marginally subversive

On Social Media #Analytics: ComScore’s 2011 Social Reports Facebook leading ...

You already know that social networking sites have been getting huge around the world, but an annual report out today from comScore shows what exactly is going at a wonderful new level of detail, with surprises for even long-time industry watchers like me

via techcrunch.com

Microblogging is growing and the world is connecting real-time.

You probably knew that already, but isn't it comforting to have your thoughts validated by data?

"the social" has always been there

It is quite amazing how marketeers are now so enamored by "the social".

But as early as the 1990s, I have seen studies that showed that "recommendations from friends, family, and other people" are as effective or more effective than any form of advertising.  A former colleague was not convinced by it - to the point that she junked the research and called it "irrelevant and potentially, not valid".

I guess the problem was, when you say "recommendations are far better than any form of bought advertising", you're essentially saying that "you don't have so much control over your brand messages as you have earlier thought".  that "your brand is essentially at the mercy of consumers".

the truth is, "it" - The Social - has always existed.

we're the ones waking up to its power.

the conversations are louder, the demand to be heard is more pressing, and the clamor to "own" (or "disown") the brands that we thought we had control over is not about to end.

 

how digital is shifting the world of media buying

The world of media buying has shifted dramatically due to changes in the consumer landscape as digital media became a significant part of the lives of consumers.

Through a friend on Facebook, I saw this video from PSFK.Com on the 'Secrets of a Killer Media Buyer: Future Success'.

There are three things that I got from the video:

1. Media buying is still about value-creation.  At the end of the day, it is about creating value for clients and generating the best deal.

2. However, the definition of value has changed: Value is no longer merely dollars-saved or the "best deal that you could negotiate and seal with all the bells and whistles for the clients for the lowest price possible".  Value is now about

(a) utility to clients - what's in it for them, they who are investing the money
(b) utility to consumers and audiences - what's in it for consumers

3. To achieve the best deal and realize the ultimate value for clients, you need data.  Because technology has paved the way for consumers to be entertained in terms of quantity and quality, we need data.

(a) The usual lines between 'traditional media' and 'non-traditional media' have been blurred by technology. 
"Video" no longer is just about TV - it now encompasses online videos (and the ad platforms supported by it), mobile videos, game consoles, handhelds, and even outdoor/in-store. 
"Radio" is no longer just what one hears on a radio set or on the car - but also in-mobile, on-the-web, on-demand, on-the-palm...  And press and magazines.

(b) To navigate through these choices, you will need data - how do consumers shift from one medium to another and why? 
[The "why" bit is almost-always missing - and is always a point of contention between me and most of the media planners-buyers that I work with.  But that's another story.]

(c) The kind of data that we need no longer will center on "how many people are exposed" - the usual impression-based metrics and currencies.  The kind of data that we need will need to encompass audience motivations, mindsets, and response. 

Here's the video:

 

 

Secrets Of A Killer Media Buyer: Future Success from Piers Fawkes on Vimeo.

so you're on Facebook - now what?

John Bell has a very interesting blog entry on what should come next after being present in Facebook.

He talks about the fast growth - and then slowdown - of Facebook adoption in the US, a trend that most people (including techwatchers and stock/financial market analysts interested in the Facebook IPO) thought was the beginning of the end of Facebook (and its billion-dollar valuation).

Bell differs - and I agree with him: something cannot keep on growing forever, specially if there is a 'built-in braking system' in its growth trajectory.  Sooner or later, everyone is going to have one Facebook account - until we reach that point where there's no one else to recruit into the Facebook population.  

Instead of questioning whether this is the end of Facebook, the question marketeers and communication strategists need to answer is "now what?"

Bell offers several thoughts:

1. Integrating Facebook as part of an overall customer/fan relationship management solution
2. Figuring out how to make social commerce work for the brand
3. More data about the brands' followers and fans (as soon as Facebook unlocks the data-vaults)
4. Creating new ways to engage and entertain and delight audiences and brand fans and loyalists through Facebook's unique platform (and other social media's)
5. Integration of Facebook into CRM legacy systems

I will add a few more to Mr. Bell's thoughts:

1. Having a clear role for Facebook and other social-media platforms, both digital and non-digital, in the marketing communications mix and in the customer engagement strategy of a firm

2. Identifying the real returns in financial value of activities in Facebook, other digital social-media platforms, and other "traditional, non-digital" social-media platforms, using metrics and currencies that are comparable to how we measure returns for TV, press, magazines, outdoor, and radio

3. Going beyond using Facebook and other digital social media platforms as "crisis portenders" or "PR-nightmare forerunners" - but using these and other non-digital platforms as "sources of brand/product and communication innovations".  

 

What do you think?  How else can Facebook be used in building your brands and your brands' businesses?  How can it be a part of a profit improvement program for a company? 

