comScore recently released new insights on consumer video consumption usage on tablets. The main insight tht they gather is that the majority of tablet users watch video on their device. The report finds: 

Tablets have quickly reached a critical mass in the U.S. with 1 in every 4 smartphone owners using tablets during the three-month average period ending April 2012. The study also found that tablet users were nearly three times more likely to watch video on their device compared to smartphone users, with 1 in every 10 tablet users viewing video content almost daily on their device.

When looking at the content consumption more than half of tablet users watched video and/or TV content on versus just 20% of smartphone users. It's not a shocker that a device with a bigger screen gives a better experience and therefore gets more video usage.

Source: comScore. June, 2012. http://www.comscore.com/Press_Events/Press_Releases/2012/6/Majority_of_Tablet_Users_Watch_Video_on_their_DeviceWhat this means for marketers

When a brand is creating great content it has to think of how it's distributing that content. When coming up with a distribution strategy (whether that's via a QR code on package, via social media, :30 TV spot, etc.) there are a few things to keep in consideration and questions to answer:

• Different devices What device will they be using (smartphone, computer, tablet)?
• Different content Where will this person be watching this video (in aisle, on the couch, on the bus, at work)?
• Different circumstance What do we want the person to do after they consumer the video (share, comment, enter a sweepstakes)?

• Are people on the go or are they at home?
• Will this be a planned interaction or a spontaneous interaction?
• Will sound be necessary to get the message across or is it mainly visual?
• How long is the video?

Watching video is one of the dominant activities people do when they're connected. Depending on the device and circumstance will dictate Their engagement and interest level. Plan accordingly.

PS - You might want to follow us on Twitter, we tweet really cool stuff.

Google+ has been getting a lot of negative press lately. People are saying that there's nobody on there while Google itself is saying that there's over 100 million active users. Is it even close to Facebook's 900 million users? No. Should brands be on it matter to brands how many people are actually using it. Absolutely.

Focusing in on Google+'s user base (let's put it at a conservative 20 million users) sounds to us like a vanity metric. It's a meaningless number - especially when compared to Facebook.

We think that Google+ can help marketers answer two important questions: 

1. What areas of my digital marketing is Google+ helping with? 
2. What insights can I gather from Google+ and apply to other parts of my business. 

Let's dig deeper.

Google+ helps round out your digital marketing

There are some really great things baked into Google+ that can help impact your online presence.

Improved SEO

Since you're already making great content that people love, you should share it on Google+ as well. Though there's not any official documentation from Google, sharing your content and being active on G+ will help you rank higher in search results. 

Customer Service and Customer Relationship Management (CRM)

The Google hangouts feature is a key differentiator and helps G+ stand out from the other social networks. Imagine you just launched a product or there were some user expectations that weren't met. The only thing better than a personal outreach to some customers? Personal outreach to some customers and highlighting the event to the ENTIRE WORLD. Have a customer service person (aka the CEO) take questions from customers on what went wrong and how those are going to be prevented in the future.

On the CRM front, invite select VIP customers for a special product announcement, record the whole thing, and then share it.

Integration with other Google services

KISSmetrics has a great blog post called "25 awesome free Google tools for marketers".

They have not only created a thriving social network, but they have incorporated it into almost every aspect of the Google experience, including Google search results themselves

Incorporating all of the other Google services not only makes sense, but it was inevitable. Linking Google services (Adwords, Analytics, Places, Chrome, etc.) together will help strengthen your iniatives and give you better data and insights. Which leads to...  

How G+ helps other areas of your business

A great feature of Google+ (that nobody knows about) is Ripples. Ripples gives you a visual representation of how your content is being shared and, more importantly, who is sharing it.

To see the ripples click the down arrow next to a public post.

Image via Eli Rose http://www.elirose.com/2012/03/google-ripples/

Then you can see how your post gets shared and who shares it.

Image via Eli Rose http://www.elirose.com/2012/03/google-ripples/

And finally you can add the people who shared your post into your existing circles (if they're not already in there any).

