A recent survey of senior marketing executives by Forbes Insights and MarketShare Partners said nearly seven in ten used analytics to measure the effectiveness behind their campaign efforts.
Marketers with large budgets seemed to be significantly more likely to measure their efforts, as compared to those spending less than a million; however many planned to adopt analytics at some point in the future.
This study is interesting, however it does leave the door open for some skepticism. It’s fair to say that if I have a $1 million + budget invested in a marketing program, I am surely going to want to understand the results of my investment. But then again, if I only have a small amount of budget to invest, (and I am not saying under a $1 million dollars is at any time small), I would certainly think a company would want to have proper measurement tools in place to ensure the campaign is drawing proper exposure for the brand and meeting any set KPIs. Naturally, when your budget is even smaller, chances are you are going to become more intensely immersed in your campaign - expecting great results.
The report also focused on how measurement is approached, internal vs. external parties taking on the responsibility. A high percentage of these marketers surveyed said they relied on internal parties to take on the measurement responsibilities. I understand this from a budget perspective, but I also question the authenticity of a campaign when internal teams are relied on, as sometimes numbers can be skewed, favoritism might play a role, and lack of objective expertise might factor in the final results. Bringing in a 3rd party to enforce your campaign’s results could offer stronger, and more exact results based on the type of system used, and of course, a bit more objectivity.
In the end, the study said more executives were happier with internal measurement programs than with external entities. However, they also claimed that most of them did not have a sufficient way to share campaign results with their fellow executives because a lack of process, continuity, and orderly way to present information.
All the more reason to consider a more processed and organized system that will measure your campaign results, and ensure that you are tracking EVERYTHING within your campaign. And these are more likely to be found within a 3rd party setting.
The Pew Research Center recently fielded a study focused on the future of social relations. The research study revolved around one statement:
“In 2020, when I look at the big picture and consider my personal friendships, marriage and other relationships, I see that the internet has mostly been a positive force on my social world. And this will only grow more true in the future.”
In the end, 85% of the surveyed audience agreed with the statement, while 14% took to the other direction and saw the internet as mostly being a negative force within their social world.
Although this recent study is no way mind-blowing, or anything too shifting that causes our culture to stop and wonder, it does open up the idea of influence and just how much a catalyst the internet is for creating shifts in our daily lives. With creation, cultivation, and the expansion of social relationships – we are able to touch a number of points & places in the world that just a short time ago we had scarce interaction with.
In the Pew study, survey respondents noted that with the internet’s many social positives, also came alongside a number of negatives. Respondents noted that tools such as email and social networks are & can be used in harmful ways. In addition, it can cost valuable face-to-face relationships; where communications are hidden behind computer screens and often never reach past a shallow conversation. The internet was also tied to the idea of being a place where individuals silo themselves and limit their exposure to new ideas. Privacy was also brought up as a key indicator, however, we hear of this constantly when mentioned alongside negative connotations, and yet we see little to no drop-off in growth, so I see this as something that will always be mentioned, but often ignored.
Many people who said the internet was a positive force noted that it “costs” individuals less to communicate with each other, helping structure new relationships over more geographical territory. Some respondents suggested that there will be new “categories of relationships,” a new “art of politics,” a sort of evolution in friendships if you so desire.
And most notably, as this plays out, people are just beginning to address the ways in which nearly “frictionless,” easy-access, global communications networks will alter how reputations are created, perceived and trusted. (Think of YOUR BRAND here)*
The Lonely Internet
The virtual world that exist, connected through computers, laptops, digital devices such as mobile phones, netbooks, tablets, and so on; offer us the ability to avoid a lonely internet. Think back to when you first were online, think pre-social networks and what type of interactions you had? The internet was used as a portal for just searching information, which was in no way as robust as it is now. Social networks and the internet are another utility for supporting social life. The idea of ‘thinking’ too much about social networks and the role they play in society will eventually dissipate, similar to as the telephone did when that was a new type of communication tool (*I know, this was a very long time ago :P), and eventually was taken-for-granted. You don’t see any individuals think the telephone is an alienating force; it supports your social life. And now as social networks and internet take to life, they too will eventually be assumed a basic daily utility. You see this happening now as a recent study had a 1/3 of women 18-35 checking Facebook before they even rolled out of bed in the morning.
