MarketerBlog

Back to School: Marketers Learning How to Work With Social Networks

A friend and blogging inspiration, Toby Bloomberg, recently sent me a note about a new program she’s developed on behalf of one of her clients, GourmetStation. GourmetStation is a great little company down in Hotlanta. They provide “delicious prepared meals delivered with an upscale worldly spin” – in other words a gourmet experience in the comfort of your own home, without the cost of a private chef. The company attracts an upscale customer base and is trying to expand to new audiences. So they decided to run a test program on MySpace.

In typical Diva Marketing fashion, this is a well thought-out and executed program, and I’ll be fascinated to see the results. It also got me thinking about the concept of Social Network Marketing in general, and how companies large and small can leverage this new media format as an opportunity for greater consumer engagement. Apparently I’m not the only one … there’s been a spate of articles on the topic over the past few days. And of course a number of strong reactions to NewsCorps’ Peter Chernin’s rather stunning comment.

“If you look at virtually any Web 2.0 application, whether its YouTube, whether it’s Flicker, whether it’s Photobucket or any of the next-generation Web applications, almost all of them are really driven off the back of MySpace,” Chernin said at the conference. “There’s no reason why we can’t build a parallel business.”

While I wouldn’t agree that the success of every Web 2.0 company is dependent on its relationship to MySpace, I would suggest that social networking is a critical element in the new marketing landscape. The numbers are hard to argue with, whether you’re talking about 100 million registered users at MySpace or the impact of professional social networking sites like CollectiveX and LinkedIn. Tony Hung summarized it well in a post yesterday, when he said that social networking is creating a new marketing “ecosystem”, and that today’s social networks are similar to instant messaging circa 2001 – they create stickiness (e.g. brand loyalty) because the costs of switching are too high. (You’re locked into networks where your friends or colleagues are.)

So if you’re not Google and you can’t pony up $900 million to ensure your access to MySpace users, what should you do? Find ways for your brand to become part of the conversation in the community. Understand first and foremost that you’re entering a community, not placing a media buy. Be respectful and transparent. Get to know the sensibilities of that community and make sure that your brand presence fits. If you’re targeting teenagers on Facebook your brand presence should look and sound like something a 14 year old would dig. (And yes, I’m told “dig” is back.) If you’re trying to reach professionals to raise awareness of a political issue, then use appropriate creative and copy for that community. If you’re running a promotion, make sure that it’s clear and the benefits are relevant. Burger King’s character on MySpace has some 120,000 friends, not because he’s such a likable guy, but because they’re giving away free episodes of Fox shows like “24”. But most importantly, be realistic about your brand your goals. If you’re a big hit with the AARP crowd, chances are your clickthru rate will be pretty low on Facebook. Be as strategic about your targeting and audience analysis with social networks as you would with any other form of media. It’s early days for social network marketing and a good time to test and learn.

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Marketing,
MySpace,
Social Networking

AIMSpace or Outerspace?

There was a kerfluffle in the blogosphere yesterday about the non-announcement of AIMSpace … a “MySpace” killer to be launched off the AIM platform. One comment made was that despite their “community” heritage (surely one of the most over-used hype terms of the last bubble), they were two years too late the party. Whether it manages to unseat the popularity of MySpace or not, I think we can count on AOL to deliver another mass market solution. But 43m is a bigger network than I want – social or otherwise. 

Stowe Boyd had it right when he said there’s an opportunity to create a social networking tool for the rest of us, and that current offerings targeted to adults and professionals (e.g. LinkedIn etc.) don’t deliver the goods. Social networking needs to be meaningful and relevant. It’s not 43m users on a particularly technology platform. It’s thousands of micro-segments of individuals who share common passions and goals. 

Last night I was at a fundraising committee meeting for my totally old-school alma mater. I ran into a guy from a prior class, whom I’d not met before, who’s doing work with Web 2.0 technologies. We have much in common between our interests in the College and emerging technologies, and the education itself. So we’re going to start talking about ways we might collaborate. It was a delightful surprise. This isn’t MIT or Stanford, we studied classical works by Homer, De Tocqueville, Newton and Kant, not technology. 

Those kinds of connections matter at this point in my life. The intersections between my personal interests and my professional goals are really exciting to me. I’m beyond caring about random hookups, and I’m not interested in irrelevant, unsolicited job inquiries.

So I have to echo the question: when will the Web 2.0 companies deliver social networking for the rest of us? 

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AIM, AOL, CGM, Marketing, Social Media, Social Networking, Web 2.0

Cultural Anthropology? Heck I Thought This Was Just Marketing …

Shawn Gold, Senior Vice President of marketing and content for MySpace.com gave the keynote speech at the OMMA Hollywood Conference & Expo this week in Los Angeles.  Today’s edition of Online Media Daily (registration required) provides a summary of his remarks, which were something of a “state of the art” with regards to impacts of social networking on advertising and marketing. 

