search marketing blog: ambergreen

According to a report at Read/Write Web, current Alexa figures show that the YouTube online video site has become the 4^th ranked website in the world, following closely at the heels of Yahoo!, MSN and Google. 

YouTube has seen remarkable growth, with the site entering the top ten sites for the first time just six months ago. 

Read/Write Web shows analysis from several different information providers, including comScore and Google Trends, each of which indicate the rapid growth the site has undergone.

With 2007 providing the possibility that this might just be the year that online video takes off (think about Google embedding ads in video, the launch of the iPhone etc), perhaps YouTube is still to have its day in the sun.

A new report from the Center for Marketing Research at the University of Massachusetts shows that of the fastest growing private US companies, 26% said that social media is “very important” to their marketing strategy.

Surveying the Inc. 500, a list of the nation’s fastest-growing private companies announced in Inc. Magazine, researchers found that 42% of respondents claimed to be “very familiar with” social networking, while indicating familiarity with various other forms of social media including message boards, online video, blogging, wikis and podcasting.

Surprised by the widespread understanding and usage of social media, the Center for Marketing Research said; “The bottom line is that the Inc. 500 knows far more about social media than one might predict.” If the most innovative and fast growing companies in the US are leading the way into integrating social media into their businesses, surely it can only be a matter of time before corporate giants start to take notice?

Research from Socialtext and eMarketer in June 2006 showed that corporate blogs have been slow to take off, with 94.2% of the Fortune 500 companies not blogging.

Situations such as this seem crazy when you consider that a recent survey by communications consultants Intelliseek and Edelman found that a positive comment from a company employee was more likely to influence a person’s perception than external blogs or traditional media.

Many companies are afraid of blogs, but with statistics such as these available, shouldn’t larger corporations start to take social media more seriously?

Online retailers saw sales up by between 40 and 50% while the high street saw sales fall during the Christmas period according to a new report from the IMRG.

While full statistics aren’t yet available, the IMRG is predicting that consumers spent £3.7 billion in the four weeks up to Christmas Eve, having previously predicted a total £3.2 billion spend.

According to the IMRG, online retail sales now account for 10% of total retail sales in the UK, in comparison to just 0.5% in 2000.

The social media march continues, as new research shows that more than half of all net using US teenagers use social sites such as MySpace and Facebook, with 55% of 12 to 17 year olds holding accounts at the sites.

The Pew Internet Project found that girls used the sites to keep in touch with friends, while boys used them to find new friends.  48% of those questioned used the sites daily, with 22% visiting the sites several times a day.

comScore Networks has released it’s top 20 UK internet properties for November 2006 which show that Google took second place to Microsoft sites, with visits to Microsoft properties up slightly from Microsoft Sites 24,798 in October to reach 24,976 in November.

As expected Tesco, eBay and similar retail sites saw an increase in unique visitors in time for the Christmas rush. See the full list at Netimperative’s news centre.

More than half of all holidays are now booked directly online according to new research from Nielsen//NetRatings, Adviva and Harvest Digital, which also reveals that only 7% of UK internet users now book on the high street.  

According to the research at the IAB, the internet has affected a sea change in the way UK internet consumers book, with 7% using the high street, and only 1% using Teletext.

The research has again highlighted the importance of online research for holidaymakers, with 9% booking on the high street after researching online and a further 17% then booking via phone.

The increasing popularity of the internet in researching and buying holidays has grown over the past five years, with travel and transport the fifth biggest spending online ad sector, making up 8.1 per cent of the total internet advertising spend.

The recent rise in social networking has again been validated as eMarketer, predicts that US online advertising spend will grow from $16.4bn last year to reach $19.5bn in 2007.

While research indicates that online spend growth will slow this year, it is expected that spend on social networks will more than double to reach $1bn.

In the UK, the IAB (Internet Advertising Bureau) suggested that 2007 will be a great year for online advertising in the UK, following predictions that “by year-end internet advertising will have broken through the £2billion mark.”

This isn’t something that Thomas the Cat of Tom and Jerry fame suffered, but a problem spreading the internet using world as a result of badly designed and hosted websites, according to research from the UK’s the Social Issues Research Centre.

Characterised by a quickening of the heart, sweating, intense click and bashing of the mouse (it really does sound like an episode of Tom and Jerry), Mouse Rage Syndrome affects all internet users sooner or later according to the study identified key factors that can negatively affect cardio functions, immune and nervous systems

According to the SIRC the “..test results indicate that users want Google-style speed, function, and accuracy from all of the Web sites they visit, and they want it now.”

Unfortunately, many Web sites and their servers cannot deliver this.”

US research has found that most online shoppers see free postage and special deals not available on the high street as incentives to spend more during the Christmas period.

More than 9 out of 10 of those surveyed said that free postage promoted greater spending, while 65% said that special offers helped open their wallets.

The Consumer Internet Barometer report released by The Conference Board also found that 50% of Christmas shoppers would buy more if the goods were only available online, with 50% saying that the ability to return the goods to a high street store would also induce them to spend more money.

“Consumers are clearly willing to increase their online holiday purchases, but only if retailers are willing to offer holiday bargains online that are better than or different from what they are offering in stores,” says Lynn Franco, Director of The Conference Board Consumer Research Center. “If retailers want to increase their share of the online market, free shipping, exclusivity and bargains are sure ways to get consumers to point, click and order more during the holidays.”

That said, most of those surveyed said that they would make their largest purchases at a bricks and mortar store, with only 5% saying that they would spend more than $500 online.

Neilsen/Netratings is to expand its internet audience measurement panel in a bid to improve the accuracy of its services.

The company currently reports on less than 3,000 domains, but will see this increase to 8,300.  Audience demographic reporting capabilities on brands will also be increased five fold to 2,000.

Louise Ainsworth, managing director for Neilsen//NetRatings EMEA, said: “This increased investment in high-quality audience data will reap rewards for UK advertisers by enabling better targeting and a vastly improved understanding of audience behaviour across a much broader portfolio of sites.”