Brewing Up Some New Tools for Branding with Social Media
Mar 24 2010 12:54:22 PMBy Deb Hanamura
If you missed EFM’s March Morning Brew, “Social Media Update: New tools for branding with social media”, we’ve got an update for YOU! We covered all the wheeling and dealing between social media sites, presented case studies for new uses for social media channels, and gave attendees a chance to socialize in the real world. Check out the slide deck if you want to relive the brew, or read on for a presentation recap.
Social Wheeling and Dealing: What’s New
Facebook + Paypal
Marketers know that people do more than socialize on Facebook; we’ve been struggling to monetize on Facebook, but there may be hope. After confirming a partnership with PayPal, rumors spread that e-commerce is on its way, but unfortunately Paypal is only being used for Facebook Ad and Facebook credit purchases… right now.
A small number of gaming applications have incorporated PayPal for users to easily pay for Facebook credits – a type of currency Facebook created to make an even playing field for all currencies (don’t want European gamers to out compete Japanese users just based on exchange rate!). Zynga, a Facebook gaming application, is actually PayPal’s second-largest merchant – right after eBay.
If and (hopefully) when e-commerce begins on Facebook, Page owners will be able to directly sell to the fans that are already engaged and invested in the brand. (In the meantime, Living Proof has a workaround solution through their Facebook Fan Page that is worth checking out).
Outlook + LinkedIn
Microsoft Outlook, once thought to be the fuddy duddy of email services (thanks to its large corporate backing), is getting hip to social. With its new Office 2010 Beta, users can add the Outlook Social Connector (also in beta) that connects your email with LinkedIn, Myspace, and Facebook. We couldn’t help but speculate that the Outlook Social Connector put some pressure on Google to release Buzz…
Google Buzz: Buzz or Buzzkill?
A few months ago, Google hurriedly put their social connector, Buzz, on the market. Buzz created a lot of, well, buzz… for a little while. At first it seemed like a new potential social hub – connecting everyone and their contacts to rich sharing and recommendations based on what they were tweeting on, reading in blogs, and posting to Facebook.
Then the trouble started. Users realized Google was automatically adding Gmail users to Buzz, re-allowing blocked people to follow their content, and making private information public. Allegiance to Google was trumped by the demand for personal privacy, and users quickly bailed. Google did some damage control, but it was too late. Damage was done, and Google will have to let time pass before trying again. We’ll see if this extra time will give MSN and the Outlook Social Connector a chance to push to the head of the pack.
We think Google jumped the gun on this one. Did they get wind on Outlook’s new social connector and fail to implement proper betas prior to launch? In any case, keep your eye on Buzz – we don’t think Google is throwing down the towel yet.
YouTube + Subtitles + Connections = SEO and More
Now when you upload new videos to your YouTube channel, you have the option to add subtitles that are searched by the Google engine. This means that SEO can finally apply to video content, rather than just tags and descriptions.
Also, YouTube has added a connections function that recommends friends and content based on your user profile and video content that you like.
YouTube is as much a search engine as it is a video sharing site – The power of video as part of your social media strategy should not be underestimated!
Mind Mobile
Mobile heightens the context of geographical tagging and streaming information in real time. Updating your status that a four car accident occurred right in front of you doesn’t say much, but geotagging it tells the world your exact location, and lets them know about the unavoidable traffic jam before they hear it on the car radio (when it’s too late). (Note from the editor: please don’t text while driving! We don’t want YOU to be the accident being tweeted!)
Bing’s Big Bang
Microsoft’s Bing is upping the ante when it comes to combining location and streaming information. They have mirrored the satellite and street views offered by Google Maps, then strapped cameras to peoples’ backs to collect information from building interiors. This was enough to make us feel tingly, but they went further. With the help of augmented reality and mobile, you can view photos uploaded to Flickr at that exact coordinate, along with live or stored streaming video from anyone who has uploaded video using their mobile camera. I know. Mind blowing. Watch the video for yourself – you will definitely be impressed with Bing. (Did I just say that??)
Social Media Case Studies
To understand what you can do with your social channels, it’s smart to pay attention to social media leaders (and lackers). Best practices, worst practices, what you can use, and what you can’t use. We chose a few of our favorites in best practices and wanted to share.
Keep in mind many of these companies gave a little something to get a little something in return. Skittles gave a little love to earn engaged visitors, Living Proof gave away free samples to increase their fan base, Dessert Gallery offered free cookies for insight, and Flash Camp built a community to harness event attendees.
