research & Trends | 1 comment

At present, a third of clients are utilizing outside expertise from the ad industry when it comes to handling their social media initiatives.

The continuing growth of digital media has resulted in a “great race” to adapt between specialist and traditional agencies, but neither group is fulfilling the needs of advertisers at present, Forrester has found. Forrester, the research firm, has produced a report aiming to assess how effectively interactive shops, and their more long-standing counterparts, are responding to the changing industry environment.

Sean Corcoran, an analyst at the Cambridge-based firm, argued “we see digital becoming the backbone of marketing and technology becoming so vital that everyone needs digital capabilities… Everyone is coming from a different strength. Everyone is trying to add the other’s capabilities,” he said.

The company conducted a survey of 100 interactive marketers around the world, and discovered that 80% of participants worked with at least one agency on their digital communications. More than half of this group used two such partners, while 25% divided up their new media chores between three separate firms. Despite this, over 60% of the panel said they would rather employ one such service provider to manage their various activities on platforms like mobile and the internet. At present, a third of clients are utilising outside expertise from the ad industry when it comes to handling their social media initiatives. One in four also look to their digital agency when developing their brand strategy, while 26% have requested offline creative work from this source. However, Forrester found that just 22% of its sample regarded their interactive agency as being “ready to lead my brand”, while 33% disagreed with this statement. Similarly, only 23% of contributors believed their “traditional brand agency” was suitably equipped to head up their new media operations, with 46% holding the opposing view.

“We’re all waiting for this big moment when a bunch of interactive agencies take over from the traditional guys,” said Corcoran. “It’s not happening that way, it’s a slow evolution. You’ll see some interactive guys take over and some traditional agencies hold the fort.”

Data sourced from MediaPost/AdWeek; additional content by Warc staff, 11 December 2009

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Hulu and Facebook Taking Share Away from YouTube…

Posted by Avi Savar on Nov 29, 2009 in News & Information, Research & Trends | 0 comments

Last week Mashable’s Ben Parr posted this article that made me do a double-take. The numbers speak for themselves:

YouTube’s huge lead in online video just got a little bit smaller due to surging growth from two up-and-comers in the video space: Hulu and Facebook.

Web analytics firm ComScore released their data for online video usage in October, and the numbers are astounding. While Google/YouTube (YouTube) continues to dominate with over 125 million monthly viewers (and over 1 billion views per day), both Hulu (Hulu) and Facebook (Facebook) had double-digit percentage gains, shattering their previous video records.

Online video continues to sustain its surge in growth. According to ComScore, there were 27.94 billion videos viewed in October, up a big 7% from September. Out of that, Google/YouTube is still on top with 10.52 billion videos viewed.

The big mover in October though was Hulu. In September, the News Corp/Disney/NBC joint venture delivered 583 million views. In October, that number shot up by 31.8% to a total of 855 million video views. This is by far a record for the TV video website. Most of this however can be attributed to the fall primetime season being in full swing:

In terms of unique viewers though, there wasn’t that much of a change. YouTube had 125.3 million unique viewers in October, nearly identical to its 125.5 million in September. Hulu didn’t have a lot of growth, either: 42.4 million people tuned in to the service in October, compared to 38.7 million in September.

In fact, the biggest winner seems to be Facebook. In September, it had 31.18 million unique viewers. In October, that number skyrocketed by nearly 25% to 41.15 million uniques. Once again, this is a record for the world’s largest social network, and one that speaks to how powerful Facebook is becoming in the video space.

There were some other eye-popping numbers (84.4% of U.S. Internet users watched at least one online video in October and the average person watched 10.8 hours of video), but the central theme is the same: online video continues to grow and the end is nowhere in sight.

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Social Media Revolution… Reminiscent of the Industrial Revolution.

Posted by Avi Savar on Nov 24, 2009 in News & Information, Research & Trends | 1 comment

The Future of the Social Web is here today and we’re learning that engagement is not a matter of if or when, but to what extent, how and what value can we deliver and derive from it. The Social Web is much more than a window into information and interaction, it is a completely transformative medium that is changing how we forge relationships, interact with one another, and distribute and discover information. In many ways, the online social revolution is reminiscent of the Industrial Revolution.

Access to free and expansive media platforms and distribution channels has democratized influence and shifted the power of authority from those who previously controlled the media to those who disseminate it.

Attention has become a precious commodity as it becomes increasingly elusive and diverted. The competition for attention is only intensifying as those who benefit from your awareness venture to attract it when and where it is focused.

According to a 2007 story in the New York Times, market research firm Yankelovich estimated that a person living in an average city 30 years ago saw up to 2,000 ad messages a day, compared with up to 5,000 today. The numbers vary depending on the source, with estimates soaring as high as 9,000 estimated impressions daily. I can only surmise that with the proliferation of socialized media, that we are also directly and indirectly exposed to messages and brands as a result of conversations transpiring within our social graph.

