One month ago, my best friend introduced me to my obsessions LivingSocial, Groupon, and in just one week I purchased an annual subscription of Cosmopolitan, $20 for $40 worth of food credit at Nikki Beach and a food coupon for a local place I eat by my job called Pancheros. I actually had to limit myself to only buying 1 thing per week, because if I didn't I was certain to be in debt. I then have started to think of how incredible such a simple app can bring me into wasting over $30?All you have to do is follow 3 easy steps , making it that much more difficult to resist. They even make it extremely easy to purchase, whether on the computer or phone. Was I the only individual so hypnotized by these promotions?
My latest favorite of all these so called LivingSocial. LivingSocial is a very popular sight which just last spring alone brought in $39 million, and is expected to go into three digit figures by the end of this year. These websites focus on selling to the public unexpected deals, coupons, packages at relatively low prices for a very limited time frame.
LivingSocial want to build a sense of surprise and keep people on there toes . They study the environment depending on the area, and then create deals which will best suit the targeted areas.
Groupon, which is in the same industry, sees LivingSocial as their greatest threat. In fact, LivingSocial actually had a greater amount of traffic to their page than Groupon. Yet, we also have to understand that just because people visit the website, it doesn't necessarily mean each one of those visitors purchases a deal on the site. A lot look around, go to the page through other advertisements and even for several other reasons.
In marketing, when consumers show preference for a product, it doesn't necessarily mean they are going to go to the step of purchasing , for example a new type of cookies. In the end, what the companies whether a company selling cookies, or a service on the LivingSocial site, and completing the purchase process.
Yet although I have shown preference for LivingSocial, I still use the other sites. What also was very beneficial for me is that Bing is now incorporating both sites together, where the deals come out together, making it much easier to see the promotions. What that feature does on Bing (called Deals) is that it puts together many deals from these sites as well as several others. This will enable people to easily browse through the page and pick and choose from thousands of different offers. Not only are companies helping us find deals, but other search engines like Bing are making it extremely simple for us to look through and browse through the promotions that most interest us.
What exactly are people so enticed at about these deal sites? Is it the limited time luring in people, or the low numbers? Whatever it is, these million dollar companies seem to be doing their work well and will continue doing so with new promotions on a day to day basis!
Till we meet again!
Aileen
http://www.cosmopolitan.com/
http://www.pancheros.com/
http://www.nikkibeach.com/miami/menu.php
http://livingsocial.com/deals/how_it_works
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/g/a/2010/08/25/businessinsider-livingsocial-groupons-biggest-competitor-now-gets-more-web-traffic-than-groupon-2010-8.DTL
http://livingsocial.com/about
http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/118616/20110303/microsoft-bing-groupon-living-social-daily-deals.htm
http://www.bing.com/
Wednesday, March 30, 2011
Thursday, March 3, 2011
Have Some Extra Millions to Spare? Myspace Is Up for Sale!
Three and a half years ago, after graduating high school, I remember all my friends telling me "The cool thing to get when you are in college is Facebook". I thought that it was ridiculous.I had Myspace since 2005. Myspace was the hip, cool website. I was honestly on at least 3 times a day, just surfing through the site, hearing music, spending hours on mygirlyspace looking for backgrounds, and commenting my friends on their comment boxes. Months later, I remember just making an account. I actually didn't use the Facebook account for months. I continued using my Myspace account, when I noticed that a majority of my friends would not answer any of my comments on Myspace. Where had all my friends gone? Then I remembered, Facebook!
It took me a while to get adjusted to the whole different style, and to tell you the truth, I didn't like how boring and unpersonalized it was. I liked Myspace for its unique features which Facebook did not have. Yet, slowly but surely, I learned to love Facebook. Now, I never use Myspace. I have tried to delete Myspace a couple of times, but I didn't have the heart to . It is like that first car we have! Hurts to get rid of because of the memories. Yet, I haven't logged in to Myspace for months. I just attempted to sign on, and it has been so long that I even forgot my password. After figuring it out, I notice how it looks so different, and so much is going on , that I am lost.
