Healthy Blog Reviews

A new survey by Cone says that four-out-of-five consumers will go online for a recommendation when they’re interested in buying something–even after it’s been recommended to them by a friend or family member. Looks like blood isn’t thicker than water these days. Not when it comes to parting with hard earned cash. And it doesn’t have to be a lot of cash, either. The survey found that cost wasn’t a big factor in the decision to verify product claims. 82% said they would do research online before buying a car, but 72% said they’d check the reviews on movies and restaurants before heading out. Once they find what they’re looking for online, 80% of those polled said that a positive recommendation would reinforce their intent to buy. It’s interesting to note that only 68% said a negative review would stop them from buying a product or service. That may be the result of our tendency to want validation for our own ideas. Dad likes it, the guy online likes it and so do you, equals, you’re a smart decision maker. The oddest thing about the study is the portion that talks about who you trust. 63% said they trust recommendations from family members, 31% said friends and only 2% said strangers. Yet a huge portion of the 98% who said they didn’t trust strangers admit to going online to look for confirmation of recommendations by family members . So you won’t trust a stranger on the street but you’ll trust one who writes a review at Amazon. Interesting. If you believe what the Cone study is saying, then a lot marketing agencies are going about this all wrong. Bzzagent , for example, is a program that is built on the concept that word-of-mouth marketing between friends and family members is the best marketing. Bzzagents are given samples of a product along with talking points and coupons designed to spread the buzz. Going with what the Cone study says, there needs to be an additional step, which is pointing the buzz-ee to a website where they can read positive reviews to back up the bzzagent’s claims. A combined one-two punch, word of mouth followed by online reviews, is a near perfect winner, particularly if you’re going after the 25-34 crowd. According to the study, 91% of those people go online to verify recommendations and 90% said they were likely to buy after finding support for the claims online. If want to know more about this survey, the best place to visit is  Cone Inc but since I know you’re not going to take my word for it, you can check with Glenn Zaccara, Sr. Manager, Corporate Social Responsibility,  T-Mobile USA, he says, “The agency continues to be the rock behind the program we’ve built.” Good enough for you?

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Consumers Say Family Recommendations Are Not Enough

Tags: Buzz, Cone, flickr, glenn-zaccara, Research, rock, shopping, spread-the-buzz, street, study, survey, USA
Posted July 28, 2010 by cgseo under Social Media

Whenever research is brought forward that merits one of those “Is that right?!” responses it’s worth looking into. I guess it’s the Internet’s equivalent of riding by a car wreck, you know you shouldn’t look but you do anyway. Well, a study by USC’s Annenberg School for Communication & Journalism shows that despite the immense popularity of Twitter there are 0% of people surveyed who would pay to use the service. Yup, zero percent. It’s certainly the kind of statistic that turns head but can it be true? The study was brought to my attention by a post on the HubSpot blog so I decided to look a little deeper. Since I am a sports fan, my first reaction was the hope that USC’s journalism school is more reputable than its athletic department but I got past that pretty quickly . “Such an extreme finding that produced a zero response underscores the difficulty of getting Internet users to pay for anything that they already receive for free,” said Jeffrey I. Cole, director of the Center for the Digital Future at USC’s Annenberg School for Communication & Journalism. “Twitter has no plans to charge its users, but this result illustrates, beyond any doubt, the tremendous problem of transforming free users into paying users,” said Cole. “Online providers face major challenges to get customers to pay for services they now receive for free.” Not earth shattering because I think that the vast majority of people would at least have to really think about whether they would pay to be on services like Facebook and Twitter. I doubt this will ever be a real concern hence the push to find revenue under every other rock that can be overturned from premium services to advertising and more. Another finding of the study, however, should concern Internet marketers and advertisers. It states The responses about Twitter are reinforced by other findings in the Digital Future Study that explore Internet users’ opinions about online advertising. The current study found that half of Internet users never click on Web advertising, and 70 percent said that Internet advertising is “annoying. ” Yet 55 percent of users said they would rather see Web advertising than pay for content. “Internet users can obtain content in three ways: they can steal it, or pay for it, or accept advertising on the Web pages they view,” said Cole. “Users express strong negative views about online advertising, but they still prefer seeing ads as an alternative to paying for content. Consumers really want free content without advertising, but ultimately they understand that content has to be paid for — one way or another.” It looks like Internet users are confused and they are just like the rest of us. They want their cake and they want to eat it too. This is the great divide that the publishing industry has allowed to become so great that it may not be closed – ever. Free only lasts for so long and then there are things like payroll and offices etc which are not, and never will be, free. The trouble is that those are business problems and consumers don’t want to hear about them. They want their content and since they expect it to be free they will rebel (at least in the short term) if there is any attempt to require payment for something they feel they have a ‘right’ to. It’s the old entitlement mentality that is part of the culture whether we like it or not. Check out the highlights of the report for more information about the Internet in general including the continued decline or newspapers, the public’s general distrust of online information and other interesting ‘facts’ like this one: The percentage of users age 16 and older who said that communication technology makes the world a better place has declined to 56 percent of users from its peak of 66 percent in 2002. That’s an interesting ‘trend’ if you really think about it, isn’t it? So what are you wiling to pay for online? Is there anything that you simply cannot do without that would merit a payment to get it? Where do you draw the line? Let us know in an informal Pilgrim’s Poll. I bet there are some interesting takes on this out there among our readers.

