ImaginativePRO Blog

GOOGLE UNVEILS THE NEW NEXUS 10 TABLET: 2,560 x 1,600 AND 300 PPI DISPLAY, ANDROID 4.2, SHIPS NOV 13TH, ONLY $399

Weather? What weather? Google has announced the Nexus 10, a Samsung-made 10.05-inch tablet that appears to share a lot of DNA with the Galaxy Tab 2 10.1. Android chief Andy Rubin revealed that the device will be packing a 2,560 x 1,600 display, promising a pixel density of 300 ppi. Google has also indicated that the Nexus 10 will crank out nine hours of continuous video playback and 500 hours of standby on its 9,000mAh lithium polymer battery. Of course, no new tablet would be complete without a new operating system, and while we'll still be calling it Jelly Bean, it's now been bumped all the way up to Android 4.2.

Google's Nexus 10 Tablet (Click Images To Enlarge)

The official specifications match those that were leaked late last week, and inside the device is a dual-core, Cortex A15-based 1.7 GHz Samsung Exynos 5250 CPU. In addition, there's a Mali T604 GPU, stereo speakers, 2GB of RAM, NFC, 802.11 b/g/n (MIMO + HT40) WiFi, Bluetooth 4.0, with front-and rear NFC (Android beam) radios. 'Round back you'll find a 5-megapixel main camera and a 1.9-megapixel forward-facing shooter. Weighing 603 grams, it's 8.9mm thick and offers microUSB, Pogo Pin, microHDMI and the standard 3.5mm headphone jack.  It'll be available from November 13th on Google Play in the US, UK, Australia, France, Germany, Spain, Canada and Japan -- with the 16GB edition costing $399 (£319 in the UK) and the 32GB version setting you back $499 (£389).

Google's Nexus 10 Tablet (Click Images To Enlarge)

 

COMMENTARY:   So now that the device has been unveiled, how will it stack up against the new fourth-gen iPad? And how about Microsoft’s Surface tablet, which seeks to add a bit of PC flavor to the tablet world? The competition won’t be easy, and Google knows that.

One major weakness for Android thus far has been a lack of tablet-optimized apps. To remedy this, Google is making a major push to get more of these apps from developers. But just how much the dev community is listening remains to be seen. Microsoft’s Windows 8 RT operating system has even fewer tablet-optimized apps. Future versions of the Surface tablet will be able to run traditional PC apps, but it’s unclear whether or not consumers want a keyboard-and-mouse desktop experience on a touch-friendly tablet. Regardless, for now, iOS still clearly dominates in terms of number of tablet-specific apps.

The folks at Wired.com got their hands on the Nexus 10, and there is plenty of testing to be done before a full review.    In the meantime, check out the main spec-sheet differences between the Nexus 10, the fourth-generation iPad and the Surface below to see how these tablets stack up against one another.

Click Image To Enlarge

At $399 for the Nexus 10 with 16GB of internal storage, it's a bargain.  This is a full $100 below Apple's iPad 4.  Just from the specs, the Nexus 10 exceeds the iPad 4 in size and screen resolution.  Google is working with its Android developers to develop native tablet apps for the Nexus 10.  I have a feeling this tablet is going to be a winner.

Courtesy of an article dated October 29, 2012 appearing in Engadget and an article dated October 29, 2012 appearing in Wired.com

 

WHAT STARTUP FOUNDERS SHOULD KNOW BEFORE THEY APPLY TO A STARTUP INCUBATOR

 

Accelerators seem to be the golden ticket for many startup founders. Especially the best-known ones get massive numbers of applicants. Y Combinator is again accepting admissions for its twice-a-year program and is likely to break records again, at least judging by the popularity of the Startup School it ran at Stanford recently.

But do startups really know what they’re in for when they join an accelerator?

Last month, I surveyed 151 accelerator applicants in order to answer that question for my just-released book Speed Up Your Startup. The folks I interviewed had applied to 22 different accelerator programs around the world, including Y Cominator, TechStars, 500 Startups, and Seedcamp. 108 of them had completed or were currently in an accelerator program; the others had not applied or had not yet been accepted to a program.

Four findings from the survey were especially interesting.

1. The experience can be tougher than you think

I didn’t ask this question directly, but in the unprompted comments, many startup founders I surveyed were shocked at how demanding the accelerator experience was. At least 15% of respondents to my online survey spontaneously alluded to this issue, and I heard it further emphasized in my follow-up interviews. The experience challenged not only their product and their business, but also their social lives and self-esteem. One founder wishing to remain anonymous experienced the team at a top-tier accelerator as manipulative and opportunistic and considered quitting the whole program because of this. In retrospect, the founder saw the value in their approach but was still prepared to advise others against joining the program.

Many also developed ways of dealing with this stress. “You’ll get tons of advice, and a key skill is filtering out what is important to you,” said one respondent, Oliver Mooney of GetBulb who participated in Startupbootcamp. This filtering has to be done with your time and resource constraints in mind. Another way to free time and resources for dealing with the requirements of an accelerator is have a team in place to keep the day-to-day work going on. The mentoring times and demo day preparations take a lot of the founder’s time. “That’s less time to code, less time to talk with customers,” said Kellee James, founder of Mercaris. “However, if the founders have a team in place, work can continue on the core business while this goes on.”

2. Finding a mentor with a personal connection is key

Mentorship is the great value driver of startup acceleration. Startups not yet in programs know to expect this, and startups that have been accelerated place much value on it. 95% of startups that completed an accelerator program rated the mentorship received as “very good” or “good.” Startups also expected this prior to joining the programs, with 97% of those not yet in a program reporting mentorship as “very valuable” or “valuable.”

The best mentorship is based on a personal relation. Accelerator programs with a heavy emphasis on mentorship, such as TechStars, tend to let the startups and mentors find each other. Across the board, founders indicated that “connecting with the mentor” or “finding the right person to support you and help you prioritize the mass of feedback you get,” attesting to the fact that a mutual discovery process is the best way to connect startups with their mentors. One founder’s experience was that finding the mentor who had been through a similar life situation – not just in business, but in their personal life – was the key to him getting value out of the accelerator experience. It is this personal connection that comes into play when the times are really tough, and that’s the time you need to be prepared for.

3. You’ll walk away with a lot of connections, but you could still be missing the most important ones

Mentors, advisors, and investors are important groups of people who the accelerators usually take great care to introduce and integrate into their programs. But accelerated startups reported that they wish they’d gotten more introductions to industry contacts – potential partners and customers. 49% of respondents who had not participated in an accelerator reported that customer contacts would be very desirable. However, only 22% of accelerator veterans reported that the industry contacts provided by the accelerator had been “very good.” 46% rated the industry contacts provided as “neutral” or “poor.” The open-ended answers support this, with many founders pointing out that an accelerator would add the most value by providing partner or customer contacts. Indeed “industry fit” was mentioned as an important criteria when selecting an accelerator program in the first place.

This emphasizes the need for accelerators to more closely meet the startup’s business needs and may mean more demand for accelerators that have a clear industry vertical focus. Mentorship, as mentioned above, is done very well. Investor contacts are highly desirable for startups that have not participated in an accelerator program, 93% reporting them as “very” or “somewhat” interesting. Accelerators do seem to deliver value on this front as well, although there is a small discrepancy between expectations and reality. While 56% of accelerator applicants place investor contacts in the highest category of importance, only 45% of accelerator veterans report the investor contacts offered as having been “very good,” while  35% rated them “good.”

One founder from a TechStars company said the social validation accelerators give startups is very real and very valuable. “TechStars provided me and my startup with social proof that investors, business partners, media, and customers respond to. Not all care, but with those that do, the brand association is helpful,” he summarized.

4. The money is relative

Often, accelerators are compared based on the money they invest in a startup. The hard numbers are easy to compare, after all, but the value founders get from the money invested is relative. The real valuation of a startup is a matter of future potential, real or perceived. Some business models require completely different orders of magnitude of capital outlays. And your mileage will vary: The same money can go much further with cheaper teams in cheaper locations.

