Archive for the ‘control’ tag
Mac Owners Love eCommerce but Social Media is a Hard Sell
When it comes to ecommerce, Mac owners take the cake (the decorations, the plates, the party favors. . . ) with the highest average order value of $102.83. But the real surprise is what comes next. It’s not the PC owners, it’s the iPhone users with 97.49.
The numbers come from Monetate’s Ecommerce Quarterly data report for Q2 which looks at online shopping trends. And while you can’t control what device people use to shop, you can control how they access your e-store in the first place.
According to Monetate, that social media link that we all love so much, isn’t doing us any favors.
- Social media referral traffic lags far behind email and search, with the Average Order Value (AOV) of social traffic $26.21 less than search traffic and nearly $20 less than email referral traffic
- Conversion rates from social referral traffic in Q2 were .59% when compared with 4.25% for email and 2.49% for search
Let’s get a visual on that:
Wow, that’s quite a difference. Once again, it makes me wonder why we’re bothering with social media at all. Yes, I hear all of you shouting “it’s branding” and all exposure is good exposure but that only goes so far. At some point, you have to convert. You have to bring in new buyers, users, readers, listeners or whatever it is that pays the bills.
What I get from this, is that it’s not worth dumping money into social media ads like Facebook Sponsored Stories or Promoted Tweets. Seems like a free Twitter and Facebook account will get you just as much of a return with no (or very little) out of pocket.
Maybe that will change as social becomes a regular part of everyone’s life. But will it ever convert like Search does? I can see it getting close, but I can’t see it ever taking over. As for email, I think it’s become so common place that we forget about it, when clearly it’s the best channel for driving ecommerce sales.
What do you think? Will Social ever pack the punch of Search or Email? Or is it destined to be the little engine that thinks it can but can’t?
App.net Reaches Its $500k Funding Goal With 38 Hours To Spare
App.net, Dalton Caldwell’s audacious Twitter clone, just reached its $500,000 funding goal on Kickstarter with almost two days to spare. Just a few days ago, it looked unlikely that Caldwell’s user and developer supported ad-free Twitter clone would reach its funding goal. A last-minute push of new sponsors, though, just pushed App.net past its funding goal. The project currently has over 7,500 backers, including almost 6,000 people who used the campaign to pre-pay $50 for an annual App.net membership and just over 50 backers who put down $1,000 for access to the service’s developer tools, phone support and a personal meeting with Caldwell.
While our own MG Siegler is rather skeptical about App.net’s long-term potential, there seems to be a sizable contingent of users and developers who are looking for a viable alternative to Twitter (and who are willing to pay for it).
App.net promises to give its users total control over their data and “to support 3rd-party devs making a living and maintaining a good lifestyle.” Caldwell argues that an ad-supported social network can never put its users and developers first.
You can see App.net’s alpha in action here,
App.net, of course, isn’t the first company trying to disrupt Twitter and/or Facebook. The most prominent recent entrant in this market is probably Diaspora, which also ran a Kickstarter campaign to get started. While it’s still under active development, the project never quite took off.
Buskers offer audience control in exchange for donations
We recently came across listening posts on the streets of New York that showcased new music to passersby, but a more recent innovation sees a novel take on the age-old art of busking. Just as the Stanley Piano project encourages users to choose its repertoire, now videomakers cdza have come up with a similarly inventive way to make money for buskers with its Human Jukebox.
Operating out of New York, the group behind the idea headed out onto the streets of Brooklyn with a violin and a double bass, along with a handful of melodies ranging from Bach to Lady Gaga. Each song was designated its own labeled jar and passersby could change what the duo played by placing change into the corresponding receptacle. In order to make things fun, every time someone donated the duo instantly changed track. There were also jars offering ‘fast forward’, ‘slow down’ and ‘a capella’, while a mystery option labeled with a question mark brought out a saxophonist for a surprise performance. Audience members were also encouraged to suggest their own ideas for the pair. The video below shows the jukebox in action:
The session raised over USD 70, which the group donated to Wingspan Arts, a non-profit organization that engages New York City’s youth population with the arts.
Although a small operation, the Human Jukebox is another example of an enterprise enabling customers to interact with and customize the content they are receiving, to great effect. Offering greater audience interaction and engagement, there are plenty of lessons to be learned here for businesses both big and small.
Website: www.cdzamusic.com
Contact: hello@cdzamusic.com
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Malware related to Stuxnet and Flame found stealing bank information
Kaspersky Lab announced a new piece of malware that specializes in obtaining login information for bank accounts in the Middle East. It’s called Guass and is linked to Flame, Stuxnet, and Duqu.
“Gauss is a complex cyber-espionage toolkit, with its design emphasizing stealth and secrecy; however, its purpose was different to Flame or Duqu,” said Kaspersky Lab chief security expert Alexander Gostev in a statement, “Gauss targets multiple users in select countries to steal large amounts of data, with a specific focus on banking and financial information.”