Is that why Myspace is being sold today? There are so many social media websites and Myspace seems to have fallen back and not advanced and modernized it's old style. Everything, especially technology is constantly changing, new updates, versions, etc keep adapting to the likes of people. Just yesterday the new Ipad 2 was released online. This clearly is an example on how technology is changing and moving quickly to keep up with the desires of society.
Myspace might not have kept up with the latest buzz and interest of social media users. This might be one reason why Myspace is being sold. Many corporations like Zynga, who is a social networking gamer website has shown interest in purchasing the company. It is said that the match would be good for Zynga because they currently depend on Facebook for most of their gamers. Yet, the issue is that many feel Myspace is asking for too high of a price for their current stand in the social media ranking. News Corp is asking for over $100 Million . Yet, if we take a look back, Myspace was purchased by News Corp in 2005 for a whopping $580 dollars! We can use what we have learned in our accounting classes how big of a loss they will be making. Major! Yet, could Zynga or any of the other companies who are interested transform Myspace or mold it into a successful sight as it once was?To myspace advantage, they has always had multiple channels (music, games, etc), which has always been to their advantage. It has worked as a marketing tools for marketers to reach their customers or potential customers, whether it's an artist to their Fan base, or a blogger to the community. This turmoil Myspace has been facing has been going on for years. In 2009, Facebook was ranked number one sight compared to Myspace. Facebook has been on top for quite some time. Myspace has to make some sort of transition, whether with Zynga, or any other site or company, in order to get back on track.
Get to it Myspace! Tom needs some new friends soon!
Bye for now!
Aileen
People have adapted to the simple status updates Facebook and Twitter has.
Friday, February 25, 2011
Stages of Shopping Being Influenced with the latest technology trends?
A bit over 2 years ago, I recall going to my favorite clothing store Forever 21. I was interested in finding an outfit to wear for my sister's graduation. I went around the store about five times, when I then noticed a dress with only 3 of the same kind. Immediately I fell in love with it. The only problem was they were all 2 sizes too big .I was disappointed because there weren't many big Forever 21 stores in Miami. Then, my friend reminded me of something. They have all the clothing online. I got online once I got home They had it in the size i needed it! Perfect!. Luckily they had a coupon sale code posted on their website, and got the dress I wanted for 25% percent off.
I began my purchasing process with the need/ desire recognition state. I knew i needed an outfit to wear for the big event, being that at the time it was one of my main problems.
I decided that I wanted it to be a dress, preferably a bright bold color, and I wanted it from either of my favorite stores Forever 21 or Charlotte Russe. I recognized the nearest location (Dolphin Mall)., and searched and decided on a different channel (online) for my choice. This was my Need/Desire Development stage.
I then ordered it, received it, and was extremely satisfied with my purchase ( Need/Desire Fulfillment) . It was the perfect dress for the perfect night.
Everything we purchase goes through this process. Some take longer than others like car purchases, or even when deciding what food to eat when we are on an empty stomach. Many factors we are exposed to also dictate our decisions now more than ever.
One thing that I notice is that what we are exposed to usually influences our decisions. I have seen that something that interests me as well as many of my young college friends(since we are many times usually low on cash) are promotions, deals, and coupons. The latest thing that I use is mobile coupon promotions and text messages in regards to the places I most go to. For example, as mentioned before, one of my favorite stores (Charlotte Russe) sends me a couple messages a week, sometimes coupon codes, other times specials that they are having in stores during the week. This instantly catches my attention and makes me decide to consider shopping. Believe it or not, this is grabbing a hold of people and somehow reminds us of things we might have not thought about like we had before.
Although coupons have been around for quite some time, most people had to take the time to sit down and look through the newspaper ads, etc. Now, we can use them by looking online on websites, through emails and even through text messages.
