Corporate Eye

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Susan Gunelius

Susan Gunelius

The Rise of Social Sponsorships – What Brand Marketers Need to Know

social media influencerIn its 2013 State of Sponsored Social report, IZEA reveals that social sponsorship is on the rise and cutting into display advertising budgets for many brand marketers. This finding comes from a research analysis of over 10,000 brand marketers, social media consultants, and key social influencers’ opinions and experiences with social sponsorships and display advertising.

Overall, 61% of brand marketers invested in social sponsorships in 2013 by compensating social media influencers or publishers in exchange for a mention, promotion, or review through the influencer’s social media content, conversations, and channels. That is a 5% increase over 2012 social sponsorship investments. Today, 60% of companies have a stand-alone social media budget.

The growth in social sponsorships isn’t surprising given that 30% of marketers who responded to the IZEA survey indicated that they believe display advertising is dead or dying. This belief is corroborated by influencers. In total, 55.7% of influencers indicated that they make more money from social sponsorships today than from display advertising.

The most commonly used forms of social sponsorship used by brand marketers in 2013 were Sponsored Tweets (52%) and sponsored blog posts (51.6%) followed by sponsored videos (33%) and sponsored photos (33.0%). For the first time, sponsored share/pins on Pinterest were included in the annual study with 29% of brand marketers reporting that they invested in Pinterest social sponsorships in 2013.

Overall, brand marketers believe that the most important measures of social sponsorship success are the quality of the content (41.9%), number of shares (36.3%), and click through rate (35.2%). Interestingly, quality is also the most important factor for influencers when they consider an offer for a social media sponsorship. Quality of the advertiser ranked as the most important factor followed by value of the compensation and form of compensation. In 2013, the majority of influencers (74%) prefer to receive cash payment from brand marketers for social sponsorships.

Despite all of this positive growth for social sponsorships, more than one in four brand marketers (26.7%) have no understanding of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) guidelines related to disclosing material connections. More than one in three brand marketers (37%) admit that they’ve heard of the FTC guidelines but that’s all, and only 10.6% have read the guidelines. Surprisingly, only 25.5% of brand marketers have read and understand the FTC guidelines. Influencers also have little knowledge of the U.S. guidelines, which can easily be found in the Code of Federal Regulations, Title 16, Part 255, Section 255.5. Only 29.5% of influencers have read and understand the FTC guidelines while 37.9% have no understanding of them at all.

Image: Ilker

Most Popular Web Searches of the Year – Google Zeitgeist 2013

search engineThe 2013 Google Zeitgeist, which ranks the most popular web searches of the year in a variety of categories, has been released, and there are a number of brand-related lists and charts available to give you an idea of what brands were hot in search during 2013.

Most Searched for Brands of 2013

The five most searched for apparel brands and retailers in the United States in 2013 were Kohl’s, JCPenney, Nordstrom, Forever 21, and Victoria’s Secret. It’s important to point out that not all searches are conducted for the reasons brands would want. The ongoing problems at JCPenney during 2013 put the brand in the number two position on the Google Zeitgeist list of the most searched for retail brands this year.

Looking at high fashion brands, Versace, Michael Kors, Diesel Black Gold, Gucci, and Kate Spade were the top five most searched for brands. The top five most searched for jewelry brands in 2013 were Gucci, Kendra Scott, Sucre, Jennifer Meyer, and Jennifer Fisher. For shoe brands, the top five most searched for in 2013 were TOMS, Aldo, Nike, Jessica Simpson, and Steve Madden.

Most Searched for Branded Products of 2013

From a branded product perspective, the top five most searched for beers across in the United States were Blue Moon, Bud Light, Bud Light Platinum, Kingfisher, and Stella Artois. When looking for new cars, the five most searched for cars were the 2014 Corvette Stingray, 2014 Chevrolet Camaro, 2013 Honda Civic, 2014 Honda Accord, and 2013 Jeep Wrangler. However, for hybrid and electric cars, people searched most often for the Chevy Volt, the Fisker Karma, the Toyota Prius C, the Toyota Prius V, and the Toyota Camry Hybrid.

Consumers researching phones most often searched for iPhone 5s, Samsung Galaxy S4, iPhone 5c, HTC One, and Nexus 5. The most searched for tech gadgets were the Playstation 4, Samsung Galaxy S4, iPhone 5s, iPhone 5c, and iPad Air. The top searched for video games were Grand Theft Auto V, Cookie Clicker, Atari Breakout, Candy Crush, and Bioshock Infinite. When consumers looked for mobile apps, they most often searched for Bitstrips, Vine, Candy Crush, MeetMe, and Snapchat.

Most Searched for Companies of 2013

Companies were also ranked in several categories in the 2013 Google Zeitgeist. The most searched for car companies in the United States during 2013 were Tesla, Bugati, MINI, Ford, and Jeep. The top searched for food companies were Pizza Hut, Domino’s, Starbucks, McDonalds, and Jimmy Johns. Finally, the most searched for Fortune 500 companies in 2013 were Google, Facebook, Apple, Yahoo!, and Target.

