Monthly Archives: August 2010
Today, we have a video blog post from an old friend of mine, Aaron Goldman, sharing one of the “Googley Lessons” from his new book. Lesson #5: Be Where Your Audience Is…
I hearken back to when Aaron was an intern for me at a traditional media agency. If I had known he could rap like that, well, he still would have been an intern.
But get past the terrible rhythm and sideways visor and listen to the message. Great experiences happen anywhere and in order for brands to enable consumer interaction those experiences have to be easy to find. Isn’t that the most important lesson Google teaches? If the greatest piece of content in the world is never seen or shared, is it still the greatest piece of content in the world? Google built a model that ensures it can be found. A model, by the way, that means they are the gateway to the Internet regardless of how people enter. As such, they are friend to brand and consumer alike as they match content with consumer.
With summer musical festivals there’s still a lot to look forward to on the music scene in 2010. But this isn’t a collection of up-and-coming artists or a rant about Ticketmaster. Instead, it’s a collection of upcoming developments that will how we obtain and consume music- coming soon to a digital device near you.
Sharing all of your music across the internet to any device
Earlier this year, Google acquired Simplify Media in a move that will open digital syncing services to the masses. Simplify Media provided a service that let you seamlessly share music and photo libraries through the web.
By running the service on two computers, each other’s music collections would appear as a local iTunes shared library, even if each machine was thousands of miles apart. The service also allowed you to connect to libraries of up to thirty friends to stream all of their collections too. The real game changer came when the company released its iPhone application, allowing you to pull down your entire library wherever there was an internet connection.
This signaled a fundamental shift in media consumption: No longer was it the case that a device’s media capacity was limited by internal storage. As long as the device was online, it could pull down entire libraries of content. Storage space became irrevelant.
The service ceased in June and the software has been pulled from the website and Apple’s App store. It will certainly be interesting to see how Google, known for creating web-based solutions and shunning desktop programs, will implement this service. There’s speculation the company may incorporate the syncing technology into its own Android OS software but I’m hoping they maintain a presence across all platforms.
The quest for who should “control” a social media campaign seems never ending. This is a debate that I’ve had with friends working across the communications industry. And while this should never turn into a personal attack, it absolutely turns into a battle big enough for the WWE. Not only are is this power struggle happening internally between departments, but externally between digital agencies, PR firms and social boutiques all vying for the social slice of the client’s business.
The importance of figuring out this debate once and for all reminds me a lot of Duane “the Rock” Johnson’s eyebrow–they’re both on the rise. Think about the training, the tone and the niche audience. It’s a battle royale, locked in a cage with a ladder, and only one competitor is coming out alive. Maybe it’s not that extreme, but from where I sit, the stakes are pretty high.That’s why I’ve set out to moderate this discussion at SxSW 2011. Bringing in perspectives from Pizza Hut, Infiniti, and Mashable, we can look at all of these considerations and more to help us decide, once and for all… Who owns social?
The Training
Most professionals battling for control in the social space are veterans that hopped onto this train long before Ashton was tweeting. They’re working with years of experience and, often, a competitive streak. Without years of a regimented workout in social media, no resume length can guarantee the proper preparation for the digital ring. Social media is an evolving beast. To be successful, like any athlete, you’ve got to change your workout up, lest your game get tired. What would you put in a social media training regimen?
SxSW is months away still, but the big ideas that make up the big weekend are already up and ready for votes! There are so many awesome ideas out there that sometimes it’s hard to choose which to vote for! Let me help you. Breaking News: Front Page or Top Tweet is a panel idea discussing the issue of how breaking news should be announced. For anyone who is intrigued about WikiLeaks, loves discussing breaking news on Twitter, or fancies themselves a “Citizen Journalist,” this panel will be right up your alley.
While many people are accustomed to their daily doses of CNN, New York Times or your local news source, the twitter-sphere seems to be finding it easier and more exciting to get it from social networks of choice. With the myriad digital channels that exist today, nearly every traditional consumption pattern has changed in some way. We’ve all grown quite satisfied with the complete control we have over information.
There are definitely two sides to every debate, and this one is no different.
Trying to increase your Facebook fans, Twitter following or even charitable donation numbers? Give something away.
Brands make a habit of promising that if YOU follow or like they’ll give things away to a varying number of followers. Life as a Community Moderator has by no means made me immune to this. In the past year, I’ve become a fan of Einstein Bagels—even though I don’t eat bread. I’ve voted on my favorite feature of a Ford Explorer and “liked” the page—even though I have no use for a car in the city, and I’ve followed Chicago Food Critic Steve Dolinsky for the chance to go to dinner with him (and won)—even though (I’m sorry, Steve) I had no idea who he was. Why? Because these brands were all giving stuff away and even though I didn’t necessarily need this stuff, I did what these brands and people asked for a chance to win. Was I bought or was I earned? Short answer: I was bought in all cases except for Steve Dolinksy, he’s great. I don’t fit the other brands’ profiles of a model community member, and I’m a useless fan.
Upon realizing my own affinity to follow the directions of those who will buy or give me things, I started to think through successful contests and giveaways for branded communities. Thus, my proposal for a SXSWi panel, Fans for Freebies, was born.
Aside from my own anecdotal evidence in Einstein Bros Bagels’ giveaway, the brand posted some solid fan numbers after it gave away coupons for free bagels to all who liked its page. In an interview with Spinsucks.com, the brand revealed that it increased its fan numbers from 4,700 to 613,703. Suspecting that many would have dropped off as fans after downloading their coupons, I checked the Facebook fan page’s current fan count: 613,413. That’s a 310 fan loss, out of 609,003 fans gained through the giveaway, that’s over a 99% retention rate. In college, we called that an A+. Because Einstein featured more deals and giveaways since their initial free-bagel offering, my conclusion is that these fans actually frequent Einstein Bagels enough to make use of the page’s coupons, thus they are valuable and active fans. Aside from those who gave their coupons away (me), these fans were earned.
Critical Mass recently launched a redesigned website for United Mileage Plus®. The site features a new look and feel, and offers a more personalized, intuitive experience for members of the United Mileage Plus loyalty program.
The Ask
“There are a lot of loyalty programs out there. Our challenge for United Mileage Plus was to create a uniquely compelling experience that would help us drive acquisition and engagement,” said Dave Anderson, Managing Director of Product Development, United Mileage Plus. “If members can easily use their miles, they are more inclined to stay engaged with the program. Mileage Plus is the program that wants you to use your miles and we needed our new website to encourage that,” Anderson added.
The Insight
Drawing on segmentation studies, qualitative research and stakeholder interviews, the Critical Mass team isolated key customer pain points in the existing United Mileage Plus experience. Members often found it difficult to navigate the site and find relevant information on how they could optimize their membership, such as all the different ways they could earn and use their miles, as well as the benefits of elite status. The experience was frustrating for both savvy and new members alike.
