iContact Study of Republican Presidential Candidates' Social Media Strategies Reveals Key Takeaways for Small Businesses

FROM: http://www.marketwatch.com/story/icontact-study-of-republican-presidential-candidates-social-media-strategies-reveals-key-takeaways-for-small-businesses-2012-01-18

Small Businesses can Yield Positive Results with Social Media by taking key lessons from GOP Political Campaigns

RALEIGH, N.C., Jan. 18, 2012 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ -- Social media strategies used in Republican presidential candidate campaigns can be applied by small businesses to enhance their digital marketing efforts, according to a recent study by leading social media and email marketing company, iContact.

The study revealed Republican primary candidates rely heavily on social media to get their messages across, empower voters and raise money. Newt Gingrich has mastered Twitter, Ron Paul reigns on YouTube and Mitt Romney has a holistically integrated social campaign. Small businesses can successfully utilize social media in a manner similar to political candidates to engage followers, promote their brand and increase sales.

"This survey provides insight into how the Republican candidates are using social media to their advantage, with different strategies, perspectives and investments across channels. While it's never a one-size-fits-all approach, as we see here, the common takeaway remains that social media presence can lead to increased engagement and a return on investment," said Jeff Revoy, chief product and marketing officer at iContact. "By applying the many lessons learned and creative successes from these candidates, small businesses too can enjoy the many benefits of social media marketing."

iContact's study provides a detailed view into each candidate's overall social media presence, following, engagement levels* and digital properties across major social networks - Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Google+.

Social media correlations and takeaways gleaned from the campaigns:

Facebook flexes its muscles: The world's most popular social networking site dominated all platforms across Republican candidates with the largest volume of followers and engagement levels. Facebook's strength across social platforms should be no surprise to small businesses as a recent iContact customer survey revealed that 76 percent favor Facebook. With more than 800 million users, Facebook has announced several upcoming changes aimed at maintaining its dominance in 2012. Small Business Takeaway: Facebook serves as the most favored platform for small businesses to reach customers and prospects in new and powerful ways. Small businesses not using it are potentially missing valuable customer interactions and engagement.

Focus on quality, not just quantity: While Mitt Romney had the highest number of Facebook fans; he experienced the lowest percentage of Facebook fan engagement at 8.97. In contrast, Rick Santorum had one of the lowest numbers of Facebook followers across all candidates but had the highest engagement level at 50.42 percent. Small Business Takeaway: If social media follower numbers are high but engagement is low, it's time to reevaluate content and platform to ensure your brand and messages resonate with your audiences. Switch up message content or try a different social media network that might be better suited for particular content. For example, use Facebook if a message will become too diluted when edited down to fit within Twitter's 140-character limit.

Social media and email create a powerful combination: The candidates have all incorporated email into their marketing strategies to achieve the combined punch it provides when used in conjunction with social media. They have made it very easy and seamless to subscribe to email and social media updates from their campaigns.Small Business Takeaway: With the buzz surrounding social media, it's important to not forget about a tried and true marketing vehicle: email. Don't miss out on the huge opportunity that email marketing delivers. Social media is great for sharing content and engaging customers in interactive discussions, while email can help convert the results of those initial engagements and conversations into targeted campaigns and long-term customers.

A picture is worth a thousand words: This saying is often true for both photos and videos. Romney uses photos and videos to create content for his social properties, utilizing multimedia or a link where fans can take action in almost every single Facebook post. His campaign posts photos and videos from events, speeches, and commercials to help convey Romney's message to voters in a unique way and has branched out into emerging platforms such as Flickr and Tout. Similarly, Ron Paul has utilized his campaign's YouTube channel to amass more than 7 million clicks.Small Business Takeaway: Small businesses should look to harness the power of photos and videos within social media campaigns. They can tell the story of a brand and culture quickly, intimately and efficiently to potential advocates accustomed to text-only noise on social networks. Sharing photos and videos with customers and advocates can only help a brand's presence in the social world. If the content is compelling, these groups will share it with their friends, giving a small business increased visibility among advocates and driving brand engagement.

Content is king: While all candidates are utilizing Twitter, Gingrich carries the highest number of engagers across the network with 1.38 million followers - more than five times the number of the campaign with the second largest Twitter community. He tweets often, but more importantly, Gingrich seems to provide content his community wants.Small Business Takeaway: Even with the plethora of social media vehicles available at marketers' fingertips, it's important to realize that it's less about the channel and more about the content. Relevant and engaging content is still the most important thing for followers.

Google+ remains a guessing game: The verdict is still out on Google+, with only Gingrich and Romney integrating the new service into their social media strategies. iContact's customer survey revealed a similar sentiment across small businesses with 48 percent loving Google+ while 52 percent were not convinced. Small Business Takeaway: Google+ may still be in its infancy, but don't overlook it when evaluating social media strategies. As Google+ looks to add more functionality for businesses there will likely be a mad dash to the unconquered social territory with Google providing rapid content availability for consumers in order to aggressively compete with Facebook. Small businesses should not be afraid to get in as early adopters of Google+ to test the waters and see if it's a social media channel that fits their needs.

ROI for every budget: No matter the size of the campaign budget, all candidates realize that social media is a key investment and have incorporated it into their marketing strategies. Even candidates with lower campaign funding have seen high engagement numbers across their followers, signaling that messages are resonating with their communities. Small Business Takeaway: There is a social media strategy to fit every budget and generate a positive return on investment (ROI). Outlining social media ROI using a goal-based approach is a great start for small businesses. An iContact customer survey revealed that top three social media goals for small businesses are strengthening brand, generating sales and acquiring contacts. There are several types of metrics to consider when measuring progress against these goals and adjusting marketing to drive better results. For example, if your goal is to strengthen your brand, you can dive into how your social media content engages your audience by looking at "retweets" or "likes." More information and tips on calculating social media ROI are available in "Calculating Your Social Media Marketing Return on Investment."

With the 2012 Republican National Convention just eight months away candidates will continue to battle it out for their party's nomination utilizing social media as an important medium to attract support and build momentum. Political campaigns and small businesses might first appear to be vastly different entities that should take completely different approaches to marketing. However, it's clear from the survey that there are valuable social media insights and takeaways from political campaigns that small businesses should look to integrate into their marketing efforts.

