GM CEO Rick Wagoner just posted a note on the GM Media site explaining that he resigned after being asked to do so by the White House.
I won’t get political on this blog… but its a shame to see Wagoner go. He was a dynamic and thoughtful leader for GM, more of a politician and less of an actor than his buddy Maximum Bob Lutz. I have no problem with a CEO leaving a company in trouble, but it’s the government asking him to leave that makes me a little uncomfortable.
There’s a pretty good story about the whole matter at the Detroit Free Press.
On a related note – Chrysler will give up a 35% stake to Fiat, another nationalized auto company run by a head of state.
These figures don’t surprise me. I’m not sure what gelled since New Years Eve, but something has indeed spurned people to sign up for the site that in the past barely used any web apps beyond email and google. My father, aunt, uncle, even my great uncle (in his 80s!) are now on Facebook. Believe me when I say its truly surreal to be sitting around a table at a family function with a group of 50 and 60 somethings as they chat away about status updates and friend requests.
So what does this mean for business? Simple: a faster, more effective way to get your message out than ever. My client Hotchkis Performance has an active and vibrant facebook page, with hundreds of fans and industry insiders signed up as friends. With the new Facebook format, every time we attend an event, launch a product or do something cool, Dennis (Hotchkis’ in-house Marketing maven) posts an udpate on both Facebook and Twitter. The responses have been overwhelmingly positive. It’s like having a little PR Newswire Feed built into your cell phone.
Of course like Uncle Ben says, “With great power comes great responsibility,” and that applies to facebook as well as webslinging superheroes. Just because you can post updates ten times a day about every little thing, doesn’t mean you should. Keep the posts real, timely, and interesting and your friend list (and reach) will grow.
Number of US Facebook Users Over 35 Nearly Doubles in Last 60 Days
Don’t look now, but the number of Americans over 35, 45, and 55 on Facebook is growing fast. In the last 60 days alone, the number of people over 35 has nearly doubled. Developers and marketers may want to think about how to serve this group of new users.
Here are the latest stats on Facebook’s US audience gender and age demographics, according to the company:
Facebook US Audience Growth, Last 180 Days
Looking at Facebook US audience growth over the last 180 days, it’s clear that Facebook is seeing massive increases in adoption amongst users 35-65. The fastest growing demographic on Facebook is still women over 55 – there are now nearly 1.5 million of them active on Facebook each month.
The biggest growth in terms of absolute new users over the last six month came amongst users 35-44. Over 4 million more US women 35-44 and nearly 3 million more US men 35-44 used Facebook in March 2009 compared to September 2008.
US Facebook Users By Age and Gender
With the rapid growth amongst older users, the majority of US Facebook users are now over 25. There are now 6 million users 13-17, 19.5 million 18-25, 13.4 million 26-34, 9.7 million 35-44, 4.6 million 45-54, and 2.8 million over 55. In other words, there are more Facebook users 26-44 than 18-25 today.
THIS is very cool, and quite possibly the future of the publishing business.
Lexus is sole sponsor and advertiser of a new effort with Time Inc., and American Express Publishing (AEP) that constitutes what the companies say is the first-ever consumer-customized magazine.
The magazine, called Mine–with the tagline “My magazine, My way”–comprises content from Time Inc. and AEP brands consolidated in a free, personal, customized magazine.
Starting this week, consumers can go to Timeinc.com/mine and choose content from five of eight select titles: Time, Sports Illustrated, Food & Wine, Real Simple, Money, InStyle, Golf, and Travel + Leisure. They can get the magazine either as a limited-edition print format or online, and also receive news, information, and entertainment alerts through a customized widget or mobile application via RSS feeds.
They already have all the content, why not re-purpose it in a fun and dynamic way?
Jeremy Dann has penned an excellent piece for Portfolio.com where he interviewed Dominique Hanssens, the marketing chair at UCLA’s Anderson School of Business. This is the most pertinent excerpt from the interview:
Dann: What are some companies that have “upped the ante” during down times?
Hanssens: You can easily point to examples of companies who have done successful innovations—new products and so forth despite the fact that these were launched during a recessionary period. The big growth period for Microsoft in the 1990s, when they went from being big to being a giant, coincided with the early ‘90s recessionary years. They had a lot of new value to offer with their products and were not afraid to get behind them with very aggressive marketing. A current example, if you accept the premise we are currently in a recession, would be Apple, which has been very aggressive with its iPhones and is doing spectacularly well, despite some negative news about the overall economy.
