Take a break… from social media
Snack favourite Nestle KitKat will this week launch a new campaign, Social Break, that will automatically send updates to subscribers’ social media accounts, minimising the stress that comes from updating multiple social platforms.
Launching in Singapore, the downloadable widget allows a user to have updates sent on their behalf to nominated social media accounts including LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter, including liking posts you are tagged in and retweets. While the app is a clever marketing gimmick, it also highlights a growing problem – especially among Gen Y – that being social media addiction or stress.
With so many social platforms now part of our daily lives, more and more people are feeling the pressure of maintaining a social presence with just over half of respondents to a recent survey indicating that being in constant contact on social media was interfering with their job, studies and ‘real’ life.
Time to Switch Off?
While the KitKat app is designed to make things a little easier for users by updating their social networks for them so they appear connected, Kangaroo Island’s most recent campaign encouraged users to take the 24 hour switch off challenge, disconnecting from all their social media networks on April 28 for the sake of their own mental health and our society.
A number of bloggers took up this challenge, taking a full day to have time out took advantage of a widget developed by Kangaroo Island to advise users who visited their social media platforms that they were having the day off.
This initiative followed research indicating that heavy users of social networking sites should have at least one ‘offline’ day a week, in order to counteract our 24/7 ‘online’ lifestyles.
But I’m Lonely…
These initiatives to simplify our social lives come just days after a report in the Sydney Morning Herald discussed how almost a quarter of Australians are living alone and are lonely, often turning to social media for friendship, connections and confidants.
We no longer make eye contact with people whilst walking down the street; we sit at restaurant tables glued to our mobiles and we email people sitting three desks away. But online, we never have to be alone.
Online, we never have to be alone.
Together, Alone.
So which is it? Are we become a society of isolated individuals, chained to updating our social media networks and immersed in others’ lives through a series of status updates and tweets? Or are we lonely and seeking meaningful human interaction which, in the wake of our busier than ever lives, is only possible via social networks?
Social media and Trust
As a social business agency one of our roles is to help clients understand the role and influence of social media.
One of our favourite points of reference is the Nielsen survey which asks “What degree of trust do you place in the following forms of advertising?”
In 2009 (charted here) we saw that the top three were:
1. Recommendations from people you know (90%) – this is the nirvana of all marketing…. positive word of mouth.
2. Consumer opinions posted online (70%) – ie. recommendations from people you don’t know but have a common interest with.
3. Brand websites (70%) – brands stepping up to be transparent, informative and collaborative.
In the world of BOUGHT, OWNED & EARNED media the top 2 fall under EARNED which we define as “the reputation you earn by virtue of your actions.” The tools which underpin EARNED are typically Facebook, Blogs, Twitter & forums. Brand websites fall under OWNED.
TV came in as the most trusted paid-for advertising (62%) right down to text ads on mobile phones (24%).
Three years on, the gap between EARNED and BOUGHT is further opening up as TV and other paid-for media fall away on the trust front.
Worth noting is that ‘emails signed up for’….which presumably means newsletters, holds its ground from ’09 at 50% to raise itself above all paid-for media in ’12. Editorial content has lost ground from 69% to 58%.
Branded websites too have fallen away from 70% to 58% and to me this is symptomatic of the underperformance of expectations that consumers have of brand websites. Every day we all come across websites which are too static, too wordy and too self important leaving us feeling undernourished and wanting.
The key take out here is that the opportunity cost of embarking on a social business strategy is low.
Money invested in paid for/BOUGHT media goes much further in an EARNED environment. For example 1 x 30 sec network spot in “The Voice” on Channel 9 is now purportedly selling for $100,000 +. This spot has the potential to reach approx 16% people (all adults aged 14+) just once. Alternatively $100,000 in the EARNED environment can fund the development and part implementation of a social business consumer advocacy programme for the longer term.
If we agree that trust is a “top 3″ issue in marketing then why wouldn’t you at least explore the potential that a social busines strategy can deliver? A little bit of paid-for media goes a long way in EARNED. We’d be the first to agree that paid-for media still delivers the numbers and you do need it in the mix to drive awareness but you can have your cake and eat it with social.
Be interested in your views.
You can find the full Nielsen report here
Dove Gives Facebook Ads a Makeover
Preying on insecurities is a common ‘strategy’ in advertising, and especially so when targeting women who are forever conscious of their weight, height, level of hair shine, amount of belly roll, etc. But it really can make you feel ‘not so special’ when you see such ads on Facebook because they have been specifically targeted to people like you. Oops.
I found this sponsored story in my news feed today from Dove:
I remember reading something about Dove this morning so I took a quick look around the blogs. As it turns out, Dove has launched a Facebook “Ad Makeover” campaign in Australia that makes a stand against negative-body-image type ads and uses that to push their own positive brand messages:
The campaign works in the form of a Facebook app on Dove’s page. Without having to become a fan of Dove, users can choose what message they want to send: e.g. “Hello beautiful”, “The perfect bum is the one you’re sitting on”, “Think of your cups as half full” etc. They can also do their own targeting by choosing who to send the message to – women who are thinking about careers, love, beauty or fitness (I wonder if this is real targeting or part of the idea of giving users a sense of empowerment/control over who they send their message to..?). The app then tells you how many women your positive message will reach.