The iContact social media audit does not reflect the political views or opinions of the company. For more information on the social media audit and to view an infographic highlighting the survey results, please visit http://www.icontact.com/social-media-and-political-campaigns .

About iContact Based in Raleigh, NC, iContact is a purpose-driven company that makes social media and email marketing easy, so that small and midsized companies and causes can grow and succeed. More than one million users have signed up for an iContact account, and the company maintains B Corporation status, a certification awarded to companies meeting comprehensive and transparent social and environmental performance standards. As part of its ongoing social mission, iContact applies the 4-1s Corporate Social Responsibility Model, donating one percent from each of its payroll, equity, product, and employee time to local and global communities. Visit us online at iContact.com, on Twitter @iContact, at our LinkedIn Group, and at our Facebook page.

*Engagement levels were tracked for the week of Dec. 31, 2011 through Jan. 6, 2012. Engagement is when someone like the page or page content, comments, shares content, answers a question, responds to an event, mentions the page, tags the page, checks-in at a location or recommends the page.

CONTACT: Kara Schiltz, +1- 919-926-3543, kschiltz@iContact.com

SOURCE iContact

Copyright (C) 2012 PR Newswire. All rights reserved

REPORT: Advertising On Facebook Is Getting More Costly

FROM: http://www.allfacebook.com/report-advertising-on-facebook-is-getting-more-costly-2012-01

Posted by David Cohen on January 16th, 2012 8:00 AM

The costs of advertising on Facebook are rising, but marketers who keep their traffic within the social network’s environment are seeing their costs per click drop by as much as 45 percent, according to fourth-quarter research from TBG Digital.

The advertising technology firm found that the average cost per click in the U.S. rose 10 percent in the fourth quarter compared with the third quarter. Meanwhile, Canada, France, and Germany saw minimal increases in average cost per click, and it actually fell 11 percent in the U. K.

Facebook’s growth rate has been plateauing in the U.S., which contributed to the cost-per-click increase. TBG Founder and Chief Executive Officer Simon Mansell explained further:

One of the big reason for the price increases in the U.S. market is that advertisers are still willing to buy on Facebook, but there’s not the supply that there was. They’re making more money per click. As markets mature, people will have to pay more to get delivery, as long as Facebook still has demand from advertisers.

As for the decline in the United Kingdom, Mansell mentioned that click-through rates increased in that country, but the addition of sponsored stories there took longer.

However, those advertisers who were able to construct campaigns that kept users within the Facebook environment, rather than sending them to outside websites, paid as much as 45 percent less per click.

Mansell said Facebook was rewarding people who kept traffic within its environment with hefty discounts, as it was still creating impressions within the social network, and monetizing that traffic.

Brands in the finance industry found it difficult to take advantage of that loophole, as they tend to migrate users to their websites for reasons of security and privacy. TBG said 61 percent of campaigns by companies in the finance industry drove users off Facebook, resulting in costs per click that are double the overall average.

Overall click-through rates rose 18 percent in the fourth quarter of 2011 compared with the first quarter. At opposite ends of the spectrum, France saw click-through rates double, while they actually fell 2 percent in the United States.

Over the same time period, Facebook’s rates for cost per thousand impressions jumped 23 percent, including 8 percent from the third quarter to the fourth quarter. TBG added that this figure has gone up every quarter for the social network, and Mansell added, “Money per impression will be a really important number for Facebook’s initial public offering.”

The holiday season caused cost per click to skyrocket by 55.7 percent from November 21 through December17, which Mansell attributed to advertisers trying to implement last-minute promotions and take advantage of spikes in online shopping, adding that the surge in retail advertising during that period led to more demand, and, thus, higher costs.

The food and drink category took over first place on the list of industries analyzed by TBG, bumping beauty and fitness out of the top spot. Mansell mentioned strong campaigns by TBG clients including Heineken, Jack Daniel’s, and Captain Morgan, and also speculated that the increase may have had something to do with the times of day when Facebook users were accessing the social network.

Finally, we asked Mansell about the impact of Facebook’s transition to the Open Graph and enabling of action items besides the like, and he said:

We haven’t seen any major difference from the new Open Graph because a lot of different brands haven’t gotten their heads around it, to be honest. It’s confusing to some clients — they’re going from one action, like, to infinite numbers of actions. We have started to see a difference with Facebook putting ads in the news feed, however.

TBG analyzed more than 326 billion impressions from 266 clients in 205 countries.

Which Facebook Pages Are Growing The Fastest? New Stats Service Tells You

FROM: http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/which_facebook_pages_are_growing_the_fastest.php

By Richard MacManus / January 15, 2012 7:38 PM

Ever wondered which musician has the fastest growing Facebook Page? Or what TV series? A new beta service called SocialMedia-live is tracking the growth rate of 38 million Facebook Pages, with 2 million of those available to view. It has statistics on total number of likes, fan growth, interesting newcomers and male/female breakdown. These statistics are categorized and users can create comparison graphs. The bad news is that there is no apparent search function.

The answer to the first question, by the way, is Adele, who gained 175,000 followers over the last 24 hours (at time of writing). Adele's popularity on Facebook is mainly due to her female fans; 62% are female and 38% male. The fastest growing TV show is Mob Wives, perhaps thanks to the current "swear jar sweepstakes" promotion on its Facebook Page. This type of data is useful, albeit limited at this point.

A sister site called Likes Matter offers a real-time view of Facebook Page growth rates. There I discovered that Eminem's Facebook Page is currently attracting about 35-40 new likes every minute.

The main site, the awkwardly named SocialMedia-live, updates Facebook Page data on 90,000 "big players" every 10 minutes - including Eminem, Coca Cola, YouTube and other very popular brands. A further 1.8 million "medium-sized pages" are updated every 12 hours. The other 36 million or so "little pages" are refreshed every 5 days.

There's a special page for "Hip Fanpages," those Facebook Pages "that have distinguished themselves in terms of layout, navigational ease, interactive fanpage features, etc." Current members include Adidas Originals, Snooki, Livestrong, Star Wars and a German comedian named Linda P. That last pick is a clue that SocialMedia-live hails from Germany.

