RFID bracelets and "Like?"

Facebook’s “Like” functionality arrived in the real world this past month in Israel when Coke added RFID bracelets (Radio Frequency Identification) to the company’s Coca-Cola Village summer resort event, making it easy for high school attendees to share their experiences instantly on Facebook.  Throughout the Village’s 40+ experiences teens simply placed their RFID bracelets on “Like” placards to update their Facebook feed with a “Like” about a pool, spa, extreme sports, food and more all found at the Coca-Cola Village.  Also, if teens were photographed by one of the event’s official photographers the RFID technology automatically tagged everyone in the photo and uploaded it to each relevant Facebook profile.

Every day the Village was open up to 650 people attended.  Those 650 people each posted on average 54 pieces of Coke branded content on their Facebook profile, driving 35,000 Coca-Cola Facebook messages each day.  Talk about amplifying an event!

Check out the video to see how it all worked.  Huge “WOOHOO” to Coca-Cola Israel!

And, LATISM (Latinos in Social Media), a non-profit organization that groups Latinos who actively participate online, has performed an invaluable survey of over 900 Latina bloggers and has shared these incredible insights with all of us.

Thank you, LATISM!!!

Perhaps reflecting the makeup of the larger Latino population, the great majority of participants were born in Mexico and the US

This is an excerpt from the LATISM survey on Latina bloggers (July 2010):

The world has certainly changed a lot since our “abuelitas” (grandmas) used to keep a secret dairy. Today’s Latinas are open-minded, opinionated and love to share their innermost  thoughts online… in two different languages!

At the same time, while they have shed certain traditions, these independent heads of households have managed to tap into the gregarious aspect of our culture: the sense of community,  which earned high marks as a main motivator to start posting.

They have succeeded at planting themselves right at the epicenter of merging worlds: between tradition and modernity, between English and Spanish, between American and Latino cultures.

The intrinsic characteristics of blogging, where the private becomes public and communities rally together around common interests, make it the perfect platform for the Latina Passion.

• The number of blogueras has been climbing steadily for the past 10 years but the numbers really skyrocketed last year: 63% started blogging in 2009 and it’s expected to continue climbing.
• Most feel being a Latina has helped them find sponsorships and readers but in general feel they get less opportunities compared to non-Latinas
  • Young: The largest group is between 30 and 39
  • Mothers: 83% has between 2 and 4 kids
  • Heads of household:  70% is either single, divorced or separated
• Commitment:
  • 75% blog two or more times a week
  • 77% have invested in their own domain
• 98% plus are active in social media
• A surprising 72% blog primarily in English
• Mobile:
  • 81% use their phone to tweet
  • 90% use it for FB
  • 93% use apps

You can access the full report here

Source: LATISM

Accessing of social networking sites or blogs also saw significant growth, increasing 2.6 percentage points to 20.8 percent of mobile subscribers.

Mobile Content Usage

65.2 percent of U.S. mobile subscribers used text messaging on their mobile device in May, up 1.4 percentage points versus the prior three month period, while browsers were used by 31.9 percent of U.S. mobile subscribers (up 2.3 percentage points). Subscribers who used downloaded applications comprised 30.0 percent of the mobile audience, representing an increase of 2.1 percentage points from the previous period. Accessing of social networking sites or blogs also saw significant growth, increasing 2.6 percentage points to 20.8 percent of mobile subscribers.

____________________________________________________________________________

Mobile Content Usage

3 Month Avg. Ending May 2010 vs. 3 Month Avg. Ending Feb. 2010

Total U.S. Age 13+

____________________________________________________________________________

Share (%) of Mobile Subscribers

Feb-10    May-10    Point Change

Total Mobile Subscribers                            100.0%    100.0%        N/A

Sent text message to another phone           63.8%       65.2%          1.4

Used browser                                                     29.6%       31.9%          2.3

Used downloaded apps                                   27.9%       30.0%         2.1

Played games                                                      21.8%       22.5%        0.7

Accessed social networking site or blog     18.2%       20.8%        2.6

Listened to music on mobile phone             13.1%       14.3%          1.2

____________________________________________________________________________

Source: comscore

The joint study from iVillage and SheSpeaks highlights that interaction between women through online community Web sites, forums and message boards have a “dramatic” influence on driving product preference, loyalty, and purchase.

Facebook and Twitter fall to the bottom of the list. Only 19% believe that posts from friends influence them to make a purchase, and 11% cite posts from brands.

