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Archive for February, 2009

“Getting” social media Friday, February 27th, 2009

The Social Media Marketing group on LinkedIn had an insightful discussion this week about why traditional companies struggle to “get” social media. Robert Stinnett started the discussion with a story about his recent visit to a department store and his thoughts on how mobile marketing might have led him to buy a $400 barbeque while he was idly waiting for a salesperson in the next department.

He said, “It’s frustrating to see companies not realizing the potential of social media. I can’t tell you when the last time it was that I paid attention to an ad on the television or in print; yet I “listen” and “react” to my social networks. I trust the network far more than I ever would an advertisement in traditional formats nowadays.

“Of course, I also realize how hard this is. Companies seem so unwilling to change until they are facing something that makes them change.”

Some of the comments posted included:

  • “We often hear or read amusing stories of how some high-profile individuals remark about a technology that is new and amazing to them but that the general public has been using for like 2-3 years. So it could be that the ones who are making decisions are so out of tune with current trends that they simply can’t understand the benefits.”
  • “Consumers in the market continue to move beyond the reach of traditional marketers. This issue of lifestyle habits and running both old and ‘new’ marketing simultaneously to hold aging consumers yet appeal to younger ones plays a role, in-part, in the economic disorientation society is experiencing right now.”
  • “We all want perfect, but in this day and age business is running at the speed of light. You have to have an agile workforce and an agile management team willing to try new things and move with the markets. Sitting around and doing nothing, but what you did for the past 10 years, isn’t going to work. Look at Obama’s speech tonight. Twitter was buzzing; Facebook was roaring. The feedback loop was in full swing - and I felt like I was part of it, and not just some dud sitting there watching ‘another speech’ on television.”

In the current economic climate, with companies around the globe just trying to stay in business, it will be interesting to see if they view social media as an opportunity to shine in the gloom, or whether it’s easier to just pull down the shutters and spend less on everything in the attempt to survive.


I think I’m a bit hungry… Thursday, February 26th, 2009

An entry in this week’s Online Video Insider blog highlights a tasty new trend: online video snacking; or as Dave Jackson writes, “more people, watching more videos, more often.”

A recent ComScore report on the topic found that in November 2008:

  • 146 million people, or 77% of the U.S. Internet audience, viewed online video;
  • Those viewers watched 34% more online videos than they did last year;
  • The average online viewer watched 273 minutes of video (more than six hours), up more than 40% vs. the previous year;
  • The average duration of online video is only 3.1 minutes per video; and
  • The audience viewed 87 videos per month on average, 18 more videos per month than last year.

    •  

    The blog post highlights that the average duration of online video was the only metric that remained consistent compared to ComScore’s 2007 survey, up only 18 seconds per video - despite the fact that long-form sites such as Hulu (which runs mainly TV episodes) did not exist in 2007. To quote: “Americans still have relatively short attention spans when it comes to their online viewing experience.”

    Gender differences are interesting:

  • Women watch 41% more online videos than they did last year.
  • They now watch 79 videos per month on average, up 33%.
  • They spend 227 minutes watching online video, up 46%.
  • The average video length for women is 2.9 minutes, vs. 3.4 for men.

    •  

    The conclusion? “Video snacking is a real trend because online video meets a content need for viewers and is easily accessible to those viewers throughout their day. Marketers and agencies, particularly those that are trying to reach women, would be well served to look for ways to build on this trend to help achieve their goals.”


    Got a light? Branded applications popping up on iPhone Tuesday, February 24th, 2009

    Came across an interesting article on iMedia Connection about how brands are starting to use branded iPhone applications. I say ’starting’, because the article quotes research by Ubercool’s Michael Tchong that uncovered less than 10 branded applications on the iPhone, out of the more than 16,000 developed so far.

    If you have an iPhone, download the Zippo’s Virtual Lighter application. It lets you customise your own lighter with a range of funky designs and colours. You just flick your phone to the left to open the lighter, spin the wheel and you have a fully functioning virtual lighter! Blow into the microphone and you can make the flame waver. It’s perfect for calling for an encore at the next concert you attend. Oh, and even though there isn’t a link to Zippo’s website from the app, the company reports that the Virtual Lighter has been downloaded 2.5 million times, and online lighter sales have spiked since the application was launched.

