From online to offline with a smile…

We love living digital. We love being online. We love taking our mobiles with us. Anywhere, anytime, any place. However, sometimes people might make fools of us, out of our new digital reality.

In the summer the English National Opera picked up the social networking habits of Twitter and Facebook and created a great commercial that promoted their latest act, transfering our online attitudes to offline. As we all tend to pretend to be friends these days, we sometimes might loose our focus and just make our world seem to be “friendly” and “social”.

And friendly does not mean to make shopping online be easy. Many customer where I have been speaking and doing some consulting business, forget to find out and regularly double-check where their customers are “checking out”. A trend that with Google Analytics picked up with a lovely commercial that illustrates how difficult online shopping might be in the real world. Just think about the annoying digital experiences you have had in the last years, and then transfer them into our offline world. That’s what Google has done.

And it was only a loaf of bread he wanted to buy. It made me smile… And you?

AddThis: Sharing trends based on last 5 years (Infographic)

A while ago, ShareThis shared their insights why people share content. And also this year, bit.ly stated in a research they did that the half life of a link is approximately three hours.

Now, AddThis (1.2bn monthly users) is following their approach with an infographic on their 5th birthday to visualise user behaviour around Social Media sharing trends across the social web.

If you plan your next viral campaign you might consider time and day: 9:30am and Wednesday are said to be the best peaks for shareable content. Most users share content within the first 2 minutes. And 75% of shared content occur within the first day of a share. Interesting though is the fact that cut and paste sharing can still be up to 10x more used than the well-known social sharing tools.

PS: The average Twitter user shares half a tweet per day, according to Twitter CEO Dick Costolo…

Study: The Social Customer – How consumer get influenced by reviews and recommendations…

We all know that we get influenced by the 3 R’s that people publish on the Social Web: reviews, recommendations and ratings. Now, there is some more proof with the study “2011 Cone Online Influence Trend Tracker” by Cone Communications. Positive and negative information found on the Social Web have the same massive impact on how people change their minds after having received purchase recommendations.

The study shows that more than 80% of users change their minds after reading reviews whether positive or negative.

Positive reviews confirm the process of consumer decision making. 87% of the repondents were agreeing a favorable review has confirmed their decision to purchase. Still, negative recommendation can also turn down a recommended purchase. Interesting for me was that blogs get tracktion as a credible source of information when researching products and services online – an increase by 20% to 2010.

In terms of trustworthy information source, people respect the fact that somebody has used the product or service in the first place (69%). Obviously, recognized experts with product or service expertise com in the top end position (60%) when it comes to trust. However, Social Media gets more importance from a marketing perspective when people trust someoone when “he/she has a lot of social media followers” (8%).

Finally, the higher the costs for the purchase are (i.e. cars), the more likely are people to verify the quality of the product and service online. However, moderate- and low-cost purchases are also quite likely to be verified online.

Spot On!
The study is a great support in the assumption that the influence of the social customer’s has essential power in changing mindsets on purchase decisions. The experience and feedback shared on the Social Web will influence the sales funnel in the future in a way we cannot foresee yet. What is definitely clear is the fact that sales people and marketers have to change their approach on how to interact with these reviews, recommendations and ratings. This is where the competition in the sales funnel will be decided, and in the end lost or won…

Study: Three mindsets of search categorize peoples’ seach mode

According to a new study conducted by the New York Times Co.’s About.com in collaboration with Latitude there are three kinds of search behavior: “answer me,” “educate me” and “inspire me”. Thus, the study identifies some distinct human behavior search patterns which will help marketers connect and understand the target groups they are heading for.

So, how do these three search pattern types differentiate in the study that surveyed 928 Americans, age 21 to 54 with household incomes of $50,000 or higher?

“Answer me” searches accounted for 46% of all searches, the study found. People searching in this mode simply just want exactly what they ask for. They don’t want any value add. Their typical search is looking for beauty, fashion and entertainment.
Advice for marketers: The option to capitalize on an “Answer me” moment by featuring product benefits front and center, in addition to aligning content that presents quick, easy-to-find answers, offers a massive opportunity to marketers to generate leads.