As consumers, we are starting to fathom that our attention is valuable. We are also experiencing a powerful form of validation and significance as we embrace social media to extend our networks of relevance and influence. There is a great sense of individual empowerment that exudes as a result of this realization.

The battle for attention begins where your attention is focused. For some, it’s the Facebook News Feed. For others, it’s Twitter or desktop social applications such as TweetDeck or Seesmic. These platforms are fueling an emerging category that symbolizes the Attention Dashboard, channels where information finds you, filtered and qualified by those in your social graph.

Forrester Research observed the substantial growth of social technologies in 2009, observing that four in five US online adults use social media and participate in social networks.

In a published report, The Broad Reach of Social Technologies, Sean Corcoran, Nate Elliott, Josh Bernoff, Cynthia Pflaum, and Emily Bowen documented that the most rapid growth of social adoption occurred among consumers 35 and older while young people continued to march toward a universal adoption of social applications.

The report includes an updated version of Forrester’s Social Technographics Ladder, which graphs the social technology adoption of consumers and how they specifically embrace social media.

Almost one-quarter of US online adults are Creators, people who write blogs, upload original audio or video, or post stories online. Easy-to-use blogging tools encouraged some less tech-savvy adults to create social content this year, but the majority of consumers are still consuming, not creating, content.

Half of online adults now belong to social networks like Facebook and LinkedIn, a 46% growth rate year-over-year.

Nearly everyone’s a spectator: Three in four online Americans now consume social content.

Only 18% of US online adults don’t use social tools in 2009 — down from 25% in 2008.

Regardless of adoption, however, one of the primary hurdles now and in the future is that Social Media, as popular and empowering as it is, is still a largely compartmentalized experience. Social Networks and the relationships and interactivity fostered within each are silos. The true power of social media is the portability of not just content, but relationships.

Forrester concludes that now is the time to build social marketing applications and that Interactive marketers should influence social network chatter, master social communication, and develop social assets – even if their customers are older.

The social (r)evolution calls for distributed participation. But it requires strategic engagement that is directed and governed by listening and research. The conversations tied to keywords that are important to your industry define your participation level and focus. They also reveal opportunities for contribution and resolution.

Source: Shutterstock

Now is the time to pay attention. Now is the time to learn from the behavior and interaction that defines our markets. They develop and mature with or without our participation. We too, are empowered to engage and without it, we intentionally remove ourselves from the radar screens of our influencers and customers. As such, we are either part of or absent from the decision making process.

The state of socialized media is but only a chapter in an ongoing saga that will evolve and change over time. We are forever students of new media and as a result, our roles in this production are defined by our intentions and our actions. Before we are marketers, we are consumers. And, before we are consumers, we are personages of distinction. And when we align under a common goal, mission, or voice, we can change the course of behavior.

This article was originally written / contributed by Brian Solis, Principal of FutureWorks.

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The Uber-List of 275 Twitter Tools… Something for Every Occasion.

Posted by Avi Savar on Nov 23, 2009 in Innovation & Creativity, Research & Trends | 1 comment

It’s likely that there are more Twitter tools available now than people “following” you.  Here is an uber-list of 275 Twitter tools for every occasion… from finding the right people to follow, tracking latest trends, integrating with blogs and Facebook, to scheduling tweets and everything in between.  Chances are if you’re into Twitter, then there’s something on this list that can help enhance your experience.  If nothing else, it’s amazing to see how a phenomenon like Twitter (which launched in July 2006) has created such a vast ecosystem.

Find Tweeters like You

Directories and User Search Tools

Twits like Me

Find out people like you

Twellow

A Twitter directory sorted by occupation

Just Tweet It

A twitter directory sorted by interest

Twubble

This tool will automatically find people who are compatible with your interests. However, if you follow too many people, then Twubble may recommend some people that you already follow

Twittie Me

Search for similar users and advertise your twitter page

Twitdir

Search for words in usernames, locations or descriptions

Specialized Twitter Sites

From funny, useless to weird Twitter sites

Secret Tweet

Imagine PostSecret + Twitter. Tweet those secrets

Curse Bird

Find out who’s swearing on Twitter

Tweet What You Eat

Tweet what you’re eating at the moment

Foodfeed

same with “Tweet what you eat”

Xbox 360 Gamer Tag

Automatically update twitter with what you are playing at a certain moment

Twee60

Another site where you can update Xbox live activities on Twitter

@Trackthis

Track your packages via Twitter with this tool

Bkkeeper

share what you’re reading on Twitter

Commuter Feed

Share tweets on traffic and transit delays

Foamee

Tracks who you owe coffee or beer to

InnerTwitter

signals you through chimes where you have to let go of your thoughts.

Qwitter Tobacco

A twitter tool that helps you stop smoking

Post like a Pirate

Talk like a pirate on twitter

Roll the dice

Give you the power to roll a dice on twitter. Useful when you’re betting or playing games with your friends.

