Top reasons for connecting online? Information, discounts, and buying stuff.

Ruth Bastedo, May 7 2012

Ruth Bastedo is the Director of Business Development at Social Media Group

I was perusing through my husband’s copy of the Harvard Business Review on the week-end. The old fashioned way… sitting in the sun in my backyard, reading a magazine in print (just to point out, there’s still a place for that…), and I was particularly interested in an article “To Keep Your Customers, Keep It Simple” by Patrick Spenner and Karen Freeman. You can preview the article online, but you’ll have to purchase the whole thing in order to get the full scoop.

It’s about one of those obvious, really interesting premises that we talk a lot about here at SMG, particularly in the context of content online.  How do we develop content, or a customer experience that is relevant, adds value and spurs activity?  We know that when you digest a great piece of value add content, it’s very satisfying to do something with it afterwards- share it (social sharing or email for older folks), save it, or better yet, use the information to actually help make a decision. People want content that is in a way, actionable.

This article shines some light on this phenomena, and cites a study from the IBM Institute for Business Value, which says that, if asked,  61% of consumers say they will  interact with companies via social sites in order to get a discount. That’s it. A full 55% want to purchase something, and 53% want to access product reviews.

The study goes on to say that 61% of businesses think that their customers want to be part of a community. But simply being part of community is an insufficient value exchange for most consumers. Most people just want a deal.  Despite the altruistic visions of some brands, simply starting a community isn’t enough. Only 22% of consumers cite “wanting to be part of a community” as a compelling reason to interact with a company via social media. Crazy.

The chart below is pretty interesting one to examine.

Check out the article. For all of us doing content in this field, it’s food for thought.

No comments

Tweet

Adding animated GIFs to your content toolbox

Brandon Oliver Smith, May 4 2012

Brandon Oliver Smith is Research and Insights Analyst at Social Media Group.

Last July, I reviewed a new iOS app called Loopcam. Loopcam made it easy for users to capture GIF images and publish them to a variety of social networks including Twitter, Facebook and Tumblr. Since then, the animated image space has seemingly exploded with a handful of new apps like GifBoom and Gifture, format spin-offs called Cinemagrams and a couple kick-butt examples of how the animated GIF format can be a valuable addition to a brand’s content toolbox.

Not surprisingly, fashion brands have been some of the first to adopt the alternative image format. Movement within images allow shoppers to get a more realistic sense of how wearable items are. Traditionally, this sense of realism is communicated using video which while becoming increasingly commonplace, still suffers from some accessibility, portability and sharability challenges.

The small footprint of the GIF format allows it to circumvent some of the challenges encountered with video. GIF files are typically small in size and like standard images, theyß can be saved to the desktop with a simple right click save as.

The popularity of GIF blogs have already shown a strong demand for the cheeky format on sites like Tumblr. Taking the audience demographics of Tumblr into consideration, it only makes sense that brands should showcase products using a content format that’s already popular with the target audience.

Animated GIFs are also proving to be valuable content assets for industries far removed from the fashion world. The iconic General Electric recently showed off the epic scale of their manufacturing and design process with GIFs, doing so also cast a light on the company’s ingenuity and dedication to push the boundaries of technology.

The 25-year-old image format is now in the midst of a renaissance. Its endearing qualities are catching the eye of a totally new generation of web user and exploration of it’s applications as a branded content asset are just beginning.

• Opening Ceremony – Pixel Geometry http://www.openingceremony.us
• Burberry, London Fashion Week 2012 http://www.fastcocreate.com
• General Electric Innovation http://generalelectric.tumblr.com/

Follow @brandonXoliver

No comments

Tweet