Human interactions are always up for debate, and we see that the internet has helped extinguish some of these differences people have had and now it acts as a communications gold mine. By closing the geographic distance between family and friends, the internet now acts as a communicative tool that can function through instant-messages and video conversations; it frees up more time for individuals, as well as cutting costs on travel and other manners of communication that may cost more. Twitter & Facebook, as inferior these tools may sound to many, provide a wide range in forms of communication, that can offer comfort & encouragement, expand a person’s worldview, filter information and offer feedback on-demand.
The internet also breaks the shyness barrier, which is often in the very beginning stage of every relationship. Think of that person you were always nervous to approach, or maybe that event or new place you wanted to venture to, be it a restaurant, a concert, a movie, a large event, maybe even sky-diving! Think personal items such as clothes or electronics – you can ‘scratch & sniff’ now without even leaving your home. Point it, research can be done on-demand, whether you are at your desk or on-the-go, and often very quickly based on your insight, as well as other recommendations. In the end, your decisions are becoming easier to make, because they are being made for you with the internet and its social utilities.
Shallow Relationships
Those often against internet and its social utilities, frequently fight the battle of face-to-face encounters. The argument is valid and does stand as a cultural issue in today’s world with users spending more time behind the computer instead of communicating with “real individuals.” This type of exposure opens the idea of social networks promoting shallow relationships, which many see as a negative force in today’s world. You might know what your 30 friends had for dinner last night, but you don’t know whether any of them might be struggling with major life issues. If we live by this point, many people will have a hundreds of acquaintances, and very few friends. (*Not sure if acquaintancebook.com is available?)
One point I do consider, is what type of impact this has for a child born in this new age of information exchange. I, as an adult, became involved in the internet and using it as a social utility; I stress as an adult. In some ways I fear what might happen to children who consume this type of information exchange so early – what type of real-life relationship might they form, and how will they function when they reach a social reality outside of a computer? Children consume video games, the internet, reading books on their parent’s iPads & Kindles, etc. The question remains should this activity be arrested and pointed out, or do we continue and allow this type of behavior because it’s becoming accepted and well known in our culture. Something I can’t really answer…can you?
Conclusion
As time moves forward though, I truly expect technological advances to continue to change and shape how social relations take place online. As we see now, both sides to the argument prove worthy cases for and against the internet evolving as a daily social utility in our lives. In the future, we can only expect a more intense display of technologies and new ways to communicate, such as holographic displays, powerful visualization decision-based tools, permanent and trusted cloud archive storehouses, even stronger semantic web tools that predict our own behaviors and act for us.
But, as the Pew Research study pointed out, while our tools are changing quickly, basic human nature will most likely adjust at a much slower pace. It’s sad, but very true.
Guess who just had a birthday - YouTube! The video channel that has established itself as the ’standard’ when it comes to watching videos online, announced there 5th birthday, and that the platform has exceeded 2 billion video views per day.
As part of its 5th Anniversary, YouTube is launching the YouTube 5 Year Channel to help celebrate its story and retell the history of YouTube and how it first began. This is all part of a larger campaign just launched, “My YouTube Story” , where users can submit their YouTube story and explain how its community has impacted their lives. Documentary filmmaker, Stephen Higgins, has been assigned the task to help pull all these moments together on the channel.
It’s quite amazing what YouTube has become. In just five years time, it has more than 2 billion video views per day, nearly 1/3 the world’s population. In addition, there is more than 24 hours of video uploaded every minute to the site, every day! Also on the YouTube 5 Year Channel, you can see an interactive timeline of the key moments in YouTube’s growth - starting at the beginning, back in 2005.
What do you think of the new achievement, has YouTube made an impact on your life?
Internet video has changed the way we consume online media, with video watching have evolved in just 5 years with YouTube, we are still going through the juvenile moments, and most marketers are still trying to grasp how to properly use video in their marketing channels.
Justin Foster, Founder and President of the Video Commerce Consortium, and
Co-Founder and VP Market Development at Liveclicker, said “any retailer that is unable to, on a product level, drive conversion rates up at least 25% through the use of video, is not implementing video effectively.”
