Marketing Pilgrim

Need a shot of the milk of human kindness? Spend a little time on a social network and your faith in humanity will be renewed.

So sayeth the majority of the 2,260 adults who responded to the latest Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life Project study.

“The tone of life on social networking sites” takes a look at people’s perceptions about their interactions on sites such as Facebook and Twitter.

85% of adults said that their experiences were mostly kind. 68% went so far as to say that they had an experience that made them feel good and 61% felt closer to another person thanks to social media. And how about this? 39% said they frequently saw acts of generosity by others. Frequently!

Back in the days when we all knew our neighbors, borrowing from them was a common occurrence. Lawn mowers, hand tools, and that insane “cup of sugar” that appeared on nearly every TV show in the 50′s and 60′s.

Jump forward to the 90′s and borrowing wasn’t so hot anymore. Much of this was due to the change in the way we live and socialize. People who knew their neighbors well enough to ask a favor became the minority. We also became more possessive. If we wanted it, we bought it. If our friends had it, we bought it. Even if we were only going to use it once, we bought it.

Video may have killed the radio star, but it’s working wonders for the online ad business. According to eMarketer, video is showing the highest spending growth numbers of any category.

Last year video went up 42.1% and it’s expected to keep in the double-digits for the next few years.

More spending, means claiming a larger share of the online ad pie. For video, it’s currently at 7.9%, just barely sneaking past Classifieds and Directories. The share is expected to rise to 15% by 2016, keeping it solidly in third place.

Add in search and banners and these three ads account for 80% of all ads sold. Search, accounting for almost half of all online ads by themselves.

The Integer Group and the Coca-Cola Retailing Research Council understand the importance of social networking in marketing. That’s why they’ve dedicated themselves to making sense of it all, beginning with a five-part series called entitled Untangling the Social Web: Insights for Users, Brands and Retailers.

The first part is available right now (it’s free) and right off the bat you’ll find this little gem.

Comparing social media to high school isn’t an original concept, but I do like the way they’ve phrased it. It’s funny. It’s all true and it explains why social media is such a fickle beast.

Here’s another gem:

40% of social networkers log on
to a social site before they get
dressed in the morning.

No wonder General Mills is so set on making cereal boxes digitally interactive.

“By 2017, Millennials – those consumers now in their mid-teens to mid-30s – will have more spending power than any other generation.”

That quote shouldn’t take you by surprise. It’s the circle of life. A new crop of young, working, educated men and women who have discretionary income. In other words, the people you need to keep your business alive.

One hitch, a study by Bazaarvoice says that Millennials don’t make purchase decisions like their mothers did, not even like their big sisters did! Since Millennials are growing up in the social media age, they rely on the opinions of others more than any other group before them.

In an ideal Facebook marketing world, fans would like our pages, leave sweet comments on our amusing daily updates, and share their joy with their friends.

In the real world, it doesn’t work that way. You already knew that, but did you know how much it doesn’t work that way?

AdAge recently published the results of a study by the Ehrenberg-Bass Institute and here’s what they found.

1.3% of brand fans on Facebook are actively engaging with the brands they like. (Meaning I fudged the 99% in the headline slightly, but it’s more about the point than the number.) The study tracked the top 200 brands for six weeks, counting all of those actions that go into the “People Talking About This” number. That means shares, likes, comments, posts and tags.

If you watch the commercials on TV, it’s easy to believe that the entire population of the Earth is walking around with a smartphone in their pocket. Not true, but that day is slowly approaching.

Google conducted a study of cell phone users in the US, the UK, France, Germany and Japan and found that globally, smartphones are on the rise. The UK had the highest concentration with 45%, up 15% from the first half of 2011.

The US is looking at 38% and Japan is the lowest with only 17%.

On the other hand, Japan has the highest percentage of daily internet usage on the smartphone. Germany had the biggest increase in usage from the first part of the year to the later.