Archive for July, 2010
Social Media by the Numbers: Languages, Apps, and Mazda
Friday, July 30th, 2010
Numbers and Stats:
- Portuguese, Arabic, and Spanish lead growth of Facebook’s top languages.
- Windows Live Messanger is this week’s fastest growing Facebook app.
Changes and Additions to Facebook:
Facebook launches beta version of “Questions” in its publisher (see pic) to 1% of users. Questions are public, but it what else? They also removed the ability to post videos and events from your publisher. Here’s a more in-depth look. Facebook also launches a company run Page the hosts best practices for media companies.
Brand News:
Ford launches their reinvented Ford Explorer on Facebook. Reveals new content throughout the day and surpassed its goal of 50K fans to 53K (started at 42,500).
Mazda puts fans behind the wheel with its Facebook game, DriverVille.
Amazon launches an integration with Facebook that will pull data from you and your friend’s movie, music, and book preferences to make recommendations.
Twitter may be getting embeddable videos and photos in the tweet stream. Sweet!
Kanye gets on the Twitters – Aziz Ansari predicts them.
Oldest Twitter user, Ivy Bean, dies at 104.
…Increases video time limit to 15 minutes.
…And is banned from Russia!
Old Spice sales double with the Old Spice guy YouTube/Twitter campaign. Sales have increased by 107% in the past month!
One Night in July: SMC Seattle and gdgt Live
Wednesday, July 28th, 2010If you’ve worked in the Northwest, or pretty much anywhere, you know that the July-August timeframe can be somewhat lazy and a bit slow-moving as far as getting things done goes. However, it seems as though this week will be the exception. Last night Spring Creek Group, along with Microsoft Office 2010, sponsored the SMC Seattle event featuring Jason Falls. Then, as if there needed to be something else to do, some of the SCG team headed down to Showbox SoDo for the first-ever gdgt Live Seattle event.
#SMCSEA
The event with Jason Falls was probably a bit hard to take for some of those in the audience – people Falls would lovingly refer to as “hippies” or “social media purists.” Falls focused on how social media can actually be used to move beyond the lovey-dovey feel good and have a true impact on sales and the bottom line.
You could actually hear the gasps from people in the audience during a couple times when Falls would say something that no one expected a “guru” to say, but that’s because he doesn’t see himself as a guru, but part of the larger marketing mix. Falls also showed some great examples of how brands are using social media for real results, even without gimmicks and fancy campaigns (in fact, one was even a drug store that simply gave their users an easier way to access their circular via their Facebook page).
For more info on moving the needle, you can check out http://www.socialmediaexplorer.com/.
gdgt Live
If you’re into shiny gadgets, free drinks and swag, then you should’ve been at the gdgt Live Seattle event last night. Some of the makers of the hottest new gadgets on (and about to enter) the market were on hand to demo their products and let users get a little handsy.
The SCG team made the rounds and were delighted to see Dragon Dictation (from Nuance) there demoing their speech-to-text application for iPhone and iPad. The software makes it fairly easy to dictate and then allows you to send it to text, email, Twitter, and even Facebook.
The team also met the social media players from @virginamerica and got to talk shop with the growing team about what tools and tactics they’re using in their quest to make passengers’ travel just that much better. They recently rolled out a new version of their in-flight entertainment system, Red, and were showing video and talking about some of the new features which include: The Red Store (think SkyMall in digital form, but with a $38,000 diamond encrusted iPhone), the ability to keep a tab in the system, and Google Maps integration that brings terrain views to passengers.
Lastly, we got a chance to get hands-on with the Windows Phone 7 operating system (but sadly not an actual handset) as we stopped by the Windows booth and talked with our friend Brian Seitz (who also works with a great Seattle group called Cold Pavement). Besides the new mobile OS, the Windows area also had some Windows 7 goodness going on as well as an Xbox set up (although I’m not sure what they were doing on that thing other than playing games).
And now for photos…
Ron, Courtney, and Aaron with Microsoft’s Brian Seitz. See the Windows Phone 7 on display?
Aaron with our new friend Jill from Virgin America. She runs the @virginamerica Twitter handle! Sorry for the lack of focus.
4K Seems Like Too Much
Tuesday, July 27th, 2010The internet has an incredible innate ability to make people feel that their lives are inadequate, or otherwise lacking, on a regular basis. In most cases, technology seems to be paced with consumer demand, but here’s a case where the sheer abilities of technology seem to be outpacing the need or even availability of content. Basically, everything about the whole situation is completely absurd – and when I say “situation” I don’t mean the guy from Jersey Shore, I mean 4k video content.
For those who don’t own an IMAX movie theater, 4k video is video with a resolution of 4096×3072. That’s basically 4x current 1080p HD standards and equates to an optimal video viewing size of 25 feet. Here’s a breakdown of the current hurdles that make the format basically useless to users:
Display – Sure, displays for 4k content are available to consumers and the prices are coming down…from a quarter million. JVC just released a new compact 4k projector that’s a steal at only $175,000.
