Not another social media network…

While practically everyone knows about Facebook, YouTube and Twitter at this stage, there’s a whole host of other social media networks that are vying for people’s attention. Some of the lesser known networks include Orkut, Tagged, Café Mom, Meetup, Ning, and even Google +.

Another lesser known network until recently was Pinterest. Pinterest is a pinboard-style photo sharing website where users can collect, group and share photos of their favourite events, interests or hobbies. Users can browse other pinboards for inspiration, ‘re-pin’ images to their own pinboards, and ‘like’ photos.

Pinterest is one of the fastest growing social media networks and according to comScore, a leading internet technology company that provides digital data analytics, it now has over 30 million users worldwide, placing it only behind Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn.

Despite the increasing popularity of Pinterest, many companies have yet to create their own specialised page on the network. Indeed, one could probably argue that many companies don’t even know that the network exists, or at best have only a vague idea as to what it’s for.

So…do companies need to get in on the act and set up their own Pinterest page, or do we really need another social media site for engaging with customers? After Facebook, Twitter and perhaps YouTube, what other types of social media sites does a company really need to have?

A recent report from Forrester Research suggests that social media does almost nothing to drive sales. And Primark has succeed in becoming one of Europe’s most successful clothing brands without any real social media engagement or digital marketing strategy whatsoever. As a result, it’s not hard to see why certain companies may be slow to embrace social media, in particular the lesser known sites.

So should companies just stick with the main social media platforms or should they try to be on as many social media networks as possible?

The question probably depends on what area the company is involved in. Advertising agencies and people involved in the creative arts may have a greater need for a Pinterest page (to help showcase their work) as opposed to a Twitter account, for example. However, it’s difficult to see what companies in areas such as banking, insurance, finance or healthcare might need with a Pinterest account. And while most companies should be on Facebook, the case for all companies having a dedicated YouTube page is less convincing.

The key point is that companies should only engage with social media if they are prepared to do so properly. Being on all the social media networks just for the sake of it may actually hurt a company in the longer term if it’s not prepared to engage with the sites, monitor them properly and update them regularly.

As a result, it’s better in general that companies only use social media sites which they feel are a good strategic fit for their business and then leverage those sites to their maximum potential.

Think before you ‘like’

Facebook might know a little bit more about you than you think.

A recent study has shown that personal information such as a user’s sexuality and even their drug use can be correctly inferred by studying their ‘likes’ on Facebook.

The research from Cambridge University into 58,000 Facebook users in the United States found that personal and sometimes highly sensitive information about a person such as their race, sexual orientation, political views, drug taking habits and even their IQ could be correctly inferred by simply studying the pages that the person had ‘liked’ on Facebook – even if the user hadn’t chosen to publicly publicise that information.

After running Facebook ‘likes’ through a sophisticated algorithm, the researchers were able to tell with 88% accuracy whether a man was gay or straight for example. What’s important to note is that fewer than 5% of the gay men in the study had clicked obvious ‘likes’ such as gay marriage, so the researchers were able to tell a person’s sexuality through far less revealing ‘likes’ (such as the No H8 Campaign and Wicked the Musical for example).

In addition, 75% of the time the researchers could tell whether a Facebook user took illegal drugs and 95% of the time they could tell the person’s race. The researchers could even tell whether users’ parents had separated by the time they were 21 or not!

On the one hand, this could be positive news for Facebook users as it means Facebook will be able to target its users with highly relevant ads and news content in the future. On the other hand, it shows once more how public and dangerous the use of social media can often be from a basic privacy point of view.

Who needs the internet for success anyway?

You can’t read their tweets, pin them on Pinterest, see them on Instagram, watch them on YouTube, or circle them on Google +.

They certainly don’t engage in any Pay Per Click advertising and you can’t even buy their products online. They do have a website (thank God!) but it’s basic and more interested in talking about ethical business standards than actually selling the company’s products.

So who are we talking about? A small local retailer probably springs to mind. However, the answer couldn’t be further from the truth.

The company in question is Primark (or Pennys as it’s known in Ireland) and the clothing retailer has just enjoyed another “outstanding performance” during the past few months, according to its owner Associated British Foods (ABF). It expects total sales to be up 23% in the six months to 2 March, while like-for-like sales – which strip out the effect of new store openings – are set to be 7% higher. And last year its sales jumped 15 percent to stg £3.5 billion pounds.

The chain has been expanding rapidly over the past few years too. It opened 19 new stores last year, taking its total to 257. Its expansion into Europe has seen it open new stores in Spain, Germany, Austria, Portugal, Belgium and the Netherlands to add to those it already operated in Ireland and the UK.

