Different devices, different circumstances, different content

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.

Why you need to be on Google+

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! 

What we're reading - May 31, 2012

Afraid you won't have anything to read this weekend? Well fear not, because here's a round up of some of our favorite articles we've read this week. Enjoy! (PS - You might want to follow us on Twitter, we tweet really cool stuff! :)

• 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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Our key takeaways for marketers from the annual internet trends report

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

Quick steps to improve your email effectiveness

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?