Recently, eMarketer.com released a study that estimated 66.7% of US Internet users—147.5 million people—are watching video online each month. By 2014, that figure is forecast to rise to 77% of Internet users, or 193.1 million people. In the same period, online video advertising spending will surge from $1.4 billion to $5.2 billion.
Surely there will be quite a bit of experimentation in 2010 with online video, but if you are not currently using video in your marketing programs - there could be a wide loophole you are currently ignoring.
Foursquare – you’ve heard of it, probably even might be a member yourself. The quick-growing location-based social network is beginning to make reputable noise in the social space, and since August, traffic and user growth has soared for the new social noise maker.
According to co-founder Dennis Crowley, the platform is closing in on 500,000 individual users, with about 70% of the user base in the United States, and their international arm growing quickly – especially Tokyo, according to Crowley in an e-mail interview. These users are also checking in at an astonishing rate of 1.5 million check-ins a week.
If you are not familiar with Foursquare, the concept is simple – you sign up for an account and then you began the process of checking-in wherever you go; the majority of check-ins that are being done are through GPS-enabled mobile devices.
This social city-guide and game rewards you then for doing interesting things. The motive is to encourage people to discover new places and challenge you to explore your neighborhood in new ways. The rewards attached to this are tied to pseudo ‘badges’ a user is given for unlocking new places, times you check-in, how often, ultimately working your way to become the “Mayor” or “Deputy” of that locale.
In addition, the platform makes it very easy to connect your updates to your Twitter and Facebook profiles – seemingly synching your entire network with each update you post on Foursquare. Something that was not in place last year when Foursquare introduced themselves at the SXSW, but is working it’s way into a much more seamless process in 2010 and allows for a much higher engagement and viral distribution.
The concept is quite ingenious and despite it’s evolving stature; it is beginning to make quite the name for itself. Just in the past month, it’s been reported that Foursquare inked several major media partnership deals, including Bravo TV, Zagat, Warner Bros., HBO, the History Channel, ExploreChicago, and more.
These “branded” type of channels could be, if used and marketed properly, great engagement tools that focus around brand awareness, content sharing, and goes one step further and creates a physical presence with your brand using local stops where you instruct users to go. With the user taking part in the brand’s “game”, it allows the brand to create custom badges with Foursquare directly to keep user’s engaged and work toward further outreach goals.
Zagat @ Foursquare
Zagat’s official Foursquare page is calling the partnership “Foodie Love” and there is a custom badge to go along with taking part in the Zagat experience. The page offers people to follow Zagat and then take part and in various venues where Zagat wants users to check-in from, mainly a variety of restaurants throughout the country; check-in there, become a Zagat Foodie, and unlock the Zagat Foodie Badge. And through further engagement – Zagat is going to have a online video series on their website called “Meet the Mayor” where they will feature discussions with prominent Foursquare mayors.
Harvard @ Foursquare
The prestigious Harvard University has also partnered with Foursquare to create a channel where they list locations, experiences and ideas for students and visitors to go and check-in – taking part in the Harvard community; soon unlocking a custom Harvard Foursquare badge. Whether that helps with the admission process…I’m going to say doubtful – but hell of an engagement tool!
New York Times @ Foursquare
The NYT recently closed a deal with Foursquare and created a branded channel that is celebrating the 2010 Vancouver Olympics by sharing tips on what to see and where to go in Vancouver and Whistler. And if you check-in to two recommended venues you get to unlock the Olympics badge.
Conclusion
There is no doubt that Foursquare is growing quickly, with the focus mainly on gaining users, not revenue at the moment, according to Crowley; with now nearly 500,000 users, this number is likely to grow fast! After the Bravo TV deal was inked last month, a number of major brands, as shown above, came knocking at the door to work with Foursqaure, no doubt helping them earn some revenue. And with the ability for locales to offer up free food, drinks, discounts, coupons just for those who might become the “mayor” or “deputy” of their venue; being on Foursquare could soon become like being on Twitter…maybe? In addition, Crowley did confirm that Foursquare is working on creating actual incentives for users who garner specific badges and points in their account - not just pseudo “Mayoral” titles.
