FreshNetworks Blog

Image courtesy of Zen

According to The Grocer magazine, online supermarket delivery service Ocado has just reported that its Ocado ‘On The Go’  mobile app has become a major revenue stream, with sales up 600% to £66 million.

With 10,000 users registering every month and 4,000 checkouts made each day, mobile transactions via Ocado ‘On The Go’  now account for 12% of Ocado purchases.

The app is available across 20 different platforms, including on the iphone and for Android users, and it includes user-friendly options like enabling shoppers to search for products by speaking into their phones or scanning bar codes, as well as helping customers to sync  delivery slots with their mobile calendar.

A new “over the counter” service also means that an Ocado ‘On the Go’  mobile app user can specify how they would like  fresh meat and fish to be prepared, helping to bring the offline experience online.

While the stats speak for themselves, having used the app a few times myself I feel what is lacking is a better way of sorting results – it’s quite difficult to sort results by “best value” but given that the app is meant for users “On The Go” I’m not sure this is a top priority anyway.

What would be useful though is integrating social media into the app,  particularly feeding in customer recommendations and reviews to the results that are fed back from a search. Yes, the app selects products it thinks I would like which are dependant on my purchasing habits, but what it doesn’t do is show products that are recommended by consumers. Given the much quoted Nielsen statistic that 70% of online consumers trust opinions posted online by other consumers, incorporating reviews and recommendations would help to increase sales through Ocado ‘On the Go’ further, particularly since Ocado has launched its own-brand products to rival the Waitrose own branded products they stock.

Audio sharing site SoundCloud reached the milestone of five million users this week. This means that SoundCloud has gained two million members since February, showing a very impressive growth rate for the site.

We recently heard SoundCloud CEO and co-founder Alexander Ljung speak at a conference and he had some very insightful thoughts on the future of online audio. Alexander intends to “un-mute” the web and hopes for audio to overtake video in terms of impact. Some bold claims, but we can certainly hear where Alexander is coming from.

Here at FreshNetworks we think that SoundCloud is a very exciting platform that will only get bigger – here’s why:

Audio is simple and accessible to record

SoundCloud gives anyone with a microphone the ability to record direct to the web. This makes it extremely open for people to share their music, thoughts, jokes, baby noises etc. A broad range of apps offer simple recording at a computer, or on the move with a mobile, and the ability to upload audio files means that it has become very popular for musicians to share their original work, covers, remixes and more.

Sound consumption can be multi-tasked

Alexander proposed that it is possible for people to consume up to ten hours of sound media a day, opposed to four hours of video, at which point distraction sets in. There is certainly truth in this – this blog post was written while I consumed various sounds, from music, to birdsong and even to the electromagnetic waves of a camera. I could not have done the same with video, both for reasons of distraction and for the fact that it would also occupy space on my screen.

Audio can be more candid than video

The easy access to audio recording combined with the lack of visual information means that people can be more upfront and honest with their sharing of memories, thoughts and feelings. One really exciting area of SoundCloud is that it can store oral history- giving users the ability to preserve and share experiences in this way will provide historians of the future with a wealth of source material.

And the future?

At the moment SoundCloud’s content is very focused on music, due to the initial user base,  but there is a whole range of other of opportunities for individuals and organisations to use it as a tool for communication. Anything recordable is now easily shareable -  – comedy, radio shows, university lectures, debate panels and more are just the beginning…

'Wish You Were At Topshop' New York

You may’ve seen our recent campaign with high street retailer Topshop which involved using cool photo sharing app Instagram, and today Mashable announced that the 8-month-old app has hit 5 million users and almost 100 million photo uploads.

So what is behind Instagram’s growing success? It comes down to a number of reasons.

1. Social integration

Instagram has managed to add seamless social integration to Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, FourSquare, and Tumblr. And it actually works, rather than a lot of apps which apparently have integration but crash all the time or don’t pull through full contacts or information. You can even use Instagram to check in on Foursquare with a picture.

2. Instagram is a social network in its own right

As well as being able to share your Instagram photo across a variety of social networks you can also share it on Instagram itself. This, combined with the ability to “like”, comment, follow, share and interact with people through Instagram makes it a social network in its own right – you can build an entire network around your Instagram photos.

3. Simplicity

Yes, there are other photo sharing apps on the market but what makes Instagram so popular is its simplicity. As Hilel Fuld pointed out in his blog about Instagram last year, not only can you easily share your Instagram photos on Facebook or Twitter in one simple step, but Instagram also figured out that while people like to create things,  even more than that they like to show them off – this is at the heart of Instagram’s success.

4. Photo enhancement

Instagram lets you enhance your photo with up to 11 different possible effects, giving the user the option to make even the most simple picture look quirky, retro or gothic depending on your image, mood or style.

5. API and third party applications

Part of Instagram’s early success can be attributed to a still nascent but very popular API that’s  being accessed by more than 2,500 applications. Webstagram and Flipboard are among the most popular. There are a growing number of third party applications coming into the market place though, like Carousel, a desktop Mac app that has all the Instagram features but allows you to make a near perfect replication on your desktop.

Last night I was pleasantly surprised at how well Chiltern Railway are using Twitter for customer service.

Like many other commuters, my journey home was disrupted by cows! Even though it was a very unusual situation, I wasn’t too surprised as I’d already seen a tweet from the Chiltern Railway account before I had even left the FreshNetworks office.

As I already follow @chilternrailway , I immediately had all kinds of updates in the palm of my hand – relevant information on alternative travel arrangements and even news about the steps being taken to get the stranded passengers and train moving. I felt informed and was able to make my way home using the information they provided – while it was frustrating to a certain degree I was glad that Twitter was being used, even though it was well after office hours.

I also saw lots of engagement and individual questions being answered, and even received a personal apology in reply to one of my tweets about the disruption. The Twitter account was in full swing until about 1am this morning, and back with updates at the usual rush-hour time just a matter of hours later, all in a cheerful tone of voice and personality.

However, even as a social media advocate, it took me a while to learn that Chiltern Railway even had a Twitter account, which is a shame.  Chiltern Railway appear to be very pro-social, having given the Foursquare mayor of Marylebone the privilege of turning on their Christmas lights (which I’m hoping will be me this year!). Before seeing another commuter tweet Chiltern Railway, I was unaware that they were providing such a great service, and even using it for promotional messages and general announcements such as the introduction of a brand new train.

I think their execution of Twitter for customer service is excellent and it has changed my perception of them for the better. Chiltern Railway are the only train company I have available to me, and before following them on Twitter my perception of them was neutral at best – viewing them as a means to an end. Now, though, I feel much more involved and informed about the company and their service, and feel more forgiving when unexpected incidents like this one take place.

What I would suggest to Chiltern Railway is only a small thing – they could improve their promotion. They currently have about 2,000 followers and I imagine there are many many commuters like me who may use social channels but don’t know what they are missing.

A quick fix suggestion to this could be that the in-carriage scrolling LED signs on trains, giving a Welcome message, next stop and other stop information could have a simple ‘Follow @chilternrailway on Twitter for travel news and updates”, which would surely reach the eyes of thousands of smart-phone equipped commuters.

According to Warren Buffet “it takes 20 years to build a reputation and five minutes to ruin it”. With the rise of social media it feels like it can take  less than five minutes to potentially damage your online reputation. Here are five cases where social media either created or amplified a potentially damaging situation for a brand: