TAG | brand
*This is the first of a two-part series on social media platforms.
The key to navigating the ever-growing world of social media is to divide and conquer. With three main types of social media platforms- those that help you network, the ones that help you promote, and those that help you share- ease of navigation is a necessity.
A platform that allows you to network, like Facebook or LinkedIn, is the most commonly used. Whether you’re interested in getting back in touch with an old flame or making new contacts in the business world, using a social networking site is the easiest way to do so.
Promoting platforms, like YouTube or personal blogs, allow you to do just that: promote. Oftentimes, it isn’t even clear what someone is promoting; personal-style blogs, for example, seem to be promoting nothing more than daily outfits. Upon closer look, however, many of these blogs feature the latest fashions, both in clothing form and through ads, and bloggers can be compensated, whether with money or gifts of clothing, etc.
Lastly, we have platforms that allow you to share, like Digg and Delicious. These platforms operate through closely-knit communities that are not easy to infiltrate. Try to get voted up on Digg and you’ll realize instantly that it takes months of interaction with other users to build up the trust needed to share within the community
If you’re a networker and you like sites like Twitter and LinkedIn, check out Quora. This platform is a sort of best-of the Q&A platform format; a combination of LinkedIn Answers or Yahoo Answers with the look, feel and simplicity of Twitter.
Also check out Color. The platform uses location-based services like GPS to allow users to share the photos on their handsets with people—both strangers and friends—nearby (within a 150-foot radius of a user). Users can also create albums and social groups for photos from a specific event, and can also comment on photos and shoot video.
If you like YouTube and WordPress, try Instagram. This is heaven for tech-junkies and social networking addicts. Snap a photo with your iPhone and then edit the photo as you like, choosing a filter to transform the look and feel. Then, send to Facebook, Twitter or Flickr – it’s photo sharing, reinvented.
If you like sites like Delicious because you enjoy the thrill of sharing sites with like-minded web users, try a social shopping experience in 2011. Sites like Svpply and Polyvore allow users to create inspiration boards, generate user feedback, and ultimately, mimic a real-time shopping experience, minus the long lines and annoying interactions.
Next week, we’ll discuss some more business-oriented social platforms, like Wildfire and Buddy Media.
In our last blog, we discussed social media success stories and what it takes to run a successful social media campaign. For every great social media campaign, however, there are multiple failures. Whether this is due to poor use of assets, a marketing screw up, misuse of celebrity or a lack of fan interaction, we can learn as much from these disappointments as we can from the well-executed promotions.
This year’s Academy Awards made well documented use of social media; specifically, host James Franco joined Twitter in early February and was a pro-tweeter by the time the show went live. He live-tweeted behind-the-scenes moments that let viewers feel like celebrities, and he took a video while walking out on stage and then streamed it to his fans. Twitter peaked just after the Oscars’ open with approximately 10,000 tweets/minute— 1.8 million overall. This was social media at its best.
At its worst? This is 2011, and the only way the actual awards show integrated social media was through James Franco. Most of the effort was made by him, and while his tweets and backstage glimpses were fun and successful, imagine the difference that would have been made if this had been incorporated by the Academy itself.
Another social media flop: Fashion brand Cheap Monday has a plethora of social media assets, but only a few of them appear to be functioning. Tip: If you’re going to offer your fans social media outlets to explore, make sure they work. No one wants to check out pre-written tweets that consist of only a URL, or blindly search for a Facebook page that is named something different than your brand (in this case, the brand is “Cheap Monday” and the page is under “Cheap Mondays.” This difference may seem negligible, but under a Facebook search, this could be detrimental).
Although dated, Ad Age described a classic social media fail: The Chevy Tahoe campaign of 2006, run by GM. The campaign was meant to tie in to the television show The Apprentice, and it allowed regular folks at home to create their own Chevy Tahoe ads. The higher-ups at the company failed to anticipate the negative reaction they’d receive to their gas-guzzling car at a time of climbing oil prices and the war in Iraq. They were met with harsh language and unbridled anger, and while GM denied their social media fail, the company went into bankruptcy a few years later.
