Open up your mind and say, ahh...

SOMEWHERE OVER MONTANA — I’m sitting aboard a Boeing 737-800 burning a biofuel blend, en route to Washington, D.C. It’s the first of what Alaska Airlines says will be 75 flights made with biofuel during the next month.

Perhaps the most exciting part of the flight is that it isn’t that exciting. The 20 percent biofuel blend fueling the turbofan engines burns just like conventional jet fuel. It’s no different for the pilots or the passengers, for whom it’s just another flight to D.C. And for Alaska Airlines, the ho-hum nature of the flight is one of the big points the company is trying to make.

There have been many biofuel demonstration flights during the past few years, with everything from fighter jets to 747s burning the stuff. But they’ve typically been demonstration flights without passengers. That’s changing as airlines begin regularly scheduled flights. Lufthansa has flown several flights in Europe using a biofuel blend, and United Airlines made a biofuel passenger flight Monday, a first for a domestic carrier.

But Alaska is taking a bigger step into alt-fuels with a plan to make 75 biofuel-powered flights this month. The company wanted to go beyond demonstration flights to show the fuel can be used right now, without any issues or challenges. The biofuel is produced by Dynamic Fuels in Louisiana using feedstock derived from used cooking oil and the byproducts from meat production. The biofuel meets the exact same standards as normal jet fuel.

“It’s chemically indistinguishable from Jet A,” Alaska Airlines VP Keith Loveless said at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport before the flight departed. “It’s just the feedstock that differs.”

If you were to throw a dart at Google+, it would be more than twice as likely to land on a man’s profile as a woman’s profile. Although the social network, according to recent estimates, has improved its gender ratio since it first launched, men still drastically outnumber women.

SocialStatistics and FindPeopleOnPlus, third-party sites that gather data from about select Google+ profiles, both report that about 68% of Google+ users are Male. In July, they estimated that the percentage of male users was 87% and 74% respectfully.

This improvement, however, is partly due to a change Google+ made in mid July that allows users to pass on the option to state whether they are male or female. And even if the option to keep gender private made no dent in gender ratio, Google+ still has a long way to go before men and women are represented equally in its circles.

The most obvious factor in women’s relatively small presence on Google+ is that the new social network has attracted a largely technology-focused crowd. On the almost two million profiles tracked by FindPeopleOnPlus, two of the top five most popular occupations listed (excluding “student) — software engineer and software developer — are computer science related. The top employers listed in the same profiles are IBM and Google. While technology is not the only topic of conversation on Google+, it is enough so to have persuaded The New York Times to announce that it would use its Google+ page to post technology related news (it has since expanded to other news as well).

“This network has shown itself to be a place that encourages deep conversation,” wrote the paper in its first post on Google+, “and from what we’ve observed so far, many of you are passionate and smart consumers of technology.”

Women earn only 17 to 18 percent of the bachelor’s degrees in engineering and computer science, according to the New York Times, and it makes sense that a network with a disproportional number of technology professionals does not include equal numbers of men and women.

Women may not dominate computer science demographic, but they do use social networks such as Twitter and Facebook more then men, according to a study from Pingdom that is based on Google Ad Planner data.

Google+ ads and marketing have focused a lot on women, suggesting that Google has hopes that more of them will eventually take to its platform. But given the lopsided gender ratio in tech, the social network is unlikely to attract more women without also becoming more mainstream.

On Monday, Google+ introduced brand pages, which allowed businesses and media outlets to join for the first time. The presence of brands and news outlets has the potential to round out the conversation to new topics — could it also help even out the gender ratio?

 

Apple’s voice assistant Siri will remain exclusive to the iPhone 4S, Apple has confirmed.

In an answer to an inquiry from the developer Michael Steeber, asking about a possible special Siri-enabled iOS build for iPod touch and iPhone 4 owners, Apple responded with a resounding “no”.

“Siri only works on iPhone 4S and we currently have no plans to support older devices,” wrote Apple’s representative in the answer.

It’s hardly a surprise: Siri is one of the most recognizable features of the iPhone 4S, and although it could work on the iPhone 4, too, Apple probably wants to give iPhone 4S buyers a little extra something for their money.

Of course, Apple can change its mind in the future, but for now it seems that only iPhone 4S owners will enjoy the benefits of chatting with their phone.

I’ve had an interesting experience repeat itself lately, and then repeat again, and again. In several occasions lately, I’ve bothered to click a QR code (one of those nifty 3D barcodes like the one you see above), and this effort has redirected me to a non-mobile-formatted web page. This is a missed opportunity.

Mobile Marketing Isn’t a QR Code

While working with Tim Hayden, I’ve come to learn just how powerful mobile marketing can be. He and I have spoken a bunch over the last many years, and more formally (in a business capacity) in recent years, and there’s so much more that could be done for your business when it comes to how people interact with you via their mobile devices. The nuances and opportunities are vast, and the ability to drive off the path and crash your would-be customer into the bushes of a loss are almost equally big.