It is also faring much better than rival clothing retailers. Over the crucial Christmas trading period, like-for-like sales at Marks and Spencer fell by 1.8% for example. Meanwhile, the shares of ABF have surged 16 percent this year, beating H&M’s 4.3 percent gain and a decline of 1.7 percent at Zara’s Inditex.

What’s truly remarkable is that all of this success has been achieved without any type of explicit digital marketing strategy or social media engagement by the company whatsoever.

Yes, as already mentioned there is a website, but it’s ridiculously basic and doesn’t let you buy anything online. Primark does have a Twitter page but it’s a fan page run by lovers of the brand and not the company itself. It does have its own Facebook page but its 500,000 or so ‘likes’ pales in comparison to Zara which has over 16 million. As for Instagram, Google +, YouTube and Pinterest…forget about it. Primark probably doesn’t even know or care what those sites actually do. And it definitely doesn’t do PPC advertising or online banner ads either.

So… why the lack of online engagement?

Well, the lack of digital marketing hasn’t hurt the company so far. And as the old saying goes: if it ain’t broke then don’t fix it. And Primark has no plans to fix this anytime soon. It makes no apologies about its Web strategy and has no plans to add online sales to its site either.

Secondly, developing an online business isn’t easy or cheap, according to Mark Hudson, a partner in the retail practice at consultants PricewaterhouseCoopers. It requires a supply chain flexible enough to handle the demands of large flagship stores alongside small online orders, and smart enough to give timely, accurate information about whether an item is in stock or not. Processing an online order for clothing typically costs retailers between 5 and 15 euro so customers need to buy enough to offset that.

While Inditex is “extremely profitable online”, stores where customers don’t spend as much per visit, such as H&M, are less profitable, according to Credit Suisse retail analyst Simon Irwin. The average spend at Primark, home to thousands of products for less than 10 euro, is even lower than that at H&M.

Finally, while social media may work well as a channel of communication, a recent study from Forrester Research suggests it does almost nothing to drive sales. As a result, Primark might feel that the relentless focus by companies on social media and Web 2.0 technologies is unjustified.

Whatever your thoughts, the continued success of Primark and their unorthodox digital strategy in this post-internet era is fascinating. But should the company continue to do what it’s doing or will it succumb to the social media and digital marketing game eventually?

3D Printing

Additive manufacturing – or 3D printing – has been around for almost 30 years now. However, 2013 could finally by the year that this technology takes off.

Printing in 3D involves sending a design file to a printer that then forms a solid three-dimensional version of that object by slowly building it up in layers of plastic.

3D printing is usually performed by a materials printer using digital technology. Since the start of the twenty-first century there has been a large growth in the sale of these machines, and their price has dropped substantially. While early 3D printers could only work in one colour, the latest versions can produce intricate, multicoloured objects.

3D printing is considered distinct from traditional machining techniques (subtractive processes) which mostly rely on the removal of material by drilling or cutting etc.

Nokia has now got in on the act. The company has just released design files that will allow owners use 3D printers to make their own phone cases for one of its Lumia smartphones.

Files containing mechanical drawings, case measurements and recommended materials have been released by Nokia. Those using the files will then be able to create a custom-designed case for the flagship Lumia 820 handset.

‘’We are going to release 3D templates, case specs, recommended materials and best practices — everything someone versed in 3D printing needs to print their own custom Lumia 820 case,” Nokia community and developer marketing manager John Kneeland said on Nokia’s blog, where links to the 3D kit can be found.

While on the one hand, Nokia is simply giving its customers the tools to build what they would otherwise have simply purchased from Nokia or a third-party maker, the move certainly can’t hurt the company’s comeback efforts – and image – by opening itself up to the growing and tech-savvy 3D print community.

Of course, designing and printing your own phone cover is just the first step. How long will it be until customers can design and make their own phone?

For more information on 3D printing, watch the following Ted Talks presentation by Lisa Harouni here.

Happy birthday to you…

On 3 December 2012 the humble text turned 20 years old.

Back in December 1992 engineer Neil Papworth created history by sending the world’s first ever text. The message simply read ‘Merry Christmas’ and was sent to Neil’s friend, Richard Jarvis, who worked as a Vodafone director at the time.

Unfortunately, Richard couldn’t return the festive greeting from his clunky Orbital 901 phone as it had no way of inputting text.

Indeed, it wasn’t until one year later that Finnish phone-maker Nokia debuted the first mobile phone that was capable of sending texts.

