Info-Currents March Issue Online: New Norms -- Dads As Caregivers, Loyal Customers in Social Media, Internet-only TV Households

Emerging trend: Coparenting is for couples who are together as well. As moms carry on with demanding jobs, dads increasingly take on child-rearing duties.

Implication: Opportunities to market to men expands into different facets of family life, going beyond typical CPG messaging on self-care and home improvement.

Action: Go beyond the classic assumption that women shop for men. Market to men in ways that acknowledge them as able and involved partners and parents. Note what family products and services they consider to be valuable and practical.

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Emerging trend: Social data gets connected with post-purchase behavior.

Implication: Engagement is not the only outcome of a social media relationship. Facebook’s partnership with data companies Axciom, Epsilom and Datalogix, suggests marketers can now trace the social profile of a loyal buyer.

Action: Start your analyses with purchasers, instead of those who are just aware or considering. Buyers will reveal most about the role of social in purchasing decisions, as well as up-sell and cross-sell opportunities. 

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Emerging trend:  Definition of TV households will include Internet-based and mobile viewing homes as well. Nielsen announced it will include Internet-connected TV viewers in its TV ratings sample households.          

Implication:  Advertisers will get a more comprehensive perspective on audience reach and the impact of ads and branded content on consumers.

Action: Look at the momentum generated by those households canceling cable subscriptions and watching on-demand, online only. Compare the impact of shared (i.e., family living room) and private (e.g., mobile) viewing experiences on brand recognition and likelihood to purchase.

 

 

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Sandwich Maker from Antep Solves F-Commerce Riddle!

Move over GM, Tostcu Mehmet from Gaziantep, Turkey will show you how to work Facebook. Tostcu means sandwich shop in Turkish. Gaziantep is a major city in the Southeast region of Turkey, known for its cultural heritage, phenomenal cuisine and entrepreneurship. Mehmet is the owner of this 'Tostcu' in Gaziantep who takes orders from his clientele in the area via Facebook. That's not all -- you can even chat live with Mehmet's staff. One click from the simply designed Facebook tab will launch your MSN.

To date, the page has over 1,200 likes and more than 150 check-ins. The dialogue between Mehmet, his staff and customers is the kind you can't imitate through all the social media tricks in the house. The comments read as if everyone knows each other and Tostcu Mehmet always thanks those customers who order through the page.

No fancy app or sapplet. No check-out cart. Just authentic hospitality, rapid response and a network of loosely connected individuals in one area.  

Wish they delivered to my office!

 

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What do Instagram, Slideshare and Meebo Have in Common?

These are the latest/pending acquisitions by social media giants Facebook, LinkedIn and the omnipresent Google. What does it all mean? Even the largest distribution channels need sticky content. Yes, I used that web 1.0 word 'sticky'. I could have said 'engagement is the new king.' Bottomline, advertisers need eyeballs to stay with content for a long period of time so they can sell more and more. Whether you're looking at a friend's photos, a colleagues' slides or getting social ads served to you, it's the same basic principle of being exposed to a message. 

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Novo Nordisk Handles Paula Deen Reactions on Facebook

I received this interesting clip from a friend. Novo Nordisk fans were reacting negatively to the Paula Deen deal on Facebook, but some advocates stepped in to defend the brand without brand interference. Below, you'll see that the Novo Nordisk community manager "played it cool" by only reminding the fans of the FDA guidelines. Good approach to issue management in social media.

Here are the best practices this mini case study underscores:

• First, monitor closely
• If the community handles the issue itself, continue to host the conversation -- do not interfere
• If someone does not abide by the communication guidelines, step in and send a reminder

 

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Like Zynga, More Game Publishers Will Venture Outside of Facebook

With its vast and diverse audience, Facebook has become an incubation ground for game publishers and app developers. Those who can command millions of users on Facebook, have evidence that their business can survive beyond the social network.