First, if you have a QR code pointing to a non-mobile-friendly URL, what’s your hope? If you deliver someone to a page that requires they squint, scroll, and otherwise manipulate content in an uncomfortable way, that’s the first experience that person will have with your company. Second, if you are simply using QR codes to redirect people to a URL, you’re missing a lot of opportunities for prospecting, for data delivery, for better service of the customer.

Tim has worked on projects like a QR code that delivers different recipes or food suggestions to go with a certain wine, broken down by region, such that folks in Boston might see a New England Clam Chowder recommendation and people in San Antonio might see a Firehouse Chili recipe. Depending on the systems you have in place, you can do a lot of really interesting work for your prospect that goes well beyond sending someone to your site.

And That’s Just the Start

Ask the person responsible for web sites at your company how much of your traffic is coming from mobile browsers. (If they can’t answer that question, reconsider your web management technology, and/or the person in charge of telling you that answer). If you’re like most companies, that number is up significantly and climbing. What do people want for holiday gifts this year? Smart phones, tablet computers, and thinner laptops. Where do you want them to point those devices? Towards your business.

If you’ve not built out your mobile marketing, that’s something to consider budgeting for in 2012, and now would be the time to start working on it. Tim and I and the team at Human Business Works would be happy to talk with you about that, to see what you could be doing to convert more sales via your mobile channel.

Oh, and if you’re reading this post via a smart phone or a tablet, I’m happy to see you, too. Thanks for reading.

To celebrate the release of my new book, The End of Business as Usual, I recently hosted a discussion on behalf of Vocus on how businesses should rethink a marketing-driven social media approach by not just engaging, but activating a market-driven strategy defined by smarter, more meaningful engagement.

More than 1,000 people attended the event and while I tried to answer every question, many were left unaddressed because of time constraints. This post tackles some of the recurring questions we received on Twitter.

Q1: Whenever I hear about strategies, or when I present myself, I always get the feeling that Lewis Carroll said it best: “Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?” “That depends a good deal on where you want to get to,” said the Cat. “I don’t much care where…” said Alice. “Then it doesn’t matter which way you go,” said the Cat.

This particular question is unique in how it was presented, but it also reflects the sentiment of so many others who attended the event as well as those I work with every day.

I believe that businesses approach social media with the genuine intention of wanting to engage; however, many miss the tenets and dynamics of what makes social media, well…social. For example, social media is already siloed within most organizations today. The top three departments that “own” social media are marketing, marketing communications, and public relations respectively. When you study day-to-day programs, it’s clear that campaigns, contents, and conversations offer the semblance of engagement, but really add up to nothing more than meaningless platitudes.

Much of new media is just that: new. But businesses are diving into social media without a clear vision, mission or purpose. They are not thinking about the experience they wish to design, the emotions they desire to evoke, the click paths of those they engage, or the outcomes they seek.

In the absence of direction, think about engagement as an opportunity to close existing gaps between an organization and its stakeholders. To get these answers requires research, discourse, and intuition. Without answers or insights, what is this really about? It must mean more than simply creating social presences.

Q2: Are we no longer supposed to speak WITH an audience? What happened to interaction?

Interaction, conversations and responses contribute to dialogue and two-way engagement. Intention counts for everything here, but at the same time, engagement is measured by the sum of actions and words. If you study the nature of dialogue that’s taking place without you today, the ability to learn from existing activity inspires engagement strategies and content programs that deliver value. Some ask questions. Others need help or direction. Certain groups seek affinity or simply entertainment. The reality is that social media can cater to all of the above and more, yet strategies are limited in scope with value measured by soft metrics such as the number of Likes, comments, followers, retweets, views, etc. Engagement is not measured this way and anyone who tells you differently is wrong. I just can’t say it any other way.

Engagement is defined as the interaction between a consumer or stakeholder and an organization. It is measured – here’s the important part – as the take-away value, sentiment and actions that follow the exchange. Without definition, where will they go, what will they feel, what will they do or say?

Your job as a change agent is to create content so compelling that you empower others to ENGAGE, SHARE and TAKE ACTION. To put it simply, that A.R.T. of social media is in the actions, reactions and transactions you can shape and steer. This is why we are no longer merely engaging with an audience, but instead a sophisticated and connected audience with an audience of audiences.

Conversations and interaction is useful. But there’s a gap between what stakeholders or consumers expect and what businesses deliver against today in social media. Don’t just mind the gap – bridge the gap!

Q3: What is the marketing potential for Tumblr? Are consumers escaping the corporate feel of Facebook and Twitter?

Let me first say this, Tumblr is a unique network that is often misunderstood or underestimated by businesses. In terms of social media, Tumblr is third on the list of total minutes spent in social networks and blogs behind Facebook and Blogger according to Nielsen.  Perhaps I should also point out that Twitter is in a not-so-close fourth position.

Tumblr is a hybrid social network and microblog community rich with its own culture. Some businesses look at Tumblr as an opportunity to further syndicate media in a one-to-many approach. For example, a post on Facebook is often published to Twitter and also Tumblr. Yet, Tumblr demands something new, dedicated and introduced within the culture code established by its fervent user-base. As it is also a social network, Tumblr requires more than just content publishing to successfully engage: it requires bona fide engagement outside of your page to cultivate relationships and a community.

