“A record 46 million seniors live in the United States today, and older Americans – those age 65 and older – now account for 15% of the overall U.S. population. By 2050, 22% of Americans will be 65 and older, according to U.S. Census Bureau projections. At the same time America is graying, recent Pew Research Center surveys find that seniors are also moving towards more digitally connected lives. Around four-in-ten (42%) of the adults ages 65 and older now report owning smartphones, up from just 18% in 2013. Internet use and home broadband adoption among this group have also risen substantially. Today, 67% of U.S. seniors use the internet – a 55-percentage-point increase in just under two decades. And for the first time, half of older Americans now have broadband at home.”
The first chart below shows how the usage of digital technology among seniors has grown by device/platform. The second chart indicates how Internet use by seniors varies by demographic factors.
Last week, we posted about “Are You Always “On”? Living in a Connected World.” (1, 2, 3) As we noted, whether we are referring to companies’ behavior on social media or to our own efforts on social media, care must always be taken — and bad/inappropriate behavior avoided.
“Plenty of brands are doubling down on social snark [an attitude or expression of mocking irreverence and sarcasm] and reaping the benefits of more media visibility. But does this correlate to sales? To understand how brand personality impacts purchasing decisions, Sprout Social surveyed 1,000 consumers on which traits they want brands to demonstrate on social and what action specific brand responses such as humor or friendliness prompt.”
“The limelight most often falls on big brands with big social personalities, but what’s in it for the rest of us? While 75% of consumers believe there’s value in brands exhibiting humor on social, only 36% are willing to purchase from brands they believe are funny. And those brands have to bring it, because funny can quickly slide into annoying if not fresh, relevant, and interesting. That’s a big problem when 50% of consumers say they would unfollow a brand that annoyed them on social and 23% would walk away from your brand completely by vowing to never buy you again. Ouch.”
“We surveyed 1,000 consumers and 500 marketers to find out how video is making an impact in today’s golden age of video. How are consumers watching? And what are marketers doing to reach viewers? Here are some highlights:
64% of consumers say watching a marketing video on Facebook has influenced a purchase decision in the last month.
92% of marketers make videos with assets they already have.
81% of marketers are optimizing their social videos for mobile viewership, including 39% that are creating square and/or vertical videos.
Marketers feel the most confident about reaching customers with video on Facebook and YouTube. Consumers are still viewing on these platforms, but are also starting to expand the platforms where they’re watching branded video content. The top three channels they’re watching videos from brands are Facebook, Instagram Stories, and Snapchat.”
The competition among TV service, Internet, and cellphone service providers is more intense than ever — especially with the discount cellphone service pricing from T-Mobile and Sprint. Both AT&T and Verizon have seen this competition hit their bottom lines.
As a result, AT&T has just signed up celebrity Mark Wahlberg to headline video commercials that encompass all of the services that AT&T offers. Will this “all in one” campaign succeed?
Here is is a 90-second ad that AT&T uploaded to YouTube on April 24, 2017.
No matter how well the campaign does, Mark Wahlberg will do VERY well!!! 🙂
After its recent public relations nightmare, when it forcibly removed a passenger from a seat due to overbooking (overloading) and dragged him from his seat, you would think that United Airlines would have learned its lesson. Social media and TV reports skewered United for its actions. Just this one video received more than 3.6 million views in a single week after the incident.
As a result of the continuing social media barrage — and after several PR missteps, United’s CEO finally issued a more consumer-oriented message to the public.As reported by Brandon Morse for THE BLAZE:
“United CEO Oscar Munoz has stated that in light of the recent deplaning debacle [on April 9, 2017], United Airlines will no longer use police to remove passengers from planes. In an interview with Good Morning America, Munoz stated that he felt ‘ashamed’ over how passenger David Dao was forcibly removed from the flight, and promised to review his company’s passenger removal policy. According to United spokesperson Maddie King, the passengers who witnessed the incident of flight 3411 will be reimbursed for the price of their ticket [if they sign a waiver against suing]. This news comes on the heels of the announcement that two more officers that were involved in the incident have been put on leave.”
“That is not who our family at United is,” Munoz said. “This will never happen again on a United flight. That’s my promise.” In the future, law enforcement will not be involved in removing a “booked, paid, seated passenger,” Munoz said. “We can’t do that.”
So did CEO Munoz really mean what he said? You decide! On April 15, 2017, less than one week after the above incident, United removed two passengers on the way to their wedding. NPR’s Doreen McCallister reports that: “A couple flying to Costa Rica for their wedding were removed from a United Airlines flight in Houston on Saturday. The incident happened nearly a week after a video showing a passenger being dragged off a Chicago-to-Louisville flight went viral. Michael Hohl and Amber Maxwell are scheduled to get married on Thursday.“
Here’s a video clip from USA Today on this latest incident.
More!! The parodies of United Airlines are brutal. Here’s one example (recorded before the wedding couple incident).
“In order to effectively leverage social media analytics in your organization, you need to implement repeatable processes that will enable you to consistently improve results. You also need to have the tools in place that make social intelligence possible. This is why we came up with the 4-step framework called ‘The Tower Implementation Framework for Social Media Analytics’ which details the critical steps to building a social media analytics practice in your company. The framework is brought to you by RazorSocial and Talkwalker, both recognized as international leaders in their respective fields. RazorSocial is known for its expertise in marketing technology, and Talkwalker has built a powerful social media analytics platform.”
Click here to learn more. And click on the infographic for a larger version of it.
