somersault

Chief Marketer (@chief_marketer) reports that “more than half of the moms responding to a study on parenting and mobile use say they first bought a smartphone as a result of having a child. Fifty-one percent admit they’re ‘addicted’ to their smartphone. And their favorite feature is the phone camera.”

Those are some of the findings of the 21st Century Mobile Mom Report compiled by BabyCenter.com (@BabyCenter). The report, built from a behavior study of more than 5,000 moms and a deep-dive study of a subset of 23 specific moms, finds that overall adoption of smartphones among mothers has risen 64% in the last 2 years. At 59% ownership, moms are currently 18% more likely to own a phone that can download apps than the general population.

Here are the study’s highlights:

• 78% admit they “love” their smartphone.

• 51% of Moms are addicted to their smartphone.

• 53% say the purchase was directly related to becoming a mom.

• Mom’s #1 feature is the camera.

• #2 feature is video capabilities.

• #3 feature is apps with more half having 10 or more apps.

• 25% of the apps on a mom’s phone are for her children.

• 68% say of Moms know how to use most of the features.

• 75% of Moms claim to troubleshoot their own phone.

• 33% use it for health and wellness (tracking family health & research).

• Moms top social activities are: newsfeeds, status updates, and reading answers to posted questions.

• 68% use their smartphone while shopping.

• 62% of moms use shopping apps to research or compare prices.

• Moms are 248% more likely than the average adult to text friends then call them.

• 46% claim to have taken an action after seeing a mobile ad on their phone.

• 29% say they like to scan bar codes and QR codes for further information on a topic.

Read the article in full.

Also read our blogpost "25% of Toddlers Have Used a Smartphone."

How will knowing this about today’s mothers influence how you publish content for them? Let Somersault help. And be sure to bookmark and use daily the SomersaultNOW online dashboard.

National Library Week (@AtYourLibrary) (#nlw11) is the annual event to promote local libraries and the quality service they provide to their communities. Library trends of the past year are detailed in The State of America’s Libraries, 2011, just released by the American Library Association (@alanews). Here are a few highlights reported in American Libraries magazine (@amlibraries):

·         The availability of wireless Internet in public libraries is approaching 85%, and about two-thirds of them extend wireless access outside the library. Computer usage at public libraries continues to increase.

·         Almost all academic libraries offer ebooks, as do more than two-thirds of public libraries. For most libraries, ebooks are only still a small percentage of circulated items – but represent the fastest-growing segment.

·         12% of academic libraries circulate preloaded e-reading devices, while 26% are considering it. (Kindle tops the device chart at 81%, followed by Sony at 34%, iPad at 28%, and Nook at 22%.)

·         6% of school libraries circulate preloaded e-reading devices, while 36% are considering it. (The Sony Reader leads the way at 64%, Kindle followed at 47%, Nook at 15%, and iPad at 4%.)

·         5% of public libraries circulate preloaded e-reading devices, while 24% are considering it. Kindle is the leader here.

·         Among academic libraries, social sciences is the discipline most likely to offer ebooks (83%), followed by science at 82%, technology (80%), humanities (77%), medicine (69%), and law (51%).

·         In school libraries, children’s fiction top the ebook charts at 51%, followed by reference (42%), children’s nonfiction (39%), children’s picture books (34%), and young adult nonfiction (24%) and fiction (23%).

·         In public libraries, adult nonfiction leads the way (86%), with adult fiction at 84%, bestsellers at 76%, young adult fiction at 69%, and children’s fiction at 56%. Young adult nonfiction, children’s nonfiction, reference, and children’s picture books “score” less than 50%.

·         A battle over the future of widely used ebooks was joined in March, when HarperCollins announced that it will not allow its ebooks to be checked out from a library more than 26 times, raising the possibility that ebooks that are not repurchased would be available at the library for only about a year. The ALA issued its response.

Read this in full.

Rebecca Miller of Library Journal magazine (@LibraryJournal) shares 10 favorite library locations as attractions in and of themselves:

·         Stephen A. Schwarzman Building, New York Public Library, New York City

·         Fayetteville Public Library, Fayetteville, AR

·         Seattle Central Library, Seattle, WA

·         Geisel Library, University of California-San Diego, La Jolla, CA

·         Thomas Jefferson Building, Library of Congress, Washington, DC

·         Weippe Public Library, Weippe, ID

·         Harold Washington Library Center, Chicago Public Library, Chicago, IL

·         Boston Athenaeum, Boston, MA

·         Deadwood Public Library, Deadwood, SD

·         Central Denver Public Library, Denver, CO

Read about these library locations in full.

