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Your Brand Is Not My Friend
Presented by Alan Wolk
Brands are no longer about selling
They’re about “storytelling”
and “engagement”
and “curation”
They want to be our friend
Your Brand Is Not My FriendBut
A Brief History: How We Got Here
Ads used to deliver news
Then they became all about branding and image
The Real Digital Revolution
Then along came
Google changed everything
Now we can fact check ad claims
And see what other consumers think
This has resulted in a complete change in consumer behavior
PurchaseAd
GoogleAd Purchase
Before
Now
GoogleAd Purchase
That’s huge
Changes how we buy a car
Before: limited resources
Now: Full range of resources
It’s all about getting them to Google, not the showroom
Once this happened, print and TV couldn’t close the sale anymore
The “magic advertising words” weren’t working
They could offer compelling facts or create an image
(Provided there was one)
But they couldn’t close the sale.So marketers looked at online...
Microsites weren’t working: why would I go to one?
Neither were banners
In 1996, we “surfed” the web, and banners took you someplace just as interesting as where you were
But now that we go online for a reason, we’re not likely to stop what we’re doing to “interact” with an ad
New ways to “engage” customers were needed
Social Media seemed like the next big thing
Everyone was becoming “friends” online
Why not brands?
Your Brand Is Not My Friend™
Social networks are today’s malt shops
It’s where we go to hang out with our friends
We don’t want to be interrupted by salespeople
But there are some brands people want to hear from
They’re called “Prom King Brands”
There are the usual suspects
Sports teams
TV shows, movies and music acts
99% of brands are not “Prom Kings”
But they can still play in social media
They just have to do it differently
Traditional media is about what the brand wants to say
Traditional media is about what the brand wants to say
Social media is about what consumers want to hear
Social media always involves an exchange
Prom King Brands provide “coolness” (aka “social currency” or “whuffie”)
But if you’re not a prom king brand, you can provide one of four things:
• Entertainment (Something I’d want to see even if a brand wasn’t sponsoring it)
• Information (Exclusive information I feel good about knowing)
• Utility (Something that makes my life easier)
• Incentive (Literally a coupon, a discount or something else of monetary value)
Here’s How Those Exchanges Work:
Entertainment
• Entertainment can be:
• Anything featuring celebrities or entertainment properties you have a deal with
• Third party content that has a tie-in to your overall marketing strategy
• (That means if you’re a serious insurance company, a comedy video is a no-go)
• Your own TV commercials (if they’re something people would enjoy watching)
• Beware: it’s tough for agencies and brand managers to judge this
What Would Maxwell House Do? (WWMHD)
• Maxwell House has an endorsement deal with comedian Nancy Nevins who has a well-known routine about how crabby she is before her first cup of coffee.
• A 3-minute live clip is posted to the Maxwell House Facebook page. The clip also appears on their YouTube page, their blog, their website, and is promoted via their Twitter stream
Entertainment: WWMHD
Watch Nancy Nevins do her “Coffeeless Morning” routing live at The Comedy Shack in Atlanta
Information
• Information can be:
• Facts or useful information (e.g. reviews) that your audience would be interested in
• You can utilize third-party vendors for this
• The information needs to tie in to your overall marketing strategy
• Access to “behind-the-scenes” footage, exclusive clips, or advance notice from celebrity endorsers or properties you have a sponsorship deal with
• News related to your product or category
• Maxwell House hires celebrity chef Umberto Toscano to create a series of recipes using Maxwell House coffee. The deal gives them access to behind-the-scenes footage from Toscano’s widely viewed show and that footage is posted exclusively on the Maxwell House Facebook page.
Information: WWMHD
Watch exclusive behind-the-scenes footage of Viva La Cucina! with Umberto Tuscano
Utility
• Utility can be:
• Anything that makes the consumer’s life easier: recipes, how-to videos, a way to buy things off a social site
• Anything from a PDF to a website to a widget to an app
• Maxwell House hires celebrity chef Umberto Toscano to create a series of recipes using Maxwell House coffee.
• The recipes are posted on the Maxwell House website, on their blog, on a special YouTube channel and on Facebook and MySpace. There’s even an iPhone app.
• The Maxwell House twitter account lets people know when a new video has come out and users can comment on the videos everywhere using Facebook connect.
Utility: WWMHD
Incentive
• An incentive can be:
• Coupons or discount codes
• Group discounts
• Contests and promotions with financial incentives
• Be careful not to make it seem like you’re bribing people to join you
• That seems as desperate coming from a brand as it does from a person
• Maxwell House has a Twitter account and runs a contest through Twitter, giving a month’s supply of coffee to the 25th person to tweet the date and place Maxwell House was first introduced.
Incentive: WWMHD
MAXWELLHOUSE: New Contest: 25th person to tweet date & place MH was born wins month’s worth of coffee #mhcontest
BOND006: RT MaxwellHouse: New Contest: 25th person to tweet date & place MH was born wins month’s worth of coffee #mhcontest
IMPOSSIBILITY: @MaxwellHouse: Hoboken NJ in 1896?
A Few Basic Rules of the Road:
Step 1: Identify what your customers needs are
Step 2: Figure out how to solve those needs
Step 3: Approach people as a brand that is selling something to them, not a buddy who is sharing something with them: they know the difference.
Step 4: Use social media for a valid business reason, not just because everyone else is.
Comcast Cares is a great customer service story
Real identity
Real identity
Step 5: Don’t push it
(Give them the “candy” and get out of the way. No “capturing names” or other
annoying tactics)
No hard sell or upsell.
