Mar
24
Written by:
News Account
3/24/2009 3:47 PM
Fleishman-Hillard’s DC office provided us with the following trends worth tracking:
MarketingCharts reported: Younger users are more likely to use the Internet for entertainment and social networking, while older users are more prone to e-mailing, researching information and shopping for products, according to new surveys from the Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life Project. Teens and Gen Y (ages 18-32) are most active in seeking entertainment through online videos, online games, and virtual worlds, as well as downloading music, according to the study. This age group is also more likely than older users to read other people’s blogs and to write their own, as well as create and maintain social networking profiles. Approximately 78% of 12-17 year-old Internet users play games online—compared with 73% of online teens who e-mail, the second most-popular activity for this age group. Gen X (ages 33-44) users lead in online shopping—with 80% of that age group buying products online—as well as online banking (67%). Older generations (ages 33-72) use the Internet less for socializing and entertainment and more as a tool for information searches, e-mailing, and buying products. This age group is more likely than younger generations to research health and religious information as well as visit government Web sites.
Mashable reported: Though there is an ongoing media debate about how active big brands should be in social media and whether they are potentially destroying the purity of the social revolution, Tom Smith, founder of social media consultancy Trendstream believes that consumers are benefiting in many ways from their involvement. Smith believes that not only does the open nature of social media communication force brands to be more transparent; its democratic nature also drives the creation of quality products because everyone is a reviewer and critic. Social media can be an effective customer service channel, and it puts customers in control of the communications they receive. Finally, because of the many advertising and sponsorship dollars that flow from big companies, this continued involvement keeps many applications free of charge for consumers.
Cincinatti.com reported: P&G management recently held a reality-show style exercise with executives from leading digital media companies, research firms and ad agencies in an effort to determine the best ways to sell products by reaching out to bloggers and using online social networks such as Facebook, MySpace and Twitter. About 40 executives from online-savvy outside firms joined 100 P&G staffers at the consumer product giant’s Cincinnati headquarters, where they competed to see who could sell the most Tide T-shirts in four hours, using only the web and a $1,000 budget. The group used their professional and personal Facebook and Twitter accounts, in addition to Google and YouTube, in their appeal to potential T-shirt buyers. Their efforts can be tracked using the Twitter #pgdigital hashtag, as well as the group’s Web site, www.tide2.com. Two hours into the exercise, the group had sold about 600 T-shirts at $20 each. "Any social media space is where consumers are choosing to spend their time," said Lucas Watson, a P&G digital team leader who helped organize the event. "We need to learn how to connect to them there."
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