Google+: Facebook Adversary, or Flash in the Pan?

With 1.8 million visits in less than a month since it’s beta release, Google+ is hardly busting down Facebook’s doors. In fact, those visits only represent less than 0.5% of Facebook’s traffic during the same time frame. So when and why should marketers start paying attention to it? The answer to the first question is now. Why? Because it’s growing. It’s important to understand that even though it’s only reached a small percent of Facebook’s traffic, that it is still in beta testing, and only reachable via invite. Once the general population gains access, site traffic can only go up. Marketers need to fish where the fish are, and if consumers are migrating over to Google+ (which they may very well do so, as it’s billed as being a much easier platform for users to share content), then it would be wise to start exploring now.

It will be interesting to see how much traction Google+ gains, especially once released into the wild. We should start paying attention now. We know Facebook will be.


Have you started playing with Google+ yet?

Who Saved More Than $57 Million with Online Coupons? You did!

From RetailMeNot report published on marketingcharts.com , citing 49% increase in online coupon users in the first half of 2010, compared to the first half of 2009.

I find most interesting the diversity of the most searched coupons from clothing, e-commerce, QSR and auto rental. For CPG brands we're noticing a decrease in the average overall value of digital coupons, but a steep increase in multi-purchase offers.

Search for a specific brand and the word "coupons" on Google.com and you'll be surprised by how much activity you might find.

A Different School of Thought

(from our summer intern, Emily S.)

Ah, college, the original social networking system. When one thinks of this little haven of freedom, what comes to mind? Brick dormitories adorned with ivy, old friends, new friends, outlandish parties, parental liberation and, oh yeah, that irritant called studying. With two-hour lectures, novel length research papers, late night studying, and last minute cramming, these unfortunate activities constitute a majority of one’s college experience. However, once every semester there is an unnerving occurrence in which every student must face: no, it is not preparing for a 25 essay midterm, or making an oral presentation before 90 of your peers – this, my friends, is buying textbooks.

As any seasoned collegiate could tell you, there is nothing more frustrating that waiting in a labyrinth of stanchions just to fork over your next three paychecks for textbooks that may or not ever see the light of day. But it doesn’t end there. One would figure that this monetary hiccup is only temporary as you would surely get to return your “almost new” books for a healthy reimbursement when all is said and done. As you gleefully place your books on the counter to regain what is rightfully yours, you soon find out that this will not be the case --- you slowly walk away cursing under your breath as you count and recount the dollars in your hand --- a fraction of what you originally paid only some few months earlier.

Now, to be frank, I never really saw much sense in buying an Apple iPad. To me, it is just a laptop wannabe with a bunch of fingerprint smudges. Coming from a graphic design student who cares for her iMac Powerbook more than her own well being, that is a generous compliment. Yet, just when you think the iPad may be heading to the same fate as the Apple Lisa, there is a new application on the market for the iPad that could actually justify the cost of its purchase --- and turn this novelty item into a student’s best friend.

A San Francisco based company, Inkling, (www.inkling.com) has brought new life to an old means of reading textbooks. Inkling’s new application, exclusively for the iPad, allows students to download textbooks, or parts of textbooks, directly from the publisher, for a more “hands on” way to read, research, and understand volumes of text and give students, along with professors, a way to communicate information in an engaging and interactive manner that we have not seen before. Some of the features include the ability to rotate 3D graphics, change the size of type, and search for key terms throughout chapters. You can even highlight specific passages and leave notes for others students to read on their own iPads thereby creating more in-depth --- and interactive --- discussion around the work at hand. One would have to say that this is not just simply changing the way we read textbooks but, rather, turning our social networking into more of a learning network.

And if that wasn’t enough, you might say, the Inkling application can be good for your health. No more schlepping around 50 pounds of books in an already too small backpack. Forget your notebooks and laptops. The iPad is now a convenient, accessible, and sleek library weighing in at only 1.5 pounds.