“Inspire me” searches accounted for 28% of all searches. This is the typical browsing mode. Usually, people in this mode look for travel as well as home and garden.
Advice for marketers: For those consumers in the “Inspire me” mindset, creativity and different inspirational information sources will be wanted by consumers.

“Educate me” searches accounted for 26% of all searches. People searching in this mode expect to find multiple perspectives on a topic. The top categories of most interest are health and finance.
Advice for marketers: In the “Educate me” the contextual search mode marketers offer might help consumers with creating informative, multiple messages.

From a brand marketer’s point of view, the study explains that ads can be relevant to search. When nearly 90% of respondents “enjoy when brands stop trying to sell you something and focus on teaching you something,” this tells them that putting your bets on search is defenitely not the worst tactic.

Furthermore, most respondents agreed on search advertising terms…
- the best ads are the ones that work with the information source to help you get what you need (88%)
- that ads can be useful when they are very relevant to their search (77%)
- that ads have helped them find great options, deals or discounts (64%)

Spot On!
However, marketers can take their advantage from this study, being successful with the findings is still a challenge. What is the best way to identify in which mode a user is? The easiest option will probably be to have some ads for each of the categories. Still, this means to have the right content when consumers are clicking through to the landing page. If you think about it, you will understand why content marketing is seen as a major trend from CMO’s.

Studies: The internet is more important than water…?!

Can we access the internet if we have nothing to drink anymore, if our water is poluted? No, we can not! Sometimes, adults should ask themselves about, and quickly start to re-think, the values that they hand over to our kids. I am happy to have spoken with mine about this topic last year around the Blog Action Day 2010…

Some weeks ago, I have written about a UK study from the London Science Museum made clear that UK people rather prefer to have sunshine and internet connection than clean water. Now, Cisco comes up with a similar study.

The Cisco study states that one in three college students and young professionals consider the Internet to be as important as fundamental human resources such as air, water, food and shelter. The study is based on the second annual Cisco Connected World Technology Report. It examines the relationship between human behaviour, the Internet and networking’s pervasiveness across 14 countries in the world (United States, Canada Mexico, Brazil, United Kingdom, France, Spain, Germany, Italy, Russia, India, China, Japan, Australia).

Mahesh Gupta, Vice-President, Business-Borderless Networks, Cisco (India and SAARC), said in a teleconference on Thursday that about 33% across the globe and 95% Indian college students and young employees admitted that Internet was as important in their lives as water, food, air and shelter. The internet has become a crucial important thing in peoples’ lives. More than half of the respondents (62% of employees and 55% of college students) said they could not live without the Internet. They see it as an “integral part of their lives”.

From a face-to-face social perspective, it is also quite amazing to see that people had indicated that Internet was more important to them than meeting with friends, dating, or listening to music. Like in the UK study, updating Facebook seems to be of the highest priority – higher than socializing. Gupta stated that within certain countries 91% of college students and 88% of employees globally had Facebook account and check it on a daily basis at least once. Furthermore, seven of 10 employees have “friended” their managers and coworkers on Facebook, and 68% follow their manager or their work colleagues on Twitter.

From a hardware point of view, mobiles rank highest as their important technology device, as high as being “the most important technology”. Two-thirds of students and 58% of employees felt that a mobile device (laptop, smartphone or tablets) was the most important technology hardware in their lives. Young employees in the UK (74%), India (71%) and Australia (66%) ranked highest when it comes to the importance of mobiles devices.

Spot On!
The study also shows some trends that other industries should watch out for. When two of five students have not bought a physical book (except textbooks) in two years, this is a clear message to the print industry. And when 2 out of 3 choose Internet connection over cars, the it becomes clear why concepts like BMW Drive Now and Smart Car2Go become popular. However, the new trends also need to be watched from a distraction point of view when being online.

Let’s hope they don’t forget to drink some water…

LinkedIn, Twitter or Facebook? Study finds leading social network from journalists…

What’s your guess? What is the leading social network for journalists? And what does this mean to business decision makers, managers and PR professionals?

The answer by far is LinkedIn with 92% – with a remarkable increase of 7% compared to 2009. However, this does not mean that it is their main source of information. At least, this is what the latest study tells us which is called 2011 Arketi Web Watch Survey: Inside BtoB Media Usage of Social Media.