Content – YouTube launched the service with 5 videos. This is about the extent of publicly available 4k content. Forget movie studios catching up and releasing their content quickly for a format that no one has the capability of even using.
Production – It seems that the equipment to create videos of this quality starts at $20,000 and easily can skyrocket over the $100,000 mark. Obviously movies are made in these formats all the time, but don’t count on widespread adoption anytime soon.
Broadband – The file sizes for 4k videos are obviously tremendous and it will take an improved broadband network before streaming these files is even practical in America.
The better question to ask than “why?” is “why not?” In typical Google form, they just release their capabilities to the consumers and see what they can do with it. These moves never seem to be about a larger strategic move, but rather opening up their platform and hoping for innovation on the part of the masses.
And of course, despite every ridiculous obstacle I’ve listed above, I still want to purchase every single one of these contraptions I’ve mentioned.
Forrester Suggests Major Marketers Play a Waiting Game with Foursquare
Tuesday, July 27th, 2010
If you’re thinking about jumping into the location based game full-on, Forrester might cringe just a little bit – that is unless you’re a gaming, consumer electronics or sportswear company (all of which are doing well with the small audience of mostly males). Check out more on the report on AdAge.com and read an excerpt of the report here.
While we actually believe brands can take the LBS and mobile space and extend their reach to consumers in the real world, we certainly don’t think it’s the silver bullet (which I think Forrester would agree with, given this report).
While the four percent number is a bit scary to look at, it’s still an audience that is obviously in tune with the social media world and is still a passionate one at that.
We’ll definitely be staying on top of this story and related stories in the coming weeks.
All Summer Long
Friday, July 23rd, 2010
I wanted to lead this post with “what the [expletive deleted] are we doing?” But I’m not trying to get censored by The Man again. So here’s a quick breakdown of what we do here at Spring Creek on paper screen.
- We’re developing online strategy
- We’re managing communities
- We’re providing customer support
- We’re syndicating media
- We’re creating content
- We’re moderating social media properties
But seriously, what the [expletive deleted] are we doing? Earlier this week, I started to understand the answer to that question when I was brainstorming ideas for a video series with some coworkers. “We’re facilitating real life connections by creating the best possible online social experience.” Hmmm? That sounds pretty vague. I should dig deeper. When you use the word “social” in marketing circles it means social media. Here at SCG we take the word “social” a little more literally. “Social” encompasses your online interactions and more importantly, everything else. Media is a just a small piece of the puzzle.
The best social media campaigns are the ones that lead to real connections, for example, the Coleman ad above. Your life is not on your mobile device, your Twitter account or your Facebook page. It’s the conversations you have with real people in real time and real space. Those are the meaningful connections–social media is simply an easier way to make them happen. As these channels mature, marketers should be shifting their thinking of what it means to have an integrated social strategy. I know we’re thinking about this here at SCG, and you can specifically see it in our support of the Bumbershoot 40 Ways initiative.
So this weekend I challenge you to not look at your phone when you’re hanging out with others, use your Twitter account sparingly and absorb the real connections that happen with your friends and family. It’s summer for Pete’s sake! And if you need “social networking” ideas, here are some tips from Robert James Ritchie.
Social Media by the Numbers: The “Facebook Hit 500M Users” & “Foursquare gets 100M checkins” Edition
Friday, July 23rd, 2010
Numbers and Stats:
Facebook announces 500 Million users! Zuckerberg announced this on Facebook’s blog.
This took them 5 months since they had reached 400 Million users.
Every Facebook employee thanked us. Aww, how nice.
Image from Inside Facebook
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Changes and Additions to Facebook:
There’s now a Facebook Page for Page admins. It’s Q&A based and lets you ask and answer any questions you have about running a Page. All questions and answers are logged to be seen by anyone. The Page is made by Appbistro.
Wildfire is launching a Facebook app that allows you to make your own group deals like Groupon or LivingSocial. Could be very useful to many brands out there.
Image from Inside Facebook.
Brand News:
Levi’s uses events marketing on Facebook beautifully. Ties to ads that ask people to RSVP to their brick and mortar sale.
Ford will unveil its 2011 Explorer on Facebook. – Mashable article
Twitter claims they’re the bulk of their engineering efforts to make the site more reliable.
World Cup! Below is an info graphic made by Twitter to show the global conversation using it’s service. The bullets are quotes from Twitter’s blog post.
- “The World Cup final was the largest period of sustained activity for an event in Twitter’s history.”
- “Throughout the match, Tweets-per-second (TPS) were much higher than average; during the game’s final 15 minutes, this jumped to more than 2,000 TPS (Spain’s winning goal in the final scored a 3,051 TPS.)”
- “During the final, people from 172 countries tweeted in 27 different languages.”
- “At the moment of the winning goal, people from 81 countries tweeted in 23 different languages.”
… reaches 100 million checkins!
Paperless: The Ticket to the Future
Thursday, July 22nd, 2010
In an effort to couple consumer convenience with increased brand revenue, savvy marketers are taking advantage of the mobile platform for ticket purchasing and distribution. Allowing consumers to buy tickets (and use them) directly through a mobile phone provides a more flexible, efficient experience for the consumer and countless opportunities for brand marketing.