Among some of last year’s losing social media moves were: Starbucks’ social media nightmare in Hungary, Dr. Pepper’s status-takeover campaign on Facebook , Kenneth Cole’s off-color remarks about Egypt , and CVS_Cares’ locked twitter account More snafus here.
In the world of social media, especially since internet users are more savvy and aware than ever before, every move is noticed and scrutinized. Here are some ways to avoid making some of these gaffes:
- Adapt to your social media environment: Take Twitter for example. Don’t over-intellectualize; you have 140 characters, so get to the point with short words and great content.
- Understand ROI: The more you pay, the better the…payoff will be. Yes, you will have to pay for marketing even in social media; get rid of the mindset that all social media marketing is free marketing.
- Engage with your audience: These are the people who will make your campaign a success or a failure, and you have the chance to interact with them, to answer their questions, to ask them for feedback. Make use of that.
- Get Formal: Social media is less formal than traditional media in some aspects, but that does not mean this isn’t still business. Treat your social media assets professionally.
- Get Exciting: Bland social media is the worst; you will depress your audience and lose them. Plan ahead, hire a dynamic community manager and make an effort.
More moves to avoid here. And remember, without failure, success wouldn’t shine so brightly.
It’s February, and that means that most (if not all) social media experts have already released their predictions for the social media landscape of 2011. Social media is an interesting field in that the rapidly changing dynamic is truly what defines it; without the quick turnover and fast-paced edits we’ve grown accustomed to, social media would become stagnant.
True to form, 2011 is expected to feature some big changes and some powerful emerging trends. Since almost everyone in the blogosphere has released their version of 2011’s Emerging Trends, we thought we’d make it easy and act as a filter, picking the best ones and summing them up.
Expansion: This is a given, but the companies that pioneered corporate use of social media are bound to integrate social media further into their business plans. It’s not exactly breaking news, but expect to see large companies like Starbucks taking social media to the forefront of their business plans, especially in terms of global marketing.
Location-Based Services: Foursquare’s major appeal in 2010 was based on its ability to produce interactions with people and places on the go. In 2011, Facebook is positioned to take location-based services one step further, with advanced data and planning that will make the application not only fun, but business-savvy. Expect Facebook to surpass other social networks, including Foursquare, when it comes to location-based services.
Social Media Overload: Social media experts, who use their networks for work-related activity and on a constant, daily basis, are already used to the overload that comes with owning and using multiple profiles. 2011 may bring this phenomenon onto “regular” social media users, who will feel overwhelmed by the availability of so many networks. To tweet or to Facebook or to maintain your gchat contacts or build a Foursquare profile? Incidentally, this excess should bring about a positive change: More platforms like Hootsuite will be developed, in order to provide users with an integrated and simplified social graph. 2011 will be the year of social media organization.
Google Returns to the Top: Okay, so Google wasn’t really able to succeed in creating their own network- take a look at Buzz, for example . Google’s skill lays in indexing, and already, Google’s algorithm has become smarter about Twitter data than…Twitter itself. Search for old tweets in Google just by typing in a few words, and you’ll be able to locate old gems. Ultimately, Google should be able to take advantage of the social web by indexing any and all social data they can get their hands on.
The Informed Consumer: Mobile devices and social networks are joining together to make the consumer more powerful than ever. With access to discounts, coupons and targeted offers at all hours of the day, consumers can make more informed decisions. The ability to compare and contrast different brands even at the point of purchase, whether during online shopping or even at the cashier in the store, will force retailers to step it up. Expect to see more instant mobile coupons, online group discounts, and flash sales.