But there seems to be a goldilocks zone for the accelerator investment size. In accelerator programs where the investment was over $150,000 or under $10,000, some of the startups considered the value of the investment poor. That’s easy to see in the lower end. In the higher end, this can be explained by the accelerators attracting companies requiring higher capital injections. But even the high range of accelerator investment may not be enough.

A surprisingly high 40% of startups that had not joined an accelerator rated the investment as “not important” or “neutral.” And 51% of startups that had gone through an accelerator rated the value of the money invested as “very high” or “high” This is also due to selection bias: Startups that do not join accelerators may make that decision precisely because the money offered is not valuable to them.

How to know if an accelerator is any good?

Finally, a question that 70% of the startups who hadn’t yet joined an accelerator raised was how to gauge whether the programs they were considering would add any value. Twelve startups that had completed accelerator programs certainly indicated that’s a question worth asking: They added unprompted comments to the survey along the lines of “avoid the s****y programs” and “do it [join a program], but only if it’s top tier.”

An accelerator is only as good as the startups it produces. And as founders should know, it’s not a sprint but a marathon they are in. Results are not instantaneous, and success does not come overnight. Similarly, it takes time for accelerator programs to prove themselves. Today’s most highly regarded accelerators have also been around the longest. Their track record is, in great part, due to the fact that their portfolio has had the time to mature.

To this most-raised concern, I would like to offer the strongest recommendation that came out of my research and indeed from my personal experience as well: Choose an accelerator program that has the best fit for your startup. If there are vertical accelerators that specialize in your industry, look for those. I predict that as the market matures, we will see more specialized, vertical accelerators. If you can’t find one yet, look for programs where the core teams or investors have experience with the kind of product you are creating or the market you are trying to address. Who has the most relevant contacts for you? Apply there.

Finally, if you feel you can’t find an accelerator that meets your needs, or don’t want to join one, check out my book for compiled learnings from accelerators and accelerate yourself instead.

COMMENTARY:    Creating a new company is an incredibly difficult endeavor.  It takes perseverance, stamina, and stubbornness, to push through the tens of thousands of decisions, and the repeated bouts of pushback, negativity and angst.  Despite the difficulty, many thousands of people each year begin their efforts and launch multiple thousands of new ventures.

Most of these people find help along the way, in a vast variety of forms, from support by friends and family, to classes at schools and institutions, or formal help at business incubators.  This help, along with investors, mentors, and others comprise a startup incubator “ecosystem”.

Startup Incubator Ecosystem

Creating a thriving startup ecosystem requires at least six components.

Startup Incubator Ecosystem (Click Image To Enlarge)

1. Talent - This pool of talent needs to extend well beyond the entrepreneurs starting the companies, including others with a variety of talent and experience in product, design, marketing, sales, etc. who are willing to join new startups and help them grow and thrive.
2. Education - This talent pool is ideally created and augmented locally, at universities and other learning institutions.  Better still if these institutions themselves draw in talent, to seed the ecosystem with the latest knowledge.
3. Locations and Events - Ecosystem flourish when ideas are shared.  Ideas are more readily shared when startups and their staff are co-located in a single neighborhood, when startups physically meet up at events, when there are common physical locations where people often gather.
4. Mentorship - When these shared ideas include lessons from experienced mentors, fewer mistakes are made by the new entrepreneurs, leading to more successes.  This sharing from “generation” to generation can kick off a virtuous cycle turning a community into a true ecosystem.
5. Incubators and Accelerators - A tool which combines talent, education, location, and mentorship is a business incubator/accelerator.  These institutions provide a centralized program to draw in talent, to bring the talent together in a single location, and to provide the necessary education and mentorship to help first-time entrepreneurs speed their way into the market.
6. Funding - Most new ventures require funding to reach profitability.  While it is possible to import the necessary funding from elsewhere, the final component of a thriving startup ecosystem is local funding, ideally recycled from the successes of the previous generations of entrepreneurs, who truly understand the complexity and difficulty of creating successful startups.

A Virtuous Cycle

When these six components are combined, a virtuous cycle begins wherein new entrepreneurs find the training, help, and funding required to get started.  They in turn help their peers and the next generations of entrepreneurs, who continue the cycle forward.

None of this is new.  Ecosystems of craftsmen date back to the antiquities.  Ecosystem in the last 500 years include Venetian glassmakers of the 14^th Century, Swiss watchmakers of the 16^thCentury, and British steam engines of the 18^th Century.

In more modern times, we have the “tech” ecosystem centered in and around San Francisco (a.k.a. Silicon Valley).  The talent pool began with Hewlett Packard (1939) and Fairchild Semiconductor (1957) and includes Stanford University and UC Berkeley as key educational institutions.  Today this is a multi-billion dollar ecosystem, containing companies like Apple, Google, and Facebook, and the virtuous cycle of “The Valley” is unmatched anywhere in the world.  But one should remember that this cycle began over sixty decades ago, when most of the valley was orchards and farmland, and that no one person or small group of people set out to create this center of excellence.

However, with the hindsight of these historic examples, many people today are consciously organizing to purposefully create ecosystems in their cities.  For example, in Seattle, all six components now exist to create an ecosystem for “sustainable” business, a.k.a. social enterprises, a.k.a. high-impact ventures, a.k.a. “conscious” companies.  In October, four organizations are co-locating into a single building, The Center for Impact and Innovation: Bainbridge Graduate Institute, HUB Seattle, Fledge, and Social Venture Partners.  The expectation is that such a concentration of social and environmental consciousness will draw in yet-more talent, more mentors, and more funding, setting off a virtuous cycle to create not only a business ecosystem, but to help the planet’s biological ecosystem as well.

Top 10 Startup Incubators

Having trouble choosing between the myriad of startup incubators and accelerators. Well, this list from Forbes should help. Y Combinator Tops the list with $7.8 billion In value. Next comes TechStars, DreamIt Ventures, AngelPad, Launchpad LA, Excelerator Labs, Kicklabs, 500 Startups, TechNexus, and Tech Wildcatters.

Click Image To Enlarge

Courtesy of an article dated October 29, 2012 appearing in VentureBeat and an article dated August 6, 2012 appearing in Seattle 24x7 and an article dated April 20, 2012 appearing in Forbes

THE DESIGN AND MARKETING TALENT BEHIND THE WINDOWS 8 BRAND, AND REBRANDING STRATEGY FOR THE COMPANY

TO LAUNCH ITS LATEST OS, MICROSOFT HIRED MORE DESIGN AND MARKETING TALENT THAN MOST COMPANIES COULD FATHOM. WE SPOKE WITH WOLFF OLINS, COORDINATORS OF THE REBRANDING, ABOUT THE OVERARCHING STRATEGY.

Remember those horrendous Windows commercials with Bill Gates and Jerry Seinfeld? Running in late 2008, the ads proved symbolic of Microsoft’s own failings at the time: What were they about? Was Microsoft Vista? Was Microsoft tablets? Could they be on phones anymore? While Apple and Google were reinventing themselves for the mobile era, Microsoft was making commercials about nothing.

Windows 8's new branding is a framework to a new Microsoft (Click Image To Enlarge)

Today, the stakes of Microsoft’s identity are even higher. They need to leverage their Windows 8 OS to retain a foothold on PCs and find that lost chunk of the mobile market through Windows Phone 8. The Surface has to take off. The inevitable Xbox 720 needs to be as relevant as the Xbox 360. And it all starts with Metro, the design language that holds everything together like glue.

 

About a year ago, Microsoft tapped Wolff Olins to handle branding on Windows 8, the OS that would spill over into every other device Microsoft had planned. Branding their crown-jewel operating system is as much of an affiliation with Microsoft as Wolff Olins can disclose, but from a product architecture standpoint, the Windows 8 brand would naturally be bigger than Windows 8 itself. It would have to redefine Microsoft and its products as competitors--the OS would be the “tip of a spear” in a new, design-forward line of products, some of which haven’t even been announced yet.

Its basis is energetic, global, lifestyle photography … (Click Image To Enlarge)

And on top of that? Wolff Olins wanted staying power. They wanted an identity that would last longer than a few Seinfeld spots.

Executive Creative Director Todd Simmons tells me.

“When we built the [branding] system, it’s not just for Windows 8  It’s actually built for Windows 9, 10, 11, and every Windows to come.”