 

What it means for marketers: Experiment with placing brands in games and apps that reach and engage sizable audiences. Add the following to game storylines and app functionalities:

 

-          Coupons

-          Videos

-          Links to owned media through animated logos

 

Brands can gauge the success of such initiatives by tracking:

 

-          Coupon redemption

-          Video views and sharing

-          Conversion from user to site visitor

 

 

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Facebook Ad Credits Will Not Solve Small Business's Social Media Problem

Facebook is giving small businesses advertising credit in hopes of getting this substantial audience to use the platform for customer acquisition. The mammoth social network is up against a tough challenge: Grand majority of small business owners do not see social media as a priority in their digital marketing list. IIn fact according to a Hiscox survey published by eMarketer, only 4 percent list it as a must-have. Many small business owners say they could live without it (43 percent). Some add that they don't get to it everyday (24 percent). There are still those who don't even know where to start (14 percent). Facebook may need to think of a more comprehensive plan than an ad push to secure time on small business owners' schedules. 

I know the challenges of small business social media  first hand. I am West Side Art Studios' self-appointed social media consultant. Greg Kessler, the artist behind the studio, is busy creating and teaching art day in, day out. He uses Facebook to stay connected with friends, but he rarely has time to devise a social media calendar, identify and engage his influencers. He does a good job of announcing milestone events and the rest of his time has to go to creating the product. 

    Social media outreach requires time -- you need time to build a following and to engage in genuine conversations with them (vs. pushing messages at them). That's not a problem Facebook ad promotions will solve. 

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Water is Everything

charity: water is truly the master of online word of mouth. Check out their latest campaign, Water Changes Everything, that educates audiences about the connections between an everyday matter such as water and macro issues such as education, food security, sanitation, women's issues, healthcare and economic development.

The campaign first caught my attention on Facebook with clever depictions of what lack of water would mean for us in the developed nations.

Then I found the trail to the web area where they have six key messages you can Tweet and/or like, each one of them opening the viewers' eyes to the impact clean water can make in a country's economic development and public health. 

Between these messages and the photos on Facebook I generated four tweets and three likes, which turned into four additional re-tweets. In other words, one enthusiast created more than 10 messages through direct involvement and pass-alongs. Randomly peppering like buttons on a web site does not guarantee online buzz. Yet giving a community of advocates strategically packaged, byte-size messages can turbo-charge word of mouth. 

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What Will Happen By 2015?

We know what will happen in 2011. Marketing plans are ready. Teams are staffing up for research, ideation, and launches. There will be news of acquisitions, hostile takeovers, and inventions. We will need to be nimble enough to respond to these ad-hoc changes. Yet we truly need to plan for the future, not just for today and tomorrow. We need to start thinking about how content, distribution technologies and audience behavior will change by 2015. The following are predictions on the landscape shifts that will become increasingly defined within the next five years.

Content:

1- Short entertainment will be standard on phones: Audiences prefer short excerpts to long exposes. Most people do not like to read. Many of us need to or would like to stay in the know. With the advent of tablets and mobile broadband, we will read 300-500 word stories on our smart phones. Since online video will be near ubiquitous, content providers will produce more infotainment clips and rely on visual communications to tell stories in creative, succinct ways. 

2- We will arrange the features on your favorite Web sites: We will see click and drag web sites. The content management systems will move to the front end from backend. Brands and news portals will have a better understanding of their users’ preferences and have the chance to improve on their services.

Audience:

3- CSR audiences will be more demanding: Generation G (giving) will scrutinize philanthropy and CSR efforts more closely.  Donating two to 10 percent of proceeds to a cause will not be enough. They will expect more creative approaches from brands that produce tangible results and offer meaningful engagement. 

4- Information filters and organizers will regain popularity: People will use filters to organize their ever-growing list of contacts and prioritize among them. Instead of switching to 50-people networks, such as Path.com, online audiences will defer to new group and folder features on their Facebook pages.

Distribution:

5- Facebook will turn people info into business (and it won’t be just advertising): Facebook will fight with Amazon and smaller players like Yelp to be a word of mouth search engine. The vast amount of personal information it collects will continue to help marketers map out consumer preferences based on social connections and profile details. Privacy battles and issues will continue. Users will search for experience-based recommendations and listings within their extended networks. 