Use Social to Get the Party Started
EFM’s Interactive Director, Demian Borba, was in charge of creating the first Flash Camp in Brazil, and he was doing it all from 10,000 miles away! We needed to gain awareness, and get people excited for and interested in the event and our budget was tight. We decided to forego all the typical event marketing strategies (save the date emails, postcards, invitations, etc.) and focus our attention purely on social media.
Flash Camp Brazil used YouTube to embed videos of Adobe evangelists talking about the event (done with a Flipcam at Adobe MAX) and provided badges for speakers and sponsors to post in their blogs and emails. We also quickly established Flash Camp Brazil on Twitter and created custom hashtags for easy access to information. Because Twitter had a presence in Brazil (while Facebook had dismal usage thanks to Orkut), we put the majority of energy into the Twitter front. We followed individuals who are interested in interactive web development in Brazil and increased awareness with the help of the event’s well-respected speakers to form a virtual community. Excitement grew. And a successful event was underway.
We were hoping to get 100 attendees when we started the project. The result was much more than expected. 380 people attended the event with another 210 viewing the live stream online, 87 countries visited the Flash Camp Brazil website with 41% of that traffic coming from referring sites (social channels and outreach).
Adobe requested a second Flash Camp Brazil for the coming year. You might go so far as to say that they demanded it. Check out @flashcampbrasil on twitter to find the latest info!
Skittles: The Unpredictable
Have you tasted the rainbow lately? The Skittles website is dedicated to fun and frivolity… and social media. Skittles combined fanciful imagery with dynamic content to produce a showdown between their Twitter and Facebook fans.
Playful competition and our undeniable need to root for the underdog invite us to play along – and increase the Skittles fanbase along the way.
The Skittles site also live streams flavor-related content. This was a revision to a previous strategy of posting Skittles-related content on their site, which resulted in some negative tweeting and damage control.
Skittles has made their website as much about social media as they have their Fan Pages. They remind us that social media efforts should be integrated into our entire marketing strategy – not annexed projects delegated to an intern.
Skittles: The Lover
Skittles launched a Facebook Tab application that allowed users to create a Valentine’s Day card for one lucky meter maid. When we checked, 21,447 users had engaged and created a personalized message through the application. When the day to send the cards finally came, Skittles captured the entire event – complete with a truckload of Valentines and a cupid. Talk about making someone feel special (and letting an entire community participate). This was classic brand building (as opposed to sales and direct revenue building).
Living Proof: Everyone Loves a Deal
Living Proof capitalized on a well known fact: people love free stuff. Forty-eight hours and 15,000 free samples later, Living Proof increased their fan base by over 6,000 new fans, plus it exponentially grew in just a few months to nearly 13,000.
In addition to their multi-tactical social media approach, Living Proof is trying to do something pretty unusual – sell goods through Facebook. They have capitalized on Facebook tab applications by creating a quiz that generates a recommended hair care product, and allows them to purchase it directly from Facebook through a third party service that pops up. And no, this isn’t the Facebook/Paypal relationship at work; it was simply an embedded e-commerce site.
The Best Dessert? A Facebook Study
Some folks at Rice University wanted to understand Facebook’s impact on brick and mortar businesses. They selected a small sweets company, Dessert Gallery, and surveyed 1700 Facebook Fans and non-Facebook Fans to see how social media impacted their buying patterns. They found, compared to typical customers, Fans were much more likely to have a greater psychological loyalty toward Dessert Gallery and spent 45% more of their eating-out dollars at Dessert Gallery than their average customer. Fans were also likely to make more Dessert Gallery visits each month and spend 33% more in the store. Guess what? If they are engaging with your Facebook Fan Page, they’re engaging with your brick and mortar. These kinds of studies are hard to find, so we were excited to come across it. Check it out for all the details, and let us know if you have seen any shifts in buying patterns since engaging in social media.
What Next?
We’ve likened social media to a city or town; but sometimes it feels like a high speed multi-lane freeway (and we’re standing in the middle of it!) Social Media channels are for-profit businesses, and we can expect to see more of these partnerships emerging. In the meantime, smart marketers and designers will keep working together to produce content that is at home in Social Town. For now, at least, Facebook tabs are having more impact than landing pages (in B2C, at least), email providers are trying figure out ways to keep you in your inbox (instead of on your wall), and it’s still managing to be a lot of fun. What are you going to do? What’s stopping you from starting Right Now? We’d love to hear about your ideas – maybe we can even include them in the next Morning Brew!
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