CONDUCTING THE CONCERT

A project of this magnitude was too much for any one company to handle. Simmons says. 

“Our role was kind of like the conductor of this concert, if you will.”

Wolff Olins created the brand standards, but Pentagram crafted the logo. Crispin Porter + Bogusky made the TV commercials. R/GA handled digital ads. Ideo was brought in for product packaging. And we’re probably overlooking a dozen other companies who handled various significant pieces. (Wolff Olins cheekily calls this engineer-like system of organization a “brand OS” of its very own.)

The end result redefines Microsoft and Windows 8 as a bit of a boy band--one that assembles several distinct, likable products into one powerhouse umbrella (Click Image To Enlarge)

The new strategy was about scale and diversity, consumption and creation. To Wolff Olins, it was time for Microsoft to remind the world that they were Micro-mother@$#*ing-soft.

Simmons says.

“If you’re serving a billion consumers every single day, and you’re all around the world, that’s a pretty enviable position. That must mean you have a point of view on the role you’re playing, and you have an incredible window into that world.  We wanted to pull that back into the brand and not be shy about the scale of Microsoft.”

To capture the scale, Wolff Olins traveled the world, twice, with photographer Todd Selby, building a photography and video library that would help redefine the identity of not just Windows 8 but Microsoft as a whole. They’ve shot in places like Los Angeles, Barcelona, Beijing, Tokyo, Berlin, Paris, Dubai, and Mumbai.

 

Simmons says. 

“We’ve gone all around, and the idea is to reflect with the Windows brand the context in which these products play roles in people’s lives--and do it in a really celebratory way.  The Windows audience is everyone. It’s open. It always has been.”

MICROSOFT: EXACTLY A SUM OF ITS PARTS

It just so happens that, when it comes to smiling faces using Windows 8 products, there’s a huge opportunity for overlap with other Microsoft products. That includes Surface, sure, but also Bing, Office, and Internet Explorer.

 Simmons says. 

“They have all these brands. What we wanted to do is get them working better together and be the sum total of Microsoft as an ecosystem.  We wanted to allow each member of the brand to be themselves as well. We don’t want to create a monolithic version of Microsoft to apply to everything; while we may have a set of common elements, we wanted each of those to manifest uniquely to that brand.”

Microsoft's new Windows 8 sets a new standard for Windows operations systems (Click Image To Enlarge)

Human photography was a big common element, as were your more standard branding staples, like typography and color palettes. Wolff Olins also spent a lot of time on the voice--the precise diction--of Windows 8.

Simmons says.

“You’ll see a lot of ‘we’ statements. It speaks to the collective audience Microsoft serves.  The tonality of being colorful, diverse, vibrant, and inclusive was how we wanted the brand to get to you through all of its pores.”

… and a series of typography and colors that stem from the Metro experience (Click Image To Enlarge)

CAN IT LAST?But whether or not you like the new branding, you have to wonder, is Wolff Olins asking for too much? In the fastest moving industry in the world, the team sought to create a brand that will define Microsoft’s flagship software product for potentially decades to come, while at the same time transcending any individual product.

Why not just focus on Windows 8 the operating system--the most important gamble in Microsoft’s history? Isn’t that enough for now? Simmons, very precisely, disagrees.

Microsoft's new Surface tablet comes loaded with the new Windows 8 operating system and was the star of the new product launch (Click Image To Enlarge)

He says.  

“I think it’s going to be important for all of these brands to have continuity when everything else is changing.”

Because if Microsoft really is reinventing itself today, we’ll still need to recognize them tomorrow.

COMMENTARY:

Windows 8 - New and Changed Features

New features and functionality in Windows 8 include a faster startup through UEFI integration and the new "Hybrid Boot" mode (which hibernates the Windows kernel on shutdown to speed up the subsequent boot),a new lock screen with a clock and notifications, and the ability for enterprise users to create live USB versions of Windows (known as Windows To Go). Windows 8 also adds native support for USB 3.0 devices, which allow for faster data transfers and improved power management with compatible devices, along with support for near field communication (NFC) to facilitate sharing and communication between devices.

Windows Explorer, which has been also renamed File Explorer, now includes a ribbon in place of the command bar. File operation dialogs have been updated to provide more detailed statistics, the ability to pause file transfers, and improvements in the ability to manage conflicts when copying files. A new "File History" function allows incremental revisions of files to be backed up to and restored from a secondary storage device, while Storage Spaces allows users to combine different sized hard disks into virtual drives and specify mirroring, parity, or no redundancy on a folder-by-folder basis.

Task Manager has also been redesigned, including a new processes tab with the option to display fewer or more details of running applications and background processes, a heat map using different colors indicating the level of resource usage, network and disk counters, grouping by process type (e.g. applications, background processes and Windows processes), friendly names for processes and a new option which allows to search the web to find information about obscure processes. Additionally, the Blue Screen of Death has been updated with a simpler and modern design with less technical information displayed.

Interface and desktop

Windows 8 introduces significant changes to the operating system's user interface, many of which are centered towards improving its experience on tablet computers and other touchscreen devices. The new user interface is based on Microsoft's Metro design language, and features a new tile-based Start screen similar to that of Windows Phone, which has replaced the previous Start menu entirely. The Start screen displays a customizable array of tiles linking to various apps and desktop programs, some of which can display constantly updated information and content through "live tiles". As a form of multi-tasking, apps can be snapped to the side of a screen.

A vertical toolbar known as the charms bar (accessed by swiping from the right edge of a touchscreen, or pointing the cursor at hotspots in the right corners of a screen) provide access to system and app-related functions, such as search, sharing, device management, settings, and a Start button. The traditional desktop environment for running desktop applications is accessed via a tile on the new Start screen. The Start button on the taskbar has been removed in favor of the Start button on the charms bar and a hotspot in the lower-left corner of the screen. Swiping from the left edge of a touchscreen or clicking in the top-left corner of the screen allows one to switch between apps and the Desktop. Pointing the cursor in the top-left corner of the screen and moving down reveals a thumbnail list of active apps. Aside from the removal of the Start button, the desktop on Windows 8 is similar to that of Windows 7, except that the Aero Glass theme has been replaced by a flatter, solid-colored design inspired by the Metro interface.

Safety and security

Additional security features in Windows 8 include two new authentication methods tailored towards touchscreens (PIN numbers and picture passwords), the addition of antivirus capabilities to Windows Defender (bringing it in parity with Microsoft's Security Essentials software), SmartScreen filtering integrated into the desktop, and support for the "Secure Boot" functionality on UEFI systems to protect against malware infecting the boot process. Parental controls are offered through the integrated Family Safety software, which allows parents to monitor and control their children's activities on a device with activity reports and safety controls. Windows 8 also provides integrated system recovery through the new "Refresh" and "Reset" functions.

Online services and functionality

Windows 8 provides heavier integration with online services from Microsoft and others. A user can now log in to Windows with a Microsoft account, formally known as a Windows Live ID, which can be used to access services and synchronize applications and settings between devices. Windows 8 also ships with a client app for Microsoft's SkyDrive cloud storage service, which also allows apps to save files directly to SkyDrive. A SkyDrive client for the desktop and File Explorer is not included in Windows 8, and must be downloaded separately. Bundled multimedia apps are provided under the Xbox brand, including Xbox Music, Xbox Video, and the Xbox SmartGlass companion for use with an Xbox 360 console. Games can integrate into an Xbox Live hub app, which also allows users to view their profile and gamer score. Other bundled apps provide the ability to link to services such as Flickr and Facebook.

Internet Explorer 10 is included as both a desktop program and a touch-optimized app, and includes increased support for HTML5, CSS3, and hardware acceleration. The Internet Explorer app does not support plugins or ActiveX components, but includes a version of Adobe Flash Player that is optimized for touch and low power usage, but works only on sites included on a whitelist. The desktop version does not contain these limitations.

Windows 8 also incorporates improved support for mobile broadband; the operating system can now detect the insertion of a SIM card and automatically configure connection settings (including APNs and carrier branding), track and reduce bandwidth use on metered networks. Windows 8 also adds an integrated airplane mode setting to globally disable all wireless connectivity as well. Carriers can also offer account management systems through Windows Store apps, which can be automatically installed as a part of the connection process and offer usage statistics on their respective tile.

