LinkedIn Acquires SlideShare
May 4, 2012
News that LinkedIn acquired SlideShare for over $118 million broke this week (along with a SlideShare presentation explaining the news) — an acquisition that gives LinkedIn access to a lot of content created, shared, and discussed by its target audience of professionals. In March 2012, the SlideShare website received over 29 million unique visitors, which means it’s one of the most trafficked websites for professionals.
Over 7.4 million presentations have been uploaded to SlideShare since it debuted in 2005, and since then, those presentations have been embedded in over 1.4 million unique domains. All of that content represents opportunities for LinkedIn to connect with a larger audience and get access to valuable information about its users.
In a press release, LinkedIn CEO Jeff Weiner explained, “Presentations are one of the main ways in which professionals capture and share their experiences and knowledge, which in turn helps shape their professional identity. These presentations also enable professionals to discover new connections and gain the insights they need to become more productive and successful in their careers, aligning perfectly with LinkedIn’s mission and helping us deliver even more value for our members. We’re very excited to welcome the SlideShare team to LinkedIn.”
Information is valuable these days, and the SlideShare acquisition certainly gives LinkedIn information. The acquisition represents what appears to be a turning point for the direction of LinkedIn as a company. Undoubtedly, the LinkedIn strategic direction goes far beyond the SlideShare acquisition. Simon Sharwood of The Register speculates, “The [acquisition] could mean ‘this is our cloud storage play’ or ‘our members were spending a fair bit of time using Google Docs and Office 365 and we wanted that time-on-site’.”
One thing is certain, what started out as a simple social networking destination for professionals might just be turning into something far more comprehensive. Let’s just hope that “something” really is useful.
Image: LinkedIn
Some Executives Really Do Believe in Social Media Marketing
May 3, 2012
For most marketers, getting senior level buy-in on social media marketing investments is an uphill battle, but new research by PulsePoint Group and the Economist Intelligence Unit (as reported by eMarketer) shows that some North American senior executives are starting to figure out just how effective social media marketing can be.
Most of the 329 senior executives who responded to the survey are quick to note that social media marketing is still lacking in objective metrics, but there is no denying that it does have a positive effect on brands. Executives who claimed their companies have an extensive social engagement presence reported a return on investment (ROI) twice as high as those companies with a limited social engagement presence and four times higher than companies with no social engagement presence.
While much of social media marketing is still analyzed subjectively, executives reported a variety of positive benefits of investing marketing budgets into social media initiatives. For example:
- 84% reported improved marketing/sales effectiveness.
- 81% reported increased market share.
- 68% reported improved product/service quality.
- 67% reported improved brand or stock value.
- 65% reported improved speed to market/innovation.
- 65% reported improved collaboration with partners.
- 58% reported improved talent retention.
- 37% reported decreased costs.
Senior executives are also realizing that the long-term brand building value of social media comes from developing relationships that lead to brand loyalty and brand advocacy and a form of word-of-mouth marketing that’s extremely powerful. 69% of executives stated that customers speaking out via social media (even if those conversations were negative) increased sales. 67% of executives said that suppliers connecting via social media raises their games, and 54% said that employees speaking out helps them attract talent.
These are the types of benefits that lead to long-term, sustainable, organic brand and business growth. Short-term tactics are an important part of a social media marketing plan, but a brand’s integrated marketing strategy should focus on building brand awareness, advocacy, and ultimately, equity that can survive through any macro- or micro-environmental problem.
What do you think? Leave a comment and share your thoughts on the study.
Image: Denis Dervisevic
Does Your Brand Need a Mobile App?
May 1, 2012
It seems like only yesterday that brands were scrambling to get Twitter profiles and Facebook Pages. Now, those things seem ancient as brands are realizing that mobile is the future (a future that’s already here).
Brands in every industry are launching branded mobile apps, and executives are demanding that brands get on board the mobile app train because it’s the cool thing to do. It doesn’t matter if a mobile strategy has been developed for a brand. Everyone else is doing it so few brands are confident enough to ignore the mobile movement.
