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Social Brand

How Online Customer Preferences and Feedback Has Changed

May 9, 2011 by basilpuglisi@aol.com Leave a Comment

It has only been a couple of years since integrated log-ins began to creep into our everyday tasks online. Although it began on a smaller scale, such as the 2008 integration of Yahoo and Google ID’s with Zoho, from this small test in integration preferences, an entirely new beast grew.

Logging in via third party is no longer a delightful surprise in most cases, indeed, the lack of integrated log in can actually deter visitors from signing up, or logging into your site, especially when there are like options elsewhere that have the nifty one-click integration option. This type of log in integration is referred to as a type of social log-in service. Although Google came out strongly by quickly adding early integration for all of their available applications, it seems that the wind in Google’s social log-in services sails may have shifted.

Facebook Takes the Lead

Janrain, a web company that tracks social web data, states that since the first time they began reporting on these statistics in January 2010, Google has been overtaken. During the first quarter of 2011, 35% of users chose to use Facebook as a log-in option over all others. In the last quarter of 2010, the number hung around 27%.

However, this may not be indicative of overall users. When given the option on 350,000 different sites, users will choose not to integrate their Facebook account, but will choose other methods, or manual log-in instead, at a rate of 65%.

How is This Changing the Consumer Voice for Business

It may be difficult to determine who benefits the most, even though this new aspect of social media marketing seems to have perks for all. Social log-ins are appealing to businesses as they can help to personalize content, interactions, and brand awareness. Social log-ins are an attractive option for users who seem to love the feel of interacting with those of whom they make regular, or significant purchases from.

While Urban city guide sites like Yelp give consumers the ability to review products or services of any company on site, it seems most users these days prefer to simply Facebook ‘Like’ a fan page to show their loyalty to brands they enjoy, as well as to gain benefit by keeping more up-to-date on sales, or enjoy social chatter on the latest in the industry.

A recent study showed that while 20% of people claim they prefer to click a Facebook Fan pages ‘Like’ button to show their preference for local businesses, only 13% report being willing to write a review for the same business.

Turning the Tide

Although this may indeed turn the tide a bit on how users will begin to review local businesses, this is certainly not now nor likely to be the end all spot to find all of the pertinent information that users may be searching for.

The same study also showed that 52% of adult users under 35 will still check three or more websites when researching products or services locally or online. The main site still searched is Google at 63%.

At this point, the type of business will still rank high on the users list of what sites need to be searched. While those considering larger purchases may prefer the interaction that Facebook provides, users who may just want to check out how good a restaurants’ dishes are may still prefer the detailed review style of Yelp.

Sources:

  • Janrain
  • ‘Like’ Button Preferred Over Common Reviews
  • Most Prefer to ‘Like’ Their Favorite Products
  • One Log-in Catches On
  • Yahoo and Google Integrate with Zoho

Filed Under: Blog, Branding & Marketing, Conferences & Education, Digital & Internet Marketing, Social Media Topics Tagged With: brand, Business Consulting, facebook, google, internet marketing, PR, Social Brand, Social Media, Visibility, Visibility Marketing

Small Business Solutions: Sponsored Reviews

May 5, 2011 by basilpuglisi@aol.com Leave a Comment

Statistic shows that the first page on Google search results brings about 40% click through rate. The sponsored links bring about 50% of the remaining clicks. It is said that most people will change their keyword search rather than go to the second page of the search results.

So, it is very important to try and rank on the first page of Google. One of the methods used to get a higher ranking is the SEO, having articles and posts posted on the internet that contain the keywords you are aiming for, to create more links and rank higher.

Since the Social Media has become a major player in influencing the ranking on Google, many have been searching for a way to increase their presence. One of the ways is to be mentioned on blogs and other social media platforms, but you can’t do it all yourself and sometimes help is available in places you haven’t thought about.

One of the newest trends are companies that will connect you with blog owners so you can pay them to write a review about your product or service, and link back to your site.

One such company is Buyblogreviews.Com which “brings advertisers and bloggers together for reviews on products and services”. They offer to connect the business owner with blog owners that specialize in that niche and get reviewed by professionals, semi-professionals and ordinary bloggers. The connection with the bloggers is done through their site and the bloggers bid for the opportunity to review the product. The site charges 30% of the deal.