To that end, Foursquare is working on a set of services and tools, according to AdAge in early February, to begin offering paid services on a three tiers: one for small (local) businesses, one for retail chains, one for large marketers. Begin throwing these offers around, and soon Foursquare will move pass just the “engagement” level that these major brands are seeing above as far as click, follows and check-ins; and offer nailed-down analytics (impressions, clicks, friends, etc…) and deals could be sold against impressions such as web ads, clicks such as search ads, or even what Kunur Patel in AdAge said, “ a completely new model: cost per check-in.”
Foursquare TV Commercial
Update: A tweet today, February 24, from the Foursquare Twitter account said that there is a rumor that a Foursquare commercial could be running tonight on Bravo alongside the show Sheer Genius from 9 to 10 PM. The rumor quickly went to fact is going to be a 20 second spot that highlights Foursquare’s new partnership with Bravo TV. Watch the ad spot here (something I’m sure will garner a few more users…):
In 2010, the exchange between consumers and brands will in no doubt increase among new media marketing channels. Just in the first couple of months of 2010, I have already seen countless posts outlining CRM models that are stressing the point to consume ROI for Social Media and take action to begin integrating this into your brand campaigns that live within on and offline social media channels.
With so much stress to one observation of social media marketing in 2010, it’s important to make light of another key observation in the Future of Social Media blog series: The Resistance to Change Ending.
It was Benjamin Franklin who said:
“Those who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety.”
This quote, although philosophical in reasoning, is quite the pragmatic approach when applied to the idea of social media marketing. There have been countless charts and graphs that apply from reputable marketing research publications, such as eMarketer.com and 2010 Forrester Reports that point to all directions of brands shifting dollars into interactive marketing, with a focus in new (social) media – however, there is still hesitation among the masses when it comes to the decision of whether this type of marketing is a intelligent investment.
This drives me to think how and why a CMO would be hesitant to change their ways, and I believe between now and 2010 – this approach will change for the way brands who don’t consider social media or any type of new media an investment – to turn their eyes away from fear and begin shifting the paradigm. In light of this, I have come up with five reasons why it seems brands are resistant to change (this is an opinion – so I absolutely welcome comments)
Reason #1: The brand is, in general, negative or against all that is new or different.
Reason #2: The brand is not interested in change; they have other goals they want to pursue.
Reason #3: The brand does not understand the message and/or the consequences that the change will have.
Reason #4: The brand does not trust the person who communicates the initiative.
Reason #5: FEAR.
Although these reasons are somewhat built around generalities, it’s important to recognize a few practical truths. Brands have taken time to absorb social media marketing into their programs, and that will continue to be the case, however between 2008 and 2009, U.S. Marketers alone using Social Media within their programs nearly doubled in percentages – an increase likely to continue.
Just alone in ad spending within online social networks worldwide, between 2008 and what is expected by 2011; the same type of increase is likely to continue.
Just another hint to where things are headed…
In the end, a brand is afraid to change, and will never make this type of jump overnight. The five reasons above, I’m sure, point to a number of individuals you might know, or very well could be at your organization; it’s very likely. The resistance to change is led by a faithful bunch, your typical ‘old style’ leaders who oppose the new digital spectrum, but slowly are adopting to the early styles of interactive marketing, such as email marketing because he/she is forced to. They could also still rely on patchy TV & radio spots, and could be very excited buy out page five inside a dying magazine publication – this exists; it’s hard to think this is an actuality – but it truly is.
This AdWeek Media Poll shows that the 45-55+ demographic are much more in tune to purchasing newspaper/magazine ads as opposed to the younger demographic. Is this because of they are cheaper these days? Yes. Is this because they are unfamiliar and afraid to commit to the digital space, definitely YES.
I’m not saying age is the key indicator, but it certainly is a diving off point when making certain predictions that pertain to driving home this thought of resistance to change. In all reality, and I’m not screaming from the weeds here, it’s fear. In a time of economic recovery, such as what we are sifting through at the moment – FEAR; scream it from the top of your building, or as high as you could possibly reach – there is a resistance to change because of a FEAR of what might happen in changing the way your brand is marketed - I can’t be any more forthright.
Prediction: By 2012, if your brand has not already begun shifting the marketing channel to a more open, two-way communicative, “social” environment; you could very well be left in the dust, watching the grass grow over you.
