Comment

If Your CMO Isn't Social, How Can You Have a Social Business?

via Huffington Post Business, by Jure Klepic

Harvard Business Review interviewed 2100 organizations for a white paper entitled, “The New Conversation: Taking Social Media from Talk to Action.” Some of their astonishing findings include:

Those who use it see social media as a one-way channel to promote their activity; they aren’t capitalizing on the ability to engage consumers and find insights that could affect their bottom line.

  • Only 7 percent have integrated social media into their marketing activities!
  • After five years, 61 percent still believe they have a significant learning curve to overcome.
  • 29 percent felt it was difficult to see the benefit of social media for their business purposes.

A full 11 percent responded that the use of social media for their business purposes was only a “passing fad!” Why yes, and the automobile is only a passing fad, too! The reason behind these dismal results is that these corporations are taking their marketing cues from CEOs who aren’t even social themselves.

Yes.


Comment

Comment

Mashable's 11 Tech Trends for '13

by Lance Ulanoff

Number 1 and 2 are what I’ve bet my career on, so this is reassuring to hear from Mr Ulanoff.

1. Second Screen Revolution

Here are some stats for you:

  • More than 80% of smartphone and tablet owners use these devices while watching TV.

  • At least 25% of U.S. smartphone and tablet users use the devices while watching TV multiple times per day.

  • 51% of those who post on social media while watching TV do so to connect with others who might also be watching the same thing.

  • 24% of Facebook users report posting about the movie they’re watching (in the theater!).

In other words, the Second Screen has arrived, but the revolution awaits us. In 2013, brands, media companies and marketers are going to get far more aggressive and inventive when it comes to second-screen engagement. During a recent panel I moderated for Viacom’s integrated marketing group, Mondelez’s (a Kraft spinoff) VP of Global Media Bonin Bough reported engagement is far stronger for second-screen integrated marketing programs than for traditional online brand advertising (read “banners”).

Marketers see blood in the water, and in 2013 they will release the sharks.

This is not a bad thing, but the old days of getting the full entertainment experience on screen 1 (TV, movies) is quickly coming to an end. Companies will expect you to watch their shows and see their product pitches with smartphone in hand and tablet (still usually the iPad) on your lap.

Meanwhile, a legion of second-screen engagement enablers like Shazam,Zeebox (both of which were on my panel), Viggle and GetGlue are lining up to help you connect big-screen consumption with small-screen activities.

Their goal will be not only to enrich your viewing experience, but to also extend the consumer connection as you turn off the TV and walk out the door with your smartphone in your pocket. Twenty-four-seven entertainment and branding will be the norm in 2013, though you won’t always be aware the connection between what you saw on your first and second screen at home and what your smartphone is telling you as you pass the local Wal-Mart.

2. Big Data

Part of the solution of that puzzle will be data—whole bunches of it.

Thanks to the Internet and our ubiquitous, always-with-us and always-on smartphones, companies are capturing mountains of data about us. And 2013 is the year they finally figure out what to do with it.

One reason companies and marketers will more readily embrace big data is because they’re finally starting to trust it. The 2012 Presidential Election was a validation of data over guesswork. This may lead people to think that is that somewhat vertical (politics) set of data can be so telling, what can all the socio-demographic-geographic-activity data they’re grabbing now tell them.

In 2013, we’ll see the fruits of that data: targeted information on all channels, new discoveries that impact all walks of life based on deep data dives. We’ll have better products, sharper and more insightful predictions (on future elections, weather; basic needs like food, water, shelter and energy). We’ll also see the rise of the Data Scientist.

At this year’s Technomy in Tucson, Ariz., Annika Jiminez, senior director of Data Science at Greenplum, described the role and requirements for new Data Scientists. She explained that they have to be more than smart statisticians.

"They must have very strong programming skills and foundational statistical chops and communication skills." That last skill will be critical because for all the support there is for the rise of Big Data, many companies still don’t get it. The Data Scientist has to be the cheerleader.

The best of these scientists will “optimize, predict, score and forecast” and, in the process, change our world.


Click the link at Top for full list. 

Comment

Comment

Why You Should Try Social TV Apps

aseroff:

Ever since we all started tweeting while watching TV, thousands of media types have been trying to come up with a way to get you on their team. Some sent you stickers, some sent you gift cards, some tried to give you content around the episode you were watching (granted, some methods are more effective than others). Ultimately, I agree with my founder Somrat Niyogi who rightly pointed at switching cost from Twitter as the culprit turning this promising space into a field of duds.

Today, I’m going to give you a few reasons why you should try out that social TV app.

Read More

Comment

Comment

via GigOM

If you have any interest or skin in the Social TV sector, this is an important talk to watch. Dick Costolo speaks to his alma mater at The University of Michigan about Twitter as a “second screen” experience and the reincarnation of Agora.

Matthew Ingram has a great take on his GigOM post here.

Comment