Fewer than 1 percent of website visits come directly from a social media URL according to research just released by customer satisfaction analytics experts ForeSee Results.
The company surveyed 300,000 consumers on more than 180 websites across a dozen private and public sector industries. The referring social media sites covered were not just the usual suspects like Facebook and Twitter, but over 40 sites including Flickr, Foursquare, Scribd, Stumbleupon, Meetup and Youtube.
It’s not all bad news for social media marketeers. 18 percent of site visitors (averaged across surveyed websites) report being influenced by social media to visit a website. However, there was considerable variation in the results for different companies.
The social media budgets of marketers is constantly increasing as the survey data to the right shows. Forsee Results’ research showed that the resources companies put into social media and the results they receive vary wildly. Spending more money does not automatically lead to higher numbers of visits to websites, brand awareness or sales.
Promotional emails are also sometimes neglected in favor of the more glamorous social media, in spite of the fact that such emails influence 32 percent of purchases.
Companies themselves seem a bit confused about their objectives when it comes to social media. Internet Retailer Magazine surveyed 400 U.S. companies (19 percent of them retailers) in December 2009 and January 2010. It found that 74 percent of companies wanted social media to drive traffic to their websites, while only 56 percent wanted it to increase sales. Shouldn’t it be the other way around?
Next Story: Why mobile app success is more than just download numbers Previous Story: Battle brewing at Microsoft over retail store expansion
Gionta nets 2 as Price, Canadiens blank Bruins
Carey Price returned as Montreal's starting playoff goalie with his third postseason shutout, Brian Gionta scored twice and the Canadiens opened the series with a 2-0 win over the Boston Bruins on Thursday night.
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The Late-Day Wrap: Android Billions, Coachella, Vice, Intel <b>...</b>
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Fox <b>News</b> Throughout History: Pics, Videos, Links, <b>News</b>
Fox News Throughout History: History is written by the pundits winners. As long as humans have existed, they've tried to spin historical events to shed themselves in the best light. And their enemies in the worst.
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Apple has reportedly become more aggressive in securing components from overseas suppliers, making moves such as upfront cash payments to both ensure supply and block out competitors.
Analyst Brian White with Ticonderoga Securities said in a note to investors on Thursday that Apple began "aggressively attacking" the component situation in Japan following the earthquake and tsunami that struck the country. The iPhone maker reportedly sent executives to suppliers immediately to ensure adequate supply of components, and also began offering upfront cash payments.
Separately, White's contacts in Taiwan also revealed that Apple is allegedly securing component capacity using what is known as a "three cover guarantee," referring to capacity, stock and price. Apple's move is seen as one that could potentially block out competitors and prevent them from building ample supply of devices.
The information comes as a separate report out of the Far East suggested that a one-month delay for Research in Motion's PlayBook tablet was as a result of Apple securing most of the available touch panel production capacity. The delay has forced the PlayBook to go on sale after Apple's in-demand iPad 2.
Last month, it was said that Apple could agree to price hikes in order to secure touch panel supply, particularly in the aftermath of the Japan earthquake. Apple was said to be in talks with component makers about touch panel pricing, and allegedly considered some price increases in negotiations.
In the company's last quarterly earnings call, Apple Chief Operating Officer Tim Cook revealed that Apple had invested $3.9 billion of its nearly $60 billion in cash reserves in long-term supply contracts. He declined to reveal what components Apple had put its money toward, citing competitive concerns, but said that it was a strategic move that would position the company well in the future.
Analysts largely believe that the secret investment was related to touch panel displays that are the centerpiece of devices like the iPhone and iPad. One cost breakdown estimated that such an investment could secure Apple 136 million iPhone displays, or 60 million iPad touch panels.
It's a move similar to 2005, when Apple inked a major deal with Samsung to secure longterm supply of flash memory. NAND flash would go on to become a major part of Apple's products, including the iPhone, iPad and new MacBook Air.
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One important thing about cities is their sex appeal — their magnetism. Places flourish when they attract people, resources, opportunities, and ideas, and match them to one another. Cities are much more than the built environment of roads and real estate. Cities are about relationships, and whether people have access to opportunities. Cities are one big dating game.