McCann WorldGroup's "The Truth about the Youth"

Nothing excites me more than research studies that give me information and real insights about the world that we live in.  (And that's why I work mostly in research and believe that numbers have a story and the "why's" provide greater value than knowing the "what's".)

This is one study that falls in that category.

Conducted by McCann Worldgroup, this study looks into the 'why's' behind the emergence of digital social media across several cultures.  I particularly liked the section on why the Youth are very much into digital social media:

1. The need to commune - to connect, to relate, to be a part of a community, to be a part of something bigger than one is

2. The need to right what seems wrong - by influencing others that they may see the light

3. The need to be authentic - the search for truth, for meaning, for what's real (beyond the reality-TV phenomenon). 

Below is the report I picked up from Isuu.Com - 

Open publication - Free publishing - More 2011

What do you think of their findings?  Are you noticing the same trends in your markets?

And spefically for Gen-X'ers: Do they sound, look, feel familiar?  It seems that what Gen-X used to stand for also defines the new generation - albeit expressed differently.  Or... hmmm.

social media + video = ?

We've all heard about the Old Spice campaign - but I believe it's only the tip of the iceberg that is social video.

 

There is more that marketeers can do with social videos. And it's not just about 'seeding' videos in YouTube and other video platforms hoping that the audience - your audience - will share them.

 

Social video, was defined by ReelSEO as follows: 

Social video advertising involves a push to intentionally draw attention to a video or video campaign (and its product, service, solution, event, etc.) in a public medium in order to promote one or more conversion goals (views, shares, leads, sales, attendance, or some other form of engagement).

via www.reelseo.com

I beg to slightly differ though - because I think that there is more to social video than just drawing attention.

I think social video involves drawing attention to a certain video, engaging and enchanting audiences to share them - and more importantly, to participate in a dialogue with the brand behind the video.  The brand can then choose to respond to these in videos or other platforms of social media.

The success of the Old Spice campaign is not just because the first video was funny and was (probably, likely) seeded and promoted properly.  The key to its success was how it used the social video platform to create a conversation with its target audiences.

I am sure it was difficult - you have got to have your ear on the ground, weed through the comments (and the likes and the dislikes), and respond quickly via a video.  But hey, that's the price of success. ":D

In case you've never heard of it, here's the Old Spice Guy.

FACEBOOK, the brand

BRANDZ, from Millward Brown Optimor, reports that FACEBOOK posted the fastest growth in brand value, growing by as much as 246% to 19MM USD.  It still trails APPLE's value, which was valued at 154MM USD, and other tech brands such as Google (112MM USD) and Microsoft (78MM USD).  But its growth is staggering.

After FACEBOOK, we've got BAIDU, the Chinese search engine that is slowly moving into other competencies in the mainland; it posted a growth of 141% to 23MM USD.

Below is the table showing the 20 fastest growing brands in the world, according to the study.

The Russian Digital Landscape: A Snapshot

I came across this informative presentation on what the digital landscape in Russia could look like.  This presentation was done by Andrey Anischenko of Grape.

Of note are the following factoids:

1. Russia has the fifth largest population of Netizens after China, the US, Japan, and Germany

2. 62% of these are from one of the most elusive demographic group, the 15-34s

3. Social networks in Russia are HUGE: they spend 9.8hours on social networking sites versus the global average of 4.5hours (I am deducing per month - but it seems a bit low)

4. And nope, it ain't Facebook that dominates: the two two slots are dominated by two home-grown social media services, "B" (www.vkontakte.ru) and (www.odnoklassniki.ru).  Twitter is not there yet - but it's popular with the geekfluentials and celebrities - and may therefore have potential.

5. "Augmented~social" is promising.

Here's the presentation.

(Thanks, Andrey Anischenko of Grape!)

 

Russia digital by Andrei Anischenko

View more presentations from GRAPE digital agency

new consumer-media-brand landscape demands new marketing metrics

"New" is used loosely above.  Social media have always been around - technology just amplified it by empowering people to connect and communicate with each other more effectively.

With this "new" trend came problems for marketeers: "How do we use them?"

Some have jumped on the bandwagon by creating Twitter accounts and Facebook pages and Groupon promos, measuring retweets, reblogs, and "likes".

But these metrics are just skimming off the surface, really.

There is more to The Social than these metrics.

Jeremy Owyang of Altimeter and John Lovett of WebAnalyticsDemystified shared this presentation which I thought was an excellent start towards creating an integrated approach to measuring the effects of The Social on brands' and their businesses. 

Oh - and just for the fun of it, let me state that "digital" doesn't mean "search-strategies" only anymore. ":D

 

 

Social Marketing Analytics

View more presentations from Jeremiah Owyang