Why brands shouldn’t get lost in the Twitter storm May 7, 2010

Last Month’s Media 140 London event looked at how brands can make the most out of social media. As Martyn Perks watched the tweeters steal the limelight from the speakers, he wondered how brands can avoid the same thing happening to them.
The recent Media140 conference in London was held to debate how to use social media, in particular tools like Twitter, to engage audiences with brands online. It was a timely event when recent research has revealed that we are falling out of love with brands. FreshMinds Research have reported that people have very little emotional response to many media brands. Only 5.9% of Facebook users, 16.6% of BBC audiences and 7.3% of Guardian readers admit they love their brand.
Today, the entire marketing industry is being severely tested when the gap between what a brand represents and what people seem to want is getting wider. The internet has helped clarify this when what customers click on, tweet and search for can be easily measured. The conclusions often shows what people are not looking for.
However, businesses and brands who suffer from a deficit in trust equally believe the internet is their panacea. As one panellist noted, social media helps people construct their own image of what a brand represents—away from any officially sanctioned press release. By sharing, commenting, connecting and letting people become fans of brands online, many hope to resurrect their credibility when many people ignore them in the traditional media.
Some brands have got it right only because they have gone all-out to engage an entire audience online from scratch. Drinks brand Red Bull presented insights from its array of campaigns, sport tie-ins and sponsorship deals that have meant it operates across many online networks, including on Facebook and YouTube. Because Red Bull has not launched a new product in 20 years, they have instead focussed everything on reinventing their marketing. For them, the marketing has become the product.
Another equally compelling story came from the subversive food brand Innocent. They also spend a lot of time engaging audiences online, striking up conversations on Twitter and Facebook, listening and learning to what customers want, and running competitions inviting people to invent new slogans for their drink packaging. In the online comparison marketplace, we learned that the meercat mascot character, Aleksandr Orlov, ‘founder of Compare the Meerkat’ brand has managed to win over 600,000 fans on Facebook.
How? Each of these brands have cleverly engaged audiences with ever-more inventive marketing campaigns. Innocent is all about projecting an alternative message from the mainstream food industry; Red Bull have gone all-out to engage a youth audience; Aleksandr meercat has been given an entire life story. If you go online you will find that Aleksandr is even petitioning the ‘Dictionary of English Oxford’ to include the word ‘Simples’ because his friend Sergei ‘says it’s not a real word’. And yes 7,768 people have signed up to support him!
But away from those brands who were made for an online audience, it is less clear whether social media can save others struggling in a competitive market. One speaker from British Airways said that what matters is building up a relationship with the audience. All well and good but in the midst of a price war between themselves and other airlines, including everyone’s least favourite budget airline, Ryanair, loyalty counts for less when money matters most. Ignoring Ryanair’s turbulent online relationship with audiences (earlier removing its Twitter pages), British Airways has not managed much better in terms of gathering a paltry 7,224 Twitter followers.
No matter how hard a brand tries to connect with its audience, there is no guarantee it will work when the audience has other things on its mind. To demonstrate the point, the Media140 conference itself seemed to exist in two separate worlds: one in the real-world, with another conversation with those who were equally talking to each other during the speeches and panel discussions on Twitter using their mobile phones.
When each set of panellists had finished introducing themselves to the audience, the conference chair called forth the Twitterfall —a real-time display of all the tweets (that’s a message in Twitter-speak) as they are sent. It was projected onto the wall behind the panel of speakers. From the start the Twitterfall was like an endless avalanche of tweets falling down the screen, happening at such a speed, they were barely readable.
The presence of the Twitterfall caused a strange moment, when the real and virtual worlds collided. Those not twittering away on their phones quickly realised that an entirely different conversation had been taking place without them. It also made the panellists on stage appear less relevant with a much larger conversation happening behind them. It had changed the entire premise of the conference.
Like the brands being discussed, the speakers were left reacting to events unfolding behind them on the wall instead of being in control and setting the agenda of the conversation. Of course every now and again one of the speakers tried to pipe up and engage with the broader conversation. Soon afterwards, the wall once again took control, putting the speakers back in their place.
Only occasionally did the two worlds meet when those Twitterers managed to poke fun at the speakers, getting a laugh. For the speakers it was a losing game but was nevertheless fun to watch. But what else would you expect from an event organised around 140 characters?
Any brand that wants to communicate online cannot afford to let the audience own the message. You must remain unique driven by what you do, produce or sell, that is ahead of the market—without letting it run ahead of you. Then you can embrace social media with a unique story to tell not having to rely upon the internet to tell you what to do. So don’t become obsessed with social media. Then it won’t become obsessed with you.

