Archive for the ‘Social Media News’ Category
What Channel is Your Phone Turned To?
Tuesday, March 2nd, 2010There was a time when you used your remote to change the channel. Now more and more often, the remote and channel are the same device.
Pew Research released a report that claims 33 percent of cell phone owners now access news on their cell phones. So we’ve finally figured out what the people who aren’t Facebooking or texting are doing with their phones – they’re reading the New York Times or Perez Hilton.
The Pew report discusses, “two significant technological trends that have influenced news consumption behavior: First, the advent of social media like social networking sites and blogs has helped the news become a social experience in fresh ways for consumers. People use their social networks and social networking technology to filter, assess and react to news. Second, the ascent of mobile connectivity via smart phones has turned news gathering and news awareness into an anytime, anywhere affair for a segment of avid news watchers.”
Younger cell phone owners are more likely to look for news on their phones than from Katie Couric. In fact, according to the report, about 43 percent of those under 50 said they are mobile news consumers. And social media plays a big part, as more than 80 percent of respondents get or receive news via e-mailed links. But as Breitbart points out in their analysis of the report, the more things change, the more they stay the same. People’s #1 one concern is still the weather (72 percent), followed by current events (68 percent).
John Cook from Seattle’s own TechFlash found it worthwhile to mention that, “The authors of the study write that news has become omnipresent and people’s relationship to news is becoming portable, personalized and participatory.”
I think John is right when he focuses on the fact that news (and other information) is omnipresent. The “news cycle,” so to speak, is no longer valid. The classic product launch is a thing of the past. Making a big splash with a marketing or ad campaign is not effective unless there is credibility in the claim, and you can prove that the message is sustainable over time. There’s an effect in which every marketing action has an equal and opposite reaction. The more you promise, the more upset the crowd will be if you don’t deliver.
So how is this affecting the way news is being delivered?
“In one way it’s uplifting that over 60 percent of people using their phones for news are logging on to check current events. That goes against the passive news consumer we’ve heard about in TV for years,” says Cale Ramaker, an anchor at WOFL-TV in Orlando. “On the other hand it means all news outlets, in any median, need to refocus on not only delivering the news in multi-formats – but do it with an emphasis for the right now consumer.”
Cale’s point is valid. We now have more sources of information, more editors of the information, but also more opportunities to make critical decisions on whether the information is tainted. And seventy two percent of the survey’s respondents said that “most news sources today are biased in their coverage.” If the “objective” sources are biased, then the marketing sources are unbelievably easy to see through.
So at the end of the day, information continues to flow, and people can find it whenever and wherever they are. In fact, even if a marketing team lands an article with Kara Swisher, we may not read it there. We may get it via a friend’s Facebook post or Tweet while waiting for the bus.
Windows 7 Launch Rides the Wave of Social Engagement
Thursday, February 25th, 2010
When you’re Microsoft drumming up buzz about your biggest product launch in recent history isn’t all that hard. The challenge, even to one of the largest, most-known brands in the world comes when you look at that buzz and decide what to do with it. In this latest case, the Windows 7 OS launch, Microsoft and the Windows team linked their goals of creating awareness with new consumers, engaging existing consumers, and building advocacy and empowering champions by monitoring and engaging in the online communities where today’s consumers live out their lives: Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, blogs, and forums specifically.
Laying the Groundwork
While the excitement around the campaign drove large quantities of engagements, the Windows Team was out for months before launch, building support and creating lines of communication in the communities. The study lends weight to the practice by noting that the Windows Outreach Team was able to scale to fit needs during the natural product lifecycle.
Through the LookingGlass
With the addition of Microsoft’s own tool, LookingGlass, the group was able to not only monitor volume and sentiment around the launch, but also create an information loop as the chunks of info from Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Flickr, blogs, and forums were streamed to their tool for all to see on their Social Media Hub. For the first time during a major product launch, Microsoft fans and critics alike had a near real-time look at the information their fellow Web colleagues were discussing and were able to jump into the conversation themselves.
The Case Study
Wrapping Up
For more information, visit Marty Collins’ blog – Marketing Today.
*Full Disclosure: Microsoft Corporation is a client of Spring Creek Group
Social Media by the Numbers
Friday, February 19th, 2010 
Blogs, the long-suffering workhorses of the Internet, are often thought of as an excellent way to communicate with others online. However, a “blog post,” when used to convey one’s opinion, comes with one inherent flaw: it requires the use of words, and words alone can simply not be trusted.
