Following are recent findings by various studies on marketing and advertising-related topics. For a more in-depth look at some of these subjects, visit our sister site, MarketingCharts.com.
Women and Social Networking
Social networking sites reach a higher percentage of women than men globally, according to a new study from comScore. "How Women Are Shaping the Internet" indicates 75.8% of all women online visited a social networking site in May 2010, compared to 69.7% of men. Also women demonstrate higher levels of engagement: although women account for 47.9% of total unique visitors to the social networking category, they consume 57% of pages and account for nearly 57% of total minutes spent on these sites.
Website Design
Auto manufacturer websites that focus primarily on brand image promotion and interesting design features rather than usability may be hindering vehicle shoppers in their search for information, according to the [PDF] J.D. Power and Associates 2010 Manufacturer Website Evaluation Study (MWES) - Wave 2. For instance the websites of Honda and Kia perform well in each of the four measures examined in the study: speed, appearance, navigation and information/content. They were also were found by J.D. Power to focus on usability and allow shoppers to access information quickly and easily.
E-mail Marketing
Only 1% of retailers on the Internet Retailer 500 send a series of automated welcome messages to new subscribers, according to a recent white paper from marketing services and solutions provider Listrak. Welcome messages have the highest open rates of all email campaigns, Listrack notes. Also, using a series instead of a single message creates opportunities to nurture the relationship, and can turn one-time buyers into long-term customers and brand advocates.
Disaster PR
Oil company British Petroleum (BP) was mentioned far more frequently, and negatively, in blog and other social media posts following its April 20, 2010 oil rig explosion and leak than before, according to Sysomos. Between January 1 and April 20, 2010, BP had a largely positive image with bloggers and other social media users. However, from the initial explosion on April 20, 2010 through the date it was capped (at least for the time being) on July 15, 2010, the amount of social media chatter about BP dramatically increased, as did the negative overtone to that chatter.