Courtesy of an article dated October 31, 2012 appearing in Fast Company Design

 

5 SOCIAL MEDIA COMMANDMENTS FOR BETTER BRAND TWEETING, AND STRATEGIES FOR EFFECTIVE TWEETING

It's easy to tweet all day. But an effective social media campaign is about the message, not the volume.  You can’t lose sight of your goals and your message, which must be consistent and clear 

It doesn’t matter if you’re a political leader, an entrepreneur, or a corporate CEO. Regardless of title or industry, your message matters. All leaders must communicate the right message at all times.

From the start, corporate America’s efforts to embrace social media have led to some embarrassing moments. Even one of the nation’s most popular nonprofit charitable organizations fell victim to a maddening mistake by an apparently intoxicated social media maven.

At 11:24 p.m. on Feb. 15, 2011, @RedCross posted an obviously unintended-for-work tweet:

“Ryan found two more 4 bottle packs of Dogfish Head's Midas Touch beer.... when we drink we do it right #gettngslizzerd”

“Getting Slizzered,” which has its own Facebook page and earned 1,110 “likes,” is slag for getting drunk. @RedCross responded quickly with another tweet:

"We've deleted the rogue tweet but rest assured the Red Cross is sober and we've confiscated the keys."

The flub had an unintended positive consequence: @dogfishbeer's followers claimed the #gettngslizzerd hashtag, and breweries and bars across the country that sell Dogfish started a beer-for-blood campaign.

But don’t expect your gaffe to generate similar goodness. In most cases, even well-intended but ill-conceived messages sent sans shame can be image killers.

The Red Cross took to its blog the next day to acknowledge an "honest mistake" and thanked the Twitter community "for turning our faux pas into something good." The action proves that quick response and honesty are effective, but only if the message has been mastered. There was no word on the job status of the late-night Tweeter, but suffice it to serve as a warning to any enterprise that hiring someone with alleged expertise in managing myriad social media platforms doesn’t mean he or she has any ability to understand and communicate the right message, even without a tipsy tweet.

Leadership requires many qualities, including focus, passion, confidence, and integrity. But success depends on your ability to effectively, honestly, and directly communicate your message. The digital age makes it easier than ever to get your message out immediately via myriad platforms. But you can’t lose sight of your goals and your message, which must be consistent and clear whether you’re breaking budget for a glossy spread or tweeting for free.

Regardless of what format you choose, make sure you adhere to the same principles that drive dissemination of your message. Here are some basic rules for communicating to connect, shape, influence, and lead.

Honesty Matters

Whether you’re looking a potential customer or employee in the eye or you’re shooting out a direct message to the other side of the globe, you need to be honest about what you’re saying. You must be honest with yourself, your audience, and your mission. Leaders must be honest in order to invoke trust and respect from their team. And that honesty extends to everyone you communicate with inside and outside your enterprise.

Don’t let the limitations of a 140-character tweet lead you astray. If you can’t honestly convey your message, step away from the computer and reconsider whether it’s the right method for you. You wouldn’t waste a fortune and months poring over details of drafts of marketing materials to convey a dishonest message. You must maintain the same standards, regardless of how quick and costless it is to send out a random message. That won’t earn the trust of your employees and it certainly won’t win you customers.

Be Direct to Connect

Strong leaders have the ability to direct others on a new or different path. This can’t be done quickly or easily, and any step along the way must be thought out before it can be communicated.

Don’t be tempted to reach out without direction, which can mar your whole agenda. If you can’t say something clearly and directly, don’t say it all. No amount of social media savvy will can compensate for a lack of direction. Take time to craft every message you send. Don’t let accessibility ruin your message. You wouldn’t take to the podium at a conference or make a TV appearance without carefully crafting your message, so don’t lose direction just because your smartphone lets you. A direct message is priceless. A misdirected one, even if it's free to deliver, can cost you customers and loyalty from everyone from your team to your supply chain.

Think Ahead

Be aware of the shape of things to come--and I’m not referring to the 1933 science fiction novel by H. G. Wells, which speculates on future events until the year 2106. Every leader needs to look ahead, anticipate, and predict how the marketplace will change and be ready for any unexpected events. Every leader needs the flexibility to help shape the future, both for his or her enterprise and the larger landscape and community. Every message we send, whether it’s an email, a tweet or a handwritten letter, must be crafted with the future in mind. We can shape the future with the right message. We can also veer off track with the wrong one, and it only takes one errant message to alienate or offend someone. As leaders, we are charged with communicating to shape our organizations and the world around us. In a hyper-connected global world, we can have a tremendous impact.

Inspire and Influence

Leadership comes in many forms, but the most successful leaders are able to inspire and influence everyone from their executive team, employees, customers, clients, partners, investors, and people outside of their enterprise. Communication is key for inspiration. The right message can have a major impact, especially in a digital age where a viral tweet or YouTube video can add far more value than the priciest ad campaign. An inspirational message is far more influential than one that just makes a point. As leaders, it doesn’t matter how smart or confident or talented we are. If we can’t offer inspiration with every message, we won’t influence the people involved in building and growing our enterprises and communities.

Lead Through Communication

Leadership is a constant battle to stay on top of your staff, in tune with the markets, and ahead of the competition by anticipating and preparing for change and advancements. It requires an ability to communicate every step of the process to everyone you meet or may meet. There are two things to keep in mind when communicating to lead:

-- Be yourself: A top executive’s ego can easily inflate with a rise in profits, a nod from the media, acknowledgment of an industry group, or public admiration. But those larger-than-life personalities can grow a pumped-up voice of their own and come off as an unauthentic, insincere, or arrogant. The same goes for attempts to compensate for failures or setbacks. You have to be yourself, regardless of the circumstances. In times of turmoil, triumph, or just tedium, don’t lose your voice, and remember how you convey your message is always paramount to continued growth and success.

-- Know When to Stop: Sometimes less is more, especially in a world where social media and other digital platforms allow us to chatter and banter and sometimes babble aimlessly 24 hours a day. You wouldn’t step back to the podium an hour after your keynote, or reconvene a board meeting to utter a random thought that just floated into your consciousness. Exercise the same kind of control at all times, and make sure you're sending the right message, rather than just any messages, just because you can.

COMMENTARY:   

11 Effective Twitter Strategies for Brands

Brands are missing out on big opportunities to engage with consumers on Twitter by tweeting at the wrong time or in the wrong way, according to an interesting study from Buddy Media.

The report, Strategies for Effective Tweeting: A Statistical Review, found that many brands aren’t using Twitter effectively and outlines the top strategies for engaging with consumers. Buddy Media looked at user engagement for the top 320 brands on Twitter between December 11, 2011 and February 23, 2012 to see how successful they were at getting @replies and retweets. Their engagement rates were also assessed to quantify the relationship between @replies and retweets based on their number of followers. 

Strategies for Effective Tweeting: A Statistical Review from Boris Loukanov

 

Excellent advice by Buddy Media. 

Courtesy of an article dated October 31, 2012 appearing in Fast Company 

STUDY: STARTUPS LED BY STANFORD AND HARVARD GRADS LAND THE MOST VENTURE CAPITAL FUNDING, UC BERKELEY RANKS THIRD

An interesting new study released today by venture capital and angel investment-focused research firm CB Insights found that, in a shocking twist, graduates of Stanford University do not actually dominate when it comes to building startups that nab top VC dollars.

LOL, just kidding. Of course Stanford alumni dominate the VC-funded tech startup space.

Indeed, anyone who’s spent any amount of time in Silicon Valley notices the prevalence of Stanford graduates at every level of the tech industry, from the engineers who build web startups to the financiers who fund them. Even the blog world is not immune from the Cardinal’s reach — TechCrunch counts a number of Stanford grads as staffers, including our co-editor Eric Eldon, who was actually the editor-in-chief of the Stanford Daily back in his free-wheeling college days. The Stanford alumni network certainly feels like a real, palpable thing around these parts.

And CB Insights’ study, dubbed its first-ever University Entrepreneurship Report, found that Stanford’s power is not just something that seems big anecdotally — it can actually be quantified.

