Corporate Eye

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Susan Gunelius

Susan Gunelius

Social Media Demographics – Who Uses What?

social media apps iphoneWho are all of those people using social media websites Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Pinterest, Tumblr, and Instagram? Pew Research Center reveals some demographic data about the most popular social sites in its Photos and Videos as Social Currency Online report from the Pew Internet and American Life Project. The numbers might surprise you.

First, did you know that 46% of adult internet users publish original photos or videos online? These are people who upload and post photos and videos that they created. Also, did you know that 41% of adult internet users share photos or videos that they find online through other social websites by reposting them?

Altogether, 56% of internet users either publish original photos or videos or repost and share photos and videos created and originally published by other people. 32% of internet users do both of those things — creating and curating photo and video content.

This information is important to brands that are trying to visually connect with audiences online and boost word-of-mouth marketing through compelling imagery. The trick for brands is finding the right sites and tools to communicate and share content with their target audiences. By reviewing the information from the Pew Research Center report, brands can narrow down their social media starting points. Some of the key data from the report follows:

  • Pinterest: 12% of online adults use Pinterest. 1 in 5 women use Pinterest compared to 1 in 20 men. Pinterest users also tend to be younger and well-educated.
  • Instagram: 12% of online adults use Instagram. The site’s adult users skew young. More than 1 in 4 internet users between the ages of 18 and 29 use Instagram. 11% of male and 12% of female internet users are Instagram users.
  • Tumblr: 5% of online adults use Tumblr. Like Instagram, the site’s adult users are young. 11% of internet users between the ages of 18 and 29 use Instagram. 4% of male and 7% of female internet users are Tumblr users.
  • Facebook: 66% of online adults use Facebook. 63% of male and 70% of female internet users are on Facebook. Users span all age ranges, education levels, and income levels. However, the largest number of users are young, less-educated, and have lower incomes than other social media sites analyzed in this report.
  • LinkedIn: 20% of online adults use LinkedIn. 21% of male and 19% of female internet users are LinkedIn users. Most users are between the ages of 30 and 64. They are well-educated and have higher incomes.
  • Twitter: 16% of online adults use Twitter. 17% of male and 15% of female internet users are on Twitter. Most users are between the ages of 18-29, have some college, and make over $75,000 per year. In other words, users span across all demographic groups more evenly than other social media tools like Pinterest and Instagram.

Of course, demographics are just one piece of the targeting puzzle for social media marketing plans, but the data from the Pew Research Center report provides a great place to start your planning. Which social media site is best for your brand?

Image: Jason A. Howie

9 of 10 UK Shoppers Will Shop Online for Holiday Gifts This Year

holiday shoppingNew research from Kinetic reports that 90% of U.K. internet users will shop online for holiday gifts this year, and 52% will do most of their holiday shopping online. Is your brand ready?

The data from the Kinetic research report shows that while more than half of U.K. internet users will do most of their holiday shopping online this year, just 28% expect to do most of their holiday shopping in high street shops and only 20% expect to shop in malls. All is not lost for high street shops and shopping malls though. Those simply aren’t the locations where U.K. shoppers expect to do most of their shopping this holiday season.

The shift to online shopping for holiday gifts is even more pronounced in specific categories. For example, the number of U.K. internet users who plan to purchase holiday gifts of CDs and DVDs online is twice as high as the number who plan to buy CDs and DVDs in stores. On the other hand, U.K. internet users are twice as likely to purchase holiday gifts of homeware and furniture items in stores rather than online. Specific category results follow:

  • Clothing and footwear: Online = 29%; In-store = 42%
  • Perfume and cosmetics: Online = 26%; In-store = 38%
  • Toys and games: Online = 38%; In-store = 37%
  • Jewelry and watches: Online = 17%; In-store = 28%
  • Books: Online = 50%; In-store =27%
  • CDs/DVDs: Online = 58%; In-store = 24%
  • Homeware and furniture: Online = 10%; In-store = 20%
  • Electronics: Online = 32%; In-store = 18%
  • Sport items: Online = 16%; In-store = 17%

One thing is for certain, online shopping is the preferred method of shopping for holiday gifts. Overall, 90% of U.K. internet users planned to shop for holiday gifts online this year, but 84% also expected to shop on the high street, and 79% still planned to shop in shopping malls and shopping centers. However, these study results highlight the transition away from brick-and-mortar retail shopping to online shopping, and this transition away from brick-and-mortar shopping will continue to grow as more people become comfortable shopping from their mobile devices.

