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Social Media Use Among Older Adults Nearly Doubles in One Year

If your brand is targeted to older adults, and you’ve heretofore thought that you didn’t need a social media presence because older adults don’t spend time on the social web, you’re wrong.

A new study from Pew Research Center tells us that use of social media among older adults in the United States, age 50 and older, has nearly doubled over the past year from 22% to 42%.

But there’s more compelling data…

According to the Pew Research Center study, 47% of Internet users between the ages of 50-64 (that’s 1 out of every 2 people in that age group) and 26% over the age of 65 (1 in 4 people) use social networking sites.

And this is not a group of people who isn’t making use of the various tools and features available to them.  On the contrary, they’re using social media to share, “links, photos, videos, news and status updates with a growing network of contacts.”

Facebook and LinkedIn are the most popular social networking sites for older adults.

But wait.  There’s still more…

11% of Internet users between the ages of 50-64 (that’s 1 in 10 people) and 5% over the age of 65 use Twitter or a similar service, “to share updates about themselves of see updates about others.”

Still not convinced that brands targeted at older audiences should be on the social web?  Then consider this…

Older adults aren’t just signing up for social network or Twitter accounts and never using them again.  According to the Pew Research Center study, 20% of Internet users between the ages of 50-64 (1 in 5) and 13% over the age of 65 use social networking sites everyday.

So what do you think now?

Brand Museums and Factories Become Popular Tourist Destinations

There are few companies in the world that have such powerful brands that the brand and all of the tangible elements of its history can be turned into a museum which people around the world actually want to visit.  Similarly, there are factories that power brands which are strong enough to draw visitors from around the world.  Today’s post highlights several of those branded museums and factories that have become popular tourist destinations.

1. The World of Coca-Cola

At the Coca-Cola museum in Atlanta, Georgia visitors can taste Coca-Cola products from around the world, see a real bottling line, buy Coke merchandise, and more.

2. Hershey Museum and Chocolate World

Okay, Hershey’s makes chocolate, so there are some perks to visiting the Hershey Museum and factory in Hershey, Pennsylvania, including free chocolate.  And the Hershey’s theme park helps, too.

hersheys-factory-tour

3. Ben & Jerry’s Factory

Again, it’s hard to resist ice cream, but the Ben & Jerry’s Factory tour in Waterbury, Vermont is popular not just for the ice cream.  The unique flavors that make the Ben & Jerry’s brand famous take center stage in this tour and visitors love it.

ben-and-jerrys-factory-tour

4. The Henry Ford Museum and Ford Factory Tour

Visitors to Dearborn, Michigan can tour the Ford Rouge Factory and visit the Henry Ford Museum which is filled with history and pieces of Americana.  The trip can also include a visit to Henry Ford’s hometown, the historic Greenfield Village, as well as the Henry Ford Research Center.

ford-factory-tour

5. Ferrari World Abu Dhabi Theme Park

There is already a Ferrari museum featuring all the cool cars you can imagine in Italy, but coming in October 2010, Abu Dhabi will be the home of the new Ferrari World Theme Park complete with displays, driving experiences in real cars and on a real track, and the world’s fastest roller coaster.

ferrari-theme-park

What do you think?  Have you visited a brand museum or factory?  Is your brand powerful enough to be a museum?  Leave a comment and share your thoughts.

Branded YouTube Channels to Benchmark

There are a lot of brands on YouTube, and many of the companies behind those brands have created branded YouTube channels where consumers can view video content related to those brands.  Sometimes the content is informative, sometimes it’s entertaining, and sometimes it’s promotional.  The following branded YouTube channels are included in this list of branded YouTube channels to benchmark not for the content of their videos but rather for the design and use of brand identifying elements in that design to make the channel unique and representative of the brand promise.

1. Disney Parks YouTube Channel

The Disney Parks YouTube channel includes the colors and graphics you’d expect from the world’s most popular family vacation destination, but it’s included in this list for the great use of links in the top navigation bar and the design of those links that make it very clear where visitors will go if they click on them.  These are the destinations you’d expect visitors to be most interested in going to after viewing the Disney Parks’ video content.

youtube-channel-disney-parks

2. Kraft Foods YouTube Channel

The Kraft Foods YouTube channel is included on this list because of the two navigation bars of links at the top of the page, which take visitors to a variety of useful information.  Also, the content in the Kraft Foods videos is incredibly useful and includes recipes, cooking demonstrations, and more, all of which are appropriate matches to the Kraft brand promise.

youtube-channel-kraft-foods

3. Old Spice YouTube Channel

The Old Spice YouTube channel is included in this list for one reason — excellent use of a viral and hot marketing campaign to draw viewers, recognition, and conversations.

youtube-channel-old-spice

4. Verizon Wireless

The Verizon Wireless YouTube channel is included in this list for its great use of the brand’s color palette and the fact that the channel highlights a product that is currently very popular — the Droid.  The link in the top right corner of the page gives visitors access to more product details.  Also, visitors can scroll down the page and view videos by category rather than simply browsing through them by date as most YouTube channels are set up.  This is a great way to deliver relevant content to specific segments of Verizon Wireless’ broader audience.

youtube-channel-verizon-wireless

5. Harley Davidson

The Harley Davidson YouTube channel is included in this list for its visually appealing link graphics in the page header as well as for the use of the categorized video slider features that enables visitors to self-select the types of videos they’re interested in before they even scroll down further to see the more traditional YouTube channel layout and features.

youtube-channel-harley-davidson

6. Pepsi Refresh

The Pepsi Refresh campaign is very popular, and the Pepsi Refresh YouTube channel is included in this list for its seamless integration with the overall campaign as well as the great use of color and graphics that are very recognizable for the Pepsi brand.  Also, the YouTube channel is a great example of one that encourages comments, conversations, sharing, and subscriptions as part of Pepsi’s larger social media marketing initiatives.

youtube-channel-pepsi-refresh

What branded YouTube channels do you think are good enough to be benchmarked?  Leave a comment and share your thoughts.

