Facebook: Most Engaging Brands

On their way to the IPO planned for later this week, some new data released by the social marketing firm SocialBakers might boost the company valuation from Facebook to a new level. A new infographic takes a look at which global brands have the best Facebook presence.

With 901 million registered global Facebook users, the numbers show that only 17% of the Facebook members are based in the US. The impact and opportunity for companies is massive. The five biggest companies generate each more than 26 million fans with Coca-Cola being the winner, calling 42 million fans their territory on Facebook – more than 21%! The runner up are Starbucks that are best in the food retail sector and Converse.

The SocialBakers figures also show the winning countries where global brands are most engaging their audience. Although the U.S. might be ahead of other countries in population penetration with brands like Starbucks, McDonald’s or Xbox. Brazil is the number two with L’Oreal Paris and Trident (Kraft), India number three with Vodafone and Pepsi, and Germany at least number 10 with McDonalds as well.

It was interesting for me to see that the fastest moving global brands are Halls, Axe, and Nokia – brands that have left my scope of attention in the last three years. Now, it would be freaking cool if we knew which ones of the 488 million mobile users are the most active on brand engagement?

Which brands catch your attention most and where are you most active?

Frequent traveler are the most connected worker

What is almost as important for business travelers as water and food? Smartphones and tablets. They are slowly placing themselves as top necessities. Being accessible at airports, at train stations, or on the tube is simply improving by mobile tools which make them the most connected power users of these tools. The question is whether mobile devices make them more effictient in their business efforts? I think they do…

Business Traveler’s Mobile Dependence Infographic created by PC Housing

Facebook, Twitter & Tumblr. When is the best time for sharing…?

Marketers always want to know if there is some secret sauce in the knowledge about sharing. Well, we have shared a lot already, from AddThis and ShareThis. Now, bit.ly released some insight on their blog which times on a day are most popular for sharing.

The link shortening and tracking service bit.ly found out that the most traction on Twitter is on a Monday between 1:00 p.m. and 3:00 p.m. ET. This might result in the highest click through rates. Compared to the latest Addthis study, it makes sense as they see on Wednesdays, 9:30 the highest traffic sharing. Generally speaking bit.ly thinks the earlier in the week we share, the better for our output. Sending a tweet after 8:00 p.m. won’t make sense as well as pushing links after 3:00 p.m. on Fridays.

Now, let’s look at Facebook. The optimal Facebook posting times are between 1:00 p.m. and 4:00 p.m., and on Wednesday at 3:00 p.m. post on Facebook get the best traction all week. If companies post links after 8:00 p.m. and before 8:00 a.m. on Facebook, they won’t get the best click rates. bit.ly advices companies not to post the links that are meant to go viral during the weekend.

Companies that are using Tumblr should spread their content ideally 4:00 p.m. ET. to get most out of it. The peak traffic times on Tumblr are 7:00 p.m. and 10:00 p.m. on Monday, Tuesday and Sunday. However, posts that go live after 7:00 p.m. get the most clicks on a daytime period. Compared to Facebook and Twitter, Tumblr’s best day for clicks is the Friday.

“It’s easy to see that just like your neighborhood restaurants, each social network has its own culture and behavior patterns,” bit.ly stated in their blog post. “By understanding the simple characteristics of each social network, you can publish your content at exactly the right time for it to reach the maximum number of people.”

Picture Credit: © iQoncept – Fotolia.com

Curiosity – Brand anarchy is to create invisible advertising

Curiosity is it what makes the world get mad. Whether it is IKEA’s smallest shop of the world put in a banner, some invisible commercial.

Lynx, in cooperation with Soap Creative, know how to produce some curious innovative digital art work. They have created this campaign which just went live in Australia. This is the world’s first invisible ad installation. It is using some special LCD screens that can only been seen with polarised glasses.

People passing by in some street in Sydney got some polarised glasses which unlocked the curiosity of the invisible screens, scenes the normal eyes could not see by the naked eye. And finally, then the content was unleashed. Couples were to be seen while having their pleasures and random dogs swimming in a room of water. Actually in my hotel they are swimming on the television but that is another story.