Another company is Payperpost.com, which is owned by IZEA Innovation. “Think of it like eBay for sponsored blog posts” they say on their website. Advertisers offer opportunities for blog owners to connect with you, write a review and post it in their blog.

PayU2blog.com is yet another company that offers the same service. Theirs in the only site that says positive reviews are not guaranteed.

Socialspark.com offers an array of services, from connecting the advertiser with the blogger, set link the advertiser wants embedded in the post, choose which blog they want it posted on and measure the effectiveness of the campaign. They work with some Fortune 500 companies as GoDaddy.com, Overstock.com, AmericanGreetings.com and will create a whole campaign for the advertiser around the subject he want to enhance.

A new survey conducted by BlogHer and Ketchum.com found that 20% of women who used social media are motivated to try products bloggers wrote about and 53% of them have bought a product based on blog recommendation. The top three typed of products people look for personal recommendations are consumer electronics, computer hardware and software and movies. Almost half of blog readers read blogs to find new trends or ideas.

Is it legal? Yes. Is it Ethical? Yes, as long as the bloggers posts at the top of the article that this is a sponsored post and the opinions of the blogger are 100% his.

Sources:

  • About.com: Sponsored Review Sites
  • Business News Daily: Bloggers Celebrities Influence
  • Buy Blog Reviews
  • Pay Per Post
  • Pay U 2 Blog
  • Social Spark
  • Yoast: Sponsored Review SEO Rank Analysis with Authority Labs

Filed Under: Blog, Branding & Marketing, Conferences & Education, Digital & Internet Marketing, SEO Search Engine Optimization, Social Media Topics Tagged With: advertising, blog, blogger, brand, internet marketing, Marketing, PR, reviews, SEO, Social Brand, Social Media, Visibility, Visibility Marketing

Loopt: A Social Location Tool

April 26, 2011 by basilpuglisi@aol.com Leave a Comment

Let’s say you step out of class or a business meeting or a long day at work, and you wonder; where are my friends right now and what are they up to? What fun activity am I missing?

Loopt, a mobile application, helps you see a clear picture of your social circle, without making a round of calls or texts. This virtual social application is meant to be a facilitator of the real social world.

Founded in 2005 and launched in 2008 as an iPhone app, Loopt is growing and incorporating other social media platforms. In January 2011 the site came up with a 4.0 update that changed the look, added new features and is applicable on all smart phones. At the moment, Loopt has more than 4 million users and have partnerships with Google Maps, Facebook Places and Twitter, among others.

Their application lets you see at a glance and in real time where your friends are hanging out. It will show you who is at a nearby place and wants company. It will show you where is this new place everyone is talking about and who’s there. You can text your friends and get a map how to get there.

Another service they provide are recommendations to places you have never been before. If you are on a business trip, in a new city, wouldn’t you want to get first hand recommendations about places to eat or hang out? Again, you might meet a tall dark stranger who is on your network of virtual friends.

In the latest update, out in April 2011, you can get at-a-glance recommendations about a place. Let’s face it, say the makers of Loopt. Most of the remarks are either very good – people loved it enough to write about it, or very bad – they were really unhappy with something. Who has the time to go through all those posts? Their Loopt Q, lets you see it in a graph form. Good reviews vs. bad ones. You don’t have to stand outside a restaurant for half an hour and read all the posts. This service is now available only in San Francisco, with a plan to roll it soon to other cities as well.

Sources:

  • Crunchbase
  • Blog.Loopt
  • Loopt
  • ReadWriteWeb
  • Wikipedia

Filed Under: Blog, Branding & Marketing, Conferences & Education, Digital & Internet Marketing, Social Brand Visibility, Social Media Topics Tagged With: brand, FourSquare, Location, Marketing, mobile, Social Brand, Social Media, Visibility, Visibility Marketing

YouTube founders Gets Delicious

April 25, 2011 by basilpuglisi@aol.com Leave a Comment

The top and leading social bookmarking service, Delicious, has been sold by Yahoo to co-founders of YouTube, Steve Chen and Chad Hurley. Begun in 2003, Yahoo acquired the service in 2005. Delicious claims a worldwide community of loyal users. Delicious is also a part of AVOS, a relatively new internet company in San Mateo, California.

Although Yahoo will continue to operate the bookmarking site until July, when the transition period ends, all data will be moved to the new Delicious servers. This means that the next time users sign into Delicious, they will be asked for permission for approval in moving your currently saved bookmarks to their new location.

