For brands, social media should be looked at from

two perspectives: surveillance and engagement. There is no doubt that people are talking about the brands, so we

need our clients to want to get in on the conversation in a more

meaningful way.

Social media and event/promotions marketing

share a common trait: quick results. It’s the immediacy of their effects that set them apart. They share a

natural lead-up, climax, and aftermath that provide endless

opportunities for promotional activities and brand development.

Facebook and Twitter can get along; your brand

pieces should too.The most successful social media campaigns have been those that

understand that with the addition of each new platform, the rest

adapt. This is not only to compete, but to have the ability to create

links between them to drive interest, traffic, excitement and

momentum.

… and to do that, there are 3 questions every

strategic thinker should be asking:

How do you deepen

engagement?

How do you spread

excitement beyond

just the participants?

How do you extend

it’s life in time,

so it starts before it starts,

and ends after it ends?

The internet is enabling

conversations among

human beings that were

simply not possible in the

era of mass media.

“An amazing invention,

but who would ever want to use one?”

-President Rutherford B. Hayes

Marketers are more than familiar with

adoption curve, and most strategize for

the 64% of people that are considered

the early/late majority. But for every

significant step in technology and

innovation, there have been innovators .

While the Innovators only represent 2.5%

of the population, and are now often part

of the “geek” category, it is those people

who saw the potential long before any

other. It’s those people who paid $2000

for a DVD player before anyone else.

Those that saw the telephone as more

than a toy. And those that saw Twitter as

more than just a way to tell everyone

what you had for lunch.

Although significant risk has always

accompanied following the Innovators

(over 95% of the time they pick the

wrong stuff – after all, some thought 8-

tracks would last), with the speed of

technology and internet development,

marketers can now watch trends, build

on existing plans, and access real-time

news like never before.

As strategic thinkers, you can not afford

the luxury of judging the Innovators. You

may not have seen the potential in the

telephone, and you may not have any

interest in collecting online cool-points,

but someone does; and they might be

onto something.

There are two

conversations going on.

One inside the company.

One within the market.

Founded in 2003

Over 400 million active users

50% Log-in on any given day

For the week of March 13th, Facebook

was the most visited site in the world

Over 100 million users are on

Facebook mobile

The top 100 websites have

implemented Facebook Connect

Over 60% of people have used

Facebook to stalk their ex

WHO’S SETTING THE BAR?

1944 LIVE ON FACEBOOKA Polish company created false profiles under

the names of two people in 1944, and based

their status updates on daily entries from their

diaries.

SKITTLES FAN PAGEThe Skittles fan page is one of the most

popular product fan pages on Facebook. With

daily status changes, their constant activity is

met with thousands of fan comments,

postings, photos and more, every day.

COKE PAGEOriginally created by two fans, it was

eventually bought and managed by Coke, after

millions of people had already joined.

Companies need to realize their

markets are often laughing.

At them.

Founded in 2005

4th Largest site on the internet

Largest video site on the web

300 Million accounts

5 Billion video streams every month

(40% of all videos online)

15 Hours of video uploaded every

minute

It would take over 600 years to watch

all the video content

WHO’S SETTING THE BAR?

WARIOWhen YouTube viewers watched the clips from

Nintendo’s new Wario Land Shake-It, the

screen and all it’s pictures and text would fall

apart with each shake of the demo.

CHOOSE YOUR OWN ADVENTURECompanies like Hot Wheels have taken

advantage of the new YouTube feature that

allows the viewer to change the outcome of the

video based on choosing different options

throughout the clip.

YOUTUBE 3DYouTube has not only enabled 3D content, it

has now allowed for any of those videos to be

viewed 14 different ways, based on the 3D

glasses (or lack thereof) that the viewer may

have.

We are waking up and

linking to each other.

We are watching.

But we are not waiting.

Founded in 2006

5% of the accounts are responsible for

75% of the content

21% of users have never posted a

tweet

New York has the most users –

followed by LA and Toronto

User numbers grew by 1500% in the

last year

Highest percentage of users are

between 45-54 (second are 25-34)

Twitter is blocked in China and Iran

WHO’S SETTING THE BAR?

