Marketing communications have shifted from a one-way street to a conversation with the customer. New media grants your customers easy access to channels that allow them to share their opinions about your brand with millions of other people. Until recently, marketers have allowed customers to bad-mouth their brands, accepting that they have no control over what is posted in the blogosphere. The game is rapidly changing, though, thanks to marketers who are willing to take risks.
“Outside the box” thinking? Most marketers believe they are thinking outside the box when they create a viral video or take user feedback into consideration for future campaigns. EA took this idea one step further: literally responding to a single customer (albeit, a very popular one) by creating a hilariously creative YouTube video response featuring the real Tiger Woods.
Some serious negative discussion was reversed into some hugely positive buzz (almost 2 million views, to be exact, and countless blog posts). Granted, this response came nearly a year after Levinator25’s video was first posted. It’s certainly a step in the right direction, though! Viral videos are pretty exciting (although the novelty is rapidly wearing thin and truly buzz-worthy concepts are becoming harder to capture), but a genuine video response to a YouTube posting, that talks directly to a vlogger and his viewers in their language? Now THAT is revolutionary!
Attending the first ever MediaPost social media conference (OMMA Social) made me feel good. Why? Because it’s good to know that the experts in the industry have just as many questions about social marketing as I do.
It was an interesting day to be sure. The conference re-affirmed much of what I knew alredy, and provided a few new insights as well. I thought I would share key take aways from this conference, in case you were wondering if you should dip your toe into the world of social marketing.
Users are systematically ignoring traditional advertising both on and offline.
As social media tactics are just beginning to emerge, learning and optimizing is key.
Because advertising has been in the forefront of media for such a long time, people are used to thinking that if millions and millions of eyeballs aren’t looking at your messaging, then the efforts are inconsequential. What they’re missing is the value in the relationships that are created through conversations.
To facilitate / create social marketing the following groups need to be involved:
PR
Media
Creative
Old metrics of ROI / RFM / CPM do not work with these new tactics. Measurement must be developed on a case-by-case basis depending on the campaign goals.
Walking away from a social media campaign isn’t an option
And finally: How do you know when a social media campaign succeeds?
10.”You get it on Oprah, and you’re done,” said one OMMA Social speaker.
A huge goal to reach, as I’m sure Oprah has a long list of things to talk about already .
But I’m interested in hearing from you – have you started any conversations through social marketing yet? And what are you seeing?
How do you make a purchase? If you’re anything like me, sometimes you have an idea of what you’re looking for, and other times you’re simply shopping with friends/family for the sheer joy of the experience. This pattern of buying isn’t really much different than it was 10 years ago - you buy what you need, and sometimes you indulge.
What IS different is how we make our final purchases today. The Internet plays a huge role. We’re highly informed consumers, researching our purchases heavily. We review forums, blogs and product reviews, and we comparison shop. Then, we refine our final purchase by locating the best place, on or offline, to make our purchase. More and more frequently, though, these final purchases are occurring online.
But something is still missing from the ecommerce experience.
ENTER SOCIAL COMMERCE
Engauge’s VP of Strategy, Raghu Kakarala, and Andrew Knight, the Director of Ecommerce at Astral Brands (the company behind Aloette cosmetics and Pür Minerals) recently spoke at an event on the topic of “Social Commerce.” I’d like to share some of the great information that came from this presentation, titled “Social Commerce: The Changing Face of Online Shopping.”
It began like this: the Internet has done an excellent job of allowing us to buy online. But in many cases, websites are missing the part that allows you the shop online. Important and powerful emotional motivators are absent - such as being around others while you shop, asking for advice from your friends, seeing your purchases as they are in the real world, and just plain having fun - the SOCIAL elements of shopping.
Engage with Your Audience
In the presentation, Raghu and Andrew each shared trends taking hold in ecommerce that are finally beginning to catering to the way consumers like to shop. Andrew shared how he was able to tap into the power of niche blogs to promote new products from Aloette cosmetics. He went where his audience was - popular cosmetics and beauty blogs with passionate people behind them. He shared Aloette products with them and hoped they would review them. And they did.
