Welcome to the Escape Blog

We are often asked about the benefits of having a blog. And whilst there are many valid answers to this question, it’s always good to be able to use facts to back them up.

So it’s great to see some research from web platform Hubspot in the US, which reveals that blogging can increase traffic, inbound links and the number of indexed pages on a website.

By analysing data from the company’s 1,531 customers, Hubspot found that those with blogs had on average 55% more website traffic. Of course, this could be down to other factors as well but the figure is so high that there seems to be credibility here.

In addition, when it comes to search engine optimisation, the websites that contained blogs had 97% more inbound links (a measure of how many other pages or sites are linking to a particular website) and 434% more indexed pages (a measure of the number of pages that show up in search engines).

These last two statistics are hardly surprising, they just confirm what we would expect; because blogs are essentially creating valuable (we hope!) content – and lots of it – there is more content for visitors to read (and link to) and more content for search engines to crawl and rank.

Of course, establishing the blog is only the first step and it takes time and effort to keep it updated, making sure the content is both appropriate to your business and ‘valuable’ enough for people to want to read.

If you think a blog might be good for your business, let us know…

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Spotify has well and truly become the new darling of the new media world and with it’s US launch slated for Q3 or Q4 2009, it is just about to get a whole lot bigger!

And two news stories out today suggests that the future looks even brighter for the music streaming service.

Firstly, there are rumours that Apple has finally approved the long awaited Spotify iPhone app (see video above). Why is this important? Well, it really adds the finishing touch to the Spotify proposition.

And, if it is true that users will have to be premium subscribers to use the application, then it will also be a very important part of the company’s business model and profitability efforts.

The second story doing the rounds today is equally as interesting, if slightly less accurate in terms of concrete facts!

Writing on Trusted Reviews, Gordon Kelly cites rumours from Techcrunch suggesting that Facebook is looking to acquire the service:

“We’ve heard that Facebook has been talking with the European startup about a partnership for well over a year (about the time the Facebook music rumors heated up), but that the talks have intensified dramatically in the last week.”

Now a link up between these two companies makes perfect sense. Facebook has always lost out in the music stakes to Myspace and a strategic acquisition like this would radically change that. This could also be seen as a move against Apple and iTunes, which is even more interesting when you consider that Apple is just about to approve the Spotify app.

After the Friendfeed acquisition earlier this month, it seems that Facebook is taking steps to assert its authority and acquiring Spotify would be a massive statement of intent. Valuing the Swedish music startup might prove tricky however.

Venture Beat has an interview with Twitter founder Biz Stone in which he reveals that commercial accounts are on their way:

“Twitter will still be free for everybody and we’ll still tell them to go crazy with it. But we’ve identified a selection of things that businesses say are helping to make them more profit. We want to build statistics or analytics that let users know — ‘How am I doing on Twitter?’”

This approach makes perfect sense, however as Venture Beat suggests, there is a danger that Twitter will begin to step on the toes of some of the third party APIs that are already offering similar features, such as Wildfire-favourite CoTweet.

Until know, Twitter has stayed true to its more ‘basic’ roots, providing a simple service that is free from the complexities found on other networks. These have, up till now, been left for the third party sites and services that have sprung up.

But the need to develop a revenue model has made Twitter examine ways in which users would pay for additional services.

Don’t forget you can now follow Wildfire on Twitter!

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Newsnight ran a report yesterday on the internet craze that is Twitter. The 10 minute slot (see below) covered a range of different issues, including a long interview at the end with founder and CEO Ev Williams.

Whilst the report ranged from the interesting to the downright stupid (beware publicity seeking Archbishops and celebrity-obsessed media), there were some highlights, especially in the interview with Williams, including the part when he said:

“London is our top Twitter using city!”

(via Techcrunch)

The national press and online media were awash with stories this month that Morgan Stanley had published a report written by a 15 year old intern. The subject: teenage media consumption habits

The theme of the note was that traditional media are of little interest to teenagers and that Twitter is not a social network that they engage with. Neither of these points came as much of a surprise if you follow social media trends. What was revealing, was that an internationally renowned investment bank was turning to a teenager for insights into the youth audience.

