Posts Tagged ‘social network’
Spring Creek Group Joins Mediabrands
Wednesday, October 5th, 2011
Spring Creek Group was founded more than five years ago, during the emergence of social media in the form we now experience today. We have evolved and expanded our services for clients as content and social networks on YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and others have grown dramatically. Through it all, we have maintained a steadfast focus on opportunities to improve our clients’ customer advocacy and engagement. Simply put, our mission is to help customers better connect with each other and with the brands on which they spend their time and money.
Today, we are delighted to announce a major step in our continued growth and evolution as an agency. Spring Creek Group is joining the Mediabrands digital agency division of global media and marketing company Interpublic Group! You can read a little more about our exciting news here.
Spring Creek joins innovative digital agency leaders such as Cadreon, Reprise Media, and Ansible Mobile, and we will play a key role in the newly-formed Mediabrands Audience Platform (MAP). By joining Mediabrands and the MAP initiative, we are bringing our expertise in all aspects of social media marketing strategy and programs execution to our new agency partners across Mediabrands, including leaders in media planning and management such as UM and Initiative, as well as others. In addition to the opportunities that this move creates for us to integrate our social media services more tightly with our new agency partners’ offerings; it opens many new ways for us to introduce complementary services to our existing and future clients.
As a founder of Spring Creek, I am so very excited about this announcement and this new step forward in our growth. I believe that the strategic and - as importantly for me and my team – the philosophical ‘fit’ for Spring Creek Group within Interpublic’s Mediabrands agency group is perfect. They are extremely committed to helping us maintain our vision for the future of Spring Creek, while we also build a holistic digital media marketing services model through the MAP. Above all else, Mediabrands shares a similar set of values to ours. In short, we are thrilled about what the future holds for us, as well as for all of our clients and technology and software partners.
In closing I would just like to say THANK YOU to all of those client stakeholders, partners, and many others who have been so important and valued over the past 5 years. I owe my deepest personal gratitude to each of you who have been a part of our ability to arrive at today’s news, including everyone who has been a part of our SCG team. I am most excited about the myriad new ways this move opens new opportunities for client services innovation and social media strategic leadership for our entire Spring Creek team. Thank you for being a part of this journey with us this far… let’s keep it going.
Warm regards,
Clay
Fashion in a Flash: Amazon ventures into Event Sale E-commerce
Thursday, May 5th, 2011
Riding the wave of successful flash deal sites such as Groupon and LivingSocial, Fashion e-commerce websites dedicated to daily deals that flaunt their invite-only “exclusivity” are becoming increasingly popular. RueLaLa, GiltGroupe, and Hautelook are among the most popular of these sites. Yesterday, online retailer Amazon launched a “private fashion sale site” of its own: MYHABIT. Similar to other fashion flash-sale sites, potential members must request an invitation to partake in the get-it-before-it’s-gone shopping experience. However, unlike many of the fashion sale sites that begin in the morning on East Coast time, leaving West Coasters frantically scrambling for the fashion scraps, one of the most appealing aspects of MYHABIT is that deals don’t start until 9 a.m. PT/ 12 p.m. ET, giving East and West Coasters an equal opportunity to scavenge for their designer merchandise. Another big sell: MYHABIT also offers free shipping and free returns in the United States.
Amazon’s foray into the fashion world seems to be a natural expansion for the brand, yet it’s still a venture out of its comfortable world of practical consumer products such as DVDs and books. While Amazon.com does offer clothing, the e-commerce giant is tapping into a whole new niche market with the launch of MYHABIT and Amazon will need to prove its fashion savvy in order to compete with other sites that have already established their fashion authority. While Amazon is likely hoping to ride its reputation as a reliable online retailer, it will probably take a bit more than reputation alone to get the luxury consumers on board. The success of the site will depend on whether Amazon can reign in the coveted deals that will intrigue and entice the fashion community and also on how Amazon positions and markets MYHABIT, especially in respect to differentiating it from the competitors. Already set up on Facebook and Twitter, MYHABIT will likely be using these social networks to grow its community and drive people to the site. Through leveraging its e-commerce power, tapping into the niche needs of the fashion community, and using innovative campaigns to make a splash in a somewhat already saturated market, MYHABIT has the potential to send consumers scrambling for designer deals on the daily.