Author: Martyn Perks
Source: NetEmperative
Image: Twitter

The skinny on wine May 5, 2010

A new report from the London School of Medicine has revealed that contrary to dietary wisdom, drinking wine does not necessarily lead to weight gain.
The 13-year study of more than 19 000 women found that regular female drinkers of wine (in moderate amounts) were less likely to become obese.
Roughly 38 per cent of the group were non-drinkers, and surprisingly this was the group that gained the most weight over the 13-year span.
Doctors suggested that the body of a wine drinker uses calories in a different way from other foods which affect weight gain.
They suggested that the wine is broken down by the liver and creates heat, as opposed to fat.
We’ve known for years that red wine is packed with antioxidants and is supposedly a magic bullet for disease prevention.
Now white wine has also come through with the goods, and reports have found that white wine has positive effects on lung function.
While a glass or two with dinner might not have a noticeable effect on your waist line, Catherine Collins from the British Dietetic Association says that, “Moderation is key to a healthy lifestyle.”

Source: Cosmopolitan

Beautiful women raise male stress levels May 5, 2010

Five minutes alone with a beautiful woman can cause men so much stress it can damage their heart, new research suggests.
And men trying to court an attractive stranger they believe is not even “in the same league” can suffer an anxiety rate akin to jumping out of a plane.

Researchers from Spain’s University of Valencia have reported on an experiment in which they asked 84 unsuspecting male students to share a space with beautiful young women, the Daily Mail reports.
The men were paid $16.50 to take part in a psychology experiment and then led into a room and given a Sudoku puzzle to solve.
They were then left alone with another person they understood was also taking part in a puzzle-solving experiment.
After five minutes the researchers took mouth swabs and saliva samples from the male subjects and then measured their cortisol levels.
The researchers discovered that cortisol levels — secreted by the adrenal glands — stayed the same when two men were together but rose when a man was left alone with a woman he perceived as attractive.
The team concluded that “for most men the presence of an attractive woman may induce the perception that there is an opportunity for courtship”.
“While some men might avoid attractive women since they might think they are ‘out of their league’, the majority would respond with apprehension and a concurrent hormonal response,” the researchers said.
Small increases in cortisol give bursts of energy but in high quantities the hormone can cause stress and increase the risk of heart disease.

Sorce:msn news

Online Retailers Socialize Shopping May 5, 2010

MAY 4, 2010
A March 2010 study from the e-tailing group and PowerReviews found that one-half of Internet users research online before making any type of purchase—on the Web, in a store or through any other method. They typically said doing their own research online saved them time and made them more confident about their purchases.
Retailers’ sites played an important role in the research process, and respondents said the most critical capability for a retailer to have was customer reviews. A lack of user-generated reviews would cause nearly one-half (49%) of respondents to leave a retailer’s site.
Though the “2010 Social Shopping Study” found that customer reviews had a strong influence on the purchases of 71% of respondents—while only 25% said the same about Facebook fan pages—an earlier e-tailing group study of Web merchants found Facebook had caught on so strongly that more planned a presence on the social networking site in the next year than would have customer reviews.

Nearly as many retailers planned to publish on Twitter, but only 17% of respondents to the “2010 Social Shopping Study” said Twitter had a significant effect on their buying decisions. Overall, that survey found social media sites were the place shoppers were least likely to do research (6%).
Similarly, sharing tools were the capability rated important by the fewest shoppers (20%), but they were merchants’ top choice in social strategies.

“Customer reviews have become a critical piece of the marketing puzzle, based not only on consumer demand but also on the sales they deliver,” said Pehr Luedtke, CEO of PowerReviews, in a statement.