Online coupons and customer reviews continue to influence purchases. Women are 77% more likely to look for products and 67% more likely to purchase them in a store after reading online reviews on a community forum or message board.

The study reveals that while social media networks like Facebook and Twitter are valuable communications channels, with 51% of women actively following brands and retailers online, these channels are relatively less — 19% — influential in prompting purchases. Other forms of marketing that prove influential include online coupons at 68%; online product reviews by consumers, 61%; emails from companies or brands, 45%; and articles read online, 41%.

About half of the women responding to the survey spend between six and 30 minutes preparing for a shopping trip, and two-thirds spend between six and 60 minutes. They search for product information online and offline, looking for coupons in multiple channels, and reading email newsletters. Although the research channels used most vary by product category like food and beverage versus health and beauty, it is clear that brand marketers need to understand the most influential digital channels for their specific product.

“Women want advice from other shoppers, but they also want to share their experiences and look for validation before making a purchase,” says Jodi Kahn, executive vice president at iVillage. “They become much more loyal to a brand if you give them the tools to make the correct buying decision. Coupons and programs increase brand loyalty.”

A parenting Web site, along with a beauty Web site — both from iVillage.com, scheduled to launch Thursday — will make it easier for women to search for information and product reviews.

Women typically control the purchasing decisions in the home, Kahn says. Knowing the brands that communicate with women can have a greater impact on a variety of purchase behaviors. Seventy-four percent of the women who participated in the survey said recommendations gave them a more favorable view of the product while shopping, and 70% said they were more likely to choose the brand or product over others.

Online channels influence women differently. Coupons and opinions influence women most when it comes to the purchase of food and beverage, health and beauty and household products. Online coupons at 68%, store coupons at 66%, consumer reviews on shopping sites at 61%, and online recommendations from friends at 59% are the top influencers. Sixty percent also say online coupons are more influential on their purchases now than one year ago, and 51% say consumer recommendations on Web sites are more influential.

Although 51% of women are fans or followers of grocery, health and beauty or household products brands and the stores that carry them, consumer reviews on shopping sites are a top influence for 61% of respondents. Online articles, by comparison, are a top influence with 35% of respondents saying that reading online content or articles is more influential now than one year ago. Blogs were also identified as an influence by 33% of respondents.

Facebook and Twitter fall to the bottom of the list. Only 19% believe that posts from friends influence them to make a purchase, and 11% cite posts from brands.

Source: MediaPost News

One of the key factors in Social Media Marketing is the measurement of its success or impact. In order to measure, you have to monitor engagement and sentiment.

Make sure your online media monitoring solutions are able to bring relevant results and analyze sentiment with a machine learning algorithm platform or you will find yourself immersed in a sea of non-relevant results.

Remember that in Social Media, people comment on your brand in the language of their choice and that over 53% of the U.S. population growth between January 2010 and December 2015 will be driven by Hispanics.

Therefore, try to include these comments not with a mere translating tool but a platform that comprehends idioms and cultural expression of the countries of origin and even Spanglish!

Video Source: Marta Kagan.

Form relationships with other local businesses that cater to your customers. Ask them to offer a discount to their customers if they mention coming from their store when they purchase from you. Feel free to reciprocate.–Claudia Goffan

When Claudia is not busy with the Board for Latin Success or with the Argentine American Chamber of Commerce — she is busy running her company – Target Latino. As CEO, Claudia has feverishly promoted the importance of the U.S. Hispanic market to American companies. She has worked with many top brands ranging from AT&T to XEROX. One of the most exciting partnerships that Claudia and her team are working on is with SocialMetrix — developers of SMX Echo.

Read more of Ramon Nuez‘s article at the Huffington Post

Claudia Goffan is the CEO of Target Latino and she specializes in generating Word-of-Mouth via Grassroots strategies online and off-line always with outstanding results.

Key social media usage highlights (% of respondents)

• 75% surveyed have a company page on a social networking site
• 61% use social media for identifying and attracting new customers
• 57% have built a network through a site like LinkedIn
• 45% expect social media to be profitable in the next twelve months

Dr. Alan Glazier, CEO and Founder of an eye and vision care center, said “… I was forced to consider alternative options to keep my business visible… with a very small investment in social media marketing, I was able to generate new business opportunities… (and) most importantly, my marketing budget has been reduced by more than 80%… ”

61% of the respondents use social media to identify new customers. The biggest expectation small business owners have from social media is expanding external marketing and engagement including identifying and attracting new customers, building brand awareness and staying engaged with customers.