Running contests or promotions on Facebook have become one of the most effective ways in building high-level engagement with your brand. Numerous companies have come up with a variety of strategies to link external social networks into their contest campaigns, and a large target in that funnel - FACEBOOK.
The new rules that Facebook released ealier this month have now set specific guidelines for any company or individual looking to run any kind of promotion or contest within Facebook. These new guidelines now require anyone to request permission from Facebook before being allowed to launch any Facebook related contest or sweepstakes. All promotions that run on Facebook must be fully located on either the canvas page of an application, or in an application box or tab on a Facebook Page.
Section 3. Administering a Promotion through the Facebook Platform
You may not administer any promotion through Facebook, except that you may administer a promotion through the Facebook Platform with our prior written approval. Such written approval may be obtained only through an account representative at Facebook. If you are already working with an account representative, please contact that representative to begin the approval process. If you do not work with an account representative, you can use this contact form to inquire about working with an account representative. If we provide you such approval, you agree to the following:
3.1 You will only administer the promotion through an application on the Facebook Platform, as directed by us.
3.2 You will only allow users to enter the promotion in the following locations on Facebook:
3.2.1 On the canvas Page of an application on the Facebook Platform.
3.2.2 On an application box in a tab on a Facebook Page.
3.3 You will include the following language in a clear and conspicuous manner adjacent to any promotion entry field: “This promotion is in no way sponsored, endorsed or administered by, or associated with, Facebook. You understand that you are providing your information to [recipient(s) of information] and not to Facebook. The information you provide will only be used for [disclose any way that you plan to use the user's information].”
3.4 You will not mention “Facebook” in the promotion’s rules except in the following ways: (i) “You can enter the Promotion through the [application name] application on the Facebook Platform. You can also find the application on the [tab name] tab on the [Page name] Page on Facebook.”; (ii) to fulfill your obligations under Section 3.7.
3.5 You will designate an individual to act as a primary contact to address any communications from us with respect to the promotion.
3.6 You must submit materials for any promotion you plan on administering through the Facebook Platform to your account representative for our review and approval at least 7 days prior to the start date of such promotion. Promotions not approved in writing within such time period will be deemed unapproved.
3.7 You will include the following provisions within your official rules for the promotion:
3.7.1 Acknowledgement that the promotion is in no way sponsored, endorsed or administered by, or associated with, Facebook.
3.7.2 Complete release for us from each entrant or participant.
3.7.3 Any questions, comments or complaints regarding the promotion will be directed to you, not us.
Basically, these new rules will now clear out the ’spam’ like contest entries that you see float through your friend’s newsfeeds, often in status updates through Facebook.
To clear up any confusion, Facebook has given users a few examples of how to apply Section 3 of the Promotion Guidelines to actual situations:
You cannot: Condition entry in the promotion upon a user providing content on Facebook, such as making a post on a profile or Page, status comment or photo upload.
You can: Use a third party application to condition entry to the promotion upon a user providing content. For example, you may administer a photo contest whereby a user uploads a photo through a third-party application to enter the contest.
You cannot: Administer a promotion that users automatically enter by becoming a fan of your Page.
You can: Only allow fans of your Page to access the tab that contains the third-party application for the promotion.
You cannot: Notify winners through Facebook, such as through Facebook messages, chat, or posts on profiles or Pages.
You can: Collect an address or email through the third-party application for the promotion in order to contact the winner by email or standard mail.
You cannot: Instruct people (in the rules or elsewhere) to sign up for a Facebook account before they enter the promotion.
You can: Instruct users to visit the third-party application to enter the promotion (as described in Section 3.4(i)). Since users must have a Facebook account in order to access an application on the Facebook Platform, if you give this instruction, they will be prompted to sign up for a Facebook account if they do not already have one.
Do you remember CNN’s live stream of the inauguration, or when TNT did a live stream webcast of the NBA All-Star Game? If you did happen to catch both of those online events at the respective websites, you would have noticed that Facebook played a large part in those particular events.
Each of these events integrated the Facebook Connect-enabled live stream widget. And now Facebook is making this available to all websites and developers who can now incorporate this technology on their sites.
This event now allows brands to consider using this Live Stream ‘Chat’ Box on their websites or applications. However, it is not only built to function around live events, but could be used simply for any reason on a website – but that is the point of it. And another great aspect of this client comes right from Facebook who said “the Live Stream Box can handle a very substantial load, supporting millions of simultaneous users.”