Source: eMarketer

New Tech Tools for Thrifty Travelers May 5, 2010

By Renay San Miguel E-Commerce Times
04/02/10 5:00 AM PT
Innovative online travel companies are finding a market for their services despite — or perhaps because of — the weak economy. “Travelers are definitely looking to be more frugal and to cut expenses wherever they can,” said Tom Romary, CEO and cofounder of Yapta.com. “You might say that some of the newer online travel companies were born out of the recession.”
Many college students have been spending the week on the beaches of Padre Island and other balmy locales, soaking up equal parts sun and alcohol. Meanwhile, the families of America are starting to think about where they’d like to dig their toes in the sand for summer vacations — if they’re not already picturing themselves joining the long, sweaty lines at the nation’s major theme parks.
What do these two disparate demographic groups have in common this year? A greater reliance than ever before on technology, particularly the online travel companies that have managed to stay busy as the country tries to blow away recessionary storm clouds.
That goes for the Web sites for the top airlines or hotel chains in the country, the major online travel aggregators like Expedia (Nasdaq: EXPE) and Orbitz (NYSE: OWW), and specialized Web sites like Yapta and TripIt that target hourly changes in airfares or help travelers organize their business or pleasure visits. Add to that mix the relatively new factors of social media networks and smartphone applications, and you’ve got extremely empowered consumers — along with a lot of jousting for their business.
Changing Game
“What’s still happening is a lot of fierce competition right now, and you have got to have the right twists and turns,” BestFares.com founder and CEO Tom Parsons told the E-Commerce Times. “You’ve got a lot more travel gurus out there sitting at home saying, ‘I know how to play this game’ — but the game changes every hour.”
Those changes can mean hundreds of dollars saved on airfares and hotel rates, and various packages involving both kinds of costs. Just as travelers are trying to avoid the stress that comes with spending too much money for their rest-and-relaxation trips, online travel companies are also trying to contain costs by enhancing the services they already provide, rather than merging with other companies — or buying them outright.
“I would guess that more travel companies, online and offline, will continue to forge partnerships in an effort to expand their offerings and gain visitors and travelers, but without incurring major costs,” said Tom Romary, CEO and cofounder of Yapta.com. The same spirit that led to previous travel connections — such as Expedia buying TripAdvisor, or Travelocity’s purchase of Sabre — has been put on hold by the recession.
Latest Online Travel Trends
Necessity — and a recession — being the parents of invention, some new Web-based companies have sprung up in response to the greater demand for cost-saving services accessed from a computer or smartphone, noted Romary.Packlate, which targets last-minute deals in the vacation rental/vacation home market, and GetARoom, which provides the latest information on so-called nonpublished hotel room rates, are two examples.Yapta, which scans changes in airfare and hotel room prices and alerts customers accordingly, was doing business before the recession, but has still managed to market itself as a resource to cost-conscious travelers.
“While the recession did result in fewer travel dollars being spent, it also thrust services like ours into the spotlight,” Romary told the E-Commerce Times. “Travelers are definitely looking to be more frugal and to cut expenses wherever they can. You might say that some of the newer online travel companies were born out of the recession. These sites help fill a need for travelers on a tight budget. Again, it’s a sign of the times.”
However, the newer companies and their new technology tools may be giving customers a false sense of security , argued BestFares.com president Parsons.
“In the business today, John Q. Public still has to be careful about what system they use,” he said. “This year, the consumer is not just relying on the search engines to do their work. The airfares can change three times a day. What you see on Tuesday in the morning can change a couple of times by 5 p.m. You have to use a little more common sense other than solely relying on any one of us (online travel companies). You’ve got to play the game a little bit harder.”
Advent of Smartphones and Social Media
These days, if an airline or any other travel-related company doesn’t have some form of social media strategy, it’s a cause for raised eyebrows, said Dan Levy, editor of Sparksheet.
Twitter and Facebook accounts can help manage public relations crises and alert customers to deals, Levy told the E-Commerce Times, but the ship still hasn’t come in yet regarding any real impact on company bottom lines.
“There are a few examples, like JetBlue (Nasdaq: JBLU), which made a bit of a splash when they were the first ones to start giving away cheap seats via Twitter,” Levy said. “If you’re able to unload extra inventory, then I think that’s a clear case of social media being a good business decision.”
Southwest Airlines (NYSE: LUV) is trying to find a way to measure engagement on its Twitter and Facebook accounts by tracking click-throughs that lead to its ticket-booking services on Southwest.com.
“I got the impression they’re not huge numbers, but they are at least tracking,” observed Levy. “They are seeing whether people are coming through social media or from organic, direct traffic.”
There’s more potential in the smartphone application world, in his view, and he hopes that established travel-related companies — be they the Web sites of the major airlines, the aggregators like Expedia or specialized Web-based companies — will seek out the entrepreneurs who are trying to merge GPS-related services with the needs of the travel industry.It’s still a work in progress, though.”I think maybe it’s a case of the airlines trying to do it all in-house,” said Levy, “when there are enthusiastic airplane geeks out there who are developing some really cool stuff that’s miles ahead of what the airlines are developing.”