The report looked at the alumni from six universities that are generally considered part of the “top-tier” in terms of technology and business to evaluate how they stood in the venture capital space. The research identified $12.6 billion invested in 559 deals from 2007 to 2011, and found that Stanford was the top university in terms of its alumni receiving venture capital. Stanford alums raised $4.1 billion across 203 financings, the study found, “handily beating” the other schools in terms of deals.

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Harvard came in a close second in terms of all deals, thanks in large part to the role of Facebook’s co-founder Mark Zuckerberg (CB included dropouts in the study.) Once that was removed, Stanford was far and away the top school when it comes to its alumni making waves in the VC world.

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However, it bears mention that Stanford shouldn’t be resting on its laurels (or, I guess, its palm trees.) Stanford’s power over the Bay Area and the tech industry has been criticized at high levels recently, so the school needs to be a bit sensitive in wielding its strength. And in terms of growth, CB’s study showed that East Coast schools NYU and Harvard are exhibiting the fastest growth rates of all six schools monitored on a percentage growth basis.

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As in almost all research, you can quibble with some details of this study. CB only looked at six universities (Stanford, Harvard, MIT, NYU, UC Berkeley, and the University of Pennsylvania) so some people might feel like not all schools got a fair shake at showing how strong they can be in tech and VC. And of course, counting successful dropouts as alums is not always smiled upon by the people who put in the work and tuition to finish their studies.

But in all it seems like a pretty realistic take. A separate recent study released by Stanford showed that in 2006, the University was the top employer in all of Silicon Valley, so it makes sense that that kind of impact is going to be felt beyond the campus’ walls. Now that the interest in tech spans so far beyond Silicon Valley, the question is how long Stanford will remain so clearly on top.

COMMENTARY:  I have a feeling that Stanford's close proximity to Silicon Valley has a direct bearing on why Stanford ranked so high in venture capital and angel fundings.

Courtesy of an article dated October 29, 2012 appearing in TechCrunch 

FACEBOOK FACES DESKTOP AD REVENUE PROBLEM AS MORE USERS ACCESS THE SITE USING MOBILE DEVICES

 

Facebook eased concerns about its ability to make money in mobile when it reported third-quarter earnings showing mobile ad revenue had jumped to $150 million from $10 million in the second quarter. That amounted to 14% of its total ad revenue in the latest quarter. 

Facebook Revenues in Millions - Q3 2010 through Q3 2012 - Facebook Q3 2012 Earnings Report (Click Image To Enlarge)

CEO Mark Zuckerberg suggested in the analyst conference call that the results dispelled the "myth" that the social network could not monetize its 600 million mobile users.

He reiterated that the company expected to make more money eventually from mobile per amount of time spent than on the desktop. Facebook also expects the growth of mobile usage to outpace that through PCs for the foreseeable future.

But there remains the question of whether Facebook can continue to ramp up mobile advertising fast enough to make up for the decline in desktop revenue. If not, "Facebook could have a problem," noted Macquarie analyst Ben Schachter in a research note following the company’s third-quarter report.

Facebook Monthly Active Users (MAUs) - Q3 2010 through Q3 2012 - Facebook Q3 2012 Earnings Report (Click Image To Enlarge)

 

Other analysts also highlighted this challenge, even as Facebook begins solving its mobile “problem.” The company’s desktop revenue, for instance, fell 4% in the third quarter from the prior quarter. Facebook CFO Brian Ebersman indicated that the trend wasn’t just seasonal.

Ebersman said during the conference call.

“I think that we opened up a lot of inventory on mobile in this quarter, and so we had advertisers who shifted some spend that might’ve been on the desktop compu1ter into mobile feeds.”

But he also noted that the introduction of newsfeed ads -- both on the desktop and mobile -- has led to improved ad performance across both platforms.

Facebook Daily Active Users (DAUs) - Q3 2010 through Q3 2012 - Facebook Q3 2012 Earnings Report (Click Image To Enlarge)

One factor influencing the shift of ad spending from mobile to desktop is how many Facebook users are mobile-only. In its quarterly 10-Q report filed with the SEC, the company said the number of these users had increased 24% from 102 million in the second quarter. That equates to about 10% of Facebook’s 1 billion users overall. The other 478 million mobile users also accessed the site via PC.

Facebook Mobile Monthly Active Users (Mobile MAUs) - Q3 2010 through Q3 2012 - Facebook Q3 2012 Earnings Report (Click Image To Enlarge)

Despite the rapid rise in mobile-only users, Brian Wieser, senior research analyst at Pivot Research Group, pointed out that few were in developed markets, like the U.S. and Europe, where Facebook makes most of its money.

Still, he stated in a research note:

“If a marketer decided they wanted to reach a certain group of consumers and accomplish a certain goal, a loss of users on Facebook’s conventional Web site could erode Facebook’s otherwise dominant position versus another standalone Web publisher (practically, Yahoo or AOL in the United States).”

Wieser estimated that Facebook had 18% of the total U.S. Internet advertising marketplace in the third quarter.

Still, Facebook said in its quarterly report that it expects

"Usage through personal computers may be flat or continue to decline in certain markets, including key developed markets such as the United States, in part due to our focus on developing mobile products to encourage mobile usage of Facebook."

Can the company increase mobile ad revenue quickly enough to offset a decline on the desktop? Given how new the mobile ads are -- Facebook only started running these ads in March -- Macquarie’s Schachter indicated it’s still difficult to project how smoothly Facebook can continue to make the transition toward mobile.

In recent months, Facebook has launched a wide range of new ad initiatives retargeting users on the site, based on their activity across the Web, to promote mobile apps.

The Facebook Ad Exchange, which came out of beta in September, could help Facebook bolster desktop ad revenue.

COMMENTARY:   In Facebook's Q3 2012 earnings call with analysts Tuesday, October 23, 2012, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said he “wanted to dispel the myth Facebook can’t make money on mobile.” He noted that Facebook derived $150 million, or 14%, of its ad revenue from mobile in the third quarter after beginning to monetize on devices only six months ago.

He also reiterated that he expects Facebook to make more from mobile on a time-spent basis than on the desktop over time because of the tight integration of ads into mobile and the continued expansion of the mobile audience globally.

Zuckerberg assured.

“We’re just getting started.”  

In the second quarter, Facebook said it generated about $1 million a day after launching Sponsored Story ads in the mobile newsfeed. Facebook CFO David Ebersmann said on the conference call that newsfeed ads overall are driving $4 million a day, with three-quarters coming from mobile.  The latter would put mobile revenues from newsfeed ads at about $3 million per day.

Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg emphasized that newsfeed ads overall have higher engagement rates than the banner ads that run on the right side of the page. They draw 8 times more interaction and have 10 times higher recall per impression.

In recent weeks and months, Facebook has ramped up the rollout of new mobile and other ad products to accelerate revenue growth. Those include the launch of Facebook Exchange for retargeting users based on their Web activity; Custom Audience ads to target existing customers on Facebook via email addresses and phone numbers; search advertising; and app install ads.

Mobile advertising is a "penny" business and you have to sell millions and millions of ads to generate significant mobile ad revenues.  Everybody is going mobile, and the added competition from other mobile web destinations is going to put pressure on ad CTR's and CPM's, and this could hurt Facebook's mobile ad revenues over time.  

In a world that is rapidly adopting smartphones, tablets, and everything in between, there is a serious disconnect between making money from users of those devices versus users of desktops and laptops. Frankly, it’s a little scary for those who make a living from the web.

First, the good news: People are rapidly adopting mobile devices and mobile Internet traffic is growing quickly. The total amount of Internet traffic coming from mobile now sits at about 10 percent versus 1 percent in late 2009. That means mobile devices are immensely popular and people are responding well to using phones to access web-based content.

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And in India specifically, take a glance at just how quickly mobile adoption is overcoming desktop-based web growth.

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But — and it’s a big but — the advertising on mobile web and mobile apps is absolutely terrible versus the desktop-focused web.  It’s so much of a problem that it almost certainly will affect Facebook’s long-term growth prospects, which is one factor that weighed down its IPO. Also, take note that current comScore projections say the effective CPM per desktop user is $3.50 per person, but eCPM per mobile user is just $.75 per person.