The one downside of the Live Stream Box is that the content posted to it will not be archived or accessible for any APIs. This client is to be utilized as a one-use chat room that can be thrown away at a later point.
However, the true benefit of this is the ability to increase the engagement level, and keep a user’s interest on your website, and increase the amount of time a user might engage on it.
The process is quite simple in how this client functions – a user comes to your site, and if they are already signed in through Facebook, they will be able to start chatting right away (if they are not, they will be asked to sign-in before taking part in the chat client), and each ‘chat message’ a user submits is posted back to their Facebook profile with a link to the website they just came from (Your Website!!). This in turn shows up on their news’ feeds, and so on – the viral propagation has begun.
Becoming a star on the Internet these days does not seem as far fetched as it once might have been. Social networks have become a ubiquitous tactic in helping connect individuals with family, friends, and strangers alike. And over the past several years, a number of those random individuals have become overnight sensations – all thanks to the Internet.
Do we all remember Tay Zonday? After his composition “Chocolate Rain” became an overnight Internet sensation in July 2007, garnering more than 40 million views to date, this Minneapolis grad student went from no one to someone, in mere seconds.
He has appeared on the Opie & Anthony Show, G4TV’s Attack of the Show!, VH1’s Best Week Ever, Lily Allen and Friends, Jimmy Kimmel Live, and Maury where he performed Chocolate Rain on national television just three months after posting his video to YouTube. He made the front page of Sunday’s Los Angeles Times, the Toronto Sun, Chicago Tribune, Star Tribune, People magazine, and even has appeared on CNN for a televised interview. He’s made appearances on Fox News, and even made it on to an episode of South Park.
And that’s just the beginning of it! Singer John Mayer mimics Zonday’s keyboard riff with his guitar in concert regularly. Even Green Day drummer Tre Cool recorded a cover of Chocolate Rain, which he posted to YouTube. He’s even been mentioned in episodes of The Office, 30 Rock and It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia.
And this is from a YouTube video, a YouTube video!? Think of it, one day a college student decided to sing some strange, yet catchy song, records it, and ends up becoming an overnight star. Comedy Central, Dr. Pepper, Intel, the rock band Weezer, NASA, Warner Brothers, and BBC have paid Zonday to appear in a variety of promotions.
Zonday is just one of many YouTube celebrities who happen to have corporate sponsors, and are paid for product placement in their videos online. Some have even quit their day jobs or changed careers to accommodate their YouTube filming schedules. And a handful of individuals are also official “YouTube Partners,” meaning YouTube cuts them a share of ad revenue.
Some might think of this notion as absolutely foolish, some might think of it as a form of humble genius – nonetheless, they are stars, overnight sensations that have proven their worth in numerous inescapable maneuvers.
Those mentioned above hold our deserved scrutiny, but they are from years past. Ergo, who shall we take notice of now in 2009? Who will be the next Tay Zonday to speak highly of? - Leaping on to the national stage and then slipping back into anonymity, this seamless performance seems to act as a contagious flu anyone might catch.
And in 2009, only can a deceased cat, a 48-year-old Scottish woman and Dominos pizza employees have so much in common. For just a brief second, we read, watched and spoke about these individuals at some point - all thanks to the Internet, and the instant-celebrity, be it a person, video or website might deliver us.
Drum Roll Please.
Here are just a few of those viral sensations that have struck 2009 in more than just simple terms: (some personal grading was also applied here based on impact)
Keyboard Cat
This sensation began with a video clip of a decade old cat appearing to play the keyboard. Add in a video-savvy 22-year-old to the mix, and marry that clip with another of a person falling down an escalator – you have stardom my friends.
This one video attracted the attention and interest of millions, including comedian Stephen Colbert. The AP reports Brad O’Farrell, syndication manager for MyDamnChannel.com in February 2009, put the keyboard cat into motion. Since that point in time, hundreds have taken the keyboard cat clip and combined it with a video clip of an embarrassing accident – the result is absolutely hysterical in some cases. The keyboard cat’s (aka Fasto, who’s said to be long dead) performance is meant to play the person “off the stage.”