As a publisher, agent, or author, how are you networking with your local library? Comment below.

eMarketer (@eMarketer) reports that according to a survey of social media marketers, the most valuable aspects of social media brand fans go beyond anything with an immediate monetary value.

At the top of the list were the fan’s value as a source of insight and increased loyalty overall. Advocacy and engagement were also important to at least three-quarters of respondents.

Read this in full.

As you set your social media marketing strategy, are you focusing on long-term relational objectives or short-term sales goals?

Click to enlarge this Infographic by Column Five (@Columnfive) to view statistics regarding the mobilization of today’s digital native and his/her comfort level with consuming content (news, but by implication & extrapolation, also books) electronically.

The percentage of Americans age 12 and older who have a smartphone has more than doubled in the past year, from 14% to 31% of the population according to the new national survey from Arbitron Inc. (@ArbitronInc) and Edison Research, The Infinite Dial 2011: Navigating Digital Platforms. Among the many other findings:

• Facebook is now being used by a majority of all Americans age 12 and over (51%); this number was only 8% in 2008.
• A majority of American households now have two or more computers (51%); as compared to 24% of households in 2002.
• Usage of online radio is up significantly, with weekly usage of all forms of online radio having doubled in the last 5 years; self-reported weekly time spent with online radio is now nearly 10 hours (9 hours 47 minutes).
• Daily time spent with TV, Radio, and the Internet combined has increased by 20% in the last 10 years, with self-reported daily usage now at 8 hours 11 minutes compared to 6 hours 50 minutes in 2001.
• Just under 1/3 of all Americans (31%) have plugged an MP3 player such as an Apple iPod into their car stereo systems.
• One in 10 Americans report listening to Pandora Internet Radio in the week before they were surveyed.
• Among the 81% of American households with Internet access, 2/3 now have a Wi-Fi network installed.
• More than 1/10 of all cellphone owners have listened to online radio streamed in their cars by connecting their phones to their car stereo system.

Read the research findings in full.

Also see Warc coverage of the research in the article "Digital change hits US."

What are the implications of this research for digital audiobook publishing and how should your brand take advantage of it?

Ken Featherstone of OgilvyAction Global (@ogilvyaction) says times have changed and brand managers should no longer consider men to be a marketing afterthought:

A recent Yahoo! study finds that about six in 10 fathers consider themselves to be the primary household decision-maker in packaged goods, health, pet and clothing purchases. It doesn’t stop at the household trip: Men are spending more time on their own personal needs. Eighty-four percent of men said they purchased their own clothes (up from 65% in 2001), as reported by BusinessWeek.

Nearly one in three principal household shoppers are men, up from 14% two decades ago, according to Neilsen. Statistics from Black Friday, Back-to-School, and Winter Holidays consistently show men spending more than women on big-ticket items.

Read the article in full.

How should this influence book cover design and in-store merchandising kits?

Trendwatching.com (@trendwatching) has identified 11 key consumer trends that will have a global impact on marketers this year:

1. Random acts of kindness: From brands randomly picking up a consumer’s tab to sending a surprise gift.
2. Urbanization: Urban consumers tend to be more daring, more liberal, more tolerant, more experienced, more prone to trying out new products and services.
3. Pricing Pandemonium: Brands should target consumers with offers and features such as instant mobile coupons and discounts, online group discounts, flash sales, and dynamic pricing based on real-time supply and demand.
4. Made for China/Emerging Economies: Growth in consumer spending in emerging markets far outpaces consumer spending in developed markets, and Western brands are favored more than local brands in emerging markets.
5. Online Status Symbols: Brands should supply consumers with any kind of symbol, virtual or ‘real world,’ that helps them display to peers their online contributions, interestingness, creations, or popularity.
6. ‘Wellthy:’ Consumers are expecting health products and services to prevent misery if not improve their quality of life, rather than merely treating illnesses and ailments.
7. ‘Twin-sumers’ and ‘Social-lites:’ Key to WOM recommendations. Twin-sumers are consumers with similar consumer patterns, likes and dislikes. Social-lites are consumers who consistently broadcast information to a wide range of associates online.
8. Emerging Generosity: Brands and wealthy individuals from emerging markets (especially China) who will increasingly be expected to give, donate, care and sympathize, as opposed to just sell and take.
9. Planned Spontaneity: Fragmented lifestyles, dense urban environments with multiple options, and cell/smartphones have created a generation who have little experience in making (or sticking to) rigid plans.
10. Eco-Superior: Products that are not only eco-friendly, but superior to polluting incumbents in every possible way.
11. Owner-less: For many consumers, access is better than ownership.