Andrew also discussed the tremendous strides reviews have made - such as with NewEgg.com. This little known website has a large an loyal following - raking in $1.9 Billion in online sales in 2007! Not only are they’re sales strong, their service is impecible - 20,000 service reviews equate to a lifetime review score of 9.8! NewEgg capitalized on this popularity by launching a community - Eggxpert (cute right?) that already has 60,000 users and 300,000 posts.
In addition, several brands are now offering Q&A, which allows them to actively respond to customer questions about products. Such as Answers Depot from The Home Depot Canada.
What Does the Future of Social Commerce Look Like?
Raghu discussed powerful new trends taking hold in some industries, which could - and possibly should - represent the future of online shopping. The fashion industry, for example, is an early adopter of many of these trends. Raghu shared several websites that showcase exactly what social commerce is all about.
ShopStyle represents a trend that many brands would be wise to consider. They developed a community that allows people to create “looks” based on their interests or the look of a celebrity. Then, people who like their looks can “follow” them. It’s not unusual for a ShopStyle user to have HUNDREDS of looks and an equal amount of followers.
Simply mouseover an accessory on a user’s “look” and you’ll get a snapshot view of where the product is for sale. Click on it and you’ll be taken there.
Raghu also shared a nifty application called Clavardon that allows for collaborative shopping. Simply, you go to their website, key in the URL of the website where you wish to shop, invite your friends, and you’re there - with a chat window above the webpage that allows you to collaborate on the shopping excursion with the friend or friends of your choice.
GRAVY
Just for gravy, I also wanted to share a website that Raghu covered that highlights the many aspects of Social Commerce. It’s not all about the interaction with others, it’s also about trying to mimic a real-life shopping experience. How many times have you looked online for an article of clothing only to find it, lifeless on the page? Then end up leaving and thinking “I have no idea how that would look on me!”?
Without too much complication, Martin + Osa have managed to give you an idea. If you “Shop by Outfit” models actually WEARING the article of clothing turn into video, moving and turning, to give you an idea of how the outfit will sit on the body, how the fabrics lay together, etc.
(Click the image to see what it looks like in motion)
Now, if they could only find models who don’t look so hungry, we’d really be onto something!
The other day I logged into MSN and decided I wanted to change the look and feel of my WeeMee. You may be asking what a WeeMee is, and the simple answer is that it’s an avatar-like character for MSN Messenger.
Many people in our office have WeeMee characters to portray their style or interests:
Amanda and I (right to left) have decided we’re WeeMee twins:
Josh is definitely a golf enthusiast:
And Greg is a huge fan of chicken:
So back to my original thought… I wanted to update my WeeMee and I saw a banner regarding my WeeMee’s hair, and noticed a partnership with Herbal Essences:
It’s a simple concept – partnering with a popular trend to expand your audience. While I don’t personally use Herbal Essences, I thought it was a really creative way to put themselves out there. At first I thought I might be shown the banner because of the already determined gender of my WeeMee. But when I asked a male co-worker to login, he noted he also received the banner.
So I decided I’d play around with my WeeMee’s hair using the “long luscious” styles provided by Herbal Essences. I didn’t see all that many to choose from, but it was still fun to play with. Here’s the outcome of my styles:
My question to our lovely blog readers is: have you seen any other partnerships like this out there? I’d be curious to see how many brands are using this approach. If you can share links/examples – please do!
Ever have that moment when you’re in the middle of some inane conversation and the thought flashes – this could be a Dilbert strip! Well rejoice, for the newly launched Dilbert website offers you the chance to make just that happen. Oh the opportunities that this new world offers. Write your own ending, write the dialogue for an entire strip or start the strip and pass it along to friends to add their dialogue.
For a comic strip, this is pretty huge. Enabling user generated content or feedback to filter into a brand is something that companies struggle with on a daily basis. The fear, and reasonably so, is that if you give people the chance to talk about your brand they’ll say mean things.
Dilbert’s creators understand that people are already saying, and doing, much of what this new website offers and have made the decision to become a part of that conversation. Good for them. I wish more companies embraced this type of user feedback because an essential part of a product or service lifecycle is hearing what customers want and making the offering better. I know, it takes time and a lot of convincing to even get an audience to start the conversation, but it’s not going away anytime soon.
So what do users think about this 2.0 version of the Dilbert site? They think it sucks. Yep, that’s right, after all that hard work to add more features they want the old site back. Why? Loss of functionality and compatibility. Apparently the old site made it easier to view daily strips and find old ones. Site creators have apparently been monitoring this feedback and added a blog post saying that they’re looking to make some changes in the next few weeks. User feedback rocks!
