Monday, August 10, 2009
Sunday, August 9, 2009
Publicis Groupe's acquisition of Razorfish: the Asian angle
Following the news that Microsoft will sell digital agency Razorfish to Publicis Groupe for US$530 million, sources expect it to be "business as usual" for the agency under its new ownership, including in Japan, where Razorfish is engaged in a joint venture with Dentsu.
According to the global agreement, Razorfish will become part of Publicis’ VivaKi, joining Digitas, Starcom MediaVest Group and ZenithOptimedia in the region, and is expected to keep its current leadership worldwide.
In Asia-Pacific, Razorfish’s agencies are Hong Kong-based e-Crusade, which handles Nike among other clients, Amnesia Razorfish in Australia and a joint venture with Dentsu in Japan.
Publicis is slated to take full control of the agency, which was sold to Microsoft in 2007 as part of the $6 billion acquisition of online advertising group aQuantive, in the fourth quarter of this year.
Meanwhile, a spokesman for Razorfish noted it will be “business as usual for Dentsu Razorfish”, and anticipates that Publicis will continues the joint venture’s management with rival holding company Dentsu, which had also bid to buy Razorfish from Microsoft.
The spokesman added that the specifics of the deal are still up in the air. “It’s too early to speculate on possible working arrangements for our various brands around the world with the deal just having been signed,” he said.
A regional representative for Publicis said he expects Publicis and Dentsu to work together on the venture, pointing out that Dentsu holds a minority stake in Publicis Groupe and the two holding companies work together globally on public relations and sports marketing initiatives. “We are used to working together,” he added.
However, agency sources within the region also say the deal gives Publicis little leverage in Asia-Pacific’s digital arena outside a few key markets.
Source: Brand Republic
According to the global agreement, Razorfish will become part of Publicis’ VivaKi, joining Digitas, Starcom MediaVest Group and ZenithOptimedia in the region, and is expected to keep its current leadership worldwide.
In Asia-Pacific, Razorfish’s agencies are Hong Kong-based e-Crusade, which handles Nike among other clients, Amnesia Razorfish in Australia and a joint venture with Dentsu in Japan.
Publicis is slated to take full control of the agency, which was sold to Microsoft in 2007 as part of the $6 billion acquisition of online advertising group aQuantive, in the fourth quarter of this year.
According to Razorfish’s regional president Lee Sherman, the leadership in the agency’s regional office will stay the same, and “the agency is very excited about the agreement” because it will be able to expand its capabilities by using the VivaKi network, “as it makes sense for our clients”.
Amnesia Razorfish’s founder Iain McDonald added that the partnership is advantageous because it perpetuates a relationship with Microsoft – from which Publicis has agreed to buy search and display advertising – and “will help accelerate our plans for growth in the region”.
Meanwhile, a spokesman for Razorfish noted it will be “business as usual for Dentsu Razorfish”, and anticipates that Publicis will continues the joint venture’s management with rival holding company Dentsu, which had also bid to buy Razorfish from Microsoft.
The spokesman added that the specifics of the deal are still up in the air. “It’s too early to speculate on possible working arrangements for our various brands around the world with the deal just having been signed,” he said.
A regional representative for Publicis said he expects Publicis and Dentsu to work together on the venture, pointing out that Dentsu holds a minority stake in Publicis Groupe and the two holding companies work together globally on public relations and sports marketing initiatives. “We are used to working together,” he added.
However, agency sources within the region also say the deal gives Publicis little leverage in Asia-Pacific’s digital arena outside a few key markets.
According to Barney Loehnis, Asian network director of Aegis Group’s Isobar Global, outside of a bolstered presence in Australia, Hong Kong and Japan, “I don’t think this deal gives Publicis a firm dunk in Asia”. “My personal observation is that $530 million is not cheap and Publicis is paying the price of its lack of vision from a few years back,” Loehnis said of the deal. “More than anything, this deal is interesting from a media-strategy perspective as it will still be working with Microsoft. But, this absolutely does not increase Publicis’ ability to go to market with a strong digital case.”
Source: Brand Republic
Collection of Interesting Case Studies on Social Media Marketing
List of interesting case studies on Social Media Marketing
Crispin Porter’s viral Subservient Chicken garnered about 14 million unique visitors and 396 million hits to date, through Adweek here (March 7, 2005). http://www.adweek.com/aw/national/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1000828049
Up Your Budget Treasure Hunt for Budget Car Rental in 2005, the first ever blog-based viral marketing campaign, promoted entirely through bloggers and blog advertising - with no traditional marketing whatsoever. The results: one million unique visits to the site, 2,000 registered treasure hunters, and over 10 million page views in only four weeks. The clue videos were downloaded a total 43,000 times. There were 19.9 million blog advertising impressions at an average cost of 33 cents. Created by BL Ochman.