Of course, the ads don’t actually replace would-be negative ads. They are using normal Facebook advertising and targeting methods. There’s also no way that my ‘ad’ message is going to reach 542,900 women as Dove tells me. But I think it would work well as it’s a nice feel good campaign that uses people power to spread the word and makes a stand against stereotypes and insecurity – which has been Dove’s approach for a while as we have seen in Campaign for Real Beauty and Dove Evolution.
Although Dove has received a bit of flak from its past campaigns that on the surface, promoted self-esteem (…and behind the scenes: heavily photoshopped images and involved cellulite cream sales as a KPI…), I think this one will be better received. What do you think?
Alert the Media: FRANk PR is here
Welcome to FRANk PR. As a social business agency that challenges assumptions about communications and looks at how we can engage with people in media, it was a logical next step that we incorporate PR into our offering, fusing it with our social business know how and connecting the missing link for our clients.
And I am the one who will help you do this – hi!
Who am I?
My name is Sarah Kempson and I come to FRANk Media after a number of years working across a variety of marketing disciplines. My background includes PR, advertising, branding and social across corporate, government and consumer clients, in both agency and client-side. I also produce my own blog and write for online and print publications, helping me to better understand the traditional and new media platforms and how best to engage them.
So what is PR today? And how do we address the challenge of integrating PR and social?
PR today is more targeted than even before. In an environment where most people in media have a Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest – or whatever the flavour of the month is – personalisation is required. Who is the right person to talk to? What is the best way to engage them? Who do they influence? Finding the right approach is paramount – one size does not fit all and it’s important to integrate across all platforms – old and new.
PR now needs to focus on engaged content, rather than just push content
Old vs New
PR Professionals need to be savvy in the way they approach journalists today – a press release emailed to the newsdesk is no longer enough to get your client in the media. Hooks need to be stronger; news needs to be quirkier; a unique point of difference is required. What makes your story special?
And it’s not just traditional media that we are sending a press release to anymore. Whilst print, radio and TV might seem the most logical (or most powerful) choices, are they the right ones? Or are they simply the ones we know and are familiar with? As the graphic below represents, half of our media consumption is now via the internet. Social media, be it viral campaigns, blogger engagement or getting your message across in 140 characters on Twitter – needs to be a part of this mix.
50% of our media consumption is via the Internet
Where to now?
At the end of the day, the basic premise of both PR and social business is the same as it has always been; the building and maintaining of personal relationships. This should always remain at the forefront of any planning for your brand’s PR and social strategy. The communications landscape is changing often and while it may seem daunting to keep up, the key will always be to keep it personal.
What are some of the best integrations of PR and social campaigns you have seen recently? Or, the worst?
Now on offer: Facebook Offers
In a move that surely surprises no one, Facebook this week launched ‘Offers’ in Australia, currently available in beta to a limited number of business pages and soon to be available to all pages.
Facebook Offers follows in the footsteps of FourSquare and the multitude of group buying websites that have sprung up over the past years, leveraging the power of bulk buying and word of mouth.
While FourSquare integrated with Facebook over two years ago, at the time Facebook Places replicated the technology of using the location based services facility that FourSquare offered. Facebook Places was replaced with the tagging location technology soon after.
How Does It Work?
Facebook Offers works in much the same way as FourSquare, without the check-in component – an offer is posted on the business page of a brand, such as a coffee shop and appears on the brand page and in your newsfeed. The offer might involve a buy one get one free, or a discount on a product or service, which is redeemed on the brands page. Facebook Offers differs by emailing the offer directly to the consumer, who then takes their mobile device, or a printout, to the venue to redeem their offer.
The offer can be capped, and made available for a limited time only. Facebook then tracks how many offers have been redeemed, which is displayed on the brand page, and the offer can be shared with friends in the same way other content on Facebook is shared.
Here is a bit more about Facebook Offers.
What Does this Mean for FourSquare?
FourSquare announced this week they have 20 million users worldwide, with over 2 billion check-ins, but Facebook Places had 30 million users within two months of launching in 2010. So, will brands choose FourSquare, which uses location based che
ck ins for their offers, or Facebook, which only requires you to ‘like’?
Questions could also be raised about how to police the redemption of Facebook Offers – what is stopping a consumer from redeeming an offer on more than one occasion, especially if that offer is on a mobile device? And what about staff training and ensuring that your brand ambassadors are across all the offers published in time for them to be redeemed?
Recent evidence from Group Buying sites show discounts and freebie offers generally bring customers in the door, but getting them to come back is the area that needs work. It may be that Facebook Offers provides the key to loyalty marketing in the future, given that most people redeeming the offers will already be fans of the brand.
Will you use Facebook Offers for your business?
Facebook fans = most valuable customers
A recent Forrester study reveals that Facebook fans are a brand’s most valuable customers. Wow!
I have no trouble believing this study, I just don’t understand how it is so hard to feel how valuable you are as a customer on Facebook. Let’s be honest here, brands struggle on Facebook and have no clue about how to work it.
Desperate to be “liked”, brands come up with the weirdest campaigns to drum up more fans. A great recent example is the Commonwealth bank with its sponsored poll (below)- care factor anyone?
Also Dutch fashion brand Stüssy made the headlines last week with its latest Facebook campaign. We wrote about their lame attempt to get more likes on Facebook earlier but let’s recap: a model covered in layers of clothing will strip in return to likes. In other words, one like on Facebook is as valuable as a one dollar bill in a strip club- nice job Stüssy for making your fans feel really special!
via http://theoatmeal.com/
Facebook fans are too valuable for shit like this, but brands are missing out massively on the potential of Facebook. As brands run meaningless Facebook campaigns to increase their fans numbers, they simply undermine the commercial utility of their Facebook page.
In other words, the Facebook “Like” button does not create fans, it identifies them.
Once identified, a brand can target, select and reward these advocates with meaningful and interesting content. Brands can show how valuable their fans are by creating content that is fun, sad, interesting, raw, hilarious, inspiring and most of all relevant to the fans.
THAT is how you best use Facebook as a brand. Anything else is idiotic.
Get Your Social Cool On
So, Facebook just bought Instagram. A company founded 2 years ago with 30 million users is worth $1 Billion.
I’m not going to touch on the strategy around buyout or the value of the investment. It’s about a word that’s been repeated in news about the buyout… COOL.
An article in CNN declared (after buying Instagram), When Did Facebook Become So Uncool; and another from Social Media Today, Instagram, You Sell-Out, you’re no longer cool. To top it off, my Dad also said to me with confidence, “I hear Facebook is no longer cool”. Thanks for the heads up!
Cool stuff used to be about discovery. The new band, that awesome pair of shoes, the hidden coffee shop with real hipsters. The joy finding something that is yours to share…it’s what makes it COOL.
So what happens when the band goes platinum, everyone owns those shoes, and the hipsters are now a lot of hipsters? Boo. It’s no longer cool.
So, enter social media. Oh cool how far you’ve come!
- You provide a service that connects 800 million people around the world. Everyone’s a hipster.
- It takes 1 post (and an instant) to reach hundreds, thousands, millions. Your tweet went platinum.
- Your discovery, thoughts & ideas are now instantly global community property. Everyone has your shoes.
So, is anything really cool anymore after you push send? There is still hope…
In social, cool is no longer being the first to discover, it’s being great at what you do. It’s always been and is still about sharing.
The same applies for brands with a bit of extra care..
4 Brand Tips to Gain Social Cool Cred
Your strategy must first start with the value of your product or service and how it best meets customer needs. Look at the US based Real Estate Agents Century 21. At the surface, a seemingly uncool product, but they have created a sensational social presence providing customers with real-time service and connectivity.
2. Promote sharing within your community
Don’t just talk about your product or service, but what is means to your consumer. Insurance agency Allstate have created an app called GoodRide – a social platform that lets motorcycle riders (not just Allstate customers) connect with others, track and share their routes, and offers planning tools to make the riding experience safer and easier.
3. Be transparent
Brands aren’t perfect, but they can be honest. It wins trust and will build affinity with your consumers.
…and social cool should follow!
Facebook admitted their photo sharing app was crap, so they bought the best one to make their service better. Instagram wanted to expand their service by linking with the biggest sharing platform on the planet. I don’t mind if Facebook or Instagram are no longer deemed the old cool (thanks Dad & CNN) – they are both still great at what they do.
Desperate times: model strips for likes on Facebook for fashion brand
Facebook is not a new tool. It has been around for a while now and brands have had some time to get their heads around how it works. It is not about chasing likes.
I was rather surprised when I read about fashion brand Stüssy undress a female model for likes on their Facebook page. It looks like this:
And it works like this:
“As you can imagine the model must be suffocating under that many layers of clothing. It is almost a public duty to free her out of this misery so we are expecting Facebook fans to help out here. Like and undress.” (via Econsultancy)
Seriously, what are they thinking? There are several issues with this campaign besides the point I made earlier that Facebook is not about likes:
Facebook rules: As noted by The Next Web, Facebook rules clearly state that it does not allow this form of generating likes plus it has a no nudity policy so fans of Stüssy may actually never see the naked girl. How disappointing…
Branding: Clearly this campaign is aimed at men (and lesbians?) but Stüssy also makes fashion for ladies. How they feel about this campaign I can only guess but also is it clever for a brand to be associated with stripping?
Sales: While this campaign may generate likes of the brand page in the short term, how does this sell more exactly? I guess this brings us back to why Facebook is not about generating likes.
We’ll see how this campaign unfolds and report back if anything interesting happens. In the meantime, let us know what you think about this? Genius or insanity?
UPDATE: The campaign has finished and the end result is this:
Image via http://adverveblog.com
I would feel seriously jibbed if I had “liked” the page to see this lady naked but I would also be offended by the middle finger action of the model. Well done! [NOT]
Facebook downsizes ads and is yet to alert advertisers
A recently discovered document that was uploaded to Scribd by a number of users contains updated advertising specifications for Facebook. These changes will greatly impact an advertisers ability to catch the eye of consumers, but Facebook strangely opted to not alert advertisers to these adjustments. Changes in specifications now see marketplace ads (those that appear down the side of the newsfeed) decreasing in size and decreasing the amount of characters that can be used in the description.
The document displaying the coming advertising changes states the changes will go through on the 31st of march, although Facebook already seems to have begun resizing advertisements automatically.
How these ads used to look:
How they’re going to look now:
The changes by Facebook are an attempt to make their ads from page posts more appealing for advertisers. The larger image size of page post ads makes them more desirable for advertisers over the the traditional marketplace ads.
Facebook updates brand pages & advertising formats
Wahey! The long-awaited Facebook Timeline-style formats for brand pages has officially rolled out today – which lets pages have a large cover photo for aesthetic purposes (no written information is allowed on it), and a reshuffling of the information on it. Check out what it looks like at FRANk’s Facebook page.