Is your brand ready with marketing campaigns and messages that leverage consumers’ transitioning shopping preferences? Leave a comment and share your thoughts.

Image: Charles Thompson

IPad Mini vs. Kindle Fire – Let the Battle Begin

The iPad mini from Apple has finally launched, and Amazon was ready for it. A visit to the Amazon.com home page in the United States puts the iPad mini up against the Kindle Fire HD in a head-to-head battle complete with six key feature comparisons that are sure to matter to consumers. You can see a screenshot of the Amazon home page below. The six-point comparison shows the following differences between Amazon’s Kindle Fire HD and Apple’s iPad mini:

  • Kindle Fire HD has an HD display with 30% more pixels than the iPad mini, which has a standard definition, low-resolution display.
  • Kindle Fire HD shows 216 pixels per inch vs. 163 pixels per inch for the iPad mini.
  • Kindle Fire HD enables customers to view HD movies and television, but the iPad mini offers no HD movies or television.
  • Kindle Fire HD has dual stereo speakers compared to the iPad mini’s mono speaker.
  • Kindle Fire HD offers ultra-fast, MIMO Wi-Fi, which the iPad mini does not.
  • Kindle Fire HD costs $199, which is significantly cheaper than $329 for the iPad mini.

Click the image below to view it at full size.

amazon home page kindle fire hd vs ipad mini

Another smart addition to the Amazon home page is the quote from the popular tech site Gizmodo, which offers what Amazon hopes is an unbiased, expert opinion about the Kindle Fire HD’s superiority over the iPad mini. In the quote, Gizmodo’s writer questions Apple’s iPad mini advertising messages by asking, “… your [Apple’s] 7.9-inch tablet has far fewer pixels than the competing 7-inch tablets! You’re cramming a worse screen in there and accusing others of compromise?”

Of course, this comparison is for one model of Amazon’s Kindle versus one model of Apple’s iPad mini, but it’s presented in a way that draws attention to differentiators that matter to consumers. Amazon’s Kindle has to battle against the coolness factor of the Apple and iPad brands and communicating tangible reasons why consumers should not choose Apple and iPad is very smart.

Naturally, the iPad mini offers its own differentiators, but in the growing tablet market, Amazon is boldly attacking its primary competitor and the market leader head on. What do you think? Will it work?

Stock Prices Move with Twitter Brand Mentions

twitter brand mentionsWhen people talk about brands on Twitter, stock prices move. This high positive correlation between stock performance and volume of Twitter mentions of a brand was just one finding in The Conversation Index Volume 5 research study from Bazaarvoice.

The study analyzed 26 million tweets with each mentioning at least one of 13 brands from the BrandZ Global 100 Brands list: Adidas, Clinique, Colgate, Gillette, Hugo Boss, Nike, Pampers, Pepsi, Ralph Lauren, Samsung, Intel, Tesco, and Sony. Next, the data was compared to over 8,000 television and radio mentions, 17 months of stock price data, over 18 months of Google search data, and 270,000 pieces of consumer-generated content from online reviews — all for those same 13 brands.

Key findings from the study include:

  • A high volume of brand mentions on Twitter typically coincides with a high stock closing price for that brand.
  • Brand buzz on Twitter typically does not fall as a brand’s stock price falls.
  • Twitter users are different from users of other social channels and are more likely to reveal their personal interactions with brands.
  • Mentions of brands on Twitter has grown by 113% from 2011 to 2012, which is lower than the 143% growth in the volume of tweets per day recorded during the same period.
  • Original tweets about brands are on the decline.
  • Retweets about brands are on the rise.
  • Google search interest in brands does not correlate to Twitter mentions, stock performance, or television and radio mentions.

Bottom-line, brand mentions on Twitter are valuable, but they differ from other types of brand mentions simply because people use Twitter differently than they use other social channels. As I’ve written many times on Corporate Eye, a fully-integrated marketing plan that leverages traditional marketing tactics and new media marketing tactics (including Twitter and other social channels)  is the most powerful and successful.

What do you think about the Bazaarvoice Conversation Index findings? Leave a comment and share your thoughts on Twitter marketing and the value of brand mentions for your company.

Image: Bernard Goldbach

2012 Global Brand Simplicity Index Ranks Most Simple and Complex Brands

global brand simplicity indexSiegel & Gale’s 2012 Global Brand Simplicity Index ranks the simplest and most complex brands in the world and reports not just the rankings but also points of complexity and simplicity that affect people’s lives and their perceptions of brands. For example, did you know that consumers are willing to pay billions more for simpler brand experiences? That’s just one finding from the report.

