Interesting results published by Procter & Gamble on the frequency of word of mouth brand conversations.
Their research agency, Keller Fay, persuaded 32,000 people to keep dairies that tracked when they had brand related discussions. An overwhelming 91% were reported to occur either in person or on the telephone, leaving only 9% for new media channels.
60% of these conversations made participants “more likely” to purchase, and 67% of conversations were “positive” in tone. That seems like an opportunity to good to pass up.
Digital conversations are far more visible, and they remain online long after the discussion has faded away, so it’s perhaps unsurprising that they seem more important to me as a marketer.
The social optimist in me says that the online environment is ‘closer’ to a point of sale, and retains it importance. The social pessimist in me feels like he always knew that the vast majority of folk aren’t talking about brands online.
I think the key takeout from this for me, is the need for a renewed focus on channel neutrality and ensuring that from the ground up; your product, your offer and your communications are more than just present on a channel in proximity to a genericised consumer. As a brand you need to be worth talking about, especially if you want to end up competing on something more than price.
Finally, an (almost) antidote to the seemy, hipster, post-ironic offensiveness that plays out across many a comment string right across the internet.
Vice Magazine caters to tragic youth across the world, serving up snarky fashion commentary, adventure journalism, creative profiling and at least for today, cuddly snow leopards. It used to be cool, but is rapidly becoming not so, thanks largely to my knowing about it and now putting down a form of words.
The comment streams under articles and their legendary Do’s & Don’t’s (caution, not always SFW) used to be a fine example of the internet at its callous, bigoted best. As users trolled each other for a reaction it almost always got offensive.
In the last few days, Vice has implemented a plugin that requires users to authenticate before they post a comment using facebook or another third party account.
A few interesting things have happened since then. Interaction seems down, and as such offensiveness seems to plateau much earlier than it did before.
Chalk one up for accountability and its mitigating effects of social norming.
Seems like these days most brands have a social media strategy that follows one of two directions. Some beat the drum of content while others preach from the gospel according to process. Like married men and women everywhere, it turns out they’re both wrong.
Beating the Drum.
Content strategies play out in two ways. Either I’ll build something so cool that you won’t be able to rip your eyes away and will share it with all your friends to bask in the contents reflected glory, or I’ll inspire you with a stick or a carrot to build content that features you and you’ll share with all your friends.
From an agency perspective, content strategies often begin with a client request to make a viral video. Herein lies the first rub, people make content go viral, not content producers. The conversation might also start with a discussion on how to make a brand page compelling on facebook, or in building a game to catch attention and perhaps tap into that latent competitive streak so many folk seem to share. It could be a website, or a song, or a story; the possibilities are as endless as imagination.
The key danger is building it and them not coming.
Punters are surprisingly reluctant to spend their days and nights spreading branded messages. Much of what is carried viral has no brand affinity whatsoever, so it is always a challenge convincing a client that an ad is probably not going to be carried far and wide
The Gospel of Process.
In the beginning, there was nothing, then Al Gore created the Internet and saw that it was good. Soon after, social media expert gurus began to wander around the internet muttering words like engagement, authority and influence.
Process focussed strategies grow the audience incrementally by asking questions that prompt answers and game the logic of media feeds on platforms like facebook and twitter.
The key danger is in being a fundamentalist.
There is a lot of truth in the Gospel, and if you allow some room to interpret it, your life (and campaigns) will be filled with largely positive, affirming experiences. Put it into play in too literal a sense and you’ll lose all connection to the personality of your brand and be posting “happy Wednesday” posts in no time. Asking what people are having for dinner is great if you’re Masterchef, less so if you sell technology products.
Getting to the Church & Sealing the deal.
It turns out, like in most marriages, while they’re both wrong in isolation they make a winning team if they’ll work together.
I believe that people want the brands they invite into their social media environments to bring with them two core behaviours, personality and purpose.
You need to speak in a tone that engages your audience. Note that well, your audience is probably not everyone who is on facebook, nor should it be. Speak in the code of your tribe, share in jokes and snicker wildly with your audience at everyone else who just can’t understand. If a Barbara Streisand takes offence, revel in the additional attention her remonstrations bring.
Personality is something that can be defined and live over the long term, it doesn’t change just because the person handling the account logins does.
You also need to have a purpose. Hopefully, your purpose will be one that in some way connects to the role and purpose your brand has out there in the real world. At the very least, some alignment would be good.