There are some useful comparison tools, too. Below is a chart comparing the growth of Adele, Jennifer Lopez and Katy Perry over the past 90 days. We can see that the popularity of Adele's Facebook Page spiked in January of this year. She has about 12.6 million fans at time of writing. Meanwhile Lopez is growing faster than Perry. Although note that Perry has more fans than Adele and Lopez combined. She has 37.6 million fans, while Lopez has 8 million. A likely explanation is that Perry is much nearer to peak popularity on Facebook than either Adele or Lopez. Growth rate could also be affected by when the fan pages were started. So, as always, take these statistics with a grain of the proverbial salt.

The big thing missing from SocialMedia-live is search. I could find no way to get statistics about our own ReadWriteWeb Facebook Page, for example. There also seems to be no easy access to the 36 million or so "little pages." Both of those issues severely limits the usefulness of the site for marketers, who would be a prime audience for this data.

But this is a beta site, so we hope it will expand over time. For now, if you're interested in finding out how fast certain brands are growing their Facebook Page fan bases, then SocialMedia-live offers an interesting set of statistics.

New Research Report: Meet the Connected Consumer

FROM: http://www.zmags.com/blog/?p=1080

by adminon January 16, 2012in Uncategorized

Do you consider yourself a connected consumer? Is your laptop next to your tablet and smartphone on your couch or nightstand? Maybe you have a go-to device forbrowsing and shopping?

Today we published a new report that reveals that consumers don’t turn to mobile apps for shopping, but do havedevice preferences when shopping different retail categories. It also sheds light onthe popularity and potential of tablet and Facebook shopping.

Who is the connected consumer?

Contrary to assumptions, the average connected consumer is not a texting teenager or a hipster with more devices than flannel shirts.She is 40 years old, earns $63,000 and owns several Web-ready devices. She’s all over Facebook, loves to browse catalogs and is enthusiastic about shopping via her devices. Does she look familiar?

The most revealing take awayfrom the report washow clearly mobile and tablet apps, on their own, are not meeting connected consumers’ browsing and purchasing needs. Onlyfour percentliketo shop using mobile apps, compared to 87 percent of PC owners,14 percent of smartphone owners and nine percent of tablet owners who prefer to browse and buy from Web and mobile sites.

It is also interesting how consumers are starting to make concerted choices about which devices they use to shop different retail categories. For example, 53 percent of shoppers for electronics and 39 percent of toy shoppers prefer to usetheir tablets. Not surprisingly, music is more actively purchased using smartphones.

Of course, connected consumers love their tablets. So much so, that 87 percent of them used their tablets for 2011 holiday shopping andspentan average of $325. Tablet owners are shopping from their tablets at least weekly and almost half of them said they expect to do even more tablet shopping in 2012.

Did you know that 34 percent of tablet-owning consumers are already shopping using Facebook? Did you even know you could shop on Facebook? For now, this is mostly in the forms of daily deals and couponing, as few retailers are actively selling on Facebook (with the exception of a few brands, like Express, that are actively selling on Facebook.) Given more than 80 percent of connected consumers are active Facebook users,social commerce is the next big frontier for retailers and brands.

What does this all mean?

Retailers need to step up to the tablet. Some retailers are already embracing this opportunity, using adigital catalog approach – check out the catalog thatKenneth Cole, for example, used during the holiday shopping season. Moving forward, retailers and brands need to be ready to engage with connected consumers– wherever and however they chose to shop – by providing creative,browser-based shopping experiences that drive product discovery and inspire purchases.

Study: Why Do People Use Facebook?

FROM: http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/study_why_do_people_use_facebook.php

By Alicia Eler / January 16, 2012 12:00 PM

Facebook is an accepted means of communication. It is a never-ending virtual social gathering filled with adopted puppies, cute LOL kitties, baby announcements, viral articles and videos, events, groups, organizations and fan pages. But why do people really use it?

A new study entitled "Why do people use Facebook?" from Boston University's Ashwini Nadkarni and Stefan G. Hofmann proposes that the social network meets two primary human needs: (1) the need to belong and (2) the need for self-presentation. The study also acknowledges demographic and cultural factors as they relate to the belonging need, and the variation of personality types on Facebook usage.

The study defines social networking sites (SNSs) as "Internet-based services that give individuals three major capabilities: The ability to construct a public or semi-private profile, identify a list of other users with whom a connection is shared, and view and track connections made by individuals and others.

Who Is Using Facebook? A Breakdown by Demographics

Before 2009, MySpace led the social network race. By April 2009, it was dead. A 2008 study by E. Hargittai found that Hispanic students made up 25% of the MySpace population as compared to only 14% of Facebook users. The demographics of Facebook are quite different. Women are more likely to use Facebook than men, and Hispanic students were less likely to use it than Caucasians.

A study from 2009 by Grasmuck, Martin & Zhao found that African Americans, Latinos and Indian students displayed "greater intensity of cultural selves (marked by specific consumer and popular culture preferences) than the White students and Vietnamese ancestry students."

This is in line with findings from the Facebook Data team, which shows the steady increase of black and Hispanic users in early 2009, and a decline of the number of Asian users. This data looked at surnames on Facebook with data collected by the U.S. Census Bureau to see percentages of racial minorities on Facebook.

What Types of People Use Facebook? A Cyberpsychology Approach

Previous studies have looked at the similarities between offline personality portrayal and online personality, proving strong connections between real personality and Facebook-related behavior. Extroverts report the most friends and highest engagement levels. People categorized as conscientious types - disciplined, organized and achievement-oriented - report the least Facebook use.

Facebook engagement results in a trail of virtual residue, including photos, videos, links, status updates and other traces of a virtual presence. A 2009 study by Ross et al. found that personality types that ranked high on neuroticism claimed the Facebook Wall as their favorite component. People who were low on neuroticism, however, said photos were their favorite. A 2009 study by E.S. Orr, et. al. found that while shy individuals had fewer friends on Facebook relative to nonshy people, the shy individuals spent more time on Facebook and liked the social network more overall.

