Guess How Much Each Apple Store Costs (AAPL, MSFT)

Between $8.5 and $10 million.

And that's just for the physical stores -- not including the leases, the inventory, or the site selection.

That's according to Horace Dediu at Asymco, who ran the numbers today.

He looked at Apple's spend on "leasehold improvements" over the last six years, which amounted to $1.9 billion, then divided them by the 220 stores opened. He came up with an average of $8.5 million, but it's been increasing lately, so $10 million seemed more likely.

His point: if Microsoft (or, someday, Google) wants to match Apple's footprint, it will have to spend $2 billion just to open the same type and number of stores.

But unlike Apple, which sells hardware at a heavy per-unit markup, Microsoft makes much less money per item sold in its stores, so will have a harder time recovering those costs. Maybe that's why Microsoft has been so slow to roll out its stores, although it now says it will build 75 new stores over the next three years.

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Survey Finds Lowest Increase In Employer Healthcare Costs Since 1997

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Employers' health care costs for 2012 are on pace to show the smallest annual increase in fifteen years, according to a survey by healthcare consultant Mercer.

Based on early responses from employers, Mercer predicted that the the average cost of employee health care would rise 5.2% next year, making it the smallest hike since 1997.

Much of the cost cutting comes from employers increasing deductibles and shifting employees onto lower-cost health plans. However, the survey also found that even without those cash saving measures, health care costs would still be on pace to grow at a slower rate than in previous years.

Also adding to the lower rate of increase is the fact that employees are utilizing health care services less often. According to Mercer, it's unclear as of now if that is the result of cash-strapped employees impacted by the recession opting to seek out care as regularly, or possibly the result of improved preventative measures that have preempted later, more costly medical care.

The survey is only about halfway completed, and Mercer plans to release more complete findings by the end of the year.

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It Costs $226,920 To Raise A Child -- And That Doesn't Include College

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The astronomical price of day care -- which costs more than the median annual rent payments in all 50 states -- is a major reason why raising a child to 18-years-old now costs $226,290, CNN Money reports.

Compiled by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, these numbers reveal a 40% increase from ten years ago, or about $60,000. Rising food and transportation prices also play a major role; those numbers now sit at $36,210 and $30,900, respectively.

And because the DOA considered the cost only to 18, that $226,290 doesn't include college, which often merits the lion's share of financial planning and discussion when it comes to raising children.

The cost of child care, though, jumps out from the other numbers. CNN Money spoke to a woman who spends about 30% of her $39,000 annual income on day care for two children. That's $5,850 per child per year, or $487 a month.

To confront these costs, there is the obvious recourse -- try to save -- but planning might take a back seat to the immediacy of some needs. CNN Money spoke to one financial adviser who said that, if you have to choose between college and day care for your child, choose day care.

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Social media costs businesses $65k a year. Or does it?

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Posted 16 August 2011 17:13pm by Chris Lake with 8 comments

WebTitan has built a tool that has estimated that allowing your staff to use social media would cost the average company $65k a year, according to a report on Silicon Republic.

But is this really the case? And aren’t there plenty of benefits to be had from allowing your staff to use social media in the workplace?

The tool is based on the notion that staff might spend 20 minutes a day on social networking sites. It then looks at the average salary and performs a rudimentary calculation. Obviously it was created to help sell WebTitan’s filtering software, which will block access to the likes of Facebook. But as far as I’m concerned, that isn’t a wise thing to do for a number of reasons. 

The idea that social networking always costs businesses money is entirely wrong. Econsultancy has definitely benefited from allowing staff to freely access social media platforms, and we encourage new employees to develop their own presence on sites such as Twitter.

Here’s why I think firms need to adopt a laissez-faire approach to the use of social media in the workplace…

Transforming organisational culture remains a hell of a challenge for many firms, especially the bigger ones. In a job ad I wrote recently I specifically stated that candidates should not want or need to be micromanaged. Forward-thinking companies don’t hire people to monitor their every move. They hire brainy people who are able to exceed expectations. Staff should be trusted to do their best for the company. If an employee spends hours using social media to comment on videos of kittens then surely that person isn’t right for the organisation? 

