Marketing Pilgrim Published: “Social Media Monitoring Gaining Ground But Has Plenty of Room for Growth” plus 4 more

Social Media Monitoring Gaining Ground But Has Plenty of Room for Growth
Zuckerberg Gets Letter From Congress About Data Privacy Concerns
Nearly 50% of People Surveyed Watch Online Videos Daily
Triangle AMA Hosts Andy Beal on February 17th
Campbell’s Says iAds are Mmm Mmm Good

Social Media Monitoring Gaining Ground But Has Plenty of Room for Growth

Posted: 04 Feb 2011 04:31 AM PST

As I prepare this morning to make a presentation on social media monitoring to a group of non-profit executives at the VOLUNTEER Hampton Roads, Hampton Roads Institute for Nonprofit Leadership Conference in Norfolk, VA, eMarketer is sharing an InformationWeek Analytics report about, you guessed it, social media monitoring.

The report shows that there is plenty of room for growth. Of course, we know Andy Beal already gets it (insert blatant Trackur social media monitoring tool plug here) but now it's up to companies to get it more as well.

With 43% of the respondents having no plan to respond to any online comments it's obvious that more business people need to understand this process before it is too late. There are many instances of companies and organizations having to scramble to respond to online issues and concerns. While doing something is usually better than doing nothing it is still very risky to have to put together a response on the fly when just some prior planning could prevent some seriously poor performance.

The study also looked at what companies are using to monitor the social space and most are still depending on search engine alerts which, in this space, is quickly becoming the equivalent of using smoke signals to communicate.

Since we are on the subject, be sure to check out the Trackur blog for even more information about the discipline of social media monitoring.

NOTE: One piece of monitoring we would like to do is to see what our readers think of this weekend’s Super Bowl. Who are the Pilgrims rooting for? Let us know in the comments. For me, it's Go, Pack, Go! What about you?

Pilgrim’s Partners: SponsoredReviews.com – Bloggers earn cash, Advertisers build buzz!

Zuckerberg Gets Letter From Congress About Data Privacy Concerns

Posted: 04 Feb 2011 03:43 AM PST

If you are a company that depends on your users' information to make a good portion of your revenue like Facebook does for advertising you likely don't want letters from politicians about your tactics. It's like getting a letter from the Principal in school. You know you did something wrong but you are hoping it doesn't go on your permanent record. Then the letter arrives at the house. Ouch.

Well, Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg got one of those little notices. It came from U.S. Reps. Edward Markey (D-Mass) and Joe Barton (R-Texas), Co-Chairmen of the House Bi-Partisan Privacy Caucus and it was dated February 2. The concerns come from the plan that Facebook launched in January then pulled off the table to be tweaked for re-release that gave developers access to mobile phone numbers and addresses of Facebook accounts. Representative Markey's website tells some more.

"Facebook needs to protect the personal information of its users to ensure that Facebook doesn't become Phonebook,” said Rep. Markey. “That's why I am requesting responses to these questions to better understand Facebook's practices regarding possible access to users' personal information by third parties. This is sensitive data and needs to be protected."

"Facebook's popularity has made it a leader in innovation and we hope they will also be a leader in privacy protection," said Rep. Barton. "The computer – especially with sites like Facebook – is now a virtual front door to your house allowing people access to your personal information. You deserve to look through the peep hole and decide who you are letting in."

Some of the questions that Facebook is being asked to answer include:

Would any user information in addition to address and mobile phone number be shared with third party application developers under the feature as originally planned, and was any of this information shared prior to Facebook's announcement that it would suspend implementation of the feature?

What user information will be shared with third party application developers once the feature is re-enabled?

What was Facebook's process for developing and vetting the feature referenced above before the feature was suspended, and what was the process that led Facebook to decide to suspend the rollout of this feature? What is the process Facebook is currently employing to adjust the feature prior to re-enabling it?

What are the internal policies and procedures for ensuring that new features developed by Facebook comply with Facebook's own privacy policy, and does the company consider this a material change to its privacy policy?
What consideration was given to risks to children and teenagers posed by enabling third parties access to their home addresses and mobile phone numbers through Facebook when designing the new feature?

What are the opt-in and opt-opt option for this new feature?

Why is Facebook, after previously acknowledging in a letter to Reps. Markey and Barton that sharing a Facebook User ID could raise user concerns, subsequently considering sharing access to even more sensitive personal information such as home addresses and phone numbers to third parties?

