Online Engagement in Europe statistics
The average European web user spent 25.9 hours online in July 2012, according to comScore stats.
UK web users are the most engaed, with the average Brit spending 39.0 hours online in the month.
The Netherlands ranked second with an average user spending 29.4 hours online.
Mixing the FAST power of Social & Mobile Media
Mixing Music, Mobile and Social for Lee Harris
During the past couple of months we’ve been helping Musician Lee Harris to harness the combined power of Twitter, Facebook, and Flowd by launching a REMIX Contest for Lee’s newly released single FAST.
How we did it…
We tapped into our music network to assemble a panel of esteemed DJs and music experts to collectively pick a winning remix. We then promoted the Remix contest using only social and mobile communication channels. We worked with influential bloggers and music communities to spread the word and they reacted FAST.
The contest caught the imagination of Remixers from all over the world who submitted their entries up onto SoundCloud.
The Results
The contest ran from Jan 5th to February 15th and during that time we received a great selection of 105 Remixes! The winning remix is available to listen to below.
The winning remix (by Danny Stubbs) will be released as a featured single on Lee’s FAST EP in April/May 2012.
Thank you to all those taking part and helping us to move Lee’s music into a new dimension.
CLICK HERE TO HEAR THE WINNING FAST REMIX.
The Power of Video in Social Media – Take 1 of 3
Guest post from Marc Campman
Most people still believe that using video to promote your business or yourself online is only for companies or people with big marketing budgets. Wake up. This is old school thinking. The majority of the videos on youtube are low budget. With the tools available today everybody can now produce their own video and share it online. This series of 3 blog posts will unlock the online power of video for you. How to develop video content, how to produce it and how to distribute it online.
This is where it all starts. What will your video be about. In one of my previous posts I talked about what makes content viral. This applies particularly to video. Your video needs to be funny, controversial, unique or educational. That’s what people like to see and that’s what they will share with their friends. Here are some suggestions of the sort of content you can include in your video. You can give tips, create how-to’s, present news items or you can create a series of videos to create your own tv channel. Tools that you can use to easily create your content are:
Screencast: A screencast is a digital recording of your computer screen. There is software available that enables you to do this and it also allows you to add voice over. (SnapzProX for Mac users, Camtasia Studio for PC users, Jing Project – a free lite version of Camtasia)
Video interviews: Many of today’s chat applications include a video option. Why not use this to do an interview with a customer or an subject expert and capture this video. A great way to develop content from remote sources. (Skype, Oovoo, Tinychat)
Webinars: Webinars are seminars conducted over the internet. A great way to share knowledge with a global audience. Most webinar software allows you to capture the webinar on video so you can post it on your web site for people to watch it at times convenient to them. There are many webinar services available online but one of my favourites is anymeeting.com. Why… because its free.
Voxpops: Voxpop means the voice of the people. A great way to get spontaneous reactions from people in a casual environment (on the street, at an exhibition). Usually they give a reference about your product or your business. Your iPhone is a true asset for creating your voxpops on the go. Apps like Videolicious give you an array of tools to quickly create and edit your voxpop videos.
So remember, a good viral video starts with thinking about the content and how you can source the content. Next week, we will talk about the tools you can use to produce and edit the content into a compelling viral video.
To see the pictures and find out more about Marc, please click here
Marketing in Tough Times by S.Claus
A funny little video showing how to adapt your Marketing in tough times. It’s from 2008 but still feels very relevant. Which of these Marketing tactics have you used lately?
Music Superfans generating 40% conversion rates inside Flowd
Flowd – the music lover’s social network – is going from strength to strength, as artists flood in to market their music directly to their Superfans through their mobile phones
Flowd artists are benefitting from higher engagement and conversion rates than Facebook, including 300% higher feedback rates and conversion rates of up to 40% on Marketing.
Who’s making waves in Flowd?
The Top 5 DJ’s in the Flowd community are Armin Van Buuren, Markus Schulz, Gareth Emery, Ferry Corsten and Alex M.O.R.P.H
Ferry Corsten at Sankeys
Ferry Corsten integrated a backstage pass promotion on his weekly shows @ Sankeys Ibiza throughout summer 2011. Ferry’s now planning to use Flowd to connect with his fans in London on New Years Eve at the O2 Academy Brixton.
The indie rock band We are the Ocean recently integrated Flowd on their first ever acoustic show with remarkable results, including both ROI and fan engagement. We are the Ocean on Flowd
In other news…
Flowd was a finalist in the Best Music Service Provider category of the Mobile Entertainment Awards 2011
Mobile the worst channel for customer experience?
Posted 09 June 2011 10:36am by Graham Charlton from Econsultancy
One of the findings that interested me from our Reducing Customer Struggle report was that almost half of companies said that the quality of customer experience delivered on mobile is poor.