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Mobile advertising has grown over time. Apps have especially have seen their compound annual growth rate (CAGR) rise.

As A Percentage of Total U.S. Advertising Spending, Mobile Advertising Has Doubled from 4% to 8% of  U.S. Advertising Between Q2 2011 and Q2 2012 - Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) (Click Image To Enlarge) 

Make no doubt about it, mobile advertising is here to stay. The latest report from the Interactive Advertising Bureau showed that mobile advertising topped $1.36 billion during the first half of 2012, nearly double the amount spent during the same period in 2011.

U.S. Online Advertising Revenus Q1 and Q2 2012 Totaled $8.31 Billion and $8.72 Billion Respectively - Mobile Represented $1.36 Billion or 8% - iab (Click Image To Enlarge)

Courtesy of an article dated October 26, 2012 appearing in MediaPost Publications Online Media Daily and an article dated October 23, 2012 appearing in MediaPost Publications Online Media Daily and an article dated October 11, 2012 appearing in GeekWire

TWITTER IS DOMINATED BY FEMALES, AND WHAT IT MEANS FOR YOUR SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING INITIATIVES

Over the past three years, one million active Twitter users have tweeted at least one billion times according to Beevolve. Not every participant has made their voice heard since one out of four Twitter users has never tweeted. With this growth, the composition of Twitter has changed significantly and this has implications for your marketing.

5 Twitter Facts (and What They Mean for Your Business)

Here are five important facts about Twitter that have an impact on your business.

1. Twitter skews female. Specifically women outnumber men on Twitter 53 percent to 47 percent. Since as technology platforms most social media venues tend to attract men as early adopters. Therefore this shift toward female usage signals that Twitter is maturing.
2. Women tweet more than men on average. Women tweet 610 times on average. Men tweet 567 times on average. This makes sense since women are known as communicators. Further, this is consistent with communications usage on other platforms and devices.
3. Twitter usage by sex varies by country. In areas where Twitter is a more mature platform, women are the dominant segment. By contrast, in regions where Twitter usage is newer, men are the dominant segment. Specifically, men tend to dominate in India, Brazil, and France.    
4. Higher female Twitter usage is consistent across age groups. In other words, being female trumps age in terms of Twitter use.
5. Twitter conversation focus has shifted to family. This reflects the interests of the majority of women. This is an opportunity for B2C marketers looking to engage women around topics related to their products.
6. With over 90 percent of U.S. businesses on social media, the shift on Twitter represents a significant marketing opportunity. As the third largest social media platform after Facebook and YouTube, Twitter is becoming a mass social media venue. This is particularly important for B2C marketers. Click Image To Enlarge

3 Strategic Social Media Marketing Elements to Check

Before rushing to implement new Twitter tactics, at a minimum, this shift requires the following three strategic elements. Even better, take the time to re-examine your entire social media marketing strategy.

1. Re-evaluate your marketing persona and social media persona. Take into consideration these changes in Twitter usage as they apply to your target audience.
2. Assess your editorial calendar and related social media calendar. Determine where you may need to modify how you leverage Twitter to create new content and/or distribute content.
3. Ensure you track your Twitter marketing effectiveness. Use social media calls-to-action.

5 Actionable Twitter Marketing Tactics

To leverage Twitter to achieve your marketing goals, here are five actionable marketing tactics. In the process, ensure you make your tweets count!

1. Build your Twitter base. While most marketers have started expanding their Twitter following, it's worth repeating. Without a community on Twitter, your message reach is limited. Therefore, leverage your owned and other marketing to support these efforts. At a minimum, let your audience know that you're active on Twitter. (Here are the secrets to building a Twitter following.) While Twitter is good for engaging with prospects and customers, research has found that Twitter isn't a conversation!
2. Use Twitter to distribute content created for other venues. Utilize Twitter to help you deliver your social media and content marketing to a broader audience. This is particularly important for family-related information. Don't forget to use hashtags! Of course, this doesn't hold for promotions!
3. Distribute family-related content. Given the popularity of family-related topics, create one or more Twitter feeds that offer a tip of the day or other regular information. Alternatively, use Twitter to curate other people's content on the topic.
4. Answer prospect and customer questions. You can do this by having a Twitter presence for your customer service as Comcast does. Alternatively, you can accomplish this by responding to common customer questions by tweeting content from your blog or other content site. Marcus Sheridan of the The Sales Lion calls this the secret sauce.
5. Promote one "Deal of the Day." While outright promotion is not acceptable on social media platforms, you can make one value offer per 24 hours if you're transparent about it.

The bottom line is that Twitter matters and, regardless of your business focus, it's critical to integrate into your marketing plans.

What do you think of this new Twitter research and how will you incorporate it into your 2013 marketing plans?

COMMENTARY:    When Beevolve’s study came out, GigaOM wrote:  “Typical Twitter User is a Young Woman with an iPhone and 208 Followers.”   Many social media articles joked about or brought up stereotypes and what the stats had to say.  It’s an idea worth engaging.  Data suggests that despite how much weight you give it as a journalist (or media company), there are indeed certain demographics that more actively use Twitter.

Some of the demographic data in Beevolve’s study is admittedly skewed because it goes off of self-disclosed profile info.  More younger people are likely comfortable disclosing their age, for instance, so it makes sense that you would see the data of self-disclosed age showing that 74 percent of Twitter users are between the ages of 15 to 25.   Only 0.45 percent have disclosed their age on Twitter, so that sample is likely too tiny to make many age assumptions on.

In the case of gender anaylsis, that’s probably more trustworthy. Beevolve’s study determines its gender stats off a combination of self-disclosed profile info, names, and profile pictures.

It seems entirely possible that the demographics who use Twitter aren’t representative of the entire American public either (or the world, for that matter).

Reminders from the stats, in sum: The voices aren’t everyone, and they have a large control over what’s available on all of Twitter. Politically, the voices vary in what opinions they choose to express and the value they place in doing so. Who knows what some of them are saying, because you can’t see them. More user demographics including gender and age are also worth noting when you’re looking at Twitter’s sentiment, tweets per minute, reactions and so on.

Courtesy of an article dated October 29, 2012 appearing in ClickZ and an article dated October 16, 2012 appearing in MediaBistro

U.S. SOIAL COMMERCE SALES WILL REACH $14 bil BY 2015, RETAILERS TO SPEND 72% MORE THAN 2010 ON SOCIAL COMMERCE

 

Retailers are stepping up for a share of social commerce with expertise and best practices from industry leaders and early adopters. Retailers have been given a mandate: ecommerce is a critical channel. Just consider how popular online shopping was during the 2011 holiday season, when retail e-commerce spending reached $37 billion, marking a 15% increase over the previous year and an all-time record, according to ComScore.

For the entire fourth quarter of 2011, retail ecommerce sales increased 14% from the fourth quarter of 2010, representing the fifth straight quarter of double-digit growth. Forrester predicts that 11% of all retail sales will take place online by 2015. Within this fast-growing retail channel is an equally fast-growing subset: social commerce.

Social commerce, according to IDC, is the collection of social networks, blogs, price comparison Web sites and other online social media and technologies that retailers can use to attract and influence customers, study demand patterns, improve brand reputation, provide customer support and ultimately drive sales. Social commerce’s influence is gaining traction.

Booz & Co. estimates that U.S. social commerce sales will reach $14 bil by 2015, up from $1 bil in 2011. As such, more and more retailers need to integrate social media commerce into their social media marketing efforts or risk being left behind. It is critical that retailers understand social commerce’s scope and the challenges they face in leveraging social commerce, and begin implementing tools from experts that help them more effectively execute social commerce strategies.

In a survey conducted in 2011 by Forrester for Shop.org, a division ofthe National Retail Federation focused on digital retail, 72% of retailers planned to spend more on marketing via social networks than in 2010. The findings are part of the Shop.org/Forrester researchsurvey, "The State of Retailing Online 2012.: The Social Commerce Challenges."

There are clear challenges companies must deal with as they maneuver social media. User privacy, an issue Facebook continues to work through, is a right many social media fans are loathe to compromise. But in order for retailers and others to effectively leverage social-media platforms, they need to be able to communicate directly with those social media users.

