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To Mobile or Not to Mobile

AR Communications — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 21:23:37 +0000

If you’ve had any doubt ‘til now, I think the following stats courtesy of HubSpot will change your mind real quick:

Mobile in 2012

Mobile internet users will reach 113.9 million in 2012, up 17.1% from 97.3 million in 2011.
Smartphone users will reach 106.7 million in 2012, up 18.4% from 2011.
In 2012, 94% of smartphones users will be mobile internet users.
All mobile phone users will reach 242.6 million in 2012, up 2.3% from 2011.
Mobile shoppers will reach 72.8 million in 2012.
Mobile buyers will reach 37.5 million in 2012.
Smartphone shoppers will reach 68.6 million in 2012.
Smartphone buyers will reach 36.4 million in 2012.
Tablet users will reach 54.8 million in 2012, up 62.8% from 33.7 million in 2011.
iPad users will reach 41.9 million in 2012.
In 2012, 76.4% of tablet users will be iPad users.
Adult-aged eReader users will reach 45.6 million in 2012, up from 33.3 million in 2011.

Follow me on Twitter (Twitter.com/mikerabinovici) and get the latest information on, and best practices for, Mobile and Social Media marketing

Getting Social In House

AR Communications — Tue, 20 Dec 2011 19:21:11 +0000

Most companies that have ventured into the social media space have focused almost exclusively on marketing. Very few have considered the tremendous benefits that can be unleashed by using social media tools within their company.

In a good piece in IT Business, Robert Scheier gives a number of examples, including IBM, where “social networking isn’t just for spreading the word to customers. Employees use an internal Facebook-like network to find colleagues with the skills they need to solve pesky customer problems”. It is these type of collaboration applications that deliver significant ROI for your business. Read the full article here – http://bit.ly/ts7QTs

For another excellent article, I suggest “Using Social Media To Improve Employee Communication, Collaboration, And Even Compensation” by Shawn Graham which appeared in Fast Company. You can read it here - http://bit.ly/tKbzJG

From all of us at AR Communications Inc., a joyous holiday season, and a healthy, happy, and prosperous new year.

Bringing Social Media into the Strategic Planning Tent

AR Communications — Fri, 18 Nov 2011 18:53:35 +0000

A few weeks ago, I had the pleasure of presenting at Federated Business’s Strategic Planning Skills event. When the invitation to present arrived a few months earlier, the topic at first blush seemed a little awkward. Once I started to research it, I was amazed at social media’s potential impact on all the key facets of corporate strategic planning: Sales & Marketing, Legal/Regulatory issues, Human Resources/Recruiting, and Customer Service. View or download the presentation at the link below – mind bending stuff, I promise. Looking forward to your comments.

http://slidesha.re/social-media-in-the-strategic-planning-process

OMG, is Social Media just a fad? Part II

AR Communications — Tue, 20 Sep 2011 19:34:14 +0000

Last week I promised to follow up with metrics from a recent study conducted on the growth of social media. Note: In my last post I indicated that the metrics I will list came from Pew Internet & American Life Project. While Pew was quoted in one of the articles I read in writing the post, the metrics that follow are from Search Engine Journal (the sources SEJ relied on are at the bottom of the infographic).

Here we go.

Source: The Growth of Social Media: An Infographic

OMG, is Social Media just a fad? Part I

AR Communications — Tue, 06 Sep 2011 17:06:59 +0000

September is on the calendar and school back in session. While enjoying the sunshine by the lake, I still received a steady stream of questions about this crazy world of social media. One of the more common ones – Is this thing here to stay? Is it worth investing marketing dollars in? Will it be a distant memory come next year or the year after?

My views are on the record but I think it is important highlight a number of points:

First, is social media marketing based on completely new principles? No. The fundamental principles of sales and marketing that have been with us since we started selling to each other still apply. What social media does is provide us with a revolutionary set of tools to apply these principles with. These tools deliver nuggets of timely relevant information – a perfect fit for the ADD society we currently live in.

Second, you don’t have to take my word for the impact social media and networks are having. You need simply look around you. What other companies in history have accomplished what Facebook, LinkedIn, or Groupon have in the same amount of time? Many other companies over the years have also had a great impact, but none that fast. This does not mean that these companies will be around forever but the speed at which users have adopted their services is nothing short of astounding.

I’ve heard it said in the past by business experts that really successful companies are great for a generation and then begin to fade or have less impact . It is possible, given the speed at which some social media/networking companies have grown, that they may also see their influence diminish faster. Assuming that’s right, does that mean you should keep your company out of the social media world for the next few years and wait until it all shakes out? Good luck with that.

Third, you can also take a look at recent studies from respected organizations to get a third party view of where the social media world is at. In my next post I will give you some highlights of a recent study conducted by the Pew Internet & American Life Project.

In the meantime, for the latest on social media and Web marketing for corporations follow me on Twitter at www.twitter.com/mikerabinovici.

Go Mobile or Go Home

AR Communications — Wed, 22 Jun 2011 22:05:24 +0000

A recent study covered by the tech site Mashable indicates that consumers are now spending more time on mobile apps than the Web. In June, consumers spent 81 minutes per day using mobile apps, compared to 74 minutes of Web surfing (see chart below). This change in user behaviour is further confirmed by a recent report by Mary Meeker, a partner at the legendary venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, which found that for the first time combined tablet and smartphone shipments eclipsed those of desktops and notebooks. All this data also backs Wired Magazines’ article last year “The Web is Dead”, which predicted that apps would soon overtake the Web.

What does that mean for your company? If you’ve developed and implemented a mobile strategy, you are well positioned to benefit from this coming shift. If you have started to give some thought to this and you move the process into high gear, you should be OK as well. If you’ve done neither, you better drop everything else and make this your top priority. Now.