But does your brand really need a mobile app? Is developing a mobile app where you should be investing your budget today?
At its core, the answer to those questions is very simple. If you can create a mobile app that provides meaningful or interesting information in a manner that is useful to your consumer audience, then a mobile app can help your brand. However, simply creating an app to say that your brand has one is a mistake that’s unlikely to deliver positive results in the long-term.
Of course, it could be argued that in order to stay relevant, brands need to have mobile apps because consumers expect them in 2012. While it’s true that brands should have a mobile presence since that’s where consumers spend more time every day, it’s not wise to make the leap to investing in a mobile app without doing your legwork first.
For example, you need to conduct some research and find out what consumers want from your brand when they’re on-the-go. Are there specific types of information or content that you can deliver via a mobile device that can add value to consumers’ lives? A mobile app isn’t an ad. In other words, don’t use a mobile app to regurgitate marketing messages and sales pitches.
Furthermore, you need to analyze your competitors and understand what they’re doing in the mobile space. You certainly don’t want to fall behind or launch a mobile app that’s not unique. Spend time analyzing brands beyond your industry as well. Your mobile app should be creative and innovative. While such an app might not exist in your industry yet, you can find inspiration from brands in other industries that have found creative ways to bring brand experiences to mobile consumers.
Remember, mobile apps are focused on delivering content to an audience whenever and wherever they want it, but branded apps should also leverage the real-time nature of mobile devices. Deliver something valuable and timely via a branded mobile app, and you’ll be on your way to driving positive returns.
What do you think about branded mobile apps? Leave a comment and share your thoughts.
Image: renatomitra
Ten Principles for a New Economy 3/3
April 30, 2012
(This concludes the Ten Principles for a New Economy series, based upon the New Economy Network publication Principles for a New Economy“. Part one and part two looked at the Ten Principles in detail; this post looks at four things a new economy should NOT be.)
The first two posts in this series looked at Ten Principles for a New Economy and how these could fit into today’s business environment. This last post looks at four things a new economy should not be.
The Ten Principles document states that:
“the purpose of an economic system is to organize human activities in ways that support healthy and resilient communities and ecosystems for both present and future generations”
It then goes on to describe how current global, regional, national and global economies have failed. In today’s language the economy is largely made up of for-profit businesses, so if there is any fault to be found in the economy then it also points to faults within how businesses conduct themselves.
These failures show that businesses, along with the wider economy, are currently: Read more
The Evolution of Influence in 16 Minutes
April 28, 2012
For brands, influence matters. It really matters. But how does a brand gain influence and develop an audience of influential brand advocates?
Amplify created a short film called FanCulture that explains how the relationship between brands and consumers (i.e., fans) grows and how that relationship evolves into increased influence. The video features branding experts and academics as well as “superfans” of brands. Amplify says that the video is intended to help brands learn how to move from logo to cultural icon by cultivating a powerful relationship with consumers.
The video is also a great example of effective content marketing through online video storytelling. As you watch the video below, consider how you can create similar content related to your brand and business to offer useful, interesting information to consumers, clients, vendors, and so on. That’s what content marketing is all about.
The concept of superfans and brand influence isn’t a new one. The Amplify video talks about brands as diverse as The Beatles to Nike. Regardless of the industry a brand is in or when it debuted, consumers can become emotionally involved in that brand, develop loyalty to it, and ultimately become powerful brand advocates. Their influence can create a form of word-of-mouth marketing that money can’t buy.
As Sheila Shayon wrote on BrandChannel, “Engaging enthusiasts and brand ambassadors should become more than just buying “Likes” on Facebook.” Getting people to like your brand is just the first step. In fact, likes are meaningless if the people who like your brand aren’t emotionally connected to it. Look beyond likes and you’ll see your brand advocates increase and your brand influence grow.
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