Do Not Forget to Approve Your Bookmark Change Over

Members should have also received a message that provides notification and how to move the bookmarks, as well as what will happen if they do not.

Highly aware that this news has come as a surprise to its many users, Delicious execs also provided all the imperative information to their users today in a fresh press release from AVOS, as well as an explanatory blog in addition to the email sent out to each member.

Good News for Delicious Users

In the end, users should not be worried as AVOS does plan to continue the widely used service and therefore have taken the many necessary steps to ensure that all users know of the impending changeover and have plenty of time to approve their own bookmarks transfer to the new Delicious servers.

Developers and execs are well aware that there will be a period of adjustment as AVOS launches Delicious on their own, but they also have shared that their intentions for Delicious are to continually grow and improve on the services currently offered.

Sources:

  • Delicious Acquired by YouTube Founders
  • YouTube Acquires Delicious
  • Delicious Sold to YouTube
  • Delicious Transition

Filed Under: Blog, Conferences & Education, Social Media Topics Tagged With: internet marketing, Marketing, media news, news, Social Brand, Social Media, social media news, Video Marketing

Social Media for the Big Business Boys: DELL, IBM, Coca-Cola

April 20, 2011 by basilpuglisi@aol.com Leave a Comment

While in recent days small businesses have found themselves caught up in the world of social media and the prospects it can bring directly to their products or services, big business certainly has a brief history of their own in utilizing social media formats for marketing purposes.

So which companies are utilizing social medias these days and just how are they managing their social media campaigns?

Computer manufacturing giant, Dell, utilizes social medias such as in the virtual word, Second Life, for customer engagement. Second Life users can visit Dell Island to check out their latest products. Their blog, Direct2Dell regularly generates over 3.5 million views per month. Along with nine of their official internal blogs, there are literally hundreds of departmental blogs that are available in six different languages.

Dell’s Ideastorm allows their users to either suggest or vote on current ideas encouraging social media interaction. Further encouragement comes from internal Dell developers who do utilize the suggestions made by users for future upgrades.

Dell currently has over 22 corporate accounts on Twitter as well as more than seventeen individuals who currently use their name @dell handles.

IBM, the first large corporation to encourage employee blogging now has literally thousands of blogs, 125 of them corporate blogs, that are directly related to just about every aspect of their business. They host their own forums for interaction and discovery, as well as Podcasting from a place called  developerWorks and Social Networking Now.

With their own ((S3N)) Team on Twitter and Rational Heroes community space they have dove into the social media frenzy with both digital feet.

IBM also supports Meet Mr. Fong on YouTube and machinima videos. The Virtual 3D world, Second Life, even houses the  Rational Software Conference/Hipihi and IBM Business Center.

Coca-Cola who has rarely spared any expense in advertising has certainly taken advantage of all aspects of social media marketing in recent years.

They have their own blog support at Coca-Cola Conversations for discussions on the company’s history, support for online video such as Diet Coke + Mentos or Cans Professional 3. 

They also have their own social networks in CokeTag Facebook applications and Sprite Sips. And as the others do, they also have their own spot in the digital 3D world known as Second Life, called  Virtual Thirst.

Although there certainly is no shortage of companies that are utilizing social media in their marketing campaigns, not all will be able to have the reach as other larger corporations such as those here. However, with little effort and a bit of dedicated time even the smallest business can build a social media fan base that will directly benefit their bottom line.

 

Sources:

  • Social Media Marketing Examples
  • How Do Corporations Use Social Medias
  • How Big Businesses Use Social Media
  • Case Studies on Social Media for Large Corporations
  • Smartest Social Media Brands

Filed Under: Blog, Branding & Marketing, Conferences & Education, Digital & Internet Marketing, SEO Search Engine Optimization, Social Brand Visibility, Social Media Topics Tagged With: brand, Coca cola, Dell, IBM, internet marketing, Social Brand, Social Media, Social Media Social Brand Visibility, Visibility, Visibility Marketing

The State of Now – The #140conf

April 14, 2011 by basilpuglisi@aol.com Leave a Comment

Jeff Pulver is an interesting character. Not the most charismatic of speakers, yet his words make a lot of sense. He started “in computers”, as he calls it, 17 years ago. He was one of the co-founders of Vonage, and invested in Twitter back in 2007. Here is, paraphrased, what he says about the State on Now and why #140conf. is needed.