Recently, ESPN has partnered with StubHub to create the StubHub Mobile Ticketing Center, which allows consumers to purchase tickets through their mobile devices. In March, Fandango launched a mobile ticket program that delivers movie tickets in the form of 2D scannable barcodes via text or picture message. The barcode eliminates the need to print tickets at home and to stand in line at the movie theater to purchase tickets. A movie theater in Singapore launched a program in which participating movie-goers receive a text message with not only their barcode ticket but also with related coupons and interactive entertainment.
Marketers can take advantage of barcode tickets to offer incentives and discounts for enhancing the consumer experience and increasing opportunities for revenue. For example, the barcode could serve not only as the entry ticket to the movie, but also as a discount coupon for a bag of popcorn or a soft drink. Perhaps the barcodes could also unlock an interactive game related to the movie that attendees can play while waiting for the previews to start. Brands could also give consumers the opportunity to opt-in for a variety of future discounts and updates that will be automatically pushed to their phones.
Southwest airlines built an entire iPhone application to enhance the flyer experience. Among other useful features, the application allows users to purchase tickets, check into their flight, view flight status information, and sign up for discount e-mails. This application facilitates travel for the consumer while providing new marketing prospects for the brand and creating customer loyalty. This is not the first time Southwest Airlines has been a pioneer in the virtual space. In 1996, they were the first national carrier to start selling airline tickets online. For those who are skeptical that paperless tickets and mobile check-ins will actually catch on, it is now difficult to imagine not being able to purchase tickets on the web.
Mobile ticketing is a natural progression that follows the trend of increased mobile usage among consumers. According to Jupiter Research’s 2010 Mobile Ticketing Report, over 2 billion mobile boarding passes (from various airlines) will be sent out in 2010 (with an expected 15 billion by 2014). Buckle your seatbelt, because mobile ticketing is about to take off.
Sources:
The Daily Ditto
Wednesday, July 21st, 2010
We just got done absorbing the MediaPost article, “Wanted: Long-Term ROI Metrics” and so we’d like to give you our take on it: we agree. That’s it—thanks for reading!
Ok, fine. We reaaaaallly agree. As the man points out, the biggest difference between social media and other more traditional media is the time scale over which each marketing practice takes place – or in social media’s case will take place, bearing in mind it’s considerable infancy.
He says here (and as we’ve said before), the multiple channels of conversation and interaction that social media can provide are a great way to establish a long-term (possibly even lifetime!) relationship between a consumer and a brand.
These seemingly minute and insignificant interactions that happen every day between users and various brands via social media can really add up. And the sum of that equation is brand trust, further brand appreciation, and an aggregated collection of unexpected, valuable, and often delightful brand engagements.
Social Cardstock
Wednesday, July 21st, 2010
On the bus, heading home from work, I initiated a conversation with a stranger, and we chatted for a good half hour. When we parted ways, he pulled a business card from his wallet, and passed it my way; I accepted of course. The card was comprehensive enough, providing basic business information, but it wasn’t social media friendly; there were no Twitter, Facebook, or LinkedIn URLs. From a person who had a lot to say, I was a little surprised. The website domain wasn’t listed either, but the email address gave that away.
Although the iPhone Bump app is a good way to exchange contact info social media style, traditional business cards remain the norm, and I don’t see them disappearing anytime soon. In fact, a recent Mashable article explored 12 clever social media friendly business cards:
Including social links on your card not only showcases your progressive approach to doing business, but it also gives your business contacts more choices in how they communicate with you.
We all know that making a good first impression matters, and the man I spoke with made a good one. But the company was missing out on an opportunity to connect with me online via their Twitter handle, which I discovered later. Regardless, the experience reminded me that offline exchanges are as important as those online. And when it comes to business, whether in the realm of social media or not, connecting the two whenever possible is paramount.
R.I.P.B.B.
Tuesday, July 20th, 2010
When Whopper peddling ad man Alex Bogusky announced his retirement from the ad game a few weeks back it was kind of like hearing about Jordan retiring. Granted, I don’t think you’ll see the former CP+B head (and later MDC man) donning the 45 and coming back into the game, but you get the picture – one of the greats is riding his Subservient Chicken off into the sunset.
And with the departure of probably one of the most-notable names (and hairstyles) in advertising since Ogilvy, so too goes @BogusBogusky.
The Twitter account, manned by a yet-unnamed writer has been using the morning to answer questions about his/her reasons for starting and continuing the account (some of which are actually heartfelt).
In a time where fake accounts pop up and die off as lawyers take up arms against the talented ghost Tweeters, the @BogusBogusky account gave a caricature in 140-character bursts of one of the most prolific, polarizing, and interesting people still in the advertising business.
So, cheers to whoever it is that’s been banging away at these Tweets for however long, and double cheers to Bogusky for not sending the suits after this person. In fact, the mystery Tweeter wouldn’t have continued if Bogusky himself hadn’t followed. Goodbye to the humor and goodbye, also, to one of the greatest ad minds in recent history.