http://www.whatsnextblog.com/archives/2006/10/case_study_up_your_budget_i_2005_created_by_bl_ochman.asp
Click TV - Blogger Relations for Click TV (April 17, 2006): An outline of a blogger relations campaign for a Web 2.0 company, Shel Holtz, results here http://blog.holtz.com/index.php/blogger_relations_for_clicktv/
Fiskateers for Fiskars, who make crafting tools. Branded mentions of Fiskars products are up more than 400% on a per-week basis since the program began, from Brains on Fire (2007) http://brainsonfire.com/blog/
Coca Cola’s Community Approach to Second Life (April 17, 2007): Coca-Cola’s new social media strategy in Second Life featured an approach other than buying real estate and creating a store, Shel Holtz & Crayon http://blog.holtz.com/index.php/coca_colas_community_approach_to_second_life/
SeaWorld San Antonio: Journey to Atlantis (May 3, 2007): The launch and results of an “event” site to support the opening of a new ride, My PR Pro http://overtonecomm.blogspot.com/2007/05/anatomy-of-social-media-campaign.html
Splashcast’s Social Media for Marketing: (May 16, 2007): Splashcast used social media for marketing purposes, and succeeded by directly engaging the community, Marshall Kirkpatrick http://marshallk.com/social-media-for-marketing-what-weve-done-at-splashcast-so-far
GeoCommons Social Media News Release (May 29, 2007): An outline of the pitfalls and successes of releasing news via SMNR, Livingston Communications http://www.livingstonbuzz.com/blog/2007/05/29/geocommons-social-media-release-a-case-study/
New Adventures of Old Christine (June 14, 2007): The show was about to get a new day and time, and she thought outreach to parent bloggers was a perfect fit, CBS via Marketing Roadmaps http://getgood.typepad.com/getgood_strategic_marketi/2007/06/defining_social_1.html
Sci Fi Channel Digital Press Tour (July 12, 2007): Sci Fi channel begins blogger relations program by providing access to filming setsSci Fi, Channel via Marketing Roadmaps http://getgood.typepad.com/getgood_strategic_marketi/2007/07/sci-fi-channel-.html
Goodwill’s Social Media Strategy (August 29, 2007): How Goodwill used social media to rebrand its vintage clothing, Livingston Communications http://www.livingstonbuzz.com/blog/2007/08/29/case-study-goodwills-social-media-strategy/
Five Lessons from the SIGGART Online Word of Mouth Campaign (August 30, 2007): Thiseco-friendly aluminum water bottles company chalked up tons of quantifiable results, including 8000 unique visitors who visited for an average of 17 minutes, Gold Group http://goldgroup.blog.com/2045504/
Hugh Macleod at gapingvoid has done a spectacular job of marketing Stormhoek wine entirely through blogs and social networking, vis a vis BL Ochman (Sept. 17, 2007) http://www.whatsnextblog.com/archives/2007/09/with_as_many_as_1200.asp
Gates Foundation ED in ‘08 (Sept. 25, 2008): This very successful case study shows social media tools from video to Facebook, and calls to action like ordering endorsement kits, Mindshare Interactive http://www.livingstonbuzz.com/blog/2007/09/25/era-of-conversation-case-study-gates-foundations-ed-in-08-campaign/
Social Media Case Study: CMP’s TechMash (September 27, 2007) Social media forms used to garner attendance at CMP event, Horn Group http://www.engageinpr.com/?p=348
A Social Media News Release from Eurekstar (October 2, 2007): Shift Partner and Father of the SMNR breaks down form and function in this one, SHIFT Communications. http://www.pr-squared.com/2007/10/a_social_media_release_work.html
Marketing Pro Lewis Green discusses how his BizSolutionsPlus blog yielded four clients in one year (October 15, 2007). http://lgbusinesssolutions.typepad.com/solutions_to_grow_your_bu/2007/10/a-case-stufy-bl.html
Squidoo is profitable, and without venture capital, Viget Labs and Seth Godin (December 18, 2007)
http://blog.viget.com/squidoo-profitable-and-lasting-without-vc/
The White House uses social media to get the word out on drug policies (December 18, 2007)
http://www.livingstonbuzz.com/blog/2007/12/18/case-study-white-house-pushes-back/
ITToolbox, who’ve grown their social network for IT professionals into multi-million business with more than $8 million in ad sales, and 1.7 million pages of user generated content as of Jan. 1, 2008.
http://www.ittoolbox.com/
Sony drives approximately 11,000,000 million visits to 30 Days Night moviecontests page using Facebook widget (reported by Jeremiah, January 29, 2008) http://www.web-strategist.com/blog/2008/01/29/case-study-how-sony-leveraged-a-popular-vampire-facebook-widget-to-reach-its-community/
Nokia’s Mosh creates more than 200,000 rabid friends, almost 30 million downloads through crowd-sourcing initiative (reported by the Buzz Bin, March 3, 2008) http://www.livingstonbuzz.com/blog/2008/03/03/nokia-mosh/
The Human Capital Institute uses its liveblog to engage its membership, determine if they are social media savvy, Livingston Communications (March 18, 2008) http://www.livingstonbuzz.com/blog/2008/03/18/case-study-national-human-capital-institute-liveblog/
H&R Block Friends Stressed Out Taxed Americans on Twitter (reported by Social Media Explorer, March 21, 2008) http://www.socialmediaexplorer.com/2008/03/21/case-study-how-to-blatantly-advertise-through-social-media-%E2%80%A6-and-get-away-with-it/
Disney’s continued MySpace Step Up 2 the Streets success yields a surprise box-office hit; it also managed to expand the movie’s already sizeable and enthusiastic group of fans. The movie’s MySpace profile has more than 156,000 friends (March 24, 2008, AdAge via Social media Optimization).
http://social-media-optimization.com/2008/03/a-successful-myspace-social-media-campaign/
Neat Receipts Becomes a Hit with Mommy Bloggers (SHIFT Communications, April 2, 2008).
http://www.pr-squared.com/2008/04/blogger_relations_case_study_m.html
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Pandemic Flu Leadership Blog: HHS engaged national leaders and the online pandemic flu community through its 5-week blog summit (June 2007 by OgilvyPR). http://blog.pandemicflu.gov/
Joffrey’s Coffee & Tea Company drove traffic to their site, increased buzz and branded in social media and the blogosphere using a beta test. More than 1500 blogs participated (Pierson Grant Public Relations, June 3, 2008). http://thefuturebuzz.com/2008/06/03/a-case-study-in-building-buzz-in-the-blogosphere-joffrey%E2%80%99s-coffee-tea-company/
Scripps Networks - HGTV’s Rate My Space. Online community creates prime advertising real estate, generating ROI within weeks and creating continuous stream of advertising revenues. Success leads to companion television series - social media successfully serves to bridge gap between online and on-air (NY Times, June 19, 2008). http://tvdecoder.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/06/19/a-home-improvement-web-site-begets-a-tv-series/
Adidas leverages mobile social media to increase retail revenues 20x around NBA All Star game in Vegas (Event Marketer, June 24, 2008). http://www.eventmarketer.com/viewmedia.asp?prmMID=2107
Network Solutions is using a monitoring program to turn around a negative blog post ratio in the 58 percentile range (Livingston Communications, August 8, 2008). http://www.livingstonbuzz.com/2008/08/07/network-solutions-changes-perceptions-with-new-actions/
The Nature Conservancy leverages Facebook and Digg for cause marketing: How TNC raised nearly $75,000 through Facebook Causes and a partnership with Lil Green Patch, a popular Facebook application. The group has also built significant brand awareness through the social news site Digg! (As reported by Jonathon Colman of TNC, September 29, 2008). http://www.slideshare.net/jcolman/fundraising-on-facebook-a-new-model-for-fundraising-on-facebook-using-an-old-skool-tool-causerelated-marketing-presentation
JetBlue Twitter – Case Study: When JetBlue joined Twitter in the spring of 2007, it was one of the first major brands to do so. Today, the company has nearly a million of followers, and its account is often cited as an example of smart corporate twittering. But the company started out on Twitter with modest goals. It wanted to help customers. http://business.twitter.com/twitter101/case_jetblue
Teusner Wines Twitter – Case Study: Teusner Wines, a boutique winery in Australia’s Barossa Valley, has three employees. Dave Brookes is the sales and marketing department. A cycling fan, Brookes was watching the Tour Down Under in January 2009 when he noticed that Lance Armstrong was on Twitter. “I followed him,” says Brookes, “and I starting thinking Twitter would a good tool to tell people about the winery.” http://business.twitter.com/twitter101/case_teusner
Current Media Twitter – Case Study: For the 2008 presidential elections, Current knew it had to do something different. The media company, headquartered in San Francisco, would receive the same live feed of the debates as every other broadcaster. Unless Current distinguished its coverage, viewers would have no particular reason to tune in. http://business.twitter.com/twitter101/case_current
Tasti D-lite Twitter – Case Study: The popular dessert franchise Tasti D-lite offers customers over 100 flavors of guilt-free frozen treats. Tasti has been beloved by customers in the greater New York area for over 20 years, growing to 50+ locations and continuing to open new locations while expanding its geographic reach. http://business.twitter.com/twitter101/case_tastidlite
CoffeeGroundz Twitter – Case Study: CoffeeGroundz is a popular, albeit modest, Houston, TX based independent coffee shop that sells a variety of locally roasted coffee, tea, pastries, sandwiches, and alcoholic beverages. There are a couple of booths, 16 tables and another ten on the patio. If you come to CoffeeGroundz, J.R. Cohen, its general manager, strives to make sure “you feel at home.” http://business.twitter.com/twitter101/case_coffeegroundz
Etsy Twitter – Case Study: Etsy is an online marketplace for buying & selling all things handmade. Since launching in 2005, the Brooklyn, NY company has grown to over 65 employees. More importantly, over 250,000 sellers have opened up shop on Etsy to sell their handmade goods.