Step 6: Make everything as easy to find and as easy to share as possible
Case Studies
Quick Case Study #1: The Mad Men Get It
Mad Men has been one of the most buzzed about shows on television
Social media program is anchored by the AMC web site
Blog links out to other social content (iPhone)
Active message boards - some threads have hundreds of comments
Pump content
Wonder where all those MadMen icons came from?
AMC’s Mad Men Yourself game proved a smash hit
Over 500,000 people have downloaded the avatars to share on their social networks
Artwork by Dyna Moe
Mad Men’s Facebook page has over 275,00 members
The Facebook page actively promotes other platforms
Gamesand
quizzes
Clips from this
season
Mad Men has an active Twitter account that links to AMC’s site and articles about the cast and crew
But the real activity on Twitter comes from fans
Last year, a group of random fans began tweeting as Mad Men characters
This is the kind of love entertainment properties can own. But they need to work with fans, not against them.
Quick Case Study #2: Red Bull: All About Sports
Red Bull has a dynamic Facebook presence
Almost 3 million fans
Lots of content
Lots of fan interaction
Lots of relevant, unique content
Highlights of events
Polls
Free music
Links to athletes
WebTV on Facebook
TwitterFeed of athletes
Photos from athletes and from fans
Photos from brand
Over 2,500 fan photos
Fans can RSVP to upcoming events on Facebook
Links to upcoming events
View guest list
Red Bull maintains consistency on MySpace
Similar content re: athletes
They are consistent on Twitter
Retweets from their French account
Tweets from their athletes
They are consistent on YouTube
Videos about Red Bull athletes
And on their web site
Red BullTV
clips
Videosavailabl
eheretoo
And on their web site
Facbooklink
More Videos
Red Bull gives fans a lot of exclusive content and is consistent throughout.
Quick Case Study #3: Sarah Palin: You Betcha!
Palin has a very popular Facebook page with very engaged fans
6K+ comments in less than a day
1.5 million followers
8,000+ likes and 1,000+ comment in 3 hours!
Her fans have formed a strong community
Her followers leave lengthy comments
They defend her from critics
She shares relevant links with her fan base
Fans are finding their way to the sub-pages
Her Twitter page is frequently updated, with links that are relevant to her audience
She is an almost non-stop topic of discussion on Twitter
Why is Sarah Palin a social media phenomenon?
• Consistent message
• Strong POV
• Accessible personality: her fans view her as a friend, not a politician
• Palin communicates exclusively via social media: she does not maintain a website or a blog of any sort.
Quick Case Study #4: Think Local: Pump Energy Foods, NYC
The Pump is a small chain of health-conscious take-out restaurants based in Manhattan
The Pump pushes its social media links from its web site
Their blog has a distinct POV & also shows where to find them on other social media sites
Pump uses their Facebook page for promotions
Free samples
More free samples
Contest
Charity promotion
They talk to fans on Twitter & promote giveaways
Free samples
Trivia contest
They use YouTube so fans can see news about them
Serena Williams
gets lunch at Pump
Pump’s promotions help local fans develop a relationship with the store and use social media to spread the word to their friends
Quick Case Study #5: Moderated Conversation: Nexium
Nexium has moderated conversation on Facebook
Nexium isn’t always consistent with posting, and participation is low, but it’s a start
With close to 3,000 fans, the brands is making some headway with consumers.
Five quick case studies, five unique plans. Try something similar, and you’ll start to see results
Soon enough, they’ll start to like you
They may not always talk to you, but they will talk about you
Which is exactly what you want:
To be part of the conversation
But what then?
How do I know if “being part of the conversation” is worth it?
Determining Social Media ROI
• Rule #1: There are no rules.
• You can use social media to do a world of things
• Sell things
• Build awareness
• Increase loyalty
• Customer service
• Reputation management
• Become a thought leader
Step #1: What Are Your Goals?
• Once you know what your goal is, you’ll be able to figure out what success looks like.
• You should set short term goals and re-evaluate every three months or so.
• Digital media changes so rapidly, it’s important to stay on top of things by closely monitoring the landscape
• One thing to consider is were your goals realistic? Did you set the bar too high or too low?
Don’t be afraid of squishy metrics: sometimes having people think well of you is enough
Be leery of people who tell you they can measure sentiment: it’s a hard thing to measure unless you do a lot of it by hand
Social media is not “free”
There are costs involved: time costs money.And the more successful you are, the more time you will need to invest.
Pick the platform or platform that make sense both in terms of your audience and your bandwidth
(Having a Facebook page that gets updated once every three months is a lot worse than not having one at all.)
ExperimentTake ChancesHave Fun
Some Quick Predictions:
The Facebook privacy issue goes away quickly
everyoneOne word. Big problems.
Twitter relies on extroverts
How long till we run out of extroverts?
Location Based Services can give me a reason to share where I am and what I’m doing.
The Next Big Question: How much do I want marketers to be able to anticipate my needs?
“Web 3.0”
“Web 3.0”
“Web 3.0”
“Web 3.0”
“Web 3.0”
“Web 3.0”
“Web 3.0” “Web
3.0”
“Web 3.0”
“Web 3.0”
“Web 3.0”
“Web 3.0”
“Web 3.0”
Creepy or Useful?
Time will tell
thank you san francisco
Questions?
Alan Wolk
Consulting: ToadStoolConsulting.comEmail: [email protected]
Blog: toadstoolblog.comTwitter: @awolkHive Awards: hiveawards.com
To get a business card, text “wolk” to 50500