You tube is the second largest search engine behind Google. And it really isn’t a search engine. It is a social sharing side.

Here are some amazing numbers.

 - It has been projected that mobile devices will overtake desktops by 2015

- Mobile is the fastest growing industry… EVER

- Mobile app industry is expected to grow 1000% to 58 billion by 2015

Trends from 2011 for Mobile Apps

Mobile app developers realize a couple of trends reached important turning points in 2011, and indicate a potential for considerable sales increases in 2012.
The first trend was the the shift from all laptop and desktop computers to mobile devices. In 2011, for the first time ever, sales of mobile devices outpaced computers. Increases in mobile devices means increased demand for mobile apps, which brings us to our second trend -
People are spending more time in mobile apps than Internet browsers. For example, instead of opening a Browser window to access Facebook, people used apps on their mobile devices. As the graph shows, as of June,people spent 74 minutes a day in Internet browsers, and 81 minutes per day in mobile apps. The number of minutes spent in apps nearly doubled from the previous year, from 43 to 81 minutes.
As these trends continue, people will be looking for mobile apps that entertain, organize, and keep them connected with their friends and family.

Unprecedented spending among 19.7 MM US college market

SANTA CLARA, Calif., Oct. 5, 2011 /PRNewswire/ — Today’s college students are now key decision makers for purchasing everyday items, spending almost $500 monthly on food, clothing, gas, travel, entertainment and personal care, according to “Under the Cover with College Students,” a survey released today by leading social education platform, Chegg.

Also revealed in the study, students remain under major financial pressure and are always looking for a good deal. Chegg’s survey uncovered today’s college students are concerned about the economy and their job prospects. Eighty-six percent are hopeful that the economy will turn around before they graduate, but are prepared to enter a difficult job market. Fifty-seven percent are working at least part time to make ends meet.

“There is no prototypical college student today – as examples, one third live at home and 15 percent are married, but one thing is consistent – they are savvy shoppers,” said Elizabeth Harz, Vice President of Brand Partnerships. “Chegg understands that students are searching for low prices on the brands they love. And now, they’re influencing their parents’ and friends’ purchases, both online and off.”

These survey results highlight a growing need for marketers to talk to students about what matters to them most – saving money while meeting their needs for the newest products and services available. College students are plugged in and paying attention to what brands are trying to sell them (20 percent more likely to favor authentic brands and 31 percent more likely to value brands that are environmentally conscious when compared to the general online population).

On a daily basis, only 44 percent of college students are watching live network TV (vs. 71 percent of the general online population). They also found that college students spend twice the amount of time online than watching TV. When online, students are constantly connecting with one another through the following:

* 81 percent visit a social network daily
* 38 percent watch online video daily
* 43 percent have purchased a smart phone in the last year

“College students are digitally and mobile savvy,” said Michele Madansky, Ph.D., research consultant. “They want to not only hear from brands, but also create a dialogue with them on their medium of choice. And they appreciate brands that express the same values that they hold dear – from openness and authenticity to environmental issues and a good sense of humor.”

Chegg has transformed from a textbook rental company to a social education platform and a service that students use year round to save time, money and get smarter. Chegg reaches as many as 30 percent of college students nationwide and is growing daily.

Chegg helps brands connect with students throughout their education lifecycle from high school through college to their first job. These opportunities include sampling programs, a national music tour, digital marketing and Chegg Deals, a national and regional deals program targeted specifically at college students.

This research has real implications for how companies approach the college market. Chegg President and CEO, Dan Rosensweig, and Vice President of Brand Partnerships, Elizabeth Harz, will share these findings at an Advertising Week keynote taking place in New York City on October 5, 2011.

Methodology

Chegg conducted eight friendship groups with college students in the Bay Area and Columbus, Ohio, and in-depth interviews with 32 incoming college freshmen from around the country. Chegg also hired Synovate to conduct 940 online surveys among a representative sample of college students ages 18-24 and Americans 18 years of age or older. They surveyed 434 college students aged 18-24 and 506 adults 18+ from Synovate’s online panel in September 2011.

About Chegg

Chegg, the social education platform, is transforming the way millions of students learn by connecting them to the people and tools needed to succeed before, during and after college. High schools students and college students on over 7,000 campuses nationwide use Chegg 365 days a year for: Homework help, Course selection, Note taking, Textbook and e-textbook rentals, Chegg Deals, scholarships and college recruitment. As a part of the company’s philanthropic efforts, Chegg is dedicated to its Chegg For Good program, which aims to inspire, support, and encourage our students to make positive changes through causes focused on education, the environment, and their own communities. Since its founding in 2007, Chegg’s growth has made it one of Silicon Valley’s most successful start-ups. From starting as a purely textbook rental company to evolving into the education network, Chegg is disrupting (and enhancing) education for millions of students. For more information, visit www.chegg.com/.

