One policy, one Google experience

Google announced today that they are getting rid of over 60 different privacy policies across Google and replacing them with one that’s a lot shorter and easier to read. The new policy covers multiple products and features, reflecting our desire to create one beautifully simple and intuitive experience across Google. If you’re like me, you received about a dozen emails today about the new policies.

Google continues to dominate the web with essential services that are deeply intertwined in business and personal daily life. It calls to question the basic fact that it’s all being given away for free. Google Docs, Calendar and Search are such a fundamental part of my daily life that I’ve become reliant on them for many of the things I do everyday. Is that something I should be receiving without cost? Can Google provide these increasing services for free? It’s a radical new model that will certainly evolve as the market develops.

Read The Policies Here

For now though, I like millions of others, will glance at the new privacy policy and agree without much deep thought. It’s the small price I pay for the elegant tools that I get for free.

Found this today. Top brands people trust… you might think the #1 is Apple. But new market research shows interesting results. Here’s the article:

By The Business Insider | Daily Ticker – Wed, Jan 11, 2012 8:28 AM EST

Market research firm YouGov BrandIndex has released its survey of the top brands of 2011, and found for the second straight year that Subway is the most beloved brand among consumers. You just can’t beat cheap sandwiches, it seems. The survey is based on a continuous sampling of 2.5 million people online, within YouGov’s database that nationally represents U.S. adults. The survey produces a “Buzz score,” based on consumers’ response to questions such as, “If you’ve heard anything about the brand in the last two weeks, through advertising, news or word of mouth, was it positive or negative?”

The results are an amalgamation of those results taken from the entire period of 2011, and thus represent the strength of these brands based on consumer sentiment and “buzz” over the period.

Here are the 10 strongest brands in the U.S. right now, starting with the best:

#1 Subway: YouGov says: “Subway is the only dining brand to crack the BrandIndex Buzz Ranking Top 10. The sandwich giant ranks number one in our overall Buzz list for the second consecutive year.”

#2 Amazon: “The launch of the Kindle Fire and an increase in marketing spend solidified Amazon’s number two position,” YouGov says.

#3 History Channel: This is History’s third consecutive appearance in the top five brands of the year. It’s not just World War II stuff any more: The channel added reality shows such as Pawn Stars and speculative documentaries about aliens.

#4 Google: Google edged up one spot from last year’s survey due in part, perhaps, to its launch of Google+, its social networking site.

#5 Cheerios: General Mills introduced ‘Cinnamon Burst Cheerios’ last year, but the cereal is a perennial best brand in this survey.

#6 Lowe’s: Lowe’s buzz declined a little at the very end of 2011 due to a controversy over its refusal to sponsor the TLC reality show All-American Muslim.

#7 Ford: Ford is the top auto brand in the survey and its 2011 sales bounced back.

#8 Discovery Channel: Shark Week — still getting the job done for Discovery. This is the third consecutive year for the channel in the YouGov Top 10.

#9 Target: Target hurt itself in September when its launch of a Missoni collection crashed its web site. But people like the cheap and trendy retailer so much it kept its place in the top 10.

#10 Apple: Apple hasn’t been in the top 10 for the last three years, but new iPad and iPhone models — plus the death of Steve Jobs — appear to have grown consumers’ affection for the brand.

I’m fascinated by the Occupy Wall Street movement as a case study for social activism in the digital age. Although it’s specific agenda is unclear, it’s an amazing brand that rapidly achieved global awareness. And it did it without a visible leader. When something reaches a tipping point this quickly, it’s power cannot be underestimated or dismissed (as some current pundits and candidates are attempting to do).

Whatever your political leaning, Occupy is symbolic for shifting public sentiment towards “fairness”. If an articulate and savvy leader emerges to leverage this newly formed communications channel then we could see Occupy evolve into a force for real change.

Thanks to Online MBA for posting this interesting graphic that attempts to explain Occupy Wall Street.

Anyone who knows me gets that I have a true passion for cuisine. I love to concoct flavors as a creative outlet, which I delight in serving to others. It’s all about memorable experiences and I feel like I’m constructing a quick “brand” for a meal.

