Let’s talk about budgets.
It took a while.
Even though tens of millions of users were flocking to social media sites every day, most marketers stayed away. They either didn’t understand how to join the conversations—without sounding like shills—or they were frightened away by the prospect of associating their brands with questionable content.
But things are changing.
Companies are learning how to leverage social media and tap into the rising tide of consumers participating in social network sites, blogs, wikis and Twitter.
According to the “The ROI on Social Media Marketing” report from the Aberdeen Group, sponsored by Visible Technologies, marketers have developed the tools and methodologies to drive marketing ROI by listening to and learning from customers and prospects.
Originally posted on emarketer for the rest of the article go to http://www.emarketer.com/Article.aspx?R=1006989
BuzzCity, which provides wireless communities and consumer services, has announced the results of its quarterly Global Mobile Advertising Index. According to BuzzCity, the results show that the global recession is having little to no effect on mobile advertisers or user habits. The Index documents the growth of mobile Internet advertising and represents inventory sold across the BuzzCity Mobile Advertising Network in more than 200 countries globally. It indicates growth in the number of users accessing the mobile Internet, in spite of declining public confidence in the economy and security in the job market.
In the first three months of 2009, the BuzzCity Advertising Network delivered 8.5 billion paid advertising banners, an increase of 11% over the previous quarter. The top 10 countries by the number of paid advertising banners delivered in each are:
- Indonesia: 4.4 billion (23% growth)
- India: 842 million (+16%)
- United States: 527 million (+38%)
- South Africa: 428 million (-8 %)
- Egypt: 162 million (+8 %)
- Romania: 161 million (+9 %)
- China: 130 million (+67% )
- Philippines: 125 million (+8 %)
- United Kingdom: 113 million (+54 %)
- Bangladesh: 112 million (-16 %)
See full article at http://www.mobilemarketingmagazine.co.uk/2009/04/mobile-advertising-recessionproof-says-buzzcity.html
In October 2008, Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak, in an exclusive interview in the Daily Telegraph, made a prediction on the iPod’s imminent death.
“The iPod has sort of lived a long life at number one,” he says. This device will be as common as walkmans and transistor radios that it will eventually lose its favored place due to oversupply. “It’s kind of like everyone has got one or two or three. You get to a point when they are on display everywhere, they get real cheap and they are not selling as much,” explains Wozniak.
While not everyone believes Wozniak’s prediction, the days of the iPod’s tremendous growth could be over. In the midst of a recession, iPod users may see no need to buy new iPods or upgrade to a new one. An article in Business Week notes, “Growth for the music player franchise averaged more than 200% in 2006 and 2007, before falling to 6% in fiscal 2008.” Figures released last March by the NPD Group, a leading global provider of consumer and retail market research information, showed a 16% decline in overall iPod sales as of February this year.
Read more:
References:http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/mediatechnologyandtelecoms/3145691/Steve-Wozniak-interview-iconic-co-founder-on-the-iPod-iPhone-and-future-for-Apple.html [accessed 6 April 2009].
Neate, R., 2008. Steve Wozniak Interview: Iconic Co-founder on the iPod, iPhone, and Future for Apple. The Daily Telegraph [Online]. Retrieved at:
Read more here: Hesseldahl, A., 2008. Apple’s iPod Problem. Business Week [Online]. Retrieved at: http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/dec2008/tc2008122_679456.htm [accessed 6 April 2009].
Elmer-Dewitt, P., 2009. Mac, iPod Sales Each Down 16% in February – NPD. Fortune on CNNMoney.com [Online]. Retrieved at: http://apple20.blogs.fortune.cnn.com/2009/03/16/mac-ipod-sales-each-down-16-in-february-npd/ [accessed 6 April 2009].
In the new marketing and media ecosystem, some will fail, some will thrive, and all will have to evolve.
In 2007, Hewlett-Packard Company (HP) sponsored an online contest to design the skin of HP’s new special-edition entertainment laptop. The company promoted the contest selectively in 13 countries via the television, Web, and mobile channels of its media partner, MTV Networks. But word spread virally, and more than 8,500 entries poured in from 112 countries in just over a month. The contest site got more than 5 million hits, prompting HP to re-forecast sales to five times its original estimate. And it was “all because we opened the doors and allowed our customers to design our products,” says Mike Mendenhall, HP’s chief marketing officer.
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ROI is a hot topic.
Discussions surrounding the return on investment of social media have been prevalent lately, and with good reason. In a tightening economy, businesses are scrutinizing their spending and anxious to ensure that their resources are being allocated wisely.
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There’s so much talk about social media that it is easy for people to become cynical, perhaps losing track of the fact that it can have a positive impact on your business.
So how can you determine whether a social media strategy is proving beneficial to your business? How do you know that it is working out for you? And is now really the best time to find out?
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Social Media’s ’Gee-Whiz
Factor’ Must Die: Time to
Get Down to Business
Social media is cool! Blogging and podcasts are cool! We’re so cutting edge! Twitter is like the future here today, and no one knows about it!
Yeah, whatever.
The people looking at social media long and hard fall into a few camps, and I’m writing this for those who are scrunching their noses up and asking, “how exactly does this improve my business?”
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Social Media Isn’t Just a Marketing Tool but an Efficiency Driver
What’s the bigger idea: social media as marketing stimulus or social media as a way to innovate business processes?
Every brand manager or CMO should recognize that it’s both — and in a disruptive economy, you need to take advantage of both outcomes. And when the potential dividends of a marketing effort include changes to a company’s process, we need to rethink the entire notion of ROI.
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