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Has this happened to anyone else? One day, I signed in to Facebook to see what my friends were up to and I didn’t recognize anyone’s profile pic. My Facebook page had been taken over by a bunch of babies. The moms and dads I know have every reason to be proud of those very cute baby faces, but there’s something wrong about seeing the face of a 2-year old next to a hangover-themed status update, or an ultrasound picture having a case of the Mondays. That’s not to mention the babies that now have their own accounts or this strange phenomenon of fetuses tweeting from the womb. (Personal rule – you must be at least 3 feet tall and able to form complete sentences before I will follow or friend you.)
Before they even type in their first www dot, the digital footprint of this next generation is going to be huge. With all the discussion around the permanence of anything uploaded to Facebook, Twitter or elsewhere on the Interwebs – will there soon be whole industries dedicated to pulling and cataloging someone’s digital journey, from their mom and dad’s first tweet or status update that baby was on the way? Or will there be entire industries devoted to creating blank digital slates for kids whose parents have shared every detail of their early lives? Potty and bathtub pictures used to be the ultimate in parental embarrassment, but they have nothing on some of the TMI details parents share, today.
I’m looking forward to following this trend over the next several years and seeing where and how I draw the lines, myself. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to go update my cat’s blog.
Image by TedsBlog on Flickr
We recently conducted a study of internet use among 1800 members of our opinions@trone consumer panel. Among the key findings was the projected increase in the number of internet-enabled phones. With their next phone purchase, consumers will more than double the collective penetration of iphone, itouch, Android-based and other smart phones. Once this purchase cycle completes itself, we’ll have the majority of adults with mobile internet access for the first time. This certainly bodes well for the continued success of social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter and suggests an increasing opportunity for many other internet-based services.
Having internet access does not necessarily mean that consumers will be engaged. The behavior of those who currently have internet access, however, suggests use will be significant. Measured by a top 2 box response to frequency of use, 65% are currently checking email, 39% are doing local-based searches and 31% are updating their status on social media sites.
There is no way to judge what the full impact of that many internet enabled users might be on brands and products but certainly the venues to which they’ll have access are affecting both brands and products today. An example is Saturday Night Live acquiescing to the 1,000,000 plus fans who utilized Facebook to lobby for Betty White as the guest host.
White as the host was a big win for SNL with over 12.5M households tuning in. This represents about a 35% lift over a typical SNL audience. While NBC was undoubtedly appreciative of Facebook and its many fans, White conveyed her old, immutable self with her remarks.
“I have to thank Facebook. I didn’t know what Facebook was before this, and I have to tell you, it seems like a waste of time”
A waste of time? Maybe. But, a popular one with nearly 2/3 of the adult internet enabled population spending a portion of their time on social networks. With that type of penetration, the ease of access provided by new technology and the power demonstrated by the SNL example this is a medium that marketers need take some risk to stay ahead of.
Just as people are beginning to learn about location-based tools, Foursquare announces that it has reached 40 million checkins. Within five weeks, Foursquare’s checkins have doubled showing its increased popularity. But is the quick growth about to come to an abrupt end?
Facebook has announced that later this month, it will launch its own location-based features. Leveraging all of Facebook’s users, this might be enough to crush the growth of Foursquare and the other emerging location-based tools such as Gowalla, Whrrl and TriOut. In late April, Trone launched an online usage study that measured the popularity of these tools. The study showed that the tools mentioned above each had 6% top two box response when asked “how often do you use the following location-based tools on your mobile phone”. The data will serve as a great benchmark when understanding the impact of the Facebook features launch.
As the penetration of internet-based phones increases, one thing that we can expect is that the popularity of location-based tools will grow. In the upcoming months, it will be interesting to see how each fights for its own niche market position in combating the Facebook giant.
This past Sunday, Sunday Morning on CBS ran a story on The Art of Google Doodles. The Google Doodle began on April 30, 1998, when Google decided to play with their corporate logo, by inserting a stick figure behind the second ”O” in their name, to let their customers know that they were attending the Burning Man festival. Since that day, Google customers have been delighted by over 300 Google Doodles that they have archived on their site.
