Author Archives: Leif Fescenmeyer
Even though Super Bowls can be a bit of a let down, advertisers and brands swarm to get spots for the big game. Case in point, all of the Super Bowl ad spots were sold out before Thanksgiving this year. This is mainly due to brands wanting to get in front of one of the largest audiences to view television programs. It is predicted this year there will have been 100 million people watching (REUTERS) the Super Bowl; and at a price tag of $3.5 million dollars for a 30 second spot, it may seem like a deal. However, I’m not sure that the brands truly recognize the value of the spots or the return they may, or may not get from them.
The Retail Advertising and Marketing Association states that 73% of consumers who watch the Super Bowl ads, watch them for entertainment; entertainment, not for purchase. Only 8.4% of all consumers who watch the ads, say the ads influence their intent to purchase. Now that number is quite scary. Brands invest $3.5 million dollars for 15-30 seconds of the consumers’ attention and only 8.4% see that spot and think, “purchase.” I won’t even go into my concern that the brands aren’t even doing their market research on the audience. How many brands that advertise during the Super Bowl know they are advertising to their target demographic?
Over the course of last year, I have worked on two different CPG brands and one durable goods brand in social media, and one thing that I have learned right off the bat was that a “Like” on Facebook does NOT equal a purchase conversion. It just doesn’t. No matter how we as marketers apply value to a “Like” or a follow in social media, we must remain vigilant and not sell in the idea that they do. Product conversion or purchase in social is an arduous task. So, how does a brand sell or convert social followers?
Before diving marketing products on social, I want to make one point clear: social networks were created to link people together; not brands and certainly not products. From that, social networks evolved from linking people together to linking experiences and people together – still, no products. It wasn’t until a short time ago that we marketers entered the fray to market brands as people and products as experiences to consumers in a network that wasn’t created for that purpose. This idea, in my opinion, is the fundamental problem we’re dealing with. Social networks were not created to sell products, but we act as though they were.
Creating Product Awareness?
Targeting users on social platforms begins with the ever-present and at times, most overused term, awareness. However, what I have noticed while creating social strategies and being in the trenches of community moderation, is that creating awareness on social channels, whether it be brand or product awareness is near impossible without some sort of paid support. Digital marketers can add to or assist in generating awareness, but not create it purely from nothing.
We’ve asked our team to comment on the changes to Facebook announced at the F8 summit last week from the perspective of different disciplines. In this first installment, Leif Fescenmeyer (from our Insight & Planning group) looks at the implications for branded interactions and Scot Wheeler (from Marketing Science) discusses what, if any, changes to expect from Facebook insights.
Leif: Overall, I think the new Facebook interface has a lot going for it and at the same time, may have some hurdles besides the general distaste for change from users.
Brand Implications
It will be interesting to see how the new Newsfeed and realtime content Ticker will impact impressions and engagement on branded content from Pages. Already, we’ve noticed that impressions are no longer published on brand posts. How will “Top Posts” integrate branded content or will it at all? Will brands, in the future, be able to buy “Top Posts?” If branded content is not published as frequently or is secondary to Top Posts, will consumers and fans interact with brands as much as they did before? If so, how will brands prepare for decreased engagement?
News Feed and Ticker
The revamped Newsfeed and Ticker went over like a lead balloon with users, due perhaps to its unceremonious introduction. I’ve heard the Ticker called “a Facebook within a Facebook”–Inception style. It is and it isn’t. Read More
How do we as marketers make events more social? How do we tap into the large audiences and retain them and make them brand advocates?
For as long as I have been working in social, two things come to mind, awareness and retention. As a marketer, I try to build and increase awareness of brand and products, while retaining the online consumer using social media. However, with the increased use of mobile devices and the connectivity with social media platforms, locations are becoming a new way of targeting and communicating with an audience.
Location based services, such as Foursquare, Facebook Places, Gowalla, etc., are being utilized more by the consumer, especially those who use smartphones. 17% of smartphone owners have used a check-in service, according to eMarketer. Users are broadcasting their locations to their friends, discussing what is happening and being incentivized by brands to continue to “check-in.” Where the amount of adults using location based services is relatively low, around 4%, the sheer volume of check-ins on these services should not be ignored. According to Dennis Crowley, Foursquare’s CEO, there now are over three million check-ins a day and Facebook Places reports they are experiencing above 750,000 check-ins a day.
With this volume of check-ins, how do marketers tap into this action by the consumer? How do we move beyond the simple, one-off check-in and apply some sort of value to the consumer, some level of conversation and incentive, and ultimately retain these users who are interacting with a brand, in real time, on-site at an event? That is is what my SxSW panel is exploring; that is the conversation we need to have.
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This is my first time at SXSW and I’ve been told that once you’re down here, you will begin to notice themes developing across the sessions, and conversations springing up from those themes. No doubt about it, there have been a couple of themes developing just within the first 48 hours of being here.
Jeana, Natalie, Jonathan, Richard and I all started to hear conversations and sessions speak to loss of serendipity as we march toward a more integrated, technological future. The more connected we all become and more technology we use day-to-day to ‘assist’ in our lives, we must remain vigilant and not lose sight of what we could potentially be giving up. Let me explain:
We’ve all had that moment where we have experienced that accidental run in with someone incredible, whether it be personal, professional, romantic, or random. This moment when we meet someone, that we’ve never even thought or anticipated, can be a joyous occasion or a terrible event. Often times, this meeting changes us in an inherent, unconscious level. A feeling of connectivity surfaces and we tend to feel closer to those around us and not so alienated from the world. Read More
When I’m on social networking sites, I look for authenticity from the people I follow and the brands I interact with. Sure, that may be a given for many if not all users. However, when you think about the world we live in, filled with automation, filled with forms, filled with spam emails and the like, it’s essential to have a sense of realism coming from social accounts, especially when they are called “social” accounts.
What’s the point? Well, what I’m really talking about are brands online being authentic and transparent with the members. I am a Community Moderator. I am the man behind the curtain, the Wizard of Oz if you will. The only thing that separates me from the community members is a thin veil of brand policy.