Image via Eli Rose http://www.elirose.com/2012/03/google-ripples/

This is a key feature because it allows you to gather insights about who is interested in your content and your business. If you think that, for example, your target audience is all DIY crafters but the people sharing your content are sewers then you might want to not only change up the content you create, but perhaps make a new product that is sewing specific.

Just because Google+ doesn't have the amount of people that Twitter or Facebook does, doesn't mean that the people who are on there aren't doing anything. It's more likely than not that the G+ users are also on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc. Therefore they are heavy social media users, influencers and the people wh you need to talk to.

How are you using Google+ and what kind of insights have you been gathering from it? Let us know in the comments! 

• Video highlights of Tim Cook at the All Things D conference via MacRumors
• Mary Meeker's 2012 internet trends report via All Things D
  • Here's our key takeaways for marketers from the report, btw
• Why startups need to hustle via Mashable
• How people look at your Pinterest boards via Mashable

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Every year Mary Meeker releases her report on Internet Trends. The 2012 edition was released yesterday and there is a lot of good info in there. When we read reports (this one is 112 slides, btw) we ask the question "so what does really mean?" There are a lot of really good takeaways, but wanted to focus on the ones that the most important for marketers.

Mobile is crucial: be there or your competition will be

As we've stated before mobile is valid and growing marketing channel. Some key stats that from her presentation:

• Global mobile traffic accounts for 10% of all internet traffic
• Mobile accounts for 8% of the US eCommerce and it's helping accelerate growth
• 29% of US adults own a tablet or eReader (up from 2% less than 3 years ago) 

Here is even more evidence that you need to start thinking of a mobile strategy for your business and set aside some budget for a mobile website. A simple way to convince the decision maker is to look in your Google Analytics and see what percentage of visits is coming from mobile devices.

What this means for marketers: People are getting info from their mobile devices more than ever and this trend will keep going up. You need to be sure that your brand and product information people are looking for is searchable and provides an optimal user experience on a smaller screen. People want information on demand and if you're not giving them what they're looking for (or they have a bad experience if they do find you), they'll go to your competitor.

Mobile media is cheap: Test and learn

According to the report, the effective CPMs (eCPMs) are 5 times lower on mobile devices ($0.75( than on desktops ($3.50). Translated, this means that it costs 5 times less to place mobile media.

Source: Mary Meeker, Internet Trends, May 2012

What this means for marketers: This is a perfect time to do some testing and learning with mobile media. If you're investing time and budget for a mobile site (see above) you should maximize that money by sending people to the site and seeing what they're interested in. The more data that you have allows you to provide more relevant content and lets you uncover new insights.

Reimagine and refocus your business

It's important you take a step and plan not only for the upcoming year, but ask yourself of how are consumers going to interact with you in 5 to 10 years? Businesses with historic runs have ended recently, including:

• After 125 years landlines were surpassed by mobile subscriptions in 2002
• After 244 years, Encyclopedia Britannica is going out of print in 2012
• After 305 (yes, THREE HUNDRED AND FIVE) years newspaper revenue was surpassed by internet spending in 2010

What this means for marketers: Take a look at the upcoming trends today and see what impact they're having not only on your marketing, but on your company's bottom line. What does the next 3 years look like? Is tech driving the future for you?

How are the technology trends affecting your business and marketing? Let us know in the comments.

The whole report is embedded below: 

KPCB Internet Trends 2012

Image: JoelGoldstein.com

Email continues to be one of the most important communication channels you can use to keep in touch, and upsell, your customers. But are you using it to it's full potential? Below are some steps you can implement immediately to increase its effectiveness.

List Segmentation

If you have a list, for example, with 100,000 subscribers chances are that they did not all signup at the same time. This is even more true if signups come through the product registration. A simple way to deliver the most interesting and engaging content to these subscribers is by segmenting the list. You can put subscribers into different buckets such as: 

• Registered product type
• Interests (offers vs. news vs. industry thought leadership)
• Sign-up date
• Location 

Content is not one-size-fits-all and the more targeted the content you can deliver you will better results such as: open rate, click-through-rate (CTR) and ROI.

