Measurement no Longer Social Media’s Achilles’ heel?

January 18, 2010

Measuring sentiment and conversation has come a long way since the first tweet or status update. Technologies have been developed by organizations, such as, Sysomos and Radiant 6, which systematically measure business intelligence. But is measuring sentiment even possible?

The answer is yes and no.

Social media is built on sentiment (positive, negative or indifferent) and many will argue that software can not measure how a person feels and expresses. I, for one, agree that a computer could easily create a false impression when having to deal with the complexities of human opinion (which includes emotion, sarcasm, regionalized dialects, slang, etc…– none of which is straightforward).

A post would have to directly correlate to the organization/company/brand/campaign with simple positive or negative words (i.e. good, bad, great, etc…), for there to be no room for interpretation. But as we all know, even a 140 character tweet can be subversive and laced with sarcasm and innuendo.

This is not to say that measurement is still as large of a detriment to social media as it has been.  It has come an awfully long way, and eventually should evolve to the point where we can successfully manage our reputations in the digital world and measure ROI as we can offline ventures.

Filed under: Internet Marketing, Online Marketing, Social Media — Tags: , , — Robert Shapiro @ 2:28 pm

3 Ways that Social Media has Improved Brand Marketing

January 11, 2010

As social media grows not only in popularity but as a genuinely effective marketing method and arena, there are 3 distinct ways in which it has improved how brands are being marketed and communicated.

The Lost Art of Listening

Social Media’s lasting legacy on brands/companies/organizations might be that it finally forced them to listen instead of just selling. A lot of this might have to do with the fact that most social media forums are not their arena to preach about their brands. In actuality, conversations are taking place and they’ve realized that they have to monitor and participate before they try to market and sell.

A Voluntary Think Tank

If a brand approaches it right, throughout the online world, there exists an active think tank that is expressing their thoughts and desires, and whose opinions could provide dividends if properly harnessed. How much were companies paying for focus groups, where most people joined just to receive free giveaways or cash?

Real Time Research

Before we execute any tactic a solid foundation of research must be in place, and social media provides a constant stream of real time research. Of course, many argue that we can’t properly measure sentiment as it is subjective, but social media still provides a window for us to see how our brands and reputation are discussed in public forums.

Filed under: Brand, Branding Online, Internet Marketing, Online Marketing, Social Media, brand marketing — Tags: , , , — Robert Shapiro @ 12:45 pm

I Dream in You Tube Technicolor

December 2, 2009

It’s a marketing director’s dream: imagine having access to everything you wanted to know (but were afraid to ask) about splitting atoms or deep frying Mars bars. Last night while Larry King was desperately trying to cover the Tiger Woods ‘cheater or cheated’ story and the Salahi’s White House party crashing exposé, 20 million people had already scanned You Tube for the latest videos – not to mention being exposed to over a dozen ads per view. Sorry Larry, but when the average consumer wants their daily dose of sublime content they’re not going to sit in front of their oversized, over financed flat screen TV’s – a marketing director’s nightmare. No, they’re going to their preferred social media network and pushing out links and feeds to their personal network – a marketing director’s dream. When I dream about creating our client’s perfect brand promotion or B2B product launch I dream about a connected hub of like minded people who feel empowered to share what they have just experienced with their peers or colleagues (it’s perfectly natural, we all dream about work). Image your two minute commercial, infomercial or product demo being broadcast for free, advertising impressions are systematically tracked and you only pay if a prospective buyer clicks on your ad. Now integrate that same video (commercial) post with a social media campaign that goes viral within 48 hours of launch. Time to stop dreaming, from ball bearing maintenance video’s like Sima-Tool’s to full consumer promotions from Mountain Dew, social media campaigns are changing how marketers reach their audience. I recommend you wake up to one of the most persuasive mediums available today. Good night John Boy!

Filed under: Brand, Branding Online, Internet Marketing, Online Marketing, Social Media — Tags: , — David Brown @ 12:05 pm

Event marketing reaches for the stars

October 19, 2009

On October 9, 2009 at 20:00 (EST) the world experienced its first multi-city live event that unbelievably included participation from the International Space Station. The event’s stated purpose was to raise awareness about issues related to earth’s most valuable resource- water. Guy Laliberte the founder of Cirque du Soleil and the One Drop Foundation, introduced the event called “Moving Stars and Earth for Water” and declared it as the first “Poetic Social Mission” while floating weightlessly aboard the Soyuz TMA-16 spacecraft. I have seen many of Laliberte’s Cirque performances which are well known for their dramatic mix of circus arts and street entertainment. Never before have I experienced an event that was so literally, out of this world.