    Maybe not as cool as Ocarina, which turns your iPhone into a pan flute and lets you listen to tunes from around the globe, but as the Blues Brothers sang, “Whaddya want for nothing - a rubber biscuit?”


    Creator or consumer? Or both? Or something else? Friday, February 20th, 2009

    Paul Verna has published an insightful article at eMarketer looking at user-generated content online. He says it’s important to understand what makes up content creation and consumption, as well as “appreciat(ing) the complexities of the content ecosystem, which means looking at gray areas between creation and consumption.

    Forrester Research has broken down the user-generated content universe into several categories of users:

    • Creators
    • Critics
    • Collectors
    • Joiners
    • Spectators
    • Inactives

     

    Verna asks: “Do critics and collectors create content by generating reviews, comments and lists, or are they simply reacting to content posted by others? Are joiners actually part of a content exchange if their main interest in social media is to use online networks for interaction and communication?

    “These are the kinds of questions marketers should be asking as they dive into social media. The better marketers understand the habits of the various groups that make up the content spectrum, the better they will be able to use social media to further their campaigns.”

    He writes that marketers need to ”accept a fluid exchange of marketing information across multiple media…. marketers must be prepared to share control with their customers and prospects…. (and) encourage and empower their customers to post feedback, even if those efforts put the marketer’s product in a harsh light. And it means marketers should tailor their campaigns to people who fall into gray areas along the user-generated content spectrum.

    He concludes that ”rules that worked in previous generations need to be refreshed, and in some cases completely rewritten.”

     


    It’s music to Apple’s ears Thursday, February 19th, 2009

    I am the first to admit I have been a “PC guy” since PCs first came on the market (though, I might add, I look nothing like the PC guy in the Apple ads - well, aside from the glasses and balding pate). But I was convinced to buy an iPhone and it has been an eye-opener for me (pun intended). I have been experimenting with the various iPhone applications and my favourite one (my wife would argue that iFart is my favourite application, at least in terms of chuckle factor, but that’s another story…) has been Ocarina, where you blow into the phone’s microphone and use it as a pan flute. The very cool thing about this is that as well as making your own music you can use it in social mode, which allows you to listen in to what some of the 600,000 Ocarina users around the globe are playing, right now.

    This is turning out to be a great social media tool. If you need to be convinced, here are a couple of links: a story in today’s Sydney Morning Herald and a video of a group of ‘artists’ playing “Stairway to Heaven” on their Ocarinas.


    What your customers want from the web Wednesday, February 18th, 2009

    Looking back at past writings, I came across this one I originally wrote more than 10 years ago. Surprisingly, it still has currency today. Pleasantly surprised because many of the insights (such as the emphasis on interaction and community) have stood the test of time; not so pleasantly surprised because of some of the things that still haven’t changed, such as the continued use of the term “user” to describe web consumers - can’t we come up with something that has more humanity? So here it is:

    The World Wide Web takes channel surfing to heights only imagined by the most hardened remote control jockey. If your site is boring, of no use, or takes more than a moment to download, people will click away from your page faster than Homer Simpson can scarf down a doughnut. But if you can deliver what your customers want and expect from your Web site, you’ll have a very useful tool for your marketing armoury.

    Working out what consumers expect on a Web site is still more of an art than a science. As Fox Television and QVC home shopping executive Barry Diller says, “There are no mavens to be found and no research worth its salt. There are no guideposts, no divining rods to tell you what to do. It’s only with patience that you can develop a fluency in a new medium.”

    The online environment is young enough that it’s still being used as an extension of old media. It’s like the early days of television, when it was just radio with pictures. Television producers simply stuck a camera in front of the newsreader, radio serial performers or an orchestra (In fact, the Microsoft Network’s first foray into online news in Australia was exactly that - downloaded video of news editor Jason Romney reading out news headlines on a Web page).