Subject line testing

Taking the same approach that not all content is appropriate for all people, this goes for subject lines. ASubject lines are one of the most important things in doing email marketing, but are also one of the easiest things to test. Some factors you can test in the subject lines are: 

• Personalization (i.e. first name)
• Subject line type 
  • General (example: Your June 2012 newsletter)
  • Offer specific (example: Save $XXX through Friday!)
  • Headline specific (example: Learn why [xxxxx] is important to your business)

Every industry and every list is different so the only way to find out which subject line is the best for you is to test. Most email service providers (ESPs) have this functionality built into their platform so you can, and should, start subject line testing today.

Connect with social media

Email and social media are first cousins if not siblings. If people are interested in your email communications (because we've been subject line testing, segmenting our lists and creating engaging content) we can help promote other channels that help drive sales.

Do you have an awesome blog? Great then the click-through on the article should go to the blog. Have a cool promotion starting on Facebook? Have the user click through to Facebook. Also including the icons of other social networks you're on are great so people can go to where they want. 

With email you can direct people to where helps you get conversions from either new or existing customers. If your open rate and CTR aren't 100%, then there's always room to test, learn and then test some more.

What are some techniques that help you improve your email effectiveness?

How search, social media and content accelerate your business via Social Media Examiner

• Here's our take on that subject too :)

How Apple rumors spread via TechCrunch

• Just for fun, how you and Apple can have the same marketing department

A look at smartphone users in the U.S. via Nielsen

Is your landing page copy outsmarting your prospects? via Crazy Egg

These are just a few of the things we're reading. You might want to follow us on Twitter, we tweet cool stuff.

Content marketing is quickly becoming one of the most important factors in today's digital landscape. If you're not creating content, you're not doing digital marketing. With digital marketing channels so closely integrated, it's important that customers and prospects get the answers they're looking for.

Let's take a look at the benefits on engaging content in three important areas:

Social Media

Engaging content in social media should be a given. When it comes to social it's all about the content and not the channel (Facebook vs. Twitter vs. Pinterest etc.). Think of content as social currency and the better the currency, the more likely it's going to be shared. Your customers should be your biggest brand ambassadors and you must give them tools (great content) to be able to evangelize for you.

When you are developing your social content strategy keep in mind that you don't need different content for each social channel, but you can repurpose content to make your budget stretch further.

Search

It's likely that most of the traffic to your site is going to come from organic search. Engaging content will get shared and, more importantly, linked to so it shows up in search results. Knowing the keywords that are important to your company should be strategically inserted. Content that educates and interests your customers and validates your industry knowledge are critical.

An article on Social Media Examiner titled "How Search, Social Media and Content Accelerate Your Business" that talks about this specific topic. One of our favorite lines in there is:

You must publish, you must tell stories and you must become interesting to your customers so that they find, like and trust you.

That has never been more true because creating great content and ranking high in search will lead to an increase in...

Customer Acquisition

It's important to know which channels are driving the most direct conversions, but it's also to know which channels are assisting in those conversions. For example, let's say most people may convert the most when they come directly from paid search, but they may need 4 visits to your site before converting. It's critical to know where people are coming from the three times before they convert.

Search and social media may not be the last touch for someone before they decide to purchase, but they will most certainly play a role in the decision making process. You need to be where your customers are (Social) and show up when they have questions (Search).

There's a new tool in Google Analytics called "Multi-Channel Funnels" and it shows the tops paths people take before they make a conversion. 

Keep an eye on where people are coming from so you can make strategic decisions on where to be and where to put your great content. 

But what if an investor or the CEO wants to know how the overall marketing is doing? People in the C-suite don't need (or want) to know the CTR of that one particular Facebook campaign you have or the bounce rate of people coming from Twitter. Keep conversations and numbers they will look at at a high-level.

