Last day in the office 2011 - Top online brands 2011 (US)

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For many, today will be the last day in the office for 2011 and as we prepare to jump into 2012 we wanted to take a look back at some of the amazing stats from these previous months.  As so much of this year will have been spent online for both work and pleasure,  we thought we would post a copy of this list of the most visited brands in the US from 2011

Since all of our online hours are sure to rise from those seen in 2010,  where 'The average American spent 32 hours per month on the Internet in 2010. Persons ages 45-54 set the high bar averaging more than 39 hours online each month' (source:- http://www.comscoredatamine.com) it is almost mind-blowing to try to quantify the impact of successful online branding.  

These figures (below) have been sourced from the gurus at Nielson and indicate that Google will likely top the charts for 2011 :  Between January and October of 2011, an average of 153.4 million people visited Google sites per month...(and) over 60 percent of web searches in the U.S. are done through Google.(source:- Neilson.com)  

The interesting fact to note is how these figures demonstrate the boundaries between work and pleasure fading, as the mix of social and business networking coupled with rising informative bodies draws closer.  

Wishing you all a great New Year's weekend,

and a very happy and successful start to 2012.

From us all at 

Pudding Creative x

Rank	Web Brand	Avg # of Unique Visitors (000) per month
1	Google	153,441
2	Facebook	137,644
3	Yahoo!	130,121
4	MSN/WindowsLive/Bing	115,890
5	YouTube	106,692
6	Microsoft	83,691
7	AOL Media Network	74,633
8	Wikipedia	62,097
9	Apple	61,608
10	Ask Search Network	60,552
												Data from January – October 2011, Home and Work Computers. Ranked on average monthly unique audience. Read as: During 2011, 153.4 million U.S. people, on average, visited Google sites from home and work computers Source: Nielsen  http://blog.nielsen.com/nielsenwire/online_mobile/nielsens-tops-of-2011-digital/

What is social media?

“If you can’t beat ‘em,  tweet ‘em!”

There is a point when the constant ringing of the words “twitter”, “facebook”, “linkedin” and/or “blog” start to feel like a persistent fly, badly in need of swatting. But how do you stop the incessant tweet-tweet-tweeting of the social media bug? You’ve tried ignoring it… but it won’t go away. You’ve tried talking louder… but it’s shouting above you. You’ve started some exploratory conversations over dinner but, quite frankly, it’s dull. It’s a tool made for teenagers. For the sad who don’t have reality friends. For those who should be doing a real job. Certainly not for you…

image source: http://www.moneysmith.com

…Apart from the fact that those words have now been echoing non-stop for years now. And, apparently, that geezer down the pub just said that he’d won a multi-million euro contract by doing nothing more than a couple of tweets here and there. There’s even a guy down the road who has married a Caribbean beauty thanks to nothing more than a rather clever  [though somewhat misleading] facebook profile.

…and so now we begin to find that social media is a little intriguing, after all.

Well, the truth is that nothing comes without effort. But social media is a phenomenon that cannot be ignored. 2009 saw a landmark achievement when there was more online activity via social networking than there was via porn. 

There are currently 500 million facebook users. On any day, 50% of facebook users will have logged on and the average user spends over 700 billion minutes per month within the platform.

Twitter has over 106 million users. Every day there are an additional 300,000 new users. Collectively, these users send over 55 million tweets every day. 

But you still believe that most of those users are kids looking up rude video clips and computer games? Then you’d be wrong. Over 60% of both facebook and twitter users are over 35 years of age. Admittedly some of these will still be looking up rude videos.

Even the powerhouse of Google has decided that it is impossible to beat these social media giants and has chosen to join them. Google now includes social media discussions in its search engine results and rates a website on the amount of attention that it has received through the social media platforms. And therein lies another reason not to ignore these tweeting, chatting, gossiping online fellows – it is those users who will give you the power to leapfrog all of that dedicated SEO investment and jump straight to the top of the internet.

Do you need one more fact to peak some interest? Well, the evolution of mobile telephone technology has now given way to 250 million active users on the move. That is, 250 MILLION PEOPLE tweet, facebook, blog, myspace, skype, youtube, fickr, kaboodle or link in whilst they are out doing the shopping, or in between meetings, or picking the kids up from school, or feeling a little bit hungry and wondering where to eat... And if they find themselves in need of a little more information, they will google it, and the whole process will start all over again.

image source: http://www.moneysmith.com

Do you still pine for the days when “networking” meant a day on the golf course or a day of wining and dining in the city? Well, that may still exist but it is a lot less efficient than a couple of strategic messages released through the correct mediums. When Nike released a viral marketing campaign for the World Cup 2010, it was played and commented on more than 9 million times by facebook users and viewed on YouTube more than 20 million times. 