6- Google will become a content distributor: Google will expand its e-stores to include music, movies and clips, creating a vast indie market online. Audience ratings on these pieces of content will be added to Google algorithms.

7- Word of mouth marketing will become more precise: Marketers will successfully target beyond the inner/immediate circle of influencers. Our understanding of second and third cycles of word of mouth will improve. There will be more sophisticated program offerings to mobilize crowds and offer innovative products/services to a wider range of influencers.

 

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Can't Buy Me 'Like'

Facebook has more than 400 million active users, who spend over 500 billion minutes per month on the site and interact with 160 million features (i.e., pages, groups, events, etc.). While the typical Facebook user is connected to an average of 60 pages, groups and events, how is a brand supposed to attract fans and keep them interested? 

There is a surge of campaigns online that encourage users to ‘like’ brand pages on Facebook in exchange for a discount, product trial or charitable donation. As the pressure to show ROI on developing and maintaining a Facebook page mounts, marketers resort to these tactics to give their communities a boost. 

The reality is that Facebook is cluttered space and a brand needs a cohesive set of promotions and smart posts to break through and grow their fan base over a reasonable amount of time. The quid pro quo approach will create a spike for a week and then the brand may need a new idea.

Moreover, this approach is a big no-no if you read the fine print in Facebook rules for companies. As stated in this section, “you cannot administer a promotion that users automatically enter by becoming a fan of your page.” Brands cannot use native Facebook features to run campaigns. Instead, they need to build apps that sit on separate tabs to run their campaigns. The main reason behind this separation is data ownership and potential liabilities that come with it. Facebook wants the brands to handle their own data and provide the following disclaimer: "This promotion is in no way sponsored, endorsed or administered by, or associated with, Facebook. You understand that you are providing your information to [recipient(s) of information] and not to Facebook. The information you provide will only be used for [brand needs to disclose any way that it plans to use the user's information]."

Among brands looking to acquire fans with the quid-pro-quo tactic, Ann Taylor has a more refined approach. The brand is leading loyal customers (called the Insiders) to their Facebook page with an e-mail invitation and offering them a discount in a tab dedicated to this initiative. To get the discount, users need to ‘like’ the brand. Considering that they have already opted in to receive emails from Ann Taylor, these customers are bound to click ‘like.’  

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Despite Facebook's Popularity, E-Mail Leads Brand Communications

 

As Facebook users increasingly use their social network emails for peer communications, the e-mail marketing industry is pointing to a new study almost every month, underscoring the medium’s validity as a branding and sales channel. The latest is a study by ExactTarget and CoTweet that takes a high-level look at online consumers’ email use.

According to the study, based on more than 1,500 interviews conducted among Internet users15 and older, brands have conquered online consumers’ inboxes, they’ve seized the attention of a sizable audience on Facebook, but they have ways to go on Twitter. The study results show that grand majority of online consumers (93 percent) have signed up for some sort of daily email. Four in10 (38 percent) of online consumers are a fan of some brand on Facebook. Meanwhile, a mere five percent of online consumers follow a brand on Twitter.

Internet users’ daily surfing habits show that checking personal news reign over other online activities. Six in 10 (58 percent) users say they start their day by checking email, one fifth (20 percent) go to a search engine, and one in 10 (11 percent) begin their day on Facebook. Visits to corporate and brand sites trail behind. This hierarchy suggests that the personal inbox is the ultimate place to connect with consumers.

As Facebook took over the Internet, many focused their attention on turning the social network into a valuable relationship platform. While throwing an ever-growing online party with hundreds of Facebook fans is a significant accomplishment, email remains a critical component of full-fledged e-CRM plans. E-mail’s popularity among consumers may pose challenges to marketers to break through the inbox clutter. Yet a balanced program that blends relevant emails and entertaining Facebook content can build brand equity and increase open-rates. 

 

For additional information on this study, click here. 

 

Posted via web from Speaking of Social Media

World Peace - It Can Happen on Facebook!