    It was only when people like the legendary newsman Edward R. Murrow started taking the camera out of the studio and into the street that television evolved into a medium distinct from radio.

    Or to use a non-media analogy, the Internet is still a horseless carriage and not yet an automobile. Interactive new media are largely viewed as incremental improvements to traditional media, when in fact they represent entirely new ways of looking at the world. They are capable of doing things that have never been done before.

    The online world is still looking for its Edward R. Murrows. The successful pioneers will be the ones who listen carefully to their users and give them useful interactions that they can’t get in any other medium. (I use the word “user” reservedly, as an inadequate term waiting for the right term to evolve. They’re not readers, or listeners, or viewers - they’re all those things. So for now the word user is a term favoured by the IT industry until we come up with something better.)

    So how do you work it out? Here’s the current thinking on what consumers want and don’t want from a Web site, based on what’s working on the Web and what’s not. Some of it is simple logic, while with others you need to turn your head slightly and look at the world from another angle.

    They expect a personalised experience. The ability to serve up customised information has been a big selling point of the Web, and people have been listening. It’s now expected that a Web site will be littered with opportunities to shape their experience, by selecting types of information to be served up, whether to have sound on or off, etc. Personalisation can include building an analytic ability into a site, such as the database capability of commerce sites such as Amazon, which serves up lists of other books in genres in which you’ve performed searches. The greatest Web sites provide on-on-one specific, valuable information to one person.

    They expect it to be interactive. If you don’t give visitors the opportunity to contribute to a discussion, play a game or at least send you an email, you might as well have just printed a brochure.

    They expect to connect with others. Bulletin boards, discussion groups, chat rooms, mailing lists - there are plenty of ways to include features which enable people to share ideas with other people through your site.

    They expect a response - now. A Web site is a prime opportunity for service-oriented companies to offer full-spectrum customer service. However, you need to ensure that your response, even if it’s an automatic email acknowledging their request, is rapid.

    They expect it to be easy to find what they want. People are looking to the Web for information that is sorted and organised in a useful way, though not necessarily a conventional way.

    They expect depth of information (but not breadth). It’s much more useful to offer comprehensive information on a limited range of topics on your Web site than a little general information on a wide variety of subjects. Since a Web site has no limit to the pages it can carry, it offers an opportunity for hyper-focus not available to other media. The Web is a place where people can find information they can’t find anywhere else.

    They expect to use the Internet for research. The 1997 Price Waterhouse Consumer Technology survey found that Web users spent 43% of their time accessing the Internet for research.

    They expect compelling content - laced with entertainment. Consumers are drawn to the Web by content - content that is presented in a way that makes it easy to find, use and understand. It is becoming clear that content without usefulness, fun and interactivity is not going to keep people coming back for more. The information must be dynamic and instantaneous. Compelling and engaging content will always be more powerful than showing off technology. If you can combine enough technology to enhance the experience of studying your content, you’ll hold a user’s attention long enough to get your message across.

    They expect security and privacy. Users need to be told - and shown - that the reports about lack of credit card security, online stalkers and spammers littering the Internet are just that - reports.

    They expect to be able to buy things, safely and easily. Despite the general public’s fear on security issues, current and potential Internet users agree that there are a lot of items and services they would be prepared to buy online, once their concerns about security are addressed.

    They expect to be given a reason to return. Most Internet users only visit five sites with regularity -the rest are visited only infrequently or as a one-time link from another site. If your site is not going to be on your customers’ top five list, then you’ll need to employ devices such as email newsletters to keep your site top of mind and remind them why it’s worth coming back to your site.

    They expect value for the time and money they have invested. True to its anarchic origins, in the present online culture, there’s very little on the Internet that people feel is worth paying for. They’re already paying for online access, time spent visiting your site is an opportunity cost, and so much information is freely available. Therefore, think very carefully before trying to charge users for information.

    Having said that, consumers today are well versed in the concept of give and take - you give me something of value and I’ll provide you with something in return. The keys to long-term customer satisfaction are to provide each individual with truly useful information, presented in an appropriate context. Information that enables an individual to gain greater enjoyment or productivity from their home- or work-life will be valued, and you can command a price for it. The critical difference between useful and useless information is that you have made an effort to understand the needs and interests of your customers.