Integration: In 2011, technologies like mobile, geo-location, RFID, tablets, and Internet-enabled appliances will allow for sharper communication and a merging of experiences. Already, GoogleTV and Samsung are bringing internet apps to television. Department stores are experimenting with the virtual shopping experience; recently, Macy’s launched a dressing room experience that lets shoppers find clothes on an iPad and then try them on virtually. The shopper can even ask for feedback from their friends and family in real-time and check out the view using an augmented-reality mirror. By texting, e-mailing, and using other social networks, the consumer will be able to experience what mimics, and even surpasses, an in-store shopping experience. TMI meets virtual shopping- what could go wrong?
Ultimately, 2011’s success will be determined by just how far these emerging trends are developed, and just how these developments flourish. It comes down to usability, which is what social media is based on anyway. It will be an exciting year in the world of social media, for sure.
The modern mom: She is educated, nurturing, career and family oriented and today, she’s a business powerhouse. She values brands like Target and Ikea, which are family-oriented and proud of it; places that fulfill all of her needs in one space. The modern mom is a powerful consumer; she knows what she wants, and she knows that there are plenty of places where she can get it.
Family dynamics have certainly changed in the past few decades; no need to watch Mad Men to confirm this. The 1950’s dad-as-dictator framework has collapsed, and today we’ve even surpassed the 90’s model of mom and dad ruling together. In 2011, households are democracies; kids, mom, and dad all have a say, but mom is more powerful than ever. Mothers today have higher salaries and many are college educated. They are more involved mothers and ultimately, more informed consumers.
“I wish every product were like the iPod,” one mom said in a recent survey. “It is the one thing in the house that means as much to me as it does to my daughter…we share music. I can’t imagine sharing music with my parents when I was a kid.”
Mommy bloggers, as they’re called, have taken over the web. These women are a powerful force in the blogosphere, often peppering their sites with coupons that fit the needs of the thousands of other moms who scour their sites daily. With topics ranging from pregnancy, parenting and motherhood to household tips, these blogs are relevant, targeted, and successful.
So successful, in fact, that a new wave of “daddy bloggers” is now attempting to catch up. It’ll be tough, however, to catch up in this race, as mom bloggers take on roles varying from that of Entrpreuner Mom to Tech Mom to Photographer Mom. Hardly anyone, especially in the online world, is just “Mom” anymore. In 2011, brands will continue to frequently court these powerful bloggers, no longer dismissing them as bored, stay-at-home moms. Aware that women make 85 percent of consumer purchasing decisions, major brands do not take lightly the fact that 23 million women read, write or comment on blogs weekly. The power of the mom blogger can no longer be disputed.
Pepsi, Wal-mart, and ConAgra are just a few of the companies that have formed relationships with them. On the negative side, just last year, mommy bloggers encouraged drama which included a Nestle boycott, dissatisfaction with Air Canada, vilification of corn syrup, and outrage at Amazon’s choice to sell a book about pedophiles, among other issues.
The Pepsi Mommy Blogger case study is an interesting one; Pepsi has been working on an image makeover and has therefore reached out to mothers, playing up the importance of their Tropicana, Quaker and Dole brands, which currently only make up 18% of total revenue. Pepsi appeared at the 2010 BlogHer conference, and is sponsoring the 2011 Social Media Week, during which it will unveil its Women’s Inspiration Network (WIN). By covering topics that would be of interest to females, and more specifically, to mothers, Pepsi is hoping to corner the Mom market and gain from their influence. These “feminine” topics include the environment, sustainability, health, and stories of inspirational women.
It’s safe to say, then, that the stereotype of the Mommy Blogger has gone out the window. In the blogosphere and elsewhere, these women have power. Mommy bloggers have realized this power, hosting meetings and conferences frequently.
Also read 2011 Predictions for Mommy Bloggers and about Some up-and-coming Mom Bloggers.
This new era of marketing renders Mad Men-style agencies obsolete and pushes social media to the forefront. As social media continues to evolve, however, most strategists wonder one thing: How is social media ROI measured? According to Social Media Examiner, this is the number one question asked by experts in the field.