Our report, produced in association with Tealeaf, found that poor user experience is costing online business billions in lost revenue, thanks to site abandonment.
A good website experience is crucial for any online business, and as m-commerce grows, the usability of mobile sites and apps will become more and more important.
At the moment, it seems that there is much work to do to improve customer experience on mobile. Many businesses have failed to keep pace with the growth of smartphone, and therefore mobile internet, usage.
Mobile is rated the worst of five channels for quality of customer experience, and by some distance.
Respondents were asked to rate their channels for quality of customer experience:
Just 9% of respondents believed that the customer experience offered on their mobile channel was good, and a further 46% said it was just OK. 46% believed it was poor.
This poor customer service reflects a lack of investment in mobile for many companies, and the fact that some are yet to see it as a valuable channel. Only a third of respondents said that mobile internet was relevant for sales (30%) and contact or service (32%).
There are a number of challenges that need to be overcome to create an excellent user experience on mobile, the number of handsets and mobile operating systems, variable connection speeds etc, but these can be overcome.
I think the results reflect the fact that many companies simply haven’t done anything about mobile yet.
In the case of retail, while a number of brands have launched mobile sites over the past year, there are plenty who have done nothing.
While there is a small but growing market for mobile commerce, customers have been frustrated at times by the lack of usability. A separate Tealeaf study found that, while 23% of UK online consumers conducted some sort of transaction on mobile last year, a whopping 83% encountered some kind of problem.
One key point of friction is the payment process, and retailers need to make mobile checkout as easy as possible to use if they want to maximise sales through this channel.
Another recent study backs up our report, suggesting that many retailers simply aren’t ready for mobile commerce yet. Just 18% had fully implemented a mobile commerce strategy, while 28% had no plans the channel.
Planned investment in customer channels this year:
As the chart above shows, just over half (52%) of the survey respondents do see the value of mobile, and plan to increase investment in this channel over the next 12 months.
Whether brands have a mobile strategy in place or not, more and more customers are buying smartphones, and many of those will be looking to use these devices to make purchases or find information.
With many brands still yet to be convinced, or to fully implement a mobile strategy, there is still an opportunity for more forward thinking companies to gain a head start on competitors in this channel.
Learn more…
The Reducing Customer Struggle report, published by Econsultancy in association with Tealeaf, looks in-depth at the extent to which companies understand the overall online customer experience and the approaches or types of technology they use to identify issues and remedy them.
The study also looks at which customer channels are most relevant for organisations and the relationship between online and offline business teams.
Britney Spears campaign launches Flowd Frequent Fans program for all music artists
“Britney Spears – Who’s the biggest fan?” first promotion built on platform
Britney Spears campaign in Flowd
Helsinki, Finland April 18th 2011 – Flowd, the music lovers’ social network, announced today that its eagerly anticipated Frequent Fans program for artists has gone live. Frequent Fans is a turnkey promotions program that allows the music industry to create fun promotions and mobile coupons based on a variety of promotion triggers and business rules. The program is now available for all signed artists and their partners across the world.
Music acts can now easily build campaigns that will engage their fans across social media. The program hosts a variety of business rules that go above and beyond traditional artist promotions. With Flowd’s location based features, artists can reward fans for attending their gigs, for example. Additional promotion triggers include artist following, wall posts and image shouts, with a variety of promotion types tied to the triggers. This enables very precise targeting for both local and global fan promotions and makes Flowd the first social media application to provide robust loyalty program tools for the music industry.
“Bringing mobile and location based campaign tools to Flowd business architecture is a great step for us. The campaign features and the variety of business rules bring huge value to artists and the music industry.” explains Tommi Laitinen, SVP, Flowd, and continues “Mobile social marketing has more opportunities than anyone can imagine today. That’s why we have implemented Flowd’s Frequent Fan program through a set of API’s to provide easy to use, self-service campaign tools for artists or their management. At the same time we can continue to innovate and add new business rules and campaign types on our side.”
In collaboration with Sony Music Entertainment, “Britney Spears – Who’s the biggest fan?” is the first campaign implemented on Flowd’s Frequent Fans. This EU-only promotion offers the first 1,000 fans that take part a free copy of the new single “Till the world ends” through a mobile coupon and one lucky winner the title as Britney’s #1 fan. The campaign includes user activity based triggers, combined with unique campaign codes. This is one example of the type of social media campaigns that Flowd’s Frequent Fans enables. More info on: http://flowd.com/britney
Wouter Jansen, Brand Manager, Sony Music Entertainment said “We are eager to test the boundaries of using Flowd for marketing and are excited to launch the “Britney Spears – Who’s the biggest fan?” promotion. We are continuously looking for new innovations to improve fan loyalty and also reward the most loyal fans. Flowd looks interesting in that respect. And we are also of course really thrilled to find out who the biggest fan of Britney in Europe is and what kind of creative responses we get from the fan-base!”