Facebook & Mobiles: 488 Million Mobile Users

Can we believe that? Yes, we can…!

Facebook rocks our mobiles with 488 million mobile users of their 901 million registered users! Facebook finds and engages 54% of all its users on mobile phones, thus smartphones and tablets according to socialbakers. There are many apps out there in the world but Facebook knows how to engage their users.

The iPhone (19%) and iPad (5%) together get a share of 24%, Android 19% and the Blackberry even 8%. Would have been interesting how much of the 32% of the rest comes from Windows phones. Bearing in mind that almost 95% of all tablet traffic comes from iPads, this makes an impressive iPad usage market share for Facebook.

The US with 105.901.000 user, Indonesia 28.847.140 user and India 23.383.240 users are the biggest Facebook mobile countries. However, the Facebook mobile penetration is amazing in countries like i.e. Nigeria, South Africa and Japan with 70-80%.

How the digital revolution drives the millenial teenager…

We know that our teenagers are tech-savvy like we have not even been TV-savvy at the same stage of live. This modern generation is incredibly connected, wired and online these days. The digital world and technical devices seem to rule their daily lives. So, how far are they going with their digital communication engagement?

Some interesting studies and infographics might help us identify what drives the lives of the 18-34 year olds. The millenial teenager has…

- 319 online connections (versus 35-46 year olds with 198 online connections)
- 40% video chat with their friends
- 63% write daily text messages with friends
- 39% speak on the phone daily
- 35% interact face-to-face outside of school

The downside of all the digital consumption was found by a Kaiser Family Foundation study. It shows that heavy users (47%) were earning grades of C or below in school versus only 23% of the light users. And if the heavy users get in trouble twice as much as light users, it makes you think what all that digital overload is not making with us, and especially our young generation.

I know of friends and other people that passed my life who had bad grades and today have their own company, did fantastic start-ups, or help other people manage their business better. So, is the digital revolution really bad for this tech-savvy millenials?

An interesting infographic from OnlineSchools.com combined the Kaiser and Pew results and added some findings from Common Sense Media and some other organizations. This, and some another infographic from OnlineGraduatePrograms.com, will help marketers and the “older” generations understanding why technology is driving young peoples’ lives. This is not all the latest findings but seeing it on one spot always gives some thought-provoking statement which we all should think about and discuss…

Study shows that consumers are frustrated with online paying

How often do we stop our online purchasing process? How often do we not pay what is chosen to be in the basket? And how often do we leave an online shop frustrated?

In a recent study by Mastercard Worldwide conducted by Harris Interactive we acknowledge how consumers are feelings about online commerce, as well as their habits on mobile shopping. According to the report, U.S. consumers replied that one of their biggest issues is “entering payment, billing and shipping information.”

It is not surprising to anyone probably that the only other issue more annoying to online buyers is knowing still one that has not changed in 15 years: People would like to know how a product feels, fits or looks.

“Online and mobile shopping puts a host of new options at consumers’ fingertips, but the current checkout process needs improvement to fully realize the potential of these important retail channels,” Geoff Iddison, Group Executive E-Commerce and Mobile, MasterCard Worldwide

According to Iddison the study also shows that consumers want a simpler, faster way to enter account information and less time filling out forms.

The funny thing for me is that the world still wants something that does not exist (and which I have thought about inventing in the online advertising world, too): a trusted source that handles safely personal information in one place.

58% of online shoppers said they would like that easy access to information in order to simplify their online check-out experience across the Internet. Apart from that almost one out of four respondents replied they had abandoned a shopping cart before completing their online or mobile purchase. 

On the MasterCard company blog, Brian Gendron -a company spokesman- said the poll shows consumers want a simpler online payment experience. He mentions…

“Consumers still find that a lengthy checkout experience can cause frustrations, which can sometimes mean lost business for merchants when consumers fail to click ‘confirm purchase. Consumers want a simple and fast process to complete their online transactions so they can spend more time finding the exact products that they want.”

So, how about you and your online purchasing experiences? Would you say the study is correct in their findings?

