The NSI Partners Blog

In this month’s NSI Newsletter, I take up the issue of the ever-changing landscape of mobile devices and offer up some of the most recent stats. I’m less interested, however, in the Apple versus Android debate, or the native app versus web app discussion. What intrigues me – and what will be increasingly important to online and mobile marketing – is device preference. As more of us find ourselves juggling laptops, smartphones and tablets, which device do we choose for which activity? The topic is gaining more scrutiny and thus yielding more data, but what remains more obscure is “why.”

My other fascination is with “dual-screening,” which is most often the act of watching television while using the internet on another device, usually to interact on Twitter or Facebook about the content being watched, but also to search for additional information.  During the election The Pew Research Center for People & The Press studied the trend during the debates, and found that fully 11% of those watching the debate live were “dual-screening.” I’ll confess to being an ardent dual-screener, though I find it hard to pay attention to live television and maintain an active Twitter stream. But put me in front of a television equipped with a DVR – and no need to stay up-to-the-minute with the program – and I’m likely to hit PAUSE on the DVR several times while I use my iPhone to pull up relevant information. (Just today: Where do I know that speaker from? Am I right about the difference between an automatic and semi-automatic weapon? 3-D printers are available for home use now? Seriously?)

The full article is linked below.  But join the conversation here: Do you prefer to handle Facebook or Twitter on your smartphone even if you’re sitting at your computer? What about reading news articles? If you have a preference, are the reasons for it obvious to you? And if, like me, you find yourself dual-screening, what are you doing? Is it a drive for more information? For social interaction?

This is an ever-changing frontier, so please – share your thoughts and experience with us!

In a New York Minute: Mobile-Device Usage Habits Changing Quickly

Valerie Sellers

Not long after ditching my (mostly) unloved Blackberry for an iPhone, I found myself answering a personal email on my iPhone while sitting at my computer. Ludicrous, I thought! I’m one-fingering it on a 3.5 inch screen while my full-sized computer and keyboard are right in front of me!

A year later, I offered a neighbor my netbook after fire destroyed much of her home. Her response? “No, I’ve got my phone. But thanks!”

It turns out my experience isn’t all that unusual. As smartphones penetrate deeper into our economy – having earlier this year passed the 50% threshold for all US mobile subscribers – and tablets become more prevalent each month, it is becoming increasingly important for marketers and content producers to understand the device preferences of their audiences. Consumers are not just showing a preference for certain devices for specific activities, but are engaging more frequently in “dual-screening.” While this normally takes the form of web surfing on one device while watching television on another, it applies to any simultaneous engagement with multiple devices, such as choosing to use your smartphone for Facebook while reading news on your tablet, or surfing the internet on your laptop. (As a matter of fact, “dual-screening” or “second-screening” involving television has become so widespread that Nielsen just announced yesterday that it has teamed up with Twitter to establish a “social TV rating” system to be available for the fall 2013 televsion season.) …../ continue reading

You can have the most perfectly search engine-optimized website in the world, but what do people see when they get to your site? Sure, you need to optimize your site with keywords and phrases so prospective customers can find you. But once they do, if they don’t find what they’re looking for, they’ll quickly move on to the next site on the list.

Your website needs to do several things:

• Describe your unique product or service and how you are different from your competitors
• Provide information that’s valuable to your prospect
• Let your prospect know who you are and why they should buy from you
• And most important, get your prospect to take action resulting in a sale.

We see so many websites that are all about the vendor; websites that contain spelling and grammatical errors; websites that tell and don’t show; and websites that are hard for prospects to navigate.

Take a good look at your site, from your prospect’s point of view.

Are there clear pathways for your prospect to follow to get to the information he or she is looking for?

Have you avoided jargon as much as possible? Even technical websites will benefit from saying things in plain English.

Have you proofread every single page?

Are you providing fresh, relevant content on a regular basis?

You want your prospects to have a great experience on your website. Is yours performing the way you want it to?

You’re a business owner, and you’ve started using Facebook, Twitter and other social media. You are using social media, aren’t you? As of June 1, 2012, more than 950 million people worldwide were on Facebook, and Twitter had 500 million active users, about 140 million of them in the United States.

But before you make your next post or Tweet, consider that many of those folks are simply broadcasting advertising and marketing messages. Think about it. Do you like being bombarded by these messages 24/7?

A better approach, as our friends at Likeable Media point out, is to put yourself in your customer’s place. The secret is to share interesting stories with your following, be interested in others, and be authentic and honest.

Here are five suggestions from Likeable that will lead to social media success.

1. Listen, listen, listen. Find out what people on Twitter are talking about regarding your business and your competitors. Look for conversations using words your prospective customers use.

2. Tell people who and how they should like and follow you. Give people a reason to connect with you—what’s in it for them? And make it easy to do. There’s a big difference in saying, “Like my page on Facebook” and “Get answers to all your social media questions at Facebook.com/MyBusiness.”

3. Start a conversation by asking a question. Social networking is all about engaging in interesting discussions. Instead of saying, “We can answer all your marketing questions,” say, “What’s your biggest marketing challenge?”

4. Share photos and videos. Pictures and videos get the greatest response on Facebook and tell stories in ways that words alone cannot. Use your smartphone to take photos and short videos of your customers and staff.

Invest the time. If you only spend a minute or two once or twice a week on social media, you’re not likely to get the returns you want. Likeable recommends spending at least 30 minutes a day learning, listening and responding—truly engaging in conversations. The more time you put in, the more you will benefit.