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Posts Tagged ‘e-marketing’

Social media: who’s in charge? Thursday, October 1st, 2009

A recent survey has revealed that the public relations department, not the marketing department, runs social media in most organisations. As one commenter, Jeff Bullas has written: “I thought I knew who was in charge of Social Media in corporations until I came across this survey.” The results were:

  • PR is in charge of digitalcommunications in 51% of organisations, compared to 40.5% for marketing.
  • PR is responsible for blogging at 49% of all organizations, while marketing is responsible 22%.
  • PR is responsible for social networking at 48% of all organizations, compared to 27% for marketing.
  • PR is responsible for micro-blogging at 52% of all organizations, compared to 22% for marketing.

Mind you, the survey was run by ipressroom.com for the Public Relations Society of America, which may cause some people to mutter, “Well, they would say that, wouldn’t they?” I wonder what the results would be if this survey was done in Australia?


Dealing with social media-phobia Thursday, August 27th, 2009

If you’re having trouble selling in the idea of using social media in your business, Sydney-based IT/e-business consultant Jeff Bullas has written a couple of useful pieces to help you identify and problem and, more importantly, do something about it:

Quotable quotes:

  • “So much of what’s discussed online is shallow and we have real work to do.”
  • “Traditional media is still bigger, we will use Social Media when it is more mainstream.”
  • “Waiting on ROI (return on investment) with facts and figures.”
  • “We’re afraid of making a mistake.”
  • “Ask them for 5 keywords or phrases that potential customers would use to find their/your company in a search engine, and then provide a brief report showing them the results of their ranking in Google, and ask a simple question, like, ‘Did I find you on page one of Google?’ ( the answer is mostly ‘NO’). So the best question to ask them next is, ‘How are they going to find you then  … the Yellow Pages?’”
  • “Sign your boss up to listen by setting up Google Alerts and TweetBeep for your boss/ or the CEO, so she or he can see that there are already many discussions about your organization going on online.”

Well worth a read for CEOs and those who toil under them.


Social media comes to PowerPoint (SlideShare, actually) Monday, July 13th, 2009

Aden Hepburn has just published a useful collection of the top 10 presentations about social media (as recommended by Econsultancy) on his Digital Buzz blog. Well worth checking out if you want a primer on social media.


What’s that smell? It might be your campaign Wednesday, June 17th, 2009

Chris Abrahams, a US & European-based social media and conversation marketing expert who I interviewed earlier this year for a HotHouse podcast, has written a cleverly-titled article in Ad Age this week: “Global Web Means Your ‘Fart Jokes’ Can Be Heard Out of Context“. (I know my wife won’t believe me, but honestly, I am not writing about this just because it allows me to use the word ‘fart’ in a blog post!)

Anyway, Chris cites the example of Grey Advertising Germany’s recent campaign for the Doc Morris pharmacy chain, which advertised condoms by implying that if Hitler, Bin Laden and Mao’s parents had used Doc Morris condoms, the world would be a better place today. (View the ads here). Even though the ads aren’t online ads per se, reaction to them as insensitive, racist, etc. etc. has spread quickly via social media.

Chris points out that “That’s the way it is with humor - sometimes you nail it, sometimes you bomb. Humor is powerful in both directions. A simple allegory for old-media folks who still don’t get it: Standing up and telling a fart joke while drinking with friends in your rec room = low risk. Standing up and telling a fart joke while drinking with friends at someone’s wedding party = high risk.

“With internet advertising and PR, you are always at someone’s wedding party; you are never safely behind closed doors.”

He advises advertisers, marketers and PR flacks to remember “On the internet, you are always talking to the whole world, whether you intend to or not; be cognizant of who your message will offend and decide deliberately if you are willing to offend them; and if you must offend, have your mea culpa machine ready to go before you pull the trigger.”


Online ad networks: evil or useful? Wednesday, May 20th, 2009

Shameless self-promotion: We published an article the other day on the HotHouse blog about online ad networks. There’s an accompanying podcast interview with APAC Digital MD David Holmes. The HotHouse blog is full of news and opinion on developments in the online space.


Driving word of mouth Wednesday, May 20th, 2009

Today’s edition of the Corporate Communicator, from US PR firm Bon Mot Communications, contains the following piece, which provides a useful summary of a recent study on corporate use of social media: “As the traditional news hole continues to shrink, communicators are turning to new media sources to help get the word out about their organizations’ services, products and causes. However, many business leaders are still skeptical when it comes to the value of coverage on blogs and other social media sites.

“If this challenge sounds familiar, be sure to check out a recent study from the Aberdeen Group, ‘The ROI on Social Media Marketing: Why it Pays to Drive Word of Mouth.’