You can see more lists, including lists for a number of countries, and compare these rankings with rankings from previous years on the Google Zeitgeist website (just follow the link at the beginning of this article). Google also created an annual zeitgeist video which gives a great overview of the year in search. You can watch it below.

Image: Carl Dwyer

Google and Facebook Rule Digital in 2013

digital webNielsen released its Tops of 2013: Digital lists this week and Google and Facebook dominate the list of top web brands, top online video brands, and top smartphone apps. In other words, Google and Facebook ruled digital in 2013.

Top 2013 Web Brands

First, Nielsen ranked the top 10 U.S. web brands for 2013. With an average unique audience of 164.8 million per month, Google took the top spot followed by Facebook in second place with 135.0 million unique visitors per month.

Another Google property, YouTube ranked in fifth place with 119.2 million monthly unique visitors. Yahoo! and MSN/WindowsLive/Bing came in second and third place with 129.8 and 121.0 million monthly unique visitors, respectively.

Top 2013 Online Video Brands

When it came to online video in 2013, no other brand came close to matching Google’s YouTube with 128.4 million unique visitors per month. Trailing significantly behind in second place was VEVO with 37.2 million unique monthly visitors. The top five also included Yahoo! (35.4 million), AOL Media Network (26.4 million), and MSN/WindowsLive/Bing (19.8 million).

Top 2013 Smartphone Apps

The mobile app world was truly ruled by Google and Facebook in 2013. Together, these two companies accounted for seven of the top ten smartphone apps according to Nielsen. More specifically, Google accounts for five out of the top ten (actually, five out of the top six). The top 10 smartphone apps of 2013 based on average unique monthly viewers were:

  1. Facebook: 103.4 million unique visitors per month (owned by Facebook)
  2. Google Search: 76.0 million unique visitors per month (owned by Google)
  3. Google Play: 73.7 million unique visitors per month (owned by Google)
  4. YouTube: 72.0 million unique visitors per month (owned by Google)
  5. Google Maps: 68.6 million unique visitors per month (owned by Google)
  6. Gmail: 64.4 million unique visitors per month (owned by Google)
  7. Instagram: 32.0 million unique visitors per month (owned by Facebook)
  8. Maps (Apple): 31.9 million unique visitors per month
  9. Stocks: 30.8 million unique visitors per month
  10. Twitter: 30.8 million unique visitors per month

It’s interesting to note how young some of these web properties and smartphone apps are. Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, and many other brands and properties on these lists haven’t even been around for a decade. The growth rates are amazing. Looking at the fastest growing smartphone app in 2013, Nielsen’s data identifies Instagram in the number one spot with 66% growth year over year.

The question is whether or not Google and Facebook can hold onto their positions of power in the future. What do you think?

Image: Flavio Takemoto

Brand Engagement and Customer Care in Social Media

twitter iphoneThe Sprout Social Index: Engagement and Customer Care report analyzes brand responsiveness, industry responsiveness, channel growth, and consumer behavior to identify how well brands are meeting consumer expectations for social media engagement and customer service. Unfortunately, the report reveals that as more and more consumers turn to Twitter and Facebook to communicate with brands when they need answers to questions and solutions to problems, brand performance is declining both in terms of response rate and response time.

The problem for brands is volume. The Sprout Social Index reports that messages sent to brands on Twitter and Facebook that require a response or attention has increased by 175% in the past year. On a per message fan basis, the Sprout Social Index reports that Twitter users are more engaged with brands than Facebook users. On average, brands receive 60 messages per 1,000 followers each month on Twitter versus 39 messages per 1,000 fans per month on Facebook. This is most likely due to the more open nature of Twitter where users can share content without being friends with another user (or brand) or following another user (or brand).

Consumer Expectations for Brands Have Changed

Regardless of the tool, consumers are turning to social media for customer service, sales support, and more. As such, they’re expectations for acceptable brand response rates and times are changing, but brands are falling behind. According to the report, average social media response time across all industries dropped from 10.9 hours to 11.3 hours between the third quarter of 2012 and the third quarter of 2013. During the same time period, response rates on both Facebook and Twitter dropped below 20% overall. Justyn Howard, Sprout Social CEO, explains why this matters to brands:

“A 20% response rate to messages requiring attention means that four out of five consumer inquiries go unanswered. This would not be tolerated in traditional channels like phone and email and is not a sustainable practice.”

Brand Reputation Hinges on Effective Social Care

This isn’t just a customer service issue, because social media is public-facing. Today, it’s a strategic brand imperative to increase budgets, manpower, training, performance analyses, and investments in appropriate tools to ensure social media content and interactions represent your brand in a manner that consistently supports your brand promise.

The Sprout Social Index offers seven suggestions for brands to improve their social performance, including:

  • Staff for experience: Don’t put interns in charge of your most public and visible channel (behind in-person).
  • Build for responsiveness: Your social team should have the right skills, training, information and authority to respond quickly and appropriately.

Follow the link at the beginning of this article to view all of the data in the report as well as the full tips to provide better social customer care to support your brand. If you haven’t done it already, make 2014 the year where you prioritize brand engagement and customer care in social media.