Kaspersky found the malware after digging deeper into Flame, a virus uncovered in May that was billed as one of the most advanced cyber espionage tools to date. Researchers said the malware has “striking resemblances” to Flame in the way it was designed. It seems Guass shares the same source code from which Flame was built. But its actions are slightly different. While Flame installed a keylogger, turned on the computer’s microphone to record audio, and monitored “communications apps” such as IM, Gauss is focused on obtaining financial information.
Guass is tailored to steal “access credentials” to Lebanese banks, which include Bank of Beirut, EBLF, BlomBank, ByblosBank, FransaBank and Credit Libanais. Non-Lebanese entities that are also targets include Citibank and PayPal. This information along with browser history, cookies, passwords, system configurations, and more is sent back to the command and control servers. The malware, however, is in a veritable holding pattern since the command and control servers were shut down in July.
Kaspersky estimates that the number of infections are in the tens of thousands, but as of May around 2,500 infections were recorded. This is lower than Stuxnet, but higher than Flame, which Kaspersky says had around 700 infections.
In June, Kaspersky linked Flame to Stuxnet, the famous malware that hit Iran’s nuclear infrastructure in 2010. Many of Flames functions looked identical to those of Stuxnet’s, spurring Kasperky to dig deeper into the connection. Now the research firm says the two may have had creators that worked closely together, even sharing some of the same source code.
Gauss is the latest member of the family.
hat tip Wired; Image via Shutterstock
Filed under: VentureBeat 
Why Social Media Works for Small Business
more than large…..generalised statement but one that I think ‘in general’ is true.
Jonathan Zittrain in The Future of the Internet comments
“The PC revolution…invited innovation by others. So too with the Internet. Both were generative”
(He goes on to add that the future is not generative but arguably one of sterile appliances tethered to a network of control)
What is social media? Well, it is a generative platform that allows people to innovate.
What is a small business? Well, for me it is a generative platform that allows an entrepreneur to innovate in a niche part of the market. The small business doesn’t have rules, systems, procedures per se ….it has dreams
Compare that with a large corporation which I would argue in general terms is the opposite. The large ones that thrive manage to keep that innovative spirit….the large ones that struggle are driven more by meetings than dreams…..
For me that is why social media and small business go together, starting a business needs you to understand what you are wanting to provide, what your vision is…what your goals are….It is the corporization of a persons dream….the person or persons are the values, the brand.
For me that is why social media can be much more difficult for large ones…they are not generative in nature…they are a controlled network.
That doesn’t mean that all small businesses will thrive on social media, but it does mean that if they are themselves, if they use social media to express these dreams, their personality then they can stand out from the crowd…that is much harder for a larger company who has to get sign off for everything!
Ideas for small business come from within…and social media allows you to tell the world about them.
Ideas from large corporations come from a strategic plan that tends to be a compromise across many teams of people.
If you run a small business then realise that social media is the platform for your innovation….the Internet is a generative platform but you are the generator of the ideas.
Why Social Media Works for Small Business
more than large…..generalised statement but one that I think ‘in general’ is true.
Jonathan Zittrain in The Future of the Internet comments
“The PC revolution…invited innovation by others. So too with the Internet. Both were generative”
(He goes on to add that the future is not generative but arguably one of sterile appliances tethered to a network of control)
What is social media? Well, it is a generative platform that allows people to innovate.
What is a small business? Well, for me it is a generative platform that allows an entrepreneur to innovate in a niche part of the market. The small business doesn’t have rules, systems, procedures per se ….it has dreams
Compare that with a large corporation which I would argue in general terms is the opposite. The large ones that thrive manage to keep that innovative spirit….the large ones that struggle are driven more by meetings than dreams…..
For me that is why social media and small business go together, starting a business needs you to understand what you are wanting to provide, what your vision is…what your goals are….It is the corporization of a persons dream….the person or persons are the values, the brand.
For me that is why social media can be much more difficult for large ones…they are not generative in nature…they are a controlled network.
That doesn’t mean that all small businesses will thrive on social media, but it does mean that if they are themselves, if they use social media to express these dreams, their personality then they can stand out from the crowd…that is much harder for a larger company who has to get sign off for everything!
Ideas for small business come from within…and social media allows you to tell the world about them.
Ideas from large corporations come from a strategic plan that tends to be a compromise across many teams of people.
If you run a small business then realise that social media is the platform for your innovation….the Internet is a generative platform but you are the generator of the ideas.
ToutApp Comes to Outlook, Brings Its Message Tracking and Inbox Organizing Power Along With It [Windows Downloads]
Windows: ToutApp, one of our favorite tools to keep your Gmail inbox under control unveiled an Outlook plugin today that offers many of the same features for those of you who choose to (or are forced by your employer to) use Microsoft Outlook on the desktop. The new ToutApp for Outlook lets you see when recipients have opened emails you’ve sent them, compose a message but delay sending it until a scheduled time, and makes composing messages faster thanks to built-in templates for different contacts. More »
New Brand Building Course on lynda.com!
