Steffan Antonas » Trendspotting http://blog.steffanantonas.com Wed, 04 Jan 2012 12:44:10 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3 The Next Disruptive Gadget Is Here. And You Already Have One. http://blog.steffanantonas.com/the-next-disruptive-gadget-is-here-and-you-already-have-one.htm http://blog.steffanantonas.com/the-next-disruptive-gadget-is-here-and-you-already-have-one.htm#comments Tue, 08 Feb 2011 00:26:36 +0000 Steffan Antonas http://blog.steffanantonas.com/?p=2099 This post was written by Steffan Antonas. Find more at blog.steffanantonas.com

The Next Disruptive Gadget Is Here. And You Already Have One.

]]> Maybe we’ve all gone iPhone and iPad crazy. That’s what all the buzz is about right now and it’s one of the only good reasons I can think of for why more people aren’t talking about the wave of innovation that going on right now around the TV.

Wait, the TV? Did he really just say that? You bet I did. TV 2.0 is coming, and it’s going to change everything. Here’s why:

First of all, you almost certainly already have one. Almost everyone does. That’s a huge part of the disruption hurdle we’ve already crossed! The problem is that TV hasn’t changed much in the last half century, so we’re used to thinking of it the way we’ve always thought of it – a one-trick pony. The massive shift will happen (soon) when people stop thinking about it in terms of “cable”, and start thinking about it as “a really big screen hooked up to the internet”, and begin buying the (relatively) cheap add-ons that will get us all to a culture of TV 2.0.

For the people that have been watching, there’ve been some cool developments in the last 12-24 months. Devices for the TV are starting to make their way into homes and into mainstream consciousness. The concept of streaming is being popularized by companies like Netflix and devices like the moderately successful Apple TV. Similarly, we’re going to start seeing a lot more “internet on your TV” thanks to marketing for devices like GoogleTV and Boxee, as well as “app markets” for the TV similar to those of on iPads and iPhones thanks to Samsung.

Google TV

All of these developments, of course, are incremental changes to the way we use our televisions, but that’s how disruption usually happens – a little bit at a time.

But then there are technologies coming our TVs that are going to feel completely foreign like telepresence. This December, Cisco aired its first commercial for a consumer telepresence product called the Umi. I’m absolutely baffled by why more people aren’t talking about it. Maybe the commercials make it seem too much like Skype so people are feeling “meh” about it. I personally think that when the TV becomes accepted as an HD-enabled face-to-face communications device, we’ll see an upheaval of the way personal services are delivered across the board. Ken Wirt, Vice President of Consumer Marketing at Cisco, had this to say in a recent video blog post, and I think he’s right on the money. In fact, it’s entirely possible that telepresence technology is going to turn your TV into the most social media tool available.

What’s your take? Do you see the TV becoming a social tool?

This post was written by Steffan Antonas. Find more at blog.steffanantonas.com

The Next Disruptive Gadget Is Here. And You Already Have One.

]]> http://blog.steffanantonas.com/the-next-disruptive-gadget-is-here-and-you-already-have-one.htm/feed 3 101 Must-See Digital Marketing Charts and Graphs http://blog.steffanantonas.com/101-marketing-charts-and-graphs.htm http://blog.steffanantonas.com/101-marketing-charts-and-graphs.htm#comments Tue, 04 Jan 2011 20:10:18 +0000 Steffan Antonas http://blog.steffanantonas.com/?p=2075 This post was written by Steffan Antonas. Find more at blog.steffanantonas.com

101 Must-See Digital Marketing Charts and Graphs

]]> HubSpot has compiled 101 marketing charts and graphs based on original research and data from a variety of sources, including analysis of their own pool of 3,500 business customers, surveys with hundreds of businesses responding, analysis of the data in their free tools like Website Grader, Twitter Grader and Facebook Grader. A lot of it will likely serve to reinforce what you’ve probably felt in your gut for a long time if you study this stuff. Give it a quick flip through and nod along. There are even a few mind grenades in there at the end if you read between the lines (i.e. it’s important to engage the real time web, and when you do, experiment a lot, fail fast, measure, learn fast and stay agile).

101 Marketing Charts and Graphs

View more presentations from HubSpot Internet Marketing.
  • People share videos more than pictures, but they engage more with pictures than video
  • Data confirms that people read blogs most for insight, analysis and answers to their questions – and that’s a big reason why they are effective in-bound marketing tools. People also link to blogs most that provide this type of information.
  • Giveaways and reviews get the most blog comments (although it’s not clear whether engagement with giveaways is really beneficial to brands – the data is probably skewed by the fact that there are lots of “leave a comment to enter” types of giveaways on blogs these days).
  • Writing simply is better across the board – the more academic and sophisticated your writing, the fewer people engage and spend time with the content. Sad, but true.
  • Most people read in the morning, between 10am and 11am. They also tend to share and comment on content more in the mornings, before 8am.
  • Paid and email still beats social media when it comes to conversion rates.
  • Offering on-demand content, like downloadable kits, research and white papers and webinars converts well when it comes to lead generation, especially when you explicitly state that they are free, and you give people the option to opt-out of being contacted, don’t ask them their age, and you limit the number of fields they need to fill out to an absolute minimum.
  • Inbound marketing is more effective, and about 60% cheaper on average than outbound (traditional) marketing. Companies are recognizing this and switching their focus and adjusting their budgets towards inbound.
  • Frequency of blogging makes a difference (most noticeable difference between blogging daily, and blogging 2-3 times a week) Most companies blog weekly.
  • The most “liked” Facebook pages relate to entertainment and media.
  • Videos are shared more on Facebook than on Twitter.
  • Most sharing on Facebook occurs on Saturday and Sunday.
  • Blogging enhances social media success significantly (presumably because people need content to share and engage) and small businesses and B2Bs benefit the most from a blogging + social media strategy.
  • Blogging doubles the number of inbound links to a company’s website, and increases visitors to the site by over 50% on average.
  • Twitter drives leads for B2C customers.
  • SEO still matters A LOT for lead generation (obvious).
  • Twitter’s had sharp, negative growth since the beginning of 2009.
  • Experts agree that Google and Facebook are the most valuable places to invest marketing dollars into right now, but many agree that there’s a big shift about to happen (I wouldn’t read too much into this ;-)). SEO and social media marketing are still king today.
  • Mobile video and demographic advertising, geo-location, curation, real time seach and “the right time” web are the top trends for 2011.
  • Companies that did not invest in “real time” web did far worse (via stock price % change) than those that do. On average of companies surveyed, those that that invested in real time web engagement saw an increase in stock price over the last year. I thought that was pretty interesting – might be worth a blog post or three.

This post was written by Steffan Antonas. Find more at blog.steffanantonas.com

101 Must-See Digital Marketing Charts and Graphs

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