Our world is changing very quickly with the new technologies. Things we can do today were unthinkable just 20 or 30 years ago. In his opinion, one of the biggest changes happened with the invention of Twitter. He compares it to the invention of the telegraph or the radio.

Here is why:  Social Media has brought with it a new opening for people to express their thoughts and feelings and share them with others.  The ordinary, everyday folks could voice their opinion. The more people think and feel the same way, the bigger impact the citizens have on what is going on in their world. We saw the power of the internet in raising funds in the 2008 elections.

At the same time, our modern world has made us all Short Attention Span sufferers. We want the information now, and we want it fast and accurate. And we want it short. When it comes to voicing our opinions, not everyone is a good writer who has the patience and the stamina to hold a blog. Twitter combines those two elements and allows composing only a short message that even the untalented writer can do. It opens the door to so much, Jeff Pulver says, that we are still incapable of determining what kind of impact it will have on our future world.

Social media changed advertising, changed reading habits and changed politics. Even though Jeff Pulver said those things in 2009, he was right on the money when you look at the last event in the Middle East.

What Jeff does now is provide a platform for people who spend time learning all those new technologies and implement them on a daily basis, to share their knowledge and observations. He does it in the form of #140 Conferences all over the United States and Canada. He invites interesting people to speak, and the interested to listen and learn.

These conferences, like the June, 2009 #140conf. in NYC have a theme. The New York one talked about the role of news media in the world of Twitter. The uprising in Iran was on everyone’s mind at the time and the experts pointed out that the world was watching – not on CNN but on Twitter.

This year, the conferences are held in NYC (3/9), in Austin during the SXSW (3/14-17), De Moines (5/9), Vancouver (5/19), Twain Harte, CA. (5/24) and Long Island (5/26). An international conference will be held in NYC (6/15-16)

The #140conf. provides an opportunity for the Twitter community to connect, listen, share, engage and learn while exploring the effects of the real time internet on business. As an example some of the invited speakers in the NYC International conference are as diverse as:

Alicia Yarbo, producer of the Today Show and co-author “Today’s Moms”, Alon Nir, founder, Tweet Your Prayers, Craig Newmark, founder, Craigslist, Cory Booker, Mayor of Newark, NJ and Hank Wasiak, partner, The Concept Farm, together with other founder of small and large businesses, educators and writers, media and non-profit organizations representatives.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lt_qf9YoypA]

The Long Island #140Conf is set for May 26th 2011 at Touro Law Center, this event could be one of the biggest Social Media Events to hit Long Island, especially given that it has been often overlooked in the shadow of NYC. Long

Island has long been host to some great social influence all the way back to the days of AIM. With Long Island boasting a social landscape that forms the bridge between NYC and the coveted Social Elite of the Hamptons, this Social Media Valley is ripe for such an event.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gv6QJssVcGs&feature=related]

Sources:

  • #140Conf
  • Long Island #140conf
  • Pulverblog
  • TechCrunch

Filed Under: Blog, Branding & Marketing, Conferences & Education, Digital & Internet Marketing, SEO Search Engine Optimization, Social Brand Visibility, Social Media Topics Tagged With: #140conf, blog, internet marketing, local, mobile, Puglisi, Social Brand, Social Media, twitter, Visibility

Stik: Reviews from your social network

April 13, 2011 by basilpuglisi@aol.com Leave a Comment

Making significant purchases such as new homes, insurance policies or even your well-planned retirement investments will require individuals to find professionals they can truly trust. Many unsuspecting consumers may find themselves working with unknown representatives or salespersons who may not always have the buyers best financial interest at heart.

Just as unfortunately it can often be confusing to know where to find a trustworthy partner in this important venture. Although some businesses, online or off, may proclaim their reputable characteristics, there can also be whispers about even their policies or practices being questionable. Most often, the best group to rely on are those who have already made their own investments with the help of good salespeople and had very pleasant and lucrative experiences.

Stik offers a great system for users to leave behind their own reviews for friends who they already know they can trust and rely on. Stik can help take the stress and anxiety from major purchases from the buyer side, as well as providing great feedback to professionals who deserve the recognition for delicate financial jobs well done and beneficial to the buyers.