Source: E-marketing news

Wikipedia voted best site of the noughties by Netimperative readers April 27, 2010

Wikipedia has beaten YouTube, Facebook and Twitter to be voted the best website launched in the last decade, according to a poll of Netimperative readers.
The online poll indicated that Wikipedia, founded in January 2001 by Jimmy Wales, was the most popular website of the noughties, with nearly 42% of the votes.

Despite repeated attempts to compromise its integrity, Wikipedia remains the most popular online encyclopedia on the Web. Perhaps more than any other site, Wikipedia has embodied the true potential of the web as a place to share and distribute knowledge throughout the world.
Since anyone can create or edit a Wikipedia page, both companies and individuals have been caught airbrushing and embellishing their own entries. The Wiki community usually intervenes, with egregious edits reported on WikiScanner.
The site is funded largely by user donations, and it regularly meets it financial targets- how many other websites could exist on the same business model?
Speaking about the company’s business model, Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales said: “Like a national park or a school, we don’t believe advertising should have a place in Wikipedia”.

“Wikipedia is more than a website. We share a common cause: Imagine a world in which every single person on the planet is given free access to the sum of all human knowledge. That’s our commitment,” Wales added.
Video-sharing site Youtube was the runner-up in the Netimperative poll, getting 26% of the vote. The site was founded in February 2005, and was bought Google in 2006 following a surge in popularity.
Social network Facebook came a close third in the poll, with nearly a quarter (25%) of the votes. Facebook was founded in 2006 by Mark Zukerberg, eventually toppling MySpace as the most popular social network in the world.
Twitter was voted fourth most popular site, starting out in 2006. In 2008, the micro-blogging site souard in popularity, defining a new way of communicating on the web and popularizing the concept of real-time and crowd-sourced search, now imitated by the likes of Google.
You can now vote in Netimperative’s latest poll: Digital Economy Act: Fair of Farce?. Illegal downloaders could soon be banned from the web after the Digital Economy Act was passed this month amid much controversy. But what effect do you think the law will have on piracy?

Source: Digital Marketing

Vitamins linked to breast cancer: study April 18, 2010

A major study has revealed that women who take a daily multi-vitamin pill are nearly 20 per cent more likely to develop breast cancer.
The shock finding has rattled Australia’s $2.5 billion complementary health industry, which is urging consumers not to panic, News Ltd says.
In a 10-year study of more than 35,000 women, researchers discovered those who regularly took a multi-vitamin pill increased the risk of developing a tumour by 19 per cent.
They said the result was concerning and needed investigation as many women use multi-vitamins in the belief they prevent chronic diseases such as cancer. A “biologically plausible” explanation is that taking vitamin and mineral supplements significantly increases the density of breast tissue, a strong risk factor for breast cancer. Folic acid, often present in a potent form in multi-vitamins, may also accelerate tumour growth.
The study, conducted by Sweden’s Karolinska Institute and published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, has been greeted with interest and caution by Australian experts. Women who took a multi-vitamin pill in the study had higher breast tissue density than those who took no vitamin supplements.
“Results from this prospective study suggest that the use of multi-vitamins may increase the risk of breast cancer,” the lead author of the study, Susanna Larrson, said.

