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Rise of Consumer – The New Brand Guardians

Posted by Ken Martin July 14th, 2011

With the rise of social media into the mainstream marketing mix, it’s not surprising it’s now overtaken Email in terms of on-line duration (4.6 vs 4.4 hours per week). This peer-to-peer engagement equates to circa 3.8 billion+ weekly interactions via Facebook/Twitter alone.

Although this volume of social communication is noteworthy,  it’s the impact on consumer brand perception that’s more significant.

Consumers now control the brand agenda

The power of consumer word of mouth has long been acknowledged within the marketing mix.

- Brand opinion holds much more weight from someone you know (90% of people are more likely to trust a  recommendation if from a friend). First Direct, with 61% positive net recommendation rate, the highest of any UK bank, have built their whole brand/service proposition around this insight.

- Negative brand experiences travel faster and much further than positive. We only have to look at events of the last week to see the impact consumer power can have on a UK publishing brand with 168 years heritage.

However, since social channel usage is now firmly part of every day consumer culture, the word of mouth factor has now even more importance.

Our role as marketeers

We therefore, need to manage and leverage consumer conversation via the following four ways:

1) Insight: Listen to what consumers are saying about your brand, and view social as a continuous real time focus group (for relatively low cost). Gatorade have made socially generated insights integral to their brand strategy, with their impressive listening capabilities well publicised on YouTube.

2) Manage:  Consumers are now just as likely to feedback via Twitter/Facebook as your official service channels. Since this communication is visible and impacts perceptions of others, integrate social into the core brand/service proposition, and pro-actively manage your community. Airlines such as Virgin Atlantic  are a great example, since they actively seek, acknowledge and deal with passenger/potential passenger queries and complaints.

3) Engage: Your fans and followers are also likely to be a key segment of your brand advocates. Think of ways to reward/engage them further to help shape the brands future, such as new product trial or marketing feedback. An example is Rightmove.co.uk, who canvassed their Facebook fans on what new functionality they would like to see on their website, and received many valuable suggestions.

4) Amplify:  Social should not be viewed as a vertical ‘silo’ as per the old broadcast/media model. Social will cut across and impact every brand communication whether intended or not (via Comments, Tweets and Shares). Therefore incorporate it into the campaign idea, and leverage social reach. The well publicised Old Spice Man activity from 2010 is a classic example of amplification in practice.

Ulitimately, this means that although we can obviously instigate the conversation agenda via communications, the power and a brands real destiny, now firmly lies in the hands of the consumer.

Ken Martin – Senior CRM Consultant
Follow me on Twitter @MrKenM

Tags: Amplify, brand, Consumer Listening, CRM, Engage, Facebook, Insight, Marketing Mix, service, Social CRM, Social Media, twitter

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Weekly Social Media Update

Posted by rebcla July 5th, 2011

Google+ the new answer to Facebook?

Google+ launched last week with their usual limited number of invitations tactic to their new social networking platform, set to rival Facebook. Google then reported that ‘insane’ demand forced them to put a cap on the number of new users. It might be helpful if they released some numbers to define the ‘insane’ demand. Google wants to make sharing online more like sharing in real life. Here are the four key elements:

• Circles: Instead of friend lists, connections are organised in different circles allowing complete control of privacy settings to be applied to each circle
• Sparks: You can tell this feature your interests, and it provides you with targeted content
• Hangouts: It lets your friends know when you’re available to chat via video, enabling group chats
• Huddle: To help group plans. It turns lots of conversations into one big group chat to help you reach a decision

Privacy concerns have been an issue in one way or another with most social networks, especially Facebook. Google+ is trying to address this by allowing users to alter their visibility settings and choose whether their profile is indexed by search engines. The question we are all asking is, will users be willing to leave Facebook for Google+ when they already have a social network that works? A new Google Chrome extension Facebook Friend Exporter is making it much easier to import your Facebook contacts onto the platform, although it has been reported this morning that Facebook is actively trying to block the application by removing emails of your friends from your profile. More on the story here. Maybe Facebook really is getting concerned about Google stealing their crown.

Facebook and Skype to launch integrated video chat?

Facebook are set to make an ‘awesome’ announcement tomorrow. We have a feeling that it might end up being a new video chat feature built in partnership with Skype, which was bought by Microsoft in May. Currently users looking to video chat with their friends have to leave Facebook to do so. If Facebook and Skype do launch an integrated video chat product it’s perfectly timed with the launch of Google+ and the Google+ Hangouts feature which allows video chat. This move would make strategic sense for Facebook, fending off Google and strengthening its ties with Microsoft. Listen out tomorrow on Facebook Live.

The Crunch Band Mobile App

Pringles have just launched a new mobile app to help celebrate the season of summer music festivals. It has a mix of native iPhone and Android apps that are used to play one of 15 virtual instruments. It’s free and if you grab a pack of Pringles you can scan the barcode to unlock new features and badges. Check out the video.

Tags: Facebook, Facebook Live, Google, Pringles, Skype, Social Media

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What’s on the chalkboard this week?

Posted by Simon Gill July 4th, 2011

Following on from last weeks lovely illustration of the Saudi Aramco assorted levels of our business, we’re now showcasing a new facebook app that lets you compare – well anything. By analysing how many tweets, facebook likes, images and videos you’re able to compare the social buzz. Go on give it a try.

Great to see our chalk creation being a joint creation.

Tags: chalk, compare, Facebook, Facebook app

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Weekly Social Media Update

Posted by rebcla June 22nd, 2011

Foursquare celebrates its 10 million users

Location based check-in service Foursquare is celebrating a new landmark according to a post on their blog. The location based social networking service now has just over 10 million users. Foursquare was founded in 2009, so its 10 million users has only taken just over two years. It has reported that around 358 million check-ins are outside the US, highlighting its intentional nature. The infographic shows some fun stats, although it would be great to know how many of those 10 million users are active users of the service. Click here for their interactive version.

“Be Stupid At Work”

Diesel has just launched  “Be Stupid At Work” which is based around a desktop application called the “Excellbook”. It’s a downloadable application that makes Facebook look like a spreadsheet so you can Facebook without being caught at work. Diesel’s Excellbook becomes your entire Facebook stream.  Sounds stupid, check out the video here.

CyberMummy 2011

Just in case you didn’t already know CyberMummy is the UK’s leading blogging conference devoted to parent bloggers. This year’s action packed event is being held in London this Saturday the 25 June 2011 at The Brewery in the City. Speakers include an eclectic mix, including the eminent Sarah Brown, Sophie King, and Frederic Montagnon. Click here for the full list.

Virgin America #Nerdbird

Virgin America has released its new plane #Nerdbird. This is the first time a plane has been hashtag named, they must love Twitter. This was announced as a dedicated bird in its growing fleet of aircrafts to its social media fans over Facebook and Twitter.  The name relates to the techie customers who frequently fly between San Francisco and Boston. You can see it here.

Tags: #Nerdbird, Be Stupid At Work, CyberMummy, Diesel, Facebook, foursquare, infographic, Social Media, Virgin America

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