http://business.twitter.com/twitter101/case_etsy
NAKEDPizza Twitter – Case Study: Founded in late 2006 as one small store in New Orleans in an area that flooded during hurricane Katrina, NAKEDPizza (originally named World's Healthiest Pizza) was launched as an ambitious business model that seeks to change the nutritional profile of fast food in America.
http://business.twitter.com/twitter101/case_nakedpizza
American Apparel Twitter – Case Study: The Los Angeles company and leading basics brand provides hip clothing for people of all ages. Vertically-integrated American Apparel is the largest clothing manufacturer in the United States. http://business.twitter.com/twitter101/case_americanapparel
Pepsi Twitter – Case Study: Pepsi may be a classic brand, but it’s using 21st century tools to collaborate and build relationships with customers.
http://business.twitter.com/twitter101/case_pepsi
Social Media Assessment Case Study Citrix Webex
Fundraising on Facebook: A Case-Study on Cause-Related Marketing
Case Study: The Barack Obama Strategy
More to follow...
Crispin Porter’s viral Subservient Chicken garnered about 14 million unique visitors and 396 million hits to date, through Adweek here (March 7, 2005). http://www.adweek.com/aw/national/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1000828049
Up Your Budget Treasure Hunt for Budget Car Rental in 2005, the first ever blog-based viral marketing campaign, promoted entirely through bloggers and blog advertising - with no traditional marketing whatsoever. The results: one million unique visits to the site, 2,000 registered treasure hunters, and over 10 million page views in only four weeks. The clue videos were downloaded a total 43,000 times. There were 19.9 million blog advertising impressions at an average cost of 33 cents. Created by BL Ochman.
http://www.whatsnextblog.com/archives/2006/10/case_study_up_your_budget_i_2005_created_by_bl_ochman.asp
Click TV - Blogger Relations for Click TV (April 17, 2006): An outline of a blogger relations campaign for a Web 2.0 company, Shel Holtz, results here http://blog.holtz.com/index.php/blogger_relations_for_clicktv/
Fiskateers for Fiskars, who make crafting tools. Branded mentions of Fiskars products are up more than 400% on a per-week basis since the program began, from Brains on Fire (2007) http://brainsonfire.com/blog/
Coca Cola’s Community Approach to Second Life (April 17, 2007): Coca-Cola’s new social media strategy in Second Life featured an approach other than buying real estate and creating a store, Shel Holtz & Crayon http://blog.holtz.com/index.php/coca_colas_community_approach_to_second_life/
SeaWorld San Antonio: Journey to Atlantis (May 3, 2007): The launch and results of an “event” site to support the opening of a new ride, My PR Pro http://overtonecomm.blogspot.com/2007/05/anatomy-of-social-media-campaign.html
Splashcast’s Social Media for Marketing: (May 16, 2007): Splashcast used social media for marketing purposes, and succeeded by directly engaging the community, Marshall Kirkpatrick http://marshallk.com/social-media-for-marketing-what-weve-done-at-splashcast-so-far
GeoCommons Social Media News Release (May 29, 2007): An outline of the pitfalls and successes of releasing news via SMNR, Livingston Communications http://www.livingstonbuzz.com/blog/2007/05/29/geocommons-social-media-release-a-case-study/
New Adventures of Old Christine (June 14, 2007): The show was about to get a new day and time, and she thought outreach to parent bloggers was a perfect fit, CBS via Marketing Roadmaps http://getgood.typepad.com/getgood_strategic_marketi/2007/06/defining_social_1.html
Sci Fi Channel Digital Press Tour (July 12, 2007): Sci Fi channel begins blogger relations program by providing access to filming setsSci Fi, Channel via Marketing Roadmaps http://getgood.typepad.com/getgood_strategic_marketi/2007/07/sci-fi-channel-.html
Goodwill’s Social Media Strategy (August 29, 2007): How Goodwill used social media to rebrand its vintage clothing, Livingston Communications http://www.livingstonbuzz.com/blog/2007/08/29/case-study-goodwills-social-media-strategy/
Five Lessons from the SIGGART Online Word of Mouth Campaign (August 30, 2007): Thiseco-friendly aluminum water bottles company chalked up tons of quantifiable results, including 8000 unique visitors who visited for an average of 17 minutes, Gold Group http://goldgroup.blog.com/2045504/
Hugh Macleod at gapingvoid has done a spectacular job of marketing Stormhoek wine entirely through blogs and social networking, vis a vis BL Ochman (Sept. 17, 2007) http://www.whatsnextblog.com/archives/2007/09/with_as_many_as_1200.asp
Gates Foundation ED in ‘08 (Sept. 25, 2008): This very successful case study shows social media tools from video to Facebook, and calls to action like ordering endorsement kits, Mindshare Interactive http://www.livingstonbuzz.com/blog/2007/09/25/era-of-conversation-case-study-gates-foundations-ed-in-08-campaign/
Social Media Case Study: CMP’s TechMash (September 27, 2007) Social media forms used to garner attendance at CMP event, Horn Group http://www.engageinpr.com/?p=348
A Social Media News Release from Eurekstar (October 2, 2007): Shift Partner and Father of the SMNR breaks down form and function in this one, SHIFT Communications. http://www.pr-squared.com/2007/10/a_social_media_release_work.html
Marketing Pro Lewis Green discusses how his BizSolutionsPlus blog yielded four clients in one year (October 15, 2007). http://lgbusinesssolutions.typepad.com/solutions_to_grow_your_bu/2007/10/a-case-stufy-bl.html
Squidoo is profitable, and without venture capital, Viget Labs and Seth Godin (December 18, 2007)
http://blog.viget.com/squidoo-profitable-and-lasting-without-vc/
The White House uses social media to get the word out on drug policies (December 18, 2007)
http://www.livingstonbuzz.com/blog/2007/12/18/case-study-white-house-pushes-back/
ITToolbox, who’ve grown their social network for IT professionals into multi-million business with more than $8 million in ad sales, and 1.7 million pages of user generated content as of Jan. 1, 2008.