For me it was a bit of an eye-opener as I thought journalists might prefer to use Twitter to monitor sources for trending topics and breaking news. Probably, the statement has some value still. For Mike Neumeier, Pricipal, Arketi Group was not surprised…

“It comes as no surprise more BtoB journalists are participating in social media sites, especially LinkedIn. (…) LinkedIn provides an online outlet for them to connect with industry sources, find story leads and build their professional networks.”

The second largest still is not Twitter. It is Facebook. 85% of journalists are on Facebook (increase by 30% to 2009). However, Twitter comes in nearly at the same result (84%) and with the highest growth of 60% to 2009. And nearly half of the responding journalists (49%) say they blog or read blogs regularly.

“When compared to the 2009 Arketi Web Watch Survey, this year’s results show significantly more journalists are using social media tools (…) This means companies have more online channels through which they can reach media targets. This is both a blessing and curse for today’s PR professionals.” Dr. Kaye Sweetser, associate professor of PR, University of Georgia’s Grady College

Findings where journalists have their news sources…
- 80% via public relations contacts
- 77% rely on news releases
- 74% turn to newswires (i.e. BusinessWire or PRNewswire)
- 71% get from email pitches
- 56% from blogs
- 44% from micro-blogs (such as Twitter), and
- 39% from social networking sites (such as Facebook, LinkedIn and Myspace).

More than nine out of ten journalists responding (96 percent) say they prefer to receive news releases via email from companies they know, and 95 percent of business journalists say they prefer to receive news releases via email from companies they don’t know but are in industries they cover.

Journalists get crucial information regarding breaking news from the following sources…
- 85% Industry experts
- 81% Company website
- 80% Industry website
- 80% Other interested parties
- 57% Industry blog
- 53% Company blog
- 41% Industry Twitter feed
- 33% Company Twitter feed

Spot On!
Although LinkedIn is very popular among journalists, it does not seem to be the centre of attention to get a big story. Still, the direct contact and company websites have massive power and as they are probably the most trusted sources, they still lead. Still, social networks make it easy for journalists to get in touch with relevant people for good quotes. It should assume that investigative journalism is on the rise. Reading newspapers and websites today, I personally get the feeling that blogs have far more to offer.

What is your view?

Majority of Irish students favor use of private devices and Facebook…

What will companies say if employees want to bring their own devices to work? How about security issues and support opportunities for companies? A real challenge for the future when we look at an Irish study that interviewed 164 students in secondary school and at third level in order to understand how this generation is communicating these days.

The study by IT distributor Data Solutions on behalf of Blue Coat Systems shows that more than 60% of young people expect their employers to allow them to use their own personal devices (i.e. smartphone, laptop, etc.) for work purposes in the future.

The argumentation behind their expectations are obvious: They know how to use our private devices, so they don’t need to learn new technology which saves the company time and money. The challenge for companies will be to establish a set of new policy and security guidelines, as well as data safety and storing options.

“More than 85% of the students surveyed own or have access to a laptop, and almost 40% own a smartphone. This facilitates the trend towards ‘bringing your own device’, and every business is going to have to learn to accommodate this trend while ensuring security (…) When today’s students enter the workforce they will be completely in tune with the new ways of communicating and collaborating online, as most are already using social networking sites, blogs, Skype or instant messaging. Employers now need to look at new ways to facilitate their needs and expectations.” Michael O’Hara, Managing Director, Data Solutions

The study also shows the bluring use of email comunication. 75% of Irish students favor social networking sites like Facebook as their main channel for communicating online these days. Just 6% prefer to use email.

Spot On!
The study findings illustrate that social media sites continue to be on the rise in popularity, and it indicates how older traditional online communication tools like email become less attractive. When 88% have a Facebook account, it is not surprising that they are not swappping to Outlook anymore when communicating with each other, not matter if business or private. And it seems that this will have the same effect on the hardware and devices they want to use. Maybe we just need a separate login on our computers in the future? What is your view on this development…?

QR Codes: A trend already gone, or still on the rise…?

