Marketing Pilgrim

I didn’t realize that in the Internet space the expression “‘Tis the season” has nothing to do with being jolly but it’s more like “‘Tis the season to be whiny”. Look at results from a USAToday poll that dared ask the question “How do you feel about Facebook Timeline?”

How can 57% of the respondents say they are quitting Facebook or scream that they want their old profile back when the thing has just been put into wide release in the past 24 or so hours?

Marketing executives and those that they badger for information still today often walk away frustrated from the problem of accurate and actionable measurement of campaigns of all sorts. Marketers used to be able to hide behind vague metrics like eyeballs and overall demographics of whatever medium they were using. The imperfections of the measurements were accepted and everyone just went along their merry way because you have to advertise to do business, right?

Then along comes the Internet and promises of hard numbers to help marketers make better and more targeted efforts that can be measured down to the nth degree. They can be measured but many are finding even those measurements fall short. eMarketer reports on a study conducted by Ifbyphone and their “State of Marketing Measurement Report” shows that marketers still feel many offline options are more measurable than online.

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Maybe now we can start talking about the Age of Mobile rather than wondering if this is simply the year of mobile. It’s here for sure and the increased use in mobile data is certainly pointing to that reality. Here is a chart from a Nielsen study that helps make the point

This is an interesting study that also points out the great mobile divide that separates the 35 and under crowd from the rest of the mobile world. They use a lot more data and will be around a lot longer that the older folks so this is only going to get more intense.

Facebook unveiled their new Timeline design back in September but since then, it’s only been available to a section of users. Now, Timeline is ready for mass consumption.

As of right now, you can change your Facebook profile to the Timeline style, but once you click the button, the countdown clock begins. Facebook is giving users up to 7 days to review the Timeline layout and make changes before it goes public.

When I first saw the 7-day notation, I thought, so what? That’s plenty of time to erase any incidents you don’t want to revisit. Or not. Zack at ZDnet said it took him four days of tedious work to clean up his timeline. He probably has a lot more on his Facebook than most, but it’s still an indicator of where this is headed. . . into trouble.

LinkedIn is:

a. my favorite social network

b. a vital business resource

c. just another time waster

If we were on LinkedIn right now, you could choose your answer and see a nifty bar graph showing how off the mark you are compared to those around you.

Polls have come to LinkedIn groups! Here’s an example straight from their company blog:

Is it me or is this a weird example? Kind of like asking what day does Christmas fall on just to see how many people get it wrong?

All mocking aside, polls are a great way to get information from your community. People love polls and are more likely to spend a second clicking on a choice than writing a comment. The poll feature allows for instant sharing on Twitter, it has a “like” option and a place for additional comments for the voters who want to solidify their position.

The Pew Research Center through its Internet and American Life Project has released a study called “Where People Get Information About Restaurants and Other Local Businesses“. It can be a bit of an eye opener when it comes to the perceived pervasive sharing about social activities by using social media.

The chart below shows where people go to get information about local businesses other than restaurants, bars and clubs.

The news for social media is only slightly better when you include bars, restaurants and clubs in the mix with only 3% of the respondents saying social media does this job for them. Any time you see the words in a column saying “to small a group to give reliable statistics” you have to wonder about the impact of that area.