The teenager in question may not be truly representative of your average 15 year old but the process of getting your audience to tell you what they think is of enormous value. Rather than commissioning a disinterested party to write the piece (the alternative being a 30 something Oxbridge graduate with an MBA and little true insight into the daily life of a spotty youth), they went directly to the source. This approach is equally applicable for delving into just about any other audience.

Research projects with large sample sizes and sophisticated modelling techniques are an invaluable tool for establishing high level trends, yet can conceal as much of the valuable nuance as they reveal. Having a technique that provides you with the “colour supplement” can often complement and enhance the research process, and deliver a compelling insight or actionable data.

By way of example, there was an interesting insight delivered through the research note.  “Teenagers do not use Twitter,” he wrote. “Most have signed up to the service, but then just leave it as they realise that they are not going to update it (mostly because texting Twitter uses up credit, and they would rather text friends with that credit).”  The fact that they don’t use Twitter is well established. The reason why is harder to establish.

This opens up a whole range of interesting thoughts and opportunities – both in terms of what other things teens are not doing with their phones because it chews up credits, as well as what their level of price elasticity is across a whole range of potential offers

Interestingly, one of the things that the ‘youth’ value less than the rest of the population is their personal data, which they are prepared to trade in exchange for free services.  What are the implications for database building, and through that, relationships with the mass of consumers of the future?

We would encourage businesses to consider what value can be obtained from getting a client or customer to keep a diary, or write a piece on how they are consuming media and why. You may be surprised by what you find out.

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Social networks are playing a greater role in society, taking up more of our time and becoming increasingly influential in both our business and personal lives.

So, it’s important to bear in mind that each caters to a different group of users, who use them in different ways.

To highlight this and provide some top-level insight, we’ve put together an overview of the most popular social networks and highlighted some available research to see who’s using what:

Twitter

Matthew Robson [link to H’s blog post] was right. Teenagers don’t use Twitter. Statistics show that only 7% of Twitter users are in the 13-to-17-year-old group, whilst 43% are 18-to-34-years-old, 30% 35-to-49-years-old and 19% are 50 plus.

However, overall Twitter usage is on the up. Amongst UK web users alone, there was a 3,226% increase in traffic to the site in the year to May 2009. And it’s not the usual 18-to-24-year-old age group that is driving the numbers; it’s the 25-to-54-year-olds that are making Twitter increasingly popular. Globally, Twitter’s year-on-year growth rate has just broken the 1000% barrier!

There are more granular details about these users too: 42% have kids, 51% earn over $60k and 57% have studied in tertiary education.

Facebook

Despite only being open to the public for three years, Facebook is seen as the granddaddy of the social networking universe with over 250m users worldwide. And it is still growing; usage is up 57% in the UK, with older audiences being the fastest growing group.

But, in comparison to Twitter, Facebook is still most frequently used by the younger demographic, with 68% of its users aged between 13 and 34 years old. 44% don’t have any tertiary education.

Although there is some overlap with Twitter in terms of audience groups, usage stats show that people often use the two networks for very different purposes. Facebook is use most frequently for keeping up with friends and family while Twitter is popular for staying up to date with news and events.

LinkedIn

The LinkedIn user is more educated and career-driven than both Twitter and Facebook. The average user here is 41-years-old with 80% being educated at tertiary level. A big 49% are also business decision makers.

Unsurprisingly, LinkedIn is used for professional purposes – e.g. finding jobs, networking and staying in touch with old colleagues. Because it is still a relatively ‘closed’ network compared to Facebook and especially Twitter, the challenge for brands is to reach this valuable audience in a way that isn’t intrusive or ‘salesy’.

MySpace

Now overtaken by Facebook, MySpace remains the second largest social network in the world, drawing in excess of 60m unique users each month. However, MySpace usage is down in the UK from 8m total UK unique visitors in May 2008 to 6.5m in May 2009.