Laliberte starts the event by claiming, “I am an artist not a scientist and that is the only way I can make a significant contribution to the mission and to raise awareness to water issues”. He then hooks our interest with a sobering statistic. A child dies every 8 seconds because of contaminated water. With the event now underway, we are welcomed into each of 14 cities (Montreal, Moscow, Santa Monica, New York City, Johannesburg, Mumbai, Marrakesh, Sydney, Tokyo, Tampa, Mexico City, Rio de Janeiro, Paris and London). Each city takes a unique approach to present the message artistically. One dances, one sings, Montreal showcases all that is Cirque and Mumbai takes a perfectly white set and lets adorable children hand-paint themselves blue. Some of the guests included former U.S. Vice President Al Gore, Dr. David Suzuki, Peter Gabriel, Shakira, Mathew McConaughey and even U2.

The traditional definition of event marketing or experiential marketing is the face-to-face interaction between a brand and its audience via live events. The rationale is that when an attendee recalls the event experience they will make a positive association with the brand. This positive association will make them more inclined to take action, to make a purchase or to change behaviour. Did Guy Laliberte go to this expense and safety risk to selfishly promote his Cirque brand? Cirque is certainly quite visible during the event; including a spectacular acrobatic scene involving a wall of water and excerpts from the amazing Vegas performance of “O”. Or were his intentions genuinely to promote awareness of all things water? Watch it yourself on www.onedrop.org and make your own determination. I know that after my event experience, I’m committed to doing my part to make a difference. Thank you, Guy Laliberte for pushing the traditional boundaries of events. Who else would have ever thought of an event that included a clown in space?

Filed under: Brand, Branding Online, Events, Social Media — Tags: , , , — Cathy Schueler @ 9:03 am

What a great time to be in marketing

October 7, 2009

That doggy’s tail just keeps on getting bigger…

That’s why I get out of bed every morning, well one of the reasons. What a great time to be in marketing. Just when the big brand players recognized consumers were wagging their tails at those mass linear ad campaigns and demanding more choice, more features and more value – along comes the internet. Yes, I used the word “internet”, it really is an ugly word – hey, just in time for the remake of Tron! But as a creative marketer, I’m all for choice, and now we have choice; choice in how we connect with those media savvy ravaging chawa-was we call consumers (I’m secretly a consumer too, but don’t tell anyone). I love the idea of being able to launch a product or service online through social media. Why shouldn’t they have a say, after all they’ll determine if the brand stays or goes to the dogs. Now I can interact in a two-way dialogue with consumers, post a social media campaign, collect creative expressions of the brand, target the very consumer I want to engage and create massive offline and online buzz. I say, let the internet run free, let the consumers become the dog and let us creative brand marketing pros watch the world spin from the comfort of our beds, after all isn’t that what my BlackBerry’s for?

Filed under: Online Marketing — Tags: , , — David Brown @ 1:57 pm

GM Marketing Campaign

August 27, 2009

General Motors followed their recent spiral into bankruptcy with a shiny new marketing campaign. Featuring television ads and some social media engagement, GM assures us that the reinvented company will emerge leaner and stronger and smarter and niftier. Along with less brands and less cars, it appears that the only chapter they are focused on is chapter one.  Well, here’s a thought for GM.  You might want to consider that millions of Americans and Canadians are actually still focused on Chapter 11 and the billions of dollars that we’re coughing up to save a company that we’re not sure we really need.

So, before we move forward and put the past behind us and all that nice fuzzy stuff, why not give us a new campaign that does one thing: apologize.  Apologize for the lack of vision, for the failure to understand consumer needs, for the financial mismanagement and for the diversion of our attention, and our dollars, from education and healthcare and all of the other issues we face.  Imagine. A new campaign with no glitz, no shiny cars or ad-speak. Just a straight-faced apology from the company, along with an assurance that we won’t see you, hat in hand, in a few years time trying to explain where all the money went. A campaign like that might actually help restore some faith in the General. And, by the way, don’t worry about the cost, we’ve already paid for it.

Filed under: Online Marketing, Social Media — Tags: , , , — Paul Curwen @ 12:31 pm

Marketing Shift

At last check there was some 231,000,000 Google search results for “online marketing”, a term that is as ambiguous as tube socks. Yet leading marketers are still scratching their hard drives and asking how is Twitter relevant to my brand (FYI follow me @David_Mindshape ) and isn’t Facebook for my 13 year old daughter? The writing is no longer on the wall, it’s on Digg or Linkedin. The advice we give our client’s is either continue with what doesn’t threaten you and stay safe in your cold marketing cave or get out, take a chance and discover fire. If you’re not prepared to stray too far from that safe little cave, there are e-crocodiles out there, allocate a trial budget to a well planned e-marketing or online initiative. With major brands using Twitter for customer support (Ford http://twitter.com/ford, Wells Fargo http://twitter.com/ask_wellsfargo and Whole Foods http://twitter.com/wholefoods ) the ability to connect and serve with customers is unlimited. Each move will get you one step closer to discovering fire, and we all know who survived and who perished!

Filed under: Online Marketing, Social Media — Tags: , , , , , — David Brown @ 12:18 pm