• by Aaron Baar , December 29, 2012

Technology wielded its influence over nearly every sector of marketing, but none was of more interest to Marketing Daily readers than the world of social, which was enabled more than ever by the widespread penetration of smartphones and tablets. 

Technology has become a central point in people’s lives, illustrated by consumers’ increasing average monthly spending on cable TV, home Internet, mobile phone and digital subscriptions (including streaming video) to $166 a month, equivalent to 17% of their monthly mortgage or rent payment. Additional costs such as downloading songs, apps and other products averaged an $38 more a month. The findings, from the AICPA, suggested that spending would only increase as households added more devices. 

With the sales of devices such as smartphones and tablets taking off at higher rates, many readers were looking for ways to connect with consumers through their devices, whether through the use of QR codes (which research showed consumers were using, despite concerns about the codes’ value), social media (such as an agency creating an “I care” button for Facebook) or simply optimizing sites for the mobile operating systems these devices use. At the same time, readers were concerned (but pleased to learn) that the “mobile influence factor” of smartphones on in-store retail sales would increase those sales more than threefold over the next four years. 

The sphere of influence also caught readers’ eyes, from stories suggesting that friend recommendations carried more weight among consumers than traditional marketing messages to a piece pointing out that women’s influence on overall purchasing decisions was growing. 

But in the end, the one maxim of marketing remained: a good story will help in almost any world. A story summing up the criteria among TED’s latest “Ads worth spreading” offered proof (thanks to consumer research from ACE Metrix about the ads) that compelling stories resonate with consumers.