Tag Archives: google

The Social Side of Apple’s Steep Decline

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Apple’s stock has been in decline over the past few months partly due to the undesirable response from the iphone5, released this past September. About the same time, the share price quickly started to drop from nearly $700 to now just above $400.  A remarkable $250 drop in just 6 months!  Although Apple has lost some major gains, the tech giant is still well ahead of its closest competitors in terms of market capitalization.  But if it took Apple only 6 months to fall $250, how long before they are no longer ahead of their Google?  Viral Technologies conducted a study which measured the volume of social media mentions of iPhone and tracked the trend over the past 6 months.  The social mentions trend line was then overlaid onto the AAPL stock chart from the same time period.  As you can see below, the stock price continued to sharply decline despite the holiday season and the recent launch of the iphone5.

Google’s popular mobile platform, Android, has been making some serious gains over the past few years.   Viral Technologies conducted the same type of study for Android as the iphone and overlaid the social media mentions over the GOOG stock chart.  As you can see below, there is a strong steady increase in Android mentions leading up to the holiday season and a short but brief decline in mentions post-holiday.  The mentions then shoot right back up mid-February after the announcement of Android 4.2.2 Jelly Bean.

Another interesting indicator of the strong but steady growth of Android popularity is the trend line comparing the normalized relative volume of searches on Google over the years.  The trend line below does not depict actual numbers of Google searches, but is a normalized volume from 1-100 which is relative to all Google searches in each particular point in time.  You can clearly see that Google searches for Android have surpassed Google searches for Apple back in early 2011 and haven’t stopped since.  It is interesting to note that while Apple does get plenty of online attention; it tends to come in short bursts and then dissipates back to the normal level of searches for the brand.  You can see this trend in the social media mentions of iPhone as well.  As for Google’s Android, slow and steady looks to be winning the race in the end.

Viral can provide daily monitoring on an infinite number of national and global research initiatives. Blog posts are meant to provide a glimpse of the breadth and detailed subject matter we cover. Viral provides unique, digitalized social intelligence with an eye on forecasting and foreshadowing.

5 Reasons Law Firms Still Dismiss Social Media…and Why They’re Wrong

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1.“There’s no ROI”

There is ROI for blogs and social media, you just have to enter into the social space having previously determined what you want to track and get out of social media. Without some kind of benchmark such as conversion rates, traffic to your site, likes or engagement on a post, calculating an ROI IS going to be impossible. Tools like Google Analytics, Google Alerts, Bit.ly etc… can help to track interest, click through rates, demographics and where/how people are talking about your firm/lawyers.

2.“The Metrics aren’t reliable”

I don’t really understand why people would think this, because Social Media data is some of the cleanest and pinpointed data there can be. There are hundreds of applications that can tell you how many people have clicked a link, who’s clicked it, where they’re from, engagement statistics, which content got the most activity etc…basically that argument is just not sound.

3.“Social Media is still too young”

…So is the Internet, so is mobile. Does your firm use email, online journals, or other websites for research? I’m sure the answer is yes, and Social Media is no longer just for the innovative law firms–it has become mainstream. Did you know that 81% of law firms are now using some kind of social media platform? If your law firm doesn’t adapt to this social shift, you will be at a significant disadvantage.

4.“Social Media is just another trend that will pass”

A recent survey from The Nielsen Company stated Americans spend nearly a quarter of their time online on social networking sites, including blogs. This is up more than 40% from just last year! With the way social media is growing, there is simply no chance it’s going anywhere anytime soon. Social Media is all about adapting to our communication needs, and as long as people are conversing there will surely be social media.

5.We need to control our message

I was watching a webinar with Gary Vaynerchuk last week and he discussed this very topic. He explained that because of the way social media is molding traditional marketing tactics, we too need to adapt to the way with which messages are dispersed and received. We can say whatever we want about our brand, but we have virtually no control over what people are saying about us. This can be scary, but it also allows your brand to grow and adjust your product/services to fit the needs and desires of your consumers.

4 Reasons You Need to Implement Content Marketing into Your Business Plan

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Though many believe content marketing to be a fairly new phenomenon, in actuality, the concept has been around for hundreds of years starting with the first bag of chocolate chips that gave its consumers a great recipe for baking chocolate chip cookies.

According to Susan Gunelius, author of Content Marketing for Dummies, content marketing is “the practice of developing awareness, recall, purchases and loyalty through the use of content published on or offline.”

Okay, that’s nice but how is this going to help my business to increase sales and awareness?

The fact of the matter is that content marketing is a KEY component to increasing your sales and your brand’s awareness.

Content Marketing is Key to Successful Business Plans

Here’s how:

1.Content Marketing shows your clients and potential clients that you are an authority for your subject matter. Giving unique and valuable information to your following, asking for nothing in return, is a great way to build trust and gain loyal brand ambassadors.

2.Content Marketing helps to drive traffic to your website. In creating more content in connection to your brand, you will increase your chances of showing up in a Google/Yahoo search. Well-written content also gets shared and linked to, and backlinks are one of the best ways with which to climb up the search rank ladder.

3.Content Marketing helps to build your marketing lists—a great technique in content marketing is to create fabulous content (which should always be your intent), and to ask your readers to enter their email addresses to receive your content for free. Both sides will mutually benefit from this scenario; your brand will have more email addresses to send sales collateral, newsletters and promotions, and your following will obtain valuable information free of charge.

Use opt-in feature to get email addresses from customers/potential customers

4.Content Marketing strengthens your relationships with existing and potential clients and helps you to become a greater influence within your target market.