SCG ‘ombudsman’s note: we have worked with leading ecommerce companies on their social media strategies and programs, as have others in our city and sector. So while we have a front row seat to these new developments, as with all of our agency’s point of view publishing on our blog neither this post nor others are ever sponsored or promotional in nature.’ We take special care to make sure our content is fair and balanced and strive at all times to uphold the standards set forth in the WOMMA Code of Ethics.3 Lessons We Can Learn From Twitter
Thursday, April 21st, 2011Recently I came across an article on CNN exploring the validity of Twitter’s place in the social media market, and those questioning the status of its dominance. We know that Twitter is the darling of many journalists and in-the-know technophiles. It has a thriving, niche community. But can Twitter connect with the average consumer? Or, is it purely for the types who are willing to put in the time to learn how to manage multiple stream of information?
Twitter is still very much in growth phase – growing roughly 500,000 accounts per day – and it certainly has a ways to go before it catches up to that other social network.
However, the Twitter structure, that tricky 140-character “status bar” which is referenced in the article, is already influencing the way brands are thinking about how to successfully connect with their customers in social spaces, regardless of channel.
So, think it’s just a tweet?
In my estimation, there are at least three things you can learn from Twitter, today, that will improve your overall communications approach and build stronger communities.
- Brevity: You can’t market your way into people’s hearts anymore. Well, that might not actually be fully true, but what is true is that consumers have less and less tolerance for fluff, so you better get to the point. The 140 character limit is not a limiting factor, it’s a very real challenge to force you to mean what you say and say what you mean. Cut out the excess and get to the heart of what your customer should care about.
- Think Before You Write: There are a lot of variables to consider when you’re using Twitter. Should you create a bit.ly? Should you use a hashtag? Should you look up someone’s handle to mention them in the tweet? All of these things force you to consider a variety of variables which might impact the success of your message. If you’re not thinking about these things, you should start.
- Provide Credit When Credit is Due: Perhaps more than any other social network, Twitter is constantly citing and crediting the source of information. Through RT’s or @mentions, taking credit for someone else’s idea or resource is a faux-pas and you’ll likely get called out. Whereas, taking the approach of thanking someone for their @mention or their article engenders a lot of good vibes, which go a long way to making your social presence authentic and trusted. That will lead to improved sentiment and brand perception, and encourage others to become fans of your brand on social media.
While it’s still to be seen just how big Twitter will be in 5, 10, or even 20 years, does it really matter? We’re already seeing the way it’s impacting the way people are communicating with groups of people, now. We better continue to read the trends and think bigger about why these communications are connecting with people, instead of falling behind. Read the article for yourself and let me know what you think. What else do you think brands can learn from Twitter?
The Rise (and Potential Fall?) of King James
Wednesday, November 10th, 2010
Unless you have been living under a rock for about the last 6 months, you have probably heard about the circus that followed Lebron James’ announcement that he would “be taking his talents to South Beach.” James announced his decision to switch from the Cleveland Cavaliers to the Miami Heat in a media debacle that will forever be remembered as “The Decision.” The backlash from Cleveland fans and the media were harsh. Footage of Cleveland fans burning James jerseys were shown on every news channel. Sports personalities were criticizing and judging him about the way he made his announcement, saying that he made it look like a self-indulgent spectacle that didn’t take into account the fact that Cleveland fans that have been so loyal to him for so many years. So now that James’ NBA season has started, the big question is: did he make the right decision?
From a marketing standpoint, there are many different ways to look at it. What novice NBA fans have to take into account is that today’s NBA is not what it used to be in the 80s and early-90s. Not only do players have to worry about winning, now many have to think about their “Brand.” That’s right, their Brand. And who can blame them? most of them grew up watching Michael Jordan rise from a relatively unknown in college to an NBA legend, endorsed by companies all around the world. Players were once told “Hey, if you make it big in the NBA and get some endorsements you could be a millionaire!” But now with the way players’ contract payouts are skyrocketing and endorsement deals are coming from all angles, there is no reason an NBA superstar can’t bea billionaire.
Yet even though Lebron has done nothing criminally wrong, there is arguably no one in sports (aside from maybe Tiger Woods) that has taken such a hit to their brand image. Q Scores, a company that tracks the appeal of celebrities, showed that James’ likability dropped from 4th among active athletes to 78th-, behind even Ben Roethlisberger, who was recently suspended by the NFL for inappropriate sexual conduct. While this could be looked at as bad news, some say that from a marketing and business standpoint, “The Decision” was sheer genius.
Since followers of the NBA could see James’ free agency coming a long time ago, his next destination became the “it” conversation, and has stayed that way for about the last year. There is possibly no better evidence that the Lebron James’ brand is thriving than by simply examining his presence in the social networking arena. James first opened his Twitter account two days before “The Decision,” and while not everyone is a supporter, he now has over 900,000 followers. With almost 4 million Facebook friends, there is no doubt that more and more sponsors will come running to have James be the face of their company.
Yet, some aren’t so quick to forgive. Just ask Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban what he thinks. Cuban has gone on the record to state that James orchestrated the” greatest public humiliation in the history of sports.” This coming from a guy who regularly sticks his foot in his mouth at just about any opportunity. Cuban goes on to say that leaving Cleveland, a city that molded its very identity around James, was so selfish that it could never be forgiven. Adding a monetary value to the debacle, Cuabn believes James lost over $1 billion in brand equity and maybe, more importantly, -his legacy.
It’s hard to argue with the numbers, though. The top-5 gross ticket selling games already belong to the Heat, Heat merchandise sales are already up 500% from this time last year- doesn’t hurt that you’ve also got Dwayne Wade and Chris Bosh next on the roster as well. NBA fans have yet to see how his recent move will affect his legacy; but as we have seen before (i.e. Kobe Bryant) nothing shuts up naysayers like some wins… except maybe a few championships.
100 Million People Taking Facebook on the Road
Wednesday, February 24th, 2010
We’ve all seen the stats that texting while driving has similar effects to your vehicular dexterity as downing a case of Kokanee (a nod to our Canadian friends up the road). But maybe we’re not actually texting. Is it possible we’re all Facebooking?
A few weeks ago, Facebook announced the following:
“Today, we hit another milestone…with more than 100 million people actively using Facebook from their mobile devices every month. This usage happens on almost every carrier in the world and comes less than six months after we announced 65 million people on Facebook Mobile.”
Some marketing teams still have giant whiteboards with doodles, where they are “strategizing” a Facebook road map for the next 12 months. But, isn’t it high time marketers stop thinking about Facebook as a Web site, and instead focus on how it will follow you around everywhere you go? I agree with Mediapost’s David Berkowitz, who says the following:
“The safe bet is in time that the mobile user base will nearly mirror the overall user base, and that most of its usage will derive from mobile users. Facebook is in an especially strong position to benefit from the mobile boom, as mobile measurement firm Ground Truth noted this month that 61% of mobile Web pageviews are served by social networking sites.”
So here’s the question for the marketer who still has a 2008 Social Media Strategy in 2010: Do I need to catch up, or can I just jump ahead to mobile? Starbucks and their 5 gabillion Facebook fans may be an inspiration to Fortune 500′s across the nation, but maybe the smarter move for large laggards is to skip the whole catch-up game and join the mobile party. Meanwhile, SMBs may want to investigate hyper-local, location-based mobile social media strategies.