It's the last question in the previous quote that pretty much sums up how Zuckerberg and Facebook approach the world in most cases. You see, back October the company had told these same two representatives that sharing Facebook User ID's with developers raised privacy concerns. Now, Facebook goes ahead and gets caught with its hand in the privacy cookie jar looking to give away even more sensitive information like mobile numbers and addresses. That's either chutzpah or just plain disregard for concerns that had been voiced by these reps in the past. If you are Facebook does it make sense to 'poke the bear' and open this door again after ticking off the same two men you had issue with in just the past few months?

At any rate, it's obvious that Facebook will push every envelope it can to get user data in the hands of people that can help Facebook make money. As a capitalist that makes sense. But Facebook's apparent disregard for any convention of decency is going to come back to bite them in the end. Despite all the accolades and platitudes cast upon Zuckerberg as a visionary etc, etc there is no denying that he is also arrogant and feels to be above the law in many ways. In a word, there are times where he is just unlikeable. This culture and attitude has been created at Facebook as well so this will likely not be the last time the company gets called into the principal's office.

If you would like to see a full copy of the letter you can do that here.

Nearly 50% of People Surveyed Watch Online Videos Daily

Posted: 03 Feb 2011 05:14 PM PST

We know online video is hot, but just how hot? According to a new survey commissioned by video ad company YuMe, 49% of people are watching videos daily for an average total of seven hours per week per person.

Seven hours is a lot when you realize that 70% of what people are watching are short form videos under five minutes long. For long form, TV still reigns but the tide is shifting. The majority of the people surveyed said they appreciated the ability to watch web videos whenever they wanted. They also like the option of being able to catch up on shows they missed on TV.

What’s more telling is that viewers felt the quality of video on the web vs the TV was about the same, but that there was a much larger amount of exclusive content on the web.

Now here’s some marketing music for your ears. When asked if they skip commercials on previously recorded shows, “49% of respondents skip 75+% of ads on TV while only 29% of respondents skip 75+% of ads in online video.”

YuMe’s biggest takeaway is that the online video consumption is growing and quickly. More than 66% of viewers surveyed said they were watching more video than they did last year. The biggest increase is in women (70% over 30% of men) and the 35-54 age group (78% over 22% for 18-34). Those numbers prove that the rise in online video usage isn’t generational.

What the survey doesn’t take into account is the increase in available videos online. There are more viewers because there’s more to view. From homemade gems to entire studio libraries, educational videos to giant wastes of time and energy — videos can be found on at least half the websites we hit every day and every one of those videos is another chance to present your product.

Video advertising is a big leap for many businesses, but online video is only going to get more popular, so you might as well figure it out right now.

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Triangle AMA Hosts Andy Beal on February 17th

Posted: 03 Feb 2011 02:05 PM PST

If you’re in the Triangle area of North Carolina, come and hear me talk about practical–and easy to implement–reputation management tactics at the next meeting of the Triangle American Marketing Association.

The event is on February 17th at 11:30am and here’s a teaser of what you can expect.

See you there!

Campbell’s Says iAds are Mmm Mmm Good

Posted: 03 Feb 2011 01:56 PM PST

It’s kind of ironic that an old fashioned brand like Campbell’s is coming out as the spokesperson for the effectiveness of iAds. When the product took off in the early 1900′s, I’m sure they never imagined that one day people would be using hand-held wireless devices to find the best recipe that includes Golden Mushroom soup. But that’s exactly what’s happening and Campbell’s couldn’t be more pleased.

According to a five-week study conducted by Nielsen on behalf of Campbell’s and Apple, iAds were more effective than TV ads on a variety of levels.

As compared to viewing a Campbell’s TV ad, the viewers of iAds were:

– More than twice as likely to recall the ad.

– Three times more likely to remember the messaging.

– Four times more likely to purchase.

In addition to the ad boost, Campbell’s got something else, maybe something more important out of their pricey iAd campaign — the eyes of a younger audience. Up until now, Campbell’s advertising has been aimed primarily at moms who grew up with the brand. With the iAd campaign, they’ve opened themselves up to a whole different crowd.

But with this good news comes a reality check to the tune of one million dollars. That was the rumored cost of a buying in to the early adopter program and for Campbell’s, it sounds like it was worth every penny. Now Apple has to expand on that success to bring in more advertisers and reduce the overall cost of the program if they want to keep moving forward.

As a final thought, one has to wonder why this iAd campaign met with such success. It could be the simple fact that people learn and remember better when they interact with the information. If that’s the case, then iAds should continue to top TV ads across the board. But what if the real reason is the novelty? People clicked banner ads when they were new and fun, but now we mostly ignore them. Will iAd burnout happen over time as well, or will the content-based, interactive properties make them the one kind of advertising that works time and time again?