When cities lose their magnetism, the whole population suffers. The deterioration of Detroit began well before recent auto industry woes; its population plunge was confirmed by the latest Census. Some attribute decline to bad urban redevelopment schemes or corrupt politics that failed to improve schools or reduce crime. "A once-great American city today repels people of talent and ambition," a Wall Street Journal columnist wrote recently. A local leader told him, "It's been class warfare on steroids, and ... so many Detroiters who had the means — black and white — have fled the city."
Cleveland is another shrunken city with significant poverty. In the 1980s, Cleveland Tomorrow, a coalition of major company CEOs, sponsored downtown projects, including a new baseball stadium and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. This attracted luxury apartment developments, luring the affluent to the center city and revitalizing it. But inner city ghettoes were barely touched, and the region continued to lose high-wage manufacturing.
There's a tale of two cities within many city borders: one rich, the other very poor. Dubai, a gleaming new city of luxury high rises, is ringed by hidden slums for temporary service workers from the underclass of Asian nations. In New York, the middle class, including young families, cannot afford to live in the city. Baton Rouge has affluent areas with some of Louisiana's best quality-of-life indicators and extreme poverty areas with some of the worst. Other divides include racial and ethnic enclaves that vary in opportunities — for example, minority entrepreneurs with promising business ideas who can't access mainstream sources of capital and support.
Cities should be connectors but can have connection problems. Cities are where all parts of life come together: jobs, health, education, environmental quality. Yet, in most cities, businesses, schools, hospitals, and city services still operate in silos. And the political boundaries of cities don't encompass their true extent or the flow of people, as the Brookings' Metropolitan Policy Center points out. IBM's Smarter Cities Challenge supports efforts to use technology for connected regional solutions.
Interdependence among urban issues makes vicious cycles worse. If there is no action on high youth unemployment or poor educational quality and high school dropout rates, then too many African-American males end up in prison. High crime rates make sections of cities undesirable, and neighborhoods deteriorate. Aging buildings and toxic environments then cause health problems, such as lead poisoning or asthma, which disproportionately affect inner city children. Children in poor health have trouble learning, learning problems are associated with school dropouts, and vicious cycles continue.
Pivotal investments can start virtuous cycles. The transformation of Miami from sleepy southern city to international trade hub and informal capital of Latin America was propelled by investments in a world class airport and a flood of immigrants from Fidel Castro's Cuba. Mayors and civic leaders took advantage of this to attract new businesses and tout Latin connections, as my book World Class describes. But progress stalls if benefits don't reach the grass roots, racial divides persist, and major institutions fail to collaborate. The Miami Foundation's emerging leaders program is designed to deploy diverse younger professionals for major civic projects.
Revitalizing cities requires national urban policy investments and social innovations on the ground. Leadership might come from:
- Enlightened mayors who build public-private partnerships or join Cities of Service, which align the city and non-profits around high-impact goals.
- Business leaders, such as former Miami Herald publisher David Lawrence, who rallied Miami-Dade County to vote for a tax increase (Yes to new taxes!) to create the Children's Trust, a fund to improve life for all children.
- Faith communities, such as Rev. Raymond Jetson's community organizing toward a coalition for "A Better Baton Rouge."
- Financiers, such as Tim Ferguson and Ron Walker, who co-founded Next Street to invest in inner city businesses.
- Social entrepreneurs, such as Hubie Jones, who wants to replicate a birth-to-college educational model like the Harlem Children's Zone in Boston.
- Community foundations with a strategic perspective, seeking integrated solutions across issues such as youth employment, education, health, and green plans.
The best social innovations will connect people and institutions, producing an infrastructure for collaboration. That social infrastructure will increase the sex appeal of cities by going beyond initial attraction to build lasting relationships for lasting improvements.
“I remember vividly that first day with Dr. Jess Parker; he showed us a chart of CO2 levels increasing about the time of the industrial revolution,” says Thomas, who works for HSBC bank and participated in a 2007 Climate Champions training program. There, a personal epiphany led to a job title change — the former relationship manager for HSBC Technical Services is now group head of HSBC Technology and Services Sustainability.
Teaching employees the science behind green corporate values and how to make their workplaces sustainable isn’t just for “green” show — done right, it’s good business strategy.
“There seems to be a huge growth of interest among companies to not just keep the environmental initiatives within a subset of employees, but to make it a pervasive part of the corporate culture,” says Krista Badiane, who manages the business and environment program at the National Environmental Education Foundation. And unlike broad, mandated rules — such as carbon caps — companies that create their own initiatives take ownership and credit for sustainable changes, which may well go beyond what laws would have dictated.
