Boomers Slowly Warm to Mobile Web

Baby Boomers slowly adopting mobile web

Baby boomers are on the verge of adopting smartphones and the mobile Internet, and in the vanguard of this movement are younger boomers. But boomers’ mobile Internet adoption rates will be similar to their social media uptake—that is, slow. They must see the benefits before they sign on.

Back in 1995, boomers were the pioneers of mobile phone usage, exceeding or equaling other age groups’ uptake of the devices, according to the Pew Research Center. Ownership rates have now grown to more than 85% among boomers, the majority using feature phones. But only 55% consider their mobile phone a necessity.

US Baby Boomers who have a mobile phone

“Internet use will be the driving force behind boomers’ adoption of smartphones and the mobile Internet,” said Lisa E. Phillips, eMarketer senior analyst and author of the new report, “Boomers and Mobile Usage.” “They are avid Web users but no longer such early adopters.”

Boomers made up 30.6% of all mobile phone users in August 2009, according to comScore’s age breakout. However, they made up only 19.6% of all touch-screen users and 21.1% of smartphone users. Younger boomers (ages 45 to 54) were more likely than older boomers to use touch-screens, smartphones and any mobile phone.

Total US smart phone users

“Boomers are underrepresented among smartphone users but are becoming more interested in the devices,” said Ms. Phillips. “Smartphones are now well established in the marketplace, which should help to convince the portions of the boomer cohort that are not early adopters.

“The business aspect of smartphones should appeal to the many boomers who say they plan to continue working after retirement age,” Ms. Phillips said.

But price is a factor for many. As carriers reduce prices for phones as well as monthly data plans, more boomers will come on board.

Small Business Doubles Social Media Adoption

A difficult economy has helped spur small businesses to adopt social media marketing in greater numbers, according to “The State of Small Business Report” from Network Solutions and the Center for Excellence in Service at the University of Maryland Robert H. Smith School of Business. Social media usage increased to 24%, from 12% the year before.

The most common usage of social media among small business was a company page on a social networking site, followed by posting status updates.

Social Media Tactics used by US Small Business

Small businesses’ expectations of social media seem roughly to be in line with their experiences, although they are not quite as successful as they had hoped. Respondents’ top accomplishments were customer acquisition and placing their own businesses within the market, but did not meet expectations fully. Social media’s capabilities for staying engaged with consumers and collaborating with other businesses, however, were more in line with businesses’ expectations.

Performance of social media tactics by small business

Most small businesses say they are just breaking even with their current usage of social media, but a solid one-fifth find it profitable already. Businesses are positive about the potential as well: Nearly one-half believe it will make them money in the next 12 months, and another 39% think they will break even on it. Just 9% think social marketing will continue to be a losing proposition.

Impact of social media marketing on small business

Overall, 58% of respondents felt social media lived up to their expectations. One-half felt it took up more time than they realized, but only 6% claimed negative comments on social media had hurt their business.

“Social media levels the playing field for small businesses by helping them deliver customer service,” said Janet Wagner, director of the Center for Excellence in Service, in a statement. “Time spent on Twitter, Facebook and blogs is an investment in making it easier for small businesses to compete.”

Previous research on small businesses and social media use revealed a somewhat rocky relationship. A Citibank study indicated social media was not working well for small businesses’ lead gen efforts, but other data showed small companies would be upping spending in the channel.

‘Avatar’ Dominates Online Oscar Buzz

Oscar Buzz

The hit 3-D science fiction film “Avatar” is dominating online buzz surrounding Oscar-nominated films, according to data collected by The Nielsen Company January 25- February 26, 2010.

Smaller Films Do Well in Online Buzz
“Avatar,” which is the most successful film of all time as measured by box office receipts, captured roughly 27% of the online buzz surrounding the 10 Oscar-nominated films this year. This was significantly more buzz than generated by its next-closest competitor, Iraq War drama “The Hurt Locker,” which represented about 17% of online buzz.

