I came across this great, informative video from Frankwatching that highlights how firms can market their brands online. It also showcases some statistics about the online environment consumers are in. They state that 1 in every 4 minutes spent online is on a social networking site, and that there’s a rise in the number of users going online via mobile phones and tablets and a decrease of those users on a computer.

Most of the tips they mention I would agree 100% with. The tip that really caught my attention, was the one about creating a mobile version of your website. I find that I myself, am slowly transitioning from lugging around my heavy laptop and hoping that I’m near a wi-fi hotspot to carrying my smart phone with connects to a 3G network. Also, the technology is changing in that I am considering buying a tablet that I can tether my  smart phone to. I can definitely see how times are changing an a mobile version of every site will soon become the norm. So why not start now?

They go on to say that companies should create a mobile app and and integrating geo-location based apps. I am a little skeptical with this tip. The reason being is I’ve seen a a lot of good apps, but for each one excellent app I find, I see one hundred poor quality apps. Yes apps are relatively cheap to produce nowadays, but in most cases the quality or functionality just isn’t there. In terms of mobile apps I firmly believe you get what you pay for, and a good app is most likely going to cost an arm and a leg.

Facebook announced it will be selling prime space on their log out page. For the minimum price (not average)of $700 000 a day, firms can place a prominent stand-alone ad on the Facebook log out page. This news is big as Facebook’s other two ad forms, the newsfeed and sidebar, do not have nearly as much exclusivity and are not as noticable. As of a couple days ago, ads for Bing, Ford, and Titanic 3D are the only ones that have been shown. With 37 million users logging out each day that’s quite the guaranteed audience.

Here is an example of the titanic ad:

It’ll be interesting to see how Facebook users will take to this new ad. Will they complain? Will they not care because it appears at the end of their Facebook experience? Only time will tell…

Smart phones are becoming so advanced nowadays that they can connect with just anything. Smart phones are able to communicate with just about anything. They can tell the HD Personal Video Recorder, be used as a remote for many smart televisions, receive notifications from the washer and dryer when their loads are done. It was only a matter of time when smart phones would be able to communicate with our cars.

In 2011 BMW released their BMW app with allows to drivers to update their Facebook and Twitter statuses using the in car controls. Of course, it would be a little unsafe to have drivers manually key in their statuses, so BMW has streamlined the process and using real time information composed ready made status updates. Some examples are:

“It’s 72 degrees and I’m drive a convertible”
“It’s hot outside”
“Looking for a filling station”
“Going to need to refuel soon” 
“I’m online in my BMW with BMW Apps”

I suspect that much like other devices that allow users to post status updates, this one will include a “posted using BMW App” or “posted in a BMW” note with each update. This means by using this app, drivers are inadvertently advertising the BMW brand. Much like my other post about the Coke Village, when drivers use this app they are giving the BMW brand their stamp of approval and advertising for BMW to their friends.

Many of us still remember the overwhelming number of applicants that applied for the “best job ever” hosted by Tourism Queensland, which enticed applicants with a £73 000 salary for essentially taking a vacation in Australia and blogging about their experience.

Well, a local tourism branch, Tourism Richmond, is hosting a similar campaign but on a smaller scale. They are calling their campaign 365 Days of Dining in Richmond, BC.

“The chosen applicant will receive the following from Tourism Richmond:

• annual contract salary of $50,000
• daily stipend for restaurant meals
• apartment and living costs compensation for a period of one year (negotiable upon final selection)
• 1 year gym membership at the Richmond Olympic Oval”

If you’re anything like me, you might be thinking to yourself that Coke is one of a hundred well known brands who already have an online presence in the social media community, and that anything they post online is really different than the content any other well known brand would post and would find it hard to believe they can WOW you. And if you’re like me you’d be WRONG. Recently, I found this youtube video from 2010. It showcases how Coke was able to integrate Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology and Facebook to enhance the experience of their Coke Village visitors.

“…the village’s site was hosted on Facebook, to promote great interaction and broad exposure amongst teenagers.”

Those hundreds of visitors who opted for the Facebook function were given an arm band that contains a RFID microchip that contains the user’s Facebook username and password. With the arm band, users could conveniently share their experiences in real time on Facebook by swiping their arm bands at each village attraction. In addition, the arm band allowed its guests to be auto-tagged in any photos that were taken of them. It is said that the village’s 10,000 visitors produced 350,000 posts, and 500,000 “Likes”. This probably played a huge role in making Coke Village the most desired getaway for Israeli teens.

Given the great success of Coke Village, I think it’s only a matter of time before similar events begin to integrate similar real time sharing technology. Just of the top of my head I think the Coors Light Cold Party franchise (a subsidiary of Coors Light Brewing Company) would definitely benefit with their annual national tour that caters to those from Generation X.

I was reading an article from the E-Commerce Times titled Groupon: Business is Booming. It can be found here.