This is a great example of how users can take a moment someone creates, and ‘recycle’ the content on their own to produce user-generated content that allows users to decide the hilarity behind who the keyboard cat will “play off” next. Rating: A+
Susan Boyle
If you have not heard of Susan Boyle, chances are you’ve lived in a cave for the past 6 months. Her melodramatic tale began as a 48-year-old reality show contestant for the U.K. reality TV show “Britain’s Got Talent.” When this very sweet, and very unassuming individual belted one of the finest versions of “I Dreamed a Dream” for what would eventually be the world, never did she see the stardom marching her way. Camera crews and interviews on several major news broadcasts, including the NBC Today Show – caught Boyle off-guard and soon she was thrown into a newly found fame courtesy of the Internet.
And even though this unemployed Scottish church volunteer did eventually lose the contest, the online video of her debut performance was downloaded more than 200 million times, and had the paparazzi camped outside her home, and had Oprah and Larry King begging for interviews.
Rating: B+ (Sorry, she lost…can’t give you points for that.)
25 Random Things About Me
This 2009 e-mail chain-like fad fascinated Facebook users and took them to another level. Chances are if you are on Facebook, at some point you saw this pass into your inbox. And you either loved or despised the forwarded message, reluctantly giving in or galloped to quickly toss into your trash bin. The overall point of the fad was to share 25 random things about yourself, and then forward it to 25 other Facebook users.
PC World Magazine estimated that more than 5 million motions of the chain letter forwards populated Facebook pages in just one week. The fad grew to such a massive following; a Facebook user spoofed it with a “25 Things I Hate About Facebook” video. Facebook quickly followed up with the user, Julian Smith, and worked with him on other videos.
This 2009 sensation had a prolonged spike in mainstream media, and did help Facebook further its popularity. Rating: A
Dominos Pizza Videos
In May, videos of Dominos pizza employees violated public health laws when they decided to have ‘fun’ with people’s food while preparing it and recording the entire segment on video inside the Dominos pizza kitchen.
Their antics, which eventually made it to YouTube, sparked a PR nightmare for Dominos pizza, where the company made a public apology from the CEO online via YouTube.
This drew the eyes of several million people, damaging the brand greatly overnight. But, like any other Internet sensation, these moments are short-lived, and what was once a wildfire, seems almost like it never happened.
In the end, an interesting study was done by MediaCurves.com, where they obtained American’s perceptions of the event’s apology, as it revealed that 65% of respondents who would previously visit or order Domino’s Pizza were less likely to do so after viewing a “prank” video. The results can be seen here
Rating: B-
Runners Up:
The Obama Puppy: The moment President Obama promised his daughter’s a puppy, the world had no choice but to care. Bo, the Portuguese water dog eventually made his way to the White House and the ‘online’ world went into a frenzy. Online polls, kennel associations, blogs, and users across all social platforms scratched and clawed to want to help the Obamas pick the breed. Rating: B
The AIG Bonuses: When the world found out that $165 million was paid out in bonuses by insurance giant AIG, the world fought back. Both the public and government officials were outraged by the event of a crumbling company to release bonuses of this size after receiving more than $170 billion in taxpayer funds to stay afloat. As in the case of the Dominos Pizza event, this saw a large spike, then quickly bottomed out and lost interest. Rating: B+
Conclusion.
There is one interesting point about viral sensations that strikes me, the time involved. People seem to obsess for a short period of time, and then poof…it’s off to the next ‘hot’ thing. In this tiny village we all live in, there is nowhere to hide, nowhere to run, nowhere anyone won’t find you. The Internet, in an exceptional way, has transformed our lives into ‘live’ events. We can record, we can tape, we can see what others are doing and transmit that event quicker than ever before, to a stage where the entire world can view. Some might argue this and describe our ‘personal space’ as being lost and violated – It’s hard to disagree. But, in reality, it has been, and apparently we are OK with that. There is a reason we share our lives on the Internet with both friends and strangers, why each of us try and climb the plateau and look over to see who might be looking up at us on occasions. When taking this into perspective, it’s all relative, whether your Joe the Plumber or a big brand like Microsoft – there is point to all of this madness. You want to see me, and I want to see you. We might be trying to play those subtleties off on occasion, but in the end – why fight it? Enjoy the self-absorption, swagger with the best of them and remember, narcissism will always get you somewhere in this world.