Source:Health News
Image:Vitamins

Internet is the most important media for the luxury sector April 18, 2010

According to a study published by Unity Marketing, a marketing research and consulting firm that specializes in consumer insights for luxury marketers, 44% of luxury consumers named Internet as important in influencing their purchases.
Print articles and reviews were only second at 42%, far behind are newspaper ads, 31% while TV programs and commercials are at 28% and magazine advertising at 24%.
These results mean that luxury marketers should communicate more efficiently online than they are used to actually.
Pam Danziger, President of Unity Marketing, says that “Marketers waste the power of the Internet and minimize the effectiveness of their Web sites if they simply transfer traditional marketing communications from print or TV to the Web. All marketing and branding communications should start on the Web, using all the tools, facilities and capabilities of 21st Century computer Networks, then transfer that to traditional medias as needed.”
Danziger, and we have exactly the same opinion, thinks that the quality of luxury Web sites needs also to be improved. Specifically, luxury marketers need to actively pursue a “dialogue” with their consumers, inviting them to communicate with the companies. Web sites should the “the central hub of two-way communication with customers.”
The survey of 866 consumers with income of $50,000 or more was conducted in August 2002 and results were just released.

Source:Digital Marketing
Vedio:Luxury cars

Nokia, apps and smartphones – a turning point? April 10, 2010

10 March 2010 | by Willem Reyners Tay

Whilst the iPhone is at the centre of the mobile development buzz, with Android knocking firmly on the door, one often forgotten fact is that Nokia still dominates the smartphone market. 
With 44% of smartphone handsets currently on the market carrying the Nokia brand, the Finnish company still hasn’t won the hearts and minds of the developer community. 

Google Dabbling With TV Set-Top Search April 9, 2010

By Mike Pearson
E-Commerce Times
03/09/10 3:50 PM PT

Google may be ramping up to deliver a search engine to TV set-top boxes. Rumor has it the search giant is carrying out tests of software that allows viewers to use their boxes to search for Web and television programming and create their own personalized lineup. The end goal for Google, of course, is likely to enable search advertising through yet another channel.

Google (Nasdaq: GOOG) and Dish Network are testing a service that allows television users to search for television programming and Web content from set-top boxes, The Wall Street Journal reported Monday.

Google software installed in the boxes allows users to create a personalized programming lineup, according to the Journal article, which cites anonymous sources.

Google spokesperson Gabriel Stricker told the E-Commerce Times that the company doesn’t speculate on rumors such as those contained in the Journal article. Dish spokesperson Robin Zimmerman said her company had no comment.

However, it’s no secret that Google and Dish have been collaborating since 2007, when the companies entered into a partnership for Google to deliver ads to the satellite network’s audience and develop mechanisms to more accurately measure how they are viewed.

Google said a year later that its Google TV Ads platform could report second-by-second data showing advertisers precise measurements on viewing habits.

Service, Not Hardware

The news that Google is testing the search service comes a week after TiVo (Nasdaq: TIVO) launched its Premiere line of digital video recorders with features that are designed to converge Web content and U.S. television programming.

Google’s play is similar to TiVo’s in that they are both trying to bring Web content to viewers, said Carl Howe, an analyst with the Yankee Group — but don’t look for a Google-branded set-top box anytime soon.

“I don’t think Google is trying to do a Nexus One with this one,” Howe said, referencing the HTC-designed and Google-marketed smartphone frequently compared to Apple’s (Nasdaq: AAPL) market-dominant iPhone.

“I don’t think they pretend they’d be a good seller of set-top boxes,” he said. “They have a more modest goal.”

That is to be the search engine that drives programming results delivered on set-top boxes branded by cable, satellite and other telecom providers, said Howe.

All About Ads

TiVo is pursuing a similar strategy, in that the company appears to be headed toward a future in which its boxes, which touched off the DVR revolution, are likely to become less and less important to the company. In its place, putting advertising on the interface and search results becomes more important.

That’s something Google is already very good at, said Howe, a confirmed TiVo user who utilizes all sorts of technologies to strip advertising from his digital media — except for Google’s relatively unobtrusive ads.

If Google is successful in bringing Web content to television users while maintaining a low-key advertising approach familiar to users of Gmail and other services, the company could make significant inroads into the set-top search scene, Howe said.

“It’s a one-trick pony,” Howe said of Google’s ubiquitous efforts to get people on the Web and looking at ads, “but they keep turning it over and over again.”

source: Digital Marketing