Get Stik’D

Logging in via Facebook is likely the quickest and easiest option, though if you do not have a Facebook account for some reason, this would be a great time to get one. The integration provided by Facebook will prevent users from having to repetitively enter the same information.

Once you have signed it, Stik will give you the option to select from your Facebook friends users you would like to ask for recommendations from. Once you have sent that on you can leave recommendations of your own for those on your friends list.

Setting up your profile is as simple as entering a few descriptions of your services and allowing Facebook’s regional information to integrate itself. Once in you will be give several search options. Searching through your friends first, shared connections, the distance from your location and even through keyword relevance. Whenever you need to do a new search, click on the Stik site and select the type of business you are planning to do from the available choices:

  • Real Estate
  • Insurance
  • Mortgage
  • Finance
  • Law

Essentially, your Stik profile can help to showcase personalized recommendations or reviews that will encourage prospective customers to feel comfortable entering a business relationship with you. Since you can now display updates from your Facebook fan page on your Stik profile, you won’t have to work twice as hard to post them to both profiles. Simply visit the “Recent Activity” tab on your profile and select the link to “Display your Facebook content here” to quickly display your public posts to your Stik profile.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cuvcrPjp860]

Stik Users

Stik’s current US traffic rank is at 3,972. User audience consist greatly of those with limited college educations as well as to women who earn over 60k per year. Most browsers view from work.

Sources:

  • Stik
  • Stik: Connect Your Fan Page to Your Stik Profile
  • TechCrunch

Filed Under: Blog, Branding & Marketing, Conferences & Education, Digital & Internet Marketing, Social Brand Visibility Tagged With: brand, local, reviews, small business, Social Brand, Visibility

Best Twitter Tools: TweetDeck, TrueTwit, FLLWRS, 20FT, Formulists

April 12, 2011 by basilpuglisi@aol.com Leave a Comment

Twitter has become such a media marketing giant on the net in the last few years that there is now an entire industry devoted to the creation of tools, tips and tricks to make your Twitter experience easier, quicker or more user-friendly in just about any manner. Many of those tools provided can help to do quite a few things for your Twitter account. These are a few of the BEst Twitter Tools you can use together for a great twitter experience.

TweetDeck

Well, TweetDeck honestly does a little bit of everything. Its many features include:

  • Updates to Twitter, Myspace, Facebook, LinkedIn, Foursquare, and Google Buzz.
  • Retweet in the common Twitter style, or create your own.
  • Smoothly manage conversations with @replies or direct messaging.
  • Keep on top of trending information.
  • Easily locate friends or other similar niche followers.  
  • View, record and share YouTube videos and clips.
  • LinkedIn contact integration
  • Manage multiple accounts on Twitter

The list seriously goes on and on. This may be the best of the all-in-one tools available for social media management. If that isn’t great enough, the TweetDeck’s Deck.ly integration allows users to continue typing past the character limit and allow Deck.ly to show them the rest.

TweetDeck has a global Alexa ranking of 2,215. Most are highly educated females who browse mostly from work. This site is also popular in Mexico where it is ranked at #796.

 TrueTwit

TrueTwit is a Twitter validation tool that can help you automate a few vital Twitter services. The basic, or free, account provides several benefits.

  • The basic service is always free
  • New followers must pass a CAPTCHA test for validation.
  • Users can decide to auto-follow the new users who are validated.
  • Users can choose to auto-unfollow those users who unfollow them.
  • Users can try out a pro version for 30 days at any time.

The professional, or premium TrueTwit account allows for a bit stiffer and more intensive Twitter management.

  • Users can choose to allow TrueTwit to analyze prospective followers to be certain they are more than just spam or affiliate accounts.
  • Users are provided with a Follower Analysis page that shows a summary of the status of all of your followers.
  • Users receive a free 30 day trial of the product. If satisfied, they pay $20 USD per year.

Ranked 5,384 globally, TrueTwit’s average viewers tend to be Caucasian women between the ages of 35 and 55 who make between 30k and 100k USD per year.

FLLWRS

FLLWRS is another Twitter follower management tool but on a very basic level. Simply click to the URL and select the option to See your twitter follower history. Allow the integration suggestion, and move right into your follower management configurations.

FLLWRS will not only monitor your followers but also provide you with a list with those who have unfollowed you. Managing this list can help a business who uses Twitter understand what may be turning their consumers off about their marketing techniques.

