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May 27, 2008

Don’t fear the YouTube

I spoke at a conference last week, and one of the other speakers was asked whether her company is using social media as part of its employee communication program.

“Our CEO has a blog,” she replied. “And we thought about a YouTube-type site, but, quite frankly, we’re nervous about doing something like that.”

This is a typical reaction from my colleagues these days: Since a blog is fairly controllable, it seems like a safe way to dip your toe in the social media water. But You Tube? That’s the Wild West. Wide open. Lawless. Scary.

There’s no doubt that freedom can be risky. As evidence, check out Social Media Influence’s YouTube Corporate Top 10 list , which analyzes the most significant videos to impact top brands. Although some companies are successfully leveraging YouTube, there’s always a chance of getting stung (check out Disney’s worst nightmare, The Internet is for Porn).

Here’s the irony: It’s the edgy, subversive nature of YouTube that makes it so appealing. YouTube is the opposite of safe, boring, corporate. As a result, it gets billions of hits. According to comScore, a digital research firm, U.S. Internet users viewed 11.5 billion online videos during March, a 13 percent gain over the previous month and a 63 percent increase over March 2007. Thirty-eight percent of those views were on You Tube, with the others spread out among dozens of sites (including Fox, Yahoo! And Time Warner).

The bottom line? Unless your intranet site is getting this kind of traffic, you can’t ignore the YouTube phenomenon. (Don't fear . . .)

Posted by Alison Davis at 10:49 AM | Comments (0)

May 16, 2008

Food for thought

I love demographic information because the more you know about who you’re trying to reach, the more effectively you can communicate.

And I love behavioral data even more, because you gain even greater insights by studying what people do. After all, that old cliché rings true: Actions speak louder than words.

That’s why I collect behavioral data on topics that might, at first (or even second) glance, have nothing to do with communication. First, the data helps me think about how people are wired and what motivates them. And second, this stuff stimulates my creativity—sometimes it holds the key to solving a tough communication problem by pushing me outside my usual box.

Here’s some fascinating information about what people eat for breakfast. And, since I’m in a hungry mood, I’ll share some other food-related behavioral data with you next week.

Kid breakfast items remain constant over decades
Do your kids eat the same breakfast foods you ate when you were a child? According to a study conducted annually for the past 22 years, the chances are good that they’re eating the exact breakfast you did.

Conducted by the NPD Group, the study finds that the top 10 breakfast items for kids under age six have remained the same for decades: cold cereal, a glass of milk, and fruit juice, followed by toast, eggs, pancakes, fruit, hot cereal and bacon. The one change in today’s list is the appearance of waffles, which has pushed out fruit drinks from the list.

The list has remained constant, according to the NPD Group’s research, because mothers’ needs have also remained consistent: Stretched for time, they choose items that are quick and easy to prepare.

What do adults eat for breakfast? According to the 2006 NPD report, the list is very similar, except, of course, for the addition of coffee. (The list includes cold cereal, milk, juice, bread, etc.) But the difference between adults and kids can be summed up in one word: routine. “Familiarity” is a key reason adults choose their breakfast foods.

In other words, we eat what we do in the morning because we’ve always done it that way, stretching way back to childhood.

It makes me wonder whether familiarity and routine also play a role in employees’ communication preferences. Food for thought?

Posted by Alison Davis at 05:18 PM | Comments (1)