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Susan Gunelius

Susan Gunelius

3 out of 4 of the Top 100 Brands Have Active Google+ Pages

google plus circlesGoogle+ has finally secured its foothold in top brands’ social media marketing strategies, and when coupled with Google’s YouTube, Google has become a strong player in the world of social media.

That’s according to the January 2013 SocialShare report from BrightEdge which tracks social adoption and trends among the Brandz top 100 global brands.

Brands and Google+

The SocialShare report reveals that Google+ has experienced a 94% growth rate among the top 100 brands during 2012, and today, 75% of the top 100 brands have active Google+ profiles with a total of 20.9 million followers. However, it’s important to point out that 78% of those fans (16.3 million followers) are following the top 10 brands. The top 10 breakdown includes four car brands, two technology brands, one retail brand, and two food and beverage brands as follows:

  1. H&M = 2.49 million followers
  2. BMW = 2.22 million followers
  3. Mercedes-Benz = 2.04 million followers
  4. Nissan = 1.95 million followers
  5. Google = 1.90 million followers
  6. Porsche = 1.79 million followers
  7. Red Bull = 1.53 million followers
  8. Samsung = 913,000 followers
  9. Starbucks = 843,000 followers
  10. Coca-Cola= 724,000 followers

One of the most important takeaways for brand marketers to learn from this report is that 25% of brands link to Google+ on their website home pages, and 20% of brands have their Google+ pages show up in search engine results (up from zero in 2011). The report authors explain, “As brands continue to attract Google+ followers, these [brand Google+] pages look set to become a mainstay of search results.”

The importance of becoming active on Google+ and linking your content via Google properties, particularly Google+, cannot be understated in 2013. As more and more Google+ pages turn up at the top of search results pages, consumers will start to expect to see them there. Brands that aren’t there and fail to meet consumers’ expectations could lose opportunities.

Brands and YouTube

The SocialShare report also shows an 87% brand adoption rate for Google’s YouTube among the top 100 brands. In total, those brands’ videos received 3.15 billion views in 2012 and have a total of 5.1 million subscribers. Google has made changes in recent months that link Google search, Google+, and YouTube even more closely together, so YouTube should be high on every brand’s social media priority list in 2013.

Two brands are really leading the way on YouTube — Google with 718,000 views and 1.12 subscribers and Red Bull with 535,000 views and 1.41 subscribers. Far behind in third place based on video views is Samsung with 160,000 views. In terms of subscribers, Apple takes the third spot with 964,000 subscribers, but subscribers nosedive after that. Nintendo ranks fourth for YouTube subscribers but has just 190,000 subscribers.

Of the top 100 brands, following are the 10 with the most YouTube views:

  1. Google = 718.4 million views
  2. Red Bull = 535.5 million views
  3. Samsung = 160.2 million views
  4. Nokia = 139.2 million views
  5. Coca-Cola = 135.0 million views
  6. Apple = 103.3 million views
  7. Disney = 83.6 million views
  8. Nintendo = 78.6 million views
  9. Pepsi = 66.2 million views
  10. VISA = 66.2 million views

Consistent growth for Google+ throughout 2012 and Google’s efforts to fully integrate its products to benefit search results ( as well as its social search initiatives) make it clear that Google+ has become a strategic imperative for brands.

You can follow the link at the beginning of the article to download the complete SocialShare January 2013 report from BrightEdge.

Image: Fabrizio Van Marciano

Tweet a Hashtag and Make a Purchase with American Express

american express card sync twitterThis week, American Express announced an enhancement to its Card Sync technology that attempts to close a gap in social ecommerce for Twitter users.

First, some history: When Card Sync launched in March 2012, American Express cardholders could sync their credit card accounts to receive couponless savings by tweeting specific hashtags from participating merchants. When a hashtag was tweeted by a Twitter member who had synced his American Express card to his Twitter account, the savings would automatically be added to the card account. When the cardholder made the actual purchase tied to the hashtag through a retailer, the savings would be refunded on his next American Express statement.

With the launch of the new Card Sync feature, people can make a purchase by tweeting specific hashtags. For example, an American Express cardholder who has synced his account with Twitter can tweet a special offer hashtag and automatically receive a verification from American Express (via @AmexSync). That verification which will contain a verification hashtag that the user must tweet within 15 minutes to confirm the purchase. Once the purchase is confirmed, the item will be shipped to his home. Shipping typically occurs within two days, and it’s free.