Social media experts can help maneuver these tricky waters. Another lingering concern is the reliability of online payment systems that can be leveraged within social media. Forrester reports that while Facebook credits have potential, payment systems are complex, and many retailers have yet to even adopt PayPal, which is much more mature.

With these challenges in mind, retailers should consider the many benefits of social commerce that extend beyond selling. As IDC points out, social commerce can be used to build and improve customer relationships, foster brand reputation, and provide customer support.

Specifically, it can be used to facilitate one-to-one online experiences and product recommendations from friends and associated groups. But hard-core selling practices and too much promotional messaging may turn customers away; after all, social media platforms, such as Facebook, have not yet evolved into direct shopping environments.

COMMENTARY:    So what exactly is social commerce?   In a blog post dated November 2, 2011, marketing expert Heidi Cohen provided a list of nineteen definitions of social commerce.  Here's my favorite:

"Social commerce is the marriage between social media and e-commerce, the next evolution of online shopping where consumers fuel the purchasing funnel of your brand." 

Social commerce is the next big ecommerce revolution, but it's not happening overnight. Both retailers and customers have been slow to adapt to the changing landscape.  Social commerce is still in its infancy in the evolution of the social web.

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In a blog post dated February 17, 2012, I provided an exhaustive body of evidence that strongly suggests that social commerce, commonly associated with Facebook commerce or F-commerce, has been a failure because brands have not figured out how to ecommerce works on social networks like Facebook.    

So what is the problem with social commerce?

• Consumers dont trust trust social media yet.  55% of consumers are "uncomfortable" providing their credit information on social networks.  In fact, the single biggest complain about social networks is lack of privacy and a suspicion that social networks are using their private information to enhance their marketing.  Social media is still maturing and it takes time to build legions of loyal followers and consumer trust.    
• Retailers haven't learned how to act like "people."   Retailers overwhelmingly act like "stores" instead of building a personality around their brands.   Social media requires personaity -- not just special offers -- to create loyal followers and build trust.  They need to "humanize" their brands with a spokesperson that consumers can connect to and represent their brands, like Orvillle Ruddenbacher with the popcorn brand of the same name, The Colonel of KFC, the dinky character "Flo" for Progressive Insurance, the Gekko lizard of Gecco Insurance Group and Richard Branson of Virgin America.
• Retailers need strategies for social media.  Social media should compliment existing brick-and-mortar stores rather than replacing them.  Without a clear goal of how social media enhances existing online retail, retailers are left to post just about anything. Just when retailers thought they had online social networks figured out, mobile devices have become the favorite way for consumers to visit their social network. Many retailers lack mobile social media strategies to deal with these new technologies. 
• Retailers fail to take into account the entire Social Commerce Ecosystem. Brands need to understand how to reach and connect with consumers where they socialize online and how consumers socialize where they shop.  Social networks are not the only endgame, but just one of many destinations within the social web community. 

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Courtesy of an article dated September 21, 2012 appearing in MediaPost Publications Online Media Daily

APPLE AND AMAZON LEAD 2012 BRAND KEYS LOYALTY LEADERS LIST, TOP BRANDS IN MOBILE DEVICES, SOCIAL AND GAMING DOMINATE

Top brands in mobile devices, social networking and gaming dominate the top 10 in 2012’s Brand Keys Loyalty Leaders List. 

This year, the annual list of the 100 brands with the highest loyalty rankings was based on surveys of consumers who are customers of 598 brands spanning 83 categories.

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Documenting the ascendance of tablets, 2012’s list is headed by #1 Apple, for its iPad tablets, and #2 Amazon, for its Kindle tablets. (Last year, Amazon was #1, but in the online retail category; while Apple was #2, but in the smartphone category.)

Apple’s iPhone smartphone and Mac computer brands also made 2012’s top 10, and Amazon also made the top 10 in the online retailing category. Samsung pulled two places in the top 10, for its Galaxy tablet and cell phone brands. Two gaming brands, Call of Duty and Halo -- plus social network Twitter -- round out the top 10.

Notably, Twitter’s rise from #20 in 2011 to #3 this year was paralleled by a drop in ranking for Facebook. Facebook boasted the #3 spot in 2011 but dropped to #16 this year. Also, social network LinkedIn dropped from #24 in 2011 to #30 in 2012, while YouTube made its first appearance in the top 100, in the social network category, at #15. 

In the e-reader category, Amazon’s Kindle came in highest, at #11, followed by Barnes & Noble’s Nook at #31 (not on 2011’s list) and Sony’s Reader at #44 (up from #52). 

Among wireless services, AT&T Wireless ranks #71 (up from #79), and Verizon is #88 (up from #93)

Among search engines, Google is #14 (up from #16), Yahoo is #77 (down from #71), and Bing plummeted to #90, from #30.

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Tech/Communications Brands Came On Strong

2012 saw the largest number of new brands ever (21) to make the 16-year-old Loyalty Leaders List, and the common denominator for most of these is that they in some way facilitate social outreach and engagement, notes Brand Keys founder and president Robert Passikoff.  

Moreover, 23% of this year’s top-100 brands are in the categories of tablets, cell phones, smartphones, computers, and cellular and social networks -- products and services that fulfill consumers’ “instant gratification” expectations for outreach and engagement, Passikoff points out. 

“Brand loyalty has always been primarily driven by emotional engagement, and the rankings this year make it crystal-clear that connection is everything,” he stresses.

Looking at Apple’s superior overall rankings performance, Passikoff points out that Apple excels at delivering on the consumer expectation loyalty-drivers in each of its key categories. Specifically, in the tablet category, the drivers, in order of importance, are brand value (an innovative brand that consumers are proud to be seen with), followed by advanced design, features and hardware/software. In the smartphone category, the drivers are availability of apps, product design, brand value, and connectivity and ease of use. In the computer category, the drivers are innovative design, tech innovation, brand reputation/trouble-free performance, and support, warranty and pricing.

Top Gainers and Losers

Brands that showed the largest gains in their loyalty rankings this year included Sephora (+60 places); Starbucks coffee (+55); Ford (+47); Samsung smartphones (+30); and Costco (+24). Brands that saw the largest drops in loyalty rankings included Netflix (-69 places); Bing (-60); BlackBerry (-40); B.J.’s Price Club (-31); and Flickr (-29).

“Some brands suffered losses because of the economy, as consumers shifted to less expensive brands that still held some degree of meaning,” observes Passikoff. “Other shifts reflect the creation and adoption of new categories that better meet -- or exceed -- customer expectations.” He adds, however, that brands that understand that real emotional connections can trump added value are far less vulnerable to shifting economic trends, and to some degree, even shifting technological or functional trends.

Personal Care Brands Get Trimmed

Last year, beauty and personal care brands accounted for nearly a third of the top 100; this year, they represent just 18%. “The emotional engagement that women share with their favorite beauty brands can be very powerful, but consumers are looking harder for a reason to bond -- and buy -- one brand versus myriad ‘me-too’ products on store shelves,” sums up Passikoff. 

2012’s leaders in beauty/personal care categories include Mary Kay cosmetics (#12, versus #10 in 2011); Crest Whitestrips teeth whitener (#20, versus #10 last year); Maybelline cosmetics (#22, versus #14 last year); Clinique luxury cosmetics (#23, up from #34 last year); and Mary Kay facial moisturizer (#28 in both years).

Retailers Ring Up Fewer Rankings

The number of brick-and-mortar and online retailer brands in the top 100 is down by nearly a third versus 2011. “We believe that retailers’ inability to provide meaningful differentiation beyond pricing competition strategies has seriously eroded loyalty levels in the retail category,” says Passikoff.

For example, while Amazon.com is at #4, Zappos dropped from #6 in 2011 to #18 this year, Walmart dropped from #13 to #21, and Target declined slightly, from #35 to #33. Among warehouse clubs, B.J.’s’ rankings loss (to #52 from #21) was paralleled by gains for Sam’s Club, which rose from #38 to #36, and for Costco, which jumped to #74 from #98. Walgreens kept its #55 ranking. 