Over the years, those involved in social media have continued to attempt to redefine ROI, wondering if it was even necessary in this field. The lack of tools for analyzing made quantifying results near impossible, and this lack of standards for ROI also made it difficult to “sell” social media campaigns and tactics to executives and companies.
This year, however, social media has grown immensely in terms of ROI. While case studies are nothing new, they prove invaluable for social media ROI, extending to B2C and B2B, small and large businesses, for-profit and non-companies. Case studies can prove ROI as determined by sales, shorter sales cycles, new leads, improved company operations, and better business innovations.
Take the example of Burberry, a high-end fashion chain that initially seems impervious to social media’s “of the people” approach to building fan bases and ultimately, business. The company’s “Art of the Trench” campaign, however, capitalized on the recent trend in blogs that feature street-style photography.
While many designers and retailers had already taken their businesses to Twitter, Burberry was the first major fashion company to create a social media empire of its own. Burberry’s facebook page received 7.5 million views and with over 1 million fans, the company’s same store sales increased by ten percent after the campaign.
For a company that has been selling the same thing and marketing the same “look” for years, this was surely a coup. They had no new product to sell and were advertising the same trench coat that made them famous decades ago. Through the use of a social networking fashion blog via facebook, Burberry drew in a new demographic and a new generations of shoppers, simply by making use of what made facebook cool: They allowed their fans to “like” items, leave comments, and “share” photos, ultimately making their consumers feel powerful and drawing them in.
ROI in this case is undeniable, as shown by the company’s growth over the last year.
Social media has become part of our life. Today, pretty much everyone is using some form of it. Every local store, cafe, club and event has a Facebook page. Every brand has a Twitter account and every white paper ever written has been turned into a SlideShare presentation, for some self-proclaimed thought leader in a Linkedin group to share.
In this completely connected, totally viral, absolutely transparent, geo-targeted, digital world we live and work in… you have to be social. But how do you justify the time and expense it takes to maintain that presence?
Now that social media has passed the point of “why do I need it” to “what do I do with it” the quest to determine the ROI of social media has become more complex.
Since you are asking people to put numeric quantities around human interactions and conversations, which are difficult to quantify, trying to determine the exact return on your investment is not easy and in the long run, may not a good idea. To really understand the impact of social media and social technology on an event, promotion, brand awareness or even product sales, people need to measure the “ROE” … return on engagement.
At Medial Needle, we have been finding valuable “returns” manifesting themselves in ways not always anticipated at the onset as a result of our marketing efforts. More and more, we’ve come to see these unexpected fruits and proverbial rewards only appear because social media was strategically integrated into a marketing agenda.
For example, Media Needle recently executed a food campaign outreach program. While servicing a very small, archaic and insular cooking listserv, we uncovered a hive of influential webmasters; each with robust email lists and social media profiles. So what at first appeared initially to be a seemingly insignificant target community mushroomed into one of the campaigns top case studies. Clearly social media bears the markings of what we once more readily called “viral marketing”. Another campaign had us establish a quality dialog with a key target community. Despite a lull in activity on the client’s end, we maintained the relationship. Six months later, the two partnered successfully for a robust promotion. Anticipating these in conventional ROI terms, especially at the onset of the campaigns would have been impossible.
Thinking about social media in terms of a simple bottom line number puts the whole thing on an old school path of problems and risks, missing great opportunities. Essentially, you have to stop relying solely on the numbers. With social media the trick is to focus on what your numbers end up leading to. ROI is an effect of quality ROE.
If your goal is to participate in the conversation, to enhance your relationship with your audience and become a trusted member of the community that surrounds your brand; then your ROE has been set into motion. Once you’ve paved this foundation, the more conventional ROI models of sales, registrations, new followers and fans etc. will begin to kick-in, proving the benefits of a well-engaged social media agenda versus a dry and uninspired one.