Q4: Your social media examples seem skewed to B2C. What are the best practices for B2B?

Social media is not relegated to any industry. The benefits of smarter engagement know no bounds. However, smarter engagement, regardless of market or industry, requires research and an understanding of how people find and share information and also how they influence and are influenced by their peers. You’ll find that with B2B, information, direction, insights around challenges and opportunities, are bound by shared experiences. What’s different of course, are the networks and the nature of the interaction. Depending on the nature of the business, the top networks are usually not Facebook and Twitter – instead, they’re blogs, YouTube, and LinkedIn.

Companies focused on solutions for other businesses find that participating in conversations for the sake of conversations carry little value. Instead, delivering value or insights based on real-world challenges or questions helps decision makers make decisions.

For example, Indium, a global solder supplier specializing in solder products and solder paste for electronics assembly materials, studies how prospects search for solutions based on keywords. Rather than manipulate search results to send people to Web pages, the company invests in useful content to match keyword searches with value-added original content. The result? The company experienced a 600% spike in leads over the course of six months.

If you add video to the equation, there’s a reason that Youtube is the second largest search engine next to Google. People are using similar keywords to find results based on a video narrative. The question is, what are your customers and prospects searching for and what’s turning up in their results?

The social media revolution has given way to a new era of consumerism and consumer influence. As a result, the era of business as usual is over. As customers grow more confident and vocal, organizations are either listening and responding or turning towards the inevitable path of digital Darwinism – the evolution of consumer behavior when society and technology evolve faster than the ability to adapt. Meanwhile, fast-moving challengers are making huge gains through smart, meaningful customer engagement.

This is your time to lead, not follow.

Image Credit: Shutterstock

HP CEO Meg Whitman has told employees that the company still hasn’t decided what to do with webOS, the mobile operating system it gained from its acquisition of Palm.

On Tuesday, Whitman held an all-hands meeting of HP employees to deliver the “news” that the company will be making its decision on webOS in the next few weeks. If HP decides to keep the division, she claims that the company is “going to do it in a very significant way over a multi-year period,” reports The Verge. A source confirms that HP didn’t announce a decision at the meeting.

HP acquired Palm for $1.2 billion last year in an attempt to become more relevant in an increasingly mobile world. The company doubled down on its investment with the HP TouchPad and the Palm Pre 3. However, both devices underperformed and former HP CEO Léo Apotheker decided to shut down the division.

After a series of missteps, Apotheker was forced out and replaced with former eBay CEO Meg Whitman, who quickly announced that the company would reevaluate the decision of whether to sell webOS.

The meeting seems designed to buy HP more time to shop Palm’s assets around. If HP can find a suitor that is willing to pay the price it wants, then the company will sell the division. If nobody is willing to do that, then Whitman seems to be prepared to give webOS and the TouchPad a second chance. She told employees at the meeting that the company would focus on tablets instead of smartphones if it decides to keep webOS.

The car wash rarely lives up to the enthusiastic disco hit that Rose Royce once dedicated to it. It’s time consuming and inconvenient. But now — like groceries, car service and random tasks — it can be sent to you with the click of a smartphone.

Startup Cherry.com launched a new service on Tuesday that lets drivers to park, check-in (on its website or with an app), and have their car washed while they’re away.

“Believe it or not there’s a lot of technology involved,” says CEO and Co-Founder Travis VanderZanden, who was the first employee at Yammer.

About 20 cleaners that the company has hired in the San Francisco area have their own version of the iPhone app that they use to update their locations. When a customer requests a cleaning, Cherry.com’s software automatically locates a Cherry employee nearby who can make the trip, and gives the customer an estimated arrival time.

The customer also gets text messages when the the washer arrives and leaves.

 

Kobo, the creator of the Kobo ereader, has been bought by Japanese ecommerce firm Rakuten for $315 million.

Toronto-based Kobo produces a series of affordable ereader devices. In May, it announced a touchscreen ereader. In September, the Borders-backed company unveiled a new mobile app that lets you see who is reading with you. It also unveiled a feature called Kobo Pulse that adds social activity to the page level.

“We share a common vision of creating a content experience that is both global and social,” Kobo CEO Michael Serbinis said in a statement. “Rakuten is already one of the world’s largest e-commerce platforms, while Kobo is the most social ebook service on the market and one of the world’s largest eBook stores with over 2.5 million titles.”

Ratuken is an interesting owner for Kobo and its ereader. It is one of Japan’s biggest ecommerce companies with more than 70 million users. The conglomerate also has assets in travel, securities, media and payments. Buy.com (U.S.), Tradoria (Germany) and Lekutian (China) are some of its better-known international properties. Ratuken is also the owner of a professional baseball team, the Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles.

Ratuken says that it will work to bring Kobo to more customers more quickly through its ecommerce channels. Naturally, it faces stiff challengers in the form of the Amazon Kindle and the new Barnes & Noble Nook.

Amazon recently came out with a tablet, the Kindle Fire, while Barnes & Noble unveiled the Nook tablet earlier this week.