Fortunately, in the entire history of the world, numbers have never been used to lie or deceive any one in any way. That is why, periodically, we like to take a look at “Social Media by the Numbers” in order to cut through the empty rhetoric often present in the busy world of social media and get down to some serious and objective truth.
- Percentage of journalists in a recent study who say social media is an important tool for producing and reporting the stories they write: 56%
- Number of unique visits to Twitter.com in January: 73.5 million
- Minimum number of Olympic athletes who dislike NBC’s Olympic coverage, according to NBC.com’s own “Olympic Pulse” Twitter feed: 1
- Dollar amount of voucher offered to filmmaker Kevin Smith following his removal from a Southwest Airlines plane for being “too fat” to travel, which prompted a backlash via Twitter: $100
- Percentage of people, according to a CNN.com poll, who agree with Southwest Airlines’ decision: 58%
- Minimum number of photos of 9/11 hijackers that have been appropriated for Facebook advertisements regarding changes in Michigan’s auto insurance policy: 1
- Number of incarcerated individuals’ Facebook profiles that British Justice Secretary Jack Straw has requested be shut down, due to the fact that these profiles are being used to harass the individuals’ former victims: More than 30
- Altitude, in feet, which Toshiba UK launched an “ordinary living room chair” for an ad campaign: 98,268
- Number of class action lawsuits filed against Google due to privacy concerns over their new Google Buzz application: 1
- Percentage of social sharing on the web driven by Facebook: 44%
- Number of Facebook’s new environmentally-friendly “green data centers” that will be partially powered by coal: 1
- Breakdown of our emotional reaction to the “new social statement site” pleaserobme.com: 70% amused, 30% terrified
How Coca-Cola is Spreading Happiness
Friday, January 29th, 2010Remember the excitement you felt as a kid when a vending machine accidentally gave you two candy bars instead of one? Well, that’s the wonder and excitement (I mean, who didn’t love getting an extra candy bar as a kid, right?) Coca-Cola is hoping to bring into people’s lives with their new video “Happiness Machine.” And we think it’s working.
Two weeks ago, Coca-Cola released “Happiness Machine” as a sneak preview to fans and followers through their various social media channels. In case you haven’t seen it yet, the video shows how an overactive vending machine installed in a college cafeteria can bring lots of happiness. Everything from Coke bottles to flowers to a six-foot sub sandwich come pouring out of the machine, all to the great surprise of the students. And, of course, it’s all caught on film.
Here are three reasons why we think the video is successful:
It takes something ordinary and makes it extraordinary. It’s not about a flashy re-design, a buzz-worthy celebrity, or some other marketing gimmick. They took the simple act of getting a Coke out a vending machine, and turned it into an extraordinary event.
It shows people sharing. When bottle after bottle after bottle of Coke comes out of the machine, what else is left to do but share with the people around you? Same goes for the pizza and the six-foot sub. The scene was smartly framed by Coke to get the students experiencing the “Happiness Machine” conversing and sharing, and just like the college kids in the video, the viewer can join in on the fun too.
It lets fans spread the happiness. When the kids are sharing the pizza that just came out of the bottom of the vending machine with each other, you can log on and share the video with your friends and family on Facebook, YouTube, or Twitter. It empowers the viewers at home to jump in and participate.
In the past, companies like Coca-Cola would keep their Super Bowl ads under wraps until the “world premiere” on game day. If it was strong enough, the ad might generate buzz for a few days before it becomes just another ad. Today, we’re seeing these same companies open up and encourage their customers to participate in the build-up through various social channels, as opposed to keeping these customers at a distance. Already, the video has been viewed more than 1.2 million times, and in the case of the “Happiness Machine” the momentum shows no signs of stopping. We can’t wait to see what happens when it airs to the football lovin’ public next Sunday.
Three Things Coca-Cola Got Right in their Social Media Policy
Wednesday, January 6th, 2010
In the culture of American business, you know something has “made it” when the legal team writes a policy around it – such is the case with social media these days. The latest large brand to do so was The Coca-Cola Company, which just released its concisely three-page Online Social Media Principles.
Here are the top three things we think Coca-Cola got right:
Kept It Simple - While the legalese can quickly become overwhelming in similar documents, the Coca-Cola attempt at a social media policy speaks to its audience in terms they know and use. Less chance for confusion means less chance for breach of the policy.