In the last weeks, I have spoken with many clients and interesting people in the industry, whether QR codes are still an emerging topic for marketers, or if the trend goes thanks to the latest innovation from Layar. The new Layar technology let’s the importance of QR codes in some way vanish…

So, the question is: Are the QR codes an over rated technology? Let’s bear in mind how many people know how to use QR code technology, and how often those who know really use the QR code reader? Now, the team from Lab42 comes up with as great infographic on the use of QR codes.

And guess what, 60% of the respondents say they are not familiar with QR codes in general. Most of the people using QR codes (46%) scan them for discounts. interestingly enough, for 42% of the people these codes serve as a ticket (for a concert (62%). And 67% see the QR codes in print magazines. So, my assumption that QR code technology could become the access point for the extension of print (Augmented Reality) seems to proof correct.

Check out the rest of the data yourself…

I am interested to get your view on the future of QR codes. Is this a remaining access hub for companies, brands and services, or will it end when Augmented Reality evolving, and finally detecting 3D objectives…? Let us know your thoughts…

Hyperspecialization – The future of work 3.0?

All people engaging in the Social Web are eager to pull, push and share all kinds of specializing topics in different areas of thoughts, interests and visions. In some way these people define a new development where the work of generalists is being cut into workload of networks of narrow experts or specialists. At least, Tom Malone, professor at the MIT Sloan School of Management and author of the Harvard Business Review article “The Age of Hyperspecialization,” sees this trend and explains in an HBR video why breaking jobs into tiny pieces yields better, faster, and cheaper work.

Malone sees the key “trend” behind this movement in “cheap communication technology” brought to us all over the world – more or less instantly and costlessly. Having said that, Malone’s illustration of scambled eggs being made ready to eat via the locations, Boston, China, Moscow, Paris and Singapore shows the limitation in the theory. For “brain workers”, it definitely makes sense and is a valid and applicable theory. Managers need to figure out how to break up traditional single job descriptions into pieces of hyperspecialist work and maybe rearrange their business processes if they want to make use of hyperspecialization.

What I definitely see is greater flexibility for employees in this movement. The development offers also some massive opportunity for freelancers being integrated into different projects. Thus, I would ask, whether the work of employees, sitting in office, could not easily be outsourced to even more specialized freelancers. Or if it will be more difficult to coordinate these specialists? Or would this be the work of a hyperspecialist again?

Is this really a new trend? Is this the normal evolution of worklife and business? Is this another step towards workplace 3.0, the mobile workplace? How do you see that…?

The mobile workplace is growing (and maybe three reasons still against it)…

There are only three reasons left why we might have a small workplace or personal roll container in the future (although most UK workers seem to see no reason for having an office by 2021)…

1. Controling still store paperwork as lawyers and tax consultants recomment it (fear of data loss).
2. HR wants to take control of how much time you spend in the office (productivity check – employees check employees).
3. A boss that fears to loose control over your work productivity (better see than hope, hierarchy could change).

However, I have stated in many interviews lately why -except for the three reasons above- I love to work mobile, in hotel lobbies, lounge bars, at the airport or in restaurants as well as coffee shops. And I have not ever thought about my past and how co-workers might have a killing impact on my lifetime. Thanks for sharing the Tel Aviv University study insights, Wired!

OK, I have to admit, I have found bars that call themselves “News Bar” and still don’t offer any WiFi connection for their guests – but hundreds of print magazines. It somehow fits my theme “Talking is Online, Silence is Print!” but business is challenging if you want to work in your mobile office.

Nevertheless, smartphones, laptops, tablets and WiFi offer us a complete new workplace freedom and leverage mobile productivity. We use those devices to finish more and more work from whereever we are.

The wrong use of the mobile workplace is exaggered and extreme mobilie efficiency. Quite often I see people in cars, using the time when commuting to and from the office efficiently (and in a very dangerous way, see the “Don’t text and drive!” Facebook page) checking emails during two red traffic-light periods.

Spot On!
I am happy that companies like Gist create infographics that put together data explaining the rise of the mobile workforce. It gives insights on device popularity and and the preference of where people love to work mobile.

Managers should start thinking about how they could make the mobile office a flexble solution for their employees, don’t you think?

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