One of the interesting changes for brand pages now is that when someone first visits a brand page, they may see friends’ interactions with that page spotlighted as friend activity, making each visit to a page more socially relevant. People will also see how many of their friends are connected to a page.
Besides the changes to brand pages however, Facebook also announced several advertising developments at its first-ever Facebook marketing conference (fMC) in New York City.
Premium ads and Sponsored Stories will enter mobile feeds and more
Previously, ads were only shown on the sidebar and desktop News Feed. Now they will begin to appear in the News Feed on m.facebook.com and native iOS and Android apps. This marks the first time the company has brought ads into its mobile products and is part of a significant update to its marketing and advertising products. Advertisers will now be able to reach the company’s 425 million monthly mobile users.
Sponsored Stories in the mobile News Feed will appear similar to Sponsored Stories on the desktop News Feed, which were introduced in January.
Premium ads are only available to advertisers working directly with Facebook representatives, not form the self-serve of Ads API tools. The introduction of premium ads in both types of News Feeds (as opposed to being confined to the sidebar on the desktop site) allows premium advertisers to reach fans connected to their Page from within the News Feed, even if there is no friend activity that could generate a Sponsored Story.
Ads will thus be able to be distributed in several channels (from left to right) – on the brand’s Facebook page, on users’ home page sidebars, in users’ News Feeds on the desktop, in the News Feed on mobile, and starting in April, as part of the log out experience.
Updated premium ads
Facebook has just phased out the Classic Premium Ad formats – premium like, premium event, video comments, and premium poll and will be introducing new versions instead. The new premium ads work like this:
Offers through the News Feed or ad units
Facebook pages will soon have access to a new story type that allows page owners to post offers that users can collect from News Feed or ad units. Unlike check-in deals which required users to first visit a physical location, offers can be redeemed in-store or online. The social network plans to remove check in deals in the coming weeks.
Offers are free to make, just like any other post, and do not require approval from Facebook before going live. For users, getting offers will be frictionless – one tap / click will send the offer to the user’s email account. From there, they can use the offer at a physical location, or enter the coupon code at an ecommerce site. When users obtain an offer, a story is generated to be shown on their Timeline and in their network’s News Feed, thus increasing the viral reach of the promotion.
Although it’s free to make an offer, brands can pay to boost the offer into Sponsored Stories, or turn it into a premium homepage ad.
Exciting times ahead for brands on Facebook!
When it comes to social, ignorance is not bliss
Social media has always been about two way conversations. For too long, companies have been treating their social media channels like how they treat mass communciations channels – shouting advertising messages at the customer: Buy this! Like us! Follow us! Tell your friends!
Brands have jumped onto social and grabbed at whatever popular tools they can – setting up a Facebook page, Twitter account and so on and believing that social is a cheap and easy way to win customers’ attention and wallets. But getting a return on investment is just that – it needs investment. Without the right resources in place to cope with the demands of being on social platforms, brands risk putting off a huge portion of customers, both existing and potential ones.
Social media expected to lead customer service in the future
A study by Conversocial of 513 respondents put a harsh spotlight on the lack of customer service on social media sites… and the painful consequences.
78% believe that social media platforms will soon entirely replace other means of customer service altogether.
Note that within the study, a slight majority (50.7%) of respondents currently use social media to communicate with brands. So although not all consumers are using social media to communicate with brands, a large majority of them still believe that social media customer service is the way to go. And it’s no surprise, really, because by 2017 the Millennial generation (those born between 1981 and 2000) will have more buying power than any other generation. As early social media adopters, they often understand social better than the brands trying to reach them. They are making their own rules of commerce and it is time for brands to catch up with their expectations, or suffer.
The price of ignoring your customers
If personally ignored by companies on social media sites, 45% of respondents said they’d feel anger, and 27.1% said they would stop doing business with the company altogether. Ouch.
If you thought that was painful – the next statistic is even scarier.
If they went onto a company’s social media site and saw that other people’s complaints were left unanswered, 88.3% said they’d be less likely to do business with that company in the future.
Keeping in mind that the respondents were split about half-half with regard to having communicated with brands on social media sites, it shows that even people who don’t communicate with brands are still silently watching and judging when brands fail to respond to other customers. Ultimately, the conversations that a brand has with its customers is a public social space represent the brand – and if these conversations fail to impress, it’s a big hit to purchase intent.
Social customer service needs investment
Social customer service is impossible to ignore and will only become more important in the future as Millennials and digital natives become the main spenders. Today’s consumers’ opinions are no longer within their own bubble of experience with the company, but are influenced by the experiences of others.
Companies, especially bigger ones, may say that it is too hard to keep up with the stream of questions and complaints on their social channels.
The first step is to have a community manager who listens and responds to customers quickly and appropriately on social channels. However, this also has its limitations – a community manager may not know all the ins and outs of a company’s processes. For example, if a customer asks a very specific question on Facebook, only certain employees may have the right answers.
Hence, it’s best when social isn’t the responsibility of a single department or person – it should touch every aspect of the company and all employees should be involved in providing the help and answers that customers are demanding on social channels (being a social business).
Customers will expect attention and service from a company, regardless of whether they’ve phoned the customer service centre, tweeted them, or asked a question on Facebook. Only 4% of CMOs are currently leveraging social media to provide faster handling and customer care. It’s time for companies to recognise the influence that social media has over the new breed of consumer, and invest the appropriate resources into maintaining these channels for customer service, and solidify their reputation online for the long term.