In all, the index surveyed 6,067 consumers in seven countries across Europe, the Middle East, Asia, and North America to identify their perceptions of 125 brands in 25 industries.

Key findings from the survey and corresponding report include:

  • Across all industries, consumers are willing to pay more than $30 billion for simpler products and brand experiences.
  • 80% of consumers are more likely to recommend a brand because it provides simpler experiences and communications.
  • Globally, consumers rank the internet search, electronics, and restaurants industries as the simplest while general insurance, health insurance, and utilities are ranked as the most complex.
  • Google ranked as the simplest global brand, but Google+ was among the least simple global brands. Facebook also ranked as a complex brand (ranking 118 out of 125 brands).

The brands that consumers ranked as simplest globally are:

  • Google: Brand Simplicity Score = 891 (Simplest Brand Globally)
  • McDonald’s: Brand Simplicity Score = 812
  • IKEA: Brand Simplicity Score = 789
  • C&A: Brand Simplicity Score = 782
  • Apple: Brand Simplicity Score = 779
  • Pizza Hut: Brand Simplicity Score = 778
  • Nokia: Brand Simplicity Score = 772
  • Yahoo!: Brand Simplicity Score = 768
  • Carrefour: Brand Simplicity Score = 767
  • Aldi: Brand Simplicity Score = 761

The brands that ranked at the bottom of the list making them the most complex globally are:

  • O2: Brand Simplicity Score = 487
  • Groupon: Brand Simplicity Score = 481
  • Google+: Brand Simplicity Score = 465
  • Bupa: Brand Simplicity Score = 461
  • EasyJet: Brand Simplicity Score = 461
  • Europcar: Brand Simplicity Score = 446
  • AXA: Brand Simplicity Score = 414
  • E.ON: Brand Simplicity Score = 377
  • Allianz: Brand Simplicity Score = 283
  • Ryanair: Brand Simplicity Score = 260 (Most Complex Brand Globally)

The full index report is available here and includes more data as well as rankings for specific countries and regions such as the United States, the United Kingdom, China, Germany, India, and the Middle East.

Image: Siegel & Gale

Internet Ad Revenues up 14% and Mobile up 95%

ad revenue moneyAccording to the Internet Advertising Bureau’s (IAB) Internet Advertising Revenue Report, internet advertising revenues were up by 14% in the first six months of 2012 to $17 billion. It’s hard to believe that when the IAB began tracking internet advertising revenue back in 1996,the first half-year revenue recorded was $82 million.

At the same time, mobile advertising nearly doubled over the prior year to $1.2 billion during the first half of 2012. The online advertising revenue data in the report comes from web sites, commercial online services, free email providers, and all other companies selling online advertising, and it’s considered one of the most accurate measurements of interactive advertising revenues.

Additional highlights from the report include:

  • Digital video commercials (a component of display-related advertising in the IAB report) increased by 18% year-over-year during the first six months of 2012 and brought in $1 billion in revenue.
  • Search ad revenues for the first half of 2012 increased by 19% and brought in $8.1 billion in revenue. That equates to 48% of all 2012 half-year internet ad revenues.
  • Display-related advertising revenues during the first half of 2012 increased by 4% to $55.6 billion. That’s 33% of all 2012 half-year internet ad revenues.
  • Retail made up the largest category of internet ad spending during the first six months of 2012 and claimed 20% of the total revenues at $3.4 billion. The automotive category claimed 13% of total revenues at $2.2 billion.
  • Performance-based ad pricing revenues rose by 19% to $11.5 billion in the first six months of 2012 (67% of all revenues). Impression-based ad pricing revenues increased by 11% to $5.2 billion (31% of all revenues), but hybrid ad pricing revenue dropped by 60% to $368 million (2% of all revenues).

 You can see the specific ad revenue breakdown during the first six months of 2012 for each ad category below:

  1. Search = 48%
  2. Display Related= 33%
    • Banner Ads = 21%
    • Digital Video Commercials = 6%
    • Rich Media = 3%
    • Sponsorship = 2%
  3. Mobile = 7%
  4. Classifieds = 7%
  5. Referrals/Lead Generation = 5%
  6. E-mail = 0%

As you might already know, but it’s always good to see the actual data, search advertising and display advertising still dominate internet advertising but mobile represents a world that’s full of opportunities, which advertisers are just starting to tap into. Furthermore, email has become the forgotten child who deserves more attention, don’t you think?

Image: Leonardini