For brands, social media should be looked at from two perspectives: surveillance and engagement. There is no doubt that people are talking about the brands, so we need our clients to want to get in on the conversation in a more meaningful way.
Social media and event/promotions marketing share a common trait: quick results. It’s the immediacy of their effects that set them apart. They share a natural lead-up, climax, and aftermath that provide endless opportunities for promotional activities and brand development.
Facebook and Twitter can get along; your brand pieces should too. The most successful social media campaigns have been those that understand that with the addition of each new platform, the rest adapt. This is not only to compete, but to have the ability to create links between them to drive interest, traffic, excitement and momentum.
‌ and to do that, there are 3 questions every strategic thinker should be asking:
How do you deepen engagement?
How do you spread excitement beyond just the participants?
How do you extend it’s life in time, so it starts before it starts, and ends after it ends?
The internet is enabling conversations among human beings that were simply not possible in the era of mass media.
“An amazing invention, but who would ever want to use one?” -President Rutherford B. Hayes
Marketers are more than familiar with adoption curve, and most strategize for the 64% of people that are considered the early/late majority. But for every significant step in technology and innovation, there have been innovators . While the Innovators only represent 2.5% of the population, and are now often part of the “geek” category, it is those people who saw the potential long before any other. It’s those people who paid $2000 for a DVD player before anyone else. Those that saw the telephone as more than a toy. And those that saw Twitter as more than just a way to tell everyone what you had for lunch.
Although significant risk has always accompanied following the Innovators (over 95% of the time they pick the wrong stuff – after all, some thought 8tracks would last), with the speed of technology and internet development, marketers can now watch trends, build on existing plans, and access real-time news like never before. As strategic thinkers, you can not afford the luxury of judging the Innovators. You may not have seen the potential in the telephone, and you may not have any interest in collecting online cool-points, but someone does; and they might be onto something.
There are two conversations going on. One inside the company. One within the market.
Founded in 2003 Over 400 million active users 50% Log-in on any given day For the week of March 13th, Facebook was the most visited site in the world Over 100 million users are on Facebook mobile The top 100 websites have implemented Facebook Connect Over 60% of people have used Facebook to stalk their ex
WHO’S SETTING THE BAR? 1944 LIVE ON FACEBOOK A Polish company created false profiles under the names of two people in 1944, and based their status updates on daily entries from their diaries.
SKITTLES FAN PAGE The Skittles fan page is one of the most popular product fan pages on Facebook. With daily status changes, their constant activity is met with thousands of fan comments, postings, photos and more, every day.
COKE PAGE Originally created by two fans, it was eventually bought and managed by Coke, after millions of people had already joined.
Companies need to realize their markets are often laughing. At them.
WHO’S SETTING THE BAR? Founded in 2005 WARIO 4th
Largest site on the internet
Largest video site on the web 300 Million accounts 5 Billion video streams every month (40% of all videos online) 15 Hours of video uploaded every minute It would take over 600 years to watch all the video content
When YouTube viewers watched the clips from Nintendo’s new Wario Land Shake-It, the screen and all it’s pictures and text would fall apart with each shake of the demo.
CHOOSE YOUR OWN ADVENTURE Companies like Hot Wheels have taken advantage of the new YouTube feature that allows the viewer to change the outcome of the video based on choosing different options throughout the clip.
YOUTUBE 3D YouTube has not only enabled 3D content, it has now allowed for any of those videos to be viewed 14 different ways, based on the 3D glasses (or lack thereof) that the viewer may have.
We are waking up and linking to each other. We are watching. But we are not waiting.
Founded in 2006 5% of the accounts are responsible for 75% of the content 21% of users have never posted a tweet New York has the most users – followed by LA and Toronto User numbers grew by 1500% in the last year Highest percentage of users are between 45-54 (second are 25-34) Twitter is blocked in China and Iran
WHO’S SETTING THE BAR? ASHTON KUTCHER Still the most followed Twitter account in the world, he keeps his popularity by providing constant content, participation with others’ accounts, and a sense of humor.
NEWS FEEDS With half of Twitter account holders using it primarily as a news feed, companies like CNN and New York Times have taken advantage of hashtags and Appmakr to send only the information that is of interest to followers.
JETBLUE AIRLINES The only product/service in the 100 Most Followed list, they use their account to provide flight information, regulation updates, and promotions.
Don’t worry, you can still make money. That is, as long as it’s not the only thing on your mind.
Founded in 2009 Total users is currently around 1 million 76,000 users joined during SXSW alone, and checked-in more than 1 million times during the event
WHO’S SETTING THE BAR? STARBUCKS With frequent visits, you can not only become the mayor of a certain location, you can also receive the Starbucks stamp and privileges/promotions at different locations.
BRAVO! Check-ins currently exist in 100 cities Recently launched in every continent (except Antarctica – sorry penguins) Is considered as misunderstood and simplistic as Twitter once was – with the same growth in its future
They used a series of Bravo! themed badges, tagged locations, and content entered by show personalities to create a points program that will eventually evolve into sweepstakes, awards and incentives.
NEW YORK TIMES In addition to the regular stamps, you can receive additional (branded) one for visiting locations that the New York Times has recommended (like restaurants and bars).
People caring about how many friends they had on Facebook seemed innocuous enough, but the Obama campaign brought a new value to online status. The more people participated, the more points they achieved. Activities like fundraising and event planning gained community members points, and different privileges as they reached new levels.
“HE WILL BE THE FIRST PRESIDENT WITH A LEGION OF 13 MILLION AT HIS FINGERTIPS”
“HE TURNED EVERYDAY PEOPLE INTO ENGAGED AND EMPOWERED VOLUNTEERS” He allowed for people to participate in a variety of ways. What could start out as personal interest (“friending” him for example) could escalate through a tiered set-up, from Social to Advocate to Super User. His MyBO creation even contained easily-accessed raw material so people could be properly equipped to promote on his behalf.
Forgoing their annual Superbowl ad, Pepsi decided to point its $20 million elsewhere. They began the Pepsi Refresh Project with the concept of “refreshing the world”. Consumers were asked to submit ideas of how to refresh the world in 6 different categories (Health, Culture, Food & Shelter, Planet, Neighbourhoods, and Education).
“WE ARE BUILDING RELATIONSHIPS AND HAVE MORE POINTS OF CONTACT WITH OUR CONSUMERS”
“FOR THE FIRST TIME IN 23 YEARS, PEPSI WILL NOT HAVE A SUPERBOWL AD” Consumers could enter a variety of ways, vote from several platforms, and participate on nearly all major platforms from Facebook to Foursquare. All spoke the same message of refresh, charity and change. Combined, the internet mentions of the initiative met or surpassed those from past years’ Superbowl ads.
ING Direct looked at social media as people “living the brand”. With the concept of their “Saver’s Revolution” and the idea that they wanted to be where people were talking about their financial concerns, they started by making Twitter their main feed to several other communication avenues. Constant updates and conversation led people to promotions, articles, videos and more.
“WE DON’T LOOK AT THIS AS A CAMPAIGN PER SE”
“IT HAS KEPT THEM ACTIVELY ENGAGED IN THE CONVERSATION, AS IT IS COMING FAST” They were the first Canadian company to leverage YouTube as part of a contest, and are now the second to create a full finance-management iPhone/BB application. Using their mission to be transparent and honest, they started conversations in online forums, and plan on continuing it by providing real-life spaces like cafes for people to meet and share ideas. They are about people taking charge of their own finances and independence, and to do that they empowered their customers, and opened up the conversation.