“According to the study, companies are learning to leverage social media to drive marketing ROI by listening to and learning from current and prospective customers. Aberdeen found that 63% of companies surveyed plan to increase social media marketing budgets in 2009 - some by as much as 25%.

“However, Aberdeen also found that measurement continues to be a sticking point: 59% said it was either difficult or somewhat difficult to measure social media.

“How does your organization stack up? According to the study:

· 39% of surveyed companies have established a method for engaging consumers in online conversation
· 26% instill an organizational focus on social media
· 24% establish a method for defining social media benchmarks and goals
· 21% create a team or committee dedicated to social media ROI
· 18% link results of social media activities to increased revenues and other financial outcomes
· 18% establish a method for driving brand advocacy and customer referrals

“You can purchase a full copy of the report here: http://www.aberdeen.com/summary/report/benchmark/5639-RA-social-media-marketing.asp “


In praise of the bizarre Saturday, April 18th, 2009

I know it’s hard for most companies to acknowledge that they are no longer in control of their marketing, and that their customers now strongly influence what happens to their brand. It’s harder still for them to take active steps to give control to their customers, particularly when stories of what has happened to companies like Chevrolet, Skittles and Domino’s abound.

Believe it or not, it hasn’t been that long that companies have used the Internet to let customers actively play with their brand. I was reminded of this when I read recently about ‘celebrations’ of the fifth anniversary of Subservient Chicken, that creepy guy in the chicken suit with garters who reponds to user commands to reinforce the message that you can ‘have chicken your way’ at Burger King (Hungry Jack’s in Australia). The guys who came up with the idea have written a huge screed about the origins of Subservient Chicken which makes interesting reading.

The most important factor leading to this iconic online campaign was that the client was open to left-of-field ideas. As The Barbarian Group director Rick Webb writes, “To be perfectly frank, even as we were building the thing, I never believed it would launch. We here at TBG are insanely good these days for convincing clients to take risks. But in 2004, there was no way we ever could have sold the Chicken through. Sometimes getting the green light is as important as the idea. Most of the time, if you ask me.”

Of course, the big question is, did it sell more chicken for Burger King? To quote from AdWeek: ”About a month after the sandwich debuted, BK reported that sales had steadily increased an average of 9% a week. Since then the company has seen ‘double-digit’ growth of awareness of the TenderCrisp sandwich and ’significantly increased’ chicken sandwich sales. And the TenderCrisp does sell better than the original sandwich.”

Yes, you can make some mistakes by trying new things. But you might also take on that concept that powers your brand to a new level - and have fun doing it. Go on, try something new this month!


A panoply of podcasts on e-marketing Wednesday, April 1st, 2009

Warning: shameless self-promotion alert!

Zazoo has been producing a series of podcasts on e-marketing for interactive marketing agency HotHouse. Here are some links to recent podcasts:

Also, visit the HotHouse blog for erudite commentary on the digital industry!


Is the Internet destroying advertising? Tuesday, March 24th, 2009

A professor of the Wharton Business School in Pennsylvania has set off an incendiary bomb within the advertising industry by writing a treatise on why the Internet will spell the death of advertising. I won’t comment on this, I just encourage you to go and read his article, scroll down to read the comments, and see some of the other responses that have been published. Gotta love the Internet, blogs and Twitter for quickly whipping up passionate opinions about business and social topics!


Skittles, Twitter Search and Facebook: a recipe for good publicity Wednesday, March 4th, 2009

Skittles has conjured up a storm of controversy over its new un-website. The lolly-maker turned its home page into a glorified Twitter Search page on the weekend, and the company has been praised and pilloried ever since.

David Berkowitz wrote in Mediapost: “Today, when contacting a company, the first place I’d likely turn is its Web site. I’m saying that tentatively, as Skittles makes me wonder if corporate Web sites will be around much longer. The company’s new site seems to herald the fact that the corporate site is nearing its expiration date.

“…. Here’s the message Skittles is sending: What consumers say about the brand is more important than what the brand has to say to consumers.”

He asks: “Why would anyone care about what Skittles has to say? What, pray tell, could Skittles ever say that was so important, unless we woke up one day to find out that eating Skittles is the world’s tastiest cancer cure, or alternatively that Skittles lower men’s sperm count. Then, perhaps, the world will listen.”

On the positive side, Marketing Daily spoke to a range of marketers who thought the move was a great idea, quoting the head of eConsultancy as saying that: “Skittles has essentially turned its site into ‘a massive social media experiment. It is possibly the bravest move I have yet seen, in terms of a global brand getting into bed with social media and social networks … it appears to be an extension of the old adage about there being no such thing as bad PR. Everybody is talking about it.’

