QR Code Scanning Skyrockets up 4549 Percent in Q1 2011
May 13, 2011
Are you using QR codes in your marketing programs yet (see the explanation at the end of this post if you’re not familiar with QR codes)? If new research from Mobio Identity Systems is accurate, then you can probably assume that your customers are scanning QR codes already.
The Mobio study reports that QR code scanning was up by 4,549% in the first quarter of 2011. That’s right — 4,549%. Following are some of the most interesting statistics from the study.
Age:
Guess who is scanning the most QR codes? Adults between the ages of 35-44. That segment of the population accounts for 24% of all QR code scans.
Gender:
Gender matters, too. Mobio found that 68% of QR code scans are done by women.
Purpose:
Currently, only 6% of QR code scans are done for payments, but you can bet this statistic will grow in the near future. In Q1 2011 one QR code scanning purpose dominated: approximately 9 out of 10 QR code scans were done to get more information about a product or service.
Channel:
Where are people finding the QR codes that they scan? 70% of QR code scans are done from social media, 22% from television, 4% from ambient media and the world around them, and 3% from online (not social media).
Behavior:
Once a QR code scanner, always a QR code scanner. According to the Mobio report, 62% of people who scan QR codes don’t just scan once. They’re repeat scanners.
So what can marketers and brand managers take away from this study? Five important findings include:
- QR code marketing initiatives aren’t just for the young demographic as many people think. Targeting 35-44 year old smartphone users should be part of your strategy if that audience is important to you.
- Women make the majority of purchase decisions, and they are the biggest users of QR codes. Target them!
- QR code campaigns are primarily informational in nature today. That shouldn’t be all they are tomorrow. Work to find new ways to connect with your target audience through the flexibility inherent to QR codes.
- As more and more people start scanning QR codes as part of their everyday lives, it’s likely that scans will happen in more diverse places. For now, focusing on social media placement is a good place to start.
- Consider rewarding loyal QR code scanners with exclusive offers, a VIP club, and more not only to just keep them happy but also to motivate them to buy and talk about your QR codes, brand, and business with their own online and offline connections.
What is a QR Code? A QR code (quick response code) is shown in the image at the beginning of this article. QR Codes hold a lot of information (similar to bar codes on retail products) and can be scanned using smartphone devices like the popular iPhone and Android devices. Once scanned, QR codes can send people to websites, provide information, offer discount codes, and more.
Are you using QR codes in your marketing yet? Leave a comment and share your thoughts about QR codes for brand marketing.
The Numbers Behind Social Checkins and Location-Based Mobile Apps
May 12, 2011
Creating branded mobile apps is the hot topic for companies of all sizes, and incorporating social aspects into mobile marketing campaigns is just as hot. It seems like every brand is trying to find out how to engage with consumers who are on the move using social, location-based apps like foursquare and Facebook Places as well as their own private label mobile apps.
A study conducted by digital agency Beyond offers some great insight into what location-based mobile apps people are using, what motivates them to use those apps, and what motivates them to check into locations. The infographic below provides some of the details from the study (click on the image to enlarge it).
According to these results, both social mobile app early adopters and mass consumers who would consider using social mobile apps agree that Facebook Places, Twitter and Groupon are the most interesting options. However, the more interesting part of this study relates to respondent motivations.
There is no doubt that the biggest motivation to using a social mobile app is to get a discount or coupons. Large segments of the early adopter and mass audience populations are also interested in learning about specific places and connecting with friends, but getting discounts or coupons is a top motivational factor for twice as many people as any other factor.
Of course, that’s not to say that there aren’t other opportunities for social, location-based mobile apps to engage with consumers but based on what’s currently available, coupons and discounts are the only real motivator to use the apps. It’s up to businesses to learn what type of content, conversations, and experiences their target audiences want from mobile apps and brands in the mobile space. This is still a very new medium and no one knows the recipe for success. The key is to follow the primary steps of brand-building — consistency, persistence, and restraint. Those steps apply to your mobile marketing strategy, too.
Does your brand have a mobile app? Are you using social, location-based mobile apps to market your brand? Leave a comment and share your thoughts.
You can learn more about the report on the Beyond blog.