http://www.ittoolbox.com/
Sony drives approximately 11,000,000 million visits to 30 Days Night moviecontests page using Facebook widget (reported by Jeremiah, January 29, 2008) http://www.web-strategist.com/blog/2008/01/29/case-study-how-sony-leveraged-a-popular-vampire-facebook-widget-to-reach-its-community/
Nokia’s Mosh creates more than 200,000 rabid friends, almost 30 million downloads through crowd-sourcing initiative (reported by the Buzz Bin, March 3, 2008) http://www.livingstonbuzz.com/blog/2008/03/03/nokia-mosh/
The Human Capital Institute uses its liveblog to engage its membership, determine if they are social media savvy, Livingston Communications (March 18, 2008) http://www.livingstonbuzz.com/blog/2008/03/18/case-study-national-human-capital-institute-liveblog/
H&R Block Friends Stressed Out Taxed Americans on Twitter (reported by Social Media Explorer, March 21, 2008) http://www.socialmediaexplorer.com/2008/03/21/case-study-how-to-blatantly-advertise-through-social-media-%E2%80%A6-and-get-away-with-it/
Disney’s continued MySpace Step Up 2 the Streets success yields a surprise box-office hit; it also managed to expand the movie’s already sizeable and enthusiastic group of fans. The movie’s MySpace profile has more than 156,000 friends (March 24, 2008, AdAge via Social media Optimization).
http://social-media-optimization.com/2008/03/a-successful-myspace-social-media-campaign/
Neat Receipts Becomes a Hit with Mommy Bloggers (SHIFT Communications, April 2, 2008).
http://www.pr-squared.com/2008/04/blogger_relations_case_study_m.html
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Pandemic Flu Leadership Blog: HHS engaged national leaders and the online pandemic flu community through its 5-week blog summit (June 2007 by OgilvyPR). http://blog.pandemicflu.gov/
Joffrey’s Coffee & Tea Company drove traffic to their site, increased buzz and branded in social media and the blogosphere using a beta test. More than 1500 blogs participated (Pierson Grant Public Relations, June 3, 2008). http://thefuturebuzz.com/2008/06/03/a-case-study-in-building-buzz-in-the-blogosphere-joffrey%E2%80%99s-coffee-tea-company/
Scripps Networks - HGTV’s Rate My Space. Online community creates prime advertising real estate, generating ROI within weeks and creating continuous stream of advertising revenues. Success leads to companion television series - social media successfully serves to bridge gap between online and on-air (NY Times, June 19, 2008). http://tvdecoder.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/06/19/a-home-improvement-web-site-begets-a-tv-series/
Adidas leverages mobile social media to increase retail revenues 20x around NBA All Star game in Vegas (Event Marketer, June 24, 2008). http://www.eventmarketer.com/viewmedia.asp?prmMID=2107
Network Solutions is using a monitoring program to turn around a negative blog post ratio in the 58 percentile range (Livingston Communications, August 8, 2008). http://www.livingstonbuzz.com/2008/08/07/network-solutions-changes-perceptions-with-new-actions/
The Nature Conservancy leverages Facebook and Digg for cause marketing: How TNC raised nearly $75,000 through Facebook Causes and a partnership with Lil Green Patch, a popular Facebook application. The group has also built significant brand awareness through the social news site Digg! (As reported by Jonathon Colman of TNC, September 29, 2008). http://www.slideshare.net/jcolman/fundraising-on-facebook-a-new-model-for-fundraising-on-facebook-using-an-old-skool-tool-causerelated-marketing-presentation
JetBlue Twitter – Case Study: When JetBlue joined Twitter in the spring of 2007, it was one of the first major brands to do so. Today, the company has nearly a million of followers, and its account is often cited as an example of smart corporate twittering. But the company started out on Twitter with modest goals. It wanted to help customers. http://business.twitter.com/twitter101/case_jetblue
Teusner Wines Twitter – Case Study: Teusner Wines, a boutique winery in Australia’s Barossa Valley, has three employees. Dave Brookes is the sales and marketing department. A cycling fan, Brookes was watching the Tour Down Under in January 2009 when he noticed that Lance Armstrong was on Twitter. “I followed him,” says Brookes, “and I starting thinking Twitter would a good tool to tell people about the winery.” http://business.twitter.com/twitter101/case_teusner
Current Media Twitter – Case Study: For the 2008 presidential elections, Current knew it had to do something different. The media company, headquartered in San Francisco, would receive the same live feed of the debates as every other broadcaster. Unless Current distinguished its coverage, viewers would have no particular reason to tune in. http://business.twitter.com/twitter101/case_current
Tasti D-lite Twitter – Case Study: The popular dessert franchise Tasti D-lite offers customers over 100 flavors of guilt-free frozen treats. Tasti has been beloved by customers in the greater New York area for over 20 years, growing to 50+ locations and continuing to open new locations while expanding its geographic reach. http://business.twitter.com/twitter101/case_tastidlite
CoffeeGroundz Twitter – Case Study: CoffeeGroundz is a popular, albeit modest, Houston, TX based independent coffee shop that sells a variety of locally roasted coffee, tea, pastries, sandwiches, and alcoholic beverages. There are a couple of booths, 16 tables and another ten on the patio. If you come to CoffeeGroundz, J.R. Cohen, its general manager, strives to make sure “you feel at home.” http://business.twitter.com/twitter101/case_coffeegroundz
Etsy Twitter – Case Study: Etsy is an online marketplace for buying & selling all things handmade. Since launching in 2005, the Brooklyn, NY company has grown to over 65 employees. More importantly, over 250,000 sellers have opened up shop on Etsy to sell their handmade goods.
http://business.twitter.com/twitter101/case_etsy
NAKEDPizza Twitter – Case Study: Founded in late 2006 as one small store in New Orleans in an area that flooded during hurricane Katrina, NAKEDPizza (originally named World's Healthiest Pizza) was launched as an ambitious business model that seeks to change the nutritional profile of fast food in America.
http://business.twitter.com/twitter101/case_nakedpizza
American Apparel Twitter – Case Study: The Los Angeles company and leading basics brand provides hip clothing for people of all ages. Vertically-integrated American Apparel is the largest clothing manufacturer in the United States. http://business.twitter.com/twitter101/case_americanapparel
Pepsi Twitter – Case Study: Pepsi may be a classic brand, but it’s using 21st century tools to collaborate and build relationships with customers.
http://business.twitter.com/twitter101/case_pepsi
Social Media Assessment Case Study Citrix Webex
Fundraising on Facebook: A Case-Study on Cause-Related Marketing
Fundraising on Facebook: A Case-Study on Cause-Related Marketing
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Case Study: The Barack Obama Strategy
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Dell Twitter Case Study
First adopters of social media networks like Twitter, Facebook, Linkedin, and blogging understand that their success can be measured and based on audience engagement, recognition, and involvement. Yet, Social Media’s Achilles heel, in the eyes of corporate decision makers who still utilize Web 1.0 analytics and measurement for their marketing, sales, and promotion efforts, is the lack of compelling ROI case studies: until now.
