Real-Time Review/Ratings- Marketing

Wrote this for marketing, but it was because of all that we have been looking through in our last few weeks in this course.


Real-Time Review/Ratings- Marketing

Definition

The use of consumer reviews, accounts and ratings to measure, compare, and facilitate the purchase of items and services.            

History

Real-time reviewing is considered a subset of NOWISM. NOWISM according to Trendwatching the “Consumers’ ingrained lust for instant gratification is being satisfied by a host of novel, important (offline and online) real-time products, services and experiences” (2009). This lust for gratification also impacts the information used for making that instant commerce happen.

The advent of NOWISM and real-time reviewing was limited to locations with a hot spot, mobile devices have now made it possible to for the 1.7 billion internet users, about 25% of the global population, to be permanently online. These online users can now offer positive and negative reviews of their experiences as well as research others postings before making a purchase.

Purpose

There are several layers of purpose here. For the consumer to share their experience openly with a product/service/organization and for consumers to gather information before making a purchase are the larger umbrellas, but within each there are many reasons for real-time reviewing.

Consumers rate or review to criticize, praise, offer constructive feedback, explain alternate uses, share background information, and explain the CSR  of a purchase, item, service, and/or an organization (to name a few). Consumers read these to gather information to assess the social impacts, popularity, price difference, satisfaction, longevity, warranty, future trends, and more before making said purchase.

Consequences

For business and consumers there are tremendous and every chaining consequences of this real-time reviewing. Perhaps the most predominate of these is at the moment price comparison of items.  There are mobile apps that allow consumers to scan items barcodes or take pictures of the item and then search both online and physical retailers for the item and their offered price, Shopsavvy and SnapTell are two of these services. This price comparison causes increased price scrutiny by physical retailers. According to Trendswatch, Shopsavvy has hand more than 1.5million image queries with a 30% click-through rate to its parent company, Amazon.com (2009).

These apps are now being incorporated with the latest in augmented reality. The iPhone equipped with 3GS enables one to use maps and rating programs like Yelp to look around ones surrounding and see restaurant and shops distance, ratings, and information overlaying the physical view one sees through the phones camera.

Aside from price, applications like projectlabel which allows consumers to research and report the health and safety of products otherwise know as “people-powered company nutrition labels”(2009).   This reviewing is happening in every sector and will require more transparency and communication by business. Transparency in that the sheer volume of postings will lead to more accuracy in reviews and subsequently more trust in them. According to the Nielsen Global Online Consumer Survey, “ 90% of online consumers worldwide trust recommendations from people they know, while 70% trust consumer opinions posted online" (2009).

Apps such as ShoutIT let individuals link their reviews to Facebook, Delicious, and Digg (Trendwatch 2009) which then is shared on their profile page allowing their social graph to carry the information further and at the level of personal recommendations.

The communication is coming in the form of more direct interaction with consumer. Already  business are finding value in monitoring what is being posted about them on Twitter, Dell Comcast and Southwest Airlines are three frontrunners in this. These include following up on complaints or thanking individuals for compliments.

There is also direct consumer interaction that is monitered by consumers themselves. One recent example of this consumer was on the opening weekend of Bruno, a spoof comedy movie similar to the successful Borat, twetters’ wrote about their displeasure with the movie and its box office sales saw a 40% ticket drop. This is refereed to as the ‘Twitter effect’ and can swing popularity in both directions.

Another real-time review that is still emerging is Google Sidewiki, which allows users that have Sidewiki enabled to write and read comments inline with a webpage. The effects on online retailers, businesses, organizations is yet to be defined but their are implications of transparency and questions inline with ones online presence.

The ability for consumers to now be permanently online has enabled another service, price alerting. Now a consumer can find the item they are looking for and set a price they are willing to pay and wait until that price emerges, airlines have been doing this for years with sites like Priceline.com and Expedia.com, look to Apnoti a Amazon marker and PriceDrop a browser extension for consumer items.

Scale and context

With 1.7 billion people having access to the internet (www.internetworldstats.com) and over 4.6 billion people with mobile phone subscriptions worldwide according to the International Telecommunication Union. With about 18% of handsets currently having online access that is 800million individuals with nearly constant access. The scale is tremendous and with the increasing infusion of access and understanding. Already in younger, more technological accepting, markets the action of real-time review and rating is already fast becoming a habit.