Marketing Daily also reported that: “‘Some will question whether it’s wise to give up control on the Web - whether this is a good use of social media,’ says Charlene Li, author of business best-seller Groundswell: Winning in a World Transformed by Social Technologies, consultant, speaker and blogger (altimeter.com). ‘But they are controlling content in the most important sense, which is that they’re getting people to talk about and engage with the brand. It’s hard to get people to engage with a candy, but this is generating incredible buzz and PR. This is a big brand pushing the envelope toward what a brand will be in the future.’”

MG Siegler on Venturebeat was bit more sanguine: “In what is either a sign of Twitter’s ongoing transition to the mainstream or of a candy company’s epic laziness, Skittles.com is now simply a Twitter Search result page for the candy.

“I’m a firm believer in the power of Twitter Search as perhaps the most compelling thing about the service, but the candy’s use of the feature just feels gimmicky. It would have been better as a part of the site, not as the homepage. My advice: I know times are tough, but hire a web designer.”

He presciently wrote: “Naturally, people are already spamming the hell out of this. One tweet being repeated over and over again unfortunately uses a racial slur. As such, I suspect this little experiment will end rather soon for Skittles.”

Meanwhile, Berkowitz suggested that Skittles should highlight its Facebook presence rather than Twitter Search, since its Facebook group has an astonishing 587,000 friends. And as of Tuesday US time, after a puerile Twitter campaign, that’s exactly what they did. The Twitter experiment ended, and the Twitter Search page was replaced by the Facebook page. But the debate goes on. Of course the big question is: what effect will it have on the brand and on sales? We’ll let you know.

Follow the story as it developed:

Skittles Converts its Home Page to Twitter Search

Marketers Praise Skittles Gutsy Site Move

Why Skittles Killed its Website

Skittles: tweet the rainbow (or racial slurs)

Skittles switches homepage from twitter to Facebook (what’s next?)

Bad Jokes Force Skittles to Retreat from Twitter Search to Facebook


11 reasons to get involved in social media Tuesday, March 3rd, 2009

11. Helps me to be seen as resourceful

10. Current content maintains my visibility throughout the Web without having to pay for sponsored links or ads

9. It generates a “buzz” about my business

8. Connects me with my audience at an emotional level

7. When I serve my customers well, they’re more likely to pass my name on to others

6. Establishes my business identity

5. Connects me with people in places I currently don’t have access to

4. Helps future clients get to know me better as a business professional and as a person

3. Connects me with businesses whose services I may need

2. Helps me to understand who my customers are

………….and the number one reason Why I Use Social Media is……..

1. Builds trust between me and my customer

Trust is the new currency.

Reprinted with permission from:
Ray Schiel © Copyright 2008
The Global Social Media Network
http://www.globalsocialmedianetwork.com


Of toothpaste and social media Sunday, March 1st, 2009

An analogy-filled discussion on social media on the Ravenous Buglblatter Beast of Traal blog (don’t ask me, I have no idea what that blog title means, either!) this past week compares social media engagement to blurbs on toothpaste tubes. Karthik S. tells the story of a client who said, “Do we need to start a conversation with each and every person who says something about our brand online? Gosh, that’s going to take a lot of time”.

He points out that engaging every single person who interacts with your brand is both impossible and missing the point of social media engagement. He likens it to the tube of Colgate toothpaste (which he was reading while contemplating social media engagement at 6 in the morning!) which says, “for best results, squeeze tube from the bottom and flatten as you go up.”

He writes: “A toothpaste is supposed to clean your teeth; remove goo from gums (with the help of that other device, tooth brush); control bad breath…and so on. So, perhaps, it would have been a lot more appropriate if Colgate (and other toothpaste brands around the world) had actually printed, ‘For best results, brush twice every day and after every meal’.

“Isn’t that the ‘best result’ in question? Why bother about existential activities like squeezing the tube, when the objective of using the paste (and the tube, as a result) is completely something else?”

One of the commenters on the post, Chris Knutson, had a great response: “As for responding to each and every person who mentions your company on the internet, I don’t think that’s necessary. Rather, companies can use social media to take the pulse of how people feel about their brand, and use it as a second voice for their customers. If you happen to see a surge of complaints or concerns about a particular issue, you respond in the most visible way possible. If there is an ongoing conversation topic on Twitter, reply to the topic with your input, or offerings to provide assistance, or look into an issue for people experiencing pain with your company.

“These activities do get noticed. The key to doing it effectively is sincerity. If you are perceived as genuinely concerned, social media users will respond positively, and your use of social media to engage with your customers will be respected. If you are perceived as just trying to perform damage control, you could see some backlash.”

And re: the toothpaste tube instructions, one commenter added: “Reminds me of the nasel inhaler (Vicks Sinex) which includes the instructions: Remove top and push up bottom. Now that would certainly clear your passages. And the Starbucks coffee cups: Caution! May contain hot liquid. Are we really getting so dumb we need these kind of kind of instructions? There again, maybe your client experience shows we do.”


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.”


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