A 2010 study entitled "Narcissism and social networking web sites" found a positive association between narcissism and Facebook use, especially in relation to profiles and photos, both features that allow users to promote themselves. The study found that people with a high level of narcissism and people with low levels of self-esteem spent more than an hour per day on Facebook.

Frequent FB users "exhibit a high level of extraversion, low self-esteem, high levels of neuroticism and narcissism, and low levels of self-esteem and self-worth are associated with high FB use." The study goes on to note that frequent Facebook use may be associated with lower academic performance, but it may lead to higher self-esteem and a sense of belonging.

We All Want To Be A Part...Of Something: Facebook and the Dual-Factor Model

Everyone just wants to belong, right? In the online aspect of our lives, Facebook offers us that virtual sense of belonging. The study claims that Facebook meets two basic social needs: (1) the need to belong and (2) the need for self-presentation. Self-esteem and self-worth are associated closely with the first basic social need, to belong. Facebook use is, of course, also influenced by sociodemographic and cultural factors. Females and ethnic minorities tended to use Facebook more than males and Caucasians.

This last part of the study looked at Facebook use in individualistic versus, which emphasize individual achievements and success, versus collectivistic cultures, which focus on harmony within the group. In these cultures, individual gain is less important than the social group. The study hypothesizes that "members from individualistic cultures are more likely to share private information with their Facebook friends and more likely to raise potentially controversial topics as compared to Facebook users from collectivistic cultures."

People in collectivist cultures are more likely to stay in troubled marriages and jobs than people in individualistic cultures according to a 2000 study by Diener. As such, Facebook can serve as a support system for those people in collectivist cultures, who have frequent interactions and a close circle of Facebook friends.

A study called "Mirror, Mirror on my Facebook wall: Effects of exposure to Facebook on self-esteem," looked at the results of being exposed to information presented on one's Facebook profile, suggesting that it can help enhance self-esteem. This proved especially true when a person edited information about the self.

Can Facebook enhance self-esteem through offline friendships? A 2010 study by Lou in Dissertation Abstracts International: Section B: The Sciences and Engineering, 70, found that Facebook use intensity reduced perceived levels of loneliness, but FB's improvement of a user's social life did not improve the user's self-esteem.

Other studies have found correlations between Facebook use and improvement of self-esteem. Yu and colleagues collected surveys from college students majoring in business at an undergraduate school in China. Results showed that FB use benefited socialization and social learning outcomes, including higher levels of self-esteem. The findings in this study suggest that "the association between self-esteem and Facebook use is complex and possibly moderated by cultural and social factors." In collectivistic culture such as China, Facebook use may enhance self esteem. Still, more research must be conducted.

What about Facebook use and social connection? Disconnection often times motivates Facebook use, and being connected rewards it according to a 2011 study by Sheldon, Abad & Hirsch, the authors discovered that "frequent Facebook use correlated with feelings of general connection in life and also with feelings of general disconnection in life." In yet another study, researchers found that "the correlation of disconnection with Facebook use was mediated by the tendency to cope with disconnection via Facebook." In other words, Facebook became both the outlet for disconnection and the perpetuation of it.

Another 2011 study by Kim & Lee that visualizing social connects on Facebook actually boosted users' self-esteem.

The Bottom Line: Facebook Fulfills Our Need for Self-Presentation

Studies have found that on Facebook, the self you portray is not idealized - it is the real you. But a 2008 study by Zhao, Grasmuck & Martin found that the Facebook selves appeared to be socially desirable identities that individuals aspired to have offline but do not have - yet. Furthermore, identities created on Facebook differed greatly from those constructed in anonymous online environments.

What about Facebook's impact on impression formation? If you're going on a date with someone you meet on OKCupid, for example, chances are you've friended them on Facebook to get a better idea of them. Recruiters are using Facebook to screen potential job applicants. An overabundance of friend connections actually produced doubts about FB users' actual popularity, according to a 2008 study by Tong.

The study concludes this section with the idea that Facebook profiles reflect the users' public persona, which appears to be "shaped by the need for self-presentation." These types of needs guide the users' behaviors, profile photo and number of friends, all of which make up one's impression of the user.

So, Why Are We Really Using Facebook?

Facebook currently has 800 million users worldwide. According to the study, people use Facebook to fulfill two basic social needs: the need to belong and the need for self-presentation. Facebook use is also influenced by outside factors, such as cultural background, sociodemographic variables and personality traits.

These findings account for the oft-cited "shutting off Facebook for a period of time" social experiments that we tend to see floating about the Internet. In this "Facebook detox," the user felt upset about the Facebook privacy settings, and a general sense of information overload. So, he "detoxed" for a period of 30 days.

A recent New York Times article entitled "The Facebook Resisters" sparked a similar controversy stemming from concerns about privacy, alienation and a feeling of information overload. Friends of mine have often times referred to Facebook as a "black hole."

Mashable writer Sam Laird conducted a similar experiment. He deactivated his account in July 2011; five months later he wrote about it in "My Life Without Facebook: A Social Experiment." While he did find that he no longer had the "should I post this to Facebook?" question lingering in the back of his mind all the time, and he spent less time in front of the computer overall, there was one thing he missed.

He missed those "funny Facebook photos from parties or nights out come up when hanging out with friends." Laird wrote that he found himself "playing catch-up when someone brings up an article someone else shared on Facebook."

He misses what most every Facebook user would miss if they shut down their account: that sense of belonging and of self-presentation. These are the reasons people use Facebook, despite its long list of privacy issues.

Beauty Marketing Gone Social; However, not at the Expense of Traditional Advertising, Reports Kline

FROM: http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/beauty-marketing-gone-social-however-not-at-the-expense-of-traditional-advertising-reports-kline-137418653.html

PARSIPPANY, N.J., Jan. 16, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- "Your favorite beauty products are right here on Facebook," tout marketers of cosmetics and toiletries as the global adoption of social media drives the outstanding growth in this emerging marketing method. Brands are rapidly moving ahead in the game with their social and mobile strategies to allow viral campaigns and create new consumer relations opportunities, but without dropping traditional marketing efforts, according to the new report Beauty Marketing 2011: U.S. Promotional Activities and Strategies Assessment by international consulting and research firm Kline & Company.