Domino’s Harnesses Their Community to Help Transform Their Business
Big companies with a wide appeal and reach tend to receive a large volume of communciation on their social media channels and it is a difficult task to even try responding to all of them (many brands have problems dealing with just the negative comments), let alone really listen to what fans are saying. Lots of brands have tried crowdsourcing ideas through polls, surveys and so on, but often these are directed in a way that the company wants e.g. asking fans what flavours they want – instead of being completely open. And often, no strong incentives are provided.
One brand that has regularly listened to both fans and employees is Domino’s. In fact, most of their ideas for products and concepts ave come from store staff instead of marketers and executives at the top. Because really, who knows the problems and solutions at the store and service front better than those who work there?
Domino’s has created a new campaign in the form of a Facebook app called “Think Oven“, which aims to harness the power of their fans, letting them suggest and influence ideas for how Domino’s functions. The ideas can cover any area of the business such as products, consumer interaction, online presence or quality of service. Within the app, fans can suggest ideas for projects that Domino’s has in mind (e.g. better uniforms), or suggest ideas that aren’t related to a project to put into the Idea Box. Fans can rate others’ ideas with Likes, which helps Domino’s see the popularity of ideas. A comment/discussion section on each idea also gathers additional feedback. Those with the best ideas for Domino’s projects will be rewarded with rather large cash prizes (good on Domino’s for not choosing to just give vouchers!). In addition, Domino’s doesn’t just reward the idea that they will choose to implement. In the case of the uniform improvement project, they are rewarding four ideas with $500 each. I like that a lot – it feels like Domino’s wants to reward valuable ideas, regardless of which one was eventually chosen to be implemented.
Domino's Think Oven
Project subissions – fans submitted these ideas for improving the uniforms
What a wonderful example of social business at work – not just using social media sites to talk about themselves, but actually creating a sustainable platform for the purpose of really engaging and empowering the fans to help the business improve in all areas in ways the customers appreciate. Domino’s is showing that it really does value its customers’ ideas and feedback and wants to shape their brand and processes to put the customer at its very heart. Furthermore, it gives Domino’s a very organised platform – ideas and projects (with image attachments) can be easily categorised and ranked by popularity among customer – which translates into a comprehensive database of engaged customers and great ideas.
Increase brand loyalty and get consumers to really like your brand
Brands don’t have it easy these days: increasing competition, globalization, fast paced social media trends, empowered and choosy consumers certainly make it hard for brands to get noticed and liked. And I mean really liked, not just getting a lame Facebook like.
A brand feels liked and popular if it gets your repeat business and sales increase. To get there, many brands feel like they have to pretend to be your friend and many social media consultants recommend this approach. But friendship does not involve money changing hands (unless you have a weird friendship) and most consumers (including me) are not very keen to call a brand my friend. That’s just sad and it is much better to have real friends but also most brands have nothing to say and don’t converse well.
Image source: http://fashionpearlsofwisdom.co.uk/
Okay, so brands and consumers are not friends but they still have some kind of a relationship. There is mutual interest in what the other party is up to. This interest is expressed in form of consumer surveys for example and in turn consumers demand more info about manufacturing processes, social responsibility, etc. The tricky bit for brands is to read the information and put the consumer back into the consumer journey.
The other tricky bit is of course that consumers don’t care about consumer surveys much. What they care about is good products at the right price. But many brands feel that it is no longer enough to offer good products at good prices. Consumers want more- but what do they want? What does a brand need to do to be liked these days?
From experience I know that the following (basic) tips increase a brand’s reputation and likeability but also personally I find that I am more loyal to a brand I genuinely like:
via Facebook.com/kulula
- Be human- own up to your own mistakes and use empathy. Consumers know that things sometimes go wrong but they need you to make them right! Be transparent and don’t promise anything you can’t keep.
- Don’t talk about yourself all the time- it’s boring. Consider others for a change and get rid of your consumer surveys. If you have a question, just ask on Facebook or Twitter. The insights may surprise you!
- Show your swagger- add a bit of character into your brand communications and use humour. Sex may sell too but I prefer fun and witty brands. That’s because fun brands don’t take themselves too seriously and seem to understand points 1+2 very well.
via www.crapola.com
Crapola: This cheeky granola breakfast cereal made from you, guessed it, Cranberry, Apple and Granola has not been around for long but is quite famous already. No wonder with marketing slogans such as “Crapola is high in fiber. Just ask one of our regular customers” and “Makes Even Weird People Regular” it has won over many people. The brand really knows not to take itself too serious. And it is a great product with pure and high quality ingredients. Watch the brand’s story here and check them out on Facebook too.
Census: Another great example to mention here is the “boring” Census Australia collecting info from us to “plan” better. Anyway, it is something nobody looks forward to but in 2011 the people behind Census made it all worthwhile for us by entertaining us with the most random and hilarious tweets! Although they have stopped now, it was a great way to converse with Australia over a very dry subject. Check it out here: http://twitter.com/2011Census
via Twitter
Social Business Customer Service
Everyone likes a good customer service story, often there are too many negative ones out there.
I received a WEWOOD watch for Christmas. It’s a unique watch made out of 100% recycled wood that I’ve had my eye on for a while now, problem is that I needed some link
s taken out…
With difficulty and after taking it to get adjusted with no success, I called the retailer where the watch was bought, and they too were rather unhelpful pointing me to go to a jeweler and the saga continued.