Covered All Their Bases – By saying the following, Coca-Cola put their employees and everyone else connected with the company on notice. In today’s digital age, where your agents are many and direct oversight is sometimes murky, having a policy that extends beyond physical walls and across the globe makes all the difference.
“The Company adheres strongly to its core values in the online social media community, and we expect the same commitment from all Company representatives – including Company associates, and associates of our agencies, vendors and suppliers. Any deviation from these commitments may be subject to disciplinary review or other appropriate action.”
Gave the Power to the People – Coca-Cola knows that the social media landscape is expanding faster than the physical universe. They also know that no matter how much conversation tracking they do, they can’t keep up with the real-time pace of the online world. By empowering all Coca-Cola employees, regardless of their position in the company, to bring pertinent information to the attention of their online representatives, Coca-Cola has effectively created a team of watchful users that will increase their total number of attentive eyeballs on the Social Web.
There’s been an obvious evolution of large brand social media policies over the past couple of years and that’s the way it should be. More importantly, though, is the fact that these policies are being shared as living documents and added to on a living basis as the Web (and all forms of communication) morphs and changes.
Well done, Coca-Cola.
Spring Creek Group Makes MarketingProfs Stuff of 2009 List
Tuesday, January 5th, 2010Now into a new year we are able to reflect on the last, assess what we have learned and pinpoint particular highlights. MarketingProfs has done such in their recent article The Stuff of 2009: The Most-Read, Most Downloaded, Most Watched at MarketingProfs. We’re proud to share that SCG Principal Clay McDaniel’s article, 13 Essential Social Media ‘Listening’ Tools made the list by hitting on interesting and emerging trends in social media. Being one of the Top 10 MarketingProfs Today Newsletter Articles is not a bad way to start the New Year. With the bar now raised a little higher, we’re looking forward to what Clay and team will conjure up in 2010.
SCG Out on the Town – TechFlash LIVE: Women in Tech
Monday, October 26th, 2009
A few SCG team members will be attending the first of its kind TechFlash LIVE: Women in Tech event this Wednesday evening at the W Hotel in Seattle. We’re looking forward to hearing a great line-up of panelists coming from a variety of technology fields, as well as meeting other women and leaders in the tech community.
We also can’t wait to see some of our friends and partners, including panel presenter Trish Dziko, executive director of the Technology Access Foundation – one of our key not-for-profit partners here at SCG, and several more women with whom we have worked closely in our marketing programs.
The Women in Tech initiative is something we strongly support, and we always enjoy attending local industry-related events. We hope to see you there!
For additional details visit http://seattle.bizjournals.com/seattle/event/9691.
Facebook’s Legitimacy Problems: Are You Who We Thought You Were?
Thursday, October 15th, 2009
A recent post outlined steps Facebook is taking in requiring page owners to prove their connections with the brands they represent on the ever-growing social networking site. What does this mean for agencies? What are the short-term and long-term impacts? How will this affect your brand? Let’s take a look.
Prove It
Facebook essentially is providing page owners three ways to verify that they in fact have rights to develop and maintain a brand page and they can be found here:
- Add a badge or Fan Box widget to your Website – This is simple, really and can be done by sending a bit of code to whoever is code monkeying your site. It also provides a great focal point for driving traffic to your Fan Page.
- Add an official e-mail address to your personal Facebook account that can be used to verify your affiliation with the brand (this can also be that of an authorized outside entity like PR, marketing, advertising agency, etc.) – This is easy if you’re a recognized agency, but a little harder if your roles are mostly behind the scenes.
- Add another admin who has a legit e-mail address – This is probably the easiest thing to do. Simply add your client contact to the admins of the page, giving you instant legitimacy.
The Agency
For agencies that are building and maintaining Fan Pages for brands in the Facebook environment, this could be a bit of a sticking point as they have to work out, with their client, the level of visibility they want to have as to who is actually doing the legwork. However, in most cases, a client contact is already (or should be) and admin of the page so they can not only lend their legitimate e-mail address, but also their watchful eye to the account.
The Short Term
In the short term, proving the authenticity of these pages is going to create a bit of extra work, but the short-term rewards greatly outweigh the time needed to get your stamp of approval (is there actually a stamp of approval?). Like with Twitter, brands have always been able to make a case for deleting unauthorized accounts based on copyright law, but now Facebook is taking that a step further and actually making it easier to drive out those pages which might be representing brands in a less-than-authentic fashion.
