Unusually, Novo Nordisk have embedded their Twitter feed into the hero slot at the top of their Sustainability section. If included at all, this is usually in the sidebar or in the footer.
The emphasis indicates the importance to Novo Nordisk of communicating with stakeholders – and dramatically draws attention to their Twitter feed. Only the last three tweets are included, which means the font used can be large, with plenty of whitespace.
And, of course, it makes a change from big hero images…
New research from Digitas and Harris Interactive reveals that 46% of U.S. online video viewers are at least somewhat likely to look up a brand or product when it’s mentioned in an online video they’re viewing. Similarly, 49% of people who follow brands on social networks are at least somewhat likely to watch videos published by those brands to learn more.
According to Stephanie Sarofian, managing director of Digitas’ brand content unit, Third Act, “Investing in online video is no longer optional. Consumers are hungry for online content and ready to take this journey with brands. Today’s viewer isn’t just passively sitting and watching — they’re sharing, talking, clicking, and testing.”
The March 2012 survey of 2,211 Americans 18 years and older also revealed that 63% of respondents have viewed online content while they’re watching television. However, just 27% have actually looked at online content related to a show they were watching while they were watching it.
Still, that’s nearly one out of every three respondents and reflects a growing trend in viewing diverse content on multiple screens simultaneously. For example, consumers watch television while using their smartphones or tablet devices. Just last week, I published an article here on the Corporate Eye blog that discussed results from a recent Nielsen study that showed just how far this trend has already grown in terms of stealing eyes from television commercials.
Despite the willingness to watch online video from brands that consumers have demonstrated, brands are still struggling to create the right kind of video content. The Digitas survey found that consumers are looking for entertaining and informative online video content. One out of two respondents to the survey claimed that they usually share online videos that they like with at least three of their friends and online connections. This is a powerful word-of-mouth marketing opportunity that brands which are creating online video content that adds value to consumers’ lives are seizing.
The study also found that while online video viewing and sharing is still more common among younger audiences, the 55+ audience is not lagging as far behind as you might think. However, women in the 55+ demographic are far more likely to watch and share branded online video content then men in the same age range.
It’s safe to assume that these statistics will continue to increase. Has your brand leveraged online video content to connect with consumers yet? Leave a comment and share your thoughts.
Image: Digitas Photos
One of my great interests is how western capitalism (as focused through broad based consumerism) impacts those cultures and economies which don’t necessarily share such values.
This inevitably ends up as being a discussion about human and indigenous rights. How the Bushmen are pushed off their mineral rich land, for instance, or how Apple’s i- revolution appears to have been underpinned by regular suicides.
I firmly believe that if western consumers knew of such tragedies they would think again about buying the goods they take for granted. Who wants to know that their mobile phone has perpetuated civil war in the Democratic Republic of Congo, or that the cheap fashion they just bought may have just condemned another child to starvation?
There are many NGOs out there who seek to remedy this deplorable situation, and one of those who have my profound respect is Impactt.
Impactt are currently celebrating 15 years since their foundation. As part of this they’ve released a report, entitled “Finding the Sweet Spot: Smarter Ethical Trade That Delivers More For All”, and will be hosting their first ever conference on the same subject in May. [Read more…] about Three golden rules of employee engagement
Google+ isn’t even a year old yet and Brand Pages have only been around since November 2011, but already, brands are seeing user engagement on Google+ according to research by comScore. That means many of the companies that encourage consumers to interact with their brands on Google+ through following, commenting, +1ing, and sharing content are already seeing positive results.
Of course, the data collected so far isn’t staggering — Google+ is new for both consumers and brands. As eMarketer explains, “As marketers start to become more comfortable there, it will be interesting to see whether active brands can bring more active users, or whether usage must improve on Google+ before it becomes a significant channel for brand communication.”