Oscar Buzz by Film

However, “The Hurt Locker” is not a blockbuster film in terms of box office, suggesting that online Oscar buzz in not only dominated by financially successful films. The number three film in terms of online buzz, “Up in the Air,” is another large moneymaker, but British art film “An Education” came in fourth place, beating out more commercially successful Hollywood productions such as “The Blind Side,” “Up” and “Inglorious Basterds.”

Golden Globe Winners Dominate Buzz
In terms of online buzz surrounding Best Actor and Best Actress nominees, clearly winning the Golden Globe award in that category is a major boost. Golden Globe winners Jeff Daniels and Sandra Bullock each dominated the buzz in their respective Oscar award category with more than a 25% share. Bullock’s film “The Blind Side” was a mainstream blockbuster hit while Daniels’ film “Crazy Heart” has been in limited release, further suggesting their Golden Globe victories had more to do with their heavy buzz than the films they starred in.

Sandra Bullock’s Reign Continues
Sandra Bullock continues to prove herself as popular with the film-viewing public. Sondra Bullock was the fourth-most popular movie star in the US in 2009, according to The Harris Poll. Bullock was the most popular movie star among Generation X ages 33-44 and the South.

Boomers Present Marketing Challenges, Opportunities

Marketers seeking to promote products and services to the “Baby Boom” generation would do well to remember that Boomers are still vital and evolving even as they approach retirement age, according to Dr. Bob Deutsch of marketing firm Brain Sells.

Three Basic Life Structures of Boomers
Deutsch recently released a list of suggestions for how to best target the Boomer marketplace. The Baby Boom generation is classified as people born between 1946 and 1964, meaning the oldest Baby Boomers turn 65 this year. Deutsch says understanding the following three basic life structures is critical to capturing the Boomer market:

Identity – Optimism and Adaptation to Power Diminished
The developmental history of Boomers casts them as characters that possess a self-expansive nature primarily devoid of cynicism. For the most part, the Baby Boom generation embodies a vitality that makes them survivors, even if they can’t always be thrivers.

Territoriality – Space Contracts and is Re-Articulated
As Boomers age, home range will become more important, and getting settled in new spaces, such as a smaller, closer-to-town abode or a move to a warmer climate, will require adaptation to new interpersonal and larger social arrangements.

How they will develop new networks, digital and face-to-face, will provide new opportunities for marketers. The same is true for how Boomers will develop requirements for new types of mundane services, particularly in the domains of finance, healthcare, and personal care.

Time – Perceptions of Past, Present and Future
A people age their nostalgic yearnings grow, making them more receptive to advertisers and marketers use of what researchers call a “longing for positive memories of the past.” Moreover, nostalgia can make Boomers feel that not so much time has passed between then and now, making them feel young again. Nostalgia should be considered as one marketing aesthetic to attract Boomers because it telescopes time and brings it more under each individual’s own emotional orchestration.

Points to Remember When Marketing to Boomers

• Boomers are at a time in life when they really don’t want to compromise their authenticity.
• For Boomers, process is at least as important as the end result. They want “the ride.”
• Boomers like to inspire others. Help them feel helpful.
• Boomers have been around long enough to know there are few absolutes, little is black or white.
• Accentuate personal style over rote action or blind ritual.
• Boomers are oriented to the human dimension, that’s the only real thing. They can see the humor in most situations.
• What Boomers really dislike is felling put upon by arbitrary power, feeling trapped, conned, boxed-in, and being thought of as one of the masses.
• Boomers are both creative and conservative (”A beautiful garden is wild and tended”).
• Boomers go for what gives voice to things they are thinking and feeling, but haven’t fully worked out yet.
• Boomers respond to what stands out by its presence, not its loudness; and what shows them it really listens and, therefore, understands.

Boomer Preferences Reflect Broader Cultural Trends
Several Boomer preferences Deutsch refers to are also emblematic of the desires of the general population, according to consumer insights firm trendwatching.com.