Due to the fact that technology is a big part of most of our lives, people usually have their cell phones or access to internet . Many of the restaurants and places I tend to go to send me messages at least two to three times a week. Many companies are going with this because it is extremely cost efficient and they can easily convey their promotions instantly with a simple code.
Several companies like Yowza!!, as mentioned in the article,which I actually use ,are making it easy for people to share coupons with friends and have a wide array of coupons to pick from.
In my case, shopping now for me has become a matter of what store has a promotion going on. Now I know because of my constant updates. I actually have to shop for my graduation outfit soon. I have to check what store is having a big sale!
Till the next one ,
Aileen
References
http://www.forever21.com/Default.asp
http://www.charlotterusse.com/home/index.jsp
http://dolphinmall.com/
http://www.naa.org/Resources/Articles/Digital-Media-Moving-To-Mobile-Advertising-2/Digital-Media-Moving-To-Mobile-Advertising-2.aspx
http://www.pbs.org/nbr/blog/2009/10/moving_towards_mobile_coupons.html
http://www.getyowza.com/
I began my purchasing process with the need/ desire recognition state. I knew i needed an outfit to wear for the big event, being that at the time it was one of my main problems.
I decided that I wanted it to be a dress, preferably a bright bold color, and I wanted it from either of my favorite stores Forever 21 or Charlotte Russe. I recognized the nearest location (Dolphin Mall)., and searched and decided on a different channel (online) for my choice. This was my Need/Desire Development stage.
I then ordered it, received it, and was extremely satisfied with my purchase ( Need/Desire Fulfillment) . It was the perfect dress for the perfect night.
Everything we purchase goes through this process. Some take longer than others like car purchases, or even when deciding what food to eat when we are on an empty stomach. Many factors we are exposed to also dictate our decisions now more than ever.
One thing that I notice is that what we are exposed to usually influences our decisions. I have seen that something that interests me as well as many of my young college friends(since we are many times usually low on cash) are promotions, deals, and coupons. The latest thing that I use is mobile coupon promotions and text messages in regards to the places I most go to. For example, as mentioned before, one of my favorite stores (Charlotte Russe) sends me a couple messages a week, sometimes coupon codes, other times specials that they are having in stores during the week. This instantly catches my attention and makes me decide to consider shopping. Believe it or not, this is grabbing a hold of people and somehow reminds us of things we might have not thought about like we had before.
Although coupons have been around for quite some time, most people had to take the time to sit down and look through the newspaper ads, etc. Now, we can use them by looking online on websites, through emails and even through text messages.
Due to the fact that technology is a big part of most of our lives, people usually have their cell phones or access to internet . Many of the restaurants and places I tend to go to send me messages at least two to three times a week. Many companies are going with this because it is extremely cost efficient and they can easily convey their promotions instantly with a simple code.
Several companies like Yowza!!, as mentioned in the article,which I actually use ,are making it easy for people to share coupons with friends and have a wide array of coupons to pick from.
In my case, shopping now for me has become a matter of what store has a promotion going on. Now I know because of my constant updates. I actually have to shop for my graduation outfit soon. I have to check what store is having a big sale!
Till the next one ,
Aileen
References
http://www.forever21.com/Default.asp
http://www.charlotterusse.com/home/index.jsp
http://dolphinmall.com/
http://www.naa.org/Resources/Articles/Digital-Media-Moving-To-Mobile-Advertising-2/Digital-Media-Moving-To-Mobile-Advertising-2.aspx
http://www.pbs.org/nbr/blog/2009/10/moving_towards_mobile_coupons.html
http://www.getyowza.com/
Thursday, February 17, 2011
Tweet-ing & Google-ing, working hand in hand?
A couple of days ago, I found myself in a very peculiar situation, where I was out with a group of friends and they were talking about pictures on there Facebook pages that had 15 comments and 4 likes and my other friend said she had even more 23 comments and 34 likes. I had to interject and tell them how unimportant comments/ likes are, and how it really doesn't matter. It does not make you "hipper" individual, if it was just a comment, nothing more nothing less, or so I thought.