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Would You Pay to Use Twitter?

Tags: cloud-hosting, communication, culture, digital-future, hence-the-push, interesting, internet, makes-the-world, Online Advertising, publishing, rock, Search
Posted July 28, 2010 by cgseo under Social Media

Do you wear a tin foil hat whenever you browse the web? Are you worried that Google knows more about you than any fictional “big brother” ever could? Well, there’s a browser plugin that you will love–and will likely tip you from slightly paranoid to full-blown insane! Basically, once installed, Google Alarm notifies you–visually and with some annoying horns–whenever you visit a page that has some kind of Google fingerprint on it. Google Analytics, DoubleClick ads, YouTube videos–you name it! Of course, half the web has been touched by Google in some way, so install at your own peril. ( Via )

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Plugin Shows You Just How Much Google is Spying on You!

Tags: annoying-horns, been-touched, big-brother, browse-the-web, browser plugin, likely-tip, once-installed, shot-2010-07-28
Posted July 28, 2010 by cgseo under Social Media

Don’t think that just because Facebook has managed to not completely trample people’s privacy as of late that there is not more activity around the subject. In fact, forces in Washington, this time the FTC (Federal Trade Commission), are speaking at ‘hearings’ that are looking into this issue right now with talk of a “do not track” list. This is not the first time the subject has been raised (2007 it got some attention) but in light of recent online privacy ‘dust-ups’, this idea may have a real chance to develop. MediaPost reports The Federal Trade Commission is considering proposing a do-not-track mechanism that would allow consumers to easily opt out of all behavioral targeting, chairman Jon Leibowitz told lawmakers on Tuesday. Testifying at a hearing about online privacy, Leibowitz said the FTC is exploring the feasibility of a browser plug-in that would store users’ targeting preferences. He added that either the FTC or a private group could run the system. I have to admit that “do not call” list for telemarketers has made life better for me at least, although I am seeing more and more attempts to ‘get around’ that mechanism as of late. I am not sure what would happen as a result of a “do not track” list but many consumers may find it interesting just because of their experience with its offline cousin. This is not the kind of talk that the advertising industry wants to hear though, so expect a fight especially if the oversight of any kind of list is left up to the FTC. In fact, the advertising industry is starting to show plenty of signs of the need to ‘self-police’ to keep these kinds of talks and options out of the public forum. The FTC chairman also noted that he was in favor of an opt-in mentality rather than the existing opt-out and that idea has considerable support from others in power. Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-W. Va.) and Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) both expressed concern that privacy policies weren’t giving Web users enough useful information about online ad practices. Rockefeller proposed that some companies were burying too much information in lengthy documents that consumers don’t read. “Some would say the fine print is there and it’s not our fault you didn’t read it,” he said, adding, “I say, that’s a 19th-century mentality.” Kerry added that he didn’t know that consumers understood how companies use data. “I’m not sure that there’s knowledge in the caveat emptor component of this,” he said. Wow, Sen. Rockefeller just tossed the advertising business so far into the past regarding their practices that the 20th century was ignored. I guess he made his point. So where do you stand on the possibility of a “do not track” list? Is this something that could hurt the online advertising industry or is it just a way for politicians to say that they are doing something about online privacy?

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“Do Not Track” List Discussed by FTC Chairman

Tags: advertising, either-the-ftc, experience, facebook, feasibility, federal-trade, hurt-the-online, online, oversight, possibility, subject, the-advertising, the-possibility, time
Posted July 28, 2010 by cgseo under Social Media

I’m at the bank depositing money. That’s a real tweet I saw this week and it was followed by a Foursquare link showing the exact bank. According to new research by Forrester, that tweeter was probably a young adult male with a college degree and he’s one of only 1% of online users who actually do this kind of thing. From my experience, it seems that half the people I follow on Twitter use location-based tweets, but the data says that only 4% of online adults have even tried geolocation and only 1% uses it on regular basis. Really? The study also says that 70% of the users are between 19 and 35 and 80% are male. Again, not my experience, so apparently I have unusual friends. The good news for marketers is that though the group is small, they’re powerful. Melissa Parish of Forrester wrote on her blog: “Our research shows that these users are typically young, male, well-educated, and influential.  In fact, LBSN users are users are 38% more likely than the average US online adult to say that friends and family ask their opinions before making a purchase decision.” So the question becomes, how much of your time and money should be spent marketing to this group? Parrish says very little. “Though many LBSNs are gathering steam, the landscape is fragmented and the programs can’t scale just yet. But with large companies preparing to enter the market (I’m looking at you Facebook and Yahoo!) the time for marketers to get involved is coming.” That is unless you’re marketing a product of interest to college-educated male trendsetters under 35. In that case, it’s time to start working on that Foursquare Mayor of Marketingville badge.

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Study Says Location-Based Social Network Users are Small but Mighty

Tags: data, experience, facebook, Forrester, group, half-the-people, landscape, Local/Mobile, marketingville, Melissa Parish, people, Research, time, Yahoo
Posted July 27, 2010 by cgseo under Social Media