More recently, Charlie Sheen made a rather interesting public recovery from being sacked by hit sitcom “Two and a Half Men” by breaking a twitter record in March 2011. He advertised for a social media intern and 95,333 tweeters responded within the first hour. Forbes Article

As James Farley, CMO Ford said “You can’t just say it. You have to get the people to say it to each other”.

So here’s the silver lining to the world of social media. You don’t have to tweet or blog or chat online, Pudding Creative can manage your social media marketing for you and ensure that people are saying all the right things about your company online! 

Call us for a free consultation: www.puddingcreative.com

"How to find ‘friends’ and influence them" : ONLINE PROPERTY BRANDING

According to a new study, the Number One reason that ‘wealthy’ or ‘affluent’ consumers connect with a new brand is because they are following the lead of their ‘online’ friends. It stands to reason that if a friend indicates their loyalty to a brand by ‘liking’ a branded page or participating in a contest or promotion, then that user's friend will also notice this and may follow suit as they have similar likes or dislikes; creating a series of similar but unique links which develop into a purchasing pattern. Quite naturally, people are prone to be influenced by their friends whom they trust, (virtual or otherwise) more than they will be by any form of manufactured advertising or commercial communication.  So how can we find friends and influence them?

(Text source : Unity Marketing “Affluent Consumers and How They Use the Internet, Social Media, and Mobile Devices” 2010)

As investments become harder to source and pre-sales are more important to project funding than ever before,  a brand endorsement or an endorsement by a significant voice, are becoming crucial to build product credibility. As a result, digital marketplaces are developing into the ideal launch pads for the branded property industry. For property sales and investment,  online marketing with a brand will increase the credibility and recognition needed to be heard within the swirling sea of superlatives and ever increasing number of facts. Some individual tweeters for example, can alone command a following greater than a small country which reiterates the fact that a brand endorsement of any type via this platform is undeniably powerful and has an infinite result (good or bad).

Q1. So how do you find your new online ‘friends’ and then gain their endorsement? 

A. Audi held a ground-breaking online contest during the super bowl which led to hundreds of thousands of social media mentions of #AUDI through Twitter, Facebook and YouTube. A second example is Canadian Club Whisky, which almost doubled its Facebook fan population from 16,000 to 30,000 following an online campaign. Or in lieu of actually being popular or writing creatively  to legitimately attract friends or followers, Twitter in now 'selling' groups of followers by the 500, so you can just buy your friends! Which leads of course to the next question: 

Q2. from a business point of view,  is having these ‘friends’ or ‘followers’ actually going to make you money or is it just a lot of noise?

A. Twitter themselves use a great example of how their of their site can be utilized for business: Best Buy who developed @twelpforce had provided over 19,500 answers to customer inquiries by 2009,  the time and cost of otherwise providing such a response would be inconceivable – an undeniable account of intuitive business thinking. But the clearest example that uses a powerful combination of online marketing and  property branding comes from Donald Trump. He, himself, an international Brand,  now has an international branded property development company which exceeds all others:

Trump International Hotel & Tower Dubai luxury apartments:

OVER 62% OF PRE-SALES started from 

AN ONLINE SEARCH 

resulting in sales figures which overtook the then current record by 15% which was held by commercially branded property - Armani Residences in Burj Dubai, to record prices of 12,000 dirhams (approx US$3,260) per sq.metre

‘Digital’ friends can be both an asset and a liability. Within a chaotic forum where brands from all corners of the industry are rushing to achieve a presence on multiple channels, it is quite common for progress to be made without a strategic plan and consequently this results in no time or know-how to maintain the initial online content and network of 'friends'. This is far worse than never having had a presence at all, as it leads to a habit of no-response which ultimately loses creditability – the very thing that the branded properties set out to achieve.  So 'befriend' with gusto but be sure to remember that :-

‘Sharing is caring, caring leads to loyalty, but boredom encourages infidelity’.

PROPERTY BRANDING SPECIALIST AND MARKETING CONSULTANTS : Building Irresistible Brands   www.puddingcreative.com  

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