I find it fascinating that there’s so little information available out there on the value of taxonomy as a founding principle in Web design strategy.
Taxonomy - the study of the general principles of scientific classification - has been around for hundreds of years. In Web work, it’s generally the organization of contexts into logical groupings and hierarchies.
It’s those groupings that, in turn, help IAs determine navigation structures, metadata, even the very nomenclatures that are the foundation of Web usability best practices.
If you’ve ever been approached to help a client correct a truly horrific Web site, you’ve no doubt found that some (possibly much) of their pain points can be traced back to a poorly designed – or altogether missing – taxonomy.
Maybe it’s that those of us who build Web strategies have just come to see taxonomy as a “given” within the Information Architect’s toolset — something IAs employ but needn’t share with the rest of the creative team or [forbid!] the client.
Maybe people think taxonomy is just an issue for larger, content rich KM sites.
Maybe I’m not finding a lot out there because whoever is writing tomes on taxonomy best practices just isn’t remembering to add metadata to their articles.
Ok. That was a cheap shot. But where IS the supporting data in Taxonomy’s defense? I’m disappointed by just how little taxonomy information is out there on the Web. Do a search on your own and you’ll see examples for “Taxonomy best-practices” and rationales are few and far between.
As a creative body, IAs all too often struggle with clients who “just want to see the comps.” Client’s don’t realize how much of their bottom line rides on the contextual storylines inherent in the usability of the site.
The process of taxonomy creation is really much easier and effective than the name might imply. Yet, I’m amazed at how few IAs are given [or is it take?] the time to apply it. And I’ve [almost] never seen nor heard of a client demand a content outline as a deliverable.
I recall a previous colleague who was asked to design wireframes as the initial deliverable for a large eCommerce client. He produced very innovative wires complete with auxiliary navigations, functional buttons, web 2.0 components… the whole nine yards. The client was delighted with the results. After all, they were the pre-cursors to some beautiful graphics.
The site, however, was completely useless. By not first establishing a contextual format for the linear plots and subplots of the user experience, the navigation “buckets” we’re little more than a sloppy hodgepodge of disparate functions and features. The site’s organization lacked cohesion and the end users simply couldn’t build a mental storyline around its intended purpose.
That’s why, whether creating a new site or performing an audit on an existing one, I find reviewing the site’s taxonomics an invaluable starting point.
I begin with a literary outline based on the site’s overarching goals. Sound too old school for today’s hyper-connected world? You’d be amazed at how much mileage you can get by FIRST establishing the value of those straight pathways. It helps the client visualize those important “subplots” that will eventually become the site’s use cases. It also points out where there are potential holes or disparages in the client’s existing content sets and expectations. It also grounds them in reality that these areas of the site will need to be created AND maintained by someone in order to be successful.
More important, we’re helping rationalize and strengthen their business requirements – an important pre-visual practice before going to the expense of designing (and redesigning) wireframes or comps.
After all, isn’t the role of a good taxonomy advisor to SAVE the client some money?
If you haven’t already heard, it was announced in the last week or so that HarperCollins & MySpace have partnered to create an online community for teens. The Computerworld article I read says: “The community will allow teens to create their own profiles, including photos. The teens can also post their own creative writing stories for review by other teens.”
Certainly there are already hundreds of online communities for teens already?? So, I did a quick Google on the obvious search term “teen community,” which provided dozens of pages of results, including Teenhut.com, Teen Second Life, GreenTeen.org, and many more. I even found an online magazine, Teenink.com, written entirely by teens. Heck, even MySpace and Facebook should count as a teen community (even though old people like me can get in).
Is HarperTeen really just another teen community?
It’s always been my belief - and certainly that of all people in the interactive marketing industry and beyond - that teens are the predictors of future behaviors, technology, and marketing. Unlike folks in my generation - who took a typewriting classes in high school and had a party line (not as fun as it sounds) on their home phone - this “next generation” is a population of people who have literally grown up with technology.
My 9 Year Old Son.
I have a 9-year old son; and while he might not be a teenager, he is an excellent example. Jeffrey has schoolmates who actually have cell phones (and nicer ones than mine at that). He has multiple gaming stations, hundreds of channels to surf on the satellite dish, an active email address, surfs the web in school, and is a member of the Webkinz online community.
