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Facebook Users Barely Ever Use Facebook Apps

Posted as CHART OF THE DAY: BusinessInsider.com

Pascal-Emmanuel Gobry | Jul. 28, 2011, 3:21 PM | 4,552 | 

Facebook users spend most of their time in the News Feed, the river of information about your friends, and comparatively very little (just 10%) using apps according to a comScore report on how people use Facebook. 

This is interesting because the biggest app company, Zynga, filed to go public, and more generally because tons of Facebook apps are getting zillions of VC money all the time.

If people spend so little time on Facebook apps, why the excitement?

First of all, 10% of usage on Facebook, the second biggest site in the world, is still a huge market.

And also almost certainly because those who do use apps, use them a lot. Social games are a perfect example: not everyone plays them, but those who do, play them a lot. And a smaller minority pay for virtual goods in those games, but that minority pays enough to fund a thriving social games industry.

It's definitely possible to build big businesses on the Facebook platform. But those numbers are a useful reality check: Facebook isn't becoming a new internet, with Facebook apps replacing websites, as some fear. People still overwhelmingly use Facebook for what it's designed for: knowing what our friends are up to.

Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/facebook-news-feed-apps-2011-7?utm_source=Triggermail&utm_medium=email&utm_term=SAI%20Chart%20Of%20The%20Day&utm_campaign=SAI_COTD_080211#ixzz1TrTTRqCL

 

CHART OF THE DAY: Why People Still Subscribe To Newspapers

From http://www.businessinsider.com

Jay Yarow | Aug. 2, 2011, 4:13 PM | 352 | 

People are still subscribing to newspapers for two reasons, according to a survey from AdAge: they want local news, and they want coupons. 

Local news hasn't really worked online, so newspapers are okay on that front for now. But if Groupon and LivingSocial continue their successful runs, it could be yet another reason for people to cancel their subscriptions.

Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/chart-of-the-day-why-people-still-subscribe-to-newspapers-2011-8?utm_source=Triggermail&utm_medium=email&utm_term=SAI%20Chart%20Of%20The%20Day&utm_campaign=SAI_COTD_080211#ixzz1TrRlEPQd

 

Quick Stat: 47% of Online Consumers Will Redeem Digital Coupons This Year

Posted By: Stephanie Reese in E-Marketer (link below)

In 2011, nearly half of all online consumers in the US will redeem digital coupons online or in a store, eMarketer forecasts. While the vast majority of coupons are still clipped from Sunday newspaper inserts, digital coupon usage is growing rapidly. Increased usage and acceptance of mobile coupons will ensure future digital coupon growth.

from E-Marketer http://www.emarketer.com/blog/index.php/quick-stat-47-percent-online-consumers-will-redeem-digital-coupons-in-201/

A complete report, Coupon to Groupon: New Channels for an Old Tradition, is available for eMarketer Total Access subscribers.

 

Advertisers Begin to Look Beyond Facebook and Twitter

Marketers plan to extend social media ad investments

Social network marketing is now de rigueur for most brands. eMarketer estimates that 80% of companies with at least 100 employees conduct marketing activities on social networks this year. Fewer are advertising on social networks, but the number is growing.

May 2011 research from The Pivot Conference and Brian Solis found that two-thirds of marketers surveyed were already conducting social media advertising activities, and 18% more planned to do so in the next year. Most agreed that these efforts would prove very valuable, and 54% of those currently running ads were satisfied.

The success of these efforts so far—along with the continuing growth in consumer usage of social sites—may be leading advertisers to expand their plans to more social venues. Currently, Facebook and, to a lesser extent, Twitter dominate. More than nine in 10 respondents have deployed campaigns on Facebook and 78% have done so on Twitter; eMarketer estimates these sites will make $2.19 billion and $140 million, respectively, in US revenues this year. But advertising on sites like YouTube, LinkedIn and foursquare will grow: at least 20% of survey respondents indicate they would begin campaigns on these sites in the next year.

 

 

Lagging social networks may have to do more for advertisers, however, if they want to gain share as the social ad market gains momentum. A majority of respondents rated Facebook’s ad offerings excellent or good, but no other social site received such praise. Despite Twitter’s No. 2 ranking in advertiser usage, just 11% thought its ad offerings were excellent. This, in particular, could change as Twitter is expected to roll out more products, including a self-service option, this year.

 

 

More education for marketers may also be needed. While many have adopted social media usage enthusiastically, their knowledge of social advertising may be lagging. Among respondents that don’t currently advertise on social sites but plan to in the next year, 83% believed that simply blogging or tweeting for a company was a form of social advertising. Just 69% cited paid placements or other paid visibility programs on the sites. Social networks that want to encourage uptake of those paid products may have to do more to make them visible and understandable for marketers.

 

What Makes Facebook Fan Pages Successful?

Engagement, interest and constant connection keep fans coming back on Facebook

Well-known brands like Coca-Cola and Starbucks have had success turning their Facebook fan pages into popular sites with millions of fans. Local businesses are also leveraging the site and can learn from their global neighbors.

Local businesses make up 17.6% of Facebook fan pages, according to financial services firm Wedbush, while companies come in at 6.3% and products at 3%. Interests, musicians and public figures are also high on the list.

 

 

Starbucks has 18.5 million fans as of November 2010, and Alexandra Wheeler, director of digital strategy, talked to Marketing Week in the UK about how the brand uses Facebook.

“It’s about making sure that we do our job every day to give those fans some sort of meaningful value,” she said. “Having 10 million people on Facebook who like us would be useless if we did nothing with it.”

 

 

Social media marketing agency Cone found 77% of new media users want brands to offer them incentives online. Additionally, 28% would like to be entertained.

Coca-Cola, with 19.8 million Facebook fans, used a year-long social media campaign, Expedition 206, to keep its Facebook page constantly updated with content posted by brand ambassadors.

Oreo launched an interactive game on its Facebook page in September, MediaPost reported, and the brand jumped from 8.5 million fans in August to 15.2 million in November. The campaign continues and was also recently extended offline, with in-person events.

Engagement, interest and constant connection keep fans coming back to a company’s Facebook fan page, and local businesses can learn from these larger examples as they create and populate their own Facebook fan pages.

http://www.emarketer.com/Article.aspx?R=1008205