Coming from a multi-cultural family and having studied cross-cultural communications, I always thought if people got close enough they would appreciate their differences. Friends and then relatives from different countries can really move us closer to a much higher level of acceptance.

Finally, here's living proof from Facebook. The "peace page" tracks friendships among people from nations who have been in historical conflict. You can watch it in real time, as people connect on Facebook.

Then, there is the survey across nations. Question is whether you believe world peace is achievable. Americans are most pessimistic. Columbians are most optimistic. I guess being exposed to war news is depressing, and making strides against FARC boosts morale!

Sertab Erener: A Sincere Voice! in Social Media

Like many Turkish people, I am a fan of Sertab Erener - a pop singer with an amazing voice that transcends ... well, it just rises above all. Her fame spread to Europe when she brought the famed Eurovision song contest trophy home. Her talent is evident to all who hear her songs, whether they can understand the Turkish lyrics or not. So, you can imagine what I thought when I saw an email from Twitter saying that Sertab Erener was now following me. "Her handlers are hard at work, adding anyone with a Turkish name out there," I said to myself. Wrrronngg!

I clicked on the link to find Sertab's photo taken with a Web cam (she changed it since then) with updates that were obviously written by her, in first person. Then I started jumping up and down saying 'Ohmigawd, ohmigawd, Sertab Erener is now following me on Twitter.' I returned the favor immediately of course and told everyone in the office who would listen.

Sertab is also posting updates to her Facebook fan page and she sends her updates through Friendfeed.

Sertab's writing voice is as clear as her singing voice. Her genuine personality comes across as she uploads family photos, tells followers when she's feeling a bit under the weather and shares how she's preparing her upcoming album. It's called Painted on Water, due on June 9th.

I would have bought the album anyhow, since I am a fan of her music. But her spot-on approach to social media and one-to-one conversations with fans makes me want to buy a few as gifts.

Facebook addiction in New York subway graffiti

I took this photo this morning at the Carroll Gardens subway station in Brooklyn, New York.

Terminator Salvation - Building Buzz Online Before Launch

The sci-fi film, Terminator Salvation, is going to be released in the US on May 21st. But fans can already get into the action by playing a related game on Twitter. The main page for the game is here and you can check the Twitter account for updates every few hours, get a Resistance trivia assignment and reply to it.

My friends at The Game Agency (who may have had something with the creation of these games) pointed out that there was more to the game...on Facebook!

The application, titled Terminator Salvation: Join the Resistance, lets users create a squad, invite their friends to join to patrol a grid-like map, much like Battleship, with the rest of their squad looking for Terminators.

The gaming strategy seems to be a smart one as fans are counting back the days until they can watch the movie on the screen. In just three days, more than 2,600 follower on Twitter and close to 800 fans on Facebook are engaging with the film's content.

There Is More to FB Brouhaha Than Privacy

Frankly I am comfortable with the idea that a site might own the personal information I post on their area. When I update my Facebook account, I am aware that I am sending information to the 200+ friends I have listed. I realize they can write back, forward and copy and paste that information. This is the duality of social media: You're doing something private in a very public space. It's best to be aware of this and get used to it as the way things are and will be as the Web evolves. I don't think one would even need to wait for Facebook to aggregate data or cull through profile areas. Your friends could very well be spreading your information - online and offline. Post with 'this' in mind.

This is not Facebook's first attempt (or incident) trying to make use of the tremendous amount of user data that accumulates on the site. Facebook is looking for another way to make money from the site besides advertising. It's sitting on a gold mine. If users would understand the full set of ramifications of how their information would/could be used and opted-in to share or sell their information, then there would be new business models emerging from social networks.

Take a look at this interview between SAP's Steve Mann and Prof. Sinan Aral from MIT and NYU. Aral makes the very good point that understanding audience's demographic profiles is not enough. Companies can be a lot more effective in their communications if they understand their audiences' networks. In other words, who you know, where and how you know them gives marketers better information about you then just your age, gender and location.

There is an old saying in Turkish: 'Tell me who your friends are and I'll tell you who you are.' I guess it boils down to that.