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GET STARTED: For artists, they simply need to sign up for an artist account on Flowd. Once using Flowd, any artist will be able to access the Frequent Fan program, which makes a variety of both global and local deals possible.
For more on the “Britney Spears – Who’s the biggest fan?” visit http://flowd.com/britney. Download Flowd for free from the iTunes App Store and Android Market, or register online on http://flowd.com.
CONTACT: For media inquiries please contact: pr@flowd.com or
Amy Ronge (UK): +44 207 608 4649
FOR MORE INFORMATION: Visit http://flowd.com. Follow the latest news and features through Twitter and Facebook and view the latest videos on Flowd’s YouTube Channel at http://bit.ly/gJUZA7.
ABOUT FLOWD: Flowd, the music lovers’ social network. Flowd helps fans keep up with their favorite music acts’ latest news, views, gigs and offers. Flowd also provides an easy way to connect with friends, places and parties. High-profile artists using Flowd today include Armin van Buuren, Alex M.O.R.P.H., Markus Schulz, Gareth Emery, Ferry Corsten and others. Flowd is also the official mobile social networking partner of the A State of Trance 500 tour.
ABOUT DIGIA: Digia is a public company, listed on the NASDAQ OMX Helsinki exchange (DIG1V). Flowd is developed by Digia’s Ventures business unit.
Local Press Coverage
A recent article in the Maidenhead Advertiser Business Section – interviewed by Carla Delaney
Maidenhead Advertiser_March 24_2011_MarketingBOOST
Debenhams adds Android and Nokia apps
Debenhams has extended its multi-channel offer with the launch of transactional Android and Nokia apps.
The department store chain claims that it is the first high street retailer to offer apps on all three major smartphone platforms.
They follow the launch of the Debenhams iPhone app last October, which has achieved 360,000 downloads and sales of nearly £1m since launch.
The Android app, like the iPhone app, includes a barcode scanner that uses the phone’s camera to check prices and access product reviews.
Debenhams will also use QR codes within advertising and in-store displays to integrate the barcode scanner and give users access to exclusive products and offers.
Harriet Williams, head of digital development for Debenhams says its suite of smartphone apps “bridges the gap between the high street and Debenhams.com”.
It also increases Debenhams availability to international shoppers, she adds.
The app includes a “Wish List” feature to create and share shopping lists, a store finder, as well as a product gallery designed for easy navigation on smartphone devices.
Debenhams reported a 1.5% fall in like for like sales for the six months to 26 February, but is expected to report a rise in full year profit.
YouGov Insight:
Apps
· Amongst the 18-24 age-group, women are nearly twice as likely to never have downloaded a single app compared to their male counterparts.
· For women, the most popular apps include ebay, Ubertwitter, Sudoku and Bejewled. Men’s favourite apps include Sky Sports, Maps and Gmail.
· Across all age-groups, women are more likely to have obtained a new smart-phone in the last six months, than men of the same age.
· Nearly 1 in 4 men will find an app by looking on the web compared to only 1 in 8 women.
· 40-54 year-old women are almost as apps-active as their 18-24 year-old counterparts.
Click here >http://sixthsense.yougov.com/contact-yougov.aspx for more information on this YouGov market report
Article from
Debenhams adds Android and Nokia apps | News | Marketing Week.
Good news! Mobile, Affiliate & Social Marketing spend all growing
Mobile will lead to an overall increase in digital marketing spend on affiliate networks this year despite the VAT increase, according to research by LinkShare.
The study, based on a study of 100 marketers, revealed that 45% of respondents believed mobile would be a major area of growth in 2011.
A third of respondents said they will continue investing in affiliate networks, while 31% said they intended to deliver affiliate ads to social network users.
Liane Dietrich, managing director of LinkShare UK, says: “The research paints a very positive picture for the marketing industry in 2011. The sector is on the cusp of entering a new phase of growth with mobile marketing and investment in apps set to lead the way.”
The responses also indicated that ROI and measurement continue to be the major focus area for digital marketers.
Over 57% of respondents said they will focus on delivering targeted ad campaigns instead of focusing on mass market ads.
Meanwhile, the feedback regarding the effects of this year’s VAT rise were mixed.
A quarter of respondents said the rise would significantly impact upon users willingness to spend money online, while a further 24% reported the increase would have a minor change on online behaviours.
This contrasts with 38% of respondents who said the rise would not affect consumers’ purchasing habits.
“We are now focused on helping to educate our client base on how more advanced affiliate marketing techniques can be used to help boost customer acquisition and improve the bottom line of a business in light of these trends,” added Dietrich.