During the recent holiday season, marketers ramped up their viral campaigns to attract consumers who turned to social media platforms for the best deals on their personal care products. However, social media is not the only tool marketers are experimenting with to connect with consumers; couponing and price promotions are experiencing a comeback strengthened by consumer desire for special offers and free or discounted items. Yet even traditional couponing is being challenged by the growing trend of mobile marketing, where marketers are finding that mobile couponing offers significant advantages over paper-based forerunners in delivering higher redemption rates and encouraging impulse purchases.

Traditional and time-proven marketing methods, such as broadcast and print media, in-store merchandising, and the like, have been long-standing marketing tools. Yet within these established tools, marketers are both threatened by new technologies that allow potential customers to screen-out TV commercials and are constrained by inflexible publication dates and comparatively high costs. Social media's real-time adaptability and keyword-based targeting strongly complement the parallel of traditional and proven marketing efforts, and concurrently tap into a savvy, trendsetting demographic.

Mindful of these rapidly evolving marketing methods and anticipating the necessity of quantifying these, Kline has devised and refined a proprietary 5-point metric which rates marketing methods on how critical each is for a given brand.

The study finds that cutting-edge beauty marketers are experimenting with a range of social media platforms by establishing a presence on websites such as Facebook, YouTube, or localized Foursquare, where they can connect with the community and more accurately target a given demographic. The marketers are tapping into the emerging potential of "f-commerce" and "m-commerce" that blur the line between social media as pure communication tool and as an emerging sales channel. These trailblazing marketing forays, still in their infancy, invite cautious optimism but suggest great untapped promise for marketers.

"Consumers now have the ability to do extensive real time evaluations on products and prices before they purchase," notes Donna Barson, Senior Associate at Kline's Consumer Products practice. "The growing ubiquity of new, on-the-go technologies such as smartphones and tablets are also creating a better informed and more accessible consumer. The landscape for marketing beauty products has changed dramatically over the last several years with brands moving from traditional advertising as promotional vehicles, to also include social marketing, mobile marketing, enhanced loyalty programs, new sampling methods, and more. However, there is no cookie-cutter approach to all, and brands are experimenting with what approaches work best with their business model, their consumer base, and the image they want to project."

Given the crowded and increasingly competitive nature of the beauty business, having the proper marketing mix is crucial to maximize returns on ever limited budgets. The ability to successfully accomplish this has never been afforded so many tools.

Beauty Marketing 2011: U.S. Promotional Activities and Strategies Assessment is a comprehensive analysis of the changing face of beauty marketing in the United States for personal care products. The study addresses types of marketing approaches major beauty marketers are employing.

About Kline
Kline is a worldwide consulting and research firm dedicated to providing the kind of insight and knowledge that helps companies find a clear path to success. The firm has served the management consulting and market research needs of organizations in the chemicals, materials, energy, life sciences, and consumer products industries for over 50 years. For more information, visit www.KlineGroup.com.

For more information, contact:

Vera Sandarova
Marketing Communications
+420-222-316-282
Vera.Sandarova@klinegroup.com

SOURCE Kline & Company

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Consumers Show 20X Preference for Browser-based Web, Tablet and Mobile Shopping Over Apps, Finds Zmags Study

FROM: http://www.sacbee.com/2012/01/16/4191399/consumers-show-20x-preference.html
Study of connected consumers reveals device preferences across retail categories, and growth in tablet and Facebook shopping

Published Monday, Jan. 16, 2012

BOSTON, Jan. 16, 2012 /PRNewswire/ --

News Facts:

• Zmags, the leading provider of rich media mobile and social merchandising, today released the findings from a study of the behaviors and profiles of online and mobile shoppers. An infographic of the survey results can be found at http://www.zmags.com/blog/?p=1080
• A key finding was that only four percent of consumers prefer to shop using mobile apps on their smartphones or tablets. This may surprise retailers for whom branded apps have been a priority over browser-based mobile and tablet commerce strategies. By comparison:
  • 87 percent of consumers prefer to browse and buy from websites via PCs or laptops.
  • 14 percent prefer to shop via mobile websites on their smartphones and nine percent with tablets.
• The survey also revealed that, while tablet shopping is gaining traction across many retail categories, consumers are starting to show category-specific device preferences. For example, 53 percent of shoppers for electronics prefer to use a tablet. Retailers will need to balance investments to ensure their tablet, smartphone and Web shopping experiences are optimized to match consumers' growing device preferences.
  • After electronics, shoppers for toys displayed the most preference for tablet shopping (39 percent), followed by clothing (37 percent) and travel (26 percent).
• The connected consumer's tablet use and spending activity is on the rise. The survey found that 87 percent of tablet owners used their tablets for 2011 holiday shopping and spent an average of $325 with their tablets. Additionally, more than half of tablet owners browse or shop from their tablets at least weekly.
• More than 80 percent of connected consumers are active Facebook users, and tablet owners display a distinct preference for brand engagement and shopping on Facebook. This presents retailers and brands with a powerful opportunity to monetize their Facebook brand presence.
• The full Zmags report, entitled "Meet the Connected Consumer: How Tablets, Smartphones and Facebook are Changing the Ways Consumers Shop" can be downloaded at http://org-www2.zmags.com/resources/connectedconsumer/step1
• The survey of 1,500 consumers who own a computer, smartphone and/or tablet was conducted by Equation Research for Zmags during November 10-14, 2011.

Supporting Quote:"The study clearly demonstrates that mobile and tablet apps, on their own, are just not meeting connected consumers' browsing and purchasing needs in an increasingly complex retail landscape -- and that browser-based commerce is their preference," said W. Sean Ford, COO and CMO of Zmags. "For retailers and brands, there is enormous opportunity to capitalize on this complexity by designing engaging and consistent browser-based shopping experiences optimized for each device."