So I finally decided to revert back to WEWOOD and found they have Australian social presence. After posting my problem on their Facebook wall, I received a response almost immediately with suggestions as to what to do and how to go about fixing it. I ended up taking it to their WEWOOD Australian representative who kindly fixed this for me, no worries. After 3 weeks of running around, the problem was fixed in a few days.
Why I didn’t go down this path initially I don’t know, but what I do know is that I will always opt to go through social media profiles as a form of customer service every time from now on. Not only do you often receive a response much more efficiently, you also tend to discover other customers who might be experiencing similar problems and the relative solutions. What a great example of the benefits of running a social business, if you aren’t in this space how will you know what your customers are talking about, especially in a case like this one.
Thanks WEWOOD, you’ve made for a happy customer!
‘Social Sofa’ Drives Reality TV Engagement
The guilty pleasure of reality television is more fun shared, with a new survey released showing 67 per cent of dedicated fans of the genre use some form of social media while they watch.
Specifically, 38 per cent interacted on Facebook and 35 per cent on Twitter while watching their favourite shows, according to Reality Ravings blogger Emma Ashton, a phenomenon dubbed “the social sofa”.
Ashton and market research company Nitty Gritty surveyed more than 400 viewers nationally for the “Reality TV Viewer Insights” survey, which showed that Facebook and blogs were the most popular fan forums.
“Viewers clearly like the social nature of the format of reality TV, and people using social media during or after a reality TV episode are more likely to become an entrenched fan of show,” Ashton said.
“These fans who are using ‘the social sofa’ are more likely to watch the shows more regularly, and get emotionally involved with the series and with the contestants.”
There are no prizes for guessing what viewers like the most: 72 per cent said they “enjoyed seeing drama and controversy between contestants”.
The survey also found product placement in programs was extremely effective, with 93 per cent of the respondents saying they were influenced by the advertising and information in the shows and 98 per cent able to make an association with brands aired during reality TV.
The most-recognised brands were Coles, Qantas, Handee Wipes, Freedom and Woolworths.
“Advertisers are definitely getting more for their money by aligning with reality shows,” said Nitty Gritty’s Julia Houston. “Reality TV viewers like the information they receive from reality shows. This would indicate they are more receptive to brand placement and lifestyle messaging than (viewers of) other formats.”
With the high number of viewers interacting in the social media and online, advertisers need to rethink the advertising opportunity, extending it to a conversation with the consumer after the show has finished airing.
This was also important as the research showed 68 per cent of the viewers fast-forwarded through ads and eight per cent watched shows online.
The full report can be found at www.realityravings.com or www.nittygritty.net.au
Leading companies are serious about social
Just a couple of years ago, social media was considered a fad. Kids posting tweets documenting everything they were doing, showing sometimes unnecessary worship for a celebrity – surely this wasn’t something to be taken seriously? Fastforward into 2011 and here we are, with 62% of online Australians being avid social media users and businesses racing to take advantage of this opportunity.
Social networks come and go and a few have risen to the top and have been deeply incorporated into advertising, PR and customer service departments in leading companies. Booz & Company and Buddy Media have revealed in their Campaigns to Capabilities: Social Media and Marketing 2011 global report that Facebook, Twitter and YouTube are now considered important cornerstones of most social media strategies in larger companies. 94% of respondents mentioned Facebook as one of their top tree social media platform priorities. Twitter came in second with 77%, and YouTube with 42%.
No longer just the domain of teenagers and social media fanatics, more and more CEOs are recognising the value of social media over the long term, with nearly 40% reporting it as a CEO-level agenda item.
Critical success factors identified
The survey respondents identified a number of “critical success factors” within the company itself that drive the success of social media efforts. The top elements contributing to a successful social strategy were:
1. The ability to react quickly - Good news travels fast in social, but so does bad news. Companies need to constantly monitor the social media landscape, brand sentiment, and pick up on customer feedback/complaints and act appropriately and quickly.
2. Having a clear champion/owner - being a great social brand AND business requires a community manager or spokesperson to handle the company profiles and communities, someone who embodies the company personality and ideals and can effectively convey this to the public, in order to nurture trusting relationships.
3. Clearly communicated support from executive management – a third of companies in the study had a senior executive who was responsible for company-wide social media efforts.
The chart below shows the perceived importance of other social media success factors:
Social media benefits the upper stages of the purchase funnel
Brand building, interactivity and buzz building were the top three benefits perceived from social media. Compared to traditional media channels where communication is one-sided, social media provides a fantastic channel to engage customers, reward them and speak with them.
Social media is going to get bigger
65% of organisations are integrating social media into all advertising and marketing efforts – and many believe that it will be the fastest-growing segment of the marketing budget because investing in relationships with consumers through social is more important than mass reach. Of course, social is not out to replace traditional channels, but it enables companies to reach those who matter through better targeting and insights, to bring about consumer advocacy and affinity with the brand.
The most indicative figure of social media’s opportunity, however, is this: Almost all (95%) companies are reporting that they are growing their spend on social media to build bigger social programs and platforms. In fact, no respondents said that they would spend less on social media in the future.
In Australia, where 62% of the population are avid social media users, only 14% of small businesses, 25% of medium-sized businesses and 50% of large businesses have a social media presence, the opportunity is still there!
5 reasons to open up a Facebook store
Facebook stores have had some success in the past but it has not really taken off yet. First movers such as ASOS in the UK or Petco in the US are already set up and sell their products directly via Facebook but the broad masses seem reluctant to join the movement.