Doing this is simple.

Create a spreadsheet (it'd be better if you're using Google Docs so you can share a link with them and say "Click here on the 5th of each month") with these important metrics:

• Total spent
• Website visits
• Number of conversion
• Conversion Rate
• Value per conversion
• Total Return
• ROI
• Customer Acquistion Cost

This way you will not only appease them, but notice trends over time.

A couple of simple equations lets you plug in some numbers, and voila you're up-to-date and then you can say "I need a raise" or "I need some help."

You need to pay attention to the numbers that are helping to drive your business. Not the "feel good" or "Vanity metrics". KISSmetrics defines vanity metrics simply and perfectly:

Vanity metrics are all those data points that make us feel good if they go up but don’t help us make decisions. 

Here are three steps to help you determine what is working and increase effectiveness:

Step 1: Understand where all your traffic is coming from

In Google Analytics, click "Traffic" and then "All Traffic". This gives you a detailed snapshot as to where people are coming to your site from. 

Be sure that you are tagging your links properly so you can each traffic source is getting the credit it should (and so you can see if that traffic source is driving people who are doing something on your site).

Step 2: Use advanced segments to gain insights

Now that you know where your visitors are coming from, it's time to see what the people that come from each of those sources are doing. Create an advance segment in Google Analytics so you see what content people, from social media for example, are interested in.

If you are running a few different social media campaigns, drill down to the campaign level (i.e. Twitter or Facebook) to get further insights such as "Which traffic drivers have high bounce rates?" or "Where is the majority of purchases coming from?" or "What content are these people most interested in?" 

This will help you more effectively engage with people on these sites if you know what they're interested in.

Step 3: Test, optimize and kill campaigns (if necessary)

Now that you know what is and is not working, it's time to optimize. Data doesn't lie, and an much as you like linking your Twitter to your Facebook account for status updates, it's not driving any incremental traffic. It's probably time for a switch in strategy. Or maybe it's time to double down on email because now you know it drove 25% more sales than your PR did.

Also utilizing simple and effective A/B testing tools such as Google Website Optimizer, Unbounce or KISSmetrics will allow you to test different ideas you have. Test copy, images, landing pages in different channels to see what helps your business.

These are three simple steps that help determine campaign effectiveness and can help prioritize your budget.

Let us know in the comments what are other useful tips and tricks you use. 

PS - You might want to follow us on Twitter. We cool cool stuff.

But is Pro Flowers (one of the advertisers today) missing an opportunity with their current ad and landing page experience? Let's dig a little deeper:

Step 1: Driving traffic with online advertising (OLA)

The OLA is done well. They have three different flower arrangement that have their own price points and Free giveaway. This allows the user to see different options and let's them "shop" within the ad (note the add is a 300x600 unit, so a bit larger than standard banners). Let's choose the $19.99 option.

Notice the call-to-action is "Buy Now." This assumes that you have chosen the flowers you want to purchase and the next logical step would be to give them your money.

Step 2: The landing page

The landing page that the user goes to is not a checkout page or a product page for the specific flowers you picked. It went to a page that had 48 flower arrangements on this. To me, this is like saying "are you're ready to give us your money, here's another chance to drop off?"

If the ad unit had a "See all options" or "See more" or "Shop now" button, then this would be a great place to send them.

However, the user expectation was not meet when the "Buy Now" button was clicked on the online advertising.

Takeaways

First, we're not saying that this approach is wrong or isn't working for them at all. This is simply an observation on our end. If Pro Flowers can afford a Yahoo homepage buy, then they're doing just fine.

What can we learn from this? Some things to keep in mind:

1. Have the CTA and landing page be in concert - If the CTA is buy now, perhaps it would make sense to send them to the checkout page.
2. The landing page should be simple and serve one purpose - 48 product options on one page is simply too much. Keep it simple.

Are they any other suggestions for this ad unit and landing page experience? Let us know in the comments!