About ZmagsZmags helps thousands of the world's most progressive global retailers and brands design brilliant and consistent marketing and merchandising campaigns across social, mobile, tablet, and e-commerce platforms, driving product discovery and inspiring impulse purchase(s). Using the Zmags on-demand rich media merchandising platform, leading brands have measurably and dramatically increased customer engagement, conversion rates, order size and brand loyalty without the burden of IT constraints. Zmags is among the fastest growing technology companies in North America, ranking #70 on the Deloitte 2011 Technology Fast 500. Zmags is headquartered in Boston, MA. with European offices in London and Copenhagen. For more information about Zmags, please visit http://www.zmags.com/.

Contact:Samantha McGarryInkHouse for Zmags781-966-4107Zmags@inkhouse.net

Consumers Give Facebook Shopping a C+

FROM: http://www.marketingpilgrim.com/2012/01/consumers-give-facebook-shopping-a-c.html

By Cynthia Boris on January 13, 2012

This past holiday season, consumers had more ways to shop than ever before, online, offline, mobile, and even through Facebook. eCommerce company Baynote, put together a report card for each of these areas based on a consumer survey. The results aren’t surprising but still interesting, particularly as they relate to social media.

Overall, 84% of consumers said their online shopping experience was “good” or “excellent.” This was only 78% last year.

As you can see from the chart, retail websites were rated highest across the board. The biggest problem mentioned in this area was the ease of finding the product they wanted. 44.1% said they were frustrated by too many options when they used a searched engine. After that, they found that many of the offered links led to generic pages or sites that didn’t actually carry the product. Obviously, there’s room for improvement here.

Shopping on Facebook

When asked if they bought anything from a Facebook fan page, 91.4% of respondents said no. But here’s the kicker, 80.2% said that they weren’t even influenced by anything they saw on social media or their social media connections. Ouch.

On the flipside, 55% said that getting advice from friends on social networks was at least “somewhat important.”

Sounds like marketers still aren’t making the connection between social sharing and social shopping.

Beyond that, privacy was a big problem for potential Facebook shoppers. They gave it a C. The shopping experience and personalization both rated a B-, which was on par with smartphones and tablets. Frankly, I’m surprised they didn’t score lower in that area.

Overall, consumers gave Facebook a C+ on the report card, the lowest of all shopping avenues. Better luck next year.

Taking it to the Streets

Mobile fared only slightly better than Facebook on the Baynote report card and I don’t get that. The saving grace was in the area of privacy. People felt more secure buying from their smartphone than from Facebook, but even better when shopping a retail site. What’s that all about?

Thinking this through, I’d guess they’re separating privacy from security. I’m not sure putting my credit card numbers into a phone app is secure, but I’m pretty sure the store I’m buying from, isn’t going to post my purchases on the web for all to see. With Facebook, I’m not so sure. I’ll trust a fan page with my credit card, but I wouldn’t be surprised to see a “Cynthia just bought a guitar” message pop-up on my friends’ feeds.

Some good news is that 49% of tablet owners used it to make a purchase. Tablet owners are still a very small portion of the overall ecommerce community, but it’s encouraging.

In spite of the fact that tablet shopping is easier than smartphone shopping, consumers gave it the same grade. Going forward, I would expect the tablet’s marks to come up to those of any online retail site, but we aren’t there yet.

The Baynote 2012 Holiday Online Shopping Survey is loaded with interesting nuggets. There are pages on cross-channel marketing, more specifics on privacy issues and specifics about personalization. It’s worth a look-see and all it will cost you is your contact information. Click here, if you want to check it out.

Most Parents Monitor Kids on Facebook — And Have Their Passwords [INFOGRAPHIC]

FROM: http://mashable.com/2012/01/13/parents-monitoring-facebook/

1 hour ago by Samantha Murphy

If you think parents are keeping tabs on their kids’ Facebook profile pages and pictures, you’re absolutely right.

According to a new infographic released by market research firm Lab42, parents are keeping a watchful eye on their child via Facebook, with many checking out their pages daily (43%).

The study — which was conducted among 500 social media users – found that 92% of parents are Facebook friends with their children (of all ages) and more are turning to the site to monitor their kids’ interactions. Safety was named as the top reason for looking at their profiles (40%), followed by curiosity (15%).

But 55% of parents are also making sure the site isn’t it interfering with homework, chores or other activities. Other top concerns include not spending enough time with friends and family (45%), the potential of meeting strangers (41%), bullying others (17%) and being a victim of bullying (16%).

Meanwhile, a high majority – 72% — even have their kids’ Facebook passwords. (Lab42 didn’t provide details on which age demographics for their kids fall into this category.)

However, kids are also checking out their parent’s Facebook pages too. In fact, they are almost equally writing on their parent’s wall (54%) and commenting on photos (51%) as their parents. But even still, it’s mostly the parents initiating the friend requests, with 55% sending it rather than receiving.

Although most children make fun of their parents for their lack of Facebook knowledge (76%), most parents consider themselves very proficient (67%).

For more stats on parent-child interactions on Facebook, check out the infographic below.

Is Google+ Less Interesting than MySpace? New Data From Users Says Yes

FROM: http://www.ignitesocialmedia.com/social-media-stats/is-google-less-interesting-than-myspace-new-data-from-users-says-yes/

Jim Tobin January 12, 2012

An interesting nugget or two about Google+, how many people are using it and how long they stick around was hidden in a recent eMarketer newsletter on niche social networks growing in popularity. While most of the data was around fastest growing social networks and which networks worldwide were attracting the most time spent, another chart grabbed my attention.

 

Google Plus’ 15m Users Spend Only 5 Minutes Per Month

While some are claiming that Google+ has skyrocketed to 150 million users (up from 50 million a few months ago), well-regarded comScore Media Metrix found only 15.2 million unique visitors in November 11. That’s about 9% of Facebook’s 166 million unique visitors. Not a bad start, to be sure, but a little less dramatic than the other reports.

But what struck me most is how little time users spends on Google+ when they go. Google+ users spend only 5 minutes per month on the site. That compares to:

• 12 minutes on MySpace (ouch);
• 16 minutes on LinkedIn,
• 24 minutes on Twitter;
• 88 minutes on Pinterest;
• 142 minutes on Tumblr; and
• 394 minutes on Facebook.

So a decent number of users are coming to Google+ (about the same number as Tumblr, but not as many as MySpace), but they’re not seeing much reason to stick around.