The fundamental recommendations from Twitter can be summarised in four simple steps
- Listen to what people are saying about your brand on Twitter
- Set up your own presence and be honest about who you are
- Follow people that are relevant to you
- Respond to discussions about your brand and business
Dell leveraged Twitter perfectly to generate sales. In December 2008, InternetNews reported that Dell has produced $1 million in revenue over the past year and a half through sale alerts via Twitter. People who sign up to follow Dell on Twitter receive messages when discounted products are available the company’s Home Outlet Store. They can click over to purchase the product or forward the information to others.
Background
Dell Outlet faces a common but vexing challenge. A division of the giant made-to-order computer business, Dell Outlet carries refurbished equipment and other inventory that it needs to sell quickly. Because the division has to get the word out fast, it doesn’t have the luxury of hiring an agency and developing an ad campaign. Instead, the outlet relies primarily on email marketing, paid search results, search-engine optimization and affiliate links to raise awareness and drive sales. It’s always looking for new, cost-effective ways to reach people.
Hunter has increased service spending 35%, cut outsourcing partners from 14 to 6 (and is headed to 3), and retrained staff to take on more problems and responsibility (higher-end techs can scrap their phone scripts; techs in other countries learn empathy). Crucially, Hunter also stopped counting the "handle time" per call that rushed representatives and motivated them to transfer customers so they would be someone else's problem. At Dell's worst, more than 7,000 of the 400,000 customers calling each week suffered transfers more than seven times.
Today, the transfer rate has fallen from 45% to 18%. Now Hunter tracks the minutes per resolution of a problem, which runs in the 40s. His favorite acronym mantra (among many) is RI1: resolve in one call. (Apple (AAPL) claims it resolves 90% of problems in one call.) He is also experimenting with outreach e-mails and chatty phone calls to 5,000 selected New Yorkers before problems strike, trying to replace the brother-in-law as their trusted adviser.
Strategy
What did Dell do to make it happen, while others are still playing the wait and watch game.
- Fast to adopt:
While its competitors watched how the new entrant to the social media scenario would perform Dell set up its strategy and used Twitter as a channel of distribution to sell their products, taking the leadership stance and approach.
- Segmentated users:
Dell had a very clear strategy and focus to leverage Twitter, its stretegy revolved around studing the model and its users. Dell segmented twitter users demographically by setting up different twitter accounts ( ie. They started Dell Twitter for NZ users , Dell Twitter for UK users, Dell Twitter for Canada users ) Each of these twitter accounts spoke to users in a different country with localised product offerings.
- Created special offering for each of its segments :
With the segmentation strategy was adopted for different markets, it backed it up with special offers for each of these segments. Thus adapting the ‘Think Global, Act Local’ approach for their overall Twitter marketing strategy.
- Created a following and build a trust factor :
Companies that have built communities have always been succcessful in selling their products. Dell leveraged its online brand identity and trust factor to create and build a large community on Twitter. They built a strong and loyal following of more than 2000 users.
- Targeted Sales messages to the community :
Once they had a following they strategically leveraged their offers and promotions in form of Tweets or messages on Twitter to their following.
Tactics
Holding Conversations: When company employees discovered Twitter at the South by Southwest conference in 2007, they thought they’d hit on a good channel for pushing out information.
Raising awareness: So instead of using Twitter just to let people know about deals, the company has come to think of it as a good place to interact with customers—and to raise awareness about the brand. “When we respond to people on Twitter, they get really excited, and we gain advocates.”
That doesn’t mean Dell Outlet has abandoned the deals. In fact, the company often posts offers that are exclusive to Twitter. They twitter only a few times a week so as not to spam their followers, and they use tracking URLs to gauge what followers find most appealing.
Increasing sales: Do the coupons work? Big time. Not only do they get retweeted and picked up by coupon sites—both of which spread the brand name—they also drive sales. Dell Outlet has booked more than $3 million in revenue attributable to its Twitter posts. In addition, the division has done research showing that awareness of the outlet has grown, too.
Connecting with customers: Dell now has more than 80 Dell-branded Twitter accounts (including @dellhomeoffers for new system deals) offering everything from videos of new technologies to promotions for Asia-Pacific customers. It also encourages employees to twitter, and has well over 100 employee accounts. Dell uses many of those accounts (with names like @StefanieAtDell), primarily for customer service exchanges that require direct messages (Twitter’s private channel) and to reach out to people who are twittering about Dell (which they find via Twitter search).
Results
- At start of program, 49% of blog posts were negative. Today, overall tonality is 22%negative.
- Direct2Dell currently ranked about 700 on Technorati, among the highest corporate blogs.
- Direct2Dell gets more than 5 million unique views per month
- Over 7000 ideas have been submitted via IdeaStorm
- Studio Dell is gets more than 200,000 views per month
Dell has over 650,000 followers on Twitter. Although they are only following 23, they are known as a value provider:
Nelson has learned when starting a new account on Twitter, it’s smart to reach out to your current customer base. They’re already interested in chatting with you, and they’ll tell other people about you. But no matter who’s following you on Twitter, she says, “offering relevant information that people are interested in is key.”
The fundamental recommendations from Twitter can be summarised in four simple steps
- Listen to what people are saying about your brand on Twitter
- Set up your own presence and be honest about who you are
- Follow people that are relevant to you
- Respond to discussions about your brand and business
Dell leveraged Twitter perfectly to generate sales. In December 2008, InternetNews reported that Dell has produced $1 million in revenue over the past year and a half through sale alerts via Twitter. People who sign up to follow Dell on Twitter receive messages when discounted products are available the company’s Home Outlet Store. They can click over to purchase the product or forward the information to others.
Background
Dell Outlet faces a common but vexing challenge. A division of the giant made-to-order computer business, Dell Outlet carries refurbished equipment and other inventory that it needs to sell quickly. Because the division has to get the word out fast, it doesn’t have the luxury of hiring an agency and developing an ad campaign. Instead, the outlet relies primarily on email marketing, paid search results, search-engine optimization and affiliate links to raise awareness and drive sales. It’s always looking for new, cost-effective ways to reach people.
