VBlog: 7 Critical concepts every business must know

Straight from my spare room, this is the first in a series of vblogs that define the fundamental change in communication between business and consumers brought about by social spaces on the internet I refer to as the "paradigm shift". There are 7 easy to understand, but critical concepts every business owner must know and understand before taking their brand online or managing their brand online. In this vlog we will work our way through how to successfully integrate your brand into social spaces online, based on some simple rules.

I look forward to your feedback,

Numbers you must know; 93, 33 and 3

If you have not understood the importance of establishing a digital presences read along and you will.

93% of persons who use social media believe business should have a presence. This is NOT banner ads, but appropriate content that finds itself naturally lending to the ongoing dialog in social spaces.

Cone Finds That Americans Expect Companies to Have a Presence in Social Media via kwout

Less that 33% of business have any presence in social spaces. Without a presences there is no opportunity for brand promotion or protection. A consumer can not start a rumour in a printed magazine article but they surely can online. Managing a brand online is as much about protection as it is about promotion.

Retailers Turning to Facebook — Social Media Optimization via kwout

The 3rd most trusted source of brand information. Following behind family and friends and newspapers the 3rd most trusted source is information online from our "virtual" friends. This is very telling about the level of trust and comfort persons have for the digital world.

Global Survey: Word-of-Mouth the Most Powerful Selling Tool via kwout

From Viral to Social

In this blog I discuss the difference between viral and Social Network Marketing and why, depending on your goals, viral is still something best left to your doctor and not your Advertising agency.

"Viral -- not a living organism, it can only reproduce by infecting its hosts and contaminating its genetic code"

The term viral has been useful in describing a type of marketing effect that results from personal sharing of social media. The process is simple; one person shares it with two people, those two shared it with two more and so forth thereby creating an explosive rate of growth in a short time frame. Pre-Internet this effect would not have been easy or even possible. Can you imagine trying to throw magazine ads at 20 of your closest friends and then have them throw them 20 more at their friends and so on? Limitations of non-digital media prevented this "viral" phenomena from occurring.

Viral was a great boom for marketing gurus for a number of reasons:

1. Lower production value seems to work best translating into lower cost
2. Customers provided the momentum further reducing costs
3. Placement of content on consumer generated spaces or Social Networks greatly reduced costs normally associated with media buys.

Despite these strong upsides, as one might expect from a virus it is not all good. Translated into marketing terms the negatives of Viral marketing can be largely described as:

1. Low brand control
2. Brand message limited
3. Customer relationship loyalty low

Viral has become a very popular tool in the modern marketeers arsenal and an occasion benefit to brands. So what are the options to preserve the good and minimise the downsides. The recommended is Social Marketing.

"Social -- pertaining to, devoted to, or characterized by friendly companionship or relations"

Social marketing uses the same forces that Viral marketing uses; word of mouth and grass roots energy. However unlike its viral counterpart the focus is more on connecting with consumers and less upon eyeballs.

Social Network Marketing, at its core, is about creating interesting content that incorporates a strong message and exercises strong brand control. Strong brand control does not mean "advertising" it only means that the content should reflect the brands personality or DNA so that consumers can see a clear link between the two (content and brand) and benefit from the association.

Social Network Marketing is usually more targeted in its content so as to appeal to particular demographic as opposed to the more risky alternative of trying to appeal to every ones taste. This could result in fewer views but it significantly increases the likelihood that the people watching are appreciating, understanding and developing loyalty. One of the significant standout features of Social media done well is that it engenders ownership and connectedness to the content. Whereas viral tends to be expendable and transitory.

Social

1. Exercises strong brand control
2. Is interesting and relevant
3. Designed for a targeted population but maybe interesting to many
4. Develops audience and loyalty through relevance
5. Utilises word of mouth to gain momentum
6. Benefits from lower production cost which provide a grass roots look and feel


Everything evolves and it is time to move past the concept of viral as the optimal achievement. More sophisticated analysis shows that it is better to have 100,000 views by potential customers and 1,000,000 views by random persons unlikely to benefit. A move away from a pure viral approach is a benefit for both consumers and brands.

Consumers benefit from receiving quality, relevant content that enhances their lives and brands benefit by being able to stay true to their core message.

As more and more content is generated, consumers will become increasingly selective in their viewing habits. Occasionally choosing the frivolous, but more often selecting the familiar.