By cultivating current workers’ energy-saving ideas and environmental passions, companies can save resources, energy and money as well as boost their eco-friendly reputation. The key is to help employees learn why sustainability matters — for instance, unless it’s slowed, climate change could alter global landscapes and increase natural disasters in our lifetimes. And if employees realize what’s at stake, they’ll find ways to save resources at work — as well as at home.
Worker to Citizen Scientist
His employer, HSBC bank — a global financial services company with 300,000 employees working in 8,000 offices and pre-tax profits topping $11 billion — decided to go carbon neutral in 2005. For the past three years, HSBC bank has partnered with EarthWatch Institute for an international study on climate change’s effects on tree growth, as well as a program that trains employees around the world in sustainability. When workers return to the office after their forest immersion, they find ways to integrate newly learned sustainability lessons in their spheres of influence.
Clarke and the other HSBC technology services managers from around North America — key decision-makers hand picked for the training — earn the title of Sustainability Leader. A larger two-week program trains HSBC employees from all levels — from cashier to marketing staffer — to become Climate Champions.
Such citizen science training helps corporate employees understand the mechanics of science — that systems are complex, and that there are no easy answers. “You learn what a critical state the world is actually in,” says Annette Fasolino of HSBC’s payment operations division in Buffalo, N.Y.
Having that up-close experience with scientists and ecosystems helps employees better grasp how climate change is impacting, and may impact, the world. “Many of these people go back and question their decisions, and make sure they’re making the most sustainable decisions,” says Thomas.
Cultivating the Grassroots
Some companies or groups of motivated employees organize green teams, which promote eco-friendly changes and teach colleagues sustainable alternatives. Initiatives range from banning disposable utensils in the lunchroom to redesigning an operating system to save raw materials. “Ideally, you’re getting some new ideas out of your employees,” says Deborah Fleischer, president of Green Impact, a sustainability consulting service.
Businesses also use social media sites such as Yammer — a private social network for companies — or online training to generate sustainable ideas.
Other companies dangle a carrot — awards and incentives — to get workers to make sustainable choices. Yogurt maker Stonyfield tied facility energy savings (based on energy use per ton of product) to employee bonuses. In this way, the company reduced energy use by more than 22 percent, according to a NEEF report.
To engage workers of all levels, eBay employed competition: a Big Green Idea Contest. To enter, employees identified ways the company could meet greenhouse gas reduction goals; then, employees voted on the top ideas. One idea, the eBay Box — simple, eco-friendly packaging that’s meant to be reused for eBay shipments — has become a useful tool that saves money and resources.
Unfortunately, some companies’ efforts are no more than greenwashing stunts to appear eco-friendly and keep up with their competition. Producing disposable trinkets with “green” logos or launching environmental-focused public relations initiatives while pushing pollution limits does not jive with true sustainability. The companies mentioned here, however, offer genuine solutions that leave a lighter footprint.
Two Kinds of Green
At defense contractor Lockheed Martin, a Camden, Ark., building uses a software system to control lighting and air conditioning, leading to more than $200,000 in reduced costs and savings of 2,332 metric tons of carbon dioxide annually, according to the NEEF report. And at drugmaker Genetech, green teams slashed the use of bottled water, saving the company $200,000 a year by using filtered water machines paired with reusable bottles, according to a white paper by Fleischer, “Green Teams: Engaging Employees in Sustainability.”
But benefits to a company can’t always be calculated in dollars.
“By creating an engaged employee base, we’re really putting it into hearts and minds of employees, and that’s going to be much more powerful and long-term than saying ‘you must turn off your PC,’” says Sharon Walck, senior vice president of sustainability at HSBC North America.
Investing in and teaching sustainable values to workers also boosts retention, according to NEEF, which is extremely important to large corporations. The foundation says losing and replacing a good employee can cost a company between 70 percent and 200 percent of that employee’s annual salary.
And, Badiane says, “employees who are motivated want to work for a company that has the same values.”
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Breaking tech <b>news</b>? Get email notifications as it happens. - TNW Voice
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Resident Evil Mercenaries VS. hits iOS <b>News</b> - iPhone - Page 1 <b>...</b>
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