Gold referred to the work of marketers on MySpace as “empowerment marketing”.  He said that word-of-mouth has turned into citizen journalism as a trusted form of media among the Millenniall/GenX crowd.  He reminded advertisers that people don’t come to sites to click on the ads.  Social networking sites are a form of self-expression and discovery, and more than anything a way to build networks of like-minded people with common interests.  An interesting point for the nonprofit world is that cause-related marketing on MySpace is growing.  Bottom line:  sites like MySpace reflect someone’s personality and not just their consumption habits and to be successful marketers need to credibly insert their messages in the context of social networking activity. 

All great points for those of us trying to make the bridge from old think to consumer generated marketing.  Brand managers need to let go of the concept of message control and hand it over to these creative, enthusiasts.  Advertisers need to get beyond the “big is better” concept of media buys and learn how to think in terms of micro-segments and many-to-many instead.  And don’t think this just affects the under-30 crowd.  As more social networking sites like CollectiveX and MyFamily.com come along, Boomers will hop on this bandwagon as well.  Success in the future will be measured in terms of consumer engagement instead of reach, frequency and click-through rates.  And if the recent valuations of MySpace and Facebook are any indication, marketers can take that to the bank. 

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Advertising,, CGM, Citizen Marketing, Marketing, MySpace, Social Networking, Web2.0

Social Networking By Invitation Only: Nike & Google Launch Soccer Site

In a brilliant combination of marketing insight and Internet-savvy, Nike and Google have teamed up to create a social networking site for soccer enthusiasts around the world: Joga.com.  According to an article in BusinessWeek, Joga.com is a free network where members will be able to create Web sites and send e-mail, photos and video clips, as well as access Nike content.

 

One of the most intriguing aspects of the site is its “by invitation only” member enrollment program. While it’s not clear whether this is a strategic decision or merely a mechanism to gate traffic flow during the early days of the site, it will be interesting to observe its impact on the development of the community. 

Based on the statements in the BusinessWeek article, Nike clearly understands the challenges and sensibilities of corporate-sponsored consumer generated media. Trevor Edwards, Nike’s vice president for global brand management explains: 

"It has to be of the people and authentic and credible," Edwards says. "It's a self-governing community. Our job is to feed it, help it start, but then they'll fuel it. It's a long-term way of connecting with consumers."

For its part, Google is hoping this will improve its burnished reputation in the social networking space, and begin to build its portfolio of interactive communities. To date, Orkut, Google’s only foray into social networking, has met with limited success outside of Brazil  and certain other (alleged) unsavory uses. 

It’s exciting to see big, mass market driven brands embrace the new world order. Clearly Edwards and his colleagues at Nike get it. It will be interesting to see who’s next on the social networking hit parade. To quote Edwards: 

"Our job is to reinvent the way that we connect with consumers," Edwards says. "We have to make sure we stay in their world, stay connected, stay relevant, and, more importantly, we allow them to do what they want. It's their world, their lives. We give them the tools."

Just do it, Nike!

 

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CGM, Google Marketing, Nike, Social Networking, Web2.0

Net Effect: Social Networking as Marketing Change Agent

Google’s acquisition of tiny Web 2.0 company Writely was big news in the blogosphere last week. This week it’s hitting the mainstream media. BusinessWeek’s analysis of the importance of the deal was particularly revealing. 

“In a small deal that signals big changes on the Internet, Google announced Mar. 9 that it has acquired a   Silicon Valley sensation called Writely. The online word processor is still in the testing stage, but it's attracting attention as a free alternative to relatively expensive desktop applications like Microsoft (MSFT ) Word.
 
But the transaction stands out for bigger reasons. Writely is one of dozens of companies that are infusing once-static Web pages with the power, speed, and features of sophisticated desktop applications. And by combining these online applications with the new wireless and broadband communications ability of the Web, they are redefining the Internet itself.”

In other words, this is more than a version upgrade. New applications, greater broadband penetration and shifting consumer adoption models are combining to create dynamic user experiences. And they’re challenging traditional media to keep up. 

A recent study by Columbia University's Graduate School of Journalism shows that newspaper revenues increased by a mere 1 – 2 %, largely because of an increase in revenue from online ads of 30%. The study reports similar dismal numbers of other offline channels. 

And the Hollywood Reporter draws an interesting comparison in CPM values.

 “The value of a viewer is in flux. The average hour long primetime series generates $3.46 million in net advertising revenue, or the equivalent of 41 cents per viewing household. The same program would generate $1.39 in gross receipts for the content owner per $1.99 iTunes download, based on a 70-30 split with Apple, according to estimates from veteran analyst Larry Gerbrandt of Nielsen Entertainment Reports. If a content owner proposes providing downloads off of its own Web site -- as ABC.com, CBS.com, NBC.com and Fox.com have started to do -- they retain all of the $1.99 fee as incremental income.”

Beyond CPM, consumer generated media amplifies value. Social networks translate to trusted relationships. Companies large and small can leverage this into new marketing opportunities. According to Steve Rubel, Forrester Research recently issued a report on social computing which dramatically demonstrates these dynamics. He published a chart on his site today, which is a great primer for the new services, both from the perspective of large companies who want to leverage their social networks and from the perspective of newcomers looking to extend their own marketing advantage. 

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Advertising, Forrester, Marketing, Social Networking, Web2.0