Nielsen study: People trust in peoples’ word of mouth

Now, I have used this Nielsen graphic in seminars and conferences for two years and always wondered when the next study is going to be published.

Finally today, I came across the latest Nielsen Global Trust in Advertising report. And again, the results are similar to what they where back in 2009. People still don’t trust advertising. Well, let’s say… at least not as much as they trust recommendations from people they know like friends, family and peers. However, it is still somehow scary to bear in mind that people trust consumer opinions expressed online… very often without verifying who say what in which scenario and which stage of life.

According to the Nielsen findings, which surveyed over 28,000 Internet people in 56 countries, 92% of the respondents said they trust recommendations from friends and family above all other forms of advertising. This equals an increase of 18% compared to 2007. Consumer opinions posted online come in at the second place of most trusted source. Of the consumers surveyed globally, 70% indicated they trust messages from online platforms. This makes up an increase by 15% in the last four years.

Publishing houses and platforms still get a lot of trust from their users. Editorial content (58%) finished in the thread place, just before branded websites (58%), and opt-in emails (50%). The traditional platforms for advertising like print, television, and radio are significantly lower from a trust point of view. The drop in value since 2009 goes down by 24%.

Spot On!
The results show the importance of content marketing carrying the truth about your company, brand or products. Openness, authenticity and transparency are still rated very high amongst your customers. They want to “know what they get”. They want to engage with you but also being told the truth if there is something bad or uncertain to say about brands and their development. And above all they want you to respond to their input. They want you to give them some attention, some feedback, some credit for the time they spend. Then you will earn their trust, and then they will share your voice.

IKEA: How to fit the store portfolio in the smallest banner ad

What IKEA’s advertising team from Ogilvy Action creates is truly outstanding. Welcome to the smallest store in the world…! This store even fits into a banner ad… which makes it the biggest banner ad somehow. The creative is able to access all 2800+ products inside one tiny banner ad. So, every single product of the IKEA store is available in the banner. However, a challenge to find the product you are looking for. Still a fantastic production…

Via Adweek

Study: IBM defines four categories for digital identities

In a recent study called Beyond digital, IBM analyzed the digital behavior of 3,800 respondents in six countries (China, France, Germany, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States).

The study explains how the digital industry changes with the evolution of the so-called “The Connected Consumer” how Saul Berman, author of the study, calls us today. Us? Well, everybody who engages online provides custom experiences, and thus the term was created. It makes clear that 78% identify themselves as digital device adopters – more than half of those read newspapers online.

Companies need to become a clearer picture of their consumers. These identify themselves as either Early Adopters 12%; Late Adopters 32%; Mainstream Consumers 35%, or Stragglers 21%. Over half of the “mainstream consumers” show a range of digital consumption behaviors. They check news onion. They watch video online. They access mobile services. They participate in social networking, or visit user-generated content sites.

IBM took a new approach to identifying the respondents in four different categories – although in my eyes categories will be difficult to hold as user cross category borders permanently these days. One of the reasons why I have created the Community Centric Strategy which I launched at the last IBM Social Business event IN Germany.

Still, the four digital personalities IBM found have more to do with their degrees of access to technology and content. Older target-group definitions like age come in second line.

The biggest group is the Efficiency Experts. They make up 41% of tech users, the largest portion of connected consumers.

The other three categories are…
Content Kings (9%) – dedicated gamers, newshounds, movie buffs, music lovers and TV fans.
Social Butterflies (15%) – have consistent access to networks, but engage with friends and family, rather than media-supplied content.
Connected Maestros (35%) – using mobile devices and Smartphone applications to access games, music, and video or to check news, weather, sports, etc.

“These respondents use digital devices and services to simplify day-to-day activities. Efficiency experts send emails rather than letters, use Facebook to communicate with others, access the Internet via mobile phones, and shop online.”

Spot On!
Companies should take a close look at the Connected Maestros as they are providing tailored customer experiences. They require brands to build insightful profiles and continually update them as consumers evolve their digital content consumption behaviors. They are eager to get to know more about brands, companies and products. Assuming they are more likely to get engaged with brands, or to become brandvangelists.

Would you agree…? Where do you see yourself?

Nächste Seite »