Teen Influence.
Beyond the definite edge these teens will have as they wave into the business world, this group has powerful influence right now. In fact, a recent report by Pew Internet and the American Life Project, found that “content creation by teenagers continues to grow, with 64 percent of online teenagers ages 12 to 17 engaging in at least one type of content creation, up from 57 percent of online teens in 2004.”
And, as my Jeffrey example suggests, teenagers have a wide variety of communications options. Because these teens are tech-savvy, they lean heavily on communication methods like instant messaging and social networks. The report shows that “39 percent of online teens share their own artistic creations online such as artwork, photos stories or videos, and “26 percent of online teens remix content they find online into their own creations.”
Bottom line, teens aren’t just waiting around for their turn to influence the development of technology when they “grow up;” rather, technology is constantly being created for them.
HarperCollins & MySpace.
This partnership makes a lot of sense. HarperCollins is one of the world’s largest publishing companies; reaching out to teens now is a wise move. Giving users something unique, and freedom in their participation is what they will need to be successful.
I did dig around a little on the site, and I have to say that it is actually fairly nice - not something I would typically say about a MySpace page. Both the style and functionality are appealing. And, they have 19,212friends … not too bad.
HaperTeen is also holding a writing contest for MySpace members through January 7th, with a $5000 prize. Certainly HarperCollins has conducted many writing contests in more traditional models over the years. However, this contest does have a not-so-surprising spin, the final winner will be decided on by HaperTeen members. The good news is that people really do seem excited, with nearly every comment relating to the contest, and all of the user-created forums dedicated to it.
From my perspective, the biggest challenge for HarperTeen will be maintaining interest after the contest ends. So I’ll be keeping my eye on this, I’m curious to see how well they are able to foster community over time.
I think of Greenpeace as an inherently serious and dedicated group (whether you agree with their tactics or not). If I were Greenpeace, I would WANT to be taken seriously given the cause. SO, I was a bit surprised that they came up with a mascot for their ‘Save the Whales’ campaign that was a bit ‘cartoony’. To top it off they held a ‘Name the Whale’ contest that allowed people to suggest names for the whale and let the public vote on the winner. However, when someone suggested the name “Mr. Splashy Pants“, well, they weren’t too happy.
As a side note - just add ‘Mr.’ (or Mrs.) to the front of something and ‘pants’ to the end, and it’s funny… in a junior high sort of way. Just start calling me ‘Mrs. Bloggy pants’. See? Not, I suspect, what Greenpeace was after.
Of course, to add insult to injury, the name went viral. Votes for Mr. Splashy pants skyrocketed. Then a funny thing happened - Greenpeace started to embrace Mr. Splashy pants. Mr. Splashy pants merchandise cropped up everywhere and people love it! To Greenpeace’s credit, they’re riding the tide (pun intended). However, time will tell how effective this campaign is to their cause.
The moral here is:
If you’re going to run a contest, make sure you have some controls in place
If you want to be taken seriously, don’t have a cartoon as a mascot
I’m sorry, November is NaBloWHATMo? Na-Blo-Po-Mo! National Blog Posting Month! National Blog Posting Month is a concept inspired by NaNoWriMo, or National Novel Writing Month, and it’s purpose is to encourage people to write; write about anything, or even nothing at all. Want to participate? It’s simple. Just get yourself a blog, if you don’t have one already, and post every day during the month of November. Think you’re up to the challenge? This is a great way to kick off that new blog you’ve been thinking about starting for the last four months, or maybe to revitalize a blog you haven’t posted on since the iPhone came out. You can also join the NaBloPoMo website to connect with other bloggers participating in the challenge, and maybe even attract a few new visitors to your blog.
Take a quick look into the past of some of the best and worst social media has dished out. From our friend and prankster Nalts to Mentos, this video shows just how fast this landscape is moving. Buckle up for a great synopsis and get ready for a terrible rendition of Billy Joel’s - “We didn’t Start the Fire” by Cakke.
At Spunlogic, we have a lot of great experience and unique ideas to share. From work with clients to new approaches and trends, in this award winning blog you'll find Spunlogic experts sharing their opinions and ideas on all aspects of interactive marketing.
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