It summarizes Groupon’s recent performance and how a quarter of their vouchers were purchased via mobile device. In addition, the report says that app usage by both consumer and retailers have steadily been increasing. An app emphasized during their IPO was Groupon Now, an app that would give real time deals that only lasted for hours at a time. Despite the company’s growth internationally, and the rate of adaptation for smartphones, skeptics believe this app has many hurdles to overcome.

The adaptation of electronic wallets

Because financial transactions completed on mobile devices are a fairly new thing, the average consumer does not feel comfortable doing transactions via mobile devices and therefore

Not all retailers having access to a mobile device capable of processing vouchers

In emerging markets where mobile devices are not as readily available, Groupon is lending retailers iPod touches which are quite costly.

In the future I see this app being very plausible, however given the current mobile device market characteristics do not provide favourable conditions for this sort of app.

Today I read an article that sheds some light on how sales people should use social media from clickz.com. The article can be found here.

The site lists a few suggestions for sales people utilizing social media, and I would have to agree. A few examples are listed below:

Build a social home base

The author believes that a social hub provides the sales person with content and media that tell the stories that the prospects would like to hear. “Facts tell, stories sell” says the author.

Listen for leads

The author continues to say how being connected via social hubs may provide information that a sales person might not otherwise be exposed to and therefore lead to opportunities that might not otherwise be possible.

Make and bake social content

A part of the author’s advice for this point was in order to attract more traffic, one might try aggregating relevant information from different sources. This made a lot of sense to me when I think about the blogs and news casts that I follow. Many, if not all of the media I follow is in some way a summary of lots of little facts that make much more sense put together.

To be great, you must participate

This tip I thought was overlooked by many salespeople nowadays. For a sales person I can see this as being a very efficient means of developing leads and connections. Social media was meant to be used for interaction and if a sales person is just using his/her social media hub to send outward it really defeats the purpose.

Let me begin by saying for years I have been an avid consumer of Best Buy products and services and was fairy dumbfounded when I watched a documentary on CNBC calling Best Buy a showroom for Amazon’s products and predicting Best Buy’s almost inevitable demise.

The documentary points out that with the development of e-retailers that have lower overhead costs and can offer lower prices than traditional brick and mortar stores, it has become increasingly difficult for brick and mortar stores to compete. And it has just become even more difficult with the availability of smartphones and mobile apps like RedLaser and Price Check by Amazon. What these free apps allow you to do is scan the UPC barcode on that back of a product, and it will spit out a list of e-retailers that the consumer can get it for the best price and even order the items from within Best Buy’s doors.

What does this mean for stores like Best Buy?

It means anyone can walk into a store like Best Buy, get the expert advice from their employees, test the product, and even come to a conclusion about a product you might only get if you are physically in a store, but chances are they won’t buy the product from a store like Best Buy, simply because online is cheaper and it is so convenient to order with these apps.

What is Best Buy doing to fight back?

I’ve heard that Best Buy is requesting from manufacturers produce an exclusive product line for them, but if they’re still asking for a premium on their products I don’t see this as a means of turning things around.

On the other hand companies like Amazon continue to take market share. They have done a superb job at using mobile apps to establish their lower prices, drive traffic to their site and increase their sales. This is a just a prime example of e-retailers taking advantage of traditional retailers disadvantages.

Below is video briefly touching on the issue, but is more focused on how this issue is affecting Best Buy and Amazon’s stock prices.

Last month I was out for a bubbletea at a small, local bubbletea café called Bubbletopia. My friends and I are regulars of this establishment which is owned and run by this very friendly older gentleman. There was nothing special about this particular night. However, that week they had a promotion running where if you “checked in” to their location on Facebook, you would receive free pearls in your drink. We all saw this as an opportunity to get a discount on our drinks for doing virtually nothing, so we all effortlessly “checked in” on Facebook and received our free pearls. For those who may not know, Facebook’s check in function basically allows its users to make a post on their page informing people of the particular place they are at. 

I thought nothing of checking in until several days later when I realized this advertised special was in a sense an e-marketing tactic used to increase awareness of the bubbletea café. I figure the pearls in my drink probably cost them twenty-five cents, and that is how much essentially they paid me to advertise to hundreds of Facebook friends. Not only did I advertise for them, but I practically gave them my recommendation as a place to drink bubbletea, as generally Facebook check in’s are usually associated with positive experiences and seldom include negative comments. I would imagine that the returns on that twenty-five cent investment for me to “check in” are much greater than twenty-five cents spend on another form of advertising such as handing out paper flyers or putting an add in the newpaper.

It’s quite a feat when you think about the potential online reach this little mom and pop bubbletea café has thanks to social media and proves that big or small, e-marketing can be used by businesses of all sizes.

I am not sure if Bubbletopia was the first to think of this, but as you might expect other bubbletea cafés also began to follow suit. The trend continues to this day, and once and a while you see various other businesses such as restaurants using similar promotions.