Leo Burnett and Douglas White; the story of

The key to any successful campaign is to clearly identify your objectives before starting.

Message
Target Population
Concept
Delivery Strategy
ROI

Below is a summary of two approaches to Social Network Marketing that were used in a recent campaign for G.O.D. founded by the style gurus Douglas Young and Ben Lau; one of the most recognised brands in Asia.

Heavy weight Leo Burnett and new kid on the block, Prosperity Research Ltd. used different approaches to achieve success for the client. Below is a summary of how this played out.

Pitch – Effectively use online or Social Network Marketing to increase visibility of Delay No Mall a new concept mall opening in Hong Kong.

The Top Down Approach

Approach – Leo Burnett conceived a highly stylised series of videos that were placed in a limited number of the internet sites (youtube). They then used their significant industry presence to drive buzz through mostly industry related online publications.

Outcome – Decent amount of views, high industry recognition and good WOW factor. But unclear on how this targeted the important demographic – customers that have access to the retail outlets. This approach of getting high level industry acknowledgement has significant value in securing G.O.D. international recognition. However, by directing the campaign toward industry and insiders, the benefit to the average customer is less clear. Additionally, this appears to be a one off campaign so the opportunity to build an audience maybe lost, meaning that money spent on this campaign did not add to the equity. Many of this campaigns attributes appear better suited for a print campaign rather than Social Network Marketing.


The Bottom Up Approach

Approach -- Prosperity Research Ltd. conceived a series of 3 videos examining different stages of the development of Delay NO Mall. Key personalities, fun and music were integrated into the videos to gain a wide fan appeal. Without having industry leverage, Prosperity Research Ltd. did it the old fashion way – hard work. After identifying key sites that were demographically rich information was seeded. This was in the form of still images, news releases, and the 3 videos. The process was:

Research
Build buzz
Release video
Interact with viewers
Repeat for next 2 videos

The effect of this process is profound. Instead of creating a sliver of interest in an infinite amount content choice, we started to build an audience. By interacting with the key demographic in an ongoing and natural manner; we built expectation of what was to come. The fan base continues to grow because we are spending the time to nurture the relationship with the customer. By building the audience we create greater value.



Points of difference

Leo Burnett –

Brilliant concept and well placed
Glaring absence on search engines
Seen in online industry magazines limited access to key demographic
Short term strategy that you would tend to see in print campaigns
High WOW factor
Entrance into the big league

Prosperity Research Ltd.

Scaled down concept (no budget!)
Captured front pages on all major search engines (English and Chinese) for 3 weeks running
Seen more (by count) by customers
Fully utilised the democratic space on the internet to build a bottom up campaign – people first
Long term strategy in place to build the fan base
Effective honest solution that delivered
Added value by creating equity in the campaign – investment in your customers and brand should continue to create benefits long after the campaign is done

In summary there are two very succesful campaigns that took distinctly different approaches and arguably had different goals.

All the best,

Doug

A Kinder Gentler Social Network Marketing

This post is a bit on the tardy side. I am writing a response to an article that appeared in TechCrunch back in November 2007.

http://www.techcrunch.com/2007/11/22/the-secret-strategies-behind-many-viral-videos/

This article highlighted pretty much all that is disapointing with many Social Network Marketing strategies. This unbridled foolishness to get high hits at any cost. Consumers value their time, resent being tricked (we all do -- that is why they call it spam) and a brand is your most important possession. So when you embrace a reckless approach to online marketing that includes damaging your brand identity, deception to your customers and general lack of integrity the short term might be a bit fun, but the long term is more disapointing. Wuse a story of the drunk at the party who ends up with the lampshade on their head. Maybe for a couple of hours they are the life of the party, but the next day in the office they are the laughing stock. Managing your brand online is similar. Would you rather build up a strong relationship with loyal customers based on an honest approach or create an illusion of success that will quickly dissapate with the next viral video? At Prosperity Research we have identified an approach that uses the same approach that all of us use in everyday life -- building friendships.

1. Put yourself out there where people you want to meet hang out
2. Go more than half way to meet people
3. Be more interested in them than yourself
4. Follow up
5. Offer something new to the mix on each encounter -- share
6. Invite them into your life

The simplest lessons we learned at the ealiest age are often the best. Life only becomes complicated when you invite a consultant to join.