Read the rest of the story here.
This is a worthwhile video about three small businesses in the NYC area, and how business is slowly getting back to normal for them.
I’ve never attended the show before, and was struck by the community that supports it. This was not like a typical Good Guys car show. Mopar (that stands for MOtor PARts, a Chrysler name) fans are fiercely loyal to their brand and their community, and by and large they are not wealthy high-rollers commissioning the construction of big buck show cars. These are hard working middle class Americans. Many of the people who showed up at the event came long distances, and are clearly stretched thin by the economy, but they came anyway.
I know the tough economic times have hurt a lot of people in this country and around the world. Some may think it trivial to focus on a big car show when thousands are losing their jobs – but I think its just the opposite. American have been sucked into the media-blitz of never ending bad news, and as a country we need to collectively lighten up. Go to a car show, attend a local game if that’s your thing.
Most of the manufacturers and retailers I know are struggling but surviving. A few are thriving. Those who have the vision to continue marketing and reaching out to the core consumers that are still spending will emerge from this mess bigger, stronger and with a broader customer base than their competitors. To quote Harvey Dent, “The night is darkest before the dawn.”
I’ve noticed my last few posts have been pretty wordy and drawn out. Sorry ’bout that.
Here’s a video we just posted on Streetfire where an old client talks about a new one.
We’ve been shooting a LOT of new video content, and hosting it on both YouTube and the car-specific video channel StreetFire.
From the MediaPost research blog:
The conclusion drawn in a new report from Merkle, “View from the Inbox,” 2009, is that Email continues to be a popular marketing communications channel in today’s challenging economic climate due to its low cost-per-contact and its ability to provide direct, measurable results. But, consumers’ attitudes and behavior regarding email continue to change.
As a result, inboxes are becoming more crowded with marketing messages and marketers are finding they must adapt to sustain gains made via their recent email marketing efforts. Permission-based, or “opt-in” email marketing, is seen as an important element in the unfolding strategies.
- Permission email accounts for about a quarter of all time spent with email, second only to its primary function of communicating with friends and family
- Just over half of all permission email recipients have added at least one company to their address book, and do so for 25% of the companies sending them email
- The biggest reasons subscribers choose to opt-out of permission email continue to be lack of relevance (cited by 75%), followed closely by sending too frequently (73%)
An inverse relationship exists between the emails that are valued by consumers pertaining directly to them such as transaction-related confirmations and account summaries and the quantities that they receive in which they are relatively less interested, such as news alerts and offers.
The main reasons subscribers choose to opt out of email programs, 75% say perceived irrelevance and 73% cite sending too frequently, are problems most commonly associated with promotional email because these can be the most intrusive.
The report concludes that the quality of a company’s email program influences brand perceptions, both negatively and positively, acknowledged by 59% of permission email recipients, while 30% of permission email recipients have stopped doing business with at least one company due to their poor email marketing practices.
So what does this mean? Something common sense already tells us but many marketers ignore:
Obey the following commandments for direct e-mail customer contact:
1. Only send messages to those who want them
2. Send interesting and informative content people will enjoy. Avoid schlock and hyberbole.
3. Don’t send emails to often, once a month is good. Once a week is bad.
Print advertising is becoming increasing less effective and more expensive. Online display ads are nearly useless except for branding purposes. Traditional PR – which involves placing stories in print and on TV – is fine if done correctly and on a budget, but only as an addendum to a vibrant social media outreach program.
Why? Because a print hit takes 90 days to reach customers and you depend on the writer to deliver your message. A Social Media campaign can be executed in real-time, and YOU control the message. The key is to craft a message people WANT to read. F
Here’s my point: over the next few weeks and months I will outline some low-cost (or even free) tips and ideas on building a Lean Marketing program. This includes Search Engine Optimization, Search Engine Marketing, Forum Community Building, Blogger Relations, basic Public Relations, Opt-In Direct E-Mail and more.
The goal will be to help you re-connect with current or former customers, attract the attention of new customers, make it easier for influencers to find you on the web and to attract as much marketshare as possible. Once the recession is over, you will have fewer competitors to contend with and if you continue to apply the same principals with more manpower and a bigger budget, business will increase exponentially.