Drinking and Driving

Nine vodka and tequila brands made the top 100, slightly down from last year. Grey Goose held onto its #1 liquor-brand ranking, rising by two places, to #13. Patron tequila is next, at #19, although down from #9 last year. Ketel One vodka is #24 (down from #17), Stolichnaya vodka is #34 (up from #45), and Don Julio tequila is #49 (down from #29). Rain vodka is #63 (down from #61); Ciroc vodka stayed at #65; Chopin is #69 (down from #51); and Jose Cuervo tequila is #81 (not on 2011’s list).

Five automotive brands made the top 100: Hyundai (#25, down from #7); Ford (which leaped to #39 from #86); Toyota (#46, up from #59); and General Motors and KIA, which didn’t make the list last year, but are now respectively at #68 and #99.

Eating the Competition

In general, relatively few consumables tend to make the annual Loyalty Leaders List.

Food brands that made this year’s list include three in the kids’ breakfast cereal category: Frosted Flakes at #33 (up from #35); Lucky Charms at #67 (same as last year); and Trix at #75 (down from #67).  

Two adult breakfast cereals made the list: Cheerios at #73 (up from #77), and Special K at #83 (same as in 2011). 

Two ice cream brands, which were not on 2011’s list, made 2012’s list: Haagen Dazs at #57 and Ben & Jerry’s at #64.

Among restaurant categories, in the hotly contested (yes…pun intended) coffee category, Dunkin’ Donuts pulled the highest rank, at #17 (down from #12 in 2011); followed by McDonald’s at #32 (down from #26) and Starbucks at #45 -- a big leap up from its 2011 #100 position.

Three quick-service restaurant brands made the list: McDonald’s at #85 (up from #90); Domino’s Pizza, which held its #89 ranking; and Papa John’s, which was not on 2011’s list, and is now #94.

The full top 100 Loyalty Leaders List can be obtained through the Brand Keys site.

The Loyalty Leaders analysis was conducted in September 2012 and includes assessments from 49,221 consumers ages 18 to 65, drawn from the nine U.S. Census Regions, self-selected for the categories in which they are consumers, and the brands for which they are customers. Seventy-five percent were interviewed by phone, 20% in face-to-face interviews, and the remaining consumers assessed categories and brands online. 

COMMENTARY:  

Apple Takes Three of Five Top Spots on Brand Keys’ 20012 Customer Loyalty Ranking

Apple appears in three of the first five spots – tablets, smartphones, and computers – in Brand Keys 2012 Loyalty Leaders top-100 brands. How do they do it in what’s becoming ever more complex and demanding categories?

Robert Passikoff, Brand Keys president and designer of the loyalty research methodology says.  

“The answer: Apple creates high degrees of loyalty and engagement by better meeting or exceeding expectations consumers hold for category loyalty drivers where the Apple brand competes.” 

Passikoff added.

“We know from our national research that measuring real loyalty is a category-specific business. In looking at 83 product/service categories, surveying over 49,000 consumers, about 598 brands, it’s clear that consumers do not engage and buy in one category the same way they do in another. Can we then agree nobody buys a tablet the same way they buy toothpaste, a smartphone the way they buy spaghetti sauce?”

Brand Keys validated assessments is a methodology that fuses emotional and rational category attributes with product benefits and values, and identifies the purchase drivers and expectations for the ideal product in the category where the brand competes.  Passikoff said. 

“Then we measure brands in the category against those drivers. Brands that meet, or exceed, expectations that consumers hold for those drivers see higher levels of loyalty than those that don’t. Always. And loyalty correlates extremely highly with positive consumer behavior toward the brand and – axiomatically – sales and profits.” 

The Drivers of Apple Loyalty

Take what drives loyalty in the Tablet category:

1. Brand Value (Is this an innovative brand I’m proud to be seen with?).
2. Advanced Design (Does this brand set the bar for the category and does it provide intuitive, organic connections for me?).
3. Features (Does it have everything I want and does it provide me with more than I thought was possible?).
4. Hardware/Software (Does the brand support more apps and is it most advanced system available?).

OK, which tablet brand can answer those questions best? Apple met customer expectations for the category at a rating of 96%. If you said “Amazon,” you’re close. They were #2, at 92%.

What are the drivers of loyalty in the smartphone category? Availability of Apps is first-most important, followed by Product Design, Brand Value, and Connectivity & Ease of Use. Again, ask yourself which brand best meets these consumer requirements in an extraordinarily demanding category? You can quibble about a couple of brands, but Apple is #1 at 87%. For sure Blackberry isn’t measuring up for those category drivers. This year it’s #60 meeting customer expectations by only 75%.

Finally, what drives loyalty in the computer category? In order of import to consumers:

1. Innovative Design,
2. Technological Innovation,
3. Brand Reputation & Trouble-Free Performance, and
4. Support, Warranty & Pricing.

Courtesy of an article dated October 24, 2012 appearing in MediaPost Publications Marketing Daily

http://www.brandingmagazine.com/2012/10/23/2012-brand-keys-loyalty-leaders/

ELECTORAL COLLEGE MAP: LATEST POLLS INDICATE SWING STATES FOR NORTH CAROLINA, VIRGINIA, FLORIDA

The latest electoral college map for the 2012 presidential election shows North Carolina's 15 electoral votes back as a toss up, as both President Barack Obama (Democratic Party) and Republican candidate Willard Mitt Romney are registered in a tie for the state, according to a Public Policy Polling Survey.

Real Clear Politis has now moved the state back into the toss up category, resulting in Obama leading in predicted Electoral College votes 201 to 191, according to RCP. That leaves 146 electoral votes as undecided still.

Electoral College Map on October 26, 2012 - Clear Politics (Click Image To Enlarge)

Just last week RCP had moved North Carolina as a "Leans Romney" state, but that "lean" now appears to be wiped out, and the state is still anyone's to call.

Some sources still maintain, however, that Romney will ultimately take the state; FiveThirtyEight has given the Republican candidate an 81 percent chance of winning the 15 electoral votes available there.

North Carolina has historically been a Republican leaning state, and in 2008 it was in fact the first time the Democrats had won the state since 1976.

Meanwhile Virginia is also an extremely tight contest, according to new polls. That state also was a Republican stronghold until the 2008 presidential election. President Obama won Virginia for the Democrats for the first time since 1964. At present a number of polls has Romney very marginally ahead of Obama in Virginia, but it's still too close to call confidently.

COMMENTARY:   This is how Real Clear Politics sees the 2012 Presidential Race between President Barack Obama and Willard Mitt Romney as of October 26, 2012.  RCP shows that the odds favor President Obama.    RCP predicts that Obama ahead of Romney without Toss Up States:  201 to 191.   Counting Toss Up States, Obama wins the Electoral College vote 290 to 248.

Click Image To Enlarge

In the key Battleground States of Ohio, Florida, Virginia, New Hampshire, Colorado and Iowa, President Obama has low single-digit leads over Romney.  Obama has a slight lead in Ohio (48.2 vs 46.3 or +1.9), New Hampshire (48.6 vs 47.2 or +1.4) and Iowa (49 vs 46.7 or +2.3).  Romney has slight leads over President Obama slightly in Florida (48.9 vs 47.1 or +1.8).  Both President Obama and Romney are in a virtual tie in Virginia (47.8 to 47.8) and Colorado (47.8 to 47.8). 

The 2012 election is going right down to the wire.  It could be as close as it was in 2000 when George W. Bush squeeked by Al Gore when Florida took him over the top.  That margin of victory in Florida was by less than 1,000 votes after several recounts.  There was so much controversy during the 2000 Presidential Election, that the final decision regarding Florida went to the U.S. Supreme Court where the conservative judges voted straight across the board for Bush, 5 to 4.  I have hated Bush ever since then.  

Let's hope that there is not a 269 to 269 tie in the Electoral College.  That could be a disaster for the country, because then the House of Representatives would vote for President. That would not take place until after the new House of Representatives is sworn into office in January 2013. What a mess that would be.  Each state would count as one vote depending on how the congressmen in each state voted.  This means that New Hampshire would have as much weight as California.  It is also possible that some of the representatives could cross-over and vote against their party line.  Since there are more Red states than Blue States, it is very likely that Romney would win the House vote.    

Courtesy of an article dated October 26, 2012 appearing in The Christian Post and an article dated October 26, 2012 appearing in Real Clear Poltics