Google: What, me worry?

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Probably not. Hey, it’s Google, after all. Undoubtedly the most successful search engine in the world. So what in the world could possibly threaten the Google empire? The biggest competition doesn’t come from a search engine at all.

What is… Facebook??

OK, so it’s not direct competition in terms of core functionality, but still. It’s competing for consumers’ time and attention, and according to statistics from the UK, Facebook is winning.

Why should this even matter to Google?

Well, it’s all about the search engine’s main revenue source: advertising spend.

It shouldn’t be any surprise to anyone who’s ever heard the phrase “social network” that Facebook is king of the status-phere. In the Hitwise study it collected 55% of all social site visits. Google beat Facebook in wider Web clicks overall, with 9.3% of total Web traffic to Facebook’s 7%. But when total Internet traffic was tabulated, social networks as a group won the race by a neck (or a few clicks!) with half of a percent more traffic than search engines – a first-time accomplishment for social networks. Continue reading →

How you can make a difference in just 15 minutes

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What can you do in 15 minutes?

Save money on your car insurance? Sure. But we’re looking deeper here, we want to make a difference in the world. I mean, everyone wants to help out, right? Well with the introduction at Mashable’s Media Summit yesterday of a new DIY fundraising Web site called Crowdrise, actor Edward Norton says you can bring about your own social change in just 15 minutes.

mashable on livestream.com. Broadcast Live Free

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Why marketers should party like it’s Youtube’s birthday

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Happy birthday to Youtube! Five years ago this month, the self-broadcasting Web site that we’ve all come to know, love and add to our favorites went live with a 19-second video featuring one of the site founders on a trip to the zoo. It was surprisingly entitled, “Me at the zoo.” Creative, guys!

So, what have we learned from the completely accessible, omnipresent pop culture phenomenon that has allowed ordinary people to either make fools of themselves or become superstars literally over night, and created a linked and attentive world audience? We’ve witnessed the sheer and undeniable power of the viral thread. Well then, how do we use it to our benefit? Continue reading →

Marketers, meet your new consumers!

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So, how about this economy, eh?

OK, so we’re tired of hearing about the depressed economy already. We know! We also know that a tight squeeze for some companies doesn’t have to mean hard times for you. Actually, it could be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to gain market share, create loyal customers, and grow like a weed. And how the heck do you do that?

One simple way is to get in touch with the future of the consumer market – the people who will spend the country out of the red and back into the black. So which big spenders will you be seeing a lot more of? What groups with a disposable income should you keep an eye on? Who will drive the economic recovery?

Who is……Gen X and Gen Y!071005_consumerforum_bruce-temkin_edited_v3

Gen what now? The X-ers are people generally born from 1965 into the late 70′s, and Y-ers (or Millenials) came next, born between 1980 and into the 90′s.

A recent report from PricewaterhouseCooper and Retail Forward points to the affluent segments of these groups with the disposable income to make a difference. The “up-market affluents” of the Gen X market will also be influential in the economic comeback, the report says, because of their stage in life. About 60 percent of this age group has attended college, but unlike the Baby Boomers who preceded them, Gen X “may work to live rather than live to work.”

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The 10 Commandments of Twitter

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mosesMashable.com, one of our favorite sources for the newest trends in social media, did some research on Twitter use and abuse by marketers, and compiled a list of ground rules that every company ought to follow while working in the Twittersphere.

Remember one of the grounding principles of marketing – look through the eyes of the consumer. Even the best marketers seem to forget this concept when caught up in the ease of self-aggrandizement and tempt of self-promotion in every Tweet of the enter key. Mashable went to real Twitter users, the general public who has engaged with brands on Twitter, to find out what consumers are really looking for in a brand Tweet.

What did they find? Well, surprise: people know that brands aren’t people. They hold brands to a standard different from the code “normal” users should follow. Here are the most fundamental rules Mashable has compiled. We like to think of them as “The 10 Commandments of Twitter”…

  1. Thou shalt not show off! Want to talk about your features, and even better, your benefits? Great. Should you mention special deals you’re running? Definitely. Tempted to post links to your latest press releases, articles your CEO wrote or extravagant claims full of superlative adjectives? Don’t do it! This isn’t the place. Ask yourself this question: “If I didn’t work here, would I really care?” If you wouldn”t care, then they won’t care. Continue reading →

Want more business? Try an app for that.

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How did the world function before cell phones? When wireless technology didn’t exist, people were tied down to a place and a time. Before constant access spoiled the world with instant gratification, communication required patience and effort. Prior to the consumer appeal of mobile applications for entertainment, function and general amusement, businesses struggled to find a more personal way to create client relationships. Then came the app.

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Consider these numbers: 7 billion. This is the population of the world right now. And 4 billion. The number of people who owned a cell phone last year. Next is 680 million, which is the number of smartphones in the world in 2009. That’s 17 percent of all cell phones. Finally, the number that is most crucial to your company is 1 billion. This is the number of people who will own a smartphone in the next three years. Continue reading →