In July 2012, Google conducted a “What Users Want From Business Today”  on 1,088 adult smartphone users, and here are some of the noteworthy discoveries:

• 61% of people said that they’d quickly move onto another site if they didn’t find what they were looking for right away on a mobile site.
• 67% of users are more likely to buy from a mobile-friendly site,
• While nearly 75% of users prefer a mobile-friendly site, 96% of consumers say they’ve encountered sites that were clearly not designed for mobile devices.
• 74% of users say they’re also more likely to return to a site in the future if it’s mobile-friendly.

• 50% of people said that even if they like a business, they will use them less often if the website isn’t mobile-friendly

What do these Findings Imply for Modern Day Businesses?

• If your company doesn’t have a mobile-friendly site, it will eventually lose business, as a result.
• Since competition will provide what customers’ demand if you don’t, a mobile-friendly site is essential, if you want to stay current.
• A mobile-friendly site is imperative to maintaining brand reputation, to building strong relationships with customers, keeping up with competition and also preserving high sales.

In a study from Deloitte , they observe that in the UK that only 1% of mobile consumers have used their phones to pay for something, and may be the reason that Apple didn’t include Near Field Communication (NFC) used for contactless payment in their latest phone the iPhone 5 .  Despite the surprising  but important finding, smartphones have led to increased retail sales. Though sales aren’t processed on phones, their impacts on actual sales remain very high, and are only projected to increase with the surge of smartphone usage.

What are Some Other Noteworthy Findings of the Study?

• They observe that in the US apps and mobile websites led to a 5% more sales or $159 billion dollars worth of in-store sales. 
  • In the UK, the increase was 6% and equated to $24.7 billion dollars in retail in-store sales.
  • With the rapid increase of smartphone use, they predict that by 2016 smartphone use will lead to an increase of 17%-21% or $628-$782 million dollars in sales.
  • 46% of smartphone users have used their phones to research before or during a store visits
  • 74% of consumers that visit a mobile site or app for a store make a brand purchase, compared to 66% who didn’t  visit those and make a purchase

In a struggling economy, retail isn’t thriving as a business, and retailers needs to take these findings seriously if they want to succeed in the future!  To take advantage of the changes and finding by  Deloitte, retailers need to make sure to create a good mobile experience for consumers.

Additionally, a recent google study found that in the future, it’s highly likely that initiated physical,  in-store  purchases may lead to virtual sales from tablets or PCs. That means retailers should not only create a good mobile experience but should also prepare by providing good product information as a crucial part of maintaining virtual sales in the future.

Since Facebook went public on the stock market, the question on everyone’s mind has been how can they increase revenue without hurting the user experience? The answer may be here. Facebook has begun testing its mobile ad network. (The picture was borrowed from Mashable.) Facebook claims they want to make ads more relevant for users.

In the online article “Facebook Beta Launches New Mobile Ad Network Using your Data To Target You With Banner Ads In Other Ads” Josh Constine highlights the changes with the following quote: Starting later today, you may start seeing banner and interstitial ads targeted by your Facebook biographical and social data within non-Facebook mobile iOS and Android apps plus mobile websites where you’ve authenticated with Facebook.

The targetable data includes your age, gender, location, Likes, friends who’ve used an advertiser’s app and basically any other targeting options in Facebook’s standard ads marketplace. Unlike other sites, Facebook has a huge network of users and very accurate information that they can now market. That is one powerful tool!

They are currently testing the power of the new ads and their performance. For the information described above, advertisers can dish out cash based on bids that they are willing to pay to reach certain demographics. Josh Constine always pointed out “Facebook launched its first non-social, in-feed ad unit last month, allowing mobile developers to pay to show download links for their apps within the Facebook for iOS or Android news feed.” However, if they reduce the quality of user’s feeds with ads, they could end up hurting their business tremendously.

So they have to be cautious how they use their information so that they make money while improving user’s experiences, instead of hurting their experiences.

They also have to be extremely careful and make sure that user’s don’t feel like their privacy is being infringed upon because that could lead to lower usage. Facebook said user’s privacy was “top of mind” when creating this new design. If all the facets of the article are balanced correctly, these new changes may be the solution to not maintaining the quality of user’s news feeds and make it so they don’t have to push their own apps down on users, while also increasing revenue a lot AKA increasing the worth of Facebook (something they’ve been trying to figure out how to tactfully do for a while now.) How do you think this will impact Facebook?

As social media sites and smart phone use grow faster than ever before, banks must prepare! The importance of social media is steadily becoming more important and so banks can no longer just ignore social media, because change is inconvenient and a hassle to implement as a result of new ever-changing regulations.

In the online article “Progressive’s PR Disaster Shows Banks Need to Think Outside Twitter”

Nicole Sturgill points out, ” ‘Most banks have no idea if their customers even have a Tumblr blog or a Twitter feed. They should absolutely be adding that to their [customer relationship management] applications because customers not only have monetary value to them but they also have PR value.’ “

Since customers hold both the monetary value and PR value, it’s vital that banks monitor their brand and what customers are saying on social networks.