This Sunday Morning segment reminded of me another recent exchange between a company and their customers regarding their logo. On March 19, 2010 Nestlé posted the following status update on their Facebook wall:
“To repeat: we welcome your comments, but please don’t post using an altered version of any of our logos as your profile pic – they will be deleted.”
After several back and forth comments, Nestlé posted the following comment:
“Oh please…it’s like we’re censoring everything to allow only positive comments.”
The posts garnered at least 230 comments (no telling how many were deleted) and as you might imagine, many of Nestlé “fans” did not appreciate the threat. One post questioned why Nestle “dislike(d) the molding of your kitkat logo”, Nestlé responded with the following link to an About.com posting on branding. The link lists five “objectives that a good brand will achieve”:
• Delivers the message clearly
• Confirms your credibility
• Connects your target prospects emotionally
• Motivates the buyer
• Concretes User Loyalty
After reviewing Nestlé the string of comments on Facebook and subsequent posts from Nestlé, you tell me, did Nestlé connect with their target prospects in an emotionally positive way? Did they motivate their buyers or concrete user loyalty?
Chocolate is supposed to be something we can enjoy. A good product combined with good branding will leave the consumer wanting more. And yes, after approximately 150 posts, Nestlé did apologize, but do their actions leave you wanting more of their chocolate? Something to learn from this lesson, instead of going on the offensive when people “play” with corporate logos, maybe there is a way to “play” back in a way that will only enhance the brand by showing a little personality.
Maybe Nestlé could learn a lesson from EA Sports’ response to a customer who had a little fun at their expense when a glitch was found in Tiger Woods ‘08. EA Sports could have gone on the offensive to protect their brand, but instead, they chose to have some fun the post.
We recently reported some preliminary results of a study fielded to 425 moms in February, 2010. A significant portion of that study was dedicated to respondents’ interaction with wholesale clubs. And, some surprising facts came to the fore.
Our interest in clubs was driven by two key factors. The first was the notable shift in mom’s shopping behavior as a result of the economy. The second was the unique communication challenges of a member-only environment.
As expected, clubs have benefitted from the economic downturn.
46% of the moms in our sample are members of a club, with one in nine club members belonging to two or more. Of those members, just over half (54%) visit the club one or more times a month. And, 52% of the members indicated that they had increased the volume of their purchases at clubs as a means of controlling their spending during the economic downturn.
For members, the rise in club purchases approached the most popular money-saving activities identified by moms at large. In the aggregate, the two most popular means of controlling spending were using more coupons (63%) and paying more attention to in-store offers (72%).
Club shoppers still favor “old school” communication.
When queried about their preferences regarding communication from their club(s) on a range of subject matter, moms adopted a very traditional stance. General, top 2 box interest in the media were:
Twitter – 11%
Club blogs – 14%
Facebook page – 21%
Email – 51%
Direct Mail – 56%
Somewhat surprisingly, among those interested in specific topics, the disparity between the preference for “old media” and “new media” actually grew—categorically. For example, as it related to notification of upcoming promotions, top two box interest in the communication vehicles was:
Twitter – 7%
Club blogs – 8%
Facebook page – 14%
Email – 58%
Direct Mail – 75%
Even in lower-interest categories such as “money saving tips for their home,” club shoppers displayed a preference for being communicated to via a traditional medium over the more contemporary options. Of note in this category was the interest shift between email and direct mail.
Twitter – 5%
Club blogs – 11%
Facebook page – 17%
Email – 68%
Direct Mail – 49%
This study establishes an important framework for understanding the value of various communication vehicles, specifically for the club channel but, with implications for other retail and product brands. It does not, however, account for all the marketplace dynamics.
All customers are not created equal.
Retailers have long known that some customers are of substantially greater value than others based on the volume of their purchases. In recent years great strides have been made in leveraging that knowledge. Supermarkets, airlines, hotels and many other industries have successfully (or less so) created loyalty programs to track and reward customer purchase behavior.