Dell's worst problem had been that customers were having too many of the wrong conversations with too many service technicians in too many countries. "It was a real mess," confesses Dick Hunter, former head of manufacturing and now head of customer service. Dell's DNA of cost-cutting "got in the way," Hunter says. "In order to become very efficient, I think we became ineffective."
Hunter has increased service spending 35%, cut outsourcing partners from 14 to 6 (and is headed to 3), and retrained staff to take on more problems and responsibility (higher-end techs can scrap their phone scripts; techs in other countries learn empathy). Crucially, Hunter also stopped counting the "handle time" per call that rushed representatives and motivated them to transfer customers so they would be someone else's problem. At Dell's worst, more than 7,000 of the 400,000 customers calling each week suffered transfers more than seven times.
Today, the transfer rate has fallen from 45% to 18%. Now Hunter tracks the minutes per resolution of a problem, which runs in the 40s. His favorite acronym mantra (among many) is RI1: resolve in one call. (Apple (AAPL) claims it resolves 90% of problems in one call.) He is also experimenting with outreach e-mails and chatty phone calls to 5,000 selected New Yorkers before problems strike, trying to replace the brother-in-law as their trusted adviser.
Strategy
What did Dell do to make it happen, while others are still playing the wait and watch game.
- Fast to adopt:
While its competitors watched how the new entrant to the social media scenario would perform Dell set up its strategy and used Twitter as a channel of distribution to sell their products, taking the leadership stance and approach.
- Segmentated users:
Dell had a very clear strategy and focus to leverage Twitter, its stretegy revolved around studing the model and its users. Dell segmented twitter users demographically by setting up different twitter accounts ( ie. They started Dell Twitter for NZ users , Dell Twitter for UK users, Dell Twitter for Canada users ) Each of these twitter accounts spoke to users in a different country with localised product offerings.
- Created special offering for each of its segments :
With the segmentation strategy was adopted for different markets, it backed it up with special offers for each of these segments. Thus adapting the ‘Think Global, Act Local’ approach for their overall Twitter marketing strategy.
- Created a following and build a trust factor :
Companies that have built communities have always been succcessful in selling their products. Dell leveraged its online brand identity and trust factor to create and build a large community on Twitter. They built a strong and loyal following of more than 2000 users.
- Targeted Sales messages to the community :
Once they had a following they strategically leveraged their offers and promotions in form of Tweets or messages on Twitter to their following.
Tactics
Holding Conversations: When company employees discovered Twitter at the South by Southwest conference in 2007, they thought they’d hit on a good channel for pushing out information.
“We thought, ‘Great—this has a really short lead time, and it will let us communicate our message effectively,’” says Stefanie Nelson, manager of demand generation at Dell Outlet. “We started using it for one-way communication.” The company was surprised when people responded. “They wanted to ask questions. They wanted to share their experiences, good and bad,” says Nelson, who’s based in Austin, TX. “We realized that people were really interested in talking with us.”
Raising awareness: So instead of using Twitter just to let people know about deals, the company has come to think of it as a good place to interact with customers—and to raise awareness about the brand. “When we respond to people on Twitter, they get really excited, and we gain advocates.”
That doesn’t mean Dell Outlet has abandoned the deals. In fact, the company often posts offers that are exclusive to Twitter. They twitter only a few times a week so as not to spam their followers, and they use tracking URLs to gauge what followers find most appealing.
Increasing sales: Do the coupons work? Big time. Not only do they get retweeted and picked up by coupon sites—both of which spread the brand name—they also drive sales. Dell Outlet has booked more than $3 million in revenue attributable to its Twitter posts. In addition, the division has done research showing that awareness of the outlet has grown, too.
“The uplift has been more than we dreamed,” says Nelson.
Connecting with customers: Dell now has more than 80 Dell-branded Twitter accounts (including @dellhomeoffers for new system deals) offering everything from videos of new technologies to promotions for Asia-Pacific customers. It also encourages employees to twitter, and has well over 100 employee accounts. Dell uses many of those accounts (with names like @StefanieAtDell), primarily for customer service exchanges that require direct messages (Twitter’s private channel) and to reach out to people who are twittering about Dell (which they find via Twitter search).
@DellOutlet now has over 15,000 followers who are receiving these marketing messages from Dell. So while Twitter is trying to figure out how to make money from its service, it is interesting to see that Dell recognizes that Twitter is a marketing channel, and more importantly, it is a channel that can increase revenues.
Results
- At start of program, 49% of blog posts were negative. Today, overall tonality is 22%negative.
- Direct2Dell currently ranked about 700 on Technorati, among the highest corporate blogs.
- Direct2Dell gets more than 5 million unique views per month
- Over 7000 ideas have been submitted via IdeaStorm
- Studio Dell is gets more than 200,000 views per month
Dell has over 650,000 followers on Twitter. Although they are only following 23, they are known as a value provider:Coupons: Dell distributes valuable discount coupons through Twitter
Customer Service: Dell answers questions and solves problems by engaging with their audience
Crowdsourcing: like their efforts at Ideastorm, they crowdsource their Twitter network for ideas on products, services, processes, and anything related to making their consumers satisfied
Network: Dell brilliantly and seamlessly integrate their Twitter network of followers with their Facebook fans for their Facebook company page. They convert many Twitter followers to Facebook fans and vice-versa
Nelson has learned when starting a new account on Twitter, it’s smart to reach out to your current customer base. They’re already interested in chatting with you, and they’ll tell other people about you. But no matter who’s following you on Twitter, she says, “offering relevant information that people are interested in is key.”
Dell & Twitter
View more presentations from Dell Inc.
Interesting Social Media Trends - A Study
Social media trends indicate that online marketing is set to undergo a dramatic makeover. Businesses are increasingly integrating social networking websites into their marketing strategy. A recent study conducted by the Association of National Advertisers (a representative body of American marketers) revealed that 26% of marketers found trends in social media taking it towards further growth.
Recession has called for accountability and efforts are being made towards innovating measurement techniques. This would help in calculating the ROI from marketing through social media. The Online Measurement and Strategy Report 2009 (conducted by Econsultancy in combination with Lynchpin) recorded that the proportion of firms looking at social media metrics has doubled during the course of a year from 21% to 40%.
The popularity of tools monitoring the buzz continues to rise. Be it staying alert with Google or inhaling the web on Addictomatic, such tools have become essential to internet marketing. Influence has emerged as a main indicator of success. The authority an account exercises over its followers and the networking activity as a whole are becoming the measurement tools.
# Social Media Engagement Trends
Over 60% of young consumers use social networking sites at least weekly, and about 40% check their networks every day. These young creators grew up in the age of personal computers, graphical user interfaces, and digital social annotations. The social computing boom of the past few years has created an online identity and digital hub, altered as frequently as one's clothes.