Going Social: Internal or External Team?
May 10, 2011
This is a guest post from Carla Sanchez, discussing whether to outsource your social media activity, or to do it in-house. What do you think? Do let us know in the comments below.
Corporate Social Media: Outsourcing vs. Hiring a Team Internally
In the past few years, social media has quickly become one of the biggest online marketing tools available. According to Facebook, their site has 500 million active users, 50% of which log on in any given day. Some estimate that the number of Facebook users will double by the end of 2012. Twitter, the second largest social media site, had 175 million users as of the end of 2010. According to digitalbuzzblog.com, Twitter users send out an average of 55 million ‘tweets’ per day.
With the ever-growing popularity of social media, it is absolutely critical for corporations to develop a social media presence and utilize this medium to expand their customer base and build brand loyalty. The challenge for most companies is determining the best way to go about developing an effective social media marketing campaign. There are generally two ways to set up a campaign; outsource the process to an agency or hire a team internally. There are advantages and disadvantages to both options.
Outsourcing to an Agency
There are some potential advantages to outsourcing corporate social media campaigns to an agency, but there are also some pitfalls to be aware of as well.
Advantages
1. Quick Campaign Implementation
When using an expert agency to set up the social media campaign for the company, the agency can generally set things up much quicker than employees working in-house. This is because a good outside agency or consultant has vast experience setting up these campaigns and knows what steps to take. On the other hand, an in-house employee will most likely require a learning curve to get up to speed.
2. Increased Exposure
A well-established consultant or agency will likely have an existing network that has a wider reach than can be achieved by setting up an in-house campaign. This allows the company to leverage this exposure to grow their own social networks much faster.
3. Potential Cost Savings
An outside agency or consultant can potentially save the company a lot of costs vs hiring an in-house team. When you consider the time and money involved in hiring new employees and training them to the level of understanding how to effectively operate a social media campaign, then paying them benefits, sick time, etc. Not to mention the cost in office space, equipment, and paying employees for ‘down’ time. The costs of hiring an effective outside agency will most likely be less than an in-house team.
4. Experience in the Industry
Perhaps the greatest advantage to using an outside agency is the experience they have in running successful social media campaigns for other clients. This experience allows the agency to implement an overall strategy using an integrated system of social media channels and tools. This is likely to produce far more effective results than using an in-house team that is learning as they go.
Disadvantages
1. Campaign May Not Seem Genuine
The largest potential pitfall to outsourcing a social media campaign is the risk of not looking genuine to your customers. Since the essence of social media is having a two-way ‘conversation’ with your customers, it is important that they believe they are actually talking with the company, and not someone paid to send robotic messages that make no sense or indicate no understanding of the company or the brand.
This is very similar to the problem many companies have with outsourcing their call centers for sales and customer service to third world countries. They do this to save money, but many of their customers quickly realize that they are not talking to people who are truly part of the company, which in the long run damages the brand.
It is the job of a good outside agency or consultant to fully understand the company, the brand, and what they are all about, so that all the content created that goes out to their social networks will make sense, be useful for the customer, and build brand loyalty. However, not all outside agencies are created equal, so it is essential that if a company uses one, they get some references to make sure the particular agency they are considering is skilled in these areas.
2. Outside Agencies Have No Vested Interest
Even a very skilled outside agency is not likely to have the same level of commitment to the company as an in-house employee. Remember, an outside agency is usually managing several ongoing campaigns simultaneously, and if a mistake is made, it costs them a client, but it does not necessarily mean losing their job. An in-house employee running a social media campaign will be much more committed to making sure the messaging is correct, because their job depends on it.
For more details on outsourcing social media, go to SocialMedia Examiner.
Hiring an Internal Team
Hiring an in-house team to run the social media campaign of a company can be challenging and will require a great deal of commitment on the part of the company for it to be successful. As mentioned above, it can be very costly to hire and train an in-house team and bring them up to speed on how to successfully run a social media campaign. The financial costs alone can be staggering, but the time commitment is also an issue. It will often take several weeks to train an employee and bring them to the skill level needed to match the effectiveness of an outside agency.