I know what you are thinking. From a student’s standpoint, money is always a factor. If we can’t afford school books, how can we ever expect to come up with the hundreds dollars for the latest and greatest iPad? With Inklings ability to offer its users a single chapter for the ridiculously low price of $2.99, as compared to spending upwards of $150 for a single textbook, it soon becomes clear that even with the purchase of an iPad, a student’s total costs for textbooks can be drastically reduced.

My back is feeling better already.

BlackBerry Burnout

With fresh rumors about a Verizon iPhone aswirl and Google’s Android phones pervading the mobile realm, RIM, the one-time star of the Smartphone space, faces mounting pressure to redefine itself or risk being extinguished. This shouldn’t, however, come as a shock as all the signs have been present for some time. On one side, there’s Apple making their way into consumers’ pockets and purses at rates not seen since the adoption rates of the original iPod. Apple has seemingly had an easy time attracting consumers who sought to own the iPhone mainly for its cool apps, and stands to increase its appeal as it considers building a CDMA-version of the device that can run on Verizon’s network. To be exact, though, Apple’s act of war came a couple of years ago when it licensed Microsoft’s synchronization technology, ActiveSync. At the time, a major obstacle to widespread adoption of the iPhone was that it lacked the ability to properly sync one’s company email and calendar, specifically Outlook and Exchange. Apple sought to woo corporate users who longed for a device with all of the functionality, intuitiveness, and must-have appeal of an iPhone. Soon after licensing this technology, the iPhone’s support for push email came and the exodus off of competing platforms ensued. Predictably, companies like Kraft and Oracle began supplying their employees with iPhones instead of BlackBerry devices as they had done in the past. For employees with iPhones for personal use, Kraft has even developed a Web page that provides support for the company’s Exchange servers.

On the other side are Google Android OS-based phones. Much like the iPhone, Android devices combine a user-friendly operating system with a robust app market. Google’s approach, however, appears to be “Android everywhere,” driving to embed their powerful and highly-touted OS in as many different devices as it can. Motorola alone plans to release 20-30 Android-powered devices this year. This plan is proving to be successful as Google is outpacing all other competitors in percent change in marketshare.

With Apple flirting with a possible deployment of a CDMA version of its iPhone, iPhone owners currently with AT&T, subscribers with competing Smartphones, and those with standard feature phones will all likely consider making the switch to Apple’s newest offering on Verizon’s venerable and ubiquitous network. I know I am.

Whether or not Apple decides to make a phone that works on CDMA networks is still uncertain. One thing is for sure, however: As more and more Crackberry owners wean themselves from the device for which they were once fiends, RIM will have to find new ways to keep current customers and attract new ones, or this once-dominant player runs the risk of being eclipsed.

Tip of the Iceberg for Mobile Apps and Retail

6 Mobile Apps That Evolve The Shopping Experience

AdAge picks 6 of their favorite mobile apps that are evolving the retail experience. Mobile shapes the shopping experience by not being either "online" or "offline". Mobile further demonstrates how the experience becomes more engaging, more immediate and the brand more connected to the consumer.

Retailers who's floor staff are paid on commission and therefore not working to access the greatest amount of information (via online or mobile) are selling their own expertise short in the mind of the consumer.

Are you wondering why make the effort to actively pursue the customer at every touchpoint? Because you may lose the sale if you don't. The digital experience should be mapped out in this 360 world to help prioritize what content should be created, organized and served up to the consumer.

Read the original article on AdAge here: http://bit.ly/9tEO1n .

OMMA Metrics: Does the Key to Successful Social Media and Digital Strategies lie in a CUPCAKE?

So, all of this talk about the challenges of online metrics demands a post about what we CAN do and do well in the digital and social media space. The latest panel discussion brought up the top four questions that are keys to a successful approach to this fast-paced space:
1. What are the business objectives?
2. What assets do you have to work with?
3. What are your consumers doing in the space and how are they using social media?
4. What value does your brand provide?

If you can't answer #1, stop. And don't proceed to #2 until you can.

These questions led to some discussion of best in class examples and one that caught my attention was Sprinkles Cupcakes (who doesn't like cupcakes?!). It was described as a best in class example of a brand bridging the offline and online experiences, and driving consumers in-store. So I did a little investigating and found a GREAT write-up on their integrated campaigns and the results, as well as an interesting article on the Top 5 Tips to Marketing Premium Food. These are tips that are simple, yet critical, and completely in line with what we are hearing today at OMMA Metrics!