Looking into this conversation a bit further, I began looking for answers on why people have become so interested in such things. I came across an article that has 17 tips on how to get more twitter followers and tweeter friends. People have become so depended on social network and the attention as well as information it brings to them. I have come to realize that people find a sense of satisfaction with expressing there inner thoughts, beliefs, as well as designing something that represents them to the best of their abilities. As technology has continued advancing, people have adapted to using several different social networks to stay in contact with others. Others post status to speak their minds, in all sorts of ways, whether it is writing their favorite song lyric, or even writing where they are headed on a Friday night .Social media marketing and viral marketing tend to bring in lots of attention to websites such as twitter pages . For example, artists want more and more fans and individuals to visit their pages and follow them. With the artist example, they are hoping these likes and followers raise the possibility of people actually moving to the next step and maybe even downloading music and becoming true fans. Who would have thought something so simple would bring this positive effect on companies and individuals.
Social media is not being used as a mean of just communicating as it might have began as. Now, it has becoming the number one of the top marketing tool, and has become a need for companies and artists out there. Companies are really greatly on social networks to be their main and major marketing channels. These networks are also currently coming close to Google , in most useful marketing channel. Google has had dominate power in the search engine sector previous years. Yet, Facebook is sliding right by and catching up to that. The intense power of the social network on even the Google website proves this to us. Google is using a Social Search, that includes things included on your friend's twitter such as related information they have provided like videos and links. They have had the social search since 2009, but now with this new feature, people will be seeing a much integration of their social media with the search engine. You have to be signed on in order for tweets, uploads, and links to be included on searches. This is including Twitter, not Facebook since Facebook is a much more complex system to search and choose information to share.
The next time I hear people talking about how many likes Lady Gaga has, which by the way as of right not 11:38 pm is 28,478,180, I am not going to push my old opinion on how I felt it was not important. Instead, I am going to think about how people are becoming exposed to her videos in the push of a button, and finding out her tour dates, and maybe listening to her music for the first time; this is creating new leads for her industry, who may become future prospects and long term followers of her music.
Till next time, its my time to go spend time on my favorite social network, Facebook!
Aileen
http://www.facebook.com/ladygaga?v=wall
http://www.seroundtable.com/archives/023302.html
http://www.digitaltrends.com/social-media/google-boosts-social-search-by-giving-friends-posts-higher-page-priority/
http://www.businessnewsdaily.com/facebook-leads-the-surge-against-search-engine-marketing-0997/
http://socialmediatoday.com/pammoore/271077/17-tips-get-more-twitter-followers-and-tweeter-friends
Looking into this conversation a bit further, I began looking for answers on why people have become so interested in such things. I came across an article that has 17 tips on how to get more twitter followers and tweeter friends. People have become so depended on social network and the attention as well as information it brings to them. I have come to realize that people find a sense of satisfaction with expressing there inner thoughts, beliefs, as well as designing something that represents them to the best of their abilities. As technology has continued advancing, people have adapted to using several different social networks to stay in contact with others. Others post status to speak their minds, in all sorts of ways, whether it is writing their favorite song lyric, or even writing where they are headed on a Friday night .Social media marketing and viral marketing tend to bring in lots of attention to websites such as twitter pages . For example, artists want more and more fans and individuals to visit their pages and follow them. With the artist example, they are hoping these likes and followers raise the possibility of people actually moving to the next step and maybe even downloading music and becoming true fans. Who would have thought something so simple would bring this positive effect on companies and individuals.