Critique of the concept

The issue of real-time reviews and ratings has game changing implications upon the  transparency in advertising and in practice of how business as usual is done. While advertising has changed with culture and technology, real-time reviewing will cause it to change with individual experiences.

References

(Sep/Oct 2009). “Transparency triumph” reviewing is the new advertising. Retrieved from http://trendwatching.com/trends/transparencytriumph/

(November 2009). “NOWISM” why currency is the new currency. Retrieved from http://trendwatching.com/trends/nowism/

McGiboney, Michelle (July 2009). Personal recommendations and consumer opinions posted onlie are the most trusted forms of advertising globally.  Retrieved from http://blog.nielsen.com/nielsenwire/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/pr_global-study_07709.pdf

Projectlabel.org Retrieved from https://projectlabel.org/ on November 21, 2009

Internet World Stats. Retrieved from www.internetworldstats.com on November 21, 2009


Further reading

Catching-up is the new looking ahead. (August 2009). http://trendwatching.com/trends/catchingup/

FOREVERISM. (June/July 2009). http://trendwatching.com/trends/foreverism/

Doctors consider muzzling patients as online consumer rating expands to medical services. (March  2009). http://blog.cleveland.com/medical/2009/03/doctors_consider_muzzling_pati.html

Additional Apps or Rating Sites

http://socialyell.com/
http://www.3rdwhale.com/

Copenhagen Comic

Copenhagen Comic: "

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eBay Maps Out Black Friday Online Transactions

eBay Maps Out Black Friday Online Transactions: "

While Black Friday has long been a popular phenomenon for brick and mortar stores, the deal frenzy has been extending to e-retailers and online stores. Now, sales on the web are equally as lucrative as those in the stores. eBay is launching a campaign to capitalize on the holiday shopping season, called “12 Days Of Deals,” and has also rolled out a new Deal-focused iPhone app and partnered with Microsoft to offer deals directly from Internet Explorer 8.

Today, the e-commerce giant is launching a interactive map that shows all of the transactions that took place on eBay on Black Friday. The map provides a visualization of all U.S.-based buyer and seller transactions that occurred on eBay on Black Friday.

As the clock runs, points will appear on the map, representing the occurrence of buyer and seller transactions on eBay. eBay says the map visualization is based on raw data that includes eBay sales and purchases occurring in approximately 33,000 U.S. ZIP codes.

Crunch Network: CrunchBoard because it’s time for you to find a new Job2.0

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Fox News Makes the Best Pie Chart. Ever.

Fox News Makes the Best Pie Chart. Ever.: "

What? I don't see anything wrong with it.

Alright, alright, so it's local news, but still, come on. I wonder if the newscaster even bats an eye as he's reading the numbers off the teleprompter:

[via @kevinthepang & @eagereyes & Wonkette | Thanks, all]

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On a Wind and a Care. The Sail Transport Company Freight Food By Yacht

On a Wind and a Care. The Sail Transport Company Freight Food By Yacht: "
Photos: Culture Change

Previously we've talked about a Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) carbon neutral project to ship grain from paddocks to pantries via sail-craft. That was in Canada's British Columbia. For the past year the Sail Transport Company (STC) have been following a similar ethos -- although a little further south -- moving vegetables across Puget Sound, from farmer's fields...Read the full story on TreeHugger

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Study Reveals: 13 Best Practices Of Social Media Implemented By The Top 200 US Charities

Study Reveals: 13 Best Practices Of Social Media Implemented By The Top 200 US Charities: "

I have noticed in both observing and working with non profits that their uptake and utilization of social media is creative, innovative and extensive and when I came upon this study by  the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth Center for Marketing Research who had recently completed (June 2009) one of the first statistically significant studies on the usage of social media by United States charities that my anecdotal suspicions were supported by empirical evidence. 

The new study compares organizational adoption of social media in 2007 and 2008 by the 200 largest charities in the United States as compiled annually by Forbes Magazine. For complete details on Forbes Magazine’s list of the largest charities, please visit their website at Forbes.com.  They are some of the best-known charities in the country including the Salvation Army, American Red Cross, Catholic Charities USA, Habitat for Humanity International and Easter Seals. The participating non-profits have headquarters in every major US city including New York, Washington DC, Chicago, Boston, Atlanta and San Francisco. They were asked detailed questions about the organizations’ familiarity with, usage of, monitoring of and attitude towards six common forms of social media (blogs, wikis, podcasts, online video, message boards and social networking).