72% of MySpace users are between 13-to-34-years-old and 56% do not have tertiary education. MySpace is still a good target for a younger audience, but it looks unlikely to be able to win the war against Facebook. Recent reports suggest that MySpace has its sights set more on becoming an entertainment portal to differentiate itself from the Facebook and Twitter brands.

And the rest….

It’s worth adding that, in addition to these big guns, there are thousands of other social networks out there; some are growing, some are in decline. It’s anyone’s guess to see which ones will last.

The ‘niche’ network may well be the next big growth area, with services like Ning making it easier than ever for anyone to set up their own social network.

Keeping a finger on the pulse is not easy in this space. Thankfully it’s a challenge we relish so we’ll continue to monitor, explore and advise!

Increasing media fragmentation and the challenges this creates in getting the right message to the right people means that knowing your audience and what is happening in their world has become even more critical to delivering effective communications, and generating positive ROI.

Massive shifts in media consumption habits and changes in lifestyle amongst both consumers and business audiences mean many of the established assumptions no longer hold true.

In fact, many household brand names are finding that established models don’t work anymore, and that the difference between what their audience actually thinks and what they assume they think is growing, putting pressure on business results.

To address this, smart businesses and agencies are turning to in-depth audience research to get back under the skin of their audiences.

At Wildfire, we’ve been banging this drum for some time now and running a number of enlightening research projects for clients across a broad range of audiences and business problems. These projects have ranged from the quick and simple, through to more complex techniques – with very useful insights being developed, establishing clear new PR messaging and media recommendations.

But what are the different tools and techniques?  We’ve put together some of the most common research tools and an explanation of what they entail and the value they can deliver.

Vox pops

A simple technique to get the opinions of the ‘person on the street’ by simply stopping and asking a selection of people for their views (often recorded). Vox pops are a great way to understand the thoughts of consumers about every day issues. Whilst this method isn’t necessarily quantitative, it will give quick pointers as to general opinions that can then be explored further.

Personas

This desk research technique involves thinking about the different types of customers for your product or service and where it fits into their lives. This can also be useful for thinking about the best ways of reaching them. Personas are usually the desired outcome of any audience research exercise and can be used to inform marketing, product development and sales teams.

A day in the life

This is an extension of personas and can be executed using multiple techniques, or through desk research. It involves delving deeply into the life of the target customer, and identifying their daily habits and challenges.

Online surveys

Surveys are a great way to get relatively quick answers to simple, closed questions. Recruitment is generally from existing email data, with good reporting capabilities, however completion rates tend to be low, so a large list is required for statistically valid responses. There are of course many market research companies that can help you do this, but the costs can vary depending on who you are trying to reach.

Focus groups

Focus groups are a very effective technique to help you understand the challenges and thoughts of particular audiences.  Focus groups provide a forum to understand customer opinions on propositions, messages and creative options. The challenge, particularly in B2B, is getting the right mix of people to attend, however with sufficient preparation and help [link to interview with Dom], this can be overcome.

In-depth interviews

To gain a deeper insight into the opinions, pressures and day to day life of a target audience, in-depth interviews can be a great vehicle to understand more about their pain-points and motivations.  The interviews are best conducted with several individuals, in order to identify common themes as well as any significant differences. Recruitment can often be easier than for focus groups, however the timeline for completion of the project can be a little longer.

Testing strategies

While research into audiences before you execute any work is key to ensure that your targeting, insights and messages are relevant, it is just as important to observe behaviour either during or after a campaign. The simple technique of split testing (also known as A/B tests) is particularly useful in establishing the impact of changes to messages, targeting or creative. To be statistically robust, 400 responses is ideal, however smaller numbers of responses can give you an indication of the trend, or at least flag up potential issues for further investigation.

Of course, it goes without saying that if any of the above sound of interest, you should get in touch!

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An interview with Dom Hawkings from The Insight Business

How much do you really know about your target customers?  How old are they?  What are they interested in?  How do they travel to work? Do they even read trade journals?  How do they communicate with friends?  What influences their purchase decisions? What keeps them up at night?