It won’t be about ads popping up on your mobile Facebook page, but a tighter integration with PayPal and potentially some partnerships with folks like Whrrl, Foursquare, and Gowalla, could allow you to buy a beer for your friend at a bar, while you sit in a movie theater across town. Or, you could order a Sounders jersey while your friend is at the game, and have him pick it up at the souvenir stand.
So, fear not brave marketer. If you missed the original social media wave in 2007, look at the 100 Million Facebook users on mobile devices, and realize you get a second shot at the growth curve.
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.
It’s a Love/Hate Relationship
Thursday, March 26th, 2009For as much heat and complaining that Facebook has been receiving lately from its users, they are still as dedicated and committed to their precious social networking site as ever. With the number of users nearing 200 million, Facebook is taking all necessary steps to keep its people happy – though they tend to be what caused the upset in the first place.
A few weeks ago it was the Terms of Service Policy scandal upsetting the Facebook public, this week the new homepage updates have caused some uproar. And in both cases, Facebook has not only given in to the pressure, but opened the doors (or online forum) for users to express their opinions and give feedback.
Apparently users were especially unhappy regarding the lack of filtering tools the new homepage offers. Recently, Facebook announced that they plan to change the current design to give users greater control over what updates appear in the main stream as well as make improvements to the Highlights section and overall design.
So what do you think about the new homepage? Better yet, what do you think about Facebook’s reaction to its users’ disapproval?
Is this a thoughtful, democratic approach to managing a social networking site? Or do Facebook’s users have its designers and decision-makers a bit whipped?
The Rise of the Facebook Democracy
Friday, February 27th, 2009In an effort to smooth over the terms of service policy chaos that went down earlier this month, the social networking site Facebook has adopted a new and rather democratic user voting process.
The swell of negative responses Facebook received regarding the change of its policy which stated that it had ownership of all users’ content eventually pushed the social networking site to revert back to the original version.
Then yesterday the company announced the “Facebook Principles,” which are, “a set of values that will guide the development of the service, and Statement of Rights and Responsibilities that make clear Facebook’s and users’ commitments related to the service.”
In short, Facebook will now notify users prior to making major changes in its policy among a long list of other things. Facebook is also inviting the community to review, comment and vote on the proposed Principles. You can read it all here and leave your two cents if you’d like.
Just one day into the public announcement of these new Principles and the Facebook discussion board has already been flooded with hundreds of contradicting opinions and concerned comments as well as a group membership nearing 10,000 people. Best yet, the company stated that they are going to let this online town hall forum continue for an entire thirty days.
After the thirty days, Facebook will review all comments, take them into consideration and then republish the Principles with added changes. To get an idea of posts to come, and perhaps a good warning, one Facebook user states, “…..Having people ‘vote’ on terms can only lead to havoc.”
I guess we’ll just have to wait and see if all Facebook hell breaks loose or if indeed the people speak and are heard. In the meantime, wait a few more weeks before posting your Mardi Gras pics.
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Thursday, February 19th, 2009Happy Birthday, Facebook… Now, Change the World
Tuesday, February 10th, 2009
Happy birthday, Facebook.
If you were a human you’d be in half-day kindergarten, still taking scheduled naps. You’d have 5 friends who consist of your two neighbors, a weird kid that you met on the bus your first day and your two older brothers who made you eat dirt. The only thing expected of you would be that you tie you shoes (sometimes) and can go to the restroom by yourself at the supermarket. You’d be blowing out the candles on a huge cake with your friend and family around, wishing for that Nintendo DS.
But you’re not a human; you’re a super-charged juggernaut of a social networking site born from the womb of an Ivy League institution. Your friends number in the millions, or 150 million active users to be almost exact. Every day more and more is expected of you as those millions of friends share their life stories on your pages (but still expect increasing security). So, instead of blowing out five glowing candles, you get to listen to every self-proclaimed social media expert pick apart the last five years of your existence and plot your eventual demise.
Look how cute you were: http://web.archive.org/web/20040212031928/http://www.thefacebook.com/.
What will we ask of you next? I’m sure we’ll think of something.