Adults are also researching news and creating content online. 22% of adults read blogs at least monthly, and 19% of adults surveyed are members of a social media site. Customer ratings and reviews was the most popular online activity, with about 40% of survey participants utilizing sites such as Amazon to read the thoughts and opinions of peers before making a purchase.
Forrester analysts identified six levels of social media participation in ascending levels of sophistication: inactives, spectators, joiners, collectors, critics, and creators. The categories are not mutually exclusive, as a blog author (a creator) will likely read other blogs (as a spectator), occasionally comment (a critic), and perhaps use web feeds or annotation tools (a collector).
These varied levels of social media participation highlight the need to better engage your audience across the board, easing them into the social media experience. Many social media sites focus on the joiners and creators, setting high barriers of entry and participation. A casual reader might mark a story or video as a personal favorite, or share a collection with friends. A collector might engage more audience members, creating a more focused community for a niche audience. Businesses and websites can engage multiple market segments and open up their community to wider participation.
# Comparative Analysis of Top Social Media Networks
# The Rise of New Business Models?
Frankly, predicting new business models within the media industry is difficult with its complex web of content distribution relationships spanning theaters, international distribution, cable and satellite distribution. However, with the success of industry ratified models like Hulu and the sense of inevitability that content is destined towards freedom, 2009’s recession will force new media models into play because the old models aren’t working any more.
Business Week’s Steven Wildstrom notes that consumers can’t find many great old movies on DVD or online in this era of the long tail retailing.
The battle is between an industry that wants to tightly control who gets to see what when and customers who want to watch what they want wherever and whenever. This clash is slowly being resolved in favor of consumers. Movies are becoming available for download and on DVD more quickly after theatrical release. Director Steven Soderbergh has a deal with Mark Cuban’s Landmark Theatres and HDNet that allows some of his movies to be released on disk and online the same day they show up in theaters. I expect more movies to be launched this way.
The day you can choose to see a new movie in a theater, on your TV, on your laptop, or on your iPhone is still some time off, but it is coming.
# The 2009 Recession will Elevate Social Media Marketing as a Corporate Cost Control Measure
Brand advertising has generally employed one-way messaging to consumers who typically respond to brand commercials as agenda-laden, or even spam. That’s why Tivo fast forwarding of ads is a value proposition. Brand advertising developed in the 1950’s with Madison Avenue’s recognition of the power of the new visual media to branding. It worked because broadcast TV was, at the time, the most optimal means to distribute the message.
Brand advertising is expensive because it employs the vertical professional services of advertising agencies – creative, research and production – to develop “campaigns”, and ad budgets for mass market placement. Social media in part threatens to disintermediate advertising professionals by leveraging “crowdsourcing” to test marketing and advertising concepts more quickly and cheaply.
# Entertainment Bubble
“Content creators are layering a multitude of media into entertainment for simultaneous consumption and engagement. For example, “LittleBigPlanet” users are gamers, social networkers and content creators, “The Hills” ‘Backchannel’ social networking site is where fans can gather to talk about the show as its happening on TV, and author StephenieMeyer has a playlist that readers can listen to while they’re reading the Twilight series. People are almost in an entertainment bubble of sorts”. -- Ann Mack, Director of Trendspotting, JWT (Source: sctimes.com)
# On Mobile
Social networks are going mobile. With devices such as the iPhone closely integrating the Web and cell phones, social networks like MySpace are working towards establishing their mobile presence.
“..Next year your media friend might start collecting dust when a mighty mini version takes hold, with the iPhone, the Bold and the Google phone, we’re beginning to truly be able to take our shows on the road. For example, the iPhonecan be a baby monitor and a Google phone, such as the T-Mobile G1, has a bar code scanner which allows you scan any bar code at the store and then immediately compare prices online. People are cutting their Internet service to save money and relying on their phones. After all, an iPhoneis much easier to fit into your pocket than an iBook”.
Mobilize Me -- Jane Buckingham, President, The Intelligence Group
Source: sctimes.com
Companies will continue to place a high priority on mobility initiatives primarily for productivity increases, with mobility activities heating up in emerging markets. In addition, we will see growth in the mobile "wannabe" user segment as employees bring their personal devices, such as the iPhone, into work and expect organizations to develop ways to support these new devices —even with the slowdown expected in consumer mobile device purchases. -- Forrester
# On Engagements
“The recession will put consumers in a more powerful position. Feedback 1.0 was the lone customer posting a review or complaint and companies ignoring him. Feedback 2.0 was when millions posted, with companies largely ignoring them.
Feedback 3.0 finds companies listening and replying. For example, Starbucks lovers can already “help shape the future of Starbucks,” by sharing their ideas online, and hotel managers can respond to complaints and praises posted on TripAdvisor”. -- ReinierEvers, Founder, TrendWatching.com
# “How Social Media is helping businesses?”
Facebook Connect, and its social network cousins Google Friend Connect, and the still obscure MySpace ID will facilitate the portability of social networks, or the “social graph”. This will be one of the most powerful applications towards creating a social media business model in 2009, but is hard to explain to social media newbies. What does it mean?
Through Facebook Connect, consumers log into other sites using their Facebook login details. Once inside the site, users can discuss or post their activities in real time to their Facebook network. The effect is to bring in their network of friends into the hosting site. For example, a teenage girl may visit a Facebook Connect – enabled retail fashion site like Forever 21, buy an awesome sweater at a deep discount sale price, and broadcast this fact to her large Facebook network. A few of her Facebook friends do the same thing, and by extension, you can imagine the instant viral marketing power of each new succeeding Facebook network put “into play” for a good sweater deal.
# Crowd sourcing will be a huge social media trend for 2009.
Crowd souring has the potential to take off pretty big, although i don’t see the online movement in that direction. The launch of Predictify suggest such a conclusion. Also, Idea Blob has been fairly successful. There are a number of crowd sourcing creative (graphic design and video) that are bubbling to the surface beyond the e-lance model. This will only continue to increase as the need for outsourcing and budget cutting continues in 2009. The trend known as crowd funding may also see an upward and exciting trajectory.
# Rise of video driven communities
Video driven communities that drive conversation will take off in social media. Winelibrary TV, Epic FU, and The Politico Playbook (aka Kotecki TV) have shown what video can do. Momversation, sponsored by Target, is driving conversation and community around the issues of moms. The video serves as a fantastic differentiator, creates emotional connection, and is potentially truly remarkable content.
Recession has called for accountability and efforts are being made towards innovating measurement techniques. This would help in calculating the ROI from marketing through social media. The Online Measurement and Strategy Report 2009 (conducted by Econsultancy in combination with Lynchpin) recorded that the proportion of firms looking at social media metrics has doubled during the course of a year from 21% to 40%.
The popularity of tools monitoring the buzz continues to rise. Be it staying alert with Google or inhaling the web on Addictomatic, such tools have become essential to internet marketing. Influence has emerged as a main indicator of success. The authority an account exercises over its followers and the networking activity as a whole are becoming the measurement tools.
