Posts Tagged ‘social media’

More Small Businesses See Value of Websites

Audience Engagement, Branding, Internet, Marketing, Public Relations | Posted by Larry Greenberg
Oct 06 2010

Small businesses are finally beginning to appreciate the value of having a website, if recent surveys are any indication.

In late 2009, Ad-ology, a marketing and advertising research firm, conducted a survey that found that 46 percent of small businesses did not have a website.

Only six months later, another report sponsored by Network Solutions and the Center for Excellence in Service at the University of Maryland’s Smith School of Business, indicated that about 67 percent of small businesses plan to have a website by mid 2012. That same report said small businesses don’t plan to abandon their website in favor of a social media-only approach.  Instead, 30 percent of those who use social media said social media is the reason they intend to spend more on their websites.

Another study by American City Business Journals (ACBJ) of over 1700 small and medium businesses (SMB) found that those whose owners are more involved with the Internet overall enjoy a greater market share than their less web-engaged owners.

Search engines have become the ultimate business reference desk.  People seeking information about an important product or service purchase will conduct an online search, hoping to learn more about their subject, as well as available providers and, if possible, those providers’ credibility.  Businesses that don’t have websites risk being defined by others – or worse, not found at all.  The days of letting your fingers do the walking through the yellow pages or dialing 4-1-1 are over.

Websites enable small businesses to do the following:

  • Describe concisely what the business does, its intended customers, and the problems and needs it solves
  • Build credibility by presenting information that underscores its expertise and conveys its integrity
  • Showcase a unique brand, helping to convey the company’s personality, and the set of attributes that set it apart from the competition
  • Establish a direct communications channel that allows prospects to contact the business directly, while those prospects are in the process of making a purchasing decision;  it’s also a platform for facilitating customer care
So what are the first steps for business owners who may be undertaking the creation of a website?  That will be the topic of the next post.

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Are Advertisers Ready to Embrace Baby Boomers?

Advertising, Audience Demographics, Audience Engagement, Internet, Marketing, Media, Social Media, Television | Posted by Larry Greenberg
Aug 31 2010

Is it time for advertisers to cast aside 50 year-old assumptions about 50 year-olds?

Pew just released a study that reports social networking among the over-50 set has nearly doubled – from 22 percent in April 2009 to 42 percent in May 2010. Although still heavily dependent on email, “many older users now rely on social network platforms to help manage their daily communications,” said Pew Senior Research Specialist Mary Madden, author of the report.  “Young adults continue to be the heaviest users of social media, but their growth pales in comparison with recent gains made by older users.”

Indeed, wrote Nielsen, 8 of the 10 most frequently visited web sites for 18 to 34-year-olds are the same for baby boomers, the generation born between 1946 and 1964. Nielsen also reported that the boomers spend 38.5 percent of Consumer Packaged Goods (CPG) dollars, yet less than 5 percent of advertising dollars are targeted toward the 35 to 64-year old age group.

Baby boomers number 79 million, according to USA Today, the largest age demographic in the nation.  Are advertisers missing an opportunity with this enormous group?  Are marketers still wedded to the notion, which became conventional wisdom some 50 years ago during television’s early days, that most advertising dollars should be spent in pursuit of the youth market? Or are we about to witness a shift in advertisers’ approach to older consumers?

Boomers, said Pat McDonough, Senior Vice President, Insights, Analysis and Policy at the Nielsen Company, “… are the largest single group of consumers, and a valuable target audience. As the U.S. continues to age, reaching this group will continue to be critical for advertisers.”

The television audience is getting older as well.  Forbes recently reported that the median viewing age for the four largest national broadcast networks is 51 years-old. The average age increase reflects in part the dwindling numbers of young people who watch the networks.

As a result, TV’s share of the advertising pie continues to shrink. A joint survey by ANA (Association of National Advertisers) and Forrester Research of more than 100 national advertisers showed that advertisers allocated only 41 percent of their media budgets to television in 2009, down from 58 percent in our 2008.  But that same survey also showed that about 80 percent of advertisers believe the 30-second spot will still be around in 10 years.

So as brands reassess their marketing mix, with branded entertainment and the Internet playing a bigger role, will they also reconsider their demographic strategy?  Instead of focusing predominantly on 18 to 34 year-olds, will advertisers also try selling more to older audiences?  Alan Wurtzel, president of research and development at NBC, told Forbes that advertisers are beginning to take a second look at this demographic.

This would likely please late-night host Craig Ferguson, who shared his own thoughts on television’s youth marketing strategy in a funny rant last year.  (See “Appealing to the Youngest Common Denominator.)

Most of all, it should make advertisers happy, as they see their sales increase.

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Gary Vaynerchuk: Insights from a Successful Web Entrepreneur

Audience Engagement, Branding, Free Content, Internet, Media, Online Video, Social Media | Posted by Larry Greenberg
Jul 30 2010

If you didn’t attend the July 28 NY Video Meetup, I recommend watching the following James Lipton-style interview that group founder Yaron Samid conducted with Gary Vaynerchuk.

nyvideo on livestream.com. Broadcast Live Free

A key discussion topic:  What can content producers learn from the 34-year-old Vaynerchuk’s Wine Library TV, a daily video blog about wine that he started in February 2006 and which now enjoys more than 90,000 daily viewers?

In 1997, before the emergence of such social networking platforms as Twitter and Facebook, Vaynerchuk used the web to rebrand his father’s wine business.  With the launch of Wine Library, a retail site, he increased the company’s annual revenue from $4 million to $60 million as of 2008.  Success begat success for Vaynerchuk, with the release of The New York Times and Wall Street Journal bestseller, Crush It! Why Now is the Time to Cash in on your Passion, in 2009, numerous national television appearances including Late Night with Conan O’Brien, and the co-founding with his brother AJ of VaynerMedia, a boutique agency that works with personal brands, consumer brands, and startups. He is also an angel investor in various startups.

“There’s no overnight success,” Vaynerchuk told the NY Video audience, which consisted of about 200 video producers, entrepreneurs and other industry professionals.  Building an audience is a “marathon,” in which expertise is “massively important” and the traditional concept that ‘content is king’ is “really a big deal.”

He also said that content providers really need to care about their audience, taking the time to respond to each inquiry, including emails.  “If anyone follows you or watches you, you should be grateful.  It’s not the size but the emotion” of the following that matters.  Vaynerchuk said the Twitter phenomenon has hurt because, “it’s created a culture about numbers.  How many of those (followers) really care, at least from a business standpoint.  To get them to really care, you must care about them first.”

Vaynerchuk said online entrepreneurs should be focusing on the revenue-generating potential of mobile.  He foresees possibly developing a Wine Library smartphone application that would include a barcode scanner that enables shoppers in the store to see if his show has reviewed a particular wine or to determine whether a store has a recommended wine in stock.  He also envisions each Wine Library TV episode ending with shopping list.

Oh, and he made this one prediction: Facebook Connect is going to win search over Google. He said people would prefer getting a friend’s recommendations than some anonymous opinion positioned through SEO.  “Context of relationship is really powerful,” Vaynerchuk said.

If you’re interested in developing a following for original web content, I highly recommend listening to Vaynerchuk’s entertaining and insightful discussion.

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