Early text messages — which had to be painstakingly entered on numerical keypads and typed out fully — were free, but could only be sent between two people on the same network and this would remain the standard for quite a few years.

Today, over 8 trillion text messages are sent around the world each year, no doubt aided by the success of reality TV shows, where viewers are asked to vote by text for their favourite contestant.

Although once viewed as mainly the preserve of younger users, texting has increased in popularity to become the de facto mode of communication for almost all age groups.

Over the years the SMS (short messaging service) has been hailed for its efficiency and ease of use but also blamed for everything from sore thumbs to the decline of conversation and writing standards! At just 190 bytes and 160 characters, the modest text message isn’t the most glamorous or elaborate form of communication, and that’s probably a major reason why it’s become so widespread.

Nevertheless, although the number of texts sent each year continues to grow worldwide, there are signs that in more developed markets at least, its usage is beginning to decline. The widespread popularity of social media and the increasing adoption of smartphones has given people a whole host of new ways to communicate with each other. Why send a text when you can tweet, iMessage, BBM, WhatsApp, or post a status update?

So even though the humble text is only 20 years old, will it live to see its 30s? Indeed, what other ways will we be communicating with each in another 20 years’ time?

Did you know…

According to the Guinness World Records, Melissa Thompson (UK), holds the record for sending the fastest text message on a touch screen phone.

The phone used was a Samsung Galaxy S, with SWYPE technology. The text consisted of 160 characters or 26 words and she sent the following text in just 25.94 seconds on 22 August 2010.

“The razor-toothed piranhas of the genera Serrasalmus and Pygocentrus are the most ferocious freshwater fish in the world. In reality they seldom attack a human.”

Little Miss Hashtag

If ever proof were needed of the huge, if slightly worrying, influence which social media has on some people’s lives nowadays, then here it is!

A Twitter-loving couple have taken to Facebook (where else!) to announce that they have named their brand new daughter Hashtag.

Amazingly, this isn’t the first baby whose name has been taken from the social media field.

In February last year an Egyptian man named his daughter Facebook in celebration of the January 25 revolution in that country.

The social media platform, together with Twitter, was widely praised by Egyptians for their ability to mobilise protesters and oust dictator Hosni Mubarak from power.

So…what other social media names could we give children? Google +, Pinterest, Twitter, or LinkedIn perhaps?

Be careful what you tweet for…

Communicating with your customers online just got that little bit more difficult. In Ireland at least.

The Advertising Standards Authority for Ireland (ASAI) has broadened its remit and from 2 January 2013, all digital marketing communications will fall under the regulation of the authority. This marks the first time digital communications such as social media and blogs will be regulated in Ireland and it follows a global trend where online advertising is becoming more and more regulated, just like its offline counterpart.

In Britain, for example, rules on digital communications were introduced last year and celebrity endorsements were the first to fall foul of the regulations. The British Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) ruled that tweets by Nike-sponsored footballers Wayne Rooney and Jack Wilshere breached its guidelines on advertising in social media and Nike thus became the first UK company to have a Twitter campaign banned. Whether the ASAI will be as quick to take action against companies in Ireland which breach its new guidelines remains to be seen.

The ASAI published details of its extended remit after consultation with the industry. There were differing views on what content should be covered by the rules, with content generated from consumers proving to be a complicated area.

Orla Twomey, assistant chief executive of the ASAI, gives the example of consumer feedback about a product or a service which is then posted by the company on its website or emailed to other consumers or re-tweeted. This is acceptable if the feedback contains claims that can be proved by the company but, if they cannot, it could be deemed false advertising.

Meanwhile, if a company is paying a blogger to write favourable reviews about its products or services this is OK. However, it must be made clear to the reader and the consumer that these aren’t the thoughts of the writer and that the company is paying for the review.

What’s almost certain is that, in the short term at least, the new powers of the ASAI are going to create a lot of difficulties for companies which engage heavily in online communications as they try to determine what’s acceptable under the new regulations and what’s not. This will be particularly difficult until the advertising industry has previous rules and judgements to go on. However, the ASAI is aware of this and has given advertisers a three-month grace period from when the new rules are put into force. During this time the ASAI will investigate and resolve complaints informally: complaints will not result in a formal decision from the independent complaints committee.

Although increased regulation of online advertising can only be seen as a good development for consumers, it does highlight once more the increasing need for companies to have a clear and well-defined online communications strategy in place (particularly for social media). In addition, companies need to ensure that they’re constantly up-to-date on any regulation changes in this fast-evolving area of communications.