According to a new Online Measurement and Strategy Report, “companies are typically failing to adopt a coherent strategy that ties in web analytics data with business objectives - just 18% of surveyed firms do so.” Apparently, organizations are “under-investing in internal analytics staff and failing to implement a coherent measurement strategy which can help them turn their data into something of real value to their business.”

Approximately 700 companies took part in the survey, including 434 client-side companies and 229 supplier-side respondents (constituting agencies, consultancies and analytics vendors).

Although 88% of companies polled said that web analytics are important for measuring traffic to websites, cost and resources were seen as the greatest hindrance to effective data analysis. 48% of organizations do not have any dedicated web analysts.

For anyone who participates online, whether via blogs, social networks and even instant messenger, having some form of a history log is helpful to gain a better understanding of past trends and possibly predict the future. Sure, there are some frustrations with current web analytics offerings, but as we continue to live in an increasing hyper-digital world, effective measurement and targeting will become a necessity.

For more information about Burson-Marsteller’s evidence-based approach and strategic analysis offerings, see our Strategic Development section on www.bm.com.

Ipos MediaCT released an interesting report: The Business Elite Study. It essentially says that more and more C-Suite professionals are using digital media to get their fix of information.  According to Ipos MediaCT, the report “explores the media habits, attitudes, opinions, and business and personal purchasing habits of the highest echelon of America’s business community - the C-Suite.”

Of all the findings ranging from top websites visited to the internet being one of the main sources for business news, two in particular stood out:

• In a month’s time, more than two-thirds of the C-levels surveyed (68%) have downloaded videos or clips from websites or received email newsletters/alerts on their computers.  About half (49%) have streamed or watched broadband videos from websites on their computers. (I wonder what the percentage of c-levels is that have downloaded videos or clips from websites only is)

• They are into blogs too—almost one-third (30%) read blogs and a small number (4%) contribute to blogs.

As the C-levels become more digitally savvy so will their businesses, as well as the conversations they will be having internally and externally.

There are a lot of different studies that measure technology use and impact. At Burson-Marsteller we have our own e-fluentials series which we’ll be talking more about soon as we have some new studies coming out. In the meantime, however, check out the Typology Groups quiz from the Pew Internet & American Life Project. You answer a few questions about the devices you own and the type of activities you participate in online, and then get a ranking on your typology group. The options start from the bottom with those that are “off the network” which Pew indicates is 15% of the population. These are the folks living in caves with no Internet, no mobile phone, and a heavy reliance on traditional media. At the top of the spectrum are “omnivores” which are 8% of the population. These folks are wired to the max and go beyond accessing information online to truly participating and expressing themselves. Of course, there are all sorts of options in between. It would be interesting to have insights on the collective influence of each group on the others, but the quiz itself was interesting too.

What is your typology group, and what does it mean for how you communicate?

Burson-Marsteller’s global CEO, Mark Penn, recently published a book titled Microtrends. The book details the small trends that are generating big change in America. Early buzz from clients and media is very positive. I am fascinated by this thinking, and am especially interested in the implications for digital communications. Given how online communications make the world a smaller place it will be especially interesting to identify personal microtrends. Have a look at the Web site, and send a chapter to a friend.  It will be interesting to discuss which microtrends we all find most interesting.

A new survey released by Synovate eNation demonstrates that 8 in 10 Americans know what a blog is and that nearly half have visited a blog.

You’d have to live under a rock in today’s 24/7 media environment to not know what a blog is, and I’d bet that the number who have visited blogs is actually higher. Reading about this study made me think of a client meeting last year. The CEO of a company was asking for digital guidance, but told me he was tired of hearing about blogs and didn’t want to discuss them. About three slides into the presentation I took a glance at his computer screen and was surprised to see a blog on the monitor. I asked him what the site was and he replied, “oh, it is just some guy, he writes every day about current events and politics and is really entertaining. His is the first site I visit every morning.” That was quite the gotcha moment. (And yes, we did discuss blogs after that!)

Anyway, the more important issue really is content. Given user search habits, the delivery mechanism is not at important. What matters is that companies have a push / pull strategy to participating in online conversations. Users access all sorts of web content based on search engine results, including proactive client blogs, microsites, consumer-generated content, and rick-media materials. The key is to have consistent messaging, relevant to targeted groups, in numerous places and formats, that can all be confirmed on a corporate website. And, companies need to recognize that consumers are no longer interested in receiving directive marketing messages, but are quite open to having marketing conversations with companies who are willing to dialogue in a genuine fashion.

Blogs can no longer be considered “emerging media,” especially if 8 in 10 Americans know what they are. And companies can no longer ignore blogs as a significant component of an overall communications strategy.

I had two clients and a colleague write to me over the past ten days about a recent Online Publishers Association study. Two of the three thought they had a “gotcha” moment, challenging some of the usual “internet is changing everything” stump speech that we like to give. The study indicates that “web users now spend half their time with content, far outpacing timing spent with search, communications and e-commerce.” The study was a four-year analysis of the Internet Activity Index which ranks time spent conducting various online activities.

I have no doubt, and the study concedes, that some logical factors would indicate such a shift. Faster connections enable functional tasks to be completed more quickly. New content sources that are more interesting than just the written word, i.e. video, music, animation, may hold user interest longer. And, there is a heck of a lot of content out there to get through.

All that said, I think the study misses one key point. Creating content, in and of itself, is a form of communicating. Consumer-generated content takes many forms - video, discussion forums, chats, blogs, social networking sites, personal web pages, comments on blogs, and so on. Communicating, at least to me, is the art of listening first, and responding second. Listening online is generally absorbing content, and the return communication or response is often the creation of new content. So, the study is exactly right. Consumers are spending a lot more time absorbing content, but I bet they are communicating a lot more than the statistics in this study would have you believe.