In the last few years, big brands like Coca-Cola and Amazon have spent nearly 26% of their marketing budget on content marketing—will you hop on the content marketing train, or are you already a frequent user? Leave your thoughts in the comment box below!

How B2B Brands are Taking Advantage of Social Media

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10 Signs You Should Hire A Professional Web Designer

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1. Your Site Looks Unprofessional

Your Website visitors are going to decide whether or not your brand is reputable and trustworthy within seconds of viewing your home page. Web designers have the experience and the understanding of what your customers will be looking for upon arrival. Aesthetics and creating a user-friendly interface are issues that they are experts in, so if your site isn’t getting the traffic that you’d hoped, consider rethinking the look and feel of your site and consulting with a professional for their opinion.

2. Your Site Isn’t Interactive and Engaging

It is important to spell out everything for your viewers. Web designers will work to simplify information so that your clients can find the “about us” section or the “contact us” section as quickly and easily as possible. Is there an appropriate ratio of visuals to words? People want to know the quick background and major concepts of your work—if they want to read a book, they will go to the bookstore.

3. Your Navigation Links are Long and Complicated

Navigation links should be short, descriptive, and specific. Where the link directs you when you click on it should be completely in sync with the navigation link verbage. Web designers will be able to show you the standard practices of building a functional website, with effective inbound/outbound navigation links.

4. The Information on Your Site is Dated

If your website is still promoting events that happened last month, how are your viewers supposed to trust the rest of the information displayed on your site? Web designers can create a website that can be easily updated by you or themselves. Creating a fairly uncomplicated interface for their client is something that designers are very good at—a lot of people don’t want to spend the extra money to have their site maintained by an outside source (which is fine), so it is important to get an experienced designer to walk you through the steps to maintain the backside of your site.

5. The Pictures on Your Site Aren’t Optimized

If your website is full of large pictures that take forever to download looking pixelated and/or warped once they do, don’t expect your viewers to stick around. Web designers know exactly how to optimize images on your website, helping it to operate smoother and faster.

6. Your Text is Hard to Read

Computer screen reading is hard enough on the eyes; don’t make it any harder by writing large amounts of text. You should always keep your writing short and sweet for maximum readability and blocks of text should never be more than 12-15 words long, and 3 to 5 lines long. Web designers will help you to get the most out of your text, finding the most effective balance between content and design.

7. If Your Site is Hosted on a Free Site

Free hosting puts other businesses’ ad banners on top of your site…do you really want to be advertising for another company on your own site? Hosting on a free site also dramatically slows the loading time on your site, frustrating your readers and discouraging them from staying.

8. If Your Site Can’t be Found Through Search Engines

No site, no business. Web designers will work with the web coder to make sure your site is search engine optimized and has the appropriate keywords to ensure that you will be as close to the top of a Google, or other search engine search, as possible.

9. If You Don’t Have Navigation Links at the Top and Bottom of Your Site

People don’t like to be bothered to scroll down to the bottom of your home page to find the “about us” or the “contact us” links. It is the web designer’s job to make it easier for your viewers to get to the desired area of your site.

10. Your Text Goes On…and On…and On…

The body text on your site should be easy for your users to read. A web designer can create balance between space, text and images, so that your viewer will see and read only the most important information to give them a basis for conversation when they call in for your product or services.

How Grandma and Grandpa Can Help to Grow Your Business

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Last week I was browsing the Mac store, when I bumped into an elderly person dazing emptily at his iPad. “Do you know how to turn this thing on?” he said. I looked around the table noticing at least a dozen other baby boomers raising their hand, seemingly just as perplexed, trying to get the attention of a frazzled Apple associate.

It seemed as though I had walked in on an iPad101 class. All of its students were over the age of 60.

These classes seem to be on the rise as more and more seniors are joining the digital world. With this rise comes a growing need for education. In fact, schools like Howard Community College’s Gateway Campus launched introductory courses in Facebook and Twitter for those over age 60 in September, and added a new course this past winter called “Blogging 101.”

From 2010 to 2011, the social network use among internet users over the age of 50 nearly doubled to 42%. Nearly 16 million Americans over the age of 55 now have a Facebook page…that’s a lot of Nanas on Facebook.

According to a study conducted by iStrategyLabs, a social media marketing firm, there were 15.5 million Facebook users over the age of 55, an increase of nearly 60% from the year before where the number of users over the age of 55 was at 9.7 million.

Not only are baby boomers using social media, but they are beginning to use it regularly as part of their daily routine. According to data collected by Pew Research Center only 20% of baby boomers in 2010 used social media on a daily basis. By the same time the next year, that number had risen to 32% representing a 60% increase.

A Nielsen statistic revealed that the over 55 age bracket spends a total of 85 minutes each day browsing the internet. Not only are they using it to keep in touch with their children and grandchildren, but they are also buying products within the online marketplace. Though this is significantly lower than that of the younger generation, it is important to consider the fact that this older bracket controls the majority of the economy, with a combined spending worth of more than $1.8 trillion.

As a marketer, one cannot ignore the potential that this demographic has for creating market growth. Accounting for nearly 58% of the U.S. population, the Baby Boomers make up more than half of the American population. We can capitalize on this shift in technology use by using targeted Google or Facebook advertising to this age bracket. Specific industry verticals like pharmaceuticals, doctors, or lawyers, can take advantage of this demographic by searching for people who are in need of their services. Doing a simple Google search or twitter hash tag search will help you to find people who may be complaining about the price of their prescriptions, or who are looking to settle an estate or will dispute.

So hide your incriminating photos kids, Grandmas and Grandpas on Facebook are here to stay.