In its recent list of Top 10 Consumer Trends for 2010, trendwatching.com identified several trends that closely match with Boomer trends. These include a need for companies to be transparent and honest about their efforts to conduct environmentally sustainable business practices and genuinely collaborate with their customers rather than try to dictate to them. In addition, consumers are increasingly using social networks as part of everyday life and respond well to products and services which have a charitable component.

How Retailers Can Reach Moms

Moms are empowered consumers who head to the Web to meet their many product needs. With mothers controlling an estimated 80% of household spending, or $1.7 trillion a year, retailers must understand how women’s shopping behavior changes when they have children.

“Moms want to do business with retailers that are respectful and responsive to their needs and concerns,” said Jeffrey Grau, eMarketer senior analyst and author of the new report, “How Moms and Retailers Interact Online.”

About 85% of online moms said having a baby changed their purchasing habits, according to “21st Century Mom,” a 2009 study published by BabyCenter, an online community for expectant and new moms. The report also found widespread changes in media usage among moms—many of whom used both mom-centric and mainstream social media sites more than before.

Change in media usage

“Moms band together on social networks to share coupon codes and information about special product deals,” said Mr. Grau. “And a disgruntled mom can exploit the viral effects of the Internet to pressure a business to fix a problem.”

Retailers that want to reach moms can take many steps to appeal to this time-crunched demographic concerned with the health and well-being of their families. Moms appreciate brands that use Twitter to put on a human face to respond to their complaints. They also like easy-to-use Websites with helpful features such as live chat, visualization tools, product reviews, easy returns and curbside pickup.

Leads for Less with Social Media

Research on social media lead generation

Social media, blogs and search engine optimization more cost-effective for lead gen

Pull marketing tactics such as search, blog and social media generate cheaper leads than more traditional outbound efforts, according to data from inbound online marketing platform HubSpot.

The “2010 State of Inbound Marketing” report indicates that spending on lead generation is 60% less among companies that devote at least one-half of their budget to inbound marketing, compared with companies spending at least one-half of lead generation dollars on outbound tactics.

The average cost per lead from inbound marketing was also significantly less.

Average Cost Per Lead

In both 2009 and 2010, companies in North America tended to rate all the inbound tactics studied as below average in cost per lead. Respondents rated direct mail most cost-effective among outbound strategies. Still, only 37% said it generated leads for less than average.

Cost per Lead rating

The gap in cost-effectiveness is leading to a gap in spending, the report said. Inbound tactics are seeing a slight increase in share of lead generation budgets, while outbound tactics are decreasing. Usage of mixed tactics such as e-mail—which can be used for both push and pull marketing—is also on the rise. And businesses rated every inbound channel more important than any outbound channel for their lead generation efforts.

HubSpot also noted that more than two-fifths of companies using various social media marketing channels had acquired a customer from those channels.

Companies in the US who have aquired a customer through Social Media

Unsurprisingly, for business-to-business firms, LinkedIn was most effective for customer acquisition. Business-to-consumer companies did better on each of the other sites, with the best results coming from Facebook, where nearly seven in 10 had found a new customer.

Facebook Dominates Social Content-Sharing

While Q3 2009 data showed e-mail on top for content-sharing, February 2010 information from social optimization platform Gigya points to Facebook as the Web’s top social sharing hub.

Almost one-half of article links, videos, photos and other content shared via Gigya’s widgets are posted to Facebook, with another 29% broadcast through tweets.

Social Media sites used by US Internet users to share online content

Social sharing widget AddThis also distributed the most content on Facebook (33%), followed by a long tail of other options. Similar results were posted in summer 2009 by the AddToAny sharing widget; Facebook, with 24% of shares, took the top spot.

In addition to sharing content with contacts, social site logins are often chosen as a method of user authentication on third-party sites. Facebook was No. 1 for this purpose as well, but usage was dependent on content type, indicating that Facebook users may be most concerned with sharing fun, entertaining content on the network.

Breakdown of sites used to share information and content

The social giant’s 52% share of authentications on entertainment sites dropped to just 31% on news sites, where Google made a close second place showing with 30% of logins. Yahoo! also boosted its share to one-quarter of news site authentications.