OMMA Metrics: Are the tools that we have for measuring Social Media adequate?

The resounding answer was "NO!!" at this afternoon's panel discussion on "The Social Media Measurement Quagmire Continues..."

Shiv Singh from Razorfish describes the core challenges as follows:
- Access to data (whether it be because of infrastructure or platform)
- Change in the digital (specifically social media) space is happening so fast that the investments in developing measurement tools are slow (slow to commit)
- Shortcomings on everyone's end in terms of too many people trying to apply traditional metrics/measurements to the online and social media space.

The bottom line is that not all users are equal, and the current tools are user agnostic - in other words, the tools treat all users equally. And we all know they are not.

So what to do? Until there are standards for online metrics, a hybrid approach of automated and human measurement systems is critical to and the key to success.

More from OMMA Metrics: MRM Worldwide working to define an "engagement score"

In a panel discussion titled "Cracking the Code" held today at OMMA Metrics, several panelists have been dicussing the evolution of the measurement models over the past decade. The metrics and models are changing quickly in the digital space, and the bar is being raised for marketers' ability to understand and utilize them.

Vipin Mayar from MRM Worldwide spoke about moving from away from ROI measures and towards engagement measures that effectively compare across channels and across time. He then spoke about an effort that MRM is working on to create an "engagement score."

Well, we all talk about engagement and how it can be measured. And we all know that we are not defining engagement in the same way. So the obvious question is "What is this 'engagement score'" and why is it better than what we're working with now?

An "engagement score" is a process by which we would be able to assign points to various "engagements." So different point values (based on objectives/priority) would be assigned to different engagements and interactions (like site page or content) and then linked to outcomes. The key, Mayar claims, is to "connect metrics to value creation."

A new way to look at engagement, but will it gain traction? Tell us what you think...

Data Reporting: Are we all saying the same thing?

Standardization of data sets is one of the biggest challenges and concern with delivering and interpreting web data. So, how do we know if we are all saying the same thing? Fortunately, the IAB puts forth standards for publishers and metrics providers (like Omniture and WebTrends) to follow. So for anyone measuring "site visits" from omniture data, for example, knows how to define that term. One document of interest today at the OMMA Metrics conference is the IAB Reach Measurements Guidelines.

The challenge then lies in how data is reported to our clients across agencies, and across data sources. Unfortunately, the reality is that they will never match exactly. There is some hope that with the evolution of HTML 5 and univeral tags, this challenge could be overcome. In the meantime, it is up to us to follow the IAB guidelines closely and do our best to explain discrepancies in data.

What are they doing on their mobile phones for more than 2.5 hours per day??

What do mobile users do for over two and a half hours per day on their phones? It is not likely that it is to find out the the Airspeed Velocity of an Unladen Swallow, or any other educational purpose. It is more likely that it is for accessing social media channels, managing personal finances or even to rally in support of a cause (hmmm...think Pedigree Adoption Drive!).

The numbers are impressive: 91% of mobile users go online to socialize (100 MILLION access Facebook from a mobile device) compared to only 79% on a desktop. Mobile users are 1.6 times more likely to manage finances and 1.4 times more likely to support a cause.

Why? Immediacy.

Read on for all the latest and fun stats on that person next to you feverishly engaged with their mobile...

No Income? Apply for a Golden Grant!

General Mills has created a campaign with a pretty cool premise, Golden Grant. It targets those who have fallen victim to the plummeting economy.

A spin-off of both Twitter and FML, the Golden Grant microsite asks users to share their “ridiculous job search story” in 140 characters or less. The most “convincing” economical sob stories become short films. The winners get a generous supply of Golden Grahams to allay their fears of starvation…

As with any user-submitted-content-based campaign, I fear that people will exercise their drama skills and simply falsify or exaggerate their personal experiences. Also, I wonder how original the idea really is. Either way, I believe it’s a risk worth taking. Something tells me a lot of laughter (and maybe sympathy) is on the way.