So that means they not only need to have a social media plan to monitor their brand but also a way to respond to customers. They need to be proactive in order to keep customers happy and to prevent PR disasters by having well thought out plans in advance. Not only is it vital damage control, but there are so many benefits that can be repeated from a well-orchestrated social media platform.

It’s essential because as the article notes “customers that might not have as much of an impact on a bank’s balance sheet can, inevitably, affect a bank’s bottom line by affecting its reputation.” In all businesses reputation is critical but among banks it’s even more essential and could eventually lead to a bank’s success or failure! 

A picture is worth 1000 words and a video is worth a 1 million. We all grasp things faster when we see them visually as the good ol’ adage goes “seeing is believing”.

Social tools are becoming more and more visual with Facebook timelines and Pinterest, an online pinboard, becoming the 3rd most visited social media site.

So, what does this mean for home care companies and how they can do it right with these new tools?

Here are some tips:

1) Change your website to make it more social:

a) Add a social sharing bar

b) Create a blog for interaction

c) Embed Facebook, Twitter and YouTube videos

d) Add a FAQ section that encourages people to ask questions and not just display the top 10

e) Create a blog

f) Have more pictures and videos to tell your story rather than text

2) Create a Mobile Site

a) Mobile search for Google uses a separate algorithm than the traditional website. Having a mobile site creates ease of use to see, search and interact with your website.

b) People of all ages are using their mobile devices to find stuff on the internet and you need to focus not only to the senior market but the decision makers, who could be their son or daughter.

3) Blog – A place where you can talk about a variety of topics that will interest your target market), these could be:

a) Senior health issues and how to overcome them

b) Indoor/outdoor games

c) Pursue hobbies

d) Information about local senior events

e) Health related tips

f) Healthy exercise routine

g) Healthy eating habits and much more

4) Social Media Tools (Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Pinterest etc.)

a) Use them to showcase how you are different than others

b) Actual testimonials from seniors, decision makers on why they selected you over others

c) Integrate your blog with social media sites

d)  Tips on Healthy products

e) Ease of connecting and sharing pictures with your family and friends

f) Sharing trends in home care

g) Most common diseases among seniors and how to take the right precautions and much more

So if you are still thinking whether to jump on the social media bandwagon, then, stop thinking and put yourself in action !!

Google has given clear instructions on how add the Google+ button to your website: http://bit.ly/GPlusButton

Google has begun to allow integration of its +1 button into 3rd party social media platforms. PowerReviews, BazaarVoice are among the first to integrate the button. From the Google webmaster central blog, movie review site can now allow visitors to share posts containing the title, movie poster and a brief synopsis:

Are you ready to add the Google+ button to your site?

“News near you” in Google News – How does it impact the users?
‘News on the move’ is more than just an accessory it is a necessity. Most of us like to hear the news and keep an eye on the pulse of the things happening around them, especially if it is happening in our community. In addition, if you are travelling to a new place then it is very important that you know what is happening around you so that you are aware of any closed roads, events and even the traffic situation. By Combing the rising trend of community news with news on the move Google has launched a feature called ‘News Near You’.
History
Localized news has been available on Google news since 2008. It allows you to update your location and get and instant access to the events and happening near and around your location. Now users can use this feature on their Android based smartphones and Apple iPhones by activating a feature called ‘News near you’.
How to activate ‘News near you’ on your phone
Activating this feature is simple. On your phone log in to news.google.com, a pop up will appear asking if you want to share your location. Click on ‘yes’ and the new section of news near you will appear at the bottom of your homepage.
Going on a vacation? Or want to shop on a new location? Don’t forget to activate this feature on your mobile. You will have instant and correct access to the happenings on your locations and new events, on-going sales etc. on your fingertips.
This wonderful feature eliminates the need of having to read all the irrelevant news on when you are looking for some important information in the local area. Another big advantage of using this feature on your mobile phone is that you get instant updates of the local happenings around you and even the videos (in collaboration with YouTube).

‘News on the move’ is more than just an accessory it is a necessity. Most of us like to hear the news and keep an eye on the pulse of the things happening around them, especially if it is happening in our community. In addition, if you are travelling to a new place then it is very important that you know what is happening around you so that you are aware of any closed roads, events and even the traffic situation. By Combing the rising trend of community news with news on the move Google has launched a feature called ‘News Near You’.

History
Localized news has been available on Google news since 2008. It allows you to update your location and get and instant access to the events and happening near and around your location. Now users can use this feature on their Android based smartphones and Apple iPhones by activating a feature called ‘News near you’.

How to activate ‘News near you’ on your phone
Activating this feature is simple. On your phone log in to news.google.com, a pop up will appear asking if you want to share your location. Click on ‘yes’ and the new section of news near you will appear at the bottom of your homepage.
Going on a vacation? Or want to shop on a new location? Don’t forget to activate this feature on your mobile. You will have instant and correct access to the happenings on your locations and new events, on-going sales etc. on your fingertips.

This wonderful feature eliminates the need of having to read all the irrelevant news on when you are looking for some important information in the local area. Another big advantage of using this feature on your mobile phone is that you get instant updates of the local happenings around you and even the videos (in collaboration with YouTube).