ASHTON KUTCHERStill the most followed Twitter account in the

world, he keeps his popularity by providing

constant content, participation with others’

accounts, and a sense of humor.

NEWS FEEDSWith half of Twitter account holders using it

primarily as a news feed, companies like CNN

and New York Times have taken advantage of

hashtags and Appmakr to send only the

information that is of interest to followers.

JETBLUE AIRLINESThe only product/service in the 100 Most

Followed list, they use their account to provide

flight information, regulation updates, and

promotions.

Don’t worry,

you can still make money.

That is,

as long as it’s not

the only thing on your mind.

Founded in 2009

Total users is currently around 1 million

76,000 users joined during SXSW

alone, and checked-in more than 1

million times during the event

Check-ins currently exist in 100 cities

Recently launched in every continent

(except Antarctica – sorry penguins)

Is considered as misunderstood and

simplistic as Twitter once was – with the

same growth in its future

WHO’S SETTING THE BAR?

STARBUCKSWith frequent visits, you can not only become

the mayor of a certain location, you can also

receive the Starbucks stamp and

privileges/promotions at different locations.

BRAVO!They used a series of Bravo! themed badges,

tagged locations, and content entered by

show personalities to create a points program

that will eventually evolve into sweepstakes,

awards and incentives.

NEW YORK TIMESIn addition to the regular stamps, you can

receive additional (branded) one for visiting

locations that the New York Times has

recommended (like restaurants and bars).

People caring about how many friends

they had on Facebook seemed

innocuous enough, but the Obama

campaign brought a new value to

online status. The more people

participated, the more points they

achieved. Activities like fundraising and

event planning gained community

members points, and different

privileges as they reached new levels.

He allowed for people to participate in

a variety of ways. What could start out

as personal interest (“friending” him for

example) could escalate through a

tiered set-up, from Social to Advocate

to Super User. His MyBO creation

even contained easily-accessed raw

material so people could be properly

equipped to promote on his behalf.

“HE TURNED

EVERYDAY PEOPLE

INTO ENGAGED

AND EMPOWERED

VOLUNTEERS”

“HE WILL BE THE

FIRST PRESIDENT

WITH A LEGION OF

13 MILLION AT HIS

FINGERTIPS”

Forgoing their annual Superbowl ad,

Pepsi decided to point its $20 million

elsewhere. They began the Pepsi

Refresh Project with the concept of

“refreshing the world”. Consumers

were asked to submit ideas of how to

refresh the world in 6 different

categories (Health, Culture, Food &

Shelter, Planet, Neighbourhoods, and

Education).

Consumers could enter a variety of

ways, vote from several platforms, and

participate on nearly all major

platforms from Facebook to

Foursquare. All spoke the same

message of refresh, charity and

change. Combined, the internet

mentions of the initiative met or

surpassed those from past years’

Superbowl ads.

“FOR THE FIRST

TIME IN 23 YEARS,

PEPSI WILL NOT

HAVE A

SUPERBOWL AD”

“WE ARE BUILDING

RELATIONSHIPS

AND HAVE MORE

POINTS OF

CONTACT WITH

OUR CONSUMERS”

ING Direct looked at social media as

people “living the brand”. With the

concept of their “Saver’s Revolution”

and the idea that they wanted to be

where people were talking about their

financial concerns, they started by

making Twitter their main feed to

several other communication avenues.

Constant updates and conversation led

people to promotions, articles, videos

and more.

They were the first Canadian company

to leverage YouTube as part of a

contest, and are now the second to

create a full finance-management

iPhone/BB application. Using their

mission to be transparent and honest,

they started conversations in online

forums, and plan on continuing it by

providing real-life spaces like cafes for

people to meet and share ideas. They

are about people taking charge of their

own finances and independence, and

to do that they empowered their

customers, and opened up the

conversation.

“IT HAS KEPT THEM

ACTIVELY

ENGAGED IN THE

CONVERSATION, AS

IT IS COMING FAST”

“WE DON’T LOOK

AT THIS AS A

CAMPAIGN

PER SE”