FLLWRS has a global traffic ranking of 55,894 with around 25% of its users located in the U.S. It is also very popular in the Netherlands where its ranking is listed at 5,010. On average, FLLWRS users are educated, childless females under the age of 35 with incomes ranging around 30k USD.

20Ft

20ft is a performance based Twitter tool that allows users to recap their last Twitter week for the user, their followers and friends.

A post about your week on Twitter is published at the start of each week automatically if you configure the service to do so. So what is your week on Twitter all about? And what does 20ft do for their users?

  • 20Ft helps to create a detailed analysis for your social media profiles and provides incredible data in your timeline charts.
  • 20Ft can send their users a ‘nudge’ if their metrics change significantly, for the positive or negative.
  • Users will have their own aggregated statistics in one easy place to access with a simple user interface.
  • This overview can be provided for Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Google Analytics and more.

At #118,130 20Ft still has some work to do to impress Alexa beyond the current ranking. The average 20Ft user tend to browse from work and are on average women between the ages of 25 and 55 with high-end educations.

Formulists

Formulists is a Twitter tool that allows users to organize groups of their Twitter followers into auto-updting Twitter lists. Formulists allows for filter application and networking solely based on your biography, location and supplied keywords or phrases as well as your Twitter activity, the number of followers and more.

Although list creation and management can be difficult for users who are not incredibly net savvy, Forumulists provides its users with helpful text tutorials as well as videos to make set up easier than ever.

Users can choose to create Formulists to help filter those they follow, expand their network, manage current followers, track interactions, or even customize existing lists.

This type of organization and management can help you to create a Twitter following of followers who already have vested interest in your own products and services.

Formulists has a global page ranking of 48,923. Although popular in the U.S., this site is very popular in Bangladesh with a ranking of 12,892. Viewers are primarily females between the ages of 35 and 54 who browse from home.

Another Great tool is Paper.li and was covered in a previous blog.

Sources:

  • 20Ft
  • Alexa
  • Formulists
  • FLLWRS
  • TweetDeck
  • Truetwit

Filed Under: Blog, Branding & Marketing, Conferences & Education, Digital & Internet Marketing, Social Brand Visibility, Social Media Topics Tagged With: brand, internet marketing, Marketing, mobile, small business, Social Brand, Social Media, tweets, twitter, Visibility, Visibility Marketing

What Mobile Apps Can Do for Small Business

April 7, 2011 by basilpuglisi@aol.com Leave a Comment

Mobile Applications have rushed to the forefront of technology and further advancements with the increased usage of net enhanced mobile devices like the iPhone. Breaking beyond the traditional uses for phone and text messaging capabilities, mobile apps have been brought from playroom to boardroom.

Mobile App Statistics

Did you know that 38% of small businesses reporting view mobile apps as an essential aspect of their operations? A recent survey conducted by AT&T defined a few of the most recent statistics on mobile apps and small business. Around 72%, defined by companies that have anywhere from two to fifty employees, have reported that they use some form of mobile applications for their daily operations.

This poll of 2,246 small business owners is likely a great example of the average mobile app demographics for small business owners in the USA.

Most Popular Small Business Apps

The study showed that mapping and GPS tools topped the list of the most popular services utilized by the reporting small businesses at 49%. Other important statistics show:

  • One in four small businesses use social media marketing or document management apps
  • 24% use location-based services
  • 23% use time management apps
  • 22% use travel and expense tracking applications
  • 20% use mobile credit card payment services

When queried as to the chief factor making mobile apps desirable to companies was their time-saving benefits. Even more beneficial was the discovery that the smaller a business, the more likely it is to seek out methods for time saving with mobile and therefore far more convenient applications.

With business apps continually improving, this seems to be in turn, fueling the increase of usage of mobile devices, and therefore mobile applications, by small business owners.

Case Study

Mobile App Photo Sharing with Zurfer

A case study conducted by Mor Naaman, Rahul Nair and Vlad Kaplun of Berkley California, using a high end mobile phone application for photo browsing may give more in-depth clues to how quickly mobile applications are becoming more of a requirement than an option for business owners.

With Zurfer sent to over 500 possible users, only nine of those users participated in the extensive user research. Some of the first statistics noted were those that showed how many users preferred entertainment driven mobile applications as opposed to utilities and working tools.