Twitter Me This

A contest where you can win $5 if you answer their question

Tweet gift

Send gifts to your friends.

Twaction

turns your tweets into actions

Xpenser

Track your expenses with twitter

Twithire

The place where you can tweet job postings

GasCalc

Tracks your gas usage on Twitter

Moonrise

Tell twitter how you feel

Deal Tagger

Shop and tell your Twitter friends

LOL feeds

Have your tweets on lolcat images

Textgasm

Tweet your secrets

Sad Statements

Twitter + Flickr with an emotional twist. Post those sad statements here

Twitter Nonsense

Daily Twitter Comic Strip

Xbox to Twitter app

only updating when the title being played changes, not showing popups and even a preview of what your twitter updates will look like once they are combined with your template.

Twitterbox

a Twitter Client for Second Life

Swotter

Reads books to Twitter

Twitterlit

Twitters the first line of books

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Everyone’s a celebrity: 10 pop culture trends that defined the decade

Posted by Avi Savar on Nov 15, 2009 in News & Information, Research & Trends | 0 comments

Celebrity is no longer reserved for the select few that walk red carpet and get stalked by paparazzi. The era of social celebrity is here and continues to draw attention. A recent CBC News post by Greig Dymond highlighted 10 terrific examples of this trend — where, thanks to social media, anyone among us can reach celebrity status.

This was the decade when everyone became a celebrity. Well, almost everyone.

The past 10 years didn’t invent the concept of celebrity; they just broadened the definition of the term to a ridiculous extent. More people than ever have achieved some minor level of notoriety. As the film The Truman Show shrewdly predicted back in 1998, voyeurism and technology are the twin engines that propelled this shift.

Just ask Richard Heene, now-famous (and infamous) father of the “balloon boy.” His story — a twisted amalgam of reality TV, fame-whoring, all-news channel coverage and breathless tweets — couldn’t have happened in quite the same way 10 years ago. The lines between entertainment, personal narrative and news have become irrevocably blurred.

Here are what he lists as the 10 pop culture trends that shaped the decade.

1. Reality TV
2. YouTube and the art of the viral video
3. Celebrity gawking, 21st-century style
4. The iPod killed the CD star
5. Newspapers in jeopardy
6. Auto-Tune
7. Twitter, Facebook and the explosion of social media
8. The rise of U.S. cable dramas
9. Guitar Hero/Rock Band
10. The rise of “fake news”

Check our the complete descriptions of each trend by reading the full article. Some video clips for each trend can be found here:

Reality TV

YouTube and the art of the viral video

The iPod killed the CD star

Auto-Tune

Guitar Hero/Rock Band

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Facebook Adding Half a Million New Users Every Day!

Posted by Avi Savar on Nov 12, 2009 in News & Information, Research & Trends | 0 comments

In a recent Mashable article, Ben Parr writes about the staggering growth of Facebook. It makes you wonder about the future of the web as we know it — will people stop building websites and focus on building facebook pages? What does this mean for the future of the web and the way that brands interact and think about their communication strategies? The numbers are staggering — and very real. The reality that brands are faced with is a dramatic change in control — from a one way “broadcasting” strategy that they used to own, to a “listening” and “engagement” strategy that requires them to provide relevant and meaningful content in order to get consumers interested in what they have to say. Without this shift in strategy they will be left without visibility and without meaning in a socially dominated world that has turned the value chain on its head.

It’s no secret that Facebook is humongous: 300 million users humongous. Yet it still shocks us that it keeps on finding new users to fuel its ascent into the social media stratosphere.

A little over a year ago (August 2008), Facebook (Facebook) reached 100 million users. And now according to AllFacebook, that number is now a staggering 325+ million users.

So just how fast is Facebook’s userbase growing? We sat down and did the math. First, here are Facebook’s major growth milestones, starting from when it reached 100 million users:

– August 26th, 2008: 100 million users
– January 7th, 2009: 150 million users
– April 8th, 2009: 200 million users
– July 15th, 2009: 250 million users
– September 15th, 2009: 300 million users
– Friday, November 6th, 2009: 325 million users

Half a Million New Users. Every Single Day.

So let’s do the math. From September 15th to November 6th, Facebook grew by 25 million users. That’s 53 days, if we include the start and end days. Divide that by 25 million and you get a daily growth rate of 471,698 users per day for Facebook. That’s a small city joining Facebook every single day.

Even more shocking is that the number used to be higher. Between July 15th and September 15th, 63 days, Facebook grew by 50 million users. If we do the math, Facebook was growing at a clip of 793,650 users per day. We’re barely able to come up with the words to describe this type of growth.

The Facebook train has to eventually slow down; there are only so many people on planet Earth with an Internet connection (yes, that’s how big their potential audience is), and it seems to be already slowing. However, if you consider half a million users per day “slowing,” then you know you’ve done something right.

This train’s going towards the sky for a good, long time.

Read the article here

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