We are excited to share that we have a new course on lynda.com called Building Your Brand!
You have a brand – but are you in control of your brand? Just released on lynda.com (as of yesterday) is our Wild Web Woman Lorrie Thomas Ross‘ latest online video course called Building Your Brand. Sit back and watch for 30 minutes while Lorrie teaches you the ropes of branding and maintaining your brand. It’s healthy Web Marketing Rx – grab a cup of tea (or wine, that is an antioxidant right?!!) and watch and learn to get your brand under your command!
Organizations large and small, non-profits, products and even individuals can harness the power of branding to boost business and connect with customers. Learn how to make your brand work hard for your business.
I already watched the videos – in true marketing style, I wanted to highlight some great branding tips from the videos to maximize relationships with your customers.
- A brand is more than a logo. A brand is a name, term, design, symbol or other feature that identifies your brand as distinct in the marketplace.
- Develop a Brand Promise. Take some time to develop what your brand says to the world and the promises you want to make to your customers.
- Branding isn’t just for big business. Branding is all about marketplace perception – how clients and customers perceive the personality of your organization – and can work for organizations big or small.
- Keep your brand consistent. Keep the design, logo, tagline and messaging of your organization consistent across all media channels to boost credibility and familiarity with your customers.
Grabs the reins of your brand today! Watch the Building Your Brand course now (it’s under 30 minutes, easy peasy lemon squeezy, as us Wild Web Women like to say)! And click here to get a FREE 7 DAY Trial of lynda.com!
For those of you who don’t know yet, lynda.com is an awesome subscription based online video tutorial service for only $25 month. The website offers a variety of amazing tutorials from everything like how market your business online to learning to use Excel, Gmail or any other software you can think of. Web Marketing Therapy loves lynda.com and we think you will too. Check out lynda.com and start learning how to Build Your Brand today or watch Lorrie’s other course Online Marketing Fundamentals!
Special offer for our blog readers and friends: Click here to get a FREE 7 DAY Trial of lynda.com!
For more great branding tips you can follow Lorrie on Twitter @webtherapist or me @jenniejacobs!
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Apple TV Is Going To Be Software, Not Hardware
Back in January, we predicted that an Apple TV would be sold like an iPhone, via a proprietary deal with a select MVPD, who’d offer their subscribers an iPhone-like discount on the beautiful new box for a two-year engagement.
So now I’m invoking Clause 34.2.A of the 2007 Addendum to the 2005 International Internet Code* to take that back.
Sort of.
I still think Apple is still going to offer someone a proprietary deal for its product similar to the one described above. Only the product is not going to be a TV set, but rather software that will put a beautiful new interface on the TV you already own.
There’s no need for Apple to build a TV: the ones we already have work really well. They’re dumb terminals. There’s not a whole lot of clamoring for improvement on the size and shape of the screen or the quality of the HD display. (Compare that to the cell phone market where the iPhone was as remarkable for its shape, screen size and screen quality as it was for its app-based interface.)
And that’s exactly what the TV industry needs right now: a well thought out interface.
The typical MVPD on-screen experience is the polar opposite of “user friendly,” what with two thousand random channels displayed in a grid with the HD ones crammed somewhere in the middle. Add in On Demand and DVR menus that were apparently designed by the same people who created Brain Teasers. A notable absence of customization and personalization features. Topped off by search features that require you to scroll through a keypad using nothing but your remote control. (Possibly from the same Brain Teasers team.)
?
And these are billed as vast improvements from earlier versions.
So back to Apple. What’s the one thing Apple arguably does better than anyone else? User interface. Say what you will about the iPad, it’s beautiful and it’s intuitive. And right now, TV needs something that’s beautiful and intuitive.
It’s also something Apple can completely control as it operated on (wait for it) a closed system. (Apple, as you may have noticed, is all about closed systems and control.)
?Which makes the first real TV OS the obvious move for them. The OS would live on the set top box of whichever MVPDs they signed a deal with. It would be a premium product that would turn millions of dumb terminals into object of great envy. While being rightly hailed as yet another incredible innovation from Apple’s design geniuses.
Though not as genius as what will happen two years later, when Apple introduces an improved version of the interface as second screen iPad app, (available through the Apple store) to anyone whose MVPD has paid through the nose to support the Apple TV platform and have a customized app for their subscribers. Said app replacing the need for a set top box and creating a whole new world of second screen experiences.
Caveats: It’s quite likely that an Apple TV line-up will only have 50 or 100 channels, as not every network will want to/be able to accommodate Apple’s demands. Apple may even pare down the list themselves, so as to create a “Best Of” type collection. Either way, you can be sure most all of the usual suspects will be there.
And profiting handsomely from it along with their friends in Cupertino.
*I just made that up