Understanding your audience properly has got to be the starting point for any effective PR and marketing campaign. We are all getting better at filtering out marketing messages and competition for share of voice is fierce, so now is not the time to make assumptions about your audience.

With this is mind, we caught up with Dom Hawkings, Director at The Insight Business to find out how to use focus groups to get inside the minds of buyers of technology products and services from both a corporate and consumer perspective. Wildfire have recently partnered with them on research projects to help our clients adopt a more audience-centric approach to communications.

WF: Can a focus group really change the way a company does business?

DH: Clients truly start to understand their target audiences from first hand experience of watching and listening to them. With this understanding of customers and prospects, the company can start to be driven by what their market actually wants, rather than what they think their market should want. And this can completely change the way a company does business.

In many focus groups we have run, reactions to ideas or concepts have radically changed how clients thought they were going to communicate in terms of ad campaigns, re-branding etc. Some have even led to upcoming product launches being cancelled or completely re-prioritised and some have identified completely new markets.

WF: What are the five top tips you can provide when it comes to understanding audiences?

DH:

Be open minded. This means being brave enough to ask questions that might elicit answers and opinions that you don’t really want to hear. If research doesn’t challenge your preconceptions and sometimes make uncomfortable viewing, it isn’t being done properly.

Use an objective third party to talk to customers and prospects for you. Existing clients rarely tell you what they really think of you as an organisation, especially if you have built up a personal relationship with them – just think how often you complain to your friends about the quality or portion size in a restaurant but when the waiter asks how it is you all pipe up “fine thanks”.

Be a little humble. You may spend every waking hour thinking about your company’s products or services, but for your customers and prospects they rarely occupy quite so much of their consciousness. So if some carefully targeted communication gets little reaction or a product enhancement is not greeted with cheers, take it on the chin.

Do it early enough. Input from your audience about your products, services, marketing campaigns etc. can be invaluable, so don’t leave it to the last minute. There is no point getting this input at a stage where little can be changed – it is normally when this happens when you find out that your audience hates whatever it is you have just committed to doing.

Involve all the stakeholders. Focus groups and other research are not just of interest to marketing types. Get the sales and product teams involved; they will find it fascinating and they are much more likely to act constructively on the outputs.

WF: What’s the most unusual thing you’ve discovered in a focus group?

DH: Some years ago we were running some groups in Italy, looking at mobile phone use. One woman openly explained that she did not like the idea of video calls because it was harder to conceal where you really were. Her concern was that if her husband called he may be able to see when she was at her lover’s house! This raised a polite laugh among the group, but I was surprised when another three women agreed and went on earnestly to talk about why this was a major flaw in the technology!

Sometimes, by pure coincidence, two events occur simultaneously, offering a wonderful opportunity to compare and contrast. This week two revelations have cast fresh perspectives on the state of the Sunday national newspaper scene.

Firstly, Guardian Media Group has admitted that it is considering closing The Observer – the UK’s oldest Sunday paper. The reason? Money:

“[Carolyn McCall] said Guardian Media Group, which also owns The Guardian newspaper, was grappling with both the recession and ’structural change’ as advertising migrates online. Forecasting that advertising would not bounce back, she said that GMG would inevitably ‘be a smaller organisation’.”

Compare and contrast that to The Sunday Times, which this week has revealed that it is to launch its own standalone website. The reason? Money: the site will potentially sit behind a pay-wall.

The FT reports that “about a dozen journalists are being recruited to join the website, suggesting that it will generate new content during the week.”

It’s widely known that Murdoch believes that paid content is the way to go, but a report out today states that a third of European under-24s would refuse to pay for any kind of online content.

The problem is that we are now used to receiving our news online for free. And unless everyone starts adopting this model, it will be very hard for anyone to do it as the competition will be a click away.

Content may be king, but it seems that consumers are still unwilling to pay for it.

Elsewhere, it’s good to see that Netimperative has been resurrected from the dead today. Brand Republic reports that the site has been purchased by former Telegraph publisher Danny Meadows-Klue and will become part of the Digital Strategy Consulting group. So it’s not all bad news…

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