Will mobile rule everything? No. But a significant segment of your current audience and your future one will spend an increasing amount of their time on their mobile devices. The question all companies have to answer is whether not they will be able to serve and create value on the devices and media on which their customers choose to spend their time.

You can find a links to the reports mentioned above here:
Mobile Apps Put the Web in Their Rear-view Mirror
Top 10 Mobile Internet Trends

Goupon Groupoff – Part II

AR Communications — Thu, 28 Apr 2011 19:11:10 +0000

In the first part of this post we established that all is well for Groupon. Are the merchants using the service enjoying similar success? By the company’s sheer growth, the answer would seem to be a resounding “yes” but it is a little more complicated than that. The cost to the merchant who signs up for a Groupon deal, after taking into account the coupon discount and Groupon’s share, can be pretty steep.

Let’s look at this in concrete terms: assume Mikey’s Kona Coffee Emporium is offering $40 worth of wholesome Hawaiian beans for $20 dollars (minimum participation is 10). Two hundred people take up the offer, paying Groupon a total of $4,000. Groupon keeps $2,000 and $2,000 goes to Mikey’s Kona Coffee Emporium. So we just sold $8,000 worth of beans (200 x $40 coupons) and collected $2,000. As it turns out, most merchants make no money on the Groupon experience. BUT they do get is exposure to a large number of potential new customers.

The challenge in the model is that many smaller merchants, as well as some larger ones, may not have the skill set to convert this rain shower of mostly first-time customers into repeat customers, let alone lifetime ones. That, in my view, is one of the challenges facing the company on a go forward basis. Will merchants that use it once or twice without getting repeat business come back? Remains to be seen. The key for Groupon is to make sure it helps merchants build relationships and engage the customers brought on by the coupons. If it can do that well, the go public valuation mentioned above can turn out to be cheap.
So what is it the take away? If you are considering a Groupon deal (or one by the many competitors that have popped up) make sure you do the following:

1.    Crunch the numbers – what exactly is this going to cost per potential new customer (you may also want to re-read the blog post on Metrics at http://bit.ly/web-metrics)
2.    What is your average customer’s lifetime value?
3.    What information on the coupon buyers, if any does, does Groupon (or other providers) give you at the end of the promotion? Note: Some of them may give precious little, not even an email address.
4.    It is incumbent upon you (especially in light of 3 above) to collect as much information on the coupon presenting customers. Do everything you can to get an email address – that will present your best chance to convert the coupon buyer into a repeat customer. No email address – your product or service better be ranked in Zagat’s to bring them back without further marketing.
5.    Have a follow up campaign ready to go no later than 2 days after the first visit.

Follow these tips and chances are the group of potential new customers you just spent money and resources on will not group off.

Groupon Groupoff

AR Communications — Thu, 21 Apr 2011 13:39:48 +0000

Chicago based Groupon ("group coupon") is one of the great technology stories in recent memory. For those of you who still spend most of the time in the physical world, Groupon is a deal-of-the-day website localized to major markets that promotes itself with the now well-known tag line: 1 Ridiculously Huge Coupon A Day. It’s been described as the fastest-growing company in Web history.

Here’s how it works: your business gets exposure to Groupon’s gigantic user base and, in return, you give potential customers a juicy discount. Whenever Groupon collects money on behalf of merchants from selling coupons on its Web site, it keeps an average of 50%. The twist – the deal is on only “on” if a pre-determined number of people sign up for it (usually 10 or more). The platform is used daily by a multitude of businesses, ranging from small enterprises to large brands such as the Gap and the Toronto Raptors.

Here are some Groupon highlights:

Launched November 2008
Number of subscribers who receive emails with “Coupon of the Day” offers – 50 million
Revenue (2009 est.) – US $30 million Revenue (2010 est.) – US $760 million Revenue (2011 est.) – US $2 billion
Number of employees (2009 est.) – 120 in 30 cities Number of Employees (2011 est.) – 5,000 in 565 cities
Buyout offers - Google made an offer for $6 Billion (offer was turned down)
IPO – rumours of an IPO within the next 24 months at a valuation of $20-$25 billion

Now that we’ve established that all is well for Groupon, how is it working out for the merchants? Stay tuned for my next post.

A tip from my 10 year old on how great leaders inspire action

AR Communications — Thu, 24 Mar 2011 14:53:47 +0000

A couple of days ago I received an email prodding me to watch a video. The email came from my 10 year old Jared. A day later while sipping my daily Americano (Kona beans I might add) I clicked on the link. Within the first 30 seconds I knew it would be one of the finest presentations on leadership I’ve seen. Simon Sinek, the presenter, is not only a powerful speaker but his views on what makes leaders (companies and people) great is compelling. I don’t care what you’re doing when you receive this email, drop it and watch this video. It will inspire and teach you. Guaranteed.

Building Brands and Booking Business with Facebook

AR Communications — Tue, 08 Mar 2011 17:40:41 +0000

When it comes to leveraging social networks for building your brand and generating leads, Facebook has not typically been the first site that comes to mind. That honour usually went to LinkedIn and small business-focused Networks. Well, the times they are a’ changing. Facebook is increasingly becoming the focus for companies and professionals who are looking to leverage its fast growing user base, currently pegged at 600 million users. If you’d like to learn how to use Facebook for business, here are some good links collected by the smart folks at Mashable.

· Optimizing Your Brand’s Facebook Presence

· Inspiring Facebook Fan Page Case Studies

· Essential Apps for Building Your Brand’s Facebook Page

· Elements of a Successful Facebook Fan Page

· Using Facebook for Professional Networking

· Making Facebook Your Company Newsroom

These links should provide you with a good starting point for a Facebook campaign. Please share any experiences your company has had with Facebook in the comment box below.