So what are some of the best practices and uses of social media as displayed by the top 200 US NGO’s.

13 Best Practices Of  Social Media Implemented By the Top 200 US Charities

This new research shows that charitable organizations are still outpacing the business world and academia in their use of social media. In the latest study (2008) a remarkable eighty-nine percent of charitable organizations are using some form of social media including blogs, podcasts, message boards, social networking, video blogging and wikis. 

1. Blogging is the leading social media channel: 
   
   
   
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     A majority (57%) of the organizations are blogging versus 41% by Universities and Colleges, 39% by the Top 500 fastest growing companies and 16% by the Fortune 500 .
     
     
   
   
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     52% of the respondents to the 2008 survey still without a blog said they planned to add one in the future, making blogs the most popular tool now and for the foreseeable future. 
     
     
   
   
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     When asked if they felt their blogs were successful, approximately 90% of charities with blogs said yes. This finding is also consistent with studies in business and academia that have consistently shown those using social media are satisfied and feel it provides positive results
     
     
   
   
   
   


2. Vital for fundraising:  Forty-five percent of those studied report social media is very important to their fundraising strategy. While these organizations are best known for their non-profit status and their fundraising campaigns, they demonstrate an acute, and still growing, awareness of the importance of Web 2.0 strategies in meeting their objectives. 


3. Video is now one of the core features of social media: The use of video in their blogs jumped from 40% in the 2007 study to 65% the following year.


4. Social networking site use is now considered mainstream not optional: Social networking up 47%


5. WordPress as a platform for the blog is dominant:  Twenty-six percent of those with blogs are using WordPress software as a platform


6. Twitter is used extensively 


7. YouTube video uploads are prominent.


8. Allowing the accepting of comments is almost universal: also known as allowing conversation (85% of those charities with blogs accepted comments and 88% in 2008)


9. RSS feed use is considered a vital feature of a blog:  (57% in 2007 compared to 67% in 2008) Note: This simplifies the blogosphere for readers who may want to keep up with a certain conversation or be informed of new information without having to check the blog of interest every day to see if there is something new.


10. Email subscriptions is Crucial on your blog: now in the majority (23% in 2007 compared to 56% in 2008) 


11. Promoting the blog is an essential activity: The promotion was email, press release and newsletters in 2007 , with 2008 seeing the use of  social networking to promote their blog


12. Success is mainly measured by the number of hits or comments they receive on their website or blog: Also in 2008 many reported donations coming in as a result of social media communications as an additional form of measurement.


13. Monitoring of Social Media is considered important by the majority of  Non Profits: They are listening to what’s being said about them online. Sixty-six percent of respondents in 2007 and 75% in 2008 report they monitor the Internet for buzz, posts, conversations and news about their institution. Most of these organizations realize the importance of knowing what conversation might occur around their cause, their name, their location or constituents. How do they monitor buzz about themselves or their causes.
    
    
    
    • In 2007, 42% did searches manually using basic search engines like Google and appropriate key words.
    
    
    • In 2008, that dropped to 36% while the number of charities automating their searches climbed from 34% to 42%. Google alerts were the most popular automated searches.
    
    
    
    

Note: When comparing charities with other sectors also using social media and monitoring their names, brands or products, these non-profits again stand out. In 2008, 54% of US colleges and universities monitored buzz online about their school, 60% of the Inc. 500 monitored their brands or name and 75% of the top charities monitored their names, causes or other pertinent information. This group is both active and sophisticated in their use of social media.  

Conclusion 

This new study, looking at social media usage among the nonprofit sector, reveals that social media has become an incredibly important part of the communication strategy for US charities. The largest non-profits are continuing to outpace businesses and even academic institutions in their familiarity, use, and monitoring activity. These top organizations have found a new and exciting way to win the hearts (and maybe the dollars) of potential donors.

So are you practicing and implementing social media best practice in your organisation?

Posted in Blog, Social Media Tagged: Best Practice, blogs, Email Marketing, Facts and Figures, NGO, Not for Profit, Social Media, Social Networking, Study, Top 200, twitter, youtube

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How to Use Social Media

How to Use Social Media: "

Dan Zarrella, social-media maven, explains how and when to use social media site such as Facebook and Twitter. He is the author of The Social Media Marketing Book. Read the post if you’re wondering how to optimize your social-marketing efforts.

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