By simply claiming your brand pages and legitimizing them, you’re essentially eliminating those other pages and, in some cases, Facebook may fold those pages’ fans into your fan base, giving them a legitimate source of interaction on Facebook— and you a broader fan base— in one fell swoop.
The Long Term
Long term, this seems like a strategy by Facebook to not only cut down on clutter and misinformation within the Facebook environment, but also a move toward offering brands added benefits for operating within Facebook. Don’t be surprised if these Facebook Fan Pages start developing multiple levels of functionality and complexity based on dollars spent on Facebook Advertising and direct buys. The team at Facebook is smart enough to make a move when they see an opportunity like this.
Unanswered Questions
While this is still a new(ish) issue, Facebook needs to provide a bit more information around the topic of what this actually means for brands. Will verified pages show up higher in search results, regardless of fan base and searchability? What’s the lag time between reporting a brand page and action being taken to remove that page? What are the criteria for moving fans from a page that might not be verified to the verified Fan Page?
Hopefully we’ll have answers to those, as well as the mounting pile of questions that will undoubtedly come out of this shift.
SCG at Mashable.com: 18 Essential Tools for Word-of-Mouth Marketers
Tuesday, October 13th, 2009
SCG Principal Clay McDaniel is feeling a little listy (and not in a nautical sense) these days, which explains his latest post on Mashable.com, where he provides his list of 18 Essential Tools for Every Word-of-Mouth Marketer. It’s a handy guide, and we think that both gurus and beginners in the space alike will be able to find something of interest. Make sure you check it out.
Zen and the Art of Social Media Studies
Thursday, September 17th, 2009
Harvard Business School professor Mikolaj Jan Piskorski has been studying users of social media for years, and he recently shared some of his findings with the Harvard Business Journal. He also shared them with the Internet, which, these days, means he shared them with everyone.
There’s nothing really groundbreaking in any of his findings or conclusions, but to see them all laid out in front of us the way this article does is soothing, to say the least. He (and more importantly in this case, the writer of the article) has taken the sometimes overwhelming facts, findings, and figures flying willy-nilly around in the social media ecosystem and arranged them into a lovely little Zen garden of wonky social media serenity.
Adding to our general sense of tranquility is the simple fact that esteemed old-school establishments like the Harvard Business School are digging into the channels in the first place. When fair Harvard’s academic researchers (and not just its former students) start holding sway o’er old Facebook, it’s safe to assume that when it comes to social media, we’re no longer dealing with some kind of passing fad.
Some of the observations that stuck out:
People Don’t Like Reading: “People just love to look at pictures. . . that’s the killer app of all online social networks. Seventy percent of all actions are related to viewing pictures or viewing other people’s profiles.”
Gender Dynamics on Twitter: “According to the research, there are more women on Twitter than men, women tweet about the same rate as men, but men’s tweets are followed by both sexes much more than expected by chance.”
Well, It Makes Sense When You Think About It: A large chunk of MySpace users are typically from smaller communities in the south and central parts of the country.
“Alabama, Arkansas, West Virginia, Oklahoma, Kentucky, Florida. They aren’t in Dallas but they are in Fort Worth. Not in Miami but in Tampa. They’re in California, but in cities like Fresno. In other words, not anywhere near the media hubs (except Atlanta) and far away from those elite opinion-makers in coastal urban areas.”
Since online music and bands are MySpace’s bread and butter (link that proves this), the idea that people huddle online around music more when they live in places that are interested in music but have a relatively hard time being able to go see/hear it is a completely logical idea.
Here’s our favorite part, from the “social strategy” section:
“For one thing, findings show that people don’t click through on advertising on social networks. ‘A good analogy is to imagine sitting at a table with friends when a stranger pulls up a chair, sits down, and tries to sell you something while you are talking to your friends. You will not get far with a strategy like this. To be successful, you need to shift your mindset from social media to social strategy.’”
This paragraph, if nothing else, is what it all boils down to: social media, and the Internet as a whole, is not something meant to be reflexively observed. It’s not a book to be printed, read, and put back on the shelf when you’re done with it. It’s all part of a living, breathing organism, one that is born and bred for interaction and engagement. The days of simply buying an ad, then sitting back, doing nothing, and waiting for it to do its work are over.
Just understanding your audience isn’t enough- you need to know how to use that understanding in order to effectively interact with not only the environment, but the people in it. It’s all well and good to know your garden, but it’s how you get involved and interact– how well you rake the sand– that’s the real key.