    They don’t want to be treated like idiots. Most Internet users can tell the difference between objective, non-commercial information and “sponsored” information. Don’t insult them by dressing up corporate data as objective fact. Admit your bias up front and focus on giving them something useful. They’ll remember you fondly for that.

    They don’t want to wait. This is the strongest reason for not loading your pages up with big graphics and animations. Make sure your design is economical and keep in mind that many users will not be using the fastest computers and modems.

    If you focus on giving your customers what they expect and want from a Web site, you’ll be on the way to viewing the Web as an automobile instead of a horseless carriage.


    The trouble with measuring social media Tuesday, February 17th, 2009

    Marketing Sherpa’s ‘chart of the week’ this week highlights the perils of trying to measure social media activity:

    Excerpted from Marketing Sherpa’s 2009 Social Media & Marketing PR report, which is based on a comprehensive survey of Marketing Sherpa readers (marketing and PR professionals), the chart shows an almost inverse relationship between how effective tactics are and how accurately they are measured at present.

    Not surprisingly, the report ranks “inability to measure ROI” as one of the most significant barriers to social media adoption.

    To cope with this anomaly, Marketing Sherpa encourages marketers to:

    • Measure the value of conversations and relationships gathered by social media qualitatively
    • Not focus on moment-in-time transactions such as traffic ‘hits’
    • Don’t obsess about tracking social media results quantitatively - don’t employ less effective social media tactics for the sake of measurability

    Achieving branding goals is most effective use of social media, according to the report, while the second most effective use of social media is increasing web traffic. Meanwhile, the most significant barrier to social media adoption, even in the tough economic climate, is not budget, but lack of knowledge.


    Harvard Business Review releases breakthrough ideas for 2009 Monday, February 16th, 2009

    The Harvard Business Review has released an interactive version of its latest annual list of ‘breakthrough ideas for business’. This year’ list is:

    1. Just Because I’m Nice, Don’t Assume I’m Dumb
    2. Beware Global Cooling
    3. Institutional Memory Goes Digital
    4. Stumbling to a Longer Life
    5. The Rise of Economic Forensics
    6. Launching a Better Brain
    7. The IKEA Factor
    8. Consumer Safety for Consumer Credit
    9. State Capitalism Makes a Comeback
    10. Now’s the Time to Invest in Africa
    11. A Central Nervous System for the Earth
    12. A Looming American Diaspora
    13. Harnessing Social Pressure
    14. Western Union World
    15. How Social Networks Network Best
    16. Should You Outsource Your Brain?
    17. What You Need to Know about the Semantic Web
    18. The Business of Biomimicry
    19. The Dynamics of Personal Influence
    20. Forget Citibank - Borrow from Bob

    Visit the HBR Web site for more details on each idea.


    Beautiful one day, perfect job the next Wednesday, February 11th, 2009

    Tourism Queensland’s Island Reef Job campaign has struck a chord with economically battered people everywhere. Well-executed across a variety of social media, including Facebook, Twitter and the Web, the campaign, soliciting job applications for an Island Caretaker for the Great Barrier Reef, was expected to generate 400,000 website visits by the end of February. More than 200,000 people visited the first day of the campaign and as of last weekend more than 2.5 million visitors had checked out the site.

    The campaign is one of the few Australian initiatives to garner extensive overseas media attention.

    As the job description says, the six-month, A$150,000 gig is ”a live-in position with flexible working hours and key responsibilities include exploring the islands of the Great Barrier Reef to discover what the area has to offer. You’ll be required to report back on your adventures to Tourism Queensland headquarters in Brisbane (and the rest of the world) via weekly blogs, photo diary, video updates and ongoing media interviews. On offer is a unique opportunity to help promote the wondrous Islands of the Great Barrier Reef.”

    You have until 22 February to apply, so start working on that application!


    Make ‘em laugh Monday, February 9th, 2009

    Jim Nichols at iMedia Connection has reviewed successful viral campaigns, and concluded that the biggest common denominator was the clever use of humour. Take a look at his review of 14 of the funniest, most effective campaigns (warning, political correctness alert).