All brands, be they retail, product or service, have also gained an appreciation of the value of their customers as brand advocates. For example, in this study, moms were half again as likely to identify family and friends as important sources of information on children’s products than any other source. The difficulty lies in identifying who the advocates are and how to provide them the necessary information and motivation to become active disciples for the brand.
Clearly, the results of the study referenced above indicate that while “new media” has some value for wholesale clubs, traditional vehicles such as email and direct mail offer a substantially greater opportunity. What the study does not take into account, but a future study will, is the importance of the various media to those moms who are most likely to influence others.
Organizations like Trone® and Forrester have identified that a relatively small group of people (~ 25%) are the primary contributors in social media environments. These moms can have an exponential impact on a brand’s spending. However, before they can disseminate information, they must first accumulate it and it will be the brands (retail, product or service) that best understand how and where to reach them that will be most successful.
Growing up, I waited for the mail to come like it was my job. It wasn’t that I didn’t have anything to do, or that I became bored playing outside. No, I just liked getting the mail – and saying hello to Mr. James, the mailman almost every single day. Getting a letter in the mail was of upmost gratification. I felt special. I felt loved. Someone cared. Back then, we had numerous school pen-pals from different countries, friends from summer camp that kept in touch all year long and of course, my younger cousins would send me (lovely) artwork.
But it seems, those days of waiting for the red flag to go down are over. With the hustle and bustle of everyday life, our communication is now instant. A Facebook email or wall post, a tweet, or even a note sent over email — all delivered via our smartphones. Often times, we are so hurried we don’t take the time to sit down and read that note — let alone find the time to send one back. Other than magazines, bills and solicitations, Mr. James doesn’t bring any good news to the mailbox anymore. Well, other than birthday and holiday cards.
According to the US Postal Service, they will incur about $238 billion in losses over the next ten years if Congress doesn’t allow them to revamp their business model. Adjusting the mail service schedule — no more Saturday and maybe even Tuesday delivery, dissolving prepaid retiree health benefits and perhaps closing some post offices are among the thoughts proposed to Congress.
So let’s try something…go home tonight, blow off the dust to your old address book and open to a random page. Sit down, and write a letter. If we all start corresponding via snail mail again, there’s hope for Mr. James. Think about it…wouldn’t it be great to get a letter from a long lost friend?
Granted, you may need to Google them, or even Facebook them to see if they’ve moved, but the surprise of receiving a letter in the mail may be worth it — and it could help generate more business for the US Post Office!
Red flag down.
After years of blocking their contestants from online outreach to fans, American Idol has released a statement saying that they will allow contestants to communicate via their “Idol-managed” Facebook, Twitter and MySpace pages. Sounds like a fantastic idea, but how will it change the competition?
Here are a few things I will be watching out for:
- The influence of social media on the outcome
As the Top 24 is narrowed to 12, we should see indication of popularity by visiting each participant’s social media site. Can you imagine how much influence each site will hold as fans of the show try to rally their friends and family to support each contestant? However, a new dynamic may enter as fans might become complacent and not vote if they see that their favorite has millions of supporters on their sites. - Each contestant’s ability to rally fans
It will be interesting to see how each contestant uses their outlets to rally support. This year’s winner could be decided on an artist’s ability to engage with fans to drive votes. A contestant’s social media savvy will be exposed. - Additional pressure on the contestants
There is no doubt that each contestant feels pressure from the judges and live audience. Will comments that critics place on the forums create more anxiety for the singers? - How much will Idol manage the forums?
The true beauty of social media is unfiltered, transparent conversations. I will be interested to see how much Idol allows.
Every year American Idol hooks me somehow, and now with this new dynamic, they have done it again. How do you think the new social media policy will change the competition?
