Tag: raquel-krouse

Top 10 reasons CES matters

Posted on by Lab Team

The Lab team is heading to the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas this week to roam the showrooms and take part in the massive gadget brain-exchange. We’ll be blogging live through the weekend–and here are 10 reasons you should stay tuned:

1. It’s like Paris’ Ready-to-Wear event of the year–but instead showcasing gadgets in Vegas. While there will be far more geeky men than hot models in pretty get-ups (I’ve already heard that a fellow digerati femme was one of only 10 women on her plane to Vegas), this is the place to look for what technologies and consumer electronics are coming down the line in ’09. THIS is the place where dreams are made, battles are won, hearts are broken. Okay, perhaps I’m pushing it. But, if you have any desire to keep abreast with technology, stay tuned (preferably here) for all the latest and greatest advances in consumer tech.

2. We might finally learn if this is the year the Internet will kill the TV star. (Check out the WSJ’s round up of reasons how it might). It likely won’t–but this year even a scaled back CES promises some amazing new solutions for watching video and TV via the Internet including two of my favorite new devices: New player ZeeVee is presenting their ZvBox which turns computers into an HDTV channel on your TV set; WhereverTV allows consumers to watch hundreds of international television shows on your television via the Internet (sign me up!)

Stay with me, I’ve got 8 more reasons CES is THE consumer event of the year: Continue reading “Top 10 reasons CES matters”

What is the future of social media in ‘09?

Posted on by Lab Team

social2009As we start the new year, I wanted to provide some thoughts on social media trends for 2009 (also check out this review of the Lab’s 2009 Digital Trends). Although some of these concepts are not new, in 2009, we’ll see increased usage and adoption by brands and consumers. Here is a look at where things are now and where we may be heading: 

Trend #1: Internal business functions get social
Social media strategies continue to get injected into business functions.  Uses include support forums, wikis and Twitter (ComcastCares) for customer service and support; gated communities and monitoring tools for market research; customer collaboration sites and community suggestion boxes for product improvement and development; internal communities for employee communications; and social strategies for employee recruitment. This is beginning to reduce transactional costs, contribute to democratized efficiency and ultimately change infrastructure. Continue reading “What is the future of social media in ‘09?”

How brands can avoid a reputation crisis

Posted on by Lab Team

iStockThis is part of our best-of 2008 series, previously featured on our newsletter, Advance. Social media offers brands the prospect of engaging in open and honest conversations with customers, and brands are embracing this opportunity by creating communities of their own. Unfortunately, negative buzz is a potential downside to these efforts. Jupiter Research found that although only 12 % of consumers post negative comments on these sites, negative UGC creators can be highly influential.

Choosing to ignore the conversation will come at a cost: Negative reviews or complaints can mean lost business. According to a London School of Economics study, just a 2% reduction in negative word of mouth boosts sales growth by 1%. Negative commentary is inevitable, so marketers may well benefit from developing a strategy to best respond to negative buzz. While there is no way to stop negative comments entirely, and it is impossible to think that a conversation in social media can be controlled, there are a few best practices that can help to protect your brand. Brands can improve their reputation by first listening, and then responding. Social media monitoring is critical to containing negative buzz. Conversation monitoring tools such as radian6 allow you to identify who is talking, listen to what they are saying, and track the spread of negative buzz. Continue reading “How brands can avoid a reputation crisis”

Social media for a social cause

Posted on by Lab Team

socialcauseSocial networking tools are facilitating social change in ways that weren’t possible before. These tools are uniting like-minded individuals and gathering support from around the world. A connected culture is demonstrating the ability to improve lives.

Facebook, YouTube and Twitter offer many opportunities to put the power of good – charity, support, awareness, etc. – in the hands of so many. Teach For America, an organization that recruits, trains and places teachers in inner-city schools, is now recruiting both teacher candidates and donors with popular YouTube videos. Facebook Causes lets members start and join causes such as cancer researcher Eric Ding’s  Facebook Cause for cancer prevention and research. The cause has over three million members and has raised over $75,000. Beyond the promotion of charitable causes and direct appeals, social media expands some truly creative opportunities to become philanthropically involved. Ebay, with its partner MissionFish, now offers the opportunity to donate a portion of auction (or “Buy It Now”) proceeds to the charity of the seller’s choice. It’s become such an effective tool that Ebay now promotes the service as a recommended selling tool. Continue reading “Social media for a social cause”

LinkedIn becomes a community, finally

Posted on by Lab Team

linkedinLinkedIn, boasting 28 million registered users in close to 150 industries, is at last doing things to incorporate community and the exchange of information within its network.

Since its launch in 2003, the professional networking site has served more as an online destination to store business contacts than a community offering value to our working lives. With the highly anticipated introduction of new social features, such as branded groups and custom applications, LinkedIn is trying to change this. At the same time, the company is offering brands a chance to engage with desirable business professionals in unique ways. Continue reading “LinkedIn becomes a community, finally”

Crowdsourcing for product improvement

Posted on by Lab Team

crowdsTraditionally, large companies depended on their internal and trusted resources for new product and service development. Today, the idea of companies outsourcing their R&D efforts to consumers has caught on. With the excess of online collaborative tools in the age of consumers as creators, companies are engaging with and listening to customers in entirely new ways. With easy access to loyal fans and eager customers, why not tap into the collective intelligence for product development?

Companies, large and small, are seeing the value of casting a broader net and are opening up the design process to the “crowd” (customers, vendors, employees, consumers, and experts). Several have launched dedicated sites with built-in community elements that allow customers to share, vote, and discuss ideas on the products and services. Anyone is invited to participate at such sites as: Continue reading “Crowdsourcing for product improvement”

To tweet – or not to tweet

Posted on by Lab Team

twitterBrands

Many who first hear about the micro-blogging communication phenomenon Twitter just don’t get it. The unfamiliar ponder the need for an update on someone’s every move in 140 characters or less: “Woke up.” “Having coffee.” “In traffic.” Etc. But Twitter is a fast-growing platform even as it faces technical challenges in maintaining growth. Apparently, Twitter users have remained patient. A Twitter tracker, Twitdir, reported on 2.1 million “twitterers” in May.

A look at who is using Twitter gives a bigger picture: Twitter is widely used by bloggers to complement their blogs, and Twitter feeds are often embedded into blogs allowing for timely updates that may not have worked well as full blog posts. Recently business applications for Twitter have begun popping up, such as political candidates posting updates from the road (40,000 followers stay connected to Barack Obama on the campaign trail). Continue reading “To tweet – or not to tweet”