 

Don’t Count Out Google+ Just Yet

While these numbers aren’t exactly encouraging (the near term future looks brighter for Pinterest, whose users are clearly loving it), don’t count out Google+ just yet. With the changes they are making to integrate Google+ into search, they are a major player making a major move.

Plus, I remember how slowly other very successful networks started. I was on LinkedIn for about 4 years before I saw much activity from my friends. And I first saw friends using Pinterest about a year or so ago. Suddenly that is what everyone is talking about. So between improvements to the site and the natural growth pattern of social networks, Google+ remains one to watch.

Having said that, if I were working on this network at Google, I’d spend a lot of time trying to figure out how to make folks stick around longer.

Facebook Users Click Ads Twice As Often As Twitter, Google+ Users [Report]

FROM: http://www.webpronews.com/facebook-users-click-ads-twice-as-often-as-twitter-google-users-report-2012-01

Chitika analyzes CTR among social network users

Chris Crum | January 12, 2012 @ 2:30pm | 11 Comments | AAA

Update: As the study has generated some confusion, I’m going to repost the author’s explanation (which also appears in the comments) here:

This study, which measures the CTR of different social network users, was conducted using a referrer based methodology.

When we discuss referrer, we mean it in this way:

Let’s say, for example, harold.com is a publisher on the Chitika network (aka a person who runs Chitika ads). If, for example, someone on Google+ posts a link that leads to a particular page on harold.com, the person clicking this link would be said to be referred to harold.com by plus.google.com.

What we are measuring is the CTR on harold.com from plus.google.com referrals, not plus.google.com itself. To simplify, we are measuring the CTR of generated traffic, not of the website.

Obviously this is a small sample, so the study in question measured the CTR of all publisher sites included within our study when the referrer was Google+, Facebook, and Twitter. This is similar to the methodology Chitika used in our first major research study, measuring the CTR of traffic generated from Google, Yahoo, and Bing (link: http://insights.chitika.com/2009/clickthrough-rate-analysis-bing-vs-google-vs-yahoo/ ).

To summarize, the CTR in question is calculated as (# of clicks generated from impression set) / (# of impressions received on a publisher webpage from a link posted on Google+/Facebook/Twitter). Hope this helps.

Original Article: Chitika Insights has a new report indicating that Facebook users click on ads more than twice as often as Google+ users or Twitter users.

“Given the announcements and roll out of new social media advertising programs on platforms including; Google+, Facebook and Twitter, we wanted to investigate where advertisers will have the highest potential to engage with users based on CTR (Click Through Rate),” a representative for Chitika tells WebProNews. “To quantify this study, we analyzed a sample of data from the extensive Chitika ad network, covering hundreds of millions of impressions, to compile a data set which yielded the CTR (Click Through Rate, or likelihood of a user clicking on an ad) of the average user on the three social networks.”

The firm isolated the referrer domain for Google+, Twitter and Facebook, to compile a data set which yielded clickthrough rate of the average user on each social network.

Google+ and Twitter users click on ads with about the same frequency, according to Chitika’s findings.

Facebook measured a .24% CTR, while Google+ and Twitter users ranked at .1 and .09% respectively.

“As always, a cost-benefit analysis is key to identifying which platform (if any) is worthwhile for your product or service,” Chitika says. “One of the biggest factors in deciding which form of social network advertising is the best choice is highly dependent on the type of campaign being run. For instance, in marketing a time sensitive campaign, utilizing an analytical approach with Twitter’s promoted trends could be more effective than pursuing standard Facebook ads. Moreover, it is possible as a marketer to optimize for all segments of traffic, and when making the final decision on an ad campaign, it is essential to keep your target market in mind.”

Of course, simply using Google+ to promote your products or services, may have new benefits to search visibility.

Politico to mine Facebook for insight into voter sentiments

FROM: http://news.cnet.com/8301-13772_3-57358111-52/politico-to-mine-facebook-for-insight-into-voter-sentiments/

by Daniel Terdiman January 12, 2012 12:29 PM PST

The politics news site Politico will now be able to craft articles based on measurements of Facebook users' political discussions.

(Credit: Facebook/Politico)

You might think that Facebook's millions of U.S. users would be a good resource for anyone who wants to get a sense of what people are thinking about politics in (almost) real time. The news site Politico clearly agrees, as it's just struck a partnership to measure the political sentiments of Facebook users.

Under the terms of the partnership, which was announced today, Politico readers will be given inside looks at the Facebook conversations taking place in advance of the South Carolina Republican presidential primary on January 21. It's not clear if the partnership extends beyond that date.

As Facebook put it:

Facebook will compile mentions of the candidates in U.S. users' posts and comments as well as assess positive and negative sentiments expressed about them. Facebook's data team will use automated software tools frequently used by researchers to infer sentiment from text. This information will be exclusively available on POLITICO with analysis by its journalists.

The initial results of the partnership, which ran on Politico this morning, revealed that former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney and Texas congressman Ron Paul dominated the attention of Facebook users going into the New Hampshire primary earlier this week:

According to an exclusive survey of all U.S. Facebook users provided to POLITICO by Facebook, the volume of posts, status updates, links shared to friends' walls and user comments about Romney in the days leading up to the Granite State primary predicted a strong finish.
On Jan. 10, primary day, Romney reached over 100,000 mentions on the social network, about the same number as Ron Paul, who finished second in New Hampshire.
Although Paul finished 17 points behind Romney in New Hampshire, his prowess on social-networking sites like Facebook and Twitter, where he has legions of devoted fans eager to spread his message, is well-known.

This, of course, makes it clear that no one should expect the numbers coming from Facebook to reflect actual voting patterns. For example, while Romney and Paul were about even on primary day in terms of Facebook mentions, Romney won New Hampshire by more than 16 percentage points. Still, the Facebook data gives a good sense of what young people are thinking. In particular, it's that Paul is far more popular among young voters than he is among the general electorate.

