So how do you build a social networking presence which goes beyond coupons? Curious asked members of its research community, ShopTalk, why they were fans of companies and we found they liked companies that acted as ‘brand butlers’. A brand butler is a Trendwatching term for companies that assist consumers in making the most out of their lives, rather than try to sell them a lifestyle. When it comes to social networking sites, it’s all about providing value to your fans/followers through content that is unique, relevant, and useful. To become an effective brand butler on social networking websites, consider the following traits: Personality, Share-ability, Brevity, Channel Integration, Responsiveness.

Personality

Although it’s important to be as useful as your classic English butler, it’s not always a good idea to act like one. Consumers on social networking sites like brands that address them in human rather than corporate speak and display their personality. Consider Geoffrey Butler from the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. Geoffrey is quick-witted, sarcastic, and talks to the Banks informally. Similarly, consumers like it when brands address them in a direct, personal way and when they can interact with some of their employees. Kraft’s Facebook moderators have their own profile, which includes their real name and a profile photo, so fans can see who is actually answering their question. Whether you do that or interact with fans/followers through the brand’s “official” profile depends on your brand’s personality and what your audience prefers. But displaying that personality and being human in your interactions is always a plus.

Share-ability

To get exposure on social networking sites, it is necessary to provide content that consumers not only personally like and find useful, but are also inclined to share with their friends, in the same way a rich kid would want to share the services of his butler with his friends. Consider Coke Zero as an example: they launched the “Coke Zero Facial Profiler” Facebook app, which scans photographs of faces and attempts to find a matching face from a database of its users. The app spread virally because Coke knew that fans couldn’t resist sharing their matches with their friends. Coke Zero’s app was not only a fun app conducive to sharing, but it also conveyed a brand message: you can’t tell the difference between Coke Zero and regular Coke.

Brevity

Look to Lurch from The Addams Family for a lesson in brevity. Whenever Lurch spoke, he was to the point and concise, only ever uttering “You rang?” Consumers want nearly this level of brevity on social networking sites. ShopTalk members told us they are often annoyed by companies posting messages that are too long or posted too frequently, cluttering up their newsfeed and pushing down more useful information. They told us the very reason they use social networking sites to research products and stay up to date is to get concise information in an easy-to-digest format.  That means keeping posts short and to the point.  If you need to provide more detailed information, post a link to your website – this is where consumers expect to find the details anyway.

Channel integration

A master butler is as capable outside of the household as in. Look at Alfred Pennyworth, butler to Batman, and you’ll see that he does a lot of work outside of the house, including espionage, intelligence-gathering, and medical assistance.  Similarly, a brands’ offering should be consistent across all its customer touch points: website, mobile, in-store, social networking sites, etc. Once it’s integrated with other channels, your social networking page can serve as an e-commerce tool, driving fans to your website or store. Levi’s has taken advantage of Facebook’s social plug-ins and placed a “Like” button on their website’s product page, which has led to Facebook becoming the number one site referrer for levi.com. By integrating social into their website, Levi’s was able to increase site traffic and generate social comments on its product pages.

Responsiveness

A capable butler is always standing by the door waiting for the bell to ring. At least, that’s what television and movies have taught me. Similarly it is important to be ready to react and respond to messages on social networking sites. This is especially true when dealing with a complaint, as Kohl’s recently had to do. A woman posted on Kohl’s Facebook page about an order being cancelled and telling Kohl’s that they ‘suck’. Within an hour, Kohl’s responded to her complaint, privately dealt with her issue, and the woman posted back thanking Kohl’s for the help. By being responsive, Kohl’s was able to show their fans that they care and turned a negative situation into positive goodwill.

By incorporating these aspects, you can create a social networking presence that will engage your current fans and help you obtain new ones, promote your brand and even increase sales. Whatever content you provide, be sure to observe the number one butlering rule: provide value for your audience. Oh, and the salad fork goes on the outside.

Ian is an Associate Consumer Researcher in the Curious group, out of our Calgary office.

Let’s start with the areas that were lacking and work our way up to the highlights, shall we?

I’ve seen a lot of posts about how the “content was weak.” Chris Pirillo even went so far to say that the “speakers weren’t entertaining,” and gave some great feedback for next year. I know I felt a bit underwhelmed, but I directly attribute that sentiment with the fact that most SxSW sessions are pitched 8 months in advance. How can those topics stay relevant with the pace of cultural change? They can’t.

That rant aside, I did find reasons to be inspired by my industry peers…

1.     The crowd speaks for itself. I can’t find a SxSW source, but hck2 says that registration was up 40% this year. Geek love is forcing new application and ideas into the mainstream. Location based apps like social networking, video, & QR codes were not only used, but used a lot!

2.     Not only were real-time social apps used, but they were used for utility. A while back, we were using augmented reality and iphone apps just because they were a bright & shiny objects. Now, we’re using them together to provide utility and to add value to “traditional” consumer experiences. While the SxSW app wasn’t perfect, I used it constantly to navigate my way through the maze of conference rooms and panel topics.  And, while I’ve been on foursquare for a while, I’ve never felt prouder to get a badge titled “Porky” or “Panel Nerd.”