Source: http://www.indrashishghosh.com/facebook-store-applications/
Many brands are still unsure of “this Facebook thing” and are trying to find their feet in the social space let alone sell on Facebook. Many brands are still questioning the power of Facebook as an advertising tool and as a consequence the next question for many is whether Facebook can become a successful direct sales channel in its own right.
There are very compelling reasons however to open up a Facebook store whether one believes in the power of Facebook or not.
- People love Facebook: the social network giant has over 750m users and it is not a secret that people are simply addicted to it. 50% of the active Facebook users log on to Facebook in any given day and 48% of the 18- 34 year old check Facebook first thing in the morning.
- Facebook is free: The platform is completely free so there are no hosting or domain fees. Additionally, there is no commission to be paid to Facebook. Obviously you still need to invest in extra resource to manage the Facebook shop and develop it first but it is a fairly cheap solution to growing online sales.
- First mover advantage: It is still out there but not for long. If your brand wants to be seen as innovative, young and trendy you may want to set up shop sooner rather than later.
- Measure ROI: F-commerce allows your brand to link the advertising and marketing expenses to sales. This is crucial for many brands struggling to make the connection between a social business strategy and sales. With a Facebook store it will be easy to monetize Facebook and measure ROI.
- Competition: Your competitors may soon start trading on Facebook and this is when you can no longer ignore Facebook. It would be like a new shopping center opens up and you do not set up shop there although it is free and your competitors are trading there.
The success of your F-commerce strategy however will depend on how it can enhance the purchasing experience. You need to find a way to cut through a person’s news feeds on Facebook to literally yank him or her out of their social environment and into their shopping frame of mind. Social Innovations, a group of developers from the UK has come up with a cool app to make the social shopping experience a lasting one. Here is a demo:
Basically this app is able to “learn” about a potential customer from its Facebook profile (likes, events, interests, hobbies etc) and as a result can provide tailored product offers. In this demo the customer likes Katie Price and therefore the app suggests clothing to buy as worn by Katie Price. Certainly a different customer experience compared to a brick and mortar store with a grumpy sales assistant. Customers are also able to receive exclusive Facebook discounts and can share their shopping experience via their Facebook status with friends.
If this is a bit too much for you then you may like some simpler apps such as Payvment, Novelo or Tab Juice as reviewed here. Whatever you do though, do it with the right strategy in place and never rely on a shiny app to sell your product.
What’s happening to Facebook? A lowdown on the changes ahead
Yesterday, Facebook held its annual developers conference, f8, and announced heaps of new features and changes to be rolled out in the coming weeks. Several changes do have a significant impact on brands on Facebook. The keynote speech is almost 2 hours long – you can watch it here if you like.
1. Profile pages will be replaced with Timelines
Facebook has recognised that people feel a deep ownership over their Facebook profile pages and want it to clearly express who they are at any point of time. Timelines is a radical new profile design aimed to “tell the story of your life”, as opposed to merely showing the most recent activity.
“This is the heart of the Facebook experience, completely rethought from the ground up. We’re calling it ‘Timeline,” said Zuckerberg, “Timeline is the story of your life: all your stories, all your apps and a new way to express who you are.”
The Timeline is a realtime stream, like your profile, that chronicles all the events, pictures, posts, activity and so on that has happened to you ever since you joined Facebook, way to your birth. The most recent parts of the Timeline show all or most of the activity, but if you scroll down to the past, say 2007, the Timeline shows the highlights of your year – something like an automatic biography. The timeline can be curated – you can choose what to hide from view and what to show (for example, a particular event from your past that didn’t show up automatically) – allowing you to really shape your Facebook presence.
The Timeline makes profiles much more visual – pictures are more eye catching and you get to have a ‘cover picture’ as the header image to freely express who you are or what you like. Read more about the Timeline here. Zuckerberg made no mention of Pages in his speech, but he simply told businesses to “rethink your industries ” because the Timeline will most likely be extended into Pages as well. This makes sense – it will allow businesses to tell the story of the business right from the start, highlight the social interactions its had with fans and curate the Timeline to showcase the most meaningful milestones (e.g. product launches, events, fan appreciations). However, the Timeline will NOT show actions such as Liking a given brand’s page - this shows in the Ticker instead (see below).
You can learn how exactly the Timeline will look and work at Inside Facebook’s simple step-by-step demonstration.
The new Facebook Timeline with cover picture and summaries of recent activity, friends, photos, places you've been, things you Like, all summarised
The new Facebook Timeline – you can see the scroll at the top right for scrolling through your personal history
2. Apps to help you share your activities
Instead of just using status updates, Facebook users will be able to use social apps on Facebook to express themselves and share what they’re doing. For example, having a cooking app will allow you to record and share all the different foods you’ve cooked. The apps can also summarise all your activity on the app on your Timeline, letting everyone know what a great cook you are.
3. The Ticker – a real time stream of ‘lightweight’ activity
On the side of the Facebook page will be a real time stream of ‘lightweight’ activity from those in your network - basically an unfiltered news feed feature. It seems very similar to Twitter in that sense, showing all the new status updates, Likes, comments, photos, activities, app use, and so on in real-time as yoru friends are doing them. The Ticker is meant to replace the Most Recent option in the current news feed so as to streamline the Facebook interface and make it easier to zero in on the important stuff and glance at the real-time unfiltered activities as you please, on one screen. The Ticker is intended to allow for serendipitous discovery – it doesn’t clog up the news feed (which Facebook reserves for ‘important’ stories) as you may see that a friend of yours is listening to a new song by a band you like – great! Ticker has the potential to spread content because activities – such as content/media consumption that are happening through Facebook – are automatically shared. However, it will depend on how fast the Ticker moves and whether people are even interested in looking at those little stories that are already deemed somewhat unimportant…?