# Social Media Engagement Trends
Over 60% of young consumers use social networking sites at least weekly, and about 40% check their networks every day. These young creators grew up in the age of personal computers, graphical user interfaces, and digital social annotations. The social computing boom of the past few years has created an online identity and digital hub, altered as frequently as one's clothes.
Adults are also researching news and creating content online. 22% of adults read blogs at least monthly, and 19% of adults surveyed are members of a social media site. Customer ratings and reviews was the most popular online activity, with about 40% of survey participants utilizing sites such as Amazon to read the thoughts and opinions of peers before making a purchase.
Forrester analysts identified six levels of social media participation in ascending levels of sophistication: inactives, spectators, joiners, collectors, critics, and creators. The categories are not mutually exclusive, as a blog author (a creator) will likely read other blogs (as a spectator), occasionally comment (a critic), and perhaps use web feeds or annotation tools (a collector).
These varied levels of social media participation highlight the need to better engage your audience across the board, easing them into the social media experience. Many social media sites focus on the joiners and creators, setting high barriers of entry and participation. A casual reader might mark a story or video as a personal favorite, or share a collection with friends. A collector might engage more audience members, creating a more focused community for a niche audience. Businesses and websites can engage multiple market segments and open up their community to wider participation.
# Comparative Analysis of Top Social Media Networks
# The Rise of New Business Models?
Frankly, predicting new business models within the media industry is difficult with its complex web of content distribution relationships spanning theaters, international distribution, cable and satellite distribution. However, with the success of industry ratified models like Hulu and the sense of inevitability that content is destined towards freedom, 2009’s recession will force new media models into play because the old models aren’t working any more.
Business Week’s Steven Wildstrom notes that consumers can’t find many great old movies on DVD or online in this era of the long tail retailing.
The battle is between an industry that wants to tightly control who gets to see what when and customers who want to watch what they want wherever and whenever. This clash is slowly being resolved in favor of consumers. Movies are becoming available for download and on DVD more quickly after theatrical release. Director Steven Soderbergh has a deal with Mark Cuban’s Landmark Theatres and HDNet that allows some of his movies to be released on disk and online the same day they show up in theaters. I expect more movies to be launched this way.
The day you can choose to see a new movie in a theater, on your TV, on your laptop, or on your iPhone is still some time off, but it is coming.
# The 2009 Recession will Elevate Social Media Marketing as a Corporate Cost Control Measure
Brand advertising has generally employed one-way messaging to consumers who typically respond to brand commercials as agenda-laden, or even spam. That’s why Tivo fast forwarding of ads is a value proposition. Brand advertising developed in the 1950’s with Madison Avenue’s recognition of the power of the new visual media to branding. It worked because broadcast TV was, at the time, the most optimal means to distribute the message.
Brand advertising is expensive because it employs the vertical professional services of advertising agencies – creative, research and production – to develop “campaigns”, and ad budgets for mass market placement. Social media in part threatens to disintermediate advertising professionals by leveraging “crowdsourcing” to test marketing and advertising concepts more quickly and cheaply.
# Entertainment Bubble
“Content creators are layering a multitude of media into entertainment for simultaneous consumption and engagement. For example, “LittleBigPlanet” users are gamers, social networkers and content creators, “The Hills” ‘Backchannel’ social networking site is where fans can gather to talk about the show as its happening on TV, and author StephenieMeyer has a playlist that readers can listen to while they’re reading the Twilight series. People are almost in an entertainment bubble of sorts”. -- Ann Mack, Director of Trendspotting, JWT (Source: sctimes.com)
# On Mobile
Social networks are going mobile. With devices such as the iPhone closely integrating the Web and cell phones, social networks like MySpace are working towards establishing their mobile presence.
“..Next year your media friend might start collecting dust when a mighty mini version takes hold, with the iPhone, the Bold and the Google phone, we’re beginning to truly be able to take our shows on the road. For example, the iPhonecan be a baby monitor and a Google phone, such as the T-Mobile G1, has a bar code scanner which allows you scan any bar code at the store and then immediately compare prices online. People are cutting their Internet service to save money and relying on their phones. After all, an iPhoneis much easier to fit into your pocket than an iBook”.
Mobilize Me -- Jane Buckingham, President, The Intelligence Group
Source: sctimes.com
Companies will continue to place a high priority on mobility initiatives primarily for productivity increases, with mobility activities heating up in emerging markets. In addition, we will see growth in the mobile "wannabe" user segment as employees bring their personal devices, such as the iPhone, into work and expect organizations to develop ways to support these new devices —even with the slowdown expected in consumer mobile device purchases. -- Forrester
# On Engagements
“The recession will put consumers in a more powerful position. Feedback 1.0 was the lone customer posting a review or complaint and companies ignoring him. Feedback 2.0 was when millions posted, with companies largely ignoring them.
Feedback 3.0 finds companies listening and replying. For example, Starbucks lovers can already “help shape the future of Starbucks,” by sharing their ideas online, and hotel managers can respond to complaints and praises posted on TripAdvisor”. -- ReinierEvers, Founder, TrendWatching.com
# “How Social Media is helping businesses?”
Facebook Connect, and its social network cousins Google Friend Connect, and the still obscure MySpace ID will facilitate the portability of social networks, or the “social graph”. This will be one of the most powerful applications towards creating a social media business model in 2009, but is hard to explain to social media newbies. What does it mean?
Through Facebook Connect, consumers log into other sites using their Facebook login details. Once inside the site, users can discuss or post their activities in real time to their Facebook network. The effect is to bring in their network of friends into the hosting site. For example, a teenage girl may visit a Facebook Connect – enabled retail fashion site like Forever 21, buy an awesome sweater at a deep discount sale price, and broadcast this fact to her large Facebook network. A few of her Facebook friends do the same thing, and by extension, you can imagine the instant viral marketing power of each new succeeding Facebook network put “into play” for a good sweater deal.
# Crowd sourcing will be a huge social media trend for 2009.
Crowd souring has the potential to take off pretty big, although i don’t see the online movement in that direction. The launch of Predictify suggest such a conclusion. Also, Idea Blob has been fairly successful. There are a number of crowd sourcing creative (graphic design and video) that are bubbling to the surface beyond the e-lance model. This will only continue to increase as the need for outsourcing and budget cutting continues in 2009. The trend known as crowd funding may also see an upward and exciting trajectory.
# Rise of video driven communities
Video driven communities that drive conversation will take off in social media. Winelibrary TV, Epic FU, and The Politico Playbook (aka Kotecki TV) have shown what video can do. Momversation, sponsored by Target, is driving conversation and community around the issues of moms. The video serves as a fantastic differentiator, creates emotional connection, and is potentially truly remarkable content.
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