3.     Conferences don’t exist to deliver a “silver bullet” or the next “disruptive” idea. They should, however, inspire smart people to cultivate ideas on their own. Here are a few that kick-started my creative thinking: #mindcontrol, if you want to be inspired by how “influence” works… and the “Snark It” app by Powered, if you want a good laugh.

Lastly, I had a wonderful time sharing ideas, banter and beers with all my @criticalmass SxSW travel companions: Jessi Odenbach (@jessio), Greg Arnanitakis (@The_Promethean), Dave Vieser (@dvieser), Adam Bracegirdle (@richinminerals), Mike Lanyon (@lanyonm), David Fasullo (@livebrush) and Kerry Janes.

Here are some of the lessons they were each inspired by…

David:
Inspiration Point 1: “Committing to an idea is the hardest part. Starting an idea doesn’t make you a startup.”

Inspiration Point 2: “It’s not just about telling your story. You need to be competitive in how you add value.”

Jessi:
Inspiration Point 1:“Looking to the future, employees will have a growing need to be well advised in multiple disciplines. Designers need to know social media. Social media needs to know technology. And so on. Our worlds are colliding and we need to expand ourselves even more.”

Inspiration Point 2: “No brand will build a lasting relationship with consumers without a valuable digital engagement.”

Greg:
Inspiration Point from the Gary Vaynerchuk: “His emphasis on doing what you love for a living is inspiring, but above all else he pushes loving your family and spending time with them being more important than a job. Work-life balance matters. A whole lot.”

Adam:
Inspiration Point from Brendan Dawes: “On some level, to be a good designer you just need to be an interesting person.”

What were you most inspired by at SxSW? What lesson did you learn that will change the way you work/create/adapt/ideate/think?

According to ABI Research, people spent approximately $1.6 billion via m-commerce last year. Consumers are increasingly using their mobile phones for financial transactions and there is no question that the opportunity is huge. But what is the best way to go about it? If you’ve surfed the mobile web, you’ve undoubtedly encountered some pretty terrible experiences.

So we set out to identify the best practices that make a mobile experience extraordinary. Why are sites such as m.espn, m.google, mobile.yelp, bbc.co.uk/mobile, mobile.nytimes, iphone.ebay, m.facebook so effective? What makes them almost as indispensable as our mobile phones themselves?

With such a diverse client roster, we’ve created mobile sites for retail, travel, banking and fashion. Though each client had distinct needs and business challenges to solve, clear patterns emerged and this post synthesizes our POV on the best ways to craft a mobile site experience.

The Insights
We took a look at how Google breaks down mobile users into 3 behavior groups: (A) Repetitive Now, (B) Bored Now and (C) Urgent Now. We outlined their similarities and differences. We also looked at how consumers use mobile for multi-channel retail. Here are some shared behaviors we uncovered:

• People usually have a goal.
• They’re doing something in real time.
• They’re looking for seamless experiences.
• They’re comfortable shopping online.

The problem is that most mobile experiences fail to deliver on these essential needs, especially for consumers on the go.  We’ve outlined a toolkit of mobile best practices to ensure that your mobile site delivers the value that consumers have come to expect.

The keys to crafting an extraordinary mobile experience

1. Make your mobile site FINDABLE. A mere 23% of mobile web users agree that sites are easy to find. Don’t make people guess the URL. Be there, at their fingertips.
2. Provide UTILITY. As we discussed earlier, mobile users are like hawks honing in on their prey with a singular focus. They usually have specific goal in mind—whether to find an address, make a reservation, browse a product or connect with a friend.  Don’t oversimplify, but formulate a mobile value proposition and give them what they need, when they need it.
3. Make it EASY TO USE. This point brings to mind the old adage: “Just because you can, doesn’t mean you should.” Optimize navigation and presentation. When building a mobile experience, remember that although technology offers infinite possibilities, the key lies in stripping down to the bare essentials–making it easy and seamless, rather than cumbersome and overcomplicated.
4. Serve up CONTENT in SMALL BITES. Many mobile sites serve up too much content, overwhelming the experience with a multitude of information, features and functionality.  Mobile displays require line-by-line scrolling through text, and force sequential highlighting of each available link on the site. These limitations make shoehorning existing web copy into a mobile format impractical. Think about it this way.  If online users are “digital snackers,” moving from site to banner to video consuming bite-sized pieces of content, then mobile users are ultimate “waifs.”  Keep your content short and sweet because to them, less is more.
5. Align with OTHER CHANNELS. Mobile is just one part of the experience. Consumers use their mobile devices for many different things, in many different contexts. Never lose sight of the fact that you’re designing for the user, not the device.
6. Keep a LASER FOCUS. Users often face costly access – Megabytes add up fast and aren’t intuitive to users. Even simple sites can exceed 32K for the home page (about $0.34). Flat rate plans start at $15/month — many consumers think this is a bad deal. Focus on value and deliver only what is essential.
7. Target a core FEATURE SET. Developers face a complicated mess of devices, browsers, technologies and carriers.  Every year hundreds of devices flood the market with different browsers, display capabilities, screen sizes and keypads. Filter out the noise and build for the majority of your audience.
8. Build with plans to SCALE. Extend to accommodate strategically. In digital, change is the only constant. Developers face a steady stream of shiny, new devices – and this is only magnified in mobile.  Choose a platform flexible enough serve both your immediate and long terms goals.