50% of small business social media users say it takes more time than expected. While social media adoption has doubled in the last year, there are still some roadblocks to small businesses fully exploiting its potential. Another 17% feel that social media gives people a chance to criticize their business on the Internet. Related to this, only 6% feel that social media use has hurt the image of the business more than helped it.

Janet Wagner, director of the Center for Excellence in Service at the University of Maryland, says that “Social media levels the playing field for small businesses… ”

Other key findings from the December 2009 Small Business Success Index:

Small businesses experience positive effects from the economic downturn:

• 72% have found ways to operate more efficiently (up significantly from 66% in June)
• 47%have been led to find new products and services that benefit customers
• 43% have become better teams as hard times force people to work together

Building online presence continues to be key focus for small businesses:

• Company Web sites seem to be the top technology investment in the next two years, with small businesses either adding new features/functionality to their existing Web sites or building one from scratch
• The ability to showcase their products and services online to attract new customers is second in the hierarchy of technology investments
• Social media investments rank third in small business investments to be made in the next two years

Customer service the biggest strength of small business owners:

• Small businesses are highly successful at answering customer questions, ensuring customer satisfaction, showing empathy, providing consistent service, resolving problems and winning repeat business
• Four of the six customer service dimensions have gotten stronger compared to a year ago, and one of these, ensuring customer satisfaction, is significantly higher

Connie Steele, Director at Network Solutions, concludes that “… social media can be the best friend for small business owners who constantly seek new ways to maximize productivity while keeping costs low… ”

Source: Jack Loechner

But teens are not using Twitter in large numbers. While teens were bigger users of almost all other online applications, Twitter was an exception, the study found.

The number of 12 to 17-year-olds in the US who blog has halved to 14% since 2006, according to a survey for the Pew Internet and American Life Project. It suggests they prefer making short postings on social networking sites, and going online on mobile phones.

But the study also found a modest rise in blogging by those aged 30 and older. The increase from 7% in 2007 to 11% in 2009 is believed to be responsible for the prevalence of blogging within the overall adult internet population remaining steady at roughly 10%.

Micro-blogging

The study released on Wednesday found that blogging had steadily declined in popularity among both teens and young adults to 14%.

As the tools and technology embedded in social networking sites changed, and use of the sites continued to grow, young people appeared to be exchanging “macro-blogging” for “micro-blogging” with status updates, it concluded.

Amanda Lenhart, a senior researcher for Pew and the lead author of the study, told the Associated Press that the ability to do status updates had “kind of sucked the life out of long-form blogging”.

More young people – 55% of 18-29 year-olds and 27% of 12-17 year-olds – were also accessing the internet from their mobile phones, increasing the need for brevity. One student said teenagers had lost interest in blogging because they needed to type quickly and “people don’t find reading that fun”.

But teens are not using Twitter in large numbers. While teens were bigger users of almost all other online applications, Twitter was an exception, the study found.

Ms Lenhart doubts that blogging will disappear. She believes those who blog for personal reasons will instead focus more often on important events such as a wedding, a trip or the birth of baby.

Source: BBC

The Nielsen survey of users’ habits found that 67% of all those going online were spending time at social network and blogging sites.

Facebook is grabbing more and more of web users' time.

Interest in the category is growing four times faster than the other top four sectors, said the report. In the UK one in every six minutes of the average web user is spent at a social site, it found.

“Social networking has become a fundamental part of the global online experience,” said John Burbank, chief executive of Nielsen Online in a statement.

“Social networking will continue to alter not just the global online landscape, but the consumer experience at large,” he said.

Nielsen measures interest in categories by the percentage of the web audience that regularly visit such sites. The latest statistics suggest that 65.1% of web users use web e-mail but 66.8% are turning up at social network sites.

This means, said Nielsen, that about one in every 11 minutes a web user is online is spent at one of the sites Nielsen counts in its “Member Communities” category which includes both blogs and social network sites.

Of these sites, Facebook has highest average time per user, found Nielsen.

The researchers also found that social networking sites are managing to reach a very broad swathe of web users. The fastest growing segment of users turning up and using social sites over the last year was among 35-49 year olds.

In particular, the report noted, almost a quarter of Facebook’s users were known to be over 50 years old.

More and more people want to get at their favourite social network site and update via mobile, found Nielsen. In the UK the numbers of Britons looking at a social site via their phone was up 249%.

Source: BBC