Spices are the critical component to positioning the flavor to produce specific emotions. Sweet, savory, pungent, hot. They are my Pantone decks in the kitchen.

I found this compelling infographic today on spices that I’m sharing in honor of flavor. Thank you to Recipefinder for creating and posting this delightful image.

PS I try to grind my spices fresh in a mortar and pestle. It’s amazing the aroma and flavor difference!

With an excellent ability to fuse communications strategy with simple graphics, I’m continually impressed by the collaboration fo Brian Solis and JESS3. Their latest conceptual release entitled “The Brandsphere” poses a thoughtful visual construction of new media channels.

By extending the identified media channels to include Promoted and Shared content, I think the strategists can develop specific content thats’s most appropriate for their audiences.

Click the graphics for a high resolution download. A huge thanks to the authors for this valuable contribution.

A smart infographic was released by the White House today attempting to simply communication of the “debt deal” that’s resonated across the media. Great graphic design has a traditional role in propaganda. Not sure this one makes it easy for me to understand, but I still love to see a complex issue reduced to simple bold communication.

Find the full story here on WhiteHouse.gov

The Pew Project’s May survey was released June 11,2011 by Aaron Smith, and we think it’s compelling. Following is an excerpt from his summary:

“We found that 83% of US adults have a cell phone of some kind, and that 42% of them own a smartphone. That translates into 35% of all adults. Their definition of a smartphone owner includes anyone who falls into either of the following two categories:

1. One-third of cell owners (33%) say that their phone is a smartphone.
2. Two in five cell owners (39%) say that their phone operates on a smartphone platform (these include iPhones and Blackberry devices, as well as phones running the Android, Windows or Palm operating systems).

Mobile phones are a main source of internet access for one-quarter of the smartphone population

Some 87% of smartphone owners access the internet or email on their handheld, including two-thirds (68%) who do so on a typical day.

When asked what device they normally use to access the internet, 25% of smartphone owners say that they mostly go online using their phone, rather than with a computer. While many of these individuals have other sources of online access at home, roughly one third of these “cell mostly” internet users lack a high-speed home broadband connection.

Android is the most common smartphone platform, followed by iPhone and Blackberry devices

Phones operating on the Android platform are currently the most prevalent type of smartphone, followed by iPhones and Blackberry devices.

Demographically, Android phones are especially common among young adults and African-Americans, while iPhones and Blackberry devices are most prevalent among college graduates and the financially well-off.”

We think the new report will help ease some client’s uncertainty regarding primary platform for app development combined with overall penetration of devices.

Download the Pew Report

Who’s the bounciest? France, Spain and India it would appear.

Google Analytics released some illuminating data to Webmasters today. Data contained here comes from all websites which have opted-in anonymous data sharing with Google Analytics.

You may be wondering, how many websites are in this “anonymous data sharing” pool? Currently, hundreds of thousands, and they’ve endeavored to make all of the metrics statistically significant. The date range of comparison  is from November 1, 2010 – February 1, 2011. Comparison is done with data from November 1, 2009 – February 1, 2010.

Time on site? Russia, Germany and UK lead the world. The type of countries annotated in the average time on site graph above seem to be in reverse order as those in the bounce rate distribution.

The Conversation Prism v3.0

The Conversation Prism is a compelling info-graphic created by Brian Solis and Jesse Thomas that we think is exceptional.

Contained with the 29 “petals” of the prism are 224 significant social services available on the web, classified into logical groupings. Beyond is value as reference, the Conversation Prism is also a time capsule, documenting the state of the social web in play today.

V 3.0 introduces new groups and networks and also removes those networks no longer in play. Use the Conversation Prism to see what you’re missing!

We’d like to shout it out to FreestyleInteractive for developing a fresh info-graphic chronicling the evolution of Adwords. Google’s great gift to the communications landscape.

Adwords is the ultimate democratizer, offering search marketing tools that level the playing field to allow true competition with pay for results risk management. We especially like the granular control, low cost of entry, ability to refine and testing capability.

This year, FLUXbranding joined the Google Engage for Agencies program to extend our knowledge in providing Adwords services. The offering allows us to have close contact with Google, and provides a number of incentives we can offer our clients. Contact us for more info.