89% of nonprofits are on Facebook (report)

FROM: http://www.zdnet.com/blog/facebook/89-of-nonprofits-are-on-facebook-report/6996

By Emil Protalinski | January 9, 2012, 9:56am PST

Summary: Facebook is still growing in adoption when it comes to nonprofit organizations. Last year, 9 out of 10 nonprofits maintained a presence on the world’s largest social network.

In 2011, 9 out of 10 nonprofits reported having a presence on Facebook. The social network’s adoption jumped drastically between 2009 and 2010 (a 16 percent increase) from 2009 to 2010, and just 3 percent from 2010 to 2011. Overall, Facebook usage by these organizations has grown from 74 percent to 89 percent in the last three years, according to the Nonprofit Social Network Report.

One of the reasons nonprofits appear to be using Facebook more and more seems to be related to their success in attracting more supporters on the social network. The Facebook average member community size is up 161 percent in 2011 to 6,376 members, compared to 2,440 and 5,391 in 2009 and 2010, respectively.

This year’s 35-page report shows that Facebook is not only the most-popular commercial social network for nonprofits, but it’s usage is still growing, albeit slowly. On the other hand, although Facebook’s growth has slowed since it is reaching maximum adoption for nonprofits, the company is still extending its lead since other social networks (Twitter, LinkedIn, and Myspace) are actually falling in usage by comparison.

Twitter looks to have leveled off among nonprofits with usage levels reported at 57 percent in 2011, down slightly from 60 percent in 2010. LinkedIn was used by 30 percent of nonprofits in 2011, down from the 33 percent usage levels reported in both 2009 and 2010. Myspace is doing even worse, with an all-time low in 2011 of just 7 percent of nonprofits, compared to 26 percent in 2009 and 14 percent in 2010.

The survey was conducted between January 24 and February 10, 2011. Respondents included 11,196 nonprofit professionals representing small, medium, and large organizations and all nonprofit segments including: Arts & Culture, Education (Higher and K-12), Environment & Animal Welfare, Health & Healthcare, Human Services, Internal, Professional Associations, Public Benefit, and others.

Study: Facebook may help student GPA

FROM: http://www.usustatesman.com/mobile/study-facebook-may-help-student-gpa-1.2684030

By ARIANNA REES

Published: Monday, January 9, 2012

Updated: Monday, January 9, 2012

College students who use Facebook to collect and share information are more likely to have higher GPAs than those who use the site for socializing, according to a recent study conducted by professors at Lock Haven University in Pennsylvania.

The study, released September 2011, examined use of Facebook by nearly 2,000 participating college students attending public four-year universities. Its stated purpose was to determine the relationship between the regularity of Facebook use, types of activities participated in on the site, time spent studying for classes and the overall GPA of participants taken straight from college registrars.

Researchers found that use of the site positively impacted student GPAs when students shared links with friends and gathered information, mimicking common educational behaviors. Adversely, engaging in socializing, chatting or updating statuses negatively impacted both student GPA and time devoted to studying.

Reynol Junco, the researcher behind the study and a professor at Lock Haven University, said, "While further study is necessary, these results do help educators understand which Facebook activities could prove problematic and which were beneficial — when to target interventions around comparable online and offline behaviors like excessive socializing, and the possibilities of using Facebook to enhance student learning and engagement."

Lock Haven researchers observed a negative relationship between the amount of time students spent on Facebook and GPA, which means the more time spent on Facebook, the lower the GPA.

Students who spent 279 minutes more than the average few minutes spent on Facebook per day had GPAs .37 points below average, according to the study, and though it's not a large number, it is evidence that excessive amounts of time spent on the site are detrimental to student academic performance.

USU students, like most users, frequently participate in Facebook activities, such as game playing, sharing and socializing, but some students, such as freshman Brittany Benson, say only rarely is the site used for the educational purposes outlined in the study.

"That study could be right if the only thing that happened on Facebook was information sharing and gathering, which almost never happens," Benson said.

Benson said she spends most of her time on Facebook chatting with friends, commenting on pictures or playing games, but it doesn't hurt her schoolwork.

"Facebook itself does not get in the way of my academics," she said, "but procrastination in the form of Internet surfing, Facebook and gaming sites sometimes distracts me."

Good use of time is something college students struggle with, Benson said, but she believes good time management skills can prevent the overuse of social media sites like Facebook.

"Generally, college students probably do have a hard time managing the amount of time that they put into Facebook," she said, "but I believe that most of us can prioritize enough to decrease our wasted time."

For some students time management isn't an issue at all.

Christian Cannell, a senior double majoring in biochemistry and economics, said, "I spend most of my Facebook time socializing, but I don't get on Facebook enough for it to be a problem. I get on Facebook maybe four times a week, on average, not usually more than half an hour."

Tyler Esplin, a sophomore English major, said he finds the results of the study interesting, but the site does not interfere with his academics.

"I don't really think it gets in the way too badly," Esplin said. "It's important to be able to shut off the social part of your brain when you need to and really buckle down and get school done, and I think, for the most part, I've gotten the hang of it."

Esplin said he uses the site to share interesting information, which Junco's study states may have a positive impact on overall student GPA. He added that many Facebook users tend to share irrelevant or useless information, and he said he tries to avoid that when he's online.

"I would say most of my time on Facebook is spent posting interesting things that I've found elsewhere online," Esplin said. "I try not to let it be an outlet where I stream the useless garbage that I'm doing."

He said, "I like to think of the movie ‘Easy A' as an example, where one of the kids posts, ‘Having an OK day, and bought a Coke Zero at the gas station. Raise the roof.' I at least try to keep it at a semi-intellectual, artistic, emotional or interesting level."

Junco said while the results of the study are not entirely conclusive and further research is needed, educators can use Facebook as a tool to help students do better in school and also educate themselves more thoroughly.

The site has individual features that if used appropriately, Junco states, can increase student learning growth. A correlation exists between communication and positive academic performance, he added, and one specific example of something university faculty members could do to encourage the site's educational uses is begin course-related discussions via self-administered Facebook groups.

Thousands of websites have incorporated the use of buttons and tabs allowing visitors to share what they read at the click of a button. By encouraging that type of behavior on Facebook, Junco states, students can more fully experience the educational benefits of the site.

– ariwrees@aggiemail.usu.edu