If you’re like me, in the first hour I used Google Wave, I thought…”eeh. Kinda cool, but I don’t need another thing to check, why not just integrate these features into Gmail? Well, I pretty much got my wish and more with Google Buzz. Now I’m not sure if it’s what I wanted. I think the integration of social media and multimedia-email-like-objects could be cool. I could talk about the potential positives with this new google product, but I think those are pretty easy to see, here are some potential aspects I don’t like:
(If you don’t know what google buzz is, here is a video. In short, its Facebook and Twitter meet gmail. It will be in every gmail account, whether you ask for it or not. (but you can turn it off if you want))
Social Integration
I don’t know if I want / need another digital social touch point. I already use Twitter and Facebook. I don’t see myself abandoning them anytime soon. So right now gmail serves a pretty specific purpose for me right now, it’s my email. I’m not totally keen on the idea of inviting the whole world into my inbox.
Privacy Concerns
If you’ve activated buzz you’ll notice it’s already set up people to follow. Ditto for others. This article put it best “The problem is that — by default — the people you follow and the people that follow you are made public to anyone who looks at your profile.
In other words, before you ever touch any settings in Google Buzz, someone could go into your profile and see who are the people you email and chat with most.”
Must Google run everything?
To me Google feels a bit like the robber-barrons of the 21st century. Right now I have 1) a gmail account 2) an igoogle account 3)p google blog 4)a google phone 5) a google voice account 6) a google reader account 7) a google checkout account 8 ) a google wave account 9) a google picture account (picasa) 10) it’s my interne browser, its also 11) my text and video chat client and of course, my 12) search engine. Thats 12 prety major things, and who knows what I forgot. Twitter, Facebook and Apple are among the few major players I still interact with that aren’t google. Do I think google is pure evil like some people do? No. But I feel like I should be cautious. If they do turn out to be pure evil I don’t want them to be in control of everything I come into contact with, no matter how convenient it is.
I’m pretty set in my ways. Right now I like my social media with my social media and my email with my email. Can I resist or will I be fully dragged into the Googlesphere. I guess only time will tell.
(This was originally posted at Digital Pivot before being reposted here and at my website, but I did write it)
Quick what was your first thought? Did you think about the last group of people you were with face-to-face, a mental list of co-workers, a fond memory of a very close friend, or how many people you have listed as “friends” on Facebook?
I have to say when I first joined Facebook, I was a bit leery; I thought that if I truly had a connection with someone, then why would I have lost touch. How would an online medium, seemingly so impersonal be the right avenue to reach out after all these years? But everyone was doing it, so with trepidation, I developed an account and decided my strategy would be to wait and see who wanted to be my friend.
My first “new friends” were people I worked with or who lived here in Greensboro; I interacted with them on a regular basis. No “reconnection” there, just confirmation that I was on their meter. The next wave were close out of town friends, but again, I spoke to them frequently enough to be in the know of what was happening in their lives.
Ah, then there was that first “blast from the past”. Yay, a chance to reconnect, catch-up on what had happened since the last school reunion or chance meeting when I was home visiting my parents. After “confirming” that we were indeed friends, I was ready! I had this lofty idea that we would engage in some sort of conversation, something on a personally level and hopefully something with content.
Well, I can’t say that my expectations were met with the one-on-one connection. But I have readjusted my expectations and will admit I have enjoyed gaining a glimpse into people’s comings and goings. I’ve even been surprised at request from people who I barely knew, and in some cases don’t even know. This begs the question – When do you “confirm” or when do you “ignore”?
And how do you define a “friend”? Does “friend” mean the same thing as it did ten years ago or has it slid more to the definition of “acquaintance” with the evolution of social media?
As “social” continues to grow, so are the regulations. I find myself getting more tweets & updates about laws or regulations every single day. As a marketing professional, it’s extremely important to keep up with these changes, but it really is almost a full-time job. Sites like mashable.com make it a little easier, but it’s still very time consuming. The latest changes affecting brand pomotions came out December 22 with Facebook. Just when you think you have a social media plan nailed down with a client, along come more regulations!
For example, you can’t publicize or administer a promotion on Facebook if:
- it is marketed to people who are under 18
- the objective is to promote the following categories:
- gambling
- tobacco
- firearms
- prescription drugs
- gasoline
There are many more…take a look.
There is still much to be learned by brands on social media. The environment and it’s regulations are changing all the time. So, the lesson here is to do your homework and stay in the know!