SOURCE Chegg

Video Marketing gives business the power to brand and market themselves online.

Video allows you to present a powerful visual message to the right viewer in the most effective way.

Using video small businesses can Create a more personal connection while engaging their customers.

Videos online are the most effective at calling people to action and getting them to pick up the phone and call or enter their information so you can connect with them.

Why do video marketing?

You tube is #3 site behind Google and Facebook

Over 10.7 billion videos are viewed online every month. The trend is only going to grow with movie and seminar distribution growing rapidly.

137.4 million people are watching videos online in US alone.

10.3 % increase in number of viewers
13.2% increase in avg. length
11.8% increase in # of videos streamed online
More people are watching longer videos more often

Generate leads and traffic-your videos may begin to rank highly in the search very quickly bring more traffic and links

Build relationships this will set you apart from your competition as you become more “real” to your customers.

videos will skyrocket conversions.

43% of all searches on Google are related to searches for local services or

businesses – (comScore Networks).

• 97% of consumers use the Internet to find and research products or

services in their local area – (The Kelsey Group).

• 82% of people performing an online local search follow-up via an online

inquiry, phone call or visit to an offline local business. This means these

searchers decide which local business to spend their money at by the

businesses they find on the Internet – (Local Marketing Source).

Quick bit of info. What is SEO? Search engine optimization, where website owners hope to influence search results in their favor. What is Personalized search? Its where search engines like google (mainly google), are tailoring results based on browsing habits, and what your friends are tweeting, liking on facebook, or sharing on google +1. SEO has been something for debate over the ages – is it really effective? Is it really something that we can influence? For a long time I believed that it could be influenced, especially 5 years ago, but less and less during recent times. Many people, all over the world, have hailed themselves as SEO guru’s, and the biggest shakeup of that is about to occur, or many of them will find themselves obsolete…

Introducing, Social Search… ta da!!

This isn’t new, in fact if your a Google user its something that you’ve probably seen cropping up in your every day searches – results which your friends have also shared on Twitter, and more recently, your friends who have +1′d something interesting. This is influencing results. Don’t believe me? This is pretty easy to confirm, find a good and trusted friend (if you have one), Google a keyword you believe you rank well for whilst signed in to Google, and get your friend to do the same and compare the results. They will be similar, but with key differences.

SEO Experts often don’t know what social media is…

Unlike myself (with a full head of hair), many SEO experts/gurus are aging, they are from the age of H1 tags, HTML (1.0) and are even sometimes a bit senile, simply by asking them about Twitter, Facebook or Google +1 will often result in a puzzled face, followed by “what’s that?”. But more importantly for you, website owner, is what it means for you. It’s the end of being able to manipulate google results based on just playing the algorithm alone.

Content is not King – Good Content is King

Real People are something I despise (being a social recluse), but now essential to improve your search engine rankings – probably for the better too. Now you just can’t churn out keyword heavy articles, your actually going to have to churn out content that people will read too!! I know – amazing, people have to actually like it…. otherwise you know what, they wont +1 it, tweet it, or like it on their facebook wall. But now you need to make sure your site is social search optimization ready…(that”s a new phrase I just coined SSO). So if your a wordpress blog consider:

Always tweeting your own posts when they come out
Always facebook liking your own posts.
Install free plugins like “Digg Digg”
Encourage your lovely user base to Re-tweet your content and like your fan page.
Optimize the positioning of your like, tweet, +1 buttons for maximum clicks. The end of the article is pretty rubbish ok…
Page rank

I think page rank is something that has been dwindling in importance for years anyway, and I think social search is the final nail in the coffin too. Sure page rank will probably always exist, but I think its just a minor ranking factor, one that shouldn’t be obsessed about either… Things may change to be not ‘What is your site page rank?’, but more ‘How many twitter followers and Facebook fans do you have?’.

Social Sources VS Search Engines (Traffic Referrals)

This is another change in the wind too, many, not all, depending on your industry, are finding that social media is actually a better traffic source than search engines anyway, with some sites getting more traffic from Facebook than Google, this is certainly true for brand new sites, which often take time to gain traction with Search engines, can be an overnight hit due to social media Re-tweets, or like campaigns – pretty cheaply too (often even free). One has to wonder if some will actually even ignore SEO altogether, and focus on social optimization instead, but time will tell. One thing is for certain is that Search engines are starting to play catch up, Google Plus, and +1 are obvious signs of this, though Google has been unsuccessful in the past with failures like Google Buzz, Orkut (though popular in Spain), and even to some extent the recently discontinued Google Wave – maybe 4th time is a charm.

Thanks to Alan Hamlyn Co founder of Social Media Today

Google has implemented a new social media tool available from Webmaster Central called +1. It is reported that they are looking for viral aspects similar to the “Like” button on Facebook. Notice I said similar. Like Like would Valley Girl “like” Here is a video from Google: