The Quisenblog

Presented for your weekend reading please, links to five of our favorite articles for the week. Interested in reading more of what we read? Follow me on Twitter @mickeylonchar or @Quisenberry. Enjoy!

The Power of Being Different. (Fast Company)

For as long as marketing classes have been taught, much has been made about standing out, about being “different” from the competition. But is all “different” good? And what’s the brand value of it? A new tool from ad agency Young & Rubicam actually helps determine that.

The Facebook Tweak That Killed a Billion Dollar Industry. (Fortune)

Facebook’s recent decision to do away with allowing brands to use custom tabs to set default pages is bad news for companies that build and track these pages, but, as this article from Fortune points out, could be good news for the rest of us, including brands themselves. By leveling the playing field, so to speak, Facebook is challenging brands to let their content do the talking.

What Ads Do Men Notice and What Ads Annoy? (Advertising Age)

Wondering how marketers should be communicating with today’s American man? Ad Age Insights, with data partner GfK MRI, explores the many ways men’s lives today represent a significant departure from those of their fathers and grandfathers in a new trend report, “Dudes to Dads: U.S. Men’s Attitudes Toward Life, Family, Work.” Read this and you may put that “bumbling-but-good-natured dad” idea out to pasture.

How To Create A Brand With Values (Fast Company – co.exist)

Some brands are born good, other brands need to have goodness thrust upon them. How can companies tell the right stories to make them more values-driven–and more successful?

Traditional Media Still Most Trusted Sources of Info. (eMarketer)

Our stats-of-the-week. A recent study from Triton Digital shows that while Internet research is becoming more commonplace, and while people continue to flock to social networks, consumers continue to view content from traditional media (TV, radio, newspaper) as more trustworthy.

Have a great weekend.

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Mickey Friday LinkFest, Media, On Clients, On Customers, Ramblings brand differentiation, brand stories, brand values, Facebook, friday five

Facebook pages have undergone quite a makeover in recent months, but the Granddaddy makeover of them all happens tomorrow, March 30, when Facebook automatically migrates all brand pages to its new “Timeline” format.

There are two notable changes page administrators will need to be aware of: the elimination of custom tabs in favor of a brand-created “Timeline,” and a new layout that allows you to place a page-wide “Cover” photo or image at the top of your page.

This post will give you a quick-and-dirty primer on the whole Cover concept. For insights into how to best take advantage of the Timeline itself, we’ll address that in a soon-to-come post.

While these changes may seem a bit off-putting to those of us who’ve grown accustomed to all pages looking and navigating pretty much the same, in many ways the new look offers a huge improvement to the user’s experience. First off, because pages can be more customized, there’s a huge opportunity to create a visually stunning page that will make a positive statement about the brand. And second, the Timeline format allows a brand to do some meaningful “storytelling” rather than rely on boilerplate “Info,” “Photos” and “Friend Activity.”

In short, Facebook is giving your brand the opportunity to give your page the same appeal you’ve given to your web site.

If you’ve procrastinated redressing your page for the new Timeline format, where should you start? A great place would be to select a terrific photo for your Cover. A great reference guide to the process can be found at Facebook Pages Terms. Basically, the role of your cover photo is intended to add visual impact, as opposed to trying to incite action from visitors (no longer will you be able to post messages like “Like us” or “Share this,” include price or discount offers, or include contact information, such as your web or email addresses).

While Facebook allows page admins to choose a photo from an existing photo album, such photos are probably not best suited to give you the visual impact your brand page deserves. The best-looking cover photos will be images specifically created to take advantage of the cover photo’s unusually large size and unique shape.

Your Page’s cover photo should embody the essence of your brand. A few image content ideas that might be suitable for your brand might be: candid photos of customers using your products (be sure to get permission to use their likenesses), a beauty shot of some of your most popular product, or icons that represent your brand, such as a delivery truck, distinct signage or a group shot of employees. Or, you can get creative and create a cover that makes visitors think and might compel them to share, such as these (courtesy of Buzzfeed.com):

So rather than look at Facebook’s new page look as another barrier to overcome, try to look at it as a way to uniquely engage your customers.

As always, if you have any specific questions about how to take best advantage of the new Facebook format, don’t hesitate to drop me a line.

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Mickey New Media, On Clients, On Customers, Social Media, customer experience, how-to Facebook, Facebook Cover, facebook new design, facebook Timeline, storytelling on facebook

Google’s recent launch (to a beta crowd, of sorts) of Google+ has been greeted by Social Media bloggers and critics variously as Social Media’s Next Big Thing, as the quintessential way to integrate search and social, and in typical SocMed bluster, “A Facebook Killer.” (Social Media types are nothing if not hyperbolic.) One writer even described Google+ as a “Purpose-Built Annex,” whatever the heck that is.

As for me, I’m not sure exactly where Google+ fits in. But I sure feel like I could do without it.

That must sound like heresy coming from someone who spends quite a bit of his day working with and advising clients regarding Social Media. Especially since it comes from such a proven heavyweight as Google. But truth be told, I’m involved up to here in Social Media. My personal Social Media ‘Inbox’ is currently full. I’m active on Twitter. I participate in a variety of LinkedIn groups. I blog. I get notifications up the yin-yang from Google Alerts. I’m active in online discussions, and regularly contribute to industry sites or comment on articles.

I have a SlideShare page, a YouTube channel and an RSS reader. And yes, I spend at least as much time on Facebook as the average 16-year-old. So excuse me for not doing cartwheels about nurturing and keeping up with one more platform.

Sorry, Google+.

I can’t help but wonder if the world at large is sort of in the same boat. Do we all suffer from a form of Social Media overload? Recent statistics show that aside from time spent on Facebook, the average American actually spends less time online than she did last year. A lot less (9%, to be exact). Part of this I surmise to be because we’ve narrowed down our online world. But another could be we’ve reached the saturation point.

So while the social media pundits seem intent on comparing Google+ with Facebook, my stance is that its true competition is the status quo. Remember how your mother used to wisely say “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it?” Unless most folks find that something is “broke” in their Social Media worlds, I suspect they won’t be in a hurry to fix it.

Who knows, I could be all wet. Maybe the world is salivating at the chance to join Google+ and create “circles.” Maybe this is the “Social Media Magic Bullet” marketers have been waiting for.

Or, maybe it will collapse under the weight of its own hype.

This entertaining video was intended to show how Google+ will enhance your Social Media experience.

My takeaway was one of dread. There’s even something a little Big Brotherly towards the end, the idea that “You don’t have to choose Google+; Google+ has already chosen you.”

Ick. But judge for yourself. And let me know if this is something you’re planning on joining.

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Mickey New Media, On Customers, Ramblings, Social Media, customer experience Facebook, Google, social media hangover, socialmedia overload

It’s been said that a picture is worth a thousand words. While I’m not sure of the exact number, one thing I can say is this four-minute video does a heck of a lot more to parse the impact of Social Media than a 400-word blog post could. Enjoy.

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Mickey New Media, On Customers, Social Media Facebook, fatboy slim, social media growth, social media revolution, Social media video

There are some huge online communities out there. For example, Starbucks has over 6 million Facebook fans. Jet Blue has more than 1.6 million followers on Twitter. Even the AFLAC Duck has more than 5,000 followers who eagerly follow his every move on Twitter.

And then, there’s the infamous pickle we blogged about a few weeks back. The one that garnered more than 1.6 million fans on Facebook in just 16 days on the page “Can This Pickle Get More Fans Than Nickelback?”.

Which begs the question: how much, really, are these fans and followers worth? Is fan volume the key metric in determining the success of a Social Media program? Is what it takes to attract fans enough to make them customers? What value can an organization place on such a community?

A look at how organizations have been able to attract such large numbers gives us some clues about how easy it is to “buy” followers. Victoria Secret attracted 2 million fans by giving away panties. TGI Friday’s similarly gave out free hamburgers. Jet Blue recently gave away 1,000 one-way tickets. The “decision engine” Bing grew its fan base from 100,000 to 500,000 overnight by giving away Farmville cash.

So what are these fans really worth? Not much until you can classify them. They represent a database to communicate with to determine their level of interest in you. Most folks will just be there for the swag. I would wager that an overwhelming majority of Starbuck’s 6 million-plus fans didn’t join because they “loved” Starbucks, but rather than they’re hoping to get a coupon for a free frappacino.

What you have, then, is a community of “hand raisers.” You did something that interested them enough to “join,” but by itself that act is no indication that they are true “fans” or even that they give half a hoot about you. Think of them as the folks who walk by your tradeshow booth and stop to fill out a sweepstakes entry.

There are times when a big community can be an asset. If you’re looking for a way to drive traffic and have a special enticement to offer, you have a built-in audience. You can solicit input from them on different issues, and occasionally even invite them to co-create with you. But don’t fall under the spell of thinking that everyone who clicks the “Become a Fan” button on Facebook is a “brand evangelist” dying to hear your every word. These days joining a fan page is no big deal for most folks (recent stats show the average Facebook users joins three fan pages a month), and as the examples of Victoria’s Secret and Bing go to show, it doesn’t take all that much to get them to join.

Over time, you’ll be able to track the followers who interact with you on a regular basis, who respond when you throw something out there. These are your most valuable followers. And while they may only represent a small portion of your overall community, it’s not about their numbers. It’s about their level of engagement. One could argue it is much more profitable to have deep engagement from 1,000 fans than to be “friended” by 500,000.

But for arguments sake, let’s say you’re not interesting in shear numbers, only in having loyal, highly engaged followers. How do you organically go about attracting them? It helps to build in a barrier to entry that not everyone can get past. Reward your followers, but make your page exclusive to the point where not everyone can join. Don’t let just anybody in. Could be invitation only, or require a referral from an insider (like G-mail was when it was first introduced).

Your community will grow a lot more slowly, but will be more likely to be populated with true “believers” who are truly interested in you and won’t hit the “Hide” button after they received their first free coupon.

So before you decide to run a promotion in Mafia Wars for 100 Godfather points in an attempt to grow your fan numbers, ask how you can make the best use of the folks who’ll opt-in, and how you’ll go about separating the wheat from the chaff.

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Mickey New Media, On Customers, Social Media Facebook, fan value, followers

This is an actual Facebook entry posted by a friend of mine a few weeks ago. He was referencing the AT&T TV spots featuring Luke Wilson.

AT&T launched the campaign in response to Verizon’s “We’ve Got a Map For That” campaign, which uses red and blue maps to highlight AT&T’s 3G “dead spots” across the country. AT&T felt the need to counter punch, and thus came up with this tactical campaign.

The problem is, as the aforementioned Facebook entry alludes to, in its attempt to spin the facts, AT&T has dabbled in some untruths. Not that they lied, exactly—the lawyers must have racked up the billable hours splitting legal hairs. Seems the company’s idea of “coverage” isn’t what Verizon was talking about.

Here’s where it gets sticky for AT&T. If you lead your market to believe something, you better pay it off. Dancing around the facts may make you feel better, but it will just turn your audience off. And turn them against you.

As proof, a quick Google blog search on “AT&T 3G” finds verbatims from bloggers and AT&T customers alike saying “AT&T Lies Again”, “AT&T Moves the Goal Post”, and “Dude, where’s my 3G coverage?”

What’s more? While a marketer can contribute to the conversation, he very likely won’t get the last word. Case in point, here’s what Luke Wilson says…

And here’s what a non-paid Verizon customer says…

This can’t be the kind of word of mouth AT&T was hoping for. But that’s what happens when your audience catches you trying to mislead.

So what could AT&T have done to counter Verizon without bordering on the misleading? My advice would be to speak only about their strengths. Focus on markets where their 3G coverage is strong, and remind customers why they chose AT&T in the first place. Maybe even play off the ridiculousness of the more-places-is-better foundation of Verizon’s maps:

“True, Verizon has 3G coverage in Pierre, South Dakota.
But how often do you find yourself in Pierre, South Dakota?”

For many marketers, there are times you need to get out there and counter punch when a competitor starts eating your lunch. At such times, it is imperative that you do so transparently from your Brand Vision. And to do everything in your power to ensure the bond of trust between you and your customers is never compromised.

Trust is the currency of success.

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Mickey Media, On Customers 3G, AT&T, brand vision, campaign, cell phone coverage, Facebook, factual information, Luke Wilson, success, trust, Verizon, We’ve Got a Map For That

If a 1990s version of ourselves appeared before us, replete with a walkie–talkie sized cell phone and a CD good for 120 hours of AOL, how would we introduce us to the new decade? If we’d just dropped in from the 20th century for a quick latté, what would we need to know to be an effective communicator here in 2010? Here are a few salient points you may wish to impart to your visitor from a strange time:

Content has truly been democratized. Anyone with a computer and an Internet connection has a microphone. Instead of standing on a soapbox in Hyde Park, today folks can start a blog, write a review, post a comment on Facebook, send a Tweet or forward an email. And because every member of our “network” has his own network, our voice has the potential to reach way beyond the sound of our small voice.

Connectivity is universal. Ten years ago, when cell phones and mobile communication was in its Early Adopter phase, the promise was that you were within reach, no matter where you were. Today, mobile communication has evolved to the point where you are not merely “within reach,” you are totally connected to your personal network and news feeds, can find new communities easily, can conduct virtually any kind of commerce anytime and anywhere, and have the entire 9 billion pages of the Internet at your disposal 24/7.

Today our role is not so much to search for information as it is to filter it. Information and content have become ubiquitous. It finds us. Our role is to cull what is relevant and useful from the mass of data and information thrown at us on a daily basis.

Just because it’s loud doesn’t make it true. The speed of communications has led even “reliable” sources of information to forego traditional fact-checking. More and more, rumor is reported as fact. Punditry is being conflated with truth. Self-proclaimed “experts” seemingly pop up at every turn. This is what happens when there is no gateway to access. It is up to each of us to dial up our critical thinking skills.

With apologies to Gil Scott Heron, who spoke of the how authoritarianism trumps democracy in his tome “The Revolution Will Not Be Televised,” this past decade has shown that precisely the opposite is occurring.

Now quick, usher your former self back into that time capsule and send him back from whence he came. His John Grisham novel awaits.

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Mickey New Media, Social Media AOL, blog, content filter, content revolution, critical thinking skills, democratized content, Facebook, factual information, Gil Scott Heron, John Grisham, mobile communication, network, reliability, Tweet, universal connectivity, walkie-talkie

Now that 2009 is almost in our rear view mirrors, it’s time to look ahead to what’s coming in 2010. What better time to prognosticate about the days ahead.

Oh sure. We could go for the low-hanging fruit here and “predict” that mass media spending will go down, online and Social Media spending will go up, Facebook will pass 400 million users, yada yada yada. That might score us some cheap points, but really, that stuff is sort of a given. So, for better or worse, here are some of our fearless predictions about some less frequently discussed marketing and social Media issues:

1. Destination sites continue to lose their relevance. One of the most under reported stories regarding online use this year is that despite overall traffic online growing by leaps and bounds, visits to high-traffic sites like Dell, Nike and many others have been trending downward. Meanwhile, social sites like Facebook have skyrocketed. Take a step back and it makes total sense—most information-rich websites are not set up to foster an ongoing relationship with visitors. They’re pretty much “one-and-done”—you can get everything you need from them in a single visit and have no reason to return. Things like blogs, Facebook pages, Twitter feeds and some microsites are designed for people to visit them often, and to engage customers on a much deeper level. It is here where more and more of the online traffic will continue to flow.
2. The Video Revolution comes to Social Media. Video will become a more important part of every social media platform. Not long ago, if I mentioned “video” and “Social Media” in the same sentence, you’d immediately think YouTube, Vimeo or some other video aggregator. Today, with increased bandwidth abounding and the mobile platform (especially smart phones) expanding, video has become a much more important part of all Social Media platforms. Embedded “how-to” videos on web sites. Live-action video conferences and powerpoints. Video emails. Videos posted on Facebook. Even video in blogs (now called “vlogging”).
3. Behavioral Targeting continues to help marketers get personal. Improved analytics now give us a more complete picture of our customers, and puts their purchases into more relevant context. This will help us better target our efforts to ensure hitting prospects when they are at a “moment of decision” in the purchase cycle. Whereas we used to target professional women 35-54 as the likely target of our salad dressing, we can now narrow it down to shoppers who have just picked up two heads of romaine lettuce and who haven’t purchased salad dressing for a few weeks.
4. The emergence of the “Super Portal.” Right now there are many Social Media platforms to deal with. Keeping up with all of them can eat up a sizable portion of your day. But now, platforms are beginning to offer tools that make it seamless to share content and jump between platforms automatically and effortlessly. In the world of Twitter, for example, Tweetdeck and Hoot Suite make it possible to manage much of your Social Media profile from a single dashboard. This convergence of platforms is in turn going to free us up so we can have even more involvement in Social Media.
5. Great content remains the ultimate “game changer.” While a lot of factors play in to the virility of content, none is more important than having a great idea. Great content not only generates interest in the medium for which it was created, it also spreads quickly to other platforms and lends itself to being spread by the community and re-purposed and “mashed up” by the audience as well. All of which means more exposure for the producer. Susan Boyle, The Wedding Dance, and The Evian Rollerskating Babies are just the beginning.
6. Content on demand, when you want it, where you want it. This continues a trend of breaking the tether to a television or a laptop. The emergence of mobile is moving us even more into a totally “on demand” society. Comcast’s recent announcement that it will provide subscribers with anytime access to 27 channels of real-time programming through its “TV Everywhere” program (going online by year’s end) could provide a platform tipping point.
7. More information to marketers makes decisions harder, not easier. Tools like Google Analytics provide a wealth of data for marketers, but at the end of the day, data is just data. To make sense of it you need to understand the story that data is telling and what the opportunities are around it. Otherwise you will find yourself in the 2010 version of “paralysis by analysis.”

If you have any marketing/Social Media predictions for 2010 you’d like to share, we’d love to hear from you.

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Mickey Social Media 2009, blogs, Comcast TV Everywhere, customer engagement, Dell, Facebook, Google, microsites, mobile platform, Nike, Super Portal, Twitter feeds, Vimeo, vlogging, YouTube

This week’s social media blog posts:
Monday: The two kinds of online consumers.
Tuesday: Creating a Community, Part 1.
Wednesday: Creating a Community, Part 2.
Thursday: Social Media you can own.
Friday: Giving up control.

(This is the twelfth in our series of Social Media posts for the month of October. We look forward to your feedback on this series.)

Where many organizations struggle with the realities and potential of Social Media is in accepting the fact that they aren’t in control of the agenda. Companies cannot force goals on people, can’t control what they say about the brand, can’t spin the facts.

Truth is, the power of Social Media is the ability to hear what customers are REALLY SAYING. There is tremendous opportunity in searching out negative comments and addressing them directly. Customers don’t expect you to be perfect. They do expect you to be responsive. Ignoring the true conversation coming from customers does no one any good. If someone has a bad story to tell about you, you need to accept it is being told somewhere. (See our post on “United’s Sour Note”) Social Media gives you the opportunity to get out in front of such stories and contribute to a solution.