The Facebook Ticker on the right side of the page shows an unfiltered news feed
4. A new social graph that allows connection beyond Likes
Likes have been perceived as a sign of endorsement. People may be willing to only Like a couple of movies on Facebook even though they have watched hundreds. Facebook will be introducing a new social graph that allows you to connect to anything in any way you want through verbs. For example, you can share with your network that you have ‘watched The Lion King’ without having to actually Like it. Verbs such as ‘running’, ‘cooking’, ‘watching’, ‘reading’ or ‘eating’ can create stories in the news feed through social apps. This will be great for sharing content and brands as people will be more willing to simply share their activity with something as opposed to indicating endorsement. Brands will be able to capitalise on these interactions to target those who don’t necessarily fully endorse a brand/product but are already showing awareness and interest – the necessary first step in marketing. According to Inside Facebook, advertisers on Facebook’s Ads API or who work with the Direct Sales team will soon have the option to target users who’ve shared through these apps or clicked ‘Listened’, ‘Watched’ or any sort of given verbs, letting them reach consumers of their content that might not have Liked a related page. Advertisers will also be able to turn media sharing and usage of these feedback buttons into Sponsored Stories into Sponsored Stories that turn what would have been news fed or Ticker stories into sidebar ads. All this sharing will allow Facebook to acquire more data about consumer habits and activities and facilitate the development of more powerful, targeted ads.
With the open graph, all media (music, movies, tv, news, books) and lifestyle (exercise, travel, food, fashion) which are inherently social, will be part of apps – great news for content discovery and spreading content through a network as people share their consumption activities. There is also an opportunity for some brands to ‘own’ their own verbs by getting users to take action on them. There is also a chance for greater creativity in how people are allowed to interact with content. For example, a ‘Want’ verb allows for people to create their own wishlist of things around the web. There’s a great deal of potential with the new open graph but Likes are not as important – marketers will have to work harder to earn their place in the news feed space.
Inside Facebook provides a few examples of how the new ad targeting capabilities may be used:
- A concert venue could target all users who said they listened to band to sell tickets for that band’s upcoming concert.
- A band could target all users who listened to one of the songs off their soon to be released album about that album going on sale on iTunes
- A big box retailer could target all users who shared or said they watched any movie starring Johnny Depp to sell a new DVD box set of the actor’s films
- A film studio could target any user who said they watched a trailer of a new film that a friend shared after watching it on IMDB.
- A tech conference could target any user who said they read an article on any of the major technology blogs
- A baby clothing retailer could target any user who said they read on article about how to buy clothes for infants on a blog for mothers.
Facebook’s changes have yet to be fully rolled out – we will be anxiously awaiting them to see the implications for social business and marketing. Fingers crossed! In the meantime, try not to panic about the Facebook changes, whether you think they’re good or bad for social business. Facebook has always been careful not to bite the hand that feeds!
Facebook Update: New tool lets you see what your friends see
With all the new changes on Facebook it can be confusing and hard to keep up. People wonder who can see what info they post as privacy concerns over Facebook become louder and louder.
Facebook has quietly introduced a new feature called “View As”. This function at the top right corner of your Facebook page lets you view your own page as one of your friends sees it. Click on the “View As” button as below:
Source: www.simplyzesty.com
You then get to chose a friend and Facebook will show you how this friend will see your profile. It is a great tool to check if the privacy settings are actually working when you have for example hidden from a particular person certain profile details or do not want to share photos from a wild party with your boss and work mates after you called in sick on Monday.
Check it out!
There’s Always Next Season
We’re really excited to report we’ve launched another integrated campaign that used Bought and Earned media properties to drive engagement, increase reach and brand awareness.
The campaign involved one of FRANk’s clients, Carsales.com.au, who recognised that a lot of football fans are lamenting the fact that their football season is over for 2011 and to cheer them up Carsales wanted to remind them that “There’s Always Next Season.” With that sentiment in mind they’ve decided to giveaway football memberships to the AFL/NRL club of your choice in 2012.
At FRANk we bought this to life by building two mechanisms that would engage the Carsales audience at two different touch points.
Bought: Our relationship with Sports Mate, whom Carsales has been involved with via AFL/NRL live app meant that we could utilise the existing dynamic banners on the app to drive entries into the competition. We designed and implemented a fully customised web form with a simple mechanic so as not to interrupt the users experience with the app for more than a few seconds.
Earned: Secondly, we built an application on the Carsales Facebook page that has driven more likes and increased the reach of the brand across the entrant’s social networks. As part of the application functionality we built an automatic ‘Like’ component to enter the competition and an optional push function to notify the entrants friends about the competition.
At FRANk we believe an integrated media approach is the best way to ensure audience engagement and results from the first week have been super positive. We’ll keep you informed of the progress in coming weeks, but if you haven’t entered the comp, make sure you do, here!
Secondly, we built a Facebook application that has driven more likes and increased the reach of the brand across the entrant’s social networks. As part of the app we built an automatic ‘Like’ component and an optional push notification to an entrant’s network