When it comes to social media marketing, what isn’t hot these days…Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, MySpace…the list keeps going. And when considering using these social branding channels, these aren’t just another set of marketing toys to play with, remember, these are your brand’s identity. And with hundreds of millions of people scouring these sites for information daily, your connection with a potential customer needs to be seamless.
One aspect of any social media campaign that should be approached is to connect the dots within your marketing channel. There are a number of brands that dive into social media with a lack of experience in launching within the space.
So, let’s put on a little scenario. Brand A has product X and creates a Facebook, Twitter and YouTube page. They take the time to pamper the process and create lasting value behind these pages, through effective videos, messaging, images, and interactive content that brings value to the brand. Excellent!
Now, next question: How are you sharing this content with your users?
Send out email blasts
Integrate the link within your email signatures
Run an online media campaign around it
Develop a PPC strategy for it
Link the channels to your blog
Integrate with direct mail, pamphlets, & brochures
But, what haven’t you done yet?
Connect the Dots.
When building a social media strategy, it is crucial to connect a brand website with external social media properties. There are simple and advanced ways to do this:
1. Place simple calls-to-action on the homepage
This allows users to have a stronger connection to any social properties. A user’s relationship with your product hinges on these particular moments. We are opening a door here by allowing users to quickly share and disseminate content across their own personal networks.
Allowing this opportunity for a user sets a clear goal for them. First, they are not confused by the ‘impostors’ that may be lurking on the web. These are the unofficial channels of a product, many of which exist. These channels have unclear and more than often, incorrect information listed - which hurts the brand’s reputation in the end.
2. Build an Online Community Channel Within a Channel
This is a bit more work, as it requires building a channel on your website that captures the true meaning of all your social networks. This could include a live twitter feed, a Flickr gallery, calls-to-action that connect your Facebook, MySpace, Blog, etc. This builds a user’s confidence about the brand, and removes any falsehoods that might exist in the social space otherwise.
By building in this access to the social properties for users, we build the relationship from a more personal connection. We’ve eliminated the falsehoods that might live within a user’s mind, and connect users with accurate and efficient channel sharing capabilities.
This stems from an idea called relationship management. Companies often think of how to effectively build awareness to their social channels, grow their fans, followers, friends, etc. This is often part of what is coined a Phase I build-out for any social media program. Included in a Phase I build-out is an integration strategy, and connecting the dots between social properties and a brand website, often done during this phase - is a must-do.
I’ve seen the mistake more than often where brands build-out social channels, but fail to harness the conversation where they already receive the most traffic - their very own website.
Please feel free to contact us if you have any questions about social media or just online marketing general.
Facebook will soon be allowing you to promote your Business (Fan) Page by using text messaging to allow users to Fan your Facebook Page - all by asking people to text the name of your page (www.facebook.com/xxxxxxxxxxxx) to 32665 (which spells ‘FBOOK’ on your phone) to become fans.
At this time, the feature is still in a beta mode, and has not yet been enabled for every Page admin yet. And another hitch in the process for Fans to successfully ‘join’ your Page, is that users need to have setup their mobile phone to receive texts from Facebook, which can be done on the settings page in your account.
Mobile Fan-ing
Even though this is not public at the moment, and is still in a beta mode, the possibilities could be endless for brands to better connect to future fans. Imagine being at a rally, concert event, a boardroom, a ballpark, and you ask people to take their phones out and send a simple message through texting via a mobile device.
Exactly.
Take that scenario inside your marketing department for a moment, and you include a prompt in brochures, commercials, websites, print ads, etc. Opening up this ‘quick’ engagement possibility for users could create a massive influx in growing your Fan count on your Page.
Going one step further, once a user is engaged with a brand through the mobile platform, users will receive a brand’s status updates via text message to their phone. After receiving the update through the phone, you can then respond and comment directly through text messaging. This process is entirely conducted by phone, without touching a computer. As this feature’s publicity grows, you can imagine what level of engagement you are able to produce!
Even though this has not gone live for everyone just yet, it will have a huge impact on the Facebook community once it does. We’ll keep you up-to-date as information becomes readily available.