Cultivating trust is essential. What is the cost to businesses that do not trust their staff? I’d love to see some data on staff satisfaction and retention rates, with hands-off companies compared to those that impose lock-down rules. Restricting access to social media (and other) websites might actually cost you money due to a higher-than-it-might-be staff turnover rate. 

When I started to use Twitter my status updates were almost entirely related to my profession. But my Twitter account is very much a personal account and as time has elapsed I have broadened the scope of my tweets, to reflect a wider range of interests. 

This is good and bad, I guess, and is why I wanted Twitter to introduce the kind of filters that Google has created with Google+ (Circles). The point is, I’m not simply retweeting the @econsultancy Twitter feed, and because of this, my followers have also widened in scope. The reach I have is not purely linked to my role at Econsultancy. So when I share Econsultancy links they’re being pushed in front of new people who might not otherwise have been tuning in. This is one way in which we have raised awareness of our brand.

I’m not a big fan of outsourcing your social media tasks. There should be ownership and participation within the business, as I believe that your employees are pretty much your greatest asset when it comes to communicating with people (via social media platforms or any other channel). 

Questions directed at Econsultancy are answered by individuals, and not just from the @econsultancy Twitter account. This is a far more personal approach and helps people to build new connections.

What better way is there of training up your staff in the art of social media than to allow them to play around with their own Twitter account? Maybe you think it doesn’t matter, but if you’ve bought into the idea that social media might be beneficial to your business then why not encourage staff to jump in? 

Think about it: would you really want novice managing your brand’s Twitter account? Isn’t it better for them to mess around with a personal account first? When I joined Econsultancy I set up a blog, partly because I wanted to, but also because I wanted a platform for experimentation. It helped me to learn, and it ensured that I made no killer mistakes on the Econsultancy website!

I suggest that you undertake some social media training for employees. It may seem like common sense to you but not everybody is up to speed, and your brand may require different guidelines to ours. We're currently compiling a kind of house stylesheet for Twitter, much in the same way that we have one for our blog. It is intended for internal use but we may share it. We already have a very simple social media policy, and there's a more in-depth Twitter best practice guide to check out (the latter is subscriber access).

Who takes an hour for lunch these days? Who doesn’t come in early or work late when required? How many of us check and respond to work-related emails in our leisure time? Who charges their employer for this kind of thing?

I believe in a big picture approach to social media measurement, though you can also look at the detail if it helps. What’s missing is a framework for measuring the impact on the brand. This is something I’m keen to develop. Such a framework will be anchored around comparisons and correlations over time, using data from multiple channels (rather like measuring a TV ad campaign, only far more accurate!). 

Measurement approaches may be a curve ball. Rather than wondering about what social media might cost your business, you should be thinking about the costs of having a dictatorial organisational culture. I believe that your staff can play an important role in creating a bigger social media footprint, and as such you should encourage them to develop their own presence on platforms like Twitter. They will love you for it, and your brand should benefit in the long run. Staff that abuse the system were probably bad hires in the first place. Those that you can trust will become the best brand ambassadors that you can imagine.

What do you think? Is social media a cost, or an opportunity?

The Twitter for Business report is aimed at companies and individuals who are thinking of joining Twitter and want to find out more about the social platform, as well as people who are currently using Twitter and want a deeper understanding of best practice.

The 90-page document covers best practice tactics, including statistics and case studies, as well as practical tips on getting started with Twitter and how to engage with your followers. It also includes the findings of consumer research conducted by Econsultancy using Toluna QuickSurveys.

By reading our best practice guidelines, we’ll help you to get the most value from the social platform by understanding Twitter etiquette and avoiding common Twitter mistakes.

Chris Lake is Director of Innovation at Econsultancy, an entrepreneur and a long-term internet fiend. Follow him on Twitter or connect via Linkedin.

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