FSIs

Socialbakers has released its latest "Socially Devoted" figures for Q1, and the results are a mixed bag. On the one hand, the average response rate grew 6% points quarter-over-quarter to 38%, after only improving by 4% points in the preceding 6 months. But on the other hand, that means that significantly fewer than half of questions posted to brands' Twitter profiles were answered. What's more, the average response time increased by 10%, from 6 hours in Q4 2012 to more than 6-and-a-half hours in Q1. Read more »

The mobile marketing ecosystem is demonstrating rapid growth, with $6.7 billion spent by client-side marketers and retailers in 2012, according to [download page] a study commissioned by the Mobile Marketing Association (MMA) and conducted by researchers at Columbia University. That investment should grow to $10.5 billion this year before ballooning to $19.8 billion in 2015, with close to half of that ($9.2 billion) coming from mobile advertising alone. Read more »

58% of national brand advertising campaigns employed geo-precise targeting (including geo-fencing and geo-behavioral targeting) in Q1, according to a new report from xAd. That's more than double the 27% from a year earlier, as the proportion using standard geo-targeting dropped from 64% to 40%. Still, fewer advertisers used geo-precise targeting in Q1 than in Q4 2012. That's because some campaigns benefit more than others from such targeting, and Q4 saw more campaigns seeking to leverage the benefits of geo-targeting to promote their holiday and Black Friday promotions. Read more »

87% of Mass Affluents (current investors with $100,000 - $1 million in assets, excluding the value of their homes) have used social media in the past year, with about three-quarters using Facebook, half using LinkedIn, and roughly one-quarter on Twitter, per results [download page] from a study conducted by LinkedIn in partnership with Cogent Research. Almost 40% of Mass Affluents report using social media for discovery (21%) or consideration (32%) of financial companies: interestingly, they're more likely to learn about financial information through an ad or brand content than through an individual. Read more »

Consumers are increasingly turning to social media for their servicing needs, and brands are steadily becoming more responsive to their inquiries. According to Socialbakers' latest quarterly "Socially Devoted" report, brands responded to 60% of questions posed to them on Facebook during Q1, up from 55% the previous quarter, and almost double the 30% from Q2 2012. That increased responsiveness came amidst an increase in questions asked by fans. Read more »

Smartphone and tablets owners are extremely reliant on their devices when researching local products and services, per new data [download page] from xAd and Telmetrics. The second annual US Mobile Path-to-Purchase Study reveals that 46% use their device exclusively as their primary or default tool aiding their local purchase decisions, with the remainder leveraging other media sources such as the PC. Additionally, half use their device at the beginning of the research process, and one-third use their device throughout the purchase process. Read more »

Among mobile platforms, Apple's iOS leads in monetization performance on the Opera Advertising mobile platform, reports Opera [pdf] in a study covering platform activity in Q1. The iPhone regained the lead in mobile impression share after dropping behind Android in Q4, but its share of revenues fell by about 3% points, to 34.2%. The iPhone's share of revenues stayed ahead of Android, which also skidded by 3% points, to 26.7%. Read more »

Mobile payments have been common among tech-savvy consumers, according to [pdf] results from a survey from the IAB, Viggle, and InMobi. 57% of respondents to the survey reported having redeemed a coupon, code or voucher by mobile, while more than 4 in 10 have paid for digital products (such as applications and ringtones - 45%) and paid their mobile phone bill (42%) via their device. Person-to-person (P2P) payments remain scant for the time being, at 19%. Respondents were drawn from Viggle's registered users, and are both technology- and media-savvy. Read more »

Local businesses are spending more on promotions than advertising, per a recent report, and perhaps with good reason. According to recent survey results from Linkable Networks, 95% of consumers use coupons when they shop, including 30% who claim to do so every time they shop. And while the internet is turning into a prime source of coupons, inserts in the Sunday newspaper still rule the roost, with 78% of coupon users saying they typically find them there. Read more »

63% of rich media ads are viewable, finds DG MediaMind in a new report that uses analyzed data from the month of September 2012 to arrive at its conclusions. Viewable rates ranged from a high of 73% for the travel vertical to a low of 50% for the financial vertical, with CPG (68%) and B2B (67%) among the higher performers and retail (63%) right on the average. Viewability was found to (not surprisingly) impact click-through rates (CTRs): those 63% in-view had a 54.5% higher CTR than the average. Read more »