The concept of “Separation of Church and State” has long been the model of publishers who generate the majority of their revenue from advertising. They have been two separate departments that have had little influence on each other. But given the current economy, bankruptcy of publishers, and the now prevalent move to online-only editions, should (or rather, is it necessary for) professional content producers and their promotional counterparts to start working a lot more closely? If so, how does this effect advertiser? Consumers?

Where we were:

The internet was seen as a repository for print editions. Articles that were printed offline were transferred online and some banner ads were slapped up in the ever popular leaderboard, skyscraper, or rectangular variety.

Where we are:

Consumers are pumping out content. A LOT of content. And in order to compete with all the other amateur and semi-pro writers, big name publishers have to create more web original content. Eyeballs are moving from offline editions to online so the revenue model needs to shift to the web. Unfortunately for publishers though, they have to share their advertising revenue with the rest of the monetizable web that is taking small pieces of advertiser budgets.

Where we are going:

We are going to see a cohabitation of amateur, semi-professional, and major outlets pumping out content and vying for our attention but the ratio of content produced by non professionals will continue to take a larger slice of the pie. Advertisers are going to have a tough time moving away from two common practices:

1) Trying to align themselves with someone else’s content.

2) Trying to create their own content to compete with user generated content.

Instead of the above, we’re more likely going to see the following two events take place:

1) Powering Users: Giving consumers the tools they need to build their own content (while trying to integrate a brand or specific campaign)

2) Users Powering Brands: Dell, Nokia, Adidas and even specific brands such as Skittles have used content created by users (sometimes directly related to a brand, sometimes not) to populate a brand experience.

Who is the loser?

Church AND State. And in some ways (although less economically detrimental) the consumer.

From the editorial perspective, they have been and will continue to lose the battle of producing content for revenue. There will still be money in it, but not the kind of dollars they (and their stockholders) are used to seeing.

While advertisers are going to love the joyride of cheaper ad placements and vast choices of targeting, this gravy train is going to run dry as ROI drops because the internet audience becomes numb to “typical” forms of one-way advertising. Additionally the economics of this situation means that eventually fewer content producers will exists. Less content = more expensive ad placements. More fragmentation = less personal connection with a specific consumer group.

As for consumers, there’s not going to be a shortage of content but there is going to be a decline in quality professionally edited media. After all, if the CNN’s and Hulu’s of the world cannot monetize the content they are producing, they simply are not going to make it. If that happens then in a way all parties in this equation are going to have a decrease in quality of experience. We’re all comfortable with watching UGC while their mainstream counterparts exists because we can always go back to the content brands we’ve been used to for decades. But what if UGC is the only thing we have left? What will be the perfect balance?

Critical Mass partnered with Conde Nast Digital to  create an experience that leveraged the power of 18 trusted magazine properties and fused then with the matching attributes of the 2010 GLK. The Dashboard, a first of its kind roll-over rich-media unit within Conde Nast, mashes-up Video, Editorial, Voting, Sharing, and of course, Mercedes-Benz content into one centralized location that follows Conde Nast readers across their network. Every week for the next 10 weeks, new content will be added to the unit to keep each of the lifestyle pillars (Personal Style, Wellness, etc) fresh for readers who frequent the various Conde Nast properties. For those interested in returning to the GLK experience, the banner can be bookmarked and reopened as a standalone page.

The Dashboard, while still very much something that shares the characteristics of a banner ad or microsite, is a media execution that helps brand+content follow the consumer on their digital path instead of setting up rest stops along the way. Whether a Conde Nast reader is seeking information on Concierge, Style, The New Yorker, etc they will be able to access editorial from across the CN network and the GLK collection of videos where THEY choose to do so. The articles and videos that are most relevant, will be voted up and down in a “Digg-Like” fashion so that the target audience helps control the content that is most relevant to its own group of peers.

A brief recap:

-Objective: Raise awareness of a brand new launch vehicle and its uniqueness amidst a very competitive vehicle category.

-Strategy: Push the GLK microsite content out to our target within a relevant partner’s environment in order to combine one singular trusted resource of information aligns with the GLK engineering messaging.

-Tactic: Find specific attributes (or pillars) of the GLK that help people with their daily lives and marry those with Conde Nast editorial that do the same within a broader range of categories whether they be wellness, style, etc.

-Execution: A “Dashboard” that isn’t a Leaderboard or a Microsite, but rather a centralized entity that follows users where they go and offers them ways of improving their lives. User voting pushes the most relevant peer endorsed data to the top, and new content is added every week for 10 weeks to ensure fresh content and return visits.

Additional Coverage on Advertising Age can be found here:

Conde Nast-Mercedes-Benz Campaign Offers Hope for Publishers