    They include a pint-sized Gordon Ramsay-in-training, a graphic depiction of the effectiveness of condoms, a scatological ditty about toilet paper and Australia’s own ‘Flashbeer’ campaign for Carlton.

    Nichols writes: “Humor is hard to do, but perhaps even harder is crafting funny programs and messages that deliver real brand benefits. As we all know, assessing the impact of any creative on brand strength is pretty squishy science. But we can identify creative programs that drove buzz and virality online, and through this identification process attempt to tease out some core principles of brand beneficial humor.”


    Search remains strong in a struggling Australian economy Thursday, February 5th, 2009

    When Australians were trying to decide how to spend the Federal Government’s Christmas economic stimulus, it’s clear that their first stop was online.

    Google search enquiries in Australia during the Christmas and new year period grew by more than 50% in some categories when compared to the same period in 2007/08, B&T has reported.

    Searches for banks and financial institutions rose by a massive 74% from November 2007 to November 2008 and credit card searches achieved a 24% spike in December 2008 from the same period in 2007.

    Google recorded growth of 36% in searches overall for shopping and Christmas-related categories in December compared to the same period in 2007 year, with food and drink searches growing by 48 per cent. Searches for apparel were also up by 46% on last year, followed by photo and video equipment searches (42%), mass merchants and department stores (41%) and computers and electronics (34%).

    Real estate-related searches rose by 41% in December, while travel-related searches were up by more than 36% and automotive “deals” achieved 24% growth over 2007.

    Google Australia general manager Karim Temsamani told B&T that brands need to be wary about not having an online presence. “The worst thing for a brand is to be talked about from a word of mouth perspective or to have an ad on TV or other media, and then for the consumer to go online to find that product and it’s not there.”

    Google also revealed that search volumes for January are up 20% on last year.


    Corporate blogs leading the way Wednesday, February 4th, 2009

    Online Media Daily has reported on a recent HubSpot survey which highlights the importance of a good blog to a company:

    “Compared with the rise of newer marketing tools such as Facebook and Twitter, the corporate blog may seem a bit stodgy. But a new study finds blogging to the most important lead-generation source among social media options, followed by StumbleUpon, YouTube, Facebook, De.lic.ious and Digg.

     ”Of the 167 executives and business owners surveyed by Internet marketing firm HubSpot, three-quarters of those that have tried blogging said their company blogs were “useful,” “important,” or “critical” to their business. Nearly half the companies have a blog, and three-quarters publish content at least weekly.”

     

    Read the rest here.


    Self-actualisation through user-generated content: study Tuesday, February 3rd, 2009

    People consume and create user-generated content in different ways for different but interdependent reasons, according to research just published in the journal Internet Research.

    The three main reasons are:

    1. to fulfill their information, entertainment and mood management needs
    2. to interact with content and with other human beings
    3. for self-expression and self-actualisation, which help to construct their own identity

    The study’s author argues that entertainment is more important than information-seeking when it comes to user-generated content, writing that “YouTube and its many imitators have dramatically reduced entertainment content to light, bright and digestible ’snack food’ so that users can consume it with increased frequency and maximum speed.”

    Pointing out that because people can fulfill their social needs through interacting online with each other, responding to content is “an integral part of community development since it can reinforce dynamic content creation.”

    Blogging and vlogging “not only allows the significance of who one is and what one does to show himself/herself, but also enables one to control the impression others have of him/her.”

    The study concludes that the three ways of using user-generated content are analytically separate but are interdependent. “They support one another, directly or indierectly, by helping people fulfill their respective social and psychological needs.”

    The usability aspects of user-generated content - how easy it is to use and how much control is given to the consumer - allow users to contribute only a little while getting a lot back, such as quickly uploading one video to YouTube while being able to view thousands of videos of interest. The study draws parallels between UGC and utility theory, which suggests people desire those things that will maximise their pleasure.

    The researcher argues that these kinds of controls appeal to people “not only technically, but also psychologically.”