Read these observations in full.

Leave your comments below as to which one resonates with your brand and how you will take advantage of it.

• The most retweeted tweets occur between 2-5pm Eastern Time, Thursday & Friday.
• Twitter links click-through-rate (CTR) dips on Mondays & Thursdays; all other days are strong.
• Twitter CTRs are strongest 10am & 5pm ET.
• Twitter CTRs don’t decline at night.
• Don’t be afraid to tweet more for maximum effectiveness.
• Post updates to Facebook pages every-other day.
• Weekends are best for Facebook sharing of links for both B2C & B2B.
• Articles published in the morning are shared on Facebook slightly more often than those published in the afternoon.
• Most people check their email in morning (but percentages are still very high into the evening and night).
• Email open rates tend to be higher on weekends and early in the mornings.
• Emails get more attention on weekends.
• Emailing frequently doesn’t diminish CTRs as long as the content is valuable and relevant to the subscriber.
• Frequent emailing of quality content does not increase unsub rates.
• The newest subscribers to your email list are your best.
• Most people read blogs in the morning and afternoon. More men read blogs in the evening and night than women.
• Monday is the day for heavy blog reading; Tuesday dips; Wednesday through Friday are equal; dipping again on the weekend.
• Blog posts at 10-11am ET tend to get more views.
• Blog comments spike on weekends.
• Blog early in the morning to get more links by the linkeratti.
• Blog more frequently; even multiple times per day.

See the SlideShare slides.

See the recorded webinar.

Jack Hird (@Jake_Hird), senior research analyst for Econsultancy, offers the following social media stats:

• Twitter has 175 million registered users; 95 million tweets per day; 4 million tweets per hour.
• LinkedIn registrants number more than 100 million
• Facebook population officially is more than a half-billion, but some unofficial counting has it at 640 million. At least 250 million users log in every 24 hours; 200 million access it through mobile devices. The average Facebook user creates 90 pieces of content each month.
• Flickr hosts more than 5 billion images; 3,000 images uploaded every minute.
• Wikipedia now has more than 17 million articles and 91,000 active contributors.
• YouTube video views number more than two billion every 24 hours; more than 24 hours of video are uploaded every minute.

Read this article in full.

Graham Charlton (@gcharlton) has assembled statistics about the mobile Internet:

• People use mobile search at home in the evening (81%) than any other time or places more frequently than anywhere else (81%), followed by at home on weekends (80%).
• 66% use mobile search while while watching TV, something which should get advertisers thinking, while 61% said they use it at work.
• 75% said mobile search makes their lives easier, 63% said access to mobile search has changed the way they gather information, and 32% said they use mobile search more than search engines on their computers.
• 84% use mobile search to look for information on local retailers, such as opening hours, address and contact details. 82% look for online retailers, 73% find a specific product or manufacturer website.
• Tying in with the crossover in TV viewing and mobile search, 71% learn more about a product or service having seen an ad, 68% use it to find the best price for a product.

Read this article in full.

Also see Social Media Today’s “Best Social Media Stats and Market Research of 2010 (So Far)” by Tom Pick (@TomPick).

Let Somersault help you create an integrated social media marketing strategy. And be sure to use daily our SomersaultNOW dashboard to remain current with the latest developments in social media marketing and digital publishing.

In short, this data shows that: (1) consumers are interested in interacting with advertising that bears a QR code – thus, the promise of additional benefits in the form of deals, coupons, videos, sweepstakes, social media interactions, etc.; and (2) QR codes can help an ad break through the clutter by increasing the chance it will be remembered, great news for advertisers who have already integrated a QR code strategy into a traditional advertising campaign or are looking to insert them in a future campaign.

View the full survey results in pdf form.

How should you be using QR codes in your marketing communications mix?

Update: The above research is interesting, especially in light of the article QR Codes May Be Going Away.