Nielsen Study

With a recent Nielsen Study reflecting that SmartPhones now cover up to 28% of the U.S. cell phone market, increased usage of mobile applications are an understandable side effect. With studies further showing that the greater part of SmartPhone owners are under thirty-five as well as finding a larger diversity among Hispanic users than may have been expected, this also most certainly opens up some new possibilities for those small businesses that are in tune with mobile application development as well as usage.

Who Are the Main Users?

Perhaps most unsurprisingly, the mobile user market tends to be dominated by younger males with relatively elevated educations and more affluent connections in comparison to the rest of the population. Although studies showed that some users have a disproportionate amount of apps on their phone, the average number claimed a median of ten.

Although apps are not quite as popular yet as photo taking at 76% and text messaging at 71%, the stats provided are still considerable since Apple’s app store didn’t even open until July of 2008.

Overall, considering that there was no app culture whatsoever until around three years ago, most all of these statistics can be most assuredly proof of impressive tech-adoption methods of mobile device users.

The Real Results?

In the end, the case study on Zurfer may have actually proven to supply more much realistic results, as with the reports flooding into Nielsen continuing to show that Game apps are indeed the most highly sought, bought and utilized mobile applications at an average of 60% of monthly downloads, followed by news and weather apps holding around 52% of monthly downloads, social media applications are still listed at number four with a somewhat surprising 47% of downloads monthly.

Sources:

  • Information Week: AT&T
  • Best Mobile Apps for Small Business
  • Life Changing Apps?
  • Mobile Apps for Learning
  • Mobile App Photo Share with Zurfer
  • Mobile Apps Survey
  • Nielsen

Filed Under: Blog, Branding & Marketing, Conferences & Education, Digital & Internet Marketing, Social Brand Visibility, Social Media Topics Tagged With: analytics, aplications, apps, mobile, Mobile & Technology, Social Brand, Social Media, Visibility, Visibility Marketing

EmpireAvenue: Social Networking or Social Training?

April 7, 2011 by basilpuglisi@aol.com Leave a Comment

EmpireAvenue is classified as a social network service site which is quite an understatement. Launched in July of 2010, this site resembles a stock marketing simulation game. Users are allowed to buy and sell shares of other users and their websites.

Alexa’s global ranking for EmpireAvenue is #15,209. Currrently statistics show that a disproportionate amount of users are childless, lower-income men under age 45 who do most of their browsing from work. The site is most popular in the U.S. as well as in Norway where it ranks at #705 with Alexa.

One more site with Facebook sign-in integration, getting logged on to begin using EmpireAvenue takes only a matter of moments.  Once in, fill in your profile detail, link up your other social media accounts and you are ready to begin trading.

Playing the “Game”

Highly customizable, EmpireAvenue allows users to set their interest, which in essence, are the same keywords and phrases you have used on your other social media sites to attract like-minded users. Once you have those set you will likely begin to see others buy shares of you.

Each player has their own portfolio in this created virtual economy. Users can increase their virtual worth by participating in the game as well as by building networking relationships with other users, as well as by interaction on integrated social media sites.

As you move along and buy shares of others, you will also see a ticker just like the NYSE bar that floats near the top of your screen. You can easily keep up with your shares of other users and their progress. The money on this system is referred to as Eaves, and although you begin with plenty, around 7 to 9k depending on how many social medias you integrate, you can also earn them or purchase them when they run low.

What Can This Do For Your Small Business?

The quick answer is that it is truly a gamers world, even those who have not spent years of their childhood immersed in anything and everything video game, have quickly flocked to massive social media games such as those found on Facebook. Since its beginning rankings show this site has steadily climbed in user numbers and participants.

A large part of personal branding requires consumers to get familiar with your product, service and you. Interacting with prospective clients or buyers in this manner can certainly increase your web presence, as well as increasing other users trust in you and your products or services.

Once your EmpireAvenue account begins to become more profitable this too can reflect on how driven you are as a business owner to succeed. In addition to that note, once your own account begins to gain recognition, you may have broken through the social media world as a serious competitor.

[youtube=http://youtu.be/naVkQyCCYzI?hd=1]

Sources:

  • EmpireAvenue
  • EmpireAvenue Wiki
  • EmpireAvenue Blog

Filed Under: Blog, General, Social Brand Visibility, Social Media Topics Tagged With: blog, empire avenue, learn social, Social Brand, social games, Social Media, Social Media Social Brand Visibility

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