Finally, ROE like everything else social media related, has a variety of definitions. Here are two good ones: We wish to cite Jason Falls’ here http://www.socialmediaexplorer.com/2008/10/28/what-is-the-roi-for-social-media/
Sarah Evans’ different but complimentary tome here: http://prsarahevans.com/2009/05/15-ways-to-measure-return-on-engagement-roe-of-social-media/ as a valuable point of reference.
No one likes being lied to. It’s a simple truth we all take for granted, but it’s one marketers sometimes forget when promoting products. This can be especially true in social media marketing, which is rife with opportunities for misrepresenting oneself online.
Fake user accounts can be created and added to fan pages. Message boards and blogs can be populated with phony praise for a brand from “product plants” masquerading as real enthusiasts. It’s easy to see why lying can be so tempting, with its minimal effort and immediate results.
To keep from going astray, marketers should adopt a code of conduct that governs their online interactions. Luckily, the industry leader on all things word-of-mouth marketing, WOMMA, has created such a code. From WOMMA’s website:
It’s all about the Honesty ROI. Ethical word of mouth marketers always strive for transparency and honesty in all communications with consumers, with advocates, and with those people who advocates speak to on behalf of a product.
* Honesty of Relationship – you say who you’re speaking for
* Honesty of Opinion – you say what you truly believe; you never shill
* Honesty of Identity – you say who you are; you never falsify your identity
Media Needle knows there are no shortcuts to building brand loyalty and awareness. We follow our own strict code of conduct that closely mirrors WOMMA’s, which means our brand ambassadors never lie about who they are or whom they are representing. We simply care too much about our clients to allow that to happen. And, as fellow consumers, we wouldn’t want to be lied to either.
Plus, the consequences are too great. Not only does lying ensure bad karma that can follow you into future lifetimes, once a consumer/fan discovers the dishonesty — which is inevitable — the breakdown of trust between the consumer/fan and client will reverberate well into this lifetime as people let their friends and family know, which means negative word-of-mouth that results in diminished trust of your brand. That’s the exact opposite of what needs to happen when promoting a product, service or event.
There’s also the pesky fact that dishonest marketing simply doesn’t work. A million fake user accounts will never translate into increased traffic, sales or referrals, because buzz in a vacuum can never be a substitute for genuine consumer/fan engagement. Granted, this engagement is hard work — it’s time-consuming and costly. It requires dedication and patience, and actually listening to both the client and the consumer/fan.
But it’s the only road to results.
What a powerful question. It’s the first step in creating engagement – you’ll hear us preach on engagement a lot here – and, asked properly, initiates a new dynamic. If you agree, we are now intertwined in an exchange of expectations. If you don’t, we separate and move on. Such as it is in life, so it goes in social media.
If a brand establishes a fan page on Facebook and promises information, offers or an “experience,” they expect that if you become a fan, you will actively participate as long as they continue to deliver their promised obligation. Sounds fair enough. As a matter of fact, it sounds like any social relationship you may enter into – lovers, friends, etc… The primary difference is that the onus is upon the brand to continually invigorate the relationship with new and exciting “stuff” lest boredom creep in and breed disinterest. Again, given the particular nature of the relationship, we say fair enough.
So, how do we as social media marketers maintain this lopsided relationship while ensuring that rewards are being reaped for our efforts? You got it – engagement. Make that “will you” question an active part of your social media marketing program. Don’t be afraid to ask people to do, try, ponder, consider, debate, refute, celebrate… things. If your audience is truly engaged, they will. If your request falls flat, then maybe you need to reconsider how you built your following (buying fans is questionable, and probably wont produce sustainable results) or what you are doing to keep them engaged (too much? too little? too fluffy? to pedantic?).
Plan ahead, ask the question and prepare for the discussion. Not only in social media, but in your real life as well.