Creative Ambient Media for Local Retailer Works

When Romtelecom (the largest telecommunications company in Romania) needed to tell local customers that one of its brick-and-mortar stores moved to a new location, they turned to Graffiti BBDO out of Bucharest, Romania to help them spread the word.  The creative team at Graffiti BBDO decided to make use of a nearby intersection to not just spread the word locally but also cause an online conversation that gave the business a boost from all directions.

Check out the video below which tells the creative story and shows how this clever bit of ambient media grabbed the attention of people on the street and around the world.

The goal for Romtelecom was simply to ensure the local store didn’t lose business after its move, but this creative ambient media got people talking about the brand.  In other words, it achieved far more than its original objective by creating a conversation and word-of-mouth marketing that reached a larger audience via the social web and brought the brand in front of more people than a few signs and local ads ever could achieve on their own.

What do you think?  Are you (or should I say, is your leadership) brave enough to use creative ambient media like Romtelecom?  Leave a comment and share your thoughts.

4 out of 5 Consumers Verify Product Recommendations Online Before Purchasing

internet-universeA new study of U.S. consumers from Cone LLC called the 2010 Cone Online Influence Trend Tracker reveals some interesting statistics about consumers’ dependence on word-of-mouth marketing and recommendations.  As you might expect from your own purchasing behaviors, four out of five consumers go online to verify product recommendations friends, colleagues, family, and acquaintances give them offline.

The Cone report found that 81% of survey respondents said they go online to verify product recommendations.  The breakdown of what they do when the go online is as follows:

  • Researching product/service information = 61%
  • Reading user reviews = 55%
  • Searching ratings websites = 43%

The Internet gives people more access to information than ever, and having that kind of access at their fingertips has changed the way people make purchase decisions.  The Cone research also found that 77% of respondents claim to be more likely to purchase a product that has been recommended to them if they can find additional recommendations online.

Perhaps even more interesting is the fact that the Internet has become a source for product research and recommendation verification not just for high-ticket items but also for lower priced items.  However, as you might expect, the research also found that people are more likely to search for additional recommendations for products they plan to own for a long time.

Following are some more specific results related to the types of products consumers seek additional information and recommendations about online:

  • Low cost: 72% of Americans would go online to do additional research about recommended movies or restaurants
  • Moderate cost: 85% would go online to do additional research about recommended computer equipment
  • High cost: 82% would go online to do additional research about a recommended car

The part of this study that marketers and brand managers need to be aware of is the fact that managing online brand reputation is absolutely critical to business in the 21st century.  Furthermore, consumer product research is no longer limited to comparing products and learning about features and pricing.  Today, consumer product research also encompasses reading opinions from people around the world, which can occur very late in the purchase decision-making process.  Marketers need to make sure the right kind of information is available online to help consumers make final purchase decisions, and marketers need to make sure that information is easy to find amid the cluttered Internet landscape.  As the Cone research shows, consumers are looking.

Image: stock.xchng

The Second Life of Social Game Advertising

farmvilleRemember when having a brand presence on Second Life was the “it” thing for companies and marketers?  Well, the concept of marketing through social games is far from dead.  Today, the increased focus on brand advertising in social games like Zynga‘s Farmville has become the new “it” marketing tactic.  Companies like Zynga and Playdom offer social games through multiple sites and devices such as Facebook, MySpace, iPhones, Androids, and more.

According to a report by eMarketer, it is predicted that marketers will spend $220 million on worldwide advertising in social games in 2010.  That number is expected to rise to $293 million by 2011 — a 60% increase over the $183 million spent on advertising in social games in 2009.  Keep in mind, the eMarketer investment predictions don’t include mobile aspects of social games, so the advertising dollars spent will actually be even higher!

Given the broad audience of social game users (who doesn’t know someone on Facebook who plays Farmville or Mafia Wars from Zynga?), there is certainly huge potential for advertising in social games.  The challenge will be finding the types of ads that actually drive consumers to action rather than cluttering their enjoyment of the games they’re playing.  Obviously, ads in social games need to add value to the user experience rather than simply interrupting those players’ experiences.

Another question relates to the longevity of these social games.  How long will people continue to play them before they’re lured to the next online or social fad?  It’s probably safe to assume that the lessons marketers learn from placing ads in social games won’t be for naught.  Surely those learnings will be applicable to future marketing initiatives, so testing the waters and experimenting with messages and tactics in today’s popular social games hold value.  The question is which types of products and brands will fare the best through advertising in social games.  I’m looking forward to watching the statistics and analyses that comes from these efforts.

What do you think of brand advertising in social games?