What is it behind one of the most powerful and eccentric brands in the world? I’ve always been in awe of the Lady Gaga brand. She is not your typical sexy popstar… yet she’s dominating the world. Her brand ID is raw, full of vice and in-your-face, yet she appeals to a pretty wide demographic. Her brand strategy has proven effective and can be applied in a variety of industries. We can all learn plenty from the Gaga Brand.

1. Lady Gaga knows her fans and speaks their language. Doing your research and highly targeting your market is a key component in running a successful and efficient campaign. Gaga knows her fans are online. Team Gaga spends alot of time creating content that their fans would want to share and they place it on the appropriate networks. Another element of researching is finding niches in your market. Gaga fits into several niche markets with her eccentricities. She intuitively speaks the language of these various niche markets. She is an ambassador for thousands of smaller “groups” who don’t necessarily feel represented in the larger market. What language do your consumers speak?

2. Gaga incentivizes her fans.
Gaga recently threw an album release party for her fans in Downtown LA Gaga. Fans were able to gain admittance by showing a valid proof of purchase of Born This Way or by purchasing the album at the door. In an industry that is losing sales, this is a solid strategy to boost sales and build fan loyalty. With the possiblities of internet growing everyday, incentivzing your consumers has become a standard today. What are your consumers receiving from you? Also, its important to remember the point of incentivizing to build brand loyalty but also to generate leads through sharing. Make sure to give out incentives with VALUE.

3. She is confident and and takes risks.
No matter how fat, ugly or insufficient one might feel, confidence is always attractive. According to Hollywood, Gaga isn’t a sexy sensation- but she’s real and she holds her head up high. She also takes risks and defies cultural standards. While not all her fans may not act that way, they wish they did. Gaga has also managed to make an art out of “shock factor marketing.” What it really comes down to is that she has confidence of steel.

What are your thoughts? Have you done anything similar with incentives at events to either increase sales or build brand loyalty? What risks have you taken with your brand?

Facebook is constantly changing. Are you changing with it?

Send Button allows you to privately comment without going to Facebook messages.

Are you using newest features on Facebook in your marketing strategy? Facebook is changing! Your strategy needs to too! I just finished a Hubspot seminar on Facebook 2011 Developer Updates that really helped me and gave me some great insight now how the Facebook landscape is changing this year

2011 Facebook Updates to Leverage:
- FMBL is OUT & iFrames are IN- iFrames allow for more flexibility in coding and more options for tracking conversions.

- Send Button- Selective content sharing to Friends, Groups or email addresses

• Equivalent of a “Private Message,” much easier than emailing a link
• Counts in the “Like” total; metrics will be added to Insights soon
• Delivered as a FB Message or on the Group wall
• The external email delivery is quite cryptic
• Implemented on wsj.com and 1800flowers.com

- Facebook “Deals”

• No relationship to the location based “Check-In Deals” (Chapter 6 in eBook)
• Similar to Groupon or LivingSocial
• Facebook wants to stress experiences over steep price discounts
• Not very social, yet
• Promoted via email, Deals Page, newsfeed and paid ads
• Facebook Credits can be used to pay for services, not physical goods
• Currently available: Atlanta, Austin, Dallas, San Diego, and San Francisco

Although I’ve heard of these all these updates before, the seminar was good insight into all their features. I noticed that Hubspot forgot to mention the new feature Polls that now exists alongside the status bar with photos and videos. I’ve used this for a couple campaigns and found them to be very successful in generating interactions. I believe these polls have become very popular because people WANT to give their opinions about things and polls makes it very easy for them because its only one click. One click and their opinion is blasted for everyone to see. These polls show up in non-fans newsfeeds as well, allowing people to be exposed to you when they might not otherwise. I’ve used these polls to get people interacting with my page in order to generate more exposure and followers.

Let us know if you are utilizing any of these changes! How did they work out for you?

Here’s a FREE E-book that I got with the seminar on Facebook Marketing in 2011. This is a great asset to have! I would definitely suggest downloading it! ENJOY!