Let’s take a look at some of the stats gathered by Simply Measured, which has been tracking the Top 100 Brands (based on financial performance according to Interbrand) to try to determine the extent that brand name influences purchase decision as well as to measure the strength of the brand. The company did this by tracking and analyzing each brand’s Google+ activities between November 2011 through March 2012. Here are some of the key statistics collected:
What’s most interesting about this data is how frequently people engage with brands on Google+ during work hours. The sweet spot for brand posting and engagement is 9:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. local time on a weekday. Of course, that’s just a small part of the Google+ marketing puzzle. Brands need to learn what kind of content and conversations the Google+ audience is most willing to engage with, talk about, and share.
With Google+ becoming more and more important to Google search results in a variety of ways, brands need to have a presence on on the site. However, the recipe for success is still unknown.
What do you think about Google+? Leave a comment and share your thoughts.
Image: West McGowan
Pinterest: huge growth among scrapbooking individuals, a big pile-on from marketers, and then even bigger interest in the Pinterest terms and conditions.
Pinterest changed their terms and conditions in the last few days, and as Knoed Creative say, there’s good news and the same news: Pinterest will not sell your content—apparently this was never the intention—but there is still a potential copyright issue over the content that you post.
There’s a fascinating post from a copyright/internet lawyer suggesting that in practice, the risk is low. (Note: Rick Sanders isn’t offering legal advice on this, and neither am I!) Of course, if you are a business, then the risk is likely to be higher than if you were pinning as an individual.
So here’s the play-it-safe suggestion:
Assuming you do, in fact, represent a business, what could you use Pinterest for?
Scrapbooking (aka Pinterest) is all about the visual, so how about video or images of your products, employees, projects, or other images that tell your corporate story? Have a look at how the Kansas City Police do it…
Expanding this to other stakeholder areas… do you think your audience might be on Pinterest? If they are—and if it is worth your while to spend time on this rather than on other social networks—how about creating:
Think moodboard, to get the style right – and have a look at these marketing campaigns to see what others have done on Pinterest to promote their brand.
If you’re thinking about internal comms, bear in mind that at the moment, Pinterest isn’t offering private boards, or boards for groups, so you do need to assume that anything you pin will be publicly available. How about investigating Gimmebar, Juxtapost or Clipix for an alternative?
The use of mobile barcodes (primarily Quick Response codes, known as QR codes) has grown significantly over the past year with QR code scanning jumping by 4549% in the first quarter of 2011 alone. Today, eMarketer released some new data about mobile barcodes that shows the use of barcodes in print media as a tool to drive traffic to brand websites is growing. In 2011, only 4% of print ads in the United States included mobile barcodes, so there is a lot of room for growth.
The problem to date for brands has been trying to figure out how to leverage mobile barcodes to drive actual business. A report from Competitrack suggests that the best campaigns place mobile barcodes in attention-grabbing places where consumers can’t miss them. The best campaigns also give consumers a clear call to action that leads them to useful and relevant content. Brands that optimize landing pages for mobile barcode campaigns will see better conversions simply because most people who scan mobile barcodes do so using a mobile device.
According to Competitrack, the leading U.S. industries with print ads featuring mobile barcodes during 2011 were as follows:
Interestingly, the most frequent user of mobile barcodes in 2011 was Oppenheimer Funds, an investment management firm, which used mobile barcodes in 85% of its print ads.
Today, far more consumers know what QR codes are when they see them. Brands are moving past the consumer education stage in campaigns that feature mobile barcodes. Now, brands have to offer a compelling enough reason for consumers to use those mobile barcodes or they’re useless. Messaging needs to clearly state the benefits consumers will get by clicking on those QR codes, because the stage of curiosity is over.
Research shows that consumers use QR codes primarily because they want to get a deal, discount, or coupon. Just behind the goal of saving money, consumers use QR codes to get information. Only 1 out of 50 consumers claim that they don’t know why they use QR codes. Clear benefits are a necessity to drive both traffic and ultimately, sales from mobile barcodes in print ads.
Image: Matthew Sutherland