Social media is not being used as a mean of just communicating as it might have began as. Now, it has becoming the number one of the top marketing tool, and has become a need for companies and artists out there. Companies are really greatly on social networks to be their main and major marketing channels. These networks are also currently coming close to Google , in most useful marketing channel. Google has had dominate power in the search engine sector previous years. Yet, Facebook is sliding right by and catching up to that. The intense power of the social network on even the Google website proves this to us. Google is using a Social Search, that includes things included on your friend's twitter such as related information they have provided like videos and links. They have had the social search since 2009, but now with this new feature, people will be seeing a much integration of their social media with the search engine. You have to be signed on in order for tweets, uploads, and links to be included on searches. This is including Twitter, not Facebook since Facebook is a much more complex system to search and choose information to share.
The next time I hear people talking about how many likes Lady Gaga has, which by the way as of right not 11:38 pm is 28,478,180, I am not going to push my old opinion on how I felt it was not important. Instead, I am going to think about how people are becoming exposed to her videos in the push of a button, and finding out her tour dates, and maybe listening to her music for the first time; this is creating new leads for her industry, who may become future prospects and long term followers of her music.
Till next time, its my time to go spend time on my favorite social network, Facebook!
Aileen
http://www.facebook.com/ladygaga?v=wall
http://www.seroundtable.com/archives/023302.html
http://www.digitaltrends.com/social-media/google-boosts-social-search-by-giving-friends-posts-higher-page-priority/
http://www.businessnewsdaily.com/facebook-leads-the-surge-against-search-engine-marketing-0997/
http://socialmediatoday.com/pammoore/271077/17-tips-get-more-twitter-followers-and-tweeter-friends
Thursday, February 10, 2011
NFC: The new must have feature?
Have you ever found yourself buying something, and then a week or two later, the product makers release that product, but with a million new features? It definitely has happened to me. I remember buying the second generation Nano, and then three months later, a new completely different style with different features came out. That was a day too late for me to exchange my almost new Ipod for the different, updated version.
Technology in society today has been growing at a great speed. New gadgets are constantly being created and even redesigned to keep people up with new concepts and updates. So much technology at times seems to be overwhelming, with the many features that sometimes many of us, including myself don't even know how to use. One thing for sure is that they are keeping us consumers on our toes. When we think a product can't get any better, companies show us that definitely is not the case.
For example, the new Apple Ipad 2 , which is being produced and created at the time, has some new features and others that still have not been mentioned. Other products such as smartphones are carrying new features and benefits, like the Google Nexus S phone contains. The Nexus S has new, specially featured technology, called the Near-Field Communications (NFC). With this new feature, customers purchasing a product/products can easily get their smartphone, and slide the handset over the counter and have easily made a transaction; it doesn't matter whether they are buying a pack of gum to go on a date or if they are purchasing a Technology for Dummies book at their local bookstore; it works! Tens of thousands of stores have already decided to accept this new form of payment. Many products are being created and have been adapted to add this feature in order to be first to use the payment form.
Interestingly, a major company which is known as Orange company, a mobile service company wants this feature to be carried on Apple products. Can you imagine going to the grocery store and paying with your Ipad, or Iphone? Hopefully one of those "unmentioned" features the Ipad 2 is going to carry will be the NFC technological feature. That sure would be nice, don't you think? The customer value incorporated in the facilitation of not having to carry more than your phone seems extremely beneficial.
Yet, we must remember we live in a society where fraudulent transactions on bank accounts and credit cards is not very surprising. That is the major concern for most who are interested in the NFC feature. The new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau should take into account the same protection features credit cards have and debit cards have when fraudulent charges are made. I know that if I accidentally "misplace" my cell phone, I don't want to be held liable for purchases made that weren't mine. I know the feeling, having had $ 400 worth of fraudulent charges from multiple locations including Best Buy, BP Gasoline, and Victoria Secret days ago. I am a regular college student, who makes it day by day with pennies at a time. I can only imagine a NFC product without any safety features! I would prefer sticking to credit/ debit cards if I wouldn't be reimbursed my money. The innovation of a safety feature seems highly satisfying when consumers decide to use the feature in the upcoming future.
Until next time,
Aileen Valido
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