You can see how it works in the video from American Express below:

This is the first time that consumers can make a purchase simply be tweeting a hashtag, and if consumers catch on and start buying with hashtags, you can bet this type of brand promotion and direct marketing will explode in popularity. However, making sales is just one benefit of Card Sync and making purchases via hashtags. American Express also gets free brand promotion every time someone tweets one of the special hashtags or confirms a Card Sync purchase.

Adding the ability to make a purchase to Card Sync is a natural progression for American Express. Will other credit card brands follow? They’d be crazy not to, don’t you think? It’s 2013, and brands that aren’t finding ways to sell via social media are going to fall behind the more tech-savvy brands very quickly.

Image: American Express

How to Leverage Brand Conversations

brand conversationsConsumers talk about brands. They talk about brands to friends, family, and even strangers both online and offline, but how can marketers leverage those conversations to build brands?

That’s one of the questions inTV and InSites Consulting tried to answer in a recent online survey of 1,600 people in the U.K., France, Germany, Spain, and Italy. According to the results presentation, which you can see below, 90% of conversations about brands happen offline.

The good news is that brand sentiment is usually positive among people discussing brands and those discussions typically boost opinions about the brand among the wider audience in a positive direction.

Specifically, consumers indicated that brand conversations teach them new things about a brand or product and often motivate them to seek out additional information about the brand or product and to share information about the brand or product with other people. Moving down the purchase funnel, consumers also reported that brand conversations make them consider, choose, or buy a specific brand, and these conversations reassure them that they’ve made the right brand purchase decisions.

While the report clearly shows that brand conversations drive awareness, purchases, and word-of-mouth marketing, the intangible gains in terms of positive brand sentiment and developing an emotional connection between consumers and a brand are equally important. By leveraging brand conversations to not only share information and increase sales but also using conversations to reassure consumers and connect with them on an emotional level, brand marketers will build brand loyalty that will keep brand conversations and brand purchases going. It’s this perpetual marketing driving by brand conversations that brand marketers should leverage, fuel, and reward.

You can view the complete report by following the link above, which breaks results up into six categories: automotive, smartphones and tablets, banking, watches, travel destinations, and airlines.

What do you think are the best ways to leverage brand conversations? Leave a comment and share your thoughts.

Image: Flavio Takemoto

Brands, Pinterest, and Facebook

pins colorfulShould your brand be on Pinterest or Facebook? Of course, the best answer is to be on both, but it’s important to understand how people use each of these sites before you prioritize them as part of your brand marketing plan.

Wishpond put together a great infographic that highlights the key growth trends, usage trends, and user demographics of both Pinterest and Facebook to give you an overview of how people interact with each site.

You can see the full infographic at the end of this article, but first, here are some key highlights from the data:

  • 80% of Pinterest users are women.
  • 50% of Pinterest users have children.
  • Most Pinterest users are between the ages of 25 and 34.
  • The #1 content category on Pinterest is food-related content.
  • 57% of Pinterest users interact with food-related content.
  • Over 80% of pins on Pinterest are repins.
  • Pinterest users divide their time with three main activities: pinning (84% of their time), liking (16% of their time), and commenting (less than 1% of their time).
  • Pinterest pins with prices get 36% more likes than those without.
  • Of the 17 million brand engagements on Pinterest, 15% occur on brand boards while 85% occur elsewhere.
  • Pinterest referrals spend 70% more money than visitors referred from non-social channels.
  • 9% of people have participated in contests or promotions via Pinterest vs. 30% on Facebook.
  • 43% of people prefer to associate with retailers or brands on Pinterest vs. 24% for Facebook.
  • 69% of online consumers have found an item they wanted to buy or actually bought on Pinterest vs. 40% on Facebook.

Based on those statistics, is your target audience for your brand on Pinterest? Do the activities people do on Pinterest and the ways they interact with brands on Pinterest work better for your brand than Facebook?

Pinterest is the fastest growing social site in history, but that doesn’t mean it’s the best one for your brand. Similarly, Facebook might be the most popular social network in the world by far, but that doesn’t mean it’s the best one for your brand. Consider who is using the tool, how they’re using it, and what they want from brands when they use the tool. Do those things match your brand? Can you deliver those additional things people are looking for (or don’t know they want yet)? Choose the tool to match your brand rather than trying to make your brand fit the tool.