Even after the in-house team is trained and running the campaign effectively, you still have the ongoing costs of office space, wages, and benefits. Another issue to consider is that many times, when an employee reaches the skill level to run a social media campaign, they may no longer want to stay at their present ‘job’ after seeing the opportunity to make more money using their social media management skills somewhere else.
Even with these potential pitfalls, the importance of the corporate brand is hard to put a price on, and therefore needs to be heavily guarded. Despite the costs and the potential for employee turnover, it is always better to have the social media messaging controlled in-house.
For more information on hiring an in-house social media team, go to Mashable.
What’s the Best Option?
The best option for companies developing a social media campaign will depend heavily on their individual situation. The size of the company and the size of the budget allocated for the campaign are important factors. A good solution for many companies will be a combination of outsourcing and an in-house team. In this scenario, a company may choose to outsource most of the technical aspects of setting up the campaigns and networking strategies, but assign in-house people to control the content and the ‘messaging’ of the campaigns, to insure that the brand is protected.
In most cases, it is a good idea for a company to consult an outside agency to handle at least part, if not all of the initial set-up of a social media campaign. The reality is that most companies don’t have in-house staff with the depth of understanding needed to set up and run an effective campaign. When choosing an outside agency or consultant to work with, it is critical for the company to have them thoroughly researched and make sure they have a successful track record. When the company name is on the line, they can ill afford to leave this important marketing process in the hands of novices.
Thanks Carla!
About the Author: Carla Sanchez is a freelance writer for Omniture. Omniture is the world leader at marketing analytics.
Apple Steals Top Spot from Google as World’s Most Valuable Brand
May 9, 2011
In the annual BrandZ rankings of the top 100 brands in the world from Millward Brown, Google has held the top spot for the past four years.
Not anymore.
The 2011 BrandZ Global Top 100 has been released and Apple stole the top spot from Google with an 84% increase in brand value from 2010 vs. Google’s 2% loss of brand value. Click on the preceding link to view the chart of the top 100 brands.
The top 20 brands according to the BrandZ ratings are:
- Apple
- IBM
- McDonald’s
- Microsoft
- Coca-Cola
- AT&T
- Marlboro
- China Mobile
- GE
- ICBC (Asia)
- Vodafone
- Verizon
- Amazon.com
- Walmart
- Wells Fargo
- UPS
- HP
- Deutsche Telecom
- VISA
Retail giant Walmart also saw a shift in the 2011 brand rankings. Amazon edged passed Walmart to become the top retail brand in 2011 experiencing a brand value increase of 37% over 2010 vs. Walmart’s brand value loss of 5%.
For the automotive sector, Toyota took back its place as the top car brand on the list after faltering from recalls in previous years.
One of the most interesting parts of the report comes from the biggest brand movers on the list. Facebook entered the top 100 global brands list for the first time in 2011 at #35 and also ranked first in the list of top risers with a 246% valuation increase over 2010 to $19.1 billion. On another note, of the 11 newcomers on the list of top brands in 2011, almost half are Chinese brands.
On the flip side, the biggest losers in 2011 are Bank of America with a -43% brand value change in 2011 vs. 2010, Nintendo (-37%), and BP (-27%).
On a positive note, unlike 2010 when only four sectors showed brand value growth due to negative economic conditions across the globe, the 2011 BrandZ ranking shows positive brand value growth in all but three sectors (luxury, apparel, and cars) and many sectors have experienced brand growth that exceeds pre-recession levels.
The BrandZ ranking is always interesting. What do you think about Apple’s #1 ranking? Can the brand hold on or will Google come back in 2012? Where will Facebook be in 2012? Only time will tell, but it’s anyone’s game. Leave a comment and share your thoughts.
Sustainability Reporting in the EU
May 9, 2011
A couple of weeks ago the EU published the 173 page report “The state of play in sustainability reporting in the European Union“.
It really is, as Bill & Ted might say, a most excellent, triumphant and bodacious report.
Although it has no Socrates, Genghis Khan (who “enjoys Twinkies because of the excellent sugar rush”) or Napoleon (“a short dead dude”), it is thorough, comprehensive and in depth.
It’s also (unlike Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure) down to earth and realistic. Read more
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