Image: William Hook

Santa’s Brand Book 2013 – Time for a Brand Refresh

santa brandEven Santa could use a brand refresh from time to time, and the British agency Quietroom has taken the reindeer by the horns and created the 2013 Santa Brand Book. It’s a must-see for marketers and brand managers who need a laugh during the hectic holiday season.

The Santa Brand Book is filled with humor and over-the-top branding and marketing messaging. It begins with the following brand value proposition:

“*Santa* is a Concept, not an idea. It’s an Emotion, not a feeling. It’s both Yesterday and Today. And it’s Tomorrow as well. *Santa* winds infinite Possibilities around finite Limitations to evoke the essence of invention and the Odour of Nostalgia. It has the complexity of Simpleness and the Simplicity of complexiveness. It begins with the Hiss of Power and ends with the Ah of Surprise.”

How many brand statements have you read that are filled with buzz words but are completely meaningless, like brand *Santa*?

Next, the Santa Brand Book explains the brand promise:

  • X = excellence
  • M = measurability
  • A = accountability
  • S = snow

There is nothing like creating an acronym to state the obvious. How many times have you seen this in brand identity guides?

And the answer to the question, “Why *Santa*?” should not be missed:

* – the introductory asterisk reminds customers of a snowflake alighting on the eyelash of a fawn.

SAN – the first three letters represent South and North. We are headquartered in the North, but our reach is global.

N – the N also symbolizes nitrogen, the most abundant atmospheric element, calling to mind the abundance of gifts we distribute.

TA – the final two letters are the (abbreviated) thanks of the world’s children.

* – the terminating asterisk points customers to the polar star, and hence the birth of dreams.

Equally amusing is the description of how to live the brand- “Snap it. Clap it. Wrap it.”

Be sure to check out the “Mandatory Venn Diagrams”, the brand assets schematic, the “Curve of Credulity”, the external communications requirements, the brand color palette, and the meaning of Pantone 032C red. Each is filled with tongue-in-cheek humor that seasoned marketers will understand and love.

Of course, the 2013 Santa Brand Book is meant to be funny, but it actually delivers an important message. When you create a brand and brand identity guidelines, make sure they actually mean something to all stakeholders (e.g., consumers, employees, investors, and so on). Anyone can put together a jargon-filled document complete with charts and diagrams, but strip all of that fancy (and distracting) wrapping away and what’s left? It’s that remaining substance which truly matters to your brand, its identity, and its success.

 Image: Roby Mikic

B2B Technology Buyers Prefer Blogs and White Papers for Pre-Sales Decision-Making

download-buttonThe Eccolo Media B2B Technology Content Survey reveals that small business, mid-market, and enterprise technology decision makers prefer to read blogs and white papers during the pre-sales cycle. While the study reveals a number of nuances between small and large business decision makers, there are also noteworthy differences between the content consumption preferences and behaviors of technical purchase influencers versus decision makers.

For example, mid-market company technology buyers are more likely to receive vendor content via Facebook than LinkedIn while enterprise buyers are more likely to consume vendor content via LinkedIn. Furthermore, small business buyers don’t believe that post-sale vendor content is as important as large company buyers do. Overall, technology buyers who want to receive ongoing vendor content prefer white papers (98%), case studies (66%), and technology guides (37%).

However, content preferences (presented in 16 categories, including blogs, white papers, case studies, videos, brochures, data sheets, podcasts, infographics, email newsletters, and more) vary based not only on business size but also on roles (purchase influencer vs. decision-maker) and where the buy is in the sales cycle (pre-sales vs final sales process). For example, decision-makers consume more vendor content in 15 of 16 different types of content than influencers. Eccolo Media highlights the following findings from its survey:

  • Small Business: Influencers rely primarily on infographics and video during the pre-sales process while decision-makers rely mostly on blogs. During the final sales process, decision makers rely primarily on technology guides.
  • Mid-Market: Influencers consume all types of content equally and at greater rates than decision-makers during the pre-sales process. Decision-makers also consume all types of content equally during the pre-sales process. During the final sales process, influencers rely on technology guides.
  • Enterprise: Influencers and decision-makers rely mostly on blogs and white papers during the pre-sales process. During the final sales process, decision-makers rely on technology guides and infographics.

Not only does the individual’s role and the company’s place in the sales cycle effect how technology buyers use content but the level of interactivity of that content can also impact purchase decisions. Two-thirds of respondents to the survey indicated that they will interact with content to get more information from vendors and they very often click on links in content to get more information. However, mid-market and enterprise survey respondents were more likely to click on links in vendor content (63%) than small business respondents (43%). When asked why they don’t click on links in vendor content, respondents said it was because they weren’t sure where the links would take them (37%) or whether the link content would be relevant to them (36%).

Content marketing can play an important role in building relationships and trust before, during, and after a sale is made. Technology buyers want access to useful and relevant content in a variety of forms. With these research results in mind, create a B2B content marketing strategy that is highly targeted by segmenting your audiences by role and placement in the sales cycle to continue moving them through the cycle to making a purchase or repurchasing. The type of content you send and when you send it can make a significant difference to your sales success.

Image: Ariel da Silva Parreira