You can click on the image below to view the infographic at full size.

Infographic pinterest users

Image: Irum Shahid

2012 Brand Social Media Marketing Wins and Fails [Infographic]

sephoraIn 2012, 92% of internet users between the ages of 18-29 visited social networking sites. Compare that figure to 73% for internet users between the ages of 30-49 and 57% for internet users between the ages of 50-64, and it’s clear that the big drop off in social media usage that used to exist as age increases no longer exists. Even 38% of internet users over the age of 64 use social networking sites.

Naturally, brands want to connect with those consumers through social media, and 2012 was filled with more social media marketing initiatives than ever. Some of those initiatives performed very well and brought the brands that launched them positive buzz and sales. On the flip side, many brands experienced huge failures in social media marketing during 2012.

Marketers can learn a lot from both the social media marketing successes and failures of 2012 to improve their own campaigns in 2013. The infographic below highlights some of the biggest social media marketing wins and failures from the past year that can help you with your brand marketing creative thinking and help you identify measures to ensure things don’t go terribly wrong.

Some of the positive social media marketing stories include:

  • Nike: A campaign tied to the London Olympics honored everyday athletes with both offline and online components. Positive feedback was higher for Nike than it was for the official sponsor of the Olympic Games, Adidas. The social media aspect of the campaign targeted Facebook and Twitter and delivered over 16,000 tweets and a 77% increase in Facebook Page interaction during the Olympic Games.
  • Honda: A campaign to promote its new CRV model offered $500 to the most active pinners on Pinterest to take a 24-hour break from the site, which they branded as a Pintermission. Winners created pinboards about everything they did during their day away from Pinterest. As a result, Honda reached in excess of 5.5 million followers of those very active pinners.
  • Sephora: The “15 Days of Beauty” campaign on Facebook also included a mobile element. Both iPads and iPod touches were placed in brick-and-mortar Sephora stores in an effort to drive mobile traffic. As a result, there were over 2 million downloads of the Sephora mobile app.

You can see the complete infographic below, which includes additional social media marketing wins and several failures.

Biggest Moments in Social Media 2012
Image compliments of MBA in Marketing Degree Guide

Image: Justin Tung

The Significance of Facebook Card for Brands

facebook cardJanuary 31, 2013 marked an important milestone in Facebook history when Facebook Card was launched to Facebook members in the United States. Suddenly, brands have a new way to marry Facebook marketing, ecommerce, and brick-and-mortar sales into one little piece of plastic.

According to the announcement of Facebook Card, Facebook members can give Facebook friends monetary gifts to shop at specific retailers (online or offline) via a plastic card that they’ll receive in the mail a few days after it is purchased. They’ll also receive a notification that the card is on its way to them at the time it is purchased.

When the card is used, a notification is sent to the cardholder letting them know that the balance has changed. They can also look up this information in the account settings of their Facebook Profile.

People who get a Facebook Card need to hang onto it though, because if another person sends them a Facebook Card gift, that money will be added to the existing card. The money associated with each retailer is tracked separately on the card, so a cardholder could have balances with several retailers at the same time on a single card.

According to AdWeek, Facebook has no plans to offer digital Facebook Cards, so the plastic is here to stay. Also, there are no current plans to link Facebook Offers with Facebook Card. In other words, retailers won’t be able to promote Offers to users with cards that have balances for their stores.

It’s probably safe to assume that such integrations will come in the future if Facebook Cards gains some traction among Facebook members. For example, if retailers had the ability to target cardholders with balances for their stores and serve ads to specific segments, they should be able to get the right offers in front of more of the right members of the one billion Facebook community and increase Facebook marketing ROI significantly. That’s just one reason why it’s so important for Facebook to find a solution that successfully marries Facebook marketing spending, ecommerce, and offline sales.

The question at this point is how Facebook members will react to physical gift cards, something that the younger demographic calls “retro” (check out the comments in this Mashable article to see for yourself). Of course, this is just Phase 1 of Facebook Card, and enhancements and changes are likely to come quickly and frequently. Again, Facebook needs this to work. Brands hope it will work. But do consumers care? Only time will tell.

What do you think about Facebook Card?

Image: Facebook Newsroom