You can’t control what people are saying about you. What you can do is organize that speech. You can organize it by highlighting the good stuff and rationally responding to the not-so-good stuff. You can organize it by embracing the people who love your brand and challenging them to speak up and share the good word.

Here is an example of how Southwest Airlines uses Social Media to approach this:

You’ll note that “Sean” left a post complaining of a specific customer service concern. A few hours later, “Christi” from Southwest Airlines answered Sean directly, and tries to use this complaint as an opportunity for further conversation. Interestingly enough, “Phil” intervened before Christi had a chance to respond, and “stood up” for the airline, essentially evangelizing on its behalf.

This is typical of how social media works. For Sean, it is an easy outlet to contact the company, and list a specific complaint. The company then had the opportunity to address it, or at least acknowledge its intent to make things right. If nothing else, it had to make Sean feel better about the company being that he knows they “heard” him. His post also opened to the door for Phil, a loyal member of the SWA community, to weigh in.

Having loyal customers jump in and “run interference” for you isn’t that unusual, once you demonstrate to visitors that you are willing to hear what they really have to say, and demonstrate that you are trying to facilitate solutions.

Have a great weekend, and we’ll check in with you next week!

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admin Social Media customer interaction, customer satisfaction, Facebook, solutions, Southwest Airlines, United Airlines

(This is the first in our series of Social Media posts for the month of October. We look forward to your feedback on this series.)

A lot of folks who claim they don’t know a thing about this “Social Media” business are actually using it everyday, many times without even realizing it.

For example, whenever you check Craigslist to see if there’ve been any new listings of lawn furniture you’re engaging in Social Media.

Whenever you go to Cnet or some other site to research mp3 players, cameras or printers, and you see a host of ratings and reviews (both good and bad) from people who’ve bought the model you’re considering, you’re engaging in Social Media.

Whenever a friend emails you a link to a YouTube video and you’re so entertained by it that you view other videos from the same contributor or forward that video link on to someone else, you’re engaging in Social Media.

Whenever you accept a friend request on your Facebook page, you’re engaging in Social Media.

And whenever the florist you bought last year’s Mother’s Day bouquet from sends you an email offering 10% off on an early Mother’s Day purchase, guess what? Yep, Social Media.

In short, anything you do in the online space that allows others to converse, contribute, add to, distribute or give feedback on is considered Social Media.

In Social Media, our audiences are not just the “receivers” of our efforts, they are also the “medium” (by spreading our efforts forward) and in many cases even “creators” (adding their own spin on our information or integrating it into a greater piece).

A few misconceptions about Social Media campaigns: Social Media is not about getting selling messages out to as many individuals or groups as you can. Nor is its primary purpose to drive traffic to your web site.

Instead, successful Social Media can be described as a platform that is based on relationship, community and permission. At the core of every Social Media campaign is an implicit trust—the trust that you can help the customer solve something. It is taking part in a two-way (or multi-way) conversation (as opposed to the one-way communication of traditional media or an information-only web site) that all parties get some sort of value from.

To repeat, any time you use the online space to converse with an individual, group or community, and all sides extract some value from that encounter, that is considered Social Media.

As an exercise to demonstrate how natural and universal use of Social Media has become, I ask you to monitor your own use of the Internet for the next few days. Recognize what your Social Media encounters are, and what value you are getting from each one. Recognize the other participants. Are they people you know (either personally or through reputation), or are they totally random? When do you do the initiating? When do others come to you?

By the way, if you found this post of value, and would like to pass it on to others (yep, that’s Social Media too), just use one of the “share” links below. Feel free to submit questions (they will be visible to all visitors) and we’ll do our best to answer them.

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Mickey Social Media cnet, craigslist, Facebook, feedback, multi-way conversation, ratings, reviews, YouTube