Try to ensure that content aligns with purpose. Your brand probably does not have a manifesto that says we want to get the most amount of attention. It probably says we want to make the best X, or we’ll deliver faster than anyone, or we make super smart technology. If your online content shares your offline purpose, let me assure you, the attention social media promises has a much better chance of following.
Marriages are forever (hopefully). While a pole dancer in Vegas will raise a few eyebrows today, reliability is attractive over the longer term. While everyone likes a surprise once in a while, split personalities are just plain scary.
Interesting story over on the BBC about how comedy writer Graham Linehan punked the twitterverse by convincing folk Osama was a fan of his hit show, the IT crowd.
The reaction to this news from most of the folk I’m connected to has been a bit of a chuckle. Compared with the “outrage” of many of the comments about NAB and their campaign which started without a lie, but with an intent to a least play with the nature of the echobox that is the twittersphere. The Mumbrella article has some choice comments.
Seems like people don’t mind a bit of duplicity, so long as it fits the brand personality. What’s good for a situation comedy might not be such a good idea if you’re a bank.
I think sometimes when we are crafting stories for our clients, we forget that their potential market is not actually the entire audience.
Sometimes, the best way to make the people whose attention is valuable actually pay attention is not to approach or talk to them directly, but to alienate, provoke and otherwise abuse the people who are not valuable.
It’s for that reason I love the campaign for the launch of Dead Space 2, embedded above. Rather than try and convince gamers (a notoriously difficult group to reach and impress) that their new game is ultra violent and/or fantastic, they videotaped Moms and their reactions to seeing the footage, and sharing that online (with some rather liberal OTP media buys)
Games that are violent and M rated come out all the time, one’s that cause this type of reaction from mothers to enter the media consciousness are much more rare.
The product at the end of the day, will have to stand up, but they’ve at least gained permission to speak, and a little attention.
The pick up of advertising agencies using proven PR techniques continues with Old Spice guy getting a release to coincide with the single biggest global focusing event. This is a time like no other, a time when people seek out and watch ads purely for their creative merit.
It appears as though the Spice guy is set to leverage the attention create both on and offline by the game, without actually paying the hefty cost of admission for a spot during the game itself. Couple that with the use of Superfan language of the spots released in association with ShakeandBakeGuy last week, plus the gift of superbowl tickets and the longer running spots with Ray Lewis and Old Spice have used earned media to strongly connect their campaign to the world’s greatest paid media asset.
The monopoly of content is well and truly over, and this is very much further proof.
Also, just in case you came here looking for ads that have been aired at the game, I like Audi Best:
And Groupon least, as if Shane Warne wasn’t enough of a low point for Liz Hurley:
I know the game isn’t over and there might be better yet to come, but I’ll let you know if there’s anything else that tickles my fancy. Let me know your take on the ads in the comments, and if you think the Old Spice spot did the trick. Just so you know, it did get played on Today, the highest rated morning news show in Australia this morning.
The media landscape is, as they say, in constant evolution.
The Slate has just broken into new territory by creating a celebrity interview that is the very definition of a non-exclusive. Jonah Weiner has created an interview with the erstwhile king of hip-hop (no-one tell JayZ) based entirely on his Twitter stream. It’s a brilliant idea and a very amusing read.
What I was blown away with on Saturday was unlocking the swarm badge while attending the Hawthorn vs Sydney AFL match. I, like many find it easy to think about geeks checking in to coffee shop social meetups, or perhaps a tech conference. I know that 50 out of 29431 is only 0.16% of the audience, but I still think it’s pretty special.
I’d like to think that the Super Swarm (250+ users) might get unlocked by accident, and not as the result of a Union of Social Media initiative.
I see plenty of content that talks about social media. Much of it is the preachy, circular carping of those who don’t seem to be able to get the heads out of the social media echo box long enough to notice that there is a whole vibrant world out there filled with people who really don’t care or understand reciprocal following and sentiment tracking.
I thought this 11 slide presentation was beautiful in it’s simplicity. While reading it will not make you a SMEG, but it will make you think about some of the right things in trying to get you head around Social Media.
I am the Creative Director at Hill & Knowlton in Sydney.
I've worked in a few different parts of the agency world and ran my own shop in Shanghai for a while, launching super premium products into the world's largest marketplace.
I am fascinated by what's coming next, how new networks offer a company like H&K the opportunity to flex our earned media muscle and deliver great work for the clients we work with and the brands they breathe life into.
I write about campaigns that work and some that don't, from Australia and around the world. Sometimes the world of social media will hold me in its sway and occasionally I'll just post something that inspires me and hopefully you as well.
Please comment, I'll respond to as many as I physically can.
